And Injustice for All...

Is it wrong to say that the storyline in Injustice is almost too good for a damn fighting game? I mean, it's not one of the greatest stories ever, and is in fact downright goofy at certain points. But it is really entertaining, has a couple a truly shocking moments and is bursting with fan service. A fighting game really doesn't need this, but it certainly enhances a surprisingly awesome package. And this coming from someone who is admittedly not a huge fan of fighting games. I'm pretty sure the last one I seriously got into was Smash Bros. Melee. I just don't have the aptitude (or dedication) to seriously learn fighters, so once I get through the Story mode, there isn't a whole lot of meat for me personally. I do wish the story mode was longer, as it clocks in at under 4 hours, but that's not the focus here. It's an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a fighting game, especially on the Wii U which is gasping for games a the moment unless you a whiling away the days in Monster Hunter.

Star Trek The Video Game on the other hand is an unmitigated disappointing mess. Granted, we shouldn't expect much from a direct movie tie-in at this point, but this is a game that's been in development for quite awhile (like Aliens), looked good at previews (like Aliens) and was given extra time for polish even after it was supposedly pretty much ready (like Aliens). We should've gotten a decent Mass Effect clone or even Uncharted in space because they were clearly aiming for that, instead we get an ugly boring buggy piece of dreck that not even most dastardly Ferengi (can't wait to see JJ Abrams interpretation of them BTW) would try to sell. You are much better off going to back to any of the Mass Effect games for a Star Trek-esque experience.

Wii Music U will save Nintendo!!!

Barely a day after posting my thoughts on what Nintendo needs to do at their big E3 press conference, Nintendo says screw that, and they are just hosting a series of Nintendo directs leading up to E3 and then 2 small closed presentations at the event when they would normally have a big flashy press conference. I'm really of two minds about this.

One one hand, it makes a lot of business sense. Unless both Sony & Microsoft just have absolute disasters at their pressers, all eyes will be on on those two and their new hardware. No matter what cool games Nintendo has, it can't compare to the new shiny the other 2 have. So it really might be better to save money and just show the press what you have to play. The directs have been a fantastic way to reach Nintendo fans and get them excited and admittedly the last really great Nintendo presser was when the Wii was unveiled, with the last several ranging from mediocre to downright strange.

On the other hand, The Wii U is nothing short of a disaster at this point, not even meeting lowered sales expectations this past fiscal year and still facing the huge image problem of the larger casual audience not even understanding it's a new system and while the Gamepad is a great piece of tech it's not as easy a sell as the Wii remote. It needs a goddamn life injection and a big flashy press conference with Reggie getting back to the days of Reggie saying he's here to kick some ass is sorely needed for the exact reason of drawing people away from Sony & Microsoft and having say yeah that new hardware is nice, but have you fucking seen what Nintendo is doing? There is something to be said for pomp and circumstance.

I really think Nintendo will have the better game line-up because their system has been out for awhile and we know they will have big games like Mario, Smash Bros, Zelda the follow-up to Xenoblade and quite a few others while the others will have well launch games which historically only a handful are even worth talking about. Whether that would be enough to overshadow brand new hardware is a tough question though. Maybe we'll see Nintendo return to a big grand press conference next year when everyone is on more even footing.

That's really all I have for today, expect another post up Monday or Tuesday, until then I have a new feature of the week: Your weekly game music-this will be a mix of stuff-original songs about video games, 8-bit covers and tracks from music so it should be a lot of fun to listen to. To start here's an 8-bit mix of Hey Soul Sister by Train:

8 Things Nintendo needs to do at E3....

It's been a little while, but with the biggest E3 in years right around the corner, I couldn't stay silent for too long. I will try my best to get back to posting at least twice a week, and we'll see how that goes. It practically goes without saying that this is one every single console company really needs to bring their A game for. Microsoft may have handily won this round in the minds of most core gamers; but rumors of always online, still charging for Xbox live when the competition offers similar service for free and seemingly lacking in IP have put them on the defensive before their new system has even been unveiled. Sony is arguably in the best position pre-E3, with a system that gamers and devs seem excited about, but lots of pie in sky ideas that may never come to fruition (cloud gaming) and a somewhat lackluster showing of games at the unveiling (I mean really, was anyone that excited about Killzone 4, a new Infamous or Knack?) along with Sony being well... Sony makes people wonder if they can really pull off a much needed win this year.

But easily the one with the hardest road is Nintendo. The Wii U has had an incredibly rocky start, with several key titles not coming out in a timely manner, poor sales, and little to no connection to a casual audience that has probably moved on to cell phones with their fickle attention spans. I don't think they need to "win" E3, but they need to make a big splash, and remind people that they are a gaming presence to be reckoned with. Here's 8 things they can do to make that happen:

8. Ignore the 3DS: Seriously, the 3DS is fine. It's selling incredibly well, and has a slate of incredible games out just now (Luigi's Mansion is a serious dark horse GOTY contender, Fire Emblem is awesome and the best-selling title in franchise history) with some more incredible games on the way shortly (Project X Zone, Mario & Luigi : Dream Team, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Pokemon X/Y and oh yeah FREAKING LINK TO THE PAST II!!!). You can have it on the show floor, you can have some closed door conference about it, maybe briefly mention it, but it doesn't need any help here. The Wii U really needs to be Nintendo's focus here for the full conference, they got the 3DS to a good place after a similarly rocky start with a lot of hard work, they need to show they are doing the same for the Wii U.

7. Show a commitment to the Virtual Console/Eshop: Seriously guys, this isn't that hard. Nintendo has a vintage catalog like no other gaming company and is no stranger to publishing and promoting quirky indie fare, yet the virtual console/eshop on the Wii was a complete bust and the 3DS version isn't doing so hot either. Yes getting Earthbound at some point will be nice, but there is plenty of other stuff that Nintendo could release and never has. Indie darlings abound on the 360 and especially the PS3 but are barely existent for Nintendo consoles. This is not a hard thing to fix. You had a pretty solid start with stuff like Trine 2 & Little Inferno, but it's pretty much sputtered since then with little to no explanation.  A lot of the best indie games are inspired by Nintendo's early days and would feel right at home on the Wii U.Showing off a slate off quirky download only titiles would show that Nintendo is actually pretty serious about the digital future.

