Exclusive: Rockstar Talks GTA Live Weekend

If you've been living under a rock since March, Grand Theft Auto IV and it's immigrant protagonist have taken online gaming by storm, consistently being in the top three games played on Xbox Live, according to Rockstar's Jeronimo Barrera. In an exclusive talk, the VP of product development gave us the lowdown on what it takes to put together an online game experience different from all of the Halos and Call of Dutys in the world, and talked about the upcoming GTA IV Xbox Live Weekend (read: super-mega-prize-giveaways!).

So, my e-mail is screaming at me about some sort of Xbox Live Weekend this weekend. Do you happen to know anything about it?
We’re going to have some of the developers on (check out the gamertag list at the bottom!), so you’ll actually get to play with the people who worked on the game. If you’ve never played, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s a totally unique multiplayer experience, different from the traditional multiplayer you can find in first person shooters, real-time strategy, or sports games. With GTA IV, you get the fun of a deathmatch, but then you get to do all of the stuff unique to the GTA IV world, like GTA Race and co-op missions.



So...uh....Halo and Call of Duty suck, then?
Games like CoD and Halo are shooters and are pretty restrained to what kinds of games they are. It’s a really special crowd that wants to play that game. What we’re trying to do is bring variety and more creativity. Not so say they aren’t creative, but we’re trying to branch out and go in different directions, give more options to the users other than shoot each other.

I have to be honest with you. If I haven't been playing online games like a religion, I'm scared shitless to go on there and start playing. Any advice for people who aren't quite ready to swim in the deep end?
If you're a novice, and you play a ranked game, you’ll be playing against similarly ranked players. Don’t be afraid to bring over some of those skills you used in single player, like use cover, use blindfire. The one advantage you may have as a skilled single player gamer is that you may have a more intimate knowledge of Liberty City than someone who just plays on Live. Of course, there will always be a learning curve, maybe a bit steeper for online, but nothing anyone can't get the hang of sooner or later. (Oh, but it is scary when you go play online.)



Yeah, I get knots in my stomach at the loading screen every time... What about those who've been around the bend? How do they take it up a notch on Live?
For the advanced player—depending on the mode—build alliances with people, have a strategy, get strong communication. Use those headsets! That’s another thing people are scared about when they go online like, “Oh my god, I can talk to people!”



So, how's GTA different other than, of course, the gameplay?
We started with all sorts of ideas and we boiled it down to what we launched with. It’s a lot to offer, first of all. Most games come out with only two or three different modes—we have the various deathmatches, GTA race, race, co-op levels, bomb the base, etc. We had done multiplayer games on the PSP versions of the series, but this was the first chance we got to do online multiplayer. We wanted to keep the experience in tact without having it feel like added on minigames, everything from hardcore co-op levels to the gathering area with your friends. We also have the Rockstar Social Club, our online community board where you can keep track of your stats and participate in contests, like GTA's Live Weekend.

Did you leave anything on the cutting room floor that we may see in a future update, oh, say, in some upcoming update?
We only had so much time to put these ideas out. The plan is that all of our games will be tied to the Social Club in one way or another, but we’re definitely working on some interesting things. In the future—I can’t really talk about it now—we want to expand on that.

Well, you have my phone number, so I better be getting a call when you wanna talk, mister! In the meantime, check out Rockstar's release on their Xbox Live Weekend, where you'll find more prize info. and Rockstar developer gamertags!