buttonmashing

If you live anywhere in the midwest, you’re currently in the middle of Snowmageddon 2013 (I think it’s called Winter Storm Cleon or something? Who decided that it would be cool to name storms?) Anyway…

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in to see what everyone is playing, but I thought being snowed in is a perfect time to talk about games they’re playing. Since I am still stuck in the last generation, I don’t have anything new to talk about. I even resisted the latest Steam Sale. So I’m working on my backlog. I’m ashamed to say that I have finally gotten around to play some Super Meat Boy and I’m really disappointed it’s taken me this long. This game is great. I think it warrants a post, but for now I’ll just say this: this game is so pixel perfect it makes me smile on a regular basis. And it’s “easy” enough that my two boys are hooked, too. Super Meat Boy will probably take up the bulk of my gaming time this weekend.

If I have time besides that, I am going to download the new Zelda game for the 3DS. I’ve read and heard so much about it that I have to play it. It’s been too long since I’ve played a Zelda game.

What are you playing this weekend?

Oof, this isn’t pretty. At all. With the new consoles (and upcoming Steam Sale) you should already have plenty to play. But if you need more, here are this month’s releases:

Week of December 31st
Wolfenstein: The New Order

Week of December 10th
Deadfall Adventures

Week of December 31st
Naughty Bear – Double Trouble
Fable Anniversary

Week of December 3rd
Nintendo Land with Luigi Wii Remote Plus Controller

No December releases for the Nintendo 3DS

Week of December 10th
Tiny Brains [Online Game Code]

Week of December 31st
The Walking Dead Season 2

Week of December 3rd
Tiny Brains

No December releases for the PS3.

Week of December 10th
Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God

(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)

Simply put, The Bridge is a king hell bastard puzzle game that will, in any single puzzle, require your brain to not only comprehend but also maneuver up to three different layers of gravity and two ‘black & white worlds’ of reflection, both of which, in any given puzzle, may be occupied by Indiana Jones-like stone spheres, vortexes, and black and/or white keys and their corresponding locks. Everything affects everything else; changing one thing changes everything. The Bridge’s aesthetics is a bedeviling coverup to the fact that the game is pure spatial lunacy. And my brain cannot do this kind of processing. It.just.can’t. I am not wired to be able to patiently envision and enact the solution to these puzzles. My right parietal lobe must be swollen like a raisin or something. The only axons that must be active there are the ones that are still connected to my prefrontal cortex because, like a fat kid with moobs trying to play basketball with the rest of the gym class, whenever the solution to a puzzle exceeds what the axons are capable of they fire currents all the way to the other side of my brain which triggers the impulse to punch my monitor. Dark Souls didn’t even make me rage quit this much.

And, to an effect, co-opping with my brother in Portal 2 has also revealed just how deficient – how squishy – my spatial constructing abilities are. My brother, a bicycle mechanic, and who, upon purchasing a dissembled piece of furniture, can take a single glance at the instructions and piece that sucker together in the same amount of time it would take me, if charged with the same task, to play with my poo-poo. In Portal I’d stand there at the entrance to a new puzzle and would be pondering the mysteries of the universe while sucking my thumb and he would be running around, scoping the place out, and devising our escape. I’m lots of fun to play with.

So, The Bridge isn’t the enemy. Portal 2 isn’t the enemy. AntiChamber isn’t the enemy (Don’t EVEN get me started with Antichamber.) And my brother certainly isn’t the enemy. The enemy here is my flacid right parietal lobe.

This is my least favorite month to do this post (November) when all the shovelware gets pushed out to be on the shelves for the Holiday Buying Season©. Couple that with the launch of not one, but two consoles, and this post suddenly becomes unbearable. I don’t have a lot to say. My days of gaming on the cutting edge of consoles may be over. I have mulled over getting either an Xbox One or a PS4, but I haven’t pulled the trigger on a preorder and probably will wait for at least three titles on one of the consoles to push me over the edge. Right now, Xbox One has Dead Rising 3 and that’s about it. The only thing I’d really like to have is a Blu-ray player, but I’m not getting a five hundred dollar console to get that. So for now, I’ll sit on the giant backlog of Xbox 360 and Steam games that I have and let this next generation figure itself out.

