"It's my first time driving" he said, "but I learned from watching dad and playing at the video arcade."

Police in Gifu prefecture received a call on Monday morning from an anxious pedestrian who had seen a car apparently with no driver - the little sod was sitting on th every edge of the seat, strainingto reach the pedals and peer over the steering wheel.

The real question of course is What game did he practice on? Knowing if there are junior GTA players on the loose could be a very different prospect to under-age Mario Kart re-enactors.

Boy, 9, sets off on drive in family car after practicing on video games [Mainichi Daily News]

Rockstar is not unsuccessful in Japan, but their success here is on a much smaller scale than elsewhere in the world market. The low Japanese sales of the sandbox-style GTA series simply do not make any sense to me.

But does it to you?

Big in Japan: Yoshiki Okamoto, Monster Hunter and cultural divides [Guardian Games Blog] [Pic]

And while Christian targeted games are nothing new — see Left Behind: Eternal Forces, Bible Adventures and Catechumen — there are some genres that escape its influence. The sandbox style crime spree, for example, popularized by Grand Theft Auto.

MTV Multiplayer asked the CEO of Digital Praise Tom Bean just how feasible a project that might be.

"It comes down to what kind of things do you want to do in that world," Bean says, noting that the developer has designs on such a thing, "But creating those kinds of games is not inexpensive." We say go for it, Tom, but lets do this Crusades-style. Keep it fun.

‘Guitar Praise’ Developer Ponders Christian ‘Grand Theft Auto’ [MTV Multiplayer]

[The Wii] didn’t feel natural to us, I guess. It really was that the DS felt like it had a lot of interesting challenges that would be totally different from what we’d done in the past. The stylus and the chance to use minigames in that way was really interesting and exciting to us, and we thought we could integrate seamlessly between those two modes. And it would be the chance to make something really good on a handheld with our handheld-focused team. That was really why we went that way. We haven’t really done any concrete, major thinking about the Wii, one way or another. They’re sort of separate issues.

That and the money, Dan. Don't forget the printing of money.

GTA: Chinatown Wars [Nintendo Power, via Nintendo Everything]

The special Xbox Live Weekend runs from Friday, September 26 through Sunday, September 28 in the United States and Canada and is only open to Xbox LIVE Gold members.

Members of the team will be online between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday to hand out ass-whoopings. There will also be a sweepstakes, which anyone can enter by registering online at www.xbox.com/causechaos before midnight on Sept. 28. You can also register by downloading the free GTA IV Live Weekend Gamer pic before the deadline. Prize packs include Rockstar gear and an Xbox 360 Elite with a 12-month Live Gold subscription card.

Another contest, held on Rockstar Games webportal Social Club, will hand out prizes to some of those who sign on to their web accounts anytime between today and September 28. Those prizes include a home entertainment system worth more than $6,000, a GTA-branded Xbox 360 and other GTA merch. Hit up the Social Club for more details on that.

Rockstar Games and Microsoft Present the Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox LIVE® Weekend

New York, NY – September 19, 2008 – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Microsoft proudly present the Grand Theft Auto IV LIVE Weekend exclusively on Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network beginning Friday, September 26 through Sunday, September 28 in the United States and Canada. This special weekend will be open to Xbox LIVE Gold members of the Xbox LIVE community.

Gamers who register for Play & Win will automatically be entered into a drawing to win exclusive prize packages just for playing with friends on Xbox LIVE. Prize packages for Play & Win include select Rockstar gear and an entry into the Grand Prize Package drawing. The Grand Prize Package includes, but is not limited to, an Xbox 360® Elite console, a 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription card, as well as 4,000 Microsoft Points!

Register for the sweepstakes online at www.xbox.com/CauseChaos before the close of the entry period on September 28, 2008, at 11:59:59 p.m. EDT or register via Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 by downloading the free Grand Theft Auto IV LIVE Weekend Gamer Picture before the close of the entry period.

Players can test their skills by jumping into multiplayer matchmaking to go toe-to-toe with the actual Grand Theft Auto IV development team. Members of the team will be online between 3:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, September 26 to play with fans.

In addition to the Microsoft contest, during this special event gamers can win exclusive prizes in Rockstar Games' Social Club contest.

