June is the month of Pride, Pride of your identity, who you are, who you love. But that doesn’t have to end as soon as the clock says midnight on the first of July. After all, companies like Shark (the Rainbow card) in Los Santos, and the many more in the real world who remove all of their decorations when the clock passes midnight, don’t have much bearing on the real meaning of Pride and what Pride actually means.

Despite the fact that things on social media are Interesting lately, this is already our fourth (!) year of celebration of Pride at GTANet via Snapmatics (Pride Snap Saturday 2021, Pride Snap Saturday 2022, Pride Snap Saturday 2023) and highlighting the colours of the LGBTQ+ flag, and even Snaps by some LGBTQ+ folks themselves, plus the love-filled images that they take in Rockstar’s games.

Doesn’t matter that we’re past the month of Pride, Pride should be celebrated year round, and we wish everyone a Happy Pride, never let anyone tell you who you are or what you feel, you are valid regardless of your identity, preference or gender – or perhaps none! Plus, trans lives are human lives, and bi and non-binary folks exist, so keep those in mind – everybody matters.

Enjoy this selection of newer and classic Pride-themed snaps!

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline / #RedDeadRedemption2 / #RedDeadRedemption hashtags on Twitter (what the hell is X?) and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: Rockstar Pride 2024 appeared first on GTANet.com.

March marks Women’s History Month, and just last week was Women’s International Day. For a few years now we have run a few bumper editions of Snap Saturday highlighting the women featured in some of the Rockstar games – from the fiercest of gunslingers, to camp-keepers, to your own outlaws and criminals or the businesswomen of GTA Online.

Red Dead Redemption 2 marked one of Rockstar’s most significant representations of women in their games, from portraying women’s fierce fight for voting rights in the late 1800’s, to all of the courageous women in the Van der Linde Gang who fought tooth and nail for survival, and to maintain unity and sanity within the group.

This week, we feature the women of the Van der Linde Gang, all through the community’s lenses.

Enjoy!

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline / #RedDeadRedemption2 hashtags on Twitter and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: The Women of the Van der Linde Gang appeared first on GTANet.com.

To be brief in this introduction; it is exactly what it says on the tin – a port of the RDR everyone knows and loves from 2010, but now accessible on your PS4/5, and handheld for the first time on Switch. The game arrives packaged with the Undead Nightmare story DLC and previous pre-order/Game Of The Year (GOTY) content, but without multiplayer.

What follows isn’t a review per se, and more of an informative preview based on our hands-on, because then we’d just be reviewing RDR and everyone already knows about it! That said however, despite this not being a full remaster or remake, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some interesting things to highlight here and there.

N.B. we haven’t played on Switch, so there’s no info about that here and we’ll leave handheld conclusions to those with access!

Before we start, let’s detail the specs of those who have previewed the game – Kirsty is on PS5, but using an older 1080p TV which means her game is being upscaled. uNi is also on PS5, but he has a native 4K monitor (or 3!) hence, visuals will be slightly different for each of them.

Now, here’s our preview and analysis of the new release. It goes without saying that we were playing a pre-release build, so additional fixes or changes may yet arrive in the form of day 1 patching.

Table of Contents

Menus

The menus look largely the same, but a few extra options have been added to some of them. From accessibility to anti-aliasing options for those not on 4K televisions/monitors, they help bring the game a bit of a step forward versus the original in terms of customisability.

The first thing that should be highlighted is one of the first things you see when you boot up the game, and a first for a Rockstar game. An easily readable, dedicated epilepsy warning before the game starts. Something that used to be shoved into game manuals or fineprints for the longest time – one of quite a few accessibility steps forward that will be talked about in this preview.

Starting out with the Display section, there is now the ability to select between AMD FSR2 and FXAA as anti-aliasing choices regardless of your TV type. This is normally something you would only see on PC, but it seems to be exposed on console.
As observed in Kirsty’s tests on an older TV, the game will upscale from your TV resolution, to 4K using the preferred upscaling/anti-aliasing method. Screenshots taken on those older or lower-resolution TV’s will still come out in 4K resolution, but upscaled, so blurrier.
If you’re on a 4K TV/monitor however, the game will be output at a native 4K and look as sharp as it should, including in screenshots. More on visuals later.

Still in the Display menu, some display accessibility options have been added, such as a motion blur toggle, subtitle scaling, objective scaling and help text scaling. Click to expand each image.

On the controls/config side, the invert camera option is now split between the Y and X axis, you can turn south paw on or off, and even flip R1/R2, and L1/L2.

All the other menus are pretty much what you already know from RDR. Difference being cheats are all unlocked from the get-go should you choose to use them, and, of course, the omission of the Multiplayer menus as it doesn’t exist in this port.

There is also no Social Club menu or integration yet, but there are trophies to unlock via PSN, so we don’t know whether this is a pre-release limitation or if the game won’t have a connection to Social Club so you can see your achievements.
The Trilogy Definitive Editions automatically connected to your Social Club account via PSN, so it might be the same deal here, and you may be able to look at your trophies on the Social Club website regardless.

Gameplay and Visuals

Gameplay is the same good old RDR. There are basically no changes here, as this is a port to more recent platforms and not really a remaster that could change the gameplay in any way, shape, or form. Be the same outlaw you were in 2010, but at higher resolution.

Speaking of resolution – as mentioned earlier, if you’re playing on a 4K TV you’ll get Red Dead Redemption as crisp as it can get, at a native 4K. If you’re on an older TV however, the presentation may be slightly softer, but this is something you may only notice in screenshots or larger but lower resolution TV’s. On those TV’s, screenshots are taken at 4K resolution, but upscaled from 1080p (an example is below) – at least in this build, you can tweak this upscaling by choosing FXAA or AMD FSR 2.

Oddly, those options are also available on 4K TV’s, but they are simply different anti-aliasing choices, there doesn’t seem to be any upscaling going on as both are equally sharp and what seems to be on par with Xbox BC’s native presentation – we’ll leave any applicable pixel counting to the folks at DigitalFoundry. Odd option for a console game, but for those who like FSR’s presentation, they can choose to use it.