With that said, on to this month’s releases:

Week of November 19th
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Madden NFL 25
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Just Dance 2014
Fighter Within
NBA Live 14
FIFA 14
Dead Rising 3 Day One Edition – This “Day One Edition” business sort of bothers me. Do I pick up this edition even though I probably won’t be getting a Day One Console? This is a decision I should not be making.
Ryse: Son of Rome Day One Edition
Forza Motorsport 5 Day One Edition
NBA 2K14
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Need for Speed Rivals
Angry Birds: Star Wars

Week of November 5th
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Castlevania Lords of Shadow Collection
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition

Week of November 12th
DuckTales – Remastered 360 – A week away from the launch of a new generation, play this classic from five generations ago.
XCOM: Enemy Within
Deadfall Adventures – Xbox 360

Week of November 19th
Need for Speed Rivals
Farming Simulator
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!
Young Justice: Legacy

Week of November 26th
FI 2013

Week of November 12th
DuckTales – Remastered

Week of November 19th
Super Mario 3D World
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!

Week of November 5th
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures

Week of November 19th
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Mario Party: Island Tour – Has Mario Party been fun lately? I enjoyed the Gamecube version, but just barely. It has potential but it just hasn’t been great lately.
Young Justice: Legacy
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!

Week of November 5th
Final Exam

Week of November 12th
Contrast
SimCity Cities of Tomorrow

Week of November 19th
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag

Week of November 5th
Call of Duty: Ghosts

Week of November 12th
Battlefield 4
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Need for Speed Rivals
Madden NFL 25
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
NBA 2K14
Killzone: Shadow Fall
Knack
Angry Birds: Star Wars
FIFA 14
Just Dance 2014

Week of November 19th
NBA Live 14

Week of November 12th
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus
XCOM: Enemy Within
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
DuckTales – Remastered

Week of November 19th
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!
Young Justice: Legacy
Need for Speed Rivals
AquaPazza
The Walking Dead Game of the Year

Week of November 26th
Painkiller: Hell and Damnation
FI 2013
MX vs ATV Alive

Week of November 12th
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition

Week of November 19th
The Amazing Spider-Man
Tearaway

Week of November 26th
Ys: Memories of Celceta – Silver Anniversary Edition

(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)

This week is a bye week for the Buckeyes, so I plan on having a little more free time this weekend to get in some gaming. I recently fired up my Xbox, updated Borderlands 2 (including downloading the newest DLC that came out a while ago) and then I started playing State of Decay. So now I have the urge to play some more Xbox. I felt like I had let my survivors down, that they were still holed up in that crumbling church, waiting for someone to save them. So this weekend I think I’m going to put some more time in State of Decay. It feels like I might be getting close to the end, but I’m not ready to be done just yet. I feel like I’ve only explored half of the map. So much more to do!

I’d also like to get back to Borderlands and finish up the last two DLC’s. I sort of petered out with my co-op partner over the summer, so I hope to get back to that this weekend.

What are you playing?

There is no saying how much wit, how much depth of thought, how much fancy, presence of mind, courage, and fixed resolution there may have gone into the placing of a single stone of it. This is what we have to admire, – this grand power and heart of man in the thing.

John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

Valve has a vision.

And it is not some kind of short-sighted crash and cash deal; It will involve more than innovative hardware. This vision looks to the future of PC gaming, one that will be successful only if everybody participates. Yes. The task of building a gaming infrastructure of this type from the ground up will require the efforts of developers and gamers alike. Valve’s vision will blur the line between creator and player even more, thus creating a kind of synergy that will be beautiful and true. This will not happen overnight. Technical hurdles will abound. Forum naysayers will try to impede, to claw down the progress, to sow seeds of doubt. And while the heavy-hitters of the industry stroke themselves over their own regurgitated next-gen consoles, trying to stand tall in their artificial edifices, Valve’s vision will be that wide unnerving rumble they feel beneath their crumbling foundations. In time, these giants will topple and flail about, the naysayers will scurry off, and PC gaming will see a new and triumphant dawn – An enlightening era where the power to create, share, distribute, collaborate, modify and hack is open to all who wish to put forth the effort, and it will proceed with fervor.