Rockstar Games' Social Club online portal allows you to track your progress in Grand Theft Auto IV and see how you're doing compared to your friends. New and current members in the United States and Canada who log into their Social Club accounts between Friday September 19 and September 28 may be eligible to win a grand prize package of a home entertainment system worth over $6,000 or a runner up prize package of an exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV branded Xbox 360 and a host of Grand Theft Auto IV merchandise. For full details, eligibility, and official rules visit http://www.rockstargames.com/socialclub/events/liveweekend.

More details on the Grand Theft Auto IV LIVE Weekend and information regarding terms, conditions, and official rules are available at www.xbox.com.

The 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds face 57 felony counts of first- and second degree arson, first- and second-degree criminal damage to property and possession of explosive devices.

While the Milton (Georgia) police chief was quick to blame violent video games for the spree, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution made sure to balance to the story by interviewing someone who actually knew what they were talking about.

Lawrence Kutner, co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, disputed the police chief's claim that the firebombings were "another strong example of the serious ramifications that can come from letting impressionable teens play violent video games like this one."

"If you look at the whole population, youth violent crime has gone down dramatically since the 1990s while playing computer games has gone up exponentially," Kutner said.

"It may be that a kid attracted to criminal behavior is also attracted to violent games," he said. "You can't make the simple statement that if you expose a kid to violent games, then he'll become violent" in life.

While Kutner makes a good point, any even better one to make is that GTA never actually teaches you how to make Molotov cocktails. Use them? Perhaps. Make them? No way.

3 teens arrested in car bombings [AJC, thanks Jack] [Pic]

Meningslösa skadegörelser i blomsterlådorna [NSD Thanks, John!]

According to the UGO post, Chinatown Wars focuses on "an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city", with the player controlling "a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang."

The survey also allegedly spills details on what that Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support will be.

Four different game modes, one of them a race mode, are said to be included in GTA: Chinatown Wars. Cooperative wi-fi multiplayer is also listed as a feature.

The alleged survey also notes that the game will feature "20+ hours of straight gameplay" over the course of 70+ missions, as well as stylus-based, contextual mini-games "such as assembling a sniper rifle to complete an assassination mission, and smashing locks and hotwiring cars to steal them."

While the graphical plummet from Grand Theft Auto IV to whatever the Nintendo DS can spit out will certainly make it a strain on the eyes, we're still interested in the handheld exclusive release. If these details pan out to be true — we're checking in with Rockstar to see if they feel like confirming — we'll be in for something swell, I'm sure.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Details Revealed [UGO]

According to police, the youth wanted to find out if it was as easy to rob a real taxi as it was in Grand Theft Auto. Newspapers are reporting that the teenager didn't plan to stab the driver, but only did show when he retailiated. The teen was arrested on late Saturday when he was found trying to drive the car backwards out of a Bangkok city street. The driver was found severly wounded and in the backseat. Ladda Thangsupachai, director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Centre, scaremongers:

This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse. Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner.

The police stated the boy showed, and we're quoting Reuters, "no sign of mental problems during questioning." Meaning that the mental problems were only visible when he was stabbing a taxi driver?

Thailand halts Grand Theft Auto sales after murder [Reuters] [Pic]

Welcome to Veg City! [Official Site via Marblehead Blog via GamePolitics]

Lest you blanch at the notion of Solid Snake lumped in with Days of Our Lives or Waiting to Exhale, I would suggest to fans of Braveheart, Lost, CSI, and virtually every sports movie ever made that you are also fans of melodrama. The Call of Duty series, the Final Fantasy series, Bioshock - even significant portions of GTA IV - all rely on melodrama to deliver their experiences.

And at the center of these tales is the classic Melodrama Hero - a man (sometimes, but rarely a woman) of strength and courage who must do great deeds in an environment of heightened emotional intensity; a hero who operates within a clearly defined world of good and evil, charged with restoring order and stability from chaos. Solid Snake and Dudley Do-Right are cut from the same cloth. One may be a conflicted hero with lots more backstory (and, okay, Dudley is a cartoon caricature), but dramaturgically they function in remarkably similar ways.

I have to say I would think most people would blanch at the idea of Solid Snake lumped in with soap operas ... but he's got a point. Melodrama is a hugely effective narrative style — and the reasonably clear dichotomies we see in many narrative-driven games is one critical part in labeling them as 'melodramas,' or at least as media possessing melodramatic elements. However, I don't think the world is quite ready for the Days of Our Lives RPG. At least, I certainly hope not.

