Zen Coaster

^ Cheers, Will. Won't get to do that one for awhile so spoilers be damned...

Haha, classic video. Thanks Erik...

Great TR. As someone who is a bigger fan of Back to the Future than The Simpsons, I'm still mourning the loss of that ride but this one looks like a worthy replacement. It's nice to also see the queue line of Midway. I'm warming to that ride more and more actually.

Oh god the other night I had one where I was arrested for some unknown crime. Was being led into this fortress-like prison which was basically complete void; the blackness became thicker and thicker. Occasionally I passed some people wearing strange masks that resembled the one at the start of Saw. We were becoming more and more immobile the further we walked into this terrible place. The temperature was dropping rapidly. Suddenly, I was shunted into a freezing patch of near-darkness. As the temperature suddenly plummeted about fifty degrees, about four pairs of hands reached out & grabbed me. That's when I woke up. Worst dream in a LONG time.

After the last few reviews, it's starting to sound better than I thought. Won't be a major favourite though and still not something I wouldn't do more than once or twice a visit. Looking forward to seeing your photos, Will!

That reminds me... I might also add that when we went to Detroit, Dad accidentally drove down 8-Mile but I didn't see Eminem.

Seen in public: -Jay Leno @ Universal Studios Hollywood -Donny Osmond @ LAX Airport Met: - Cyndi Lauper - Received coaching by US Gymnast Morgan Hamm when he used our gym in preparation for Sydney 2000 Olympics. - Family is friends with Mick Doohan, 5-times world champion 500cc motorcycle racer - A few Neighbours actors including the one who played Harold Bishop (during a Ramsay Street/Neighbours location tour) - Autograph-signing - current Australian Idol Natalie Gauci - Attended a Writers Camp with bestselling Australian authors Jenny Wagner, Gary Crew, Narelle Oliver and Michael Donem - In a movie with Hollywood actors Joseph Fiennes, Benjamin Bratt & James Franco. Got to know them quite well between shooting, they were really friendly guys. - Interviewed Australian Idol '05 finalists Chanel Cole & Daniel Labelle - Interviewed bestselling Australian authors Bryce Courtenay - Family is friends with local (best-selling Australian) author Hugh Lunn - Jim Richards (Australian race driver) - Steve Johnson (Australian V8 driver, son of the more-famous Dick) - Geoff Morgan (Australian race driver) - Peter Brock (ex-Australian V8 driver) - Deceased Australian tycoon Christopher Skase - Old childrens cartoon character Agro and show host during a taping

Looks pretty fun. Probably more of a time-filler really or to do on a whim. Still, I'll reserve judgement for when I hit Orlando next year. Did expect something a little more fleshed-out in execution though.

Nice pics, glad to see this is active again. Definitely post the PKI ones. Can't believe I missed Noah's Ark, looks like a kooky experience.

Just one week to go now! Woo! Those of you looking for new stuff on the game should check out the gallery beginning at http://www.gtagaming.com/gtaiv/screenshots.php?page=1 as there are at least two shots per page that I haven't seen anywhere else...

I had a Europe Trip dream & for some reason suddenly found myself with a Tigger-worthy ability to bounce! So I was doing that instead of getting credits.

I didn't do that for the GTA3 Liberty City as the map was quite small as well as being urban but without the detail and varied activities of this version. Vice City I cruised a bit but mainly did missions. In San Andreas, I loved driving around for ages through the countryside - don't know why people consider those areas dead space. It was nice being able to go for a 'road trip'.

Personally, I just can't wait to walk and drive around for awhile. I think I'll spend awhile doing that and conducting myself in a legal way before doing any missions, speeding or whatever. Also, I want my first crime to be something a bit special even if it's a failure, not just beating up some random pedestrian on the street.