You can check out more images below the following two and see for yourself, taken in native 4K – click each to expand to full resolution.

As for the controls, as expected, no major changes to report here, other than the obvious generational difference of the controller in your hands! All controls remain the same across foot and horseback, with the PS4/5 touchpad becoming the “open satchel” function. There is no haptic feedback or any of the PS5-specific features, as this is a PS4 app.

Bugs

As mentioned before, the build tested is a pre-release build, so there may or may not be a day 1 patch available to fix any issues. Because ports to different platforms aren’t straight-forward and can sometimes cause more issues, there can always be a few kinks.
We haven’t experienced anything major: no crashing, and no falling through the map, or any other similar issues. In this hands-on, we’ve observed:

• Minor physics glitching such as stationary horses’ front legs moving/flickering.
• Doors opening before you reach them while sprinting.
• “loot” function doesn’t consistently show over the entire zombie body in UN – have to manoeuvre multiple times to get it to appear.

We aren’t entirely sure if those or some of those were already in the original game, it’s been a while, so we can’t quite comment on that.

During the week, a 1.02 patch was released for the game, and the build we were initially playing when we received the code was already 1.01, so it’s possible some extra things were fixed that weren’t noticed.

Bugfixes

The original RDR release from 2010 was updated over the years with maintenance patches, but some of these patches introduced bugs and glitches that people have been clamouring to get fixed for the longest time. In 2014, the patch that disabled GameSpy support apparently introduced a couple of major bugs that affected especially the Undead Nightmare experience. In this release, as far as we could see, it seems like some of those are fixed.

For instance, toggling the Golden Guns status now functions properly and adds/removes the gold skin from Cattleman Revolver, and all other weapons, as it should.
On the Undead Nightmare side, one of the biggest issues reported by the community since that 2014 patch seems to have been fixed – zombies are no longer headless and you can kill them properly.

There might be more things, but it was slightly difficult to get a comprehensive list of broken things with RDR more than 10 years after the original release, other than some issues introduced in the GameSpy patch.

Conclusions

In a nutshell, Red Dead Redemption on PS4/5 offers a solid 30 FPS performance with some notable bugs from the past now fixed, plus up to 4K resolution if your screen is capable. There’s also some new accessibility options and language support.

Most notable absences, in no particular order, are no 60 FPS support, no photo mode, and no multiplayer.

All in all, this conversion delivers a stable and unproblematic experience compared to 7th generation consoles. It also benefits from the additional technical smoothing and bugfixes compared to the Xbox BC version. The lack of PC attention, and all the bells and whistles of a full remaster or remake, will be regarded as a missed opportunity by the community, but this doesn’t take the experience away from PlayStation and Switch owners with an interest in re-visiting (or playing for the first time) the conclusion of John Marston’s critically acclaimed story and beloved DLC on today’s consoles.

The post Red Dead Redemption Port Hands-On Preview appeared first on GTANet.com.

Pride Month has just passed, but this doesn’t mean actual Pride ends there. It may be a celebration of love, diversity and inclusion, but that is something that everybody should practice in their lifes every single day. Love is love, people are people, and identity or sexuality have nothing to do with anything.

This is our third year of celebration of Pride at GTANet via Snapmatics (Pride Snap Saturday 2021, Pride Snap Saturday 2022) and highlighting some of the LGBTQ+ folks of the Rockstar community via their wholesome pictures, or in the colours of the rainbow.

Yes, indeed, corporations are still milking Pride in 2023, some of their rainbow logos come right off on the midnight of 1st July, and every Los Santos resident and beyond just has no words for any of that anymore, but regardless, let’s ignore that and get on to the highlights.

Happy Pride everybody! Pride of who you are, who you identify as, who you love, Pride of being a person regardless of any of those factors. You are loved.
Do remember that bi folks exist, as do non-binary folks, and that trans folks also exist and they have rights because they are human. We don’t do phobias here. Everybody matters.

Enjoy.

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline hashtags on Twitter and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: Rockstar Pride 2023 appeared first on GTANet.com.

The month of March is Women’s History Month, and just like we’ve done last week with Grand Theft Auto, this week we highlight the women of Red Dead. The courageous gunslingers, family women, caretakers of the gang’s camp, magnificent firebreathers, your Red Dead Online character and much, much more around the world of Red Dead.

Red Dead Redemption 2 also highlights an important and fitting event from the 1800’s – women’s fierce fight for voting rights. Until much later in the 1900’s, through a lot of pushback from male governors, women could not vote whatsoever in the United States, except for a handful of states who had agreed to finally giving women those rights over time.

Enjoy!

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline / #RedDeadRedemption2 hashtags on Twitter and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: The Women of Red Dead appeared first on GTANet.com.

Just a few days ago on March 8th, the world celebrated International Women’s Day – and March also happens to be Women’s History Month. Last year around this time, we celebrated the women of GTA Online and Red Dead, and this year we’re doing just that same thing, with brand-new snaps highlighting the hard-working women of Los Santos. The hustlers, the robbers, the CEO’s, gangsters and heisters – and much, much more.

Rockstar’s games over the years have featured a cast of empowering women, such as Sadie Adler in Red Dead Redemption 2, and the future seems to have something for us in a bigger way as well. As such, enjoy this week’s celebratory collection of snaps, straight from the community’s lens!

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline / #RedDeadRedemption2 hashtags on Twitter and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: The Women of GTA Online appeared first on GTANet.com.

Welcome to GTANet’s Chatterbox, our interview series where hosts uNi, Spider-Vice, and Kirsty sit down and get personal with notable people from the GTANet and Rockstar Games community, or even Rockstar Games themselves! From the well-loved to the unknown, Chatterbox is all-inclusive.

