Neowin.net

The DVD features a movie that sets the stage for the events in the PlayStation 2 blockbuster. The full soundtrack is due December 7.

Now that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has hit the streets and gamers across the nation are deeply entrenched in roaming its titular state, Rockstar is giving players a treat in time for Thanksgiving in the form of a cinematic prequel to the game. Dubbed The Introduction, the lengthy "machinima" movie, done using the game engine, will be a collection of vignettes revolving around events that took place in the days before GTA: San Andreas starts. Rather than focus exclusively on main character Carl "CJ" Johnson, the movie is told from several intertwined viewpoints that reveal the network of organized crime operating throughout the state of San Andreas.

The collection of scenes exposes the magnitude of the corruption within the LSPD, spearheaded by Officer Tenpenny (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), and offers more information on the history of the Grove Street Family conflicts, the problems that Ryder, Smoke, and Sweet face, and the rift that comes between Sweet and CJ. You'll get a glimpse of CJ's life before returning to Los Santos, as he spends his time carjacking and mugging the residents of Liberty City.

News source: GameSpot

Cont...

"Natural challenges with finalizing all the key features and localization issues across worldwide territories have led to the difficult choice of pushing back the release date," SCEA said in a statement, "in order to ensure that Gran Turismo 4 lives up to the exacting standards of the 36 million-plus fans worldwide that have purchased previous versions."

The delay leaves egg on the face of Sony, who only last week held a high profile party in Tokyo to celebrate the "completion" of the game, and which previously removed the much-vaunted online functionality from the title in order to ensure that it came out in time for Christmas.

There's some speculation that this fresh delay - which may also have a knock-on impact on the launch date of the European version, which had already been delayed into Q1 2005 - will give the firm time to reintegrate the online component, but Sony has so far not commented on this possibility, and is still officially planning to launch a separate online-enabled Gran Turismo product later next year.