We do melodrama [The Brainy Gamer]

Take-Two must cover over a million dollars in legal fees and has agreed to a hefty charitable donation as part of the settlement, but they'll pay out just $30,000 in resolving claims with consumers. The "benefits" to consumers ranged from $5 to $35 US, with some claimants getting a decaffeinated copy of San Andreas.

Unsurprisingly, another lawyer has poked his nose into the settlement, claiming that the lawsuit has no merit. That claim is partly based on the fact that so few offended parties wanted to experience the "Hot Coffee" healing power of cash.

Adding weight to the argument that the suit has no merit, is that it appears that some of those deposed were clueless about the game's content to begin with. Killing? Well known. But stealing? In Grand Theft Auto? Who knew?!

Anyone out there file a claim? We'd like to know!

Hidden Sex Scenes Draw Ho-Hum, Except From Lawyers [New York Times - thanks, Michael!]

...I was in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I played a cracked-out rap star who had his lyrics stolen and the person that stole them became a star. So I went on crack and by the end of the game I get my reputation and my mansion back. You start off as a kid in South Central LA, you build up your rep and then you get a gang. It's definitely some crazy shit.

The Vice City games are the worst shit ever — in a good way. It's so intentionally wrong that you've got to get into it. You go, "Oh my God, if I'm out of money I just rob a liquor store." Inside this world, all the things that you think about, you can do. Does that make you want to do it in real life? No. To me it diffuses it. People say video games make kids violent. I don't think so. It can be an outlet for that aggression. It's a masculine thing. Human beings have some weird blood lust, it roots back to us being animals. It's ill, though.

Somebody knows what they are talking about and that somebody is Ice-T.
How Music Saved [Guardian]

Now, though, Houser tells the WSJ that in the event of an acquisition by EA, Houser wouldn't mind being "a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond."

The "talent" at Rockstar, as they're called internally, make star-caliber money and might find EA's more traditional pay structure jarring. In 2005, a particularly strong year, Take-Two paid royalties of $84 million, according to company filings. The bulk of funds, say people familiar with the matter, went to Mr. Houser and other Rockstar executives. If EA succeeds in acquiring Take-Two, some analysts believe EA's star developers might demand a bigger share of game proceeds.

Another possible kink: Rockstar's history of autonomy. If EA ends up with Take-Two, Mr. Houser says it's unlikely that he would go so far as to seek EA's approval for game content. Still, he calls Mr. Riccitiello "the real deal" and sees some appeal in an EA alliance, which he says would make Rockstar a "much smaller fish in much bigger pond."

"I'm not someone who has any kind of problem with that," says Mr. Houser, who says EA turned him down for a job in the late 1990s.

N'Gai delved into the multiplayer aspect, too. He's looking to DLC and other online buildout to really deepen the game. "Once the Scotsmen absorb all the feedback from the millions of gamers who take the plunge into its online experience, we have no doubt that something special is in the offing," he writes.

Naturally Rockstar pumped N'Gai for the possibility of being covered in Newsweek, hard copy. (His reply: "Stay tuned.")

Partying Like A Rock Star, and Reflecting on Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer With Rockstar [Level Up]

Our GTA IV review is going live tomorrow morning, 9 AM Pacific/12 PM Eastern in the easy-to-read Kotaku style. After that, expect a handy platform comparison, in which we talk about how GTA IV performs on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Yes, I've played both quite a bit, so I hope you'll find my nitpicking informative. See you tomorrow!

Our coverage is live:
Grand Theft Auto IV Review: Life, Liberty City And The Pursuit Of Happiness
Which Version Of GTA IV Should You Buy? We Compare The PS3 and 360 Versions
SIXAXIS Brings Nothing to GTA IV (But Frustration And Burning Helicopter Chassis)

GamesRadar has an amusing tribute to one of the most indispensable classes in the GTA franchise, the hooker. I'll have you know — this is written with as serious a face I can muster — I've never killed one. Ever. I consider it a point of pride that I never, even to see the outcome, lowered myself to the top-of-mind stereotype everyone has of a GTA gamer. Nor do I kill the cops. Unless I have 3 stars and have been separated from a burning vehicle. But I digress.

GamesRadar's beauty pageant covers the ladies of the previous three titles, complete with screengrabs and pulled quotes. Funny Bunny is tattooed on my mind from the hours spent combing VIce City for special packages. And for Contestant 10, I mean this in the nicest way, I dated a woman who had a similar hairstyle and I recall both fondly. And fondlingly.