It is a beautiful vision, though its implementation is still in the embryonic stages. In three separate announcements during the week of 23 September 2013 Valve revealed the tools for making their vision a reality: SteamOS, Steam Machines, the Steam Controller. The hook at this point is to use these products to get gaming into the living room, onto HDTVs, in front of players who prefer the couch, having never considered – for whatever reason(s) – the advantages of PC gaming.

The finer details about the Steam Machine and Controller are still fuzzy. The Steam Machine is being hyped as a hybrid between console and PC. Valve is presently shipping out prototypes that are stuffed with ‘off-the-shelf’ PC parts to 300 eager beta testers. The approximate dimensions are 12 x 12 x 2.9 inches. Other specs are available via a quick Google search, though let us recognize that the Steam Machines will run SteamOS. The Steam Controller is meant to enable playing of all genres including – that’s right – real-time strategies. Instead of dual analog sticks, it has two pads employing a ‘haptic feedback’ system. You can read about initial user experiences of the beta pad over at Gamasutra, but suffice it to say that the pads are indented to recreate the responsiveness and assignability of traditional keyboard + mouse approach.

If these two components sound an awful lot like just another console – you’re right. How then is this not folly? With the next-gen consoles set to unload during this holiday season, what the devil chance does Valve have to stand against these? Valve even assumes that a large percentage of their customer base already own high-powered rigs and are in no hurry to trip over themselves to acquire a Steam Machine. Many digital journalists and forum participants are already pooh-poohing these devices, citing that, for example, the Steam Box won’t solve any problems it sets out to correct, it will not achieve it’s glorified PC revolution with this hardware – the vision has faded before it has even begun to make itself clear. And were these the only two components, innovative and attractive as they may be, I would agree.

The linchpin holding this grand vision in place is SteamOS, which will run on Linux. The idea is to combat the closed ecosystems of consoles with the power and flavors of running an operating system that is open source. Myopic naysayers are already bellyaching about the immediate compatibility problems with their existing game libraries. And what’s more, mountains of more gritty technical issues also stand in the way (This isn’t meant to be an overhaul of Microsoft… yet). But herein is the glory of the vision. Herein is the power to overcome obstacles with open paths and collective efforts – To fight the good fight, and to do it together.

Valve’s vision has the potential to get more people coding. One of the approaches to get gaming into the living room is to reach a new source of untapped minds. This move is not about creating a friendly co-existence between the disparities and biases of console and PC users. Valve is out to convert. The first phase of their vision will jar loose and attract the attention of those select individuals who may otherwise be ignorant to their own creative and technical potential. Concerning the realization of creative and critical powers Ruskin asserts, “… and from that moment he will find himself a power of judgment which can neither be escaped nor deceived, and discover subjects of interest where everything before had appeared barren.” Living room gamers will no longer have to be passive consumers.

Valve and Linux are the appropriate flagships for this endeavor. When you account Valve’s business approach their success comes as no surprise. The ongoing mentality there has always been one of community and shared contribution. And now that digital distribution is so widely utilized by thousands upon thousands of users – a trend that Valve has perpetuated through their Steam platform – why not continue this mode to attract and support new coders. Each small developer, each contribution, will be a node in a growing infrastructure. Perhaps Valve could come up with special incentives to encourage active participation in some capacity or other. More than anything, it would behoove this entire effort to have a vision statement for everyone to march under – to have a mark of the legion. And let us not forget Linux, the workhorse of this vision. Recent years have witnessed widespread adoption of the Linux kernel, and not just by some weird influx of basement neckbeards and butthurts. We’re talking Google. We’re talking Android…

And now we’re talking SteamOS: a trimmed-down new operating system that is bound attract fresh minds that tore through the walled gardens of gaming consoles (a wild success in itself), fresh perspectives as a result of collaboration, and empowering leading ideas for games, media utilities, source code, pedagogy – all distributed with ease through the digital aether, built from the ground up. Power in the dedication and will of the users. Ruskin seconds these virtues, citing that the success of a construction is found in “pure, precious, majestic massy intellect”. This is the vision. It is glorious. It is right. May we keep it in perspective.

