About two months ago, I was in a bar, having a few drinks, thinking about how awesome my blogging experience was going to be at PSP Fanboy. Then, I blacked out. I woke up, with a mysterious mark on my neck, and then learned that my super power was to blog profusely. In just a little over two months since our 1000th post, we've reached yet another milestone: our 1500th post. And like before, it's time to give away some swag!
We're giving away a bag full of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories goodies, including the game, a t-shirt and a sticker. All you have to do is threaten us... GTA style. Imagine me playing my PSP, and you're telling me to give you GTA... or else! Think of your funniest/most intimidating threat, and post it in the comments section. Watch your language, though. Simply offensive comments will be deleted and disqualified. The best entries will be the ones that don't resort to such low-brow measures.
Giveaway ends on 11/23/06. Random winner will receive their prize after 12/8/06. Limit 1 entry per person.
P.S. Expect a review of GTA soon. Also, thanks for all your support. Our readership has been growing steadily, and I'd like to thank all of you for reading the blog. Please, spread the word and help PSP Fanboy continue to grow! Thanks.
Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, needed some financial help. They looked to the PSP as a source for the big bucks, and it looks like they're making a healthy return. Within one week of sales, the PSP-exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Storiesdebuted at number 6 in the UK game charts, making it the top-selling handheld game for the week. With Bully also ranking high, and nary a DS game in sight, it appears that both Take-Two and PSP can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy their success.
The excellent CheatDevice is back. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories became a wonderous playground with the device, letting you do some truly crazy stuff. Mere days after its release, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories has a CheatDevice of its own. Edison Carter has crafted a tool that will let you get Infinite Health & Armor (helpful) and the Video Recorder (more helpful), which lets you capture footage directly from the game.
You'll need to be running DevHook on a homebrew-enabled PSP. If you're homebrew-ready, head over to Edison's website to download the device. Remember: we don't support piracy here at PSP Fanboy. Please buy all your games!
It'll be out on store shelves soon: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. You've seen all our coverage of the game so far. Does the game live up to the incredible hype? Let's find out what some of the critics have to say about this hotly anticipated entry into the GTA series:
IGN (90/100) thinks the game falls in very familiar, but high-quality, territory: "It's still largely the same game that we first saw with Grand Theft Auto III. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as Vice City Stories is still easily one of the best games on the system, but if you've began to grow tired of the franchise's mechanics, mission structure or overall feel, this likely won't renew your love of the series." .
1UP (90/100) is still shocked that Rockstar squeezed so much into this portable game: "Like LCS before it, Vice City Stories impresses like few games have managed to do on the system. The fact that the PSP pulls off everything in here with minimal loading screens is amazing. And the sheer amount of variety the game offers -- from side missions to the empire building to the story to the clever collectibles (red balloons, 99 of 'em) to the best sandbox-style, "mess with the world as you'd like" action out there -- will easily keep you entertained on cross-country flights a few times over (though it sucks down battery life at a startling rate)." .
GamePro (75/100) thinks the story's poor execution hurts the game: "So it's a big shame that lot of that personality has gone missing in Vice City Stories. Maybe it was the jump to a smaller stage that did them in but the characters and dialogue don't have the same snap nor does the game exhibit the same goofy and utterly loveable 80's style. Instead, the game is gritty and dull to a fault and it doesn't have the same sense of humor that made the past titles so entertaining."
Unsurprisingly, the game is more of the same. It seems like for many of us, that's perfectly fine: we need our GTA fix. However, for those of you that never got into the formula, or have become tired of the franchise, Vice City Stories won't do anything to really bring you back. The game is now available in stores.
The official Vice City Strories website has been updated with tons of new info about the game's ambitious multiplayer. We stole the details, and made like a bandit. Here are our spoils:
Empire Takedown Your team will try to obtain a cache of explosives hidden in the middle of the map. Once you discover the bomb, your team will try to destroy your opponent's team's base. They will, obviously, be trying to do the same to you.
VIP RIP The VIP is protected by bodyguards and must grab five briefcases scattered throughout the city. Play as the VIP, or try to kill him before he succeeds.
Might of the Hunter It's a race to get to the helicopter. Once a player commands the mechanized the terror, it's his duty to try and mow down as many opponents as possible. Everyone will try to blow the copter up, or snipe the pilot.
Tanks for the Memories It's similar to Might of the Hunter, only with a tank. The player driving the tank must try to reach the target time. All other players can damage the tank, and whoever deals the most damage to the vehicle gets to drive it next.
Vice City Survivor This is the classic deathmatch mode, available in single and team modes.
Protection Racket Destroy your opponents' limosines, while protecting your own.
Taken for a Ride Steal your opponents' car, and drive back to your own base. It's like Capture the Flag: whoever holds possession of both cars wins.
The Hitlist If you're the marked man, everyone's out to get you. Try to survive as long as you can. Whoever survives the longest as the marked man wins.
Street Rage The ultimate race, spanning air, land and sea.
Grand Theft Auto The titular multiplayer game. Players must steal certain cars and deliver them to shipping crates. Players that take the most cars, in the best condition, win.
Whoa... that was a lot of multiplayer. I loved Liberty City Stories' multiplayer modes, and it looks like Vice City Stories will up the ante quite considerably, featuring 4 more modes than the previous handheld game. The more you hear about the game, the more you want it, huh? Don't fret, though: it comes out in just a few more days.
Man, the 80s were great, and Rockstar's doing a great job of bringing back the classics (again) in Vice City Stories. 1UP has unearthed a partial songlist from the game, and it includes Phil Collins (of course), and a few other classics:
Wow... this is quite a star-studded cast of artists. I can't wait to run over some prostitutes while having Sexual Healing blasting out of my radio. Hot.
