Co-op platformer Ibb and Obb takes both high and low roads to PSN in 2012 | Joystiq

This is looks absolutely gorgeous and amazingly fun. I'll definitely pick this up right away when it's released on PSN later this year. A PC version is also in the works. Ibb and Obb will feature local co-op with online co-op added in the future.

Curio for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action/Horror, Platformer

The Justin McElroy Institute

Recently a bunch of folks left Joystiq, including three of my favorites - Chris Grant, Griffin McElroy, and Justin McElroy. I was worried about what was happening but hopeful that they were all leaving together. It looks they were! I can't wait to see what they build.

Ludwig Kietzmann, the new Editor-in-Chief of Joystiq, better kick it up a notch! (Luckily I love him too!)

Terra Noctis | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Platformer

Funny Hell | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Strategy

Duncan posted this on Facebook, and I had to repost it here.

WHOT! Free | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Card games

inFamous 2 | Blog | Game Boyz

SK Gaming and Toshiba to cooperate | SK Gaming

Why didn't I know Toshiba was sponsoring SK Gaming? They should, uh, pay me to Battleground.

Wait, what?

You have to be good?

Ahh, crap.

GTA III mobile out next week for $5 on select devices | Joystiq

Adorable Zelda fan video will fill up your hearts | Joystiq

So cute.

Postmortem: Addressing reviews. « Bent Spoon Games Blog

The creator of "Girl with a Heart of" provided some feedback on the reviews he read of the game. It's an interesting read, and I think a good practice to address concerns and commentary.

THE aMAZEing Labyrinth | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Board

Girl with a Heart of | Reviews, Adventure

Crazy Escape | Reviews, Action Games, Puzzle

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Movie Trailer Is Simply Splendid - GayGamer.net

It looks so bad and awesome! I want to watch this right this minute!

What an awesome video!

Sonic Generations

I just started playing this, and I'm enjoying it. It's definitely some fan service, which is fine by me. I'm a big fan, so it works.

Ocarina of Time 3D

One dungeon down!

Infamous 2

I beat the game in hard mode with good, but I'd like to go back and do it with evil karma. I also wanted to max my good character, but grinding XP is taking far too long.

World of Warcraft

Of course, there's always more to do in WoW. We finished normal mode Firelands, but there's still more gearing, PVPing, questing, and other stuff to do.

More

And then there are a bunch of games I need to start still!

Gears of War 3
Ivy the Kiwi?
Sonic Colors
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Epic Mickey
Kirby's Return to Dreamland

I just got an e-mail from GameStop about their tablet. News of the tablet has been known, but this is the first time I've seen them advertising like this.

I'll be interested to see if this does well for them.

Frogger Decades | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games

GregaMan > Blog > The Importance of Video Games as a Medium

The Capcom-Unity blog shared this video on games as art from PBS. It's nice to see some more intelligent discussion on the matter. I was also very happy to see Portal, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Rez, Passage, Psychonauts, and many other fantastic games in the video.

For many gamers, there's nothing new in the video, but it is interesting.

Hell yeah. I love this game.

SQUIDS for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action/Adventure, RPG, Strategy

Shadowgun | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Shooter, Third Person Shooter

Off-Road Drive | PC, PC Games, Reviews, Racing, Simulation, 1C-Avalon, 1C Company

Guy chokes a kid after being made fun of in Black Ops, we're ... upset | Joystiq

The author of the Joystiq article, Justin McElroy (their most hilarious writer), proceeded to talk about how horrible this was. Then, after the break, he made a joke about having to hide this from his boss before praising the man.

I can't believe he'd write that! Note that I don't think he believes it was right. I'm pretty surprised though, not at the fact that people would joke about this but that Joystiq would publicly. Yet another reason to keep Joystiq as your source of video game news!

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad | PC, PC Games, Reviews, Action Games, First Person Shooter, Shooter, Tripwire Interactive, Tripwire Interactive

Burn it All for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Puzzle

Really fantastic game!

Men of War: Vietnam | PC, PC Games, Reviews, Action Games, Simulation, Strategy

Some pretty cool ideas about showing off the Vietnam war. Way, way too hard for me.

Fond memories.

Glowfish for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action/Adventure

Glowfish is beautiful and has a fun sense of scale. Defeating enemies makes you bigger, and bigger enemies require you to be the same size to defeat them. Yes, I've seen that before, but it makes for a great game.

Romance is still alive: Portal 2 proposal wows Web | Games Blog - Yahoo! Games

I've seen marriage proposals in games before but none this amazing. That's because they don't usually involve writer Erik Wolpaw or GLaDOS Ellen McLain.

I might have cried at the end. I dunno.

The Escapist : Extra Punctuation: Roleplaying Homosexual in Dragon Age 2 via GayGamer.net

I found this article pretty interesting. He finds that as he's roleplaying, the character's he created happens to be gay and goes with it. He also discusses relationships in game and the emotional attachments that are created by playing.

Groove Coaster for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Rhythm

I just wish the soundtrack wasn't $9.99. I want it, but I don't want to pay $9.99!

The Asskickers | PC Games, Reviews, Action Games, Fighting

Allied Star Police for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Strategy

I don't normally review free games on Game Boyz (because I'm unpaid, I choose to review games that would normally cost money), but I decided to make an exception for this one.

Allied Star Police, Make-a-Wish, originally uploaded by theuser.

Allied Star Police was released yesterday! It was designed by fourth-grader Owain, who has leukemia. Make-a-Wish partnered with PopCap to make his dream real. The game is very short but a decent defense game. It's free right now, so please give it a download! You can read more about this at www.PopCap.com/owainswish, and you can donate there as well.

Supreme Ruler: Cold War | PC Games, Reviews, Simulation, Strategy

Thumbs down.

Kard Combat for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Card games, Strategy

Royal Quest Interview | Preview | Game Boyz

Yay for interviews!

Another Night in Moscow 2011 | Preview | Game Boyz

I haven't made a Game Journal update in a while!

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
I finished The Ballad of Gay Tony. It had been a while since I played the original campaign or the Lost and Damned, but I think I liked the original best followed by The Ballad of Gay Tony. The characters were all very entertaining. The relationship between Tony and Luis was cool, Yusuf was a fun character, and the ending mission was a lot of fun.

Portal 2
gem finished this, but with my computer down, there's no chance at playing co-op anytime soon.

Worms 2: Armageddon
I picked this up for the iPhone a few weeks ago. It's pretty full-featured, but I suck a lot so I stopped playing it.

Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting
Fun but short. It didn't have any RPG elements besides being able to upgrade weapons and armor. There isn't even any exploration. It reminds me of the Arena in Armored Core.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
I was playing this regularly for a while, but now I haven't touched it in a few weeks. With my room off-limits, I haven't moved it downstairs. I was enjoying it though!

Save Toshi
This iPhone puzzle game tasks you with throwing balls at platforms so that the girl standing on top falls onto the goal platform. If you hit her, you lose. It's surprisingly fun if you turn off the terrible voice-acting. I beat this, but it was shorter than I expected. It turns out I was playing a version that was basically a demo for a longer version.

Cell Bound
Another iPhone game! It's kind of like Puzzle Bobble except the bubbles come from all sides towards the center, and you can rotate the center. It was fun, but I stopped playing it as soon as I posted the review.

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing
More iPhone gaming! This just came out, and as I loved the console version, I had to pick it up. It's a little difficult because it uses tilt to steer, but it's better than I would have expected. I haven't put too much time into it, but I plan to play it more.

Plants vs. Zombies
I've been playing this more than anything else lately. With the newest update, the iPhone version finally received some mini-games. One game comes immediately, and then there are two packs of three that can be purchased with the in-game currency. I bought the first pack but haven't made enough money for the second. The update also brought the Zen Garden that allows you to raise plants. It's fun!

