Grand Theft Auto V

[Houston]

First place I'm going to? Grove Street.

home, at least it was before I fucked everything up.

[Pitty]

Find 5 friends to re-enact Point Break, in it's entirety.

[JayDizzle]

Find 5 friends to re-enact Point Break, in it's entirety.

If you can buy President Masks, done and done.

[Handleit_44]

Can't wait to play a round of golf... If I play shitty or lose the round, Imma hit you in the jaw with my 9 iron then run you over with my golf cart. #HappyGilmoreStyle

[Swarley]

Can't wait to play a round of golf... If I play shitty or lose the round, Imma hit you in the jaw with my 9 iron then run you over with my golf cart. #HappyGilmoreStyle

I hope we get to purchase super cheesy golf attire.

[zack54attack]

Does anyone know when the Gamestop trade-in deal for GTA V ends, or if it ended? Trade in 2 and get GTA V for $10..

[zack54attack]

nvm doesn't expire I guess.

Looks like I'm trading in Fifa 13 and NBA 2k13 to get GTA V for $10. Not bad considering FIFA '14 comes out in 3 weeks and 2k14 in a few more..

[IamMedellin]

What's the first thing you guys plan on doing in GTA5?

a hooker

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

nvm doesn't expire I guess.

Looks like I'm trading in Fifa 13 and NBA 2k13 to get GTA V for $10. Not bad considering FIFA '14 comes out in 3 weeks and 2k14 in a few more..

I'm going to prob go MLB the Show and NBA 2K13... I wanna get my next NBA game on next gen anyways since its one of very few games that I dont play online much at all, same with the show

[Swarley]

Grand Theft Auto V: The Sum of all Peers
How a fistful of Rockstar's best have all inspired GTA V to be better than ever.

One of the interesting things about Rockstar’s Manhunt is that, in some ways, it was actually our first taste of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rockstar incorporated several elements of the gunplay and targeting controls of Manhunt into GTA: San Andreas, and the game was made all the better for it.

Manhunt, a focused, third-person, stealth-based game, needed robust combat mechanics suitable for the job; simply leaning on controls plucked from GTA: Vice City was not going to suffice. When it was clear Manhunt’s controls were superior, it was only natural a version of said controls migrated to GTA: SA.

It may be an old example (Manhunt was released in November 2003; it wasn’t yanked from shelves in Australia until September 2004 so, yes, we did play it!) but it’s a relevant reminder of how good ideas have a history of finding their way into the GTA series.

GTA V cranks this philosophy up to 11. The way in which both minor and major elements from the rest of Rockstar’s stable have snowballed inside GTA V is brilliant. The result is a GTA as you know it but spliced with the field-tested DNA from a fistful of Rockstar’s existing hits.

The effects of everything GTA V has learned from the likes of Max Payne 3, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and Red Dead Redemption (among others) on the moment to moment gameplay is actually quite profound.

It’s when you begin to feel these somewhat familiar systems working in tandem together in GTA V that you appreciate just how heavily honed everything has been. Suddenly you’re prone on the wing of an aircraft, changing guns with a weapon wheel that cut its teeth in Red Dead Redemption and rolling onto your back in one fluid movement to fire at pursuers, just like Max in Max Payne 3. One minute you’re drifting around a bend in a car you’ve personally customised, appreciating the new, more nuanced handling and utilising Franklin’s special ability to temporarily slow down time to pull off insane driving manoeuvres (extremely reminiscent of Midnight Club: Los Angeles’ ‘Zone’ ability). The next you’re narrowly avoiding an animal grazing by the roadside – an animal that may or may not have appeared in GTA V were it not for the work already achieved with wildlife in Red Dead Redemption.

Allowing several of GTA V’s key pillars to be informed by gameplay elements of many of Rockstar’s already successful games makes for an experience where no one thing feels marginalised or ignored. What you don’t get, for instance, is a situation where the shooting is great but the driving is phoned-in, or a situation where the vehicles are top fun but the on-foot action is ropey. You get a game that feels like it’s firing on all cylinders at all times.

