…and different they are. It’s not like you daily get to see a half an hour long trailer for a game on national television…that too with just the logo of the game and a countdown clock…and have people watch it…and record and upload it on YouTube for millions of others to watch it.

This is the kind of excitement that a GTA game evokes and rightly so. Rockstar has virtually booked its place in the annals of gaming history with the GTA series. With seven GTA games and an expansion, this series shows no signs of slowing down. Instead it has gone from strength to strength, right from the ground breaking GTA III to the mind boggling GTA: San Andreas.

So it did not come as a surprise when the release of the debut trailer for the next-gen GTA IV brought down the Rockstar server on it’s knees with millions of people logging in to be the first to catch a glimpse of the new GTA in action, yours truly included. So after staying awake for the better part of the night and having to contend with numerous Time Out errors, everyone would ask the same question: Was it worth it?

And the answer would be a resounding “Yes”! Never have I been so excited at 4 O’ clock in the morning. Anyone who has witnessed the trailer in its 720p High Definition glory will be lying if he says that the trailer didn’t give him goose bumps. Rockstar had promised that “Things Will Be Different” and they most definitely are.

The 63 seconds long trailer gives us the first insight into the world of the next generation of GTA and never has it looked so real. Dynamic lighting will have shadows flit across your screen as the sun coasts over the horizon. Light filtering through corrugated metal sheets and stained glass will give Half Life 2 a run for its money. The lighting effect will sear through your mind long before you even start to notice what’s going on in the trailer. The water effect is also something that will have you spell bound. I can’t wait to get in game and go out for a swim, it’s that inviting! The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) powering it certainly has some aces up its sleeve. No pre-rendered shit here. Everything was rendered in real time. There have been unconfimed reports about Rockstar having employed the Euphoria engine for the NPC actions . If that’s the case, then it will boost up the mojo many notches up.

Prepared to be even more surprised at what the game has in store for you. This time around the good ol’ Liberty City has been given a makeover. However, you could be forgiven to assume its New York rather then Liberty City. All the landmarks of the Big Apple, right from Times Square and Empire State Building to Coney Island and Statue of Liberty are there. Of course, none of the buildings have been spared the wicked Rockstar sense of humor. So MetLife building you will be seeing in-game would be GetaLife. Its anybody’s guess as to what will we get to see once we see the front of Statue of Liberty.

If all this hasn’t burdened your senses already, be prepared for more. GTA IV promises to take NPC interaction to new limits. The trailer shows off NPC drivers adjusting their rear-view mirrors as they coast along the road. Peds are going around doing their daily work and not like the previous installments where all they did was roam on the streets aimlessly just waiting to be mowed down by you. Of course their fate is all the same in GTA IV as well but at least they will have some dignity in death. Keen observers have spotted cops drinking on duty and a child (gasp!). Some of them have sparked an intense debate as to how far can Rockstar really stretch it. Add to that a setting like NY and you start to wonder if Rockstar has the guts to go ahead and put the Twin Towers or the Ground Zero in-game. It’s guaranteed that if that happens, YouTube will be awash with some rather tasteless videos, but then again, that will be reflection of us gamers rather than Rockstar.

If you have noticed, I still haven’t mentioned the lead character of the game. After having given us such memorable characters as Fido/The Guy/Claude, Tommy and CJ, Rockstar springs yet another surprise on us in form of a character who seems to be of Russian origin seeking a new life in the Liberty City. Something tells me, its not going to happen any time soon. The role of the only character shown off in the trailer has come under some intense debate with some taking the stand that the character really is just a supporting one, but that’s something I am not betting my money on. After playing characters ranging from the Italian thug to the smart ass American followed by the Afro-American, a Russian doesn’t seem so out of place. I suppose the debate will die down as and when Rockstar releases more trailers of the game.

The game is scheduled to have a simultaneous launch on both PS3 and Xbox 360, which is a first for a GTA game. Episodic content has also been promised for both the consoles though its debatable whether it will be the same or different for both the consoles. Speculation is also rife as to whether the game will support multiplayer for the first time. The possibility seems high though if you consider the multiplayer aspect in the PSP versions of GTA to be a dry run for bigger and better things. Our fingers are crossed.

It’s really amazing how much speculation and debate 63 second of game play footage can generate. Then again, considering the pedigree of the game, it comes as no surprise. One can’t help but wonder what the level of hype will be in the following days as more and more information trickles out. With the release just months away, the excitement is bound to touch new heights. Jack Thompson….eat your heart out!

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By N2H

• Krishnan Rajagopal Says:
  April 6th, 2007 at 10:56 am

  Oh YES! Great work there! And yeah, Peter Moore did say that they were working on two “epic” DLC packs for the X360 and they will feature more than just new cars and new locations. So, does anyone think that they will be an entirely new city to roam in? It does make marketing sense that they’d add newer cities as DLC instead of adding them in with the game.

  And, oh, for those poor Wii owners who felt left out, R* has also announced that the game will show up on the Wii. Don’t believe me? Watch the trailer right here! Kekeke!

  Just can’t wait to see if we can take potshots at all those seagulls flying around without the police and the eco-kooks going berserk. It should be fucking hilarious to see pedestrians run for their life as you start shooting at birds randomly. Wonder how the AI has improved in the game though?

• Reginald Miranda Says:
  April 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

  wow!

• Bobby Sandhu Says:
  April 9th, 2007 at 10:05 pm

  GTA IV……. imagine my love for this game…. I have finished San Andreas, but im still playing it.. with all the new cars and mods… more then the games, gamers love the freedom of modding that comes with the game….

  i was also wondering about the locality.. in SA we had three cities… so are we going back to one city again? I wonder, what future lies ahead….

  ahoy..!! skipper.. to the liberty city…