If you own an Xbox 360, chances are you own GTA IV and have been playing the heck out of it, both online and off. You’re also probably looking for any advantage you can get when combing the mean streets of Liberty City Version 2.0.

Side Missions are a Side Splitting Good Time
If you’re anything like me, you love accomplishing everything the game has to offer, doing all the side quests, challenges, etc. If not and you typically avoid stuff like this, boy, you’re really missing out. While it can be tempting to run straight through to game’s missions to experience everything the story has to offer, and/or spend your free time engaging in random hijinks, those side missions are both awfully fun and awfully rewarding.

Many of them give you cash or items, and also give you achievement points. From assassinating random blokes, to delivering drugs, to taking on vigilante missions, there’s plenty to see and do outside of the main missions.

Armor Wasn’t Just Useful in the Middle Ages
Yes, it’s a dangerous world out there. While you might feel like more of a tough guy going into a brawl with nothing but a stylish shirt on, they don’t take bullets too well. Always make sure you’re outfitted with full armor, especially before any missions.

Cabbies are Like Smelly Chauffeurs
These guys can quickly take you anywhere in Liberty City you like with fast travel, Hop in, drop down a waypoint on your map and off you go. This can save you plenty of time, and might save you from those 15 minute detours where you wind up beating up a woman cause she looked at you the wrong way, stealing her boyfriend’s car, ramming it into a few people and having the cops chase you halfway around town while listening to Kanye West on the radio. Suppress your violent urges by taking a nice relaxing cab ride. And hey, you can always get out of paying the fare by killing the driver if you must.

These three tips will hopefully save you just a bit of time and wasted effort while enjoying Liberty City. See you on the mean streets.

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Nintendo has completely defied the odds makers with their Wii system, which is centered around its unique Wii Remote controller. After getting trounced in the last two console wars by Sony and finishing a distant third in the most recent console generation to Sony and Microsoft, there was a good deal of speculation that Nintendo would go the way of Sega before it and leave the console development world behind, instead becoming a third-party game developer for the others while likely continuing to create handheld systems, which they’ve had great success with.

It goes without saying that Nintendo simply doesn’t have the financial resources that Microsoft and Sony do when it comes to researching and developing a console in terms of sheer processing power. Nintendo instead went a different route, creating a control scheme so unique and addictive to the masses and gamers of all ages that the console has gone head to head with its two adversaries, and in fact leads the console wars by a sizable margin over Microsoft, despite having the least impressive graphics of the three current systems.

In case you’ve been under the proverbial rock for a few years, the Wii Remote is a motion sensitive wireless controller that allows the player to manipulate just about all actions in the game world through its movements, at times in conjunction with the buttons on the remote.

The remote also has a built in speaker for close range audio accompaniment as well as a rumble feature. Most Wii games utilize a simple control scheme far less complicated than games for the other systems, which often require gamers to memorize and maximize their use of a 10+ button controller. The numerous motions that must be made with the remote, and seeing those motions carried out on-screen are highly infectious mechanics that anyone can have fun with.

The Wii Remote has also received numerous attachments, in the form of a Nunchuck device, a Classic Controller and others. These additional control methods are designed for maximum playability with particular games, and give the gamer more options as to how s/he wants to play.

The early consensus was that this was nothing more than a gimmick that would quickly fade, but the Wii Controllers continue to captivate gamers and defy the critics.

Read reviews and compare prices for Wii Controllers on Ciao!

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Yes, the death of the PC as a gaming machine that could compete with the newest consoles has been greatly exaggerated. PC game sales and game development have had their ups and downs over the past decade, no doubt, and while piracy has affected PC software sales, it has arguably hit the console industry nearly as hard. With whisperings of a future method of piracy protection in games that could be non-hackable, encryption chips, it just may be that PC gaming is on its way fully back to the top.

Despite the promise, it is true that many developers have jumped ship to consoles, game sales have widely been poorer than expected for many top PC games, and small companies in particular are finding the going rough. All of this simply forces developers to get even better and release top notch games, which is good for gamers.

An average game will simply have no chance of succeeding on PC, like it may have years ago, or could still today on consoles. Content is king, and releasing great games will see those developers get justly rewarded in most cases.

