Since the last entry, I…

*Finished “Grand Theft Auto IV.” Very good last mission that I finished on my first try (thank goodness). I’ll have more to say about my end-of-game thoughts in another post. But I am wondering why no mission took me to Liberty City’s version of the Empire State Building. Bummer. Still, the game was quite good: the best-made “GTA,” in my opinion, but only my second favorite. I’m still a “San Andreas” man.

*Worked out to “Wii Fit” and wondered if a program like this can really do much for a fit guy like me. Still, I’m a big fan of Wii games adding channels to the system. It lets me access parts of the games without having the disc in the system. It’s a splendid way to keep a shelf of software relevant.

*Thought I finished “The World Ends With You” only to discover that the game is structured a little like “Odin Sphere,” if you know what I mean. I’m into the second play-through and not finding one of the new main characters that fun.

*Finally inserted “Wii Play” into my machine and played the first game: target shooting. I hear that the tank mode is the best, so I will play more.

*Used the Wii Balance Board to play “We Ski,” but there’s an embargo on impressions until later this week. I do need to say that skiing indoors, on the Board, with remote and nunchuk in hands, is something I would think I’m too old for. Then again, a few years ago I would have said the same about standing in front of the TV playing a plastic toy guitar. The last couple of years of video games have made children of many of us.

Next: I am flying to San Francisco for a week of gaming showcases. My travel games are: “TWEWY,” “R-Type Command,” and “Secret Agent Clank.” “Crisis Core” is not in the stack. I don’t think I’m going back to that one.

Since the last entry I..

*Found “that special someone.” The New Jersey part dragged for me. Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan were more my speed. And I say this despite being born in Jersey.

*Played more “The World Ends With You” and “Wii Fit” (the latter of which was immortalized in video).

Next: I will finish “GTA IV.”

I consider myself a feminist and a gamer. And you know what? I love playing “Grand Theft Auto.”

But some articles calling the game misogynistic have inevitably cropped up.

Samhita, a writer at Feministing.com, thinks “GTA” promotes the idea to young men that “it is cool to be violent and kill prostitutes.” She asked, “Where does this put young women gamers? How do they feel when playing video games with such violent representations of women?”

It didn’t help matters that IGN made a video called the “Ladies of Liberty City,” which was a collection of clips showing lead character Niko Bellic having sex with prostitutes and then killing them (it was pulled down following an inquiry from Multiplayer).

I was appalled by the IGN video; I was turned off by the disturbing montage and felt it presented the game grossly out of context.

So why do I like this game?

Read more…

Analyst Michael Pachter, developer Kellee Santiago and reporter Brian Crecente agree: big games like “Grand Theft Auto IV” don’t pose a threat to Hollywood’s summer blockbusters.

You can read their explanations in my story at MTVNews.com.

Here’s a highlight from Pachter on why he doesn’t think “Metal Gear Solid 4” is a threat to the movies coming out against it in June:

‘MGS’ will have no noticeable impact on movie attendance,” [Pachter] said. “Its audience are even bigger geeks than the ‘GTA’ audience, so if they weren’t playing ‘MGS,’ they would be playing some other game.” The theory is that hard-core gamers, when not playing one big game, are spending their time playing other games [rather than going to the movies].

More Pachter and more from the rest in my story at the link above. Hollywood, don’t worry! Unless… is it all a trap?

I’m ready to have my mind changed about anything that I’ve long held to be true.

Such changes can occur at any time, as happened earlier this week when a reader began to convince me that today’s seemingly generous game reviewers actually dole out too few perfect scores.

Another core tenet I’m at least considering abandoning: the belief that game reviewers need to finish games.

I’m not comfortable changing my mind about this. I happily finish the games that I think are important. That means I finish a lot of games each year, even though I don’t review any of them. And if I didn’t finish, say, “Metroid Prime 3” or “The Phantom Hourglass,” what would I know of each game’s major final-hours gameplay twists? How could I talk confidently about “Mass Effect” without having triggered at least one of its endings? How else would I know that the fantastic “BioShock” stumbles to the finish line, a failing worthy of a penalty?

