GamersVue

Ok…so 12+ hrs later…

Here is my first impressions of GTA IV.

Let me start off by saying that ign.com gave this game a 10 and they actually they had a disclaimer at the end of the review explaining that…while not ‘perfect’, for what the game does…in thier eyes it earned a 10….good save.

I am about a good 1/2 way thru the first island’s missions and I have:

• beat up gangsters threatening my cousin
• thrown a man out of a window 3 stories to his death
• Went bowling and played darts
• Watched the cops arrest a guy for illegal credit cards
• said no to weed from a ganga smoking Rasta
• had warm coffee…hint hint…
• played darts
• Wrecked enough havoc with the LCPD to make any criminal blush….and
  got away…
• Made it with some random ho in a park and blew her away
• Of course, checked out the Strip Club
• Watched Katt Williams on TV (for some odd reason, not a funny as it
  could be…lol)
• Saw a magic show
• Accidentally ran my car into the river and survived!!

Now guess which ones were in a mission and not!

I am going to start off some of the cons of the game and get it over with because while expectations are high, let’s bring it down a few notches and make sure people don’t get too overly hyped about the game.

- display issues: I am not sure what happened here but some some reason Rockstar decided to run this game at 720p. When displayed on my TV, The rght portion of my screen is partially cut off…I can’t really see how many stars I have and sometimes it’s a tiny bit of a challenge telling what weapons are being used or how many bullets you have left.

- ducking the cops: Ok….this is a mixed bag of a new innovation. While I do like the idea of any trouble you start brings up a proximinty circle of where the cops will come to the scene of a crime, sometimes it’s far too easy to get away, even when you have done something that warrants the SWAT team to come in. Even still if after you lose them and come back in almost immediately after the
circle disappears, there is no particular reason for the cops to continually be on the lookout for you….maybe I am nitpicking but at least in other iterations, when you have set off every possible alarm, it was nearly impossible to shake the cops and made getting away very harrowing….because once you got up to 5 and 6 starts the cops were very poersistent….but then…with as apathetic as cops really are, this may be real…LOL.

- Speaking of, no real reprecussions and consequences for actions in some cases: One thing I think I would like to have seen more of is, if you do something, the is a bit more of a reaction for the crowd. For instance, I was at a club and some bouncers tried to jump me, I went to town with my shotgun…maybe 2 or 3 people moved. With the way that the AI was hyped in this game, I was hoping more for a
stampede for the doors and maybe a 911 call. Same with being out on the street, I robbed and shot someone in broad day light….now while a few people ran, most still carried on thier business and not one frantic call to 911…but again…this may be sad testimony to what kind of empathy to people…LOL

And that pretty much are my only issues with the game…as far as
everything else well:

I am very impressed with the storyline and voice acting. This has always been a very top notch standard with Rockstar and GTA games. I also like the fact that if you are with characters during missions, the dialogue doesn’t just happen in the cutscenes, it also flows with you and the NPCs as you travel. For instance, you find out more about what Roman has gotten himself into, Michelle asks about your
stay in America, Little Jacob, if you can understand his heavily West Indian accent explains why he needs someone he can trust to do his errands and so forth, so count on interactions like that throughout the game beyond cutscenes not to mention most missions do seem to run a little differently and sometimes have added twists

I was also graphically and aurally with the environment. The game really pushes the 360’s power! No matter what GTA you have ever played it has always looked kinda sterile despite the grittiness. In this iteration, all you need is smells, good and bad. When you are nicer lookng neighborhoods, you can really tell…when you are in
bad areas…ditto.

And aurally, with all the ambient noices…second only to Assassin’s Creed (despite all the shortcomings of the game, really listen to the background chatter!) in quality to make you almost feel like you are ‘there’.

Everything else that IGN touched on as far as getting around, getting missions and so forth is on point.

The control, once you get the hang of it is fairly decent. The fight controls could have been a bit tighter, but it works.

Now while I did talk a bit down about the AI, let me tell you how it is when it really does work. You can sometimes go along and see some really random occurances in a course of the day.

There is more traffic on the street at 2pm than there is at 2am and this is still depending on what part of town you are in. I saw a random instance in which a cop chased down a thief and held him at gunpoint. I saw people use thier cell phones. I saw where early in the morning you see people out sweeping the sidewalk. I alos noticed that late at night you see more garbage trucks…but what was most
priceless was a womon walking along sipping a soda…walks PAST a trashcan…and drops the cup in the street….yes…she litters!!

Yes, there are so many little nuances in this game that can be picked up on and so much randomness going on that it does make it seem ‘alive’ but you still kind of wish for more but…..that’s not what the whole game is about.