6. Show some new IP: Yeah we all love the old Nintendo titles, and they manage to mostly keep them fresh with lots of new ideas for each major entry. I'm excited about the new Zelda & Mario games that will reportedly be at E3 along with the new Smash Bros. But where's some new ideas in a fresh setting with new characters I've never seen before? The only new franchise I can really think of is Wonderful 101, which looks great, but is also very reminscent of Pikmin. Now, Miyamoto has claimed new IP really spring from new gameplay ideas, which is partially true, but what helps sell those ideas is new places and fresh faces. Wonderful 101 is actually a great example here-It admittedly looks a lot like Pikmin 3, but because Wonderful 101 is something new it holds a lot more appeal to me personally. Sony to their credit has tried a lot of new stuff this generation. It hasn't all panned out, but we've gotten some real gems as well, the Uncharted series key among them. Nintendo needs to show something new along with their venerable franchises.

5. Bring back asymmetrical gameplay: Yeah, remember that big buzzword? The thing the Wii U gamepad was for besides playing without a TV? It was in Nintendoland, which admittedly was a slightly mediocre showing of the technology, but that was more to show possibilities. Since then, nothing. This feature is something no other console is going to offer and Nintendo needs to make that readily apparent. There are a lot of cool possible implementations, not the least of which is shown in the above comic. Nintendo has a really terrible history of putting out some pretty incredible technology and then virtually ignoring it. They can't do that here. Sony & Microsoft are going to be much prettier looking with their more powerful hardware, but odds are most games are going to be iterations of stuff we've seen before. A lot (see Killzone 4). This is Nintendo's real chance to show that they have gameplay experiences that literally cannot be duplicated on other consoles now matter how shiny they are.

4. Show value: I don't necessarily mean a price drop, though that's certainly on the table. The biggest question mark about Sony & Microsoft is pricing. $500 wouldn't be out of the question and leave some breathing room. But $400 isn't either and suddenly Nintendo's system isn't looking too favorable at $350 (especially if Microsoft's rumored subscription model is true). Get some more varied pack-ins, maybe have a digital bundle included for download. A bunch of strong games to choose from also show value as well.

3. Show that 3rd party isn't everything: Here's something Nintendo is already doing that I'm not really seeing Sony or Microsoft do in their recent history or look to be doing in the near future: A lot of exclusives. Aside from the venerable Nintendo franchises you've got a lot of follow ups and new entries we aren't seeing anywhere else. Lego City Undercover is arguably the the best Lego title to date and it's only on Wii U. Monster Hunter 3 is an experience you only get with Nintendo. Want the hot follow-up to Bayonetta? Better get a Wii U. Nintendo has a lot of cash and muscle to use in the gaming world and if they want the Wii U to make an impact, they should get some incredibly solid exclusive titles to show off at E3 that make the system a must buy.

2. But still show that they have 3rd party support: No console is an island. Nintendo is just one company, and while it does have a couple major supporters (mainly Ubisoft), it needs 3rd party support to avoid the massive software droughts that have constantly plagued it's previous platforms and is already plaguing the Wii U even at this early stage. I'm pretty sure everyone getting a Wii U knows you probably won't be getting most next-gen 3rd party titles on it, Sony & Microsoft's systems will just have too much of a graphical edge. But that's not what I'm talking about. 3rd party support doesn't necessarily mean getting GTA V (though that would be a great thing for them) it does mean getting major companies to regularly release quality games for your system. If they can show a good mix of quality first and third-party titles are coming, I don't think people will care so much that they aren't getting the next Call of Duty title.

1. Surprise us: The one thing E3 has lacked for years is surprise. We know most of the stuff before it's going to happen. The worst offender is Microsoft, but Nintendo's last few showings haven't been too stellar either. It can be a huge price cut, a game no one some coming that looks amazing, an exclusive deal for a major franchise. Something to make our jaws drop and say we must buy a Wii U. Nintendo has the ability to make it happen, possibly moreso than any other company at E3. So please Nintendo, really give us something to talk about.

That's all for today. I'm re-evaluating my "things" of the week, but I'll probably do something soon. Expect another post up most likely Thursday with Injustice & Star Trek impressions among a few other things.

We didn't start the fire...

I love turn-based strategy rpgs. Portable ones especially are pretty much like crack to me. So it seems like I should be a long fan of a series like Fire Emblem, which has been around as a series for over 20 years. But admittedly the incredibly unforgiving difficulty and permadeath of your units. This latest entry however, finally gives the option of turning it off, and I really enjoyed the brief demo they put up on the eshop and my 3DS could certainly use something as I just haven't gotten into Sticker Star like I thought I would. Supposedly it's nearly impossible to find a hard copy but luckily it's easily available for digital download. Ah, the digital age. Anyways, I'll get around to buying it in the next couple of days and give my impressions.

Also for anyone hasn't owned a Wii or Wii U, traditional platformers have been extremely scarce. Luckily for those with a PS3 (or a vita, but no owns one of those), the first Sly Cooper game in 8 years has finally graced the PS3. Sly Cooper has always been an extremely underrated and overlooked series so hopefully this release will be at least successful enough that it won't be 8 more years til we see another. Sadly my console backlog is pretty damn full at the moment, so I am going to have to wait on this until I beat a few games because otherwise it will just sit there collecting dust. But anyone looking for a solid pltaformer and just a fun game in general would do well to pick this up.

Finally, COMMUNITY RETURNS TOMORROW NIGHT! It is most likely the final season for this little show that almost could but most shows that start out brilliant usually run out of steam after the first several seasons anyways and then just drag on til they barely resemble their original incarnation. I'll leave you with a quick look at tomorrow's premiere:

Too much of a "good" thing...

I aplogize for the lack of posts but things have been a tad nuts lately. Hopefully I'll get back into a grove this week as there is plenty to talk about. Haven't we felt a little overloaded by Resident Evil the past couple years? I mean there were no less than 4 released in the last couple of years. Granted my relationship with the series has always been a little rocky, I've only liked a few select entries (namely Code Veronica & 4). But it regardless of quality I'm pretty sure any franchise should only see one release per year at most, and even that is pushing it because it doesn't allow for a whole lot of innovation between each title.

But apparently at least one higher-up at Capcom doesn't feel this is enough, saying "I think certainly looking at the last year or two, there probably were a few too many." So if you include the HD release of Revelations for consoles, that's 5 games in three years. Even if every game was a masterpiece (and really the only one to get a solid reception was Revelations), it's a ridiculous amount of over-saturation. It's as if someone at Capcom thinks that Resident Evil as a franchise was on extremely limited borrowed time and they needed to just milk it as much as possible before time ran out. This is the very definition of pretty much running a franchise into the ground, seemingly on purpose.

I don't know what Capcom's end game is here, maybe a massive reboot like they've done with Devil May Cry? It may be sorely needed after the poorly received console entries of late. Whatever the logic, I'm pretty sure 5 games in 3 years is more than enough, and hopefully with this year being the last relevant one for current consoles, they'll take time to make something that really takes advantage of the new opportunities that offers them, rather than just throwing a bunch of stuff out there and seeing what sticks.

