In this trailer for “The Ballad of Gay Tony,” we’re formally introduced to Yusuf Amir, a cutthroat real estate and construction kingpin in Liberty City. He lives an “over-the-top” lifestyle and lusts for women and money. He’s quite the personality that’s for sure.

GTA IV’s second expansion “Gay Tony” hits Xbox Live exclusivley October 29 for $19.99.

While no one was able to play the game except for Rockstar’s representatives, Redemption was shown off on a massive screen made up of multiple monitors with the volume cranked, so it was hard to miss what the game was about. You play as John Marston, a former outlaw sent to clean up the outlaws he used to ride with in the early 20th century. You do this in the largest open-world that Rockstar has ever created–yes, larger than even San Andreas.

The thing that stuck out almost immediately was how everyone reacted to being shot or shot at–Rockstar informed us that there were “no canned animations”, so the NPC will react in his death the way you would expect them to, based on how you took them out. The animations and physics involved in this system are also deep–we got a chance to see Marston’s hat shot clean off of his head by an errant rifle blast, and we even saw the world react to the battle when it was over; vultures began to circle and land, ready to feed on the bodies left behind.

Animals like vultures play a large role in Redemption, as you can kill them and skin them so you can sell their pellets. Yes, you can also kill your horse–we saw this accidentally happen, when the Rockstar rep used the Dead Eye, bullet-time aiming system and targeted his horse by mistake–but why would you want to? That horse is going to carry you all around this massive environment, one that spans three themed regions. One is very much like Mexico, the Frontier is like Texas, and the North is like Colorado territory (sans the cannibalism, ninjas and snowmen named Beowulf). Of course, if you do blow your horse away, you can always find a wild horse, lasso it and break it so that it becomes your new steed.

There are other forms of transport, though these don’t work as well for exploration, and are more suited for travel. Coaches, boats, and trains will take you from place to place, depending on where you are in the game world. If you ride around on a horse though, you will get the chance to run from or confront thieves and bandits, which is one way to keep yourself busy as you traverse the southwest.Taking out the thieves may not be such a bad idea either, as the game recognizes whether you fancy yourself a good guy or a bad guy–they will be happy to see you ride into town if you’re the former, but everyone will be running for the hills like you’re Mongo if you’re the latter.

One other thing that impressed me was that there are no loading times between the exterior and interior–this means that, in the example given by Rockstar, you can run into a saloon, start a bar fight, and bring the tussle outside, all without the annoyance or interruption of a loading screen.

Red Dead Redemption isn’t due out until 2010 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but the game is impressive even at this stage. I will be glad to get my hands on the game to give it a whirl eventually, but even just from a hands-off perspective, this looks like one to watch. Check out the screens in the gallery, and let us know what you think about the open-world adventure.

We’re told sticky bombs, automatic shotguns, advanced sniper rifles, exploding bullets, and a rocket-strapped helicopter, “The Buzzard,” are some of the newly available weapons.

We’ll get our hands on these new tools of destruction through Rockstar’s second batch of DLC for Grand Theft Auto IV, “The Ballad of Gay Tony,” and the “Episodes From Liberty City” pack when they both release next month.

Watch the sarcastic trailer below and let us know what you think.

In this third trailer for the game, an average kid, Jason, an aspiring drummer and  musician, displays the ease of creation in Beaterator. With in-game images and phat beats we like this trailer alot, but until we get our hands on, we can’t be sure. Anyway, feast your eyes!

GTA in the Wild West flavor from Rockstar? Count me in for sure.

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Crazy, we know, but the current “Longest Time Spent Playing GTA:IV” Guinness World Record, set by Jim Hatton, stands at 28 hours. So, someone has to beat it, right?

Think of it this way, when Patnaik starts playing at 12:30AM this evening/early morning, he’ll still be playing when you wake up on Saturday morning!

The longest time I’ve ever spent in a digital world was 9 hours straight in World of Warcraft…yeah, a shameful part of my life. What about you?

