GTA IV PC Reviewed by PC Gamer UK

GTA4.net is reporting that GTA IV PC has been reviewed by PC Gamer UK, giving it 92% and their "Must By" badge. daxlax, a user from GTAForums.com has provided a summary of the 6-page review.

• Keyboard and Mouse feels effortless to drive with, there seems no issues with this combo in general (mouse obviously being brilliant to aim with).
• Wall hugging bugs from console has made it to PC - When up against certain walls or cars you still sometimes can't always peak around to shoot which causes some frustration to the player.
• Bizarre decision has been made regarding multiplayer - You need to log into Rockstar's Social club AND Windows Live to be be able to log into the game online.
• Game looks amazing with a Dual Core and a 8800 card. It did have some major framerate wobbles, "nothing fatal though" insists the reviewer.

Lost and Damned Screenshots & Logo

Hot off the heels of todays Lost and Damned news - Rockstar has release 4 screenshots and the official logo.

Visit the GTA IV gallery for more Lost and Damned screenshots!

GTA IV DLC "The Lost and Damned"

USA Today have a scoop on GTA IV's long awatied (and long delayed) episodic downloadable content titled; "Episode 1: The Lost and Damned". Little has been released about the downloadable content, which carries the title "Episode 1", which could simply there will be several episodes of downloadable content.

You play Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost, who you hear mentioned on the radio and throughout several missions in GTA IV. Although not a main character Niko will make a cameo appearence or two although the game is set to show a "Different side of Libery City"

To take a quote or two from Dan Houser;

"Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background," says Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games. "I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."

"The story is not directly impacted by decisions you took in the main game," he says. But "tons of details and mysteries from the main story get explained, so it will add a lot of color to the main story"

Although there has been no official word on cost GamePro Media features editor Dave Rudden hope the new content will cost $15 or less, however, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter expects a $20 price and says Rockstar could sell 2 million to 3 million downloads.

To be honest I could see the content being around the $20 mark as "The Lost and Damned" should add several hours of additional gameplay.

GTA IV release date confusion?

So it's just 2 weeks until GTA IV is released on the PC. Naturally there are the usual visual enhancements, the prospect of modding, and the new replay feature to look forward to. This is all good and well but it seems that Videogamer247 claim that Rockstar are going for a December 3rd worldwide release, however, GTA4.net got in touch with a representative from Rockstar who said the game was still set for a December 2nd release in the US and a December 3rd release in the EU.

If anything changes we shall keep you posted.

Install GTA IV with New Xbox Experience

Chances are, if you are an Xbox 360 gamer, you will have downloaded the NXE update that has been filling up the blogosphere for the past few months. Asside from being able to create a funky avatar (see Mr. MattzeUK on the right) you can also install many of your games to your hard drive to allow for faster load times, and a quieter performance from your Xbox 360.

The installation takes around 10 minutes, and 6.8 GB of your hard drive. If you want to find out how to install GTA IV on our hard drive then check out the Xbox 360 section.

GTA IV Replay Editor Interface

Earlier today we posted an update from the official site to the tune of 8 new screenshots and a few videos showcasing the excepionally high quality of the videos produced by the new replay editor. Well we also have a few screenshots of the interface that you will use to create and edit these gameplay videos.

For the full set check out the GTA IV media page.

New GTA IV PC Screenshots and Video Editor Information

Rockstar have today released 8 new images and several videos that have been created using the built-in video capture and editor facility in GTA IV PC. The videos, one of which is featured below, are of an exceptionally high standard which suggests that new feature may live up to expectations.

The new screenshots show nothing new but they are offensively high-resolution, in a good way.

Click the images to view larger versions, or check out the GTA IV media page for the full list of new screenshots.

GTA IV PC coming to Steam

A few months back (Almost a year infact) we reported that GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas were all available on Steam. (If the title didn't give it away) GTA IV PC will be coming to Steam - December 2nd (US) and December 3rd (EU).

If you are considering getting GTA IV, and are a user of Steam then head on over to the Steam GTA IV page.

GTA IV PC Box Art Rear

The rear of the GTA IV PC boxart has ben released on Tesco's website. The excusive PC content reads;

• Stunningly detailed, high resolution graphics.
• Video editor allows you to capture in-game footage to share.
• 32 person multiplayer with Custom Match feature for an optimised experience.
• Customize a radio station using your own songs with Independence FM.

Full credit for the news goes to PlanetGrandTheftAuto and GTAGaming.

Chinatown Wars, more than just... Chinatown?

Spanish Magazine Hispana is reporting that Chinatown Wars will allow players to explore the entire map featured in GTA IV (Duke, Bohan, Broker, and Algonquin) from GTA excluding only Alderney, which I found to be the least interesting of the game's boroughs (Although technically it is a seperate state).

Hispana also mentioned a few new features; players will be able to whistle into the microphone to hail cabs and the PDA, GPS and radio are all touch-screen based.