I actually had a dream about Dead Rising last night. That’s fucked up.

The demo for Saint’s Row has been growing on me. At first it didn’t seem all that spectacular to me, and even after playing for a while it’s still nothing revolutionary. It’s nothing GTA hasn’t done already, for the most part. But it executes the formula pretty well. It’s missing some things I liked about San Andreas (food consumption and weight lifting to alter your character’s appearance), but adds some new things that balance it out (creating a custom character, ability to hold up stores, etc).

The game is a little over-the-top with the whole thug life thing, but in many areas it seems to be very tongue-in-cheek. The soundtrack, at least in the demo, is incredible. With some tracks by Black Sheep and Eric B. & Rakim, and I’m pretty sure I heard Guru and DJ Premier on there too, it’s a lot better than the generic stuff we previously got.

Also the multiplayer option will be pretty nice too.

The Havok physics engine really makes things a bit more interesting. I was driving a convertable, and I ran over this one guy. He flipped up, up, and landed in the back seat of the convertible. And his body bounced around back there for about two miles until I took a really sharp corner and he went flying out, over a guardrail and down a cliff. It was pretty neat.

GTA definitely has the brand name, but I think Saints Row will deliver a good title to hold us over until GTA comes out with something next-gen, and hopefully raises the bar.

Lego Star Wars 2 comes out in September, but Fileplanet has a demo up if you can’t wait that long.

And don’t forget, as per my announcement, we’re liquidating the CAD ZeStuff store. If there’s something you want, get it now or forever hold your peace. Those t-shirts won’t be reprinted, and once Volume 1 and 2 are sold out, it will most likely be 2007 before we print more of them. And there aren’t many left.