Grand Theft Auto IV -- It might feature crime and prostitutes.

And now word has it on Ars Technica of reports of UPS guys stealing the game out of shipments.

oh god, don't tell me that! game's still in transit.

I really enjoyed the first taxi and train rides - the game really looks best when you can just sit back like that and watch.

Also the only station I've been listening to is The Journey

hey this game is pretty good

sold out in central london, heavy sigh...

For a large number of people, I'm betting that Bush Tax Refund Checks = New Console + GTA IV

I know at least three that have done this within the last two days.

mailman just came by, no package today. DAMN

Didn't Bush originally run for office promising "a murder simulator for every home"?

Didn't Bush originally run for office promising "a murder simulator for every home"?

There's...SO...many just horrible jokes that could be made here.

Ok, I give up, can someone point me towards an armour spawn?

Oh, and do you get extra wanted stars now simply because a cop sees you? I managed to get 3 after punching a bloke once and being chased for it for a few blocks. I quite like the way you have to escape from them in this game though.

Are you sure you didn't run over a cop on the way from punching the guy? I haven't ever gotten over two stars without killing a cop. And yeah the escaping from the cops is way better

Maybe, I don't know where the third one came from though.

Early spoilers ok now???

Failed the early mission where you chase a guy up to the top of a construction site because I didn't notice he was hanging off the edge, which I managed to run right past, falling to my death.

SPOILERS

I think early spoilers are OK now...

Not for some :( I'll stop reading from now on.

I didn't actually read that spoiler though, so thanks for the heads up.

2 separate threads? : /

did you get a copy, jim? I had a real nightmare trying to find one

i like how much more visceral the gunplay is in this one though it kind of cuts down on the pleasure taken from murder sprees.

i really appreciate that it draws a best route for you to take on the mini map, so you don't have to keep switching up to the big map & thinkin' about if you have to go left or right & getting lost. It's a big help. I do however wish the mini-map was a little bigger. I guess they didn't want to take up a lot of screen real-estate, but that thing is too small

did you get a copy, jim? I had a real nightmare trying to find one

-- czn

Ended up not being able to go out looking at lunchtime and had a doctor's appointment straight after work. Working 'til 6 tomorrow as well. Might check on my lunch hour but doubt anyone will have either a) Still stock left from yesterday or b) will have had a restock of it since selling out yesterday.

The long national nightmare continues.

Actually might just get my friend to do a certain not quite legal thing to my Xbox so I can play it tomorrow.

love:
- the in-car SatNav/GPS on some of the fancier cars
- toll bridges!

Aah, I think you get extra stars if you don't outrun the cops quickly enough.

i also really like the cover system. like everything else in gta games, it is not perfect but running from car to car, spraying bullets at the police, trying to make it to the alleyways to effect your escape... nice.

satnav does offer some crazy routes sometimes (but perhaps r* didn't fancy spending a lot of time coding a cutting-edge system).

I think I'm getting way more lols out of the multiplayer right now. Cops n crooks is still the best but the races are pretty fun. And try and do a deathmatch in the airport... where there are three helicopter gunships available.

Also the only station I've been listening to is The Journey

lol, same here.

finally opened up the second island, the place is pretty awesome especially when viewed from a chopper.

I found some armour on the beach but fuck knows if i can remember where abouts.

I'm adoring the combat system, the cover feature is brilliant and the last few missions I've done with it have felt really satisfying to complete.

Almost smashed it to be bits though, for the mission where go get a car for Brucie. He's fucking hilarious!

gawd i just can't be arsed to do the 'dates' with my contacts, am i going to miss out on anything?

but i kinda like LJ and so last night i agreed to go play pool with him, but i was stuck on the second island. I thought I'd try my hand at using the subway, so out came the foldaway map. After completely going in the wrong direction I ended up in uptown. Then scrambling around subways looking for the flippin J line, by which time LJ had cancelled.

I tried ringing him back for a game of darts, but he blew me out lol.

this game is too real!

body armor in Broker: take road East from Soldier Monument (i think that's what it's called - the one with the circle around it) and on the first block there's a Y-shaped alleyway to your left. inside that is a building with a gate out front - go inside the gate to the right, and there is a respawning body armor tucked in the corner.

