VIDEO GAMES BLOGS
VIDEO GAMES BLOGS

What do you know, its an A+… Can’t wait to see the pandemonium that this thing causes when it hits the streets tommorow. Here’s an early review from 1up.com to whet your appetite:

Niko Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV’s bruiser from the former Eastern Bloc, is a stone-cold couch potato, a desperate online dater with dead-on aim, and a chronic websurfer who could kill you in a hand-to-hand Krav Maga brawl. Fresh off the boat, he’s an illegal immigrant pursuing the dual American dreams of quick money and mass multimedia consumption in the most vibrant, dynamic, and entertainment-packed playground in console videogame history: Liberty City. The civil engineers at Rockstar Games have upgraded this burg’s infrastructure since we visited seven years ago in GTA3, adding basic cable (hours of programming Niko can watch on safe-house TVs), an in-game Internet rich with blogs, parody websites — even e-mail spams — and such star attractions as [spoiler deleted] performing stand-up comedy as well as a gentleman’s club filled with G-stringed strippers who buzz your controller’s vibration motors as they grind Niko’s lap. (If you must wear sweatpants when you play, please don’t share your joypad.)

The upshot: Liberty City is no longer just a place you explore outdoors, looking for stunt jumps or the thrill of a six-star wanted level after riling up the LCPD during missions. I spent hours of my week-long review session checking out the game’s indoor attractions, parking Niko in front of his TV and PC, watching red-state-riffing shows like Republican Space Rangers while cruising personals on the game’s version of Craigslist. If Niko still lived in prequel city San Andreas, where diet and exercise made a difference, he’d have weighed 400 pounds by the time I finished this game.

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BIRMINGHAM, Mich., April 28 /PRNewswire/ — Kevin Roberts, a Michigan educator who specializes in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and learning issues, is now conducting support groups for teens and adults who struggle with video game addiction. Roberts, himself a recovering video game addict, leads weekly groups which emphasize staying “sober,” setting goals and developing healthy behaviors.

Roberts’ meetings combine elements of 12-step groups, like Alcoholics Anonymous, with personal growth processes that stress accountability and responsibility.

Roberts encourages group members to support each other. “If you have an intense craving to play a game,” he tells his groups, “pick up the phone and call someone.” Roberts blames previous relapses in his own recovery from addictive gaming on his reluctance to seek support.

“Academic and professional failure await addicted gamers,” Roberts said, “even though many of them possess supremely imaginative minds. This vast waste of talent and potential is the great tragedy of video game addiction.”

In addition to leading support groups, Roberts facilitates family interventions. “Some video gamers spiral out of control,” Roberts said, “and many families need help to deal with the situation.” Roberts, who speaks at schools, conferences and community groups, discusses solutions and strategies in his forthcoming book, Video Game Junkie: a Recovering Addict Helps You Understand, due out late May, 2008.

Roberts was a teacher at the Roeper School for the gifted in Birmingham, Mich. and has been an ADD coach and educational consultant for ten years. He speaks five languages and has a one-man show, Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie, which will debut in November.

Source: videogamingaddicts.org