Grand Theft Auto V leads a month of exciting releases

Do Something | September 09 2013

I can still remember when I was a boy and my father brought home our first video game machine. I didn’t know what it was at first, it was just a plain, brown box with a couple of knobs on it. I also could not have realized that this simple little box would change my life even as it was already changing the way we recreate. It’s been about 40 years since video games first started to appear “coincidentally, about as long as I’ve been around” and they’ve come a rather long way since those first basic tennis emulators best known as Pong. That’s the game that was contained in that little brown box I had as a boy, it featured a single player version, a multi-player head-to-head version,
and fairly basic racing game.Video games stuck with me through childhood and adolescence, with systems like the Odyssey 2 and the Commodore 64, and as a young adult when I bought my first PC, it was only a matter of time before I installed the revolutionary DOOM on it.
It took me a few years before I started plugging video games into my living room, but I started with an original Playstation, moved on to the Nintendo Gamecube, then eventually upgraded to both an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii. When I finally quit smoking, I treated myself to a Nintendo DSi, thinking it might help keep my hands busy when chasing off nicotine urges, though lately I’ve moved my mobile gaming to my Android phone.
Gaming has been a constant source of entertainment for me over the years, much like television had been for previous generations. I’m confident I’m not alone in this, and that there are plenty of people who look to video games for a chance to break away from the mundane, to have some exciting and otherworld-experiences, or even just to kill a few hours of downtime. Hopefully, if you’re one of those people,
you’re reading this.I want to take this space to look ahead at the games that are arriving in the coming month, to see what’s exciting, to see what’s everyone is talking about, maybe even to see what’s a little bit freaky.
Enough of the preamble. Let’s get rolling. The biggest release of September is also, likely, the biggest release of 2013. Grand Theft Auto V is finally on the horizon, after years of waiting (and after a delay of a handful of months from its original launch date earlier this year). And while it looks ready to deliver the same sort of chaotic, open-world gameplay to be found in its predecessors, they’re also promising more than another outing of just the same.
In GTAV you’ll be juggling three different lives, with three different playable characters that you can swap between. Each character has his own unique personality, and even more relevent to gameplay, their own special abilities. You’ll also be rolling around a world larger than just about any other in gaming history (more than 3 times the size of Rockstar’s own Red Dead Redemption, if youíre familiar with
that one).
They’re also promising a fantastic looking online mode, with its own stories, missions, character customization, and, yes, even relaxing games of golf, if you’re so inclined. Grand Theft Auto V will be available on September 17 for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. For those who prefer their adventures a bit more button-mashy, Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 3 will arrive on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on September 3. It’s already been available on the PC since May of last year, but much of the advance word has been that the game is an even better fit on consoles, where it’s not bogged down by the contentious and controversial auction house.
Scribblenauts Unmasked hits the streets on September 24, combining the ‘type-anything-and-it-will-exist-in-the-game’ playstyle of previous Scribblenauts incarnations with the masked heroes of the DC Universe. Yes, this means you can probably solve problems using things like Flaming Batman and ‘Angry Green Wonder Woman’. What more do you need to know?
Available on Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii U, and Microsoft WindowsOther notable releases: Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (10/03), Rayman Legends (10/03), Elder Scrolls Anthology (10/10), NHL 14 (10/10), FIFA 14 (10/24) What have I been playing lately? I’ve been doing a lot of packing this month, as we prepare to move our little family to Kamloops, but I’ve been forced to find some gaming time since August the August 20 release of Saints RowIV. I’ve been a big fan of this franchise for awhile now (I do love me some open-world gaming), but the
inclusion of superpowers just takes it to new (and ridiculous) levels. Check it out if you want taste of something a bit more crazy before the
undoubtedly more sober GTA5 lands next month.
What have you been playing lately? Hey, let’s do that social media thing. What games have you guys been playing lately? Shoot me
an email at todd@thestew.ca or maybe post something cool on our Facebook page.