We've just received word from Rockstar that the official Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas website has been expanded with new PC and Xbox sections.

To celebrate the launch, Rockstar has published a whole new bunch of San Andreas PC screenshots and the first ever digital San Andreas Xbox screenshots. They have also sent out a fansite exclusive screenshot. Here are the new PC screenshots, starting with the exclusive screenshot, followed by the new Xbox screenshots.

For the whole lot, go to the San Andreas Xbox screenshots and San Andreas PC screenshots pages. IGN has also received 2 exclusive Xbox screens and put up a little preview; nothing there that isn't mentioned on the San Andreas Xbox information page. Enjoy and make sure you share your impressions.

Right after we reported last Saturday that there will be no 2-player for San Andreas PC, topics crept up on the forums about the June issue of PC Gamer reporting otherwise. We assumed our information was more accurate and did not cover the story, simply because the information we had was newer. PC Gamer was likely just making the educated guess that there will not be a multiplayer mode but the co-operative mode will stay.

We contacted Rockstar ourselves to get the final word on this, and today we have the answer. The 2-player mode won't be included as "the dual keyboard and mouse set up proved too unwieldy for players and didn't work with the PC version of San Andreas' greatly improved free camera mechanics. Rockstar North decided to focus on maximizing the single player experience." For more about the PC version, read the San Andreas PC & Xbox information page.

Everything that has been confirmed throughout the past week in regards to PC and Xbox information has been pulled together and is now available on the San Andreas PC & Xbox information page. The page runs through a general outline of what will be changed, shows some screenshots and shares general speculation. Here is what we know so far.

• The draw distance will be considerably higher in both the PC and Xbox versions.
• The textures for the PS2 version of the game were scaled down from how they were meant to be. A higher level of polygons and detail will appear in the game, and the game will visually look like it was meant to look.
• Shadows and real-time reflections will be added to the game.
• Both the PC and the Xbox versions will allow you to import your own MP3 songs for listening on the in-game radio. You can choose either to play your songs back to back, or have them wrapped in a radio station format, with original San Andreas advertisements, DJ commentary and weather bulletins inbetween.
• A replay mode will exist, allowing you to replay the last 30 seconds of gameplay, save the replay, and play it later.
• The 2-player mode will be available in the Xbox version, but not in the PC version.
• In the Xbox version, you will be able to move the camera around your player or vehicle with the right ministick.
• The game audio will be upgraded, featuring Dolby 5.1 surround sound.
• You will once again be able to play GTA in the widescreen mode.

The GTA Place contacted us earlier today to say that they managed to speak to the people who wrote the Gaming Age preview, and confirm the validity of the system requirements revealed there. They also managed to get hold of the recommended requirements. The San Andreas PC system requirements news has been updated accordingly.

It seems there is still some confusion about the presence of the two player mode in the PC version of San Andreas. The PC version won't have a two player mode, which we haven't stressed up until this point because we assumed people had read the previews that we've written about.

Now in case you missed it, and it seems a lot of people did, one of the previews we reported on earlier had this to say about the two player mode.

However unlikely the two player mode was prior to this preview, I think it is now safe to give up and accept the fact.

Rockstar have sent us the assets from Wednesday's SA:PC previews.

View the rest at our new PC Screenshot Gallery.

The June 2005 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine Germany (Offizielles XBox Magazin) has a cover story featuring Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Xbox. The preview is complete with multiple new screenshots and previously unreleased information. The links for the new screenshots can be found in the topic in San Andreas Xbox and PC forums.

The Xbox version of San Andreas will be having more in common with the PC port this time, as opposed to GTA3 Xbox and GTA Vice City Xbox being very similar to the PS2 versions of the games. Here are the confirmed features for the Xbox version.

