PC owners unite: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?gtavcpc Sign the petition today! Let your voices be heard!
Hehe...I took like a full bar off his health and was pretty happy. Then he did that one move, put me on critical, and sliced me in two. Got me really disappointed. I had rented it and had it for a while, so I turned it back in. I probably could have beat him eventually. I think I was barely in the 70's, maybe 60's, and I was working on getting Sora's best weapon. Anyway, Prempeh, you could possibly get 1 or 2 PS games as well, unless you already played them all the ones you like are don't have a PS1 memory card. There are some pretty good games from the PS1. I bought one during the summer because I had played all the PS2 games I liked that were out. (it was Xenogears, if you are curious.) I also wouldn't just buy any of the games you see here. If I were you, I'd check it out first by renting it or borrowing someone else's. Its all up to you. Plenty of great games. As for GTA:VC, it sounds pretty cool. Hope I get to play it soon.
Car-theft video game should see big sales — and big outcry By Mike Snider, USA TODAY This new blockbuster boasts gun-toting thugs dressed in flashy suits, drug-running speedboats and scantily clad incline skaters whizzing along beneath the palm trees, all to a pulsating soundtrack. A remake of Miami Vice? No, it's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the latest version of one of the most successful — and parentally reviled — video games ever to hit stores. GTA: Vice City arrives in stores this week (about $40). Four million copies have already been pre-sold by retailers, and the game could sell 10 million copies in the USA over the next year, says Anthony Gikas, analyst for investment firm U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Ten million copies could generate $400 million, a take that would be the envy of Hollywood and "very comparable to a major box office smash on the order of Spider-Man," Gikas says. Such expectations are not unwarranted. The game's predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, has sold more than 4 million for PlayStation 2 and about 3 million more for PC in a year or less, and both versions remain hot sellers. The controversial content of GTA: Vice City and its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, helped make the game a success — and a target for critics of violence in video games. Like The Sopranos, both games revel in the criminal element. Players work their way up through the organization by hijacking cars, taking out those who cross their boss and running over police officers and pedestrians. Vice City, which will be available only for PS2, ups the ante. There are more weapons, from Molotov cocktails to rocket launchers, and cool vehicles such as sports cars, helicopters and cigarette boats. And, you can bet, more to rile critics. Newspapers, magazines and TV news shows liked to point out that in GTA III players could solicit a prostitute, employ her services, then rob or murder her and, as a reward, get their money back. "There are many antisocial aspects to the game," says David Walsh, head of the National Institute on Media and the Family, a Minnesota-based media watchdog organization. The group named GTA III and other games such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Max Payne to its annual holiday offensive game list last year. Publisher Rockstar Games does not shrink from the fact that the GTA games are adult games. Both are rated "Mature," for those 17 and older under the industry's voluntary system. The games are "geared toward mature audiences, and (Rockstar) makes every effort to market its games responsibly, targeting advertising and marketing only to adult consumers over the age of 17," spokesman Jeff Castaneda says. But Walsh says the industry — though it has improved — does not do enough to prevent the sale of mature games to children and teens. "Because of the hoopla that surrounds the game, it is played by millions of kids. That is the concern," he says. Controversy aside, the games break new ground in the evolution of video games as an art form. Last year's game allowed players free rein of a New York City-style environment, populated with shady characters. The action in GTA: Vice City takes place in a city modeled on Miami — covering more than twice the area of the previous game — and it occurs in the 1980s, a sort of prequel to GTA III. Players can follow "missions" or simply explore. "The new GTA games have given gamers unprecedented freedom — a freedom people haven't experienced before," says Dan Hsu, editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Music adds to the games' expansive canvas. In the vehicles that your character steals, you can switch radio stations. The new game has seven stations featuring 1980s music from artists as diverse as Anthrax, Blondie, Kurtis Blow and Tito Puente. Sony Music is releasing seven separate GTA: Vice City CD soundtracks, each devoted to a different genre. The success of GTA III— and the anticipated success of the new game — also signals that there is a burgeoning business in producing games for older players. About 70% of PS2 users are 18 or older, compared with 39% playing the original PlayStation, according to Sony. "Mature-rated games will be more high-profile now, since companies won't be afraid to create or market them in light of GTA's recent success," Hsu says. E-mail msnider@usatoday.com
Boy if watchdog groups are this upset over a somewhat cartoonish Miami Vice-ish like game, I can't wait to see the connniption fit they throw over BMX XXX. Naked chicks on bikes, pimps wandering the streets, and strip club scenes as extras make for fun for the whole family! Of course, if I had an XBox I'd by DOA Extreme Volleyball. Watching those, ahem, "girls" bouncing around in bikinis oughta make all the horny 13-16 year old gamers happy.
