Pagoda of Gaming

Yessir! It’s that time again, and it looks like I’ve gotten this all done before the end of the year this time! These games represent not what I believe in the shoes of a game reviewer are the best games of the year (you’ll notice the likes of Left 4 Dead 2 are absent from the list: I simply haven’t had the time to play everything yet)– but from my own personal opinion, the games that I played that define this year of 2009 as a great year for gaming. Let’s start with the Alternative awards, the games that are special/hated for something  - though not necessarily the best/most despicable of the year.

The Bests

The Game We All Remember ‘08 – Fallout 3 (PS3, 360, PC)

No game produced such a stream of quality DLC this year than fallout 3. Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta. Each of them, in addition to some of the things I had left to do from the multitude of things in the main game – kept me coming back month after month. Even as much to get me to buy the PC version of the game also. May New Vegas be as awesome.

Most Fun for a Shitty PC – Plants Vs Zombies (PC)

If your PC can run flash, and it should, you’ll have a smooth time with Plants Vs Zombies. Not to mention that it’s an amazingly addictive, yet simple and charming tower defence game brought to us from Popcap. And what’s better news is that the game is heading the iPhone sometime next year.

Best Character - John "Soap" MacTavish (Modern Warfare 2 – PS3, 360, PC)

One of the best things MW2 was up the intensity of their pre-existing characters to the point that they are basically superheroes. Soap saved my life more than once through the campaign, before everything comes full circle in the end – leading to that fucking awesome Knife throw – he went through a lot of shit. Not to mention that he’s also 100% pure scotch beef and voiced by a dude from Elgin.

Most Appropriate Achievement List – Battlefield 1943 (PS3, 360 – Download Only)

Many Developers ponder over how to make an achievement list for their multiplayer section of their game, in the belief that achievements will sway the player base into playing in an unacceptable way  – Infinity ward believed that so much they left multi achievements out entirely. Personally I believe that an achievement list shouldn’t ask the player to go too far above the call of duty to simply elongate the experience. 1943’s Achievements work perfectly that I was earning them as I play – and not playing to earn them, and it didn’t ask that I not play in a way that I don’t want to (get 3000 kills with weapon you never use “X” – for example). I hope developers learn from this for the future – especially DICE.

Best Online Experience – Team Fortress 2 (PC)

Personally, no other game has had so much positive change to it over this year than TF2 – and yet, most of the game’s core remains the same as it was the day the orange box launched. I had a great time (particularly at the start of the summer) playing TF2 a great deal, but now I go back to it here and there. I suppose the big draw is the new class updates. Many many classes have gotten new weapons and unlockable achievements this year to spur on play – even just this month we had a week long war between the Soldier and the Demoman for a sweet pair of anti-splosion damage boots. Valve sure know what they’re doing.

Best Trailer – Halo 3 O.D.S.T. (360)

It remains a universal constant that Microsoft knows how to market the hell out of a Halo game. In THIS trailer we get a short live-action look at the life of ODST that makes us all go THAT LOOKS AWESOME THOSE DUDES ARE BADASS I SHOULD GO BUY THE HAELOES!

The Worsts

Worst Online Experience – Champions Online (PC)

Someone working on this game thought it was a great idea to not have any region specific servers, instead just plop it all in one country. So when America wakes up and starts to play – you get lagged out. I suppose all the instancing going on was supposed to help this, but I’d place a nice piece of cash on a wager that the entire Champions Online system is still very much broken many months after it’s launch.

Worst Character - Sgt. Rico Velasquez (Killzone 2 – PS3)

I wouldn’t really recommend that anyone play the mess that is Killzone 2’s Single Player campaign. But I did, so I get to complain about it. Sgt. Rico was one hell of a massive tit. At many points in the game his awful personality was used as a plot device to allow a lot of the shit in the campaign to happen. Not to mention his fucking annoying dialogue. The fact that he is even in the inter-planetary army to begin with is suspect. I really hope to never, ever, ever see this character again.

