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News for November, 2004
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Tuesday, November 30, 2004 |
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Tricks & Minor Updates
Posted by adamcs at 12:41. Category: General
*Contains Spoilers*
First of all, this awesome guide was written by Undergroundarts, and provides instructions on how to explore areas of Liberty City during the mission 'Saint Mark's Bistro'.
Once you arrive at Saint Mark's:
- Shoot off all of Forelli's bodyguards, but do not kill Forelli.
- When you are at the back of the bistro (outside), push
the car away from Forelli. To do this, you will need a light weapon
that you can run with, to give you the body strength to push the car
away from him. The reason for this being, Forelli will shoot the
vehicle when he is trying to shoot you, and blow the vehicle up (which
will also kill Forelli, and end the mission).
- Move right, into the area (with the trees) that stem's off
from the courtyard, and walk towards the top left corner of that area
(on the very top of the peak of snow).
- Face towards the corner where the two walls meet, and throw
a grenade. The grenade will bounce back, and explode after about 3
seconds (this will reduce your health greatly). You must jump as the
grenade explodes. The grenade will act as a boost, and send you high
into the air. Time your jump correctly (moving forward whilst you are
in the air) and you should end up on the other side of the wall.
Be careful from this point onwards, as most of the scenery is not
solid. If you'd like to test which areas are solid and which are not,
shoot at the buildings/ground around about you, and if you see sparks
it is definitely solid. But for now, you are safe. Most of the snow on
the other side of that wall is solid, and you are able to walk on it.
Unfortunately the road leading to Saint Mark's is not solid, so do
not attempt to go there! Infact, none of the roads in that area are
solid -- only patches of the snow. You can adjust the camera (using the
right analog stick) to see through some of the walls, and witness some
of the scenery in Portland.
If you fall through one of the roads/buildings, it will take a long
before you reach the ground. The reason being, Liberty City is hundreds
of miles high above the maximum height that planes can fly, in South
East San Fierro -- so be sure to save your game before starting this
mission.
If you do happen to fall through the ground, there's still a
little something for you to see. None of the scenery in San Fierro will
load, except for a few roads, Cranberry Station and CJ's garage (you
may have to look around first) The entrance to the garage is now open,
and you can explore the interior of the building.
The characters page has been updated, and lots of new screenshots have been added to the gallery. In additon to this, we have added a San Andreas Java Map (Created by Azkoyen) with locations marked for two-player, oysters, weapons and so on.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004 |
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Game Ratings - blasted
Posted by adamcs at 16:24. Category: General
Yesterday, a group of 5 people representing various parent, church and women organisations, and also a New York City Council member, released what they call a "10 worst violent video games" list.
The purpose of the list is, as you can imagine, to improve the ratings placed on video games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (which earned 2nd place) and Halo 2, and to ensure that young children don't have to witness the violent and unsocial acts in these games.
"We call on the marketers and sellers of video games to: publish standards for marketing video games that encourage or reward players for performing acts of violence and brutality, and that depict images demeaning to women and minorities," their statement reads. The groups also ask publishers to "place M-rated games in a location separate from other games in stores; post signage describing the video games ratings systems; and evaluate and report on their enforcement and compliance programs of policies to prevent minors from purchasing violent video games." - The Group's demands |
The list contains a number of mispellings and misidentified games -- Mortal Kombat: Deception, for example, which was listed as 'Mortal Combat'
Related Links: Worst violent video games, IGN & GameSpot
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Soundtrack Double CD
Posted by adamcs at 00:33. Category: General
Just a quick reminder that the San Andreas Soundtrack Double CD is available in stores, now.
Two discs of some of the best tracks across San Andreas’ radio dial – including classics from
Rage Against the Machine, 2Pac, Bel Biv Devoe, Faith No More, Rick James, and more.
The Double CD also includes the original composition, “The Theme From San Andreas”
and AFI’s new cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole.” |
We reported last week that the package includes a bonus DVD called "The Introduction", a cinematic prologue to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Be sure to check out the screenshot gallery for some images of the movie.
