She says this now, but what happens when Tim Burton starts designing video games?

There was a Nightmare Before Christmas video game. Everyone I knew expected me to finally play video games. It didn't happen.

Certain friends also keep trying to convince me I should play Guitar Hero, because MCR have a song in it. It hasn't worked yet.

With no GTA4 to play, I've been enjoying playing through GTA3 again. When I played it before, I got over halfway through the game before my roommate (with the PS3) moved out of state. That was long enough ago that I only vaguely remember general details, but I remember enough to be picking the game up quickly.

I haven't really tinkered with TR:Anniversary yet. The graphics are fantastic, but the controls need some getting used to.

But I think GTA3 is going to keep me occupied for a while. This means, of course, I will probably have to play through Vice City Stories and San Andreas next, and hopefully by that time, GTA4 will be available on either Mac or Windows (hopefully Mac, graphics are so much better on Leopard).

Jilli, you played Burnout Revenge with us at my old place in Burbank. You also did quite well, Pete on the other hand...well we've already told folks about the maneuver named after him.

Shut up, Drew. You'll get yours, mister.

Anywayzzzz.... gods, I'm tired... I noticed a couple nice little animation touches in GTA IV yesterday; if you are waiting behind another car (presumably at a light) and you hit the horn, the person in the car in front of you will reach up and adjust their rear-view mirror to take a peak at what your issue is. Another nice touch was seeing a whole bunch of NPCs open umbrellas when the sky suddenly opened. Another guy ran under an awning, and shuffled from foot to foot while blowing on his cold hands.

TAUNTY PETE!

The first time I bumped into someone while walking down the street and she dropped her soda cup and it rolled off the edge of the curb, I just stopped and stared at the screen for a while.

DH's office just got a Wii (Nintendo sent one to the games editor), and now he agrees with me that we must get one with our stimulus check when it arrives.

Tom (or anyone), is there a place in NYC that has them in stock without lining up at 4am? I'd rather not pay for a bundle if I can help it, but if said bundle includes MarioKart or SuperSmashBros, I could be persuaded.

Hey, what can I say, it's a great game. GTA 3 is pretty good, Vice City and San Andreas were even better but GTA IV is flat out astonishing.

The city isn't photo-realistic but you wouldn't know it when you're driving down a street at even a moderate speed. The number of little touches they've done to make the city feel alive are both subtle and striking.

And the completely retooled combat is great. I've had some landmark battles and I've still got about 20% of the story left to go. And you do not want to reach a Wanted level of 5 stars. DO. NOT. I shudder to think of what 6 stars looks like.

I shudder to think of what 6 stars looks like.

In GTA3 it means they call in the army to deal with your ass, so I imagine it's something similar. I'm pretty sure it's the only way you can jack an APC, you know, so you've jacked one of every kind of car in the game.

Ooh, amych, I hadn't spotted that little touch. I mean, I've caused a few people to drop their cups, but the whole rolling thing? Very nice.

Also, the in-game internet has some really funny articles tucked away. Two that spring to mind (that may only unlock during the course of the story) are 'Video game violence' & 'A survival guide for trips to Europe'. Neither of the white-fonted things will spoil the story, but they're still slightly more specific info than what I prefer to leave outside of spoiler font.