As far as multiplayer, it’s a lot smoother than I thought it was going to be, I really haven’t had a chance to delve estensively into it as of yet but I played around in a set up with 10 people and noticed no lag whatsoever…it’s smooth like butter.

What I will say, and this is one of the reasons why I am not big on doing multiplayers with a whole lot of strangers, is that the kids and the knuckleheads that have gotten this game will abuse the language more than what it needs to be abused. If you got sensitive ears…just be prepared..otherwise I recommend that you find a group of friends and set up your own private match and play.

All in all, GTA IV is the must play game of the year, I can’t fully endorse the 10 unless you count the story and all the random mini games but, so far the game is so tight , that I do believe that Saint’s Row II will have it’s work cut out for it.

SO pick it up, go bowling, make sure you watch TV, and listen out for Jack Thompson’s being a stripper reference!!

   — The Dreddheaded Poet.

Now if you’ve been reading this blog you’d know that I reported a little while ago about the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith edition for all the major consoles. 

According to multiple sources on the net, In a stoke of GENUIS from the execs at Activision the company has bought out the Aerosmith song collection!!

According to an Activision representative:

I can say that we do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal.

So what this means is besides the couple of tracks already on Rock band, There won’t be anymore Aerosmith on any game unless it’s licensed though Activision.

Now what this REALLY Means…

1) Aerosmith is now Activision bitch and we won’t see any more Aerosmith in Rock band.  Point is.. do we care?  Come on.. it’s Aerosmith!  there’s a few good tracks, but come on!!  it’s Aerosmith!

2) This would give the developers of the Guitar Hero series insider information about concerts and the ‘live style’ of a band that’s been together for a number of centauries.   Elements that could play into the next version of Guitar hero.

3) Now the sad news, here comes the music battle royal.  You thought the RIAA was a bitch, just wait until you see EA starting to gobble up new bands and tracks just to make sure they don’t get into the Guitar Hero series.  Great news for bands, horrible news for gamers.

Corporate America has just ghostbusted the spirit of the Guitar Hero series
   RIP Guitar Hero, it was fun while it lasted.

In this day of raising gas prices which in turn rise the price of darn near everything else, EA (Electronic Arts) will kill off ‘The Sims Online’ as of August 1st, 2008.

According to the (official?) EA blog, [EA LAND],  EA is to shut down EA LAND will in turn will kill off the Sims Online.    EA is trying to be ‘nice’ about it by offering paying subscribers with a ‘We’re sorry your ass hurts’ rebate, Either $15 off any game at the EA Store, or 3 months of Pogo.  

(if you are into casual gaming, Pogo would be your best bet.. and no, I’m not a Pogo player..I’ve had the handle of ‘PogoWolf’ LONG before pogo.com was even a glint in someone’s eye.)
 

On a more personal note.. HA HA HA HA HA
Should have kept the money/resources in Earth and Beyond!  Killing my game for this one..  *grrr*

*sigh*  what’s a gamer to do when ‘news’ channels start knifing gamers in the back by preying on the fear (and stupidity) of the the non-gamer human?

So here’s a story (it’s FOX.. what do you expect?) with the nice bold headline of: [Cop Killing Video Game Makes Big Debut], by Sharita Hutton posted just this morning for the Kansas City News.

Where as nothing was said about the record sales, nor about the spammers trying to steal your pre-order copy, or anything about store (like EB) funking up your pre-order and store sale-outs… Nope this is all got to be about the violence of the GTA series.

The whole news story starts off with such a negative overtone that you wouldn’t like the game before you even knew anything about it.  However, even WAL-MART the king of ‘you will like what we give you’ is selling the game.  I guess money does talk. 

Though a couple of things about this article struck me as funny: “An online preview of the game describes the game, saying its as violent as the past three versions and more realistic, with 1080p resolution.”   

So this tells me Sharita got all her information by looking at the web site.  Didn’t FOX already get into trouble for pulling this kind of BS?   And if 1080p makes pixels look more realistic, then watch out Microsoft paperclip!  you’re heading into the real world!!!  (you know since, Computers can produce higher resolutions then the Xbox 360, or the PS3)

She also states: “the game is only for X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3 games. “

Well we know they are games.. perhaps you mean CONSOLES?    So what’s this also tells me is that Ms. Sharita doesn’t know her ass from a C Prompt.   My advice? report on what you know. You obviously don’t understand Gaming.

And reporting on a 3 year old bill, where as there have been multiple attempts on the same type of bill across America ALL of which have failed, is moot, a waste of space, and just prays on the peoples un-founded fear of technology.  

[CNN Money] is reporting that Microsoft has slashed the price of the Xbox 360 in four of it’s Asian markets.

The price cut was on the 20 gig model and was dropped by:
    19.5% in Singapore  (S$499)
    17% in Taiwan (NT$10, 360)
    10.7% in Hong Kong (HK$2,499)
     5.1% in South Korea (KRW369,000)
     But didn’t drop the price in the India market.

