Grand Theft Auto 4 -Pre Released pictures

Grand Theft Auto IV (also known as GTA IV or GTA 4) will be the eleventh game, and first in the fourth generation, of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, announced for release by Rockstar Games within February–April of 2008 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[1] The game is set in a redesigned Liberty City, based heavily on New York City. GTA IV runs on the RAGE game engine, which also powered Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis.[2] The game is being written by Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser. It will include online play, but will not be an MMOG.
Contents[hide]
1 Development
2 Promotion
2.1 Trailer 1: "Things Will Be Different"
2.2 Trailer 2: "Looking For That Special Someone"
2.3 Trailer 3
2.4 WKTT Talk Radio
3 Gameplay
4 Synopsis
4.1 Locations and setting
4.2 Characters
4.3 Plot
5 Differences from previous Grand Theft Auto games
5.1 Features
5.2 Multiplayer
5.3 Episodic content
6 Soundtrack
7 GTA IV: Special Edition
8 Controversy
8.1 Jack Thompson
8.2 New York City officials
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
//

Development
According to Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, a financial consultant for Take-Two Interactive Software, around 150 game developers are working on Grand Theft Auto IV. He also remarked that Rockstar Games is "fully capable of ushering in an entertainment experience categorically superior to the prior cycle’s GTA product".[3]
Rockstar Games initially appeared to be committed to the 16 October 2007 release date. However, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter suggested that Take-Two may choose to delay the release of GTA IV in order to boost its financial results for 2008 and to avoid competing with the release of another highly anticipated title, Halo 3.[4] Rockstar responded by saying that GTA IV was still on track for release in "late October".[5]
On 2 August 2007, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto IV would miss its original release date of 16 October 2007 after all, and would be pushed back to their fiscal second quarter (February - April) of 2008. Their stated reason for the date change was "...due to additional development time required to complete the title."[1] In a later conference call with investors, Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick attributed the delay to "almost strictly technological problems... not problems, but challenges."[6]
According to a Rockstar spokesperson, development originally began on the Xbox 360 because earlier development access was available, but it has also been stressed that "there is no target console" and both versions will be technically very similar.[7]

Promotion

Trailer 1: "Things Will Be Different"

An early screenshot of the game's main protagonist, Niko Bellic, in the first trailer.
The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 March 2007 at 22:00 UTC. At the time the trailer was released, Rockstar's servers for the trailer's official website became almost immediately overloaded.[8]
The trailer is 1:03 in length and features the main protagonist Niko Bellic, who has a brief monologue: "Life is complicated; I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different."
The trailer features several New York City landmarks, including locations and structures resembling the Coney Island Cyclone, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the MetLife Building (branded as "GetaLife"). The trailer uses a similar cinematic style to Godfrey Reggio's 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi and used Philip Glass's original music from the film (the opening and closing stanzas of the track "Pruit-Igoe") as well as emulated time-lapsed filming from "The Grid".[9]
Rockstar has stated that all the trailer's footage is in high-definition 720p, generated real-time by the game's RAGE engine, running on "a next-gen gaming console". Microsoft stated this console was an Xbox 360.[10][11]

Trailer 2: "Looking For That Special Someone"

A screenshot demonstrating the new damage physics in the second trailer.
On 28 June 2007 at 17:00 UTC, the second trailer was released. The Trailer is 1:06 in length and begins with an aerial shot of Liberty City before showing Niko in conversation who replies "We're all looking for that special someone". The trailer shows Niko holding on to the backs of vehicles and the skid of a helicopter, displays new gun and explosion effects and demonstrates the increased force of the police. Roman is also partially revealed in the second trailer. El Burro and 8-Ball make cameos as their game art is depicted as graffiti on a building opposite the Bank of Liberty, Vice City motorcycle artwork is also apparent on the wall. Other recurring elements from the GTA series appear in the trailer as well; examples include Binco, Sprunk, 24-Seven, Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell. The song played in the second trailer is "Arm In Arm (Shy Child Remix)" by a New York-based band, The Boggs.[12]

Trailer 3
On 23 June 2007, a 1UP.com Podcast featuring John Davison, who had recently seen the new updated Grand Theft Auto IV demo at Rockstar, revealed that there will be three trailers in total.[13]

WKTT Talk Radio
On 13 July 2007, a Liberty City radio station dubbed "WKTT Talk Radio - We know the truth" was released. The teaser site, located here, mentions that people can do their part for the War on Terror by calling in and ranting. The phone number listed, 212-360-2368, can be called allowing the caller to leave a voice mail message of their thoughts on what is wrong with their health, the world, America, or themselves personally. Callers are asked to first read the Terms and Conditions before calling which allow Rockstar to use the voice mail message in GTA IV.