Thank you!

Ste, you definitely want to keep up the friendships in the game. I don't know about the other guys or the gfs, but Roman gives you a free car service you can call from anywhere, and LJ will show up to a location you specify with a trunk full of gunz.

Thanks, I got Romans, but he still rings. Do i have to keep taking him out, will he take away the free car option if I don't?

LJ sounds more useful

I do however wish the mini-map was a little bigger.

as someone who always gets completely overwhelmed by these sandbox games I could not agree more. it would also be convenient to have active locations made a little more apparent on either the minimap or the actual map - I missed a date with Michelle last night b/c I was driving around like WHERE IN THE FUCK AM I EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE GOING WHAT ARE ALL THESE ICONS WHICH ONE IS MICHELLE WAS I SUPPOSED TO TURN THERE ARGH

but then again I make no claims to be anything other than a GTArd - is there a way to set navigation points like in Assassin's Creed? and if so, will the GPS plot a course for you to it/them?

Yeah, go to the map and you can set a waypoint, then if you're in a car it'll plot the GPS route.

Heh, I've just worked out what the hidden packages are :).

I've just been blowing all my money on taxis - I must've laid down £2k at least today on taxis alone

man at Game told me today they won't be getting stock again till two weeks time, at the very earliest. yikes! hoping to snag a review copy this weekend, but otherwise - the dudes selling the game on amazon marketplace, they're a bad idea, right?

this is pretty fun. i'll have to take the day off tomorrow so i can really dig into this.

oh hell yes my package just arrived so I will be on tonight, hoping to slay a few of you bastards

I re-post - for those of you on PS3, my name is DenaSmith

Lets go kill some people.

as usual my ps3 just can't see my broadband, the same problems occured with my psp. oh well.

yes, i now have over 10 hidden packages. fuck there's a lot.

i enjoyed this game a lot tonight.

that motorcycle gang mission was hard! had to re-do it a bunch of times.

best moment so far, head-on crash with some other car, both the driver and passenger fly thru the windshield simultaneously.

SPOILER

was that the Mr F mission? Mine ended with a shoutout in a park, my bike ended up with no tyers.

big sesh today whilst i'm off. I have already a lot of ideas i want to check out.

haha last night, I tried to take LJ out for a drink in my helicopter but ended up slicing him up with the blades trying to park it. Then five minutes later he rings me asking for a lift from the hostpital, so we were cool again lol.

fucking love street races, the high performance cars are shit hot.

Mr F = Mentally Retarded Female?

SPOILER

yeh the faustin motorbike mission was tricky!!

SPOILER

brucie is hilarious but I coulda done without the bait and switch no homo mission. the game really blurs the lines sometimes

SPOILER

fuck manny

SPOILER? not really

So I just completed the kill Lyle Rivas mission after about six tries - by the end I was ready to kill someone IRL. Reminded me that I actually have a love-hate relationship with this game, and man that was one hateful mission.

And Ste is otm about the relationship management. I wish people would stop ringing me all the time! I keep on feeling pressured to do stuff when really I just want to spend all day driving around like a bastard.

Just like real life!

IGN and 1Up went talked about how great the story was...don't know what I was expecting but it's the same embarrassingly bad dialogue as is found in the GTA3 sequels. GTA3 got it right by making the main character mute.

I don't know where this "bad dialogue" thing is coming from, as the games from III forward seem to do just fine in the dialogue dept. Tho that might be as much about the acting as anything.

Love Jacob & my idiot cousin (& even Vlad). Also love stealing a car in front of cops I didn't see, zooming around the city to get out of their range (while causing max property damage), and then slowing down long enough once I'm in the clear for the passenger THAT I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE WAS IN THE CAR THE WHOLE TIME to get out of the car & stumble away. I missed GTA.

Also love that, while tooling around, I found a "friend" on the street. Stop & talk to this guy that starts busting on me about his being rich and me being some sort of chump, then he gives me $100 and walks away. Thanks!

^^^^^^^^OTM. I was like "What the fuck is Jamie Kennedy doing giving me $100?"

I think I rememer reading somewhere that the dialogue or story was "Oscar caliber."