Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics - GTA IV tracks more numbers than an official MLB statistician. Keeping with that tradition, here are a few of my own stats after playing the game for almost 2 weeks..
Odds your wife/girlfriend will get sick of your GTA IV addiction: 90% - If you ask my wife, this might be higher but I'm going to go conservative because I'd like to think I haven't ticked her off that much yet. Although I have heard the words, "I'm tired of the sound of guns shooting," a lot more than I did the last time I became obsessed with a game, but I'm over my Halo 3 crush now.
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Number of times I've ignored the waypoints in order to get to a destination quicker: 35 - Liberty City is a large place so the new waypoint system (stolen from Saints Row) is great, but why in the world does it follow the rules of the road? Following the yellow or green line to a destination will often make me avoid one way streets. This is GTA right? Do you think I care if I drive down a one way street?
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Times the line between the GTA world and reality have been blurred: 3 - You play enough Grand Theft Auto, especially for an extended period of time, and then quit to go out to run an errand and your brain starts getting confused. You see a taxi and think about getting a ride to a safehouse. You sit at stoplight and start thinking, "What the heck am I waiting for? I should just run this thing." You see ramp and think about jumping it. Sure signs that its time to unplug for awhile.
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Number of times I've wished for a custom radio station: 27 - As good as the music in this game is, it seems to repeat quite a bit. So does the dialogue on many of the radio stations. I do like hearing about my exploits on the news reports and the commercials are a riot but I'm tired of listening to the same songs by Phil Collins and Kanye West. Give me a damn custom radio station!
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Hours taken to master the splashy driving controls - Lets see, the game has been out 13 days. I've played GTA an average of 2 hours a day. So that puts me at about 26 hours. So the answer is around 20 hours. Although I'm not confident enough to do any of the single player races yet.
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Number of times I've laughed out loud: 78 - Between the commercials, the in-game dialogue, the billboards, the names of the stores, and the random comments from NPC's just walking on the street, this could be the funniest game I've played since Blasto.
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Signs that gaming is reaching mainstream audiences: 3 (at least) - GTA parodies have popped up on Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson and Saturday Night Live, and those are just the ones that I've seen myself. When even non-gamers are getting gaming jokes, you know its a pop culture phenomenon. Of course this is the exception not the rule when it comes to games. Don't count on seeing PixelJunk Monster parodies any time soon.
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