That's all for today, but I should certainly be back tomorrow with another post. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Would You Rather

You can't say Nintendo isn't going after the core anymore...

Not after today's extremely awesome Nintendo Direct presentation. I mean sure, you had The Wii U follow-up to Wii party, and the official announcement of the ridiculously obviously in development new Zelda, Mario Kart & 3D Mario titles. But Then there's a highly touted HD remake of Wind Waker, which I'm extremely excited for.



Not only that, but something from the team that made the best Japanese RPG of this past generation, Xenoblade Chronicles, that sure as hell looks like a follow up to Xenoblade Chronicles:



But really, you can't go more hardcore than this: Bringing together 2 franchises that have a very hardcore following: The Fire Emblem series & The Shin-Megami series:



Granted, it's little more than a teaser but you take the hardcore strategy of Fire Emblem with the quirky coolness of Shin Megami and the possibilities are damn near endless. This is core gaming at it's finest. I've always been of  the opinion that while Nintendo certainly focused on casual with the Wii, they hardly abandoned the core gamer, which is something they've constantly been accused of. But the core never showed up for Zak & Wiki  or Madworld or No More Heroes or Dead Space Extraction or other numerous titles that the core should've shown up for and didn't. Hopefully with titles such as this they will. And if they don't it'll be no one's fault but their own.

That's all for today. I should have another post up tomorrow or Friday. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: RED 2

My Top Ten Jrpgs of this generation...

With the end of this generation nearly at a close, one thing that has been made a big deal out of is the supposed "death" of Japanese-flavor rpgs. While it's fairly clear that they've lost some prominence with flagship titles like Final Fantasy floundering, frankly there were plenty of good ones to be found, to the point I still haven't experienced some of the more critically acclaimed ones ones (I'll get to you someday, Persona 4!). With Ni No Kuni and probably Tales of Xillia being the last Jrpgs we will see on this generation of consoles, it's a good time to reminisce about the best ones I've played these last 8 or so years:

10: Eternal Sonata: One of the earliest rpgs of this generation didn't quite strike everyone's fancy, with the characters being a tad annoying and the storyline downright depressing, but it had an incredibly solid battle system bolstered by fantastic music and top notch graphics that still hold up to today's best. Plus I liked the very different take on your usual rpg storyline.

9. Blue Dragon: This got a lot of flack for being too old school, which admittedly it was very old school with little to distinguish itself.  But given that much like Eternal Sonata it was one of the first rpgs of the new generation, what's wrong with enjoying something with an old school flavor yet new dressings? It's like video game comfort food, which there certainly wasn't a lot of at the time.

8. Tales of Graces F: Speaking of comfort food, last year's Tales game was another great helping of that. We had a great glut of modern rpgs like Mass Effect 3, Skyrim & Kingdoms of Amalur. But anyone just looking for something recent with a clasic Jrpg feel to it didn't have a whole lot to choose from. Graces filled that void nicely with it's excellent active battle system and entertaining skits with traditional but fun characters.

7. Star Ocean: The Last Hope: Similar in style to the Tales titles, but having a distinct flavor all of its own, with a much broader and epic scope along with arguably stronger characters. The battle system, while looking nearly the same on the surface, has its own little nice touches, giving it more complexity. Admittedly most Tales titles you can get through just mashing buttons. Last Hope punishes you badly if you don't learn the nuances, which really helps it establish its own great identity.

6. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: There were a lot of really good portable rpgs this generation, but none got their claws in me like the incredibly inventive latest entry from the Mario & Luigi series. Whether it was the incredibly clever level design, the fantastic battle system, the giant tank fights or the ridiculous humor, this little rpg that could stands tall with anything on the big home consoles, and I hope it's not too long before we see a new entry, be it on the 3DS or the Wii U.

5. Valkyria Chronicles:Hopefully the recent success of Xcom means will see more of the exceedingly rare but usually excellent turn-based strategy genre in the future, and excellent titles like Valkyria Chronicles won't die a quick death despite being completely awesome. An intricate and entertaining system with incredibly challenging battles and a surprisingly deep story. It's a tad hard to find these
days but well worth your time and money.

4. Tales of Vesperia: Arguably the best representation of classic Jrpgs this generation, The characters are fantastic, the battle system is probably the best in the Tales series to date, it's incredibly lengthy and beautiful and just a lot of fun too. If you haven't tried it out it's available on the marketplace right now and is well worth the download.

3.  The Last Story: In it's last year the Wii suddenly became a sort of bastion for great Japanese rpgs with some modern twists. Last Story has great characters, a story that takes great twists on the usual rpg tropes and incredible graphics that really pushed the Wii to its limits. On top of that, the battle system hits a nice mix of modern & old school systems, making it a true gem. Really it's only downside was for an epic rpg it's a tad on the short side, easily finished in under 20 hours.

2. Disgaea 4: Bottom line, there is no rpg deeper or that can be more of a timesink this generation than Disgaea 4. The excellent tactical combat and insane humor would be enough, but that's just the tip of the iceberg with tons of incredibly deep systems to play around with. You can spend 100s hours and get nowhere near the finish, but it's still incredibly entertaining because there's just so much to do and it's all really intricate and clever.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles: I'll chime in with nearly every other reviewer and claim Xenoblade Chronicles is easily the best jrpg of this generation, and a strong contender for best overall rpg. It's stunning on every level. The battle system is one of the best out there, the voice acting and characterization is top notch, and you can spend 100 hours just beating the main quest and there is still a to left to do. Few rpgs to date are such a complete package, and this will be one they remember generations from now as it should be the standard for any modern Jrpg.

That's it for today, I'll should be back by Wednesday with more thoughts on Ni No Kuni. Until then, here's your BIG BANG OF THE WEEK:

Disney's Skylanders? Disney's Skylanders!

Well it's not surprising with the massive success of Skylanders that someone else would come along and try to do their own spin on the formula of a game supported by collectible action figures. That Disney is doing and looking like it really is it's own beast is great for a lot of reasons. The great thing about Skylanders is that while it could've been a really lazy product, it has some really solid gameplay under the hood, but the gameplay isn't all that varied and unless you really get into collecting a lot of the figures, you can easily get away with only having about 8 characters, because beyond that they don't add much to the game.

From the video and press release not only does the gameplay seem a lot more varied, but obviously the possibilities for characters and sets are almost limitless. I mean sure, you have the obvious Disney properties like the films & TV shows but things can get really crazy when you add the recently acquired Marvel & Lucas Arts properties to the mix. The fact that new "stories" apparently come with each set seems to add huge expansion possibilities and a real reason to pick up lots of new characters.

