I'm irritated a few little things in 'GTA IV' and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same way.

• I'm frustrated with the pre-missions in some of the main mission segments. These are the simple busy-work parts where you have to drive to a location, follow someone, steal something or chase someone before the meat of the mission begins. It's usually right after these early, easy-parts, that I'm instantly killed because I'm so worn out by what precedes the action... and I'm not paying attention. The real beating comes when you have to start the entire mission over... including the boring easy part. I wish the game would start right where you died.

• I'm tired of the music that plays when the game auto-saves: "Do - do - dum - do." It haunts my dreams.

• What's up with invisible props? I drove across what I thought was an empty patch of grass... then BAM, my car comes to a complete stop with a crashing sound of metal. Slowly, phantom playground equipment appears in front of my car. Where did that come from?

• The Russian clothing store.

• Toll booths

• Jumping a car up to a balcony or other small location where the vehicle becomes permanently stuck.

• Motorcycles seem vanish from Liberty City only when I want/need them.

Quick review: 'Speed Racer' the movie. Too much talking, awesome racing scenes and colors that will burn your eyes. Lop off the first hour and it's great!

Microsoft is making a huge mistake.

This is all anecdotal, but I swear Microsoft is killing themselves by not offering a Blu-Ray player in the Xbox 360.

After the release of 'GTA IV' I have had several friends tell me they were planning on buying a PS3 within the next few days. When I asked them if they had considered an Xbox 360, all of them said they really wanted the Blu-Ray player to watch movies. Every single person said the same thing. And these are non-gamers who are dying to try 'GTA IV' and watch high-def movies.

Even after I explained the virtues of Achievement Points, downloadable content and Xbox Live, the number one selling point for my friends was the Blu-Ray compatibility.

I guess you can point out that the Wii is surviving without a High-Def video player, but it has a broader appeal than both Sony's and Microsoft's systems.

C'mon Microsoft, bite the bullet.

I think MGO has promise, but the complicated registration process (really, Konami, do we need to have two accounts before we can play?) is a big turnoff.

Konami promises they're working on streamlining the registration before the game is complete.

Also, I mention in the preview that I couldn't figure out how to play as Snake.

Konami was helpful enough to send me the solution to my quandary:

It is actually possible to play as Snake in MGO. It's a certain game mode where one person takes on the role of Snake (with all of Snake's cool tricks, such as OctoCamo and the Metal Gear Mk II), and everyone else tries to hunt him down. Snake gets points for killing people on the map, and everyone else gets points for killing Snake. So it's this back and forth of trying to hunt Snake while trying to help your team. Seems to be a very popular game type.

Of course, id hasn't even finished the last game it announced, so I'm guessing Doom 4 is a few years away, at least.

Still, kind of cool. And any of you who happen to be world-class game developers looking for work might want to freshen up your resumes.

Full press release after the jump.

With Iron Man raking in $100 million-plus in its opening weekend, I think we can put that theory to bed.

Like I mentioned in my column, though, I am curious to see the GTA IV sales numbers for the PS3 versus the Xbox 360. If the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto outsold or even came close to the sales of the 360 version, that's a huge win for Sony.

Thank goodness we didn't make the list!

You can read their list here.

Will this rumor ever die?

Will Microsoft finally come over to the Jedi side or are they happy on the dark side?

Will someone replace my HD-DVD's?

Here are some awesome glitches (there may be some language, so be warned before you click):

The sink hole of death:

Break dancing with the bus:

Here are some more... enjoy.

I've had some major PS3 freeze-ups in the fast, just like the 'GTA' bugs.

Once, when installing the 'Motor Storm' updates and DLC, I couldn't get past the menu screen in the game. I had to delete all downloaded content and re-install everything from scratch (I didn't lose my saved games, they are in a separate file). That worked.

While playing the 'Home' beta, I would constantly freeze every time I would reach a certain doorway in the game. I deleted those data files, re-downloaded, re-installed and it was fixed.

And finally, when adding DLC to 'Warhawk,' the game locked up my whole PS3. Deletion of the files and a fresh install, again, fixed the problems.

The 'GTA' problems seem awfully similar to what I was going through. I just think the sheer number of copies bought, brought the problem to a lot more people.

The 360 issues, I'm at a loss there.

