Its what turned me off of video games. I don't want a movie I just want to turn on the machine and have some action.

I don't need cut scenes. I AM A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO RESCUE THE PRESIDENT!

Nico's storyline kind of pulled me in, luis is a great character but I didnt care for the plot of his campaign, but Johnny... johnny and that whole storyline was fucking amazing and perfect for GTA. If they keep that energy up for Trevor's storyline? Oh man. I already know who my favorite is.

If you haven't installed the native trainer, you haven't played gta4 at all.

I shouldn't need to install shit for a game to actually be fun. The last GTA I actually had fun playing was Vice City. Show me a follow up to THAT, and you'll have my attention.

I kind of like pretending that Michael is actually just an older Tommy Vercetti and that this is a continuation of Vice City.

If you havent had fun on san andreas that's your problem, and makes you beyond saving

San Andreas was just so... bloated. You spent the first several hours getting haircuts and playing dress up. They stuck your home base in literally the hardest part of the starting area to get to, and when you finally did power through all that shit, they send you to the desert. It wasn't until like more than halfway through the game that it even started to feel fun, and then promptly stopped again at the end with that whole turf wars system that Saints Row 2 had the decency to let you ignore entirely.

Sure, it was fun if you turned on cheats, and had some fun missions here and there, but the actual game was terribly paced at best. At least it wasn't 4 though, I'll give you that.

Upon reflection, I agree with you about the starting area, what with sticking CJ's house in a cul-de-sac where the only real way to escape back there was by squeezing your car through a tiny pathway.

But I loved playing dress up! When CJ was banished to the boonies I decked him out in a cowboy hat, black muscle shirt and boots. Like a gangsta Darius Rucker, yo!

GTA IV was the weakest entry in the series, and I still had enough fun plowing into crowds of people doing Tai Chi in Central Park with an Escalade while listening to Fela Kuti.

Both expansions for GTAIV were a modest improvement.

This looks brilliant.

Any protagonist that looks like Harvey Pekar is okay by me.

I think drunken violent slobs always make the best protagonists.

I wonder if one of Michael's missions is keeping Trevor away from his daughter?

Sounds like you need Waitmate!

Read '"Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto" by David Kushner. If I'm remembering right, Sam Houser and friends became jaded after DMA/Rockstar hit major success and the boys had to run it like a soul-straining business instead of the fun after school-ish programmer's club they'd originally founded. Also Houser no longer wants the games to be silly frat house arcade crime sprees. Now he wants nothing short of realistic virtual reality.

This, though...the trailer alone makes it look like a throwback to the good ol' PS2 days, and that's a good thing. I'll have to stick with the words of friends and user comments, though. The professional reviews are most definitely going to be a buffet of open mouths for sloppy blowjobs. Slurp, slurp, GAME OF THE YEAR, sllurp, gulp.

Spoiler:

Both "Vice City" and "San Andreas" (the two out of the three you listed that I made it all the way through) end with your main character basking in the glory of being a multimillionaire with the entire city under his control. After the end credits, your character gets a bunch of phone calls from the side-characters/mission givers where they explain what they're up to. If there aren't any side missions left to play it's all free-roam.

Generic, maybe, but it was always fun getting there.
How dare you, etc.