Dammit now I might actually want Black Ops...

It's something that sounds like it could only be a fan-made mod, but the newest Black Ops dlc, Escalation features a mode called "Call of the Dead", which features zombies. And yes, zombies are the new overbearing horror trend, I'm sure there will be an angsty teen drama featuring zombies any minute now. But what possibly makes this zombie kill-fest stand out is who you can play as. Buffy Summers, the most ass-kicking monster slayer of the last couple decades. Danny Trejo's cheesy action character Machete (and while I don't care much about Machete, Trejo himself is pretty damn awesome), horror icon Robert Englund and some dude from the Walking Dead (who I'm sure I will care about when I actually get around to watching the show). Pretty good fanboy dream material if you ask me. Now just add a few more legendary ass-kickers (say Bruce Campbell) and I'd be very sold on this whole idea, and considering the last FPS I actually bought was Halo 3, that's saying something.

Now last time I talked about how the rpg slate for 2011 seems pretty goddamn lacking this year. While that still may be true, there is one game I completely overlooked that might be one hell of a good timesink. That would be Dungeon Siege III, which is shaping up to be an awesome-looking dungeon crawl and it should be out in a just a little over a month. Hopefully there will be some awesome rpgs announced at E3 which is in June that will be out this year and this can keep us rpg nuts busy in the meantime.

Finally, while the virtual console on the Wii is a bit of a missed opportunity, with no upgrades whatsoever to the classic titles, the 3DS version will actually do something different, releasing many of its classics with a 3D mode, starting with Excitebike which owners will get for free. This seems like a pretty good idea, we'll see if that really pans out with other titles.

Ok that's it for today, should be another post up tomorrow or Friday. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Epic Monster War

Where are my rpgs at?

Seriously, I finished Dragon Age II a couple weeks ago and there is pretty much nothing to look forward to for MONTHS. The only ones really set in stone are Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim, both not due out til NOVEMBER. I really thought we had gotten past the point of having to wait months and months between rpg fixes. Didn't this all change when Final Fantasy VII hit and basically brought the genre up to a whole new level of awareness? I'm not even talking big series, where are those quirky off-beat under the radar releases? Sure there are some on the horizon like Tales of Grace and Disgaea 4, but they just have a vague release date of sometime in 2011. Most likely, they'll come out around the same time, making me skip them so I can afford the bigger titles. 2010 was pretty much a banner year for rpgs, with tons to choose from on nearly every console out there (except for the Wii, but the last Nintendo home console with a decent rpg line-up was the Super NES, so anybody expecting a solid rpg experience on that was an idiot).

Sure, like any good rpg gamer I've got a few games I don't mind playing through again (actually having quite a bit of fun rediscovering Dark Cloud 2 at the moment), but I haven't really needed to do that for the last few years, there has always been something that I missed out on or at the very least something in the very near future.  For some reason 2011 is the year of the starving rpg gamer, desperately hungry for our next fix. I guess if I get real desperate, there's always Pokemon Black/White...

What Nintendo needs to do with Project Cafe/Wii 2...

Whatever the hell you want to call it, everybody's pretty much in agreement that in the next couple of months Nintendo will be unveiling their next system and that it will be out well before whatever Sony or Microsoft has planned next, probably in the next year. Sure the Wii was a resounding success, catering to that oh so hard to capture casual market in a level never before achieved. But any reasonable Nintendo/Wii fan will tell you that the Big N did plenty of things wrong with the Wii, and these are crucial critical things they need to fix if they want to stay ahead of the pack:

Make Some NEW IP: Hey we all love Mario, Link, Zelda, Kirby, etc. Nintendo has a very reliable stable of icons they can release for their systems and the faithful will buy it like there is no tomorrow. But how long have these characters been around? Nearly all of Nintendo's stable have been around since the SNES era or earlier, without much in the way of anything new. Now granted, nearly all studios that have been around awhile have venerable series they rely on, but new ideas need to be developed or else things get stale pretty damn fast. Just make sure the usual Nintendo magic is applied, and they'll be just as welcome as any of their current big stars.

