Patcharama

Grand Theft Auto 3 has got its first official patch on the PC, fixing the problems some users had reported with loading save games, as well as putting a stop to an exception error that could cause the game to hang up after the Rockstar logo was displayed during the start-up sequence. You can also now copy the game's audio files to your hard drive to stop the game constantly trying to load radio stations and other sounds from your relatively slow CD-Rom, and most of the copy protection systems that could cause issues for some legitimate users have been disabled, although you'll obviously still need the game disc in your drive when you start the game up. The diminutive 1Mb patch can be downloaded from the Take 2 website. Meanwhile the English language version of Neverwinter Nights was patched yesterday, before the game had even hit the shelves here in Europe. The fixes mostly seem to be for fairly minor issues though, with the possible exception of the mildly ominous sounding "creatures will now use their spell-like abilities again". More details are available on the patches page at the official Neverwinter Nights community site, or you can take the plunge and download the patch from within the game using the Update option. Related Feature - Grand Theft Auto 3 review