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Programming Technology Entertainment Games

GTA3 and Vice City now Online Multiplayer 283

Posted by CmdrTaco from the helluva-a-hack dept.
glengineer writes "A deep bow and an "I'm not worthy" to Kent Simon, at the University of Kentucky, Ed Lyons in London, and Chris McArthur in Canada who have made the dream come true for GTA fanatics like me - GTA3 and Vice City online multiplayer! Now I can streetrace and play Liberty City Survivor with real people, not just use the "crazy pedestrians" cheat. Rockstar would be nuts not to hire these guys. So, anyone up for a deathmatch? Meet me at the Malibu Club in Vice, or the construction site on Staunton Island."
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GTA3 and Vice City now Online Multiplayer More

GTA3 and Vice City now Online Multiplayer

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  • Welcome to 2003 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:15AM (#12088050)
    This isn't new, and it's been covered on Slashdot at least 5 times (possibly more, but Slashdot's search sucks and they don't set it up right to allow Google to index everything.)

    Next on Slashdot: Free Unix clone developed by some Finnish guy
  • I can't imagine that what they've done doesnt break some copyright law somewhere-what are the odds Rockstar sues?
    • Like the article says, these guys should be paid, not sued. Hopefully they aren't worth anything to sue over. If there is no lawsuit over this I'm going to go and buy the game myself for the multiplayer.

    • Re:Any chance of litigation? (Score:5, Informative)

      by another_mr_lizard ( 608713 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:24AM (#12088117) Homepage
      Previous new posts on the MTA:VC site indicated that they had support from Rockstar in developing it.
    • what are the odds Rockstar sues?

      Just because some [blizzard.com] companies [apple.com] always [sco.com] sue doesn't mean it's correct. They mostly do it because they know the people they sue has no chance of defending themselves. Well, SCO may have picked the wrong target.

    • Re:Any chance of litigation? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by k98sven ( 324383 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @10:02AM (#12088429) Journal
      I can't imagine that what they've done doesnt break some copyright law somewhere

      They're not circumventing a copyright-protection device, so they're not violating the DMCA.

      Possibly, they could be violating the End-User License Agreement on the game, if it includes an anti-reverse-engineering clause. Although it's anyone's guess as to if they'd be able to enforce it.

      what are the odds Rockstar sues?

      "Very, very, small" Seems like a good guess to me.
      Why would they?

      1) These guys don't have any money.
      2) They're not making any money off it.
      3) Rockstar isn't losing any money off it, more likely the opposite.

      Doesn't seem like they'd get much in damages. Hardly enough to outweigh the lawyer costs and PR damages.

      Besides, there are only upsides to people doing this stuff. It extends the life of the game and generates more interest and sales. Game developers know this. The general trend in the last 10 years has been towards accomodizing people who want to mod games, not sueing them.

      It's not like this is a trademark issue, where you have to go after people or you risk losing it.
    • In related news, Hillary was last seen driving a moded Patriot throuh Sin City with 26 cop cars and 47 tanks in hot persuit. Don't let the Rasta dreadlocks fool ya, that really is Clinton

  • So.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ligur ( 453963 ) <ligur.jakin@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:17AM (#12088074)
    Will we be able to pay eachother for sex and then murder oneandother to get our money back?

  • Nothing new here... (Score:3, Informative)

    by kmartshopper ( 836454 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:17AM (#12088075)
    I used this quite some time ago... fun to play but when I tried it, it was pretty laggy if you were playing over the net and not on a lan.

  • GTA online (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:18AM (#12088079) Journal
    GTA online won't work. it's far too easy to die in GTA to some bastard in a fast car, unless you've got a rocketlauncher you arn't going to stop that little kid who repeatedly runs you over outside the hospital.
    • "GTA online won't work. it's far too easy to die in GTA to some bastard in a fast car, unless you've got a rocketlauncher you arn't going to stop that little kid who repeatedly runs you over outside the hospital."
      • Note to self ... stay away from the hospital.

    • Re:GTA online (Score:4, Funny)

      by Zorilla ( 791636 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:51AM (#12088332)
      That's when you have to master the 40 MPH carjack. I was such a bastard playing against my brother in GTA 1 and 2 because I would simply jump over his charging car and kick him out of it.

