Grand Theft Auto 5 is More Realistic than It Seems

So today I have been laying in bed sick.  During this time, it is rough to sit up and do anything other than watch TV or sit back with a controller in my hands playing a console game.  Since Saturday, I have been playing Grand Theft Auto 5 as I was finally able to purchase this (a week after launch).  While playing the game, I happened to notice quite a few things that struck me as closer to real life than I expected from this game.

Firstly, let's talk about the general politics that are present in the game, be it discussed or alluded to.  First off, we have Debt Ceiling talks on the radio.  The conversations regarding the "Debt Ceiling" kind of make you think "what if" a lot if you really listen to it.  Yeah, it's made comedic by the radio host's display of ignorance (talking about how he likes ceilings and he likes to stare at ceilings all day, even mentioning the ceiling tiles that you can push up etc.) but he makes valid points regarding the "Debt Ceiling" which I really wont get into here (I'm not a fan of discussing politics on the internet).  Just the discussion itself brought me back to the real world, re-evaluating everything I was thinking politically.

Moving on, I'm going to briefly mention that a couple years back I used to drive a tow-truck.  In GTA5, you have the option to do side-missions where you drive and operate a Tow Truck to help out a "friend" (despite the lack of state licensing) and in true GTA style, the situations are a parody of our society.  In one of these side-missions, you receive a text from the girl who sends you on these missions asking you to pick up a car that broke down.  Not much information is given but once you hop in the truck and begin to drive off, you are told where the person is so you are then on your way.  Upon arriving, you are greeted by a not-so pleasant customer who is stating how long he had to wait and how that is poor service, to no fault of your own, mind you.  Your character then offers the man that he can either walk or shut up and the customer tries to justify his statement with "well its no fault of yours, its your bosses" and continues to talk about how he keeps writing his complaints, referring to what seems to me likely a yelp.com type of place where people write their seemingly overly-entitled complaints and review the company, talking about how they will never shop or use some companies services again (which in my honest opinion, websites like these only serve to create a community of whiny, self-important bitches with only a few honest, thought provoking and helpful users to really make the website worth looking at).  As you can tell of my opinion regarding yelp and sites similar, I've got a real problem with things like that and this non-playable character in this game really made me laugh at how the main character reacted to it, almost as if Rockstar Games think about this consumer oriented society the same way that I do.

Now, don't think that I'm trashing on people because they feel entitled to something because justifiably, some people are.  If you order a sandwich with lettuce and it has no lettuce, dammit that company better make it right.  If you call up your cable company and ask them to trim the trees around a cable line and get told no, don't go online to complain about how your cable company doesn't care about their customers.  That tree is your property and your responsibility.

Of course, here I am rambling.  I've got strong opinions, what can I say!  Regardless, these were a couple things that hit me when I was playing it and thought I would share it.  The next time you play Grand Theft Auto 5, really sit and read the signs and listen to the dialog all around you on the radio or even random non-playable characters.  You will hear talk about all sorts of things that will really make you think.  This game is truly a parody of our American society and may make you think.

Borderlands 2 racism?

Recently, some heat got thrust toward Borderlands 2 has come about.  Mike Sacco, creative developer at Cryptozoic Entertainment sent a tweet to Anthony Burch, the lead writer of Borderlands 2, stating that "Tiny Tina's trope of 'white girl talkin' like them urban folk!!' has got to go." (source)

This lead to many people hitting up twitter with their own opinions regarding the matter as well as Burch himself firing back (you can read his responses in the link above).

This situation reminds me of some rather wise words I was told in the past: "reverse racism is the worst form of racism."  What this means is that people of all races seem to walk on eggshells and make up for years of racism.  It means people being extra friendly to those of different race rather than treating them as equals or calling others racist when they themselves are the only ones who find the racist element of the subject they are speaking of.

On the note of Tiny Tina, I love the character and find her to remind me of most of the females I went to school with (minus the whole being deadly aspect since...you know, nobody I know has killed anyone that I am aware of).  Bringing a character with such a personality into a game however appears to bring in a sense of racial tension from those who appear to be overly sensitive to the issue.

In my opinion (after all, this is a blog), the people being so worried about this are the true racists for making an issue out of something that isn't there.  Here is a tip for my fellow white people: stop.  When the black community get pissed off, take note...but until then, keep your mouth shut about how it is offensive to someone that you are not because more than half of the time, you are wrong.

Apologies are in order.

In light of recent posts, it is important to put forth a written apology to the creator of some videos on Youtube for my insults.  Despite your ridiculous insults and inability to keep things civil, I felt the it necessary to take it one step further which in itself was uncool and a rarity when i take such things to the extreme that I did.  This sort of tactic is typically used when I am trying to give one a dose of their own medicine.  However, due to your forthrightness and ability to apologize, I too must apologize.

While my stance on the matter of the topic remains unchanged, it showed to me that you are not so disrespectful as it first seemed and it is indeed I that made the ass of himself.  As such, this written apology is here for all to see and hopefully you see it as well.  As adults we can put this behind us and maybe do some work together in the future to try to provide both of our audiences quality productions and (hopefully) much more insightful discussions without our egos getting the best of us.