Worst Special Edition - Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, 360, PC)

The overall point of this special edition was the sweet looking replica batarang. Imagine my disappointment to open up a scratched, plastic piece of shit. There was also no proper game case inside the box, and the accompanying “patient record” book was entirely copied over from info unlocks in the game. Poor show for such a great game.

Most Disappointing Game –  Brutal Legend (PS3, 360, PC)

What seemingly began as a metal-infused God of War that seemed like a pretty good idea, became an open world metal-infused God of War that seemed like a very very good idea, that finally turned into a open world metal-infused console RTS that didn’t really come together all that well. And all that happened in our eyes (whilst it was how the game was originally envisioned or not) over the course of the marketing campaign. I could’ve really done without all the RTS. Also, rock stars evidently cannot voice-act.

The Game We All Forgot From ‘08 – Little Big Planet (PS3)

Remember when Little Big Planet was going to be like the PS3’s Jesus? That is was going to change gaming forever? LBP just faded away for me as soon as the clock turned January 1st. I’m not really sure what happened there.

The Game From Fucking Hell – Uncharted 2 (PS3)

I just don’t want to play you ok? Why? Oh you know why! Because you keep putting brick wall after brick wall in my way, and I’m the one left to fucking trial-and-error my way all the way through! And no, the controls aren’t better than the first one, I keep fucking dying because when I think I’m pushing forward and hitting the jump button – I’m actually pushing it in some other fucked up dimension that hurtles drake to his death. Oh great what now? A fucking Yeti who’s actually Wolverine in a goddamn snow-ghille. What do you mean shoot it in the head?! I HAVE!! A BILLION FUCKING TIMES ALREADY!! WHY IS THIS BOSS BATTLE TAKING 10 MINUTES!!!!

Most Bullshit Boss – Seth (Street Fighter 4 – PS3, PC, 360)

Street Fighter 4 is probably at this moment the best fighting game on the planet. So it’s a shame that when I play the game, I see characters I’ll never unlock, and achievements I’ll never unlock because the final boss of the arcade mode – the keeper of the proverbial unlocks – is a motherfucking douche. To put it simply, he’s programmed to cheat, and I see no reason for it. I would’ve probably played SF4 a lot more if that hadn’t been the case. When it comes to fighting games I prefer the “let the Wookie win” approach. So that as long as I can sail through the single player – and pick up some skills for multiplayer along the way, then I’ll keep playing. That is not the case because Seth is an unreasonable cunt.

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The Non-Gaming Awards

Now to sting you along, big time award style, here’s the non-gaming awards for 2009. The stuff we do when we’re not gaming.

Top 3 Movies- Star Trek, Watchmen, District 9

Worst Movie - Knowing

Best Album – The Lonely Island - Incredibad

Favourite Internet Phenomena – Boxxy and her Remix

Best New TV Show – Stargate Universe

Best TV Show Season Finale – Lost: Season 5 Episodes 16 & 17 - “The Incident”

Best Old Show that I Discovered This Year – Supernatural

Best Actor Dude – Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother)

Hottest Actor Female – Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body)

Best Comic (Series) – Y: The Last Man

Best Comic (Short Series/One-Off) – Batman: Cacophany

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Games of the Year

I think this is how it should go down this time – exclusive titles are so important these days, yet can be easily overshadowed by the multiplatform masses. I could easily say that any one of these games are better than the other, but when I think about 2009 – it wouldn’t be a year of great gaming without all these eight titles together. And I would hope that my words here sway you to go and make sure you experience some, if not all, of these stellar games.

Best PS3 Game – Killzone 2

Looking back, I only still own two of all the few PS3 titles I bought this year. Uncharted 2 I have still to complete, I feel that it is the game that is forcing me away. Leaving the other to be Killzone 2 – my award needs some preface. The single player was overall very annoying – from the characters to the plot holes – and should be avoided at all costs beyond a it of eye candy. The impression that was left on my came from the Multiplayer. Creating a system that merged some of the best of Halo and at the time CoD4. It was all rather impressive, and I hope games in the future can learn from taking these sorts of chances.

