Rockstar: GTA IV's Niko Bellic could have had a portable music player

Posted Jun 18, 2008 at 10:24AM by QJ Staff Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: Niko Bellic, Solid Snake

Grand Theft Auto 4 could have featured a portable music player but Rockstar cut the idea - Image 1

True to tradition, Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) featured a great soundtrack that you can listen to when tuning in on the game's radio stations. However, Rockstar Games reveals that Niko Bellic could have had his very own music player, scrapping the need to get into a car just to listen to some tunes.

Perhaps Niko should have entered espionage, maybe then he'd get an iPod like Solid Snake. Apparently, Niko's cell phone could play music straight from the game's radio stations until late into the game's development stages. Edge magazine even mentioned the feature before the game was released.

So why did Rockstar Games choose to chuck it? Well, they didn't explain it in detail, but here's what they did say about it:

Some people on the team didnÂ’t like the music/mobile phone idea for various reasons, but they went back and forth on the idea until the very end. This is VERY common. We do it in every game we make. We still prefer the balance of music in car and the ambient worldÂ’s noise on foot, but we are constantly reviewing this stuff.

I'd say they made the right choice, but I'm a traditionalist, and perhaps the developers are too. What do you guys think?

Buy: [Grand Theft Auto 4 (PS3)
Buy: [Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360)]

Via MTV

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Comments

# AH! — Vanaheimx 2008-06-18 05:55

Rockstar... what the hell are you thinking? First you strip down all the cool minigames that were in San Andreas and you had a chance to add an awesome feature to the game... but you scrap it?

I don't see your logic.

# it would — psn_gamestar 2008-06-18 06:08

have took you out the game so i understand

# who cares — Sw3RvE 2008-06-18 06:08

its over the games out. they are just saying this bc MGS4 has an ipod in it.

# good features should never be taken out — robbo16 2008-06-18 07:22

you dont have to use this feature some will use some wont. it will be talked about as a good feature if its there but if you take it out that it will never be discussed in a good way. my view is if the feature allready works and has been implimented then include it even if the option has to be turned on its better to have too much than not enough

# yep — emcp 2008-06-18 07:33

totally agree

it should be up to the end user not devs

anyway xbox360 has in game music

and the ps3 will have it soon so sort of redundant

anyway Sw3RvE, you said theyre saying it because MGS had it and they want be it look like it was a bad feature etc ...., and that gta4 never really had it

yh thats why it featured a clone of a sony ericsson walkman, and not a cybershot, which would have been useful for the missions

think?

# Well.... — Eviscerator 2008-06-18 08:20

Seems like a useless feature anyway, although too bad you couldn't hook up your own portable music player and play tracks off of that rather than the music already on the radio stations.

# Lol Nice try — BRAV04 2008-06-18 08:49

Rockstar is just BSing right now they never thought about it the way MGS was done. IDK if you guys relized but When Snake is in his nanom He is using MAC Aka Apple. i think thats soo hot. I wana buy a mac cuz of that. but i was supprised How they didnt use sony PC's didnt they use them in RE the movie. oh well this proves that mac is good lol ok peace MGS time lol

# It would have been appreciated. — NarooN 2008-06-18 09:10

But it wasn't necessary. There's too much crap going on when you're out of a car, but it would have been cool if you just wanted to go take a walk or something.

# lol — NarooN 2008-06-18 09:36

xD.

Most likely it's true.

GTA4 was just like the others for me. You beat the story and all there's left to do is drive around, do stunts, and kill people. Boring now..

# Put it back in the game — mupet0000 2008-06-18 10:30

I like listening to my own music, dont rockstar get it?

# LMAO WOW UR pathetic — BRAV04 2008-06-18 10:31

If you wanted to go for a walk in the game, like come on are u that fat. plz only in america. i cant belive i live here lol. and i dont see the UK blah blahing about this. Cute pwned

# Overkill — avatar76 2008-06-18 11:47

There's enough music in the game with being in cars and cars going past you, so I think it would have been overkill. It wouldn't have harmed anything leaving it in there though, I doubt very much if I would have ever turned it on though. It would have created control issues with changing the station easily too. You would have had to go into your phone menu to change stations all the time and that would just get annoying.

# Read the Article! — abumu 2008-06-18 12:52

"Niko's cell phone could play music straight from the game's radio stations"

They never said you could listen to your own music, just the games.

# :( — pspfan762 2008-06-18 15:18

that sucks people could have been jamming to their favorite songs online and offline

# Xbox 360 — rory 2008-06-18 16:10

360 users can listen to music whenever, in any game. So no worrys to the obvious superior console.

# Xbox is outdated — K3b4b5t4r 2008-06-18 21:14

Whats that what u say oh no blu ray for you xbox 360 arhhh! You suck any way lower graphics lower processor oh yeah just lower!

PS3 IS THE BOSS! WE ALL KNOW IT

# fail much? — NarooN 2008-06-18 22:05

When in my comment did you get the idea I wanted to take a walk in the game? I said if someone else wanted to, and even then, they're listening to their favorite music while enjoying the game's scenery.

I also don't know where you got the "zomg ur fat" thing from, because it's far from true. And if you don't like America so much, THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE? Dumbass, you just opened up a new level of EPIC FAIL.

# . — Mister Common Sense 2008-06-18 23:12

I have PS3 and 360, and I find the 360 version better of this game at least. Being able to listen to your own music is one reason.

# - — Outsider 2008-06-19 01:52

It would have been awesome to be able to listen to music while on foot. It would make walking also more fun.

# music feature — na2rul 2008-06-19 02:43

its good and all but that doesnt mean the superity is off the hook.

# idea — na2rul 2008-06-19 02:48

would be interesting if they created all radio stations that has a slot reserved for your own tracks to be played

# Xbox isnt outdated — rory 2008-06-19 17:51

The sick thing is is that even with the ablility to play bluray disks, we still have "THE BOSS" games.

# ... — pspfan762 2008-06-23 03:56

overheating-box fanboy

# Xbox is so outadated — K3b4b5t4r 2008-07-01 07:10

Hello Microsoft the oldest moron in the world and the oldest technology even mac is better me im on Linux thats the way to go thats why its ps3 all the way more stable and oh of course its not Microsoft

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