why do people say this game will slow down wii sales i remember a few months the same thing was said about the all mighty and powerful halo 3 but even that game did not hurt the wii so what on earth do people say gta 4 will hurt wii sales when halo 3 could not stop it lol.

Actually make that one, the onlynon-pirated system out there is the PS3. Also i disagree with what you said.
I, too, believe that the PS3 will gain the most momentum thanks to GTA but i believe it will leave Wii sales unchanged, IMO it will eat up more of 360's sales.

I think it will sell more PS3's then it will 360's, without a doubt.

However FF will still see more PS3's sold in Japan then GTA IV, obviously.

I don't think it will effect the Wii as much as some people are implying, the Wii has it's own monsters to combat this.

Okay, so Andreas and Vice City both sold over 14 M or so on PS2, correct?

Now, of course the PS2 install base at that point was probably way bigger than 360 and PS3 combined right now.

So... assuming those who bought those iterations of the game want this one... then yes, its going to shift a lot of consoles. The big unknown is the impact of the split. Numbers say some of those who played this on PS2 haven't bought a 360 or PS3 yet - so which way will they go?

Both consoles should get a lift but it is possible, due to linking of IP to Sony for many, that PS3 could get best lift... on the other hand I doubt gamers are loyal (well, apart from fanboys and girls) so the extra content on MS could be a lure... or on the other hand it could be seen as crude tactics from MS and have a negative impact (it happens in other industries).

Either way with two consoles as a base (plus PC I presume) and with historic sales - GTAIV should easily eclipse Halo 3.

I think if someone had to buy either a PS3 or 360 for GTA IV they are going to go with PS3 seeing as Blu-Ray has won the format war, I'd pick PS3 for this, however I stand by what (I think it was Sqrl) said, I want a cheap PS3 with full BC before I purchase one.

Well, for hardcore GTA fans they should definitely pick up the 360 version, since it will have extra content available later. I suppose Microsoft is going to advertise the hell out of that advantage in order to get as many sales as possible, and it's surely going to work in the USA.

In Europe, who knows? PS3 sales of this game will definitely be better than in the USA, but it's much harder to predict the impact of the 360 version and the extra content.

Well, GTA is the 3rd best selling Franchise ever. It's going to keep that up.

I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed with the sales of GTA4. It's still an extremely noteworthy title, and might even boost hardware sales of the HD consoles above the Wii for a week or two, but permanently turning sales trends, or achieving the kinds of numbers the previous parts did?

This might be just my personal nutpot theory, but I don't think a majority of the people who bought the previous parts have a current gen console yet. The PS2 sold well to the masses of people who hadn't cared about games before the Playstations, but for some unexplainable reason Sony priced their new console over what that crowd is paying, and the only one really going after them now is Nintendo.

The biggest reason the previous parts did so damn well is that they were accessible to everyone, on a console everyone had. Shooting aliens? Fun for us gamers, but most people are turned off by the idea. Leading armies across the globe? Hacking apart half of the Greek mythology? Saving Hyrule? Clearly millions of people are interested in all that, but look what happens when someone makes a game where you play a criminal in a large city, and can do whatever you want. Unbeliveable mass appeal.

Games like Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto profited the most of the PS2's insanely wide appeal, and will see the biggest hits from alienating the casual audience. GTA4 will definitely be a 4M+ seller both consoles combined, but 10M or 15M is on par with most John Lucas stuff. I expect it to launch slower than Halo 3, but have much better legs, and possibly overtake it in a year or so.

That makes sense, even though I don't know enough about GTA's target audience to know whether you're right you're not.

You're basically saying that Rockstar screwed up and should have launched GTA4 on the Wii instead (or additionally).

First off all Halo 3 is nothing big. The game is absolute garbage. Everybody knows that it is just Halo 2.5. Most people just do not want to admit it. There are some who do because they realized what they bought. The series has always been over hyped and I do not even know why. In the last few years there have been way better shooters than Halo. I am right, so you can now look at call of duty 4 because it is way better in every aspect. I think people were looking for the advancement in the gaming future in Halo 3 but were let down because it did not deliver. I believe GTA and MGS4 will be console sellers because unllike Halo they will have something to deliver which is called creative next gen content. I will just be happy when the Halo franchise is finished so I do not have to hear about it anymore. It will never stand the tests of time as far as gameplay like Goldeneye or story wise like Metal Gear.