One aspect of the GTA world that I never felt was exploited enough is random robbery. In both GTA 3 and Vice City you can gun hold up a store or beat some random pedestrian into a stain on the pavement with a bat and take some of the petty cash they leave scattered around their corpse for gun money but that’s about it. In GTA: San Andreas that will change. Not only will you have more reasons to collect cash than buying guns but there will be more ways to make that cash than killing chumps on the street.

Making cash more of a concern is a definite positive for the series. In previous games your money meter only needed to go up so you could achieve new levels of purpose in the game - like buying the Ricardo Diaz mansion in Vice City. Now, you will need cash on a daily basis to buy things like clothes and food and keep CJ, the game’s main character, in shape and looking respectful in his neighborhood. The coolest way to do this is to rob someone’s house and sell their things on the black market.

Around Los Santos, the Los Angeles modeled city in the game, there is an assortment of houses that can be robbed for things like TV sets. There’s even a sneak mode to make getting in and out undetected. If you are unlucky enough to alert the homeowners you’ll need a bat or a shot gun to silence them before they have a chance to call the police. But each house should be searched thoroughly for valuable items just in case they might be hiding a diamond necklace in that room you snuck past.

After backing up a movers truck and clearing out some unsuspecting fools house, CJ can go hit the fence, get his money and spend it on clothes, food, tattoos and haircuts that will ultimately help his standing among his associates and other people in the neighborhood. More importantly, wearing gang colors will make CJ’s alliances more recognizable and more prone to find himself in the middle of a gang gunfight. Binco will be the dollar store type of budget apparel store while Suburban will be the more upscale clothing store for more accomplished gangsters. Pro Laps will be the store for sports wear and the occasional ski mask when you need it. What’s really nice is that every piece of clothing purchased during the game will be kept in any of your safe houses so each time you go back you can change your clothes.

With each tidbit of information that we receive about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas it becomes more and more difficult to wait for it to come out. I popped in Vice City today just to bring myself back to Earth - all of the maniacal anticipation I felt for that game was warranted but I still lived through the waiting period, didn’t I? San Andreas is looking very good and it’s only a matter of time before we are wreaking havoc in yet another Rockstar crafted world. All we really need now is some info about the soundtrack and voice talent to push us all over the top. We’ll keep you informed as soon as we know more.