So, here they are, Misses Liberty City, Vice City, Los Santos, Las Venturas, San Fierro, etc. ...

Grand Theft Radar: Hooker Beauty Contest

The embargo for our official review and other hands-ons, impressions, comparisons, stories and whatnots doesn't lift until Sunday (10 a.m. Crecentral), but the package of stories I wrote for the Rocky Mountain News ran this morning. The story for the paper is geared for a much more mainstream audience, so I'm not sure how much you all will get out of it, but here's how it wraps up.

In Grand Theft Auto IV the story isn't just an amalgam of cut scenes and cleverly written dialogue, it's the experiences I create, too. It's now, watching Niko stand, his shoulders slumped, that the depth of this game finally hits me.

Niko's journey, the one crafted by Rockstar, may have ended, but Niko's adventures in the story I am creating have just begun.

If you're looking for something to pass your time that is, I believe, free of any major story spoilers, than hit up the link.

I was happy to see that the story not only took over the entire front page of the feature's section, but even got a mention on the front page of the paper. Too bad they went with a headline that sorta highlights the violence of the game. I suppose they would have done the same thing for blow-out coverage of a movie like Once Upon a Time in America.

Grand Theft Auto: A Brutal New World and What the developer of Grand Theft Auto IV champions [Rocky Mountain News]

It's filled with fun, imaginative activities like word searches, coloring and a quick primer on gang signs. The Minus World, you had us at the Mouth sticker. Good times.

Grand Theft Auto IV Activity Book For Kids [The Minus World]

April 23rd 2008: Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCE Aust.) today confirmed the release of an official Grand Theft Auto IV bundle exclusively for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™).The bundle, available on May 1, 2008, will consist of a PLAYSTATION®3 40GB model, a SIXAXIS™ wireless controller and a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest title in the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise, all for just $749.95 (RRP).

"We are delighted to offer the millions of PS3 and GTA fans the ultimate gaming package," said David Reeves, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) is the eleventh, upcoming installment of the best-selling Grand Theft Auto video game franchise.

We are delighted to offer the millions of PS3 and GTA fans the ultimate gaming package.

23/04/2008 10:08 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) Confirms Official Grand Theft Auto® IV bundle Grand Theft Auto® IV to be bundled with 40GB PLAYSTATION®3

April 23rd 2008: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today confirmed the release of an official Grand Theft Auto IV bundle exclusively for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™).The bundle, available on April 29, 2008, will consist of a PLAYSTATION®3 40GB model, a SIXAXIS™ wireless controller and a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest title in the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise, all for just €439 (RRP).

"We are delighted to offer the millions of PS3 and GTA fans the ultimate gaming package," said David Reeves, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) is the eleventh, upcoming installment of the best-selling Grand Theft Auto video game franchise.

ENDS

It would be pretty dope to be a Tomb Raider, or Resident Evil type-character. Fuck it, let's go all the way: they put Jenna in GTA VC, why not put me in the GTA universe somewhere? But I'd have to be able to kick some ass...strapped with two MP5K's and a black and grey skintight outfit.

We are happy to tell you it's neck and neck, but at the moment, PlayStation 3 is currently in the lead.

Now here's a familiar story, modder cooks up something and gets in legal trouble, although it's usually from the software publisher. In this case, "unauthorised use of a police uniform" is an offense under New Zealand's Police Act. And even though it's unclear whether this really fits the definition of that offense, the cops are looking at their options. A cop spokesman said the police are looking into the matter.

Honestly, what the fuck is it with Australasia and Grand Theft Auto? I'll just leave it at that. I've never been to either Australia or New Zealand, but crikey, their collective pants-wetting over American video games, this series in particular, makes them look like the schoolmarms of western democracy.

Gamer's Real Brush with the Law [stuff.co.nz.] [pic by Robert Kitchin, The Dominion Post]

Not the kind of spoilers that ruin missions or stories. This is more like a hands-on discussion of the game's feel and environment. But if you want to go into this game wide-eyed, jaw-dropping at the depth and complexity of the world you'll be living in for the next three to six months, especially if you're employed, then do not follow the jump.

I think you can still listen to this and be blown away by the game, but if you're sensitive to this sort of thing, you have been warned.

