Month: January 2009

New Payback iPhone/iPod Touch release date

Excellent news – we were finally able to track down the problem with the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Payback! It seems something in the App Store conversion process didn’t like the size of the exe and was corrupting it. We shuffled some of the data around to make it smaller and "viola!" – no more corruption.

The new version has been approved by Apple and will be available worldwide from 28 January!

As you can imagine, this is a huge relief and we’re really looking forward to finally getting the game into the hands of the people it was made for – you!

Thanks for your patience – not long to wait now!

Source: Apex Designs

The Lost and Damned previews

AustralianGamer | IGN | | kikizo | kotaku | CVG | GamePlayer | TVG

  1. It will take a minimum of ten hours to complete and will cost 1600MS.
  2. Some missions can be restarted at halfway points.
  3. There are NO additions to the Liberty City map.
  4. There will be more buildings with interiors, mostly linked to new missions.
  5. Johnny Klebitz is the vice president of The Lost, and the DLC’s story begins when Billy returns from rehab to lead the gang once again. In Billy’s absence, Johnny lead The Lost and called a truce with their rivals, The Angels of Death. When Billy returns, he is not fond of the idea of a truce.
  6. The Lost safehouse is located on the corner of Berners Road and Vitullo Avenue in Alderney. Mini-games like a hi-low card game, an arm wrestling game, and getting weapons delivered from friends like Lil Jacob will all be available in the safehouse.
  7. Johnny’s bike is available outside the safehouse, and if you trash it someone can bring over another one.
  8. One mission named "Buyer’s Market" shows how Johnny crosses paths with Niko Bellic and Playboy X via Elizabeta.
  9. New weapons include a 9MM automatic pistol, a sawn-off shotgun, an assault shotgun, a grenade launcher, and pipe bombs.New music for the "hardcore and metal" radio stations will be introduced.
  10. Riding with the gang makes The Lost gang logo appear and the ground, and allows Johnny to receive health boosts.

The Lost and Damned achievements

The Lost and Damned will have 5 achievements for a total of 250 achievement points.

  1. Get Good Wood – 50G: In the Bike Races, whack off 69 bikers with a bat.
  2. Easy Rider – 100G: Finish The Story
  3. Full Chat – 70G: Your backup are riding at their best!
  4. The Lost Boy – 25G: All hail the leader of The Lost!
  5. One Percenter – 5G: Billy is back on his bike.

Payback iPhone release date and details

The iPhone/iPod Touch version builds on the strong foundations laid down by the GP2X version by adding an automatic save system, reengineered controls, HUD refinements and further gameplay improvement.

Probably the most important part of any game is the controls – if these don’t work well then the game would be about as useful as a chocolate teapot. For this reason, getting the controls right was the #1 priority in the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Payback. We tried to keep the on-screen buttons as minimal as possible so that they did not distract from the gameplay itself.

The game uses transparent up and down arrows on the right of the touchscreen to move forwards and backwards. The steering is handled using the accelerometer (tilting left and right) and there is a wheel displayed to show how far you have turned. This version doesn’t support multiplayer but at only 6.99 USD / 5.49 EUR / 3.99 GBP, it’s still great value as a singleplayer game.

There are more screenshots and details here: Payback iPhone report

Chinatown Wars details from EDGE

The February 2009 issue of EDGE reports that the team working on the game is "twice the size" of the one that worked on Vice and Liberty City Stories and they’ve created something which has "more lines of code" than San Andreas. This seems hard to believe but it’s great news if it’s true.

Other details included:

  1. The Satellite navigation system is "identical" to GTA IVs in appearance and functionality.
  2. Ammunation has gone online! You order weapons with your PDA and they show up at your safehouse.
  3. You can replay any mission by selecting it from a menu in the safehouse.
  4. Grenades and molotovs are thrown using the touch screen – you touch one and drag it, with an indicator on the top screen (where the action is) showing you where it’s going to land.
  5. The A button is used to fire weapons.
  6. One minigame involves assembling all of the parts of a sniper rifle with the touch screen, before using it to assassinate a designated target.
  7. Another touch-sensitive mini-game will be paying bridge tolls – you push the coin into the slot to get through the barrier.
  8. While some might perceive them to be gimmicky, EDGE describes the mini games as being "short" and "smoothly integrated".

Most importantly though, the magazine mentions that the game is "already complete" and final bug testing is taking place. You’ll be able to get your hands on the game in mid-March.

Thanks to GTAGaming.com for the news.