The witchcraft at work getting all these elements to play nice under one roof is a mystery and the fact that, during my several hours with the game, it was achieved with nary a technical hitch or framerate flutter to speak of is exceedingly admirable. Rockstar North associate technical director and combat designer Phil Hooker hopes gamers will immediately feel the improvements.

“We would hope that what gamers will notice overall is everything is much tighter, more consistent, more fluid and more intuitive,” he says. “Pretty much every mechanic has been heavily reworked to try and make the player need to think less about the mechanics, and more about what they are doing, so that they become more immersed in the world and the situations they are in as they play.

“The player should easily be able to pull off cool moves so they feel really part of the action. For example, driving has been completely reworked so it’s much more responsive and direct, allowing controllable handbrake turns and adding in a little bit of wheelspin at exciting moments, whilst still allowing the player to keep full control. The same is true of shooting, core locomotion and pretty much every system in the game.

“Lots of time and effort went into the combination of shooting, targeting, animation and camerawork: Grand Theft Auto is about spontaneous, classic action shootouts. We think players will appreciate being about to run and shoot comfortably from the hip, and the new transitions in and out of cars and in and out of cover. There are a range of new customisable targeting options as well.

“Every refinement – from the physical reactions to being shot, to much more intelligent combat A.I., to the depth and variety of the ambient world, to gunplay mechanics, to player climbing and vaulting in the world – should add up to a ton of large and small changes to the way the game plays and feels. We’re excited to see what gamers make of everything!”

Combined with the endlessly emergent possibilities of GTA V’s richly detailed and thriving world, the combination of these reworked mechanics and the unpredictability of the game’s world simulation makes GTA V a real coiled-spring of fun potential.

“With a game like GTA, you can’t really force those kind of spectacular moments on the player,” says producer and lead mission designer Imran Sarwar. “What you can do, is design a mission to create the possibility for them to happen.”

“There are days we come into work wishing we made games in corridors, and only let the players use a really limited toolset, but GTA isn’t like that. We build these big open worlds with bikes, and cars, and trucks, and planes in it and we want the player to use them and mess around with them and hopefully create these really amazing moments themselves.

“As a gamer, I always feel a bit cheated when you’re forced into something, or a big set piece moment is just a quick time event. We have big set piece sections of gameplay but it still feels organic and the player will feel in control. It always feels so much better if you’ve created it yourself, so that’s what we tried to do here. There are so many systems at work in the missions with the player at the centre of them, acting unpredictably – we tried to create a world in which these moments can arise naturally, and we look forward to seeing what players do with these systems when they get their hands on the game.”

The end result is something that, to myself, feels more "next-generation" than most the titles coming out on PS4 and Xbox One later this year. IGN UK’s Daniel Krupa will be going into more detail on this topic in the coming days but, to me, there isn’t really anything in the PS4-Xbox One launch line-ups that matches the gameplay scope displayed here in GTA V.

“When we started we knew the scope of GTA V was huge and incredibly ambitious,” says Hooker. “Fortunately from completing GTA IV we had a team that was already very familiar with the hardware.

“Every aspect of the game had to be better, richer in gameplay and more fluid and knowing we were launching on the same platforms meant we could focus on extracting the most out of those consoles and making the game as fantastic as possible.

“In the end we surpassed our own expectations and during development I think everyone working on the game has been astounded by improvements to the graphics, or new mechanics, or AI, or mission scope along the way. Hopefully the gamers will see all of these improvements at once in one go, compared to GTA IV this definitely feels 'next generation' to us.”

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/05/grand-theft-auto-v-the-sum-of-all-peers

[Swarley]

[dope]

http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/crew/f00t_clan

Updated.

If you haven't applied for membership or want to play on GTA V Nights with us, now'd be the time to sign-up.

I'm not looking up twenty-thousand PSN names though Rockstar's site, so get at me.

