By John Walker on July 25th, 2008 at 4:46 pm.
Just so we’re clear, we are in no way going to do a story about the PC Gamer Malaysia cover saying GTA IV is coming to PC. So no more emails about it!
In no way will we link to the next issue page for PCG Malaysia which features the cover, nor the photograph of the bagged copy that’s been doing the rounds. And you know why? Because OBVIOUSLY it’s coming to PC. How is this even a story? Every single edition of the series, that began on PC, has been on PC, always six months to a year after its console release. So yes, GTA IV will be out on PC. OF COURSE. Lordy lawks.
25/07/2008 at 16:54 Lu-Tze says:
Set modification cannons to “stun”.
25/07/2008 at 16:56 The Poisoned Sponge says:
Omg, GTA IV on PC? I never saw that coming….
25/07/2008 at 16:57 KC says:
there was a possibility that it would not come to PC because of the hot coffee incident, however, I thought it was fairly obvious it would come to PC, they like money
25/07/2008 at 16:59 Jochen Scheisse says:
In other news, another lame year for console roguelikes.
25/07/2008 at 17:05 Amirul B Ruslan says:
I stopped reading Gamer Malaysia after some really horrid issues this year… February until May have been pretty bad.
That said, nobody’s really surprised about GTA IV, are they?
Unless they have a higher-res Hot Coffee.
25/07/2008 at 17:08 FuKuy says:
GREAT article!!!
25/07/2008 at 17:14 phuzz says:
Hot Coffee IV!
Now even hotter!
although I tried GTA:SA on PC and hated it compared to the PS2, the mouse controls just felt so contrived, (and yes I realise that just to say such a thing is PC gamer heresy). I guess it’s just what you’re used to for a particular game. It’s taken me the best part of 6 months to move from using cursor keys to using WASD, than the only benefit I’ve found is that I don’t have to change the mapping in games.
25/07/2008 at 17:15 KindredPhantom says:
Okay, how about Final Fantasy XIII coming to the PC. What about a story on that?
http://kotaku.com/5028961/of-course-final-fantasy-xiii-is-pc-bound
25/07/2008 at 17:16 Cooper says:
It’s gonna come to PC, it just might take a bit longer. They’ve probably got a task force of programmers sifting through the code for any ‘left behinds’ like hot coffee…
Things developers left behind in games they wished they hadn’t?
My favourite has to be the simcopter easter egg (which, for the record, was a surprisingly entertaining game) which lost developer Servin his job…
25/07/2008 at 17:17 RichPowers says:
So it’s headed to the PC, and online? (For the PC)
25/07/2008 at 17:26 heliocentric says:
every console first gta tempts me to get a console, i resist and have a good enough experience on the pc. I’m glad they improved the driving and shooting. The multiplayer is nothing new on the pc mind. Mods are exciting me here.
25/07/2008 at 17:29 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
I was thinking that this wouldn’t be out on pc, because, surely they aren’t that predictable anymore?… right?
25/07/2008 at 17:37 Phil says:
I agree, this is anti-news.
Any console exclusive gets to the PC eventually through emulation in anycase – though in GTA4′s case that might take a while.
/Checks progress on PS2 emulators, sighs inwardly
25/07/2008 at 17:44 Joinn says:
True, this isn’t news, this is olds (to borrow from Terry Pratchetts discworld)
25/07/2008 at 17:54 Chris R says:
I can’t wait to use a mouse and keyboard with GTA4… Headshots left and right without having to lock on to anyone or use the damn thumbsticks to aim! WOOOOOOOO!
25/07/2008 at 18:01 Al3xand3r says:
Jochen, what? A few great roguelike series have sprouted, check out the Shiren series on the DS, the Etrian series on the DS also, Shiren 3 on the Wii and Chocobo Mystery Dungeon also on the Wii. Roguelikes have been doing good on consoles, not to mention they’re commercially supported unlike the situation on PC where only amateur or indie authors get to dabble with them… Oh well, console roguelikes are a different beast and I like getting games from both worlds.
Oh yeah, GTA IV PC?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
25/07/2008 at 18:04 The_B says:
Sorry John. :(
Although technically it’s still a story. Just not news, right?
