GTA San Andreas Dripfeeds More Info To Eager Public 57
Thanks to GameSpot for its updated preview of Rockstar's ravenously awaited Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The article first gets down to basics, explaining: "The state of San Andreas will feature three main cities, each inspired by real-life locales. The city of Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, San Fierro is derived from San Francisco, and Las Venturas will mirror the glitz of Las Vegas", before delving into new mechanics like character strength ("You'll be able to visit one of several gyms spread throughout San Andreas so that you work out to stay in peak physical health"), and comments on audio that lend credence to a rumored partial tracklisting of recent ("Despite San Andreas' superficially hip-hop trappings, the game's soundtrack will feature a full range of early '90s music".) IGN PS2 also has a new hands-on preview, including fresh info on customizable in-game tattoos ("[designed by] Mister Cartoon... [featuring] gang names, guns, and women.")
Re:Same old engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
I Played both Far Cry and Vice City for the pc,in that order. I got way more replay and fun value from the GTA title. Graphics quality means jack compared to fun quality.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
People who own PC's, who paid money for 3D accelerators. Also people who bought Xboxes to play games on.
So you don't care about graphics, but you stipulate that a game must have "bearable" graphics, we'll assume that you intend to be the judge of whether graphics are "bearable" or not? I would suggest then that you also care about graphics. Way to answer your own question in the negatory.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
IOP: Input/Output Processor, which since it's basically a PSOne, *does* count.
SPU2: Sound processor.
VU0: Vector processor #1.
VU1: Vector processor #2.
GS: Graphics processor.
IPU: Image processor.
FPU: Floating point processor.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
The speed of the CPU is slightly relevant, however the key, absolute key area where the console can be considered suitable for playing games is because every single transistor, every bit of memory is optimised like crazy just to make the games work.
PC's on the other hand have a *lot* more power th
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Running the game at 1600x1200 with FSAA and aniso filtering does make it look far better than the PS/2 would ever be able to, however GTA does look very dated in comparison to some of the newer PC games.
Still the gameplay of GTA has always been the primary driver (and
Re:Same old engine? (Score:3, Interesting)
it has been proven time and time again that Graphics != Gameplay. For example, Nethack is still one of the most beloved games of all time and is still widely played, its still just ASCII (the way the hardcore play it anyways).
frankly, if all they ever did was use the same engine and just add new maps, make them bigger than the last game
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
it has been proven time and time again that Graphics != Gameplay. For example, Nethack is still one of the most beloved games of all time and is still widely played, its still just ASCII (the way the hardcore play it anyways).
Yeah, but its not just graphics....I've heard things like the "cars disappear when your back is turned" gameplay ti
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Yeah but the argument against the PS2 is why buy a game for it when games today are released on all the consoles and the PS2 version is the shittiest? Are you telling me that given the choice between two games that are otherwise identical you'll take the one with crappy gr
Re:Same old engine? (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, please. What the hell are you talking about? There are about a dozen people in the world who love Nethack, and all of them are Slashdot posters. I polled my friends and family once, and not a single person had even heard of it. (Anecdote = fact, right?)
But seriously, most people into PC gaming now started around Half-Life or later... other than the HUGE earlier games (Wolf3D, Doom, XCom: UFO Defense, SimCity, few others), they don't know anything about them. (For instance, nobody I knew except one other gamer knew that Morrowind was actually the third game in the Elder Scrolls series.)
But nobody plays Nethack. Hell, there are probably more people playing Mission: Thunderbolt than Nethack. (What!? You've never heard of Mission: Thunderbolt? But it's "one of the most beloved games of all time and still widely played!")
Yeah, graphics don't equal gameplay, yada yada yada, but for criminy's sake come up with a better example!
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
Bah. For anyone picking up the game today, there's no reason not to use a tileset. I mean, why go through the trouble of memorizing the meaning of various colored letters, when a dragon can look like a little dragon?