Today we bring you an exciting interview with the one and only DJ Pooh! With a background in hip hop music production, writing, and directing, DJ Pooh’s creative influence on the Grand Theft Auto series spans almost two decades now. First collaborating with Rockstar Games to write for GTA San Andreas back in the day, he’s since made his mark with further writing contributions for GTA V and GTA Online, as well as hosting in-game radio station West Coast Classics and playing a major part in The Contract DLC with Dr Dre last year. He can also be thanked for encouraging his friends Young Maylay and Shawn Fonteno (CJ and Franklin) to audition for their roles as protagonists.

DJ Pooh’s enthusiasm for the series as both a fan and a long-time friend of the company is something to be admired, so much respect to him for everything he has and continues to bring to GTA. Now, let’s hear from the man himself!

GTANet: You have worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry and on one of GTANet’s most beloved games in the franchise: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. How important was the relationship between music and the series, helping it grow to be the giant Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto: Online are today?

Man, the music is 50% of that game, I feel like. It’s hard to say that because the game is just so massive and so amazing and it’s just everything. But then the music – nobody in gaming does music like Grand Theft Auto. I’ve always been a huge fan of how music goes in the game, but also how good it is.
People out here love the radio stations.  Some people say GTA radio is better than real life radio. It’s so crazy, you notice like you want to make everybody happy with such a broad game and that’s a hard thing to do, something nobody can accomplish. But I feel like GTA does that better than anybody, you always gonna have your hip hop guys but then the hard rock guys came in hard, man saying, “hey, hold on, man where’s our rock shit,” but it all comes around full circle all the time and everybody loves it, man. There’s something for everybody in there and it’s not just the songs that you knew were the singles off of albums and shit, it’s also those cuts that you don’t even think of, that people don’t even notice like, “oh, wow was that on that album?” You find gems in there, man. It’s like getting an education at the same time, because you get the samples and stuff like that in some of the newer records and then you can go flick over to some of the old school, lowrider stuff, and hear some of the original songs that came from that is too cool. When you go from there to there, you’re really doing something major in music. I feel like nobody else is doing music like that today, even music isn’t doing music like we doing music today.

GTANet: The West Coast Classics radio station in GTA Online received a couple of changes for The Contract DLC, how well was that received? Did it get the reaction from the fan base you were hoping for?

 People absolutely love the changes and it made me feel like we can start changing the music now and doing more and that, because the way people reacted to it. And the way Rockstar Games does all these cool-ass updates and stuff is phenomenal, especially when the music is able to update with it too. That means everything because the music is such an intricate part of the game. Yes, people definitely loved the Dre songs and the integration, not just being the music playing in the background somewhere but as Easter eggs, and the integration and the whole storyline, and they really having a vibe and feeling something of reality is – man I love it.

GTANet: You appeared physically in the GTA Online: The Contract DLC, with cutscenes and voice, can you talk about your experience? How was it seeing yourself immortalised as a character in GTA? (Plus the mythical DJ Pooh tee!)

 Oh my God. Being such a fan, I’ve been playing this all the way back when it was just 2D [Grand Theft Auto], like Pac-Man where you walk the player from above and you’re kinda going around the shrubs and stuff. And that was just the coolest thing. I used to play that back in my studio, Snoop and us would be in there, they’d be playing the basketball and the football, and I’ll be playing that too, but then I go straight back to [GTA], it was just my thing. I was a big fan of it and to see it just grow into what you know it is, it’s just amazing, man.

And to imagine being able to be in it and be a part of it was a dream come true, man. I’m a real fan of the game as you can hear in the passion of my voice, I’m a huge fan of GTA. First I play’em all, I love ‘em all. I was like, this is gonna be the future. Being a filmmaker, it makes me go, “oh shit,” I was jealous because this is better than films. This shit’s double, I’m in the movie right now, and so to be playing the game and then to see myself in the game was like a double, “what the fuck” like that is the coolest thing ever.

(On the DJ Pooh Tee) I love that shit so much being in the game, cause that [DJ Pooh] t-shirt goes back 35 years and it hasn’t changed at all, it’s the same shirt from back in the day and people that didn’t know it or remember it, they know it, but people are just getting introduced to it. They like the shirt. People send me pictures on Instagram and on Twitter and all the social media stuff, and when they have that shirt on, bro the way that make me feel, I just go, “oh, wow!” It’s the same shirt I’ve been rocking man from way back in the day, man. Same exact shirt, orange shirt.

GTANet: How was your experience with working with Dr. Dre again, but in a completely new industry? 

Dre is the person that put the first drum machine in my hand and showed me how to work it. Dre got me into producing music and is just a great friend of mine, man. My whole entire music career, Dre and I have been connected in some way. Dre’s never put out a record without playing that whole record for me before he put it out and got my opinion and I value that so much. He sends me music, I’m trusted with it. I love Dre, he is my brother.

I’ve been working with Rockstar for almost 20 years and to be able to bring these two together, this is the best of the best, the best shit in music, the best shit in games, it’s like pulling two of the homies together. Oh my God, it was just dope.

I’d been trying to do it for so long, Dre’s not a gamer, so he really didn’t get it. But when I took that PlayStation to his house and he saw us playing, he couldn’t believe all the stuff you could do. He was just like, “holy shit, this is the real deal.” And then when he heard all the music, I really started flossing with the stations going between this, that FlyLo here and that stuff, he just lost it when he hears me and Big Boy, he said, “I want my own station!” He was all in because he got it, he saw it was really cool, really fun, and he said, “man, I had no idea. ” From that point with Dre saying, “I wanted to do it,” it was just like, wait a minute this might really happen. Seeing it come together and being a part of it with Dre mocapping inside of a studio that was built in a mocap room, like a full studio, like who does this?

GTANet: Do you think his experience will help other people change their minds about working with games?

I think so. And I think people will see the potential in music. The marriage between music and games is just as good, if not better, than the marriage between music and film or any other medium out there. The more you look at it, music doesn’t stand in the place it once did for many reasons, it’s not the same, it’s smaller, but it’s bigger – it’s strange. Coming from music, to see something that still has that traditional thing where, you know, it’s not to just throw everything at you, but it’s curated in a way as if someone cared, I like that.

