After completing Metal Gear Solid and raving about it, I still have a lot of games I still need to play and complete. Right now, I am nearing the final quarter of GTA IV but I have been spending most of my week playing games on my Wii. So without further ado, here is What I'm playing...

What I've rented...

Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii)

Let's just say that when I post my review of the game on my blog (tastygames.blogspot.com) and here on Gamespot, most, if not all, Nintendo Fan Boys will hate me. I am not going to hide it, I did not like this game. It's not un-playable, but it's just not suited for me. I'm a bit disapointed because I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't find enough to hold my interest. Unlike some people who dismiss a game before trying it out, I actually gave this game a fair shot, dedicated a good chunk of time with it, but my opinion of it did not change.

Okami (Wii)

I only started playing this last night but I was absolutely impressed with the outstanding art style. I was having some problem with the Wii controls when trying to draw just about anything on the screen (I find the Wii difficult for left-handers, but again, it might just be me). I rented this game because I wanted to sample it before a potential purchase, and I really think that I'll drop the 40 dollars for the game. I want to complete some other games first, but ultimately, this will be a pick up later this summer

What I'm playing...

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)

I am at about 49% complete, so I think I have about 25% or less left of the main storyline but I still haven't done much of the extra stuff, outside of a few Random Pedestrian missions. I am loving the game and the characters are great. While I still consider MGS4 the better game of 2008, I still think this is absolutely incredible. Yes, it can be frustrating and playing the game at night (in game) makes things even harder, I still love the game. I haven't gotten around to playing much Multiplayer, so hopefully that will change.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPs (PSP)

I have played this on and off for a while. I need a portable game to play, but I haven't gotten around to purchasing anything for either of my portable systems. I am actually not really impressed with this game, but apparently there are some game-plots that help the MGS4 story a bit (regarding the Patriots), but I haven't reach that. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like the control scheme, but it does look great.

Everything else...

I have about a dozen games on my 'to beat list' and it doesn't get any smaller when I decide to pick up more games. Last night I bought Uncharted since it was on special, but I want to finish some other games first. During the Canada Day 'Long Weekend' (it was on Tuesday), my friends and I were playing some Rock Band and Guitar Hero III, which also helped me finally reach 10K achievement points (finally, considering I've owned a 360 since launch). I hope to finish GTA IV either this weekend or sometime next week so I can focus some time on some of my other nearly completed games: No More Heroes (about half-way done), Assassin's Creed (about half-way done) and Black (about half-way done). I have also been preparing some specific blogs for this site and my soccer blog over at Fox Sports. I wanted to post my specific blog this week, but I instead decided to write about Niko Bellic.

The following is based on an article found on the Wall Street Journal site:

(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121460385251911957.html?mod=2_1168_1)

I just finished reading Junot Diaz's article on how Niko Bellic just is not as interesting of a character as other Grand Theft Auto character or even characters from famous Mob Movies such as the Godfather and Scarface. I enjoyed reading his article but I wanted to defend Niko and his character.

Niko Bellic is very different than the other three famous GTA Characters: Claude, Tommy and CJ. First off, he's an immigrant. Unlike the characters from the III canon of games, he isn't American in any sense of the word. Claude from GTA III may or may not be of American decent, but he's lived the country long enough to be considered a US Citizen. So right away, his popularity as a character drops from that fact alone. Niko speaks with an 'accent', dresses like a FOB, comprehends American-English like an immigrant and we actually see him struggling at times to adapt to American culture. Claude, Tommy and CJ never have this stigma and are easily accepted by those around them. Just look at the beginning of GTV IV and you see how even Russians give Niko a hard time. Just because Niko is doesn't react in the same way, doesn't make him less interesting, it just makes him fundamentally different.

While I might not be American it seems that regardless if a character is a hero or an anti-hero, Americans do tend to prefer to have a connection to lead in a game, book or movie. If you look at movies like The Godfather and Scarface, both of those movies do feature immigrants, but there is a significant difference between the characters in those movies in comparison to Niko. The Corleone Family comes from Italy and Tony Montana is from Cuba, both of which have large populations in United States. There are extremely large Italian and Cuban communities in the United States and those communities can relate to characters in the movies. This is the same with Television programs like The Sopranos where the common American can say 'hey, I know I guy at work who dresses like that or talks in the same accent'. How many people are really good friends with Fresh of the Boat people from the Balkans? Not that many.

