Must-play Games: Grand Theft Auto IV

It's probably the biggest game this year. The hype has been incredible, and the results are in. According to a news report on the Internet Movie Database, the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV has taken in US$500 million on its first week on the shelves, more than any movie in history has made in its first week. The amount translates to an opening week mark of 3.6 million game units sold.

The April 29 opening day sales alone were phenomenal- tracked at US$310 million- beating the US$300 million record set by Microsoft's Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 last year. Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Renzie's Rants and Raves."

Check out Adam Sessler's review of Grand Theft Auto IV on this G4TV clip taken from their signature gaming show, X-Play.

Here's a game you should be playing right frackin' NOW. Grand Theft Auto IV is only available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (for now at least), so if you don't have either console, now's a good time to get yourself one. Sell an internal organ if you have to. Then sell another body part to get Grand Theft Auto IV.

I've already raved about how much I've loved its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. And by all indications, it seems GTA IV holds true to its promise to deliver a game just as kick-ass as the last one.

Gotta have this game. Period.

Cheers, everyone!

Blizzard Acquires 'Diablo3.com' Domain

The blogosphere was abuzz late last week with the news that Blizzard had recently acquired the 'Diablo3.com' domain.

Diablo3.com used to be the domain of a fansite for gamers who are fans of the 1997 hack-and-slash action RPG, its sequel that came out in the year 2000, and its various expansion packs and add-ons.

Now that same fansite has moved to Diablofans.com. Same content, different domain. So now that Blizzard has their hands on the 'Diablo3.com' domain, does this mean that production for a third installment is now underway?

Interesting story: Mockery and Umaro- the two dudes running the site, were approached by Blizzard a few months back- apparently interested in the Diablo3.com domain, which was currently occupied by the fansite. Mockery has this to say:

...while Blizzard is indeed acquiring the diablo3.com domain name, they told me that this shouldn't be considered an announcement for the Diablo 3 game we've been waiting for all these years. They acquire new domains all the time. While this is true, I personally can't help but think that this is a confirmation of sorts that they're working on the next Diablo game. Sure, they can claim it's because they want to protect their intellectual properties 'n what have you, but I can't imagine they would all of a sudden be so interested in the diablo3.com domain if they weren't working on a new Diablo 3 game behind the scenes.

It begs the question: how much did Blizzard pay to acquire the Diablo3.com domain from these guys?

According to what we have read, no money was involved at all. True fans that they are, Mockery just happily gave the domain when Blizzard asked for it- instead of making a huge profit out of the transaction.

Now that's something to admired. More power to you and your new Diablofans.com site, Mockery.

Check out the rest of Mockery's story on his thread here, on Diablofans.com.

Cheers, everyone.

Have You Checked Out The World of Warcraft Comics?

Here's something every World of Warcraft gamer can appreciate: a whole bunch of World of Warcraft funnies- 15+ pages of comic strips- right smack in the WoW Official Website Community Page, which you can check out right here.

I gotta credit my girlfriend for pointing this one out to me. Yes, she plays World of Warcraft- heck, even more so than I do. Just the other night, she was checking both our accounts to see which ones needed renewing, and she stumbled upon the motherlode of WoW humor.

We eventually ended up reading them all. Of course some were funnier than others, but it was great to know how there are so many passionate players out there who came up with all these great strips.

You can see all kinds of renditions of familiar World of Warcraft character archetypes- some anime-ish, some intentionally drawn crudely- the variety in itself is a testament to WoW's universal appeal.

It seems that World of Warcraft players have been submitting these funnies since May of 2006- that's exactly 2 years ago- and more seem to be coming in. We're both looking forward to seeing more of these entertaining comic strips.

So next time you check out your World of Warcraft account, take some time out to browse through the rest of the WoW Official Website. Drop by the Community Section and check out the comic strips. Good times, man.

Cheers, everyone!

Would Rather Be Gaming

There seems to be a shortage of good gaming bloggers.

At least that's what this friend of mine told me. She works for a local PR agency, and it's good to hear that more PR and advertising agencies have been making good use of bloggers as a legitimate means to promote their interests.

In any case, she's had no problem putting together groups of bloggers for other events- food events, tech events, lifestyle events- but for some reason, she wonders, why does she seem to have a shortage of good gaming bloggers?

I thought about it as she brought it up- was this true, I pondered to myself. Off the top of my head, I could name probably a handful of bloggers I know who are into gaming, and some who actually do have gaming blogs which I read- but that's just it, there's only a handful.

But why aren't there more?

Even looking at my own blog- this one, "Renzie On Gaming"- I've noticed that I haven't put in as much content as I have on, say, my blog on marketing, or my blog on music. Even if it's clear that I'm a game freak of the freakiest kind.

Gaming is what I do when I'm not blogging, or otherwise engaged in business. And given the kind of games I play, it's so easy to get lost in them hours at a time.

And then it struck me. Why aren't there more gaming bloggers?

Because bloggers who are into gaming, would rather spend two hours playing their World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4 or Grand Theft Auto San Andreas than spend those same two hours blogging or writing some more.

Even at this moment, in fact, I'm just itching to head on back to Azeroth to level up my Dranei shaman for a couple of hours before I start doing real work.

But there you have it. The answer to our question. There's still a huge demand for gaming blogs out there, and now that I've realized that, maybe it's time to change the way I see things.

After I log in to World of Warcraft a bit. Gotta check my Auction House sales, you know?

Cheers, everyone :)