Satiate the hardcore base: Now Nintendo's appeal to the masses worked very well, but it came at the cost of alienating a whole lot of people who had been loyal to them for years and with good reason. Oh sure, there has been a trickle of core titles throughout the Wii's existence, but it's some pretty long dry spells in-between. It's why sites (including this one) are basically constantly justifying owning a Wii, because it's this generation's fondue set. If Nintendo comes out with something gimmicky with no real depth, the public will probably just respond with "meh", and the hardcore, already being spurned once, won't be fooled again.

Figure out a cohesive online system: If there is one area where Nintendo has royally screwed up, it's in their online system. Potentially there's nothing wrong with it-Tons of unique channels, online play, and tons of classics along with original titles through Wii Ware and the Virtual Console. But the execution is horrid. The friend code setup is an insane joke that has no plausible justification. The Virtual Console and Wii ware are both half-assed efforts with little to no push behind them and many of the unique channels are gimmicky one-note ideas that never go anywhere.

Ok that's all I got for today, should hopefully have another post up between tomorrow and Sunday. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Pokemon Tower Defense

Stan Lee has lost his goddamn mind...

Ok  this is a day later than I expected, but I plan to make it up by posting at least 3  times this week, and as my schedule has become a tad less hectic lately, I might try to keep that up. Anyways, this isn't brand new news, and it's not even that surprising, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting back into entertainment after his political career. He plans to turn this whole "Governator" persona into a franchise. Comics, a cartoon, a videogame, probably even a movie. Now Arnold doing this is pretty easy to believe, it's a shallow marketing opportunity that smacks of the worst of Hollywood board meetings where they focus on how to make money rather than making a good product, and Arnold has never been concerned with making something for the Academy. The real insanity is that his partner in all this is Stan Lee. Let me say that again STAN THE FUCKING MAN LEE. The same dude who brought us pretty much all of Marvel's legendary heroes.

Now, some will say this is selling out, which seems like a decent enough theory, but why? He's already made his money and continues making money selling out with producer credits and cameos in nearly every Marvel movie. No a much more reasonable explanation is that he sees himself as a devoted fan would-That he can do no wrong, much like say everything George Lucas has done in the last decade or so. He's not just throwing his name in this, he's pushing it like it'll be the next big phenomenon. This is something that could actually damage his legacy. It's actually that bad. Schwarzenegger has no such risk here, his creative cred is absolutely zero. Really the best we can hope for here is that no company in their right mind will pick it up and it will be quickly forgotten. Stan Lee can just be that weird old guy who keeps popping up in Marvel movies and used to great comics rather than the man who brought about the goddamn entertainment apocalypse by being one of the creative forces behind "The Governator" franchise.

All right, that's it for today. Hopefully I should be back tomorrow or Wednesday with a post about Nintendo's new rumored system. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Abduction

A word about solo & co-op gaming...

So recently many big follow-ups to epic series were "disappointingly" confirmed not to have co-op and be a single-player only experience. Arkham City (follow-up to the best super-hero game ever, Arkham Asylum) Mass Effect 3, & Elder Scrolls: Skyrim  all have been confirmed to be single-player only. There seemed to by a lot of general disappointment in these games focusing on being solo experiences. Why? Why is that even an issue? These games are focused on strong experiences that are played solo. Why must co-op (or multi-player in general for that matter) be shoe-horned into every single game? This would seem to pretty much be the result of games by committee, shoving in everything to try and appeal to the widest audience possible, yet really not pleasing anyone.

Very few games that include both multi-player and single-player manage any sort of balancing act between the two. The Call of Duty games boast excellent multi-player, but extremely shallow and short single-player. Uncharted 2 boasts awesome single-player, but extremely underwhelming multi-player. It probably would've been a much better idea to scrap it altogether and make more single-player levels. Fable II's co-op mode is one of the most half-assed

Really in today's market there is really no reason to mesh these two clashing styles of gameplay experience together, there is a market for multi-player only games, and there is still a big market for a stand-alone solo experience, and not just rpgs. So hopefully companies will realize this too and actually think about whether something is a actually a good fit for a game rather than shoehorning something in there that detracts from the experience of having a more tightly developed core mode. And the best way we can ensure that is to actually buy games that reflect that.

