Driving

The most interesting part of Take-Two's 2012 fiscal year earnings conference call covers what was—and what wasn't—said regarding Grand Theft Auto V.

Can Plots Run on Fumes?

HIGH Race that avalanche!

LOW What, you again?

WTF Man, I'm killing way too many people in this racing game.

A Smashing Good Time

HIGH When the final explosion in Rush Hour mode causes a chain reaction that demolishes everything on the screen.

LOW Reaching the end of a Pile Up with a full 5x multiplier and dying immediately due to being out of position.

WTF "Umbrellers"?

The news about Ridge Racer for the PlayStation Vita and its dearth of content in favor of downloadable content (DLC) reignites the discussion about how DLC affects retail games. Issues with weak content versus numerous DLC offerings is nothing new for Namco.

You can usually count on Nintendo to do something unique to get the word out on a key franchise and tapping West Coast Customs to create two vehicles from Mario Kart 7 is just that. At the L.A. Auto Show, Nintendo will have an exhibit showing off both the game and two in-game vehicles.

The new trailer for Grand Theft Auto V was revealed this week.

According to the trailer, the protagonist is a bad guy trying to get out of the life. Guess what? Things didn't or aren't working out. Cue music, explosions and car chases.

A Beautiful Waste

HIGH The Dead City section is a varied high point in the campaign.

LOW The end of the final mission is a turpid joke.

WTF Who races a "time trial" once the Apocalypse has gone down?

What's a Gymkhana?

HIGH Racing through the dusty African night, drifting around corners at full speed.

LOW The endless, repetitive, "duels".

WTF Gymkhana? What?

A Dart Without Feathers

HIGH Going from last to first over eight laps at Darlington.

LOW Getting spun out in turn four at Martinsville and receiving a pit road speeding penalty rather than a caution flag.

WTF Bump-drafting at Martinsville? Kevin Conway winning races? Jeff Burton taking the pole every week? What bizarre alternate universe is this?

I should find everything about OMSI: Der Omnibussimulator (Omnibus Simulator) to be abhorrent. It has über-realistic German bus controls, German locations based on actual German bus routes and locations, realistic German weather, realistic German day/night cycles and realistic German bus sounds. There isn't any part of the game that hides what OMSI really is. But I only find myself intrigued by OMSI.