There is a very common trend in American movies, books, games when it comes to characters with an ethnic background (meaning, not 100% American). These characters almost always come from regions with high populations of people living in the United States (Irish, Italian and Mexican). It is extremely rare to have characters from other parts of the world who are as iconic as one from the major immigration points that help make-up the US population.

In GTA, they don't even bother to announce where Niko comes from. We all know he's from Former Yugoslavia, thanks to his speech, even though the tried to mix the speech to have him talk in a few Slavic languages. Unfortunately, unlike Italians, the population of people from former Yugoslavia pales in comparison. There are only about 170,000 Serbs and just over 328,000 Yugoslavs who live in the United States, which is dust in comparison to the 17.8 Million Italians and 1.2 million Cubans. Even if the game decided to consider Niko Bellic as a Russian, that number is also quite low. There are only 750,000 Russians who live in the United States. It's the same with other parts of the world. We will never see a successful game with the lead character being Turkish, Swedish or Fijian that will gather enough interest as other ethnicities (these figures gathered from http://www.wikipedia.org/).

In the game, they fail to show the up-bringing of Niko's true character. There is absolutely no character development in the terms of flashbacks outside of him telling us bits from his past. We don't see how he lived in Eastern Europe; the hard-ships of being a soldier at a young age or having to flee the country. In Godfather Part II, we got to see Don Vito's rise in New York. It wasn't an quite quick either as it took the Corleone family years to gain it notoriety in New York. In Scarface, we see Tony Montana 'legally' enter the country when Castro opened the prisons and allowed people to leave the country. Montana has a criminal record, but we never see how that occured, but we do get to see how he gets his green-card and gets out of Freedomtown. Montana's goal was to make it big in American, but Niko's initial goal is a plot of revenge, very different objectives. Diaz talks about how Rockstar could have made things more interesting by having Niko deal with more immigration issues, such as having to gain immigrant status or even dealing with a fake-passport, but there are a few problems there: 1) it's an extremely long process and would be boring for gamers 2) Niko's background is even more controversial in comparison to Montana and 3) you can't have Niko try to avoid ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) because of his character's background, which I'll discuss next.

What is one thing WE WILL NEVER SEE IN A VIDEOGAME? The answer is genocide or more specifically an Auschwitz type scenario that gamers can take part of or witness. While we might say 'never say 'never'' but this is one thing you can guarantee a main-stream videogame will never offer in its final product. Take any videogame based on World War II and no-one will touch that with a ten-foot pole. It would be incredible to have a game that has you escape from a Prisoner camp from WWII, but the second the game shows people being killed in Gas Chambers, sirens will sound. This has nothing to do with our Post 9/11 world; this is just an issue that people refuse to talk about freely and probably never will.

If we look at the history of Niko's character, you will see that he was involved in the Bosnian War of the Mid-90s. During that period in Former Yugoslavia, one major atrocity that occurred during that time was the genocide of various ethnic groups. This is still a very controversial issue in the Region and there is a lot of information on the issue if you're interested. In Bosnia, we had Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks who all accuse the others of committing extensive ethnic cleansing. There is a lot of evidence to prove that this did occur. This issue is so bad that many leaders from that time have been taken to The Hague for War Crime charges. The late-former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died while in prison and was his trial was never completed.

There are many people who have been arrested and are awaiting trial. Niko, even with his lower status, if at any point was arrested in the game. He would not be dealing with ICE, rather, he would be extradited to The Hague to faces charges. He'd be detained just so they could get more information in the hopes of convicting a General or anyone in higher standing. This just is not interesting for the average gamer, so it seems Rockstar purposely avoided this for the game. Rockstar seemed content to not publicly state Niko's ethinicity to avoid controversy. What really interests me is that fact that we have yet to hear anything from any Albanian Communities in the United States complaining about them being labeled as mobsters, and they are really shown in a negative light as various groups in the game have a dis-like for them.

