Tony

November Releases

November 5, 2012 by Tony 4 Comments

Man, November and its releases really snuck up on me this month. Never mind that it’s by far the busiest month of releases, that the Wii U is launching and that this is one of the stronger line-ups in a while. It was just “BAM!” and I realized it was already November 5th. So let’s get to the releases:

Week of November 6th
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
Saints Row The Third The Full Package
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line
Mass Effect Trilogy – And here we start off strong, with a package that is easily worth twice what they are charging for it. This is the perfect gift for that member of your gamer family that has yet to experience the awesomeness that is the Mass Effect Universe (you know who I’m talking about). Don’t ask, just get it.
Halo 4 – I have picked up every game in the Halo Series at launch (except Wars) and while I will be picking this game up soon, I may actually hold off a little before I pick up Halo 4. I’m still enjoying Borderlands 2 to switch games at the moment. But Halo 4 will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

Week of November 13th
Tropico 4 Gold Edition
F1 Race Stars
Call of Duty: Black Ops II – I’d have to go back and look, but has a Call of Duty launched this close to a Halo game? I guess it’s been quite a while since Halo 3, but it is going to be interesting to see how the launches match up against each other.
History: Legends of War Patton – If my dad played video games, he would definitely dig these History Channel games.
The Hip Hop Dance Experience – Looking at this track listing, I’m not really sure if this is exactly a “Hip Hop” experience.
LEGO Lord of the Rings – A holiday release wouldn’t be complete without a LEGO release.
Midway Arcade Origins – How many times does Midway think we’re going to buy this? /Buys it
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Bonus Edition
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two – Coming soon: DLC characters of Luke Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks.

Week of November 20th
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game
Hitman: Absolution
Power Rangers Samurai

Week of November 13th
Nintendo Wii U Console – Black Deluxe Set – Tempting. So very, very tempting.
Assassin’s Creed III
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Mass Effect 3 – The mind boggles at how good Mass Effect 3 will be with that secondary screen on the Wii U controller.
Game Party Champions – I see we’re getting a head start with the shovelware.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (With Amazon Instant Video Credit)
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Darksiders II
New Super Mario Bros. U – Sigh…
Transformers Prime: The Game
Wipeout 3
Just Dance 4
ESPN Sports Connection
Rabbids Land
Madden NFL 13
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
ZombiU
Tank! Tank! Tank! – Sounds like an advertisement for one of those super sales at the local Convention Center: “FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!”
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – Need I say more?
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
Nintendo Land
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Bonus Edition
Arkham City: Armored Edition

Week of November 6th
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line

Week of November 13th
The Hip Hop Dance Experience
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
LEGO Lord of the Rings

Week of November 20th
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game

Week of November 6th
Harvest Moon: A New Beginning – Harvest Moon you say? Why yes, yes I would like to link my old Harvest Moon review!
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Rayman Origins

Week of November 13th
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
Rabbids Rumble
Scribblenauts Unlimited

Week of November 20th
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage – Yeah, Ice King? What’s your deal?!
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game

Week of November 20th
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you Steal our Garbage ?!
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game

Week of November 6th
Mass Effect Trilogy

Week of November 13th
Tropico 4 Gold Edition
Dark Arcana: The Carnival
LEGO Lord of the Rings
History: Legends of War Patton
Angry Bird Star Wars
Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Week of November 20th
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Hitman: Absolution
Assassins Creed III
Twisted Lands: Origin

Week of November 6th
LittleBigPlanet Karting
Saints Row The Third The Full Package
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line

Week of November 13th
Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Trilogy
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Midway Arcade Origins
LEGO Lord of the Rings
F1 Race Stars
History: Legends of War Patton
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Bonus Edition
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

Week of November 20th
Resistance: Saga Collection
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game
Hitman: Absolution
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse

Week of November 27th
Under Defeat
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault

Week of November 13th
Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified

Week of November 20th
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Persona 4 Golden

Week of November 6th
Ragnarok: Tactics
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013

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.)

Weekend Gaming

October 26, 2012 by Tony 4 Comments

(A little late this afternoon due to being SUPER busy this week. Hopefully you’ll excuse the lack of content, too)

This will be our first weekend of crummy weather in a long time, which is probably marking the beginning of the end of fall and the approach of winter. I always feel more at home gaming when it’s cold outside and gets dark earlier in the day. When are your prime gaming times?