Clip one is the juicy spoiler clip. I'm not even going to mark timestamps because there's really no nonspoiler material. You either want to listen to it or not. Here's some highlights:

• Apparently Anthony Cumia appears in this game as an Italian gangster, and even sings in it.

• Pisswasser — "cheap German beer brewed for export only" — is the game's leading beer brand. They play the radio ad for it at 1:40.

• There will be an "in-game Internet" that sounds astoundingly deep, with spoofs of blogs and news sites, including conservative and liberal themed news sources. They'll report directly on the mayhem you cause, and have annoying pop up banners for shows like "America's Next Top Hooker." There is also "Craplist," a Craigslist spoof that emulates CL's notorious personals — right down to hooking Niko up on in-game dates, Lazlow says.

Part II is a little more generic and doesn't really give much away, devoting the opening to hating on the Wii. They're playing it in the studio and calling out some of the gameplay details. Lazlow says there have been discussions of "light concepts" for a sequel but nothing solid yet. O&A, naturally, encourage a rural-based GTA so you can do unnatural acts with chickens.

Some of my favorite Lazlow comments (because they hit close to home).

• "It's OK when you're obsessed with 'The Wire,' but people think it's wrong when it's a video game." (so true.)

• "My problem is, I tend to drink when I play, and playing Call of Duty drunk does not go well, especially when some 15-year-old knifes you in the back."

I've linked the YouTube audio, as the O&A site apparently requires you to listen to the entire show via Audiobooks or something.

Part One (8:57)

Part Two (9:25)

Lazlow Jones Interviewed on Opie & Anthony, April 18. [YouTube user k2dart, via Reddit]

I see conferences and talks on the future of games and design, and the true integration and collaboration of games with other media, and many of these ideas are sound, genuinely intriguing, and some of them are even possible to implement. Yet, where are they?

There are so many fantastic ideas out there not getting realized ....

That's the big question. How do you take that plunge? I can't count how many people I've talked to who have great ideas for games, or who had better concepts for sub-par games that were eventually released. Why don't their games get made? Too daunting? Too many bosses? .

Why Do Good People Make Bad Games? [Gamasutra]

The new modes, all described in detail on the jump, include Team Mafiaya Work, Team Car Jack City, Turf War and Race.

Hit the jump for a run down of the ones we already have heard about as well.

Newly Detailed Modes
Team Mafiaya Work: (2 to 8 teams) You're a member of a crew doing contract work for the mafiya—including such plum gigs as escorting wanted men, picking up MacGuffins and stealing cars. Work as a team to complete contracts before the time period ends and get the rewards. You'll probably want to do your best to scupper the other crew's work as well. Each contract you complete gives your team cash, and the crew with the most cash at the end of the round wins.

Team Car Jack City: (2 - 8 teams) Cars spawn parked around the map and the teams must steal then and take them to a drop off point. Teh cash teams get for dropping of stolen vehicles depends on their condition—teams get less cash the more damaged they are. The exception to this are special bonus cars, stuffed with drugs, which five a set amount of cash on delivery no matter how damaged they are. Your crew has to get hold of whatever vehicles the boss wants. Whichever crew makes the most money wins. Simple.

Turf War: (2 teams only) A timed capture-the-base mode. There are a number of bases around the map that you have to take by stand on on them for a short period of time. The more players that are on a base, the faster it can be captures. The more bases that your team owns, the faster your team's cash score increases. If the rival gang is on or near a base, you won't be be able to take control of it—so do what you can to try and... displace them. The team with the most cash at the end of the round wins.

Race: Race to the finish through each checkpoint in order. If you take a wrong turn or mess up in some way, you can respawn your vehicle on the last checkpoint you passed. There is a large selection of races for cars, boats , and helicopters—you can choose laps and vehicle class/type. This mode has two sub-modes: Free Race and Cannonball Run.

Free race are point-to-point races. First one to reach the end point inws.

Cannonball Run are races where you have to reaverse several checkpoints any way you can.

Modes we knew about
GTA Race: Rockstar North's twist on the concept of a race. Host selects vehicle type (each racer selects his or her specific vehicle after that), race, number of laps, and time limit. Despite ordered checkpoints, players can go anywhere in the city at any time. Do you want a straightforward race from start to finish or do you want to create a roadblock and shoot rockets at your fellow racers? The choice is yours - each player does it slightly differently. 16 players max.