25/07/2008 at 18:07 nabeel says:
Just so we’re clear, I am not going to make a comment on this article. How is this even a story?
nabeel
(can’t wait)
25/07/2008 at 18:31 slang says:
@phuzz
?! Ever tried to play it with a pad ON the PC. It really works!;-)
25/07/2008 at 18:55 Ted says:
I seriously doubt this is coming to PC. Rockstar abandoned the PC after Hot Coffee. That fuck up cost them a ton of money and made GTA:SA a net money loser for them. They haven’t ported a single game to PC since.
25/07/2008 at 19:02 DosFreak says:
Well it’s not like your missing out on much:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Games
25/07/2008 at 19:18 Jetsetlemming says:
Woah. I was never aware Patrick Galloway was designed to be sexy to a gay guy before. His appearance looked more like “Irish pirate jesus” to me.
25/07/2008 at 19:33 Five says:
GTA IV might be the second ever game that i’ll buy for both console and PC (after..uhh… Bloodrayne)
Reasons are potentially better graphics and multiplayer, not to mention mods. Only played it over Xbox Live a couple of times but the experience was a frustrating one.
25/07/2008 at 19:41 kadayi says:
@Ted
I’m pretty sure Publisher Take 2 aren’t going to wave away a potential 3-4 million unit sales, on a game that cost over $100 million to make, esp as they are trying to fight off an EA takeover. There was little point in R* porting LCS, or VCS to the PC as they were designed specifically for the PSP (neither games been ported to the 360 either), and Bully has only recently been released on the 360, so PC down the line is fairly probable if there is enough demand for it. It’s easy at times to envisage that companies run like petulant 5 year olds, but the reality is wages need to be paid, and although some people at Rockstar will be sitting pretty atm, a lot more will be looking forward to the end of the month and their pay cheque.
25/07/2008 at 20:18 Real Horrorshow says:
Awesome news. I have GTAIV for PS3 but the multiplayer, graphics, jaggies, controls, etc. made the game less than amazing, but that’s all going to be fixed on PC.
25/07/2008 at 20:31 slang says:
@Ted
They might have lost a significant amount of money due to the Hot Coffee “scandal” but at the same time made a shitload of money in PC only territories (Russia, Eastern Europe, Germany etc.) where Hot Coffee only raised a few eyebrows btw. Heck, there was even a German mag that put the Hot Coffee mod on the DVD that came with their magazine. GTA-SA on PC is actually still selling very well in Germany. They haven’t ported Bully because quite frankly…why should they, contrary to the GTAs something like Bully on the PC simply doesn’t sell.
25/07/2008 at 21:39 The Hammer says:
OMG WTF JOHN!
PC GAMING SITE!
You’re only me-
Oh, bugger, RichPowers beat me to it. :(
25/07/2008 at 22:36 Amir says:
Will the PC version of GTA4 be better than the console versions?
25/07/2008 at 22:45 DSX says:
Odd, I have always been under the (naive?) impression GTA4 would make it to the PC, since all of it’s predecessors have. I’ve been waiting for it eagerly. And will continue to.
The hot coffee issue was not the fault of the platform, rather, those who allowed it to be published with the content ready to be found and patched back into the game. That they would not publish the franchise again to PC simply to protect themselves from themselves is silly.
25/07/2008 at 23:15 terry says:
Hurrah!
*plays a lot of darts*
25/07/2008 at 23:19 Ted says:
I would have loved to play Bully, The Warriors, and Manhunt 2, but none of them have made it to PC, so I missed them since I don’t own any consoles and don’t expect I ever will. I’d love for this to be true, but I’m not going to get my hopes up in any way. If they do release GTA;IV on PC, I really hope they DRM the shit out of it and require online authentication every time you run it (Steam only distribution would be ideal). The worst possible outcome would be it comes to PC, and it gets mass pirated and sells poorly. That would probably be the final nail in the coffin for AAA PC gaming.
25/07/2008 at 23:29 malkav11 says:
Manhunt 2 was a sequel to a game that came out on PC, and would have made even more sense for a PC release due to the lack of a single censorious control for PC game releases. No PC port in sight.