On that note, I will cut this off here and return to whatever it was I was doing previously...which to be honest, I forgot what I was doing but I'm sure it'll come back to me eventually lol...boy it's hard to type all of this sitting as far away from my monitor as I am currently doing.

Mass Effect 3 and "From Ashes" DLC

Mass effect 3 remains to be one of the top games that gamers are drooling over.  It is the epic conclusion of a masterfully told story dealing with many topics ranging from racism, internal struggles, how history repeats itself and the always cool space battles with many different races.  Most of these topics you wouldn't catch onto very easily if you aren't paying attention but they are there and that is why it is so well done.  The story feels almost natural (despite you know...having aliens in the mix)! 

A while back, the collectors edition was announced and it was said to offer a free extra character and mission.  Anyone who was a fan and had the extra money to spare ran out and pre-ordered their copy of it.  This was their chance to finish the franchise with extra swag and to say "I was there when the end of Mass Effect was announced!"  For gamers like me, we aren't always graced with the wonders of having money to purchase such a sweet collection of "stuff."  Just recently it was announced that the "From Ashes" DLC would be available on launch day for everyone, free for the collectors edition and ten dollars for the standard edition.  This created back-lash from gamers all over about them purchasing an incomplete product.

Casey Hudson, the executive producer of the Mass Effect franchise, tweeted this on Feb 22nd:

"On #ME3, content creators completed the game in January & moved onto the "From Ashes" DLC, free w/ the CE or you can buy seperately."

This pretty clearly tells you that the game was completed in January.  It also tells me that they got it shipped off for preparation for release day.  It also clearly states that they moved onto the "From Ashes" DLC, which is free with the collectors edition.  Anyone with a shred of sense should be able to tell that this is THE content that was promised to collectors edition buyers.  So why is this such a big deal; the squad mate is a Prothean, a race of ancient beings that are staple of Mass Effect lore.  Gamers everywhere began fuming upon hearing that in order to get this, it was going to cost them an extra 10 dollars to get this, thinking that they are going to be missing out on substantial story elements!
The gamer's fears are justified however the game was said to be completed right?  Take a look at these tweets from Mr. Hudson:
 
"The Prothean DLC character is really cool, but not at all critical to the main story. #ME3 centers on the Reapers, not the Protheans."

"For the many who asked, plot arcs of the Protheans and other races are resolved in #ME3, not DLC. That is after all the focus of the story."

Look at that!  According the Mr. Hudson, every bit of plot regarding the Protheans plot arcs are resolved in ME3 WITHOUT the DLC!  So are you really missing out on critical information?  This information is pointing to "no."  

So now we move on to the "what's fair" factor.  Gamers arguments are all on how DLC is supposed to be the equivalent of an "expansion pack."   The problem that I have with this statement is that expansion packs are generally always a price comparable of a full game and contain enough content to almost turn the game into a whole new chapter.  Unless labeled as an expansion pack for a game, DLC is generally just extra items, a mission, a map, character or something small that isn't critical for a gamer to have on their console except to just add more to their product and if it includes any story, it is only a standalone story that you could either take or leave it.  Zaeeds story in ME2 is a good example!  You join this mission to gain his favor and nothing more.  If this was released on day one, do you think you would have been ripped off?  More than likely not.  You either loved the guy or you hated him and his mission was intense and fun but it didn't add to the overall story.  We have yet to see this Prothean DLC (largely because the game hasn't come out yet) and yet everyone is over-reacting over it.

DLC is a way for developers to keep supporting your game and add to the life of it and also fairly pay the developers for the time they put in on it.  Generally, DLC that is provided with a collectors edition take a few months to hit the market so you can enjoy what the people who had the money for a premium version get to enjoy.  I use WWE12 as an example as I am a WWE fan by birth, growing up watching Wrestling with my father.  WWE12 offered a "Peoples Edition" that came with The Rock and Gamestop preorders got The Miz's T-shirt and tux outfits to use in matches.  For those who weren't able to preorder a People's Edition copy from Gamestop didn't get to play as The Rock or use The Miz's outfits (and personally I could deal without the Miz's outfits as I'm not too big of a fan of that guy in the first place) for a few months before the content was available on Xbox Live and the PSN for purchase.  This content wasn't an integral part of the game.  It was just awesome extra content to have.  Many games follow this model and never before have I heard this much complaining.  In fact, Bioware/EA are doing us a FAVOR by not making us wait months to release this content for the people who couldn't afford a Collectors Edition and it is in fact cheaper to get the standard copy and buy the "From Ashes" DLC. 

Sure, its nice to have that sweet little artbook and all of that extra stuff from the N7 edition, but it is NOT an incomplete product without all of it.  So, as a final note that I encourage all of you to do is this: give the game time to come out.  Wait and see how much content the standard game has and take a look at what the DLC does come out with (what we do know about the DLC is too little to come up with a reasonable argument for how unfair it is) and then take your argument from there.  Calm down, people.  It is good to be passionate about something but stop crying about fair vs. unfair because it is WAY too early to start with this because all you are basing your arguments on are assumptions and not concrete evidence.