Cops N Crooks: 2 teams, 2 vastly different goals. The cops can see the crooks on their radar but the the crooks can only see the escape point making this the ultimate cat and mouse situation. For the first time, players can get a chance to be on the other side of the law in a Grand Theft Auto with Cops n' Crooks. A team of "crooks" need to get their boss to safety, as the team of "cops" pulls out every trick in the book to try and stop this from happening. Again, 16 players max.

Hangman's NOOSE: Co-op in Grand theft Auto IV is a 4 person affair. Each mode is a short, story-based mission you must complete with your friends. In Hangman's NOOSE you must get crime boss to an extraction point alive. First, several of Liberty City's finest need to be dealt with and then transport must be secured. Will you take Kenny to safety in an armored car? How about a motorcycle or attack chopper? The choice is all yours.

Team Deathmatch: Classic deathmatch done Grand Theft Auto style. Go anywhere, do anything: the whole city is yours. 16 players max, teams can be made in any configuration. Weapons on the ground can be configured by the host. Capitalism rules here: the team with the most money in the end is the winner.

If you are up for long reads check out all of our impressions of GTA IV so far:

Hands on With GTA Multiplayer: City of Chaos
GTA4 Hands-On: The World is Yours
Rockstar Experimenting with Episodic Content
GTA IV: Reinventing a World
Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer Fact Sheet

Supports up to 16 players in all adversarial modes except co-op, which is a maximum of 4

Players are ranked from 0-10, picking up money in multiplayer increases rank

Options in each mode are dictated by the host - among the options they can change are location of the matches (can be entire city, one borough at a time, or even small sections within the borough), types of weapons available, time of day, weather, use of auto-aim, police presence, NPC presence, and tons more.

GTA Race sees the host choosing the class of automobile, each player can choose a car within that class. Races can include helicopter and boat races as well.

Multiplayer Modes:
Team Deathmatch
Classic deathmatch done Grand Theft Auto style. Go anywhere, do anything: the whole city is yours. 16 players max, teams can be made in any configuration. Weapons on the ground can be configured by the host. Capitalism rules here: the team with the most money in the end is the winner.

GTA Race
Rockstar North's twist on the concept of a race. Host selects vehicle type (each racer selects his or her specific vehicle after that), race, number of laps, and time limit. Despite ordered checkpoints, players can go anywhere in the city at any time. Do you want a straightforward race from start to finish or do you want to create a roadblock and shoot rockets at your fellow racers? The choice is yours - each player does it slightly differently. 16 players max.

Cops N Crooks
2 teams, 2 vastly different goals. The cops can see the crooks on their radar but the the crooks can only see the escape point making this the ultimate cat and mouse situation. For the first time, players can get a chance to be on the other side of the law in a Grand Theft Auto with Cops n' Crooks. A team of "crooks" need to get their boss to safety, as the team of "cops" pulls out every trick in the book to try and stop this from happening. Again, 16 players max.

Hangman's NOOSE
Co-op in Grand theft Auto IV is a 4 person affair. Each mode is a short, story-based mission you must complete with your friends. In Hangman's NOOSE you must get crime boss to an extraction point alive. First, several of Liberty City's finest need to be dealt with and then transport must be secured. Will you take Kenny to safety in an armored car? How about a motorcycle or attack chopper? The choice is all yours.

Would this be the last GTA, I wondered. The insider was quick to say no, even after I pointed out that I had watched a chunk of the single-player campaign, which impressed me, but didn't seem to include any giant leaps forward for the franchise.

"Did you see multiplayer?"

"No."

"Just wait."

After spending a morning at Rockstar late last month, playing around with Grand Theft Auto IV's single player campaign, the guys walked me to the room next door to check out Grand Theft Auto's first real take on multiplayer.

Over the course of several hours I had a chance to check out five multiplayer modes, including a short co-op campaign, out of what is rumored to be the game's more than dozen multiplayer modes.

I was happy to find that Grand Theft Auto has most definitely not jumped the shark.

I was initially disappointed when I discovered that my expectations, no matter how unreasonable, that GTA IV would let you play through the entire campaign with a friend weren't to be met. But that was short lived.

The sheer level of customization in the game, the wild variety of play, and the unsurpassed size of the maps made the lack of a full co-op campaign seem like an afterthought.

To start playing a multiplayer game you bring up Niko's cell phone in the single player campaign and, using the in-phone menu, select multiplayer. So you can drop into one of these sessions whenever you want.

