May 13 - The glorious, deluxe PC edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is now in stores.
Skinning, customizable radio station, game replays, fully-optimized graphics and audio, and all of the epic gameplay experience that made Vice City a classic on the PlayStation®2. Gamespy scores the game a 93 out of 100 in the first review posted online, saying "...as we near the halfway point of 2003, Vice City is the most fun I've had playing any PC game so far this year..."
Head to www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/pc for retailer options as well as an exclusive downloadable player skin and all-new trailer.
April 15 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City PC Site Launch
The official Grand Theft Auto site has been updated to now include a dedicated PC section with screenshots, system specs, preorder and webring links, and more details about the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the PC.
Go to www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/pc for more information.
February 14 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Coming to the PC
Today, Rockstar Games announced that the PC version of the global blockbuster, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is set to hit retail shelves in North America on May 14th and in Europe on May 16th. The PC version will have enhanced features including improved graphics and sound, additional PC controls, as well as several options for players to customize the game. Stay tuned for more details and for the launch of the PC-version dedicated area of the official Vice City website.
February 4 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 2002 Game Of The Year Awards
We are very pleased to report that a number of media institutions have seen fit to honor Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in their yearly "Game of the Year" awards. Here is a selection:
* Game Informer, January 2003. GAME OF 2002. "[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City] took a premise that blew everyone away, and expanded it to ludicrous proportions… a scale of game we never thought would be achieved."
* PSM, February 2003. GAME OF THE YEAR. "The depth and gameplay variety is through the roof… Vice City is a gaming experience that will have us playing well into 2003."
* Entertainment Weekly, December 4 2002. BEST VIDEOGAME OF 2002. "The reason 'Vice City' blows every other game away isn't that it's a driving, shooting, action, or simulation game, but that it's all four combined into a criminally stylish package... a visit to Vice City is sure to keep you out all night."
* IGN.com, January 21, 2003. BEST PS2 GAME OF THE YEAR (Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice). "…more mini-games, a greater, more in-depth story featuring a perfectly voice acted character… an invigorating, impressively selected soundtrack… Perhaps the addition of motorcycles is the icing on the cake, or maybe it was the way players can buy property, investing themselves in further in the story. However, you look at it, it's the most impressive game on PS2 in 2002."
* GameSpot.com, December 26, 2002. GAME OF THE YEAR ON PLAYSTATION 2. "…everything in Vice City seems to come together in a way that almost feels impossible, like games simply shouldn't be this good."
We thank them and all the fans who have already helped Grand Theft Auto: Vice City become the top-selling game of 2002 by a landslide.
February 3 - Vice City Soundtrack Reviews And Greatest Hits Disc
Turns out the critics seem to have enjoyed the Vice City Official Soundtracks CDs practically as much as the game itself. Read on for some selections of praise.
New Musical Express, December 7 2002. Review score: 10/10. "If this amazing music from the first half of the 80's is a foreign country to you, or a country you visited but can't really remember, then, dude, this totally awesome box set is your one-way ticket to paradise."
Rolling Stone, December 12 2002. "Extravagant enough to reflect the excesses of the 1980s… Each volume (also sold separately) comes with DJ patter, commercials and parody music that totally evoke the decadent decade in which the game is set."
Entertainment Weekly, November 22 2002. Review score: A. "…this collection of music has more hits than a Mob boss. V-Rock thrashes out with Iron Maiden's '2 Minutes to Midnight.' Legendary radio pirate Mr. Magic drops scratchtastic tunes from Kurtis Blow and Whodini. And Radio Espantoso manages to mambo mucho with Mongo Santamaria and Tito Puente. Also, every disc includes a Vice City cheat code -- which makes this life of Vice sound pretty darn good"
PSM, January 2003. BEST SOUNDTRACK 2002. "Vice City's soundtrack must have been a daunting effort to assemble. The work was worth it, though - it fit the game's… setting perfectly, and surprisingly featured a lot of hits from the period that other game makers might not have found cliché enough."
Game Informer, January 2003. BEST VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK OF 2002. "This soundtrack not only serves to immerse you into the eighties, but more importantly to bring video games some credibility as an entertainment medium equal to that of TV and motion pictures."
Gamespy.com, December 26, 2002. BEST MUSIC 2002. "Rockstar Games continues to push the bounds of what a game can be with Grand Theft Auto. The game's soundtrack similarly raises the bar for video game soundtracks."
IGN.com, December 20 2002. "… the quintessential seven CD soundtrack… has burned a comet-like trail into the gaming consciousness… The result, a cross-media blockbuster box set… is a wide-ranging swath of musical one-hit wonders and real gems from the 1980s that hits on all cylinders."
Also available in stores now, the Greatest Hits single OST CD disc containing what we've reckoned to be the very best tracks across all of Vice City's airwaves. Visit the Sony Music Store or the music retailer of your choice.
