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.
@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.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@ 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.