This one snuck up on me rather quickly. Last week was fairly quiet on the video game news front, at least from where I sit. So not a ton of movement on this week’s Power Rankings:
1. (1) Halo Reach – The Halo Reach Beta is quickly coming to a close. It seems like it was just yesterday people were coming to grips with how to use/fight Armor Lock and now the strategy and skill is starting to make itself apparent. Another playlist went live last week and I imagine the Xbox Live servers will be straining under the massive push to squeeze out those last few hours of the beta.
2. (-) Steam on the Mac – This has been a long time coming for a lot of people, but Steam went live for the Mac this past week and it brought much gaming happiness to the Apple masses. It has been tested by various Buttonmashers and it gets our seal of approval. (Or is that button mash of approval?)
3. (3) Fallout New Vegas – I never buy them, but I am always fascinated by expensive Collectors Editions. Fallout New Vegas doesn’t disappoint.
4. (-) Super Mario Galaxy 2 – It doesn’t come out for another week but Mario-nirvana is already starting reach the airwaves.
5. (5) Guild Wars 2 – This is more about Dungeons and Dragons Online and the original Guild Wars but has GW2 ramifications. NPD did its annual online gaming survey and found that DDO had overtaken GW as the game ex-WoW players turned to. This isn’t super surprising, but it will be interested to see how GW2 stacks up against DDO and other not-WoW MMOs. (Also, as a former EQ2 player, I was really surprised not to see EQ2 as a game WoW players turn to)
6. (6) Alpha Protocol – The say any publicity is good publicity (or something like that) and for a game about espionage, there sure seems to be some shady stuff going on behind the scenes at Sega with Alpha Protocol.
7. (-) EA’s Online Pass – My take is simple — Online Pass won’t effect me. I am one of those suckers who buys EA’s college football offering just about every year. Each year I think “this is going to be the year they get it right!” and promptly stop playing after the hundredth frustration rears its stupid head. That being said, I think Online Pass is a horrible idea and watching people try to justify it is just sad.
8. (-) Awesome Fan-made Street Fighter Short – is awesome (Yes, I know I’m like two weeks late with this one. Sue me):
9. (8) Alan Wake – Seems to have reviewed fairly positively. Garnett Lee seemed to like it, at least. Have you played it?
10. (-) New Assassin’s Creed – I’m not the AC go-to-guy around these parts, but I couldn’t help but notice the flurry of activity surrounding Ubisoft’s release of news about the new AC game.
Honorable Mention: The guy who kept Halo 2 alive longer than anyone cared.
Dropped out: Bungie/Activision, Infinity Ward/Activision, Ebert and games as art, Frozen Synapse, and The New New Super Mario. Success, she is so fleeting online.
Jason O says
#3 – Crap, I may actually buy the New Vegas collector’s edition.
#6 – Very much looking forward to Alpha Protocol but this dance is getting old. I think customers would be more understanding about circumstances that were grounded in real world principles. No one wants to hear a game was delayed because the quality was bad, but they will appreciate the extra time and effort to fix it then “market repositioning” which sounds like BS.
Nat says
Here we go.
2 should be 1 and 1 should be 9 (Did we really hear anything about it? Everybody was playing it. Well, not this person. 😀 )
7 should be 2. 9 Should be higher. 10 was the surprise. I’d go higher, but I’m an AC fanboy. However, I’m content with it at 10.
8? Another one that’s new to me.
6? I agree there. Geesh.
All others? Sure.
I love this feature.