Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the eleventh instalment overall. Set within the fictional Liberty City, based on New York City, the single-player story follows Eastern European war veteran Niko Bellic and his attempts to escape his past while under pressure from high-profile criminals. The open world design lets players freely roam Liberty City, consisting of three main islands, and the neighbouring state of Alderney, which is based on New Jersey.
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Grand Theft Auto IV was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in April 2008, and for Windows in December. Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at the narrative and open-world design. Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history at the time, earning US$310 million in its first day and US$500 million in its first week. Considered one of the most significant titles of the seventh generation of video games, and by many critics as one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. It is among the best-selling video games with over 25 million copies sold by 2013. The game also generated controversy, with criticism directed at the game's depiction of violence and players' ability to drink-drive. Its successor, Grand Theft Auto V, was released in September 2013.
Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in 2008, within a redesigned version of Liberty City. The design of the city focuses on a recreation of four of the boroughs of New York City: Broker (based on Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (The Bronx), and Algonquin (Manhattan). The setting also includes the neighbouring state of Alderney (based on New Jersey).[19] Initially, bridges are locked down due to a terrorist threat, and police constantly pursue players if the bridges are crossed. The blockades are lifted as the story progresses, allowing the player to traverse between islands safely.
In August 2008, Rockstar announced that the game would be coming to Windows on 18 November 2008 in North America and 21 November in Europe,[69] with additional development work by Rockstar Toronto.[70] Microsoft partnered with Rockstar in a US$50 million deal to bring two episodic downloadable content packs to the Xbox 360:[71] Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on 17 February 2009,[72] and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony on 29 October 2009.[73] Dan Houser wanted the episodes to show "a different side of Liberty City".[74] In January 2010, Rockstar announced that the DLC would be bundled as Episodes from Liberty City, released for PlayStation 3 and Windows on 13 April 2010 in North America and 16 April in Europe.[75] Episodes from Liberty City was also bundled with the main game in The Complete Edition, released on 26 October 2010 in North America and 29 October in Europe.[76] The Xbox 360 version of the game and its DLC were made backwards compatible with the Xbox One on 9 February 2017.[77]
To unveil the game's cover art, Rockstar contracted artists to paint a mural on a wall at a secluded warehouse location, showcasing the art in a video on 28 November 2007.[84] A third trailer was released on 6 December 2007, introducing some of the game's characters, such as Roman and Michelle. The trailer features the song "King Ring" by Russian rap artist Seryoga, which Rockstar felt captured the "melting pot mentality" of Liberty City.[85] Dan Houser wanted the third trailer to capture the "visceral qualities" of the game, but focus less on the story, as the first two trailers had done.[40] On 8 February 2008, five teaser trailers for the game were released, each showcasing a particular character or service within the game.[86] Similar teaser trailers were later released in pairs on 21 February,[87] 7 March,[88] and 11 April.[89] Another trailer, released on 27 March 2008, showcases some scenes from the game, such as a bank robbery and police chase.[90] A television commercial from GameStop debuted on 1 April, focusing on the activities in Liberty City.[91]
In the month prior to launch, Rockstar and GameStop held a competition offering up to US$10,000 and a trip to New York City for the game's launch event.[99] Microsoft held a similar sweepstakes competition, offering consoles, games, Microsoft Points, a baseball bat, and an invitation to the launch event as rewards.[100] The official Grand Theft Auto IV website was redesigned on 8 February 2008 to show a preview of activities and locales within the game's world.[101] To encourage pre-order sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to provide a special edition version of the game. It includes a metal safe deposit box, an art book, and the soundtrack CD.[102] The publisher also collaborated with Sony to release a 40 GB PlayStation 3 console with a copy of the game.[103] GameStop hosted midnight launch events at over 3,500 of its American stores, with contests and giveaways.[104]
When Grand Theft Auto IV was released to Windows in December 2008, it received generally positive reviews. Metacritic calculated an average score of 90 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 40 reviews.[122] Reviewers liked the enhanced visuals[124][128][129] and the additional features,[1][123][127][129] but criticised the port for its inferiority over the console versions.[123][125][127]
Grand Theft Auto IV earned awards from several critics and publications. It received Game of the Year awards from Digital Spy,[130] the Entertainment Merchants Association,[131] GameTrailers,[132] Giant Bomb,[133] IGN Australia,[134] Kotaku,[135] The Los Angeles Times,[136] The New York Times,[137] and Time.[138] At the Spike Video Game Awards, the game won Game of the Year and Best Action Adventure Game, and Michael Hollick won Best Performance by a Human Male for his role as Niko.[139] It was nominated for three awards at the 9th Game Developers Choice Awards,[140] and seven at the 5th British Academy Games Awards, tying for the most nominations at the latter.[141] At IGN's Best of 2008, it won eleven awards, including Best Voice Acting across all three platforms and overall,[142][143][144][145] and Best Story for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[146][147]
Within twenty-four hours of its release, Grand Theft Auto IV sold over 3.6 million copies, equating to approximately $310 million in revenue.[148] Within a week, it generated more than $500 million in worldwide revenue, equating to approximately 6 million copies sold for Take Two.[149][e] The numbers surpassed analysts' expectations for the title.[151][152][153] After one month of availability, the game had sold over 8.5 million copies.[154] It broke three Guinness World Records on 13 May 2008: highest grossing video game in 24 hours, highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours, and fastest-selling video game in 24 hours.[155][f] On 11 March 2011, Take-Two announced that the game had sold over 20 million copies, with the Grand Theft Auto series surpassing a collective total of 100 million copies.[157] As of July 2013, the game has sold over 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games, and one of the best-selling games on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[158] All sales records broken by Grand Theft Auto IV were beaten by its successor, Grand Theft Auto V.[159]
In the United Kingdom, the game became the fastest-selling game of all time, selling over 631,000 copies in twenty-four hours.[160] This broke the record set by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at 501,000 copies over the same period.[161] During the first five days of availability, the game sold over 927,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[162][163] In the United States, Grand Theft Auto IV sold 2.85 million units in its first five days.[164] By the end of 2008, the game had sold over 5.18 million copies in the US.[165] In its first four days of availability in Japan, it sold 133,000 copies on the PlayStation 3 and 34,000 on the Xbox 360, according to Media Create.[166]
In The Lost and Damned, the first episodic downloadable content for GTA IV, five of these radio stations were expanded, namely WKTT Talk Radio, The Beat 102.7, Liberty City Hardcore, Liberty Rock Radio and Radio Broker. The new music has been added to the song rotations of the stations, so that both the original music and the new tracks play concurrently. The new tracks are also included in the original GTA IV game.
The two episodes are available in a stand-alone format, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. The radio content included with The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony is combined with additional, exclusive music appearing on three new radio stations: RamJam FM, Self-Actualization FM, and Vice City FM. These replace several radio stations that did not carry over from GTA IV. However, if the player downloaded the episodes, the radio stations from GTA IV will still be available, as the three exclusive radio stations from The Ballad of Gay Tony episode are only automatically included if the player bought the special disc from the episodes.
Most of the ringtones found on the game's ringtone download website are from previous Grand Theft Auto games, mainly from Head Radio and Lips 106 in Grand Theft Auto III and Liberty City Stories, and "Pager" is the tone of the pager in Grand Theft Auto III (which is, in turn, the melody of the theme for the original Grand Theft Auto, which also appeared on radio station Lips 106 in Grand Theft Auto III) and the opening tune on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City when it displays the Rockstar North logo, in the form of a Commodore 64 loading screen. All of these songs are from fictional bands made by Rockstar Games. 2ff7e9595c
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