Ok that's all for today, I should hoepfully have another post up tomorrow or Sunday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Top 8 games I want to see on the 3DS...

Sorry this is a bit later than expected, but I spent most of my free time this week finally finishing Dragon Age 2. It was a fun game and I plan to go through it again at some point (especially with this year seemingly incredibly light on rpgs) but probably not before I get through another playthrough of a few of my older games (i.e. I had just started up Dark Cloud 2 a little before DA2 hit, I plan to get back into that before I get into anything else). Anyways, the 3DS is out and a lot of exciting games are in the pipeline for it. Here are 8 I think would be a great fit for the system and its capabilities.

#8 Super Smash Bros.: Nintendo's premier fanboy dream come true really deserves a solid on the go edition. Being able to play online on the road would be extremely awesome. Street Fighter IV showed you could pull of an impressive 3D fighter on the system. 3D could also possibly ad a whole new dimension to the fight, or just be a really awesome way to see the game.

#7 Wario: Formerly a portable mainstay, Wario's been oddly quiet since about 2007. Sure, there was the criminally overlooked Wario Land: Shake It on Wii 3 years ago but that's it. He could really use a solid portable entry and the new 3DS is the perfect opportunity. And not another goddamn minigame collection, not that those haven't been fun, but I'd like to see Wario back as the greedy platforming bastard he is known to be, in full 3D.

#6 Sonic The Hedgehog: If you have only been paying attention to the blue blur's console efforts, you might think its best to just put the poor guy out of his misery. But Sonic has managed to keep his dignity on the portable end with a solid series of games, and he could continue to do so on the Nintendo 3DS. And while most series on this list would benefit from 3D being a huge part of the gameplay Sonic would probably work best sticking to basics, but it could still be fun checking out the old school gaming in 3D anyways (like Rayman)

#5 Professor Layton: I could only imagine what kind of insane brain teasers would result from giving the Layton series a whole new dimension to work with, it's already arguably the most maddeningly brilliant puzzle series ever, yet manages to not be completely nonsensical in its solutions, so the a 3rd dimension to the puzzles would probably just make you feel even stupider.

#4 Ace Attorney: Admittedly the main draw of the Ace Attorney games is the trial portions, which would most likely not benefit much from any kind of 3D aspect. However the investigation portions where you try to uncover evidence have always been rather lackluster and incorporating 3D could be a fantastic way to beef them up both visually and game-play wise.

#3 Star Fox: Yes the are remaking Star Fox 64, but I think what we all really want is a brand new glorious chapter in the Star Fox series if for no other reason than the entire flight combat genre has virtually nonexistent the last generation be it portable or home consoles. A proper sequel, possibly even with online multi-player would be the return to glory Fox truly deserves.

#2 Advance Wars: An incredibly solid series of turn-based strategy games. They don't necessarily need a real graphical upgrade, the basic presentation has always worked well. But incorporating 3D could add a whole new layer to the already fantastic combat. Either way its a great series that has been dormant for a few years and is due for a return.

#1 New Super Mario Bros.: I'm sure there will be plenty of games featuring Mario on the 3DS during the course of its life, but one I would particularly like to see is New Super Mario Bros done the way it really should be, whether it's a remake or an all new game. That means online multi-player, a ton of new levels (possibly dumping the midly amusing minigames) and incorporating 3D in a way that really invigorates the gameplay.

Ok that's the list, hopefully should have another post up early next week. In the meantime here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars

The Top Ten Bioware characters

With their latest epic rpg, Dragon Age 2 now out, regardless of what you think of their games, it's hard to argue against the fact that they create wondrous universes filled with mostly awesome characters. Here in my opinion (in no particular order) are the top ten characters their epic games have produced so far:

10. Kriea: Easily the only actually interesting character from the rushed (and incomplete) but still very fun Knights of the Old Republic II, Kriea did her best to turn your character to the Dark Side, often presenting rather compelling arguments for doing so. And if you tried to turn her to the light? Yeah, she wasn't going for that, being one of the few Bioware characters in history you couldn't turn no matter how you tried.

