Topic: New GTA Game In 2009 possibly?

[MysterD]

Rumor has it, there might be a new GTA game this year coming in 2009.

Me, I wouldn't be surprised, if they basically just take the GTA4 Engine and make a brand new game off that and just give it a subtitle -- i.e. GTA: Vice City or GTA: San Andreas.

[Pugnate]

Vice hit a year after GTA3, so this shouldn't be a massive surprise.

My favorite GTA game was San Andreas. There was something about motor biking through vast highways between cities, that was so serene.

[iPPi]

Meh.  Overall, I was disappointed with GTA4.

[sirean_syan]

I don't entirely get the general dissatisfaction with GTA4. Granted the story came apart a towards the end, but it managed to come back together nicely in the end. There were also problems (like the cell phone), but that doesn't destroy how much stuff it did awesomely well.

Lately, it seems like the whole "overrated" arguments have been blown out of proportion and this sort of thing has happen with more or less any game that has done well. After a few months, it seems like no one likes them anymore. While the last generation of games ended up being pretty damned good, I don't think we're in a place where we can quickly write off so many games because they had a couple flaws. More and more, I see people not completely loving something so they turn around and say it completely sucked and didn't deserve praise. It is also seems like more and more people cannot separate their own personal feelings with overall quality. My guess is that people have just continued to become more self-important and gained even more ability to be whinny as the internet has become completely linked to our lives. Maybe this bitching was just always there, but it never had such an obvious vent. The idea that their opinion matters has lead to a sort of overzealous use of it and only the extremes are important. It's also possible the self-importance has lead to just a general backlash against the professional critic, but that idea is hardly new. It would just be another case of voices being able to be heard.
 
This isn't a knock against you, JB, but your comment just triggered some thoughts that have been stirring around for a bit in my head.

[PyroMenace]

I honestly couldnt agree with that anymore. A couple of games comes straight to mind for this, Im not going to say any of them because I dont want to go down that road and bicker about them all over again.

[Cobra951]

While I thought the game was outstanding, it certainly wasn't perfect.  I said before that Rockstar/DMA Design have a certain level of technical incompetence that they brute force their way out of.  GTA IV came out on the heels of Criterion's technically perfect Burnout Paradise, and lost some sheen in the inevitable comparison, larger world considered and all.  Once I got over the technical shortfalls, I got hooked in a hurry.  It was hard to put down for months.  It was like living there, which is exactly what I want out of modern big games.

The shock would have been for Rockstar to announce no more GTAs.  I'm not surprised they're already on the next one.

[beo]

sirean, i love you for that post and just want to stick my weight behind your sentiment. i get really fed up with the attitudes you speak of.

[MysterD]

Vice hit a year after GTA3, so this shouldn't be a massive surprise.

My favorite GTA game was San Andreas. There was something about motor biking through vast highways between cities, that was so serene.

The GTA's can be frustrating, in when you have to re-do missions over and over from the restart point to try to get them right, since there are no mid-way checkpoints in those missions -- especially the longer ones with multiple parts to them.

But so far, of all the GTA's I finished (GTA3 and VC), my favorite GTA so happens to be Vice City. I just totally dug the whole 80's thing, in what so happens to be a virtual and fictional version of Miami. It was excellent.

I don't have GTA4 PC yet. I also never finished San Andreas PC, so I'll have an opinion when I do finish SA...I do like SA a lot, I should note...

[Pugnate]

I really do agree with Sirean, but at the same time I can see why so many excellent games like Bioshock and GTA4 face so much backlash. The problem exists because these games are built by the media to be something they obviously aren't.

This industry's level of journalism is absolutely piss poor, and has reached an all time low since print media began its spiral downwards. Due to the limited nature of print, writers made their articles concise, with each sentence given careful consideration. Writers were also qualified; most of these guys had college degrees, if not in writing, then in at least something.

While it isn't easy to get a writing job at a games website, it is still a lot easier than it was to get a job at a magazine. I used to read a lot of gaming mags like PC GAMER, CGW, EGM (at times), PC GAMER UK, and never remember those magazines bestowing a level of praise on games that bordered on fellatio, as is the norm. today.
 
It seems that the best game ever made seems to be released every few months. Games like Bioshock, MGS4, GTA4 were all praised like they were gifts from the gods. It is only natural for the average fan to be a little bit disappointed when expectations are raised to such a level.

Part of the problem is that all of these writers speak in extremities. Either they think the game SUCKS, or it is AWESOME.

The other issue is that the industry is far more corrupt than it was. Nowadays, it is very common for game publishers to wine and dine reviewers. Unfortunately, they choose the writer from the staff of a website, that will get the exclusive review. It is why you always see those doing exclusive reviews, scoring games far higher than the industry standard. It is normally because these people are normally huge fans of the genre, and are picked by the publishers for this very reason.

Unlike movies, there is no group advanced screening for a bunch of critics, but rather, for a couple of carefully selected ones.

When GTA4 came out, there were tons of game critics from sites like 1UP that were featured on news channels like FOX, and were praising GTA4 like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[MysterD]

As much as I doubt GTA4 is "the best game ever" and as much as I probably doubt that it deserves a score of "TEN" (out of TEN; or or any other perfect score), it sure like most of the other GTA's -- it is probably still an excellent game in most regards.

More than likely, if you like GTA's, I'm sure there's plenty of content there and you will definitely get your money worth out of it. Every time there's a new GTA, when compared to the last GTA, there seems to be even more (side-mission) content that I just probably will never ever get to...hehe.

[K-man]

I fucking abhor GTA and I loved GTA IV.

[iPPi]

I don't know what it is with GTA4, but there was something about it that I just didn't like.  I mean, I loved GTA3 and GTA Vice City, I bought GTA4 on launch day but I have barely played it.  Something about it just doesn't draw me into the game.  Since I bought it, I've put in like 7-10 hours into it the first couple of weeks, and then I just kind of forgot about it and never played it again. 

Maybe I got distracted with something else and whatever managed to distract me pulled me away from the game completely and I just never went back to it. 

[MysterD]

I don't know what it is with GTA4, but there was something about it that I just didn't like.  I mean, I loved GTA3 and GTA Vice City, I bought GTA4 on launch day but I have barely played it.  Something about it just doesn't draw me into the game.  Since I bought it, I've put in like 7-10 hours into it the first couple of weeks, and then I just kind of forgot about it and never played it again.

With the GTA games, I go through this kind of cycle...

Play it like crazy phase; then I get stuck on a mission that drives me nuts so I cannot get through it despite numerous attempts; so I put it away for a while (that "while" maybe for a week, for one month, few months, even maybe a year, or who knows); repeat cycle. 

Maybe I got distracted with something else and whatever managed to distract me pulled me away from the game completely and I just never went back to it. 

Hehe, that happens to me, here and there.