A Slice of Life
The last iPhone game, I promise! The goal is to have your character succeed in the various parts of life - job, education, social, etc. It's like the Sims but only menu and button-driven with no direct control. It kind of sucked.

Sonic Generations Demo
The demo only features one level of the classic gameplay, but I enjoyed it. It almost seemed a little too fast, making it hard to focus, but I didn't run into any traps, making the speed okay. The graphics seemed odd because it was clearly inspired by the classic graphics but still 3D. I liked it a lot more than the photo-realistic background of Sonic 4. I'm looking forward to playing more of this for sure!

A.R.E.S.
I've been playing this a bit the last couple days. It looks a lot like Mega Man X, but in A.R.E.S. you can control the direction in which you shoot as well as spend recyclables dropped by dead robots on grenades, repair kits, or upgrading weapons.

Metal Drift
I wanted to play this because I enjoy vehicular combat games, but it seems odd from the tutorial. You can shoot in any direction, including shooting directly behind you while driving forward. It seems difficult to be able to do that.

Nimbus
Okay, last game. Nimbus is a flying, side-view racing game in which you can't directly accelerate. You reach the goal by attempting to keep your momentum, flying into cannon-things (think barrels from Donkey Kong Country), colliding with bouncy pads, etc. I'm enjoying it so far.

Besides playing PvZ regularly, nothing is really pulling me in a lot right now. Right now I'm mostly playing A.R.E.S. and Nimbus at home, but I have to kind of push myself to do it. We'll see. Maybe I should hook my Wii back up again.

I also signed up for a second 365 Project, the photo-a-day site. While the first I'm using for photos as intended, my second account is now for screenshots. We'll see how it goes. It's here

UCLA Game Lab » Visually Directing the Player

Joshua Nuernberger, creator of the fantastic adventure game, Gemini Rue, recently (or not so recently as the case may be) posted an essay on providing visual cues to direct players in game. It's an interesting read if you're fascinated by game design decisions. Also, if you haven't played Gemini Rue (as it's an under-marketed indie game, you probably haven't) and like adventure games, you definitely should. I love the visuals in the game, and it has a fantastic mood, setting, and story.

Save 50% on Homefront on Steam

One of this weekend's deals on Steam is Homefront marked down 50% to $24.99. Besides the fact that this sucks because it's not an indie game (fine Andy, I'm a game hipster), it's also a terrible game. Do not get it. I played through it, and maybe parts of it are a little fun, so if it ever goes on sale for $2, then it might be time to pick it up. Maybe. But it's definitely not worth $24.99.

Also, keep in mind that when I say it is worth $2, I'm actually very biased in its favor; THQ threw an awesome party for Homefront at E3 2010 that I attended. With that tidbit in mind, maybe it wouldn't even be worth $2 to someone who wasn't brainwashed.

Cell Bound for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Puzzle

Circular Puzzle Bubble? Yeah, it's pretty fun and only $0.99!

Gameworks, originally uploaded by theuser.

Today I discovered that Gameworks in Las Vegas is a great arcade! We went there to play Pac-Man Battle Royale, an awesome cocktail cabinet featuring 4-player versus Pac-Man action. I won the first time we played, but gem beat me the second.

We also ran into Sonic Championship, the Sonic fighting game! I never expected to run into one of those. It looks sort of like Virtua Fighter (yeah, bad) and has a story with a strange continuity issue; you're trying to collect the eight Chaos Emeralds. Anyways, it was actually pretty fun. Whenever you get hit, rings fly out too! gem beat me. :(

They also had Sonic-themed air hockey! Hell yes! Sadly, she beat me at this too. Lastly, we played some Mario Kart Arcade GP. Unfortunately gem's unit's camera didn't work. I got 3/4 and gem got 4/4. We sucked!

All of this cost us only $7, which wasn't bad considering they were all some rare games and it cost $2 just for the game card. I wish we had some of those games closer to home!

I'll always remember this arcade... because I just might have bought a Sonic toy to take home. The cashier asked, "do you have a Sonic fan at home? If you want to write down his email, we can send the Sonic catalogue." No, no Sonic fan at home. He's right here. And yes, I'll take your catalogue!

Monster Hunter Dynamic Huntig | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action/Adventure

I had to repost this trailer that Patrick brought to my attention. Man, I really want to play this.

Kinect is going to be involved with everything!

Microsoft brings a whole bunch of things I don't need on my 360 to my 360.

Also, nothing of interest is happening on the 360!

Level hubs are bad. There, I said it. Well, they're usually bad anyways. Level hubs are the worlds you explore to find the actual levels. In a level, you have fun, progress the story and game, are taught new mechanics, and are tested on those mechanics. In the hub, you look for a level. Why? Menus will always be better than explorable hubs.

The Mario series has an interesting history with hubs. At first, there was no level hub at all. Finishing one level sent you on your way to the next. Super Mario Bros. 3 let you pick your level from the hub. You didn't really explore. You couldn't jump. You weren't really in control of Mario, but you could pick your next level. There were multiple paths of levels, and sometimes things could block your path. Because you'd need to see the paths between levels and try to get to (or away from) the enemies blocking you, the level hub was important. Super Mario World was similar; it had multiple paths you could take. Levels that had multiple exits would lead to multiple exits and were marked on the map. Again, the map had a purpose. Importantly, these hubs were not difficult to navigate and didn't add a significant amount of time between levels.

Super Mario 64 changed all that. Peach's castle was the level hub, and in it you controlled Mario the same way you would in any level. Certain paintings in the castle allowed you to enter levels through them. In this way, the game rewarded (and required) exploration of the castle. Was this good? I loved Super Mario 64 when it came out, and I'm still quite fond of it. It's hard to decide whether this was a bad decision. There are a few things that Nintendo did to keep the hub from being terrible. First, the game mechanics functioned the same way. If you enjoyed controlling Mario in a level, at least you could potentially get the same enjoyment out of the hub. Second, most levels weren't hidden. You could clearly see where a level was based on the doors, and the doors were even marked, letting you know how many stars you needed to unlock it. Third, after obtaining a star, Mario would come back out of the painting, standing right in front of it. This is great because the majority of the time you need to go right back into the same painting for another star. Still, I'm going to go ahead and declare the hub bad. At the time, it was a good thing. It was new and interesting to have an explorable hub world, and it made Mario's adventure seem grand. We were still at a time where all video game urban legends weren't immediately debunked by the Internet, which made the hub feel like a mysterious place worth exploring. We were also new to 3D platformers; the hub gave gamers a chance to get used to controlling Mario. We're past all that now. The hub is bad.

Nintendo thought we still needed hubs in Super Mario Galaxy. It's practically amazing how terrible the hub is in that game. Not only was it a waste of time when what I really wanted to do was get to a level, but it was also confusing and hard to navigate. Things got a lot better in Super Mario Galaxy 2. The level select screen is very close to that of Super Mario Bros. 3 with multiple worlds consisting of different levels, this time called galaxies, with a star select screen after that like the one found in Super Mario 64 or the first Galaxy. However, it seemed Nintendo couldn't shake the terrible idea all the way. Perhaps young gamers like a non-threatening place to play as Mario. Whatever the reason, there is still the spaceship that Mario uses. After beating a level, Mario once again appears on his ship. What's there to do on the ship? There are plenty of NPCs with whom to speak, but there is little incentive to do so. Yes, there are times where there's a reward, but this could be awarded to the player in a better way (such as the mini-game at the end of levels in Super Mario Bros. 3). In actuality, every time I get back to Mario's ship, I run forward for a second to jump onto the button that brings up the level select map. Why put me on the boring spaceship hub if what I want to do every time is get back to playing Mario? And no Nintendo, that's not an invitation to put more crap on the spaceship next time. It's a request that you list what we want to do in your game and take out everything that isn't on that list.