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Saturday, November 20, 2004 |
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"The Introduction"
Posted by adamcs at 00:39. Category: General
On Wednesday we reported that the San Andreas double CD soundtrack would feature a 22-minute bonus DVD titled 'The Introduction' -- a cinematic prologue to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
IGN have released the official trailer, some images and a corresponding article. Be sure to check it out. You can watch the full resolution trailer direct from Rockstar if you're not paying for IGN Insider, by going to the trailers page.
Related Links: IGN Article, Screenshots, Trailer (Direct: High/Low).
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Thursday, November 18, 2004 |
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Grandpa Theft Auto
Posted by DigitalD at 21:55. Category: General
Grandpa Theft Auto, courtesy of SomethingAwful.com |
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Interview With Ryder's Voice Actor
Posted by DigitalD at 21:51. Category: General
MC Eiht, voice actor of Ryder from San Andreas has been interviewed and a interview/article has been posted at top40-charts.com. Go have a peek to see what he's saying. Here's a snippet:
Rockstar Games' Dan Houser, the executive producer of the game says, 'Eiht's powerful and funny delivery insures that Ryder steals the show. From the moment we walked into the studio, we knew he was going to blow us away with his performance.' |
Thanks to PlanetGTA for bringing this to my attention.
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Pressure Closing in From Rivals
Posted by DigitalD at 21:48. Category: General
With Half Life 2 having been released and Halo 2 out for a bit, it seems San Andreas is getting some very tough competition for the upcoming holiday season. Have a look at what the Philadelphia Inquirer had to say:
This one is big. It is bigger than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and bigger than anything with Mario or Zelda or Madden in the title. Without question, it is the gaming event of 2004. It is Halo 2.
According to Microsoft, Halo 2 sold 2.4 million copies in North America during its first 24 hours of retail availability. That is an average of 100,000 copies an hour, folks. Overworked cash registers rang up $125 million in opening-day sales - serious change in any business.
- Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday Nov. 18 |
The article can be read online, and might require a free registration (no email validation).
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Wednesday, November 17, 2004 |
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Spike TV Game Awards
Posted by adamcs at 19:24. Category: General
Spike TV today announced the nominees, categories, and live performances for its upcoming 2nd annual Video Game Awards. The awards will take place in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on December 14 - hosted by Snoop Dogg.
Leading the way with five nominations apiece are Microsoft's Halo 2, Vivendi Universal's Half-Life 2, and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Those games cross paths in the Game of the Year category. Other GOTY nominees include Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Electronic Arts' Burnout 3: Takedown.
- GameSpot |
San Andreas has been nominated for:
- Game of the Year
- Best Performance by a human male (Samuel L. Jackson - Officer Frank Tenpenny)
- Best Action Game
- Best Soundtrack
- Designer of the year (Sam Houser and Rockstar North)
Visit GameSpot for further details.
Vote now!
Related Link: SpikeTV, GameSpot News
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Official Standalone Soundtrack Press Release
Posted by DigitalD at 16:45. Category: General
This news piece was originally meant to be posted yesterday, when I was sent Take2's press release concerning the San Andreas 8-CD box set, but due to some minor complications this news is reaching you today.
The official 8-CD box set containing the full San Andreas soundtrack is scheduled to be arriving in stores on December 7th in North America and December 6th throughout Europe. The box set will contain seperate CDs for Bounce FM, Radio Los Santos / Playback FM, Mastersounds 98.3, K-ROSE, CSR 103:9, K-JAH West, K-DST and Radio X.
In addition the licensed tracks in the 8-CD box set, you will be hearing the great radio commercials and DJ commentary that is unique to the Grand Theft Auto series. So if you're a fan of the music from the 90's, or if you're a fan of the GTA series, this soundtrack set should definitely set you up with enough diverse music from the time period.