Would I like to see GTA IV on PC? Sure. But I don’t think it’s as guaranteed as people seem to think.
26/07/2008 at 00:47 alan says:
Manhunt 2 was a sequel to a game that came out on PC, and would have made even more sense for a PC release due to the lack of a single censorious control for PC game releases. No PC port in sight.
Manhunt 2 was also massively outdated by PC game standards, though, far more than the prequel was.
26/07/2008 at 00:56 Cronus says:
Hot Coffee is mentioned a lot here, but no one has mentioned how it was also on the PS2 version of GTA:SA. It wasn’t a PC only thing. The only reason Rockstar has to ship a timed XBox exclusive is Microsoft. Microsoft makes a lot more money when you guy a 360 game over a GFW game, and they make no money when it’s a normal none GFW PC Game.
26/07/2008 at 01:28 malkav11 says:
Hot Coffee was revealed thanks to the PC version. The code was there on console versions (and that was what confirmed that Hot Coffee wasn’t just a mod), but nobody’d found it until they thought to look thanks to the PC version.
Though I don’t think that has much to do with Rockstar’s failure to port recent games to the PC, really.
26/07/2008 at 01:59 Asbestos says:
Actually the “Hot Coffee” was discovered by a PS2 hacker, but it only gained widespread infamy after the PC mod was released.
26/07/2008 at 02:27 redrain85 says:
An article at IGN, says that Rockstar has denied GTA IV is coming out for the PC.
http://grandtheftauto.ign.com/articles/news/1051/PC-Version-of-GTA-IV-Confirmed-Updated-Again
Of course, R* just doesn’t want anyone to know yet. Or else people who still haven’t bought the game, might end up waiting for the PC version.
26/07/2008 at 03:42 hoohoo says:
@Asbestos
if by “Actually the “Hot Coffee” was discovered by a PS2 hacker, but it only gained widespread infamy after the PC mod was released.”
you really mean, “Actually the “Hot Coffee” was discovered by a PC hacker, but it only gained widespread infamy after the PS2 mod was released.”
then you would be correct :p
26/07/2008 at 03:43 shinygerbil says:
/sigh. I can’t believe I’m commenting on GTA, the game I’d probably love to love, but really can’t love at all. :(
Hot Coffee was a ‘scandal’? I thought it was a hell of a lot of mainstream publicity.
26/07/2008 at 07:41 James T says:
Linguistic heresy, certainly — contrived?
“You mean to say I’m controlling the camera with the mouse? I find that very difficult to believe!”
26/07/2008 at 08:38 heliocentric says:
lets us all thank console owners for beta testing gta4 for us.
26/07/2008 at 11:01 kadayi says:
I’d say R* are probably contractually obliged to deliver the 360 exclusive content pack before we are likely to get a formal PC release announcement.
26/07/2008 at 11:04 Nikica says:
I am sorry but I need to say this:
Yeah yeah fuck yeah, fuck you all console lovers and users PC FTW, GTA is the best for PC long live the PC !!!
26/07/2008 at 11:19 Larington says:
All I know is that if/when it comes out on PC, I’ll get it, if it doesn’t I hardly see that as being the end of the world. So, yeah, I suppose you could call it non-news.
26/07/2008 at 22:18 Irish Al says:
So the usual then. Better GFX than console if your PC can handle it, mods, superior combat with mouse aiming. Inferior driving and flying unless you use a pad.
26/07/2008 at 22:38 DosFreak says:
The GTA engine has always been pretty craptastic so I don’t think finding a PC to handle it will be an issue.
27/07/2008 at 04:46 malkav11 says:
Also, there have been two post-San Andreas iterations of the series that haven’t come to the PC. Yeah, yeah, they’re PSP games where even the port to PS2 was a bit surprising, but it’s not true that every title in the series has shown on PC, much less in that time frame.
27/07/2008 at 14:02 kadayi says:
Those PSP games aren’t either as polished as the main titles, or as lengthy, that’s why they haven’t really been ported to any other platforms (they aren’t on the 360 either). In fact what portable games have ever been ported to the PC?
