OFFICIAL: GTA IV Breaks Entertainment Records

Released on Tuesday, April 29th, Grand Theft Auto IV, the critically acclaimed video game, has sold through to consumers approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of approximately $310 million globally.

[Kleptic]

wow...

now if it does 3 times that it will top Titanic as the highest grossing entertainment product of all time...sadly, I don't think it has the legs to do it...

[Mikey Mike]

domestic sales. It will break 650 mill by the weekend. Titanic was the biggest blowhard movie of all time. I never saw the appeal!

[DomUltra]

Every chick out there obviously did though.

[Luca Blight]

READ before criticizing me...and please, only intelligent responses...

Great game, but I'm surprised that so many publications are so reluctant to criticize the game. I'm also confused as to why certain elements of the game like narrative and voice acting are praised. The narrative is nothing special and its delivery is even worse. I feel like I'm going to blow my brains out everytime I hear one of the NPCs talk - whether it's Mikael with his F-bombs every 2 seconds, Lil' Jacob with his generic Jamaican barely understandable accent, or guy who can't stop saying "The Streets" and "Yo, this is real" I can't help but think that the script and the voice actors were chosen by a panel of 15 year old teens. Granted, GTA is supposed to be comical and lighthearted, but come on - Give the audience a little more credit!

Furthermore, I think some reviewers in the pursuit of the "perfect score" overlooked deficiencies in the game just to give it a 10. The visuals are good, that's for sure, but a 10?! Are you kidding me? Do we totally excuse all its flaws just because the world is so open and seamless (which is a great technical feat I admit)? 8.5-9.5 I'd understand, but perfect in the visuals department is beyond me. If you ever have to cringe while looking at a game (every single time I watch a cutscene), it's not a 10. Despite being the worse game, I'd give Assassin's Creed a higher score in the graphics department than GTA4.

That being said, I really like GTA4. It's incredibly addicting and the gameplay is vastly improved over previous iterations. I even like how the vehicles handle (separates the skilled drivers from the posers)! I simply just cannot understand the glut of 10/10s when GTA4 is far from the perfect game (and I'm not against giving games perfect scores).

[Ikanago]

I think the game definitely has some flaws but that reviewers largely jumped on the "perfect 10 train" as they did with other titles like "Super Mario Galaxy" (though there's nothing wrong with this as reviews are subjective opinions anyways).

I personally find the graphics a bit blurry and the driving controls too floaty. Though, I've gotten used to both after hours of playing. Sometimes I get frustrated with the cover system, when Niko won't latch or unlatch from a certain point in the heat of battle. Also, to me, Niko sounds sorta like BORAT (lol).

I still think it's a great game though, but I agree with you that people shouldn't be pounced on if they have some criticisms with a game.

[EZCheez]

But I find comparing graphics in games are kind of tough. You almost have to keep your mind set in that specific genre. It's like comparing the graphics of GTA4 to Gears or Uncharted. We all know that those two blow away GTA4 in a purely technical graphics standpoint, but could the same graphics be achieved if they tried to create an open world like Liberty City?

Now while I know Assassin's Creed has a somewhat open world, was it to the same scale that GTA4 is? I ask because I never played A.C. but somehow I doubt it was this vast.

Anyway, the cutscenes do look like crap for the most part, but I think that's because they never actually try to go for the CG look. That's probably for the sake of not making the playable game look bad in comparison to the cutscenes though.

But what the game does do better than any other GTA before it is pull you into the scenes a little further by actually giving you chances to spare some people, and giving you the chance to flat out execute someone. It makes the game a little more personable, because you actually get to make the choice, and you also have to pay for the consequences.

I would give it a 9-9.5 overall.

I would give Rockstar a 10 for effort though.

[Luca Blight]

Ikanago, I did find the graphics a bit blurry as well, but I was more dismayed by was the blockiness and closeup shots which looked downright PS1-ish. I realize they have to sacrifice a lot when making the game as big as it is, but still...

EZCheez, it is hard to effectively judge visuals for a game of GTA4's scope, but I was surprised at the overwhelming consensus among media publications that this game deserved a perfect score in the graphics department. I mean even games like Uncharted received varied scores from 8.5-10 and people were saying it's the best looking next-gen game to date. I haven't heard many people (if any) say that about GTA4 but they still give it perfect marks (perhaps because giving it anything lower would affect the overall score [10/10] in some cases)?

I think we can look at AC, Saint's Row and Crackdown as a starting point for judging GTA4's visuals. That being said, I still think media outlets just fell in love with the hype too much. I mean X-Play was praising how Niko would stand with one leg bent if one was on the street and another was on the sidewalk (or a dead guy) - I know for a fact all these subtle animations were present in Assassin's Creed and executed better in that game too. Again, I like GTA4 a lot more than AC so I wouldn't give AC props when they weren't due.

Bubbles to both of you though.

[TitanUp]

who gives a crap what you think i sure don't i think gta 4 deserved 10s because it just offers so much content.

[Luca Blight]

I never criticized it for lack of content, but other games offer tons of depth as well - Disgaea for example.

[Alexander Roy]

Not cool. Everybody has the right to have their own opinion. Plus, he was talking about graphics and last time I checked graphics != content.

[schabeugen04]

Darn all this bickering let's be happy that a great game set a new record thanks to both ps3 & 360 owner!!! see how we both make our industry grow

[Toixer]

...they could make a sequel within a year.......or not^^

[cmrbe]

To rockstar. They deserve it.

[Nameless]

This game only made as much as it did due to the fact that it is on two systems. If this was a Playstation 3 exclusive the sales would not have touched or matched or even made it close to Halo 3's. Although congratulations Rockstar & thank you for the very first Grand Theft Auto game with a real multiplayer component

[EZCheez]

A lot of developers can't afford not to release multiplatform.

It's just good business sense when it costs so much to make a good game nowadays.

[jinn]

games r the king of entertainment