Now Nintendo definitely isn't terrible. Sega is terrible. Sonic Adventure had an awful hub world that was incredibly time-consuming. Finding a level shouldn't take a long time. Despite the bad hub, I did finish Sonic Adventure. I wasn't as angry at hub worlds back then, and I had a lot more time on my hands. However, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to play it again. Luckily, it seemed Sega had learned. In Sonic Adventure 2 it was much easier to find levels, and in Sonic Heroes it did away with all hubs and went back to stages and acts. Fantastic! While Sonic Heroes was buggy, I greatly appreciated how they mapped out the game. And then there was Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). What. A. Mess. The hub world was back in full force, and it was terrible. It was the first game I purchased for PS3, and it was a big mistake. I never have picked it back up again. Sonic Unleashed on 360 was a lot more fun, but still suffered from the bad hub world. Trying to figure out where the next level was got so bad that I gave up all together. While I haven't yet, I plan on trying it on Wii because that version, or so I hear, doesn't have the hub.

How about open-world games? Well, Grand Theft Auto does it very well, but I don't think it's exactly the same. Finding missions take place in a city that, for now, let's call the hub. The missions take place in the exact same city. It's seamless. Because the levels exist as part of the hub, I wouldn't really call it a hub. In addition, in Grand Theft Auto 4 at least you can take a taxi to any mission on your map. And how do you pick your destination? With a menu. No More Heroes looks similar but is actually very different. There's a city in which you can drive, but none of the actual game takes place in the city. This makes NMH's city a hub, and a terrible one at that. Whether this was a mistake or not is debatable because Suda 51 has made the argument that this was a critique of open-world games. If he's critiquing Grand Theft Auto though, then my previous statements about GTA would stand as my counter-argument.

Many iPhone games use a grid to represent levels. Level select screens have multiple pages, and each page has a grid of stars, with each representing a level. Not every game uses stars, but I see a level select screen similar to this in many games. This isn't a hub, and this is close to what I'm advocating. However, you can't deny that this looks very dry. In fact, I saw we look once again at Nintendo. Quite often they get it exactly right. They don't use multiple pages. They use multiple worlds, such as the different islands in Super Mario World. Instead of stars representing levels, arranged in a grid, Super Mario World featured dots set up to reflect the world they represented. You could maneuver through the hub quickly and effectively, yet it still conveyed the idea behind that set of levels. It looked fun, but most importantly, let you get back to the actual fun quickly.

Thank you, Super Mario World.

Breakfast Topic: How do relationships in game affect relationships in real life?

I like this one the least of my published WoW Insider articles.

Also, what's with the picture they chose?

It's been over three weeks last my last Game Journal update. While I haven't played a ton, I have made progress on a few games.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
I'm still putting decent progress into this. gem likes to watch me play this, so I can't play it that often, but I'm enjoying it. I loved the original GTA4 more than the expansions, but I think I'm liking the Ballad of Gay Tony more than the Lost and Damned.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Last time I updated, I had just started playing Scott Pilgrim again. Last night Collin, Duncan, gem, and I finished the game on Average Joe, the normal, easiest setting. I had a blast and would definitely love to jump back into it and try on the harder difficulties.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Well, this is kind of funny. I couldn't play this for months because I lost it, and as it turns out, I had just reached the last level when I misplaced the game. Check, another game completed.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
My desktop died, so progress here is pretty much dead as well.

Portal 2
I didn't make any progress here myself, but gem has almost finished the single player campaign. This relates to MY game progress because it means we can almost start playing the co-op campaign together.

Hoard
My Hoard review is finally up, and I have played a bit more of it. It's nice because it doesn't have a campaign mode. It simply has a variety of short skirmishes available.

Up next...
I'm not sure what to play next. With my computer down, a lot of those options are out. I'm still going to be working on the Ballad of Gay Tony, and I might pick up Pokemon White again. I think Gish would be fun to play as well as Samorost and Samorost 2 on my laptop. As for consoles when gem's not around, I think I'll put more time into Super Mario Galaxy 2!

Hoard | Apple/Mac, PC, PC Games, Reviews, Real Time Strategy, Strategy

Joystiq Application, originally uploaded by theuser.

I sent my 2357-word application off to Joystiq! I'd make a good weekend editor, right? Wish me luck, because I'm sure there are a ton of applicants.

Breakfast Topic: Are you a closet roleplayer?

WoW Insider just published my second article! This one is a Breakfast Topic on creating back-stories or thinking as your character without actively roleplaying within World of Warcraft.I very rarely roleplay in the actual game, but I think I "closet roleplay" actively!

Breakfast Topic: Has your perspective of Azeroth changed over time?

WoW Insider just posted the first of three articles they purchased from me! I have to admit, checking their site has been the first thing I've done every morning since they purchased them. I'm very excited!

Best Buy selling Infamous for the shockingly low price of $10 | Joystiq via Best Buy

Infamous is currently on sale at Best Buy for $9.99! Okay, I need to get this. Infamous is one of the best games of the generation. It would be pretty great if it was available for home delivery (or if any store in my area actually had copies in stock).

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
I've been much more active now that I'm back in Carpe just because there are so many more people around. Also, with the 4.1 changes to heroics, I can do multiple heroics on my off days and still get valor points for all of them. I did four tonight with guildies, and it's very nice to be able to do this! I should be able to buy a new piece of valor gear soon, and I only have a neck piece and two rings to buy as far as honor gear. Of course, I need honor enchants as well. I'm at ilvl 350 in PVE, but I haven't done the new dungeons because I'm waiting for gem. In PVP gear I'm currently at 2.8k resilience. Also, I finished Children's Week, and I love the new lore in the quests!

Portal 2
I managed to play through the single player campaign in Portal 2, and it was fantastic. It wasn't as good as the original, but it was still amazingly great. I'm looking forward to playing co-op with gem as soon as she finishes the single-player campaign. Alex has also played it a few times at my house, and it's even wonderful just to watch him play.

Hoard
I don't really want to talk about this too much since I'm reviewing it for Game-Boyz, but I've been playing it too. It's very fun, especially since each round is only about ten minutes.

Plants vs. Zombies
I finally got all the achievements in PvZ on iOS! The one I was missing was the achievement for getting all the plants. Of course, that was just a grind for money away! I kind of wish there was more to do in the game though. I know I could just play it for fun, but it's more difficult to play when there isn't a goal in mind. Even games that can't be completed usually have a high score mode or something. Now this one is all done.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
After all this time, I finally got to play Scott Pilgrim! I played with gem, Justina, and Collin. God, it is so much fun. It feels like such a great throw back to River City Ransom while containing modern gameplay mechanics and beautiful aesthetics. I can't wait to finish it.

Rush
Rush is basically Chu Chu Rocket with more panels and a third dimension. I picked it up on Steam when it was on sale and have been having a lot of fun with it. I still have a lot of puzzles left to do, but it's pretty interesting. There doesn't seem to be any stages comparable to the arcade stages in CCR, but that's okay, because the puzzles are fun.

Chu Chu Rocket
Speaking of Chu Chu Rocket, I started playing the iOS version of it again in an attempt to get more achievements. It has a lot of puzzles!

Capsized
Capsized is a new, indie platformer on Steam. I downloaded the demo and enjoyed it but haven't yet purchased the full game. You move your character with WASD, aim with the mouse, and can shoot, jump, and interact with the environment in a few other ways. The game is gorgeous. Check out the screenshots here.

Mass Effect
I didn't play this at all, but I did pick it up when it was on sale on Steam. I'm sure I'll get to it eventually!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
I found it! This had been lost for a couple months now I think, but I finally found the game today. Now I can get back to it.

