I just wasn't Moved...

So my 60 gb PS3 died earlier this week after 5 pretty faithful years of service. I really had no plans anytime soon to buy a slim with a bigger hard drive, especially since I was using the 60 gb to play PS2 & PS one games. Luckily I have a perfectly good PS2 to keep playing those on (though all saved games are lost, doh!). But suddenly I was in need of a new system so I was heavily considering getting a bundle with Move. After all, this is clearly Sony's new focus, and it's certainly been advertised as motion control for the hardcore gaming crowd, supporting more serious titles such as Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Heavy Rain, Killzone 3, etc. So it should be an easy justification with all these fantastic games our now and many more down the pipeline right? Eh, not so much.

While the Move has enjoyed decent enough software support so far, none of the titles that absolutely require Move are remotely compelling, with the best of the bunch being the blatant Wii Sports/Wii Sports resort rip-off Sports Champions. The games that have Move as an option? Not really any noticeable improvement over your standard controller and in some cases worse. But surely, there's some really cool-looking stuff coming down the line, right? Ehhh.... I mean Move Heroes looks pretty promising, but that's literally about it. There might be some great software that they are holding off til E3, but that's a huge unknown. So I ended up buying a 120 gb without Move that should serve my needs for the forseeable future. Will I ever get move? Probably, but at this point Kinect has a much more promising future lineup, though it still seems like too much of a spaz fest to actually be fun.

On the bright side, I did pick up Radiant Historia and it's an extremely charming nod to the great 16-bit classics of yore. I haven't got a lot of time in yet, but the characters are pretty cool and the battle system id fairly fun and original. Anybody with a DS should track this title down (I had to go to 5 stores to find a copy) as it's arguably the sleeper rpg of the year already and a great way to fill time waiting for big epic releases (i.e. Dragon Age 2).

That's really it for today, but I should be back on Tuesday or Wednesday with thoughts on the new Fable DLC and other stuff. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Green Lantern Emerald Knights

There be Dragons....

The long-long awaited demo for Dragon Age 2 finally hit today. Now admittedly, if you loved the original Dragon Age, with its multiple origin and race options, this may induce some well-deserved nerd rage. You are human, male or female, and one of three archetypal classes (warrior, wizard rogue) and the combat is drastically changed, frankly being more reminiscent of Final Fantasy XII than any previous Bioware game. So anybody who was hoping for another epic along the exact same lines will probably be pissed. I do think it's a much needed change because while I enjoyed the original, the combat felt really worn out by the end, and I don't think more of the same would've drawn me in. I don't understand why you absolutely had to be human, picking from several races wouldn't be that hard to implement I would think. Regardless, I am fairly psyched and am anxiously awaiting the March 8th release date.

I also tried out the Lego Star Wars III demo, and as I feared, this is a perfect example of mining an idea once too often. I love the Lego titles, and really enjoyed the Harry Potter effort, so I'm thinking (and hoping) this is because there have already been 2 Star Wars titles, so hopefully when Lego Pirates of the Caribbean hits later this year it will feel a little bit fresher.

The official 3DS launch list is out. And man do I not care about any of these titles. It should probably be a law that a Nintendo system launches with one of their top franchises. Kid Icarus would've been a pretty obvious choice, but any of Nintendo's holy trinity (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) would've also been a fairly good idea. The $40 per game price tag also would make me consider what I would get a little more seriously. But I'm sure I will own one no later than a year from launch if I can swing it.

What was your first Zelda game? It might be time to reflect on that, seeing as how the franchise is 25 years old this week. I've played nearly every Zelda game and it's sort of amazing that (with the exception of a couple glaring mishaps) it's been a quality franchise for so long, with nearly every title being the standard-bearer for adventure titles that you just can't get on any other console. And with the very promising Skyward Sword hitting later this year, that trend of excellence shows no signs of stopping.

Today is a gigantic gaming week with two huge FPS games facing off. First up is the PS3 exclusive Killzone 3. While the series (and this latest entry especially) has earned solid enough praise, I have never really given a damn about it. The Helghast seem straight out of a bad B movie, and it just doesn't seem up there with the Halos, Gears, or Call of Duties. But admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of FPS games in the first place, especially the huge amount of darkly over serious ones.

So it would seem like something like Bulletstorm, the other big FPS out this week would be right up my alley. It's a huge slap in the face to all those deadly serious games, awarding excessive trick shots and being more like what most would imagine the new Duke Nukem might be like. But crass just for the sake of crass doesn't equal funny, and the other elements and fairly dull, so I really have no interest in it either frankly.

