The gaming site Kotaku
discovered that an illegal, pirated copy of the upcoming Rockstar’s Game, GTA
IV, was posted on the to various torrent sites. Apparently the files, which
weighs 6.32 GB, is the Xbox 360 version for PAL territories. That means that
the game is playable only on the consoles sold in Europe, Australia and Japan. But the group responsible
for the leak, iCON, intends to release a NTSC version in the next few days as well.
For the moment there are no details on how this happened, but I'm sure that Take Two is already investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, YouTube has blocked several
video clips that shows the introductory sequence of the games and some in-game
footage. The online video sharing sites removed the videos following copyright
claims filed by Take Two. GTA IV, which will be released officially on April 29,
has gone gold last week.
GTA IV was initially scheduled to
be launched on October 16, 2007, but in August the Take Two officials decided
that there is no way the development team could meet the goal of perfecting the
engine in time to meet the deadline.
For the first time in the history
of the franchise, GTA IV will offer multiplayer capabilities, with up to 15
modes, each of them supporting up to 16 players. There are five new missions
that a player can complete: “Call and Collect,” “Final Interview,” “Search and
Delete,” “Deconstruction for Beginners” and “Truck Hustle.” Besides the standard version, which
costs $59.99, GTA IV will be also offered a Special Edition.
In addition, Microsoft and Sony are
already engaged in a marketing battle to boost the sales of their gaming
console on the back of GTA IV. However, is very likely that Microsoft will
emerge victorious from this confrontation because the company managed to nail a
deal with Rockstar for some exclusive content, due to be released this autumn.
Last week, it was predicted that
the launch GTA IV will be the biggest event in the entertainment industry, with
sales of $400 million for the first week of availability.
Last year, Halo 3, the last
“chapter” of the trilogy created by Bungie Studios, grossed $300 million in the
first week, surpassing by far its predecessor (Halo 2, with “only” $125
million) and last year’s “Spiderman 3” ($67 million).
The GTA franchise is one the best
selling intellectual properties in the gaming world with 70 million units sold
so far.
