New GTA Confirmed?
Inadvertent slip or clever low-key announcement? Either way, SCEE gives us the name of Grand Theft Auto 3's offspring and confirms what plenty of people have been whispering for a while: A new GTA is coming
Published: May 1, 2002
[originally posted by Sam Bishop on 4.30.01]
UPDATE: As of Monday, April 29th, SCEE's press release no longer lists Vice City as an upcoming game. The rest of the release, however, is unchanged. Looks like it was a little too early to let the title slip...
It's been rumored for months, finally breaking into tiny, quiet news blurbs on major games sites for a while: Rockstar Studios, formerly DMA Design, is working on a new Grand Theft Auto game. Is this really a surprise? No, of course, not, since GTA3 sold like it was the cure for cancer (and who says it isn't?), but up until now we've known little more than the setting: Miami. Even without all the press snippets, carrying stories of retailer pre-orders or print magazine 100-word blurbs, all you had to do was look in the game. High atop the city (we won't tell you where, go play the game more and find it, it's good for you!) is a billboard that says, simply, "See you in Miami." Seems pretty freakin' obvious now, doesn't it?
Of course, the biggest question, aside from what the game would actually be like, was its title. Originally batted around the net as GTA: Miami (which makes sense, given the rumor and the obvious billboard), a story on IGNPS2 about retailers taking pre-orders for a game called GTA: Vice (Miami... Vice... get it?) seemed to fall perfectly in line with the rumors. Turns out, they weren't far off.
Thanks to a press release from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we get the first real confirmation of the game's title and its existence. The press release started out about as stodgy and stiff as any other financial release, revealing that the PS2 has sold a hefty 7 million units in Europe, bring the worldwide shipment total to a whopping 28.68 million units. In fiscal 2001 alone, 18.07 million PS2's were shipped all over the world, an impressive feat no matter how you break it down. The success of the PS2 was carried in no small part by the launches of big releases like Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, and, of course, Grand Theft Auto 3.
It was at the bottom of this release, however, that the biggest news was dropped. Amid both upcoming and recently-releases titles here in the States, and nestled between sure-fire sellers Onimusha 2 and Red Faction 2 lay a title dubbed "GTA Vice City." Excited? You bet we are. Of course, reps from neither Sony nor Rockstar could be contacted, but as soon as we get word, we'll pass it on to you.
It seems, for the time being at least, that GTA Vice City is more of an expansion pack, a la GTA: London 1969, DMA's PC and PSX add-on that bridged the wait between GTA and GTA2. GTA4 is no doubt in the planning stages, but with demand for GTA3 as high as it is, Rockstar Studios appears to be wisely creating a stop-gap solution to keep eager fans sated until the sequel ships.
For now, we'll keep our eyes peeled for info, and if any official announcement is going to be made, we'll hear about it at the Electronic Entertainment Expo later next month.
UPDATE: As of Monday, April 29th, SCEE's press release no longer lists Vice City as an upcoming game. The rest of the release, however, is unchanged. Looks like it was a little too early to let the title slip...
It's been rumored for months, finally breaking into tiny, quiet news blurbs on major games sites for a while: Rockstar Studios, formerly DMA Design, is working on a new Grand Theft Auto game. Is this really a surprise? No, of course, not, since GTA3 sold like it was the cure for cancer (and who says it isn't?), but up until now we've known little more than the setting: Miami. Even without all the press snippets, carrying stories of retailer pre-orders or print magazine 100-word blurbs, all you had to do was look in the game. High atop the city (we won't tell you where, go play the game more and find it, it's good for you!) is a billboard that says, simply, "See you in Miami." Seems pretty freakin' obvious now, doesn't it?
Of course, the biggest question, aside from what the game would actually be like, was its title. Originally batted around the net as GTA: Miami (which makes sense, given the rumor and the obvious billboard), a story on IGNPS2 about retailers taking pre-orders for a game called GTA: Vice (Miami... Vice... get it?) seemed to fall perfectly in line with the rumors. Turns out, they weren't far off.
Thanks to a press release from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we get the first real confirmation of the game's title and its existence. The press release started out about as stodgy and stiff as any other financial release, revealing that the PS2 has sold a hefty 7 million units in Europe, bring the worldwide shipment total to a whopping 28.68 million units. In fiscal 2001 alone, 18.07 million PS2's were shipped all over the world, an impressive feat no matter how you break it down. The success of the PS2 was carried in no small part by the launches of big releases like Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, and, of course, Grand Theft Auto 3.
It was at the bottom of this release, however, that the biggest news was dropped. Amid both upcoming and recently-releases titles here in the States, and nestled between sure-fire sellers Onimusha 2 and Red Faction 2 lay a title dubbed "GTA Vice City." Excited? You bet we are. Of course, reps from neither Sony nor Rockstar could be contacted, but as soon as we get word, we'll pass it on to you.
It seems, for the time being at least, that GTA Vice City is more of an expansion pack, a la GTA: London 1969, DMA's PC and PSX add-on that bridged the wait between GTA and GTA2. GTA4 is no doubt in the planning stages, but with demand for GTA3 as high as it is, Rockstar Studios appears to be wisely creating a stop-gap solution to keep eager fans sated until the sequel ships.
For now, we'll keep our eyes peeled for info, and if any official announcement is going to be made, we'll hear about it at the Electronic Entertainment Expo later next month.