While you can't play as Nikko, the campaign's main character, you can customize your own character, creating someone by choosing male or female and then selecting among four different heads, four torsos, four legs and several types of glasses and hats.

All but one of the multiplayer modes supports up to 16 players. (The co-op missions only support up to four.) The host has an amazing array of options that they can control. While setting up a game, the host can choose to modify the routine, like re-spawn times, weapon selections and friendly fire, or the unusual, like the time of day, the weather, how heavy the traffic is or how many people are on the street. You can even control police presence in your matches.

While the game allows you to select parts of the map to play in, choosing specific boroughs, smaller neighborhoods, or areas like the airport, it doesn't prevent players from roaming the entire city during any given match. Instead the respawns and weapon drops only occur in those areas.

While the high level of customization adds a lot to the experience, I was just as wowed by some of the little things built into multiplayer, like the ability for players waiting in a lobby to turn on their radio and listen to GTA's soundtrack.

Deathmatch
My first experience with GTA 4 multiplayer was deathmatch and team deathmatch.

Instead of winning with kill counts, both of these modes look at your cash total to see who won the match. Cash is earned by killing members of the other team and you can get extra cash by darting out to collect the money they drop when they die.

The controls were solid, as I've mentioned before, but what made this deathmatch feel so different was that it felt like it was taking place in a living, breathing world. People were walking around, there were cars to be stolen. You can actually load up a car with your entire team and try to drive-by the other team mates. You could even, if you felt like it, take off to parts unknown, areas on the map nowhere near where the action was taking place.

Deathmatch was fun, and the added twist of an open world and a huge map, definitely upped the value, but it was still deathmatch.

Cops N Crooks
The next mode we played was Cops N Crooks, a variation on your typical deathmatch mode where you have to find and take out the bad guys.

The team playing as cops can see the crooks on their radar, but the the crooks can only see the escape point on the map and don't know where the cops are until it's almost too late. The mode has two derivations: In All for One you need to kill the boss, played by one of the crooks. In One for All everyone has just one life and once the crooks are dead the cops win.

There were some really nice touches to the game that made this stand out from some of the other modes I've played in shooters. For instance as the bad guys, you can give each other waypoints on the live map, allowing one player to drive and another to navigate.

We also played matches were the bad guys split up into two groups, doubling the chance for the boss to get away because we weren't sure which group he was with.

Lots of fun, plenty of potential, especially when you factor in that this all still takes place in GTA's open world.

GTA Race
This was the mode I least wanted to play, but came in as one of my favorites to mess around with. Imagine Mario Kart in a real world, with real cars. Now add machine guns, pistols, rocket launchers, Molotov cocktails, in fact every weapons in GTA. Now, let people get out of their cars and do whatever they want to win, or prevent other people from winning. Wow, just wow.

This mode lets the host choose vehicle types before a race, the race course, time limit and number of laps. Sure the game has checkpoints, and you need to hit them, or most of them, to complete a lap, but being the fastest doesn't get close to guaranteeing a win.

In our introduction to the mode, myself and Newsweek's N'gai Croal were burning around the course, which I believe took place near GTA's Central Park, when we came to a stone archway we absolutely had to go through to complete the lap. Problem was, there were cars, lots of cars blocking our way. By the time I had assessed the situation, one of the other players ran up to me and killed me at the wheel.

The race quickly devolved into a deathmatch until we realized that Croal had nosed his car through the wreckage and was burning through the laps. In another race, this one taking place at an airport complete with moving planes, I didn't bother trying to speed through the course and instead clamored on top of an airport gangway with a rocket launcher and just waited. When people came by I blew up their cars. Meanwhile Rockstar's Jeronimo Barrera was taking great pleasure trying to mow down Croal in what looked like a golf cart.

From what I played of it, GTA Race could easily be a standalone game, something that would occupy a gamer's attention for months.

Hangman's NOOSE

The final mode we played was probably the most impressive. Hangman's NOOSE is Rockstar's answer to a story-driven campaign mode. Instead of allowing players to complete chunks of the single player campaign with a friend, the developers decided to create side missions, featuring ancillary characters, that can be played as a group with a total of four people.

Rockstar declined to say how many of these co-op missions the game will ship with, but I'd think it would come with more than the one and I'd bet that the 360 DLC will be all about this mode.

