When Justin was back in the Bay Area for Spring Break, he brought back our 360. Since he spent his days working on his car, I spent my day playing some catch up I played a couple hours more of The Lost and Damned. Then I encountered a mission with Niko Bellic and Playboy! I distinctly remember this mission too (from GTA4), so I was pleasantly surprised to find that their paths cross, even though I knew they were in the same game universe (I guess I should’ve known this, if I actually read the reviews for it )

However, after so long, I simply started to miss Niko Bellic and decided to load a GTA4 save file. 100% story completion, here I come  

I know people play GTA for basically one reason: anarchy. The ability to run amok and wreak havoc in the streets of Liberty City/San Andreas/Vice City/what have you, the sandbox environment, the way one can suddenly forget that they had actual missions to do and instead spend hours upon hours trying to get away with as many stars as possible … these are the common reasons. 

However, before GTA4, I played little to no GTA at all. I had watched friends play San Andreas, but that was as far as it went. We got the 360 to play Rock Band, but out of some (effortless) conviction from Derek, I decided to go ahead and get GTA4. And wow, am I ever glad that I did! I enjoyed everything about it. Aside from the immersive and incredibly interactive environment, I fell in love with the characters, the dialogue, and the story. It’s one of the few games that we managed to actually play through in forever.

I have less positive things to say about GTA: Chinatown Wars. The gameplay is awesomely intuitive and comfortable, there is a lot for the character to do, the world is immersive and expansive for it being in a DS cartridge, and you actually feel like you’re playing GTA–but! There is absolutely no pull in terms of story or character. I think many people would liken this game to the early GTAs, especially since it’s pixelated in graphical nature. It exists purely for its sandbox characteristics. Don’t get me wrong though–I’m still having fun with it! It just makes me miss Niko Bellic more

Anyway, I’ve discovered some webcomics that I thought I’d share:

• Weregeek – A young man with a seemingly normal life discovers his insatiable thirst for all things gaming at night. He finds himself in a bizarre situation, only to find out later that it’s a LARP! From there on, he becomes friends with a group of gamers … but hides this life from his girlfriend, roommate and boss. It’s a funny, charming webcomic with a narrative and PLENTY of gaming references. I recommend you start at the very beginning
• Chainsawsuit – It’s really weird, random, AWESOME. I can’t describe it beyond that

I will add more when I come across them. It helps that I basically sat down and read the entire debate between editorial cartoonists and webcomics. If anything, I got a couple of gems out of it

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ for everything web design
http://squidfingers.com/ for patterns

Thanks George