Best X-Box 360  Game - Halo 3: O.D.S.T

It always feels good to me to play a Halo game. ODST was an amazing start at branching out the franchise and lore of that universe beyond the Master Chief. In a series of lost-style flashbacks we see the invasion of earth from the eyes of a team of drop-pod specialists and unravel the mystery that surrounds the occupation of New Mombasa. Reach is coming next year, and if ODST is any indication – 360 owners are in for one hell of a ride.

Best PC Game- Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2

This was probably the hardest category for me to pick. There were so few PC games that came out this year that I really liked – most of my PC time was spent playing the old Valve classics (TF2 and L4D to name a few). I can’t really pick Left 4 Dead 2 without playing it first either (which I haven’t done so yet – for clarification). It’s really down to Dawn of War 2 to take the throne. Though I admittantly spent more time with the multiplayer beta – I believe Relic has done a great job of modernising the RTS genre to the point that I actually found it to be playable. In the single player they introduced a RPG style of advancement and the overall gameplay felt very much like DOTA – using a small amount of specialist units in most cases would do a much better job than a swarm. Let’s hope that I can get back into it when the game’s first expansion launches next year.

Best Download Only Title – Battlefield 1943 (PS3, 360)

During the time between the holiday rush and the summer slump, BF1943 was a godsend. A modern re-envisioning of the original 1942, set in what turned out to be a rather beautiful pacific. Some may argue that compared to other modern battlefield games – it was simplified – no character unlocks, only three classes. But what came of it was raw distilled battlefield FPS. It’s only shortfall, I believe, is that to this day there hasn’t been more than 4 maps for the game. I would’ve welcomed a map pack as early as a month after release.

Best Handheld Game – The World Ends With You (NDS)

Back in April, I decided to do something horrible and buy a DSi and play nothing but handheld games for a month. There was only really one game that shone through that entire month – only one game who’s soundtrack now sits in my library, and that is the World Ends With You. It wasn’t actually released this year – but this was the year I played it, and so it receives this award. I found it to be the utterly perfect DS game – drawing on all the strengths of the system, and presenting an interesting story that played at an amazing pace. Anyone with a DS out there should seek this out as soon as possible – I suggest you start at eBay.

Top 3 Multiplatform

#3 – Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3, 360, PC)

Part of me always hated the first assassin’s creed for all the utter bullshit it forced on the player. Ubisoft Montreal took all the bullshit and threw it out the window to recreate the idea of assassin’s creed. It was everything a sequel should be but seldom are – better story, better controls, better system of advancement, the whole shebang. The utterly beautiful setting of renascence Italy created the most amazing open world game of this year, in addition to a great “fuck Christianity” story the kind I’m always up for leaving an overall impression on me that is utterly excited for the third instalment.

#2 –Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, 360, PC)

A game based on a franchise is probably the hardest kind of game to make and still make it a success at the same time. What Rocksteady did with Arkham Asylum was play the Batman licence to it’s strength, not shoehorn it into a predefined gaming genre. What we got was a game that was a little bit stealth action, little bit brawler, little bit Zelda-style adventuring but a whole load Batman. And put together with a style that drew from all sorts of comic inspiration and wonderfully sewn together by the wonderful animated series voice cast. It’s such a fucking amazing game that I’ve bought it twice, and hope to play it all through again on the PC very soon.

#1 – Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, 360, PC)

I suppose the closest comparison to MW2’s reverence would have to be World of Warcraft. Everyone knows someone who plays, except MW2 has it’s expanded appeal with pretty much everyone who owns a next gen console. It’s a weird thing for me to witness the work-time conversations this game creates. The single player campaign is a constant ride of “oh shit” moments that from the outside looking in sound completely absurd. And the Multiplayer runs at a gift a minute – dishing out all kinds of rewards at any given moment  - a mentality flawlessly drawn from a MMORPG mindset. I suppose it’s kind of pointless me writing about Modern Warfare 2 like this – if you’re going to play it, you know you will or you already have.

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So there you have it. I bet some of this wasn’t really a surprise. And for clarification – I wouldn’t necessarily take that final top-3 there in that order – Those three games are so close in quality to be barbarically numbered like that.

So was there anything I missed? Anything you utterly disagree on me with and would like to spew violentness my way? Or would you like to sound off your own picks of the year? – hit up the comments and be heard!