Gameplay
Titles in the GTA series have traditionally been heavily mission based (fixed missions must be completed to progress through each game), but the freedom to explore and play outside of the set missions in GTA IV will now be more relevant to progress through the game, according to comments by a Rockstar spokesperson: "We're really trying to blur the line between on-[mission] and off-mission. So storyline, and what you do outside [it], and how those two things influence each other."[7]
An Xbox 360 demo of Grand Theft Auto IV published in the May 2007 issue of Game Informer reveals that the storyline begins with Bellic standing inside the taxi depot (which Roman operates in the borough of Broker in a converted industrial garage), working at a cluttered desk in a shabby environment. Bellic walks to a brownstone house in Broker, where he pushes open the door and pulls out his pistol—the living room, however, is not occupied.
He pushes his way through the back door and smashes the window of a red four-door car using his elbow. The broken glass falls onto the street and the seat of the car, as Bellic unlocks it from the inside. He hot-wires the car and sets off to his next destination. The camera angle behind the car is closer to the vehicle than in previous GTA titles, which enables more detail on the car to be seen. After selecting a radio station, Bellic navigates to a section of the BOABO arriving at a dockside. Pigeons can be heard in the sky, and waves can be heard.
Bellic then pulls out his phone, which has options for phone book, messages, organiser and camera on its LCD screen. He selects phone book, and he is then presented with another set of options: City Contact, Docks Friend, and Cab Contact. After a brief conversation, he informs the receiver to meet him at the docks.
The Liberty City in GTA IV is based on New York, though there's no version of Staten Island in the game. The borough of Broker is based on Brooklyn, Dukes is based on Queens, Bohan is based on the Bronx, Algonquin is based on Manhattan, and Alderney is based on New Jersey.[14]

Synopsis

Locations and setting

Niko outside Roman's taxi depot[15]
Main article: Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto)
GTA IV takes place in a redesigned Liberty City. Comprised of five boroughs based on four of the boroughs of New York City (Staten Island is not included), as well as parts of New Jersey. Broker is the GTA IV equivalent of Brooklyn, Manhattan is now called Algonquin, Queens is now Dukes, the Bronx is Bohan, and New Jersey is Alderney (after the Channel Island of the same name). The total area of the map is smaller than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but the new rendition of Liberty City will be more detailed, and larger than any previous individual city in the GTA series. Additionally, according to the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine (UK edition), "to get from one side of the new and improved Liberty City to the other will take you at least an hour." Rockstar has stated that it's the biggest single city in a GTA game yet, and although smaller than San Andreas, it is comparable to it in terms of scope when "the level of verticality of the city, the number of buildings you can go into, and the level of detail in those buildings" are taken into account.[7] Furthermore, developers are still deciding whether bridges will be used to cordon off certain areas, by way of blocking access to cross them.[1] However, eventually the player will be able to lead Niko Bellic to explore Roosevelt Island and cross the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges.
The GTA IV equivalent of the Statue of Liberty is called the "Statue of Happiness", Times Square is called "Star Junction" and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is known as "BOABO" (Beneath the Offramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass).
Another building called "Twitchins", the GTA version of Brooklyn's Domino Sugar Factory, is in the game. Dan Houser has also confirmed that an area resembling Central Park will be in the game.

Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV.
A Staten Island-esque area will not be featured in the game for the reason that Rockstar believes it would not be fun to play there; Dan Houser also states that there would not be any "dead spots" or "irrelevant space" within Liberty City such as the wide open deserts in San Andreas.
Pedestrians are much more intelligent, realistic and diverse, using mobile phones, cash machines, eating snacks, drinking soda, reading newspapers, scratching their nose, coughing and interacting with each other through laughter and threatening remarks. Homeless people will be seen in alleyways rubbing their hands over a flaming barrel, sitting against walls, asking for spare change and other expected actions.[citation needed] Pedestrians and traffic flow will also be different depending on the time of day.
It has been announced that some meetings in the game will take place high in the office buildings of skyscrapers which will subsequently allow Niko to throw people off the buildings. However, Niko will not be able to access all the buildings in the game.

