411 Games Fact or Fiction 03.04.08: Grand Theft Auto's 100 Hours of Gameplay, God of War, Commodore 64, the Day Metal Gear Solid 4 Arrives and More

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 03.04.2008

411's Morakoth Tang and Dustin James give us their thoughts on Grand Theft Auto IV's purported 100 hours of gameplay, God of War: Chains of Olympus as a system seller, the viability of Commodore 64 games on the Wii's virtual console, the lack of voice and text chat in Mario Kart Wii, Metal Gear Solid 4's release date, and the importance of user-created content in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.

Welcome to another edition of Fact or Fiction. This week we were able to get Dustin James and Morakoth Tang to come in and tell us what they think about some of the week's most important video game related news and issues. Before we begin, let's take a look at what this week's participants do at 411mania -

Dustin currently puts together 411's MMA Rankings. His latest column takes a look at the top light heavyweights. Dustin also adds articles to the MMA news section and will be ranking past Wrestlemanias for the Wrestling section in the coming weeks.

Morakoth has done news and reviews for the Games section. He plans on making a comeback some day.

Let's go -


1. Grand Theft Auto IV could take as much as 100 hours to complete. As far as single-player games go, 100 hours of gameplay is too much.

Morakoth Tang: Fiction

Hmmm... I don't know if it'll be a hundred hours to complete. I must admit that when games are getting public marketing they tend to go a little overboard with the number of hours to complete a game. I suspect it's always 50 to 75 percent of the amount. Perhaps with all the side missions and such maybe it might take a hundred hours to complete. My guess is that it'll be around 50 hours with all the side missions and if the game is a hundred hours, kudos to Rockstar. I like to feel that I'm getting my money's worth, so no - 100 is not too much.

Dustin James: Fact

I love the rumor that GTA IV is going to take 100 hours to complete. It reminds me of when I had no job and nothing to do all day and just sat at home and beat Vice City 100%. To this day Vice City is the only GTA that I have completed 100%. Why? Did I hate the other GTAs? No. Loved 'em all! But I don't have time to go around and collect hidden packages, do taxi, ambulance, and fire truck missions, or find unique jumps. That to me is just wasted time that the developers could have spent making the single player main missions better. If you made a GTA IV game that had 40-50 hours of single player main missions and made the robbery, vigilante, and rampage missions better, you could have a solid 60-70 plus hour game there that everybody would be happy with. I know "a lot" of people on the Internet have completed San Andreas 100%, but I have yet to meet somebody who has in person, and I used to work at Game Crazy. So ya, as somebody that has a job, 100 hours of gameplay is entirely too much, unless I still worked at Game Crazy.

Score: 0 for 1


2. God of War: Chains of Olympus is worth getting a PSP for.

Morakoth Tang: Fact

If the game keeps to its pedigree I say absolutely yes. The God of War franchise is nothing short of outstanding, and I would like to see that carry over to a travel-sized package. I really hope that they section off gameplay to travel-sized chunks. The formula has been set by GOW 1 and 2, and I can't see how it can be messed up.

Dustin James: Fact

But there are a ton of reasons to buy a PSP. The awesomeness of God of War just adds to it. I haven't heard much about this game but if it does play anything like the previous God of Wars, then PSP owners are in for a treat. This reminds me - when the hell is that Gran Turismo PSP game coming out?


Score: 1 for 2


3. Commodore 64 titles will sell very well on the Wii's virtual console.

Morakoth Tang: Fact

I really don't see why it can't do well on the virtual console. To be honest, if you put it on there, people will buy it. The virtual console has been a big success thus far. As long as they don't try to charge N64 prices or even SNES prices, they'll be fine.

Dustin James: Fact

I have to agree. The virtual console is a huge success and if it's there for people to buy, people will buy it. While I own a Wii, I have yet to access the virtual console (I know, I should be shot). But, if it's anything like the Xbox Live Marketplace, I will buy everything. Hell, I bought freaking Track & Field without even knowing what it was. I'm pretty sure you could put "Bad Boys: Miami Takedown" for sale on the virtual console and people would scoop it up. Yikes!

