Ok, so, if you like breaking the law in GTA IV, running around causing havoc on screen, playing with prostitues, taking drugs, bashing people, speeding, evading the police, watching Ricky Gervais whoop it up in the comedy club and just having a good ol' time - you might be inclined to get a jump on the official release by downloading it.

But you'll need to set aside 6.32GB - and by the time it finishes downloading, if you start now, it'll probably be on sale in stores.

You'll also need to visit your favourite BitTorrent site, but hey, if you do that kind of thing, you may well have downloaded GTA IV already, as it leaked online last week.

But doing so steals money from Rockstar, the developers, and if you want to see GTA V, then piracy is not the best way of encouraging them to get the coders cracking.

You'll also need a hacked Xbox 360 - and if you try playing the game online with Xbox Live, you could soon find yourself permanently banned, which certainly takes away a lot of the fun if you like playing nicely - or not so nicely, as GTA IV allows - with others.

According to a News.com.au article, the "warez" group behind the release is called iCON, and they've advised potential pirates to support Rockstar and buy the game.

"Guys, seriously, go and buy this one. R* (Rockstar) deserves it".

Of course, that didn't stop iCON from uploading the game in the firt place, and according to the News article, it hasn't stopped users from downloadig it - and playing it online, with GTA IV game scores already visible on "public Xbox profile listings" - despite iCON advising profiles be set to private.

So, will those users be banned soon – and which version is better, the Xbox 360 version, or that for the PS3? Please read onto page 2.

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I guess those users that have already downloaded GTA IV and have publicly played in online have lots of money and can afford to buy a new Xbox 360, because they're likely to soon discover they are banned from the Xbox Live service.

People have also been uploading "amateur videos" of the fun they've been having in GTA IV to YouTube, but as you can imagine, Rockstar haven't taken kindly to that, and neither has the distributor, Take Two Interactive, who have contacted YouTube to demand the videos be taken down over a little thing called "copyright".

Fellow iTWire scibe, and gaming guru, Mike Bantick, has just pipped me to the post in posting a story on GTA IV, suggesting that the Xbox 360 version of the highly anticipated game is the one to go for, what with extra exclusive packs that Microsoft reportedly paid a motza for.

That said, the PS3 version is reportedly still ultra cool to play, and there is much speculation online that GTA IV will be the game to push the PS3 into the stratosphere... although that, most definitely, is yet to be seen.

So... the graphical murder and mayhem that is GTA IV is about to be officially unleashed onto the world. Strap yourselves in players, it’s going to be one heck of a ride!

And for goodness sakes... buy it. Don't pirate it. You know it's the right thing to do, even if seems pretty cool, too.