Grand Theft Auto IV war between Xbox 360, PS3 heating up

The Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV may have better episodic content, but Sony wants you to know the PS3 is where the game was meant to be played.

PS3 GTAiV

I thought street wars were bad, but this console war crap is crazy!

This week the gang war played out on the streets of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV officially spilled into the realm of a real world console war as Sony started marketing the blockbuster title as one that is "meant to played" on the PlayStation 3, not the Xbox 360.

The tag line originally appeared on the Amazon web site as part of a well-concealed paid advertising campaign by Sony. The line has since been updated by Amazon to reflect a much less incendiary "Experience Grand Theft Auto IV on the PS3."

While the gaff may have made it appear as though Amazon was favoring one version of the game over the other, Joystiq did some digging on Tuesday and discovered that Sony had indeed paid for the marketing line. An Amazon rep told the gaming blog that the Sony wording was in fact "a campaign paid for by Sony" and that Microsoft will be "doing something similar next week."

In related fuel-on-the-flames news, Rockstar president Sam Houser lambasted the Xbox 360 hardware difficulties his developers encountered when making GTAIV. Houser said in an interview with 1up that a lack of storage space on Xbox 360 discs and Microsoft's non-mandatory hard drive strategy were "problematic."

"One of the problems with the 360, and it affects games like Grand Theft Auto if you think about how much content we put in the actual machine, is the fact that they don't have a significantly larger storage medium than the previous systems. It's a slightly bigger DVD disc," he said.

THE VERDICT by Jack Loftus Jack Loftus's Avatar Forget console wars. What we have here is a case of a runaway, high intensity "game version" war. Sony, in an effort to shorten the gap between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 in North America, is fighting dirty. And with good reason. With cracks in Xbox 360's armor appearing -- most notably this storage problem (I thought that was just a Wii thing?) -- GTA IV and the marketing blitz insanity it has spawned, even before its official release, may be the opening Sony needs to overtake its bitter rival. It's for a distant second place behind the Wii, of course, but at least it's something.

Comments [244]

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polo972

The 360 version should be better.Who cares where it was meant to be played.Sony had that bad excuse when Madden 08 sucked on the PS3.

polo972

I wonder if Sony paid Rockstar to say that? (lol)With all the stuff that's being said about the 360 version it would be very bad if the SONY version doesn't blow the 360 out the water.

AceFondu

Madden being crappy on the PS3 was EA's fault not Sony's. EA officailly apologized for it too. Get your facts straight polo.

artsaber

polo972 Posted at: 04/23/08 at 8:13 AM PST The 360 version should be better.Who cares where it was meant to be played.Sony had that bad excuse when Madden 08 sucked on the PS3.
[url="http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/04/23/gta-iv-the-two-versions-look-different-says-houser/"]Quite the contrary. Rockstar president Sam Houser confirms that the PS3 version is superior[/url]. It looks better on the PS3... SURPRISE!!!

polo972

AceFondu Posted at: 04/23/08 at 8:21 AM PST Madden being crappy on the PS3 was EA's fault not Sony's. EA officailly apologized for it too. Get your facts straight polo
Whatever.I don't care who fault it was it looked and played better on the 360 and PS2.So get your facts straight.

polo972

artsaber Posted at: 04/23/08 at 8:23 AM PST polo972 Posted at: 04/23/08 at 8:13 AM PST The 360 version should be better.Who cares where it was meant to be played.Sony had that bad excuse when Madden 08 sucked on the PS3. Quite the contrary. Rockstar president Sam Houser confirms that the PS3 version is superior. It looks better on the PS3... SURPRISE!!!
No surprise.I thought the PS3 version should be way better because of the power of the PS3.

mstrmrdr82

of course sony would say that...they will say anything to make a sale....the way i see it is both the games are the same but the 360 version has dlc...so there for i would think that the 360 is where it was meant to be played

artsaber

Didn't matter to me, I was gonna get the PS3 version anyway. But it is a nice bonus to know you have the best version of such a blockbuster hit. An independent reviewer also did an elaborate comparison boasting the PS3 version was better. Sam Houser's remarks seem to support that independant reviews statements 100 percent as he made similar comments especially in the graphics area. The 360 version of GTA4 has been described as more "cartoonish" than the PS3 version, amongst other things. 360 version had a lot of "pop-in" characters, less background civilians and cars, etc. PS3 version FTW!

polo972

artsaber I'm not a Sony or Microsoft only fan.I like both systems so I don't care about which is better.

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