That’s the end of 2009, so now we look ahead – next time you’ll see my predictions for 2010 and what I was right and wrong about in my 2009 predictions of last year. Until then, enjoy your time off.

The Best, The Best, The Best, The Best, The Best, The Best, The Best, The Best…

Yes, another new feature. Atleast with this one, I don’t have to write it every week, and you don’t have to read it every week. This is totally the Blog’s THREE-HUNDREDTH-POST. Yey me and my insignificant perseverance! Let’s not look back at the gigantic downfall my life has taken since I started this Blog. Nay, let us look into the next paragraph and thus onto the future. Fat Penis.

So an interesting thing occured to me this week at work whilst I was doing mindless repetative task #1, I actually have no idea what is still coming out this Pwnmas. Those “Spring 2010″ delays that are in effect really threw a curveball at me. So I figure I should analyse the rest of the christmas catalogue on the Blog in order to become stabalised once again. Three Months, One Quarter, One Ever Changing Release List, EQUALS SIGN DIVIDER GOOOO!!!! (But to clarify, these are the games that I am interested in, hence the lack of Wii titles and sports games)
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The Rest Of September

Date	Name	Platforms	Made By…
18th	WET	PS3, PC, 360	Bethesda Softworks
22nd	Halo 3: ODST	360	Bungie
25th	Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box	DS	Procyon Studio, Level-5 Inc.

The game we’ve already had this month is Arkham Asylum, and it is fucking amazing - but we’re not back-to-the-futureing here, hence it’s not on the list. WET came out on friday, but after playing the demo a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to avoid it at all costs. I found it to be a really ugly, messy game that causes physical repulsion when played - but that’s just my opinion. I’m glad that there’s a Layton sequal, but I haven’t finished the first one yet (I realise my fault there) so no second course for me. Maybe I can play some more of the first one whilst I mine shit in EVE.

I’m naming Halo 3: ODST as my pick of the month - I’m just really excited for this game’s release. I know that some people plainly don’t get the haloes, but I consider myself a fan - though unrabid. For myself and many, Halo was the reason to buy an Xbox, and since then we’ve played many many more excellent games. But for us, a Halo release is an event, and we allow ourselves to be pulled in by the marketing and hype, and we recieve an experience from that has yet to dissapoint. Staring at the Halo 3 poster on my wall, I salute Bungie, and prepare myself to drop next tuesday.

As a side note: isn’t it fucking weird that ODST is hitting on a Tuesday? weird. Also, I just preordered.
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Rocktober

Date	Name	Platforms	Made By…
7th	South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defence Play	360	South Park Digital Studios
16th	Tropico 3	PC, 360	Kalypso Media
16th	Brutal Legend	360	Double Fine
23rd	Borderlands	360, PS3, PC	Gearbox
23rd	Uncharted 2: Among Thieves	PS3	Naughty Dog
29th	Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony	360	Rockstar North
30th	Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition	PS3, PC, 360	Bethesda Softworks
30th	LittleBigPlanet	PSP	Media Molecule

It’s been years since there’s been a South Park game, and that’s easily explained, considering the nature of previous titles. But I respect Matt and Trey too much to not notice this game. It could be good, and a free trial should solve the mystery.
I mentioned on a previous blog post that I really liked the Tropico 3 demo, but I think I’d need to be on holiday or something to really have time to dedicate to the game - So I’m not rushing out to get it, but maybe in the future. The game will also be released on Steam.
I’m reasonably underwhelmed by Borderland’s presentation so far, but the Giant Bomb crew have had positive feelings towards previews of the game, so I’ll have to wait for a review to sway my purchasing decision.
Uncharted 2 should be better than the Original - that I have yet to finish due to “GIANT BRICK WALL OF HARDNESS, let’s go play something on the Xbox instead“. From what I recieved from the Multiplayer beta is that they’ve made a game beyond the last, fixing some of the shortcomings of the original, and added in a multiplayer experience on par with most Xbox Live enabled titles.
Not much to say about the Ballad of Gay Tony, other than I’m going to be fabulously there on day 1. If Lost and the Damned was anything to go by, this should be even awesomer than the original disk game. I think both the DLC adventures are going to be released on the PS3 this month too, and I urge PS3 owners to pick them up.
I mention Fallout 3 as it is a Game of the Year edition, full of every piece of DLC content they’ve released for the game. So if you havent got my personal choise for game of the year 2008 yet, now would be the time to do so. Again, I believe this is coming out on the PS3 in the same month, complete with the DLC’s and new Trophy Support.
Sadly I never really got into Little Big Planet, though I fully endorse the ideal the game represents. Putting it on the PSP may be a way to bring it to a wider audience, especially when the PSPGo is hitting shelves. I won’t be there, but I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.