Characters
Main article: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto IV

Plot
Niko Bellic is Eastern European, in his mid-thirties and has come to Liberty City to pursue the "American Dream". Niko was persuaded to move to Liberty City by his cousin Roman, who claimed in multiple e-mails to Niko that he was living a fabulous life, with two women, four hot tubs and fifteen sports cars; but he was in fact telling lies to hide his own failures, and in fact, has set up a small taxi business, for which he has plans of a job for Niko.
Roman is the only person Niko knows in Liberty City to begin with, and is one of his major connections in the first part of the game. Niko is a tough character, whereas Roman is friendly. Roman is heavily in debt and a lot of people are after him. He desperately needs Niko's support, hence the reason he deceived Niko into travelling to Liberty City. They are constantly bickering. It is later revealed that Niko has also been avoiding other, as yet undisclosed, problems at home.
According to Dan Houser, "virtually none of the characters from the previous games are returning, as a lot of them are dead anyway".[16]

Differences from previous Grand Theft Auto games

Features
The May 2007 issue of Game Informer reveals that after the initial load sequence, no such occurrences persist when entering/exiting buildings or crossing islands. The extent of the loadtime-free expectation in the game has also been commented on, when a Rockstar spokesperson claimed: "You can basically play the game from beginning to end without a single load screen."[7]
The player will not be able to fly aeroplanes[17], unlike some previous instalments of the Grand Theft Auto series. Helicopters, however, will be flyable onto any building rooftop. There is also a confirmed airport.[16]
Details are also revealed that demonstrate how variations in the terrain cause the way the character walks to change. The way the player moves is controlled by a physics engine instead of purely pre-written animations, therefore enabling character movements to be more realistic. Rockstar Games announced that Euphoria by NaturalMotion would be used in future Rockstar titles in a press release that accompanied the second trailer, confirming that Euphoria would indeed be used in the game.[18]
The player will also be able to perform a variety of new actions such as climbing telephone poles, fire escapes and pushing people who bump into him, and calling a woman for a date.[19] When selecting the mobile phone, a zoomed-in version of the mobile screen pops up in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and a list of several commands are made available to the player, such as "meet me here," etc.
Bellic’s outfit can be changed throughout the game; however, it will not be possible to customize his physique or hairstyle as in San Andreas.[7]
Stealing a parked car can no longer be done simply by opening the door and driving off. Now it involves Niko approaching the car unnoticed, breaking the glass with his elbow, before hot-wiring it - only then can he use it. Also, there will be several animation variations to sneaking up to a car and breaking it. The way Niko enters the car would look different each time depending where and how he is in relation to the car. Because of the NaturalMotion system used in the game, the way the character will approach the car will be completely random. The trunks of cars will also be utilised by the player, though specific details are unknown. Furthermore, players will be able to choose from four different camera views whilst in a car according to their needs. The player will also be able to control vehicles such as boats and helicopters.[19]
The Police AI and star wanted levels now operate differently. When the police are in search of Niko, the player will now have to avoid a certain radius marked on the map in which the police will be looking for him. The size of this radius will increase with the player's wanted level (the more stars, the bigger the radius) and also re-centres itself on Niko's location if he is spotted by the police. Instead of utilising the 'Pay'N'Spray' as in previous games, Niko can now more realistically disguise himself by clandestinely changing vehicles in empty areas such as parking garages, a feature seen in the video game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. Additionally, pedestrians can now report crimes such as car-jacking.[20][21]
When Niko pulls out a weapon, the camera positions itself above his shoulder, and a view-finder appears at the centre of the screen. It's possible to lock a target and move laterally to avoid incoming shots. Hand to hand combat is also being reworked, and will feel "much more natural" than before [citation needed].
The gunfight system has been reworked to feel natural by utilising a Gears of War-style cover system, reason being that the combat system in previous games were awkward and cumbersome. [22]
Niko will be able to travel around the city in buses, taxis and trains. Bus timings can be viewable at bus stops although nothing else has been confirmed. While in a taxi Niko can pay the driver more to go faster, or he can just listen to the radio and watch the city go past.[citation needed]
It has been revealed that every street in the game will have a name for the reason that some missions will require the player to go to a specific address.[23]
In addition to the mobile phone, Rockstar has revealed that the player will also make use of the Internet as a means of communication. Although the exact details of the role of the Internet in the game are being kept under wraps, it has been revealed in a GamesTM Magazine article that Niko can access the web from various cybercafes (one of which is called "TW@") in order to upload his resume for prospective employers[20]

Multiplayer
Multiplayer in the game has been confirmed. However, it will not be an MMO, as Houser had previously suggested when citing Everquest as a source of inspiration.[citation needed] Multiplayer will be accessible from Niko's mobile phone[24] and will allow up to 16 players, with a possibility of open-ended gameplay and exploring the whole city.[25]