Sony to offer PSN users free identity theft protection for one year | Joystiq

This is a fantastic move, and I'm actually surprised to see Sony making it. Thirty days of PlayStation Plus and the free "content" downloads weren't enough. I will be curious to see what the free content that's offered will be. I think they just give everyone credit to purchase whatever they want. It'd be a good way to make people run back to PSN after they feel safer with the identity theft protection.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth | Apple/Mac, PC, Reviews, Action Games, Real Time Strategy, Strategy, 11 bit studios, 11 bit studios

Make-A-Wish and PopCap help 9-year-old create his own iOS game | Joystiq

Joystiq reported that PopCap teamed with Make-A-Wish to create a game based on a 9-year-old's design. Owain Weinert, who is diagnosed with Leukemia, is now the game designer behind an upcoming iOS game called Allied Star Police.

Super Mario (Converse) All-Stars coming to Japan | Joystiq
Source: Shoes Master

Japan will be getting Super Mario Bros. themed Converse shoes in two styles in July. Unfortunately, this isn't Japan. Here's hoping they bring them to the United States too, because that would be pretty cool.

YumYumBoy! for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Puzzle

I finally got my review posted!

Too cool.

But I'm not sure why they let him live and walk away, or why the Gurubashi aren't upset by the Zandalar tribe taking them down.

Playing

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for PC
I've been doing a heroic and BG most days now. I've received a lot of new gear, which is cool. After a lot of thought, I rejoined Carpe Flux Capacitor recently. It sucks to see Playground Brigade fall apart, but it's nice to be back in Carpe. A couple weeks ago, BFF took me on their guild run of BWD, although I didn't make any new progress. I have managed to break 80,000 HKs, get Cataclysmically Superior, and finish Hyjal though. Boy, Hyjal was a badass zone at the end there! And lots of cute quests involving animals too.

Surviving High School for iOS
While I haven't been playing this as much, I've been playing through the weekly episode every week.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth for Steam
This is a game I'm reviewing for Game-Boyz, so I don't want to talk about it too much here until after I post the review. I will say that it's a reverse tower defense in which you control a line of units going on the offensive against stationary turrets. I beat it this morning, and I really enjoyed it. There's a few bonus modes that I'd like to play more of before I call it quits on this game.

Hoard for Steam
Another Game-Boyz game that I can't talk about too much. Even if I could though, I just started it. It's a strategy game in which you play as a dragon attempting to hoard gold by destroying cities, scaring peasants into giving gold tributes, and kidnapping and ransoming princesses. Seems fun!

Plants vs. Zombies for iOS
I finally managed to finish the New Game+ mode in this and am working on the last achievement - unlock every plant. I still have a few more to unlock, but I'm sure I'll get it soon since I've been playing it a lot in my down time.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 for WiiWare
I beat and reviewed this recently. It was a solid entry I think, and I enjoyed it. While I didn't gather all the chaos emeralds, going after them really wasn't that fun. I think I'm done with this one.

Stopped Playing

Mirror's Edge for iOS
I've just grown bored of this. The levels are pretty repetitive and sometimes annoying. I'll probably end up finishing it after a while through playing it in small chunks.

YumYumBoy for iOS
I'm still trying to post the review on this one, but Game-Boyz has been having some problems. I might pick it up from time to time, but I think I'm pretty much done with it.

Considerations

I picked up Portal 2, so obviously I want to play that more. I'd also really like to figure out where I put Force Unleashed 2 so I get back to it. I should probably get back to Ballad of Gay Tony and Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp as well. Further down the line, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Rush all sound appealing. I purchased Unbound Saga, a brawler for XBLA recently and should probably check that out. I've also been wanting to play Scott Pilgrim and Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime when I get the chance.

Thanks to Pat for posting this on Facebook and bringing it to my attention. This shows much more than the original teasor trailer. Sonic Generations is a new retail Sonic game recently announced in which you can play as the classic, pudgy Sonic or the modern streamlined Sonic.

In the classic gameplay (the first half of the video), the game is a side-scrolling platformer all about speed and looks like the classic games. The modern Sonic gameplay switches between side-scrolling and the behind-Sonic camera found in games like Sonic and the Secret Rings and the daylight Sonic Unleashed stages. The modern gameplay also features dashes and homing attacks while the classic does not.

Also, it's noteworthy that in this extended trailer, you see Sonic for the most part keeping his speed. He sometimes must wait for platforms, but it seems like he's usually able to keep running forward when played correctly. At least Sega realizes what's the game supposed to be. I hope Sonic Generations is good.

Know Your Lore: Update on current Horde politics

Anne Stickney of WoW Insider posted a great Know Your Lore piece on Horde politics tonight. It contained some really interesting little details that I never noticed.

GameFAQs Review

I was looking forward to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 for a long time. It felt good during my limited time with it at E3 with its return to 2D platforming on the home consoles. After playing through it, overall it's good, but there still are some problems.

First, I should mention that there have been some physics changes. The primary changed I noticed is that Sonic now sticks to ground better while standing than while in a ball. This means that when running up vertical slopes or going through loops, you should be standing and not in a ball. The change itself makes sense; there's a trade off between the two forms now. However, most people won't know about this and will be in the ball form, wondering why they can't get up an incline.

The homing attack from the 3D games is still present. Thinking it would make the game too easy, I was wary, but it's a welcome addition in my eyes now. The Sonic series has always been about speed, and the most useful aspect of the homing attack is being able to keep Sonic moving quickly. It detracts a bit from the bosses because you don't have to aim, but on the harder bosses, it doesn't matter anyways because it's truly about learning the patterns, not aiming. Overall, the changes are a net positive.

The graphics are very nice, but the backgrounds seem to clash with the foregrounds. The backgrounds look too realistic compared to the foregrounds that look similar to the classic games. Enemy models are based on enemies in previous games, giving Sonic 4 a familiar look that I enjoyed. The bosses are all based off previous bosses as well. They start the same, but after hitting them enough times, they'll gain a new ability. The title music was very disappointing and didn't sound like it belonged in the series, but the music in the game proper was great.

A shield is present in the game that absorbs one damaging hit; however, the various shields introduced in Sonic 3 do not make an appearance. Level design is generally adequate, but the game will put you in dead ends and pits. I don't understand this masochistic game design. Sonic is a game about speed. Properly played, you shouldn't have to stop except at bosses. Sonic Team doesn't seem to understand this. At least there are no rooms in which you must kill a certain number of enemies to proceed like in the Sonic Rush series (which was still good, mind you).

The level select is a nice touch. You don't even have to reach a zone before being able to select it, which lets you skip around if you wish. Special stages are reached by having 50 rings when you reach the end of the stage and jumping into the giant ring. The special stages are based on the ones from the original Sonic the Hedgehog but are timed and allow you to control the rotation of the level rather than Sonic. It was cool to see the classic special stage revised, and was fun enough while playing through the game. After I beat the game I had initial urge to go back in an attempt to collect all the Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, I found that the special stages definitely fun enough to warrant repeatedly playing. Unlocking Super Sonic just wasn't worth the time of playing through repeatedly.

All in all, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is a fun game that long time Sonic fans will enjoy. The $15 price point does seem high to me though; I feel it would be better priced between $5 and $10. Despite that, I look forward to second episode and will be playing when it releases!

I found this draft in my blog. I started working on it on 10/10/2009, and it seems I was making notes for an article on Donkey Kong Country. I still think it deserves a closer look, but I might as well share these notes.

The Playground Justice Blog

I've finally updated the Playground Justice blog for the first time since this expansion. Everything should be caught up now. Hopefully I can update it on a regular basis!

Not a lot going on with gaming in the last half of March.

Playing

Homefront for PC
I've been putting time into this for the past couple weeks and finished it tonight. I enjoyed it. It had a lot of technical problems that kept it from being anywhere near the hype, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. The campaign was about six hours long or so - the perfect length for someone who only plays games once per week. If the story sounds intriguing and you don't mind some annoyances, borrow it and give it a go. Don't buy it.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for PC
Last week I got Cataclysm Dungeon Hero by finally doing the final heroic I needed, and tonight I unlocked the portal to Uldum, the last I needed. I still haven't hit 80,000 honorable kills, but I'm very close. I'd like to start doing Algaloth weekly and maybe BGing daily.

