The Fun Bucket

I received my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV in the mail today. I really liked the special edition. When I opened up the box that had Amazon.ca written all over it, I found another rather large box marked Grand Theft Auto IV: Special Edition with a picture of a girl and a lollipop on it. Inside that box was another box. This box was black, heavier and contained the rest of the special edition. I guess it was a lockbox or safe of sorts. I opened up that box and found two keys, a Rockstar keychain, a Grand Theft Auto IV art book, a Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, a neat Rockstar-branded bag, French versions of the map and manual (all games in Canada have French/English cases and French/English instruction manuals) and - finally - the actual game in it’s case. I ripped the plastic wrap off that (by this time a lot of plastic was on my bed) and found more French material and more plastic that I needed to tear off. Wow, Rockstar really packaged this one. I anxiously tore that off, felt the awesomeness of the case and opened it up. Inside the case was an English version of the map and manual and the game disc. The first thing I did was look on the bottom of the disc to see which batch it was. I read a theory on a forum that AO3 discs were the most likely to have freezing problems and even though all discs were reported to have a problems and that was just a theory, I still felt the need to look at mine. Mine was AO4 so a little bit of reassurance came back to me at that moment.

On to the game! I put the disc in my PlayStation 3 and waited for it to load. I already knew there would be a mandatory install so I prepared myself for the minutes of sheer anxiety that come with waiting before being able to play one of your most anticipated games of all time. I waited for the installation and finally got to play the actual game. The first thing I noticed was it was extremely dark and I couldn’t see anything. That was fixed with a quick press of the start button and the brightness turned up as high as it could go. My first task was to drive a short distance. As a veteran of the older, more arcade-style Grand Theft Auto games, that was easier said than done. I had a little trouble steering the car and braking correctly and I think I’ve hit just about every possible object I could hit in the city but eventually I got there and got used to it. Within approximately 20-30 minutes, driving went from being a chore to something enjoyable. I found that the standard controls (using triggers for acceleration and braking) worked better than the series’ classic X for acceleration and square for braking. I didn’t get a gun until further in the game, though the hand-to-hand combat was somewhat enjoyable. The new way of targeting - pressing L2 all the way in to target a particular enemy or pressing it half way to enable free-aim is an improvement over the targeting in the previous games.

I’m really enjoying the story of the game so far. The characters are lifelike and I’m really starting to care for them almost as if I’m actually Niko. The city is also vibrant and unlike in the previous games, pedestrians and other drivers actually react to what you do to them. When I kicked up a little riot just outside an alleyway and then stole a bike, the guy next to the bike actually hung on to the back of the bike as I rode off. I got rid of him quick when I took a sharp turn though his responsiveness and actions to get the bike back/hurt me were impressive. The cell phone was an added touch and really made me feel more connected to Liberty City.

One thing I found that took me away from the more serious, gritty storyline were the side missions and extras in the game such as girlfriends. By the time I was finished hanging out with my first girlfriend, Michelle, I felt like I almost knew her in real life. Characters have so much personality and it’s so much more genuine then in the previous games. We went bowling and I actually enjoyed the controls Rockstar had set up for the minigame. You would choose a position with the left analog stick, hit X and then actually perform the bowling action with the right analog stick by pulling it back and pushing it ahead, tilting it slightly left or slightly right to adjust the curve of the ball. Michelle was a good bowler but I won the game.

Taxis were another convenient feature though when the cops aren’t looking, I found just jacking a nearby taxi quicker and cheaper than actually going for the ride. If you feel bad jacking a taxi, you can hit L1 and a nearby taxi driver will pull over for you to get in. Hold in triangle and you will open the back door and once inside, you can select your destination. Since taxi drivers abide the law more than I do when I’m driving in the game, the ride took longer than I expected but you have the option to completely skip the ride (for a fee) or just look around with the analog stick and enjoy the sights and sounds of Liberty City.