Episodic content
During Microsoft's 2006 E3 press conference on 9 May, it was announced that Grand Theft Auto IV would be available for the Xbox 360 and that Rockstar Games will offer exclusive episodic content via Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 version. This had been confirmed by Rockstar, announcing two extra, exclusive, episodes.[26] On 28 February 2007 it was announced that exclusive episodic content will be introduced starting in 2008.[27]
Peter Moore, the then head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division announced that Rockstar Games is working on two GTA IV downloadable packs exclusively for the Xbox 360, which will be released after the full game. Moore described downloadable content as "epic episode packs", and not just extra cars or characters. A press release during the conference said that the packs would add "hours of entirely new gameplay" to the game.[28] The official Xbox website states that these episodes will last a minimum of 10 hours.[29] Details on the pricing of these downloads have not yet been revealed, though it would almost certainly not be released for free, as Take-Two Interactive's former CEO, Paul Eibeler, have said numerous times that these downloads would provide "additional revenue streams" to the company.
As part of a conference call following the release of Take-Two Interactive's Second Quarter Fiscal 2007 financial results, the company's Chief Financial Officer, Lainie Goldstein revealed that Microsoft was paying a total of US$50 Million for exclusivity of this content split equally between the two packs.[30] The payments can be found referenced in the company's Second Quarter Fiscal 2007 financial results as "Deferred revenue".

Soundtrack
Main article: Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack
Philip Glass, the composer of the music used in the original trailer, is rumoured to be involved in the production of GTA IV's soundtrack[citation needed]. The soundtrack was described as "modern and suits the mood perfectly"[citation needed]. Glass' "Pruit-Igoe" theme from Koyaanisqatsi was used for the teaser trailer.
Dan Houser has said that Rockstar is "certainly evolving the way the radio works". According to Official Xbox Magazine, one of the radio stations includes an "Eastern European-sounding" dancing theme. Other music announced as a placeholder for the press includes Russian and East Coast hip hop.[31] The range of music in GTA IV will span different decades and genres, the first confirmed track shown to the media was "Sorrow Tears and Blood" by Fela Kuti.[7] Ruslana, a Ukrainian singer, will also provide some songs for the soundtrack.[32]
Various media outlets have reported on the quality of GTA IV's advanced sound engine. One describes the realism of the traffic noise on the streets, noting the "varying volume and intensity of car horns and the constant hum of traffic", as well as "the frequent deafening rattle of trains hurtling through the subway."[7] As part of GTA IV's new physics, the player will be able to hear and feel the bass of vehicles passing by with their radio turned on.

GTA IV: Special Edition

GTA IV: Special Edition contents.
GTA IV: Special Edition was announced[33] on 21 May 2007 for both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. It features a customised metal safe deposit box that will contain the following:
A Rockstar keychain for the safe deposit box keys.
A limited edition Rockstar duffel bag.
Production artwork from GTA IV in the "Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book".
Selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists, only available on this release.
A specially packaged version of the game for either PS3 or Xbox 360.
Limited pre-orders for the special edition of GTA IV were available from 21 May and will retail for the price of USD $89.99 in North America, €89,99 in Europe, AUS $149.95 in Australia,[34] £69.99 for the UK.[35]and €75 in the Republic of Ireland

Controversy

Jack Thompson
Florida lawyer Jack Thompson (who has repeatedly spoken out against violence in video games) stated he would take various measures to prevent the sale of the game by Rockstar to minors.[36] On 16 March 2007, Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, filed a lawsuit[37] against Thompson in Florida in attempt to block him from trying to declare its games a public nuisance. It would be a crime to sell games declared to be a public nuisance, effectively banning such games, which they believe would be a violation of First Amendment rights.[38] Thompson responded by filing a countersuit[39], accusing Take-Two of violating federal RICO statutes (the charge was later dropped), committing perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiring against him with third parties to deprive him of his civil rights.[40][41]
On 20 April 2007, both parties reached a settlement[42] and agreed to drop their respective lawsuits. Under the terms of the settlement Thompson is barred from suing to block the sale or distribution of any future games published by Take-Two or any of its subsidiaries. He will be restricted to communicating through Take-Two's attorneys on any future matters. Thompson will still be able to maintain his outspoken stance against the publisher's titles, as well as still being allowed to act as counsel in lawsuits brought against Take-Two by other parties.
For their part, Take-Two agreed to drop its contempt of court lawsuit against Thompson regarding alleged improper conduct during the Bully court hearings in Florida,[43][44] which, if found to be in contempt, would have resulted in Thompson seeing jail time.[45][46][47]
On 18 September 2007, Jack Thompson filed a document[48] with a federal court in Florida that claims that the assassination target of a mission in GTA IV is a lawyer character based upon himself. When the main protagonist enters his office and pulls a gun on him, the lawyer yells "Guns don't kill people! Video games do!" . Thompson has threatened that unless the similarities to himself are removed from the game he will "take necessary and proper means to stop release of the game."[49]

Mural ad for the game on a wall in New York City, July 2007.