Mirror's Edge for iOS
Definitely worth the $1 I paid when it was on sale. This version is a side-scrolling platformer that's played with one finger by swiping vertically and horizontally. It's nothing amazing, but the atmosphere matches its console counterpart well. I'm enjoying it.

YumYumBoy for iOS
Here's a puzzle game I'm reviewing. It should be done, but there's a freeze on new posts to Game Boyz while we change hosts. More on this later then, I suppose.

Surviving High School for iOS
I can't believe I'm playing a visual novel by EA. The game is about of a bunch of high school kids who try to date and get into trouble. It's episodic and comes with a long (2-3 hours) campaign called Football Season. After finishing that, I looked at the other episodes. There are a few standalone episodes and sequels to Football Season as well as various numbered episodes that belong to seasons. I bought a sequel to Football Sequence taking place during college and didn't like it as much. The numbered episodes each cost a dollar, but the game features a "now airing" episode, which is the newest episode every week, for free. I played through one of those and will probably continue playing the free one each week for a while.

Slacking

Pokémon White Version for DS
Nothing. I need to get back to it.

GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony for 360
If gem and I are ever off at the same time, I'll play it more.

Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp for XBLIG
Too lazy to bring my 360 back upstairs.

Super Meat Boy for PC
Can't find my PS3 controller.

The Force Unleashed II for PS3
Can't find the game

Beat Hazard for PC
Couldn't find my PS3 controller, but I'm not sure I would have touched this anyways. Am I done with it?

Infinity Blade, Doodle Lab 101, Angry Birds for iOS
Nada

To Play Later
So many things running through my mind! I need to finish the Layton series, and I'm only on the second Phoenix Wright. I know I should play Demon's Souls and finish Mad World since it's short. There are a bunch of newish Wii games to play - DKC Returns, A Shadow's Tale, Epic Mickey, and Kirby's Epic Yarn. Lately what I've been thinking about the most though are Golden Sun, Psychonauts, and Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. I'll need to replay Golden Sun to properly import into Golden Sun 2 though. Phooey.

Minute to Win It for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games, Arcade

If the game is patched to become easier, I suspect I'd come back to play more of it. The structure is great, but the the challenges are too hard given the touch controls.

selectbutton :: View topic - The Video Game Chronology Project

Gorblax of Select Button has compiled a chronological list of as many games as he can based on the setting of the game rather than the release. Why? I have no idea. But I guess it's interesting to note that Diablo, Diablo II, and Lord of Destruction took place over 1263 to 1265. The project seems worth noting just for how much work Gorblax must have done to compile the list.

Pokémon White Version
I started playing this recently, and it's been enjoyable. It feels like a reboot of the series. It features all new pokemon, and no old ones will be encountered until after the defeat of the Elite Four. The starters seemed cool, and you your pokemon before even leaving the first room. Unforunately, you can't trade until after the first gym, so getting all the starters would be difficult. You learn to run pretty quickly, which is nice. I'm not sure why you can't just start the game with the ability to run though. This seems like a bad design decision. The professor tells you about "someone's" PC early on in the game, and then within abut about a half hour, you meet this "someone." It also seemed like a chuckle and nod at that old series staple.

My only complaint so far, and it really isn't the game's fault, is that I can't stop grinding for the correct nature. It's so time consuming and annoying, but spending countless hours training a pokemon of the wrong nature sounds horrifying. I'm about ten hours into the game yet I only have one badge.

The villains are Team Plasma, an organization who denounce mankind's enslavement of wild pokemon. They seem sort of... right on, actually.The game also features C-Gear, which is the in-game tool you use to play with others. What's interesting is that it uses an always-on approach to see who's playing near you. I'd rather conserve battery life myself though. Also, they seem to have removed the underground, which I enjoyed, and replaced it with the Entranet and Dream World, which I either dislike or don't fully understand.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Playground Brigade is now 5/6 Blackwing Descent, 2/4 Bastion of Twilight, and 1/2 Throne of the Four Winds. We're also not raiding anymore. We also cleared up to General Vezax in Ulduar, which was fun. A lot of the guild hadn't seen much of Ulduar. For some reason, General Vezax never spawned. We did, however, defeat Algalon the Observer, which was awesome. I got the Reply-Code Alpha and started the chain for the key. With 4.1 on the way, I really need to get working on at least finishing Mount Hyjal. I'm also still one heroic short of Cataclysm Dungeon Hero.

GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony
I'm only a few hours into this game still because gem likes to be there when I play it to watch. I'm enjoying it so far though. In the latest level I played, I got to steal a military helicopter and then use it to blow up a yacht and some smaller boats. Pretty fun.

Super Meat Boy, The Force Unleashed II, and Beat Hazard
Here are three games that I was playing a lot previously but haven't played in a while. I definitely want to get back to the first two. If I don't get back to Beat Hazard, I at least reached the maximum rank already.

iOS: Infinity Blade, Doodle Lab 101, and Angry Birds
I purchased Infinity Blade recently, which is an interesting action-RPG. I need to put more time into it though to see how it holds up. I've also been playing Doodle Lab 101, which feels like a simple little Flash game honestly. You have to draw paths for differently colored bouncing balls to reach the correct goal. You also have to combine the balls to create the right colors. Lastly, I've been playing more Angry Birds. It doesn't deserve all the hype it got, but it's fun.

To Play Later
As usual, there are a lot of games I'd like to get around to playing. I started both Demon's Souls and No More Heroes 2 but didn't put too much time into them. I should finish up BlazBlue and Guilty Gear XX^Core Plus as well as play BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 also looks pretty fun. Mad World, Blue Dragon,Guild Wars, BioShock and Viva Piñata are all games that I own and have played but never finished. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Odin Sphere, killer7, Psychonauts and God Hand are games I've wanted to play but haven't yet I own them. There's also the latest Layton, the rest of the Phoenix Wright series, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Epic Mickey, Lost in Shadow, and Armored Core: For Answer. And then there's an itch to play a shooter - maybe Resistance, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, or the newly released and negatively reviewed Homefront.

Another World's Creator Eric Chahi Chooses BulkyPix And DotEmu To Port His Iconic Game to iPhone And iPad | News | Game Boyz

This is pretty awesome (assuming it's a good port). Another World was a great game and one that I never finished. I'd love to get the opportunity to try again on my iPhone.

Pucca Noodle Rush for iPhone | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Strategy

If it wasn't about Pucca, I probably would have enjoyed it far less, but it was a cute little game.

GOGmix - GOG.com via GayGamer.net

Good Old Games allows you create GOGmixes, list of games based around a topic of your choosing. Recently an article on GayGamer.net announced that the writer of that article had recently created a GOGmix of games that had LGB representation in them. It's worth noting that this list can only contain games available on GOG, but it's interesting nonetheless. Also - I've never played any of the games on the list, but I've been interested in both The Longest Journey and The Last Express.

Patch 4.1 Public Test Realms Coming Soon - World of Warcraft via WoW Insider

4.1 will come with lots of minor tweaks that I don't feel like talking about. But the fact that we have notes on it means it's coming soon. If it's coming to the PTR soon, it'll be live not too long after. I really don't think finishing heroic mode and the achievements of the current tier is going to be an option. However, as we're 8/12, I think finishing normal mode is achievable.

The patch also mentions new heroic dungeons! Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman will be back as heroic 5-man dungeons in a new tier of heroics above the current Cataclysm heroics! The rare mounts will all be back with updated models to distinguish them from the originals! Yay, rare mounts!