My pick of the Month for Rocktober is the game that has dubbed the month so. I hope, in total sincerity, that Brutal Legend sells trillions of copies and makes Tim Schafer a rich motherfucker. So rich that he can afford to turn himself into a game making cyborg that can simply output games from his crazy-masterful mind via USB. Or, just enough to allow Double Fine another AAA title.
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Modernwarvember

Date	Name	Platforms	Made By…
10th	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	360, PC, PS3	Infinity Ward
13th	DJ Hero	PS3, 360, PS2, Wii	FreeStyleGames Ltd.
17th	Left 4 Dead 2	PC, 360, PS3	Valve Corporation
20th	Assassin’s Creed II	360, PS3, PC	Ubisoft Montreal

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be playing Modern Warfare 2 this month. Hence it is my completely obvious pick of the month. I’m seriously considering obtaining 2 copies for the game, one for the X-Box (and the achievements and the nice HDTVness) and one for the PC, so like Fallout 3, it may come wherever I go, and so I can play with people who are not blessed with a 360. There was a tonn of info on Multiplayer that dropped in the last week, THIS should sum it up for you.

I’m on the edge about getting DJHero. It’s a £90 game via amazon, and that’s the price of MW2 and Brutal Legend put together, but there’s just something about it that has my brain hooked on it, and Daft Punk. I missed out on any Music game action last year altogether - the Burn I recieved from Rock Bands EU release has hurt me for life, but maybe I should get back on the saddle, depending on how good santa is to my bank account that is.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a known quantity of a purchase so much that I have basically pre-pre-ordered it. I need no previews, and I need no Reviews. Give me a date and a price and I’ll be there. Interestingly, I’m thinking about getting a 360 copy, If I can on the cheap. XBox Live seems like a good place for the game.

Assasin’s Creed 2, I don’t really know what to say. The last game left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth with it’s weird and often unneccesary gameplay mechanics and it’s more unneccesary collection quests. Maybe those crazy french canadians have had enough time and funding to fix those previous problems. As a side note, how do you think the game looks compared to the last? from the videos I’ve seen it looks like it’s received a bit of a graphical downgrade.
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Deadcember

Date	Name	Platforms	Made By…
4th	The Saboteur	360, PS3, PC	Pandemic

Yeah… 1 title. I suppose December is where the desperate developers will release their undated games. There’s just The Saboteur, but despite it’s somewhat uniqueness (think Assasin’s Creed + Hitman * Nazis) and Inglorious Basterdsness, I think I’m beyond over WW2 games.

There’s a good chance we’ll all still be playing MW2 this month anyway, and on our 3rd prestige run.
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Have You Seen These Release Dates?

Name	Platforms	Made By…
Jumpgate: Evolution	PC	NetDevil
APB Beta	PC	Realtime Worlds
God of War Collection	PS3	Sony Computer Entertainment
The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf	PS3, 360	CD Projekt
Lumnies	iPhone	Q Entertainment

These game’s were slated for release in 2009 but have yet to show face. We’ve heard next to nothing about each of these titles, except the God of War collection, but aslong as that’s out before III we shouldn’t be gushing for it. The APB beta is probably (yes, just the Beta) is probably my most sought after of all of these. I yearn for that game so much. Why don’t you check out this new gameplay trailer(HD +Fullscreen For The Win):

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So that’s it. Despite all the delays til next year, this should be a fun packed Pwnmas afterall. So what are you guys looking forward to playing? And what is on your Santa wishlist?