It feels special, man. It feels special. I know a lot of the artists whose music make it into the game, I know these artists and they’re so happy. And so that integration has always just been one of the best natural things I feel between music and gaming, but then being able to actually be in the game with Franklin, Lamar, me, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, all on a golf course and doing all this, plus we built Dr. Dre’s studio in the game. Like you can go in there and just be chilling in Dr. Dre’s actual studio. This is something that I dreamed about, thinking like one day this will be happening. And man, that day is now!

GTANet: Do you have a favorite game in the GTA series? Which one is it and why?

 You really gonna make me do this, I feel trapped! It’s really hard because it’s three of them really. it’s hard to decide between the three, but if I had to decide, first of would be GTA V of course, then Vice City, I fucking love Vice City, and then San Andreas. There’s something so special about that game. All of them are special, but it’s kind of like your first, that’s right when I linked up with Rockstar and got opportunity to work with them. San Andreas was just so ahead of its time before everybody started trying to rip Rockstar off, and it just set the tone – the future is big. That game just means so much and to have had one of the little homies that that I grew up with be able to come in and play CJ in the game, that was just a special thing, too.

And just being a fan of the game and all the cool music that went into it – it was so west coast. The guys from Rockstar came out and we did everything – we flew choppers around so we could really map out everything with attention to detail. They met all these wonderful, cool people in all these different neighborhoods and communities and stuff and they wasn’t afraid to do it, they came out and they did it right. I really just love the way that whole experience unfolded for the first time.

Plus, to have a lead black character in something so big and anticipated and cool, and the way it was done with Samuel Jackson as Officer Tenpenny it was phenomenal. It’s better than any movie that came out at that time, and it’s still a lot of people’s favorite game. I still play it! And so to be able to play that, it’s just the best nostalgia and just the coolest thing. I’m out there with the Ballas and Grove Streets, I’m having a good time. I freaking love that game. 

So I’d have to say between that one and GTA V, but I don’t wanna lose Vice City, it was so Miami. It was so cold, bro.

A massive thanks to DJ Pooh for taking the time to answer our questions, and again to Rockstar Games for their continuous support in arranging these interviews!

Follow DJ Pooh on Twitter and Instagram!

Previously on Chatterbox
Roger Clark, Razed, TezFunz, Zoobz, Vinewood_Motors

The post Chatterbox: GTANet Interview with DJ Pooh appeared first on GTANet.com.

Welcome to GTANet’s Chatterbox, our interview series where hosts uNi, Spider-Vice and Kirsty sit down and get personal with notable people from the GTANet and Rockstar Games community. From the well-loved to the unknown, Chatterbox is all-inclusive.

It has been a while, but we’ve cooked up something a little extra special for our return; we had the absolute pleasure of talking to the legendary Roger Clark, a.k.a. everyone’s favourite boah Arthur Morgan, about his experience with Red Dead Redemption 2, his thoughts about the industry, and his next video game project Fort Solis. ICYMI, last year Kirsty had a chance to meet up with Roger and got us an amazing GTAForums shoutout!

With no further introductions needed, let’s get started cowpokes!

GTANet: Hi Roger! Thank you for chatting with us! Tell us a bit about yourself, have you ever tried other industries or have you set your mind on acting early on?

Roger: I was born in New Jersey and grew up in Ireland. I went to university in Wales. Started out with an HND in Computing Studies. Really blew chunks at it so decided to bite the bullet and pursue an acting degree. You only live once.

GTANet: This was your first foray into video game performance capture, correct? How did it feel to hear your voice immortalised in a virtual character for the first time, especially in such a big franchise as Red Dead?

Roger: I had done performance capture before sometime ago. My first foray into the medium was for another video game called Shellshock II. I was nervous being the protagonist of a Red Dead game after John Marston. I was a huge fan of him and realized quickly that I was going to have to do my own thing. Trying to recreate what Rob Wiethoff had done would’ve been foolish, I think.

GTANet: What was your first reaction to seeing all the GTAForums users finding out you were Arthur Morgan just from a voice in the trailer? Surely this must have been a huge surprise, did you expect the community to find you as quick as they did?

Roger: A lot of you figured it out before the trailer as I recall. Someone was clever enough to cross reference who some of the original Red Dead Redemption cast members had recently started following on social media and put two and two together. You found out about five of the new cast that way. You did not know for certain until release but it was extremely smart. It was a reminder that we were working on something big and as a Red Dead fan I really didn’t want to let you down. Without any audience feedback while we were working though, it was a double edged sword. We were able to focus and work without distraction, but had no idea how it would be received.

GTANet: You and all the other great actors that worked on the game brought an amazing performance to all of us. How different is acting in a video game? Most people just think of it as voice acting but it is so much more than that.

Roger: Voice acting is an amazing medium and about 10% of my work on Red Dead comprised of it. The rest was performance capture which is a separate, different medium. They are both amazing ways to act/work and one is not better than the other. A lot of our audience do not understand how performances in gaming is done nowadays but all appreciation is appreciated.

GTANet: You do enjoy your fair bit of gaming, which games have a special place in your heart? Are you playing anything right now?

Roger: I tried Elden Ring. I am useless. I just do not have the time to ‘git gud’ at stuff like that anymore. I have to admit that as a middle aged gamer, I do not have the hours necessary to know what I am doing with a Soulsborne game. I love them though, love watching someone who knows what they are doing on Twitch. I’m still returning to the new Horizon from time to time. Enjoying WWE 2022 and I have returned to some Shadowrun games that I used to enjoy. Looking forward to TLOU1 remake and GOW Ragnarok.

GTANet: Tell us a bit of your experience in your first playthrough of Red Dead Redemption 2. Did you get distracted with all the details, like “Oh I know that voice!”?

