Gaming Excellence has managed to get some very interesting information pertaining to GTA IV at the PlayStation Holiday Preview Event held in Toronto recently. While GTA IV wasn't being covered at the event, Rockstar was in attendance to show off Manhunt 2.
Now GTA IV being GTA IV, this meant that the topic eventually came up and many of the usual questions were asked, BUT Rockstar had some notable items to divulge.
Firstly, the developers have been busy testing various plots and have even considered having the entire world unlocked for the player at the start of the game. GTA veterans will know that one of the staples of previous GTA games has been locked areas that can only be accessed by progressing past certain missions or pivotal story elements.
Some fans enjoyed this system, as it gave them incentive to move through the story and continue playing the game, while other fans found the system somewhat limiting and unecessary.
Secondly, and more importantly, Rockstar is aiming for a multiplayer component to compliment the singleplayer, with up to 16 players fighting it out in various multiplayer modes.
Of course, for PC users, this won't be such a ground breaking and new experience because modifications opened the door to multiplayer Grand Theft Auto III soon after its release for PCs. For console users however, the Grand Theft Auto series has been a strictly offline affair, so the possibility of multiplayer is a huge plus and will no doubt make up for the delays in the release of GTA IV.
GTA IV is slated for release in Q1-Q2 2008 on PS3 and Xbox 360.
[via Gaming Excellence]
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From absolutely no multiplayer to a fully-featured multiplayer system is a huge leap to make for the game and work successfully IMO, I hope they're up to the challenge, it seems like an incredibly significant one.
Well thank God they finally decided to do this! I know I've always wanted to lay the smack down with and against friends from the comfort of my own room. Without using a PC (What? I can't enjoy consoles more than a PC from time to time?).