How Grand Theft Auto Hijacked The Entertainment Industry

Thanks to two English brothers - and with a little help from Max Clifford - Rockstar's 'sick' video game is now a cultural behemoth. As fans line up for a new fix with GTA 5, Tim Martin asks: what went so right?

[Angels3785]

It encompasses everything about entertainment all in a satirical fashion!

[ATi_Elite]

GTA provided gamers with so much to do and explore in a free roam open world sandbox like NEVER before.

Also GTA pretty much has the BEST story and best characters of any game.

Last but not least the Mini Games are fantastic. You will find yourself doing 50 hours of mini games.

Oh and the cherry on top: The Hookers! Picking them up Never gets old.

[Crazay]

Further to the hookers, you can enjoy lap dances and interact with the girls during said lap dances. There was one part of the game that I just finished last night that struck me as a surprise that the ESRB allowed. I'm sure that one the mainstream media catches wind of it, it's going to be plastered all over the news.

[ATi_Elite]

Let me guess: Happy Ending?

[Crazay]

Uhmmm.... let's say it involves a towel and water... Or a battery... Or pliers...

[SolidStoner]

All people who still comments on GTA5 articles still dont have it... damn.. so am I...

Soon N4G will become a desert!

[Bathyj]

3 hours 37 minutes

[ab5olut10n]

17h1m and counting

[ufo8mycat]

Goodbye to COD being the highest selling game.
GTA V will surpass it.

[M-M]

As much as that should happen, it probably won't.

[Thatguy-310]

What made GTA so successful was the act of creating controversy because of what you can do on an open world game. GTA having the BEST story and characters of any game is laughable. Can think of better games with a better story and characters.

[boing1]

And yet you didn't name one.

[xPhearR3dx]

If you say Uncharted, please shoot yourself now.

[OhhWerd]

I think he meant to put can't think

[Polysix]

Sadly it's not cutting it for me on current gen, I played it last night (PS3 version).

The game has massive vision but the tech isn't there, just like I said some months ago and was downvoted. Frame Rates are appalling, enough to affect gameplay and give you a headache. Aliasing is just as bad as GTA IV on PS3 was, and it is also obviously upscaled again too. I accept all these faults on this aging hardware but I don't accept Rockstar pulling one over potential customers by posting loads of high res bullshots and tweaked smooth videos only to relieve the millions of X360 and PS3 owners of their cash to then double dip them on next gen/PC.

I await a PC version because I can't play this game as it stands now on PS3 (And I hear X360 is even worse), even if it does look good in places. I prefer a consistent frame rate or at least to never dip down so far as to actively make things like driving a chore rather than fun.

It will sell bucket loads but I and many others will await it released on systems that can do Rockstar's vision justice (same applied to GTA IV and only now are top end PCs capable of that!)

Commence downvoting from those who pretend to not care (and haven't played it yet) fingers in ears time I guess but for the amount this game is going to make it's really bad that it's hiding it's performance problems upfront for a massive cash grab while we ALL Know they have PS4 and PC builds behind the scenes...

[ufo8mycat]

You are obviously really sensitive to frame rates. Thing is, not everyone is, or at least are at different levels.

I've seen enough 720p captures of people playing this game, to conclude the framerate, for me, is not that bad at all and is graphically a huge step up

I am not sensitive to things like this so it won't be effecting me.

720p footage of person playing on 360
https://mega.co.nz/#!EtNFFZ...

Good enough for me

[Stsonic]

It sounds like you played it on a massive 60" screen or something and all the colors were washed out. Hopefully the frame rate is not bad as you think and you are just used to a solid 60fps in every game.

When I play PS3 on a 1080p panel anything above 40" it does look washed out, stretched and very blurry. This is why I like to play PS3 on a 720p 32" TV.

Even so, why hijack this thread with negativity? The game is not out yet and I am sure a lot of people waiting for the game would have preferred not to read your comment. Does the article say anything about the games performance... NO.

[Crazay]

I'm playing it on a 92" projector screen.

[Crazay]

I agree, it's surprising just how pretty this game is but there are moments where I notice a considerable amount of slow down and textures popping in. I do hope a next green version is forthcoming but I've been loving every second of the game so far

[Polysix]

Why do I need footage of people playing it? It's completely different watching someone else playing it as YOUR brain doesn't have the lag between controller input and visual update. I thought it looked ok in videos too but hands on with a controller? no. And I'm not talking occasional slowdown, but constant slowdown - panning the camera around skips massive chunks to try to reach 30fps which in itself is just as bad as a low frame rate. overall it feels very jittery. And it's not just in cars that it's obvious, even walking or interacting on foot has a softness about it due to frame skipping (the physics must also be capped at a very low frame rate to save power).

I would advise anyone not to be a fanboy, not to defend things they haven't played themselves yet - I know it's easy to do, I know it's human nature to want the best from your purchase but I'm saying the power just isn't there in these consoles to make it even enjoyable let alone realise their true vision. I'm not too depressed about that as I already knew they wouldn't and will patiently wait for a PC or PS4 version next year, no big deal, rather than that suffer the horrible controls and feel brought on by what looks to be sub 20fps speed at times.

On top of the bad frame rates, the aliasing is shocking, even for PS3. You can barely make out detail in the distance when driving at speed due to the upscaled blocky pixel flickering. Surely not the way to enjoy this virtual world?

In a game like GTA it should feel slick, fast and ultra controllable as it's a playground to be explored and interacted with. I remember selling GTA IV on PS3 3 days after purchase for similar reasons. I can't decide if this is better or worse, well I guess it does look better but I can't say it performs any better.

Some of the lighting is great, some of the textures beautiful but many look very date, think 5 year old game, and that kinda causes an inconsistency in the environments.

Combined, these issues remove a vast amount of fun that should be there in a GTA game even before you get to judge other flaws (many amplified by the poor performance) such as the cover system's awkwardness or the very 'last gen' overall control feel. About time Rockstar overhauled their ergonomics and character mechanics as they are outclassed by so many other games now. Running, punching, aiming, covering all seem very rudimentary compared to the best from developers like Naughty Dog, and obviously the car mechanics are laughable and the driving is as fidgety as always (actually it felt worse than usual - again due to very low frame rates). I don't expect rockstar in worlds this vast to be able to make everything as slick as fenced off worlds from other developers but it's like they are stuck in the mid 2000s, seriously. And yet they put so much detail into stuff that other devs wouldn't bother with, I love that they try to make a real feeling, sounding, looking world but again as with IV I feel they've over-reached with an engine that is clearly not cut out for current gen systems.

But hey, that's just my thoughts - am sure millions will love it regardless but I'd rather play it without a list of annoyances and some severely gameplay affecting performance problems. Just hope any future PC version is better performing out of the gate than GTA IV was.

[OhhWerd]

Sounds like your ps3 has some issues

[mmj]

Rule Britannia!

[MotoDot]

1 more day...

[Martywren]

just a few more hrs