GTA IV Preview From Official Xbox Magazine UK

10
May
2007
By Chris | 10th May 2007 at 15:51 GMT in GTA IV | 14 Comments

The latest issue of the UK publication Official Xbox Magazine is carrying a preview of Grand Theft Auto IV. They seem to have received the same demo that was given to the likes of OPM and GameInformer, however there are some new details revealed.

  • Rockstar are progressing well with the game, which is now over two-thirds of the way to completion.
  • It is implied that the ability to manually aim guns such as a pistol has now been implemented, when Niko pulls out a pistol, the camera will zoom in slightly, and a crosshair fixed to the centre of the screen appears.
  • Hand-to-hand combat has also been worked on a lot
  • OXM confirm that the much loved sexual innuendo famed in the GTA series will of course be seen throughout GTA IV.
  • Niko is able to climb and descend fire escapes, telegraph poles and the like. He'll also be able to enter skyscrapers (and throw people off them).
  • One of the radio stations is said to play Eastern European dance music
  • Rockstar don't want the game to be too "naturalistic" so there will be some "fun" weapons in the game
  • Central Park will have its own recreation in the game, it is not yet known what its name will be.
  • Boats are confirmed and their handling is said to be improved.
  • One of the advantages of recreating New York is that the guys developing the game at R* North can simply call the in-house researchers at R* NYC and ask them about specific things which they have far more knowledge about.
  • Philip Glass, a highly influential composer, is working with Rockstar and involved with production of the game's soundtrack (he composed the music in the first trailer)

Another noteworthy point was that there is confirmation (finally) that Niko is not Russian, and this confirmation comes directly from Dan Houser:

OXM: You've talked about picking culturally different neighbourhoods. Can you reveal any of the gang cultures apart from the Russians?

Dan Houser: I can't reveal gangs too much yet, but one of the things that appealed to us about a) this character (who isn't actually Russian, he's Eastern European, although there will be plenty of Russian gangsters in there) and b ) the story and the world [...]

Thanks to Loose Head for the scans.

little_homer's photo
little_homer 10th May, 2007 @ 15:53 - Permalink

Wow fire escapes! And throw people from skycrapers! AWESOME!

Gycu's photo
Gycu 10th May, 2007 @ 16:34 - Permalink
Rockstar are progressing well with the game, which is now over two-thirds of the way to completion.

66% to be more exact.This is normal, but still more than half in 2.5 years? and only 5 months `till the launching day, I expected about 70%...but I think the "hard" work is done and the rest of 34% are just minor things that don`t need too much time to be added

It is implied that the ability to manually aim guns such as a pistol has now been implemented, when Niko pulls out a pistol, the camera will zoom in slightly, and a crosshair fixed to the centre of the screen appears.

Good improvement, looks like manual aiming to me, but I`m used with the PC version of previous GTAs so I`m only glad for who has a console...

Hand-to-hand combat has also been worked on a lot

Thank God for that! I hope it will be a major improvement...

Niko is able to climb and descend fire escapes, telegraph poles and the like. He'll also be able to enter skyscrapers (and throw people off them).

:) Santa Clauss Is Coming to Liberty Town :) but telegraph poles? well that would be interesting...I hope for more skyscarpers interiors and this feature + Euphoria = cool, I hope for that when they fell to hear a noise from them, something like "Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Rockstar don't want the game to be too "naturalistic" so there will be some "fun" weapons in the game

Too much realism is bad...I want the Silver Vibrator back ! :)

Central Park will have its own recreation in the game, it is not yet known what its name will be

In GTA 3, Glennville Park had the dimension of a football stadium...I hope it`s 10x larger and 10x more detailed...

Boats are confirmed and their handling is said to be improved

Waiting to see this vast improvement

One of the advantages of recreating New York is that the guys developing the game at R* North can simply call the in-house researchers at R* NYC and ask them about specific things which they have far more knowledge about.

I don`t get this point... It`s easier to recreate Edinbourgh, no need for phonecalls in NY, the phonecall bill for R* will be sky-high.I`m Kiding :)

Red_91's photo
Red_91 10th May, 2007 @ 16:42 - Permalink

Manual Aim will be excellent, can't wait for that.

CroScorpion's photo
CroScorpion 10th May, 2007 @ 17:20 - Permalink

If is true that R* will pay more attention to Hand-to-Hand feature, we can only guess what will they do if euphoria gets involved in this all.

Chris's photo
Chris 10th May, 2007 @ 17:31 - Permalink
Rockstar are progressing well with the game, which is now over two-thirds of the way to completion.

