I finished Red Dead Redemption over a week ago, but did not rush to weblog it as I did with ModNation Racers. Partly that's because I think MNR is getting a bad rap re: load times. I have a stack of games I'm working through at the moment, and ModNation's loading is not so wide of the mark that it's a defensible opinion to avoid playing the game because you think the loads take too long. Come on. LEGO Harry Potter takes forever to get started. If you use the warping campsites in Red Dead Redemption you get to enjoy plenty of load screens. I put in Uncharted 2 last weekend after months of not playing it and I had to wait for 90 minutes of multiplayer updates! 90 minutes?!?! Let's get pissed about that, not about 30 seconds of waiting for a race to start in ModNation.

But the main reason I've been quiet about Red Dead Redemption is that I've been letting the game sink in. RDR has a beautiful ending. A beautiful, tragic ending. I had it spoiled for me thanks to a writer that really ought to know better, so I don't want to wreck it for you... but I needed to stay away from the game for a bit after finishing it.

I picked up the soundtrack and love the four vocal tracks, particularly the end credit song. Like Tsukiko Amano's gentle pop song from the end of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, "Deadman's Gun" will hang with me forever. It's a dangerous, evocative ballad that reveals an exposed, wounded soul. It's about being pushed to a point where you have to make a difficult decision. It strikes me as a nicely romantic take on the American psyche, which is entirely appropriate.

May not want to view that video on YouTube, as the comments are full of critical spoilers.

I'm listening to the vocal tracks now and I am struck by how unusual they are, as far as video game soundtracks go. 2010 Game of the Year is RDR's to lose, at this point.

Today, Rockstar announced upcoming DLC packs, some paid, perhaps one more for free (they wouldn't charge for anti-griefing measures, would they?) I hope one of these updates adds video recording. Just Cause 2 for PS3 has it; GTAIV on PC has it... we need to get more games to have it.

One of the DLC packs promises a new single-player adventure, based on zombies. Normally, I would be rolling my eyes so hard they'd pop at that, but since undead in the West is the callsign of my beloved Doomtown, I'll give it a pass. Given the way the storyline ended, Rockstar could do some seriously unsettling things with that... but I imagine it will be wholly separate from the game proper, since there are almost no supernatural elements in the story. (*Almost none.)

One more thing. After you beat the game, make sure you go back and buy a newspaper.