New this week: Lost & Damned Street Fighters edition

It's finally here: February's equivalent to Christmas. No, not Valentine's Day. Nobody cares about that. I mean the week where they finally release one of the only games that I'll spend a substantial chunk of my paycheck on.

Street Fighter IV, 360/PS3 (02/17) - I'm not sure how many hours in my lifetime I've spent playing any game with the Street Fighter moniker attached. The number is probably embarrassing. Honestly, Capcom needs to stop taking my money, though. They keep producing excellent work. With Mega Man 9 already in the can and with Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5 and Bionic Commando all coming out soon, where's all this money supposed to be coming from? Street Fighter IV looks like an excellent addition to the franchise and I am nothing short of excited to get my hands on it. Here's the trailer, but please excuse the terribly written dialogue.



Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, XBLA (02/17) - This is the first of two Xbox 360 exclusive expansions for GTAIV. You play a biker in a gang and you get more music and achievements. This is excellent news for those who rushed in to finish that game after it initially came out.

Chicago's Video Game Advertisement Conundrum

I was born and raised in Huntington, but I currently live in Chicago. Here's what's going on on this side.

This is a Chicago Transit Authority bus in Chicago, Ill. It's how I get to school every day. When I look at an advertisement on the bus, I tend to think that I'm not too easily sold on the sandwich they're waving in my face while I try not to fall onto the little old lady standing next to me. However, some Chicago officials believe that these ads are WAY more persuasive than you'd think.

According to Chicago's local Fox News affiliate, the CTA is going to take down all of their Grand Theft Auto IV ads - an ad campaign that can't be cheap. Why? Because the governor and the president of the CTA believe that it's a negative influence on children.

I see these ads every day. I see stickers on newspaper boxes down the street that say GTA IV. I have never been compelled to run out and buy it immediately. Yes, kids may be more influenced by an advertisement than I am, but is this really necessary? Isn't it up to the parents as to what the kid is playing? Are these advertisements worse than subjecting kids to the violent nature of being on the train during rush hour?

It's noble, but is it really necessary?

Microsoft: Don't Buy GTAIV for the PS3

When Grand Theft Auto IV is released, it's heading out for the 360 and the PS3. Apparently, the PS3 version has a 5-minute install time before you can initially play the game. How do I know that? Microsoft told me so.

In an e-mail to users, the Xbox Team points out that in the time you could take to install the game, you could have all ready boosted a dozen cars on the Xbox. That's cold as ice, Microsoft. Let's keep it clean, shall we?