Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
November 20, 2008 by editor
Filed under News, Screenshots, featured
Rockstar Games are to release Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned exclusively on Xbox Live on February 17 2009, screenshots below.
The Rockstar North developed game is to be the first of two downloadable episodes announced for the 360. It will feature “all new” content but will make use of the Liberty City of GTA IV.
Rockstar says the game will include: “…a new main character and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles; and a diverse soundtrack with additional music - all with the incredible production values that are the trademarks of Grand Theft Auto.”
WIN: Tom Clancy’s EndWar
We have four copies of Tom Clancy’s EndWar to give away thanks to Ubisoft, two on both PS3 and Xbox 360.
*** ENTRY TO THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED ***
Question: What is the war strategy series EndWar’s designer, Michael De Plater, previously worked on?
Send your answer to: cian.ginty@gamestoaster.com with the subject line “Tom Clancy’s EndWar”, please also say if you’re interisted in a copy for PS3 or Xbox 360.
Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, the publisher describes the game as “an all-new breed of strategy game. Designed from the ground up for consoles, it is a fusion of next-gen. technology, superior design and first-class production values behind which is veteran strategy games designer Michael De Plater who’s previous titles include the Total War series.”
“Set in 2020, with resources growing scarce every nation must look after themselves. Tom Clancy’s EndWar explores a full-scale land war between superpowers. While the narrative engrosses the player in a massive global conflict, with battles taking place in American and European heartlands”.
Ubisoft describes the key features as:
Cutting-edge Technology
- The first strategy game to be entirely playable with voice command (headset required)
- The “commander’s-eye view” offers a view of the action from the perspective of any unit under control
- Rock solid soldiers AI: they autonomously seek cover, engage enemies, and withdraw
Massive multiplayer, endless replay value
- The massively multiplayer “Risk-style” Theater of War campaign groups masses of players in live action
- Online battles allow up to 12 players in live action on the same map
- Unique units customization features (weapons, armour, gears) allow unlimited combinations in online and offline games
Your World in Flames
- 40 real-life recognizable battlefields including Washington DC, Paris and Moscow
- Fully destructible dynamic environments
- Hundreds of characters and vehicles on-screen in real-time, with a level of detail previously associated with first-person shooters
Competition rules: Staff, contributors, writers, reviewers, or employees of this website, its partners or of any companies and/or organizations that are involved with the competition, or their families, may not enter. We (this site, and any companies and/or organizations involved) reserve the right to cancel without notice any competitions if deemed necessary. Entrants must be residents of Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. Entrants must give us a valid email address, winners will only be notified by email, and asked for a delivery address — the winners names and general location (ie County, or city) will be also published. Winners will have four working days to reply to our email, after such time a new winner will be selected. No cash alternative is offered for these prizes. In some competitions, we reserved the right to extend the duration of a competition and/or withholding prizes in the case of poor response or an inferior quality of entries, and multiple entries may be disregarded. The closing date will sometimes be on the page of which the competition is on; entries will only be accepted at our decision after such date. The Editors decision is final.
GameStop opens new shop in Limerick
GameStop opened a new store in Limerick on Friday, and it has plans to open four more shops “in the near future,” creating 25 new jobs.
The new Limerick shop on William Street is the third in the city, adding to current outlets at the Crescent and Parkway shopping centres.
Owned by the US retailer of the same name, GameStop now has 56 shops across Ireland and the UK, with the vast majority in the Republic and the North.
The company says it has a large stock of Wii Fit games, but it claims the “game is expected to be in short supply this Christmas so Wii fans should do their Christmas shopping early!”
GameStop are also operating what it calls “a new innovative ‘Play For Free’ scheme” where “Gamers who purchase any games console between now and Christmas, can return it if they don’t like it for any reason, and they will receive a full store credit in return.” Terms and conditions, of course, apply.
Exhibit to feature best of student work
The Digital Hub in Dublin is to exhibit a selection of student work including games, films, animations, and installations.
‘Best in Show’ launches in the Digital Exchange on November 20, and will feature work of students from NCAD, DIT, Limerick School of Art & Design, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Trinity College Dublin, and the London College of Communications.
It will be open to the public from Friday November 21 to Thursday 27, excluding weekends. For more see thedigitalhubexhibit.com.
