GTA: San Andreas to be Xbox Original

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 October, 2008

Yours for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Olden days blockbuster Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will soon be available to download as an Xbox Original.

According to Xbox.com, it'll cost 1200 Microsoft Points. That's just over 10 quid in the old money, or EUR 14 if you live over there.

GTA: San Andreas was first released in October 2004, yes you are that old. For a reminder of why everyone went bonkers over it, read the original review.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • andywilkie35 #1 3 years ago

    thats nice, but I tried replaying it a month before GTAIV came out to get back into the GTA mood and found that - while at the time it was great - its buggy and broken in so many places that I couldn't bare to play it anymore

    think they should get knights of the old republic up on there

  • Whatsfor #2 3 years ago

    That seems a little steep?

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    Considering it's a good game, that's not bad. Still cheaper if you buy it in the shops pre-owned though (in 4 for 20 last time I checked).

  • Colin8703 #4 3 years ago

    It's a bargain to pick up a physical copy and it works fine on the the 360 and won't eat up hard drive space so why bother.

    MS seriously has to sort out it's pricing in a serious way.

    As an after thought, are there any sales sales figures for xbox originals as I'm interested to see how well this is doing.

  • bad09 #5 3 years ago

    Nice release, I still play all the GTAs.

    I won't be buying though, I like my GTA boxes all lined up on shelf :)

  • Widge #6 3 years ago

    I'm showing my lack of knowledge here but does the 360 joypad have 4 shoulder buttons now?
    Much as I thought the Xbox SA looked lovely, the controls were horrific in places...

  • ryohazuki1983 #7 3 years ago

    I couldn't get into San Andreas for some reason, for me it just seemed a bit samey, played all the GTA games and up untill that point that was the only one I didn't finish. Never bothered with IV but saw it for about 20 quid in GAME and was tempted....

  • mattigan #8 3 years ago

    They won't decrease the price, if only a couple of hundred people buy it the it's well worth the effort of repackaging it with the update that allows the 360 to run it into a format that can be run off the HDD and dumping the file on the network, which considering 98% of the work has already been done re getting backwards compatibility working in the first place, should only take a day or two at the most.

    Basically free money for Microsoft, I'm surprised they haven't dumped the entire catalogue of backwards compatible games up there TBH.

  • ParanoidZombie #9 3 years ago

    @widge: yes, it does have 4 shoulder buttons.

  • mashk #10 3 years ago

    Why on earth don't they tweak these games before making them available? An 720P mode and some filters to clean up the scruffy looking textures would be nice and it would make it more appealing.

  • Beejay #11 3 years ago

    How about Halo 2, though??? I would like to download that little gem...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #12 3 years ago

    An 720P mode

    All Xbox Originals, and emulated original discsrender natively in 720p mode. Those boxy oldschool polygon edges are crisp now.

  • Darren #13 3 years ago

    I've always thought San Andreas was the weakest of the previous generation GTA games... it felt too big and empty not to mention glitchy, the framerate was awful and I never liked the characters or the story particularly (mind you Saints Row was even worst in this regard). Vice City was my favourite GTA prior to IV, loved the story, characters, neon-lit visuals, setting and the 80s soundtrack was the icing on the cake. Very memorable, far more so than San Andreas IMO.

  • neilka #14 3 years ago

    I'm pretty sure only the Halols render at 720p?

  • moggsy #15 3 years ago

    @ Dhawkes

    Considering it's a good game, that's not bad. Still cheaper if you buy it in the shops pre-owned though (in 4 for 20 last time I checked).

    How much money would Rockstar get from you buying it preowned then?

    £10 to have such a great game sat on your hard drive ready to go whenever you want and bought with money that the developer actually sees a part of is fine in my book. Plus it's less than £10 if you buy your points from Tesco Online.

  • B0MBJ4CK #16 3 years ago

    @lavalant

    Fable seems to be pretty buggy as well (Freezing issues), and don't get me started on Pirates and Ninja Gaiden issues (Damaged save games after hours of play, playing through NG for the 3 time due to corrupt saves, F••k you NG)

  • coojam #17 3 years ago

    "How much money would Rockstar get from you buying it preowned then? "

    Nothing, but if it was reasonably priced on Live, they might stand a chance. Not that they need it, they made sackloads from it when it came out 4 years ago!

  • BBIAJ #18 3 years ago

    @ neilka:

    Major Nelson: "Remember, your original Xbox games will look better than ever on Xbox 360 running in 720p and 1080i with anti-aliasing"

  • Colin8703 #19 3 years ago

    My old Xbox that is sitting in the garage under a pile of crap is an american console and the machine outputted most games at 720p or 1080i (that's why I bought mine). Alot of the games were coded for this so they don't need to change anything for the download as they just need to put the US version online instead.

  • Razz #20 3 years ago

    I couldn't get into San Andreas for some reason, for me it just seemed a bit samey,

    o_O

    SA was the most varied version of GTA ever made.

  • RobertFoster #21 3 years ago

    I've wanted to go back and play this since finishing IV, but it'd be cheaper/quicker to go to the attic and get my PS2 or PC version :)

  • shotgun44 #22 3 years ago

    This game was awesome! BMXing off the top of the mountain was amazing!

  • spongebob #23 3 years ago

    Alright! This is one I am going to buy. Vice City would be good too.

  • Triggerhappytel #24 3 years ago

    @ Moggsy -

    "How much money would Rockstar get from you buying it preowned then?

    £10 to have such a great game sat on your hard drive ready to go whenever you want and bought with money that the developer actually sees a part of is fine in my book. Plus it's less than £10 if you buy your points from Tesco Online."

    I've got nothing against re-buying these games through XBL, but considering I already bought it new four years ago (along with GTA3 and VC), you make it sound like we owe it to pay R* again for re-releasing such a great game. Obviously it's great to have the choice to buy it online, but I think the price is a little steep given you can buy it in the shops for less than half as much.

  • Bulbatron #25 3 years ago

    Well that's a turn-up. At least they are putting a game up that a lot of people might actually want. I won't be getting it since I have the disc version, but still.

    But I'm still hoping they will put Silent Hill 2 up on originals - especially as the disc version doesn't seem to work in the UK (absolutely fucking gutted about that), even though it is on the backwards compatibility list.
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/08 @ 11:45

  • Les #26 3 years ago

    Hated SA (didn't really like any of the GTAs TBH, though VC had a great sound track that made me finish it).

    It would be great if MS, Sony and Nintendo would allow you to rip your legally aquired last gen games (or even before) to the HDD instead of trying to sell them to you again IMO. I understand the piracy problems but IMO those should be their problem and not ours. It might work in the form of a free download if you insert your old disk or enter a serial number or something which is tied to your online profile.

  • Widge #27 3 years ago

    The one thing I missed from GTA4 was countryside. Thats what I loved about SA. Driving through the orange haze of Los Santos, through the country roads, winding up to foggy San Fierro, the purple nights of the desert etc...

  • Shakey_Jake33 #28 3 years ago

    Xbox1 games generally run upscaled to whatever resolution you set. Don't fall for the clever wording of Major Nelson.

    This isn't a bad price as such, it's just that it doesn't really tie in with the market value of the game. That's where a lot of DLC goes wrong, it doesn't adapt alongside the going rate for the physical copies, and they try to pretend the preowned market doesn't exist.

  • Ryze #29 3 years ago

    This game needs the controls patching.

    The triggers are the wrong way round.

  • Ryze #30 3 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel

    No, the way purchasing works, is that if you already own it, you DON'T have to buy it again.

    Is there something complex here that I've missed. This is for people who DON'T have it.