N'Gai Croal On GTA Delay: Don't Blame PS3

N'Gai Croal chimes in on Level Up this evening with "informed speculation" on the Grand Theft Auto IV delay. Although Take Two's vague comments about "technical challenges" make it tempting to lay the blame on the newer hardware, Croal makes a good case for why it probably isn't a PlayStation 3 issue

[krackchap]

rockstar knows that ps3 is still their loyal fanbase,if 50mill $$ cannot get microsoft exclusivity or even timed exclusivity,its easy to say hat rockstar knows who their core fans are.
also how can the ps3 hardware be a problem,
HDD in every ps3-check
HD bluray drive-check
more processing power- check
if companies like rockstar run into trouble saying the ps3 is hard to program for then they shd get out of the business and see what rookie devs of ninja theory and guerilla are doing

[D_U_I]

Bubble 4 u.

[peksi]

That "check" thing made me smile :) I'm a strange person anyway...

strange personality: check
my post out of topic: check
more bubbles for me: failed

[WaggleLOL]

It is funny in a pathetic way if you look at Microsoft and Rockstar.

Microsoft pays 50 million for some extra mission in GTA IV
They brag about it to everyone as one of their big games for Christmas
Rockstar announces their next big franchise will be PS3 exclusive.
Rockstar announces, in addition, that LA Noir is a PS3 exclusive.
And then Rockstar delays GTA IV to the middle of next year.

That is so f-ing funny - except we are all stuck with a gimped to 360 level GTA IV.

[BLACKJACK VII]

Just where was GTA IV at this year’s E3 ? Hmmmmm ? It wasn’t in the Sony booth. They didn't even have a freakin' *trailer*. A fact that led many to believe Rockstar was giving Sony the cold shoulder for reasons unknown. Consider also that ALL early previews of the game were shown running on Xbox 360 consoles and that ALL screenshots were also taken from 360 builds.

Recently, a Rockstar spokesman even alluded to the problems faced when making the game run on the complex Cell processor - being clearly diplomatic - he said that the games production was still “a week or two behind” the Xbox360 version. It’s no secret that the Cell is harder to program for than the Xbox 360’s far more familiar architecture, but *COULD* it be that the Cell is so nightmarishly complicated that those 8 extra months are needed just to get to grips with it ???

1UP: Why didn't you show Grand Theft Auto IV at your press conference? Why was it not there?

Jack Tretton: Well, Dave do you want to answer that?

Dave Karraker: You want the real answer?

Dave Karraker: I'll give you the real answer. They didn't send us their video.

Dave Karraker: We requested it. We sent an e--mail out to every publisher and said send us your videos that you want put in the press conference, and they never sent it. Not much more you can say about that.

????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????????????

[drtysouf21]

here it is for those that want to read it.

http://blog.newsweek.com/bl...

[Marceles]

1. DVDs hold closer to 5 gb on each side

2. There's been many previous gen systems that have different format sizes. Nintendo 64 and Playstation being one example which is the reason why Final Fantasy VII was released on PS. Dreamcast's GD-ROMs held a little over 1 GB which is of course more than CD-ROMs until PS2 came out.

This generation just seems to bring the storage issue to greater heights. 2 different companies saying what gaming needs and doesn't need. So far it seems like Sony is starting to be more correct as the year ends when it comes to gaming and hardware. Microsoft seems to have their online in a much better state right now. The only difference is that Sony can easily fix their online, where to Microsoft has to keep giving hardware add-ons and telling people "well you can get this, if you WANT to get it" and trying to hide the fact that Xbox owners just has to spend money on more add-ons. But it also sounds like Xbox doesn't have a problem with releasing their Xbox 720 maybe sooner than 4-5 years.

But I really don't see what the problem would be to build in the hd-dvd format to the 360. Maybe MS wants to still try to brag that their system is soooo much cheaper than the PS3 and adding it would raise the price. Also, you would think the games would be cheaper since they are on regular DVDs. Since DVDs are backwards compatible, that would be perfect to build in the HD-DVD...but oh well. Each of the next gen systems are having their problems, it's just a race to see who will iron their problems out first.

[power of Green]

Not sure what you said but the PS3 has a track record of causing problems which nothing you mentioned above had anything to do with any of the other problems.

Not saying PS3 caused anything I actually think they "bit off more than they can chew" and many factors from both consoles could be causing the problem(s).

Its wasn't the 360 version that was announced being behind the 360 version a few das ago it was the other way around, has anybody ever seen the PS3 verion of GTA4?.

[WaggleLOL]

The 360 is a turd of a console. We should all have sympathy for the poor Rockstar engineers who are now killing themselves to get GTA IV out the door for such a crappy system.

The 360 is the first console EVER to actually have LESS storage space compared to a previous generation. The 360's old DVD drive can only store 3.5 gigs on single layer and 7 gigs on dual discs.

Since there is a large seek penalty when reading across layers, about 100 ms, free roaming games like GTA end up having to keep all the game data on one layer. So what that means is Rockstar right now is faced with having to cram the entire GTA game into 3.5 gigs of space.

That is so pathetic and sad.

BluRay discs are 25 gigs for single layer and 50 gigs for dual layer. PC games of course can install to 5,10,20 gigs to a person's harddrive.

And since the idiots at Microsoft made the Core 360, aka Retard Pack, Rockstar can't make the game require installing a bunch of data to a harddrive.

Microsoft's crappy console is ruining each and every single gamers next gen experience. They are like the idiot who can't hold their bladder in a public pool and ruining it for everyone else.

