GTA 4 - Grand Frustration

I'm one of many unlucky souls that is currently experiencing the intermittent freezing issue with Grand Theft Auto IV on PlayStation 3. However most are reporting problems only with installation or in the very beginning of the game. My installation went smooth, but unfortunately I'm a good six hours into the game and it randomly locks up on me while in the middle of game play. The only thing I can do is hit the power button on my PS3 and start back from my last save.

Here's a YouTube video I made demonstrating the problem:
GTA 4 issue

Rockstar - please fix this quick!

**edit**
My video was pulled for reasons I'm not sure of. I'm trying to find another way to host it.

[DevonTheDude535]

Rockstar pulled your video dude

[Jerkstore81]

I guess it's okay for them to sell us a defective product, but we're not allowed to complain about the problem using a locked-up image of the game on our TVs.

Bravo Rockstar!

[gamesR4fun]

getting the same issue and shame on rook$tar fro pulling the vid.

seems to be ok after i did a factory reset on my 60/ps3 left all the settings at default no freezes yet...

[Jinxstar]

I have no random lockups but the frame rate drops every now and then for seemingly no reason... I could be in a quit area and everything and then it goes from 30 to 0 for like 1 or 2 seconds....

[gauravraw]

This seriously blows man. I don't want to say this but i am now afraid of shelling out 60$ for this game just to see it freeze my console, I don't even have the warranty on my PS3. They delayed the game for this?!!

[Jerkstore81]

You don't have to worry about the console bricking on you just by playing GTA IV. It seems to be a software issue with the game programming, not the PS3 hardware.

[MonsterHunter]

Iv been playing the game on my 60/PS3 and am over 34% complete and am yet to encounter any of the problems posted. Must be a lucky one ;p

[MonsterHunter]

I must be a lucky one because after over 20 hours of gameplay i still haven't encountered any problems. But what a lethal game!!!! Have any you guys noticed you can burn the tyres clean off the vehicles!

[yanikins111]

was playing fine up until i turned it on after work today. Has frozen twice and ive had to reset and has done about 10 micro-freezes for just a second. Is weird because it was working 100% perfect before today. And the second i turned it on it was stuttering here and there and then started freezing.

Side note:
Does anyone else get a static-y screen when starting/quiting some games on their ps3? is it normal? it flashes on for about 1/5 of a second.

[yanikins111]

Ok. Moved on a few missions and now its fine. I dont know if it was something to do with a phone call loading or something. Seems to run fine now. Have had one tiny stutter all night. Weird. Going to play now.

[Jerkstore81]

That's interesting. Keep us informed if you encounter anymore issues. Last night I was miraculously hitch-free when I was playing it.

[strembones]

Sorry to hear that man. This game is great and hope everyone can get thier problems fixed soon. Is this also happening on the 360 or is it another crappy ps3 port? I'm playing it on the 360 and have yet to see a problem