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GTA IV: A FAQ for Old People
Posted by Owen Good at 10:00 AM on May 11, 2008
So, Brian's 70-year-old dad took on GTA IV and took quite a liking to it. Others his age are not as enlightened or -- shocker -- willing to try new things, and so the series might require further explication.
Helpfully, here is a FAQ (a FAQ? an F-A-Q? how do I do this) from 23/6 to break down the choices and consequences and action and intrigue that make all the young folk shine shoes and save up their penny-candy money to buy it.
And to wrap things up today, here's "The ABCs of Gaming," from a T-shirt design contest at Shirt.woot.com. The contest closed this week. The latest on the site shows another shirt claiming 2nd place in this derby so, who knows, maybe it won. I'm sure the ordering information will follow.
1Up has a running feature on worst-ever box cover art. It's been about six months since the last installation so they drop another dozen or so for us to laugh at. Yes, Okami's watermarked box makes the list. So does the Orange Box. Remember, just because it's bad box doesn't make it a bad game. In fact, a good game triumphing over bad packaging is ... even gooder!
Slate contributor Sudhir Venkatesh is a Columbia sociology professor who has written a book about street gangs, even going so far as to run with one in Chicago for a book. So, naturally, Grand Theft Auto IV would intrigue him. His verdict on the game's realism? It "actually offered a less sensational portrait of gangland and ghetto streets than the one put out by most cops, politicians, policymakers, and even academics."
Age of Conan is going after World of Warcraft in the MMO space. It's also a vehicle for getting those hot babes Roy Thomas drew in Savage Sword of Conan into 3D animation. Seriously, the Conan franchise's sensuous representation of bodies in combat is absolutely one of its drawing cards, acknowledged or not. So developer Funcom has gone to it with gusto, looks like. 
Adding to my theory that Three Kingdoms-related material will outlast us all, Dynasty Gaming has announced the start of closed testing with the first of their Sega-licensed "China Series" of games. And what would that game be? A MMORPG entitled Sanguko Seisen ('Saga of the Three Kingdoms'), designed to "secure a loyal following of SEGA game enthusiasts in China." Considering the current success of domestically-produced titles, it seems a little late to be trying to secure a 'loyal following,' but people do love their Three Kingdoms related stuff. Full release after the jump:
Quite literally. "The Hell of Sand" is a brilliant time-waster of a flash game. "There are many dynamics to this game but no goal. Play around for a while and you'll get the hang of it." Great premise.
I drink my beer out of plain glassware, but if you're a Portal fan and prefer to imbibe out of something a little heftier, these $US 14.99 beer steins are for you. It's a clever little twist on Portal's ... portals, and reasonably priced to boot.
Oh, the punny, punny Chinese language — an article from an 
Game With a Brain put up this render of Scorpion yesterday, didn't say where they got it from but it might be an in-game pose. Pretty nice uniform update, with the bone mask and all; but his tunic looks sorta like one of those beaded massagers cab drivers sit on. I kid, Mr. Scorpion, I kid.