The price of the Arcade version (the one with out the HD) was dropped by 13.1% (S$399) in Singapore.

the Elite model was dropped by 12.5% (S$699) only in Singapore.

Microsoft is sighted to have stated: “This price drop is part of Microsoft’s ongoing strategy to bring Xbox’s high- definition gaming and entertainment experience to an even wider user base,”

(PogoWolf: Which to mean says, “We’re still not doing as well in these markets as we should so we are making it cheaper in the hopes someone will but it”)

Microsoft also went on to say: “If and when price adjustments in other regions make sense, we will be sure to keep you informed, but we have nothing to announce at this time,”

So sorry you other guys. =(

On the other hand, Microsoft said that by April 24th, it’s revenue rose 68% for the end of the quarter (March 31st) and they’ve sold over 19 million units since launch (Nov 05) which is up 74% from last year at this time.

News around the wire are saying that BioShock is coming to the PS3 (duh) and looks to be a new Castlevania game heading to the system as well.

Tecmo Bowl is heading to the Wii and even some rumors of Halo 4

Ok.. JUST cool…  Someone crammed a fully-loaded NES into the body of one it’s own carts..

There’s something just a little mind-bending about a game cartridge that isn’t a cartridge at all, and instead is a console itself. If you think about the concept too hard, it might just cause a rift in the space-time continuum.

[Via Technabob]
[via Ben Heck Forums]

Or.. here we go again..

As reported by the [SeattlePI]  Microsoft is getting sued yet again for something on the XBox.   This time Alcatel-Lucent is saying the Microsoft violated it’s patient for “coding video frames” by adding support to play DVDs and is seeking $1.50 for EACH volition.

more at the link.. in case anyone really cares about the ‘Hey! we can make money just by suing other company’s that make more money then us!” BS.

I was told my a friend of mine the other day about this game. (Since he’s involved with it.)  and let me know about the [IGN write up].  

Concept wise, sounds like a very interesting game!  Pretty much boils down to a cross between cooking games, and dinner dash.  But what I didn’t know was there is some talent behind the game!   Lee Cummings is the Creative director for the game.   You might know him from such games like ‘Grand Theft Auto, and Bully’ (so he’s a Rockstar?) 

So the game starts out with you burger flipping at a local fast food place and slowly work your way up to a 5-star restaurant with you making all the gourmet food!
and it’s more then just flip this burger, you’ve got to get your timing down along with knowing what spices to use when.   You even get to chop your own veggies!

A typical day noobie day will include cooking hamburgers and flapjacks.  You put the ingredients on the grill and watch the timer, flipping the items as needed, you never need to watch for those special orders.. not everyone likes their burger still mooing.  Once the cooking is done just drop it on the counter for your waitress to pick up, problem is.. food gets cold, so you’ve got to watch your timing though out the whole ordeal.

Order Up! is completely aimed at the casual player and is planned for release around July 7th.

Mr. Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D. and Ms. Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D  and other people polled 1250 kids/teens and 500 parents to (finally?) figure out if video games make you violent and published the results in a book titled: ‘Grand Theft Childhood’  (I would have preferred Mortal Kombat: Video games, Violence, and you.. but oh well)

But as most SAIN people already knew the psychologists show there was “absolutely no evidence” for direct link between playing video games and beating the ever loving crap out of someone.    It was also stated that most studies that find a link are really only looking into the short term reactions.  (So, in other words, playing with the numbers to show the outcome they want to see.)

But the study does provide some interesting ‘facts’ (using the term loosely)  like, male teens that play 15 or more hours worth of M-rated games a week (ok, first off.. which proves that anyone under the age of 18 can still get an M-rated game quite easily)  have the same ‘risk’ of getting into trouble as a male teen that didn’t play games at all!!  the study is also showing that as game sales increase that teen violence is decreasing! (as of 1993).

There is more detail (and video) about this study on X-play [here]  And the Openeducation.net website has interviewed with Dr. Cheryl Olson on the [study].

Perhaps this will be a study that someone listens too.. though I doubt it.  So.. do all those ‘Anti-game’ parent groups, law makers.. and you.. JACK THOMPSON.  Get your collective heads out of your asses and use some of that energy towards something that really matters.  Here you are worried about video games where there are PLUNTY of worst things to worry about.  Oh I don’t know.. what about gangs?  what about the homeless? AIDS?  Cancer research?  If you can gather SO much money to sue game publishers/designers for games think of how much good that money could be used for?  

besides, all Gamers already know games don’t make people violent.  Getting you ass handed to you by a 12 year old brat, talking smack, and being a very poor winner by shoving it in your face makes you violent.