Cool. Sadly I'll be waiting till the end of the week to pick it up, but at least I'll have the MGO beta to keep me company.

Just hope the internet doesn't go on a spoiler barrage soon. -_-

Good to see it being very popular with the overnight releases, I myself picked one up here at the us army base in korea after school, which is close to midnight launch in the US.

Maybe it'll be patched by the time the last guy in line gets his discs?

I'm not buying right away, and I'm glad since I hear that its having the same freezing issues that Bully has. Yay beta-testers.

Wait. You mean to tell me there's a new Grand Theft Auto?

Last night where I live was hilarious. It's this little town in Yorkshire (UK) and it's usually full of old people, business types in suits and rich kids with too much money... Last night though! It was like all of the me's in the world had descended on Asda and Gamestation. No one was being mean to each other, getting in fights, flashing their money (like a usual late night in town), everyone had the same reason to be there: GTA IV. Who says this game breeds violence. I say it brings people together!

When I picked mine up at midnight they were selling mad amounts of PS3s at the same time, didn't see a single 360 sold. Funny how bullshit analyists can actually sometimes predict correctly! Oh also the PS3 Special Editions were all pre-order sold out and the 360 version had a huge pyramid built made out of them that barely anyone was picking up.

I waited at Target for almost 2 hours, and I was the only one in line. I had preordered it 4 months ago, but heard rumors that Target ordered their stock based on guesswork, not the amount of preorders.

Did I mention I was the only one in line? Pure win.

lol @ the Oklahoma pic

That's puny! More people wait in line for pokemon in Japan ... and I don't know why.

@Magic Emperor Anima: *whisper* Niko gets raped by a monkey looking for cocaine laced bananas right at the end, if you've done the combinations of missions and 'side quests', oh, and leveled to 80 :)

Here is my GTA story: I looked at a calendar and realized that I was going to be away this past weekend, and GTA was coming out this past weekend as well. "Crap" says I, especially since I had thought it was coming out today. But since I had Amazon gift certificates saved up, I could buy it online and overnight it and STILL pay less then I'd pay in a store. So I did that and looked forward to playing it this past Monday.

About an hour later I realized my calendar was on the wrong month since I had been doing some scheduling, but my copy of GTA was already paid for, and it shows up today. So I'm an idiot, but since it's been raining all day I can't say I'm disappointed I won't need to drive through the pouring rain and wait in line for a video game today. Maybe next time!

Man...mass hysteria is hilarious. People are pure sheep.

Seems the PS3 version is doing well. Went to my local Tescos eariler and they were sold out. There was still two 360 games on the shelf.

This reminds me of Halo 3, Smash Bros. Brawl, or any big name release.

Massive lines at midnight...and then you could trot into a store at 6pm on launch day and find 100s of copies just sitting around.

And yes, I did go to the midnight launch for Brawl and MKWii (as well as GHIII). Not because I didn't think I'd be able to find it, but rather because I wanted to get some quick playtime in that evening.

But a Tuesday midnight launch for a readily availbale title? Eh. I'd have work in the morning, and despite even my own questionable ethics at time I'm not taking a day off for a game release.

I might end up getting this later today. I have a feeling it won't be tough to find.

@Bon5ai: I don't see why that's any surprise. I would wager most people who wanted a 360 for a big name title would've picked one up at any point between Gears, Bioshock, or Halo 3.

Not to mention the year headstart the 360 had as far as building an install base.

Did Kotaku punk the first shot from Getty Images? o_O

I just wanted to find a place to comment about Brian's interview/discussion on x-play about GTA4... if you've got DVR or catch it on rerun after they talk about the hot coffee mod, Brian acidentally trips up and says Gran Turismo 4 instead of Grand Theft Auto 4... just had to say something =P

@Tyber_Zann: Is it a line if you're the only one? I think lines need at least two points ;)

@TRT-X: I think Call of Duty can go on that list as well. I bought mine for 360, not in the mood for two systems any longer. But ppl have definitely been waiting for this to come out to finally buy their ps3. Either way Rockstar wins.

Over here in Malaysia, alot of the game shops have pushed the launch date to tomorrow due to supplier delays for the PS3. The Xbox 360 version was out in time.

@HëתV°|†: He knows and proposed a drinking game based on it :p
A clip was posted earlier right here on Kotaku.

It's still no Halo 3 launch. I mean Bill shutdown a NY street for the game. And better yet Master Chief showed up all pop and circumstancy.

This is a lame launch.

I got fuzzy dice for free with GTA from Best Buy! I never realized how much I wanted fuzzy dice for my car. Coolest freebie I've gotten in a while.

@TRT-X: He was saying that GTA3 wasn't selling at all for the 360 in his area. First-hand accounts can be useful, but they are so localized it's probably better to see the big numbers come in. I'm going to guess nationwide a 50/50 split, but who knows?

I think you're right in your other comment that the days of needing to hit the midnight launch for a hot title are pretty much over. If there is any doubt I just order the title online, but the only title I had any trouble with waltzing into a store and buying recently was Bioshock, and I was STILL able to find it the day I wanted to pick it up. I just had to check a couple of stores. (I have a bunch of stores near me that sell video games within a half mile of each other, so it's not even like I'm driving all over town to check the different stores.)

@The Bigger Unit: Yeah, look at all the people standing in line at the movies! They are all fools. And in line to go to a popular restaurant! Like complacent herds of cattle.

Seriously, if you consider seeing pictures of folks standing in line to buy something they want to be mass hysteria, you might need to readjust your views of the world ever so slightly.

@Monster Chalk: Nothing compares to Monster Hunter Launches in Japan, That shit be the stuff legends are made out of.

still waiting on the overnight shipping :'(

Walked into Circuit City shortly after 10 am, waited probably 90 seconds in line (which for Circuit City is f'ing amazing) and got a free $10 gift card on top of it. Never even considered standing in line.