This also includes those who have played with us online but haven't joined the Crew officially.

just joined under dopenose420

always makes me mad when someone out there already has my name (i'd laugh if it was me, but I don't remember signing up ever before)

[jms493]

One guy from IGN said he played this on an XBOX 360 and he said it looked amazing and played well. hmmm.

[SethMode]

One guy from IGN said he played this on an XBOX 360 and he said it looked amazing and played well. hmmm.

They mentioned that on this weeks Bombcast too. Happy to be wrong, because I'd much rather play on 360 with that controller than the DS3, which I have begun to hate more and more.

[Swarley]

Grand Theft Auto V: Conflicting Points of View
Three's not always a crowd.

What intrigues me most about Grand Theft Auto V isn’t jump jets or SCUBA diving, smoking weed or that mooted act of necrophilia, it’s Michael, Franklin, and Trevor – it’s the extremely bold attempt to weave a cohesive narrative using three very different perspectives.

In one sense, the characters are all tightly authored – the dialogue’s sharply written, mannerisms and backstories carefully elaborated. Each lead has a very definite set of traits. But the second part of their characterization – what they actually do – is almost entirely entrusted to you. In GTA V you become omnipotent figure, able to invade the consciousnesses of three different characters. Los Santos is an incredible place, and you get to see it through three very different sets of eyes.

It’s a long-standing storytelling technique, but one rarely used by games. Changing point of view subtly alters your relationship with that character, emotionally and morally.

I think Trevor’s probably the best example of what I mean. He’s violent, unhinged, and extremely unpredictable. However, it’s possible to look past that soiled vest, presumably encrusted with his own vomit, and be very charmed by Trevor, and that really intensifies the moment you play as him. It’s weird, because you should revile him – he’s an irredeemable pervert and killer, after all – but you can’t. You are him, and I suspect GTA V’s character switching, ostensibly pitched as a mechanic designed to always keep you in the heart of the action, may secretly prove its most potent storytelling device.

As always, this sort of thing is best illustrated through examples. So here are two missions that Luke didn’t mention in IGN’s first hands-on with GTA V. I think they're both great examples of how switching characters exerts a subtle power on the narrative.

Urban Safari is the first mission I played in GTA V, and it starts outside Franklin’s house. He’s being hectored by his friend Lamar, who desperately wants his help on a drug deal. Franklin wants no part in such petty gang banging – it’s clear his ambitions lie far outside of the hood he’s been born into. Trevor suddenly appears, and is the absolute force of nature I always suspected him to be. He’s agitated, rambling, muttering about his messed up childhood, and hungrily looking for trouble. Unsurprisingly, a drug deal proves irresistible. (Interestingly, I started this mission playing as Franklin, but there was also the possibility to begin as Trevor, meaning open-world gameplay and missions can dovetail in slightly different combinations.)

With Trevor onboard, it’s harder for Franklin to cavil, and so I amble into the back of Trevor’s van, along with Lamar and his faithful Rottweiler, Chop. It doesn’t take long to reach the heart the hood – Franklin clearly hasn’t moved that far away. It’s a familiar cul-de-sac, intimidatingly fringed by rundown houses and shifty huddles of gang members – it’s Grove Street, the home of San Andreas’s protagonist, CJ. And the gang we’re negotiating with for a kilo of coke? The Ballas.

We jump out of the van and follow Lamar up to one of the houses. I can feel a thousand eyes watching my every movement. I don’t feel safe. The door opens suspiciously, and we’re presented with a white block wrapped in plastic. It’s cut open with a flick knife, and we’re allowed to sample the goods. Lamar takes a taste, and is eager to hand over a chunky wad of cash, but Trevor is tetchy. He asks if we can take a sample from the other side of the brick. The dealer refuses and starts to play hardball – do we want to make a deal or not? Trevor snatches the block out of the guy’s hands, and snaps it in half. It’s fake: a gram of blow hidden in a fake brick. We’re screwed.