(TL;DR? Better just stick to playing on consoles.)

October’s list really highlights the fact that this generation of consoles is coming to a close as publishers rush to get out “compilation” discs with their successful games from this generation. This might not be a bad time to get rid of some old games and consolidate them with these “best of discs”. Either way, it’s clear that publishers are wrapping up the end of the console generation with a last ditch cash grab. Either way, it’s good for gamers. There’s quite a few deals this month.

Week of October 1st
Assassin’s Creed Ezio Trilogy Edition – Ubisoft kicks things off with the first of many compilation discs.
NBA 2K14

Week of October 8th
Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition – In addition to these multi-game offerings are also “Game of the Year” offerings, and I would concur that Borderlands 2 is a Game of the Year, and if you haven’t picked up Borderlands 2 yet, this is a great chance to do so.
Skylanders SWAP Force
Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition
Capcom Essentials – There seems to be quite a bit of value in the disc. I may pick it up just for RE6.
Just Dance 2014

Week of October 22nd
Batman: Arkham Origins – Arkham Origins looks like it might be the last day-one purchase for me for this generation. But it should be a good one.
Rocksmith 2014 Edition – Guitar Bundle
2K Essentials Collection
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Storm 3 Full Burst
2K Power Pack Collection
Just Dance Kids 2014
LEGO: Marvel – As Kevin McCallister once said, “It’s for the kids”.

Week of October 29th
Castlevania Lords of Shadow Collection
Battlefield 4
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
WWE 2K14
Angry Birds Star Wars
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures – AKA Super Pac-Man Galaxy

Week of October 1st
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – Here it is, my white whale. After much consideration, I have not yet purchased a Wii U. I don’t know if I ever will. If that happens, I will always rue the day I never got to play Wind Waker HD. Wind Waker is in my top 3 video games of all time and playing it in HD might vault it to #1.

Week of October 8th
Just Dance 2014

Week of October 22nd
Batman: Arkham Origins
Just Dance Kids 2014
LEGO: Marvel

Week of October 29th
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Sonic Lost World
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Angry Birds Star Wars

Week of October 1st
Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
Rune Factory 4

Week of October 8th
Pokémon Y – The 3DS is really coming into its own. With Etrian Odyssey, Batman and Pokemon X&Y, it’s quite the contender.
Pokémon X

Week of October 22nd
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
LEGO: Marvel
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

Week of October 29th
Sonic Lost World
Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-bit Land
Angry Birds Star Wars
Hometown Story (Harvest Moon) – Harvest Moon, you say?! Another chance to link my Harvest Moon review? Why thank you very much! (By my count, this is the TENTH Harvest Moon that has appeared in the monthly releases since I posted that Harvest Moon review in 2005. That means 1) I am old, as is this blog and 2) WE’VE HAD ENOUGH HARVEST MOON, NINTENDO.)

Week of October 1st
F1 2013 Classic Edition
Realms of Arkania: Blades of Destiny
NBA 2K14

Week of October 8th
Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition
Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition

Week of October 15th
Two Brothers

Week of October 22nd
LEGO: Marvel
Rocksmith 2014 Edition – Guitar Bundle
The Sims 3 Into the Future – Limited Edition
Batman: Arkham Origins

Week of October 29th
Football Manager 2014
Battlefield 4

Week of October 1st
NBA 2K14

Week of October 8th
Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition
Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition
Just Dance 2014
BEYOND: Two Souls
Capcom Essentials
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness – I still hold out hope that we’ll get Disgaea on the 3DS, but that looks less and less likely to happen.

