This is more than 50% of Take Two Interactive’s revenue for all of last year.  Maybe they were smart for rejecting the buyout offer from Electronic Arts.

The GTA franchise always gives TTWO a lift and news abut the games usually send the stock way up.  The only exception was when the infamous “Hot Coffee” contrent came to light in GTA: San Andreas, forcing the ESRB to give the game an AO rating immediately causing it to be removed form may store shelves.

GTA IV must be workt the money.  It has received a 10 rating from GameSpot, the first GTA to do so and early reports assert that the game lives up to the early hype.  Being an Adult Gamer, sometimes life can get in the way of game playing.  I was traveling for business on the 29th when the game launched.  Also, my game room acted as a tempoary closet through the end of the week. 

I finally got to see what the hype was all about and I must agree, GTA IV is awesome.  I’ve played about 15 hours and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. 

GTA

Watch this video of the first GTA as played on DOS.

GTA2

A GTA2 video to the tune of “Fuck da Police” by NWA.

GTA III

Never made it to the final mission on GTAIII?  Here’s what it looks like.

GTA: Vice City

Get your bash on on this third mission in Vice City.

GTA: San Andreas

The Riot mission from San Andreas.

GTA IV

Just a few more days left before we get to see all GTA IV has to offer!

GTA was addictive from its very first release for the PlayStation (PSOne). The PSOne allowed publishers to push the envelope into more and more mature titles with more adult subject matter.  Still a 2D game in its first 3 releases (GTA, GTA2, and GTA: London), Rockstar would change the console game world with GTA III.

GTA III is what finally forced me to buy a PS2. My world was completely changed.  I never owned any of the Nintendo systems but did play the Marios and the Zeldas, but never id a game speak to my male id like GTA III.  Combining so many styles of gaming (Third-Person Shooter, Rail Shooter, Driving, Racing, puzzle-solving), GTA III opened up an entire universe for gamers to explore.  No longer tied to the standard corridor/maze of classic first person and third person shooters like Doom, Quake, and Splinter Cell.

Rockstar extended the Gameplay and amped up the mature content in GTA:Vice City and GTA: San Andreas.  Vice City introduced motorcycles are money collection while San Andreas introduced full character control with clothing, eating, and exercise.  Many blasted San Andreas for having to much depth but Rockstar really pushed the envelope push the PS2 to its limit.

GTA IV promises to be a revolutionary change.  WE again return to Liberty City the scene of GTA, GTA III, and GTA: Liberty City Stories.  But this re-imagined space is not the same place we murdered Sindacos and jacked cars in from of the Callahan Bridge.

Throughout the month I will highlight awesome GTA moments, reviews, and talk every thing GTA as we prep for April 29 -> GTA IV Day!

The Story So Far…

Halo 3 begins just after the ending of Halo 2 – when Master Chief jumped from the ship hurtling towards Earth.  He lands like Kal-El coming to our planet to become Superman!  After the marines find him and a quick system check – you and the Master Chief are put right into the action.

It wouldn’t be Halo if it weren’t action packed.  You play along side the Arbiter up against the Prophet of Truth and the Brutes.  The Prophet has come to Earth to destroy the gallixy and you need to stop him!  I’ve only played through two of the major campaigns – and of course I’m hooked.  I usually play through the game before I check out the multiplayer – but that won’t happen this time – I’m going to get in to the multiplayer right away and update you on one of my In Play posts.

Since there is no true “tutorial” stage, it took me awhile to figure out the controls and some of the new weapons.   There is a new grenade type and a new “equipment” upgrade that could be a shield, grav lift, or cloak.  Just push the X button to deploy the equipment.

The only thing that took me awhile to figure out was that I had to push the RB button to get on the one of the ships.  After killing all of the enemies twice – I finally hung aroud the ship long enough to figure it out.

There is a nice complemnt of weapons – with my favorite so far being the War Hammer.  I love crushing the skulls of the Brutes with that thing!

So Halo 3 is the game of the week, and I’ll spend plenty of time playing it – It’s my new Obsession!

The game play of Pac Man is possibly the simplest of any video game.  You guide the Pac Man character through a maze, eating the pellets while avoiding the four ghosts chasing you.  There are 4 “power” pellets that when eaten turn the ghosts blue, allowing Pac Man to eat them for points.  Also, each level has a fruit that appears in the middle of the maze, twice per level.  Eating the fruit gives you additional points and these points rise with each level.

Pac Man made it to the home console on the Atari 2600 in 1982 and quickly became one of the most popular games, despite its terrible depiction of the action of Pac Man.  Atari over-produced the Pac Man cartridge leading towards the video game crash of 1983.    The ports of the game were much better on the Atari 5200 and can now be played on both the Wii and Xbox 360.

I pumped plenty of quarters in to Pac Man and it’s most famous sequels – Ms. Pac Man and Super Pac Man.  I don’t think it is possible to find someone between the ages of 30 and 40 who has not played a Pac Man game. 

Read more about Pac Man at wikipedia and the Killer List Of Video Games.

The game play is very simplistic.  You tilt the world to the left or right and bounce the Loco Rocos through a series of levels collecting berries to help you multiply and collect picokories and Mui Mui to earn points at the end of each level.  You do have some enemies trying to stop you though.  You have to watch out for the Moja who are out to eat you!

The best part about the game is the music.  The Loco Roco sing an almost lullaby song that is very relaxing.  I often find my self humming the theme while I’m playing – causing my wife to look over at me during our commute together. 

The game is pretty challenging as the levels progress.  At several points in order to gain the maximum score you must have a certain number of Loco Rocos in your party to wake up the sun, moon, or plants.  Your Rocos sing and the awakened character gives you a piece of your Loco House.