I mean, it's the same game either way.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
While I will be the first to say that graphics to not equal great gameplay, there is no doubt that graphics are important to gamers. The reason so may gamers are drooling over Doom 3 is the graphics (and it is from id). The reason we go out and buy the latest consoles and graphic cards if for great g
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Who cares? Honestly.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:2)
I mean, sure, DooM3 brings my rig to its very knees, but it's doing so much with what I have I don't really mind.
Re:Same old engine? (Score:1)
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:4, Informative)
From PSX Extreme [psxextreme.com], who ripped it from Play Magazine. A partial playlist (consistent with the claim in the article) --
As to whether or not it will be released as box set in the vein of the Vice City soundtrack boxset [amazon.com], I would imagine yes. This came up on the IGN nSiders forum a while back, in which someone "in the know" (READ: BestBuy stockboy) claimed to have seen a product listing from Sony Records about a San Andreas soundtrack set. Take that with a grain of salt, however. Seeking cohesive information from IGN is like going to an Adam Sandler film for some deep, subtle wit.
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:2)
90's music is just too close. The music turns real -- it's no longer just music that is played in
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:1)
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:2)
In any event, we can all breathe a little easier knowing that countless white suburbanites will be singing the liberating song of civil rights that is "Fuck Tha Police", thanks to its place on the soundtrack. Yay.
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:2)
Or maybe it's just rumor, and there will actually be a 90s electronica radio channel. I can hope.
Re:About the soundtrack... (Score:1)
Given they've listed about 20 tracks, and in VC there was what... 8 radio stations that played music - you'd have to assume that there's more music on the way. I'm holding my judgement on the music until I see a bigger list.
Too Violent For Me (Score:4, Insightful)
Then I got a copy of Simpsons: Hit and Run, which is basically the exact same play-style as GTA games, but without any violence. Now I get it, it's pretty damned fun, very forgiving if you fail a mission, and really easy to just pick up and play even if you only have a few minutes.
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:1)
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:1)
the problem isn't the violence, the problem is the fact that most parents don't take the time to properly explain to their child the difference between games, movies and reality
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:2)
Well, I do kind of get a kick out of the violence, but it's not the violence alone that makes Simpsons fall flat for me...the game just doesn't have the depths of things to do. GTA really hit a sweet spot between cartoony and realistic in terms of its driving and what not, and S H+R just lacks that.
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:1)
Maybe is just that. Violence sells, in videogames and every other form of enterteinment.
Re:Too Violent For Me (Score:2)
Why then is GTA successful? It's related to the violence, but it's more about freedom. Violence is a potential side effect of freedom. In many games, you won't be allowed to just go this way, shoot that person, steal this car, run over that pedestrian.
If players were prevented from acting and viewing the consequences of their actions, the game would lose its appeal. But because the computer lets you get away with whateve
Rockstar is one the ball. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Rockstar is one the ball. (Score:3)
One of the coolest things about 3 and VC were how your character wasn't different at the end as h
Re:Rockstar is one the ball. (Score:2)
You're assuming that this will be a complete RPG conversion - I doubt that. I think the differences will be barely noticeable, every bit as subtle as the "training" in GTA3 and VC.
Likewise, at the end of Vice City, when you own every property, and sit at 200 health an
Re:Rockstar is one the ball. (Score:2)
I hope it's that subtle, but when they talk about the learning new combat moves and what not, keeping buff in the gym and eatin' right...I dunno. Even if it's far short of a complete RPG conversion it could be annoying.
For most people, the end of Vice City might be owning every property, playing every mission, and getting the health-150 and armor-150. Run w/o tiring, being fireproof, all those other things are very hard to get. An armoury at each house speeds things up, but you could stil
How about some realism? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How about some realism? (Score:1)
Don't forget the congestion charge
Nice new features (Score:1)
The new carjacking scheme probably will piss off some people, but I think it's a case of realism building on, not detracting from, gameplay. When I played Vice City it was always too easy to get a really nice car, and it took out the sens
Sims Theft Auto? (Score:1, Funny)
Oh ya! And maybe you can steal cars and stuff if they still have time before christmas to add it in...
Re:Poor GFX will adversely effect the gameplay (Score:2)