• A replay mode will exist, just like in the PC version, allowing you to replay the last 30 seconds of your game, save the replay, and play it later.
• The two player mode will exist for the Xbox. (not for the PC however)
• The textures will be of higher quality.
• The number of polygons objects are composed of has been greatly increased.
• With the right ministick you will be able to spin the camera around your character or vehicle.
• It will be possible to have an MP3 radio station in the Xbox version, similarly to the PC version.

Expect a fully revised San Andreas PC and Xbox information page later tonight. With all the new previews coming at full speed, we will make sure all new details and improvements are covered. A big thanks goes out to our affiliate site GTA-SanAndreas.de for providing the information for this news.

We reported earlier about Gaming Age Online being scheduled for a San Andreas preview. The preview is now up and surprisingly has posted some minimum system requirements for GTA San Andreas PC. Upon investigation, the GTA Place was able to confirm that these system requirements came directly from Rockstar, and are therefore 100% viable.

It was also mentioned by Game Revolution that the PC version will feature Dolby 5.1 surround sound (not sure if this was the case with Vice City or GTA3), and will feature "Player Modifications." Again, noone else has mentioned this before and our previous attempts to get some information about whether player skins will appear again led to fragmented replies, meaning it wasn't decided yet. Stay tuned for the latest developments.

The article restates (in italian mind you) what we know about the replay mode and improved graphics. Nothing has been said yet about a multiplayer mode, but they do say that the widescreen mode (16:9) which we saw in both Vice City and GTA3 will be coming back. Hardly a surprise. Still nothing about player skins unfortunately..

Leave comments in the italian San Andreas PC Preview topic.

The preview comes with this month's edition of the Dutch "Xbox Magazine", and although no new info is given, it contains 19 exclusive in-game screenshots. Stay tuned for more info as the PC and Xbox releases draw closer.

Related Link: GTAForums Topic

Things are finally starting to get busy around here. Tonight The Adrenaline Vault, GameZone and Game Revolution have put up previews of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PC, based on a preview session granted to them over the weekend by Rockstar.

There are no new screenshots, but the sharp eyed ones among you might have noticed that the screenshots put up yesterday at various gaming sites were resized and not of original high quality. Rockstar has sent high quality screenshots around once again, and The Adrenaline Vault has come through and put up the original versions. A much better idea of what to expect from the PC version, surely. Expect us to be carrying all the screenshots released online so far starting from Friday.

It seems like Rockstar invited representatives from quite a few gaming sites at the same time, so almost everything that is being reported comes from the same setting. Besides what we've heard already about improved graphics, we are reminded about real-time shadows, and of course the oft-mentioned MP3 radio station. Replays will also be returning from previous GTA's on PC. It is difficult to decipher whether the replay mode has been revised or is coming back in the form witnessed in GTA: Vice City. Yesterday's previews even brought conflicting information in that aspect. The Adrenaline Vault has this to say:

The articles mention that the game visuals had to be largely scaled down for the PS2 version, however the original high resolution graphics from game development will be showing themselves in the PC version.

Read through the previews and leave your thoughts at the San Andreas PC and Xbox discussion forums. Keep an eye on Gaming Age Online, WorthPlaying, GameDaily and Games Domain. They are also set to run preview stories.

With Rockstar having popped open the can with PC screenshots and information, the Xbox version has taken a back seat for the time being. The current focus seems to be on the PC version, however following up on previous news, we are able to confirm that the Official Xbox Magazine will be doing a big story on the Xbox version in their next issue.

GameSpy, IGN, and Lamespot have all just posted early hands-on previews of the PC version of San An. All their screenshots are the same, and they all say pretty much the same thing about the game, but with enough divergence in the info to warrant checking out all three. Gamespy, for instance, says that "mod tools should extend the game's life" in the header bit, which would seem to imply that R* will provide them. This seems highly unlikely, as one of the other articles pointed out. Also, IGN states rather confidently that R*^ won't be adding any multi-player support (then going on to place their faith in the ever-dodgy MTA mod). All three, however, seem to agree that the only new features (graphical goodness aside)will be the mp3 and replay features we've come to expect. Expect more info to begin flying in from all directions soon enough...

