My dad is a big golf fan (playing and watching) and I was up there for the weekend visting my folks… so when the golf was on I was watching too.  And as much as I make fun of how boring golf is, and how ridiculous the annoucers are, etc… it was pretty good especially at the finish.  Now, I’m not going to watch it every week, but I defnitely see the attraction.

However, it’s not the best game evar.  In fact, while I admit I’m not fully complete yet I think it’s already safe to say that GTA:Vice City and GTA: San Andreas are actually more fun to play.

The biggest mistake Rockstar made was to make the driving more realistic.  Driving just about any car is a pain, with horrible acceleration and loose handling, it’s far too difficult to make controlled turns quickly.  And driving a bike (what was one of the best parts of the GTA experience) is now virtually impossible, because once you get up to speed you’re highly likely to hit a car or other obstacle that sends Niko hurtling through the air to his death.  Realistic sure, but lame!

My other complaint is that with this series they came “back to earth”, so to speak.  I’m probably in the minority but I played GTA:SA to completion and really enjoyed its far-out storyline, with planes and alien technology and multiple-city landscape.  The simpler one-city environment of Liberty City (while still quite large) feels constrained to me.

Don’t get me wrong… the city is incredible and breathtakingly beautiful.  And they’ve added lots of depth and richness to the environment and the story.  I love their in-game internet and television station and radio talk shows.  The plotline and missions are still pretty darn great — one cutscene in particular made me laugh until it hurt.

I am having a great time with the game, but I want more.  Bring on GTA4:Vice City! (or London, or whatever it will be) and make driving fun again!

DON’T BUY MICROSOFT PRODUCTS

(and yes, this includes xbox… it may be “ok” for now but just imagine they control that market too)

Where the Wii is all happy and friendly and small, the PS3 is giant and imposing and shiny and modern.   I think a vechicle-based analogy would be Vespa vs Tank.

I recall a few years ago laughing that the US gov’t were blocking exports of PS2s to certain countries because of features they could be used for arms.. seemed ridiculous at the time.  With the PS3 however, I’m kind of afraid if I hit the wrong button I’ll have started a game of Global Thermonuclear War.

The picture looks surprisingly nice on the RCA cables supplied… and when the HDMI cables arrive obviously it will be much better. Oh, and it will look even nicer when some games arrive.  :-)

Based on the advice of some guy on the internets suspiciously named “steve”, I also bought Oblivion which will hopefully tide me over until GTA IV arrives.