For those looking for something decidedly different from your standard shooter fare, you should definitely check out de Blob 2. The original, a Wii-exclusive was a criminally ignored fantastic color adventure reminiscent of titles like Jet Grind Radio. The sequel expands to all 3 home consoles, so you pretty much have no excuse not to at least give it a whirl.

And finally, looking for something more old school? The DS has you covered with Radiant Historia, a time-traveling rpg reminiscent of the old-school 16-bit rpgs of yore. This is honestly the title I am most interested, as I've been on the lookout for a new rpg with a classic style for months now, so hopefully I will be grabbing it later this week and be able to give some impressions.


Ok and that is it for today, I should be back Thursday or Friday with another post, until then here is your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK : Street Fighter LOA

Telltale, the saviors of the adventure genre?

It wasn't all that long ago that Adventure games (at least adventure titles in the classic sense such as King's Quest & Monkey Island) were officially considered a dead genre. Nothing had really come out of note for awhile, and gamers had moved on to more intense games (both gameplay and graphic wise) that tended to be less about solving puzzles. But suddenly, they started sprouting up again, with the revival of both Sam & Max and the Monkey Island series, from Telltale games. But Telltale has hardly stopped there, releasing Back to the Future (which is fantastic, if you have PSN buy it NOW) and soon to be releasing Jurassic Park titles in the same genre. They have single-handedly resurrected the genre, and thank god, as it's been sorely missed.

And today news comes of 3 new series Telltale will be making in the Adventure genre. Firstly, a series based on the comic book series Fables. Granted, aside from the basic premise, which is about fairy-tale characters living in modern-day New York, I know next to nothing about this series, but it seems ripe for an awesome video game adaptation and the adventure genre should fit well with it. The second is based on another comic book series that is also a hit tv show, The Walking Dead. Now a series about a zombie outbreak may seem like an odd choice for an adventure title, but anyone can play the Resident Evil games (more specifically anything before Resident Evil 4) and see that they are based in adventure games with having to use more than a gun to solve most of the problems.

Finally, and most excitingly, is a long overdue official revival  of the King's Quest series. Now the King's Quest games have already had something of a revival with the officially sanctioned, fan-made Silver Lining games, but this will be a full-fledged game made by people who obviously have a ton of experience doing this thing. This is easily one of my all-time favorite series, so I can't wait to see it given a proper resurrection.

Ok that's all I really have for today, but I will almost definitely be back Wednesday with thoughts on the Dragon Age 2 demo along with a few other things. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Rebuild

Doc, that's heavy....

FINALLY. Back to The Future is on PSN today! I have been working pretty much all day, so I haven't really had a chance to try it out yet, but the reviews were stellar for the PC release, so I'm very excited to try this out and will give a full report tomorrow.

I did pick up You Don't Know Jack. It's honestly kind of hard to judge the value here. It can be played online, which is cool, but playing with someone sitting next you is much better for the game. I really have an issue with the presentation though-The questions aren't random, just split up into episodes, which means they can get old quick. And given that it's such a simple set up, the number of questions seems kind of small, I mean they should be able to put thousands of questions on there, not under a thousand. Again for $30 it's not a bad deal, but I think I would've paid a full $60 for a much better package.

The first really huge release of this year, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 hit today. I'm not a huge fighting fan, but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is a game that to this day I can still play for hours if I happen to find an arcade machine, so I figured this was worth picking up. It doesn't have the massive roster that 2 did, but the characters are a lot more refined, and the promise of DLC may eventually grow the roster to even more gargantuan size than its predecessor. Plus it had DEADPOOL, which is just incredibly awesome. I was only able to get in a quick session but it's just as fun and over the top as it's always been. And Galactus is one hell of a cheap final boss, but that's part & parcel for fighting games. This should be an easy buy for anyone who is a fan of fighting games or Marvel for that matter.

Finally, a Bioware-endorsed Dragon Age web series starring Felicia Day? YES PLEASE! I really hope they put some serious money into the effects though, as arguably the most impressive-looking web series to date is Dr. Horrible and that wasn't all that huge on special effects. If they treat it like a cheap cash-in it will show and fans will be none too pleased. I'm already none-too pleased that this isn't coming out right now to help tide over the wait until Dragon Age 2 finally comes out in March.

That's it for today but I should be back either Thursday or Friday with a Back to the Future Episode I review along with a few other things. In the meantime here is your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Arthur

Get to Know Jack...

It's like a giant blast from the past. The last time I even saw this game was way back in the original Playstation days. It was pretty awesome then, but sometimes things really don't age so gracefully. So it has to be asked, is it worth going down memory lane with this Trivial Pursuit knockoff with an attitude? Actually according to nearly every review, it totally is. So hopefully I'll be picking it up relatively soon and can give my impressions.