There are two mini games.  One a lot like the claw game from Toy Story fame, where you can collect pieces of the Loco House.  The other Chuppa Chuppa I haven’t unlocked yet – so I can’t tell you too much about it.

Loco Roco is very addictive as you try again and again to gain the max number of points at the end of a round and find all the secret areas on the map.  So easy, any gamer can just pick it right up and play.

The original Space Invaders game was an upright arcade game that quickly became a classic.  The basic premise was that there where these Invaders from Space and they are about to land on a planet (never knew if it was Earth or not).  You are the sole protector of the planet with your glide tank, you can move from left to right shooting your laser cannon and you have 3 bunkers to hide behind spaced across the play screen.  Thankfully, for you the Invaders are very orderly and only attack in formations of about 6 battle lines.  The Invaders march across the screen from left to right and when they reach the edge of the screen, they move one line closer to the planet, all the while, dropping laser rays to destroy you in your tank.  As you destroy the Invaders, they start to move faster and faster.  Once one remains, it moves very quickly across the screen with the sole mission of reaching the planet and destroying your tank.

Occasionally, a ship would appear as the very top of the screen, making its way across – destroying this ship gave you extra points.

The game was an instant cult classic in the arcades and once the 2600 version came out, it was a classic in homes.  The game play wasn’t much different and if you were like me you found a way to beat the invaders every time.  Here was my favorite trick.  Each time you destroyed a wave of Invaders, the next wave would start a line lower.  There was a point however, where they couldn’t start any lower – but if they made it to the edge, they would move down one line and you would be destroyed.  There was a trick to this stage of the game.  I called it “tap-tap-press.”  After hundreds of games, I figured out that you had just enough time to destroy two Invaders in each column across the screen before the wave made it to the point where it would drop down a line.  So the “taps” were pushes of the fire button and the push was slightly pushing the joystick to the left just enough to get under the next column of Invaders.  I would “tap-tap-press” across the screen and then make my way back to the right destroying the rest of the columns. 

This technique took the fun out of the game because it became almost impossible for me to lose.  And like with all video games, boredom sets in and the excitement of a new adventure takes your attention away.  Regardless, Space Invaders got a lot of my quarters at the arcade and I’m sure our electricity bill was slightly higher with all the juice spent playing this great game.

There are countless ports of this game on just about every system including the PSP and many cell phones.  It shouldn’t be hard to find a Space Invaders game if you want.  There is a nice history of the franchise on wikipedia

Burnout Paradise changes things up a lot.  Now instead of a world map or lists with different events to select – you as the player drive around Paradise City starting races, road rages and burning laps at intersections.  Their are also crash and timing challenges on each of the city streets. 

You collect cars in the junkyard and can repair vehicles in the repair shops.  New in this version -> you don’t get cars for completing challenges, you get a chance to “acquire” the car.  To get it you must perform a takedown out on the open road.  Afterwards the car is available in your junkyard.  Albeit damages -> so get it repaired!

The races are tougher since there are many routes to the finish line – but that makes it fun. 

I’ll get to log in about 5-8 hours of game time this week and I’ll update you with some In Play throughout.

I haven’t tried the multiplayer options but will this week. I’ll have a detailed “Over-30″ review in about a week.

Started career mode with my fighter, Long “The Beast” Duck, a 5′10″ welterweight.  I set the attributes to max power nd agility.  I was a bit disappointed because my first tow fights ended in draws.  I think I need to go back to training and practice parrying and counter punching. I’ve noticed that all the big punches I take are after a parry.  I’m sure with a little practice, I’ll be the champ!

Guitar Hero 3

I started playing Guitar Hero in Feb.  I got through the game on easy in less than a weekend.  Medium is taking a little longer.  My biggest problem is that I don’t know all of the songs – I mean I’ve never heard them before. Going through practice would help – but who wants to take the time to do that?  Although I could practice the melodies and solos.  All I know is – I’m addicted to GH3 – Aren’t you?

I read plenty of buzz on Call of Duty 4 in Game Informer magazine and saw the commercials on TV.  I didn’t wait long to buy this game after its release after checking that it got positive reviews at GameSpot.

This is a great game for the over 30 crowd.  The campaign is long and involved.  It follows the adventures of a British SAS soldier and a US Marine as they hunt down a terrorist faction.  The story is eerily ripped from the headlines as you conduct operation in the middle eastern desert and in Chernobyl.

The game play is action packed with a variety of weapons at your disposal.  The game maintains a sense of realism by only allowing you to carry two weapons at a time, with a complement of grenades.  A nice trend in the better FPS games now – I never understood where the marine in Doom kept all those weapons!

The graphics are outstanding – as they should be for the next-gen games.  Also, the soundtrack keeps your heart pumping and raises the suspense level at the appropriate times.

If you get Call of Duty 4 for the single-player campaign, then you are only getting half the benefit (more like 10%).  The multiplayer is where COD4 really shines and keeps the game infinitely playable. 

The online multiplayer requires a broadband connection, which shouldn’t be a problem for you older gamers.  COD4 has a robust ranking system based on XP. As you get more kills and complete tasks in the multiplayer games – you earn XP – Get enough XP and you get a new rank – and with higher rank comes better weapons and more challenges!

I was surprised to get on multiplayer and see some many highly ranked players – but then I realized these are the kids with no jobs and no responsibilities.   Since I only have a few hours a week to play, Call of Duty 4 gives me plenty of action to keep my attention and keep me motivated to earn XP and rank.  Just don’t get discouraged when an 8 year old puts a sniper bullet through your head.