So as someone who really enjoys Skylanders I can certainly say I'm pretty excited about this and almost completely sold and excited about it. Except for one thing that may literally be a dealbreaker for me. One of the great things about Skylanders is it's light rpg elements. It's fun to level up your characters and earn upgrades through in-game money. Disney Infinity either scales back the focus on that or abandons it entirely for discs that you buy that give characters certain boosts. So this could mean a couple of things. Hopefully, they just provide some stat boosts that are hardly necessary. But if they are practically necessary and characters don't really progress otherwise in any meaningful way, this concept could lose quite a bit of its appeal. So the game could live or die on this idea of discs. I'm hopeful that it's a great product that I will spend plenty of money on. We'll see for sure as more information comes out on the next 5 or so months til its release.

That's really it for today, I'll try and get a third post for the week in tomorrow or Friday, until then here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Ray & Cooper

An android future?

Ok, so first their was Ouya, a kickstater-funded, android-basedconsole on the cheap. It seemed like a nice idea that may or may not be all it's cracked up to be, we will have to wait til it actually launches sometime this year to find out. Now that's a home console, but Nvidia at CES introduced their own dedicated portable android console, currently only known as "Project Shield". With the android/IOS market currently booming and the more hardcore console market just seeming to be in a constant state of rising costs and diminishing returns, is android the future? God I hope not. You see analysts claiming that now tablets can easily deliver the same experience as consoles. Have any of these people actually played these games? Sure Infinity Blade looks nice but it's gameplay is ridiculously simplistic. I haven't seen anything to this point that matches anything close to the best titles you see on PC or consoles or even portable systems for that matter. And it's not just about graphics, the android market is literally flooded with with a tsunami of crappy clones of the few real breakout titles, it's hard for good titles to stand out. Dedicated consoles may have reached their peak as far as mainstream success goes, but I'm pretty sure they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

So, the first really big release of 2013, the newly rebooted Devil May Cry is out this week, and most of the reviews are pretty solid so far, but again based on what I played it doesn't really seem to outdo or even match any of the top tier action titles out there currently like Bayonetta or God of War or Darksiders. Admittedly it might be a decent enough filler title but I'm willing to bet most gamers have enough of a backlog that this is one they'll pass on.

That's really it for today, I will try and get another post in tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Call

Same as it ever was...

Well, the big Pokemon news came out, and it's a new game for the 3DS. Granted, the first Pokemon title specifically for the 3DS is big news, but it's a very safe and expected move. When the developer, Gamefreak was asked about why it wasn't a Wii U title and really the general lack of Pokemon console games, they basically responded with saying the idea of being able to take it on the go. You know, that whole cross-play thing Sony's been pushing like mad and Nintendo has been saying they'll be doing with the next Smash Bros title? It's pretty simple guys. It's hardly an insult to call them lazy at this point, but I seriously doubt a new coat of 3D paint is going to make any difference in the series at this point either.

The other newly-announced game that I probably would've been excited about a few years ago is Lego Marvel Super Heroes. The Lego games have gotten really stale to me. I've barely touched Lego Batman 2 because it's really just to much of the same. If reviews say it provides the much needed change I'll pick it up, but in the meantime I'll just keep hoping for another Ultimate Alliance game, which I'd be far more excited about.

Finally, poor THQ is going under. Another casualty of the increasingly higher-risk AAA games console business, where there doesn't seem to be room for perfectly good middle of the road titles. You either have to sell millions with a huge investment or go small, there seems to be no in-between. The only bright side is several buyes are interested in the properties, which hopefully will include Darksiders because that is a real gem franchise and I'd hate to see it. In fact, given Nintendo's recent commitment to give underperforming titles a new life on their console, I'd love to see them pick it up and give Platinum games a whack at it, making an already awesome adventure series even more incredible.

That's really it for today, hopefully I'll get another post in this weekend. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Side Effects

Sony has a new patent. EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Patents for various technologies happen every day. A lot never even make it beyond the patent stage. But with the whole used market thing really heating up and both developers and & console makers trying to combat it in various ways with things like DRM and online passes, people seem to get ancy when any technology that might even conceivably be used to completely curb used games pops up, regardless of if that is it's purpose or if it even ever materializes. Such a patent was apparently filed by Sony in early December, leading everybody to assume that the PS4 (or whatever it will be called) won't play used titles. Hell it even caused Gamestop's stock to drop 6% (because once Gamestop's stranglehold on the used market is gone, they are pretty much done). But at least for now, considering the negative impact it would have (not just Gamestop, but places that rent games would be affected as well, and god forbid you want to borrow a game from a friend), it's a high probability that it will never actually happen. Really the best thing for all parties involved is to wait for the digital market to become the dominant way to purchase console games, much like it is now for the PC. And it will happen. It might take a decade or so, but it'll happen. In the meantime, things like this are at best stumbles in the interim that will eventually sort themselves out.

Big Pokemon news coming? Apparently in 4 days there's supposed to a "big" announcement. Much as I would love it to be an announcement for a full blown Wii U Pokemon title, these so called announcements are rarely anywhere near what they are hyped up to be. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some special edition 3DS or something, but anything really noteworthy seems like a slim chance of happening.

E3 is still about 5 months away, but Microsoft has already started a countdown clock. Hopefully this is actually something meaningful, I think unveiling their new system (although I still think it coming out this Holiday season is not happening) is the only worthwhile reason they'd be doing this. And lord knows they need an exciting E3 showing, since I'm pretty sure their last one was when the 360 launched.

That's all for today, I should have another post up tomorrow. In the meatime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Evil Dead

I can quit anytime I want...

So I bought my first extra Skylander the other day. I guess I could've been happy with the set my wife gave me for Christmas, but it wasn't all of the classes, and while I definitely don't plan on getting a large portion of the figures, I did feel the need to expand my collection, so I picked up an Earth Giant named Crusher, which was pretty much decided on the fact that he was voiced by Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo. My wife has also gotten into collecting though, as she got a set of 3 herself, which incuded the tech Skylander I needed to have one of each class. Theorectically, we have no reason to get anymore figures, but she would like an all female team herself, and while I'm resisting the urge for now, it's always going to be tempting if I see a cool figure in a Gamestop or Best Buy or something, especially on sale.

In those square things with words on paper news, I do actually read quite a bit, though it tends to come and go in spurts. This year, I really finally got into the Percy Jackson series & breezed through the Artemis Fowl books (though I felt it got pretty weak in the last couple books). But I was really waiting for the latest adventure of Chicago's only professional wizard, Harry Dresden, which I did finally get for Christmas and breezed through it in a few days. It goes a long way to re-establishing Harry back on somewhat familiar ground, but changes a lot too, mostly in good ways, some in potentially bad but really interesting ones. I can't wait for the next one and hope it's not too horribly long. I'm in the middle of reading Dean Koontz Odd Apocalypse, which is from another series I really enjoy, the Odd Thomas books. I'll talk more about it and the series in general when I get through with it.

