It's just like any other game that's gotten 10's--there are going to be faults (sometimes big ones) but it's a testament to the strength of the developer if they can make you adore it so much that you don't care.

Take, for example, Ocarina of Time. This can actually be compared quite easily to GTA, as its' main draw was the large, near-seamless world. In Hyrule Field, there was usually no other life in this massive plain except for enemies. You could ride a beautiful horse out in this huge place, but when you ran into said enemies, you'd have to get off to engage them. And then, of course, there's Mrs. "Hey! Listen!" herself, Navi. But the fact was that the rest of the game was so flawless, such a masterpiece, that these flaws that may have crippled a lesser game went virtually unpunished. Maybe GTA IV is one of said masterpieces?

I've been thinking for a while about the topic for my first VGC feature--I think I just found it! Thanks, KoW

Yep, after two and a half minutes of video... Probably many more because of the fade in and outs, there is one little seen of pop in... Sorry, I find it difficult to find that on the horrible side.

Pop in has never been seen in a video game before... From what I've seen both games are great. Talk about picking straws...

I find frame rate slow downs annoying, pop-ins don't really take from gameplay much.

both are great of course but most people want to compare the nitty gritty small shit that wont matter just to declare a winner. i have to say though that in GTA san andreas, pop in was the only thing that i disliked about that game. i just played the ps3 version for an hour now and didnt notice any that was noticeable, i mean maybe there was some little stuff on the edges or off screen that i might ahve missed but playing on a 60 inch, theres alot to look at. a HUGE improvement from san andreas. i dont get the frame rate issue though. what is it? whats it look like? what version has it supposedly? thanks

.....i watched the whole thing and there is A LOT more pop up then just that one shot. Watch it again. You will notice a TON of trees. and a lot of the lights.

 Edit: Here all all the times and exactly what is popping in at the time

 8: The roof of the building.
30: The Street light on the left and the lighting effect on the Highway sign.
36: More lighting effects on the buildings on the right.
50: Trees on the left.
55: Trees on both sides of the street
59: A tree on the left side on a raised platform.
1.39: A shadow/lighting effect from the tree.
2:13 The highway sign. not the one in front but the one behind it.
2:18 -2:20: Tons of street lamps and more highway signs
2:28: The most obvious of them....the grass.

yeah some games mask the pop in sooooo well that at a first glance you dont even realise it, it just looks as if its comming into a viewable definition. But a big problem would be if enemies poped in like that grass did, or people just started appearing out of no where, then we could hate the game for it

I just played for an hour or so on the PS3, and I didn't see any pop ups. Then again, I wasn't really looking. I saw no graphical issues at all.

where does it say on the video that it was on 360?

frankly, i could care less about the pop in issues. never bothered me before, no reason for it to bother me now. i can even look past framerate issues. i just think of it as dramatic effects.

For those who are still on the fence as to which version to get, technical problems can be more of a game breaker than the DLC issue that's already been beaten to a bloody pulp.

The resolution issue if confirmed, while puzzling, is not a game breaker since it doesn't effect the mechanics of the game itself the way pop in obstacles/obstructions would or severe frame rate issues.

The trees popping up were noticable but not really a huge distraction. The four foot grass at the end however...

It's so strange how a title of this size and reknown could be plagued with basic pop-up issues like that.

I'm glad the PS3 version doesn't have it. As I stated before, it's not a huge distraction, but it's something I could definetly do without while playing.

GTAIV actually looks great though. I'm very impressed with the graphics.