      Even funnier was putting oil slick on a road next to the harbor and watching an ambulance with its sirens on slide and fall off into the water.
    • Respawn players at another hospital if they get killed more than x times near one hospital.

      Problem solved.

    • Re:GTA online (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MikeFM ( 12491 )
      So? Why shouldn't it be easy to die? Just make the results of dying minor so it can happen frequently. Offer some good body armor. Jeez I'd love to have that Rhino tank and take it roaring down the street blowing up other players until they finally capped my ass.

      I've been wanting a MMORPG version of GTA for a long time now and have written the authors requesting it several times. It'd be cool to form gangs that have to compete with each other, the peds, and the cops. Killing, drug deals, pimp'n out girls,

  • GTA 4 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xtracto ( 837672 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:18AM (#12088084) Journal
    Maybe someone should note that the mod is for GTA3. The original Grand Theft Auto had multiplayer right out of the box. I can't remember if it was LAN only or if internet play was possible as well. But then that was a PC only game, right.

    I wonder if precious features such as multiplayer will get rarer, now that many hit titles are ported from various consoles to proper computers. In this case the game was released with the unfinished multiplayer code and some dedicated people are getting it to work. Why did the original programmers give up at what appears to be more than half way through?

    • Re:GTA 4 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shawb ( 16347 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:26AM (#12088137)
      I wonder if precious features such as multiplayer will get rarer

      Not really. Right now multiplayer seems to be the easiest way to implement anti-piracy measures.
      • Right now multiplayer seems to be the easiest way to implement anti-piracy measures.

        Imagine that. Those dirty commie-pirates have increased the quality of gaming through their dirty, filthy communist stealing.
      • It's also the easiest way to avoid making a compelling single-player game.
    • WTF would something being written for a console have to do with it having mulitplayer code or not?
    • Multiplayer deathmatch isn't very appropriate for GTA: the maps are too large, the weapons are too cheap, the cars are distributed too randomly. It seems to have been added as an afterthought to the early games. I don't think it's much of a loss that they decided not to bother in the 3D GTAs.

  • I still dont understand (Score:4, Interesting)

    by xtracto ( 837672 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:20AM (#12088094) Journal
    i still dont understand why Rockstar didnt implement some kind of multiplayer mode in Vice City. The multiplayer in GTA and GTA London was by far some of the most fun (and ridiculous) LAN gaming experience I have ever had. Theres only so much fun you can have fragging - but once you start playing silly mini games like (kill as many pedestrians as possible in 2 mins) and (hunt each other down with only the rocket launcher) it showed the actual completely silly fun you could have with the game. I do enjoy Vice City, it is a good (however a little overrated) game. But it would have benefited tenfold from a proper built-in multiplayer mode.
    • i still dont understand why Rockstar didnt implement some kind of multiplayer mode in Vice City.

      Because implementing multiplayer is a large undertaking?

    • i still dont understand why Rockstar didnt implement some kind of multiplayer mode in Vice City.

      Possibly because they realise (like a lot of people who develop games) that adding multiplayer isn't just a case of adding some network and client/server code (and testing it, of course).

      Your game should be fun - as some people have pointed out, the mechanics of GTA mean it's not that fun in multiplayer - too many things people can do to be annoying, etc. Maybe they tried it out (the reason some of the co

  • Hire? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by foxtrot ( 14140 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:21AM (#12088097)
    Rockstar would be nuts not to hire these guys.

    Or, given the current US corporate attitude,

    "Rockstar would be nuts not to sue these guys."

    • Re:Hire? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by faloi ( 738831 )
      You're right. Rockstar can't afford to hire them. As ramped up as some Senators appear to be to go after 'em, the thought of having it online and "encouraging violence against specific others and not just random people" is probably frightening to their lawyers. And even if they liked the idea, and wanted to hire 'em, it probably increases the liability Rockstar faces. But then...I'm not a lawyer. Most of my soul is still intact :)

  • Yay! Now they all must die! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gameboyhippo ( 827141 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:22AM (#12088106) Journal
    Alright! I guess this is a dream come true for a right winger like me who very much dislikes GTA. This could be the one thing that destroys GTA forever (and the reason Rockstar never made GTA online multiplayer). Please read the following steps to figure out why.