Head on over to his blog to follow the record attempt live.

Via Rockstar

“The Ballad of Gay Tony” is due out 29 days into October and promises to highlight the glitz and glamour of Liberty City by putting you in the digital shoes of one Luis Lopez as you climb the precarious and blood-stained social ladder of Liberty City.

Rockstar released the debut trailer for “Gay Tony” today and named it “You’ll Always Be The King Of This Town.” So if you want a sneak peek at the hell you’ll soon be raising, sit back, relax, crank the volume on your speakers and enjoy it!

“The Ballad of Gay Tony” releases exclusively for Xbox 360 October 29 priced at 1600MS Points/$19.99 both at retail and through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Rockstar launched the real-time music sampler and sequencer in 2005, and after a more than welcome acceptance of the tool and determined support by famous rap artist Timbaland, Beaterator is now, at least as Rockstar believes, worthy of the PSP and PSN markets.

“Beaterator is a very natural progression for us,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Music is incredibly important to us here at Rockstar, and we believe that there are many people out there who share that passion and will be excited about creating music of their own.”

“I’ve worked closely with Rockstar Games to make something completely unique,” said Timbaland. “Beaterator is like taking my music studio and turning it into a suite of tools anyone can use. We can’t wait to hear the beats people make and share with the world.”

Hop on over to the Beaterator page to try your hand right now, or simply watch the game’s debut trailer below.

As Rockstar so normally operates, namely in secret, we don’t know much about this latest expansion, only that “Gay Tony” will focus primarily on the glitzy high-end night life of Liberty City through the eyes of Luis Lopez, or Tony “Gay Tony” Prince.

Also hitting shelves October 29 is GTA: Tales From Liberty City, which includes, you guessed it, both The Lost and Damned, and Gay Tony. Rockstar hasn’t pegged the combo pack with a price point as of yet, so stay tuned!

Priced at $19.99, or more than a third of the current retail price, “Gay Tony” is likely worth the price-tag, as Rockstar clearly has this thing called game development in hand.

This recipe, said to have been found somewhere after seven or eight hours of gameplay by video game “experts” is actually inaccurate.

That’s right, Rockstar, the development team behind the epic title, informed the BBFC that said recipe was indeed “inaccurate,” and anyone following the in-game directions would have wasted hours and hours setting up that lab. Bummer.

The fact that we’re just learning of this now is astounding and is proof that Liberty City is a place of many dark corners capable of holding many, many secrets.

Has anyone found the recipe? I’ve played hours and hours and hours of GTA IV and have never run across anything that would, to me, resemble a meth recipe.

Chinatown Wars is one of the highest-rated handheld games ever, one of the highest rated on the DS, and also the owner of the highest score I have given out during my time here at Blast (we know which one of those things carries the most weight, of course). I’m curious as to how they aim to improve the experience, or replicate it, given how very DS-centric it was, but given what they accomplished with the initial version, I’m not about to doubt their ability do so. Read on for more details, straight from Rockstar.

The game? Grand Theft Auto IV Lost and Damned.  The fame? Busta Rhymes.

Anytime today add Mr. Rhymes’ gamertag, which is “Busta Rhymes GwF” and hop into the fray tonight between 7 and 9 Boston time, as long as you have purchased the DLC.

Also, if you’re in the mood to raise some hell, you know, for the fun of it, the Lost and Damned LIVE weekend begins this Friday and runs through Sunday.  And, just for playing, you’re name will be automatically entered into the data base for a drawing of all sorts of fantastical prizes.

So grab your shotgun, embrace your lack of morality and jump into the city of Liberty!

As part of what looks to be a continued effort from publishers to avoid the predictable onslaught of news at next week’s E3 convention, news is dropping, and it’s dropping hard this pre-E3 week.  A smart move, at least in my perception.

