Translation: I finally finished Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas last night.

The first section of the final mission was a tremendous pain, as I hadn't done the burglary or firefighter missions to get fire resistance.  But after a week of hammering away at it, and at least 20 serious tries, I beat the first half, and the second was not much of a problem after that.

As someone who works in the industry (and will soon be in game design), I'm tremendously impressed with the attention to detail in the writing, interface, user-friendliness of this game.  There are issues with graphics here and there, and a couple of minor functionality bugs that it would have been nice to iron out, but all-in-all it's a really solid package for usability and overall design.  (Plus it introduced me to a lot of music I didn't know I liked, most notably Eminence Front by The Who.)  Thumbs up for Rockstar North.

I'm expecting to be really impressed with GTA4, but that's not until later this year (which will give me time to buy a 360).  Until then, I'll pick up Bully and see what Rockstar Vancouver has done to improve the formula...

These sandbox games (a term I got from Wikipedia) are quite interesting to me.
Not that I've played anything other than demos... The Mafia: City of Lost Heaven, and Max Payne 2 demos are great fun.

GTA looks kinda clunky and cartoonish though, and I've yet to see the game I'd like to play.

By the way, I found Bully to be very boring and repetative, but thats just me.

If you get an opportunity to play the full Max Payne games (1 & 2) I'd recommend them, as long as it's on PC.

And Bully is weird... the gameplay seems pretty polished, and the story seems interesting enough, yet what I've seen of it so far didn't really grab me either. But I'm going to give it a chance; free is a good price.

I suspect the next Grand Theft Auto title -- and nobody outside the company seem to know where it'll be set, but the most popular theory is London -- will reset the bar so high that at launch there will be a simultaneous spike in console sales.

I have both Max Payne games for PC...I had some trouble with the new busta moves on the second game and I never finished the last screen, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. I have never played any of the GTA games but I was playing the hell out of Scarface. I have been working and writing a lot lately, so Tony has had to take a break, but I have almost taken over Miami. I am on the last front mission in North Beach and it's pissing me off, then one more warehouse and then I suppose it'll be time to take down Gaspar Gomez. Before I was playing Scarface, I had been playing F.E.A.R, a FPS game which is hella fun, really cool and addicting. I'll get back to that once Alejandro Sosa is dead and six feet under.   

It's strange that you would consider the Max Payne games "sandbox" titles. They're both very linear games, though artfully-made ones (and possibly my favorite games I've ever played).

Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I've always had an aversion to the GTAs, though I love games with that kind of open-ended gameplay. (You wouldn't think someone with a picture of a woman in her death throes as his avatar would have an aversion to rampant violence, but it be so.)

It's strange that you would consider the Max Payne games "sandbox" titles.

It's not so strange when you've only played the demo. How was I supposed to know?

Damnit, Booth, I expect everyone to be up to speed on their knowledge of the genres of video games released several years ago. Threads on the Internet about video games have certain standards of accuracy that must be met.

(Actually, I thought that Smokey and Jamie were agreeing that Payne was a "sandbox" type. I thought maybe I was misunderstanding the meaning of the term.)

Edit- On a side note, Smokey and Jamie is a great name for a morning talk show.

After the break:

Smokey and Jamie show some exciting new garden solutions for spring, and then debate whether or not Max actually murdered his family in a bout of drug-induced madness!

Stay tuned!

- - - - -

No, the Max Paynes definitely aren't free-roaming, but that contradiction didn't click with me at the time, as I was having such a good time listening to the sound of my own voice.  It's a shame that MP3 (heh) is so far off on the horizon, but considering it'll probably be the next big thing Remedy works on after Alan Wake, I'm sure it'll be suitably awesome when it finally arrives.  In 2010.

 It's a shame that MP3 (heh) is so far off on the horizon, but considering it'll probably be the next big thing Remedy works on after Alan Wake, I'm sure it'll be suitably awesome when it finally arrives. In 2010.

And it will probably only be available for Windows Vista and XBOX 360, right? Damn.

Likely, yeah.  If the PS3 had launched halfway-competently, a significantly-delayed port would be an outside possibility, but even then it's probably only 360 and Vista PC.  Microsoft isn't going to do Sony any favors.

What I'd love to see are Wii ports of the Max Payne games.  So long as they didn't mess up the controls, those would sell like anything. 

Is Max Payne 3 that far off, I thought I read somewhere it was in the works. I can't recalll a tentative release date so with the length of time it takes to develop a game, I'll take your wword for it. My PC is Vista capable since I just bought it last year so I might be okay if it isn't priced through the roof once it comes out. I have considred, Jaime, giving a GTA game a shot once I finish Scarface, which one would you recommend. But first I am gonna finish that other game I had started.

Edit- On a side note, Smokey and Jamie is a great name for a morning talk show.

To clarify, we're on Sunday nights. Good Morning the Midwest and Parts of Canada! with Jamie and Smokey is on Monday mornings. So it really just depends on what time zone you're watching from.*

*Obviously, I've put way too much thought into this. 

I stopped watching after the coverage from the Habitat '67 site was preempted for the umpteenth time.

That show would be cheap to produce, as you guys would be reporting from the bottom of a well, which saves on lighting, wardrobe, make-up, and transportation. Again, a production credit will be fine.

Anyway, I guess it's time for this now; wish I could take credit for it:

(BTW, I didn't really mean 2010, I was just being cynical. If Alan Wake is out this year as planned, I'll be optimistic and guess early 2009 for MP3, but only because it's Friday and I'm in an optimistic mood. :)

I'm resurrecting this thread because I just finished GTA:SA today. 100% that is.
Now I want to talk about it.
I really hated the remote control missions.

I only just this summer started playing Vice City (which has been put on hold until the school term ends) but I have to agree that the remote-controlled bombing raids are aneurysm-inducing.

So, yeah, that moral resistance that I held just a year earlier has all but dissapated in the wake of the great gameplay and cool 80's tunes.

Hey, speaking of "wake"... ah, never mind. I won't bring that up again. (Though I now have access to a Vista-enabled PC for when it comes out).

I'm going to have to disagree with Mr. Cant regarding the last mission. It was disappointingly easy, what about it made you have to do it 20 times? Maybe if Smoke's crack house had been a labyrinthine Zelda-esque castle, but it's not, and there's armor aplenty.

Overall I think Los Santos was the most interesting place, but Las Venturas had the most interesting missions, and San Fierro was kind of boring.