January 7 - Official Vice City Desktops Update: Winamp Skin & Screensavers
As a special holiday treat from your friends at Rockstar, we have added some new items for download at the official Vice City site www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/desktops.
First and foremost is the appearance of the Official Vice City Winamp skin. Modeled after the experience of cruising picturesque Ocean Drive behind the wheel of an '86 Banshee, the Vice City Winamp skin is really the only dignified way of enjoying your favorite music.
Also available are three brand new screensavers, dedicated to Vice City's slicksters, temptresses, and good ol' boys.
www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/desktops
January 7 - Vicecityradio.com ConnecteD Area Updated
The ConnecteD areas of the www.vicecityradio.com website have been updated with some exclusive new content as well as an incredible new cheat code for owners of all 7 soundtrack CDs. Use any or all of your soundtrack CDs to access brand new QuickTime movie clips of some insane stunt bonuses you probably haven't seen before and more. Cheaters, enjoy a new grand finale cheat code - accessible in the BOX SET / CONNECTED section of the Vice City Radio website. Follow the instructions and unlock what may be the coolest cheat in the entire Vice City code repertoire.
November 22 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Reviews
The reviews are in and we are pleased to announce that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has gotten a host of perfect scores from the most reputable of outlets. Without more trumpeting, here are the details.
GAME INFORMER, December 2002 Game of the Month
10 / 10 (perfect score)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY, December 2002 - Platinum Editor's Choice Award
10 / 10 / 10 (perfect score)
OPM, December 2002
***** (perfect score)
USA TODAY, November 8, 2002
**** (perfect score)
November 22 - Vice City Desktops
The first set of official Vice City desktops are now available at www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/desktops. Finally something to adorn your desktop during many idle hours spent away from your computer and very close to your TV set. Featuring desktops in honor of such beloved local characters as Lance Vance, Ken Rosenberg, Phil Cassidy, Auntie Poulet, Love Fist and many others.
Available in 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024 sizes.
Pick them up at: www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/desktops.
November 8 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Available Throughout Europe
Welcome, Willkommen, Bienvenidos, Bonjour to the 1980s.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City hit shelves and many PlayStation 2’s today throughout Europe. Experience the 1980s all over again in the sunny American metropolis aptly named Vice City. The town is brimming with delights and degradation, and most importantly, the opportunity to take it over. Enjoy!
November 5, 2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City hit North American shelves last week and has since been turning heads of gamers and critics everywhere. Here's a small selection of critical response.
"Grand Theft Auto III is a national obsession. Vice City borders on something more: art." - Time Magazine
"Two minutes after walking into the room, our jaws hit the floor and stayed there." - PlayStation Magazine
"It's everything you've been waiting for, and everything you don't expect." - Official PlayStation Magazine
Platinum Editor’s Choice award: "peerless, one-of-a-kind gaming experience... an instant classic." - Electronic Gaming Monthly
"The most sought-after game of the year." - Entertainment Weekly
October 29, 2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is in stores now!
October 22, 2002
Only one week left until Grand Theft Auto: Vice City hits shelves. In the meantime, check out ongoing coverage on IGN.com, including in-depth features on vehicles, soundtrack, interior design, insane stunt bonuses and much more. And Gamespot.com for detailed behind-the-scenes interviews, features on Vice City's talk radio stations and more...
October 11, 2002
The Grand Theft Auto Vice City OST collection can now be preordered at www.vicecityradio.com. Order any or all of the 7 soundtrack discs or order the limited-edition Box Set collectors' edition to get them all at once. Each CD contains a special access code to the ConnecteD area of www.vicecityradio.com, enabling you to download unique cheat codes, as well as other exclusive Vice City content.
September 17, 2002
Lazlow, Toni and Fernando confirmed to appear on Vice City's radio dial. Was revealed on IGN yesterday that Lazlow will host Vice City's rock station, V-Rock; Toni will host pop station, Flash FM; and Fernando will host emotive anthems station, Emotion 98.3.
September 9, 2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Soundtrack
Rockstar Games and Sony Music Entertainment proudly announce a landmark collaboration to release the soundtrack for the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Rockstar Games and Sony Music have joined forces to release seven simultaneous soundtrack albums on October 29th concurrent with the launch of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system in the United States. The soundtracks will be released on the Epic Records label.
The Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack albums will be the definitive 80's music collection, with each album containing musical tracks from one of the numerous radio stations featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Each album will replicate a station from the in-game 1980's radio FM dial, ranging from Heavy Metal and Soul to Hip-Hop and Pop Ballads. Players will once again have the ability to tune the radio station in every car that they carjack to one of many stations of their choice. The radio stations in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City will feature the largest selection of music ever assembled for a video game with over eighty staggering tracks from artists such as Judas Priest, Blondie, Flock of Seagulls, Kool and the Gang, Hall and Oates, Grandmaster Flash, Cutting Crew and many, many more that span the entire musical spectrum of the period.
August 27, 2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is going to be released for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system on October 29, 2002.