66% to be more exact.This is normal, but still more than half in 2.5 years? and only 5 months `till the launching day, I expected about 70%...but I think the "hard" work is done and the rest of 34% are just minor things that don`t need too much time to be added

I am aware of that. Bear in mind this is a print publication so they have to get all their info weeks before the mag goes on sale. They probably got that figure a couple of weeks ago and so me reporting it as 66% now would be inaccurate.

Also, you have to remember that much of the time has been spent researching and doing other things which don't add to the game's completion as such, like testing for example.

Carnage_'s photo
Carnage_ 10th May, 2007 @ 17:43 - Permalink
Rockstar don't want the game to be too "naturalistic" so there will be some "fun" weapons in the game

I am very exited!Fun Weapons?!Maybe some kind of Jetpack even.

One of the radio stations is said to play Eastern European dance music

I will be listening this radio all game long,if they will add some russian songs!

Pandora's photo
Pandora 10th May, 2007 @ 17:51 - Permalink

Sounds cool. Especially the not being to realistic part. I was scared they would.

And can someone tell me what: 'sexual innuendo' means?

Spaz The Great's photo
Spaz The Great 10th May, 2007 @ 17:54 - Permalink
Rockstar don't want the game to be too "naturalistic" so there will be some "fun" weapons in the game

I am very exited!Fun Weapons?!Maybe some kind of Jetpack even.

One of the radio stations is said to play Eastern European dance music

I will be listening this radio all game long,if they will add some russian songs!

Jetpack = Not a weapon. ;)

Sounds cool. Especially the not being to realistic part. I was scared they would.

And can someone tell me what: 'sexual innuendo' means?

The sexual jokes that are apparent throughout all the games, pretty much. An innuendo is pretty much a double-meaning phrase. You say one thing, but it sounds like or can mean something else, usually something sexual and hilarious.

Chris's photo
Chris 10th May, 2007 @ 18:12 - Permalink

Jace: Yeah pretty much what Spaz just said. Innuendo is where a phrase is taken to imitate something or have a double meaning.

Example: Cherry Poppers Ice Cream in Vice City.... Ice creams with cherries in, nice.... but also, popping the cherry is a term used when a girl loses her virginity.

Another: Area 69 - a pun of America's infamous Area 52, 69 is also a position for sex.

You probably already knew what this was, just not that is was what's known as 'innuendo', but you do now ;)

Gycu's photo
Gycu 10th May, 2007 @ 18:23 - Permalink
Another: Area 69 - a pun of America's infamous Area 52, 69 is also a position for sex.

:) I think it is Area 51 not 52... :P Think be4 posting :) :) Joke...

Pandora's photo
Pandora 10th May, 2007 @ 18:28 - Permalink

Aah, that. One of the things what makes GTA so great. Not only the sex, but also stuff like scolding Driver3, the radio and lots of other things. Reminds about Flash FM: How do you eat your donut?

Anyway, the ability to pick up people (how should you otherwise throw them of) sounds pretty cool. Like if you stealth murder someone you have to move the body so the cops won't see.

Chris's photo
Chris 10th May, 2007 @ 18:39 - Permalink
Another: Area 69 - a pun of America's infamous Area 52, 69 is also a position for sex.

:) I think it is Area 51 not 52... :P Think be4 posting :) :) Joke...

Oh lol, yeah it is 51, that was actually a genuine typo, didn't notice I put that. Thanks for pointing that out.

The Bossman's photo
The Bossman 10th May, 2007 @ 18:45 - Permalink

I look forward to throwing people off skyscrapers LOL, that will be interesting. The climbing will also be good, I just hope it's implemented well and it doesn't turn out crappy. The other things mentioned were as expected IMO.

Artur's photo
Artur 12th May, 2007 @ 17:26 - Permalink

Yeah, throwing people of skyscrapers would just never get boring :P Hand-to-hand combat has always been a bit crappy but it's been making improvements as each GTA came out but it doesn't really matter because GTA isn't all about fighting with fists. Still, sometimes I just love to duke it out with a bunch of peds in a huge fist fight. Climbing will be really useful IMO. I can't remember how many times in the previous GTAs I needed to climb over something (or just wanted to) but couldn't and I'm sure GTA IV will make climbing useful in a lot of missions. Great to hear that the sex innuendos are back, just loved them in the previous games. "Fun" weapons should be awesome too. I think they're probably talking about the heat-seeking rocket launcher we had in SA, like what are the odds of getting one of those? But yeah some new crazy weapons would be awesome too. Nice info Chris.