I've yet to beat this massive game. But where I am right now in GTA IV, hopelessness seems as though it will endure. Those who've beat the game know how it ends, but I doubt that Niko and Roman will open up a legit sporting goods shop at the end, where they can live happily ever after and hawk designer imported sweat pants from Germany at a steep mark-up.

But it's this type of dreariness instilled in gamers that's important to games. After all, games can't be all about sunshine, rainbows, elves and talking animals. At least they shouldn't be.

moscalloutThere's a reason why the big question in games has been "Can games make you cry?" and not "Can games make you chortle?/moscalloutWhere would other forms of entertainment be without well-measured amounts of dreariness like The Godfather, Saturn Devouring One of His Sons, The Raven and pretty much all 90s grunge music? (Okay, some may argue we would've been better off without Nirvana, but they'd be wrong.)

It seems as though in many cases, bringing people down brings a medium up. Make the masses cry, make them depressed, make them question their very existence in a world painted bleak and black and brimming with futility, then you're the purveyor of what an audience often equates to "deep" entertainment.

There's a reason why the big question in games has been "Can games make you cry?" and not "Can games make you chortle?" We like to feel as though we have depth.

As people, we're drawn to different personalities. But it's not the skipping, grinning, happy-go-haha guy that we're intrigued by. It's the brooding, mysterious dark figure with a sketchy past whose head we're interested in. Many have wondered what makes Charles Manson tick. Fewer have wondered what makes Jessica Simpson tick.

Take BioShock. What a depressing scenario. You're essentially all alone, given the choice to either let live or "harvest" (i.e. kill) little girls. Let them live and you'll be less-equipped to survive in the unmerciful halls of Rapture. Kill them and you'll be stronger, but you'll also have to live with your conscience (for me, that conscience thing didn't kick in until nearly the end of the game after I'd harvested every single "Little Sister") as well as a dreary ending.