My kids can't wait for pizza Italian-American sauce bread day at the elementary school.

Boppity Boopy.

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Article brought to you courtesy of 2K Games, who want to remind you that Mafia II is available in stores now!

that's a nice game company you've got there. it'd be a shame if something happened to it

You know, it would be a shame if one of your servers were to be broken...

falcon176: that's a nice game company you've got there. it'd be a shame if something happened to it

Nice work, falcon176

I hear youse has got a favorite race horse. Be a shame if anything happened to it.

The original Italian American Anti-Defamation League was founded by mobsters.

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You guys got insurance? Cuz this place looks awfully flammable...

/just keeping up.

I don think you understand me, capish?

Cubicle Jockey: The original Italian American Anti-Defamation League was founded by mobsters.

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So is the Hafling benevolent association.

Go to Staten Island and see if the Italians there hate that stereotype. For the most part they love it.

Mr Salieri sends his regards.


I think it's important to keep a balance in things. Yeah, balance, that's the right word. Cause the guy who wants too much risks losing absolutely everything. Of course, the one who wants too little from life might not get anything at all.

Does the game get any better after chapter 4? The reason I ask is because so far Mafia 2 could have just as easily been called Crazy Taxi - Slow Edition.

Hey guys, you're not helping.

jbtilley: Does the game get any better after chapter 4? The reason I ask is because so far Mafia 2 could have just as easily been called Crazy Taxi - Slow Edition.

Oh god, do you still have to drive the speed limit all the time?

Fano: Oh god, do you still have to drive the speed limit all the time?

No, not really but now it feels like a choice between slow and slower.

For no reason, my short review of Mafia II.

Very prety game. Huge city in which to explore. Good story line, although the character you play is a moron and you have no ability to alter his choices so you kind of feel hijacked into living through his mistakes. Anyway, it's a fun game to play but just when you're getting into it, bamn. Story over. It took me one day to beat it, and I'm far from a dedicated gamer. I think they plan on making a lot of money on downloadable add ons. Plus (spoiler) right when you start to get a good wardrobe together and move into a nice house the Irish Mafia shows up and burns it down with all your stuff. And they take your guns away like 4 times even when you make no mistakes.

jbtilley: Fano: Oh god, do you still have to drive the speed limit all the time?

No, not really but now it feels like a choice between slow and slower.

That was what I didn't like about the first Mafia. They were cool looking old cars, but they were slow and clunky to drive and you had to drive at like 25 MPH the entire time, which made the driving boring as hell. And there was a lot of driving.

2chris2: jbtilley: Fano: Oh god, do you still have to drive the speed limit all the time?

No, not really but now it feels like a choice between slow and slower.

That was what I didn't like about the first Mafia. They were cool looking old cars, but they were slow and clunky to drive and you had to drive at like 25 MPH the entire time, which made the driving boring as hell. And there was a lot of driving.

You can speed if you want in this one. The cops will chase you sometimes if they spot you speeding or running red lights, but the AI is terrible and the cops are easy to lose in even the slow cars. Want to ditch the cops? Drive through a narrow opening. They'll hit the side and stop dead. Then they just sit there. Or, you can stop and the cops will get out of their cars, then you just drive off and they try to chase you on foot.

In this day and age, what the fark is this world coming to? I can't believe this, Italians prejudice against Italians.

Just for %^&$ and giggles, I googled Andre' DiMino. When I did, his facebook page* came up, and one of his friends on it is Vincent Tabbachino. Surprise Surprise, Vinny is a corrupt Politician. So I guess Andre doesn't want virtual mobsters muscling in on his turf either.

/Got to go, I hear a strange clicking sound on my phone, and someones at the door.

Andre's link to facebook with Vinny as a friend (Third one down):

http://www.google.com/search?q=Andre%27+DiMino&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.m o zilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Andre's facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/people/Andre-DiMino/667735947

Article on his buddy Vinny:

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/12/former_guttenberg_councilman_v.html

Thank god there was a demo, game sucks. Got so bored with it fast.

I ran around punching chicks in the face, they didn't stay to fight and you couldn't chase them down to beat them up. Can only shoot them.

And the only place you can really make a stand and kill cops nonstop is the gas station. Something to do with the pathing and your available cover. Always ran out of time killing cops there since there was no way they could ever kill me.

So that is like Japanese-American league getting mad at the stereotype Yakuza gangster being Japanese. What ethnicity is he SUPPOSED to be?

2chris2: That was what I didn't like about the first Mafia. They were cool looking old cars, but they were slow and clunky to drive and you had to drive at like 25 MPH the entire time, which made the driving boring as hell. And there was a lot of driving.

Also, terrible story, pointlessly long cutscenes, limited vehicles available to you during most of the game ("Hey, I think I'll steal that car -- oops, no one's taught me how to unlock the door yet, so I guess I'm screwed"), buggy (they had to release a patch because one of the racing missions you had to win to advance the story was absurdly difficult, among other things), and just generally terrible. Music was pretty good, though.

/wouldn't even dream of ever buying another "Mafia"-branded game

That's-a lotta outrage!

Uzzah: 2chris2: That was what I didn't like about the first Mafia. They were cool looking old cars, but they were slow and clunky to drive and you had to drive at like 25 MPH the entire time, which made the driving boring as hell. And there was a lot of driving.

Also, terrible story, pointlessly long cutscenes, limited vehicles available to you during most of the game ("Hey, I think I'll steal that car -- oops, no one's taught me how to unlock the door yet, so I guess I'm screwed"), buggy (they had to release a patch because one of the racing missions you had to win to advance the story was absurdly difficult, among other things), and just generally terrible. Music was pretty good, though.

/wouldn't even dream of ever buying another "Mafia"-branded game

Was that the low-rider race? The one where you not only had to win, but you couldn't have any damage on your car?

I vaguely recall that being the point in the game where I said 'fark this, I'm going outside'.

Not to worry, I did not in fact go outside.

Just make them an offert that they couldn't refuse...

/Predictable, I know.

StarshipPooper: I ran around punching chicks in the face, they didn't stay to fight and you couldn't chase them down to beat them up. Can only shoot them.

So... tell us about your relationship with your mother.

...and yet no one makes a campaign to get Jersey Shore off the airwaves.

I only see Italians in 2 forms in the media.

One is as gangsters. I like that stereotype. It makes for some good movies, games, books and comics. I know that they aren't ALL like that, but it's fun. Plus, it's a cultural thing, not a race thing. That makes it ok in the modern world.

Or I could watch "Jersey Shore" and think of them that way.

Which way would you prefer Italian Americans?

This is one time where the movie version is much better than reality.

Of course the ACTUAL mafia is pretty farked up, but as national stereotypes go, it's hard to think of a more positive one. Well-dressed, dangerous but polite, family-oriented, handy in the kitchen.

If it weren't for Sweden, which from what I can tell is populated entirely by socially-conscious billionaires and bisexual Norse demigoddesses, I think they'd be the outright winners of the stereotype lottery. Take it from a half-Frog/half-Pollack, those wops should count their blessings.