Diaz also talked about how easy it was for Niko to begin a life in America. Actuality it wasn't. Don't forget he was doing a lot of odd-jobs outside of America before coming state-side, so he's been on the run for a while. Unlike Montana and Corleone, which both started with nothing, Niko had his brother Roman to aid him along the way. Had Niko came to America on his own with no-help, then they could have really developed his character and show how hard it would be for a true immigrant. Since they did not, his steps towards integration is a lot 'easier'. It is Roman's character which should be compared to Tony and Vito since he actually came to America with nothing and had to start from scratch. It's his character that is more like the other two, and he even fails to live up to the American dream. In Diaz's eyes, I really believe he'd wish that Niko was Roman and that Roman never existed. Just change it that Niko becomes successful, instead of a "joke" like Roman.

I think from the beginning, Niko was never going to be as interesting or as fleshed out as he could be because of his ethnicity. Claude was back-stabbed by his girlfriend and we saw it; Tommy was involved in a deal that went wrong, and CJ was had a history of problems and we got to see it. If we actually got to 'witness' Niko's hardships, I am certain he'd be much more of an interesting character, or at least one that Diaz's would find more appealing. I am not going to deny that Rockstar could have really gone into much more detail into his past and make him more interesting, but I really doubt that that Joe American would really care. They might not have gone into his past, but at least they did enough for us to see him in the present to understand why he acts the way he does.

I know this is a bit late, but I'll just look at it this way, the European Version just came out.

I tried Super Smash Brothers Melee last week in an EB Games and I just couldn't enjoy it. I thought it might be the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. I had never played a Smash Bros. game before so I had no idea how to control the characters or the actual premise of the fighting game. I heard great things about the game and considering all the outstanding reviews, I wanted to like the game.

So instead of buying it, I rented it over the weekend. Luckily I got the manual and managed to learn the 'controls' and the premise of the game (kicking your opposition off the screen). Unfortunately for me, when I started the game, I didn't realize that when my Wii was in the possession of my friends in Ottawa, they played the game and unlocked a good portion of the game. So right away, I had to delete that save data and start fresh. My friend(s) unlocked just about everything, so playing their save then having to re-start with nothing already didn't start me off the right foot.

I probably played for over 90 minutes. I beat the Single-Player 'Arcade' mode with two characters: Link and Pitt, how exactly did I do that is beyond me. I just could not grasp the controls. I tried using the Wiimote, then the Wiimote and Nunchuk but I just did not feel right. Apparently from what I've read, you need to play this with a Gamecube controller. Ok, but isn't this a Wii game? When I was playing, I just did not enjoy how to control the characters. The jumping (either by pressing up or 'c') wasn't always responsive and trying to grab characters was next to impossible.

Also, the fact that your goal is to simply kick your characters off the platform is kind of boring, but understandable. It's actually quite common in fighting games (Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur for example) but I am used to do that on a 3D plane, not a 2D one. If Super Smash was played on a 3D plane, it probably would have been more enjoyable. I will though admit the variety of some of the modes in the arcade were good. I like that sometimes you had to fight against a giant opponent or against a Team of one character. When I was fighting those ones, I was enjoy it even if I wasn't exactly sure how I was being the CPU.

The sound and graphics are great, I cannot deny that. Even if this is not High-Definition, the characters look really nice and the backgrounds are very detailed. The sound as well is on par with the graphics. If I was watching people who played this game, then I would be in awe. My favorite levels were the Wario stage and the Super Mario Kart ones. There were a few others that I also enjoyed but can't remember them off the top of my head.

I know that Super Smash is very much a game geared towards fans of the series, so I guess since I never played the previous version, my dis-like of the game is understood. Unlike some people who complained about this game without trying it, I actually invested the time and still plan on playing it a bit more. I want to try the Subspace Emissionary (or whatever it is called) and see if maybe that can save it. I want to make a fair assessment of the product before I give it my final judgement. I believe that is fair, but at this moment, I cannot recommend the game to anyone is not a fan of the series.

The emotions last night as I was completing MGS4 were incredible. I never felt so happy, angry and sad at one point in my life. As i was watching the final moments and seeing what was happening on screen, it began as as saddness that the game was over, happiness to see the success in my time and energy only to be feel like I've been spit in the face. Those who have finished MGS will probably know what I'm talking about; those who don't play the game and watch the ending. While I might have felt that way, it was quickly sub-dued and then joy took over. - I'd love to talk about the reason why I felt like crap at that moment, but it would involve spoiling the ending and discussing other topics (eg. Religion and beliefs) and this is a gaming site.

