Word on the street is that the next Grand Theft Auto title will make use of the “Rockstar Advanced Game Engine,” otherwise known as RAGE. The only other title to implement the system thus far has been Rockstar’s Table Tennis. Does this mean we’ll see ping-pong car-crash physics in GTA?
Not necessarily. Table Tennis was lauded for its stunning, sweat-drenched character models with real-time facial expressions, along with the accurate sense of weight and physics the visuals seemed to capture (take a look at screenshots of the game here), and some of these core components could certainly be transferred over. In that case, RAGE could mean we’ll see a greater emphasis on physics and character expressions in GTA IV (though hopefully not as much perspiration, ugh).
Prior-gen iterations in the series were developed with an engine called Renderware, now EA-owned technology that made an apperance in games like Black, Tony Hawk’s Underground, Burnout: Revenge, and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. But to be clear, because the RAGE middleware was designed specifically for “next-gen systems,” and not for Table Tennis alone, the engine may have other functionalities that Table Tennis didn’t reveal in full.
We’ll keep our ears tuned to the street, as Grand Theft Auto IV is said to be releasing on October 16, 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Grand Theft Auto IV Gets RAGE - News at Gaming Horizon
Cool, A GTA game that actually looks as good as it plays =D