They said the 360 version was outselling the PS3 version by a pretty wide margin, but it's not like that's surprising.

@NateN: Yeah, look at all the people standing in line at the movies! They are all fools. And in line to go to a popular restaurant! Like complacent herds of cattle.

I know you're busting out some ever-so-witty sarcasm there, but yeah. You're pretty much right. That stuff isn't going anywhere. Neither is GTA IV.

Suckaz! :)

Walked into the Virgin Megastore on my way to work this morning, picked up a copy from the table right in front of the store, no line at the register, paid and left. While I was at the register, I asked how much they were selling the SE's stacked behind the counter for. No pre-order necessary. I didn't buy one, but was just curious.

I was in and out fast enough to still make it to work on time.

This pre-ordering and/or standing in line nonsense is a bunch of bullshit. Don't believe the hype, guys. There's always plenty of copies of any game out there when it's first released.

@KaneRobot: Well, I think midnight launches are a bit silly, but I think calling it "mass hysteria" and the people who do it "sheep" is going overboard by the poster I was replying to. If someone is excited about a game or a movie and wants to stand in a long line to be one of the first folks to play the game or see the movie, good for them! They are doing something they want to do!

I've gone shopping on a Black Friday and that is a hell of a lot closer to mass hysteria then this. (I did it once. I'll NEVER do it again. :-P)

I preordered my copy, but that was only to get a free 3 month Live subscription.

@badasscat: Yeah, that's what I said as well.

Look who's sitting at home with no GTAIV because of that logic. :(

What applies in your town, does not apply everywhere. Some places there's a rush, some others not so much.

After standing online for hours during the last few releases, I decided to try something new this time around and show up after midnight to avoid the line.

Got there at 12:25 and still didn't get out of the store until just after 1am. (for some reason, they only had one register going) - Next time, I'll show up at 12:45.

An actual conversation last night:

Me: "This will be my second line"
Friend: "What are you talking about? There are lines everywhere, for everything."
Me: "Well..the second line I want to stand in."

The weather here in Onatio, Canada has been incredibly nice for a while now, but for some damn reason, Mother Nature saw fit to bring last night's temperature down to near zero. Not the best time to be standing in line outside Best Buy.
Our line was semi-interesting if only to laugh at the X-Box Team in their funny police hats as they tried to "arrest people" with connections to Niko Bellic.

@hondo: It would appear so. Doubly funny due to the recent posts about Okami and IGN.

I'm waiting right now for the UPS truck. Amazon shipped it over night for 4 bucks and I got 25 bucks off the CE. Ah the internet how I love you.

I lined up this morning - waited about....20-25 minutes. Not too bad.

The EB Games at the Oshawa Centre was *not* IDing at all.

Underage gamers, go get your copies at EB Games in Oshawa!

Egh. Didn't come in today. Figures.

Oh man my midnight release was fun. The cops showed up to ask us if we wanted to play some real life GTA.

@Bon5ai:

That's just your experience.

In my line, it was fairly evenly split between 360 and PS3 versions.

The interesting thing is that 5 of us owned both PS3's and 360's, and ALL 5 of us that had a "choice" (because we do own both consoles) were buying the 360 version.

That one store with the chalk outline is the BEST! =) Funny stuff.

Scotland Asda! :D

Bought mine at Game Stop last night. Games like this (high profile, midnight releases) are the only time I set foot in those stores. For all other games I choose Best Buy, but the one by my house NEVER opens for 12am releases.

Wasn't that bad about 40 people in line when I first got there at 11:30 by the time 12am rolled around there was literally a line wrapped around the corner from where it previous ended (behind me). Got my game, went home and played until 7am with work at 1pm.

Game is good, took me for a loop (GTA IN NEXT-GEN!!!), but I'm getting the hang of it, I'll pry play through it, and then start over again.

The lines I saw at the stores (Best Buy, GameStop etc.) in my area were way bigger than for Halo 3.

at my best buy in NY there was a minuscule line, but unfortunately it was the CSR line. Only 2 registers open, and unfortunately the 2 people ahead of me weren't there for GTA4 but to return crap that was a) broken upon using it or b) a 60 gig ipod that should have been an 80 gig. Needless to say I was next in line for a good 30 minutes

I went this morning to buy it at the Walmart crossing the border....its in a small town in CA but populations from both cities is around a million.....anyway, i get there scared that there might not be a game and what i see, like 20 or 30 in the shell...AS USUAL!!!
I don't know why Gamespot makes it all hard and make it look as if everyone in the world wants the game.
I don't understand people reserving their copy when you can just walk in at Walmart and get your copy with no hustle, lol.

Btw, there were plenty of Kart Wii copies too :oD

11:30 p.m.:
Went to our local GS and saw line block and half long. Said "fuck it" and went to eat.
12:25 a.m.:
Went back, no line, walked in, bought the game ftw.

Should have gone to GAMETRADERS ROBINA

I was at a midnight launch in Queens NY. The line wrapped around the corner, and everyone was excited and talking about the game.

At one point, an NYPD patrol car drove by and blared over the loudspeaker "GO HOME AND PLAY CALL OF DUTY 4, I REPEAT GO HOME AND PLAY CALL OF DUTY 4" Priceless.

I found it all quite funny. Yesteryda (29th) around mid day I just logged onto argos.co.uk, selected the game, chose to do pick up from store, and just collected it after work last night. Plenty of copies at most the argos stores as originally I reserved at another store. :) This is what I do for all release day games as people seem to forget that Argos sell games too. :) No ques, no pre orders, just nice shiny game in moments on way home... on launch day! :)

Anyone still looking for a copy in the UK should give Argos.co.uk a try. ;)