I can't believe this is now available, and I am without a system to play it. Yes, I could buy a new system, and this is the killer app (no pun intended) to drive new console sales. It was what I was waiting for.

But right now, I have a self-imposed boycott on excessive spending, and unless someone pays me real soon to write about video games, I can't justify the expenditure, when debt reduction is my current goal.

I feel the need to post, because GTA has been the source the majority of traffic to my blog. And most of those posts were written back when San Andreas was released, and they still bring in the most traffic here. The game has pull.

But right now, economics is getting the best of me.

I said right now...for now.

There is a PS3 beckoning me. I hear it. I feel it. It comes to me in dreams. It haunts me. It taunts me. I sense a disturbance in The Force each time a "10" is given in a review somewhere.

Like any addict, I can find a way to justify the purchase, but for now my line is drawn in the sand. I'm not exactly sure how that line in the sand thing works, whether it's me who crosses it, or if I wait for something to cross it, or if it has something to do with the tides, but right now it means I'm not buying Grand Theft Auto IV in the immediate future.

I am a freaking masochist. Reading Kotaku's not helping.

Lest I forget what generated the most traffic to this blog, I link to the Rockstar Games trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. Perhaps calling it a teaser site would be proper. But proper and GTA kind of make for strange bedfellows. It looks like a return to Liberty City. Maybe they'll take a cue from San Andreas and expand the territory and have some road trips through the Northeast, or at the very least down the Jersey Shore.

Visit the Planet Grand Theft Auto Forums for a link to a clearer movie showing the Mysterious Ghost Photographer of San Andreas.

Poster "47" provides a link to an .avi file. Mac OS X users will need the DivX Codec.

Visit my previous link on the mysterious ghost photographers of San Andreas. The link to the movie was dead. It was a ghost link, if you will. And, if you won't, well...it still wasn't working. But now that's all over. I will probably make this available on YouTube in the near future.

It was made with a digital camera, but I still think it's the only movie online featuring the ghost photographer. I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. But let's just say I'm not and move in.

As far as the new Grand Theft Auto for PS2, Liberty City Stories, no, I haven't purchased it yet.

UPDATE:The video is on YouTube now as well. Here, in my vlog and here, in the greater YouTubeosphere.

If you're lucky your local Circuit City will have it in stock. And if they do, their price is $14.99. Although I haven't seen a Circuit City near me that has a copy. It's NOT available online.

Good luck, Gamers.

UPDATE: 6/20/2006: I was just at the Circuit City web site, and now this title is available there at the $14.99 price.

I don't much care for bills. I care even less for paying them. i'm kind of paying them now, but not really. i've been looking at the katamari home page and david choe's web site.

Choe's site has a photo collage (it's in that pop-up window which is also the "news" link) which if you scroll down goes into detail about his hobby of setting up the perfect photos in GTA: San Andreas (this link is not to photos by David Choe, obviously). And since this site (thisblogismyblog, my parentheses are getting more annoying than ever, just pray that I don't scan through this one more time) hasn't commented on the Grand Theft franchise for awhile, why not mention it here. The GTA gamers will get some perspective outside of cheat codes and rumours.

I'm a big fan of Choe's art, I've picked up Bruised Fruit and Cursiv. But I'll admit it's been awhile since I flipped through. He pops up here and there in Giant Robot.

And while I'm on the subject of West Coast folks, I'll mention Pete(r) Moraites. And then I'll mention to him this posting. But by then he'd probably have read it. Or maybe not. Anyway...Pete is avisualmucialtitleanimatronillustrvidedirectninja guy. He's mad talented, and he's got something called focus working in his favor in the last few years. Like how Cyclops from the X-Men needs those goggles or fucking lasers just destroy all. I think he's got those goggles implanted in his brain or something.

Yeah...umm...well he's got a DVD release party happening which includes his video and music work (solo and as part of the duo, Salvador Dalek) It's this Saturday May 20th, beginning at 7PM at the Ocean Front Gallery, 801 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, CA 90291. Full details here.

I figured I'd mention Pete's work or web site at some point or another. But not really when I was paying my bills thinking I was going to segway into more of a personal post, and then detouring via David Choe in Pete's direction. But posts have a way of writing themselves.

Oh yeah the Peter Moraites DVD is entitled Spelling Test. I hadn't mentioned that, and it will probably be better for everyone's Googling purposes now that I've told you. And he blogs here.

Well, somebody thought so, one of my posts is included in a Wikibook for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I was nosing around my referer stats when I found this out. And my parents thought video games only led to trouble.

I still get lots of traffic due to the amount of GTA: San Andreas on this site. I haven't posted on Liberty City Stories, since, well I just don't have it. I've got a PSP sitting here sealed that I originally bought in order to sell, but The U.S. market was never clamoring for the device. So here it sits, with its lovely shrinkwrapped outer membrane.

But it does not surprise me that edisoncarter is up to his old tricks again, this time handheld style. He's developed "CheatDevice v0.4 for Liberty City Stories".

