Any Grand Theft Auto fans out there? If there are, you already know Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA) launched at midnight last night and you probably already have your hands on a copy of the game. For the first time, the game launched at the same time for two platforms, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In some cities, like New York, people were in line waiting for the game’s launch before midnight. There was so much anticipation surrounding this game and high expectations were set. From the sounds of it, the game has exceeded those expectations, and all around, people are extremely satisfied with this version of the popular game.
Of course the game wasn’t able to launch without any controversy. The game itself has been a big controversy and always has been because of the violence and the nature of the content (carjacking, prostitutes, etc.). Controversy aside, this game has received absolutely stellar ratings from reviewers. Take a look at some of these scores which we gathered from Wikipedia:
- Official Xbox Magazine – 9.5/10
- Official PlayStation Magazine – 10/10
- GameSpot – 10/10
- Electronic Gaming Monthly – A+
- Game Informer – 10/10
- GameSpy – 5/5
- GamesRadar – 10/10
Metacritic offers a compilation score of about a dozen reviews and the PS3 version received a perfect 100% while the Xbox 360 version received a 99%. Clearly GTA will be a success for the publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software (their shares rose 3.4% ahead of the midnight launch) who is being sought by Electronic Arts . It sure helps to be launching the game on two platforms at the same time, doesn’t it? Some analysts have predicted that the opening week sales will be about $550 million and that by the end of the year, 10 million copies of the game will have been sold. To put that number into perspective, Halo 3 which was another huge video game launch, brought in $300 million during the first week of sales.
If you managed to get your hands on a copy of the game, let us know what you think…
Source: Reuters
I’m still waiting for mine from Amazon.
my sole reason to get a “next-gen” system.
If only if it wasn’t so expensive…
At least I don’t live in Denmark where its £63 ($124) for the Xbox 360 version.
So does Amazon ship the day it releases, or do they ship ahead of time so that you should receive it on launch day?
So which “next-gen” system did you go with? Reminds me of all the people that bought Xbox 360 just for Halo 3! Those two games have made quite the impact on the gaming industry.
Holy cow! We’re about half that price and I thought it was expensive here.
Bought it during lunch today (Xbox 360 version). The old Xbox is getting dusted off tonight!!
why is it called Grand Theft Auto IV is this because of driver 4
you have Grand Theft Auto 1 Grand Theft Auto 2 Grand Theft Auto 3 Grand Theft Auto Vice City (4) Grand Theft Auto Grand Theft Auto san andreas (5)
Parents are buying this game for their 8-year-old kids these days, not knowing what kind of violent game it is. What a shame.
And what’s this game about anyway? You just have to beat the hell out of passersby, steal cars, kill people and not get caught. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if this game caused real-life violence.
I’m one of those that believes if parents allow their kids to play video games, they need to make sure they know what the game is about and that it’s appropriate. The Video Game Rating system should help with some of this. This particular game is rated M for Mature which is described as: “MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
Here’s the thing though: despite the fact that the game had been rated 18+, the parent did buy it. I can imagine the kid making up some excuse for that (”these ratings are not right, it’s really not that violent”) so that he could play it anyway. After all, we’ve all been kids, right?