…But surely not enough. Minutes after it was released the new GTA IV trailer became an instant video hit. Every gamer out there is watching it over and over again, searching for clues and details that may reveal any details about the gameplay or the storyline of GTA IV.

As you can see from the trailer, Rockstar is taking us to Liberty City (a fictional city based on New York city). There are several references to Liberty City on buildings and objects, as well as several distinct features that make the city a replica of New York, including the Statute of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. Also from the cars that might be seen during the trailer it seems the action will be set in the modern day.

The day-night cycle has also undergone a major enhancement in this next-gen rendition, with shadows and rays of light moving along with the sun. The cars and pedestrians have a decent amount of detail, and if all the footage shown is in-game stuff.

An Rockstar official confirmed for Gamespot that GTA IV will use RAGE engine. “We would like to let the trailer speak for itself,” he said. “However, we can confirm that all footage in the trailer ‘Things Will Be Different’ was captured directly from 720p gameplay running real time in our RAGE engine on a next-gen gaming console.” Rockstar has used the RAGE or Rockstar Advanced Game Engine for their Table Tennis for the Xbox 360. Still, 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). And judging by the trailer, Rockstar did its homework.

What about the storyline? Beside the trailer, Rockstar didn’t reveal any information. As you may know already the trailer introduces a character in Grand Theft Auto IV - a nasty looking guy with a Russian accent. “Life is complicated. I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different.”. he said. It’s still unclear if he is the main character of the game or just a member of a team.

The gameplay is also still a mystery. The previous games of the franchise were focused on a single player experience, but recent installments have dropped enough multiplayer modes to suggest that expanding beyond solo play is an interest of the series’ development team.

GTA IV is due to be launched stores in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007 and it will be available for the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360. No word about a PC version.

A few weeks ago, new details about the game emerged. Starting 2008, Rockstar will introduce exclusive episodic content downloads for Grand Theft Auto IV.

Also in September Microsoft confirmed that the game’s publisher Take-Two will provide “exclusive access to two downloadable, epic episodes of Grand Theft Auto IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of entirely new gameplay”. Expect them within months after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

[via Playfuls]