The throbbing score violently ratchets up, as all hell breaks loose. Disorientated, I stumble into the nearest cover – a low garden wall. I feel genuinely unsafe, surrounded by seriously pissed off gangsters. Trapped at the bottom of Grove Street, we’re as good as dead. We all know it.

Our only chance is to pull together and fight our way up the street. I scramble from cover to cover, hiding behind parked cars, as bullets fly above my head. I can see Chop running around, barking, drawing fire, even biting. I’m pinned down behind the van, so I switch to Trevor, wondering if the ability to switch characters gets you out of jail should you find yourself running low on health, but he was taking just as much heat.

The cops soon arrive on the scene to subdue the urban uprising. This is the distraction we’ve been waiting for. I hear Lamar shout from across the street – he’s found a way out. I follow him down a narrow alley that separates two of the slovenly houses, and instantly the thick claustrophobia of the Grove Street shootout dissipates. The world opens up again. The houses backs onto the Los Santos storm drain – a vast man-made river carved out of concrete. We run down towards the water. Bizarrely there are a group of girls in colorful bikinis dancing for a film crew in front of three jet skis. Is this a TV advertisement? A music video? Porn? I have no time to find out – there’s a police helicopter humming overhead. I push one of the girls out of the way and steal her jet ski. Trevor, Lamar, and I head for open waters – I guess Chop ran home – but we can’t escape. The helicopter’s still on our tail.

After skimming across the open water for a few minutes, putting distance between us and Grove Street cops, we land on a nearby coast. Trevor’s disappeared (I suspect he might do this a lot), and Lamar’s plain out of ideas. It’s up to me to get us out of his mess. The mess he drew me into. As the sun sets, I lead us up a steep path from the beach to the cliff top above. I have my machine gun raised at all times, picking off the cops that greet us.

We eventually reach the roadside and jump into one of the now vacant cop cars. We’re still being pursued, but I sense I can get away. I head off into the dark, down the web of dusty roads that lie far outside of the city. I break line of sight with my pursuers, and my wanted level drops. We’re clear, but finishing the mission as Franklin, I genuinely feel angry. I felt annoyed with Lamar, sat in the car next to me. I didn’t want him to be there. As fun as it was to play, I never wanted to get involved in any of this. It was all his fault. I didn’t want to go back to Grove Street. I get out and walk away into the night.

The second mission I play is entitled Fresh Meat. Michael has been kidnapped by the Triads, and from the faint cries I hear in the background of a threatening phone call, he doesn’t have long. I panic; I have no idea why Michael’s been taken, or where I should start looking in this vast, sprawling world, or where the hell Trevor is. I could really do with some help. But one thing is clear, though: time is ticking, and as Franklin, alone, I need to find Michael… quickly. I’ve heard Michael describe Franklin as the son he never really had, and now playing as Franklin, facing this situation, I acutely feel the weight of that accolade.

Fortunately, I have some help in the form of Trackify, an app on my mobile phone. Using the Triads’ call, it gives me a crude idea of where he might be. So I jump in the nearest car – I opt for an average saloon, quickly realising how much time is of the essence – and head off in search of the flashing marker displayed on my phone.

But this isn’t like the GPS that usually sits in the bottom left-hand corner, with its brightly-illuminated route snaking through the city’s streets, taking you to your destination in the least amount of time. It’s disconcertingly blank – the streets aren’t reassuringly outlined and there’s coloured line for me to follow, just a vague marker nagging in the distance. Feeling somewhat blinded, I miss turnings and find myself frequently heading in the wrong direction. But I’m also getting closer, and eventually arrive at a large factory.

I pull up round back, so as not to be spotted. I need get inside, though. Nearby is a ladder which takes me to the roof, where a narrow walkway leads to the front of the building. I move quickly but cautiously, since I know I’m going to be heavily outnumbered. As I reach the front of the building, I overhear two Triads down below; they haven’t noticed me, so I open fire with a semi-automatic rifle. (In retrospect, it probably would’ve been more prudent to have attached a silencer, but screw it. It didn’t feel like a time for subtlety.) I scramble down the ladder and head into the darkened factory.

