Grand Theft Auto

Ambulance

This entry was posted in Grand Theft Auto Michael Bay Movie Review on by

Ambulance is a Michael Bay film, full of action, stunningly shot, and with escalating craziness. It’s basically a live action Grand Theft Auto 5 mission, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Estranged brothers Danny and Will pick a bad day to try to reconnect, as Danny drags Will along to a multi million dollar bank heist. The carefully planned operation quickly unravels, and we lose the barely introduced and fleshed out supporting robbers. Will and Danny, with $16 million in big bags, hijack an ambulance- with an injured policeman and feisty (and, obviously, gorgeous) paramedic inside- and set off on a prolonged car chase through Los Angeles.

A tighter focus, fewer characters, and lower stakes make it easier to stay involved in this film than any of the Transformers flicks. He’s shown he can do it before, with Pain & Gain, and I hope he does it more often in future.

I got Ambulance from my Cinema Paradiso subscription. Streaming is good, but there are loads of films only available on disc. And there are a lot of them I want to watch. And for the blockbusters, there’s nothing like enjoying some of the special features. Click on the link (or this one) to gind out more. (Affiliate link.)

Grand Theft Auto V is due early next year

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Today, we’re proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto V is expected to launch worldwide spring 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Developed by series creator Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto V takes place in a re-imagined, present-day Southern California in the largest and most thriving game-world we have ever created set in the sprawling city of Los Santos and for miles beyond – from the tops of the mountains to the depths of the ocean.

Starting next week November 5, 2012, Grand Theft Auto V will become available for pre-order everywhere and fans can expect a host of new information to become available in November.

via Grand Theft Auto V is Coming Spring 2013 | Rockstar Games.

I may even pre-order it.  Then set aside a week or two to lose to the GTA experience.

Deadly games

This entry was posted in Facts and Fictions Fiction Grand Theft Auto moblog on by

The force feedback suits weren’t strictly illegal, but it was impossible to get an import licence for them. Some still made it into the country of course, and many more were kludged together from internet plans.

Every couple of months one of these DIY suits would seriously hurt or even kill a user. They would put the safety switch in the hands of an idiot or a sadist, or they wouldn’t wire one in at all.

Most of them then went and played GTA.

Air Manhattan

This entry was posted in Aircraft Flight Grand Theft Auto New York YouTube on by

A bunch of remote controlled plane enthusiasts calling themselves Team Black Sheep shot some great aerial footage of New York. These are the sorts of views we mere mortals would have to steal a helicopter in GTA IV to see. Whatever it is that’s blocking the bottom right of the camera’s view is a bit distracting, but otherwise this is awesome footage.

Can I have one of these to fly around the Lakes when I’m at home some time? Wasdale comes to mind first, but there are a load of other neat valleys I could take it through.

via Jalopnik and Brooklyn Heights Blog

Running a criminal empire is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman

This entry was posted in Grand Theft Auto video games YouTube on by

I’m thinking of getting Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, which is an offline release of two of the GTA4 online games- The Lost And Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. But now I can’t stop thinking of it as The Ballad of Swiss Toni.

That might be an interesting game.

Department of Free Ideas- Give me Liberty City Extreme

This entry was posted in Department of Free Ideas Grand Theft Auto video games on by

Musing on my comment from the last post I went off on a tangent, thinking about the traffic in Liberty City. I came to the logical conclusion that, were the cross town traffic to increase, they might want to introduce bikes to the mix. The presence of BMXs and at least one mountain bike in San Andreas was fun. From these musings grew an idea for a game I’d love to see.

We’ve only tried one skateboarding game on the 360, and we weren’t that impressed. Given the scope for expanding the environment that this generation of consoles gives, simply rehashing locations from an earlier game in the series didn’t do a lot for us. Skate may address some of this, but casa Spinneyhead hasn’t experienced it yet.

What I want to see is a city with the detail level of Liberty City with players given the freedom to grind, jump, tag and climb it. As well as the obvious stunt competitions there’d be other challenges. BMX bikes would be supplemented with single speed courier steeds- allowing players to earn cash rushing across town with packages or take part in Alley Cat races– mountain bikes for rides in Middle park and cruisers for trolling around looking cool. There’d be longboard skateboards and street luges for the speed freaks, and a couple of really good hills to set time and speed records on. You’d be able to tag and graffiti buildings, with notoriety points accrued based on a combination of artwork complexity and building profile. The rooftops, alleys and street furniture could be used for free running. Wannabe spider men could climb the Empire State building and Base jumpers could sneak their ‘chutes past security and leap off the top of it. The online version could see graffiti swapping and virtual geocaching.

That’s just ten minute’s worth of ideas, No doubt I’ll start coming up with more as soon as I post. This is a free idea, because I really want to play this game, but if anyone wants to pay me to brainstorm scenarios I’m always available.

New Liberty City

This entry was posted in Grand Theft Auto video games on by

This Flickr photoset compares the design of Grand Theft Auto IV to the real New York City. I’m off to Star Junction next time I play

What isn’t realistically modelled, I realised last night, is traffic density because any realistic amount of vehicles (for any modern city) would totally destroy any chance for GTA’s fast and chaotic car chases.

Say goodbye to May

This entry was posted in Grand Theft Auto video games on by

Yes, I just got Grand Theft Auto IV on its first day! For now I’m sitting in Oklahoma cafe resisting the urge to go home and play it.

First impressions- the supplied map is very big, and the instruction book hints that the game is full of the twisted satirical humour of its forebears.

The game’s only been available since midnight and already there are sites dedicated to cheats and walkthroughs. But then, they’ve got GTA IV guidebooks sat on the shelves by the game as well.

Right, I’m going to get some script writing done whilst the game’s still in its box and can’t distract me.

Waiting for Midnight

This entry was posted in Grand Theft Auto Midnight Club video games XBox on by

A certain amount of language was used in casa Spinneyhead over the weekend when we discovered that Midnight Club: Los Angeles won’t be available until September (June if you own a PS3).

Just so long as Grand Theft Auto IV comes out on time to keep us occupied. Until then we’ll keep trying to get past the infuriating Moscow mission in Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions or dive into Bioshock.