9. Urdnot Wrex: Wrex could've been another brawny brute with not much in the way of brain matter, like so many other warrior race characters, but  there are some serious brains to go with that brawn, along with a real complex drive to save his people from themselves. It also says something when one of the biggest accomplishments in a game is how hard it is to talk him into not turning on you at a certain key point in the game, which makes him one of the more complex characters indeed.

8. Zevran: Being someone who is usually a rogue, other rogues importance as far as battle has always been dubious at best for me personally, so it's hard to vouch for his awesomeness in battle. However his hilarious dialogue be it flirting with Wynne till she is about to light him on fire or trying to help Alistair with his inadequacies in the sack, the random conversation snippets make him one of the funniest characters to keep around.

7. Alistair: Normally someone like Alistair would be the cocky self-assured hero. But Alistair is insecure, unsure of himself and very self-effacing, making him a great foil for many of the other characters. Plus he actually really grows throughout the journey in Origins into his own man capable of leading an army (or possibly king depending on how things go).

6.Varric: Easily the standout character of Dragon Age 2, telling the tale of Kirkwall's champion as he sees fit, and really it's up to you whether or not his story is truthful. Varric is greedy and ambitious, but also all about family, even family that traps him and leaves him (and subsequently you) for dead in the Deep Roads.

5. Morrigan: Whether its trading hilarious barbs with nearly all your party members, disapproving openly of your attempts to help others or just getting you (or Alistair) to conceive a possible anti-christ with her, Morrigan is a welcome respite from the usual party members that seem to be either completely good or complete bastards depending on how you roll in most Bioware offerings. She's not really bad per se, but like most real people she makes some questionable decisions in the name of finishing the mission and living to tell about it.

4. The Illusive Man: The only character on this list who is not a party member (though I've no doubt he could kick some ass if needed) the whole of the Illusive Man is an extremely compelling mystery. What are his true motives? Does he really care about humanity or is he just out for himself? Why doesn't he crush you like a bug if you don't do things his way? Only the briefest of hints are given about him at all, making him a compelling presence that hopefully will be plenty influential in Mass Effect 3 as well.

3. Garrus: The former space cop turned vigilante is one of the best all around party members for both Mass Effect games. He managed to piss off 3 separate gangs enough to convince them to team up to take him down(which they have little success in). Frankly he's just an all around bad ass, even after he gets half his face blown off.

2. Mordin: Easily my favorite Mass Effect character, Mordin is highly intelligent, funny and can kill you before you get within 100 yards if he so wishes. He doesn't kill indiscriminately but has no qualms doing so if it justifies the means. Pretty much every conversation with him is extremely entertaining, especially when he chooses to belt out in song.

1. HK-47: Easily the best character out of the KOTOR games, arguably the best Bioware character of all time, HK-47 is pretty much the template for characters that openly despise meatbags (i.e. anything living) and do it gleefully. He won't kill you for doing good, but he makes it pretty clear that if it wasn't for his programming he might just kill you for the hell of it.

All right that's the list. Hopefully another post will be up by Wednesday. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Hangover 2

Free Console MMOs?

You'd think with the launch of DC Universe, consoles would probably be years away from getting free MMOs. After all, only recently are they becoming a serious thing on PC, with nearly everything with the exception of WOW and a few others going to that model. It is a great way to nearly ensure at least a decent user-base to survive on, and many have found that model far more profitable, since people seem more willing to spend money on in-game goodies and bonuses when they aren't already being forced to pay a monthly fee.

