:. GTA IV: A Saga of Freezing

GTA IV: A Saga of Freezing In May, 2008 Annetta and I finally took the plunge and joined the new generation of gaming systems and home entertainment by buying a Playstation 3! To start our new adventures in modern entertainment off with a bang, I bought several games the same day. One of which was Grand Theft Auto IV. In fact, GTA IV was one of the clinchers of the deal for me, and the reason we got a PS3 when we did. Imagine my disappointment when I fired it up for the first time and discovered...that it was unplayable. Oh, the game itself is fine, a worthy addition to the GTA franchise. But it kept freezing every time I tried to play it! I would sometimes manage to get past the opening cinematic and play for a minute or two, but WHAM! IT wouldn't let me get any farther than that without completely locking up. Scouring the Playstation forums for answers, it seemed a lot, no, a LOT of people were having the same issue. And it wasn't just occuring on the PS3. Many XBox 360 users were experiencing the same problem. Clearly the game had been released with a MAJOR bug which was affecting a large number of console owners. The odd thing was, it didn't happen to EVERYONE, only a select few. There didn't seem to be any rhyme, reason, or discernable pattern to the problem. Below you will find the whole sordid saga as I documented it at the time on my YouTube page. Experience the excitement, the pain, the heartache, and the frustration as I tried to find a solution to the problem just so I could play my dang game... Chapter One May 21, 2008 - The New Toy Chapter Two June 24, 2008 - GTA IV: Still Freezing Chapter Three July 9, 2008 - The Coffin Has Arrived Chapter Four July 30, 2008 - It's BACK! Now, before anyone asks, the problem that plagued me and others with GTA IV is no longer an issue. If you have a PS3 or 360 manufactured AFTER May, 2008 then you should be fine. Plus, Rockstar did, in the end, release a patch (MONTHS later) that apparently fixed the issue on most of the remaining affected machines. So, in the end, it all worked out and I had a great time FINALY being able to play the game I'd bought my PS3 for in the first place. Did I enjoy it? Hellz yeah! While it was quite different from the previous installments in the GTA series (and lacking many of the features that people liked in San Andreas), I thought it was a good "fresh start" for the series on the new platforms. Hopefully the next one will actually WORK when it's released... Want to have any of the DVDs, Blu-rays, Games or anything else reviewed or discussed in the Multimedia Chronicles for your own collection? You can buy most of 'em right here! Use the search box below to check amazon for the availablity of whichever titles you're interested in. I get a few pennies for your purchase, which goes toward helping to keep this site running and helping to fund future video productions. Your support is greatly appreciated.