Thanks to davew2040, galamaheit 10 000, and Jordan for the heads up in this topic on the forums.

This is a follow-up to the Mystery Cheat news we posted on Tuesday.

Skippysweet was able to show us the full contents of the Tips & Tricks feature, and aswell as those new codes it contains an interview with lead level designer Craig Filshie:

That "enterprising player" is of course, edisoncarter.

We posted the new cheats on Tuesday, but for the sake of it, here they are again:

All Taxis have Nitros: Elvis is alive (all peds are Elvis)

Related Link: GTAForums Topic

Folks around the GTA community have been pretty eager lately to find something to distract them until the release of San Andreas on XBox and PC, and it seems we've just found our distraction!

Skippysweet over at the forums has posted a juicy little morsel of information from a Tips n' Tricks Magazine article regarding a "mystery cheat".

All Taxis have Nitros: Elvis is alive (all peds are Elvis)

Although the cheat is confirmed to be straight from Rockstar, nobody knows what the cheat does! The race is on to find out what the effects of this new code are.

Within 59 minutes of the cheat being posted on our forums, fans quickly discovered that this cheat is just another combination for the "All Taxis Have Nitrous" cheat. Enjoy.

Further developments! All taxis have nitros, appears to be the effect. There was also a second code in the magazine, titled 'Elvis is alive'.

You can find the topic regarding this new cheat here.

Xbox Release Expected: June 7th, 2005 (USA) June 10th, 2005 (EU/AU) Format DVD

Judging from the current poll, interest in the Xbox version of GTA San Andreas is not as high as expected. Only 15% of answerers showed interest for purchasing the Xbox title, the percentage will undoubtedly change as the release date draws closer. I'd like to go over some basic details of the Xbox release.

• Release Date: 7th of June (US), 10th of June (EU).
• The conversion of the game to the Xbox platform is likely already complete.
• Highly probable Dolby 5.1 surround sound support.
• Custom MP3 soundtrack with joining radio commercials and weather bulletins.
• Highly improved graphics and gameplay experience.

Xbox gamers will probably be wishing for an Xbox Live component, just as the PC gamers will be hoping for at least a limited multiplayer mode. Unless Rockstar has one of the biggest surprises of the GTA series up their sleeve, it won't be happening. Rockstar have repeatedly said that when they do a multiplayer GTA, they want to do it right. Hopefully they will take GTA to the next level with GTA4.

The Official Xbox Magazine will be doing a preview of the Xbox version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in an upcoming issue, stay tuned for more information on that. Our partner site PlanetGTA recently reported seeing a shortened version of the official trailer airing on TV, advertising the Xbox release. Expect the Xbox version to be a killer game and the next few weeks will be featuring a lot of San Andreas information!

Come talk about your expectations at the San Andreas Xbox forums and look out for the PC & Xbox info page.

Thanks to our great in-house technician fred, our RSS news feed is now available for everyone (leave feedback). If you have an RSS reader, just add the GTA San Andreas RSS feed to your list.

In other news, we've been working hard on the content. The San Andreas locations page has been rehauled, the individual pages removed. Work on a San Andreas vehicles guide had halted because we needed screenshots of all the vehicles, but it seems like the PC version with higher quality graphics is right around the corner so there's no need to put PS2 screenshots up there right now. The vehicles is up for everyone to see, screenshots will be there soon.

At long last, our walkthrough is complete. Be sure to check it out, and leave feedback.

Going through the San Andreas Xbox & PC forums I've noticed that not a lot of people have actually seen the high-resolution scans of the screenshots from the San Andreas PC preview. While we did have scans of the article to make our news summary, we never published them.

I've posted high resolution scans of the screenshots in the forums. Go check them out. Thanks to our german friends for sorting this out.

April Fools!

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We hope to see all of you enjoying the benefits of our new premium members system soon!

Related Link: GTAForums Topic