As for this latest episode for GTA IV, what we know so far is that you’ll be playing as Luis Lopez, a part time hoodlum and full time assistant to famous nightclub owner Tony Prince, aka Gay Tony.  An overdose of guns, glitz, and  grime is promised by Rockstar for the follow up to the well received first installment.

From the mouth of Rockstar: “players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.”

The aforementioned DLC bundle will include The Lost and Damned as well as Gay Tony for the understandable price of $39.99 and will not require a copy of the original GTA IV to make use of.

As is par for the course, Gay Tony will set you back $19.99/1600 MS Points and is to debut sometime this fall, with more plentiful details expected in the coming months…maybe at E3?

PS3 owners catch the shaft yet again, but we’ll keep you posted should anything change.

If you want the new limited edition auto you’ll have to register with the web-based Rockstar Social Club, where you can synch your in-game stats via Wi-Fi connection

Full details on how to acquire the coveted vehicle are as follows:

(1) Become a registered Social Club member before 11:59 PM ET on May 7th 2009 (Thursday).

(2) Link your Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Nintendo DS Friend Code to your Social Club account before 11:59 PM ET on May 7th 2009 (Thursday).

(3) Sync your stats anytime after your Friend Code is linked.

After you’ve completed the aforesaid process your vehicle awaits you at the Auto Merchant in BAOBO, but you’ll also have to have completed the early mission “The Wheelman” to gain entry to the shop itself.

Head on over to Rockstar’s Social Club for more info on the weeklong promotion and further details on all Rockstar games.

Rockstar Games released patch 1.200 for their open-world schoolyard title today. The virtual band-aid improves streaming performance, as well as fixes for random lock ups and crashes that affect 64-bit Windows with over 2 GB of RAM.

Check out the official patch page for more information.

Each title is priced at the somewhat affordable 1200 MS Points ($15), but you’ll have to ultimately decide if the 2GB download is worth it or not.

If the feature film left a bad taste in your mouth (yes, even the beautiful Mila Kunis could not help), and you prefer digital to physical disc, try out these titles and either relive the glory of days past, or jump into the famed series for the first time.

Rockstar is currently working on Max Payne 3, the first offering on next-gen consoles, with a winter 2009 release date.

Xbox 360 owners start your downloads via the Xbox Live Web Marketplace by following the links below.

Max Payne

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Last week saw the release of Vehicle Pack 1, packed full with three new vehicles, but this week the ante has been upped with an additional trifecta of mighty vehicles buffed with a bonus two-wheeler.

Vehicle Pack 2, as Rockstar puts it, brings “power and status” featuring the 2008 Cadillac XLR V, the 2008 Lancer Evolution X, the 2007 Aston Martin DB9 and the bonus 2008 Ducati 1098 R motorcycle.

Vehicle Pack 2 is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and through the PlayStation Network for $2.99/240 MS Points.

In order to download the pack you must first download the free South Central expansion which adds four neighborhoods and increases the total size of playable environments by one third.

South Central Map Expansion

Vehicle Pack 1

Vehicle Pack 2

The kind folks at RockStar Games dropped us a line today, and clued us in to the frenzied multiplayer component to their precious baby.  The fifth trailer from RockStar, officially titled “Wi-Fi Mayhem” highlights the titles’ various multiplayer modes.

In total, three types of game-play are shown including the co-op defense oriented “Defend the Base,” the furious, blood-rending “Stash Dash,” and “Race Mode,” where players must put the pedal to the metal and out-drive opponents in any of Liberty City’s 20 courses.

Vehicle Pack 1 brings three new vehicles into the mix with the 2008 Audi S5 and 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL 65 AMG, alongside the 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT.  The pack will set you back $2.99/240 MS Points, or 1$ per car; how economical!

Don’t forget that in order to download these new rigs you’ll have to first download the South Central Map Expansion, but don’t fret, that add-on comes free and adds four neighborhoods increasing the playable area by one third.

And if you can hold on true for just one more week, Vehicle Pack 2, complete with even more goodies hits Xbox Live and PSN.

