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EGM previews GTA IV, exclusive interview with Sam Houser

EGM subscribers have received their April 2008 issues a bit earlier than expected, but found it to contain a new preview of GTA IV and exclusive interview with Rockstar Games President Sam Houser. There is also an interview with the "brewer of the Hot Coffee", PatrickW, on the 10th page of the preview.

Scans of the 13 page preview are available in this forum topic.

New information is noted below:

* Rumor is that Niko Bellic is inspired by a favorite driver in Rockstar's driving service.
* If cars take on too much damage, the engine may stall, requiring you to escape on foot and find a new one.
* Tapping up on the D-Pad brings up the phone where you can access text messages, an organizer, multiplayer modes, a camera, and contacts list, which becomes updated automatically as you meet people. Tapping up a second time will bring up the keypad to make calls.
* The more advanced model of the phone, including the MP3 player (radio on the go), is not added until later in the game.
* Lazlow is confirmed to return on the radio.
* Emergency vehicles respond in real time from their stations around the city. Calling the police can be a handy trick when you need to obtain a police car for a mission - pick one up at the station when no one is around.
* Again, developing relationships with people will be a crucial part of the game. The better the relationship with someone, the more you'll benefit. If you ignore someone for too long, they will start contacting you with angry messages.
* Mission dialogue varies after any failed attempts.
* Portions of the city are closed off at the beginning of the game due to a terror alert. Though Niko can visit the unlocked islands, but that will cost as a heavy increase in the heat level.
* Niko is said to be a man with no country, in the same was as Claude had been known as a man with no name.
* Niko spent time in third world prisons.
* All the ladies love Niko Bellic. Girlfriends will again play a big role in the game as a subsidiary of building relationships - although this time it will be more incorporated into the story.
* No more invisible ramps. AKA, the new skeletal-animation system will have Niko's body and specifically his feet fall naturally onto different services. (On a set of stairs, Niko will take each step, not walk up an invisible ramp). It's a subtle feature that's explosively illustrated when Niko or any NPC is run down by a car or dragged by a bumper.
* After telling Houser how much they enjoyed cooking grenades and tossing them out windows of a car, he offered a hint about the online multiplayer "I just like running up to a bunch of players with the grenade cooking in my hands and taking them all out with me."
* You can resist arrest when getting busted by tapping A/X. This however will reward you an additional wanted star.
* If you enjoyed the San Andreas multiplayer modes, then you should be a happy with GTA IV online.
* The motion sensing in the PS3 version will work in "a way that makes sense" is all Sam Houser would reveal.
* At first, the map of Liberty City was to be enormous - roughly the size of the state of New York. It seemed logical to go bigger at first, but Rockstar decided the focus should be about making the whole GTA experience larger.

In addition to this new information, three new screenshots were revealed, which you can check out below and above.