When Fable first came out, it was pretty much universally thrashed for not living up to expectations.  I think that we all learned a lesson from that: Molyneux learned not to over-hype his games, and we as gamers learned to wait and see.

All in all though, I remember breezing through that game in a relatively short amount of time (something to the tune of 10ish hours if my memory serves me correctly) and thinking, “That was fun… but it wasn’t definitive”.

I’ve sort of purposely not sought out information on the upcoming sequel, but I’m holding out high hope.   I WANT to love Fable…

Speaking of other games I want to love… the upcoming Penny-Arcade will hold a special place in my heart.  I trust the think-tank over at PA to deliver nothing less than a stellar experience with a fantastic story, as Tycho’s writing skills are top notch.  Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness game trailer over at the xbox live site.

As Th!nk kept the site up to snuff while my computer was thrashed by teh intarwebs, so shall I keep it up to date on his vacation.

I’ve been able to look past the driving in GTA: IV, in fact I’ve become passable at the concept.  I haven’t even hit up multiplayer yet but after hearing my roommate squeal hysterically with delight as he blew up some friends with a rocket launcher, I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.

Probably 2 months ago or so, I bought Call of Duty (for which you know my affection) and Assassin’s Creed.  I’ve not hardly played Assassin’s Creed and yet I skipped over it for GTA: IV.  Perhaps it will enter my gaming peripheral at another time… but I’m starting to wonder if in my old age of 23 my attention span is such that I can’t dedicate myself to games that involved anymore?

Full Disclosure: I am not done with the game. I am roughly 35% of the way through and have yet to touch the online component. However, in the vein that I am going on my honeymoon in a few days for a week and will be without the videogame, I figure it is in my interest to supply you, our faithful readers, with my review of the game thus far. I will re-post and edit (if necessary) the review once I completely finish the game. My impressions of the game are after the jump

With Grand Theft Auto III, publisher Rockstar set out to change the perception of gaming as we know it. Many will credit the milestone release as, for better a worse, the mark in which we say “gaming changed forever.”

GTA proved that sandbox worlds could work, that non-linear gameplay is, for most circumstances, superior to its opposite and that, more importantly, if your presentation is top-notch, people will forgive your minor errors.

It also proved that violence, drugs, sex, and a push for a more mature thematic structure (I’ll use that term lightly, as looking back, GTA is nowhere near realistic), have a place in games, and, in the same fold, in the media.

And to say the least, while there is no shortage of the aforementioned in this installment, there’s much more gravity to each time you push some blow, hit up a girlfriend or knock over a pedestrian. One can easily finger this ‘pull’ solely to the details of GTA IV. Pedestrians now crumple, or pop off cars if hit correctly; no longer folding as they had in the series’ past — this is readily seen when Niko is just nudged by a car, he fells towards the hood, using his arms to keep him steady as he rolls somewhat against the collision. Reckless driving even feels…reckless, as pedestrians no longer thump on the ground, yelp and then explode into blood puddles on the ground, counting down until they become tongue-in-cheek sidewalk-chalked outlines; depending on where you strike them, they bounce off the car or roll to side, tumbling as the speed of the car sends them. If you strike a pedestrian fast enough and manage to kill them, you’ll see blood streaks on your car where you hit them.

It’s details like these that drive this game to the heights it’s reached so far — the fact you can drive down streets, see districts where poverty has taken its toll, rambling idiots trolling the sidewalks and even the occasional sidewalk preacher preaching a gospel of impending doom. You feel as though, if you weren’t here today, this would be happening. Take a taxi cab throughout the city and watch as you’re driven through, as the taxi driver gets into small accidents occasionally, or bigger ones if you’re in a hurry.

There’s also the fact that, for the first time in the series, your contacts no longer remain people who give you missions, disappear for a quarter of the game, then come back and visit you again. No, these contacts call and text message you asking you to hang out with them. And you can do the same — want to go get drunk with your cousin Roman and stumble around yelling “HEY YELLOOOOOOOOW CAAAAAAAAAR” as you’re trying to hail a taxi — go for it! Wanna go bowling with a date you’ve picked up off of love-meet.net? Do it! There’s a living, breathing social ecosystem that lets you interact with the characters as much, or as little, as you so desire.

The story itself is fantastic — without revealing details, it is one of the more intriguing and immersing storylines I’ve had the chance to experience in some time.

But the game is not perfect. The driving, in my eyes, is worse off than it has been before. As much as I detested the more arcadey controls of the series’ past, I believe that this new driving-physics overhaul Rockstar done was not in the best interest of the game. I usually remedy the driving, however, by using a taxi. I’ve also come across sections, mainly on the bridges, where textures refuse to load for a section of the road. I make a turn or do a small jump along the sidewall of a bridge, and what used to be pavement is now a tannish-gray missing texture. It shortly rectifies itself, but it is an annoyance.

For all it’s worth, the first incarnation of Grand Theft Auto, on the then-”next-gen” system (PlayStation 2, for those playing at home), was a game on a console where “none had gone before.” It is only fitting to say that, the latest incarnation of Grand Theft Auto goes further into the brave new world and comes out a more improved, desirable and creative franchise than before.

(more…)

In the few moments I’ve had in the past two days that haven’t been spent playing Grand Theft Auto IV, I’ve done my best to 1) Watch the Red Wings suffocate the Avalanche, keep my colonies up and running, and get psyched about the super awesome, deep and challenging tracklist for Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS. And that’s a complete lie.