Both the free South Central expansion and Vehicle Pack 1 clock in it 1GB each and can be downloaded through the Xbox Live Web Marketplace by following the embedded links.

Vehicle Pack 1 will bring a slew of hot automobiles into the fray including two luxury class vehicles, an Audi S5, the Mercedes CL 65, along with the 2009 Eclipse GT.

Wait just seven more days and Vehicle Pack 2 will hit digital shelves this time with the added incentive of a pro bono two wheeler.  The second pack contains three vehicles including a Cadillac XLR V, Lancer Evolution X, an Aston Martin DB9, as well as the aforesaid free added bonus Ducati 1098 R motorcycle.

In case you’ve forgotten, Rockstar released the free South Central Map Expansion last month and is a requirement to download the additional vehicular add-on’s.

Vehicle Pack 1 and 2 will be available on PSN and Xbox Live April 16 and 23^rd at a price point of 240 MS Points/$2.99 respectively.

In addition to the free South Central map expansion also launching today, the South Central Premium upgrade (800MS Points) offers up brand new cars, more vinyls, tons of upgradeable parts, fresh beats, hydraulics, and more.

Rockstar lauds our patience as various technical issues you may remember held back the release for quite some time.

The free map expansion increases the size of the city by one third adding four neighborhoods  and the paid DLC  adds a total of 9 new vehicles, 26 races, 12 new battle maps, 10 new delivery missions, over 100 new red light races await you in the Premium upgrade.  What are you waiting for?

Start your download via the Xbox Live web marketplace here

After New York Comic Con, we covered the game in detail and claimed that it may have been the best title showcased at the convention. More time in Liberty City has done nothing to detract from that opinion, as this is easily one of the top games available from the diverse and deep Nintendo DS library. Rockstar Leeds took many aspects from Grand Theft Auto’s impressive history, combining them together with new elements to create a game that sticks with the formula you expect from GTA titles but at the same time comes off as completely refreshing and unique.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword-Yu Jian-to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console-this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically, despite being on the DS.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a directional pad; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city-I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around-and also for those who don’t want to keep an eye on two screens at once.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires-if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles-they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

Rockstar announced today that Max Payne 3 is currently in development by Rockstar Vancouver with an expected commercial release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this winter.

This latest iteration promises the same vengeful detective hell-bent on violence and action and will hopefully be more of a success than the recent film.

“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”

Details regarding the storyline of Payne 3 were vague, but R* has announced elements will include escalating danger, double crossing far from home in a new city and a desperate search for truth, oh and tons of violence.

Notable features include graphical optimization; greater user control over graphic settings, including a new “OFF” option for reflection and shadow quality; and the elimination of remapping restrictions for keyboard and mouse, allowing for user-custom control schemes.

I  must say this is excellent news, as the outcry surrounding the PC version of the acclaimed title has been significant, and it is comforting to see a respectable development studio continuing their pursuit of diligence and respectability with fans of the series on console or in this case otherwise.

Head on over here for a full breakdown of these changes, and the various tweaks and improvements in the patch.

So in order to celebrate the launch of MCLA’s first cross platform DLC release, Rockstar Games announced today a live Game with Fame event featuring the most influential DJ on the West Coast, Felli Fel, and a slew of others special celebrity and musically inclined guests.

The event will mark the beginning of the 2009 DUB Show Tour, a nationwide car show and concert series hitting 12 major cities in the US throughout the spring and summer.  The affair is being physically held in Los Angeles, but as is customary with Game with Fame events, you can partake in the festivities from the comfy, folds of your living room couch.

The Game with Fame event will take place exclusively on Xbox Live this Sunday from 1-5 PM PST, so add the following gamertags to your friends list and see what happens!

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The Midnight Club: Los Angeles South Central DLC is currently available on the PlayStation Network, however due to an “unforeseen bug” in the title update, has not found its way to the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Rockstar dropped us lines this morning letting us know that they are hard at work resolving the issue and getting the DLC up and running for Xbox 360 owners.

