A Rockstar North Xbox 360 development kit containing an early beta build of Grand Theft Auto IV has been discovered at a car boot sale in Edinburgh, Scotland. Purchased for five pounds by local collector Jan, the kit includes over 120GB of cut content, such as an unfinished zombies mode and unused assets. The contents have been uploaded online, exciting the GTA fan community.
Over the weekend, Jan, a GTA Forums user known as janmatant, spotted an Xbox 360 dev kit at a car boot sale in Edinburgh, the home of Rockstar North. He recognized the Phat Xbox 360 with its Sidecar attachment and a Rockstar North sticker after buying it for five pounds from a regular seller of old electronics. Jan, who frequents such sales for resale and collection items, quickly confirmed its significance via the serial number upon returning home. The kit holds a 2007 pre-release build of GTA IV, along with cut content including remnants of an unfinished zombies mode featuring pickups, mangled police bodies, and a bloody hospital gurney, as well as unused weapons, vehicles, and beta cutscenes. The entire 120GB has been shared on the Internet Archive, sparking activity in long-dormant GTA IV beta forums. Fans have begun modding assets like an early AK-47 and silenced pistol into the PC version, and progress on running beta cutscenes. A former Rockstar Games developer, who worked on GTA IV, described the zombies mode as an 'experiment' by artists and developers that 'didn’t get very far,' noting that studio artists often try incorporating zombies into games. Jan, not originally a major Rockstar enthusiast but now more interested, has received a 1,000-pound offer and briefly listed it on eBay before removal.