The release of the box set will be following the release of the double CD soundtrack, expected to reach retailers on the 22nd of November in Europe, and 23rd of November in North America. The double CD soundtrack also features a 22-minute bonus DVD entitled 'The Introduction,' a cinematic prologue to the San Andreas storyline. A definite must-see for San Andreas fans.
You can find more information on the soundtrack on our soundtrack page, and if you are interested, you can also order either the 8-CD box set or the double CD soundtrack today.
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IGN's Breakdown of San Andreas Radio Stations
Posted by DigitalD at 16:28. Category: General
IGN is continuing their in-depth breakdown of the San Andreas radio stations, which basically consist of a description of the radio station at hand, and paragraphs about the different songs on those radio stations.
So far IGN has managed to publish 4 pieces of their series, including K-DST, Bounce FM, Radio Los Santos and Playback FM. If you're interested in reading about the music played on these radio stations, go and pay IGN a visit.
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San Andreas vs. Halo 2 at Forbes
Posted by DigitalD at 16:22. Category: General
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Vs. Halo 2 |
Forbes online has put up an interesting comparison of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2, including information about the publishers of both companies and sales expectations over the upcoming holiday season.
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New San Andreas Gear
Posted by illspirit at 05:43. Category: General
Along with today's update of the official site's wallpaper section, Rockstar also sent word they've added some new gear to the Rockstar Warehouse.
In honor of Grand Theft Auto’s celebrated west side story, the Rockstar Warehouse has been given a San Andreas update.
The Warehouse now features a host of fine limited-edition San Andreas apparel for you and yours.
Including
* San Andreas men’s and ladies’ tees – in both white and black
* San Andreas baseball caps – with the snap in the back
* San Andreas board shorts – specially made for those that demand to swim
* San Andreas Dickies brand jackets and San Andreas Carhartt brand hooded sweatshirts – now that’s gangsta
Scoop ‘em up while supplies last, bustas. |
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Tuesday, November 16, 2004 |
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Rockstar Official Desktop Series Update
Posted by DigitalD at 20:20. Category: General
The San Andreas official desktops series has received an update with a bunch of new wallpapers, as well as some new postcards. The wallpapers are based mainly on the available artworks, and the postcards on the screenshots.
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Sunday, November 14, 2004 |
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Site Development Continues...
Posted by DigitalD at 21:05. Category: General
Just want to give you guys a heads-up on what's moving and
shaking on the site. I'm sure you don't check every page daily for
updates (if you do, you need a head check), so here's a quick overview.
We've started working on a little guide
of our own, focusing on the main storyline missions. Available right
now are the introductory, Los Santos and the countryside missions. The
page replaces the old missions page from prior to game release, when we
knew the details of only a handful of missions. The walkthrough will be
expanded in the upcoming week to include San Fierro, Las Venturas and
the final missions, and a notice will be posted on the front page to
signify completion.
The new weapons page has been completed, and is now replacing the old one.
Along with lengthy descriptions and weapons statistics, every weapon
has a little icon, to represent what it would look like in the game.
Because of popular demand, a 100% checklist
page was put together. Along with a list of missions for the cities and
the countryside, it also includes a list of all the odd jobs you will
need to complete to acheive that 100%. You may also want to use our flash map
to find the exact locations for the hidden horseshoes, spray tagging
spots and the photo ops. On that topic, the map has been slightly
adjusted to correct a few errors that were brought up in the feedback.
Keep enjoying your San Andreas game, and feel free to contribute to topic on our San Andreas forums, for example to what does your CJ look like. You can count on us to keep you up to date with the latest San Andreas news.
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John Kerry Elected President of San Andreas
Posted by DigitalD at 00:02. Category: General
The runner up in the 2004 Presidential Election, John Kerry, has been elected the President of the fictional city San Andreas. The city, featured in the latest instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series, and although fictional has a population of over a million.
Kerry, who ran for President, admitted he is addicted to the game and stated he believes his addiction to the game probably cost him the Presidency.