Week of October 15th
Worms Revolution Collection

Week of October 22nd
2K Power Pack Collection
2K Essentials Collection
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Storm 3 Full Burst
Rocksmith 2014 Edition – Guitar Bundle
LEGO: Marvel
Batman: Arkham Origins

Week of October 29th
Castlevania Lords of Shadow Collection
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Battlefield 4
WWE 2K14
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Angry Birds Star Wars

Week of October 15th
Valhalla Knights 3

Week of October 22nd
LEGO: Marvel
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

Week of October 29th
Angry Birds Star Wars

What are you picking up?

(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)

Lucas Pope wrote and coded Papers, Please. In this position of supremacy he calls his creation a Dystopian Document Thriller. In the game, the player assumes the role of immigration inspector in the soviet-like postwar state of Arstotzka. Under the direction (and watchful eye) of the Ministry of Admissions the player determines which individuals from neighboring states can and cannot enter. This assessment is accomplished by cross-referencing the information on passports with those of work permits, diplomatic seals, identification cards, entry permits, admission tickets, or any other documentation that the MOA demands, often changing the requirements on a daily basis. Do well, and you are paid well. Do poorly, and you may soon find yourself on the other side of that counter… or worse.

Intrinsically, I should hate Papers, Please. Every fiber of my body should convulse against a game whose mechanics operate solely on examining and shuffling papers in a cramped booth. Paperwork is the bane of my existence (along with parking garages and stepping in dog shit). Any paperwork pushed in my direction is completed (maybe) with a snarl on my face. But, I don’t hate Papers, Please. The game is a bittersweet table-turner for anyone who has ever been jerked around at the BMV or, heaven for bid, a border station. Armed with a green APPROVED stamp and a red DENIED stamp, you are a decider of fates. I may or may not derive tremendous satisfaction when I deny a hopeful entrant and see him sulk away into the shadows and walk out of my booth through the same door in which he entered.

I stamp wherever I want, son!

But, this is only the surface appeal; the game would otherwise flounder and perish. Papers, Please moves on deep currents of political intrigue. In the storymode, your stamps create narrative ripples (be sure to read the headlines!). During the course of the 30-day storyline, you can experience as many as twenty different endings. Your existence is layered. You may become entangled and associated with a group of radicals without even knowing it – but when you discover this it’s too late to back out. So you must manage your own lucrative intrigue under the nose of MOA, who may very well be involved in its own shady deals, in which you, as worker, are a pawn. As the days press on, other government agencies start stepping on your toes, thereby increasing the difficulty of your juggling act. The Ministry of Information is always sniffing around, rooting out bribe-takers; the Ministry of Justice posts their international ‘Most Wanted’ list on a daily basis, expecting you to cross-check mugshots; higher level MOA directors are monitoring your citation count; the checkpoint guards are getting on your case about the lack of detainees you send their way; political extremists are plopping bombs on your counter instead of paper work. And on top of all of this: you’ve still got crotchety old women trying to muzzle their through with expired passports.

In order to progress you need to develop a methodology and adapt it to the ever-changing daily rigors of working in an Arstotzkian immigration checkpoint. With all of the narrative entanglements, you need to walk a razors edge if you want to keep ahead. And this is all done under a constant time crunch; that clock in the lower left is always ticking. The more individuals that approach your bench, the more you get paid – and, by golly, money is tight enough as it is. Oh, and you’ve got a family to feed, keep warm and healthy.

Bomb disarmed. Jolted immigration inspector is jolted. Uncaring security officer does not care.

Papers, Please itself successfully walks its own razors edge. It creates a claustrophobic, time-crunched workspace but doesn’t recreate your mundane cubicle. The antiquated graphics are stylish yet functional (you try discerning the intricacies of 8-bit fingerprints with 10 seconds left of the work day). The game doesn’t take itself too seriously but isn’t gimmicky. It is tremendously challenging but fair. Indeed. Time is short – Act fast. Glory to Arstotzka!