I’ve only played for about two hours so far though those two hours were definitely the most enjoyable gaming hours I’ve ever experienced, minus the first 20-30 minutes where I was just crashing into everything due to the fact that I’m so used to the arcade-like driving in the older Grand Theft Auto games. If you’ve been on the fence about purchasing Grand Theft Auto IV, get off that fence and get out to your local video game store and buy the game. Seriously, go. Right now. You won’t regret it.

Burnout Paradise for PlayStation 3 owners will soon be getting another surprise. Criterion Games announced on Tuesday that players with the new Bogart update installed will be able to import their save game file via a USB flash drive or a memory stick onto their PC, go to CriterionGames.com and see an interactive map with everything they haven’t completed laid out. According to Criterion, that includes jumps, smashes, billboards, junkyards, body shops, paint shops, gas stations and car parks.

I find it rather amusing how this can’t be shown in-game on the actual map but it’s an interesting feature to look into trying when it’s released nonetheless. As for a release date, Criterion says their technicians are working on the final touches of the feature and they “except it to go live imminently”.

[Criterion via Joystiq]

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) wants Grand Theft Auto to be re-rated by the ESRB and be changed from a Mature (M) rating to an Adults Only (AO) rating.

Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes. This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module where players have to drive drunk.

Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke. Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable. MADD is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to reclassify Grand Theft Auto IV as an Adults Only game, a step up from the current rating of Mature and for the manufacturer to consider a stop in distribution – if not out of responsibility to society then out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving.

[from MADD website - via gamepolitics]

Thanks to a strengthening Canadian dollar and a weakening US dollar, Canadians will be able to enjoy slight price drops on PlayStation Network downloadable content by tomorrow, according to a statement by Sony Computer Entertainment of America via Kotaku:

“We are continually looking for ways to enhance the player experience on the PLAYSTATION®Network, and downloadable content through the PLAYSTATION Store is just one of our areas of focus,” said Grace Chen, Senior Manager for the PLAYSTATION Store. “We anticipate that this price adjustment will meet the expectations of our Canadian consumers and provide them with a better PLAYSTATION Network experience.”

Great news for people in Canada who think it’s unfair that previously we had to pay more for content than they do in the United States. They plan to have the prices changed at least by tomorrow’s weekly update. On a side note, I’m still waiting for Grand Theft Auto IV. Canada Post delayed it due to flooding (though I think they picked the wrong province since I don’t live in New Brunswick) and now the service standard delivery date has been pushed to Monday, May 5th, 2008 from the original date of tomorrow - Thursday, May 1st. *sigh*

Of all the scary pictures I’ve looked at on the internet, this one takes the cake. Yeah, no comment necessary.

[GamePolitics]

Were you waiting to see how long Jack Thompson could hold out before jumping back on the bandwagon of people that think Grand Theft Auto is ruining the minds of children everywhere? The wait is over. Jack’s back.

As reported by Ars Technica via GamePolitics, Thompson has already written a letter to the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, R. Alexander Acosta, demanding legal action against Take Two Interactive as well as Microsoft and Sony for allowing the game to be available on their system to minors and retailers for selling the game to minors. If you’d rather read it from Jack himself:

Indictments should be returned against Take Two corporately and its Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, along with other Take Two officers. Indictment should also be against Sony and Microsoft which are making this pornographic game available to minors, and openly so, on their PS3 and Xbox systems.

Further, indictments should be handed down against Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, and all other retailers distributing this game to minors at their retail stores, openly, to kids who are only seventeen.

Apparently we should just lock everyone up. I thought there were these things called “ratings” - call me crazy - assigned by these boards like the ESRB that show what age groups games are appropriate for. Maybe I dreamed that or something. I guess it’s much easier just to prosecute everyone and censor media even more than it. After all, only children play video games, right Jack? He also mentioned that Grand Theft Auto IV is the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio and tops it off with some other friendly words about his favorite game.