Hit up the Midnight Club website for more information on the DLC.

To activate Rampage mode, players must find and access any one of the city’s dozens of skulls, arm themselves, and then go to town, causing as much havoc, death and destruction as possible in the allotted time.

Of course, Huang runs into trouble, as you can see the cops chasing him in this; this is probably something you never thought you would be doing with a stylus (assuming you don’t deal drugs with a PDA in your spare time, of course), so it’s worth it to check it out.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars releases next Tuesday, March 17, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Make sure to check back for more information leading up to the release, as well as our eventual review.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in a word looks amazing.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on what was dubbed “not a final build” at Comic Con in early February and the sheer magnitude of the city, the excellent use of both screens, the attention to detail, and the hype surrounding what I could not yet play really had me excited.  Marc however, got the royal treatment from Rockstar and his full written hands-on review can be read here.

Rockstar loves marketing and promotion of their titles (looks up at various GTA posters covering walls) so it is no surprise that their first work on a Nintendo platform is receiving the royal treatment.

On the evening of March 16^th at the Nintendo World Store in New York City Rockstar are holding a launch event complete with plentiful giveaways and the beats of DJ and composer Ohno, who is featured in the title, providing the background tunes to get your launch party freak on to.

Rockstar are promising “exclusive, limited edition surprises and finery,” as well as special edition GTA Kubrick sets, fresh Grand Theft Auto apparel, and limited edition customized Chinatown Wars DS Lite systems.

If you’re in the NYC area next Monday night and are older than 17 stop on by and maybe you’ll get lucky.   The Nintendo World Store is a sight to been seen and really, experienced.

Rockstar Leeds has done something that from the outset seems impossible: they have created a Grand Theft Auto title for the DS that is as action-packed and engaging as its console cousins. Just because the game is called “Chinatown Wars” and focuses on the Triads doesn’t mean you’re stuck in that area; you will visit the other Liberty City locales you remember from GTA IV such as Dukes, Bohan, Broker and Algonquin. The world is also fully realized, as the AI citizens wandering around are not doing so aimlessly; they are all individually programmed to have lives and jobs, and if you were to follow one all day after they left their house you would see them go to work, drive to do errands, then head home at the end of the day to start it again the next one. Impressive work considering the hardware limitations of the platform, for sure.

Graphically, it looks like one of the most impressive and ambitious titles on the handheld, as Rockstar Leeds has put together the game in full 3D and without the use of repeating textures. You can rotate the camera 360 degrees, the cartoon rendering is done live and is generated in render time, and the art style used for the game is wonderful; the concept art in advertisements that you have seen is what this game’s style looks like. Chinatown Wars looks great in motion, far better than the screens have led many of us to believe.

Let’s start with the story. You play as Huang Lee, who enjoys the splendors of the Triad life without any of the bloodshed as a spoiled and rich member of the family. His father is assassinated in Hong Kong, so Lee shows up in Liberty City to deliver the Yu Jian, a sword his father says has been in the family for generations, to his uncle, who wants to use the sword’s status as a way of becoming the leader of the Triads in Liberty City. Things go awry when Lee shows up at the airport though, as he is shot in the head and dumped in the river after an ambush.

You set out to solve the mystery of your father’s assassination, in the hopes of finding out why it happened and also to secure your large inheritance. Part of what makes this inheritance portion of the story work is the fact that will not be a millionaire walking around the streets of Liberty City halfway through the game; you are going to need to perform a lot of missions in order to earn cash, and you will need that cash to get through the game. This helps keep you going and motivated to perform more missions and progress through the story.

Story is important, but you want to know more about the features, or why you should pay attention to this game when it releases. Taking the idea of the cell phone one step further, you now have use of an In-game PDA, thanks to the touch screen and the stylus capabilities of the Nintendo DS. You receive e-mails, use it as a GPS and map system, a music player, your contacts database, and as a resource for the trade-information that you will need to follow thanks to the inclusion of the in-game economy. The PDA is also used to send messages to your friends over the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, something we will get to later.