New York City officials
After the release of the first trailer, New York City officials were appalled with the choice of their city as the inspiration for the setting of Grand Theft Auto IV, and said that a game like GTA does not represent the city's crime levels accurately.[50] A spokesperson for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers".[51] However, Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, accused New York City officials of double standards, for criticising video games but not other forms of entertainment, such as books, films and television shows, which use New York City as the setting.[52]

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - story Rated M

The Main Character CJ(CarlJohnson)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and fifth original game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004, the game has since been ported to the Xbox and Microsoft Windows, and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms. San Andreas was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Set in 1992,[4] the game revolves around the main character, Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his family and his old gang, the Grove Street Families, in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while reestablishing his gang and exploring his own business ventures.
Much like the previous entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas's critical and commercial success has not been without controversy; explicit hidden content in the game resulted in the game's re-rating and subsequent removal from many retailers' shelves.
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Locations and setting
3.1 Los Santos
3.2 San Fierro
3.3 Las Venturas
4 Characters
5 Plot summary
5.1 Crossovers with other Grand Theft Auto games
6 Differences in gameplay from previous titles
6.1 New features
7 Soundtrack
8 Reception
8.1 Sales
9 Hot Coffee controversy
10 Myths
11 The Introduction
12 References
13 External links
//

[edit] History
Following the success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, many gamers anticipated a new Grand Theft Auto game on the PlayStation 2 in late 2003. The first concrete evidence of a new installment came on October 29, 2003, when Take-Two Interactive announced that an untitled GTA game was set for release in the "later half of the fiscal fourth quarter 2004".[5] By this time, pundits online had theorized about the plot of the game; it would either be based in the fictional city of San Andreas, California in the modern day, or in Sin City, Nevada.
On March 1, 2004, Take-Two announced in a press conference that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be released on October 19, 2004 in North America, October 22 in Europe, and October 29 for Australia.[6] The first news of the game's content was revealed on March 11, when it was divulged that San Andreas would not be a city, but rather an entire state consisting of three whole cities and the surrounding territory.
On September 9, 2004, in Take-Two's third quarter financial results for 2004, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back by a week. In the same release, Take-Two announced the Microsoft Windows and Xbox versions of the game.
San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2004 in North America and on October 29, 2004 in Europe and Australia. It was released in Japan on January 25, 2007.[7] The Windows and Xbox ports were released on June 7, 2005 in North America and June 10, 2005 in Europe and Australia.

[edit] Gameplay

Mountain biking up Mount Chiliad, PC version.
San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming (the first GTA game in which swimming is possible), climbing and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand to hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes.
The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and create havoc. However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle minor infractions, whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels.
The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include robbery missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles.

[edit] Locations and setting

A map showing the aerial imagery of San Andreas.
Main article: San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes place within the fictional state San Andreas. It is based on sections of California and Nevada, comprising three major fictional cities: Los Santos and the badlands correspond to real-life Los Angeles and the California badlands; San Fierro corresponds to real-life San Francisco; and Las Venturas and the surrounding desert corresponds to real-life Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. Players can climb the a half-mile (800 m) tall Mount Chiliad (based on Mount Diablo), parachute from various peaks and skyscrapers, and visit 12 rural towns and villages located in three counties: Red County, Flint County, and Bone County. Other notable destinations include a massive dam (based on the Hoover Dam), a large secret military base called Area 69 (based on Area 51), a microwave dish, and many other geographical features. Previous Grand Theft Auto titles are set in a single city, whereas the events of San Andreas span the entire state. San Andreas is approximately 17 square miles (44 square kilometers), almost four times as large as Vice City, and five times as large as Liberty City.

