Rockstar Apologizes for GTA Definitive Trilogy Launch, Will Make Classic Games Available Again
Gamers the world over have been waiting with bated breath for the release of Rockstar’s GTA Trilogy, and maybe it wasn’t worth the wait. The launch last week was an unmitigated disaster, with gamers complaining of bugs and ugly graphics until Rockstar’s authentication system broke, making the games impossible to play. Rockstar has now apologized for the mess and confirmed a bug-fixing patch is incoming. By way of contrition, Rockstar will also make the original versions of the games available once again.
The official name of the revamped games is “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition,” and it includes three iconic titles: GTA3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas. These games launched between 2001 and 2004, setting the standard for open-world gameplay. When modernizing the games for 2021, Rockstar opted to go with a simplified cartoon style. Most fans have expressed disappointment that Rockstart didn’t go further and make the games more detailed. Along the way, developers also introduced a number of glaring bugs that weren’t in the original versions.
In its apology, Rockstart admits that the Trilogy has technical problems and doesn’t meet the studio’s standards. Apologies are all well and good, but they don’t make busted games work correctly. To that end, Rockstar says it is working on a bug-squashing update that will roll out soon. Although, “soon” could mean a lot of things in this context. The authentication issue was rectified last week, but it’s still a trio of broken games after launch.
An update regarding the unexpected technical issues with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. https://t.co/YP4pkOLQmG pic.twitter.com/AsfYPuMI0d
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) November 19, 2021
Rockstar also seems willing to admit that removing the classic versions of these games in advance of the Definitive Edition release was a bad idea. So, they’re coming back, sort of. Rockstar says that it will release a new bundle of all three classic games on its website. In addition, anyone who bought The Definitive Edition or buys it through June 30, 2022 will get the classic editions at no extra cost. However, Rockstar has not said whether or not it plans to return the classic versions to other digital storefronts like Steam.
If you were on the fence about the GTA Trilogy, you might want to wait and see how this upcoming patch works out. If it can stomp some bugs, then all you have to get past is the questionable visual design. Maybe there will be a better version in another 20 years.
Continue reading
The PlayStation 5 Will Only Be Available Online for Launch Day
The PlayStation 5 isn't going to be available in stores on launch day, and if you want to pick up an M.2 SSD to expand its storage, you'll have some time to figure out that purchase.
Minecraft With Ray Tracing Now Available for All Windows 10 Players
You don't usually think of Minecraft as a realistic game, but the developers have been hard at work adding RTX ray tracing to the game for the last eight months. It's finally out of beta today, and it really works with the blocky look of Minecraft.
Android 12 Beta Now Available With Major Visual Redesign
The final software won't be available until later this year, but the beta has a hint of the huge "Material You" redesign just unveiled at Google I/O.
Happy 5th Birthday to Pascal and the Ongoing Disaster of GPU Availability
Happy fifth birthday to Pascal, Nvidia's last rasterization-only flagship GPU microarchitecture.