Demo Dissection (3 Editors Discuss The GTA IV Demo)

[Slim Trashman]

Sources: Games Radar , GTAForums Topic

Here's a little synopsis of the article:

It was a hotel room in San Francisco, very much like thousands of others, but with one big difference: This hotel room contained three GamesRadar editors, two representatives from Rockstar, and one Xbox 360 debug unit running a demo version of Grand Theft Auto IV. Which made it the best hotel room in all of San Francisco. There will be zillions of words written about the game in the coming months, but we thought we'd start by letting you listen in to our post-rapture brain dump.

Looks like Games Radar has kindly enough posted a discussion between all at GR who witnessed the demo going very in depth with what they saw.

... Charlie Barratt, Xbox 360 Editor: Before the camera pulled back, we were staring at Niko's face - and only Niko's face - for what felt like 10 minutes. And yet I was fascinated that entire time, watching him shift in place slightly, glance casually around and move his facial muscles. Quite a departure from the melted polygon of a head we've seen in other GTA protagonists.

Eric: True dat. And then when the camera pulled all the way back and Niko just walked out the door straight into the world, with no loading or anything, it just felt fantastic. It opens up so many possibilities for what you can do now. But Mikel's point is absolutely correct, as well. This new GTA world is super-grungey. The crumbling look of the buildings, the cracks in the pavement... if this location is really Niko's brother's place of business, he can't be doing well. This is a dump.

Mikel: Well, it's in the heart of Brooklyn, or rather its stand-in, Broker. It's not the borough with the nicest reputation, although Rockstar clearly put a lot of effort into showing us why.

Charlie: Yeah, this entry really deserves its title - "IV." The look and feel is a huge departure from previous GTA s. We're no longer in a cartoon world. It's not just that the world looks real and life like... it's that it looks lived in. You believe that real people could inhabit this world.

Be sure to read the full article here

[Avis]

sweet find lsim.. its a good read

[Himuro]

Christ. I said I would go on media black out slim, but I just can't do it. With every new preview I make it my goal to study this new info.

I'm such a fucking GTA nerd.

[Slim Trashman]

As do I

I would love to be able to black out the media for GTA some time, but it would kill me as well. I have to know ASAP, you know?

[Himuro]

Pretty much. It is a major - and I mean major - good thing that R* is only revealing 30% this time.

[Slim Trashman]

And from what we know so far, and what more is to come in the next 5 months.. there's a fucking lot that makes up the 100% of this game.

[Himuro]

Word. Even if they revealed 30% of San Andreas, that wouldn't be much. Imagine just revealing 30% of GTAIV.

[Lettermaniac]

Good find Slim, nice article.

You're right about what we know about the game. They're only gonna tell us about 30% of it. In 5 months, that's normally little but it's going to have to cover all that time. It also leaves a FULL 70% of the game for us to find out about and explore.

[Asif]

It's good to see that the guys at GamesRadar aren't talking like bunch of a**es this time, I remember how they did coverage on VCS.
And, possibly the reporters from all magazines, so far, had the first demo that starts from Broker. They probably yet to see the other boroughs.

[Himuro]

What'd they say during the VCS previews?

[Asif]

I can't exactly remember what thay had to bark about. They were more interested to make preview on next-gen games rather than a PSP-titled game. Their attitude was like they were doing a favor to R* and the GTA fans.

[Himuro]

Eric: This talk about shooting reminds me: you know what's odd? Remember when I asked if they were doing "blood"? It was a stupid thing to ask because they've had blood for ages, and they said yes, of course there will still be blood. But when I expanded the question and asked, "Will blood soak into your clothes? If a cop hears gunfire and sees you running off with corpuscles all over your chest, will he take notice? Will there be locational damage, so if I get shot in the leg, I limp and can't run?" They didn't deny or confirm any of that, but responded only, "We'll talk about that later." This indicates to me that there's at least a chance that such things might actually be in there.

Holy fucking shit! I am grinning with anticipation here!

No Lazlow? I completely didn't think of this.

Mikel: This might be a good place to mention that Rockstar told us point blank that none of the characters from previous GTAs will return for GTA IV. Not even Lazlow. They went so far as to say that all those characters were "dead," because their stories had already been told in full - although I don't know if the fanboys should take that literally just yet.

[Lettermaniac]

Originally Posted by Asif

It's good to see that the guys at GamesRadar aren't talking like bunch of a**es this time, I remember how they did coverage on VCS.
And, possibly the reporters from all magazines, so far, had the first demo that starts from Broker. They probably yet to see the other boroughs.

Yeah, infact most of the screens we've seen come from a very small section of Broker.

The one of the luxury car near the fireproofing store is the same place as the one looking along the bridge, and the Navy Yard pic of Niko in the car is just at the end of this road. I found that out by looking at the train passing over Broker and seeing the Navy Yard below. The red - bricked building that lookes down towards the bridge is near here too.

All in close proximity.

[Asif]

Yeah, most of the pics are from around the Broker bridge. But some pics like the Chinatown one came out surprisingly, it is supposed to be in Algonquin (Manhattan).

[FG]

Originally Posted by Himuro

Christ. I said I would go on media black out slim, but I just can't do it. With every new preview I make it my goal to study this new info.

I'm such a fucking GTA nerd.

@Himuro, your not alone.

Nice ST thank's30% of this City cramed with detail,almost the area size of SA...but filled with stuff omg.

Humongus.