But yet here we are. Yesterday, Free Realms was actually released on PSN to download. It's been available on PC for a few years, but now you can play it on your PS3 no charge. This is potentially huge, as why would someone pay to play something like DC Universe when you can play Free Realms? Well the immediate answer is fairly obvious much like it is with WOW-Something like DCUO offer a much more involved and deeper experience, though for those more casual players or people who just don't have the time (personally I haven't touched DCU since Dragon Age II came out, making me regretting buying that 3-month subscription because while I plan to get back into it, that probably won't happen til after it expires) it's probably a more enticing offer since there's no real commitment. Admittedly I haven't played any of the free rpgs out there, but if they start popping up on consoles on a regular basis I might.

PS3 owners aren't the only ones getting a free MMO either. Dungeon Fighter Online is supposed to be coming to the 360 at some point this year. Though whether that actually happens or this becomes yet another scrapped MMO idea is yet to be seen. It'll be interesting to see how this development affects the future of console MMOs. Many console gamers scoff at paying for anything beyond what you already get in the box as is, so something that's free to play may be far more appealing than something that has a monthly charge to it.

That's really all for today. I should have another post up this weekend sometime. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Infinite Tower RPG

FINALLY I CAN PLAY NINTENDOGS IN 3D!!!

No I haven't gotten a 3DS yet. I'm not really planning to in the very near future, but if you have gotten one I'm sure you're enjoying it immensely. Not really sure what games to get for your shiny new portable though? Kotaku has a pretty comprehensive list of what to get and what to avoid (Ghost Recon is getting surprisingly solid reviews, that might just be one of the big sleeper titles).

It took a little while, because in addition to being very sick, injured and working a lot, I still wanted to get through Awakenings, but I finally have gotten some quality time in with Dragon Age II. It's been the point of a lot of controversy, as people who loved the slower, more tactical approach and much deeper customization in the first game, not too mention the much lower average completion time (i.e. the first DA could run you anywhere from 40-60 hours, not including DLC, DA II seems to top out around 25-30). Now I'm about 9 hours in. I really enjoy the frantic combat, it makes for a much more involved affair and frankly you can be just as tactical as you can still pause to order around your allies, and give them very specific tactics to use in battle. Arguably the real let down is the lack of ability to really tweak your characters equipment. You can change out weapons and accessories, but aside from a couple of arbitrary upgrades, you can't touch their armor. I also like the cast quite a bit, Varric especially standing out as a favorite. I think it would be a solid choice any time, but admittedly this seems like a weak year for rpgs, what with only Mass Effect 3 & Skyrim on the horizon and those aren't coming out til at least November. So I would say this is a very solid choice for those of us needing a new rpg, which most of you probably do by now.


That's pretty much it for today, but I should have another post by Wednesday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Captain America

7 reasons you shouldn't buy a 3DS. Yet...

 
We are just a week away from one of the most anticipated launches of all time with Nintendo's newest portable, the 3DS. I want one, you want one. It's awesome, it's really hard to argue any solid reason why you shouldn't get one. Eventually. But launch day? Not so much, and here are 7 perfectly good reasons you should wait at least a little while:


7. It's too expensive: At $250, the 3DS is the most expensive portable Nintendo's ever launched. I'm not saying you don't get your money's worth, it looks like one hell of a deal. But $250 is pretty damn steep, and apparently the whole reason it's that high is because reaction to the system at last year's E3 was so overwhelmingly positive. So odds are once the excitement dies down a bit the price will too. And that's just the system. The games are running higher too, hitting the $40 mark. Granted, there's not really a legitimate reason to immediately declare a portable game not worth that much, but given the more casual approach you usually see in portable games, it does seem on the high side.

6. There's nothing good to play: Has anyone actually looked at the launch line-up for this thing? I mean sure Kid Icarus and Ocarina of Time 3D are not far off in the future, but you can always buy those later. The launch line-up is pretty much a joke. Pilotwings Resort? Nintendogs + Cats? Those are the big titles? Yikes. I mean sure, Street Fighter looks impressive, but fighting games just traditionally aren't all that great on portables.