I contacted Rockstar for an official comment, but they declined and suggested I get in touch with Sony.

From what I've seen on other game news sites, Sony doesn't have much to say, either.

But Gamespot did contact Take-Two's tech support team, and came away with an extensive list of suggested fixes for the PS3 version of GTA IV (no word on whether these fixes work on the Xbox 360 version).

While the checklist is probably worth a try if your copy is freezing on you, the length of the list suggests to me that the cause of the problem is still unknown and Take-Two is basically trying every gimmick it can think of to solve the issue.

I'm sure an official patch will be coming at some point.

For now, though, good luck with the list.

Seriously (or, um, SRSLY), what are you looking forward to, now?

For me:

• 'Iron Man'
• 'Lego Indiana Jones'
• 'Ninja Gaiden 2'
• 'GRID'
• 'Battlefield: Bad Company'

I really doubt it, because I can't think of a single gamer who isn't drooling over Iron Man.

I mean, just look at this preview and tell me you don't get a tingly feeling all over.

Fellow DMN reporter Suzanne Marta has a post up at our Airline blog about how the Westin chain of hotels is beginning to install Wii consoles in its fitness rooms equipped with copies of Wii Fit.

Sounds more fun than the ancient Super Nintendo systems you still occasionally find in hotel rooms.

I sent him some of my own thoughts on those topics (they'll be included in a follow-up piece at some point) but you should look at what Tom says in the essay that's already up.

You guys have any opinions on this?

Microsoft has an old help page, here, detailing some possible freeze fixes. I haven't found anything from Sony.

This seems to happen with every high-profile game; so, I am not sure how blown-out-of-proportion this really is.

VICTOR UPDATE: I've posted a suggested list of fixes from Rockstar.

I played for 2 hours.

First thoughts: I love this game. It's everything I hoped it would be and more. The graphics look better than I thought they would, the city is staggering in size and the story line has been engrossing.

Here's what else I think in a bullet list:

• The opening title sequence is awesome. It's part cut-scene, part Hollywood movie opening. The graphic designer in me was doing backflips.

• Concerned parents are going to have a heart attack over this game. This is one of the most "M" rated games I can remember. The first couple of hours offer many adults-only surprises including a flash of a fairly risque scene, countless curse words, overt sexual harassment and ability for the player to drive drunk. I was giggling at most of these, but I DO NOT condone them. Giggle.

• The music is fantastic. There are 18 radio stations to listen to while driving through Liberty City. Techno, Funk, Jazz, Rock, whatever... it's all there with some great new songs and great classic tunes, too. Nitzer Ebb is there! I can't believe Nitzer Ebb is in this game!

• The bowling mini game is OK. I'm dying to know why the mini-golf and go-kart track fences are wide open... are those mini games for later?

• I found a glitch! In the first car chase mission, the warehouse below your target has some weird alternate universe of disappearing boxes and a pitch-black void where Niko can vanish and reappear. Weirdness.

• On my first date with Michelle, she just left me her car. I wrecked it.

• Also on my date with Michelle, I accidentally fell into the pond at the mini-golf course. I climbed out and turned around, Michelle was standing neck-deep in the pond staring back at me. Hilarious.

• I want the amusement park to be open (it's closed for the winter)!

• Someone on the beach, next to the boardwalk, said something quite shocking to me. I won't repeat it.

• The car physics are awesome. All the vehicles feel heavier and more realistic than before. You can't just use gas and steering, you have to use the brakes a LOT. Also, gently bumping a pedestrian can produce some extremely realistic results... you don't knock them down, but you can knock things out of their hands or knock the hats of their heads.

• I hate my cousin (in the game).

• Liberty City is crazy gigantic. Seriously, it's almost daunting to think where the next 38-plus hours will take me in the game.

• Niko walks down stairs with a sideways twitch... just like a real person. A real person with a leg problem.

• My in-game stats show that I've already racked-up a 56-foot free fall. This occurred when I fell from a warehouse into the river. Oh, and then I swam for 50 seconds (also in my stats).

• I predict that 'GTA IV's' in-game stats will be as addictive as achievement points.

So there you have it. If I had more sleep I would have had more to discuss. But that's all I can remember.

I will remember to take the day off next time a 'GTA' game is released.