VIDEO: The Wheelman trailer
After the superior FPS Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios seemed to take a bit of a break before commencing work on the upcoming Riddick sequel as well as the truly impressive looking The Wheelman, an early trailer for which was released this week.
The game really does look fantastic. Diesel looks and sounds amazing and if the video is anything to go by we can expect one hell of an entertaining romp. Shame we have to wati till next year to get our hands on it.
Celebrate Bungie Day
Today is seems is Bungie Day, which for all intents and purposes
seems to be a holiday made up by Bungie, those nice people who gave us
Halo and it’s impressive sequels. To celebrate this rather important of
days we have been given a brand new multiplayer map.
The map is a remake of classic Halo 1 favourite Chill Out which is
ideally suited to one on one matches. The map can be downloaded from
Xbox live for free. Also of note is that the Halo 3 Legendary map pack
is now only 600 MS points which is around 7 euro.
EA apologise for Northern Ireland mix up
- Error was brought to EA’s attention in late April
Publishing giant Electronic Arts have apologised for using the wrong national anthem for Northern Ireland in the Euro 2008 computer game. The mistake was brought to the games publisher’s attention over two months ago in April. A Northern Ireland fan wrote on publisher’s online message boards of his “shock” and how he was “disgusted” by the game.
The fan pointed out that ‘Danny Boy’ is used in the game for the national anthem of Northern Ireland, rather than official anthem ‘God Save The Queen’. But his main point of controversy is due to ‘Amhran na bhFiann’ or ‘The Soldier’s Song’ – the national anthem of the Republic of Ireland – being played as victory music.
“I just bought Uefa Euro 2008. I’m from Northern Ireland and was shocked at some of the discoveries in your game. First of all Northern Ireland’s national anthem is not ‘Danny Boy’. Now for the worst part. when I was playing with NI and finished match at the end of match screen it started playing ‘the soldiers song’ which is the Republic of Ireland’s national anthem” said a user on EA’s message boards who described himself as a “very disappointed gamer” and signed off as Ian Kerr.
He continued: “Just to let you know Northern Ireland is still British and not all Ireland. The national anthem is ‘God Save the Queen’. where do u [sic] get your information on football from because whoever it is has never been to a Northern Ireland match, God Save the Queen is always played as our national anthem. As for the soldier song being played at end of match menu I was left disgusted. So, northern Ireland has no identity now I suppose”.
With many in the North having different cultural views, anger at the mix-up is unlikely to be even across political lines. An EA UK staff member followed the fan’s post with “There’s some excellent feedback here, keep it coming”, followed by a smiley face.
However, since then, EA’s Shaun White was quoted by media outlets as saying: “At EA Sports, we pride ourselves on delivering rich and authentic videogame experiences. We sincerely apologise for this error”.
Irish blog to cover computer games
An Irish blog, the Irish Games, is set to have video games news, features and reviews.
The site, jokingly described as “the illegitimate brain child of two native Limerick dwellers with a
passion for video games”, was launched late last week and can be found at theirishgamers.wordpress.com.
The blog is to cover both console and PC gaming, as well as the odd post about films. A post on the site says one of the reasons it was set up was “the belief that the Irish games scene is in need of a serious boost”.
It added: “We’re just getting started, but we hope to start specifically covering what’s going on in Ireland when it comes to games, as well as talking about the regular plethora of daily international industry happenings too”.
The use of the name the Irish Gamers follows two similarly named but unrelated sites – the now redundant Irishgamer.ie, and one of Game Toaster’s past names, the Irish Gamer.
Video: Final Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer
Viewing the final MGS4 trailer you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a trailer for an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster. From the grizzled voice over to awe-inspiring number of set pieces it could easily pass for the next Jerry Bruckheimer offering, when in fact it’s so much more. The tantalising prospect of a summers day spent playing Metal Gear is something to cherish. Lets just hope that the game lives up to the exceedingly high expectation.
Irish video games podcast launched
Citizengame.co.uk, although it has a UK web address, is a newly launched Irish games podcast. The first edition, a ‘pilotcast’, was released on March 3 and has been so-far followed by three more shows.
In the podcasts presenters cover computer games news and talk about the latest games. The podcasts in MP3 - which vary from an hour to an hour and 25mins - can be downloaded in from citizengame.co.uk.