We now have vaccines for that virus… The ‘vaccine’ that must be administered by the United States government to deal with this virtual virus of violence and sexual depravity is criminal prosecutions of those who have conspired to do this. If you doubt me, look at the aforementioned streaming audio/video. It will make you sick.”

The aforementioned streaming video is a video from IGN, “Ladies of Liberty City”. I’ll let you find that one yourself, it’s not exactly safe for work. According to Ars Technica, “The video strips the game of all context and merely shows scenes of sexual content and violence, one after the other. In fact, it can be hard to watch for that reason, and it’s a rather numbing experience. The game’s lead character, Niko, drives up to prostitutes, honks the horn, then shoots them. You see a simulated sex act, only to have Niko run the hooker over afterwards with his car. The video shows graphic lap dances featuring one, and then two, girls. The language is even worse, including—and excuse the stars, “F*** the s*** out of it, you nasty f******.”

Great going IGN at giving the media and Jack Thompson some ammunition with a convenient video showcasing the game’s worst content. I’m sure this won’t be the last thing we hear from Jack and you can rest assured that I’ll be all over his future comments too. NeonFire out.

Well, today is the day we’ve all been waiting for - the international release of Grand Theft Auto IV. I’m not sure if there’s anyone in the world that’s as hyped for the game as I am and the fact that I have to wait 3 business days for it to move through transit before I can play isn’t helping. Since I’ll probably float away from the internet for a few days upon release to get my GTA on* and begin my way up the crime ladder of Liberty City , betraying every in-game character and ruling the world driving peacefully around Liberty City, admiring the landscape and feeding the ducks. What? You wouldn’t expect me to ignore the ducks, would you?*

So far everything looks good with the game. The critics have praised it. The PlayStation 3 version has a 100% average on Metacritic while the XBOX 360 version has a 99% average but there’s one problem I noticed that’s been circulating around the internet. Freezing. No, Liberty City isn’t cold. I mean freezing… locking up. I did my daily lurk around my favorite forums and found a few threads with people complaining that the game was locking up their systems. I thought maybe it was just a way for people to complain and kick up a fuss about something, but I did a quick search on Google for “gta4 freezing” and found quite a few results. This can’t be good after all the problems encountered with Bully: Scholarship Edition, another Rockstar game.

Anyway, over the weekend you can expect my thoughts on the game, which will hopefully be positive and won’t mention anything about freezing. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

NeonFire out.

*I know, that was a horrible, horrible way of phrasing “playing GTA”. Also, I’m not sure if there really are ducks in the game but I had to come up with some excuse, right?

With tomorrow’s international release of Grand Theft Auto IV, I thought it would be appropriate to write up a brief history of the series for the blog. I could probably write twenty pages on controversy the series has caused alone. Even after all this controversy and the hot coffee scandal from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the series is still going strong.

Humble Beginnings

Anyway, onto the history lesson. It all started with the original, 2D Grand Theft Auto, which was released back in 1997 for the PlayStation and PC. The game was set in the three fictional cities of Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. They sound familiar, don’t they? While today the game sounds like something from the stone ages, for its time the game was revolutionary and it started it all for the Grand Theft Auto series. The first game in series, like it’s sequels, had a M (Mature) rating from ESRB in North American markets and wasn’t without controversy. Two expansion packs were released for GTA1 in 1991. Both of them were set in London. The first was called Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and the second Grand Theft Auto: London 1961.

Next up was Grand Theft Auto 2, released for the PlayStation and PC in October 1999 and for the Dreamcast and Game Boy Color in 2000. The from-the-sky point of view from Grand Theft Auto 1 was retained in the sequel, as well as the basic gameplay mechanics. A new feature introduced in GTA2 was the ability to do missions for different gangs. GTA2 also had a unique method of saving. If one walked into a church with $50,000, a voice announced “Hallelujah! Another soul saved!” and the game saved. If the player didn’t have enough money, the voice would say “Damnation! No donation, no salvation!” Safehouses were introduced in the 3D games and saving became free.

