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Aussie GTAIV preorders to get exclusive gamer pics and points

  • By James Kozanecki, GameSpot AU
  • Posted Mar 18, 2008 10:06 pm PT

Microsoft announces its latest incentive to get gamers to buy 360 software.

Microsoft today announced that all Australian users who have already preordered, or plan to preorder, copies of Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 will receive four exclusive GTAIV gamer pics and 500 Microsoft points. These new additions further add to the list of exclusive features that are found in the Xbox 360 version of the game but are not found in Sony's PlayStation 3 edition of the game. Microsoft announced in 2006 that two lots of downloadable episodic content would appear exclusively on its console starting in 2008.

A representative for Microsoft Australia confirmed to GameSpot AU that the 500 Microsoft points were not locked to the future GTAIV downloadable content, allowing users to spend them any way they like. Asked if this was an incentive offered only to Australians, the Microsoft spokesperson replied, "I'm sure other territories will be doing something different, but this is Australia's offer."

Microsoft confirmed that redemption codes for the bonus points and content would be located inside the game's preorder box and would be distributed by retailers. Grand Theft Auto IV launches in Australia on April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The standard edition will cost A$119.95, while the now-sold-out limited edition preorder bundle costs A$149.95.

87 Comments

  • spunkybob123

    Posted Mar 25, 2008 12:52 pm GMT

    LOL what a stuped thing to argue about.
    Ill be happy to get 500MS points, will go towards latest content pack for Forza2.

    You cant say PS3 or 360 will be faster/slower as the game is not released yet. So far the games i have tested with my mates PS3 are skate and CM Dirt, and the 360 has had better frame rates in both games on same TV.

    Grow up and stop caring about what the graphics look like and go enjoy games.
    But either way this game is going to be fkn SWEEEET

  • gooseman75

    Posted Mar 25, 2008 5:20 am GMT

    Oz prices for games are a joke....... Wow, $60 cheaper in the US for the limited edition....

    http://rockstarwarehouse.stores.yahoo.net/xbox174.html

    http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Special/dp/B000TG72OW

    We are getting ripped off.... hard

  • zaokamura

    Posted Mar 24, 2008 3:18 pm GMT

    There will be no diffrence what console you get it on.

  • Philo350

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 8:16 pm GMT

    Who gives a **** about some gamer pics and 500 points. Who gives a **** what console it is on. Just play the **** game and have fun. Both console get the same **** basically. PS3 has faster and better graphics. 360 gets pics and 500 points. Behind that its still the same story line and game play. So STFU up about which console is better and just start having fun with this **** AWESOME GAME!!

  • Snowy_90

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 7:40 pm GMT

    why is every sony person saying that microsoft is seling out by doing this?

    this isnt necesarrily implemented to increase sales, but to reward die hard fans who have already pre-ordered. did u notice that the limited edition is already sold out. to everybody getting the standard edition, most will not care be sold on these extra bonuses, they will buy the game coz they want it. i think in more ways its just a way of making sure casual gamers who own a 360 will be exposed to the fact that they need to pre-order this game or they will miss out and be extremely dissapointed.

    as for sony taking the backseat, they have a smaller demographic to address, pretty much everybody who owns a PS3 is more than just a casual gamer and will already know to pre-order this game well in advance, while microsoft has a much larger audience to address

    so everybody who is calling microsoft cheap should get over it, they have sold more consoles so need to make sure that everybody who owns a console is aware of this potentially great new game

  • ImOldGreg

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 6:46 pm GMT

    Blade282006
    um....just no...no...no, all the GTA IV we have seen thus far is running on the 360, M$ Recognises the popularity of GTA and there own attach rates, wich are the highest of the 3 consoles, its a logical movment to add extra insentives to sky rocket there own versions sales. after all a console producers biggest asset are software.
    GTA will be one of the biggest releases this year and the superior verson will be on the 360....I cant wait.

  • Blade282006

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 4:06 pm GMT

    (WOW)Yeah that good you get a crappy picture and 500 points .Mabe you can put the points to you xbox live membership, Because sony its free to go online,And for sure it will look way better on the ps3 ,because it can hold more content on the blueraydisk. Thats the only way microsoft will win ,cheats

  • crunchy9178

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 2:03 pm GMT

    well this made my decision for me... was torn between ps3 and 360 versions but now with free gamerpoints i can buy a song pack for gh3 or maybe one of those cheaper xbox live arcade hits that are like 400 points now... decisions decisons

  • nathan24jack

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 4:51 am GMT

    Yeah but i mean we're getting it free. I'm not complaining about that. I'm all for it.

  • BullOfRage

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 3:55 am GMT

    this is complete bull **** this just makes me hate microsoft even more, it doesn't make me want to get a 360 why should gamers who want to but a better system suffer. I feel all dirty that i am using a microsoft computer to go on this site. i don't like this at all, it is descrimination to people who rather sony then microsoft i think sony should sue microsoft, im sure they could u can sue anyone for anything now a days.