27/07/2008 at 17:06 Taxman says:
Actually Rockstar aren’t all that enthused about making games for the PC in the first place, some of their recent (non-GTA) releases have not made an appearance on the PC. Also I think they have the Max Payne license and the rumoured Max Payne 3 is console only as well.
A PC version will happen but not any time soon I’d wager not until the DLC has been finished for the consoles.
Also the articles comment that the game began on the PC is wrong it was released on the Playstation 1 as well if not before & the idea that there is some sort of entitlement even if it did get it’s start on the PC is laughably ludicrous.
27/07/2008 at 17:26 terry says:
Didn’t GTA start out as an Amiga game?
27/07/2008 at 17:53 malkav11 says:
@kadayi: Puzzle Quest, for one.
But seriously, I can completely understand not porting the “Stories” GTA games to PC. Like I say, I thought it was kinda bizarre to port them to PS2 in the first place. But they *are* GTA games, possessing all the characteristics of the series, and they aren’t on PC and probably never will be. So saying that every GTA game inevitably comes to PC is wrong.
27/07/2008 at 18:13 slang says:
@Taxman
At the moment, absolutely NOTHING is known about Max Payne 3. Your claim that MP3 is going to be console only is indeed “laughably ludicrous”;-)
There is one serious reason most UK/US centered sites and gamers completely ignore when it comes to GTA4 and an inevitable PC version: the gaming world outside of those two English speaking territories (with the exception of Japan) is pretty much PC land.
If you want to bring GTA4 to those people you better start thinking about a PC version somewhere down the line.
27/07/2008 at 21:50 Optimaximal says:
It’s amazing how the internet brings out the clueless…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_(video_game)#Ports
The only reason GTA4 hasn’t been formally announced for the PC is a) it’ll steal the thunder of the DLC and drive some sales from the console versions and b) Euphoria and other technologies it uses will need tuning to work on lower-end machines.
That said, if it does eventually turn up and runs great on an old laptop (or similar), it’ll be a kick in LEC’s teeth about The Force Unleashed requiring a £2000 machine to run all its Havok/Euphoria guff.
28/07/2008 at 01:51 haemo says:
malkav11 – Puzzle Quest was a PC game first, it just came out earlier on handhelds. The demo came out on PC first of all.
Lumines, however, is a real PSP-PC port. I don’t know if anything with actual 3D graphics has been ported.
28/07/2008 at 04:51 malkav11 says:
Meh. I was aware of Puzzle Quest’s checkered past, as it were, but I really don’t care what platform a game was developed on (a lot of console games see significant dev time on a PC). Puzzle Quest was still a handheld game in full long before it hit PC, XBLA, PS2, Wii, and so on. But yes, Lumines, Insectide, some others.
28/07/2008 at 12:15 Paul Moloney says:
I could never get into the 3D GTA games, simply because the combat was so bad. I mean, GTA:VC was so much fun driving around to 80s music, but once you got out of a car, it all fell to pieces. (Not to mention the annoyance of having to switch between your mouse and your gamepad when you entered/left cars). Plus, last time I played, I couldn’t get a XBox360 gamepad to play nice – at least one axis of movement wouldn’t work.
Even more surprising since Rockstar are the creators of what is perhaps the best ever third-person shooter (Max Payne 1/2).
P.
28/07/2008 at 12:17 Ian says:
One thing that irks me about GTA games is the restrictions at the start as to where you can go. What, I’m supposed to be a badass criminal type but I’m afraid to drive through a close road barrier? Piss off.
Give me Just Cause and all of the free-range ridiculousness that immediately ensues after starting up, please.
28/07/2008 at 13:31 Man Raised By Puffins says:
@ DosFreak: Unsuprisingly GTA4 uses a slightly better engine than the last generation Renderware iteration that the GTA3 series used. If the port is well handled, unlike GTA3, then I expect it shouldn’t trouble PCs any more than Assassin’s Creed did.
@ Paul Maloney: The Max Payne series was only published by Rockstar/Take2, all the development work was done by Remedy with some assistance from 3D Realms (although I guess the ports were done in-house). Regardless, the on-foot action in GTA4 is much improved form the passable fare of previous GTAs.