Gemini Rue | PC, Reviews, Adventure

Finally the embargo on this game is over! Gemini Rue is an amazingly great adventure game I had the pleasure of playing recently. The setting and atmosphere intrigued me, the narrative kept me interested and playing, and the ending was awesome. I end up having to review a lot of mediocre stuff, but I never expected to get to review something so awesome.

The Downfall of Hudson - A Behind the Scenes Look via Joystiq.

John Lee, formerly of Hudson, gives an account of how Hudson's downfall came to pass. Included in that, however, are a lot of high points as well. It's a fascinating read for people who really care about and are interested in the industry.

Video: Zelda's Lullaby... On OCARINA?!?! - GayGamer.net from YouTube

Real-life Mario Kart prankster returns to the track | Joystiq via Reddit from YouTube

This man has accomplished more with his life by making this video than I ever will.

Hand-cranked mechanical Pac-Man gobbles up our heart | Joystiq

The Pactuator: a clockwork Pac-Man from Jonathan M. Guberman on Vimeo.

Super neato.

Activision Blizzard Reports December Quarter and Calendar Year 2010 Financial Results via Joystiq

Guitar Hero, the franchise that sprang up rapidly and suddenly and has clearly been on life-support for a long time, has finally been put to rest. Good. That's not to say I don't enjoy pretending to rock out from time to time, but Guitar Hero was definitely past its expiration date for some time now.

Music / rhythm games are far from dead in my opinion, but Guitar Hero was just iterating on the same concept. Rez, Elite Beat Agents, Space Channel 5, Ontamarama, Audiosurf, Beat Hazard, Every Extend Extra, and Mad Maestro are all great music games that I love that also happen not to have plastic guitars involved. Of course, Activision Blizzard wanted to keep using the Guitar Hero branding to drive sales, but they went about it the wrong way. There are two ways I see for the plastic-guitar-game-industry to continue, and Guitar Hero didn't follow either path.

The best path is to stop releasing new games and just release songs. This is roughly what Rock Band has been doing. To be honest, I'm not sure what the jump from Rock Band to Rock Band 2 did. It seemed mostly like a minor update. If that's the case, then I don't agree with the way they went about it, but regardless, at least Harmonix wasn't over-saturating the market too much. Similarly, I don't agree with the release of The Beatles Rock Band. Rock Band 3's release made sense because they introduced a new instrument. The most important thing to look at when examining Harmonix's use of the Rock Band brand is the fact they created a platform rather than a series of games (overlooking The Beatles again). Being able to import your songs from previous iterations is very important. I wouldn't want to see another Rock Band game this generation. Wait until next generation, release one game, allow your tracks to carry over, and then continue making money off of additional songs. A+.

The second way to make money is a method inspired by the use of the Guitar Hero franchise but then stopped short. First, let's look at the problems. There was Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock in Guitar Hero's "main series" as well as Aerosmith, Metallica, and Van Halen games centered around particular bands. In that main series, I can understand releasing a new game to introduce the additional instruments, but besides that, they really needed to stop releasing full games. I purchased Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and while not everyone's cup of tea, this is the path that Guitar Hero needed to take. I realize I said they should have stopped releasing full games, and I still stand by that. Guitar Hero should have created a ton of band-centric titles and keep the price very low.

I know this seems like it's going against what I'm preaching, but the world already had a terrific plastic-guitar-platform with Rock Band. Different songs could slip in easily. However, that's all that could slip in easily. Activision Blizzard already had the Guitar Hero game coded and done. What they should have done is released discs with different video clips and songs (like they did with the band-centric titles) and released them for $20 per game. That's a low price point, and perhaps it'd be hard to get licenses for the music and still have such a low price, but surely some deal could be arranged with the bands. If the core game is done, all they'd have to do is release discs with different video clips about the band and new songs. At $20, each game wouldn't be much more than the cost of a CD. In this way they'd be releasing cheap, easily created interactive "Behind the Music." In fact, screw it, Behind the Music should just start doing this. Throw in an option to play the music without playing the game too and you have yourself a winner. The band-centric titles didn't work because they were too expensive and there weren't enough of them. Not everyone likes Aerosmith, Metallica, or Van Halen. But if you could release a ton of them and people picked them up like they would new CDs, I think it could work and be a lot of fun.

Regardless, the news about Guitar Hero's demise doesn't sadden me. I already have Rock Band 2, which still is just fine for me when I want to play make-believe-rocker. And if I want original music games, I don't need to worry. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who designed or produced Space Channel 5, Rez, Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Every Extend Extra, has a new game called Child of Eden that should (hopefully) be out this year on the main consoles, and that will most likely be more than enough awesome, original music game, or at least more than could have been expected from Guitar Hero.

Bad Air Day for iOS | Apple/Mac, iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Strategy

Not a bad time-sink. The character design is cute, and while I enjoyed playing it a few times, I probably won't come back it often.

I think portable gaming is at a weird place right now. The DS and PSP are both great platforms, but both also have their problems. They suffer from different types of shovelware and bloated features while missing out on important ones. The biggest problem facing them, in my opinion, is the phone. Why carry a dedicated gaming device when I have my phone?

I absolutely loved my DS for a very long time. I bought a DS Lite when it launched and upgraded to a DSi after my DS Lite's touchscreen failed. I carried it everywhere and played it all the time. It got a lot of crappy titles, sure, but it had a lot of hits too. Layton, Phoenix Wright, Feel the Magic, Trauma Center, New Super Mario Bros., Sonic Rush, Tetris DS, The World Ends With You, Pokemon, Elite Beat Agents, and many more.

The DS had a few very important hardware features that let it reign supreme in my gaming. No, I'm not talking about the touchscreen that is sometimes useful but usually forced into the game. First, the device can fit in a pocket and closes, protecting the screen from scratches. Second, closing the DS immediately put it to sleep, allowing me to easily play during classes (which I guess will never matter again to me anyways). People have mentioned the PSP having this same feature, but the second or so it takes the PSP to goto sleep or restore makes a difference. Third, the battery life is relatively long. I can go all day playing my DS on and off without it dying.

The DSi has added some worthless software. Why would I want to take low quality photographs or play with sound recordings? I wouldn't. What does work nicely though on all DS models is Pictochat. Pictochat is basically a LAN IM client that sends drawings rather than text. While worthless most of the time, Pictochat really shines during large nerd-gatherings like Anime Expo. I've had a lot of fun at AX with Pictochat! The social aspect is great for a few other games as well. At AX there are always a ton of people playing Tetris DX, and I love to jump into the game.

The PSP is a more powerful device. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit easily into one's pocket and doesn't close to protect the screen. This means it never really gets carried with me. Maybe it comes with me when I goto a friend's house or visit family, but it doesn't get to enjoy the day out and about in my pocket like my DS ever did. And unlike the DS, it gets a lot less original, innovative software.

I believe this stems from its power. The PSP is powerful enough to play games that almost-but-not-quite look like their console counterparts. For people who don't own consoles, this is great. Maybe they can't play the latest great console game, but there's a probably a version of it on the PSP that looks the same. That's true. It looks like the console version (only with much less anti-aliasing, among other problems) but is actually far inferior. No surprises here, but of course the PSP version is missing things that the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions have. The DS, on the other hand, can't run a game that even looks like the console versions, so the software doesn't attempt to do so. Of course there are exceptions to this, but I still stand by my point.

That's not to say that the PSP didn't have some cool software. I enjoyed Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, LocoRoco, Power Stone Collection, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Guilty Gear Judgement, Every Extend Extra, Brooktown High, Exit, Aedis Eclipse, Wipeout, and other games. Some of those are remakes, and that list is much more comprehensive than my DS list, which is the problem with the PSP.

The PSP also lacks a communication program like Pictochat and super popular multiplayer titles like Tetris or Pokemon. It's a lot harder to find people with whom to play games at events when they're spread across multiple games. Now that I think about it, I've never played any PSP title online at all, and I've definitely done random matches of many DS games online. That may not be an inherent problem with the device, but it is, at the very least, a symptom of lacking software.

