A sad day in Playstation 2 history.

I had to give up my Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game made me sick to my stomach. No. I don’t mean that I was morally outraged by the tremendous violence and moral degradation in the game. I loved that. I mean the game literally made me sick to my stomach.

There are a few video games that give me motion sickness. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about them, but both the GTA and Tony Hawk: Pro Skater series both leave me feeling ill. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t two of the best video game franchises of all time.

GTA: SA is amazing. The game has gotten a lot of attention because of the level of brutality, and make no mistake, it’s not for the kids. We’re talking about a game that allows you to walk up to a car at a stoplight. Open the door. Beat the driver to a bloody pulp, and then drive off. The game also allows you to not only have sex with prostitutes, but also beat them up afterwards and take your money back. You can be a pimp, a vigilante, kill rival gang members, kill drug dealers, rob houses, or you can just ride around the neighborhood on your bike. The scope and breadth of activities is mesmerizing. Invariably, when I was done playing for the night I would come to bed shaking my head and muttering to myself, “That game is so good!”

Needless to say, it isn’t going to be easy to part with. But it wasn’t worth feeling queasy every night. Some lucky bidder is getting a real bargain over on Ebay.