'GTA 4' Finally Has The Remake It Deserves Thanks To This Fan

Grand Theft Auto IV is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made, and was even the fastest-selling entertainment product at that point in time. However, while Grand Theft Auto V continues to practically print money for Rockstar Games, a remaster or remake is off the cards... so that's why this extremely diligent fan has taken matters into their own hands.

Allaga is their name and remastering old titles is their game. As well as chugging away on the Grand Theft Auto IV project, which I imagine is no small task, they've also got tabs on Silent Hill 4, Prototype, Prototype 2, and even The Matrix: Path of Neo graphics mods and alterations. Very cool, in my opinion. It's these sorts of efforts that actually ensure that these titles are safeguarded and remain in the forefront of people's minds. "Historically, games haven't really considered themselves as being a cultural industry," said Iain Simmons, director of culture at the National Videogame Museum. "It's literally baked into their business model that the next game is always the most exciting one, the one you really need to have - and that the previous one is now obsolete. With that underpinning everything, it's easy to see why preservation isn't top of the list of priorities."

If you're intrigued by that statement, you can read more about why this industry isn't winning any awards for preservation here. In the meantime, feast your eyeballs on the stunning results of the "4K2K Allaga Graphics Mod" for Grand Theft Auto IV. On occasion, the high-quality texture mods for environments in video games turn up the realism far too much, and you get something that looks exceptionally crunchy. I won't pretend to know how this happens, yet fortunately, these graphical upgrades for the buildings and population of Liberty City are absolutely brilliant. The quality has been increased while maintaining the tones and the details of the original textures and there are incredible yet moderate reflections on the windows and panels of cars that don't give you a migraine after a few seconds. In short, the world looks like you've finally found your prescription specs after scraping along for as long as you could.

Perhaps the most exciting news is that the mod is available to download through Nexus Mods, though I imagine you'd need a beefy PC to enjoy it without suffering from technical hiccups. Keep an eye out for further updates too, because Allaga isn't done with Liberty City yet.