Random thoughts: 'GTA IV' irritations, 'Speed Racer' (the movie) and why Microsoft is making a huge mistake
5:13 PM, May 9, 2008
'GTA IV' irritations
I'm irritated a few little things in 'GTA IV' and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same way.
• I'm frustrated with the pre-missions in some of the main mission segments. These are the simple busy-work parts where you have to drive to a location, follow someone, steal something or chase someone before the meat of the mission begins. It's usually right after these early, easy-parts, that I'm instantly killed because I'm so worn out by what precedes the action... and I'm not paying attention. The real beating comes when you have to start the entire mission over... including the boring easy part. I wish the game would start right where you died.
• I'm tired of the music that plays when the game auto-saves: "Do - do - dum - do." It haunts my dreams.
• What's up with invisible props? I drove across what I thought was an empty patch of grass... then BAM, my car comes to a complete stop with a crashing sound of metal. Slowly, phantom playground equipment appears in front of my car. Where did that come from?
• The Russian clothing store.
• Toll booths
• Jumping a car up to a balcony or other small location where the vehicle becomes permanently stuck.
• Motorcycles seem vanish from Liberty City only when I want/need them.
Quick review: 'Speed Racer' the movie. Too much talking, awesome racing scenes and colors that will burn your eyes. Lop off the first hour and it's great!
Microsoft is making a huge mistake.
This is all anecdotal, but I swear Microsoft is killing themselves by not offering a Blu-Ray player in the Xbox 360.
After the release of 'GTA IV' I have had several friends tell me they were planning on buying a PS3 within the next few days. When I asked them if they had considered an Xbox 360, all of them said they really wanted the Blu-Ray player to watch movies. Every single person said the same thing. And these are non-gamers who are dying to try 'GTA IV' and watch high-def movies.
Even after I explained the virtues of Achievement Points, downloadable content and Xbox Live, the number one selling point for my friends was the Blu-Ray compatibility.
I guess you can point out that the Wii is surviving without a High-Def video player, but it has a broader appeal than both Sony's and Microsoft's systems.
C'mon Microsoft, bite the bullet.
April 12, 2008
Is Resident Evil 5 racist?
6:43 AM, April 12, 2008
As I discussed in my game column in the paper this morning, here's a link to the comments from N'Gai Croal at Newsweek about the portrayal of race in the upcoming Resident Evil 5.
And here's a video of the preview in question (a high-res version is available here):
You might also want to check out this video interview with the producer of RE5. He doesn't address the topic of race specifically, but does say the developers decided to set the game in Africa because the game explores the origins of the zombie virus and Africa is considered the birthplace of the human race.
So what do y'all think?
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It's funny reading those comments. It always amazes me when people find elements that aren't there or overemphasize things. The Japanese didn't create black zombies on the game becuase they like seeing that race of people dying or fulfilling a stereotype. Resident Evil has had all type of zombies in the past. They've had many locations. Are they somehow barred from having Africa as a location? I mean Africa is the location where they found the oldest human remains. The individuals who dig up racist conspiracies are usually the people that are in themselves most racist of all. These people limit society from having fruitful discussions about race becuase if you disagree with any views of theirs it's countered by calling you racist.
This is utterly absurd to bring an issue like this up. I see nothing hateful nor racist from this preview nor noticed due to the fact that IT'S A JUST A GAME (Japanese at that). This game is simply geographicly correct and shows the gamers some reality of modern wartorn life in Africa.
many people like to say that no one was complaining when the zombies were white or spaniards. but blacks never enslaved or oppressed either group, or at least not on the scale that whites have. people who can't see that are just plain dumb.
Wow! But high-res version not running
