Grand Theft Auto V: After eight hours play, our critic barely scratches surface

Grand Theft Auto V is now in stores and, following the rave reviews, analysts are predicting that the game will sell 6.5 million copies in its first day, potentially breaking $1 billion in sales in the first 30 days of its release.
“Analyst Colin Sebastian of financial services firm Robert W. Baird told gaming website IGN there’s unprecedented pent-up demand for the game. “We expect GTA 5 to outpace GTA 4 sales and generate roughly $1 billion in retail sales during the first month.”
That’s not a surprise to the game’s publisher Take Two Interactive, which predicted in an earnings call in July that the game would be the biggest seller in the franchise’s history. GTA IV has sold 25 million copies since being released in 2008.
Grand Theft Auto V is the most expensive game, with developer Rockstar admitting its development cost $260 million and more than four years.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Grand Theft Auto game if there wasn’t some controversy surrounding its release. Rockstar is investigating early sales but beyond that, there have been issues with the Xbox 360 version, with the company recommending consumers not install the game’s second disc., due to some texture issues with graphics.
Also, some gamers are just having problems with the Xbox 360 version just not installing.
“I got the game at the midnight event at Markham and Lawrence and tried installing it for three hours last night. It just kept getting stuck,” said Edrik Parrozo, a 20-year-old Ryerson student who traded his copy for a new version at the EB Games near Yonge and Dundas. “I called my friends and asked them, and they were saying it just took 15 to 20 minutes for them.
“The clerk said he some other people had come in with the same problem.”
Much of the pre-release criticism of the game came from the lack of playable female characters, but online critics are calling into question a mission called “By the Book,” which requires one character to torture another with players choosing between four different torture methods, including pulling out a character’s teeth, waterboarding and electrocution.
Grand Theft Auto V First Impressions
The Star didn’t get early access to Rockstar’s latest, and reportedly greatest, opus, so like many ardent gamers Tuesday was taken as a (boss-approved) GTA V holiday. Having played the game for roughly eight hours, here are five first impressions.
1. The writing counts: Rockstar deserves criticism for some of the questionable things they put in their games but also praise for creating fully realized worlds. Beyond the gritty crime narratives, it is always impressive how much effort is put into incidental writing showcased in in-world media, like the wonderfully satirical commercials on the car radio, including a scathing gem targeting the National Rifle Association. The developer puts a lot of care into the little things.
2. The three-character narrative: The addition in this game is the ability to play as three different characters. The zooming out to the sky switching animation is great so far, but it doesn’t feel like that much of a game changer. Or perhaps I’m not making the best use of it yet, often sticking with one character.
3. The size of the city: The map of Los Santos, the game’s fictionalized version of Los Angeles, leaked last week and is reportedly bigger than all the Rockstar’s previous games combined. It absolutely feels like it.
4. App game tie-ins: Most big games now have some form of tie-in app for smartphones and tablets, and GTA V is no exception. The app is called iFruit — named for the in-game parody of the iPhone — and with it, you can supposedly create custom cars and teach a dog new tricks with a Tamagotchi-like minigame for Chops, GTA V’s Rottweiler. Unfortunately, despite topping the free download charts, I couldn’t get it to work.
5. Glorious minigames: Similar to playing the poker game in Rockstar’s western, Red Dead Redemption, I have already fallen for the Tennis minigame in GTA V and can’t wait to try the many of the rest. At this point, I feel I have barely scratched the surface of this game.

By: Raju Mudhar Tech Reporter, Published on Wed Sep 18 2013


Source:
http://www.thestar.com/life/technology/2013/09/18/grand_theft_auto_v_expected_to_sell_1_billion_in_30_days.html

cmack 4,136

Grand Theft Auto V is now in stores and, following the rave reviews, analysts are predicting that the game will sell 6.5 million copies in its first day, potentially breaking $1 billion in sales in the first 30 days of its release.
“Analyst Colin Sebastian of financial services firm Robert W. Baird told gaming website IGN there’s unprecedented pent-up demand for the game. “We expect GTA 5 to outpace GTA 4 sales and generate roughly $1 billion in retail sales during the first month.”
That’s not a surprise to the game’s publisher Take Two Interactive, which predicted in an earnings call in July that the game would be the biggest seller in the franchise’s history. GTA IV has sold 25 million copies since being released in 2008.
Grand Theft Auto V is the most expensive game, with developer Rockstar admitting its development cost $260 million and more than four years.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Grand Theft Auto game if there wasn’t some controversy surrounding its release. Rockstar is investigating early sales but beyond that, there have been issues with the Xbox 360 version, with the company recommending consumers not install the game’s second disc., due to some texture issues with graphics.
Also, some gamers are just having problems with the Xbox 360 version just not installing.
“I got the game at the midnight event at Markham and Lawrence and tried installing it for three hours last night. It just kept getting stuck,” said Edrik Parrozo, a 20-year-old Ryerson student who traded his copy for a new version at the EB Games near Yonge and Dundas. “I called my friends and asked them, and they were saying it just took 15 to 20 minutes for them.
“The clerk said he some other people had come in with the same problem.”
Much of the pre-release criticism of the game came from the lack of playable female characters, but online critics are calling into question a mission called “By the Book,” which requires one character to torture another with players choosing between four different torture methods, including pulling out a character’s teeth, waterboarding and electrocution.
Grand Theft Auto V First Impressions
The Star didn’t get early access to Rockstar’s latest, and reportedly greatest, opus, so like many ardent gamers Tuesday was taken as a (boss-approved) GTA V holiday. Having played the game for roughly eight hours, here are five first impressions.
1. The writing counts: Rockstar deserves criticism for some of the questionable things they put in their games but also praise for creating fully realized worlds. Beyond the gritty crime narratives, it is always impressive how much effort is put into incidental writing showcased in in-world media, like the wonderfully satirical commercials on the car radio, including a scathing gem targeting the National Rifle Association. The developer puts a lot of care into the little things.
2. The three-character narrative: The addition in this game is the ability to play as three different characters. The zooming out to the sky switching animation is great so far, but it doesn’t feel like that much of a game changer. Or perhaps I’m not making the best use of it yet, often sticking with one character.
3. The size of the city: The map of Los Santos, the game’s fictionalized version of Los Angeles, leaked last week and is reportedly bigger than all the Rockstar’s previous games combined. It absolutely feels like it.
4. App game tie-ins: Most big games now have some form of tie-in app for smartphones and tablets, and GTA V is no exception. The app is called iFruit — named for the in-game parody of the iPhone — and with it, you can supposedly create custom cars and teach a dog new tricks with a Tamagotchi-like minigame for Chops, GTA V’s Rottweiler. Unfortunately, despite topping the free download charts, I couldn’t get it to work.
5. Glorious minigames: Similar to playing the poker game in Rockstar’s western, Red Dead Redemption, I have already fallen for the Tennis minigame in GTA V and can’t wait to try the many of the rest. At this point, I feel I have barely scratched the surface of this game.

By: Raju Mudhar Tech Reporter, Published on Wed Sep 18 2013


Source:
http://www.thestar.com/life/technology/2013/09/18/grand_theft_auto_v_expected_to_sell_1_billion_in_30_days.html

cmack 4,136