(no subject)

[egypturnash]

I wish Google Maps had a "walking" mode. That would make planning things like the trip Nick and I took out to Trader Joe's a lot easier.

Also, damn, I really miss living in Glendale where it was sunny all the time, and there was a TJ's like five blocks from where I lived. Oh, to move back to California.

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Meanwhile, the past couple days have been spent in the grips of GTAIV and its hooks into parts of my brain that make me act like an addict, thanks to read_alicia loaning us her 360 for a bit. I keep on comparing it with GTAIII, due to it being set in a caricature of New York, and it keeps coming up wanting - sure, it's more detailed, but most of the detail is at the expense of gameplay. Zooming across a bridge, then having to brake sharply to stop and pay toll does not enhance the fantasy in the least, IMHO. The whole thing's full of design decisions like that: petty simulationalism over fun. Which, really, is no surprise after all the micromanaging you had to do of your character in GTAIIISA.

I should just hook the box up to the router, give it my cc info, and buy Space Giraffe and a few other indy games. (ooh, and it seems that Everyday Shooter is on Steam now. Better download the demo on Rik's machine, this one keeps sounding cool.)

Comments

[eriscontrol.livejournal.com]

Codes, codes, codes. GTA San Andreas had some amazingly ridiculous codes that could be entered just by pressing buttons on the controller and if GTA4 is anything like that, there may yet be hope.

San Andreas also had a lovely bug that involved getting in a train and holding the accelerator. I don't think there is actually a cap on how fast it can go and you can actually derail it, which results in being stuck in the train and having to reset. It can also go right through the road block on the rails that it's not supposed to pass if you just take it to one and then accelerate all the way to the other. I did a few laps around the entire city before I was even supposed to leave the first area. :D

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

My favorite GTA3 code was the one in the original GTA3 where it would swap your character with a random pedestrian. It didn't stick through saves, it still used the usual animations, and you had no control over which pedestrian - but you could get off the rails of the 'chunky, vaguely-English-looking thug' role and construct a new narrative about, oh, a woman in a severe business suit who snapped and picked up a lot of guns.

They never had that code again. In Vice City there were a few 'play as named character' codes - which had the bonus of using the model for the cinematics, as well as the game. And we could never get the character codes that were supposed to be in San Andreas to work.

[eriscontrol.livejournal.com]

Weird. I had perfect luck with the San Andreas character swap codes that I tried, although it was pretty much limited to Everybody Is a Fast Food Employee and You Are a Clown and..maybe one other. Oh yes, and the one where everyone is a prostitute running around with double ended dildos?

I had the most fun using the weather altering codes (orange sky, sandstorm, etc) plus the high wanted level and motorcycle to create some kind of post-apocalyptic near future. I kind of wish my disc wasn't scratched so badly, but such is the price of buying secondhand used games. Mine was the recalled version and I got it for cheap. :)