Developed by world-class designers Rockstar North, Grand Theft
Auto IV will be simultaneously available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and is
currently planned to be in stores in Europe on October 19, 2007.
R* have updated the official site with a countdown to the first GTA IV trailer.
The trailer will be shown on Thursday 29th March!
http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/
GTA IV countdown at the official site
We're expecting something along the lines of what Rockstar pulled off
with their other upcoming game, L.A. Noire. The L.A. Noire trailer was
revealed by Rockstar as the first visual image of the game, and lasted
2 minutes and 30 seconds. The GTA IV trailer will probably include some
characters, the scenery and some music. At the least, it'll give us an
indication of where the game will be set.
Discuss this development @ GTAForums.
GTA4 Episodic Content Downloads in 2008?
Posted by DigitalD at 16:13. Category: General
Take2's latest financial results press release gives us some indication of Rockstar Games'
plans for GTA IV. The release suggests that 'exclusive episodic content' (we have yet to
decipher what Rockstar means by this) will be available for download in 2008. Both Sony
and Microsoft are expected to have exclusive content for their consoles in GTA IV. Yet
Take2's announcement seems to hint that perhaps the games will be identical on release,
and platform-specific content will simply be made available for download in 2008 (months
after the official release date). Or perhaps the games will be released with different
content, and the additional content will be revealed for both platforms in 2008.
"Grand Theft Auto IV, the next-generation console debut of the genre-defining franchise,
will be shipped simultaneously for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 in October.
Starting in 2008, Rockstar will introduce exclusive episodic content downloads for Grand Theft Auto IV."
Take 2 Games, February 28, 2007
Related Links: GTAForums Discussion
Rockstar to Use NaturalMotion's euphoria Engine
Posted by DigitalD at 16:06. Category: General
"Oxford, UK - Feb 27 2007 NaturalMotion today announced a partnership with Rockstar
Games, Inc., the world-renowned publishing label, to integrate NaturalMotion's revolutionary
euphoria engine into upcoming next-generation Rockstar Games titles.
Rockstar and NaturalMotion announced a partnership (PDF), which will allow Rockstar to use
NaturalMotion's "euphoria" dynamic motion engine for "upcoming next-generation Rockstar
Games titles." We cautiously assume this to include GTA IV, so this is one indicator of what
we might see in the next GTA.
The purpose of the engine is to create a dynamic environment, in which a body has a skeletal
structure and is able to react to any sort of movement. Instead of animators having to animate
all possible motions for the body, the engine creates this animation in real time. NaturalMotion
was formed from research at Oxford University, as you can read from an interview about the
euphoria engine. One of the most known games to use the euphoria engine is Indiana Jones 2007
on the PS3.
There are two videos in particular which I want to draw your attention to.
The first one is an animation demo of the 'Adaptive Behaviors' in the endorphin
engine (also produced by NaturalMotion), which gives a good idea of the kind of
things the company is doing. The second video is of the actual euphoria engine,
showcasing how the engine was used for both the Indiana Jones 2007 and Star Wars games.
Video 1 (3min) - endorphin engine - via GameTrailers.com
Video 2 (7min) - euphoria engine - via GameTrailers.com
As we have no videos from GTA IV yet, videos of other games using the euphoria
engine give us a good idea of what the animations in GTA IV might look like, if the
partnership is indeed used for GTA IV and not one of Rockstar's other projects
(such as LA Noire).
Log in to comment