For this week, I think I am getting really close to finishing Borderlands 2. I know I still owe a post or two about my experience with that game, but right now my limited time means either playing the game or writing about it, and you can probably surmise I’ve been playing more than writing. So it will probably be another Borderlands 2 weekend for me. I just started the Pirates Booty DLC and have enjoyed that so far. I really like the new environment and of course all the great new loot.

Speaking of loot, we finished the five rounds in the Creature Slaughter Dome and were rewarded with Moxxxi’s Rocket Launcher which is the equivalent of a personal nuclear device. That will be getting us out of tight situations in the future.

If there’s time outside of the world of Pandora, I’ll probably dive into some PC gaming in my large, mostly unplayed Steam library. What will you be playing?

Weekend Gaming

October 12, 2012 by Tony 1 Comment

So what games of the video variety do you think you’ll be playing this weekend?

Me, I am having too much fun right now with Borderlands 2 to consider playing anything else. My Commando partner and I (me, the Assassin Zero) have recently stumbled upon the Creature Slaughter Dome and had an absolute riot rampaging through the first two rounds. I have no idea how we’re going to survive three more rounds of that madness, but we are definitely going to give it a try.

BUT, I will admit that the new additions that Bioware has added to the multiplayer portion of Mass Effect 3 has me itching to get back into some multiplayer ME3. Add in the upcoming Omega DLC has me wanting more.

Oh, and pay no nevermind to those other Grade-A titles coming out all this month. Who has time for that?

What are you playing?

When worlds collide

October 8, 2012 by Tony Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that: A) I love video games and B) I love Ohio State Football. These two loves usually don’t collide outside the yearly release of NCAA Football.

Well, this past Saturday at half-time of the Ohio State vs. Nebraska football game, the Ohio State Marching band (AKA TBDBITL) put on this show:

There are so many things in this video that I love that I can’t single any one of them out as a favorite.

The Best Damn Band In The Land, indeed.

Gross Anatomy

October 3, 2012 by Tony 2 Comments

I have probably already mentioned this before, but Jeremy Parish is one of my favorite video game writers/historians. I add “historian” to that description because his knowledge of video game history (particularly console/Japanese video game history) is deep.

Lately he’s been doing these “Anatomy of a Game” posts and recently he started examining The Legend of Zelda for the NES. He hasn’t finished the series yet, but I am thoroughly enjoying all of these articles.

The Legend of Zelda is probably the most important contributor to me becoming a “gamer”. I had played many games before then (I owned a ET cartridge for the Atari 2600, people) but I have vivid memories of hours spent playing Zelda. My exploration of Hyrule actually mirrored those formative years of growing up for me. We moved to a new city the year I turned twelve years old. I went from going to schools in the not-exactly-the-pinnacle-of-education Cleveland City School District to the relatively successful schools in the peaceful suburb of North Royalton. At the start of the seventh grade I didn’t have any friends and video games served to fill that vacancy for a while.

I was playing The Legend of Zelda and, quite honestly, I was pretty lost. Not making a lot of progress in the game nor in the game of life. I happened to bring my fold out map of Hyrule to school one day and a girl in my class noticed that I was studying it before class started. She took it from me and started drawing on it. Horrified, I asked her what she was doing. “Just helping you out,” she replied. She proceeded to mark out places where bombs would open new caves, bushes would reveal secret passageways and where I should go first. She didn’t reveal everything (I honestly don’t know how she had memorized as much of the map as she did), just like the game. Her hints and suggestions gently guided me on the path to discovering things for myself. My eyes had been opened to the possibilities.

I don’t know how many times I actually finished The Legend of Zelda, but I will never forget the sense of wonder I experienced exploring that world. Jeremy’s posts have definitely stirred those emotions almost twenty fives years later.

(You can see all his Anatomy of a Game links here.)

October Releases

October 2, 2012 by Tony 3 Comments

Fall is my favorite time of the year for oh-so-many reasons. Weather, foliage, FOOTBALL and the holidays. While the real TRIPLE-A titles are still waiting in the wings of November, October 2012 is no slouch of a month for releases. If you can pull yourself away from Borderlands 2 or Torchlight 2, there’s quite a few games coming out this month worth your time.

