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.

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

I think it mostly depends on luck. I managed to get one at J&R (a bundle), and I saw some in stock last Sunday morning when I went to buy Mario Kart at Target.

That's good to know. I've also been told that the Nintendo store in Rockefeller Center gets in a new shipment every day, so maybe I'll peek in there one morning on my way to work.

Sean, yeah, I know the whole army schtick for six stars but in GTA IV you don't go finding 'star power-ups' to reduce your wanted level. What you have to do is escape the alert radius of your last known sighting. Thing is, the higher the wanted level the larger that radius, the more cops there are and the more ferociously they pursue you. And every cop that encounters you re-centers that radius upon you.

I had one time I was on 3 stars and it was a 7 minute chase to escape the cops. Admittedly, I've also escape another 3 stars in under a minute but you can see what inescapable chaos 6 stars might mean.

Thing is, the higher the wanted level the larger that radius, the more cops there are and the more ferociously they pursue you. And every cop that encounters you re-centers that radius upon you.

So it's like the MGS Alert on CRACK.

PC, yeah, I can see that.

Also, the higher the Wanted level, the more the cops will shoot at you during a high-speed chase. If they get close you won't have rear tires for very long...

I had one time I was on 3 stars and it was a 7 minute chase to escape the cops. Admittedly, I've also escape another 3 stars in under a minute but you can see what inescapable chaos 6 stars might mean.

It doesn't help (I imagine, if other GTA experience holds true) that when you're running from the cops, you really stop caring about peds. And squishing peds in front of cops doesn't really help with the wanted level problem.