Going 3D

Arguably the most revolutionary for the series, Grand Theft Auto III was released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2001 and PC in May 2002. Grand Theft Auto III took place in the fictional city of Liberty City and was in 3D. No longer were you looking down from the sky when playing; now you felt like you were actually in the game thanks to the 3D view. The game’s protagonist was nameless and betrayed by his girlfriend in a bank heist. [Nice girlfriend he had there] He then works his way up the crime ladder of the city, and well, you get the message.

Again, Grand Theft Auto III was not without controversy. Many television news broadcasts would play a scene of the game where the protagonist was shooting pedestrians and blowing up police cars. The game was also banned in Australia for a period of time and then a censored version was released. Oh, and spread some more icing on the cake, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two people shot by William and Josh Buckner filed a $246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive, retailer Wal-Mart and Sony Computer Entertainment America, the manufacturer of the PlayStation 2. Apparently the teens claimed their actions were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III, and as we know, it’s always the video game’s fault because video games are ruining the world one child at a time. Sorry, I thought I was Jack Thompson there.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002. The game was set in a fictional city called (you guessed it!) Vice City during the year 1986. Vice City was a representation of Miami, Florida. Vice City was much brighter than Liberty City but don’t worry - Rockstar wasn’t making a Hello Kitty game or anything. In Vice City, you play the role of Tommy Vercetti, a hitman who has been released from jail in Liberty City after serving a 15-year sentence in connection with eleven murders. I won’t get into detail into the plot (mostly because I don’t remember the plot that well) but the game was one of my favorites in the series.

After the success of III and Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released in October 2004. The setting for the game was the fictional state of San Andreas, which featured the cities Los Santos (Los Angeles, CA), San Fierro (San Francisco, CA) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas, NV) as well as a distinct countryside. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas followed more of a gang-style story and had RPG-style elements such as eating, gaining and losing weight and working out in the gym. San Andreas also attracted major controversy when it was found that a sex minigame (”Hot Coffee”) could be unlocked using third-party hardware. On July 20th, 2005, production of San Andreas came to a halt and the game received a revised Adults Only (AO) rating from the ESRB. Many retailers then pulled the game off the shelves due to their policies prohibiting the game of Adults Only-rated games and Rockstar then released a “Cold Coffee” patch for the PC version which removed the content and re-released the other versions with a M (Mature) rating.

Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas have since been released in a “trilogy” package. It’s of great value (currently $30 for all three games) and can be found at Amazon or other retailers.

Grand Theft Auto On-The-Go

Now, back to the history. Grand Theft Auto Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance on October 25th, 2004. It again went back to the from-the-sky point of view. Since I don’t know much about Advance and since it wasn’t really a big release, I won’t spend too much time talking about it and instead I’ll go straight to the PSP series.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was the first Grand Theft Auto game released for the PlayStation Portable. It was released on October 25th, 2005 in North America and was eventually ported to the PS2 on June 6th, 2006. The game is once again set in the Liberty City from Grand Theft Auto III, however it takes place in 1998, three years before Grand Theft Auto III did. The protagonist of Liberty City Stories is Toni Cipriani, first saw in Grand Theft Auto III as a non-playable character. The game ran surprisingly well on the PSP’s hardware and the game sold over 8 million copies.

On October 31, 2006, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was released, again for the PSP. This time the protagonist is Victor Vance, a United States army solider. The following plot was taken and reworded slightly from Wikipedia since I don’t have a lot of Vice city Stories experience. His sergeant, Jerry Martinez, gets him involved in drug trafficking, against Victor’s morals. He is soon discharged for the drugs found in his room and for bringing a prostitute to the barracks, both intended for Martinez. The plot goes on and I don’t want to spoil it too much and from the 30 minutes of the game I’ve played, it’s another amazing entry in the franchise.

