July 20th
It's a funny thing to search up 'rockstarscammer'
and find this thing mentioned on all sorts of sites,
english, dutch, chinese, etc. If we would have known
there was such an interest I would have searched up
GTA sites and posted the link long ago. Most of what
I've done lately is post at GTAforums.com in the GTA
IV for PC thread. A few days ago I even provided the
link and password to [Incident: 080609-000134] for the
Take 2 support site and many of the other posters were
able to login and see it for themselves. No surprise
that the report on their site mysteriously disappears
a day later. Despite that a few haters still cry 'fake'
Well, whatever, it was just a stupid prank that I did
out of frustration of perhaps no GTAIV for PC.
This is where I posted it
http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=284113&st=10380
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July 6th
Well I guess this is an update I didn't expect.
Some requests have been made in the comments about
screenshots and such for proof along with other
suggestions that I'll look into later.
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So my compadré was getting annoyed with me while I was sitting in the room playing Grand Theft Auto IV for the 360. Apparently I was ruining the story for him, and I might have kept taunting him about the lack of GTA4 for the PC. He was pissed at possibly no version ever for the PC and had the bright idea to concoct an email and fill it was lies about him being able to play the game on his PC. We researched an all-in-one TV/computer so that any research would leave them wondering if this problem was a serious security breach, or just the random emailer being incompetent.
At 5:42am he wrote them from the pseudonym "Scotty C"
"I recently downloaded your free version of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC. Despite your unique instructions on how to get it to play, it has performed great. The first person driving view is simply amazing and the Nico Bellic character really makes me feel like I'm living the storyline. So much so that I feel bad in finding something to complain about, that being the surround sound. At times the back left speaker cuts out, specially when characters like little Jacob are speaking. Also when I call 911, the automated response starts, but cuts out when I am given emergency options. I am using a Sony Vaio LT VGCLT23E all-in-one desktop, an NVIDIA Geforce processor, and the Sony sound reality with external RCA speakers. Could it be that the speakers are simply not the same Sony brand? They work perfectly with my other applications. So I have to assume it's your game. I hope you can resolve this issue for me, your website was no help. It's a shame the multi-player isn't available for PC in the free version, but I can live with that, I don't want to be picky. Thank you for any help you can provide.Scotty C"
The next night when I saw him, he quickly told me that he sent it and had me check to see if there was a response from Rockstar. We got the following:
Date: Mon Jun 9 05:42:26 2008
| From: | Rock Star Support |
| To: | |
| Subject: | grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident:080609-000134] |
| Your question has been received. You should expect a response from us within 24 hours. |
Typical Auto response email, but lo and behold we also had another response already:
| Date: | Mon Jun 9 09:01:34 2008 |
| From: | Rock Star Support [ Add to Address Book | Block Address | Report as Spam ] |
| To: | |
| Subject: | grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident: 080609-000134] |
| Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support centre. Below is a summary of your request and our response. If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days. Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you. To update your question from our support site, click here.
| ||||||||||||
Ahh....we got a person to respond, and at this point we hoped we had them hooked. 10:01am and they had already responded. Must have been a high priority email, or there was very little other tech support needed. We were hoping for the former. At this point we had a little discussion . We were going to need to come up with a distraction email that still gave them the impression we really had a PC copy of the game.
It read as follows:
They responded with some information we really weren't expecting. An admission to the game being in development and not yet even announced.
| Date: | Tue Jun 10 08:07:24 2008 |
| From: | Rock Star Support [ Add to Address Book | Block Address | Report as Spam ] |
| To: | |
| Subject: | grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident: 080609-000134] |
| Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support centre. Below is a summary of your request and our response. If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days. Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you. To update your question from our support site, click here.
| ||||||||||||
W00T! We had them hook line and sinker. We found the "2K (And Rockstar)" signature quite hilarious. We are thinking that the portion of the response with the 'list' was
from someone other than 'Anthony', some higher up who told him to send that to make
absolutely sure. Gotta be some guys there saying: No way! So I got back to them...
Date: Wed Jun 11 05:35:26 2008
Subject: RE: grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident: 080609-000134]
Do you think we're talking about different games? I am speaking of Grand Theft Auto IV with Nico
Bellic as the primary character. The game that was released recently. Is it possible that the video
game version also works on the PC or that someone figured out how to make it function properly?
I downloaded a torrent file and followed the instructions in your included readme file called crack
something where after a couple mistakes I was able to install and play the game on my PC.
Do you just want the website or where the file is or what program I used to get it? I am still waiting
for my friend to send me that information again. He is traveling this week. I am going to see if I can
update my audio on my PC and fix the problems.
Have a good day!
Scotty C
Date: Wed Jun 11 07:32:16 2008
Subject
grand theft auto IV technical issue
Discussion Thread
Response (Richard)
Hello,
This is an illegal way to play the game. We have not yet officially released the game for the PC so we cannot give you any support on a cracked version of the game.
Damn, not the response we were hoping for, Richard isn't as fun as Anthony. Is it illegal to play a game that doesn't exist? The hook is coming loose, time to see if they're still interested...
Date: Thu Jun 12 05:33:33 2008
Subject: RE: grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident: 080609-000134]
If that's true, Richard, I should contact the website and tell them what they're doing is wrong.
I feel deceived. My friend finally sent me the details and I was able to find it again. It's not right
that they give out the free version of the game before it's released. Are you also with Rockstar
games technical support?
On a positive note, I have managed to resolve all of my audio issues! The 911 assistance no
longer cuts out and I can hear all of the options. Everything is working perfectly now. Please
tell Anthony that I'm sorry if I wasted his valuable time. You guys make the best games!
Have a good day.
Scotty C
Surely they should be happy that I have successfully resolved my supposed audio issues. Maybe I'll get someone more fun than Richard today, no doubt a response will come soon and I'll have to put up or shut up...
Date: Thu Jun 12 07:35:18 2008
Response (Richard)
Hello,
Can you tell us which website you downloaded the game from so we can pass it on to someone in the company and try to get it stopped?
Right to the point, huh? I guess it's time to put up. Put up a wild goose chase that is.
Date: Fri Jun 13 05:49:29 2008
Subject: RE: grand theft auto IV technical issue [Incident: 080609-000134]
That's a good idea. The website that I went to was (edited out). I think the reason I
had so much trouble getting it again is because the page also is called (edited also) at the top which
is a bit confusing. The file was almost impossible to find again as it was not labeled like it is supposed to
be. It doesn't say PC on it at all but somehow people know what it is. I don't see why that one is such
a big secret when I can see there are so many other free download files. I don't know how users can
sort through all of this, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to figure this out if I wasn't shown exactly
where it was.
Does this help you out? When will the full PC version be released? I'm eager to try out all the options, specially
the multi player. I'll be first in line to get it, it is fantastic so far!
Have a good one!
Scotty C
Looks like this is coming to an end, so I picked a couple of sites that will keep them busy as beavers looking for the magical PC version of the game. I didn't see
the point in throwing their names out here. The response came back quicker than ever!
Date: Fri Jun 13 06:00:34 2008
Response (Richard)
Hello,
Thank you for the information Scotty we will be sure to check it out. We are unsure when the PC version of the game will be released as we are only technical support and do not receive information on the matter. I would suggest keeping an eye on www.rockstargames.com for any information.
Happy to help, Rich. I don't believe you by the way. Anthony seemed to know what was going on. Nice way
of avoiding answering the question, though. Time to let it simmer for a few days and maybe come back with
another dumb question. Even if I don't, that was an amusing week for sure!
