First Person Shooters like GTA 4 & GOW (Grand Theft Auto 4 & Gears of War) are mindless shoot em ups that are more about fast reflexes than brain power.
I think not! GTA is a 3rd person shooter, anyway. I can't speak for Gears of War, but GTA does require more than fast reflexes. And, come on, do adventure games really require much brain power?? You occasionally get a hard puzzle here and there. A good FPS requires a lot of brain power in
addition to good reflexes. Modern FPS enemy AI is smart, and there are often multiple ways to approach a situation. You can do the exact sequence over and over again in FEAR, Far Cry, or Max Payne, trying to find a better strategy. And that's just single player. If you go online and play Team Fortress 2 you'll encounter ever changing strategies presented by other live humans. TF2 also requires
teamwork, which adds even more strategy. These are games are the exact opposite of mindless. TV is mindless.
I understand that many gameboomers don't like FPSs, but claiming that adventure games are somehow smarter is just ridiculous. Personally, I'm terrible at real time strategy (Starcraft), and prefer turn based (Civilization). I could claim that turn based requires more thinking, but this is simply untrue. I'm just bad at it, and RTSs are complex and difficult. You should be able to admit this too: FPSs are just too hard for you. Don't disparage an entire huge genre because of that.
Sorry to be argumentative, but I keep seeing things like this here and it's frustrating. GTA is, in spite of the violence and immorality, one of the best games ever. Half-Life 2 (FPS) has a better story than almost any adventure game I've played, and even includes some really cool physics based puzzles that any gameboomer would enjoy.