This web is made of money, made of greed, made of me

Oh, what I have become in this parasite economy

-- The Coup, "Not Yet Free"

Well, I got the freakin' thing. While there are scantily-clad women walking around in the game, you are not able to proposition them for sex, and from what I'm told, having sex with them (which happens further on than where I'm at) yields no health benefit. The marketing strategy is still disturbing (the disc itself has the aforementioned sexist cartoon lady licking her lips), but the game is apparently less hateful toward women than previous incarnations.

I am surprised, however, by the insipid racist stereotypes it profiles. One hefty black guy is very fond of fried chicken, and the wretched N-word appears once every three minutes or so.

As for gameplay, my two complaints thus far are:

1. You can't rob stores. In GTA3 and Vice City, robbing clerks was a major source of income; this time around, you're supposed to sneak through houses. Yeesh! Are there any game designers who don't want to copy Metal Gear Solid? If I wanted stealth missions, I'd get Hitman!
   
   
2. The one-screen radar is very tiny. In fact, the whole game seems designed for (and was most likely beta-tested only by) people with much larger TVs than mine.

That said, it's a pretty sweet game. I just bought my first house, and while the missions are tricky, I'm doing okay so far. (Others seem to be having more trouble, if the discussion boards are any indication.)

Much ado, I suppose...

Also today, I made myself a bowtie.

TimeWaster™

FuzzyMath is cute. Via ABS.

Today I'm listening to: IdealSound!