gta posts

Let's face it: you have to be pretty daring to release an open world game in the same year as Grand Theft Auto IV. You have to be confident that what you're offering is different in some substantial way. Fortunately, Alan Patmore -- whose Midway-owned studio Surreal Software is working on an open world game called This is Vegas -- is just as confident as he needs to be.

He told Gamasutra that most open world games make the mistake of "seeing the forest, not the tree," and posited that This is Vegas does things differently. Patmore believes that each of the game's four gameplay experiences -- fighting, driving, gambling, and partying -- are deep and engaging. This is in contrast to the Grand Theft Auto series, which he criticized for having simplistic combat.

He also said that the Vegas setting and vibe sets the game apart, and makes it appealing to non-core gamers. He contrasted it with the fantasy setting of Drakan (a game he and his team worked on in the past), and said that Vegas is a more socially relavent motif. Check out the full interview for more details mixed in with lots of game development jargon.

This has been an exciting week in PC gaming! The release of Mass Effect, more information on the highly anticipated StarCraft II, and Valve has decided to let us back things up via the upcoming Steam Cloud service. (This is, of course, after most of us spent last week playing On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One.) Going into this weekend we figured it would be a no-brainer as to what most of the Big Download staff would be playing....

Steven Wong, our fearless all around bad-mutha and Managing Editor is playing Mass Effect as we expected, but will be adding a side of Age of Conan and possibly some City of Heroes or City of Villains in the mix. Samuel Axon, blogger and caffeine fiend will be kickin' it old-school in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Deus Ex. John Callaham and David Craddock, aside from being our esteemed (and crazy workaholic) leads, will both be spending time playing on Steam. John's planning on spending time in Team Fortress 2, and David's got his sights set on jumping into the Get a Life mod for Half-Life 2. (Well, and he'll be checking out some mods for WarCraft III for an upcoming column, but that's work.) As for me, I have a copy of Mass Effect for my PC, and of course will be continuing my own all-over-the-place MMOG adventures for Massively.

How about you all? Will you be jumping into Mass Effect as well, or are you still playing through OtRSPoD? Perhaps you're more interested in fragging the crap out of people in TF2 after a (not very) long week? Tell us, What aRe yoU Playing this weekend?