That's all for today, but I should be back with a post in the new year (possibly on Tuesday). Until next time, here's your BIG BANG OF THE WEEK:

13 games I'm looking forward to in 2013...

2013 is nearly upon us and while it may be the last gasp of this generation, there are still a pretty good amount of titles to look forward to even without knowing if and when there are new consoles coming out and what will be available. I've tried to stick to ones we know for a fact are coming to current consoles (hence no Watch Dogs. Star Wars 1313 or Dragon Age III, all of which are rumored to be next gen titles).



#13: Aliens: Colonial Marines-Granted, I'm not a huge FPS fan, but it's hard not to get excited about Gearbox, the same guys behind the very inventive Borderlands series, taking a crack at the Aliens license. Also of interest is that the Wii U version will have exclusive features like using the gamepad as a motion tracker, which just sounds amazing.



#12. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time-One genre that's been kind of lacking this gen is 3D platformer titles. I mean sure you had the Mario Galaxies & a couple traditional Ratchet & Clank games, but that was really about it. Sly Cooper has always seemed to fly under the radar, but it's continually had solid gameplay with a very fun and engaging cast of characters. Anyone who is a fan of good 3D platformers should keep this on their radar.



#11. Tomb Raider-Granted, yet another re-invention of Lara Croft seems like grasping for straws initially, but everything shown from this game so far seems like it's taken plenty of good cues from Uncharted without seeming like a cheap imitator and Crystal Dynamics is one of the best developers out there so this is already shaping up to be one of the top adventure games of the coming year.



#10. Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns-The third and final entry in the XIII series. While XIII itself was pretty divisive, XIII-2 was a pretty good return to form including most of the things that were absent from XIII like real exploration and towns(though I am nowhere near finished with it at this point). Lightning returns will hopefully up the ante by providing a little more solid story in what should be a surprisingly satisfying conclusion to a series that did not start off so well.



#9. The Last of Us: Zombie games are getting to be a dime a dozen now, so it takes something special for one to stand out. One being developed by Naughty Dog should be that something special, as The Last of Us doesn't look nearly as light hearted as the Uncharted games, but seems to carry to same degree of compelling action and story-telling. It's also a new IP which this late in a console cycle is a very rare thing.



#8. Pikmin 3-The long overdue sequel probably should've been a launch title, but Nintedo has never been one to rush their core franchises out to market. Will it get delayed again? Quite possibly, but odds are it will still come out in 2013 and looks to be the premier core Nintedo title to hold us over until something along the lines of a new Zelda/Metroid/3D Mario comes out.



#7. Luigi's Mansion 2-I've mentioned before that I feel the original Luigi's Mansion full under a lot of undeserved scrutiny because it was a launch title for the Gamecube and admittedly it wasn't really on par with most games Nintendo throws out at launch. It was still an incredibly solid game that I really enjoyed so I am extremely excited for the sequel which promises to be longer and more varied. Add the ability to play it on the go and you've got another great reason to own a 3DS.



#6. Tales of Xilia: Granted, the Tales series doesn't really break he mold of Japanese rpgs everyone is saying are stagnant, but two of my best rpg experiences this generation were Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Graces F, because when it's done that well it's like video game comfort food. Yeah it's familiar but familiar can be very good. I very much look forward to this comfort food in 2013.



#5. South Park: The Stick of Truth-A South Park RPG? By the same guys who brought us Elder Scrolls & Fallout? With heavy involvement from Matt Parker and Trey Stone? I shouldn't even need to explain why this already has best rpg of the year all over it. And so few rpgs have a real sense of humor to them days. Stick of Truth should be viciously funny yet loving of its subject matter like most great South Park episodes.



#4. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch-On the more serious but no less exciting side of rpgs we have this highly anticipated joint effort from great rpg studio Level 5 and legendary Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli. The game looks incredible and should feature the same kind of heartwarming characters and story combined with great rpg gameply we've come to expect from these two and I love that it's coming out in just under a month so it's not even that long a wait.



#3. Bioshock Infinite-The original Bioshock is easily one of the best games of this generation, so the real follow-up (2 wasn't bad, but it was pretty much the same game) taking it to the skies with an all new setting, a protagonist with actual personality and some all new plasmids make this one of the few action games I'm really looking forward to next year.



#2. The Wonderful 101-Platinum games first incredible Wii U effort looks nothing short of amazing. It's a major reason I was sold on the system. Whether or not it will make compelling use of the Wii U's Gamepad is anyone's guess but it still looks incredible and it seems like it's doing Pikmin-style gameplay way better than Pikmin is doing it. It might be number one if I could actually play a demo to confirm it. Which leads me to me #1 most anticipated title:



#1. Rayman Legends: Again, New Super Mario Bros U was great, but having played several levels of the latest Rayman title shows it just doing everything a magnitude better and more creatively. This title is already pretty much guaranteed 2D platforming awesomeness which is incredibly rare this generation aside from a few indie darlings. This is currently my most anticipated game of 2013. no contest.

That's all for today. I do plan to have a post up tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to keep to that. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Super House of Dead Ninjas

The post Christmas post...

Damn, sorry for the sudden two-week hiatus, but there was a real lack of things going on and admittedly I was a little burned out. I do think in order to balance that out more I'll be talking about nerdy things I've been up to in each post. Admittedly merely trying to post about the newest nerdy news has been sort of limiting and I'd like to mix it up a bit more even if it's something I'm late on the bandwagon on. Like the last episode of a show I watched or something new I've discovered gamewise/nerdwise or progress in my backlog of games. I did finally get a decent android phone (the Kyocera Hydro) after years of having cheap crappy phones so I may occasionally talk about stuff on there now as well (finally played Angry Birds, it's fun but I don't get why it's so huge).

Wasn't a big gaming Christmas for me, but I did get two titles I think I will really get a good amount of time invested in, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed for the Wii U, which I've already talked about a couple times before, it's a great title on any system, and this will be the first title I'll be excited about taking online since Mass Effect 3, especially since the Wii U community doesn't seem to be filled with immature racist assholes (or at least it contains them pretty efficiently).

