It’s tough representing 0.00000000001% of the gaming population.  Yep, I haven’t preordered GTA IV yet.  Nor am I planning to.  Further to this, I might not even buy the game on the week of release.  What’s the date again…?  You see my point.

It’s simply not cool not to be excited about GTA IV.  You might as well slap a “LOSER” sticker on your forehead and go away to play with your imaginary friends.  It’s not that I don’t like the series or hold anything against it.  I simply drifted off after the first GTA (yes, the 2D one) and never really drifted back.  Like a Cliff Richard fan at a Slipknot concert, I just don’t GET IT. 

Normally this kind of thing wouldn’t bug me, but it’s sad to watch the gaming world bask in a warm glow of high expectation without me.  We’re such a bloody grumpy lot, it’s incredible when a huge proportion of people are looking forward to a game.  Halo 3 was probably the last one to generate such activity (and that seemed to end in a bit of a flop), but GTA IV is even bigger.  Everyone is talking about it.  Everyone is getting excited about it.  Except me.

People are booking time off work.  The press are devoting oodles of columns and pages to it, and the hordes are lapping it up.  And why shouldn’t they?  Previous installments in the series sold by the bucket loads, and for good reason.  This is possibly the most anticipated videogame release for the next few years.  “Triple A” and “Killer App” are terms that are bantered around quite frequently, but GTAIV is one of the few truly deserving of the accolades.  It could decide the winner of the console war (which format will you be buying, by the way?)

I can only speculate how the developers are feeling right now.  Excited?  Terrified?  Probably a bit of both.  What about Sony and Microsoft?  How will they be planning to tackle this behemoth of potential hardware sales?  And – most importantly – what will Anne Diamond have to say?

Maybe some of this excitement will rub off on me and I’ll pick up a copy on release.  Maybe it’ll entice me back into the series, and I’ll finally get what everyone has been raving about.  Then I can finally join everyone else in enjoying a well respected and much loved franchise.