The next generation of Grand Theft Auto

Whew… we’re almost finished! Grand Theft Auto IV, set for release tomorrow (at time of writing), April 29th, 2008 worldwide is the latest entry in the series. Grand Theft Auto IV features a new protagonist in a completely redesigned Liberty City, this time set to be similar to the real-life New York City. The Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV will feature representations of the boroughs in real-life New York, including Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey (though the boroughs will have their own names in the game). Grand Theft Auto IV is for the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 and extra downloadable content is going to be released exclusively for the XBOX 360 later this year.

…and we’re finished!

Sorry if that was a long read but at least you know more about the roots of Grand Theft Auto now, right? Now, lets all start the countdown to tomorrow - April 29th, 2008 - the international release of Grand Theft Auto IV - my candidate for Game of the Year. Until next time!

When Mass Effect hits the PC on May 28th, the downloadable content “Bring Down the Sky” won’t be included on the disc but will be available free to anyone who registers on Bioware’s community website. The content is $5 when downloaded on the XBOX 360 and features 90 minutes of extra gameplay.

Not a bad bonus for those who waited for the PC version. Mass Effect 2 is also supposedly going to be a timed exclusive for the XBOX 360 (meaning it will eventually come to PC)… so write May 28th on your calendars!

(via Joystiq)

It’s official. A press release from Nintendo (via Kotaku) states that Wii Fit will release in North America at a modest $89.99 on May 19th. Plus, if you pick it up at the Nintendo World store in New York City, you’ll get a limited edition t-shirt featuring a reproduced autograph of the Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Yay for reproduced autographs!

My opinion? I was hoping for a $75-$80 release but I guess $90 isn’t that bad, compared to the price of Rock Band. Wii Fit looks promising but I’m not sure if I’m going to really be able to “get into it” or not. ;)

April 15, 2008

Nintendo News: Wii Fit to Keep Americans Moving at $89.99 MSRP

In anticipation of the U.S. launch of Wii Fit™, the new interactive fitness game for the popular Wii™ system, Nintendo of America Inc. has announced pricing details for this groundbreaking release. Available at Nintendo World store starting on May 19, Wii Fit and the innovative Wii Balance Board™ accessory will be bundled and sold together at a suggested retail price of $89.99.

Boasting a dynamic mix of more than 40 yoga, aerobics, strength training and balance activities, Wii Fit provides consumers with a fun, easy and affordable way to incorporate exercise into their daily routines. Using the included wireless Wii Balance Board accessory, every member of the household can step up and stay active, setting individual fitness goals and tracking their progress over time.

Consumers in the New York area who pre-order Wii Fit from the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza will receive a special bonus item. From April 18-20, the first 1,000 consumers who place a $5 deposit for Wii Fit will receive a limited edition Wii Fit T-shirt featuring the image and reproduced autograph of legendary Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

Through mid-February, Wii Fit had sold more than 1.4 million copies in Japan since its Dec. 1, 2007 launch. For more information about Wii Fit, please visit www.WiiFit.com or contact

Well… this one didn’t go that well for the kid. A 13 year old boy in Virginia was told to do his chores by his single mother but he wanted to play his XBOX 360 instead, so he did what any angelic child would - he broke the vaccum. Now that’s there no vaccum, there’s no chores, right? Wrong. After also finding cookies from pornographic websites in his brower history, his mother decided to sell his XBOX 360 as well as his games and accessories on eBay to pay for a new vaccum. To add fuel to fire, she even put a picture of Snoopy on his MySpace page. Now that’s ownage. See the auction here.

[Thanks to Gizmodo]

Joystiq is running the rumor mill today with a new rumor from VideoGamer.com speculating that the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii versions of Rock Band will hit Europe on August 29th. This means that the XBOX 360 will exclusively get the game for about three months until it goes multi-platform in the region. There’s no official announcement from Harmonix yet confirming this release date or even on a release for other consoles than the XBOX 360.

[Original rumor from VideoGamer.com, via Joystiq.com]