Grand Theft Auto IV released on 29.Apr.2008

PS3 comes with a HDMI outlet. I'd play it on a new computer monitor anyway. A good monitor with HDMI input will be better than your regular Plasma telly, (even if HD ready i would say). So instead of sitting on the sofa playing it on the big telly i'd put it into the monitor and have the best possible quality. No loss to to digital - analog conversion. So if you have - let's say a 22" monitor you'll fully enjoy it without the big plasma set.

amazon has everything btw.

Why don't u get a 360 for 199.99 and this game, a few of my mates are doing that just for this game!

Thanks guys, but I meant to say an LCD telly, is that not compatible with HDMI? Or am I just thinking HD? My computer is no good seeing as it's just an old laptop, and I want a big telly anyway! Nothing like kicking back on the couch and playing games / watching TV in style and comfort! As for getting an Xbox, well, I'm a bit unsure I must say...I've been a nintendo boy all my life, then switched to Playstation for the PS2, now to go to Xbox, it's a toughy...just worried about the range of games available on Xbox as opposed to PS. Are the game costs the same for both consoles?

at the minute the 360 has the best selection of games, and games that are on both consoles are usually better on it too as they are made for it first. Ps3 is getting better though! I've had the 360 for two years now and have had a blast. Both are great consoles though but I honestly think the 360 is the better of the two at present. I play it on a VGA LCD 22 inch monitor using the VGA cable,which looks great!

Game costs are pretty much the same for both consoles.

Gta iv is awesome, just been playing it online, its a real blast!

@blowwavedave

I’d honestly recommend spending a lot more time doing research. TVs and consoles are stupidly complicated now-a-days, so you should be sure you know exactly what you are (and more importantly, are not) getting when you buy.

For instance:
HDMI is a pure digital input method. Important question not to overlook: how many HDMI inputs will you need? (DVD player, XBox, Computer, PVR etc etc)
HD doesn’t really mean anything since there is “HD Ready� and “Full HD� Look into specifically what resolution and scanning method the TV has. 1080p being the best “full HD�

Then there is the console, just don’t get an Xbox without a hard drive. There really isn’t much on either platform that makes it a “must have�. PS3 has blu-ray, but higher definition DVDs are being met with a resounding “meh� by the marketplace. Xbox Live is brilliant, and great if your friends are online, but costs money.

Thanks for all your help guys. I've gotta really pull my finger out and do some research considering the money I'm going to spend, problem being that it's hard to know exactly what i'll need in the future. I guess if I can get a TV with a stupid amount of inputs, then that should help me as it'll give me more options when i buy unnecessary electrical equiptment later on! My mate from back home, who's really into everything electrical (well, not sure how much he knows about fridges) has recommended 4 brands for me, Sony, Sharp, Samsung or Phillips with a size of between 40-52 inches! Quite a bit of range in there i think. Also, as I'm moving apartments soon, don't know what my viewing distance will be, guessing 3 to 4 metres, so it's just so damn hard to choose one!
Thanks for the tip thefirelane with the 1080p, it's these little bits of info that i tend to need to know, but don't have a clue about. Any recommended websites to help with TV decisions?

I bought my GTA yesterday in the stores in Cologne. I just haven't settled down to play it yet.

One question: has anyone else noticed that Germany shelf/release dates for CDs/DVDs/Games are getting earlier than even the UK? I think it has to do with the truck delivery dates to the stores. Mind you, that's probably city-specific - don't even bother going to find something on a shelf in Essen - everything appears on the shelves about 2 days later than in Cologne.

It used to be Thursday was the big day for store deliveries, but now since most things are Mondays/Tuesdays, I have no idea. I guess German shelf stackers are urged to get stock onto shelves immediately. The stores usually don't have vast in-store Lagers/Stockrooms, and so there's nowhere to temporarily store things when a truck arrives, so they're forced to put it on the shelves (at least that was my experience as an Aushilfe in a dept store as a wee student...)

PS3 consoles: somebody mentioned prices. It varies, but you shouldn't pay more than €399 for the console. Or you can buy 2nd hand via http://www.gamestop.de/ (German division of EB games with 2nd hand like they do it in Oz)

WARNING: Some PS3 consoles are not backwards compatible with PS2 discs :-( (e.g 40 GB EU version) so consider that when buying

Lucky you, this month's Stiftung Warentest is dedicated to the these TVs

You can't even see the difference between 1080p and 1080i imo, this craps only complicated for the nerds who put forth lots of extra money and research for diminishing returns (Which I am often guilty of).. As long as you have a tv with a 1080 of some sort and an hdmi and component in you'll be fine.

Bloody DHL... that freakin thingie seems to be lost somewhere! Still don't have it on my desk and strongly doubt it will turn up at some point later this day... ah bugger...

Mine's not arrived either, so roll on Friday

Call the wahmbulance, Mr nerd cannot get his copy+power supply and possible xbox repair until his new bankcard arrives and grants access to my currently inaccessible riches. Stupid munich airport travelators... these consoles break easily enough without luggage collisions.

Anyway, is anyone in the know about whether the copy of gta IV sold round these parts is compatible with the ntsc-j consoles? (I purchased one of the 3 that have been sold in Japan!) I know the asian version of GTAIV works with PAL and NTSC(Japan/asia) machines, but not the US device. If the PAL version sold here is just as forgiving about the ntsc(j) console I´ll grab that from down the road and have the security of being able to take it back to the store if I get a bad disc, which has happened to me when ordering from hong kong and it`s a pain in the parrallel port.

It´s a long shot to ask here, but worth a try since there apears to be a number of similar nomadic game players in these parts, and the industry and associated bloggosphere seems to ignore my requests for information on important details such as these.