Before I go, I actually have a rather pressing question. My PC monitor broke a couple of weeks ago (somewhat mysteriously) and I’ve been looking to get another one - once my bank account fills up a bit. I don’t really use it much, since the Nintop provides better everything than my old dreadnaught of a PC. But I miss the Dual Screening I used to get with my Laptop and hooking it up to my TV is somewhat uncomfortable. So my question: Where’s a good place to get a new Monitor online. I’ve had a look at some of Amazon’s offerings, but if there is a place my adoring public can reccomend that can give me something cheaper that’d be great. I found THIS on amazon, and that’s what I might end up getting if I don’t get a suggestion.

Join me in Deadcember as I analyse the releases of spring 2010. Next post - watch as I make some demonic pacts with cards and stuff. You can also scroll down to the previous post too to bask in the overwhelmingness of a 4000 word text on Flash Bear MTG deckbuilding tactics. If you’re into that sort of thing.

And you can’t explain why you claimed your cat

- got home burst through the door and BAM! crazy cammie is on stage and says “10 new balance board games”. Great. Missed about 10 mins, dont think there was anything exciting there.

- Reggie. To paraphrase “We have giant e-peen, and money printer”. Talking motion plus. Don’t we alredy know about all this stuff? EVEN NINTENDO HAS A MOOOOWWWNNNTAAAAHGGGEEE!! lol, the Wii Condom looks funny. Turns out this is a new Wii sports trailer - it certainly took it’s time to get tothe point. HAHA PEREPHERALGEDDON! Cant buy that shit without buying a Motion Plus.

- Motion Plus demo. Again, don’t we already know all this? And wasn’t this what the Wii was supposed to do in the first place. Archery, skydiving, basketball.

- Bunch of new games with Motion Plus. GENERIC SPORTS GAME, and GENERIC SPORTS GAME and GENERIC SPORTS GAME and Red Steel 2.

- Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers. IS DAT SOME PS2 GROPHOCS? Mwhahaha. Looks really…. meh.

- New Kingdom Hearts, I expected it sooner, That’s a franchise made for that console.

- Mario DS game. Set inside…. Bowser’s stomach? It’s an RPG.

- old franchise returning. Oh Golden sun. I fucking hate Golden Sun. Nice visuals for the DS tho.

- Crazy Lady is back. “James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion.” WHAT THE FUCK. It’s a fucking read your own adventure. “Cop: The Recruit” Looks like they’re trying to upstage Chinatown wars. Really Lame name. “Style Savvy” Ugh fucking Fashion simulator for the DS. NOOOOOOO THANK YOU.

- DSi Montage… No games, interviewing people about how awesome the console is. Total sales over 2 months = 1 million units in america, same time 400,000 units of the DS lite sold.

- Flipnote studio. essentially an animated gif creator. Talking about user generated content on a DS. Mario and Donkey kong ‘lemmings’ out on DSiware on monday. Make your own Warioware, ‘microgames’ game. Facebook photo uploader coming in the summer.

- Spirit Tracks. No new info - playable on the show floor.

- Iwata Takes the stage. Blah blah numbers numbers. expanding the gaming population.

- new mario bros wii? guess that’s what I missed at the start. Kotaku tells me it’s a 2D 4 player Mario game. Meh.

- Wii Vitality sensor. Lol WTF. Iwata wants to know about the inner workings of my body. it’s a pulse monitor that plugs into the wiimote. Audience is wonderfully silent as he walks off stage.

- crazy lady is back. she seems alot more mellower than last year. New 3d mario title. Galaxy 2, with Yoshi. HEHE, they left the UR MR GAY stars on the logo.

- Reggie reads the blogs too aparantly. says people like me want more. I dunno man, I’ve been living fine without a Wii. Conduit trailer. Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles…. It’s looking like an onrails shooter. Speaking of, onto Dead Space Extraction. HOW DOES I REUSE ASSETS LOL!

- new “edgier” game from nintendo themselves. Theyre amking a game with team Ninja. Somthing in spoace. lots of cgi. Metroid reimagining, what the hell. 3rd person shooter. does look like they;ve gone foe the more relistic look.