[edit] Los Santos
Main article: Los Santos, San Andreas

Los Santos, as seen from the low-income district of Idlewood.
Los Santos is the largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Los Angeles, Los Santos is comprised of several diverse areas. This includes the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Ganton, Willow Field, Jefferson, Idlewood and East Los Santos, based on their actual counterparts of Compton, Willowbrook, Watts, Inglewood, and East Los Angeles, respectively. Also located in the city is a busy downtown section based on Downtown Los Angeles; the wealthy Rodeo and Mulholland districts (Rodeo based on Beverly Hills and named after Rodeo Drive); the beach-side districts of Santa Maria Beach and Verona Beach, representing Santa Monica and Venice Beach; and the glitzy Vinewood and the giant Vinewood Sign are based on Hollywood and its Hollywood Sign. Los Santos features landmarks reminiscent of Los Angeles, which include the Watts Towers, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Capitol Tower, the U.S. Bank Tower, the Griffith Observatory, the Forum, the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and Grauman's Chinese Theater.

[edit] San Fierro
Main article: San Fierro, San Andreas

Gant Bridge, modeled after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
San Fierro is the smallest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of San Francisco, San Fierro is characterized by a prominent cable car system and hilly terrain. San Fierro features several interpretations of many of San Francisco's districts and landmarks, including the Haight-Ashbury district (Hashbury), the Castro district (Queens), Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge (Gant Bridge). Several other familiar landmarks have been recreated, from the Embarcadero clock tower and the Transamerica Pyramid (Big Pointy Building) to Lombard Street (Windy Windy Windy Windy Street), and the San Francisco Bay Bridge (Garver Bridge). There is a district known as 'Garcia', a tribute to Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia,[citation needed] and San Fierro's City Hall closely resembles San Francisco's ornate city hall. San Fierro also contains remains of the Cypress Street Viaduct which collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake. There is also an amphibious assault ship in San Fierro, docked at the naval base.

[edit] Las Venturas
Main article: Las Venturas, San Andreas

A casino on Las Venturas' main strip.
Las Venturas is the second-largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Las Vegas, Las Venturas is home to legalized gambling and several casinos. In these casinos, the player can partake in blackjack, poker, roulette, or play slot machines. In addition to gambling, strip clubs are also prevalent in Las Venturas. Many real Las Vegas Strip casinos are faithfully interpreted on Las Venturas' Strip, including the Excalibur Hotel and Casino (Come-a-Lot), the Sphinx and pyramid of the Luxor Hotel (The Camel's Toe), Treasure Island (Pirates In Men's Pants), The Mirage (The Visage), Circus Circus (The Clown's Pocket), Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (V-Rock Hotel and Casino), and Imperial Palace (Four Dragons Casino). Other landmarks include a replica of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and interpretations of Vegas Vic and Vicki[8] as Vice City characters Avery Carrington and Candy Suxxx. Suites in several of the hotels are available for purchase. Additionally, Las Venturas features a large surrounding desert region, low-density residential areas, and strip malls, as well as a seedy area (Old Venturas) with several strip clubs and gambling parlors based on the Old Vegas Strip.

[edit] Characters
Main articles: List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and List of gangs in Grand Theft Auto series
The characters that appear in San Andreas are relatively diverse and relative to the respective cities and locales which each of them based himself in. This allows the game to include a significantly wider array of storylines and settings than in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. The player controls Carl "CJ" Johnson, a young African-American gang member.
The Los Santos stages of the game revolve around the theme of the Grove Street Families gang fighting with the Ballas and the Vagos for territory and respect. East Asian gangs (most notably the local Triads) and an additional Vietnamese gang are evident in the San Fierro leg of the game, while three Mafia families and the Triads who all own their respective casino are more prominently featured in the Las Venturas section of the game.
Like the previous two GTA games, the voice actors of San Andreas include notable celebrities, such as David Cross, Andy Dick, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Charlie Murphy, Frank Vincent, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Sara Tanaka, rappers Ice T, Chuck D, Kid Frost, MC Eiht and The Game and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose and Shaun Ryder.[9]

Facebook is Growing?

Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to communicate with their friends and exchange information. Launched on February 4, 2004, Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, a former member of the Harvard class of 2006 and former Ardsley High School student. Initially the membership was restricted to students of Harvard College. It was subsequently expanded to other Boston area schools (Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern University, Tufts University), Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all Ivy League schools within two months. Many individual universities were added in rapid succession over the next year. Eventually, people with a university (e.g .edu, .ac.uk, etc.) email address from institutions across the globe were eligible to join. Networks were then initiated for high schools and some large companies. Since September 11, 2006, it has been made available to users with any email address[2], if they are within a certain age range. Users can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region.
As of November 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 50 million active members worldwide and expects to pass 60 million users by the end of the year (also from non-collegiate networks).[3] [4] From September 2006 to September 2007[5] it increased its ranking from 60th to 7th most visited web site, and was the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 8.5 million photos uploaded daily.[6][7]
The name of the site refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of the campus community that some U.S. colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.
Contents[hide]
1 Operations
2 Origins and expansion
2.1 2005
2.2 2006
2.3 2007
3 Site features
3.1 The Wall
3.2 Gifts
3.3 Marketplace
3.4 Pokes
3.5 Status
3.6 Events
3.7 Applications
3.8 Facebook Video
4 Technical details
4.1 Facebook Markup Language
4.2 Model of the domain
4.3 Infrastructure
5 Sale rumors
6 Use in investigations
6.1 Alcohol policy violations
6.2 Other investigations
6.3 Other uses of profile information
7 Responses
7.1 Schools blocking access
7.2 Organizations blocking Facebook
7.3 Facebook memorials
7.4 Customization and security
8 Legal challenges over concept rights
8.1 Lawsuit from Connectu.com
8.2 Aaron Greenspan & houseSYSTEM
9 Privacy concerns
10 Similar services in other languages
11 Statistics
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
//

Operations
The site is free to users and generates revenue from advertising including banner ads and sponsored groups (in April 2006, revenue was rumored to be over $1.5 million per week).[8] Users create profiles that often contain photos and lists of personal interests, exchange private or public messages, and join groups of friends. The viewing of detailed profile data is restricted to users from the same network or confirmed friends. According to TechCrunch, "about 85% of students in [previously] supported colleges have a profile [on the site]. [Of those who are signed up,] 60% log in daily. About 85% log in at least once a week, and 93% log in at least once a month." According to Chris Hughes, spokesman for Facebook, "People spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook."[9] In a 2006 study conducted by Student Monitor, a New Jersey-based limited liability company specialising in research concerning the college student market, Facebook was named as the second most "in" thing among undergraduates, tied with beer and sex and losing only to the iPod.[10]

Origins and expansion

Mark Zuckerberg

The former banner of Facebook

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Facebook's funding
Mark Zuckerberg founded "The Facebook" in February 2004, while attending Harvard University, with support from Andrew McCollum and Eduardo Saverin. By the end of the month, more than half of the undergraduate population at Harvard were registered on the service. At that time, Zuckerberg was joined by Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes for site promotion and Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale.[11] This expansion continued in April of 2004 when it expanded to the rest of Ivy League and a few other schools. The following month, Zuckerberg, McCollum and Moskovitz moved to Palo Alto, California, to continue work on Facebook's development with additional help from Adam D'Angelo and Sean Parker. In September, Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, the owners of the social networking website ConnectU, filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that Zuckerberg had illegally used source code intended for a website they asked him to build for them.[12][13] Also at that time, Facebook received approximately $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in an angel round. By December, Facebook's user base had exceeded one million.

[edit] 2005
In May 2005, Facebook raised $12.8 million in venture capital from Accel Partners.[14] On August 23, 2005, Facebook bought the domain name facebook.com from the Aboutface Corporation for $200,000 and dropped "the" from its name. At that time the site was overhauled, a change intended to make profile pages more user-friendly, according to Zuckerberg. Also that month McCollum went back to Harvard although he continued to serve as a consultant and returned to work on staff during the summers. As before, Hughes remained in Cambridge while he performed his duties as company spokesperson. Then, on September 2, 2005, Zuckerberg launched the high school iteration of Facebook, calling it the next logical thing to do. While initially described as separate "communities" to which users needed to be invited to participate, within only fifteen days most high school networks did not require a password to join (although registration with Facebook was still necessary.) By October, Facebook's expansion had trickled down to most small universities and junior colleges in the United States, Canada, and the UK, in addition to having expanded to twenty-one universities in the United Kingdom, the entire Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) system in Mexico, the entire University of Puerto Rico network in Puerto Rico, and the whole University of the Virgin Islands network in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On December 11, 2005, universities in Australia and New Zealand were added to the Facebook network, bringing its size to more than 2,000 colleges and more than 25,000 high schools throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.[15]