Roger: Yes, I saw versions of the game as we were working on it. But I never had unfettered access until about twelve hours before the rest of the world did. My wife let me have three days uninterrupted. I barely got to chapter three in that time. I was blown away. We were focused on the performance aspect of the game, we were not privy to what all the other departments were working on until we all got to sit down and play it. It is an unique way to watch your work, I was able to play it with a special nostalgia, “Oh, I remember that day” etc. One of these days I may have to do my own playthrough on Twitch…

GTANet: You must have millions of fans all over the world, was there a particular person that surprised you as being a fan?

Roger: Ice-T kind of blew my mind. Jack Black. Jack Quaid from The Boys was very kind to me once about how much he enjoyed the work. Having the kind of audience that we got with Red Dead Redemption 2 is an artist’s dream. That kind of exposure is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

GTANet: One of your next video game projects, Fort Solis, was recently revealed. It was really fun to see you in the spotlight alongside Troy Baker. Is this your first venture into the sci-fi horror genre? What is it like to prepare for this kind of role compared to the western setting of Red Dead Redemption 2?

Roger: I always prepare for different roles differently. Some things remain the same. I always focus on the script first and then try and find the voice and physicality from the clues the script gives me. What kind of animal would they be? Where is their center of gravity when they walk? What are their strengths and weaknesses. Public and private faces etc. I have never done a sci-fi thriller before and it is a joy to work on. A lot of research of Mars was done. Trying to familiarize myself with the world’s technology so that it appears second nature to Jack Leary. Games offer so much more immersion to its audience than film or TV does in my opinion and believable immersion is achieved with attention to detail, real environments and valuable research. You need to come up with authentic details that the player will take for granted that underline the truth and authenticity for whatever world you are trying to introduce audience to. Invisible little nuances that can often go unnoticed will still resonate on a subconscious level, I find.

We hope you enjoyed this fun little insightful read from Roger himself. Once again, a massive thank you to him for taking the time to chat; he is a true gentleman and we’ll forever be grateful for how supportive he is of the Red Dead community. Outlaws for life!

If you don’t follow Roger on socials yet… what are you waiting for?

Follow Roger Clark on Twitter and Instagram!

Previously on Chatterbox
Razed
TezFunz2
Zoobz
Vinewood_Motors

The post Chatterbox: GTANet Interview with Roger Clark appeared first on GTANet.com.

Although you should absolutely always be inclusive, non-discriminatory and celebrate diversity and love, June has just passed, and you know what June is – the most colourful month of the year. It’s Pride Month!

Despite, as usual, corporations cashing in on the rainbow for some extra PR points (and removing all kinds of celebration as soon as July 1st hits…) and we can definitely understand rolling your eyes and sighing at it, we are all for spreading awareness and support for the LGBTQ+ community here at GTANet, and we guarantee Rockstar Games and their employees are doing the very same thing.

Just like last year, we head into Los Santos and Blaine County to find the most colourful, rainbowy and wholesome snaps we can.
Most Los Santos residents are busy rolling their eyes at corporations like Shark promoting their Rainbow Cards in the Maze Bank Arena, and doing other things around the state – which makes the snap-finding adventure difficult, and we can’t represent all of the colours and meanings in the Pride flag accurately with only snaps – but many take a bit of a break to celebrate Pride, love and diversity.

Enjoy, and happy Pride. Because Pride of who you are, whoever that is, doesn’t end in June. You are loved, and remember, trans rights are also human rights.

Post your photos on GTAForums or use the #GTAOnline / #RedDeadOnline hashtags on Twitter and you might see your efforts highlighted in future GTANet Snap Saturdays!

The post Snap Saturday: Rockstar Pride 2022 appeared first on GTANet.com.

Fair warning, this article isn’t for the faint-hearted and turned out to be quite a lengthy read. After checking out all the pros and cons the community has discussed over the last week, this is where we’re at with our initial impressions. We’ve got four broad questions with three different perspectives, and none of them are guaranteed to match your own. For transparency, we each game on different platforms, and only one of us has subscribed to GTA+.

The financial cost of GTA+

uNi: No idea how R* decides items/discounts, but as a introduction for this new service I feel the selection of offers could have been better. Although I did end up receiving GTA$1M instead of the GTA$500k advertised initially so I am curious to see if that is something R* decided to change based on community feedback or if it is just a first month bonus kind of deal. As for the price, it’s not that steep as far subscriptions go, but keeping players will heavily depend of what they choose to offer on the future I suppose.

Spider-Vice: In essence, GTA+ isn’t very different from other game subs out there, including subs for games that are already paid themselves – see Fallout 1st for example: the game is $39.99 on Steam with a $12.99 subscription on top with these mostly static benefits – but that I’ve heard many players like, despite it having been EXTREMELY controversial at launch, even more than GTA+!
Fortnite is free to play but also has the Fortnite Crew subscription model which is $11.99 with monthly changing benefits not too different from GTA+ model, but both these games give you a premium cosmetics-only currency to spend in a cosmetics store.
Final Fantasy XIV is already subscription based itself, $14.99/mo (and the amount of time you subscribe for actually changes how many characters you can have), but also has paid DLC which can go for prices such as $39.99 on top of that subscription – though this is barely new for MMO’s such as this, and even less so for PC players who have been seeing subscription models as far back as World of Warcraft.

As far as subscriptions go, this is far, far from the worst example out there financially. If you’re interested in early access content, free cash deposits (there are reports of players getting GTA$1M instead of GTA$500K, new member bonus?) and other bonuses along with “accelerators” for each weekly event, whether you’re a veteran player with not much time on your hands to play and grind for the latest content, or a newbie who wants a shortcut with some special benefits, then sure, this proposition doesn’t sound that bad.

It doesn’t sound that bad from the point that it gives you a lot of content that is cheaper IRL than one singular Megalodon (GTA$8M) shark card and is worth (in-game) more than those GTA$8M (see the math). Besides, GTA+ is doing what some other games with optional subscriptions do as well – matching the cost of the subscription with that of currency you can also buy. For $5.99 you can get a singular GTA$500K shark card, or you can get GTA+ for the exact same price, you get the same in-game money, and a bunch of other benefits on top, but monthly.

