Our partners at The GTA Network have put up a world exclusive preview of the PC version of San Andreas thanks to the great guys at GTAReactor.de. Here is what we know:

The draw distance is considerably higher in the PC version.

Real reflections on buildings can be seen in a screenshot. Real reflections will also be visible on cars and shiny floors.

The German version will be censored of blood, you also won't be able to mug people for money.

You can forget washed out textures from the PlayStation 2 version. The PC version will not be a 1:1 copy of the PS2 version, but a whole new graphical experience.

It is not yet confirmed how the 2-player mode will work on the PC.

The PC version will allow you to import your own MP3 for listening on the radio. You can even specify an MP3 folder on your hard disk, which the radio will play songs from between advertisements and DJ commentary.

As of writing the preview, the game is 90% complete and ready to be released in June (June 7 in USA and June 10 in Europe).

The preview will be available in the May issue of GameStar magazine which comes out on March 23 in Germany. More details may surface soon, so stay tuned!

I gathered a lot of good general GTA questions as well as some that apply especially to PlanetGrandTheftAuto for a short survey that you can easily fill out in about a minute. Go here to take the survey. Tell your friends that are GTA fans about it in order to get a large sample of people. Thanks for your help.

Aidan has our second Mod of the Week! The mod is "A Bit of GTA III in Vice City" and it changes some things to be more like GTA III in Vice City!


Download the mod and then try it out for yourself! Submit mods for Mod of the Week to sonnyforelli@planetgrandtheftauto.com. As you may notice, these are small mods and very introductory. Bigger and high quality mods are coming soon!

I have a quick status report on the PC Gamer issue that will include the first information on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PC. The issue that will have information on the game will not be the next issue. It's going to be about six more weeks. I made a call to one of their editors and he confirmed that they will be receiving a build of the PC game next week for review and it will be in the June issue which will come out to subscribers right around the beginning of May or end of April.

I found a funny article from The Washington Post that documents how two black males, Jauhar Abraham and Ronald "Mo" Moten, both stood outside of a Best Buy store and protested the sale of San Andreas. Here is an excerpt:

"Though neither has played San Andreas -- the series' latest installment -- the stereotypical "gangbanging," "hate-inducing," "fear-creating" black and Latino characters in the game drive them up the wall."

Then, a question was asked to the two:

How can Moten attack a game -- last year's best-selling title, pulling in more than $230 million in its first week -- that he never played?

Moten pauses, then answers the question with a question: "Why would I play a game that lets me kill police officers? Kill pregnant women? Rob banks?" He pauses again. "You don't have to commit a crime to know that you'll go to jail for it."

Kill pregnant women? That is completely false. There are no pregnant women in San Andreas. Here is Rockstar's statement on the whole issue:

"When it comes to the sale of video games, parents should make entertainment decisions for their children, and adults should make decisions for themselves. The tastes of a few politicians and/or activists should not be imposed on parents, or other adults."

And that's exactly right. But sadly the two aren't stopping after San Andreas:

Initially, San Andreas is the target. Later this year, they plan to go after Fear & Respect, created by Hollywood director John Singleton and starring a virtual Snoop Dogg. ("We're going to go after Singleton even harder," Moten says. "He's been sucked into this thing where money is more important than the welfare of his brothers.")

Lastly, they are taking it to New York at Take-Two's/Rockstar's headquarters:

On March 29, during spring break, they plan to take a busload of teenagers ("about 45 kids and 10 chaperons," Abraham says) to Manhattan -- the headquarters of Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive -- to picket.

Some people just don't get it. I hope it rains.

Jack Thompson, the guy that you may have seen on 60 Minutes last week, has reportedly sent this letter to Bill Gates at Microsoft:

Dear Mr. Gates:
Nearly two years ago I wrote you to alert you that the Microsoft XBox game Halo helped train D.C. Beltway Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to kill. I received no response from anyone at Microsoft in that regard. Last Tuesday I testified before the House Judiciary Committee of the Maryland General Assembly and noted your company�s aforementioned role in terrorizing the residents of Maryland.

Last Sunday I appeared on CBS�s 60 Minutes to explain a wrongful death lawsuit we have filed in Alabama on behalf of the families of three law enforcement officials slain by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City to kill. As you know, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is even more violent. Already there have been killing incidents linked to this latest GTA game. However, despite this public safety hazard posed by the GTA games, it is reported that your Microsoft Corporation is set to release GTA: San Andreas for play on Microsoft�s XBox on June 7, 2005. I intend to make sure that does not happen.

There is more to the letter. This letter has not been confirmed as actually coming from Jack Thompson, but check out the source and full letter.