The biggest strength that the PSP seems to have, which I would never endorse, is the emulation it can do if custom firmware is installed. Again, while Sony doesn't want you to do it the PSP is capable of playing every PS1 game as well as emulators for pretty much every cartridge-based console. This makes the PSP currently one of the best ways to experience these past platforms. My Atari Lynx has wonderful software, but it eats up AA batteries, six at a time. My PSP can play Lynx games easily. The downside is that most emulators don't play nicely with standby, thus making it even harder to play the PSP in short bursts.

With both of these great (overlooking their flaws) platforms, what gets played the most by me? My iPhone. As I mentioned previously, this is an easy decision. Let's look at my work day assuming I'm taking the bus to and from work. I have a 20 minute bus ride to work, a 15 minute break, a half hour lunch, a 15 minute break, and a 20 minute us ride home. I usually eat/drink on one break and my lunch, so that gives me 55 minutes of combined bus rides and break during which I might want to play video games. Of course, there are other things I might want to be doing as well. Should I carry another device, either stuffing my pockets or bringing a bag, just on the off chance that I might want to play something for a small, insubstantial amount of time? My iPhone is on me at all times anyways, and its games are designed to be played in short durations. The problems with the device, however, are obvious. It doesn't have any physical control, and most of its game are of little consequence. Part of this is a problem with people refusing to spend money. Why buy a $9.99 game when there are plenty of $0.99 games? This means companies can't invest a lot of money into games either, so it's a cycle of cheap games. The big expensive are $9.99 ones; There aren't any $20 games that I've seen.

What must-play games are on the iPhone? Space Deadbeef, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Chuck's Challenge, Atsumari, Game Dev Story, Plants vs. Zombies. There are a lot of fun games that are great time sinks without being substantial but not many games that I'd heavily recommend. Although looking at it now, I suppose it's bigger than the PSP's list.

Now, we have two new devices on the horizon. First, the DS's successor, the 3DS. It's 3D. I guess that's cool, I suppose. Maybe my opinion will change will I see it, but I haven't been impressed with any 3D console playing I've done so far. Needing to friend others only once and not per game is nice, and a messaging service is nice too, but these are both features present on Live, Steam, PSN, WoW, etc. The notepad feature is also nice that you can use while playing, but this is a bonus rather than a selling point in my mind. Nintendo's handheld has also gained a thumbstick. Yay. As for the games... we'll see. Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney is exciting, and I hope they bring it to America. We'll also see a new Mario Kart and Animal Crossing and a lot of rereleases. Not super impressive. Really there's one title about which I'm excited. What's horrible about the 3DS is that Nintendo did a 180 from one of the best things about the DS: It now has a 3-5 hour battery life. Ugh!

The PSP's successor, Next Generation Portable or NGP, has also been recently announced. It's screen is now a touchscreen, and the back is also touch-sensitive, seemingly emulating L2 and R2 I believe. That seems cool enough without being gimicky. It also has two analog sticks that seem better, at least in photos, than the nub on the PSP. No word on battery life, but I'm guessing it won't be great. What is great is that you can see what games people are playing near you. That sounds extremely cool, especially for events like Anime Expo, Comic-Con, or BlizzCon. The other awesome thing is that there's talk of the NGP being able to play recompiled PS3 games without the games needing to be recoded. I believe it's been suggested that this means that gamers can play their PS3 games, some day, on their NGPs. Coupled with the PlayStation Cloud that allows saves to be stored server-side, means that you could seamlessly move between console and handheld. Amazing.

The PSP never got super great software, but being able to play PS3 content would be awesome. It seems like the NGP is beating the 3DS in my mind, but if that feature is coming to the NGP, it won't be at launch, so it seems the NGP is probably going to be losing at first. Maybe that's just Sony's strategy. In fact, the DS was really cool for a while before getting boring, and the PS3 had no software for a while until it overtook the 360 in my mind. But we still have the same problem. I'm drooling all over the 3DS and NGP, but am I really going to carry either of them with me on a daily basis when I have my iPhone? Nope! Am I going to be playing on my iPhone when I need to kill time on the go? Yup! And if I'm only excited about the NGP for playing PS3 games, and I'm really only going to have my NGP while I'm at home... why get one when I could play my PS3?

The only thing that can really wrangle my interest from the iPhone is the Xperia Play, the unannounced Sony phone that runs Android. In addition to being an Android phone, it has a d-pad and the regular four PlayStation buttons as well as a PlayStation store. It'll have an app store for Android apps, including cheap games, and a more expensive store that will offer PlayStation branded games. This is an amazing idea that well help curb the problem of cheap, diluted pool of games on the iPhone's App Store. While I'm already invested in the iPhone, it seems to me that the Xperia Play has serious potential. I suppose we'll see as more details are revealed.

Conclave of Wind and Chimaeron, originally uploaded by theuser.

Last night we downed the Conclave of Wind and Chimaeron, putting us at 3/6 BWD N, 2/4 BoT N, and 1/2 TotFW N, half way through the normal difficulty content. They were both fairly interesting fights I thought. Staying so split up for the Conclave of Wind was interesting, even though Elizabeth and I just hung out on one platform for the majority of the fight. It was fun though! And it was fun chatting during low points of the fight. The Skywall is gorgeous, and I love being there.

One platform gave a stacking debuff that you'd clear by going to a
different platform for a period of time, but you also wanted to be on
that platform at a certain time. I was annoyed that people had trouble
understanding that some people, by nature of when we were telling them
to initially go to that platform, did not have time to go at the
designated time, get stacks, leave, drop stacks, and get back in time
for the next designated time. Eventually we changed strategies that
allowed them to start on that platform earlier, giving them time to
leave and get back in time for split-damage AOE, and that worked well.
But of course, the super awesome team consisting of me and Elizabeth
was awesome anyways.

Chimaeron went really smoothly once Corey and I were actually focusing
on different groups rather than accidentally healing the same group.
This fight has a mechanic that forces all incoming attacks on players
that are over 10K health to bring the player to 1 HP at the least. In
other words, they might be higher than 1 HP, but it won't kill them as
long as they're over 10K. This makes it interesting because people
only need to be at 10K HP or above, not anywhere near topped off on
health, which also means that I can spend ridiculous amounts of mana
actually using Flash Heal, my fast but inefficient heal, because I
only need to quickly get them to 10K.

So far, I'm loving the difficulty of Cataclysm raids I think. We're
making progress every night. Most fights (not all) have still provided
a challenge during which we wipe repeatedly, which is of course good
because I want to work for kills. But I like that we're still
progressing each night. I don't want to raid nightly, and I don't want
to be super hardcore, but I do want to see these raids to the end. I
haven't seen what others are saying about the current tier or raiding,
so I'm not sure if the consensus is that it's easy or how it compared
to the start of Wrath. Remember that I only started raiding in 3.3.
Hardcore raiders who want more of a challenge have heroic mode
anyways, so I feel like having normal mode be at a pace that actually
let's us move through it without weeks spent at the same boss is good.

Quotes on ProtoGalaxy Site, originally uploaded by theuser.

Source - Games

Source Studio quotes my ProtoGalaxy review on their site.

It's not like I said anything particularly great there actually, but I
did really enjoy the game. It's always kind of exciting to get quoted.

Co-Optimus - Duke Nukem Forever Gets a Release Date, For Real

Source: Game Informer

I can't believe it's finally releasing. It seemed more likely that we would stop hearing about it and it would fade out of existence. I really shouldn't spend any money, but I'm tempted to buy it just because it's actually DNF and it's actually released. I don't really have the time or money though, so we'll see.

I think this game looks really fantastic! Usually I'm hesitant to review games for platforms other than the iOS because they're bigger time sinks, but I had to make an exception. It looks absolutely stunning, and the plot looks engaging as well. Review copies are available in early February, and I'm on the list. Here's hoping they have enough promotional copies!

