Preview from Official Brazil Xbox 360 Magazine

[Asif]

Someone at GTAForums has got the chance to look at the magazine. What he could dig so far are...

- Peds were seen using cellphones and payphones.
- The reporters have found ship, boat, car, motorcycle, subway, train, helicopter, cable car and rollercoaster.
- They can call the cabs.
- Peds were seen using the hotdog stands.
- Peds from the different parts of the city will act differently.
- Swimming feature is seemingly present in the game.
- Niko can use his cellphone for services, like calling a cab. [Detailed post]
- The cellphone will contain the player's game progress and stats.

Some more points retrieved later...
- Nico can mug the peds.
- Each hour of the day will have influence on the number and behavior of the peds.
- Niko was on the streets of Broker during the demonstration was given and the time was around 8 o'clock in the morning.
- Variation in AI of peds has been worked out massively compared to San Andreas. Peds will now stop to meet with each other in the streets, ask for cigarettes, ask the time. They have got diversity in answers to all these queries.
- Yet to be said on the Police AI, it’ll be featured in the next demo (possibly the previews in next month may have mention of that!)
- R* promises to work more on improving the camera angles, seen during the demonstration.
- 'Some' of the skyscrapers are accessible to Nico. He can go up in them and push people off the buildings.
- Nico's Cell phone now will act as the peripheral structure of the missions. Nico can choose any mission contact through it, so now you won't have to travel the Liberty city to reach them.
(I haven't yet come across anything that relates the cellphone with game progress)

Here are the scans of the twelve page preview.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12

Huge thanks to Matt for sending the scans!

[monkio]

Thanks man

[Ash_735]

At least Swimming is confirmed to be in, and it sounds like they have replaced the Start Menu with the Mobile now, which is interesting.

[Slim Trashman]

Finally all the details from this magazine. Good stuff, glad to see swimming confirmed, just as a reassurance. Thanks, Asif.

[Himuro]

If the cell phone can hold you stats and stuff, doesn't it make sense that the cell phone is now the main game menu? Hopefully if this this is the case, the cell phone allows you to save anywhere as long as you're not on a mission.

[Slim Trashman]

Yeah that's what I thought as soon as I read you would be able to access your stats from there. Would be different for GTA, definitely possible.

[Asif]

I guess then quitting the game would be like turning it off and leave it on charging.

[Slim Trashman]

Well you've never actually been able to "quit" GTA via the pause menu, except on the PC versions. I love how Rockstar does this and does not include a main menu like other games. Makes you feel locked into a real world.

[T-Virus]

Nice to see that swimming will be enabled.
If you will be able to call a cab, and make it drive you to wherever on the map, I hope it will be possible to enjoy the ride from inside the car rather than just a small cutscene.

Looks like R* will put more effort in making peds interact with the environment this time round. Gotta love that.

[Slim Trashman]

Yeah I too would love to enjoy the view from inside the taxi, since vehicle interiors should be completely rendered and textured in GTA IV. Being able to swap camera modes while in the taxi, ability to bail out while in the taxi, ability to perform a drive by while in a the taxi, and being able to skip through the drive.

[T-Virus]

Originally Posted by Slim Trashman

Yeah I too would love to enjoy the view from inside the taxi, since vehicle interiors should be completely rendered and textured in GTA IV. Being able to swap camera modes while in the taxi, ability to bail out while in the taxi, ability to perform a drive by while in a the taxi, and being able to skip through the drive.

My thoughts exactly! I missed that in SA, and I really hope they thought of it.
I also hope there will be a better balance between what stuff costs and how much money you can get. Nothing should be free, but there should be a huge variety of ways to earn money.

[Jerome-]

Cool, glad to see swimming is back.

And I'm interested in the new peds actions, should be really cool.

[Havok]

damn how much longer before R* releases some actual information, other than things about the Cell phone.
i wanna know whos in it, who the other characters are, what kind of animations are gonna be in there.

[Slim Trashman]

Rockstar themselves usually doesn't release information directly to the public. Information is given by Rockstar to a news source who provides it to the public. For about another month we'll be seeing magazine previews only. Once we get into the summer, you'll be seeing new previews every week. In 2004 GameSpot had San Andreas Saturday where every Saturday they would have a new preview up based specifically on one aspect of the game. Perhaps we'll see the same with GTA IV. There's just so much more to know.

[FG]

Originally Posted by Himuro

If the cell phone can hold you stats and stuff, doesn't it make sense that the cell phone is now the main game menu? Hopefully if this this is the case, the cell phone allows you to save anywhere as long as you're not on a mission.

ok ..a way to reduce long trips to an fro/ the save house,ect; an the deal about no/or reduced load time's.
That's a plus in it's self.

Thank's Asif