Case study of development and key features of GTA IV developed by Rockstar North

GTA IV Intro

• GENRE: Sand box style action adventure game• Simultaneously released on PS3 and XBOX 360

on 29th April 2008.

Background

• Game is set in redesigned rendition of Liberty City, a fictional city based heavily on modern day New York City.

• Follows Niko Bellic, a war veteran from an unspecified country in Eastern Europe. He comes to the United States in search of the American Dream but quickly becomes entangled in a seedy underworld of gangs, crime, and corruption.

Continued…

• Like other games in the series, GTA IV is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives players more control over their playing experience.

Development of game

• Grand Theft Auto IV sees a shift in the series to a more realistic and detailed style and tone, partly a result of the transition to consoles which offered high-definition graphics and the new and improved capabilities of such consoles.

Commercial success

• First game of the series to be released on 7th gen console.

• A major commercial and critical success, it broke industry records with sales of around 3.7 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in revenue in the first week, from an estimated 6 million units sold worldwide.

• To date over 17 million copies have been sold

Gameplay

• The core gameplay consists of giving the player a large, open environment in which to move around.

• On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping, as well as using weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat.

• Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, helicopters, and motorcycles

Gameplay• Open, non-linear environment allows players to

explore and choose how they wish to play the game.

• Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain parts of the map and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam, giving them the ability to do activities.

Gameplay

• For the first time in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV features "morality choices" at several points throughout the game. The game has two different endings, which are determined by deciding which of the two missions to complete. The player can choose between a revenge mission or a deal mission, each leads to a different ending.

Production of game

• Unlike previous games in the series, the voice actors of Grand Theft Auto IV do not include notable and high-profile celebrities, instead opting for lesser known actors.

Production of game

• The Bullet physics engine along with the Euphoria animation system causes Niko to react differently to every bike crash, instead of using a predefined animation. Niko can lose health or die if he crashes or smashes through the windscreen of cars during high speed collisions. Unlike previous games, vehicles will not explode if they are flipped over, however they may catch fire and eventually explode if the engine is repeatedly damaged via collisions, or if the vehicle is damaged via firearms. Explosions can sometimes render nearby vehicles unusable, or cause them to catch fire. Car engines can also break down, rendering them unable to start.

Production of the game

• If Niko is injured, he can recover health by eating, drinking soda, sleeping, using medical kits, using his mobile phone to call for paramedics, calling one of his girlfriends for medical advice, or using the services of a prostitute.

Production of game

• GTA IV is the first console game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode, which contains fifteen game types.

Multiplayer functions

• The multiplayer supports up to 16 players (32 players in the PC version)

• Team based gameplay modes include:• Team Deathmatch, where 2–8 teams compete to accumulate

the most kills in a traditional deathmatch• Team Mafiya Work, in which 2–8 teams compete to complete

contract work for the "mafia", such as escorting/killing targets or stealing cars

• Team Car Jack City where 2–8 teams compete to steal cars and earn money for keeping them undamaged.

Features • Several high-profile DJs host the

various radio stations within the game such as Iggy Pop and Juliette Lewis.

• Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais also have their likenesses and comedy depicted in an in-game comedy club.

• Numerous other comedians, including Jim Norton, Patrice Oneal, Rick Shapiro, and Robert Kelly, appeared on the radio and/or as characters in-game.

Features• Like previous games in the Grand Theft Auto

series, Grand Theft Auto IV features a soundtrack that can be heard through radio stations while the player is in a vehicle. Liberty City is serviced by 18 radio stations, three of which are talk radio stations.

• The other stations feature music from a large range of genres. There are notable inclusions to the game's soundtrack, such as tracks from Genesis, David Bowie, Bob Marley , The Who, Queen, Black Sabbath, Nas, Kanye West, and Barry White.

• The theme song (intro music) of Grand Theft Auto IV is "Soviet Connection" composed by Michael Hunter, who also composed the theme for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Features • Following a partnership between Rockstar Games

and Amazon.com, players are able to purchase real world MP3s through GTA IV's in-game mobile phone. Players are able to mark radio songs that they like by dialing ZIT-555-0100 on Niko's phone. They will then receive a text message providing the name of the song and the artist. If a player is registered on Rockstar's 'Social Club' website he or she will also receive a real world e-mail with a link to an Amazon.com playlist where all of the player's marked songs will be listed and available to purchase

Features

• The Rockstar Games Social Club is a web site that displays the gameplay statistics of registered users and feature competitions and awards based on player activity within the game.

Critical Reception• Grand Theft Auto IV has received nearly universal

acclaim from video game critics. Ahead of its worldwide release, most publications were not sent copies of the game. Instead, reviewers had to play the game on Rockstar premises or in booked hotel rooms

• The May 2008 issue of Official Xbox Magazine (UK) published the first Grand Theft Auto IV review, giving the game the maximum score of 10/10. The magazine also stated that the game has an "amazingly realistic world; stunning action set pieces; genuinely engrossing storyline; hugely entertaining multiplayer;"

Critical Reception

• Xbox World 360 gave the game a 98% rating, the highest it has ever given to any game, mentioning the game was "everything we were entitled to expect, and yet somehow impossibly more.”

UK Success

• United Kingdom the Xbox 360 version sold 514,000 copies and the PlayStation 3 version sold 413,000, according to Chart-Track.

• Over 13 million units of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV have been shipped as of 31 January 2009.

• As of June 2010 17 millions copies have been sold.

Episodic Content

• The Lost and the Damned• The Ballad of Gay Tony

• Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is a stand alone game with each of the episode included listed above.

Further developments

• APRIL 2010• The Lost and Damned,

The Ballad of Gay Tony and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City are released for PC and PlayStation 3

Exam Advice

• Requires knowledge of the features of the game.

• How the game uses next generation technology in the game play.

• What is the game play experience for the consumer.

• How does the game appeal to the consumer.

Past questions

• Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences within a media area which you have studied (January 2009)

• Discuss the issues raised by an institutions need to target a specific audience within the media industry you have studied. (Exemplar question new spec)