@Trains said:

Why can't the pre-order bonus be a gun :(

What gun would you prefer? I'd rather have a jet-pack! :P

If there is one game I am most excited for more than any other game it's GTA V and the resurfacing of this game lately with artwork and news of a Q2 release date just has me salivating for more. As for that guy in the first artwork if he happens to actually be an older CJ then my mind will be blown.

Dammit for a second I thought the new trailer had been released.

No trailer today, but we did get a desktop version of "Beach Weather."

If you want to use it as your wallpaper, you can choose your screen resolution here.

More info later this week. http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/46011/grand-theft-auto-v-now-officially-available-for-preorder.html

(Just a reminder that the digital issue of Game Informer releases later this week.)

@valrog Besides paid day one DLC I really don’t think there’s a problem or that the game industry is being killed. I’ve been playing game since the NES and people are always doom-saying video games. Things change it doesn’t mean the end of video games. If people want to wait for GOTY then they get a great perk (the original game with all the add-ons for the price of the original) and the publisher gets reinvigorated interest in their game. IMO these releases are great. I traded my original RRD copy and get the GOTY with Undead Nightmare and it got me to check out the multiplayer. I did the same with GTA4 and the Liberty City episodes.

I played the hell out of BL2 and can tell you the pre-order bonus was fun but didn’t impact the game much. The DLC (so far) is mediocre, just a bunch of fetch quest. The fact that Take Two offered mechromancer as a pre-order got me to buy in and I’m glad I did even though I planned to wait for the goty edition like I did with BL1.

I didn’t follow Witcher 2 but from my understanding the game publisher is responsible for setting the price of add-ons they get from the developer. Sometimes they are one and the same, or sometimes the publisher wants to independently reward the community that supports their game. I THINK THAT’S GOOD AND WANT TO SEE MORE OF THIS, either as good pre-oder bonuses for early adopters, or solid and affordable add-ons post release. When GTA5 offers a poster and a viewfinder (although these trinkets may be fun) I can’t help but look at it cynically and see a game publisher trying to do viral marketing by turning loyal fans into promotional tools.

Regarding AC3, I didn’t follow it on other consoles (I play on PS3) but people who bought a copy got 4 extra missions regardless of if they pre-ordered or not. Its available via code and I haven’t played it yet but I doubt there would be any plot holes, its probably just more side quest. I honestly can’t recall a single instance where DLC impacted my experience with main story of a game. I was pissed off by my ending in Mass Effect 3 without playing the “extended cut” dlc (even though it was free.) After looking at it on Youtube it didn’t address any of my criticisms. Despite this I still got a great experience.

To me $60 is a totally reasonable price for a good game (without any add-ons). I remember going to Toy R Us in 1988 to buy a copy of Super Mario Bros for $50. I played this game until my hands with fucking numb. That was 24 years ago and I’m paying just $10 more for a game like Borderlands 2 that I played for three times as long and had a way better time with.

After thinking about our differences for a minute I should say I’m not paying $60 to get a full story from a game. I’m paying with the expectation of having $60 worth of entertainment. If the story is full of plot holes and poor characterization that’s fine as long as I had subjectively $60 worth of fun. I remember buying Tetris when it was released before I had any idea that videogames could have a story, it was worth every penny and more. Story, graphics, or immersive environments are nice but the game better be fun.

Getting back to GTA5, I happily pre-ordered and I don’t expect anything else besides the game, most likely I’ll just give away or refuse these pre-orders, but with the ubiquitous and aggressive marketing they plan to do with this game I’m slightly insulted they think the idea of a bonus is poster and viewfinder. This game will be huge with or without a preorder, just think about how much money they are pouring into promotion. Is this money going toward rewarding the gaming experience of people who buy the game or adding to the bombastic hype machine?

I never played a GTA game but I like open-world scenarios with lots of things to do. So I will probably pick this up. I already ordered the full package version of Saints Row The Third, as people say it's like a crazy GTA.

@Morrow said:

I never played a GTA game

@AhmadMetallic: I guess I'm unusual then? :D I thought about getting GTA IV but I feel like I'm way late to the party...

@Morrow said:

@AhmadMetallic: I guess I'm unusual then? :D I thought about getting GTA IV but I feel like I'm way late to the party...

Late in what sense though? the game is from this generation and in my opinion still hold up, you should play GTA IV is a great game.

@AngelN7 said:

@Morrow said:

@AhmadMetallic: I guess I'm unusual then? :D I thought about getting GTA IV but I feel like I'm way late to the party...

