Penny Arcade dumps GTAIV for Boom Blox
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 3:41pm by Jack
The inevitable press lovefest that followed (and led up to) the Grand Theft Auto IV launch predictably fell off a cliff in the days after its release, and I found it amazing and un-amazing at the same time that the game filling the void was Boom Blox.
I suggest that it plays well for a tech demo, which I meant as a joke, but it is ridiculous how much entertainment there is to be had - even in two-thousand and eight - by plucking and blasting these Goddamned rectangles. [...] It broke us of Grand Theft Auto, for Christ’s sake. What is the differential on developments costs, there - a hundred to one? And yet there we were - Gabe, Scott, and myself - staring at a heap of bricks. Robert, who can probably calculate the game’s physics entirely in his head, couldn’t stay away even though he likes us to think he is immune to joy. He probably wasn’t aware that his mouth hung open the entire time he was playing, the working of his mind visible beneath his temples. It’s the antithesis of Liberty City, and it’s startling that both of these things can exist in the same dimension.
Oh, and by the way, the most talked about piece of software at Amazon during the GTAIV launch week was, believe it or not, Mario Kart Wii.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Thats because Boom Blox is just plain, simple, multip-player fun. I love it too!
May 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Yeah! You tell ‘em, Infendo! You tell those readers what some guy at a webcomic site briefly mentioned in passing! Spin that shit way out of context, mate; post that as front page news– that’s how we do it here at Infendo!
Mark this post, folks. Mark it, for this is the new low point.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
http://xkcd.com/
May 14th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
xkcd ftw today
(cause my link didnt seem to post…)
May 14th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Though I will soon return to Liberty City, Boom Blox was enough to pull me away from GTA IV as well.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
BB should be arriving from GameFly today. I can’t wait!
May 14th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I’m a bit concerned by the overly negative attitude the Infendo articles seem to be taking towards GTA IV. I enjoy Infendo most when it is celebrating what is great about Nintendo rather than when it is leaning heavily on fanboy boasting. Good games exist on all systems, and at all levels of development (which is the point that I believe PA was making).
May 14th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Ha! Mario Kart is enough to pull me away from GTAIV….I’m not really surprised by what I’m reading, it’s bound to happen, and I have a feeling it’s going to happen a lot more in the coming future. ^_^
May 14th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Mr O-G, your problem is that you have trouble understanding that this is a nintendo only site. if you want unbiased nintendo news, go to a site like ign. well, as unbiased as a person can be i guess. 1up and gamespot tend to be very hard on nintendo, but you definitely wont find nintendo fanboys there.
its ok to be a fan boy. if your emotionally hurt by somebody being mean about your game, then kill yourself, because it happens all around you, not even just by fanboys. i hate the game because its average at everything it does, and the only cool thing seems to be that you get to play a bad guy and do things that i hope you would never want to do in real life, but then, why would you want to do it in a game *shudders*. freaky people.
anyway, so GTA sold the most but was the least addictive of the products out this month, i dont feel bad for you, and calling somebody a fanboy doesnt help your case either.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
why wont my link post? is it in review or something?
Link to Xkcd Mario Kart Wii comic — Editor
May 14th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
yessss, that’s right infendo. do my bidding! you two fight to the death! you! cut my milk!
….
Fool! Freeze it then cut it!
May 14th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Mario Kart Wii might have been the most talked about, but I really haven’t enjoyed my copy of it all that much.