5. Extra money for Advil: Though not  a universal experience, many people have experienced headaches playing this thing in 3D for an extended period of time, even to the extent that Nintendo has warned against little ones playing it in 3D at all. I'd prefer a headache-free gaming experience thank you, even if it requires glasses.

4. You might have to bring a book: One of the best feature of Nintendo portables to this point has been the battery life. These things usually last 10 or more hours on a single charge, long enough for most plane trips, bus rides, etc. The 3DS has a rather paltry battery life, even if you don't use the 3D, with things like wi-fi being enabled can drastically cut the battery power without you even realizing it. Hopefully Nintendo or someone will come with a battery extender because that seriously damages the travel possibilities with this thing.

3. See what the competition has to offer: And I'm not just talking about Sony here, though seeing how the NGP stands up to the 3DS in terms of things like price & software wouldn't be a bad idea. Phones, the itouch, tablets, even the massively more expensive Ipad all offer multmedia experiences along with a constantly improving selection of games (at a far more affordable price at least on the games side). Even Nintendo has said it's biggest worry is Apple, so there's probably good reason why.

2. It's a gimmick: I'm not saying the 3D doesn't look cool and that Nintendo won't use it in some pretty inventive ways, but how many 3rd party companies will actually use the 3D to enhance the experience, rather than just shoe-horn it in, sometimes to the detriment of the gaming experience? Well the answer to that question should be pretty clear if you look at the piles & piles of shovelware lining both the shelves of the Wii & DS sections. Odds are it will be awhile before a number of good quality titles are available for the system, if ever.

1. Bigger, stronger, faster: Ok, not necessarily bigger, but how many versions of the DS have there been? Not counting limited editions like the Zelda or Mario Kart ones, there has been a whopping 4 iterations of the 3DS' predecessor, 3 or which you can still buy in pretty much any gaming section of any store. Nintendo's portables constantly have new versions come out, usually offering a thinner package, better lighting, etc. So odds are this time next year we will either already have word of a new version of the 3DS or it's arrival might even already been emminent, making those people who had to have it right away already for some buyers remorse for not waiting for the newer, arguably better version.

Now obviously this isn't really a knock against the 3DS at all, it should be a completely awesome system and I seriously doubt anyone who buys one will really be dissapointed with it. But like many console launches, there are plenty of issues that if you wait a little while will probably be worked out.

FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: TSUNAMI FIGHTER

The banhammer dropped on Sony?

Companies sue each other all the time for copyright infringement, it's just part of business. Usually these really lead nowhere. Some agreement is made to pay somebody or the claims are unfounded to begin with and business goes on as usual. I think this is what we pretty much all thought would happen when electronics manufacturer LG sued Sony, claiming the PS3 infringed on several patents. Again this is nothing new, pretty much all 3 companies have been sued numerous times, most of the time nothing really comes of it. But surprisingly, this lawsuit may actually have some legs and far-reaching implications, as shipments of PS3s were seized and Sony is currently not allowed to import them into Europe. But this isn't something irrelevant to us Americans as LG is pushing for a ban here too. Will it succeed? Honestly if it happened across the pond there's a decent chance it could happen here. But does that mean that PS3s will cease to exist? I really find that hard to believe, as there's just too much money at stake here. They might become a little scarce for awhile, so if you were planning to get one anytime soon, I'd do it now just to be safe.

It's good to be king right? In Fable 3, not so much. Not only are you tasked with saving your people from a horde of evil monsters, but now someone is trying to outright assassinate you in the latest DLC expansion, Traitor's Keep. I'm not heavily invested in Fable 3 so I haven't played much, but the wife is completely obsessed so its pretty much a must-buy for me.

And finally the PS one "classic" Vagrant Story is on PSN this week. A lot of people are very psyched about this but I remember it being really overly complex and dull. Most of the reviews at the time it came seem to at least somewhat agree with my assertion but still gave it high marks anyways. I'll wait for the next "classic" thank you very much.

That's about it for today, I should be back Thursday or Friday with something else, but until then here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Meaty Boner

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

NGP vs. 3DS-WHO YA GOT?!?!?!?

