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With so much gaming focus being dedicated to the new consoles coming out later this year – the PS4 and the Xbox One – the focus this week is on what may well amount to the last hurrah for current consoles: Grand Theft Auto V. The latest release in the popular Rockstar franchise is finally here, and already it’s looking like one of the biggest events in gaming in several years. Here are some of our early impressions.

First things first: the setup for this game is positively delectable. The fictional city of Los Santos (blatantly modeled after Los Angeles) and the surrounding areas are beyond massive, and would seem to give a whole new meaning to “open world” gaming. And, as in previous editions of the game, it’s not just empty space – one truly gets the feeling venturing around Los Santos that it’s a real live community, filled with a culture that does its own thing whether or not you’re interacting with it. And enjoying this experience as 3 different main characters (players control 3 protagonists, rather than just one) simply adds another new layer to the experience.

Within this large experience, the attention to detail in this new game is outstanding. Players can enjoy an incredible range of leisure activities. For the adventurous, there’s jet skiing and bungee jumping. For sports enthusiasts, there’s enjoyable tennis, and golf play so good it’ll make you rethink purchasing an EA Sports Tiger Woods game! There’s even a hint of a gambling environment, as the game’s casino claims to be “coming soon” (which probably means downloadable content in the near future). This would seem to be a good idea in drawing in gamers that have drifted to dynamic online gambling sites. At BetFair, for example, users can put money on the line in any game from bingo or Texas Hold’em, to slots and original arcade games. The online gambling market is enormous, and if this casino “opens” it will add another dimension to GTA V!

Moving beyond the massive quality and impressive detail of the world of GTA V, it’s the brand new features that make an impression. Driving is improved, crashes and explosions are bigger and more entertaining than ever before, and players can enjoy incredible new experiences like flying fighter jets and diving deep into an ocean alive with marine creatures.

Of course, a whole separate review could delve into specific gameplay, and the missions you’ll actually undertake in playing your way through the game. But in terms of initial impressions, it’s the sheer size and detail, and the quality of the new features, that make GTA V a winner the second you turn it on.

It’s that time again; time for another review of a Ghost App!  This is another app for iOS and it’s called Ghost Detector Tool.  iTunes has this to say:

If the picture looks like something out of a bad Sega CD game, allow me to explain how it works.

What happens in this app is that after you turn it on it pops up with a camera that shows you what you’re looking at.  The camera’s colors can be adjusted using the spectrum and gain settings because allegedly various colors will reveal more ghosts or something.  As you scan the screen may occasionally start to turn into static to indicate a presence.  If it goes into full static mode, a picture overlay may appear (such as a skull, a face, etc) and it will say a word.

So on the outside it isn’t as complicated as Ghost Radar but it is much cheesier.  The static thing is only there to scare you, as is the picture of a skull or whatever that may pop up.  ONOZ A BAD SPIRIT!  The words are near impossible to hear even if you have the phone turned up all the way, making it pointless.  It doesn’t display the word on the screen so if you miss it then that’s it, you miss it.

If they got rid of the static and the spooky picture overlay they might be able to fool some more people.  Like the other app that we reviewed, as a joke to scare someone this might work OK (though not as good as the other since you can’t actually understand the words it spits out).  As a serious ghost hunting tool don’t even waste your time with this one.

Cost: free
Rating: 0/5 for ghost hunting, 2/5 for joking around.

Next time will be an Android app that people have claimed to have fairly good results with.  Due to the nature of this upcoming app it might be a little longer before we get a review out on it.  Look forward to it!

Breezieana and I just got back from seeing Insidious 2.  We plan on filming a long review about it but just as a quick blurb I thought I’d come by and write that I enjoyed it.  I thought it was a fairly decent follow up to the first film.  Obviously I feel the first film is the best but this one had an interesting twist and gave a lot of backstory.  I enjoyed seeing some of the stuff that was mentioned in the first film in a flashback.

Scare-wise though, this film didn’t really deliver.  I didn’t jump at all in this film.  It didn’t bother me psychologically.  If anything, it seemed rather average in that department.  Having said that, the story was what drove the film not the boo’s and ahh’s!

If you liked Insidious 1, you will more than likely enjoy Insidious 2.  I would suggest checking it out.

And as I said, Breezieana and I will do a much longer review in the future that I will come post here for everyone to see.