Just look at the amazing cities in Lair the insane amount of stuff going on and look at the joke engine and detail the GTA IV looks like right now and realize that you could be playing a GTA game with 25 gigs of game data and Lair levels of graphics and detail if the idiots up in Redmond weren't passing out tens of millions of dollars to gimp next gen games.

[thereapersson]

One of the first posts that i've seen from you in a while that wasn't completely one-sided against Sony.

[Nicosia]

Man why is every discussion starting the x360 and PS3?. We all know delays are somethings that just happens. Everybody just wants to nitpick and blame anything.

[Rattles]

now your someone that deserves some bubbles

[_insane_cobra]

Actually, according to Rockstar, the PS3 version is lagging a week or two behind the Xbox 360 version:

http://games.kikizo.com/new...

So if any version is to be blamed, it IS the PS3 version, but it's most likely they had a fair share of problems with both. The game is just undercooked at this point.

[achira]

lol, where is your logic. when its 2 weeks behind, why do they delay 6 months ?

[_insane_cobra]

Why are you asking for logic? You obviously wouldn't know what to do with it. Alas, let me try to spell it out...

The PS3 version is a week or two behind the Xbox 360 version. Neither are ready to be released in October, only the PS3 version is even less so. Get it now?

[WIIIS1]

Thanks Sony. Delaying this game is perfectly fine with me as there are just too many AAA games coming up on the 360 in the coming months it'll be impossible to play them all.

[Marty8370]

If you look at R* press release, it's a finacial decision. Nothing to do with PS3 or 360 problems.

[WIIIS1]

I suppose if R* press said the sun rises from the west and sets in the east, you'd believe it too. C'mon man its obvious, delays and PS go hand in hand. They didn't get the name Delaystation for nothing.

[kevin1122]

bs, you are such a hypocrite. There were countless 360 games that got delayed during its first year and a few in the second. hell, even wii games have gotten delayed. Every platform has delays.

[Wile]

Maybe it was DVD9, maybe it was difficultly with the Cell, or maybe it was a cookie shortage in Rockstar's breakroom and everyone left in protest. Who cares. Bottom line is whether you are pro xbox, pro sony, or pro games, we all have to wait. Anyways after reading "N'Gai Croal On GTA Delay" I didn't have to read the second part of the title. I knew it where it was going.

Had a second thought, I remembered that Rockstar set the October 2007 release date over a year and a half ago. Maybe they just under estimated the time needed, nothing more.

[thereapersson]

Don't you have exciting 360 news articles to gloat in, instead of trolling PS3-related news?

Or is that your sole purpose for existing on this website?

Furthermore, do you really expect anyone to take what you say seriously when you have such a one-sided bias? You might as well take a picture with the words "FANBOY" stamped across your forehead.

I saw this delay coming a mile away, what with all the troubles Rockstar is having with Take-Two. I knew this game would be too ambitious to hit the mark this year, so i'm not disappointed that a delay was announced. This is just more time for me to play all the holiday hits that are coming out this year for the 360 and the PS3.

[gnothe1]

the only thing I dont like about this whole this is the constant bashing about which system caused the delay!! these sony boys KEEP saying that the 360 is HOLDING back the PS3, now what I find funny about that is ALL MULTIPLAT games that released at the same time looks an runs better on the 360. the only time a PS3 multiplat game looks better on the Ps3 is if it has another year to develop, other than that the 360 version wins hands down. the PS3 game suffers with frame rate issues, but the 360 is holding back the PS3. its a fact that more PS3 games get delayed than 360 games, its a fact that more PS3 games suffer more frame rate issues than 360, but you guys continue to say the 360 is holding back the PS3 when 360 games continue to perform better than PS3 games. not saying that the Ps3 is the reason for this delay, but you guys wanna lay the blame on the 360.

[Bathyj]

You start off saying you dont like the bashing as if you were about to offer a non biased opinion, and then proceed to bash the PS3 for the rest of your rant. Seems like you lost your way a little there.

For my money I dont think the game was going to be finished this quickly even if they were only working on one console, regardless of which one it might have been. It was always gonna be too soon.

[Mr Pumblechook]

I have read on a website that Rockstar had problems developing on the xbox 360. Rockstar's agreement with Microsoft means they cant release the Ps3 version until the Xbox 360 version is ready.

http://www.ukrebellion.com/...

[Wile]

Interesting theory, but you don't expect anyone to take that obscure, underground web blog at its word....do you?

[ShiftyLookingCow]

N'Gai Croal (his sounds like he is of the Jaffa from Stargate) is mostly a PS fanboy so I don't care about his stuff. Other than that yeah its known 360 had rough edges too despite being playable. I disagree on Rockstar releasing on 360 if they had it done before PS3, it would screw up a significant number of sales for the game. They obviously want simultaneous release across platforms.

[Rhezin]

ok wow everyone knows why it's delayed because of the bug-fested ps3 version still needs time for development, but the 360 version is ready to ship but n0000 of course they'll be sony fanboys breathing down their backs about it, so now they delay it. THIS IS BULLSH!T!

[Fighter]

If the PS3 version could not be done in time then they could've delayed the game just like Stranglehold and a lot of other games are delayed on the PS3 but are coming out in time for the 360. IMO the game is way too big for DVD9. keep in mind that it's a sandbox style game and it has next-gen gameplay and graphics.

[sovietsoldier]

all i know is when that game is out its party time. there was too many games coming out this year anyway,be glad!