Rockstar rushes to fix GTA IV PC issues

Rockstar is facing plenty of flak today and is now rushing to fix the many issues that users are complaining about in the PC release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

These problems include glitchy textures, repeated crashes and the fact that the game won't run smoothly on higher graphics settings even with the best hardware money can buy. We tested that last issue ourselves, though we were limited by the fact that the game currently doesn't support SLI.

Rockstar has even gone so far as to publish their own guide to GTA IV error codes to help users diagnose their problems and speed up the support process. Valve meanwhile is reported to have broken from it's usual refund policy and has started issuing refunds for the game to those who demand it.

In response to the complaint that the higher graphical settings are unattainable for nearly all users regardless of hardware, Rockstar has said that "higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."

Even users who are getting the game working as planned aren't entirely happy either as the game comes bundled with both Rockstar Social Club and Games for Windows Live, both of which are required to be running and connected before users can play or save the game.

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Parents fear GTA more than porn, booze
The results of a new survey across more than 3,000 parents have shown that some videogames are seen as more of a concern than pornography or alcohol when it comes to children.

What They Play, which described itself as the parents' guide to videogames, ran two surveys. The first asked parents what they found the most offensive and found that 37 percent of the participants were most offended by a man and woman having sex, 27 percent by two men kissing, 25 percent by a graphically severed head and 9 percent by multiple use of the F-word, F-word.

The second poll asked parents what they are more worried about 17-year olds doing at unsupervised sleepovers. 49 percent were most apprehensive about marijuana being smoked, 19 percent of Grand Theft Auto being whipped out, 16 per cent of pornography being watched, and 14 percent of beer being consumed.

"These poll results demonstrate that parents are as apprehensive about their children's media diets as they are about traditional social issues such as alcohol, drugs, violence and sex," said John Davison, leader of What They Play.

"While researching for Grand Theft Childhood, parents we spoke with in focus groups often bemoaned the fact that they didn't know how to use game controls - and felt unequipped to supervise or limit video gameplay. Of course, parents don't want their children drinking alcohol, but that's a more familiar risk," added Cheryl Olson, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood.

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Alan said:

It had disaster written all over it

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gdiza said:

And I knew this was going to happen... that's why I didn't rush out to buy it.

I KNEW this was going to be a FUBAR mess.

And you know what, it's worse for us, why?

PATCHES are going to be GB's big!

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icyrus said:

"higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."

In other words we are too lazy or incompetent to do a proper PC port.

This whole ordeal has sent Rockstar's reputation plummeting as far as I am concerned.

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Brookelle said:

One patch or two isnt enough to write this game off, its going to rock
..show me one perfectly released game!
The haters are all just xbox fan boys im sure this game is excellent on pc even if it takes a patch to fix. COD4 wasn't exactly perfect either.

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Brookelle said:

One patch or two isnt enough to write this game off, its going to rock
..show me one perfectly released game!
The haters are all just xbox fan boys im sure this game is excellent on pc even if it takes a patch to fix. COD4 wasn't exactly perfect either.

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icyrus said:

"higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."

In other words we are too lazy or incompetent to do a proper PC port.

This whole ordeal has sent Rockstar's reputation plummeting as far as I am concerned.

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killadoob said:

Well think about it, if game makers made games that run on todays hardware what would be the point of nvidia and ati having better cards, the game makers should have kept making games for gforce 1 and then where would we be? or even voodoo , you need to move forward and push bounties i think. I am just annoyed that it does not support SLI.

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