It is the responsibility of parents to find out what they're buying for their children. Be an informed consumer, and you'll know better than to buy GTA Vice City for your kids. There's nothing wrong with making games like this for adults, such as myself (more or less). I'm already a misanthrope. Satisfying some anti-social urges on a console video game's not going to affect that in any way.
Agreed Brian. However, here is the difference......and this is coming from the perspective of a man who is a father and owner of a video game development studio. The games are rated voluntarily and there is nothing stopping children from buying it without their parents consent. If a 14 year old boy wants to go to an R rated movie, he can not buy a ticket. However, if that same boy walks into Electronics Boutique, he can slap his jack down on the counter and walk out with a mature title. From a financial stand point I don't want more controls, however, from a parental stand point, I think it is necessary to enact laws that make it illegal to sell mature titles to children. It may not stop them from getting it all together, but at least it would make it tougher. DaDakota PS. Vice City ROCKS !!
I played this game all night on Friday, man I'm already addicted. I just wanted to say, is there anything funnier than listening to 99 Luftballoons while using a radio controlled helicopter to plant bombs in a building that you've been hired to demolish (illegaly of course)?
After a weekend of playing (when the wife and kids were away) I'd have to give the game excellent reviews. I've got a fat pad with a bunch of cars and bikes stored in the garage and a Helicopter on the roof. I'm saving my money to buy some asset properties so I can get some serious jack rolling in. Excellent game, just don't let the kids play.
The best part is that, every time you bang a hooker, your health goes up! The only thing you get from having sex with a hooker in real life is a veneral disease...
Okay, got Vice City on Friday, but haven't played it all that much with football this weekend and what not. But I have played some, and I have a question for those further along in the game... What is the purpose of buying some of the lower end homes? For instance, once I had 3 grand saved I bought these Washington apartments or whatever, but what does it do? It seems no different than the hotel in that all I can do is save my game there -- there's no garages or anything, so what's the point?
Incase you are getting chased by the cops or something similar. So you can save in different places. Three grand is irrelavent after a certain point in the game. I have so much money now, I have no idea what to do with it.
USA Today review 'Vice City': So much fun, it's almost criminal By Marc Saltzman, Gannett News Service The 1980s complete with its tacky linen suits, Hall & Oates tunes and Miami Vice videos set the scene for the latest title from Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is the controversial and much-hyped sequel to Grand Theft Auto III, the best-selling video game of 2001. Vice City takes place in a Miami-esque cesspool of organized crime known as "Vice City," where players assume the role of an up-and-coming thug, Tommy Vercetti (voiced by actor Ray Liotta), who sets out to recover stolen cocaine and money following a drug deal gone bad. The third-person perspective gameplay involves taking on assignments by car or on foot (ideal for raising cash and making connections in the underworld), hijacking cars and motorcycles, edging out rival gangs and eventually taking control of Vice City. Adult action Vice City is rated "mature" (17 and older), and with good reason  players can engage in a number of morally and legally reprehensible acts such as shooting at cops, robbing stores, starting riots or beating up pedestrians. Like past Grand Theft Auto titles, Vice City features radio stations to toggle through while driving, which is a big part of the game. More than 90 licensed songs, which add up to about nine hours of music, range from familiar '80s metal (Judas Priest's You Got Another Thing Coming) to pop (Laura Branigan's Self Control) to New Wave (Flock of Seagulls' I Ran). Music lovers with a penchant for this decade can even play the tunes in a jukebox format outside the game. The music also is probably worth the game's $50 price tag. Vice City offers a few improvements over its predecessors. New features include more weapons (with a new targeting system), new vehicles (120 in total, such as '80s sports cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft), better artificial intelligence and the ability to enter buildings. In addition, Vice City is bigger than Liberty City, featured in earlier titles, so there's more room to drive. Addictive adventure After playing Vice City for a few hours, it's easy to see why this game is so popular (many retailers say they can't keep it on store shelves). Controversial content aside, Vice City provides a perfect balance between an open-ended adventure that rewards players for exploring their environment while also giving them goals to complete the game. Few titles strike this balance so nicely. What's more, the catchy songs, cinematic visuals and intuitive control also make Vice City perfect for music lovers, film fanatics as well as serious gamers. Bottom line: PlayStation 2 owners old enough to purchase (and appreciate) this mature title won't be disappointed. "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" is a "must have" single-player adventure for adult gamers. 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' Platform: PlayStation 2 Genre: Action/Adventure Developer: Rockstar North Publisher: Rockstar Games Price: $49.99 Rated: "M" for mature Web site: www.rockstargames.com/vicecity Score: 4½ out of 5