- conference if over….. That was predictabally underwhelming. Thanks for giving me a reason to own a DSi you fucking jerks. jeeze.

Thank fuck we’ve got Sony up next, I hope. See you there!

‘Nin Out!

I figure it’s best to not add additional days onto the initial program, doing so might skew the results. So consider the experiment completed.

But what have I learned? For one, it’s freaking hard to keep to one platform. Atleast for me it is. my EvE Exception was used so often, I’ve actually got a significant chunk of isk sitting in my account ready to be spent on some new strip mining modules. I think I’m just more enclined to see a home console game or a PC game as spent time rather than time wasted.

What I’m saying is that a whole month of staight DS to the veins might not be the best medecine. It is a unique console in every way, and it really requires a unique mindset, away from the usual hardcore mindset, to truly appreciate it. But the same can be said for Developers - porting or relying on a licence isn’t the way to work the console.

The World Ends With You was by far my favourite part of the experiment. It relied wholly on the unique features of the console to get it’s gameplay across, it looked great, told a good story, and it didn’t take me a billion hours to complete. Pokemon was great too, but I’ve been doing that shit since I was 8.

What do you want? a goddamn essay? All I can really say is that I really do appreciate the DS alot more, Ninty just need to keep up their end of the deal and get the games out there that I really want to play, with greater frequency. Hrmm, let’s not place any money on that.

Now I’m free, what have I got to catch up on? Thankfully, there weren’t many titles out the past month that I really cared enough about. Mainly, the new Fable 2 and Fallout 3. In EvE, my skills trained up to the point that I can fly the next level of Mining Barges, so my path to ritches continues. Then there’s MTGO, which I’ll have to yet again postpone that tale for another time.

But main conscern from now on will be WoW - which I’m oddly happy to say. Rin is ready for Azjol-Nerub, and I’m ready to forget about my other characters for a while - so no more replaying the same level worth of content three times in a row. I’m considering trying to set up a guild for the leveling types, some might say casually. Nothing too hardcore, a guild for people who want to level up through Northrend in as casual a time as possible, at most, focus on the 5-man content. Nothing Heroic, Nothing ‘raidy’. But lesser plans have fallen apart, so stay tuned to see me go back on my words real soon.

I twittered on friday that I went to see Star Trek. It is without a doubt the best movie of the year… Except for Watchmen, which is as awesome. But seriously though, It is awesome in every respect - everything from the casting to Sylar-Spock’s interpretation of the character, to the way they separate the movie from the rest of the Trekverse. I was literally holding back my tears in the opening scenes, tears of manly AWESOME. I am, and I mean this with every sinsere key on my board that I will see that film again this weekend. And I will have Popcorn! So in an attemt to drag the remaining few doubters to the screens this weekend, I present to you a trailer. That film was not a reimagining, it was a continuation.

E3’s less than a month away! MADDNESSSPARTAA! I think I should place my bets in the next post.

Oh, there he is

So I’m over halfway through the DS Experiment, and I’m unsure of what I should be playing next. And If I don’t figure it out soon, I’ll just end up with platinum all the way to the finish line, like the fucking crack that it is. “So why don’t I let my readers decide?” I thought. So it’s simple, pick something from below and give me one good reason. I know you lot are a quiet bunch, but this should be easy enough for you.

Final Fantasy IV

Chrono Trigger

GTA: Chinatown Wars (well, to finish the rest of it)

In a small bit of nostalgia-news, Max Payne, the original un-wahlberged version, has been unleashed as an X-Box original. This is awesome news for me, because I can’t get the damn thing to run on any of my PC’s - So I may just have to pick this up and play through the cronicles before #3 hits in the winter. Shame that it doesn’t have any achievements - the same can be said for the rest of the Xbox originals.

Today’s video is the first proper footage we’ve got of Dead Rising 2. It seems pretty tame, but then there’s the Double-Edged Chainsawlance. And when you think that can’t get any awesomer, CHAINSAWCYCLE! Make sure you watch in HQ!

instrumental