It's all profit in the sense that they don't have to pay retail fees or to print discs, manuals, or pay big money to stores to carry it. Obviously the game has to be developed. But it's developed whether I buy it or not, at this point, and it doesn't cost them any extra to get me as a customer, whereas it does cost them to continue to send discs out to be on store shelves. A long tail can make developers a lot of cash -- Steam has proven this.

If you drop some old DLC packs (to forgotten games, like the original Force Unleashed) to 1 or 2 bucks, you'd make a lot of money, quickly. It's money you wouldn't have had otherwise, since nobody is paying full price.

I think that in terms of the "sillier" GTAs, that Vice City was the pinnacle. Perhaps it's just where I was in my life, but I loved that game.

As for GTAIV, I can see where you're coming from with the friends system, but I also found those relationships built were worthwhile. I do agree though, that driving everyone all around got daunting. I think that that's slowly getting sorted out with each iteration. Save checkpoints, fast-travel -- makes a difference. I also don't like waiting for missions to show at a different time of day. If I show up, let me play, damnit...don't make me wait outside your house while I make a sandwich until the sun-rises.

There is room for improvement, sure. I think that Red Dead trumped GTAIV, in terms of the "new" Rocker. Of the last gen stuff, I'm still going with Vice City, though.

--Dave

Panzer Dragoon Orta for the original XBOX. I'd heard such good things, and though it was a competant rail shooter, I realized quickly that I'm just not at all into that kind of game.

--Dave

I'm getting old. I'm 33 now and I don't have time (or the drive) like I used to to play every new game as soon as it comes out. This is actually good, because I've been picking up great games on the cheap and going through them one at a time over the last year. Since I'm not in any hurry, I can wait for a sale and get most of my games for about $20. I'll pick up the occassional full price release, but it's RARE.

Now, I'm playing Darksiders (PS3 - $20 @ Target) and I have Alan Wake ready to go (XBOX360 - $20 @ Walmart Online). Years ago, I played Orange Box this way, Burnout Paradise, ...the list goes on and on of great, AAA games.

I'd like to go back and play some XBLA games and add-ons, too, but these things just aren't dropping in price, so I can't justify spending this much, when for the same price, I can get full retail games (and good ones, too) that aren't that old...not to mention that I can lend and trade these when I'm done.

Once in a while, the Marketplace will have a sale for the week, but then it goes away. They really need to put a pricing structure in place so that they can get some of my money. I look at Steam and how they have these great discounts and I don't see XBOX following up with this strategy. Why? With digital media, it's all profit. You'd think that they'd rather have me paying for digital copies than going to the store.

I guess my point is, that I'm waiting for XBOX to get some system in place for permanant price drops -- a digital "bargain bin", if you will.

--Dave
www.WhatWouldJesusView.com

I wrote an article about 5 movie scenes that I consider great and WHY I think they're great...what makes them special that you might not notice the first time.

My selections include:

Fight Club

Children of Men

The Sixth Sense

The Empire Strikes Back

True Romance

http://www.whatwouldjesusview.com/five-scenes-watch-again.html

What scenes stick out to you as some of the best ever? And more importantly, why?

--Dave

Buy it. Aside from the obvious that it's a quality game, here's why:

1) A lot of the game opens up after several hours in. Things like the cell-phone, Internet, other islands, street races, assassin missions, etc. -- These things are not available (or not fully available) until you've progressed. Unless you totally crack out on the game, a few casual hours from a rental won't let you see the real bulk of the game.

2) Much of the joy of GTA is the subtlety and stuff that isn't right in your face. Hilarious things happen here and there, and you may not notice them right at first.

3) The multiplayer is varied, and it's fun even when you're losing -- the mark of a good multiplayer game.

The Joker would be great.

I think they need to have an even number of good and bad guys from each universe. It could be interesting.

--Dave