The ongoing buildup of anticipation for GTA IV continues at the completionist.com complex. More screenshots are being released daily and we’re just a few days away from getting our hands on a copy. The question is this: which console do I buy it for?

Let’s start by asking Nintendo fans to sit this one out. You’ve got a great thing going with the Wii and you can champion the sales numbers against any arguments that lovers of the other consoles can come up with. Unfortunately, however, GTA IV is skipping out on the little console that could and so Nintendo lovers will have to be happy to play Mario Kart Wii, which may end up being a pretty good consolation prize. We’re also going to ignore the eventual PC release since I don’t feel like waiting through yet another delay.

So it boils down to PS3 vs. 360. I’ll list the pros and the cons for each system and maybe you can talk some sense into me and help me decide where to lay down my $60.

The XBox 360. Just like any good news/bad news situation, I’ll start with the bad. Three words: XBox Live Gold. I don’t have it and for moral reasons I probably never will. I refuse to pay for a service that should be free. Sure it’s a measly lump sum that I could probably work into my budget but it just seems wrong to pay for something that everyone else is giving away for free. Just ask Netscape how well Netscape Gold turned out. Essentially, this blocks out any multiplayer aspect of the game for me. I’m not a huge multiplayer…um, player…but it’s always nice to have the option. Now the good news. I rarely say that downloadable content is a good thing. It seems with DLC that for every Rock Band My Sharona there are ten cases of horse armour. In the case of GTA IV, the episodic add-on content is only going to be available on the 360. This is most likely due to a hunk of cash in the sum of $50 million that was handed over by Microsoft to Take-Two Interactive, parent company of GTA IV developers Rockstar Games.

The Playstation 3. So it’s obvious that the PS3’s biggest hinderance is the lack of the above-mentioned DLC…or is it? It’s not entirely clear whether the additional content will be forever exclusive to the 360 or if Microsoft only has dibs on the content for a few months or possibly a year. I guess $50 million may not go as far as it used to. It’s a fairly big gamble to assume that it will eventually show up in the Playstation store so for now we’ll count it against the PS3. Of course, there’s always free multiplayer to fill your days if you run out of things to do in the single player campaign. The PS3 will also have marginally better graphics and load times, at least from early reports. The interwebs are abound with reports of a warmer colour palette for the PS3. Faster load times are always appreciated but I doubt there will be a difference significant enough to be a factor in the decision.

So that’s my conundrum in a nutshell. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts below and let the flame wars begin!

Nintendoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!  No?

I vote PS3 for better graphics and a controller that I enjoy more.