More reasons not to play GTA IV

I started playing Grand Theft Auto IV the day after it was released and immediately devoted about six hours to it. I had to stop because I was in the middle of another game - The World Ends With You - and was committed to reviewing it for PopMatters (to be posted there soon). I knew as soon as I finished TWEWY I would get right back to GTA IV.

Then Mario Kart Wii came along, and although I have mixed feelings about the game, I had to try out the new wheel. Plus, it's the one new title my wife has been eagerly awaiting. Well, that and the Dancing With the Stars game (with motion controls!), but that's an entirely different and excruciating story. So we played the heck out of MKW for a couple of days and scratched that itch. Back to GTA IV.

Except then an orange Gamefly envelope arrived with a sparkling new copy of Boom Blox in it. Well, I thought, let's just take a quick look and see what Mr. Spielberg can do with a video game. Two days later I'm halfway through the story mode, building my own levels, and suffering from a fairly painful case of "Boom Blox Elbow." Meanwhile, my GTA IV game case sits next to me, with Niko glaring at me from his little top middle square.

That was yesterday. Today was to be all about Liberty City. We put the baby to bed early. My wife went upstairs to watch the Dancing With the Stars semi-finals, so I had the living room all to myself. I'd already decided to start the game over from the beginning (I'm crazy that way), so I thought it might be fun to re-read Edge Magazine's recent cover story on the making of the game. Big mistake.

The article immediately preceding the GTA piece is a short feature on David Braben's Frontier Developments studio and their new game LostWinds, one of the release titles for Nintendo's new Wii Ware download service. You probably already know where this is going. I downloaded the game, and I've been playing it non-stop all evening.

Boom Blox and LostWinds are terrific games, each for very different reasons. I admire Boom Blox, but LostWinds has me completely enthralled. I'll return tomorrow with more detailed impressions of each. In the meantime, if you'd like to see what Wii Ware is all about, I strongly recommend that you check out LostWinds. It's a superb and charming little game.

GTA IV? Can't wait to get back to it. Actually, come to think of it, apparently I can.