My recent article ‘GTA – Give us Variety’, was about the future of the series and how I’d prefer it to follow the Chinatown Wars formula rather than that of IV. The majority of it’s readership quickly turned it into a weapon of the console war.
For years I’ve read other peoples opinions, formulating my own, but I’ve rarely partaken in the comments section. The console war soon sends it’s light infantry to the front line, thousands ready to wear the uniform and fight for their choices.
When I first approached Mel about writing for the site he was very clear that I would need to have thick skin as there are a lot of people that will not agree with me. I was prepared for this. Gaming is a diverse art form, it spans genres, platforms and age.
Admittedly the people leaving these comments probably didn’t read past the blurb, but come on. This light infantry needs to wake up. They’re at the front for a reason, they’re expendable, but from this position they can be a powerful force.
I could spend a paragraph here talking about how I’ve played the game through on both platforms, outlining the differences I found and which one I’d preferred, but it’s not what that or this article are about 
How can we improve the GTA series and others? By letting the developers know.
What purpose does the console war serve? To waste time.
Like The Broke Gamers are always saying, “it’s about the games, not the consoles.”
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Amen…..this is an article that should be on the top of n4g…
period..
whole Industry is like that, it’s no longer about games it’s about hardware. Even the media is alot like that. I think the game devs are even dumber!Why because they are going bankurpt because of consoles. I also hear that sony is trying to control atari too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umnvziIZFNU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.socrossblog.com%2F&feature=player_embedded
I haven’t read your other article, but I’d like to point something out.
Chinatown Wars was going back to GTA’s roots. It was NOT new and innovative. Some aspects of it were, but the game itself was top down and a step back.
I do love the stance on the console war though.
Thanks for the replies.
John Van Ort, saying Chinatown Wars is a step back because of its graphical limitations makes less sense than-
saying GTA IV is a step back from San Andreas because it cut down on all the improvements the series had made over Vice City and GTA3.
Gameplay is what matters. Who would say GTA IV is better than San Andreas?
Here’s how it works: people want to belong to groups, because they have a desire to discriminate. If you discriminate against a group of people, you reduce your need to deal with them, and that’s what it’s all about in the Information Age, reducing the amount of input to a manageable level. If you identify yourself with a group of people, like, say, the fans of a console, then you have tacit license to discriminate against everyone else. And you want to discriminate, because it makes your life EASIER.
That’s why console wars will exist so long as there are multiple consoles. It allows you to shed the polite veneer of a politically correct person and act like a douchebag.
Console war is like illegal drugs. It may theoretically be bad for business, but people WANT it, so it WILL happen.
You’ve got a point there, EmpFab.
Even if there was one console,
People would still argue to the death over which genre type is better, for example.
@ Tony C. – I’m not ignoring the improvements that the game made. I’m saying that the format went a step backwards. It’s like comparing Mario Sunshine to New Super Mario Bros. The format went back with improvements. Saying that Chinatown Wars is original and fresh is like saying that NSMB is original and fresh. It’s got some new stuff, maybe the new format tastes better after all the 3D, but the idea itself is old.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing or even that the change will hold the game back. Hell, I love the isometric view. It’s just not different like you said. It was a collaboration between elements of the first two and the most recent two, which is probably for the better.
Sorry if my original post sounded hostile.
It’s all good, John. Thanks alot for your interest.
To sum up my original article: it was about how Chinatown Wars’ emphasis was on variety of things to do and GTA IV sacrificed variety for a more engrossing storyline.
Check it out