Kirsty: If we’re going to judge GTA+ on the cost alone, then I’d say price is “alright”. Everything is a subscription when it comes to gaming/music/TV/film/shopping these days, so it’s not a new formula, but it does make you groan that there’s another one you could potentially be adding to your balance sheet.

The first month offers bonuses with a worth or saving of around GTA$10million in-game for $5.99. If you needed to buy a Shark Card to cover the exact same purchases, you’d be spending $100 for a Megalodon worth GTA$8million, and you’d still be short by GTA$2million. An important note here is that subscribing doesn’t guarantee you actually need the bonuses on offer. For example, I don’t own a Yacht, so the free Aquarius upgrade bonus this month would be worthless and unused for me as I’d have to fork out GTA$6million to purchase the basic Orion first.

Something else that doesn’t get GTA+ quite off the hook when it comes to pricing is the fact that GTA Online isn’t free to play like many other games that are filling their boots with loot these days. The 3 month sale on new-gen is reasonable, but is it fair to add a subscription service to an almost-nine year old game that at its most expensive costs $40 to buy and requires a PS+/XBL live service subscription to access as well? It’s the type of commercialism that’s a bit meh, for lack of a better description.

There are obviously a lot of moral ambiguities when it comes to microtransactions and their presence in gaming in the first place, but players are going to buy them no matter our position, so in my opinion it’s an important obligation of ours to assess their value factually as well as emotionally so people can make an informed decision and not waste their money if they don’t want or need to.

Essentially, I would be comfortable saying GTA+ is worth the price but only if you are a frequent Shark Card buyer, or you personally find value/worth in the items/bonuses/collectables that are offered. I can’t conclude that it’s worth it financially if neither of those latter statements are true for you or your playstyle as that would mean you’re kinda buying something for nothing. For this reason I’d recommend making a decision on a month by month basis given the benefits update and expire in rotation.

Casuals vs. Community: The target audience

uNi: This is obviously not targeted at everyone and never was marketed as such. Crying about it like it was is just nonsense.

Spider-Vice: As I mentioned before, especially on the PC side, a lot of massively multiplayer online games out there now have subscription services like this, focused on cosmetics, bonuses and freebies, money deposits (although this is usually a different cosmetic-only currency), etc. and they do appease to both the “casuals” and the frequent players (but not all frequent players subscribe anyway, as it usually doesn’t affect non-sub gameplay).

I see this almost as a replacement of Shark Cards for some types of players (see the bit about this in the “financial cost” part above), in the sense you get content, bonuses and money each month, not just money. Literally none of this is mandatory, and as the bonuses stand this month at least, can be completely ignorable if you’re a veteran. You already have it all and you’re not interested in the rest? Ok, good, then it’s not for you and that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be. If you don’t like it or want to “boycott” it, don’t buy it, your wallet votes.
Just as quoted at the end of this article by the amazing Ask A Game Dev:
“If you ever look at DLC or microtransactions and think “I would never pay for that”, it just means it isn’t for you.”

If you’re a collector who is interested in exclusive clothing or someone who, regardless of tenure, wants to enjoy early access to things like vehicles and/or their speed mods, you might see more value in it. Same applies to people who may be regulars but don’t want to do the common “grind” and still want to enjoy the game’s content by either having it made cheaper for them or even given to them via the subscription, along with all other benefits and bonuses that will change monthly.

I expect this to be extremely fluid each month as benefits and early access content change – some players might see more value some months than others, some might cancel some months and others might subscribe other months, etc. etc. Rockstar do have a very lenient cancellation policy (cancel any time, keep everything including bonuses for the month), so it will all depend on which months are attractive to you or not, if you’re even interested.
For both casuals and the “community”/veterans, the worth is ultimately completely dependent on you, but from personal experience and anecdotes from others, this kind of thing can end up attracting veteran players as well.

If what Tez2 speculated about on our forums is true, we could even see subscribers voting on what content will feature on the subscription each month, so this could also help with making it more enticing than having R* choose from a list themselves that players may not always like.

This stuff will, is and has always been forever divisive. No way to make everyone happy with this, regardless of whether we’re talking about GTA, Fortnite, Fallout or any other game with a subscription – it will always have different pros and cons depending on who you ask and clearly, given community backlash, is not something that will satisfy everyone and is obviously being exacerbated by the fact that it was so introduced so late into the game’s lifecycle, which is also what is making me think this is going to go into GTA VI’s Online mode.

I think a good proper FAQ post-backlash would help temper some worries from other players who might not understand that this may not have as many consequences as they think it will. Questions about what content is planned to be made truly exclusive, how will early access work and for what content, etc. etc.

Kirsty: It can be a hard pill to swallow for some, but Shark Cards are the biggest driving force behind DLC and content being free in GTA Online over the years. The massive amount of income they generate for the company is the incentive to keep production value high while moving across generations like they have. Until now, microtransactions from Rockstar have been pretty “friendly” and irrelevant to think all that much about when it comes to the topic of accessing content at a premium. Behind the scenes, casuals pay and grinders play, and everyone just got on with it.

Is Shark Cards’ success a good reason to introduce more monetisation right now? I wouldn’t be confident saying yes, but if they are here to stay, then we have to make peace with the idea that there will be players who will seek out GTA+ for their own reasons. This is where community disappointment speaks loudest, because there are many frustrated voices trying to say there is no value, and the program has already been dubbed a “scam” or “cash grab” with pleas from content creators not to buy into it at all. The longevity of GTAV has grown tiring for many players, so it’s pretty much a double-edged sword of cause and effect. The “game forever milked” they call it, a cow that should be going to pasture as we’re more than ready for the next GTA. It would be naive not to acknowledge Shark Cards’ role in the creation of GTA+ as well as all that free DLC, though, and this is why it’s also important to understand and accept when something isn’t aimed at the audience you’re part of, especially when it is optional.