Philip David Charles Collins (born January 30, 1951 in Chiswick, London) is an Englishrock and popmusician. He is sometimes known as the lead singer and drummer of progressive rock group Genesis and as a Grammy and Academy Award-winning solo artist. He also commonly goes by the nickname "Philly Cheesteaks." However, Phil "The Man" Collins is best known for his role in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for the PSP. He can be seen in a new trailer on IGN, singing smooth melodies in the violence-stricken Vice City. His affiliation with organized crime is unknown at this time, but may be revealed when the game hits retailers in one week.
[Update 1: Phil Collins IS PLAYABLE!!! "You can also take Mr. Collins into the deathmatch arena and kick some arse Genesis-style. Source: CVG]
Is that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? IGN has written up yet another hypepromotional news post on some of the weapons of this highly anticipated PSP sequel. The Vulcan Mini-Gun (pictured) can shoot 4000 rounds a minute, which should have Jack Thompson creaming his pants. Other instruments of death featured at IGN include the RPG, AK47, Python, and M16. Surely, these weapons will be used for good when you start playing VCSin two weeks. Oh, shnap!
GameVideos has made gamers' lives easier by finding every single video of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories they could. We're making gamers' lives even easier by placing those videos in one place. You just have to go past the break and you'll have eleven somewhat random GTA videos at your disposal (some are new, some are old... depending on how much you've been following the game). The game will hit PSPs on October 31st.
The folks over at IGN got a chance to play with the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. We're expecting great things from it, and it looks like we won't be disappointed. The preview goes over the handling of vehicles, and surprisingly: they all work quite well. Riding a helicopter seems to run without a hitch, which is quite a technical marvel, considering how the game must render all of Vice City while you're in the sky. The ATV controls seem to be realistic and based on physics. It's a little difficult to get used to, but as IGN notes: "this is exactly how it should be."
The missions of Vice City Stories will be a bit more complex than the simple quests provided by Liberty City Stories. Missions will have you traveling across all kinds of environments: you may be in a car chase, then go on the ground, only to get inside a helicopter, and end in a race on the ocean. The potential depth of these missions is really exciting, especially when you consider the game has very short load times. It looks like Rockstar has created yet another technical benchmark for the PSP, and I can't wait for the game's release on October 31st.
You probably don't need any more motivation than awesome graphics and gameplay in order to pick up Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Or maybe you do. That's where free t-shirts come in. According to janamil of the PlayStation.com forums, EBGames is offering a free t-shirt for pre-ordering the game. Not too shabby. So, if you've run out of things to wear, head over to GameSpot/EBGames and give them your money. (While you're there, don't forget to ask for a few free demo UMDs that they're sure to be hoarding!)
Ah, gotta love suggestive headlines. You click them because you're intruiged. You're wondering if I've done some kind of word play, hinting at something risque. Of course, some of you may not even know what titillate means. Well, according to Merriam-Webster, it means "to excite pleasurably." And this trailer does exactly that. The game comes out on October 31st, exclusively for PSP.
Looks like Rockstar took advantage of this slow news day to release a brief, but nonetheless tantalizing clip of Vice City Stories in motion. The music, as usual, is awesome... and the draw distance is jaw-dropping. Check out 1UP to see two new screens of the game. The game releases on October 31st.
[Update 1: It appears that IGN has scored a brief new video as well. Check it out.]
GTAPortable.com has been keeping an eye out for everything Vice City Stories-related, and they've uncovered a plethora of new information for this highly anticipated PSP exclusive.
Golf is now a playable mini-game. It will be played using only one button.
"Empire Building" mode allows you to act like The Godfather and invest in businesses throughout the city. Depending on how much you've invested, and how the business is doing, you can make a fair sum of money... so long as you provide the proper protection. You can hire bodyguards, and when the business isn't being hit, it acts like a Safe House for you to save at. Taking a page from Sim City, you'll be able to place the businesses throughout the city, and proper placement can lead to the mad profit (an example cited by GTAPortable.com is a drug extortion business nearby an airport). Spanning over thirty buildings, this mode seems to add a hefty amount of gameplay to an already massive game. Business types can include protection, extortion, and prostitution, with many more to come.
Like in Liberty City Stories, there will be load times between the major islands, but surprisingly this time around, the loads will be even shorter, according to TotalVideoGames.
Not only can you ride around in helicopters, you can ride around in jets, according to an IGN preview. Although there is no infrstructure multiplayer, there will be more multiplayer modes to compete in.
And unfortunately for German and Australian players, the game will be censored, according to Gamepro.de.
This really does seem like it's going to be one of the best games of 2006, not only on the PSP, but across all platforms. The depth of this game is incredible, and the fact that it's on a handheld is even more amazing. The game comes out on October 30th for $50.
Vice City Stories looks like it'll have some truly epic battles. Sure, you have the army men with their automatic rifles, and the tank... but what really gets me excited is the helicopter. It looks absolutely sweet, and the thought of being able to drive that baby, and use its minigun on the go is kick-ass.
But, if that seems a bit too Hollywood for you, maybe you'll want to slow things down Hillbilly style. It looks like you can rough up the trailer trash in the game as well. I'm less impressed by the clip below, but maybe you can re-create scenes from Dukes of Hazzard or something. You can download high-res versions of these videos at GameTrailers.com (include an iPod/PSP formatted version). Vice City Stories will hit the PSP exclusively this October.
It'll be out on store shelves soon: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. You've seen all our coverage of the game so far. Does the game live up to the incredible hype? Let's find out what some of the critics have to say about this hotly anticipated entry into the GTA series:
