One of the biggest news bombs of the previous week was actually the release of a user mod for Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV, called iCEnhancer v1.2. The mod practically turns GTA IV into what gamers might expect GTA V to look like and subsequently, paired with the Steam summer sale, Rockstar’s three year old action game is topping the charts again.
The top 10 games on the weekly Steam charts are as follows...
1. Portal 2
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. The Sims 3 Pack
4. Valve Complete Pack
5. Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
6. Terraria
7. Assassin's Creed Collector Pack
8. Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition
9. THQ Hit Collection
10. Left 4 Dead 2
Many of the games that you would expect to be top sellers of the week are. But GTA IV making an appearance on the charts following the release and huge press coverage of the iCEnhancer is no coincidence. Don’t be surprised if GTA IV tops the Steam charts for this week as well. Some of the headlines across the interweb even called the mod a glimpse into what Grand Theft Auto V could look like [via Attack of the Fanboy]. And it’s true, the iCEnhancer really takes the visual flair of GTA IV to whole new heights thanks to modded shaders and updated textures; you’ll need a pretty hefty rig to manage the visuals that the mod brings with it, though.
I'm almosted tempted to say that Gran Turismo and Forza 3 look like they just got their butts handed to them by a mod for an open world game. Ouch. An updated version of the iCEnhancer is also in the works to fix a few bugs and glitches and iron out a few of the optimization problems for older video cards.
Nevertheless, for those of you who are a little skeptical about just how good the mod looks, feel free to check out the demo video for the iCEnhancer below. The mod is currently available to download at most GTA modding sites. Maybe Rockstar might consider hiring these guys to help optimize the PC version of L.A. Noire?