Week of October 2nd
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
Dead or Alive 5 – Looks like she still “kicks high“.
FIFA Soccer 13
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes – Interested to know why this is budget priced at $40.
Angry Birds Trilogy – Speaking of forty dollars, it seems insane that anyone would spend that on basically a collection of 99 cent games. But hey, achievements, guys!
NBA 2K13
Resident Evil 6 – I’m torn about this version of Resident Evil. I enjoyed RE5 enough and of course RE4 is one of the best games of all time, but I just don’t know how much love I have left. Seriously considering passing on this one. (If this is your first foray into the RE world, though, the Resident Evil 6 Archives is a great starting place.)
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission

Week of October 9th
Just Dance 4
XCOM: Enemy Unknown – I did not play the original XCOM but I am still very intrigued with this game.
Fable: The Journey
Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants
Dishonored

Week of October 16th
Doom 3 BFG Edition
Rocksmith Guitar and Bass
007 Legends
Wheel of Fortune
Skylanders Giants

Week of October 23rd
Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Limited Edition
Just Dance: Disney Party
Forza Horizon

Week of October 30th
WWE ’13
Zone of the Enders HD Collection Limited Edition
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
LEGO Lord of the Rings – So LEGO has officially run out of IP to LEGO-fy, right?
Assassin’s Creed III with Steelbook
Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth

Week of October 2nd
NBA 2K13

Week of October 9th
Just Dance 4

Week of October 16th
Skylanders Giants Portal Owner Pack

Week of October 23rd
Just Dance: Disney Party

Week of October 30th
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Transformers Prime: The Game
WWE ’13
American Mensa Academy – So… This is a thing?
Wreck-It Ralph – Meta going meta, I guess.

Week of October 2nd
PokÃ©mon Black Version 2 – Good-night, Sweet Prince. (The Nintendo DS is the prince in this instance)
PokÃ©mon White Version 2

Week of October 30th
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Transformers Prime: The Game
Wreck-It Ralph
ThunderCats
Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park

Week of October 9th
Code of Princess
Spy Hunter

Week of October 16th
Rollercoaster Tycoon – I thought this had already been released, but I stand by the statement that this could be an awesome 3DS game.

Week of October 23rd
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward
Professor Layton and The Miracle Mask

Week of October 30th
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Transformers Prime: The Game
Wreck-It Ralph

Week of October 2nd
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission
R.A.W: Realms of Ancient War [Download] – Someone pointed Realms of Ancient War to me a few months ago and I remember thinking it looked pretty interesting. Now seeing that it’s a mere fifteen bucks, I am even more interested!

Week of October 9th
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants
Dishonored

Week of October 16th
Doom 3 BFG Edition – Funny how a release that was “optimized for consoles” is getting a PC re-release as well.
NBA 2K13 [Download]

Week of October 23rd
Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Limited Edition

Week of October 30th
Painkiller Hell & Damnation
Need for Speed Most Wanted
LEGO Lord of the Rings

Week of October 2nd
Resident Evil 6
NBA 2K13

Week of October 9th
Dishonored
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Just Dance 4
Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants

Week of October 16th
Skylanders Giants
Doom 3 BFG Edition
Mugen Souls
007 Legends
Rocksmith Guitar and Bass

Week of October 23rd
Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Limited Edition
Killzone Trilogy Collection

Week of October 30th
Assassin’s Creed III
WWE ’13
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
LEGO Lord of the Rings

Week of October 9th
Spy Hunter

Week of October 16th
Silent Hill: Book of Memories
Ragnarok Odyssey

Week of October 23rd
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward
Street Fighter X Tekken
Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz

Week of October 30th
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Assassins Creed III Liberation

Week of October 2nd
NBA 2K13

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.)

Weekend Gaming

September 28, 2012 by Tony 4 Comments

It’s going to be another Borderlands 2 weekend for me. I’m actually contemplating an early afternoon of work so I can get some Borderlands 2 in while the kids are at school and I’m actually 100% awake. Being a busy adult sure has cramped my gaming time. It doesn’t help that we’re still trying to keep the kids away from the more violent games and Borderlands 2 definitely ranks up there with all the blood and headshots.

I’m also going to be digging into my Steam pile and possibly some Diablo 3. With all the changes and what not, I figured I’ll keep the lootfest from BL2 going with my Demon Hunter. It’s about time I find my first Legendary!

What will you be playing this weekend?

In My Digital Hands

September 24, 2012 by Tony Leave a Comment

This is another one of those “been in my Steam Library forever but I finally downloaded it” IMDH, but of the little I’ve played of Gotham City Impostors, I’ve really enjoyed it.