If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that I've been pretty excited about Grand Theft Auto 4. Actually, looking back on my posts, I guess I haven't written about it all that much, but you can attribute that to my intentional avoidance of all things that might reveal too much about the game to me. Yes, I want to go in with a completely fresh view of the game. To my credit, I have been talking up the game something fierce to my friends (in the hopes of having some fun people to play online with), and I went out and pre-ordered the game at my local GameStop last week.
Last night, the game went up for sale at midnight. I'd been debating on whether or not I wanted to go out and pick it up then, and finally I decided I'd just drive by the store and see how many people there were. If the line was huge, I'd simply turn around and leave; I normally have to get up for work around 6:15 AM, so waiting in line for an hour and then only playing for a few minutes is out of the question.
When I rolled by the store, I felt my judgment give way to temptation. The line looked about 50-60 long, but my gamer lust rationalized that each person in line would be anxious to the get the game, and would thus spend as little time as possible at the register. I got out of my car, and stood behind the last guy in line. After a moment I decided I'd check my wallet to see if I even had my pre-order receipt with me (even though I'm pretty sure GameStop will honor the pre-order regardless).
It was at this time that the man in front of me finished a drag on his cigarette and turned around.
"If you haven't been here since 5, you've got to go inside and exchange your receipt for a second receipt." These are the words he said to me.
"Really?" I stammered. The prospect of having to wait in not just one huge line, but now another was not something I wanted to think about. Confusion and fury were gripping me.
"Yup," came the smoking man's reply.
I took a step out of line to survey the scene, and then my judgment got a better grip on me again. If I waited in line here for an hour, I'd barely have any time to play when I got home. I'd go to sleep late, get up early, and be too tired the next day to work efficiently and, more importantly, enjoy some GTA4.
"I think this line's a bit too long for me," I muttered, and I turned and left. 60 man line and second receipts be damned - I'll be picking up my copy this afternoon on my way home from work.
8 Comments
I wish I would be able to play this, or even get it for my PC, which is historic. My PC is from ’01.
I just heading down to our local BigW store today to pick myself up a copy for the xbox360. I rang them earlier and the told me they have plently of copies avaliable, I was very happy to hear that, then when I asked the price they said it was only $78AUD, this made me jump for joy because other game retailers have been advertising the game from anywhere between $112-$120AUD so I’m extreamly happy that I will also be getting this game at a bargin price.
Can’t wait to be emersed once again in quality game……..Then go cause some havok in the online mode :D
Great read once again Fred.
Thanks, and yeah – it’s a pretty awesome game so far, I’d definitely recommend it. A buddy of mine and I played some online last night, and though we had a few minor connection issues, everything that worked well was great fun.
As I mentioned in a post on the GMC, Rockstar really re-invented GTA with GTA4, and they seems to have pushed the whole concept that much closer to a “perfect” game. I’ll be enjoying this one for months and months, I think.
For all that I’ve read about GTA4, I’ll most definitely buy it, but since I don’t own a 360 nor a PS3, I’ll just wait for the PC version.
Sorry for the “double-comment” but can we expect a review from you in the near future?
Sure – I was actually planning on doing a little write-up soon, but I haven’t had a chance to play enough of the game to gather enough early thoughts, and make a decent write-up. Expect it within the next few days. :)
*intense jealousy*
GTA = yummy. Played it at the Maker Faire on Xbox and it was awesome. As a programmer, the thing that really stood out to me was the AI for the citizens . . . although they did act a little stupid (especially cops), the responses were well thought-out. Every situation has a reaction, from taking a gangster’s car to driving down the street at 50 mph with an old guy hanging onto the door handle. Not to mention having an entire city rendered at once was beautiful.