Hardcore fans of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV lined up at midnight for a chance to be among the first to own the latest instalment in the criminal action series.
Toronto's downtown Best Buy was once such location open early Tuesday, one of many around Canada's largest city.
"Worth every dime, man!" exulted early shopper Fabian Fraser. "I've researched it, and it's the game of the year!"
He purchased the $90 special edition. "Comes with a duffle bag, safety deposit box, the game -- obviously -- and the soundtrack," he told CTV Toronto.
Fraser likes the ability of the game to host 16 players online simultaneously. "You can roam the city with 16 people -- have a gang and stuff. It's pretty cool," he said.
After getting home, Fraser planned to play his new game until dawn, go to school, come home and play some more.
That type of devotion is one reason why analysts are expecting Grand Theft Auto IV to generate US$400 million in sales in its first week.
The latest instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is expected to outsell last year's heavily hyped Halo 3 from Microsoft Corp., which took in US$300 million in its first week.
Halo 3 was only available on xBox, the Microsoft platform. GTA will be available for Sony's PlayStation 3 platform, but not Nintendo's Wii system.
Kris Abel, CTV's technology expert, told Canada AM he thinks this latest instalment is the best in the series so far.
"Where it's improved is in its ability to tell a captivating story as well as the technical achievement of making this wonderful city that you can run around in and explore," he said.
Abel said the latest graphics technology allows the game to provide imagery that rivals that of animated movies.
The game tells the story of Niko Bellic, an immigrant from Serbia who comes to Liberty City (a stand-in for New York). His cousin Roman had told him how great life was there, but Niko finds Roman living in a ratty apartment and working in a dead-end job at a car service.
"Through a very slippery slope, as he tries to take shortcuts to try and do better, he ends up being embroiled with (the) Mafia and sort of ends up in a life of crime," Abel said.
Gaming website IGN.com said: "Starting from nothing, Niko makes a living as a killer and enforcer, a bad-ass foreigner who appears to have no morals. The longer we stay with Niko, the more we see that there is a broken human being inside, one who would give anything to escape the person he once was."
GTA is rated M for mature, meaning it shouldn't be sold to or played by anyone under the age of 17.
Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, told Canada AM from Montreal that parents must understand the game is not for children.
"They really should not be fooled by their kids that it's an adventure game or a racing game or something like that," he said.
Abel said GTA is violent and tells an adult story line that could be comparable to an episode of the Sopranos, the now-concluded series about a New Jersey mobster and his family.
"(There's) everything under the sun from blood to sexual situations. There's a part where you can go to a bar and get drunk and try and find your way home at night," he said.
The characters are "very loud, over-the-top, obnoxious caricatures, the kind that are entertaining to watch but definitely deal in mature themes," Abel said.
The New York Times described the game as "a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun."
Reviews have generally been overwhelmingly positive.
Take-Two Interactive's Rockstar studio produces the GTA series.
Electronic Arts Inc. has launched a US$2-billion hostile takeover bid aimed at Take-Two. However, Take-Two has refused to entertain any offers until April 30 -- the day after GTA IV's release.
With files from The Associated Press