“It’s terrible to say this,” Kerry admitted, “But when I was supposed to be working hard on last minute tactics to win the public support I was glued to my Playstation robbing banks, shooting police and stealing cars. If the game’s release had been delayed until after the election then I would probably have been moving into the White House next January.”
On hearing Kerry’s confession, George Bush responded by stating it was no excuse. He explained that the game’s developers had lent him an early beta of the game early in its development – long before the election campaign began:
“John Kerry is right about one thing,” Bush conceded, “The game is criminally good. By day I may have only been President of the United States – but at night and weekends I was hanging with my homies dealing drugs and shooting people in the face. What a fantastic experience.”
The popularity of the game has become so widespread, that US soldiers operating in Falluja have been granted 15 minutes in every hour to play it.
“Since I’ve arrived in Iraq I’ve killed 16 Iraqi insurgents,” Captain Chuck Hankman recounted, “However I killed 20 police with one rocket in the first 5 minutes of San Andreas. Admittedly I had used a cheat to get the rocket launcher but I couldn’t wait. People think that the excitement doesn’t get any thicker than being on the front line in the war on terror but they’re wrong. You don’t get a god mode in real life – I walked into a bank whilst police unloaded round after round into me… suckers!”
The Iraqi militants made sure to make the most use of the regular 15 minute pause in the American onslaught as one terrorist explained to us:
“It is most fortunate that the Americans stop every 15 minutes during their onslaught – if they didn’t we too would not have time to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Bombing hospitals, running over innocent civilians, shooting children… it sure is great to get a little light relief.” |
Related link: Random Perspective.
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Saturday, November 13, 2004 |
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San Andreas Outsells the Top 10
Posted by DigitalD at 23:53. Category: General
Having previously reported on the tremendous and literally record setting success of San Andreas in the UK, US sales numbers have finally seen the light of day.
An enthusiastic technology news article by Reuters reports that "October U.S. Games Sales [are] Up 35 Percent." Data from the NPD Group points out that San Andreas moved a spectacular 2.1 million units in its first 5 days, generating over $100 million. In comparison to 2002's game of the year Vice City, San Andreas brought 48% more profit and moved 45% more units.
Citing the same NPD Group source, Gamespot shines a very clear light on the success of San Andreas:
San Andreas keeps industry happy as month's number one game from Rockstar outsells the rest of the top 10 combined. - Curt Feldman, GameSpot |
We are also told that Take-Two shipped 4.5-5m units worldwide on release date, 3m of which went to the U.S. market. With just 4 days, 2/3 of that was sold.
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An interesting discovery
Posted by adamcs at 17:37. Category: General
* Don't read any further if you don't want the game spoiled!
Many people wondered if it was possible to cruise Liberty City during the mission 'St. Marks Bistro' and PS2-Scene have discovered a way that makes this possible. However, you can only roam a small area in Portland (it's an interior high up in the sky, for sake of interest). Gameshark codes are required.
Related Link: GTAForums Topic
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Friday, November 12, 2004 |
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Special Feature: San Andreas State Map
Posted by DigitalD at 15:43. Category: General
San Andreas State Map
For the last two weeks an outstanding member of our forums, Pine, has been working hard on developing a map of San Andreas for our site. This map is made completely out of Flash, and shows you the locations for oysters, spray tags, horseshoes and photo ops for the whole state.
These are things you will need to achieve 100% completion in the game (if that is your aim), and by fulfilling these side tasks you are awarded in different ways in the game.
Leave your feedback at the forums as per usual.
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Thursday, November 11, 2004 |
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Supply Lines
Posted by adamcs at 23:42. Category: General
If you've reached San Fierro yet, you'll have no doubt come across Zero's mission "Supply Lines" (or, maybe not if you're still having trouble with "Air Raid"). It is, without a doubt, one of the toughest missions in the game. The Untouchable has written a fantastic guide to passing this mission, one that will surely be of help to you if you're still having problems. Be sure to check it out at our forum.