That in-game economy has to do with the drug market you have been thrown into. Huang Lee will sell drugs-six different types, actually-and prices fluctuate, meaning you need to know when and how much to sell in order to make the biggest profit. You get a boost from sales if you sell in an area surveyed by police cameras, but you can also take the cameras out as a way to help reach 100% completion.

Thankfully, if you want to remember where those cameras are, you can mark them on your map for later. Not just the cameras though, as you can mark whatever points of interest you find on the map for future reference, and then set paths to them just like you could in GTA IV. This makes gaming on the go a cinch, and also makes navigating the streets of Liberty City a breeze.

Featuring a brave, bold and truly open three dimensional world where players could come and go as they please; and their actions had deeper consequences then a game-over screen, coupled with innovative graphics and an incredibly deep branching storyline, one thing was evident – the gaming industry was growing up.  Now, nearly a decade later, the series is rewriting everything we thought we knew.  From the massive size of Liberty City, to its strikingly gritty, yet gorgeous visuals – everything about GTA IVis truly an achievement.

Fresh off the boat from Eastern Europe, Niko Bellic, GTA IV’s protagonist, is looking for a fresh start and his shot at “the American Dream.” However, the visions of an endless supply of money, women and fame his cousin Roman promised quickly fade and reality sinks in as Niko finds himself in the middle of a gang-war that will grip Liberty City by its core. Of course you’ll be stealing, shooting and killing like in previous installments of the series, butGTA IV manages to make even these series standards seem new and exciting.

Sure, Niko is the game’s poster boy, but undoubtedly GTA IV’s main character is Liberty City itself.  Yes, you’ve been to Liberty City before, but not like this – not even close. More than ever, Liberty (clearly based off New York City), is alive. From the bums in the back alleys to the suits in the financial district, Rockstar has done a great job creating a  believably rich and populated environment that seems like it could go on even without you there. You’ll get stuck in traffic, watch construction jobs go from start to completion, even establish relationships with your fellow city folk, but remember – this is GTA, and most people you meet aren’t the type to bring home to mom and dad.

Truly, GTA IV is the deepest title of the franchise, if not the entire industry has ever seen. Think of it as the love-child of The Godfather and The Sims. Like Vice City and San Andreasbefore it, GTA IV gives players the freedom to truly explore and enjoy the city around them. Feel like hitting up the local bowling alley, but don’t want to leave the house? GTA IVfeatures its own fully functional bowling-alley complete with bowling mini-game and purchasable snacks. You can go out to nightclubs (and yes, that includes those nightclubs), restaurants, amusement parks and even famous landmarks like the Statue Of Happiness; Liberty’s version of the Statue of Liberty.

Even with all of its functionality, Liberty City looks amazing. In the game’s opening moments, we’re treated to a cinematic opening that rivals that of most major Hollywood productions, and things just keep getting better from there. The city and the characters (especially in the superbly acted cut scenes), the entire world that GTA IV pulls us into is covered in a brilliantly gritty art scheme that seems to combine real life with the seedy side of New York City we see in the movies. It’s hard not to marvel at certain moments in the game – watching the sunset over the river or standing in the middle of Times Squa…excuse me, I mean Star Junction… is nothing short of breathtaking.

“Take-Two’s recent performance demonstrates our potential to create value for the long term,” said Take-Two CEO Ben Feder, adding that the company has no debt and an undrawn $140 million credit facility.
There are some in the industry who believe that the announcement is a mere formality. Pointing to the fact that no smaller company would be able to match EA’s bid (which was called “inadequate” by Take-Two), analysts believe much credit can be given to the fact that Take-Two has grown as a company since EA’s initial bid and that what happens from here will be strongly contingent on what happens with Grand Theft Auto developers Rockstar games, whose contract expires in early 2009.