2006
On February 27, 2006, Facebook began allowing college students to add high school students as friends due to requests from users.[16] About a month later, on March 28, 2006, BusinessWeek reported that a potential acquisition of the site was under negotiation. Facebook reportedly declined an offer of $750 million, and it was rumored that the asking price was as high as $2 billion.[17] In April, Peter Thiel, Greylock Partners, and Meritech Capital Partners invested an additional $25 million in the site.[18] In May, Facebook's network extended into India, at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The following month Facebook threatened to seek costs of up to $100,000 from Quizsender.com for copyright infringement for allegedly copying the "look and feel" of Facebook.[19][20] On July 25, new services were offered in the site that would potentially produce additional revenue. A promotion was arranged between Facebook and iTunes, in which members of the Apple Students group would receive a free 25 song sampler each week until September 30 in various music genres. The promotion's purpose was to make students more familiar with and enthusiastic about each service as fall classes approached.[21] In the early half of August, Facebook added universities in Germany and high schools in Israel, (Haifa, Jerusalem, and Qiryat Gat) to its network. On the 22nd of that month, Facebook introduced Facebook Notes, a blogging feature with tagging, embedded images, and other features, also allowing the importation of blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services. This newly added feature also included the common blog feature of allowing readers to comment on users' entries. On September 11, 2006, Facebook became open to all users of the Internet, prompting protest from its existing user base.[22] Two weeks later, Facebook opened registration to anyone with a valid e-mail address.[23]

2007
On May 10, 2007, Facebook announced a plan to add free classified advertisements to its website, making it a competitor with established online companies such as Craigslist.[24] This feature, known as Facebook Marketplace, went live on May 14, 2007; Facebook launched an API that allows the development of applications to be used on the site, known as Facebook Platform.[25] In June, the partnership begun the previous year between iTunes and Facebook continued, with the download service again offering free music samplers through the Apple Students group. In July, Facebook announced its first acquisition, purchasing Parakey, Inc. from Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. In August, the company was featured in a Newsweek cover story by Steven Levy in the magazine's annual college edition.[26]
Facebook hired YouTube's former CFO Gideon Yu on July 24, 2007. Gideon Yu succeeded Michael Sheridan. [27]
On September 25, 2007, it was rumored that Microsoft may buy a stake in Facebook.[28] An outright sale of Facebook is said to be unlikely as founder Mark Zuckerberg would like to keep it independent.
On October 24, 2007, the Associated Press reported Microsoft had bought a 1.6% share of the company for $240 million.[29]
On November 7, 2007, Facebook announced Facebook Ads; a marketing initiative which includes a system for websites to allow users to share chosen information about their activities on the sites with their Facebook friends (Facebook Beacon);[30] the capability of businesses to host pages for various brands, products and services (Facebook Pages); a targeted ad serving program based on user and friend profile and activity data (Facebook Social Ads); and a service for providing businesses with advertisement analytic data including performance metrics (Facebook Insights). With respect to privacy, Facebook states that "no personally identifiable information is shared with an advertiser in creating a Social Ad," and that "Facebook users will only see Social Ads to the extent their friends are sharing information with them".[31] Facebook Ads replaces the site's previous Facebook Flyers program.[32]


The Wall
The Wall is a space on each user's profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see. One user's wall is visible to anyone with the ability to see their full profile, and different users' wall posts show up in an individual's News Feed. Many users use their friend's walls for leaving short, temporal notes. More private discourse is saved for Messages, which are sent to a person's Inbox, and are visible only to the sender and recipient(s) of the Message, much like email.
In July 2007, Facebook allowed users to post attachments to the wall [33], whereas previously the wall was limited to textual content only.

[edit] Gifts

Some of Facebook's gifts, as displayed in the website's gift shop.
In February 2007, Facebook added a new gift feature to the website. Friends could send "gifts" -- small icons of novelty items designed by former Apple designer Susan Kare -- to each other by selecting one from Facebook's virtual gift shop and adding a message. Gifts given to a user appear on the recipient's wall with the giver's message, unless the giver decided to give the gift privately, in which case the giver's name and message is not displayed to other users. Additionally, all gifts (including private gifts) received by a user are displayed in the recipient's "gift box" (right above their wall on their profile), marked with either the first name of the user (for public gifts) or the word "Private." An "Anonymous" option is also available, by which anyone with profile access can see the gift, but only the recipient will see the message. None will see the giver's name, and the gift will go in the recipient's gift box but not the wall.[citation needed]
Facebook users are given one free gift to give upon account signup. Each additional gift given by a user costs USD $1.00. The initial selection of gifts was Valentine's Day themed, and 50% of the proceeds received through February 2007 were donated to the charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure. After the month of February, the proceeds were no longer donated. Soon after, Facebook began making one new gift available each day, most of which had a limited supply or were available for a limited time.
With the advent of Applications came a way to subvert the required US$1.00 payment; however, the gifts in the "Free Gifts" application, created by Zachary Allia[34], are not the same as the official gifts, as they are displayed in a different manner