I haven’t played GTA IV yet, but I want to. Same goes for Boom Blox.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Not having played GTA IV myself, I can’t comment of that game but I get the feeling that many are angry/put-off by the fact that GTA has been getting crazy high reviews, especially considering the rash of perfect scores that it received out of the gate. Say what you want about all of that game’s new features, but there is no way that it should be ranked above OOT. Kart and Boom Blox are both terrific games. When I am playing one of them, although I am having fun, I always seem to be missing the other. Wii owners should buy both and don’t worry about GTA…..the 360 version has already moved to #3.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:52 am
I played it and even tried out some of the glitches. It IS the same game with all the same trapping with a nice coat of hey thats nice. Really once you get over the things that don’t add to the game play you realize it is just GTA. There is not crazy story just your standard crime story. Had GTA been made like fight club which clearly it could have done then maybe I would be still playing it. GTA 4 IS MSs version of HOME. Really it is! it’s got almost all the functions you really can play lots of MINI games in that game. Hey but when you put guns into it and realistic renders it’s ok. So to make your way back to what is a full mini game made to be fun you find your self in awwwwwe. For a whole year people cried about mini games then they are tricked into buying a game like GTA4 which is a huge collection of mini games that are centered around violence. I know people will not see this because of the hype but I will admit that I am proud of rockstar for making this game. It has lots of stuff you though they where incapable of doing. Yet I see it for what it is and I’ll enjoy it for just that. To the people who are still in awe about the game you should really read up on what these systems can do. Not from the hype peddlers but from the guys who actually make this stuff. I’m sure people will love the game long after the shock of it existing yet I think this just illustrates that seasoned gamers still see the old GTA trappings. The problem is really in how you choose to have fun. Yet it’s not really a problem but it becomes one when you have people crying about a game that is not even on a nintendo system. Please! The whole internet hyped that game yet lots of people will not care. It’s a fact some people play different things. GTA4 is boring to some people and even broken to others no matter what the critics gave it for a score.
As much as this game tries to be an HBO mini series it is being ignored by adults. Grown ups would rather get Wii fit and play Wii sports and now you have bloom blocks. There is some thing to be said about some thing that does one thing extremely well rather than trying to be every thing to impress but failing in what is important. Right now GTA4 plays like a tourist attraction and there is lots to do. At one point you start to ask ok time to move on because nothing really hooks you.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Obviously there are more mental stable people who enjoy simple fun.
I don’t like GTA series, i don’t find joy in killing, pedestrians, hookers, and people. If some one find it, good for him(her)…
[b]As much as this game tries to be an HBO mini series it is being ignored by adults. Grown ups would rather get Wii fit and play Wii sports and now you have bloom blocks.[/b]
Very smart.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Wow waltermh, way to make a huge number of assumptions about soeone based on a single post… I especially liked the suggestion that I kill myself over the issue (classy). I am not a fan of GTA, but I don’t need to insult it to make myself feel better about being a Nintendo fan. The Infendo slogan is “INTELLIGENT passion for all things Nintendo.” Blake owns a PS3 and admits to enjoying GTA 4, and yet he is still able to run a site dedicated to celebrating Nintendo. I just don’t think it is necessary to insult someone/something else to make you “right”. I was simply voicing a concern, as I love the site and don’t want to see it sink to the same level as some other lower-quality Nintendo fan sites.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
For over a year I only owned Wii and had tons of fun playing it. I own most of it’s best games although I haven’t gotten Boom Blox yet (will probably wait for a price drop). I did however, mainly for GTA IV, go out and buy a PS3 about a week ago…system seller for me. With it I got Uncharted, GTA IV, and Ratchet & Clank. Am thoroughly enjoying all 3 games. Finished Uncharted first (awesome game), working through R&C (good game as well, I’m only on 2nd level), and jumping into GTA IV is just an experience. Something about having an entire city to explore and do as you wish without consequences. Sounds like the ultimate game to me. As close to a real life simulator as possible. What’s not to like? Bottom line…games are meant to entertain and whatever one(s) entertains you personally is all that really matters.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“As close to a real life simulator as possible”
TWhite, that’s precisely why I don’t get the GTA series! To be fair, I haven’t played any of them (I briefly played Vice City and lost interest after ten minutes, maybe that counts). But I live in Chicago, and after a day of stealing cars, killing people, holding up stores, and seducing prostitutes I just want to kick back and relax with a nice, escapist video game… why would I want to do that all over again inside a gaming console??
May 15th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
InvisibleMan, LOL…funny. Wish I had your job. In all seriousness though, maybe “real life simulator” wasn’t the right description, maybe a question is more appropriate: “If you could do whatever you wanted in real life (and if you died you could simply respawn moments later outside the hospital in perfectly good health), and there were no real consequences to any action, what would you do?”
I can think of a bazillion things I would do just for fun. In real life I would be dead in a heart beat. In GTA I respawn and can go on to something else. It’s not all about prostitutes and killing and stealing cars. It’s about being a sweet ass driving game (I like muscle cars), shooting ‘bad guys’ (aren’t most games), making money (something most people do obediently in real life), and picking up chicks (come now I’ve never seen another NPC pick up these so called prostitutes). Anyway, the game is whatever you make it. I guess it’s not everyone’s cup of ‘Hot Coffee’, but then what game is?