I know Michael’s here somewhere. I can hear him screaming.

It’s a meat packing factory, with freshly-butchered carcasses hanging from the ceiling and ribbons of blood staining the porcelain tiles. And some of it’s functional detail – those cadavers help break line of sight, a help and hindrance, and make surprisingly good cover, as I take out the Triads who are there to greet me. Around the corner I find Michael, strung up by his feet, seemingly destined to join the other swaying corpses. A Triad is pointing a gun at him, but I don’t hesitate, shooting the gang member who’s threatening my friend. But it isn’t a clean death – the gang member is pulled into some nearby machinery, and a fountain of blood instantly redecorates the factory’s interior.

I toss Michael a pistol, and I’m given the option to switch characters. I do so, and suddenly I’m upside down, as even more Triads burst into the room. I take them out with a couple of head shots, before lowering myself to the ground. Stripped to a bloody vest and gingerly holding his side, it’s evident Michael’s in a lot of pain and that we need to find a way out now. But playing as Michael I strangely feel more in control, like Franklin will defer to me.

Around a couple of more corners, I spot an exit and outside there’s a car waiting to be taken. We jump in, and tear off into the night. But it’s not over: the Triads are right behind us – they’re a persistent bunch, to be sure – in a Japanese tuner, pimped out in neon orange. I weave through traffic, as Franklin shoots out of the passenger window at the car that’s continually gaining ground. As good a shot as Franklin is, he’s ineffective, and I cut across oncoming traffic, thinking I might be able to disappear more effectively on the freeway. The tuner is gaining ground, though, and as I turn to take the slip road, I clip the Triad’s vehicle, which fortunately spins out and is pinned against a wall, where it bursts into flames. I’m free to join the freeway. We made it. Just.

Okay, it’s time for a minor confession. I died quite a few times while playing missions described above, but that’s not down to Grand Theft Auto V being unreasonably difficult. Nor am I terrible at games – really, I’m not. At the time, I thought it might be due to all the new controls and mechanics I had to learn. But then I thought more closely about the moments in which I died. What did these passings have in common? It was when I hesitated, when I didn’t know where to go, and I’ve concluded that fault lies entirely with me. Admittedly, GTA V doesn’t tell you where to go, but that’s the point. You can go anywhere. I died when I lacked both imagination and conviction. You see I’ve become awfully lazy when playing games that involve shooting and driving; I’m content to be pushed towards a mildly satisfying objective. So when I landed on the beach with Lamar, and he suddenly looked towards me for guidance, like a child who got mixed up in something he didn’t fully understand, I was overwhelmed. I could go anywhere, get away by any means I could find, but I died right there on the sand because I’ve grown acquainted to games that consistently underestimate me.

I don’t know if Grand Theft Auto V can stem the tide. It might. But after spending four hours exploring its world, I can safely say it’s revived my ailing faith in the big blockbuster game. There’s more to GTA V than just a land of unregulated freedom, though. I’m confident GTA V will receive attention for its technical prowess, swaggering attitude, and love of controversy, but there’s potentially a subtle approach to storytelling and characterisation here that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Passing between characters, identifying with more than one point of view, is sophisticated storytelling, and it provides GTA V with the machinery to tell an ambitious and nuanced story. And these character-based moments – being irritated with Lamar, as Franklin, for dragging me back into the hood – really stood out during my time with the game. I even started to play in a different way, depending on which character I was controlling. The game encourages this very gently with different character stats and special abilities – Franklin’s supposedly the best driver, for instance, so has the ability to slowdown time while behind the wheel. But it went beyond this, I found myself acting more recklessly as Trevor, more fatherly as Michael. I was performing. I actually think that might be the most unexpected and impressive thing I discovered while playing Grand Theft Auto V.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/06/grand-theft-auto-v-conflicting-points-of-view?page=2