Here is a partial view of what the amusement park will look like overhead. Looking good though you can't see the coaster part in this shot. Will be better to see populated. Can spot a few flat rides too (like a pirate ship and a Break Dance type ride), that dark ride ... and a go-kart track Count on a "trip report" ... this is probably the first place I'll go to in the game. Its island is where you start. Here are some of the main points from the review worth mentioning (no spoilers, just some gameplay points and listing of radio stations): * Cars no longer catch fire at the slightest provocation. * There are several points at which you make life or death decisions between key cast members. * Comedy clubs feature real comedians. * "Michelle" is the first girl that Niko hooks up with. * "Other uses of the phone on missions include calling a target to make him come to the window and into Niko's sniper sight." * There is a museum called the Libertonian Museum, which features dinosaur fossils and exploding vases. Environments such as these have been created specifically for shootouts, so there's plenty of cover. * The name of every radio station is revealed: o WKTT - We Know The Truth (right wing talk radio) o San Juan Sounds (latin) o Integrity 2.0 (speech, hosted by Lazlow) o Liberty City Hardcore (punk/hardcore) o Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 (classic rock) o The Vibe 98.8 (soul/R'n'B) o PLR - Public Liberty Radio (call-in speech) o The Classics 104.1 (old-skool hip-hop) o Jazz Nation Radio 108.5 (jazz) o Vladivostok FM (eastern european) o Radio Broker (alt rock) o Tuff Gong Radio (reggae/dub) o Electro Choc (dance) o Massive B Soundsystem 96.9 (dance hall) o IF99 - International Funk (funk) o The Beat 102.7 (contemporary hip-hop) o K109 The Studio (disco) o Fusion FM o The Journey (ambient/chillout)

I've actually been thinking I'll start an 'theme park enthusiasts with guns' gang that uses the carnival area for its territory. Let me know if you want to join [via IM if you prefer]. It's been confirmed that Niko will be able to ride the coaster, the Wonder Wheel - which will be known as the Liberty Eye - as well as a dark ride, known in-game as 'The Corpse Ride'. A shutdown clone of the Parachute Jump has also been spotted in the background of some screenshots. Saying that, I don't know whether you'll just view a cutscene (like at the carnival in 'Bully') or if you'll still retain control. I'm hoping for the latter as it would be neat to, say, use the Eye as a sniper's nest or get off in the dark ride and kill people as they come through. It would be fun if you had the ability to fire the rocket launcher at the Screamer & cause some massive crash rivalling Final Destination 3's... I am hoping that we have some life to the carnival though and have midway games etc to play as well as dodgy food. They seem to be paying attention to every detail & environment in the game though so that's a strong possibility in my book. I've uploaded scans of the first magazine review anyway. 10/10 and there's a few new things that haven't been announced before. Overall, it's a good read and definitely makes you want the game even more... http://rapidshare.de/files/39136226/OXM-GTA4-REVIEW.zip.html

^ No, I'm not planning around you. I was saying what's likely to happen being that Thorpe Park is where I bought the annual pass from. Just wondered how GCSEs work that's all as others will be in same situation.

On one hand, sure, but it's good for those people who currently have to travel long distances to get their adrenaline fix! Where I live, theme park enthusiasts are in the same boat with the proposed new Animal Kingdom/Busch Gardens Africa style park in the southern part of the country. Normally people living down there have to fly all the way up here to ride anything decent. But I don't want to derail this thread talking about that aside to say I can understand Italians being frustrated it's not going to be with the others.

^ Good stuff, cheers! How do the GCSE schedules usually work? Tests compacted into a few days or what? I bought a Merlin annual pass tonight from Thorpe Park's site so will be going there to pick that up and most likely starting things off from there. So let's assume that I fly in June 10. Now, rather than hit a park on day 1 I'm more than likely going to want to get cleaned up (at the hostel or whatever), change clothes then walk around the city to eat and just cruise. If for some reason we weren't doing Thorpe Park first I could just go pick up the pass then people could hit the Eye on the first evening with me and then dinner/drinks/general chicanery...

Indeed! Certainly does sound promising. I'm sure they're not complaining having a new theme park to go with it either. I'll put the place on my 'to do' list for '09.