Despite facing stiff competition at the time of its release from Gears of War, Call of Duty 4, and Unreal Tournament 3, Crysis stood head and shoulders above the rest, and continues to be one of the top PC games released in the last year, with graphics that arguably still top anything released to this day.

Truly a sight to behold, with its fully destructible environments, Crysis didn’t disappoint in the game-play department either, providing play almost as beautiful as its graphics. Almost.

We recently saw the release of Mass Effect, an upgraded version of the award-winning Xbox 360 RPG, as well as Theater of War, a real-time tactical strategy game that has received some positive press. MMORPG’s continue to remain popular with the PC crowd, and many new ones are expected in the coming months.

The summer months look to be a little slower for major PC releases, though there are a number of anticipated games coming. Expect the fall and winter months to hit hard with a slew of top new PC games, by which point you may also have a computer powerful enough to go back and play Crysis.

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Though it went through some difficult patches and received a hefty dose of criticism, there’s no doubt that the addition of online gaming added a great deal to the PlayStation 2’s repertoire.

Early detractors were many. Sony’s online strategy was slow in developing, and sent many of the more dedicated gamers who wanted online action over to the Xbox, a system with a more centralized and developed online plan from the start.

The PlayStation 2 was not online capable upon launch, and the initial release of the network adapter was slow to catch on, as many add-ons are. Early online games had limited numbers of players available, often forcing gamers to sit idly by while waiting for some action.

When the network adapter began to be bundled together with new consoles and more online games were released this situation steadily improved, though most would admit that it did not approach the level of Xbox Live.

Most PlayStation 2 games with online capabilities still have their servers running, meaning it’s not too late to get started playing your PS2 online. Finding an opponent on the other hand could prove more difficult.

With its massive library of games, it’s unsurprising that the PS2 is well represented across numerous genres when it comes to online games. It features multiple shooters, including the SOCOM series, a number of Tom Clancy games and a trio of Call of Duty’s. Sports games are plentiful across every sport imaginable, including baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, basketball, football, skateboarding, etc.

Racing fans have a number of options, be it simulation style racers like the Formula One and NASCAR series, off-road racers like the ATV Offroad series, or street racing affairs like the Midnight Club and Need for Speed series.

Even RPG fans are represented, with online play included in the action-RPG’s Champions of Norrath and its sequel Return to Arms, as well as Phantasy Star Online. A couple of MMORPG’s are still playable, Final Fantasy XI and Everquest Online Adventures.

With its huge number of games and lower than ever price, the PS2 has continued to sell well to this day, even outpacing its newer sibling the PS3 at times since its launch. Many gamers can still be found on the PS2 online gaming battlefields, so if you ever wanted to join the fray, you still have time.

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After the runaway success stories of the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, arguably the two greatest consoles of all time in terms of sheer quantity and quality of games, and certainly the two best selling consoles of all time, being the first two to reach sales of over 100 million units each, it would not have been surprising in the least if the mighty PlayStation 3 had been released and quickly devoured the competition.

Not only has Sony built up a large and loyal fanbase over the past two gaming generations, with expectations being that the PS3 would again feature the best and most games, but it’s also the first of the 3 Sony consoles that is undeniably the most powerful as well.

A strong start from the Xbox 360 and a unique approach to gaming from the Wii have put Sony in the strange position of playing catch-up, a process which has still yet to fully get under way, with sales levelling off after launch and remaining close to even or less than the sales of the two rival consoles in many regions.
A lack of quality games has been the main culprit, simply not providing enough incentive for gamers to shell out the large amount of money for the console.

What was expected to be a major boon for the PS3, the recently released Haze has also met with lukewarm critical response, a major blow to the system’s fans, with poor storytelling and enemy A.I being the main grievances.

Coming soon is without a doubt the system’s first major killer app, as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots gets released in early June. Though Grand Theft Auto 4 will without a doubt be the system’s best selling game this year, MGS 4 will almost certainly be the top selling PS3-exclusive title, as GTA 4 also saw release on the Xbox 360.

Heading into the second half of the year, it will be interesting to see if the PS3 can build any momentum off of MGS 4. Exclusive titles are still few and far between, though games released on multiple systems will likely look the best on PS3. Whether this will be enough to pull the system out of third in the console war remains to be seen.

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