The second title is what some  have called a cheap cash grab: Skylanders Giants. For those who aren't all that familiar with it, it's probably best described as Pokemon but with action figures you buy and rather than have your characters battle it out, it's more like a Diablo-light style game. It's clearly meant for kids with the collectible action figures and a storyline that would barely past muster as a Saturday Morning cartoon, but the gameplay is fun and addictive and a massive loot fest. And while yes it's clearly meant to be a nearly endless supply of money from crazy-collection kids the game is beatable with the iniital set of figures, just there's a lot of side stuff that isn't accessible without at least one character from each of the 8 different classes. Just think of it as something with more dlc than you can shake a stick at. I don't plan on getting anywhere near all the characters, but making sure I have every class seems like a no-brainer minimal investment. Bottom line: I wouldn't pass this up just because it's a "kids" game, and as long as you know exactly what you are getting, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Spectacular Spider-Man was an excellent show, easily the best Spider-Man show to date and arguably the best Marvel superhero show ever as well (though Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes might have equal claim to that title). So when it was cancelled after a mere 2 seasons  with little rhyme or reason in favor of a different Spider-Man show, one that was a little more kid-focused, there was understandable skepticisim and nerd rage. Most probably haven't given it a chance. So this new show, "Ultimate Spider-Man" has it's first season on Netflic, and I decided to give it a shot. I'm most of the way through the first season and no, it's not as good as Spectacular Spider-Man, but it's still fairly entertaining. It's essentially a Marvel version of Teen Titans (or even Young Justice) with Spidey teaming up with a bunch of teen superheroes and a lot of quick jokes a 4th-wall humor. Probably the best part is that it incorporates a lot of the whole marvel universe on a regular basis, so it's not unusual to see The Hulk, Iron Man or Captain America to show up or even much lesser known characters like the Damage Control team. Again, the writing isn't nearly as strong as Spectacular, but it's still plenty fun, so it shouldn't be passed over just because you loved the previous show.

And during my break, I did manage to see the Hobbit. I did basically enjoy it, Martin Freeman makes anything worthwhile and the scenery and action were very entertaining. But though I barely remember the book at this point, it seems like they'll really be padding it to stretch it to 3 films, it's incredibly difficult to keep track of all the dwarves because only a couple have any actually personality. Also it has that tendency of the Lord of the Rings films where it feels like it has an end point only to keep going for 30 more minutes to one ending after another. I did not see it in the controversial 48-fps or 3D, just the good old standard because admittedly I'm not big on paying more than the already ridiculous standard ticket prices. I'm still excited to see the next chapter, but it's admittedly a tad rocky start.

Ok,. that's really it for this post, I should be back sometime this weekend with another one. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Rayman is better than Mario. And so is Sonic?

Finally, the Wii U shop had some new content this week, namely 2 big demos. One of the launch title Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed and one for the not horribly far off Rayman Legends (due out in February).

I just finished New Super Mario Bros. U the other night, it's a great game, easily the best 2D Mario since the 16-bit days and showed a lot of great level design. Admittedly one thing it did not really do well was make much use of gamepad functionality until the last couple of levels, where you used it for things like guiding a rising platform to keep ahead of a lava surge. It was just a little taste of some potential.

So the Rayman demo comes out and is doing frankly what Mario should have, showing better use of the gamepad in just a couple of levels. Using the gamepad to distract enemies, move platforms, cut ropes and more goes far above and beyond simply placing platforms like you would do in NSMBU. The graphics are gorgeous, arguably the best shown on the Wii U to date, while Mario was a nice shiny HD upgrade, for the most part it hardly blew you away. And while the levels in Mario are great classic design with a little innovation mixed in here and there, every level in the Legends demo showed a huge amount of creativity. If these are the kind of exclusive titles the Wii U gets on a regular basis, I don't think it'll have any issues competing with the next Xbox or PS3.

Now, I talked a little bit about Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed in my post about a week with the Wii U, but no with the demo out, I can expand upon it a little more. The Kart racing genre has been pretty much dominated by Mario Kart since the SNES days. Kart racers rarely are any serious contender and I think it's made the developers of this once seminal racing series a little lazy. You'd be hard-pressed to say both Mario Kart Wii & Mario Kart 7 lived up to the high bar set by previous entries. So along comes Sonic racing, and it really ups the ante. The levels have great design based around classic Sega franchises like Golden Axe and Panzer Dragoon. You gain experience. And on top of that, it features racers from many Sega franchises, not just Sonic. I think one way to revitalize the Mario Kart formula would certainly be to have it more in the mold of Smash Bros where it encompasses many Nintendo franchises, not just Mario. For now, I doubt any fans of fun racing titles would be disappointed with this game.

And finally moving on from video games, the last huge nerd movie of the year, The Hobbit, is in theatres this weekend. I'm sure based on the LOTR trilogy alone it'll be huge, and the reviews are mostly positive even if they tend to bash the frame rate and length. I unfortunately most likely will not have time to see it this weekend but I'll be sure to post a review when I see it which will hopefully be in the coming week sometime.

That is all for today, but I should have another post up tomorrow or Sunday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Oblivion

10 Nerdy Christmas Episodes...

Christmastime is upon us, and that means being overloaded with Christmas specials and episodes, many of them cheesy and terrible and pandering to to the same audiences that make crap like Two and A Half Men the most watched sitcom on TV.
But hey most non-Grinch nerds love Christmas as well, and there's a surprising amount of episodes geared much more towards our tastes for this holiday season if you just do a little research (a handy list of all TV Christmas Episodes can be found here). Here are 10 that should be enjoyable for just about every nerd:



10: Big Bang Theory: The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis-Granted, BBT is a very mainstream show, and plenty of nerds hate it, but plenty of nerds love it also. This may be the high point of the series to date, with Sheldon's theory of appropriate gift breakdowns and of course him having a nervous breakdown over Penny's gift of Leonard Nimoy's autograph (and unwittingly his DNA)  is not only a huge gut0busting scene but a very appropriately nerdy one as well.

9. Roswell: A Roswell Christmas Carol-Aliens celebrating Christmas is definitely nerdy, but even moreso because these aliens love Christmas, esepecially Katherine Heigl as Isabel being the Christmas Nazi because most of us know someone who tries to force Christmas spirit onto everybody whether they want it or not.

8. Chuck: Chuck versus Santa Claus-I am not the biggest fan of Chuck admittedly, but this is one of the stronger episodes. An homage to the mother of all Christmas movies (DIE HARD) with Reginald Val Johnson as a cop? Nerd win.



7. Supernatural: A Very Supernatural Christmas-Horror and Christmas are a sort of odd sub-genre that most of the time doesn't work especially well but Supernatural manages to deftly pull it off in this mostly stand-alone episode. An especially nice touch is the overly nice slightly older couple that are actually ancient evil Pagan gods. Not that it hasn't been done before but it's always a treat when done well like it is here.



6. Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians-Watching a guy and two robots stranded on a space station relentlessly mock a hilariously awful Santa Claus movie. Do I even need to expand on how wonderfully nerdy that is?



5. The Robot Chicken Christmas Special-Santa & Goku battle an evil half-snowman, a little drummer boy and a weirdly mutated Mrs. Claus that looks like she was ripped right out of Akira. And that's just one clip.



4.  Batman The Animated Series: Christmas With the Joker-A wonderfully insane episode that perfectly shows off the Joker (and I believe it was hist first appearance so of course it was vital he have a good first episode). Plus watching a Christmas-themed Batman episode that isn't ridiculously cheery or sentimental is a good nerdy holiday time.



3. Doctor Who: Christmas Invasion-Doctor Who is pretty synonymous with Christmas these days, but this is the special that introduced the wonderful David Tennant as the 10th Doctor and he's a favorite of many and deservedly so.



2. Futurama: Xmas Story-Futuristic evil robot Santa that reigns hell on the world? Yup nothing nerdy about that.



1. Community: Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas-This may be my favorite Christmas episode of anything ever, and while nothing in the overall plot (Abed finding the meaning of Christmas) isn't especially nerdy, the claymation style and compeltely random jokes (CHRISTMAS PTERODACTYL!) are completely nerdy and yet it manages to be genuinely heartwarming as well.

Ok that's the list and it should get you off to a good start but be assured there's plenty of nerdy Christmas cheer to have fun with this holiday season. Until next time, here's your BIG BANG OF THE WEEK:

Ni Ko Nuni makes another case against rpg demos...

A big reason I bought the Wii U is that in 2013 I'm not seeing a whole ton of titles I'm really looking forward to. The Xbox 360 doesn't have a single exclusive title I'm excited about. Hell I'm pretty sure it's only exclusive title is Gears.This is admittedly natural when a console is nearing the end of it's lifepsan and everybody is prepping for the next round of consoles which we'll presumably see if not this year next year at latest.

But despite the PS3 also being presumably on its last legs, it has a large number of titles exclusive to its platform coming out that are generating a lot of excitement. One of the most exciting for me personally is Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. A collaboration between the fantastic Studio Ghibli & the amazing Level 5, this rpg has been on my radar for a long time and it's finally within sight as it comes out in just over a month.

A demo was released yesterday which I was very excited to try. It showed of the colorful graphics beautifully, the entire demo looked incredibly stunning. But then we got to the actual battles, where much like the demo for FFXIII-2 I was just pretty much thrown in there (with a time-limit no less!) I was thrown into a rather complex system with no explanation of how it works. What are my familiars? Can I influence my party members in some way? Hell it took a few battles to realize I could freely move around the field. I mean the first part I tried, where you immediately run into a boss with your little familiar who is pretty much useless against him I got creamed within a few short minutes. I was heavily tempted to just throw up my hands and say this system is way too complicated for me to enjoy. Luckily they had another section where you actually fought several normal battles before getting to a boss battle to at least feel things out a little bit. Once I started to get a grasp of how to handle things I performed much better, but still barely made it through the boss battle at the end not because it was particularly difficult but there was just a lot of how the battle system works I didn't know and is hard to really get down in a mere 20 or so minutes like any good complex rpg.

The good news is I'm still excited about this game. The battle system looks fun and unique and I'm absolutely in love with the art style (in fact I'd love to see them make another Dark Cloud or Rogue Galaxy). But it's pretty much in spite of the demo, which comes of more confusing than anything because you are just given so little time to understand a system that like most good rpgs will take an hour or two to really get the hang of.

That's it for today, I will most likely have another post up tomorrow on the Nintendo Direct that is later today if nothing else. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: The Prince Edward

10 Wii games that deserve a Wii U follow up...

Well the Wii U is out now and many have gotten a chance to at least see the potential of the gamepad, which offers a lot of new gaming possibilities. Obviously one way to really show this off would be to make sequels to Wii titles that could show off ways to improve them with gamepad and Wii U functionality. Here are 10 I think would make prime examples:

#10 Xenoblade Chronicles: Admittedly, I'd love to see a follow up to Xenoblade Chronicles period. I easily sunk about a hundred hours into it and it's one of the best rpgs of this generation. Howoever it wasn;t without it's flaws namely a fairly horrid quest management system. It's been repeatedly shown that the Wii U may be the most ideal console for rpgs to date, and quest & inventory management along with auto-mapping would be a snap on the pad along with having techniques and attacks right there on the pad to queue up since it does work a lot like an MMO. Also admittedly the game was beautiful in some aspects but downright ugly in others. Seeing that world in full HD would be a treat.

#9. The Last Story: This would be that other great rpg of this generation on the Wii. Aside from it's rather short length, it was a fairly impeccable product. Combat could get a bit messy and confusing, with a gamepad it would be much easier to manage your party and dole out commands. And much like Xenoblade Chronicles, while it was gorgeous, it clearly was taxing the system and suffered from massive slowdown at times. The significantly more powerful Wii U could do it justice.

#8: Boom Blox: Moreso because this is an extremely underrated party series that a lot of people didn't play, but I really think the possibilities of 5-player mayhem alone would add a lot of value to this, plus it could probably use the gamepad itself in some inventive ways.

#7: Red Steel: The first Red Steel was an unmitigated disaster to the point where it's become synonymous with a title that was supposed to show of the potential of a system and failed utterly. But Red Steel 2 managed to gloriously deliver on most of the promise the original failed to live up to, with great combined sword and gun action. It didn't sell nearly as well as it should have, probably mainly due to the bad memories of the first. Whether it used the gamepad much or just was another great example of motion plus, I think it deserves at least one more shot at being a great AAA franchise.

#6: No More Heroes: No More Heroes was easily the best third-party series on the Wii. Suda 51 has expressed a lot of interest in making a third entry on the Wii U, saying he's really excited about the gameplay possibilities the gamepad provides. Do I need to say much more? SOMEONE MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

#5: A Boy and His Blob: The cult NES title received a revival on the Wii with charming graphics and clever puzzles. The combination of platforming and puzzle-solving could really benefit from the touchpad and the dual screen capabilities of the Wii U and could also have some interesting co-op possibilities as well.

#4: Little King's Story: Granted, we've already got both Pikmin 3 and Worderful 101 on the horizon, which will offer similar gameplay, but they might lack the pure charm and certainly the kingdom-building aspects of Little King's Story that make it such a great title. The Gamepad would obviously  make managing your little army of followers a snap and like many titles on this list it was criminally ignored so I'd love to see it given another chance at being discovered.