News from the Daily Show

Yes, it was. OK, there were whores, every 3rd word of the dialog was fuck or nigga, but it WAS censored. In the UK version, you could kick, shoot, punch dead bodies. German versions did not allow that. Actually made combat easier, because you only cycled through live targets. also in the Gerry version, if you killed somebody, they never dropped cash, unlike the uncensored copy.
another thing they changed in San Andreas for Germany was the headshot animations. You could not decapitate somebody and see spurts of blood for example.

To add to the confusion of the different versions. Several shops on Schillerstrasse in Munich were selling the Austrian/Swiss edition of previous versions (GTA III, GTA San Andreas) of the game, which let you collect money from killing people. So if you picked up from the right shop you had the uncensored version. Dialog was in English, but packaging in German, and German subtitles were available.

Still waiting for an authoritative answer on GTA IV (of course I don't own a console that can run it).

Well, Gerry version does not seem censored to me. I just mugged some bloke by an ATM, and he left cash on the floor, and I also shot a stripper in the arse, and she bled.
According to a variety of news sources, this means I should now go outside and do exactly the same in real life, because apparently its almost impossible for the human mind to separate reality from a computer game. Can't be done. In fact, almost all crime committed in the last 10 years or so was caused directly by the GTA series.
Interesting that nobody ever wanted Microsoft Flight Simulator banned, even though you could use it to learn how to crash planes into big towers. Pair of tits in a game though? The "N" word? Guns made from pixels? Aaaah! Horror! Won't somebody please think of the children!

Video games today aren't like they use to be in my day.

I've got an American Xbox 360, and currently I have the 3 red lights of doom flashing at me. Does anyone here also have a American Xbox and was able to send theirs in for repairs from here?

Probably cheaper to just mod it and replaced the cd drive, youll get to play euro games after that too.

OK, DHL is gotta be the most annoying company in the whole lot of Germany. When today, just leaving the house, I asked the DHL guy, who was standing with his mighty yellow machine on the street in front of my building, if he has a delivery for me, he looked into his computery thingie and went "no". Just checked online and it now states I wasn't home today... maybe I shouldn't have bothered askin that young friendly man while he was sitting in his DHL lorry in the sunshine, feet up the dashboard and BILD in his hands... So I'm still without my bloody copy and I won't be able to get it tomorrow, since I have to get up and leave at times where Mr. & Mrs. DHL are still not freakin awake... I know it's only a game...

you bunch of suckers must be a market department's dream - a bit of blood and something mildly "risque" as well as a bit of thratened censorship and you all become a bunch of 15 years old...

not sure if I'm more amazed by the rush for this or Harry Potter

Am I being dense... how do you go onto live with this game?

Answer: single player first, then start your cellphone... that is dumb!

Got the sucka, thanks to whoever posted the mediamarkt tip. German version goes great on the ntsc-japan console, which hates the tv´s here but the pc monitor does the trick. Would have liked the english manual but UK ed. was very expensive near hauptbanhof and with no return policy.

And Boomtown, maybe that is true for some but it`s not all of us. I for one play gardening simulators, puzzle games, management sims, straight up shooters, sci fi rts and dozens of other genres, many devoid of breast or blood. This game is done well and people should give it a go if they are at all interested in good game design regardless of prior experience with the series and the taboo assosciated with it. An episode of the sopranos probably has more swearing and exposed internal organs per minute than this piece of software, unless one is inclined to search such things out.

'Zactly. While I'm sure Beavis and Butthead are playing the game for the boobs and fire, the GTA series is one of the few that offers a huge interactive world to explore, with creative solutions available in many missions. For example, I remember in Vice City you're given the task to assassinate someone (with armed bodyguards) on a golf course. Trouble is, if you just walk in, your weapons are confiscated. It's still possible to complete the mission this way, *or* you can find and steal a helicopter, land it inside the golf course, and still be fully armed. Now that I check GameFAQs, there are even more interesting solutions to the same mission, like leaving a car rigged with a bomb at the entrance to the golf course, which your target will run to after you attack him. In some ways, GTA is more similar to a good game of tabletop D&D than is Baldur's Gate or any other RPG.

And then there's the simple joy of getting a motorcycle and finding the best ramps to jump off of...

Yeah, like that mission where you have to steal the Camaro from that beholder..

Woah a lotta Munich gamers here, we should meet up and get pissed. None of my friends here play video games that much, the ones that do, do not own a 360. I got all 3, but it is hard to get some people to get together, get ripped and play video games!!!

I do not care where, we could just go get shitfaced at a cocktail bar, then at least we know the people we play online against.

My gamer tag is Brennzky, as is my PSN name.

Good man.

Of course, the chances of me ever going into town outside of office hours are approximately zero, but still, your attitude is commendable. Gaming with people you've actually met is infinitely better.

Hey thats good idea, I'd be up for that! Xbox Live Gamertag is: "Heeeres Pete".

Ok I will try and set up a time on a friday evening, and see what happens. Check out the Meetups in Munich Board and i will post a meet up sooner or later.

So apparently it's made $500 million in one week. Incredible.

I just played this for the first time the other day at my brother's place (he got the XBox 360 / GTA4 bundle when it was released), and it looked really nice. I have to go back to his place more regularly now to learn not to run the car into walls and other cars. Or convince him that he really wants to give me his XBox. Also played the LEGO Star Wars game and a demo of Sonic (of Sega), haha, I remember playing that when I was little at a friend's place (parents never let us have our own gaming console, I have still never owned one to date, my brother now has a PS2 and XBox 360).
Anyway, I am really impressed with the graphics of GTA4.