It's really surprising that GTA IV is so often thought of as a standout example of ludonarrative dissonance. I just replayed the game recently, and it gives plenty of reasons for why Niko is capable of doing terrible things despite having some semblance of caring and conscience. A poster below me has already explained why in some detail, but I'd like to briefly reiterate the fact that Niko's contradictory nature is part of what makes his story so compelling and tragic. He seems to be an essentially good person who leads a life of crime simply because he can't see any other way; the situation he finds himself in when he arrives in America (trying to deal with the mobsters terrorizing Roman), the set of "skills" he acquired during wartim, and his all-consuming desire to get back at those who betrayed him are all factors that serve to blind him from the opportunities and chances to start anew that Liberty City offers him. In many ways, Niko's characterization mirrors players' tendencies when it comes to open-world games; we love to race through environments, indulge in mindless killing sprees, and complete one mission after another, but very few players take the time to truly luxuriate in a sandbox environment and find alternate ways to interact with it. Long story short, the character is very well established in the game's logic, and I'd strongly encourage anyone who doesn't see that to replay the game.

Great cast as always, but man this page is hard to find. I'm auto-subscribed through Zune, but I spent 10 minutes looking around the Gamespot homepage trying to find this page to leave a comment. Eventually I just had to google "gamespot gameplay" to find it. I doubt there's much you guys can do about it, but a little more exposure sure would help!

And I love the "Guess the song" segments. I usually surprise myself on how many I get right. Metroid theme this week and Demon's Souls the one before? You sir have some excellent taste in compositions!

Also, you guys should start an "Interesting" counter, to track the number of times someone (usually a politically correct guest) says the word 'interesting'.  Such a safe word.  I chuckled every time I've heard a Gameplay guest use it.

I always read the entire review.  Without reading the whole thing, you cannot fully understand why and where a reviewer got their score of a game from.  I can't just look at the score to make my determination on a game, because how do I know if that's the score *I* would have given it?  There are a lot of games out there I think are crap that others absolutely love.  A 10 to one person is a 5 to another, and vice versa.  As long as the reviewer fully articulates WHY they feel a certain way about a feature of the game (or perhaps a lack of a feature[s] in a game), and how exactly said feature works, plays, and feels, then I'll consider the review well written, even if I disagree with the end opinion.  As long as the review teaches me -something- about the game,  then I'm happy.  That is the reason we have reviews right?  To educate a potentially ignorant person on the qualities of a game, so that they can make an informed opinion of whether or not they should buy it.  It's one of the reasons I hate review score fanboyism.  People take the end-score waaay too seriously.

Random side question for no reason:  Do you (GS crew) prefer the Oxford comma or not?

For once, don't feel bad guys. I played Asheron's Call for years (6 maybe?) and while it sounded familiar, I didn't know it.

First if all, great episode like always. I have a confession to make When I first saw the score to Zelda SS here in GameSpot I was really angry. Zelda is my favourite franchise, so seeing a 7,5 was disappointing. After I played the game, however, I realised it wasn't really very good. Though I might not give it a 7,5, I would never give that game a 10 like IGN did. It's nice to see that you guys actually review the games, and don't take into account the publisher/developer. I'm not criticizing IGN or anything, just commenting.

Guys, I really like your articles and do read most of the reviews that you post, specially on games I'm interested in. But I would like to ask you for one modification in the POD cast: could you make less quizzes and talk more about games you played and you experiences playing them. Even though the quizzes are fun, it takes to much time of the show.

another great episode

Can someone explain me the joke that they did about not getting married in specific MMO?

Woo!! I love Red Dwarf! Its big in ireland to! What a classic british comedy!

I'm feeling guilty for not reading the review of guild wars 2, I'm going to read it now

and again GameSpot staff crap on GTA IV because of their inability to understand it. GTA IV did not have the Ludonarrative Dissonance that Sleeping Dogs did. Tom sums it up as a disconnect when a vegetarian character who would never punch garbage cans is then punching garbage cans to get hamburgers for health in the gameplay. This contradiction of character is simply not the case for Niko Bellic. GTA IV made it beautifully subtle, but clear, that Niko was a troubled character who regrets his past and his actions. Niko doesn't just express this regret in the cutscenes, but during gameplay he'll even mention his sense of shame for what he's doing. He does what he does because he doesn't know any other way, this is a life he's drawn to because he feels it's the only thing he's good at and believes following through with it to the end would result in closure. In the end though, the answers he killed for proved to not be worth it, as they never put him at rest the way he imagined they would. It was very bitter-sweet, and it's important to note that Niko was never supposed to be recognized as someone with strong moral values. He was someone who struggled with the morality of what he was doing. I think the writers did a great job of portraying him as a real person rather than someone who was just "good" or "bad".

Hayo Gameplay!

the part with the nintendo wii songs is basically "how to make songs right"

Why did they think Metroid soundtrack sounded lik Zelda?

Where is the volume for this mechanism?

Guild Wars 2 looks pretty awsome.

really stoked to listen to this! i am absolutely in love with guild wars 2, and by that i mean, when something awesome happens it is AWESOME, like when you are fighting a 75 foot tall dragon that is 200 feet long with 100 of your closest friends. And, just like being in love, when something goes wrong, it's usually pretty bad(personal story lines, i am looking at you for getting all mellow dramatic like the girl you are in love with being really high maintenance). But, as with true love, you take the amazing with the awful, because hey: It's love!