Grand Theft Auto IV Steals Table Tennis' Graphics Engine

A recent MTV interview with some Rockstar chaps has supposedly revealed that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV sequel - along with other future Rockstar games - will be running on the same graphics engine as their recently released Table Tennis for the Xbox 360. This is the so called RAGE engine, or Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, which has already proven itself as quite an impressive piece of software. As Kotaku notes:

"RAGE is known for its excellent fluid physics.In Table Tennis, this can most obviously be seen in the way the beads of sweat realistically spray off the foreheads of the players. Imagine an opalescent string of pearls realistically jiggling upon the neck of an avatar and you will understand the full potential of this technology when applied to GTA IV... and, more specifically, it's forthcoming mod, 'Hot Coffee with Milk'."

The end result may not be so detailed in Grand Theft Auto IV, due to the game's "slightly" more numerous population that's to be expected. But even with less smooth characters, it should still be a great leap forward from the last generation of GTA titles (GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas). As announced just ahead of this year's E3 2006, Grand Theft Auto IV is being developed by the Rockstar North studio (DMA Design), with a tentative release date set for October 16, 2007 in North America, and October 19, 2007 in Europe.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)