  • Greg_888_v8

    Posted Mar 23, 2008 1:10 am GMT

    they are trying to swing market into 360 sales of GTAIV

    with buying out customers

  • Heretix_Aevum

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 11:54 pm GMT

    I think this is nice and all, but it's sonly going to be real gamers who actually care about this stuff. GTA is so casual it's not funny. I know people who are definitely NOT gamers in any way, but love playing GTA for hours.

  • hackologue

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 8:50 pm GMT

    I love 360

  • lamprey263

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 3:13 pm GMT

    well, I know I'll be getting the X360 version, regardless of the expansions, I just like playing my ports on the X360, also my friends have X360s and might want to borrow the game, not to mention my roommate, I also like the X360 control better and it has rumble, and there'll be achievement points

    but besides those small things, I'm sure the PS3 one will be exactly the same, and I figure the expansion packs won't be 100% exclusive

    anyhow, we should all just be glad this game is nearly out

  • shooterman_420

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 7:55 am GMT

    i agree with shrolag gta is a sony game but the ps3 is to exspensive i could only afford the ps3

  • shrolag

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 2:48 am GMT

    its a good idea to get some people to buy it on xbox, but to me gta is a ps game, and alota casual gamers see it as same most wont even notice extra content and points thingy as heaps prob dont go online with consoles.

  • brutalbrian

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 1:35 am GMT

    This is alright. The only cool bonus thing I have seen with GTAIV preorders is the license plate you get for preordering the collector's edition from Amazon.com. My local Gamestop has one and its pretty sweet looking. Would look totally awesome on anyone's car.

    Says GTAIV as the plate number, and the words around it say "Welcome to Liberty City" and "The Worst Place in America". It is much win!

  • Azuki

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 12:20 am GMT

    Gamer points and a couple of pointless graphics? Gee I feel so left out.
    Microsoft's sad attempts at marketing gta4 on 360 as the 'superior version' are laughable. I will lol for days if the ps3 version ends up selling more.

  • alglach

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 4:46 pm GMT

    whats sony doing with the ps3 all the attention seems to be on the xbox 360 micro soft must have better contacts as ps3 taking back seat to every release!

  • manbearpig89

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 12:52 pm GMT

    Wow...microsoft is going to give away GTA gamer pics....even though they already have free ones up for that game
    how nice.
    and 500 gamer points, too bad an actual XBLA game costs 800 so there asking you to basically pay more in the end.
    unless! you download UNO. that game is pretty chill

  • ghost867

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 10:15 am GMT

    Wow, pretty biased article if you ask me. On Wikipedia, some of the stuff he put up there would count as weasel words and would get him kicked off and edited. "These new additions further add to the list of exclusive features" The list? Last I checked, there's only one other, and that's the two exclusive downloadable content packs, the first of which is coming this Fall. And we don't even know if that's just a timed exclusive or if it's permanent.

    Personally, I'm buying the 360 version, because a number of my friends are buying GTA IV, and I want to play multiplayer with them. The download packs are an obvious reason as well, but not my number one reason, give that I don't know if it's a timed exclusive. I don't think Microsoft is going to give us (North America) the $6.25 in MS points and the free gamers pics. Though it would be nice.

    Honestly, I think this game is going to sell more on the 360. That's a given as far as I'm concerned based on installed base, all the achievement whores out there, and those would want the DLC for sure and want to play with their friends. Though all Sony has to do is throw some money Rockstar's was and put a little PS3 logo at the end of the advertisements, and PS3 sales will be very, very strong. So we'll see who dishes out the money for it.

  • MarcjinJaume

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 8:39 am GMT

    many people are purchasing a ps3 because GTAIV is about to come out but also because they were waiting for the price to drop and it already has

  • darkride66

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 5:51 am GMT

    This is interesting. I just read an article this morning about MS being seriously concerned about GTA4. Their argument is that GTA has always been equated with the Sony Playstation, and that perception hasn't changed. Many gamers are picking up their PS3's right now simply because theirs a new GTA coming out and the Playstation is the system it's on. This is one of the reason's MS spent big bucks for their exclusive content, and why they're now throwing MS points at gamers in an attempt to attract preorders. Your average gamer isn't informed enough, or simply doesn't care about the episodic content for the 360, so I don't see that as a factor. Also, considering that so far there are something like 80 million PS2 owners who haven't made the leap yet to this gen of consoles and given MS's already slowing sales, Microsoft has every right to be worried. I don't think they have anything to be concerned about personally, their system has had a good run and has an excellent games library, but this could assist Sony's fortunes in the sales shift we're already seeing happen.

  • ps3cooly21

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 2:00 am GMT

    I wish i had a xbox 360 now i only have ps3 which doest get this this is crap i preorder gat 4 special edition for ps3 for my ps3 sony u suck

  • igatsios

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 1:25 am GMT

    Gaming is no bigger here in Australia than it is in any other western world and to the person that said 119.95 is a lot thats about 110 US

  • Talldude80

    Posted Mar 20, 2008 1:00 am GMT

    is gaming really big in Australia or something? and why would i care that they get a whopping 500 ms pts and some stupid "exclusive GTAIV gamer pics" . just plain lame.

