OK, enough with the cowpoke voice. It’s nice to see the Dead Eye mechanic make a return in the sequel. Hopefully it is refined and easier to use this time.

Anybody else as excited for this game as me?

Check out the gameplay introduction trailer for Rockstar’s upcoming open-world Old West sequel, Red Dead Redemption. The original game, Red Dead Revolver, was OK I guess, but the sequel looks like it will blow the original’s brains out. Red Dead Revolver was very linear and not at all open-world. Red Dead Redemption, however… Well, you’ll see, so just check out the trailer.

It seems delaying BioShock 2 until the first half of 2010 wasn’t enough for publisher Take-Two Interactive. We now know that in addition to the aforementioned title, Take-Two has delayed Mafia II, Max Payne 3, and Red Dead Redemption until 2010.

Take-Two wasn’t as specific with these three titles as they were for BioShock 2, so we can’t say if this a delay until fiscal year 2010, or just plain ol’ 2010. If it’s the former, these games could still come out in 2009. If the latter—which is the most likely possibility, given the glut of titles already confirmed for late ’09—then who knows when we’ll see them.

As some of you folks commented on the previous delay article, this is largely a good thing for gamers. We’ll have far less stacked on our plates so that we can savor every bite. And is anyone really surprised? Take-Two did the same thing in 2007, pushing Grand Theft Auto IV back until an unspecified time in 2008, only giving us a firm date further down the line.

Of the three additional titles being delayed, the only one that bothers me is Red Dead Redemption. I was disappointed by Red Dead Revolver, but the sequel is shaping up quite nicely. It looks like the game the original should have been. What about you folks? Any of these delays got you down?

Sony announced Rockstar North’s PS3-exclusive original IP, Agent, at their E3 press conference today.

What’s it about? Well, we don’t really know. We know it involves espionage and assassins, and is set in the 1970s, but that’s about it. Sony seems to think it will be as important to them as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, so expect to hear a lot more from this title in the near future.

This begs the question; why violence and not nudity?  We as a culture can blow things up, shoot people in the head and cause all types of violent chaos, but throw some nudity in the mix and all of a sudden we are up in arms.  Is this right for us to do?  I think so.

My problem with nudity is where it takes the mind.  For me no matter what amount of violence that I experience it does nothing to make me want to re-enact that else where.  I don’t have any urge to go out and take people down with a sniper rifle at my local church or run people over with my car.  But in the case of nudity, what processes go on in my mind are far different from the processes that violence brings.  If I see a sex scene in a game or movie, I am automatically taken to a place where the purity of my mind should not go.  The bible says “If you look upon a woman and lust, you have committed adultery in your own mind”, but it doesn’t say if you shoot someone in the head in a video game you have committed murder in your own mind.  The closest thing to that is when you hate someone it’s like committing murder.

So what are your thoughts?

Source:  Joystiq(Xbox)

It would seem a tad crazy to talk of a new Grand Theft Auto game after the insanely long time the forth installment took to be released, but it must be noted that Vice City hit store shelves only one year after the third game. The next issue of Game Informer spreads a little light on the topic and ignites the dreams of fans globally.

“We’re not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we’re talking about a full retail game. We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent at this time.” – Game Informer

Despite the games’ controversy, any news of a next installment would without a doubt be a giant shot in the arm for what most are calling a weak year in game releases. Looks like E3 might have some serious aces up it sleeves. Not much we can do now except keep our ears tightly pressed against the wall and hope for more information to trickle out.