The Continental - Hamilton College

talk of the townStar Wars: The Force Unleashedrelease date - September 16systems - Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2As Yoda would say: Jedi you are and new physicsprogram you explore. You use, obviously,the Force, to do some serious damage to thebad guys.Ninja Gaiden IIrelease date - June 3system - Xbox 360As the sequel to…coincidentally, Ninja Gaiden,the game is more of a prequel as it focuses on ayounger version of Ryu Hayabusa as he learnsthe nuances of butt-kicking.Guitar Hero: On Tourrelease date - June 22system - Nintendo DSBecause if you can’t go for more than a fewhours without some rock’n’roll, bring it withyou.video gamesRock Bandrelease date - June 22system - WiiNow all of you who have a Wii can play alongtoo, flailing your way into virtual rock godhood.Guitar Hero: Aerosmithrelease date - June 29systems - Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2This is MTV Games and Harmonix’s attemptto make Guitar Hero look less like Rock Band’sneglected younger brother who no one lets outof his room.top pick: grand theft auto 4Hide your children and run in fear, gentlefolks; the latest installment of the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series was recentlyreleased—April 29, to be exact. The new entry in the series promises a return to Liberty City, the game’s original setting, which hasn’tbeen seen since GTA 3 debuted in 2002 followed by GTA Vice City in 2003 and GTA San Andreas in 2004. While GTA IV actuallyreduces the overall area of land available to the players, it purportedly adds much more vertically, with players being able to ascend tallbuildings which, in prior installments, were closer to background pieces than to actual interactive buildings.The main storyline of GTA IV centers around Niko Bellic, a character recently come to America following the promise of money.Of course, nothing quite works out for Niko, and he winds up having to slog his way through the criminal underbelly of Liberty City inorder to achieve his American dream.The game will feature all the classic GTA elements, such as carjacking, destructible environments, a plethora of weaponry, andplenty of random passersby for you to…interact with. It of course expands many of these features, including a more complex carjackingsystem, a new cover system for gun combat, a refined system for drive-by shooting, and overall enhanced visuals.The truly interesting part of the coming of GTA IV will be in how it is received, politically. The GTA series has often been criticizedas being the primary inciter of youth violence in the video game world, with how it grants the player the ability to kill any given on-screencharacter at any given time. It has especially been criticized by well-known video game critic Jack Thompson, who has called the games ofthe series “murder simulators”. Will GTA IV be received by the opponents of violent video games with much wind and fury, but withoutmuch practical effect? Or will GTA IV have enough controversial content to finally help the anti-video game lobbyists get a video gamelegislation bill past the Supreme Court?I certainly hope not.- brendan conway ’0922 the continental | spring 2008