Late in what sense though? the game is from this generation and in my opinion still hold up, you should play GTA IV is a great game.

Yeah but considering the size of my backlog AND the list of games I still want to get, I might as well wait for V.

@Morrow said:

I never played a GTA game

My mind can't comprehend this.

@Hitchenson said:

@Morrow said:

I never played a GTA game

My mind can't comprehend this.

Uhm... I'm a girl? Ok bad excuse, but generally speaking, without wanting to be sexist, I'd say GTA is designed to appeal to a male audience more than to a female... the whole setting didn't seem too interesting to me. Although I liked other Rockstar games like RDR and LA Noire, there was no spark for GTA.

Trailer 2 on the 14th of this month. SOON, people. SOON.

Source.

CALLED IT

@DonutFever said:

CALLED IT

Teach me your ways.

@BestUsernameEver: Really? I can't seem to enjoy playing IV these days. It's strange but the only way I can describe it is that it feels dated.

@Morrow said:

@Hitchenson said:

@Morrow said:

I never played a GTA game

My mind can't comprehend this.

Uhm... I'm a girl? Ok bad excuse, but generally speaking, without wanting to be sexist, I'd say GTA is designed to appeal to a male audience more than to a female... the whole setting didn't seem too interesting to me. Although I liked other Rockstar games like RDR and LA Noire, there was no spark for GTA.

If the over-the-top violent madness is what turned you off of GTA before, then GTA IV is the best shot of you liking a game from that series. It takes a more "serious" route with it's story and atmosphere. The game is still over-the-top violent and batshit crazy, but it's all filtered through a much more subdued lens.

@Sodacake said:

@BestUsernameEver: Really? I can't seem to enjoy playing IV these days. It's strange but the only way I can describe it is that it feels dated.

Weird, I've played inFamous, Just cause 2, all saints rows, and I still go back to GTAIV at the end of the day, something about that engine and the story pacing is just right for me.

@DonutFever said:

CALLED IT

You're not Brad Shoemaker therefore you can't call anything!

@DonutFever said:

CALLED IT

You're not Brad Shoemaker therefore you can't call anything!

@Sodacake: It pretty much is dated. It came out almost 5 yyears ago. It would have been like playing san andreas around the time IV came out I guess. San Andreas feels incredibly dated nowadays but the nostalgia that game holds in my heart is ridiculous.

@Hitchenson said:

Trailer 2 on the 14th of this month. SOON, people. SOON.

Source.

I love GTA

As Eazy E said - 'It's all about making that GTA'

@Andorski said:

@Morrow said:

@Hitchenson said:

@Morrow said:

I never played a GTA game

My mind can't comprehend this.

Uhm... I'm a girl? Ok bad excuse, but generally speaking, without wanting to be sexist, I'd say GTA is designed to appeal to a male audience more than to a female... the whole setting didn't seem too interesting to me. Although I liked other Rockstar games like RDR and LA Noire, there was no spark for GTA.

If the over-the-top violent madness is what turned you off of GTA before, then GTA IV is the best shot of you liking a game from that series. It takes a more "serious" route with it's story and atmosphere. The game is still over-the-top violent and batshit crazy, but it's all filtered through a much more subdued lens.

To be honest I don't know anything about the GTA games other that they're an open-world scenario with many activities set in a gangster milieu. I don't mind violence though.

@Morrow: You can get a new copy of GTA IV for under $20 these days, and I'd highly recommend giving it a try. If you prefer the biker or dance club nightlife milieu, you could instead pick up a copy of "Episodes from Liberty City" for about the same price (a lot of people think they're better than the main GTA IV experience).

If you've ever played and enjoyed an open world action game, you really should at least try out one entry in the series that's responsible for what that genre is today.

@DonutFever said:

CALLED IT

Teach me your ways.

@Chaser324:

Hm, I was actually pretty close to picking it up once after a working colleague of mine talked me into checking it out. I skipped it later though, because there were other games I was more interested in. But I guess I can't get around it :D

Is Liberty City an add-on/DLC or a stand-alone game? I might go all or nothing and just get both then.

@Morrow: "Episodes from Liberty City" is a stand-alone version of the DLC for GTA IV ("The Lost & Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony").

@Chaser324: Ah, I see, thank you :)

@PeasantAbuse said:

@DonutFever said:

CALLED IT

Teach me your ways.

Learn when the company's fiscal quarters begin/end and cross reference the timing of PR stuff and game releases in the past, then expect game announcements and info dumps to start when those times line up. Rockstar has a definite pattern.