>cool, that's what i figured
>i think it's amazing that that's essentially the separating
>element between GTA and other sandbox games
>and yet no one has really gotten close to being able to
>replicate it yet

that is interesting. i'm pretty sure it can be boiled down to the fact that rockstar is given tons of money and time to create believable worlds and that they are experts at doing it, having done it for so long. i can't really say for certain why rockstar has the magic touch but i do know that part of it is their obsessive attention to detail. the amount of *things* created for this game is absolutely staggering, and i've only scratched the surface of it. again, all of this feeds into inducing the "getting lost in this game feeling", which is also enhanced by the fact that it is set in a familiar environment (modern day), and how that serves the mechanics of the game, and how the mechanics feed into our inherent need to learn how to do stuff (which is why we play games), etc. i could go on forever about this but i won't

>i'll check to see if this is on xbla, maybe i'll just go head
>and cop now and dig in when i have more bandwidth

i talked myself out of waiting for the pc version earlier in this thread and i don't regret it at all. that said, the game will be essentially identical now and 12 months from now, so if you feel like you can and/or want to hold off, go for it