Sony unveiled their successor to the PSP, codenamed the "Next Generation Portable" (NGP) yesterday along with a whole mess of specs and upcoming titles. It does address some huge issues that the original had, namely the cumbersome UMD format being gone and adding a second analog stick. Sony is boasting it's nearly as powerful as the PS3, which sounds like it'll be costly. Sony also claims it'll be "affordable",  though what that actually means is anybody's guess. I think anything over $299 would be insane, and even that would probably raise more than a few eyebrows. Of course the underlying issue here is that support for the PSP was pretty goddamn anemic, with many titles cancelled and long gaps in-between solid releases. It's hard to say if anyone is going to even give a damn this round, but then again, last time everyone expected the PSP to completely dominate the DS. This time the NGP is the massive underdog, so who knows? I do know that I don't really care to play Sony's biggest console franchises on the go, they need some real original content to drive sales or this might even have a history than the go.

So I tried the Bulletstorm demo yesterday, and boy I felt like I had just played Duke Nukem Forever, or what Forever is probably supposed to be, as it was filled with gratitous violence and swearing and desperately trying to make you love every minute of despite coming out more like something that escaped from the extreme attitude of the 90s. I was mildly amused, but ultimately bored by its excess.

And finally, WATCH ARCHER SEASON 2! It premiers tonight, I'll probably watch it tomorrow online. And I should still have another post this weekend.

The 15 Best Animated Superhero Shows

Superheroes are awesome, it's just fact. And while live action seems to be the trend lately, animation is a much more natural fit to really represent them in the best way possible. So with that in mind, here are the 15 best examples of top notch shows pretty much anybody should be able to enjoy:

#15: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Far more goofy than their gritty comic book origins, the original Turtles show took a whole bunch of weird and made it work. As if the Turtles themselves weren't crazy enough in concept, adding brain-like space alien Krang and moronic minions Bebop & Rocksteady turned it up a notch. And yet for the most part it worked really well, managing to combine decent action with comedy really well. It kind of fell apart the last couple seasons, but few shows, animated or otherwise had such a strong run for such a long time, to this day they are still making TMNT, with a new show on Nickelodeon coming out this year, which speaks to the appeal and strength of this oddly fantastic foursome of ninjas.

#14. Freakazoid : Possibly the most insane superhero ever, winning most of his battles by simply irritating his enemies more often than doing anything remotely heroic. Whether he actually even qualifies as a hero is possibly in question, since he just does whatever he wants most of the time, mostly in an absolutely hilarious fashion, with completely awesome and random humor thrown in just for the hell of it.

#13. The Tick

While most of these shows do a pretty good job at poking fun at the superhero genre once and great while, The Tick managed to do it every single episode, be it the dim bulb hero or his equally ridiculous allies like Sewer Urchin and even more awesomely ridiculous enemies such as Chairface Chippendale. A still brilliant parody of the occasional stupidity of comics, this probably still reigns as the greatest superhero comedy ever.

#12. Darkwing Duck: Superheroes are supposed to be selfless, all about helping their fellow man, and don't really care for glory. That is not Darkwing at all. He's all about the glory, extremely petty, egotistical and selfish, sometimes dangerously so. And that's what makes him so awesome. But at the end of the day, he still beats the bad guy, making him one of the few heroes that usually can back up his huge boasts.

#11. X-Men Evolution: It'd be nearly impossible to try and outdo the original X-men series (more on that later), so why even bother? Granted, sending heroes back to high school is a risky proposition, but Evolution made it work incredibly well, bringing a great mix of stand-alone and arching storylines that would even stretch into the next season, which is extremely rare for an cartoon shows. It's a shame it only lasted 3 seasons, which didn't five it much of a chance at having a rich a deeply layered history like it could have.

#10.  Gargoyles: This is probably Disney's most ambitious animated series to date. It's has layers upon layers of character development and plot lines, it's dark, dealing with deep betrayal, murder, kidnapping, hate crime and other such non-kiddy fare. And being on Disney with this kind of subject matter, you knew it was only destined for a few seasons, but what a fantastic few seasons they were.