Even with the divided audience of GTA+, one still generally thinks they speak for the other. The community is the “public facing” audience here and they represent the games online. The players that use their platforms to give feedback and take part in debates, build reputation out of producing content such as guides or mods, market and advertise the games through news or virtual photography; they’re the people who the gaming media looks to during these announcements. And when a chunk of these people are unhappy for one reason or another? The reaction ends up making announcements appear badly timed or tone-deaf, which only serves to burden the ever-crumbling bridge between the community and community management. Some people take the importance of criticism in the gaming space a little too literally, so in times of discord, getting your facts straight and thinking outside the box to be constructive is far more helpful. I believe that even though GTA+ has an obvious audience, a bit of well-placed understanding through player-friendly messaging with less corporate language would have smoothed over this introduction a little bit.

The short-term impact on GTA Online

uNi: I can’t foresee a big impact short-term, you may need to wait a couple days for a new car or GTA+ players get a slightly bigger bonus but that is it. If any major changes are to occur it will be in the next iteration of GTAO. I expect to see a bigger emphasis on monetisation there. It is how it works all over the industry and R* will need to follow suit if it wants GTAO to keep relevant and profitable. I don’t see the majority of the community regularly spending money on GTAO2 as long what they get in return is good enough.

Spider-Vice: If GTA+ is kept as is, like most other games with optional subscriptions? None whatsoever in my view.

Many people thought Shark Cards and those being advertised more aggressively again a few years back was “the beginning of the end”, with massive nerfs and what not incoming and that never really happened. In fact, R* even with Shark Cards has released content packs like the Cayo Perico Heist and The Contract which are both very good money makers (thus potentially negating Shark Card sales), and Cayo Perico has not been nerfed thus far like many people thought it would – “no way these payouts will be kept!” – so far, they are. Emphasis on “so far”.
R* also willingly gave people a bunch of money by multiplying the Dre storyline earnings in The Contract by x1.5 and x2 respectively in two different weeks, along with that same content pack’s Payphone Hits getting the same treatment. These were pretty much weeks of joy for grinders and regular players alike – I’ve never been richer in GTA Online and it was because of those two weeks.

Let’s also not forget they buffed the Nightclub safe for current-gen and the Career Builder already gives you access to some property (even if on a budget) and some sort of proper starting point even if you’re not a subscriber, so even if they were already planning GTA+ for a while, to me it doesn’t really feel like they want to shove it in everyone’s face that much.

A lot of people in the community have expressed concerns over regular non-subscriber weekly event bonuses being nerfed because there are GTA$ and RP “accelerators” that seem to apply to those same event weeks, but I personally think what’s going to happen is that subscribers are going to get buffed and not non-subscribers getting nerfed (i.e. x2 as usual on an adversary mode would be x3 for subscribers, instead of regular players getting nerfed down to x1.5 so GTA+ can get x2).
As I type this, in fact, R* have released their first event week since the release of GTA+ and there have been absolutely no nerfs whatsoever, instead GTA+ gets a x4 buff in Street Races.
I have seen a few community members on GTAF be relieved that nothing was nerfed or made exclusive or anything this week which kind of calmed their worries about GTA+, so I’m honestly not really worried about that stuff until/if it happens.

I personally think we’d have seen major nerfs by now to things like the Cayo Perico Heist and none of these discounts if they wanted to “forcefully” push GTA+ and its bonuses, especially considering it may have been in development for quite a while.

Again, for me, short term impact on GTA Online if everything is kept as is? None. If GTA+ doesn’t interest you and you see no value in it… you can play the game as normal and get 95% of the things in it normally, except the cosmetics. There are some adjustments to things like PvP incoming, and perhaps there might be some economy adjustments, but it remains to be seen and again I currently have no reason to think we’re seeing nerfs, as I said earlier. I will eat my words if it happens, but as it stands… Nope, not worried at all.

Kirsty: Rockstar have already announced plans for re-balancing of certain PvP related stuff, so there have been some worries about them nerfing money-earning as well now with GTA+, such as Cayo Perico Heist returns. I think if this were to come to fruition, we would see a lot of animosity from the fanbase on a scale we probably haven’t seen before! There’s always a chance that features veteran players or hardcore grinders really take advantage of can get nerfed, just look at the Red Dead Online streaks and daily challenges, but I don’t necessarily agree that GTA+ increases those odds right now. Doing this wouldn’t encourage those players to subscribe in the long run, it might even turn them off playing completely, so what would it achieve?

At this point I just don’t see it, but I am happy to eat my words in light of it happening. It’s easier than ever for anyone to make money in the game, new or old, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are assessing the kind of payouts that make this possible. There have been some recent adjustments to increase passive income lately, such as from the Nightclub, and the introduction of the Career Builder on new-gen consoles means new players get a good start as well.

Another short term issue heavily discussed is regarding clothing/liveries that appear to be completely exclusive. The initial offerings aren’t actually entirely new, they’ve appeared in the files before but have been left unused/inaccessible unless glitched in on PC. They’re non-essential cosmetics, but this could be a way to entice the collector community towards the subscription as I understand it’s quite a hobby for some players.

Concerns for the future and how things could change

uNi: The only thing that is surprising about a GTA Online subscription model is that it did not happen years ago already. If you look at other games under the T2 portfolio this happens everywhere. If anything, the fact that GTAO has been left alone so long (apart from Shark Cards) is promising for future iterations of Online and SP games coming from R*.

Spider-Vice: I’m actually surprised this didn’t happen much earlier, people in the community had been speculating about a potential GTA Online subscription for years now. Stuff like targeted discounts and bonuses for shark card buyers advertised on the loading screens, speculation about handling flag changes being related to potential paid vehicle speed upgrades, and so on.

Looking at other games’ subscription models, where in some cases private lobbies and private features are offered, along with subscription locked non-cosmetic content, all-in-all I don’t see any reason to worry about GTA+ doing that just yet, if at all. From what I can understand from the official info, GTA+ seems to be mostly based on early access, rewards, bonuses and exclusive cosmetics (which I personally don’t mind, but others will), which I think is a fair deal if you’re paying out of your pocket IRL, at least to have some sort of incentive to keep your subscription.

