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Another GTA IV release, another problem…

December 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm · 7 Comments

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Yep… I’m still bitter.  I was one of the many that had issues with GTA IV on the PS3 and one of the few that never had those issues go away.  Some 360 owners had issues running GTA IV right after it was released as well.  It looks like PC gamers are filling out their membership card applications right now… welcome to the club guys!

According to this report over at unigamesity.com, PC gamers are having their fair share of troubles running GTA IV well or running it at all.  In their usual style, Rockstar remains quiet on the whole issue.  One would like to think that’s because they’re hard at work and only want to speak when a solution is available but it’s been my experience that they simply choose not to address the issue because addressing it means acknowledging it and acknowledging it somehow legitimizes it.  Their games sell well and they don’t seem to really fix all the problems… it just amazes me.  This is Rockstar… not some no-name developer.

Just like the PS3 GTA IV fiasco, the community is left diagnosing possible causes and solutions to the problem because clearly Rockstar and Take-Two had no clue what was going on.  On the PS3 we were told to delete our saved game, delete the installed data, reinstall the game, disable internet connectivity, disable media server functionality, delete internet cache, disable the PS3 screen saver, turn off auto-save, turn off the flicker-filter, turn off Dual Shock 3 rumble support.  Now PC users are having to resort to defragging their hard drives (after a whopping 15GB install) as well as seek out updated graphics card drivers.

I get that PC development is a vast wide-open quasi-platform, but when the developer can’t nail closed system development like the Xbox 360 and the PS3, I lose most faith that they can launch a product on the PC without issues.  I just hope (for the PC gamers’ sake) that Rockstar is continually learning and improving based on the mistakes it’s making.  Wide open, vast, living worlds are not an excuse for flakey, unreliable code.  If you don’t shape up, another developer will come along and outdo you in your own style… oh yeah, and I’m still waiting on my No Crash™ patch for the PS3 version of GTA IV (and I’m not buying Midnight Club Los Angeles until I get it!)  Bitter indeed…




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  2. GTA IV Exclusive 360 DLC Is Coming… 10 Months Later
  3. Fischer acknowledges Wii storage problem
  4. Rockstar Patches Grand Theft Freeze IV (Again…)
  5. GTA IV Getting Trophy Patch, New Trophy Type

Tags: · · · ·
Categories: Editorial · News · PC · PlayStation 3 · Xbox 360

  • FrostedStorm

    I got this yesterday, and I didn’t expect it to run full on my PC, and it didn’t. It barely runs AT ALL. There is no way that your PC should be so high spec for this game. My computer is over all recommended spec on the case and its laggy even on the lowest settings on 800×600 resolution. I also had lag issues with San Andreas. They better get off their asses and sort out a patch for all platforms this game is on.

  • Jing

    I had a few freezes on my 360 but nothing that I thought was patch worthy. i dunno, perhaps I’m a lucky one.

  • Ha Ha Ha! Oh wow.

    Are we just ignoring then the fact that this game is plagued with SecuROM as well?

  • Mike M

    Except for the initial problem with the PS3 version, which the first patch fixed, I haven’t had any issues since. As regards to Midnight Club:LA, again the released patch fixed a minor screen/graphics issue and again the game has been quite stable with my PS3.

  • http://www.wiispot.nl Sjoeter

    Whhaha that sucks dude! i haven’t had any problem with GTA on my xbox :D it runs smooth and even smoother since the NXE came around and i could finally use up those 120GB of HDD to install GTA on it! but if i remember correct, all gta’s for the pc had startup problems! gta 3 locked up often, you could die if you fell of the side walk. GTA Vice City had Serious graphic glitch until they released a patch for it. i don’t want to talk i right cause it sucks but after its being everybody forgets about it ever happed.

  • Caelas

    You really need to start typing corently. It’s like reading morse code!

  • martin.E.O

    my problem is that i start gta(for PC, i got all the right specs), and the game is starting, but then windows says it stopped working and the whole looking for solutions thing… wtf? i got netframework 3,5 aswell, but i dont know what 2 do…
    plz help. martin_ohna@hotmail.com