Thirty days of Warcraft, Spring Break marathon, and hopefully a return to regularly scheduled programming.

So I blew past the thirty day marker on Warcraft this week.  It was Spring Break/hide from the world and wear jammies week as well.  Here a few observations:

1. Warcraft was designed by diabolical masterminds who have in their employ people who worked on government mind control projects and the people who invented crack.  Of course I joke but this is a game that has an addiction level like no other I've played.  Perhaps the addiction level is the same but there's no end in sight, there's always just one more x,y, or z.  Warcraft's reward system is brilliantly designed.  Each goal is tantalizingly out of reach but ultimately completing the goal is empty because here's the next carrot.
2. Warcraft has been a welcome escape from my personal life.  While this is not the appropriate forum or time for such a discussion, let me just say it hasn't been a sun-warmed basket of fluffy kittens.  People on Warcraft are, on the whole a fairly nice bunch, and thanks to the blessed anonymity of the Internet and a "toon" ("toon" is the in-game term for your...sigh...avatar), it is fairly easy to get along with people.  Plus the ability to simply block having to listen to any dipshits from chat avec "ignore" is a blessing.  I also have also found that I am a fairly humourous individual and oddly enough play well with others as long as they aren't being pricks, trolls, gloryhounds, or SHOUTERS (a.k.a. people who type in all caps).  I do have a tendency to be kind of a jerk about there, their, and they're and appropriate usages.  Once I simply refused to understand what someone was saying because of their grammar.  Childish I know but I think I was drunk.  Probably was times being what they are and things being what they are.
3. I think I should have gone with an RP (role playing) server instead of a PvE (Player v environment) server.  While I wouldn't go all Ye Olde Renn Fairre Forsoothing, it would be kind of fun to do some good old fashioned role-playing d20 style.
4. My new personal favorite dungeon quip, "Are they bringing pancakes?"  in reference to being alerted to the presence of something big and hurty.  The best reply I've gotten is, "Yes, but you have to beat the pancakes out of them." followed by a conversation about what type of syrup the monsters bleed.
5. I managed to beat my goal for Spring Break of passing level 50 (as of last night I was up to level 52 or 53).  Now I'm staring down the barrel of 60.  Bastards.
6. Followers of Eli are an awesome guild though sometimes I wonder when people sleep.

And there's more but mostly in-game quibbles that I won't go into.  Will I keep playing for another month?  Probably, but will I be a long range player?  I dunno, I guess that remains to be seen.  Until then, if you're on Fizzcrank look me up: my main is Scoville and my alts are Bessler and Capsaicin.

My first impressions of GTA IV - about a third of the way through the game.

If you've been following any of the reviews online or off then you will know that GTA IV is one of the most amazing games to ever be released. There are certainly a few minor problems here and there but over all these are simply quibbles. I'm gonna get the complaints out of the way:

1. The soundtrack isn't my cup of tea. The score is great and some of the stations - i.e. Vladivostok & IF99 playing Eastern European pop and Afropop/Funk respectively - are a blast. The Latin station is a welcome change. I was happy to hear a Jazz station though I kind of miss a Classical station. Journey FM does a decent job of filling the Classical slot though with ambient Tangerine Dream-esque tunes. There are a good number of stations that are hit or miss for me. The rock stations are meh. One is old hits DJ'd by Iggy Pop and the other is new white belt rock DJ'd by Juliette Lewis. The rest of the stations are okay, some modern urban crap, rap classics, some smooth gettin ass music about shorties, and an electronic station I always skip past. I usually end up just turning off the radio.
2. I want more clothing options. So far there are only three stores. Yes this is a ridiculous gripe.
3. I miss taking pictures of stuff. In past games you could take snapshots and save them. Maybe this happens later in the game.

And those are the only three I can think of right now.

You can read all the other reviews about how awesome GTA IV is. It truly takes gaming up to a new level. There are countless moments of "Holy shit I can do that?!?" and "Holy shit look at that!".

What really makes GTA IV an amazing experience for me though are:

1. The character interaction. A lot of the game depends on social interaction and keeping up with various characters through out the game via phone, hanging out and email. It's kind of bizarre because I am so bad at this in RL but have some what mastered it in IV.
2. The high quality of writing. The dialogue and story are top notch. IV is much more serious and adult in content than any other in the series. I don't mean adult purient I mean characters are dealing with some pretty awful issues on a personal level. This lends a level of sophistication that's refreshing in gaming. A lot of the wacky humor the series was known for has also been scaled down.
3. The overall theme of addiction and recovery is pretty astounding and handled in a way that blows me away. I actually wonder if the writer is in recovery. What could easily be over wrought After School special junk is not. The addictions run the gamut from gambling to alcoholism to drug use to violence. I am looking forward to finding out what happens with the main story line.

More news to follow.