Score: 2 for 3



4. For the majority of the gamers that will play Mario Kart Wii online, the absence of voice chat and a proper text chat system means nothing.

Dustin James: Fiction

Why do people play games online? Mainly to interact with fellow gamers. Taking away voice chat and a proper text chat system takes away a little bit of the interaction. I used to play games online back when the PS2 network adapter was first released, and I didn't have the capability to speak to my fellow gamers. But, once I purchased the Xbox 360 and was able to socialize with the people I'm playing against, it added to the feeling of a true multi-player game. In the case of the young kids who buy this game, I don't think that I will miss the voice chat at all. But, if I want to speak to my fellow Nintendo buddy who lives across the country while we shoot turtle shells at other peoples' karts, I would be highly disappointed.

Morakoth Tang: Fact

To be honest, I would like to see a voice chatting system in the game, but I don't really care. Text chat would be even worse. Who has time to type while dodging shells? I've been playing lots of Call of Duty 4 online, and dude - it gets seriously annoying when I'm playing with random immature kids shouting lots of crazy shit. If I'm just playing with random people online my voice chat goes mute. The only reason I would like a chat system is to talk my Nintendo buddies, but that's all. If you think about it, it's even more fun to have your friends with you in the room and talk smack.

Score: 2 for 4


5. Konami says that Metal Gear Solid 4 is coming out on June 12, 2008. Metal Gear Solid 4 will come out on June 12, 2008.

Dustin James: Fact

I'm going to give Konami the benefit of the doubt on this one. Bungie was pretty good with the release of Halo 3, so let's hope that Konami takes the same route with MGS 4. MGS 3 was delayed so many times, I was pretty sure that it was never going to be released. If for some reason Konami does delay the date for MGS 4, I believe somebody will pull a Snake and sneak into the offices of Konami and snap the necks of anybody having to do with the delay of the game. Don't announce a release date if you aren't so sure! Nothing pisses me off more than a delayed game. Right, Grand Theft Auto 4?

Morakoth Tang: Fact

I'm with Dustin on this one. The PS3 really needs that killer app to push itself onto the doubters and the fans in '08. This is the make or break year for Sony, and if this game doesn't come out... trouble. Plus, Konami must answer to its stockholders. Delaying the game again is not going to be good. Also, I must disagree with Dustin on one thing concerning delayed games - they don't piss me off. Look at Mario Galaxy and the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It'll be worth the wait.

Score: 3 for 5


6. User-created content really isn't that important.

Dustin James: Fact

I personally feel that user created content is not important. However, some people love playing on other people's created maps for first person shooters and such. Therefore, some people love the concept of user created content. Me, however? Not so much. User created content is just not important to me because I'm of the belief that if you are good enough to create something that I want to play on, maybe you should be working for said company?

Morakoth Tang: Fiction

Dustin... You could never be so wrong on this account. I believe that you see user created content as just making extra maps and passing them out on the Internet. User created content is so much more. It will drive games to have longer sales and life. Let me give you some examples. Miis - tell me, wouldn't you want your Mii shooting red shells at Mario or Bowser? Isn't it cooler when you're playing WarioWare and you have your Mii representing you instead of being one of the random characters from the Wario universe? Dude, when Little Big Planet comes out it's going to rock so hard, it might even tempt me to drop some cash for a PS3. You're freaking building your world as you go! Drawn to Life - man, that whole game was based off of user created content. The Halo 3 video capture feature - isn't that user created content? It's going to be the wave of the future. Also think, Dustin - game makers are also gamers, and if they could create a map as a user and upload it for free for us to download, wouldn't you want that?

Score: 3 for 6



And we have a final score of 3 for 6!

That's all there is for this week. We just met a nameless man with tattoos all over his body in the morgue. If it doesn't take us too long to help him to rediscover his past, we'll be back next week.