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Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a video game series created and primarily developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. It includes seven stand-alone games and two expansion packs for the original, GTA: London 1969 and GTA: London 1961. Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games in the series have been best-selling blockbusters which have also gained critical acclaim, including several game of the year awards from various sources.

In addition, the series has emerged as being so popular and profitable that a long list of Hollywood stars have lent their voices to the games. Gangster film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia and Ray Liotta have all voiced major characters. The names of the series and its games are derived from “grand theft auto”, a term referring to motor vehicle theft.

Grand Theft Auto IV (also known as GTA IV) is the upcoming eleventh installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, announced for release by Rockstar Games on October 16, 2007 in the United States for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

It has been confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV will run on the RAGE game engine, the same engine that powered Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. The game is being written by Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser. GTA IV has been nominated for a 2006 Golden Joystick Award in the One To Watch For 2007 category.

This trailer features familiar New York City landmarks, including locations and structures resembling the Coney Island Cyclone, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the MetLife Building (branded as “GetaLife”). The trailer uses a similar cinematic style to Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi and used Philip Glass’s original music from the film (a section of the track “Pruitt-Igoe”) as well as emulated time-lapsed filming.

Rockstar has stated that all the trailer’s footage is generated real-time by the game’s engine RAGE, running on an actual game console, and was not pre-rendered. The footage has not been confirmed to be running on the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

The new official Xbox page on GTA IV states that the game will be enabled with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, downloadable content from Xbox Live Marketplace and played at 720p.

GTA IV will mark the 10th anniversary of the GTA franchise.

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