#3: Zack & Wiki: One of the most brilliant and fun puzzle games of this generation, Zak & Wiki also featured many creative uses of the Wii remote integrated into it's puzzle solving. I'm sure a well-deserved sequel on the Wii U would make very creative use of the Gamepad with really clever puzzles, so let's hope that happens.

#2: Lost Winds: One of the earliest WiiWare titles remains one of the best, being an incredible platformer that made fantastic use of the Wii remote. Hell a good idea for a pretty basic follow-up is already there in Nintendoland with the minigame Ballon Trip Breeze, but that's just the most basic idea off the top of my head, I'm sure there a lot of exciting possiblities for this series with the Wii U and the gamepad and I'd love to see them.

#1. Trauma Team: This is pretty obvious. You can use the stylus like a scalpel. You can use the gamepad like a medical scanner. Hell you might even be able to implement co-op play. This is a series that has fir Nintendo systems in general very well. It was one of the best Wii titles and could easily be a great Wii U title so hepfully we'll see this really obvious and awesome idea on the Wii U before long.

Ok that's the list. Until next time, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK:  Admission

Devil Still Care?

Granted, Dante pretty kicked the over-the-top action genre into high gear with the original Devil May Cry way back in 2001. But since then, there have been many, many others who have stepped up to the plate. Most notably Bayonetta & Garcia Hotspur but Kratos & even Travis Touchdown could be considered on that company as well. So yes, a reboot was most likely needed in order to really get the franchise some notice. But the newly redesigned Dante isn't really winning people over, looking like a boy band reject desperately trying to go goth. But gameplay is ultimately key here, and Ninja Theory recently released a demo for 360 and PS3 owners to try out. No Wii U version as of yet, but based on the demo, they aren't missing much. The loud ridiculous death metal-esque soundtrack is distracting and the controls are kind of awkward and confusing. The fighting is competent but nothing special. Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise as Ninja Theory's games always seem decent but really lacking polish or something to make them stand out. Granted this isn't a hugely crowded field, but I can't imagine anyone passing up the next God of War or Bayonetta 2 (if they own a Wii U anyways) for this and in the meantime games like Darksiders 2 fill the void nicely.

Details of Bungie's first post-Halo project have surfaced.  While it doesn't sound like Halo but not Halo, it is still about the last remnants of humanity fighting an alien invasion. You'd think after claming they didn't want to do Halo anymore their next game have little to do with futuristic space wars with aliens. But I guess as long its a different futuristic space war with different aliens, that's ok.

Hey who wants an ugly-ass mini version of the Wii that not only lacks Gamecube support but internet features as well? Apparently Canada because for now that's the only place you can get the completely neutered Wii mini. I can see trying squeeze one last bit of cash out of the Wii but  can't imagine who this appeals to except maybe that crowd that just waits for consoles to hit under $100 before picking them up. Granted if for some reason you were just now buying a Wii, there's a ton of quality software to choose from and no long waits in-between, but of course there's virtually nothing else coming out for the system.

That's it for today, but I should have another post up Thursday or Friday. Until then, here's your trailer of the week: Warm Bodies

The Wii U after a week...

Sorry this post is way later than I intended, but due to not only a crazy holiday week but being massively ill (which I'm still somewhat getting over) I wasn't really able to post my thoughts until now.

The Wii U has been out a week. What are everyone's thoughts so far? I think it's one of the strongest launches ever, with something good for just about everybody. Not that it hasn't had some hiccups, but that's pretty normal with nearly every launch. So here are my thoughts on the games I've played so far and the hardware itself:

The Wii U: It's incredibly slick hardware, bottom line. The amount of updates is slightly annoying, but nothing new in this age of constant updating on all systems. The eshop is slick, getting friends is finally easy (though still a little more complex than it needs to be).
 The Miiverse may be one of the most entertaining things about the system, with constant user comments (and cool drawings) that make it far more socially integrated than the 360 or the PS3. Yes it's heavily moderated, but they aren't moderating criticism of games, just the racist swearing idiots you usually find online which is a good thing.
The gamepad itself is incredibly slick and works very well with pretty much every game I've played so far. The one downer is the extremely limited battery life of only a few hours means being tethered a lot to an outlet. In an age where controllers are expected to be wireless for hours of play, this is a big downside. Hopefully somebody comes up with something that extends the battery life soon.
Moving on to the games:

 Nintendoland: Haven't gotten much time on this one, but I've enjoyed what I've played so far. The unlocking of prizes is fairly addictive and seeing a constant stream of other people's miis is fairly cool. The only bad minigame is Takamaru's Ninja Castle, it's just very imprecise.

 New Super Mario Bros U: This is honestly the title I was most worried about after being thoroughly bored with NSMB 2. But from the very beginning this game absolutely shines with not only classic shades of Super Mario World but integrating new fun stuff as well. The level designs are much better as well and just more fun. This is not really a game that's innovative but it's easily the best 2D Mario in years and one of the better 2D side-scrollers in a long time as well.

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed: This was a nice little surprise. I mean sure, I put it on my top ten launch picks, but I was expecting it to be passable. It's right up there with the better Mario Kart titles, and is actually based more on skill than things like blue shells. I did have trouble finding online matches, I assume it's because this a new system and it's not exactly a big core title, but I think those looking for something different than your usual shooter fare would do well to pick this up.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II: If you want a game that really shows off the graphics on Wii U, this is probably your best bet as it looks stellar. It controls really well on the gamepad.I played a few online sessions, but being that the install base isn't nearly as big, it is understandably hard to get into the match type you want occasionally. I'm not a huge shooter fan and this isn't really something I would get into but it's certainly a great choice for shooter fans who will miss out on nothing by getting this version over other systems and it adds the option of co-op with two screens which is impressive.

 ZombiU: This has probably been the most divisive title at launch. Some praise it, some damned it. I think those that damned it didn't really understand what type of game it is. It's old school survival horror with real suspense that you just don't see in your modern horror games. I don't think it's something I would enjoy myself enough to buy, but anyone looking for an actual scary game that also has the crushing but rewarding difficulty of a game like Dark Souls should at least give this a try and there is supposed to be a demo up in the next few weeks.

Scribblenauts Unlimited: I saved this for last because this for me is the sleeper title of the launch. I've never been horribly impressed with the Scribblenauts series, as it seemed like a good concept that was never really executed well. Until now. This has dominated my Wii U and I've had tons of fun not only solving puzzles but just seeing what wacky stuff I can come up with. With dlc this could have virtually unlimited play value so I hope this entry that finally gets it right gets the attention it deserves.

That's all for today, I'll hopefully be able to get up another post tomorrow now that I'm finally feeling human again. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Now You See Me