Oh snap. Grand Theft Auto IV was shown no sympathy today, on the day of its leak. Yes, leak. All today, the file started popping up all over Bittorrent websites and trackers. How? I don’t know for certain — but I’ve heard rumors being spread of simple explanations, such as just stealing a copy and passing it over to the scene rippers.
Interested? Well, unless you’re living in UK/Europe, you won’t be able to play. The group responsible [iCON] clearly states that this release is not region free; and on top of that, mock any American Xbox 360 owners who so avidly crave a slice of the sanbox heaven. Frankly, though? I wish it were a bit more insulting… “bushlovers” is kind of silly.
The group also made is very clear that staying off Xbox Live until its original release date would probably be a good idea. Obviously, though, if one is clever enough to go through the trouble of hacking an Xbox — this shouldn’t be too much of a shocker. The final note was kind of peculiar, but expected: “and guys, seriously, go and buy this one! R* deserves it…” Not surprising, really. I’ve always figured scenesters do this kind of stuff to find a small source of sympathy if anything bad were to happen. But hey, that’s just me.
Now off the subject of GTA IV leakage, and onto something directly related… videos of it! It’s not at all uncommon to see gameplay videos — that’s particularly true with leaked games, and GTA IV is no exception. As soon as possible, people were off and filming themselves (well, the television) playing, and put their footage on YouTube as soon as possible. Take-Two, however, was also on the ball, deleting all the gameplay footage they could find. Not all of it, mind you, but whatever they could. There’s a couple of videos rummaging throughout the web, and yes, I’ve seen some myself (including a Stickam broadcast of it). I’m not going to list any of them here, that’s just not my job to do, and I’d feel nasty doing it if it were.
Just know the game looks scrumptious, and we’re certainly in for a treat this coming Tuesday.
Note: Image used taken from Joystiq.
[via Joystiq]
