Since the last entry I:

*Failed to complete the Deal Breaker multiplayer co-op mission in “GTA IV” before going to bed (but after watching the excellent final week of “In Treatment”).

I tried this mode with three different groups of people on Tuesday. I tried it with two average joes. Failure. Then I tried it with Chris Grant and Michael Zenke of the Joystiq blogging family. Failure. Then I tried it with Brian Crecente and Mike Fahey of the Kotaku blogging network. Failure. What can we take away from this? (I hope no one notices that I am one of the only common factors.)

*Did some battling in “The World Ends With You.” I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed battles in an RPG this much. Lots of strategy and physical dexterity required as you use the DS  face buttons to control the character combat on the top screen while using the stylus to fight on the lower screen.

Got the dreaded low-battery red light on the subway way up to work. Forgot my charger. Dumb move. Why can’t I remember to keep it in my bag?

Next: I charge my DS. Exciting!

Did you hear about IGN’s “Grand Theft Auto IV” montage that exclusively featured clips of the game’s lead character having sex and shooting the women he had sex with?

You won’t see it on IGN any longer. The gaming giant says it messed up and is taking it down.

“IGN’s goal is to show our users all aspects of popular games on the market,” an IGN spokesperson just informed me by e-mail. “In this case, we crossed a line in how we portrayed some aspects of the game and we’ve taken this video down.”

Yesterday, I discovered that IGN had made a video called “Ladies of Liberty City: Very Bad Things” that showcased just two elements “GTA” is notorious for and that some critics say is entirely what the game is about: sex and shooting women. This is how the video was teased on the site:

The video was a collection of “GTA IV” gameplay scenes. It starts with a montage of pole-dancing and lap-dancing. That’s followed by the drive-by shooting of a woman, then a visit to a strip club.

Footage of an acrobatic lap-dance is immediately followed by a scene of the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, gunning down a scantily-clad woman in the middle of the street.

Etcetera.

Why would IGN make a video like that?

• Did they think sex and the killing of prostitutes is an excellent combination for a video?
• Did they not think that but think their audience would give a video like that a lot of hits?
• Were they simply reporting the facts?
• Were they being ironic? (”Enjoy” the working girls, indeed.)
• Or did something just go wrong?

I reached out this morning to a spokesperson for Fox, which owns IGN and, after several hours while the video remained online, was told it’s now been removed.

IGN has made many other gameplay montages of “GTA,” but this is one I didn’t expect them to create. It already was making a poor impression (clips of the now-removed video can be seen at those links).

What do you think? Did IGN just do critics of the game a favor? Or was this pure “GTA” reflected back, warts and all?

Two little known games called “GTA IV” and “Mario Kart Wii” came out this week.

Seriously though… We’d be fools to not be playing them, right?

But one of us hasn’t even gotten Niko off the boat yet in “GTA IV.”

Why? He says there’s been too much hype:

JasonCipriano: I’ve been playing “Mario Kart” pretty steadily, and I’m sure I’ll get into “GTA” by the weekend… I just haven’t gotten to it yet
TraceyJohn: Did you intentionally choose “Mario Kart” over “GTA”? People might say you’re crazy for even waiting ’til the weekend
JasonCipriano: I’m okay waiting until the weekend. My girlfriend won’t be around and I’ll be able to dig in
JasonCipriano: I’m a little in “GTA” overload anyways
JasonCipriano: I’ve been tired of hearing about it for a couple weeks now
JasonCipriano: We get it. It’s a big game… and it’s out. Can we all please stop talking about it, and maybe just … ya know … play it, and keep to ourselves
JasonCipriano: There has to be other things to talk about
TraceyJohn: Hmmm… Like what we’re NOT playing this week!

Are you suffering from “GTA” overload, too? We know some other games that are, and we discuss why we’re not playing them. Read on…

Read more…

Unless you’ve downloaded the expansion pack to the downloadable PS3 twin-stick shooter “Super Stardust HD,” you will have a hard time convincing me that it’s not the most graphically-impressive game on Sony’s machine.

And, yes, I’ve played “GTA IV.” I’ve seen “Killzone 2.” But nothing quite blows me away like a level of Endless on the $5 “SSHD” expansion called “Solo Pack.”

What exactly have the game’s Finnish developers at Housemarque accomplished?

• They’ve doubled the base game’s output of 10,000 objects on the screen.
• They believe they’ve almost maxed the PS3 graphics chip.
• And now they’re thinking about making music-based levels and revealing to Multiplayer other expansions they have in the works.

Read on for more on all of that, from a developer that is pushing the PS3 to impressive lengths …

[Images Courtesy of IGN]

Read more…

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell told us last week that violence and long form gameplay lost the casual gamer decades ago. In the ensuing years, Bushnell himself has retained a casual approach to gaming.

In addition to founding uWink, a GameWorks-like restaurant chain mixing food, drinks and games, he was recently recruited as an advisor for NeoEdge, a Silicon Valley company focused on incorporating advertising in casual games.

NeoEdge operates MostFun.com, which houses popular casual games like “Diner Dash” and “Luxor.” It operates under the growing economic model of offering full versions of their games absolutely free, if you’ll look at a few ads. These ads can come before, during or after a gameplay session, but unlike typical in-game advertising, they are not hidden in the environment.

For years, companies have been looking for ways to incorporate the advertising directly into the game itself. It’s why Microsoft paid undisclosed millions for in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. two years ago.