  • fkholmes

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:06 pm GMT

    HELL YEAH =D!

  • lumeiwan

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 7:37 pm GMT

    I feel happy for australians, finally they're getting something good.

  • x-2tha-z

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 6:10 pm GMT

    I can't believe it. A mature game not banned by over sensitive Australian censors! What's next? Germany catching up?

  • themc_7

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 5:13 pm GMT

    meh, too bad I live in Canada

  • NPC_Killer

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 3:22 pm GMT

    I think this is all just a load of crap.
    Giving 500 points to spend on data is nice for players, but giving a real discount would be more appropriate, concidering the delay.
    And since the 500 points cost Microsoft nothing, why not give everyone a 'discount' in this way? I hate this commercial, err bull-stuff.

  • dead_god86

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 3:00 pm GMT

    Definately a good idea, and great incentive to get ppl on the 360.

    Corp-hicks1 - Gamer pics are the icons you have on ur LIVE account, i has a monkey =)

  • corp-hicks1

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 2:49 pm GMT

    what the hell are gamer pics??

  • KingSigy

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 2:18 pm GMT

    It's definitely a great incentive. I remember the first week that Guitar Hero 2 came out for 360, Best Buy was giving away 1600 points with it. That made me get it in a flash.

  • gamer082009

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 2:18 pm GMT

    First people whine about NOT getting enough, now I hear people say Microsoft is bribing people. OMG, a bunch of crazys. Anyways, kudos to Microsoft for at least trying to offer us gamer a little more which no company usually does.

  • elreddiablo

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 1:17 pm GMT

    cmon ms let get that 500point here in the usa to i dont care what sony fanboys say. free is free

  • ocdog45

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 11:36 am GMT

    thats embarasing if thats how ther're trying to lure people to buy the 360 version.

  • FF6fan

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 10:46 am GMT

    Well MS is just trying to get their moneys worth out of the 50 mil that they pretty much paid for the game. Good news for Aussies, though no skin off my back. Not much care for gamer points and pics.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 10:38 am GMT

    M$ bribing again? Not a surprise.

  • freshgman

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 10:28 am GMT

    im dont buy gamer pics but still. 360 rules

  • Space-Q

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 10:04 am GMT

    "no love for USA gamers i guess even though we are their biggest customers....screw you M$"

    haha look up the price of the game in Australia and then open your mouth about who is getting no love.

    when I move I'm just gonna buy a bunch of used games in the states and have a friend ship them to me. thank god for region-free PS3 games. it's gonna save me a mint.

  • Space-Q

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:56 am GMT

    themes on PS3 are free anyway. DLC content on the other hand sounds good but in all reality this game is going to be so huge I'll never finish the game that ships on disc...so I really don't even care about the DLC. I only finished like 20% of san andreas, and I played that non-stop for like two months. why would I buy more game that I won't ever play through?

  • laitheybaby

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:28 am GMT

    This deal is here in the UK aswell. I'm sorry but if you purchase this game for the ps3 then you're lacking in intelligence... why support a console that wouldn't pay for exclusive content?

  • qmoney88

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:10 am GMT

    and i think sony did get somethin out of this in the form of a brand new ip so lets hope that game is good, altho yes microsoft got the better end of the deal they just had to pay 50 million for it

  • smurfa1

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:09 am GMT

    Hope the European Microsoft branch are doing something similar. I also thought our games were expensive, but these prices are way higher. Feel sorry for you.

  • qmoney88

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:07 am GMT

    i dont really see any ps3 owners crying... i dont really care about a few points and some pics the only real reason i would get it for my xbox is the downloadable content, but in the end ill most likely end up getting it for both systems

  • AngelCage

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 9:04 am GMT

    I still can't made my mind up to understand how the hell sony almost LOST gtaIV for ps3. Dam, Microsoft gets exclusive episodic content, and sony nothing... I don't know what the hell is on sony's chiefs mids... microsoft is almost stoling the candy fron the baby mouth.

    Then again, pity to rockstar cause if GTA is so big and famous is just cause HUGE installed base of the PS2... they sould have some kind of fidelity to sony and make both versions equal in content... But who can pity them if they are just doing bussines, and sony seems to be a little stupid in that area.

    When sony will wake up?. They should already throw a case full of money to rockstar to make some kind of exclusive content for PS3 too. How in the world PS3 version could be better or even equal than X360 version? this is an already lost race (GTAVI, not console wars) for sony, unless they or rockstar have hidden info about PS3 version... ... I don't think so

  • Ground_Zero

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 8:41 am GMT

    we are very use to getting ripped off ded but sucks also since our $ is almost the same as the US $ retails blow apart from Jb

  • HellRazer360

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 8:36 am GMT

    no love for USA gamers i guess even though we are their biggest customers....screw you M$

  • BigDaveyDogz

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 8:11 am GMT

    I'm in the US and have the limited edition preordered since a year and a half ago. I can't wait for April 29th!!

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