^^^ She's not on the show anymore so may be free, you never know! ^^ Of course you're welcome to join us ... the more the merrier. ^ Went and bought one. It'll save me a heap of money given I'll be going to all of those places, some over more than one day.

^^^ Thanks for pointing that out. I did mean Alton Towers. Fixed. ^ Definitely will. I went there in '94 on a school trip back when it was all walkthrough stuff. While I quite enjoyed it then, it sounds much better now.

I'm part of the Mainland Europe trip & so will be flying into London around June 10-11. My plan before catching the EuroStar down to Paris with some fellow participants is to see some London sights as well as hit some parks. So, I was wondering about the possibility of a bunch of us hitting them together. Even if you're not on the trip, it would still be nice to hit some credits with you. Minimum parks I'd want to visit would be Thorpe Park, Legoland Windsor, Chessington and the London Dungeon. Also - Drayton Manor and Alton Towers... while not as convenient, they still rank on my list of parks I want to see so perhaps we could look into doing something like a train to Stoke-on-Trent then a bus the rest of the way or splitting the cost of a rental car. *shrug* The public transport option could be well viable, a friend says he knows of a cheap company that we could use. He was disconnected before he gave me the name and I've emailed him asking the name. Can't do it all? Then you can just join the group for the parks that you want to visit and on days that suit you. For that matter, if you were coming for the European trip or in the country on holiday anyway, you'd be welcome to join me for seeing the usual tourist haunts. I'm also going to look at getting off the so-called beaten track and see some less-visited/-experienced things... I can't promise anything but will try to smuggle some baby koalas in my bags and bring Harold Bishop from Ramsay Street with me.

Awesome. That's one credit Jeff Johnson will never get!!

Is there some rogue bit of scripting in this topic or something causing problems for other Firefox users? Whenever this thread loads, my FF very quickly crashes. Only managing to reply by hitting the Post Reply button very quickly. Barry -- Alton Towers -Quite a good video, the humour nice eg 'Barry, no!' -Some quick clips of people filling their faces with food at the buffet meal would have been good and if done in annoying way been an addition consistent with rest of the video -Some nice syncing of actions/cuts with music -Editing could have been a bit more dynamic; some shots trimmed slightly -Camera work a tad shakey eg at beginning, mostly good - overall not bad but some more dynamic angles and editing in places would lift the whole deal. 7/10 Darren Bailey - Midwest Trip -good mix of POV/offride/humour -camera work good in the main, a bit shakey in places -well-chosen song -captured the spirit of the trip -some nice angles & editing -hard to know what some of the rides were if not on trip -overall, a bit more polished than barry's & enjoyable 8/10 Dave Thomas - UK randomness - shakey camera work well made up for by some pretty interesting angles in places - certainly captured randomness of a TPR trip scenario - great use of humourous clips including Barry jab which was very amusing - some clips could have started a bit earlier to capture the action better 7.5/10 Kevin Aglione - Cedar Point - very stylish opening - park approach sequence a tad long and a bit mundane without trains - second half was pretty dynamic although some of the choices for shot sequencing for particular rides a bit dodgy (eg TTD) and some shots were redundant being almost the same as previous ones. - some clips felt a little bit short - could have been made a little longer by taking out near-repeated shots - not sure who he went with but having some close-up people shots would have lifted the video's second half 4/5 for 1st half (-0.5 for slightly too long approach sequence) 4/5 for 2nd half Pam - Knoebels/PPP - best POV coverage - some minor focus issues in a couple of spots but always hard to not have that when capturing on-ride footage - some clips a little long - eating shots great! But be a devil... get right up close and follow its progress into the mouth!! - song worked okay in the beginning but could have been cross-faded into something else part of the way through - also drowned out some of the audio in places - overall not a bad effort - nice footage mix, editing pretty good for an amateur - camera steady most of the time too 7/10

So, what can you make out from that picture? I see three coasters, some kind of water ride and a tower of some description.