GTA IV is new king of Xbox Live hill
by Justin McElroy 
{ May 6th 2008 at 2:30PM }
To anyone who's grown accustomed to their friends list just being a solid column of "GTA IV" this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. But we'll be interested to see if the game's multiplayer can help it hang on in the charts even after fans start finishing Niko's story en masse.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
karmaghost @ May 6th 2008 2:38PM
GTA IV on Live is wrought with lag; there's just too much going on and it just can't handle it. I love the game to death, but there's just so many technical issues and game mechanic difficulties to make it much fun for me. I've all but given up on it.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 6th 2008 2:39PM
Really? matches run pretty smooth throughout the whole time. Only time it lags is when a player enters the game.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 6th 2008 2:39PM
Whenever I'm on live I mean.
arrrgh @ May 6th 2008 2:44PM
same. I haven't seen any GTA lag yet...idunno
miyagi @ May 6th 2008 2:54PM
Agreed on the posters above. I've been playing GTA just about everynight since release online and it's been very smooth. Only a few hits here and there but they are rare.
svenhoek @ May 7th 2008 2:32PM
Get new internets homie, mine is like everyone elses, runs perfect 95.6% of the time.
Thats the exact number btw
fulci zombi @ May 6th 2008 3:28PM
eh? it runs smooth as hell on live, remember it's peer to peer, so it's either you or your fellow players having a crap connection. I've had one tiny moment of lag when my wife started downloading something on the laptop.
karmaghost @ May 6th 2008 3:54PM
Well, I'm both glad and sad to hear other people aren't sharing in my problems. Every other Live game I play doesn't seem to have these issues and my internet connection and NAT settings are excellent. When I mean "lag," specifically I mean when I hit a person or vehicle in GTA, often times it will initially look like I've sent them flying, only to have them appear right next to me as if I hadn't done anything. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about.
Also, when I mention mechanics and gameplay, I'm referring to things like, if you're in the middle of an incredibly intense firefight and you want to jump into a car, you SPRINT towards the driver's side, hit Y and your character nonchalantly walks over to the door, casually sits down, closes the door and starts the engine as if bullets aren't pummeling his face.
I haven't given up all hope yet; I'm still giving it a go, but there's a whole list of issues I have with GTA multiplayer and I'm not going to list them all here. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it, at least.
kagai @ May 6th 2008 4:32PM
Actually, there are numerous threads on Xbox.com in regards to multiplayer problems with GTA IV. My particular problem is that I continually get dumped back to single player with a disconnected from server error or, I get into a game and get booted out, or I get into a game and everyone else gets booted out. I have yet to play a single game of multiplayer.
I can play other online games just fine, but not GTA IV. We are a minority, but it is happening and it does suck. Hopefully, Rockstar/MS will either release a patch or fix whatever server end problem some users are having.
Tiptup300 @ May 6th 2008 8:18PM
I have bad bandwidth with ok latency and I played a 16 player match smooth as butter.
Figman @ May 6th 2008 2:40PM
Well this isn't really suprising, i'm the only gamer I know not playing the game. I got the RRoD last week
Damm you Microsoft!!
Wilhelm @ May 6th 2008 7:20PM
Sure it did. You probably don't even have a 360.
HighFiveJesus @ May 6th 2008 2:40PM
Looking forward to see Hank Hill's face put into that picture some how by a fellow commenter.
Microswirl @ May 6th 2008 2:43PM
This game is World of Warcraft with guns. Is it any surprise it took the top spot on XBL?
arrrgh @ May 6th 2008 2:45PM
minus teh ghey of course
wow is dwarfingly lame
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 6th 2008 2:45PM
.........
Wait so I can driveby a group of orcs in GTAIV?
