Rockstar have finally shown off Grand Theft Auto VI though not without some controversy, Ubisoft's upcoming games have some new DRM that should limit leaks (but isn't) and sometimes games actually do look better than reality.

Rockstar Refuse To Follow Industry Trends with GTA VI

It’s been a chaotic 24 Hours for Rockstar and GTA Fans.
An enterprising Cryptobro leaked the GTA VI trailer a day early via Twitter, having plastered a Buy Bitcoin logo over the top.
Which does sound like something that could happen in a GTA Side Mission.

Obviously frustrating for the Rockstar devs, who were excited about everyone watching the trailer at once and finally being able to break their silence on what they’ve been working on after years of leaks and hacks.
So Rockstar clearly took an hour to have a crisis meeting and said fuck it.
And just released the trailer an hour later:

#1 on Youtube Trending, 70M views in 16 hours - I think people might be very excited about this game.

The first trailer is similar to those of previous GTA games, all about the setting and the city (which is Vice City again), with the confirmation that the game seems to be following the Bonnie and Clyde style adventures of the dual protagonists as they set out on a crime spree.
All with the traditional GTA style and sense of humour.

Visually, it looks stunning - though as yet, it’s unclear what is In Engine (Gameplay) and what is In Engine (cutscenes), even as audiences, press and developers across social media applaud the tech being displayed.

What the rest of the industry is also talking about is the 2025 release date.
It seems like Rockstar are comfortable to have the game ready when it’s ready - as the last reports out of the studio were a much healthier working environment for staff.

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Which ideally means we’ll actually see GTA VI in 2025, rather than a date in 2024 that they're pushing for. (with the understanding that they could launch in 2025 as a backstop)

• We also specifically know it will be targeting a release before April 2025 based on the expected net bookings that Take Two have been talking about.
  • Great news for everyone who delayed their games to 2024 and feared Rockstar’s behemoth.
  • Less great news for everyone planning a release in 2024 who just lost their ability to delay to spring 2025.

But there’s an additional caveat to that date - it only applies to consoles.
Take Two’s Press Release confirms:

Grand Theft Auto VI is coming to PlayStation® 5 computer entertainment systems and Xbox Series X|S games and entertainment systems in 2025.

There’s no PC there, meaning that again, PC players will either have to go to their consoles or wait.
Obviously, this is just a simple continuation of modern Rockstar’s usual MO - they did the same for every GTA, as well as Red Dead Redemption 2.
The thing is - while there may have been server issues - the actual technical PC ports were very well received.
GTAV launched to great applause from a technical standpoint.

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And there were systemic bugs in RDR2, but the actual settings options and PC customisation was worth it.

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In both cases, the depth of customisation allowed for PC Players to get as high a fidelity experience as their machines were capable of, for comparatively good performance.
After 2023’s performance situation - this might be worth it to have consoles get the attention they deserve, and then PC to get even more focus and improvements after that.
Regardless, what we can expect for the next 14 months is likely one of the biggest marketing pushes for any game ever - and an audience who will hungrily devour every possible crumb of detail or secrets from trailers like this one.

Ubisoft Try New Technique in Battle Against Pre Launch Leaks

It's a tradition at this point that prior to any big game coming out - story elements and footage will leak because someone got access to a copy before street date.
Sometimes it's just that stores misjudge how long it will take to ship in the post, sometimes it's your buddy at the store slipping you your copy a bit early.

Either way - companies hate it. It means a mess for marketing teams, a pain for developers who have to see the game without a day one patch and frustrating for fans who will have to deal with someone else having the game when they don't.

So Ubisoft have seemingly tried a way to solve the problem, as spotted by VGC.
They've simply locked the game down.
Reddit user Interesting-Squash81 got a copy ahead of the December 7th release date, and has tried to play.
But they can't get past the title screen, seemingly without a day one patch to allow the game to run.

Now from a preservation angle - that seems a lot like it needs an internet connection to even launch the game.
Which means that if those servers go down, physical copies simply won't work.

Obviously though, and in good news for us - no system is perfect.
Which is exactly why a bunch of folks were able to get their copies up and running - including this gentleman who was streaming on Twitch.

Though in the time it took me to get to the stream, get this screenshot and then paste it on the CMS that we build documents on, it had already been hit by copyright strikes.

So even when the new techniques fail - the old ways of copyright strikes will protect Ubisoft's interests.

Picture Perfect Presentation

Finally for today - we really need to take a second and appreciate just how photorealistic some games can actually be if they want to.
I love a good artistic direction, and I'll be first to tell you that style should trump fidelity - but sometimes you just have to appreciate the craftsmanship of a realistic depiction.

Today that involves telling you to check out a piece from Chris Rosales at The Drive, who decided to put one of Gran Turismo 7's new features to the test.
Scapes is a new twist on a photo mode, taking a picture of a real place, rendering it in a 3D environment and allowing users to take photos of their in game cars using it as a backdrop.

Enterprising GT7 fans have made a point of working out where these Scapes are in the real world.
So Rosales figured he'd compare shots from scapes to those in GT7.
The results speak for themselves - and to the skills of the engineers at Polyphonic Digital, so check out the link above for more.