Gaming Thoughts: Larry King Style...

• GTA IV is not as fun to play when your Fiance is sitting next to you on the love seat playing Nintendo DS.
• Age of Conan seems to be doing ok with their launch. I will still pass though. Keen and Graev have some thoughts at their site.
• I decided last night that Gamefly is not worth it. With the turn around time and the fact that I have so many games that I own to play, the 20 + bucks a month is not worth it.
• Penny Arcade Adventures releases this week. I think I will get the Xbox 360 version. Gabe and Tycho are hip to what gamers like so, I am pretty confident the game will be fun.
• Speaking of GTA IV, I really like this game. Having not played any of the previous incarnations for any length of time, I came in with a clean slate and I am having a blast. It's easy just to fire up and do a couple of missions or raise havoc and then sign off.
• Deca Sports is getting disappointing reviews. Hey developers, it isn't rocket science. Take Wii Sports and make each event into a coherent game.
• Speaking of the Wii... I am so over the motion controls at this point. The realization comes when you can sit back on the couch and just waggle the Wiimote a bit and accomplish the same thing that someone standing up and flailing around can do.
• I played against my Fiance in Sega Superstars Tennis on the Wii this weekend. When we used the easy "flail" controls it was pretty even, but when I switched to using a controller, I kicked her ass. All that training came in handy I guess.
• Problems persist with LOTRO and SLI. I seriously don't understand why they can't iron this issue out. The game performs worse with SLI enabled than without. I can see if it didn't have any effect at all, but worse performance? Come on!
• The hunt is on for a dart board for Man Room 2.0. The one I have from Halex is a piece of crap. I can't read the LED and it is very cheaply made. I have read of some that have a laser toe-line. That sounds cool enough to investigate.
• I am on the fence about whether to get Mass Effect for the PC. I have finished it on the Xbox 360, but all of the new features on the PC version are tempting. I could make that kick-ass female Soldier that I wanted to make. Plus, I could support their effort to make DRM less of a hassle.
  
• Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality has a console post where he uses logic and truth to illustrate how much the Wii is kicking ass over the Xbox 360 and PS3. How dare he? I mean, the Internets weren't made to be a repository for truth and logic!
• I made a pact with myself that I would finish several of the games I own before I buy any new ones. With the exception of Civilization Revolution, that is... I need that game.
  

Game plans for the weekend

Looks like a GTA IV, LOTRO weekend for me. Sunday is Mother's Day so I probably won't get much gaming in that day. Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, I had a minor medical procedure so was out of commission. Look for more Age of Conan impressions soon.

GTA IV Driving Issues.

I have read some complaints from people about driving being difficult in GTA IV. If you are one of these people, try going to first person mode by hitting the select button a few times. This makes driving much more enjoyable. Keep in mind that the type of vehicle you are using makes a big difference too. I am having no problems driving around the city at speed anymore. This game is really enjoyable and I am not a GTA fanboy. In fact I played all previous incarnations of GTA put together for about 1 hour.

A quick note...

I am downloading the Age of Conan beta as we speak. I will post some thoughts when I get a chance to play it. The thing is 12 Gigs, ladies and gentlemen... This is a crazy time with Mario Kart and GTA IV coming out in the same week. To make things worse the AoC beta starts Thursday and Mount and Blade 0.95 just got released. Grab it here. It's a great time to be a gamer.

Kill Jack Thompson?

Apparently in the upcoming game Grand Theft Auto IV, the very first misson is to kill an obnoxious lawyer who is on a crusade against video games. I LOVE it. I may buy the game just for this mission. Jack Thompson on the other hand is not pleased. Is he ever? GamePolitics.com, reports that Thompson believes the first mission is based on him. Read more about this over at GamesIndustry.biz.