FUCKING SWEET!!!
syrik zero @ May 6th 2008 3:04PM
Hey arrrgh, that was awesome. I agree in the fullest
xFenixKnightx @ May 6th 2008 2:50PM
Online is OK, dont think it will really last more than a month or 2. COD4 will be back up there no doubt. My friends list is always split between GTAIV, COD4 and sometimes sprinkled with some Gears :P
Vcize @ May 6th 2008 3:18PM
You're welcome for the Gears sprinkles. ;)
xFenixKnightx @ May 6th 2008 3:41PM
LOL, yeah you and my buddy Joe78 play Gears. Hes so close to his Seriously achievement that he can taste it. Hope it doesnt glitch on him haha! I try to get on there every once in a while but Im freaken rusty =) Also, it just amazes me how even with Gears supposedly lag, glitching, host advantage people still play it to this day. Its because its awesome and way diff than any other MP game out there. Theres nothing sweeter than you being last man standing on your team and taking out 3 or 2 of the other team ending it with a headshot or curbstomp for the win. You get back in the lobby talking smack =) That game just gets your adrenaline pumping haha!
Vcize @ May 6th 2008 5:47PM
Yep, that pretty much epitomizes the awesomeness of Gears.
Platinum_Skeet @ May 7th 2008 7:15AM
Mafiya Work 4v4v4v4 beats Gears Of War anyday.
PojoMofo @ May 6th 2008 2:51PM
Best. Photoshop. Ever. Confirmed.
FOXHOUND @ May 6th 2008 3:17PM
photoshop? bah! too expensive and long to download pirated! ms paint, homey.
rTwelve @ May 6th 2008 4:28PM
over 9000 hours in mspaint
Deric Lee @ May 6th 2008 3:04PM
The game runs fine for me online, the only problem I have is that it's just not that good online.
The shooting is lacklustre at best, the driving is, well, the driving and additional game play elements really don't lend to a tight, balanced, online experiance.
I applaude them for all the options and freedom and such, but ultimately when it comes to multi-player I find myself(along with my friends) going back to COD4 again and again.
GTA IV Single play game is the tits though.
Drago Dracini @ May 6th 2008 3:07PM
Well, it does deserve a spot in the top 3 for sure. But It's the sort of game you play with friends more than in ranked games.
Vcize @ May 6th 2008 3:19PM
This list includes any game played while signed into XBL, so playing single player while signed into Live counts towards these rankings as well.
I highly doubt more people are playing GTAIV multiplayer than CoD4 or Halo 3 multiplayers at this point, but there are certainly way more people playing total (single and multiplayer), which I doubt surprises anyone.
Evan @ May 6th 2008 5:16PM
This is correct and was talked about by Major Nelson on his podcast. Many sites keep making this mistake when creating posts about the top xbl games. PLEASE STOP SAYING WHETHER OR NOT GTA'S MULTIPLAYER CAN KEEP IT ON TOP. IT'S NOT BASED ON MULTIPLAYER, IT'S BASED ON HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PLAYING WHILE LOGGED INTO LIVE, SINGLE OR MULTI.
Grindstone @ May 6th 2008 3:29PM
Is this indicative of people playing the XBL aspect of GTA4, or just people logged onto XBL but still playing the SP mode? Because last night we had three buddies online who stopped playing GTA4 SP mode to join us in COD4 online.
Mike @ May 6th 2008 4:07PM
I've yet to go online. Story is too good.
PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ May 7th 2008 12:43PM
ive yet to go online, my internet sucks.
story is great though so im not really disappointed.
Alex @ May 6th 2008 4:13PM
Top spot?
Wow. Never saw that coming...
/sarcasm.
mike @ May 6th 2008 4:39PM
Trust me theres more people in this on the multiplayer then cod4 and halo 3 multi. HAve you tried joing a game? Join any of the 10 or so gametypes and 16 players fill them instantly, at all hours of the day. Fasteer then anything with halo 3 and cod4.
NumberXII @ May 6th 2008 5:37PM
GTA online kicks ass!
Kuro @ May 6th 2008 6:50PM
I can rarely ever get a full game going. Maybe everyone's playing story while on Live? There needs to be a log out of Live feature without signing out of your Gamertag....
drun @ May 7th 2008 12:13AM
still waiting for my copy to arrive :(