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...

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.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

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.)

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

QUOTE: 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.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

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.

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

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

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. 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

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. 

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

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).

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org