The Classifieds: Guild videos are awesome

How come my guild doesn't have a sweet, RP video? Or any RP? This guild looks really fun!

Video games. I feel like I live in their culture but spend very little time playing them.

Cataclysm
I finally hit 85 recently and even met some guildies I didn't know at a party at my place the other day. Very cool guys! I haven't even done all the normal instances nor have I tried the new battlegrounds, but I enjoyed the instances I did. Moving the quest givers inside the instances is a fantastic change. I still feel like I'm not sure what's going on in some of the instances. That said, I only quested in Vashj'ir, and the Throne of the Tides probably felt the coolest to me. I guess the instances are better when I have the lore of the zones backing them up.

Speaking of zones, I still think there are too many quests. Blizzard did a great job making new and interesting quests, but there's too much padding. Every quest should have some meaning and progress the story in a meaningful way. But I do enjoy the new Orgrimmar quite a bit even if Hellscream won't even consider a peaceful existence. I'm curious to see where the story will go, but I'm okay with him in the game (even if I wouldn't care for his politics in real life). Also, "Thrall's balls" and "Hellscream's eyes are upon you" are great lines. I've always really enjoyed the difficulty of healing and how I need to use many more spells than I previously did.

Force Unleashed 2

Edward bought this game for me for Christmas, and I've enjoyed it so far. It's very similar to the first one. I really enjoy how much it feels like I'm in Star Wars. It's obviously a bit of a button masher, but I'm not always looking for a deep game. In Force Unleashed 2 I've found a good way to allow me to feel like I'm in the Star Wars universe, really throwing around my lightsaber and using cool force powers. The way the quick time events play out to kill certain larger enemies is always the same, which is disappointing, but I'm definitely having fun. I also love the cutscenes progressing the story and the cool transitions.

Super Meat Boy

I haven't been putting as much time into this as I'd like, but it's definitely a well designed platformer. I loved N and N+, and Super Meat Boy fits in quite nicely. It has superb graphics, music, and bits of polish. Of course it's very challenging, but it doesn't make me angry like bad people in WoW do.

Beat Hazard

Beat Hazard, which features procedurally generated levels based on music, is fantastic. Not only is it fun, but it also provides me with entertainment in short bursts, and I don't always have a lot of time to play video games. While I'm definitely behind all of my roommates in terms of progress, I am nearing the final rank. Yay!

MaXplosion for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Platformer

Pac-Man Battle Royale now shipping to US arcades | Joystiq

Super awesome news for gamers and arcade sympathizers! People who were friends with me when E3 rolled around last summer probably remember me gushing over Pac-Man Battle Royale, which is finally being released in the United States! Pac-Man Battle Royale is a cocktail cabinet, a flat arcade cabinet intended for more social settings, usually with drink holders, and were more common in the 80s. I'm sure we've all (you probably haven't) wished you could play Pac-Man with three buddies. The time is coming! Pac-Man Battle Royale plays similarly to the classic, but there are four Pac-Men on the screen. When you eat a power pellet, not only can you eat ghosts, but you can also eat other Pac-Men. Be the last one standing, and you've won the round!

I really didn't expect to see this released. After playing it at E3 I immediately loved it, but the Namco-Bandai employees at their booth didn't seem to know anything about it. They gave me someone's contact information because I wanted to find out more about it, and that person gave me someone else's. That person was finally able to talk to me about it. And I have to say, that's much more journalism than I usually have to do as a "games journalist."

Video Game Nostalgia

- Colbert

Source: Twitter

Best iOS Games of 2010 | Reviews, Fighting, Platformer, Puzzle, Simulation, Strategy

Street Fighter IV, RollOut, Game Dev Story, Plants vs. Zombies, Chuck's Challenge!

Street Fighter characters recreated in Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 | Joystiq

What interests me is this comment on the Joystiq post, not the post itself. Look at his second paragraph. Look at it! Pure gold.

In the Pit is an Xbox Live Indie Games title created by luvcraft, a poster on both Insert Credit and Select Button. It's an audio-only stealth game. I've meant to write about this title for a long time, but for some reason, I never did. In the Pit is very fun and offers a level of immersion never found in another game while presenting a novel way to experience a game. While I'm guessing other audio games must exist, I've never heard of one.

I originally heard about the game because the creator, luvcraft, posted on SB and IC (or possibly just one. I can't remember). I didn't and don't post much on either forum, so we didn't know each other, but I still valued the community there enough to look into it. Of course, the fact that it was an audio game was enough to pique my interest in itself. I knew I had to pay close attention to the sound, so I used headphones. Waiting until I was alone so I wouldn't be interrupted, I put on my headphones, laid down on the couch, closed my eyes, and started the game. I had to listen to menus, which takes longer than glancing at a visual menu, but it was still easy enough. Soon I was in the game.

In the Pit had me take control of a monster living in a pit, forced to be the pet of an evil king and feed off of the king's enemies who are thrown into the pit. I was tasked with finding and eating said enemies of the king. By paying close attention to the direction of the sound, I could tell in which direction the enemy was. In the Pit also used the controller's force feedback to let me know when I had come into contact with the pit's walls and to simulate the sensing of my victims' heartbeats. I only had stereo sound, so I did have the limitation that something directly in front of me and directly behind me sounded the same, but it didn't prove to be too much of a problem. Completely letting go of vision was a strange sensation. I don't normally even close my eyes to listen to music (although In the Pit taught me that maybe I should). I never before relied so heavily upon my hearing.

The difficulty curve and level design of In the Pit is top-notch. Each level properly builds upon skills learned previously as a game rightfully should. For example, after teaching me to dive, I wondered why I would need it. I then learned that if I wished to continue playing, I would need to learn when to use it. The boss of the game was also a proper boss. Recently proper bosses are included in games less and less frequently. A boss should serve to correctly test skills acquired throughout a game in a more compact, difficult environment. A boss is simply an exam. A science student would be outraged if his or her math class had an essay exam on the Iliad, and rightfully so, but gamers seem to think nothing of bosses being wild tangents to the game itself. (Excuse me. I seem have gone off on a tangent myself.) The final boss of In the Pit required that I use what I had learned previously in a more challenging trial. The game can be completed in, probably, a half hour, and it's fun the whole time. The story provides enough fun and excitement to easily motivate the player to continue playing. I did, however, run into a problem. In the Pit crashed twice for me. It was very annoying, and it kept me from finishing at first because I put off retrying. I haven't tried the game recently; hopefully it's been fixed. As I didn't look into the problem online, I also don't know if it was an isolated problem. Besides that technical error, In the Pit is a highly polished game with correct design ideals.

The fact that In the Pit is an audio game made me interested, but the game isn't gimmicky. As I mentioned already, luvcraft uses what I consider proper design ideals - dying doesn't set you too far back, the game doesn't waste your time, levels build upon skills learned, bosses correctly test those skills, and the story provides adequate motivation. It also seems to me that no visual game can immerse a player like In the Pit unless the player wears some sort of full vision glasses. Even then, the frame would be in the field of vision as well. The only thing that breaks me out of the immersion in this game (besides the crashes) are the feel of the couch and controller and my own thoughts (and I wouldn't want to lose my own identity or thoughts to a game). The "gimmick" itself should be enough reason to check out In the Pit, but the design proves its worth as a great game. In the Pit is available for 400 MS Points and is available as a free demo. If audio-only gaming sounds interesting to you or if you care about good design, check it out.

Review also on GameFAQs

Zelda and Peach are a bit more outgoing in this new music video | Joystiq

Thankfully Joystiq is around to bring funny game videos to my attention.

DiscoTech for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action Games

While I didn't put it in the official review, DiscoTech also blows the iOS version of Super Monkey Ball out of the water.