I am sad that the game is over, but thankfully there is just so much more to the game. I plan on playing it again, but only once I go back to my Serbian-Cousin Niko and complete his journey through Liberty City.

Read my review and you can see my love for the game. It deserves the score it got. Please play this game. Buy a PS3!

Here is my review of the Spore Creature Creator. You can also find this, along with a clip of one of my creatures on my other blog (tastygames.blogspot.com)

Here we go again! Yet another 'demo' released for cost and yet again, the debate about 'should we be paying for a tech demo.' Yes, Spore Creature Creator is definitely just a snippet of the upcoming Spore title, but unlike the full edition, Spore Creature Creator is a game that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone and is geared solely for one demographic, the non-gamer.

Spore is the upcoming game by Will Wright, the man who brought the world SimCity and the most popular PC game in the World The Sims. Spore, like is other games, is a 'God' Simulator. This time around you will get to establish a single-cell organism and see it 'evolve' into a full fledged creature.

The Spore Creature Creator takes the second phase of the game and gives gamers the ability to actually create a creature from scratch using a variety of 'items' (body parts) to create a plethora of different possible animals. The possiblities are endless and you can spend hours, upon hours, creating a variety of different and unique life-forms.

There are two reasons that Spore Creature Creator was released. The first, and the key reason, was to have people get a head-start in creating creatures for the various planets that will inhabit the full version. In The Creature Creator, once you create something, you are suggested and encuraged to upload your work so that 1) others can see it and 2) if impressive enough, will be featured in the final retail version. This is a great way for those who put enough effort to get them selves into a feature game. Since the release of the Creature Creator, there have been more than 350,000 creatures uploaded and thanks to the options, the possiblities of creating just about anything is there. You name your creature, give it a description or history and tag it and others can search for it. If you do manage to have a popular creature, it will be in the retail version. You won't get paid for your work, but getting credited in the game is something really special.

The other reason for this release is for the fact that it gives people who probably don't know anything about this game a chance to get a better understanding of the title. Yes, a free demo could would have been better, but if you really look at what Spore has to offer, a demo just will not be enough. Maxis and EA want to take all the Millions they've made from The Sims and translate it here, but unfortunately, this isn't exactly like creating people and controlling them. Here you're taking a single-cell and creating life, much more complex. More than likely, you can take this game and it would be enough for most people.

This game is Perfect if have kids between the ages of 8-14 since you can put them infront of a Computer screen and let them play this for hours. The options for creating a creature then filming them is worth the price of admission. I played the demo first and loved it so much, I felt the 10 dollars was worth getting to try the full creator options. The demo is of course free and offers 25% of the full Creator, so if you enjoy playing it, the retail version will give you 4 times more options to creating just about anything. If you're not into God-Sims, then this won't change your mind, but again, try the free demo and it may change your mind when the regular edition comes out in a few months. I really cannot find anything wrong with this game. Yes, it does cost money, but 10 dollars is cheaper than a movie, and you'll spend more time with this. I've only managed to create 4 creatures that I really was proud of, but I know the more I spend with this, the more I will be eager to start from a cell and see my creatures evolve into something special.

*not exactly.

While I am playing both those games, my major love this week comes out of left-field. I also want to state that my Gamespot list of Games I am currently playing are actually all the games I own that I still need to complete. I have a large list, and my hopes are to finish at least MGS this weekend and get closer to completing GTA IV.