I have downloaded and played a couple hours of Stacking. Now like most games from the mind of Tim Schafer, it's funny and endearing and original. Whether or not I would've paid $15 (I got it for free because of my PSN + membership) is debatable. Why? Because while it's fun, much like Double Fine's previous digital effort, Costume Quest, it's all over way too quickly, clocking in at just over 4 hours according to most reviews. Granted, you can squeeze a couple more out of fooling around with all the dolls and finding all the different solutions to the puzzles, but paying such a premium price for such a short experience makes me think twice about any future Double Fine offerings.

Is Bulletstorm immature, offensive and insultingly juvenile? Sure, but so are most of the people who are probably going to buy it. Fox news is taking it to a whole new level though, claiming its the worst game ever made and that it and games like it make people rapists. I really don't even know where to begin with this. I honestly thought this level of bullshit was more or less done when Jack Thompson was finally disbarred, but I guess you can never underestimate the idiocy of Fox news. It's just sad that anybody listens to them really. Assuming humanity survives long enough, at some point we are going to look at this kind of stuff as a true low point in human history.

Ok, that's really all for today, I might have another post up this weekend, we'll have to see if time permits. In the meantime, here is your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK : EPIC BUNGEE

Mario's got game...

Now normally when somebody shoehorns one of their mascots into another genre, it's a really crappy attempt to cash in. Fortunately with Mario, that's usually not the case (horrible Olympics games with Sonic not withstanding) he's starred in very well-made rpgs, sports games and puzzle games of consistently good quality, and now we have his latest foray into several sports with Mario Sports Mix. Arguably this is a great value as Nintendo probably could've made each of these a separate title and sold bucketloads, so throwing four together is a pretty good package. Obviously with more casual titles as this, you should probably wait until reviews hit, but odds are this will be one of the better multi-player Wii games out this year.

While I'm not all that fond of playing with dolls, Tim Schafer's latest project, Stacking, gets me pretty excited about it. As I've previously mentioned it's due out Tuesday (and FREE to Playstation Plus subscribers). And pretty much anything by Tim Schafer is well worth checking out for the comedy alone. It does seem like after a career of brilliant physical games that didn't sell, Schafer might finally have found his niche in the digital space as the excellent Costume Quest sold very well and Stacking looks to be yet another big hit.

Ok, though Mark Wahlberg is most likely set to star in (and consequently ruin) The upcoming Uncharted movie, he's not an absolute lock. This has lead many fans to campaign for Castle star Nathan Fillion (who himself has been campaigning for  the role). While Fillion would be a pretty awesome choice, I'd actually like to throw in a dark horse contender that would really fit the role without any possibility of the actor being bigger than the character (which Fillion just might) : Joe Flannigan.

Aside from looking a hell of a lot like Nathan Drake, Flanigan's character of John Sheppard, which he played on Stargate : Atlantis for five seasons, was essentially Drake if he was in the military. The same wit and cockiness was all there, it'd be a pretty natural transition. Just a thought I'd throw out there.


Ok that's all for today, I should be back either Wednesday or Thursday with a review of Stacking and whatever else is going on. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Captain America : The First Avenger:

Playstation Plus: Officially worth it....

Admittedly when I got myself a playstation plus subscription a little over a month ago, I was extremely skeptical of its overall benefits. I mean, discounts on games nobody cares about, free themes, and the occasional exclusive demo? Not really worth paying for. But just look at all the free goodies you've actually gotten if you signed up-Crash Team Racing, arguably the best Kart racing game ever not made by Nintendo-FREE. The latest season of Sam & Max-FREE. DC Universe Beta-Free. And we get another awesome freebie next Tuesday when the latest game from the genius mind of Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Costume Quest), Stacking, hits PSN. This would normally be $15, you get it free if you paid for Plus. And really, we are just getting started since it's only February. Hopefully Sony really pays attention to this plan, because honestly at this rate it's perks are far better than xbox live's.

Dragon Age 2 is already a probable RPG of the year candidate (even if it is Mass Effect 2 with dragons, which sure as hell is not a bad thing). But if for some reason you aren't completely sold, a demo is coming on the 22nd of this month, complete with bonuses for the full game purchase. More companies should make demos like this-something that ties into the game, so we don't get some deja vu feeling going on when we play the actual title.

Enjoying DC Universe, but not psyched about the monthly fee? Well, they've just announced a special lock-in rate that starts on the 8th and runs through March 1st which is $29.99 for 3 months. Pretty good, but honestly I'd much prefer us PS3 players to at least have the option of a lifetime subscription much like the pc players have, but this is a good start towards keeping me invested.


Ok, that's really all for today, I will hopefully do another post Sunday, but my weekends are pretty hectic, so no guarantees. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Charlie Sheen Escapes from Rehab