So I was reading IGN the other day and I spot this headline: “GTA Sin City confirmed”. Now, it was quite surprising to hear such news about one of the biggest games of 2004 so early, usually announcements like that are made at E3 in May.
But, on closer inspection, what exactly has been confirmed?
That Amazon UK has a listing for a game called “Grand Theft Auto: Sin City”.
THIS is news? Because we can trust an online retailer looking to score preorders over the developer and publisher?
“We attempted to contact Rockstar Games to get an official comment, but the company had nothing to say, not even a ‘no comment.’”
This is not confirmed. This is further speculation. It could end up being true, but to try and tell us it is 100% fact at this point in the game is ludicrous.
Bonus annoyance: take a look at this gem from the article “What to expect from the X-box 2” (the item about backwards compatibility).
There’s a nice tidy paragraph explaining the benefits of it, then the question: Will it happen? The answer: “no.” Not “Microsoft says the hardware architecture will be too different” or “A new media format will require a different setup” or “Microsoft plans enough launch games at several price points that they don’t think they need it”. Just “No.” I’m supposed to believe your one-word answer about a system on which official information is VERY sparse? One that won’t be released for at least a year, maybe two?
IGN, you do timely and accurate reviews, but for Mario’s sake, please stay away from passing off rumor and speculation as fact (thats what the GameFAQs message boards are for).
You actually read IGN for accurate news? I mean, aside from the fact that they are saying that XBox 2 should come with wireless controllers (what, my xbox doesn’t have batteries included? that sucks), and aside from the fact that they say it MUST have a slot loading DVD tray, cause, you know, they’re KEWL, they enjoy just making shit up.
From the last press releases I’ve read, Microsoft is actively trying to make the XB2 be backwards compatable. They havn’t said yes or no on it, but it’s something that Sony is doing and we all know how Microsoft likes to steal ideas from other companies. However, due to the fact that the current XB runs on Direct X, it actually shouldn’t be too hard to make it backwards compatable.
As for Sin City, we all know it’s going to come out, as Rockstar would have to be partially brain dead to not release the game, but it is a long way off. Amazon is probably safe having it as a pre-order and IGN is probably safe saying that it is coming out, they’re just idiots for saying that it is confirmed.
What I don’t understand is why they say "We can only assume that Sin City will use a modified GTA 3 graphics engine, and that the game will be a small evolution for the series as opposed to a revolution. " I would assume that since Vice City was only a texture pack update and a few other small tweaks, GTA4 will actually be a new game, not just an expansion. It might not be as revolutionary as the 2->3 change, but good lord, I hope they update the visuals and game play some.
Hideo, right on about calling shenanigans on “assume it’s an evolution” bit. Just look at the timing. If they wanted to do another GTA 3.5, this game would have been out last year. They could have easily banged it out in time for Christmas 2003, and made another $300 million. Their decision to wait an extra year must mean something is in store–something that is under very heavy wraps and will remain so until probably E3.
Ahhh… this is a pretty basic idea that’s been booted around for almost every new console. The SNES originally was supposed to be backwards compatible. The PS2 is, the Gameboy Advance is. Its hard to “steal” an idea thats so basic no one even remembers who cajme up with it. Its a fairly good investment.
Of course, some people would be pissed off if M-soft lit a fire because they’d be “stealing ideas from Bob the caveman”.
Max: yes they did, because Amazon changed their website. It’s now “Grand Theft Auto: Next Episode” and the release date is December 31, 2004 (the lasy day in Q4 2004, which is all Rockstar has said about the release date).
I’m glad they changed it, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for a correction. It’ll be like 1984–“it’s ALWAYS been evidence, it was never confirmed…”
smiling bandit that was more tongue in cheek than anything. The gameboy has been backwards compatable through all of its revisions. The Atari 5600 or whatever number they got to was backwards compatable with the 2600.
Nintendo has always done some form of backward compatability, though normally you need to buy an accessory to actually do it. They never got around to running N64 games on the Gamecube (that I know of) but the rest have had some form of thing you plug into your console to run older games.
I’ll be amazed if XBox Next isn’t backwards compatable. They’ll both still be using a windows core and running Direct X, so it shouldn’t be too hard to do. It isn’t like the PS2 where they actually have the ps1 hardware in the machine to run PS1 games because the hardware is so different.
However, after all of that, I really just want Fable to come out so I can finally play it. That’s all.
The GC doesn’t have an N64 adapter, but it does have a GameBoy/GBA adapter.
Other backward compatible game platforms:
SNES <- GameBoy (w/ adapter)
Sega Genesis <- Master System (w/ adapter)
Sega Game Gear <- Master System (w/ adapter)
SwanCrystal <- WonderSwan
Hideo, actually the PS2 only emulates the PS1 engine. This is why a small minority of PS1 games don’t work on it.
This is also why some people insist the Xbox 2 won’t be backwards compatible–they don’t think it will be powerful enough to emulate the old engine. But seeing as how it’s basically a PC, and Sony proved how successful backwards compatibility is for a new system with the PS2, unless Microsoft says otherwise, I will assume that it will be.