GTA 2 available for download this month?

By Robert Purchese Published 2 May, 2008

Mysterious website starts rumours.

The Internet is awash with speculation Rockstar could be planning to release Grand Theft Auto 2 for Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this month.

It all began after mysterious dates appeared on the official GTA2 website.

The dates, "2 May 08" and "23 May 08" (it said "22 May 08" yesterday), link to present and future sections of the site respectively. There are also two clocks set two hours apart of each other - one is fixed at 09.38 and the other at 11.38. Only the seconds change.

While this could simply be a play on the bizarre futuristic setting of GTA2, many believe these dates to hail the coming of the long-rumoured console ports.

Rockstar was unavailable for comment at the time of writing. Here's hoping they haven't been buried under all that gold.

Grand Theft Auto 2 was released in October 1999 on PSone and PC. It later appeared on Dreamcast and Game Boy Colour.

It was the last in the series to be top-down, and introduced doing missions for separate gangs to gain favour. However, gaining the trust of one was often at the detriment of a relationship with another, making managing loyalties a key area of the game.

You can download a one-level demo of GTA2 from the official website. Or you could just buy Grand Theft Auto IV.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Harlequeen #1 4 years ago

    Alternatively it could be a java based web implementation of the game. Even multiplayer. Nah, who am I kidding.
    Edited by Harlequeen at 02/05/08 @ 09:01

  • The-Bodybuilder #2 4 years ago

    LOL, imagine if this was the DLC MS payed 50mil for.

  • consignia #3 4 years ago

    Is the PC version no longer free from rockstar's website? The fact there is a demo available, suggests that they may have pulled it, but I haven't looked into it in any detail.

  • Psiloc #4 4 years ago

    GTA1 was much better.

  • Xerx3s #5 4 years ago

    I'd much rather have GTA 1 as it is by far the best in the series.

  • The-Bodybuilder #6 4 years ago

    I thought I was the only one that enjoyed GTA 1 over the second one.
    Besides, I hate the nighttime setting of the 2nd one.
    Edited by The-Bodybuilder at 02/05/08 @ 09:09

  • GiarcYekrub #7 4 years ago

    "It was the last in the series to be top-down"

    No, it wasn't GTA advanced was!
    Edited by GiarcYekrub at 02/05/08 @ 09:25

  • sickpuppysoftware #8 4 years ago

    Much preferred GTA 1 to 2. The future setting didn't help at all. I'd rather GTA1 + GTA London

  • Xerx3s #9 4 years ago

    Oh btw EG, next time do some research please? This was debunked some time before you posted posted this! A case of page hits then?

  • ligurmatic #10 4 years ago

    The oft-criticised surfer girl had the rumour on her site a while ago, and suggested it might be a HD remix rather than a PS1 dump. Given that it's due to appear on both PSN and XBLA it seems to vindicate this.

    @consignia: GTA 1 and 2 are both available from http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/

  • OnlyMe #11 4 years ago

    I'd say GTA 1 was better if it wasn't for the absolutely horrible scrolling! It hurts my eyes to play it now! GTA 2 is really the better game by todays standards.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #12 4 years ago

    I think that has already been confirms as nothing just the old GTA 2 website which was never stopped form the original launch and the clocks fucked on it

  • TriggerHippie #13 4 years ago

    Cool, GTA2 on my PSP will be awsome. An HD remake would be even better!

    I really enjoyed it on the Dreamcast, although I seem to be in the minority in enjoying its futuristic setting.
    Edited by TriggerHippie at 02/05/08 @ 10:26

  • ligurmatic #14 4 years ago

    GTA1 is either too jerky and slow or insanely fast with the framerate limiter turned off (it was always best on a 3DFX card), whereas 2 works nicely on modern hardware. So, really, it'd be nice to have the first one on consoles as I am unable to play it.

  • nailerr #15 4 years ago

    Yes Eurogamer, it IS free and has been for monts, at the location posted by someone above this comment.

  • superdelphinus #16 4 years ago

    heh. love it when people say the first one was the best. yeah clearly better than the first one to have a huge fecking 3d world and proper cinematic storylines

  • JEPC123 #17 4 years ago

    I actually enjoyed GTA 2 (ah, the days when they used Arabic instead of Roman numerals!) more than GTA III, and just as much as GTA. Not more than Vice City or San Andreas, but I think it has a certain charm, polish and uniqueness that sets it apart from GTA and GTAIII - it's like Rockstar were just getting into their stride with the series, and actually attempted something different from a period or modern-day setting. Plus everyone knows that the best 'period' GTA was GTA: London...

  • monkie_king #18 4 years ago

    Aye, it's just printing today's date, and the date in three weeks' time. The clocks are static images. Looks like the Javascript's a bit dodgy, explaining why the "Present" date would be wrong near the beginning of the month. Though there is a Javascript function in there called "theDudeAbides()" =)
    Edited by monkie_king at 02/05/08 @ 11:01

  • Xerx3s #19 4 years ago

    superdelphinus: that is exactly why the first one was better than the rest.

  • superdelphinus #20 4 years ago

    what have you got against the 3rd dimension

  • Xerx3s #21 4 years ago

    It lost it's charm when it went to 3d. It became something else.

  • Tomo #22 4 years ago

    GTA 2 was wayyyyyyyyyy better than 1.

  • Trikk #23 4 years ago

    GTA is the better game, but I still have some fondness for GTA2. Something about the style, the setting and the "innovative" ideas it had makes me like it even though the original has superior gameplay.

  • oreillymj #24 4 years ago

    According to Firefox's properties of http://www.rockstargames.com/gta2/homepa... the page was last modified on 18 April 2007 17:18:34, so if they've been planning to give a game away 3 weeks from now, then they've been planning this for a long time.

    I'm guessing that the 3 week counter has existed for a long time.


    The crowd that developed the web-site no longer exist, and I think Rockstar have had their hands full of other stuff to fix a dodgy clock.

    created by Oyster Partners Limited
    http://www.oyster.co.uk
    [June] 1999
    Production: by [C.P], [June] 1999
    Design: by [J.P], [June] 1999
    Programming: by [C.P - J.L], [June] 1999
    Flash engineering: by [R.R.], [June] 1999



  • Lemming81 #25 4 years ago

    It's been on Steam for ages along with all the other GTA games. And GTA2 is FAR superior to GTA1. It was the first time the seriously dark comedy came into play. Turning Hare Krishnas into burger meat? Lithium FM? Actually, fuck it - GTA2 still has the best radio stations of all the GTA games.
    Edited by Lemming81 at 02/05/08 @ 13:31

  • OnlyMe #26 4 years ago

    Yes, because you buy a 2D classic re-release for the exact same reasons as you buy GTA IV. Obviously.