Another day, one other occasion of GTA 6 trending on social media. So robust is the hype for the following installment of Rockstar’s long-standing crime simulator collection, that it appears to be among the many most mentioned subjects on my feeds a minimum of as soon as a week at this stage. Officially, we all know it is in energetic growth – and, as you may need spied again in July, developer Rockstar is reportedly prioritizing GTA 6 over shelved Red Dead Redemption and GTA 4 remasters, but could revisit them.
Earlier this yr, I had the pleasure of chatting to the GTA 4 community keeping Liberty City alive – an more and more standard group of avid hobbyists, whose potential recruits are actively buying PS3 consoles in 2022, merely to hitch within the enjoyable. It’s abundantly clear that individuals want Grand Theft Auto 6 at this level, however how does probably the most energetic contingent of Niko Belic supporters really feel about an official GTA 4 remaster at this time? “I imagine Rockstar owes it to their followers,” says El Fuga, a long-serving Grand Theft Auto 4 participant and the still-active PS3 community’s major organizer. “We’ve additionally felt a little bit let down over the previous couple of years.”
If I could make it right here
The indisputable fact that gamers are nonetheless flocking to a recreation now over 14 years previous, choosing up out of date {hardware} so as to take action, and discovering new methods to attach in-game and out tells you the whole lot it’s essential to know in regards to the enduring enchantment of GTA 4. But with the discharge of Red Dead Redemption in 2010, LA Noire in 2011, Max Payne 3 in 2012, GTA 5 in 2013, Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, and the seemingly perpetual attract of GTA Online – it being chargeable for Grand Theft Auto 5’s presence throughout three complete console generations – it is also truthful to say Rockstar has been in any other case engaged during the last decade and-a-half, with extra urgent priorities than revisiting Liberty City.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition might have utilized a contemporary lick of paint to old fashioned GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas in late 2021, however its divisive reception (outsourced to third-party studio Grove Street Games) has forged a lengthy shadow, which means something coming immediately from Rockstar in remaster phrases would, surley, solely obtain the go-ahead if as near excellent as doable. For El Fuga, the GTA Trilogy was a slap within the face to GTA 4 – made worse by the very fact quantity 4’s 10-year anniversary handed with out an inordinate quantity of fanfare in 2018.
He says: “I really feel the sport deserves the hassle of a remaster contemplating how standard it’s. They remastered GTA: San Andreas after its tenth anniversary in 2014, but on the GTA 4 tenth anniversary in 2018, it did not even get a point out. I imagine Rockstar owe it to their followers in order that they’ll expertise the sport on a newer console to offer them a extra updated expertise. After all, not everybody nonetheless owns their PS3 or is on the Xbox facet.”
“In addition to this, a number of the previous gamers have been discussing the remaster popping out on our Telegram group chat. We talked about the potential for it being a downgrade – this might basically be a remastered single participant, however with worse mechanics and extra importantly, no multiplayer. I do not really feel the sport ought to be modified an excessive amount of. It’s necessary to not overdo it with the adjustments in any other case the sport will lose its authentic components which made it so good, and gamers will really feel prefer it’s a completely different recreation altogether. I might maintain the identical physics and atmospheric results and simply improve the visuals to make them look extra fashionable and up to date.”
The metropolis by no means sleeps
“Some readability could be good. And as followers, I reckon we deserve that a lot.”
With recreation preservation in thoughts, the considered Rockstar shuttering GTA 4’s on-line servers cannot be removed from the minds of El Fuga and the energetic PS3 community he coordinates. Rockstar has already discontinued GTA 4’s servers on PC, and whereas there are nonetheless methods to play on-line in an unofficial capability, making use of related restrictions to consoles would all however kill the multiplayer scene.
This truth is not misplaced on El Fuga, and whereas he is happy with what he describes as a “thriving” community at current, he has a contingency plan lined up ought to the lights exit on his {hardware} of selection. “I’m on the PS3 facet which is alive and kicking, and I’ve not heard of any plans for it to be discontinued to date”, El Fuga says. “From what I’ve learn in a number of boards, the explanation it is nonetheless accessible on-line is supposedly as a result of GTA 4’s servers on PS3 are peer-to-peer based mostly, which means there are no devoted or dependant servers. GTA 5 had a devoted server for PS3 which was shut down final yr.”
“To this finish, I’d need to assume there’ll proceed to be GTA 4 multiplayer servers for PS3 so long as the PlayStation Network is working for the console. But, if it does shut for our platform, there may be at all times the Xbox facet. Xbox gamers are fortunate in that GTA 4 works cross-platform throughout their newer era consoles. They can play GTA 4 in 60FPS too – the unique was, in fact, 30FPS. That could be a cool various, supplied they do not shut it down there as effectively.”
An ideal resolution to keep away from all of this, in fact, could be a fully-fledged GTA 4 remaster on fashionable {hardware}. For El Fuga, whereas delighted to have the ability to play his favourite recreation 14 years on from launch on a console that was discontinued in Europe and the US in 2016, it is the anomaly that surrounds a doable GTA 4 remaster that frustrates him, and the broader energetic community, most. He provides: “It’s the infinite rumors about a potential remaster, after which seeing articles about Rockstar placing the plans on standby – all of that’s complicated followers to no finish. Some readability could be good. And as followers, I reckon we deserve that a lot.”
Expand your horizons past Liberty City with the best games like GTA at this time.
https://www.gamesradar.com/does-gta-4s-enduring-ps3-community-want-a-fully-fledged-gta-4-remaster/