I'm a PS2 guy and not a PC gamer, but I hear good things about the Long Night mod for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on PC.

Zombies, lots of 'em. 20 new missions. Play as different characters. New radio stations. New storylines as well. A frend has been playing this since the weekend and gives it a big thumbs up.

GTA: Long Night from Hellfish Productions.

As I've got my hands full with the newborn these days, I've left the dirty work to Migs. He has confirmed that the Action Replay codes that have been floating around do indeed work on PS2 versions of GTA: San Andreas. You enter the house of your date and make with the festivities. Gamespot also confirms.

There was a post on Joystiq about the scapegoating of Rockstar Games, when apparently, God of War has much more violence. But the furor over this is blown out of proportion. To play the "Hot Coffee" mode, you need either an Action Replay, a Game Shark, or to download mods and patches. Then you need to find the codes necessary to make this thing work. Then you can play simulated sex games. And for a child to do this, it means the parents must have been blind to every news story about GTA: San Andreas when it was first released, and not really given a fuck about what games their kid played. Heck, those parents are probably getting their kids beer and cigarettes.

In this day and age, I think it's a lot easier to find porn on this little creation called the Internet. You may have heard of it. Al Gore invented it. But Tipper wouldn't have allowed that to happen, if she knew her hubby's creation was going to be used in such a way. Maybe we can place a warning sticker on the Internet. Then maybe Wal-Mart wil sell it. I hear they got the cheapest Internets at Wal-Mart. My buddy got one the other day, and its got the porn on it and everything.

As this post collapses into nothingness, at least I feel like I've done my job, I can't have all those other posts about GTA and not comment on "Hot Coffee". Although, to be honest, I am sick to death about reading about it.

So, Net-net. Rockstar basically says they didn't inhale, but put a Rumsfeldian spin on it. The game gets pulled from shelves, gets an AO (Adults-Only) sticker. Take-Two Interactive, the publisher that owns Rockstar, tells Wall Street the numbers will be lower. I hope to read more about games and less about this garbage in the near future.

I fondly recall the days of posting about edisoncarter and his cheat codes for GTA: San Andreas. The PC version is out now so here's a link to edisoncarter's cheat codes for PC.

The PS2 community owes a great deal to edisoncarter for his research endeavors in going where no one else was going to go. At least not as quickly, in delving into the unknown netherworlds within San Andreas. He has no booth at E3. There is no Hall of Fame for him. But he looks not for thanks and praise, just for more cheat codes.

Hey! edisoncarter's back with Slut Magnet. It's there. Go ahead and scroll down a bit. Just when I thought I'd never make another GTA: San Andreas post. I'm having a bitch of a time with flying, although I really haven't had the time and/or made the time for the requisite level of immersion. (For all the cheats I've posted, I like to complete my missions boy scout style. Well sort of, I mean this is GTA , if there were merit badges for carjacking, mayhem, arson, murder, and fornication, well maybe he's reach Eagle Scout status.) I'll try to earn my wings cleanly, but we'll see how long that takes.

New cheat thanks to...yup...edisoncarter. Visit his site and scroll down a bit for cheat. (He should really put the new ones at the top. But I didn't discover these GTA cheats, so I'll just shut up and wait for the next one.) You could also visit this messageboard, where "ec" posts the cheats as well.

Everybody's a ninja wielding katanas, lots of black motorcycles, and black cop cars, too.

You know and after looking at the messageboard and scrolling down his site, perhaps I was hasty in announcing "recruit anyone" came from somewhere else. So if that's the case, consider this the retraction.

Thanks for the heads-up, Migglesworth.

And raptor, if you haven't found it already, hope you enjoy this cheat.

?????

Or franklinclinton or einsteinkennedy for that matter. It was starting to become inconceivable that someone else would come up with cheats. Legislators were ready to bring Sherman-Antitrust act charges upon edisoncarter. It's a good thing adamcs came along. Now edisoncarter can continue on with his research without big government rifling through his underwear drawer.

Wow! It's like finding out the truth about Santa Claus. Or learning that Michael Jordan is human.

Anyway, the first cheat for February is "Recruit Anyone". Here's the synopsis: "Pedestrians carry guns. Recruit anyone and build up a small army!"

I'm not sure how to type the sound of drool being wiped from my face. This cheat would best be used before leaving Los Santos during the turf wars. Supposedly the turf wars open up again when you return to Los Santos, but since I've just opened up the flight school, I can't speak from experience.

I know, pretty silly. Courtesy of the Official Blue Hell Exploration Team. For those of you looking to explore the Blue Hell in GTA: Vice City. There's a reason retro gamers exist, right?

Looking for an appropriate accompanying image to my title led me to this. The Back to the Future Tour.

And the BHET also has a collection of the Monkeyman/Bigfoot pics for your enjoyment. It looks like there's no Sasquatch in GTA: San Andreas after all. But I'm there are those who still believe.