Smashmouth…Rick Springfield…Maroon 5?!!?!?!?!?!? OMGWTFBBQLOL! I’m just…I’m honestly out of words for this one; I’m not sure how the ball could’ve been dropped so badly on this title. It’s gone from its usually rock-oriented to pure pop-rock guilty pleasures. Not to mention there’s only 15 songs in this little beast of a game — can we say rip-off?!

How many days will it take for Jack Thompson to find a way to legally attack our beloved video game industry once again, now that GTAIV is out.

I’m putting the line at 10 business days.  Are you taking the over or the under?

“Drought” would probably be the best way to describe the flow of games onto the retail shelves, but this week that changes.

The latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise will makes it’s way into retailers this week.

For nostalgia, I dialed in the “Way Back” machine and threw GTA2 onto my computer.  I remember as a kid all of the drama surrounding it and violent it was.  Looking at the lastest installment, it makes me smile and want to give a giant middle finger to Jackie T.

I know it’s a childish reaction on my part, but I’m growing increasingly tired of games being the scapegoat for societies troubles.  News on the inevitable ‘Thompson Tirade’ to come.

Everyone pretty much knows that I’m a huge advocate of Call of Duty 4.  Usually video games go one of three ways:

1. I’ll play it, think it’s crap, and never let it see the light of day again. (Superman Returns, just couldn’t get into it)
2. I’ll play it, become obsessed with pwning the shit out of it, and beat it in less than one business week. (BioShock)
3. I’ll start to play the single player, say “Screw that Noise”, start to play the multiplayer, and never take it out of the console tray again. (Halo 2 & 3, CoD4)

What games have dominated your console?

Situations like this happen a little more than ’sometimes’ — where a AAA title is just, at this point, days away from release, and the only games that are coming out are, well, nothing to really write about (I will like them, however. But that’s purely for your reading pleasure).

In fact, the only decent console release came out in the middle of March. Sure, some releases have dropped on portables (Crisis Core and The World Ends With You) since then, but largely, the biggest console title recently out was…Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Sure, the PC has seen its fair share of ports, Assassin’s Creed, Turok and Vegas 2, but those aren’t originals.

So, what’s a gamer to do in, what I like to call ‘the calm before the storm?’ I do my best to drudge up games I unfortunately passed when they came out and give them the time they deserve. Since I’ve lost my copies of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, I decided to dust off Beyond Good & Evil and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Granted, there’s going to be little chance in hell of actually finishing these games before Midnight on Tuesday AM, but there’s enough there to occupy my time. At some point, I’m going to play Psychonauts and beat that…I’ve been telling myself that for a few years now since I got it.

Some day it’ll come true.

What do you, my faithful readers, do to occupy your time before a big-name release? Sometimes this phenomenon happens with movies as well as games…any advice you can pass on to others? Myself? What about some low-key titles that I should look into when I get bored? I’m always looking for a great game to play.

Not only does Grand Theft Auto IV come out, but so does Windows XP Service Pack 3!

This may surprise some of our more intrepid readers, as I have garnered myself a reputation for being a Vista supporter one of the few who enjoys Vista. And, thus far, I’ve had no gripes, issues or complaints about anything Vista does. I’ve got myself a decent rig (Core2Quad, 4gb ram, 1tb hard drive space, 7950gtoc video card [I know, it's old, forgive me]) and can deal with the chunk Vista takes to run it.

But, for some reason, whenever an OS Service Pack comes out, I get giddy. I’m not sure why, but I just do. In fact, I think I’m going to reformat on April 29thish, if not earlier, and see how XP SP3 is. Why?

The answer comes in two parts, really. During college, at semester’s end, I would reformat my computer. First, it prevented me from getting 18 million programs installed on my computer and hardly ever deleting them (i.e., my parents). Secondly, I did it for pure pleasure. There’s something about completely wiping a hard drive clean that soothes my soul.

And the more I think about it, doing a little boot-drive Spring Cleaning usually entices me to clean up the rest of my computer. Having a rabbit and dog in a studio apartment means I usually air-can my computer once a week, but I can go through, tag some of my non-or-mis-tagged mp3’s, delete some artists/albums I don’t listen to, knock off some television shows I dont need anymore (I’m looking at you, seasons 5-7 of the Gilmore Girls [my wife got me into that show and I ate it up] and the UK version of the Office) and some games I don’t plan on ever installing and playing again.

Do any of you, my lovely readers, have reformatting rituals? Are you looking forward to SP3? Leave me a note in the comments. I read them all - it just takes some time for them to get posted is all!

Mental Note: The only thing I need to do this time around, however, is set my Outlook archive/file to save to my non-boot hard drives, so I don’t have to re-load all my POP3′d emails and whatnot.

P.S.: I’m working on my column, which is the post I thought I’d have out the other day. It’s a slow process, as there’s a lot more reading to pour over before I commit myself to it. Besides, I’ve been feeling rather in the doldrums as far as writing is concerned as of late.

“At the same time, the company will leverage its portfolio of gaming properties by creating sequels to some of its most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK,” said a press release.

Grooooooovy! I’ve been jonesing for an Earthworm Jim sequel for quite some time, in fact, since I last played it on the SNES. Not to mention, MDK was a badass, under-represented and under-appreciated game. This all makes me feel very good, especially considering the fact that I’ve broken my writer’s block I’ve been stuck with for the past two weeks.

Damn good day, indeed.