The mission we played was Hangman's NOOSE. In it you're asked to rescue a crime boss from an army of police who are picking him up on the runway of the airport. The missions started out on the runway and as we shot it out with cops, two more armored SWAT trucks drove up, unloading more and more cops.

The first play through was pretty succinct, we grabbed the armored truck, got the boss in it and tore across the city to our extraction point while the city's entire police force mobilized to stop us.

The second play through didn't go nearly as well.

A Rockstar developer took the wheel of the armored car again, and another rode shotgun. Croal hopped into the back to shoot at pursuing cops. I opted to swipe a helicopter that was on the runway and followed the wagon as it entered the interstate, trying to gun down the stream of cop cars in pursuit.

Then it happened: Croal was shot. The hit didn't kill him, but it did knock him from the truck which continued to speed toward the drop off point. Soon Croal was surrounded by cops on the middle of an interstate. I turned my chopper around and told Croal I was coming for him. Landing the copter in a nearby clearing, I got out to try and find Croal, but he had snatched a car and was already out of the police infested area.

I ran back to my copter only to find its rotors had been snapped off during my crap landing next to a copse of trees. The whole thing ended with me being gunned down by a phalanx of cops as I ran down the interstate toward the distant extraction point, and the whole team losing.

The missions was actually very straight forward, lacking almost completely in narrative and pretty short, but that works in GTA IV. It works because the game, especially in the multiplayer modes, seems to be providing you a way to create your own experiences.

I could replay Hangman's NOOSE a dozen times and not get tired of it, mostly because each time through created a different experience. It's so open ended that they story you play, as with single player, often seems like your own.

I've certainly not played enough of Grand Theft Auto IV to being able to say whether the game will live up to mounting expectations, but I can certainly say that Rockstar hasn't been caught resting. This game, and it's unusual and varied take on multiplayer gaming isn't packed with obvious innovations, but it still manages to innovate where it counts most: In storytelling.

Playstation 3 Basenhet - Black 40GB - Grand Theft Auto IV (4) Bundle [Webhallen] Thanks Alex!

Hopefully, our brothers and sisters south of the equator will be able to import from regions far and wide to enjoy all of the original naughtiness. For a quick history lesson on the content edited history of Grand Theft Auto in Australia, hit up the source.

GTA IV edited for Australia [Sydney Morning Herald's Screen Play - thanks, Matt!]

One might also suspect that, when the game is finally release, opportunistic, fear mongering elected officials, clueless mainstream media and glory seeking attorneys may find extra content not listed, including Virtual Rape, Cop Killing, Overt Racism, Gerbil Abuse, Being On Someone's Lawn and Buggery. We're looking forward to a fun ride.

We never anticipated how this thing was going to be blown out of proportion by the mainstream media and the politicians...

I'm still proud of finding and uncovering the [Hot Coffee] scenes - because of all the work and research it took... When I look back at it, I think [Rockstar] should have reacted differently, but I don't hold a grudge at all.

OK, he didn't actually say that last part.

Hot Coffee Rewind: Famed Dutch Modder Talks to EGM [GamePolitics]

"It's harder to distinguish between main and side missions - there are loads of both. But there are more main missions than side missions. It's not as clear cut as it used to be because of the phone."

GTA 4 Will Take Roughly 100 Hours To Complete [Videogamer.com, via GamePro]

GTA , GTA II and Street Fighter Alpha coming to PSN [PlayStation Community via Maxconsole]

We were perplexed, yesterday, while listening to Larry Hryb's special mid-week interview with Don Mattrick, when we heard the Microsoft Entertainment boss seem to say that the Xbox 360 was not only getting exclusive downloadable content, but that online multiplayer support was also exclusive to the 360.

I'm really excited with GTA IV's downloadable content and online multiplayer support, again that's something that's unique to 360. We think consumers are gonna love that. It's gonna create what I would describe again as the premium experience on our platform.

It was weird to hear Mattrick seemingly bunch together those two things into a sentence about things unique to the 360. After doing some digging we found that it wasn't the first time Microsoft has made it sound like only the 360 is getting the online GTA play. To clear it up we contacted Rockstar, which was quick to respond, crushing the rumor, and perhaps Microsoft's hopes, under the heel of their steel-tipped boots.

"To answer your question, the PS3 version of the game will indeed have online multiplayer just as the 360 version does. "

Microsoft playing loose with the language or a genuine mistake? We'll probably never find out.