What I'm currently playing

Spore Creature Creator (PC)

Yes, this is the game that comes out of left-field. I downloaded the demo a few days ago, loved it and decided to pay the 10 dollars to get the full-thing. If there is any inclination of what the full-version has in store in a few months, THIS will be a front-runner for Game of the Year and most definitely PC game of the year. I don't want to spoil anything, so I strongly suggest downloading the demo and just try it out. Play it for a bit and experience 25% of the full creature creator. Then for only 10 dollars you can run absolutely wild with the creations you can make. Apparently there are over 350,000 creatures already uploaded and I have uploaded mine onto Youtube. I will link it later, and on my blog, once I write a review, I will also post my favorite creatures there. Enjoy this game, it continues to prove why Will Wright and EA have so much money.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

I am loving this game, but because of my time contraints, I can't sit down to play this for a very long time. Last week I had to pause a cut-scene and leave my place because I just couldn't sit there. The only problem with that is the game still runs the gameplay clock. So it technically took me 9 hours to complete the first act, but 6 of those hours I was downtown with friends. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game except for one thing, an issue I also had with GTA IV: Why can't games get the accents correct in their games. In MGS4, the locales are very exotic and as everyone knows, there are Rebels fighting in certain locations, these Rebels all have Americanized accents. I understand the PMCs would sound 'American' but the Rebels in the Middle East, South America, etc... should not sound that way. It's a minor gripe, but one none the less. I love Drebin, I love the graphics, and it may sound disturbing, but isn't Naomi Hunter and Sheryl absolutely stunning. It's wrong, but I those two trump my other favorite female characters of Eva (MGS3), Quistis (FFVIII) and Rikku (FFX).

Space Invaders Extreme (DS)

I am a huge portable gaming fan and after reading some interesting reviews, I decided to pick this up. I never played the original version outside of a portable version (in the same vein as Tiger games (meaning monochromatic and using lights on a board)). It's fun and worth the price. The lights and colors are interesting, but it is a bit easy. Considering it's only 20 dollars, I can't really complain. I hope to write a review for my blog (tastygames.blogspot.com) by the end of next week and I will post a review here as well.

Some other titles I am playing include GTA IV: I have no idea where I am in the game, but things are getting interesting. I still haven't hit the chunk that really explains Niko's reasons being in Liberty, so hopefully that will come. Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPs: I didn't get around to playing this until recently. It's not a bad game, but it still took me some time to get used to the controls. No More Heroes: with MGS on my plate right now, this will be put aside. I do really like this game and want to keep going with it. I want to finish this soon too, because I do need to finally write a Wii review. Mass Effect: I bought this cheap for the 360 and while I have only scratched the early part of the game, it's such a great game. I am disapointed I didn't play this sooner.

My goal is to finish some of the recent titles by the end of the month. I plan on writing a blog at the mid-way point of the year to discuss my thoughts of the games of 2008. While I still feel that the year 2001 was the best year in Gaming, chances are that 2008 is already trumping that. 2001 was incredible for consoles (Halo, GTA III, MGS 2, FFX, Tony Hawk 3) and 1998 did give us MGS, Ocarina of Time and Starcraft, this year has already given us MGS 4 and GTV IV, with Spore, Fallout 3 coming soon and so many more, this will probably take the cake.

The summer is also just around the corner, hence why I wanted to hear what others will be doing. I know with Canada day in two weeks, I will be out of the city for a bit. Also, I plan on visiting my families in Serbia and Macedonia in August with a trip to Holland for a few days, so again, I want to finish playing as many games as I can before I do leave.

Lastly, I want to congradulate everyone who took part in the Developer For A Day 6 contest. I finished tied for 5th with my game idea. My idea took the reality show The Amazing Race and threw it into a videogame. I am disapointed that I didn't get a blurb about my game, because I would have loved to hear why I only got two points. I am also 'shocked' but more 'surprised' and the effort most people took into writing their ideas. Mine was only 9 pages, and two were Title and Table of Contents. I didn ot have the depth in comparison to the 17-42 pages of information the others had. Unless you are writing a script for a movie, I don't think you need to go into too much detail, especially considering this should have only been an outline. I really wonder if Kevin and the judges actually read every single page from all the contestants (considering they did this in their own free time). From what I read of my competitors, while great in the details, they all could have still expressed themselves with a 1/3 of the content. I'm not 'hating' on them, but we do live in a world of BSing. Just ask any University Professor, and they'll tell you that most student's essays while 10-15 pages long, could be writing in half that and still explain the same amount of important/relevant information. I am thinking of ideas for the next one, but my ideas are actually more appealing for a novella rather than a game. Once again, I want to thank Kevin Van Ord for the contest, it was an incredible experience.