#9. Batman: The Brave & the Bold : It's an incredible accomplishment to do Batman as light and campy and still make it work exceptionally well, but that's exactly what the most recent Dark Knight series has done, being extremely funny and loaded with cameos from DC's vast B & C-list such as Blue Beetle & Plastic Man. It's also the only show to portray Batman as having an actual sense of humor, which while out of character for his more serious portrayals, works very well within the show.

#8. Batman Beyond : There can't really be another Batman other than Bruce Wayne, right? Nobody could possibly fill that role. Except what the hell do you do when Batman actually does get too old? In comes Terry McGinnis, who isn't Bruce Wayne, not by a longshot. But he's a new kind of Batman, for a new age, and it works, even beating the likes of Freeze and the Joker in his own way. Gotham doesn't always need Bruce Wayne, but it does always need a Batman, and Terry fills in the role very nicely.

#7. X-Men : Premiering the same year as Batman: the Animated series, this was one of the first attempts to do a real, serious cartoon show, and boy did it work. Arcs that ran over the whole show, a real continuity to the universe and the episodes, and the bonus of bringing some classic X-Men storylines to life. This was one of the first examples that animation and cartoons specifically did not have to be candy coated crap meant to sell toys and could be as good as anything on prime time TV. If it has any failings, it was that unlike the best shows, it was completely serious, instead of having a good mix of humor and drama.

#6. Spectacular Spider-Man : There have been a fair amount of Marvel cartoons over the years, several starring Spider-Man, this is far and away the best, managing to perfectly capture the personality of the wall-crawler while successfully taking a new spin on most of his villains and friends. Sadly this fantastic show lasted only 2 seasons, a fatality of the rights going back to Sony, which choose to go with a new show rather than keep the great original. Boo Sony.

#5. Teen Titans : This might actually be the funniest superhero series that isn't a spoof, giving the show an exaggerated anime style and most of the characters extremely goofy yet enjoyable and endearing personalities. Yet it manages to mix in some seriousness, most of it dealing with Robin's arch nemesis Slade but also dealing with things like Raven's repressed darker nature from time to time.  For pure entertainment and hilarity, it's hard to top this awesome 5-season run.

#4. Superman : The Animated Series: Arguably DC's most famous hero (at least until Batman's recent leap in popularity), a huge problem with Superman was that he was practically invincible, how do you keep that interesting? Bruce Timm managed to do it, making nearly every episode entertaining and the best representation of the Man of Steel to date.

#3. Avatar: The Last Airbender : Like many of the shows on this list, Avatar manages to blend drama and humor extremely well. What makes it stand out is that it's an original property that manages to create a rich universe and it manages to tell its story in three short but amazing seasons. It could've gone on longer (and sort of will thanks to an upcoming spin-off) but in the end it didn't really need to, it accomplished what few shows, especially cartoons manage to do in wrapping up all its key plots to come to a stellar and satisfying conclusion, making it easily one of the best series ever, animated or otherwise.

#2:  Justice League/Justice League Unlimited :  The original Justice League show was a great feat, managing 8 superheroes in compelling ways with great intertwining storylines for 3 seasons. When it changed to Unlimited, potentially incorporating the entire DC universe, it got even better, taking time to make us care about nobodies like Hawk & Dove, Vigilante, or the hilarious Booster Gold while still giving plenty of screen time to the big name heroes. Probably the most amazing aspect was continuity, even mining episodes of Batman, Superman & Batman Beyond for episode material.

#1. Batman: The Animated series: Arguably responsible for cartoons finally being taken as something more than kid's stuff. It was true to the source material, and actually made the comic it was based on better. Harley Quinn was an original creation of the show, Mr. Freeze was made a better villain, and so on. It managed to have great adventures, seriously dark moments, and even completely hilarious episodes. It is the standard-bearer, and probably always will be.

Ok that's the list. Don't really have anything else, but I'll probably be back Friday with another post. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Zombie Homerun