Stop Tickling Me!

When I was a kid my brother and I would tickle our little sister till she just about peed her pants. We never really got her to, but for boys it was a worthy goal. Anyway, my sister would be laughing the whole time while trying to get away. She enjoyed the fun and the attention, but there was a lurking danger that she really would pee if the tickling didn’t stop.

One quick glance of the buzz on gaming sites on the net and you’d think gamers have done just that.

Late summer to early fall is always a good time to be a gamer. There are usually a glut of AAA titles to chose from. It’s been no exception for me this fall, but I’m being a little contrarian from the rest of the herd. I present to you my fall pick of games.

I’ve been meaning to do some writeups on these games for a while, but I’ve been so busy playing every night that even my surfing habits have died down. Hopefuly, I’ll get something up as I finish each one.

• Dead Rising: Yes, I’ve picked this back up. It is now considered old. I’m finding it to be a little more fun with a maxed out character. Sigh. This game needs co-op. Seeing Frank say “I’ve covered wars, you know.” in a kid’s outfit makes it all that much more entertaining.
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: Hands down the best game right now for the Wii. The attention to detail and the art style make it one of the most engrossing games of the year. The motion sensitive FPS controls are problably the best ever in a game of its type. I now crave for all FPSs to control like this.
• Jeanne D’Arc: Are you ready for a shock? This little known PSP game is so far my Game of the Year for 2007. I absolutly love strategy RPGs and this game has it all. I mentioned to Tony the other day that it might surpass Final Fantasy Tactics as my favorite of all time. I think his jaw hit the floor. It’s probably one of the most beautiful games to showcase the PSP with and almost every other aspect about the game exudes brilliance. The story provides an interesting twist on the Joan of Arc mythos (ok, so real life story) and continues to engage me after every battle. This is the best RPG for the PSP right now.
• Killzone: Liberation: By gaming standards, this game is a little old, but I’m liking the arcade nuances in this PSP title. I’m not too far along in it, but time will tell. I picked it up for next to nothing when getting Jeanne D’Arc, so I figured why not?
• Guild Wars: Eye of the North: I won this game in an Evil Avatar contest and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. You see, Guild Wars is the one game that I have played the most. Ever. I have not played for nine months and I just fired it back up last night and put in four hours. My wife this morning asked me how my visit with my “second wife” went. It was a blast. Do you want to know what happened to Gwen? Get this expansion. Just brilliant. Acronym for the game is even GWEN.
• Orange Box: I preordered this about a week ago and was immediately entered into the Team Fortress 2 beta. This is a must have game. I cannot wait for October to come soon enough. The Orange Box is a great deal if you don’t have any of the Half Life 2 games. Sorry, Halo fans, but I think the multiplay in TF2 is the best out there.

So, there you have it: my second life. I need for the tickling to stop, but I want to keep going on.

There are a slew of new games I’m looking forward to as well in the upcoming months: Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy Tactics [PSP], the Company of Heros expansion, the newly announced Dawn of War expansion, and many others. Here’s hoping I can stay afloat.