GTA IV + A New Category
I decided that it was kind of…irresponsible of me to start a digital entertainment blog without video game coverage - especially games that emulate virtual reality, which has always been a passion of mine. As you might’ve guessed, I’m a fan of Grand Theft Auto’s sandbox and playing environment. …not so much all the illegal activity, sex, or violence.
photo credit: William Hook
Every game should take place in a completely open environment. Wow. Even though it’s hard to create such environments, linear storylines are incredibly boring and should be a thing of the past. I’ve played GTA before - believe me, it’s fun. You can do anything! Even when compared to Mario Galaxy - which I own, as a Wii-owner, I found myself enjoying GTA much, much more. Sorry Mario. Sorry.
First things first - GTA is high-def, at last. Which explains why it’s not available for the Wii - but why not the PC? I’m going to expect it to be released for the PC sometime soon, but I’m begging developers to change their minds if they don’t have it planned. Please. Please. And don’t kill my graphics card. Please. Please.
Asides from that, GTA IV also introduces a much cooler multi-player system, which takes place over the Internet. There are different modes to play, such as Cops vs. Crooks (think Cops and Robbers but in Liberty City and with real guns). Wow, that actually sounds so fun (not the shooting part, of course). And that’s enough out of me about GTA IV.
photo credit: William Hook
This new category takes care of upcoming games that I happen to hear about and I think are very virtually realistic, but also productive - should be a nice focus for digital entertainment, although it could get a bit hard to find productive games (Wii Fit, but that’s pretty much it).
Hopefully this works out - but then again, everything is pretty much about experimentation.
The Final Redesign
I promise that this is the final layout of Digital Media Break - I actually ended up spending the week modifying Brian Gardner’s Revolution Blog theme to suit my own tastes. I feel as though it’s got more flare to it - and it’s less blue.
Full steam ahead!
Wireless Reading Devices: Amazon Kindle
Unless you’ve been hiding a rock for the past couple of months, you’ve probably heard about the Amazon Kindle, the first wireless reading device. It might not sound like much, but take a look at the things you can do with it right now, let alone the future, which I’ll talk about Monday:
- Free book sampling, cheap books: Sure, you can do it at Chapters - or you can do it in the comfort of your own home, or even in the back of a Taxi. You get the first chapters of certain books absolutely free for your sampling delight, or you can get books for $9.99. Books are delivered wirelessly and in less than a minute - wow.
- Have your newspapers delivered promptly, and wirelessly: I honestly think that this is the coolest technology - the Kindle delivers information over its EVDO network, which unlike Wi-fi, doesn’t require any hotspots to stream data. Pretty convenient and flexible - nothing unusual from digital media.
- Kindle your interest: You’ve got Wikipedia on the Kindle for free - what more could you ask for?
- It’s a screen, but it looks like paper: The Amazon Kindle features an extremely high-resolution screen that looks like paper, so your eyes don’t get tired from the screen. However, I can’t really be the judge of that, as I don’t have one yet (Amazon, if you’ve got any extra Kindles on you, give me a holler).
- Storage: It’s got enough storage to hold over 200 titles, but still weighs only 10.3 ounces.
photo credit: John Pastor
Nope, this isn’t a sponsored review. I just believe that Amazon’s seeing the future and bringing it to us as I write, and I really want to get my hands on one of these babies. Want to see my look at the future of wireless reading devices? Wait for it Monday.