Surely, games must be finished to be reviewed — or even to be discussed authoritatively.

Yet something N’Gai Croal wrote on his blog a couple of days ago prompted me to question my belief.

And when I learned yesterday that Variety’s Ben Fritz hadn’t finished — probably hadn’t even played half of — “Grand Theft Auto IV” before reviewing the game for his Hollywood publication, I knew I had to ask some questions of them and of myself.

Read more…

Since the last entry, I…

*Played more of “The World Ends With You” which I am finally — long promised! — going to compare to the game I didn’t play since the last entry,”Grand Theft Auto IV.”

Now I’m not going to say the “TWEWY” is better than “GTA IV,” but there is something that the Square-Enix DS role-playing game game does really well that I hope Rockstar takes notes on. That thing is how the DS game integrates location and, more specifically, the mood of a location, into gameplay.

You know how some painters paint Paris in such a way that you could say that their painting has the feel of that French city?

Ever notice how different regional forms of hip-hop reverberate with the rhythm of the place from where they emanate?

When I play “TWEWY” I feel like my play experience is — how do I put this? — fueled by the energy of a specific place. That place is Shibuya, a Times-Square-on-steroids region of Tokyo I’ve only spent a week of my life in. I only spent a week there so I can only appreciate it as a tourist.

Maybe I don’t really know Shibuya, not the way I think I know New York. But I think I picked up enough of the vibe: it’s crowded, glitzy, full of fashion-conscious hipsters and many business people seemingly lost in thought; it’s bright and noisy but like all big cities full of people who seem lonely and alienated, ambling through life without connections.

All of that has been translated into gameplay.

“TWEWY” feels like I’m playing the Shibuya mood moreso than “GTA IV” feels like it’s playing the mood of a city based on New York.

Read more…

Over at MTV News I filed a report on the big gaming news of the morning: that “Grand Theft Auto IV” sold six million copies in its first week, netting publisher Take-Two Interactive $500 million. “Halo 3” made Microsoft $300 million in its first week in September. So “GTA IV” appears to be the biggest starter in gaming history.

Should be interesting to see how “Mario Kart Wii” did in the same week.

Have you been staring at mini-maps too much lately?

Have you been missing the beautiful scenery of today’s hottest games because you only had eyes for the map in the corner of your TV?

Have you essentially been playing a 3D Xbox 360 or PS3 game by focusing on a graphical view of Liberty City or Paradise City that could have been rendered on an NES?

Have you, like Peter Molyneux, considered that mini-maps should be replaced by in-game dogs?

Are you making a mockery out of all the effort today’s hardworking game artists put into the parts of the game you don’t see because you’re staring at the edge of your TV?

Mini-maps: gamer friend or game designer foe?

Decide now.

Since the last entry, I…

*Knocked off six more missions in “GTA IV.” (Boat chases beget anger.)

*Got to day four in “The World Ends With You.” (I’ve never enjoyed shopping in a game — until now.)

*Ran out of time to write the comparison between those two games that readers of this diary encouraged me to present. Tomorrow, dear readers. Tomorrow.

Next: I just said what’s next. Don’t make me repeat myself.

Grand Theft Auto IV” may have gotten some things wrong about New York City (we were only kidding, angry Rockstar fans!).But one of the things the developers got right was the home of MTV.

Our MTV building, where this very post was written, resides at 1515 Broadway at the heart of Times Square. Our office tower was faithfully recreated in the game as MeTV at 1717 Burlesque, in the heart of Star Junction.

We went outside, and then into the game to prove just how good a job Rockstar did representing us. It’s almost like our own virtual Cribs.

Check out some comparison photos after the jump:

(Video not viewable by anyone logging in to this site from Canada or the U.K. Sorry)

Read more…