There’s a new board game in town. It’s Grand Theft Auto: The Board Game! There are hookers, pimps, automatic rifles, and all the other usual stuff one would need when engaging in a turf war or shooting people in the face. Just don’t try sniffing the synthesized drugs that came with the set. MADtv is the mastermind behind this side-splitting skit.
In Grand Theft Auto: The Board Game, you can murder anyone.

There’s been a lot of noise recently surrounding Dead Space, that survival-horror shooter by EA, and it has something to do with the game being allegedly banned in several countries at once. According to EA community manager Ben Swanson, “Dead Space will be banned in Germany, China, and Japan.”

'Max Payne' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video
There’s a new trailer for the Max Payne movie. You know, the one starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis? Some parts of it may look familiar, but a lot of the scenes here are pretty new. The movie may not be directed by Uwe Boll and may have a considerable budget behind it, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.

Game reviews have been getting a lot of criticism nowadays. Several of the issues raised are valid: that the ratings seem too high, that publishers wield influence in the reviews, and certain genres like MMOs aren’t fit for a definitive review. As the popularity of blogs and user-generated content increase, expect this sentiment—especially among core audiences who have access to this medium—to be more prevalent.
Interestingly, game reviewers themselves offer no defense to the accusations being hurled against them. Is this a sign of guilt? Naysayers would be quick to agree. Let me just say this: don’t flatter yourselves.

I’m done withThe Bourne Conspiracy and Contra 4. As you may have noticed, I’ve already finished Jason Bourne’s PlayStation 3 game. As for Contra 4, I don’t plan on touching it for at least a year.
You know, I always develop an overwhelming urge to throw my Nintendo DS against the wall while playing Contra 4, and it’s not just to see if the game cartridge would survive the impact.

I’ve always been skeptical of video games turned into motion pictures and with good reason. Thanks to a so-called filmmaker named Uwe, we’ve been getting movies so bad they’d make Ed Wood blush. I view the upcoming Max Payne movie (starring Mark Wahlberg) as no exception, but it does seem to show some promise thanks to the trailer. It may not feature the same mournful violins, but it’s catchy and strangely sounds familiar.
On top of that, the Max Payne movie seems to have a decent budget behind it. I may not be crazy about its cast, but let’s wait for …read more

I was tagged last week by Aiza, our “hardcore” casual gamer (is there such a thing?) at Gamerlite. It took me almost 10 days to reply because traffic was such a bitch over at Liberty City. It’s refreshing to be on the receiving end of a meme this time because I remember being the instigator of such tags in our channel during a couple of occasions.
On to the questions!

Ahh, action figures. Geek or not, you’ve just gotta love them. When I was a kid, these toys were mainly from movies and TV shows. Today, even video games get the miniature treatment. According to the National Entertainment Collectibles Association, action figures for Gears of War are due in stores in late spring of 2008.
The first assortment includes Marcus Fenix, Augustus Cole, and the Locust Drone. If you’re not used to the action figures of today, know that they come with a lot of detail and numerous points of articulation. In other words, they’re too delicate to be toys.

Speaking of new Halo 3 maps, Amy over at Ironic Gamer shared this hilarious new video introducing the new multiplayer levels. The video was created by the Roster Teeth group. Apparently, this video originally aired in the Spike Video Games Awards.

By the way, if you’re using Firefox, you’ll view the video just fine. If you’re using IE, click here to view the clip.

Speaking of my favorite retailer DataBlitz, I’ve just found out from my local branch that today is their last day—meaning they’re selling old games at rock-bottom prices and that the branch would be closed for good starting tomorrow. I was almost tempted to show up with my credit card because of the dirt-cheap costs, but decided not to.
I was also advised to call a neighboring branch to reserve my copy of Gears of War for the PC because it seems that reservations are done on a per-branch basis. Once my favorite branch closes, I lose my reservation.
As a tribute, I’ve …read more