Expect many updates in the coming weeks, along with many new guides and maps to help you with San Andreas. As always, we are open to suggestions on how to improve the site.
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004 |
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San Andreas brings down the house. Again.
Posted by Andy at 22:37. Category: General
San An is bringing down the house yet again - minus Queen Latifah, unfortunately.
Four days ago, we enthusiastically reported on the 677,000-some copies that have been torn from store shelves across the UK; a record-breaking first week sale that beat down the first week release of Vice City - which sold 250,000 in it's first week - by over 400,000 units.
Well, I'm proud to now report that San Andreas has officially smashed industry records yet again. In the nine days since San Andreas was released in the United Kingdom, over one million copies of the game have been sold. Do the math, and you'll find that in the past 4 days, more copies of SA have been sold than in the entire first week of Vice City. Yikes!
This puts San Andreas on the map as the fastest selling PS2 title, the first PS2 game to hit a million units this quickly, and the 4th largest Playstation 2 title to reach our grubby little hands thus far.
Hopes in the GTA community are that San Andreas will become the top selling game in UK history - and with a start like this, it's a definite possibility.
Related Links:
GamesIndustry.biz Article
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Sunday, November 07, 2004 |
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Video Walkthrough
Posted by DigitalD at 19:27. Category: General
I'd just like to give StuckGamer a mention here. If you are still stuck somewhere in the game, they have a partial video walkthrough for the missions.
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Friday, November 05, 2004 |
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Breaking Records Left and Right
Posted by DigitalD at 15:54. Category: General
Following up on San Andreas sales expectations we reported on previously, we now have some hard numbers to finally crunch down on.
San Andreas has broken the first-week sales record for videogames in the UK. San Andreas sold approximately 677,000 copies, Beating the previous record holder, Vice City, which sold 250,000 in its opening week. This information comes from UK research body Chart-Track, who estimates that Rockstar and Take2 have already made £24 million on sales in the UK.
In gross revenue terms, the game would have generated around UKP 24 million in the UK alone over the weekend, and projected across the world that figure could be as much as UKP 106 million, or put in international currency terms, $195.5 million or 153.97 Euro. Put in context, if a movie were to gross that much at the box office, it would instantly be classed among the all-time greats - that's how big Rockstar's game has become. - GamesIndustry.biz, November |
Yahoo reports on videogame rentals for the week from October 26th to October 31st. Apparently San Andreas broke through big time in videogame rentals, collecting $1,627,351 in its first week in rentals only. We have yet to see a press statement for actual sales figures for the US.
"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" out-rented all other video game titles in its first week of release earning an unprecedented $1.6 million in consumer rental revenue for the week ending October 31, 2004, according to game intelligence from Rentrak's Home Video Essentials(TM). |
The Take2 stock numbers are not looking as good as people would guess with these immense sales, though. Take2 (NASDAQ: TTWO) has been trading at a steady $30-34 for a while, yet the stock slumped down to §31 on the eve of San Andreas release, but has since come back to just over $34, and at the time of writing TTWO is valued at $34.61. More info at Yahoo finance.
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No Easter Eggs
Posted by DigitalD at 15:21. Category: General
There are no Easter Eggs up here. Go away. |
This interesting piece can be seen at the top of the south tower of the Gant tower, my recommendation would be jetpacking up there. Thanks to Enzyte from the forums for this one.
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OPM2 Netherlands Review
Posted by DigitalD at 15:15. Category: General
The Official Playstation 2 Magazine of the Netherlands has seemingly reviewed San Andreas, and placed a review on their website, unable to place it in their November issue. Their score leaves me wondering what the priority is in video games nowadays. OPM2 NL gave San Andreas the total score of 88/100, after criticising the graphics, aiming setup and boring, uninspired missions. As positives, they welcomed the two-player function, the scope of the state and the amusing dialogue and voice acting.