    Step 1: GTA player downloads online capability.
    Step 2: GTA player starts shooting other players online.
    Step 3: GTA player no longer desires to kill hookers and cops, but other badguys.
    Step 4: Since videogames influence behavior, there are less Cop shootings and more GTA player shootings in real life!
    Step 5: Less GTA players means less profits.
    Step 6: Rockstar sells company to "Big Idea" since they no longer make money.
    Step 7: "Big Idea" starts making really cool VeggieTales games using Rockstar's old resources!!! :)

    IT'S A WIN-WIN SITUATION!!!!!!! :)
    • Even though Chex Quest came out before the Columbine shootings, people still blamed it on Doom :)
    • You left off "Step 8, Profit!!!" :)

  • I wonder if it works on wine (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:23AM (#12088110) Journal
    Ive been following MTA(multi theft auto ) for a couple of years now (im sure its been that long) and played the various versions along the way .
    I have to say that this is one of the best mod projects going ,IT adds a feature that was sorely missing fromt he origional game , Many many hours have been spent with my mates having a few Buds(Budiwar chezch beer ,not budweiser) playing turn about ,The moment i lernt about MTA i was enthralled , i even installed windows on one of my machines to test it out , Honestly its a great deal of fun .
    I have yet to look too deeply into it , but i would like to test it out on linux X86 and see how the network code fares with wine or cedega .
    MY point being has anyone tried to get this running under linux in some form , if so how (Was it just install and play).

    ps the site seems to be suffering : http://osdir.com.nyud.org:8090/Article4775.phtml [nyud.org] I have yet to make the correl cach link as i can not really access the site
  • Does anyone know if this new version addresses all the annoying problems in the previous versions? Things like the terrible inaccuracy of the shooting, jittery movement of both vehicles and players, and weird glitches like random vehicles being found stuck half-way in the ground. I've been waiting for multiplayer GTA for quite a while now but last time I tried multitheftauto it still had a long way to go.

    Either way, keep up the good work guys!
    • Or the ability to hack the game easily? After loading up MTA a few times I figured I would check to see if you could change car settings and such. Well, you could, but then MTA reported an error and wouldn't load. Took all of maybe 10 minutes of investigation to hack it and load up insane cars in MTA. Like a cop car that weighs more than a tank, accelerates 10x faster than any other car in the game, and has a top speed of like 200 mph. I messed with those for a bit but returned it to normal so I could have

  • The Senator (Score:5, Funny)

    by ch-chuck ( 9622 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:35AM (#12088213) Homepage
    Sen. Clinton should get online and try to clean up the place.
    • Asking a politician to actually accomplish anything personally. What a hoot!

      Next you'll claim The Shrub should do more to protect our right to due process, and enforce the separation of Church and state.

  • Changing vehicules stats (Score:3, Funny)

    by Misroi ( 834266 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:45AM (#12088291)
    I wonder if the vehicle stats are still local? I remember I played a while ago to vice city multiplayer, however I had modified the bike stats. I can still remember the surprise of the guy who tryed to ram my bike with his garbage truck, but instead went flying the other way. Who would have thought that a bike can weight a few thousand tonnes.
    • This reminds me of my "tuned" VW new Beetle in Midtown Madness. I screwed around with it in a multiplayer free-for-all, and seeing it whizz by from the other player's camera angle at 800 MPH (no exaggerations here) and seeing run into a building and climb up it is hilarious.

  • MMORPG? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by flatass ( 866368 )
    The idea of a GTA3 death match is nice and all, but what about an MMORPG based GTA3? Obviously, lots of the way the game works would need to change; Larger cities, leveling up, etc. but it seems like an interesting idea to me anyhow. This coming from someone who has never played an MMORPG before, but perhaps this would be the title to pull the monthly fees from my pocket....
    • The idea of a GTA3 death match is nice and all, but what about an MMORPG based GTA3?

      That's precisly what I thought when I first heard about this mod. Several years ago, go Slashdot, stuff that's stale.