But Bushnell isn’t convinced that in-game advertising, like that seen most recently in Ubisoft’s “Rainbow Six Vegas 2,” is going to work.

“In-game advertising is much, much more [in your face] advertising and is more like a billboard,” said Bushnell. “I don’t believe those kinds of ads are very effective. In a game, if you’re not riveted on the objectives, you’re going to lose.”

Bushnell looks at the TV model as a good example. TV often places advertising before a show, after a show and during set breaks in the action. The problem with the TV model, he argues, is how inflated the cost of entry has become.

A TV ad can cost upwards of millions. There are countless people playing casual games, yet not many ways to monetize it. There’s opportunity there, he said.

“[TV ads] sometimes have multi-million dollar budget to really sell a message in style and grace in 30 seconds,” he said. “It becomes very, very easy for an advertiser to go into the NeoEdge environment and before, middle or end of game, you can see an ad.”

Advertising and games are an inevitable mix, but how do you want it served?

I didn’t have very high expectations before sitting down for a demo of “50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.” Heck, I’m not even that into rap music.

Yet, like I mentioned in a story filed at MTV News earlier this week, I left a 15-minute demo at Sierra’s recent media event and told other games editors they should check out “Blood on the Sand.”

Not only is it better than you think, I told them, it just might be good.

Everyone’s already heard the comparisons to “Gears of War,” but I think there’s a closer friend in Sega’s recently released but mostly ignored score-based shooter “The Club.”

“The Club” was surgical in design. “Blood on the Sand,” however, is the exact opposite: a big, beautiful, unapologetic mess. And, well, 50 Cent’s in it.

Read more…

Video games are for the birds.

At least this month they are.

In our year-long quest to find the Greatest Animal in the History of Video Games, we listed every bird we could think of (and yes, we know we forgot the “Zelda” chickens, and we’re still not sure if Birdo is a bird).

Thankfully, our readers and judges helped us by picking their favorites.

Here’s our all-star panel of judges for this round:

• Leigh Alexander, Writer at Kotaku and her blog Sexy Videogameland

• Russ Frushtick, Games Editor at UGO

• Morgan Gray, Senior Producer at Crystal Dynamics

• Tofuburger, Co-founder of funny animal picture blog I Can Has Cheezburger

Unlike last time where Ecco the Dolphin won almost unanimously, this time the votes got tangled up in a few ties. Read on to see which bird(s) ultimately won, which ones readers liked best and which judge actually chose the chickens from “Chicken Run” as their top choice… Read more…

I hope everyone enjoyed the “Grand Theft Auto IV” release yesterday, because it’s time to get back to work. While it may be a sign that I am a bit too hardcore of a gamer for my own good; I see the release of a video game as a perfectly good excuse to take a little rest and relaxation time for yourself. What difference should it make it the game comes out on a Tuesday or a Saturday, you should always take the time to fully appreciate a new game. If your boss happens to have a problem with it, send them to me. While I find a good place to hide, you can check out today’s Multiplayer link picks:

Jason’s Pick:

Mega Man in the Guiness Book: The little blue guy takes home the award for the “Most Number of Games In a Single Series.” That can also be taken as the “Most Diluted Character” ever. [Via GoNintendo]

Stephen’s Pick:

“This one’s for Sean Bell”: Quite a quote to absorb, from Kotaku’s interviews with residents of Spanish Harlem concerning what playing “Grand Theft Auto IV” means to at least one of them.

Tracey’s Pick:

‘Grand Theft Auto’ Promo Campaign Kept Quiet: Fox News reports that Rockstar is keeping the “GTA IV” launch on the “downlow.”

Patrick’s Pick:

‘The Sims Online’ Closing: Even though ‘The Sims Online’ was never the roaring success that Electronic Arts intended, you have to wonder how news like this feels for the few people the game did connect with over the years.

* R.T.F.A. stands for “Read The Full Article.”

Contrary to some reports, you can play “Grand Theft Auto” games without behaving like a virtual sociopath.

Well, at least, you can tone it down a little.

I’m 16 hours into “GTA IV” and I tried, in the early hours, to keep Niko as reasonable and peaceful a man as possible.

I was also classy:

• Niko has dated only one woman so far and treated her to nice dates at the cabaret.
• I’ve returned most of Niko’s friends’ calls, though now that they call really often, I’m beginning to blow them off.
• Most importantly, I tried to take the non-violent route as often as possible and attempted to respect the Liberty City Police Department. The game didn’t let me keep that up. But to compensate, I’ve apprehended many of the city’s Most Wanted criminals.

If you “GTA” gamers can tear yourself away from the game for a moment, tell me, how are you playing Niko Bellic?

Since the last entry, I…

*Played a lot of “Grand Theft Auto IV.” I stayed home to play it, expecting to binge on single-player. But I got caught up in a lot of multiplayer. Cops N Crooks — a mode in which teams take turns either as the crooks protecting one of their own, The Boss, as he races to an extraction point or as the better-armed cops who try to stop them — is an immediate hit. I played that mode a few times and all cackled in glee throughout. It’s makes for magnificent mayhem.

*Spent a 40-minute subway ride mostly reading the in-game tutorial for “The World Ends With You.” There’s a lot to soak in, but I think it will be worth it. Not since “Bully” have I started a game that is set in such a distinct, under-explored environment (in this case, a stylized modern Tokyo). Not since “Kirby Canvas Curse” have I begun a DS game that seems designed to make radical use of the machine (in this case by forcing me to control characters on two screens during battles). Very promising.

Next: More of the above.