I’m not going to worry about something that’s not happening and I see no sign, personally, that any of these things are going to happen just yet. Looking at other games’ models and how (despite everything, let’s be honest) friendly T2 seems to be with their R* microtransactions vs. even others within the T2 portfolio, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Something else I’ve personally noticed is that the wording for the vehicle and property benefits is very different from the one used in the cosmetic benefits in the GTA+ website. Property and vehicle-related benefits mention discounts or them being free, if there’s discounts then this means they’ll be available for all players, just at a discounted price or even free.

In terms of the far future, whilst reading the GTA+ topic on GTAForums, one of the mods made a very interesting prediction based on their experience with other subscription-based games that I’m willing to agree with and am starting to think is what’s going to happen, especially given Red Dead Online already experimented with this.
What if Rockstar are introducing a secondary currency for the next iteration of GTA Online? What if Red Dead Online was already a test for the next iteration of GTAO based on what other games are already doing?
In RDO the Gold Bars were mostly for cosmetic content, except unlike other subscription-based games with premium currencies, you could earn them in-game as well – most other games with subscriptions and premium currency reserve that currency for subscribers only.

This new currency would be for subscribers, with drops every month much like regular money, and you could use it on cosmetics – some games even have a premium currency shop for subscriber-exclusive stuff. Most games that do this centre it all around cosmetic items, and R* themselves in a deleted part of the official GTA+ page referred to “items” from the next GTA Online Update. This is another one of the reasons why I don’t think they are going to ever lock actual vehicles and progression-related content behind the subscription – other than cosmetics, but as much as this might sour parts of the player base, especially collectors… it can actually be what makes it sell in other games for both newbies and veterans alike.

If this is what’s happening, this doesn’t change the gameplay and progression loop at all other than offering extra perks and bonuses to players who wish to pay, and I personally don’t have many concerns, if any at all, for the future of GTA Online and much less Rockstar.
I play Rockstar’s new games mostly for the single player (and only then the Online, I took a while to get into RDO) and I don’t think that’s going anywhere or decreasing in quality whatsoever over something as simple as this, that most certainly isn’t going to take any development time away more than any other GTA Online DLC. Rockstar-quality Story Modes aren’t going anywhere.

To me, what we’re seeing is R*/T2 adapting to current times just like they did with the original GTA Online, in fact, I’d even argue they’ve been waiting for this for a long time while observing what other companies were doing. In 2013 we had Shark Cards when other companies started putting similar microtransactions in games (EA was already being mocked for years), nowadays subscriptions can be more profitable and more “worth it” in terms of bonuses and content versus just buying a bunch of money (recall the math), and is the new reality in a lot of parts of gaming. I have no reason to worry about anything. But we’ll see what the next few months bring.

Now excuse me while I go and listen to Moodymann and Sessanta in the Auto Shop, call Franklin for a payphone hit and go and spin the Diamond Casino & Resort Lucky Wheel. Maybe I should replay the Dre story for a million, been a while…

Oh also, let me plug Ask A Game Dev again, as there’s another interesting article about microtransactions that is a good read. Please, please, do some reading before engaging in blind social media outrage, and if you want to be outraged, at least aim it at the companies and not at individuals!

Kirsty: Prices and morals about monetisation aside, something I’m mostly cautious about is the precedent this move will set for new games and how far exactly the monetisation will go in GTA VI’s iteration of GTA Online. There’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of completely exclusive items, content, or DLC heading to GTA Online that’s only available for GTA+ subscribers. I’m not going to get too upset about something that doesn’t exist yet, Rockstar haven’t implied that this will be the case whatsoever, but it’s food for thought as we get closer to the next GTA. Introducing it so late in the lifecycle of the game indicates to me that it’s a way to transition players into a broader purchasing scheme that will be established in the future, or a way to evaluate what kind of content players are willing to part money for in order to introduce premium items later down the line. In other words, if players get used to GTA+ now, then it’ll be easier to accept or buy into at GTA VI launch.

This impression could be completely wrong and misjudged of course, it’s only the first month! I would speculate that tables would even start turning if they ever offered a premium shop of sorts, as I bet a lot of players would actually eat that right up (see Fortnite and the success they have with celebrity/character skins), but I think it’s an understandable and genuine concern to have without further insight. People are going to spend their money however they want to, but it’s also OK to be upset at the extent of “money making” moves in a franchise you treasure.

To tap into the mentality and market of gamers who are happy to spend, it seems to me that they wanted to innovate their own streams of revenue to ensure continued success into the future. It then makes sense to assume that they looked at what other popular and high-earning games offer their own fanbases, and yep, it’s subscriptions. The reason I express caution about the possibility of long-standing changes is the way it could fracture the fanbase, such as a more obvious divide between those who pay to win and play to earn, limiting progression or overall access; it would just feel unnecessary for a game that is already hugely successful.

Optional and background monetisation is easy to ignore, but pushing premium content might feel insincere, like players are are no longer valued unless they produce profit despite their activity being what keeps games alive and relevant amongst competitors. To be fair I guess the former is kinda true for any business, we’re here to “consume”, but we’re also here to have fun. I did note, however, that there was no mention of GTA+ on the latest Newswire about the weekly bonuses; the GTA+ website was updated and there are indicators in-game, but I think it was a worthy decision to avoid giving it too much platform as this way it remains the player’s choice whether they seek it out or not, exactly like Shark Cards. I don’t know if this will be consistent of course, but credit where credit is due for putting regular players first for now. I’ll reiterate as well though that perhaps the void wouldn’t be filling up with all this unfounded speculation about the future if there wasn’t such a limited community management presence in the space to begin with.

And there you have it!

If your own views don’t fall in line with any or only parts of ours, that’s perfectly valid, as right now there’s a lot more where all this came from! Why not join in with the GTA+ discussions and debates with us on GTAForums?

GTA+ Announcement Topic
GTA+ Bitch & Moan Topic
GTA+ Subscribers Topic

The post Sound Off: The Lowdown on GTA+ appeared first on GTANet.com.