Their conclusion is:
San Andreas is brought down by its slow, preserved graphics. Though the game has grown to be a immensely large, funny and rather violent videogame. - Official Playstation 2 Magazine NL, December 2004 | Graphics 13/20
Music & Sound 19/20
Gameplay 56/60
Total Score 88/100 |
Related links: GTAForums topic, online review.
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Thursday, November 04, 2004 |
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Forums Overview: Useful Topics
Posted by DigitalD at 15:23. Category: General
Here's a few useful topics that have emerged from our San Andreas forums on GTAForums.com.
My San Andreas Gameplay VideosIf you are not in possession of the PS2 version of the game, or are waiting for the PC version, cpmusick85 has put up a great selection of high-quality DiVX gameplay videos. He's done over around 50 videos already, and I highly recommend them.
Screenshot Exported Using Gallery Viewer |
Export your GTA: San Andreas holiday snapsIf you're interested in exporting the pictures you've taken in-game with your picture camera, there have been some tools released to let you do just that. A San Andreas gallery viewer tool has been developed, and there's information about moving pics to the EVO pen drive as well as more information in a topic on PlanetGrandTheftAuto forums.
Clothiers Guide to San AndreasThe Untouchable has put together a guide to the clothing stores in San Andreas. It includes all purchasable items, their prices and effect on sex appeal and respect percentages.
Feel free to come and look around our San Andreas forums, no registration required to look around, so everyone's welcome. Oh, and hoping this page won't have its bandwidth raped within an hour, here's someone who is seriously obsessed with his copy of San Andreas.
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Gamespot Gameplay Guide
Posted by DigitalD at 14:47. Category: General
GameSpot: San Andreas Gameplay Guide |
Gamespot have put up their own San Andreas gameplay guide, which covers all the basics and walkthroughs for all of the core missions. It consists of 32 pages and from what I've seen, is very thorough. It is also free, but I believe it requires a Gamespot Basic (free) registration to view.
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Tuesday, November 02, 2004 |
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Assistance Maps, FAQs & Walkthroughs
Posted by DigitalD at 15:29. Category: General
If you visit our San Andreas forums, none of this will be new to you, but if you don't, here's some things that might help you through the game.
These maps were created by a few members of the modding community and posted at GTAForums. If you want to give any feedback please head there. These might not be fully accurate, especially the parked vehicles map, but coordinates were exported from the game to create these, so any inaccuracies are probably because of your game progress.
Parked Vehicles | Packages | Properties | Weapon Spawns |
The San Andreas FAQ is still being updated by tehhunter and is a great place to check for answers or just read through and find things out. PlanetGrandTheftAuto also has an FAQ going.
If you haven't read yet, 1UP put up a Mini Survival Guide, consisting of 3 parts, and which covers lots of useful aspects and is very well illustrated. I definitely recommend looking through this one.
And to top it off, GameFAQs already has 9 different general FAQ/Walkthroughs for the game, as well as 3 in-depth guides. If you're stuck, have a look through those and your problem should be solved.
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Online Coverage & Screenshots
Posted by DigitalD at 15:07. Category: General
San Andreas has been receiving tremendous coverage online, in the form of reviews and recommendations. If you've taken a break from playing San Andreas or just want something to read, have a look at the articles below.
Digit Online news did "an in-depth look" at San Andreas comprising of their impressions and some in-house screenshots.
The Chicago Tribune has done an article about the race-factor in San Andreas, titled If you play 'San Andreas,' you'll be a black male. Does it matter? It's an interesting read, yet you must fill in an annoying subscription form which includes your name, address, phone number and some other information.
Back a week ago MTV.com did a little article called My First Night In San Andreas: One 'GTA' Addict's Account. Obviously it's about the writer's first impressions of San Andreas, and unsurprisingly it's pretty addictive.
The Technology section of BBC News gave our new GTA a review score of 9.5/10, which seems to be in tune with what everyone else is saying. No new screenshots in their article, they just used the promotional material sent out by Rockstar.
On another topic, we've close to 50 new screenshots to the official publicity screenshots page, and some 20 to the in-game play page.
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