      Anyway, my thoughts were that it would work very well with the asset buying. You could make it like Monopoly, go bust and you are out. You could sell/mortgage property between players and the bank, and have a series of missions you can run at any time to make more money. Some of the missions would involve

    • Re:MMORPG? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by British ( 51765 )
      I wrote up my 2 cents on the possibilities of a GTA-based MMORPHG here [infaux.net]. Instead of classes, you would get occupations(cop, thug, fireman, etc). Put in the skill sets from San Andreas, and the game writes itself.

      If Rockstar offered a monthly fee to host servers of a GTA "America", yes, i would happily pay for the priveledge.

    • Re:MMORPG? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Feanturi ( 99866 )
      An MMO where people run around killing people randomly for no reason at all, with no roleplay involved? Hmm, sounds like every MMO I've played. :)

  • Pedestrian problem (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cablepokerface ( 718716 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @09:58AM (#12088378)
    Wasn't multiplyer impossible because you couldn't share all the pedestrian information across players? How did they solve that?

  • Wondering (Score:3, Interesting)

    by speed1001 ( 793305 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @10:00AM (#12088404)
    Wondering if the Multiplayer version allows for teaming up or clan type scenarios. A roving gang of street thugs has a whole new meaning when there are actual players controlling them.
  • One word:

    Chicken.

  • sweet (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    now we can all beat up on Hilary Clinton as she does her "research" on violent video games.

  • Correction (Score:3, Funny)

    by p0 ( 740290 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @10:25AM (#12088666)
    GTA3 and Vice City now OFFLINE Multiplayer. Thanks to Slashdot.
    • That would be funnier if the article linked to the MTA site and not an OSDIR interview with the developers -- which is the site that has actually been slashdotted.

  • South Beach and Vice City (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hankaholic ( 32239 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @10:49AM (#12088887)
    This is a bit off-topic, but as the story is a dupe of a dupe of a dupe I don't feel too bad about mentioning it.

    I visited Miami's South Beach over the weekend and was amazed by how well Vice City represented it. Like the stretch of beach all along the right island, South Beath stretches far along a strip of colorful restaurants and hotels. It was eerie at times -- I really felt like I'd been there before, especially when I showed up two nights in a row and saw some of the same exotic cars parked in the same spots.

    For the interested, this included a Rolls Royce and a classic Corvette. I'm pretty sure the Corvette was owned by the establishment in front of which it was parked. Nonetheless it was amusing that much like in the game, coming back the next day revealed some of the same cars parked in the same places. My girlfriend and I joked about grabbing the Corvette and coming back the next day to see if it had respawned.

    The eeriest thing about it was that the bridge between the mainland and South Beach was closed and barracaded due to a motor accident which had occurred slightly earlier -- in GTA:VC the bridges are closed until you accomplish certain missions, so it didn't quite surprise me that we couldn't take a cab across the bridge.

    South Beach is a neat place to be, and any Vice City fans that find themselves in the area would do well to take a cab on over and enjoy the place that inspired the game setting.

  • I tried it a while back (Score:3, Informative)

    by hairykrishna ( 740240 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @11:21AM (#12089277)
    I agree that a properGTA:Vice city multiplayer mode would be the best thing since sliced bread.

    Unfortunately multi theft auto is so flawed it's unplayable apart from a few minute novelty value blast. It's laggy, collisions (bullets and cars) are screwed, there are no pedestrians. Oh, and all the car and gun stats are local so the few games that are available are filled with 14 year olds with 5000000 round capacity superlight chainguns who can run faster than your car.

    I understand that this is because the game in no way was designed to be multiplayer friendly. Unfortuantely I think we're going to have to wait for GTA4 (or whatever) for a 'proper' multiplayer game.

  • /.ed (Score:2, Funny)

    by sznik ( 842768 )
    GTA Offline by /.
  • "A teenager is looking for a trainer for his favourite game GTA3 on google. [...] He also downloads the source code since this trainer was open-source. [...] and the first GTA3 multiplayer game was created [mtavc.com]." ...

    " MTA isn't open source [mtavc.com]... And likely never will be." ...

    Blokker_1999 / The MTA Team (Sun Sep 28, 2003 3:45 am): "i was thinking about releasing the source anyway"

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