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Tony

Weekend of Gaming

August 28, 2009 by Tony 3 Comments

Man, it sure got here in a hurry. Not that I’m complaining. I’m waiting to travel home (my flight is most likely going to be delayed — LaGuardia is the place where flights go to die) so I can only dream about gaming right now. But when I finally do get home, I’m planning on picking up Shadow Complex and giving that a play-through. I’ve also got a couple games coming from Gamefly, but they probably won’t get here until next week.

So I have a decision to make. I recently finished Fallout 3, so I could pick up one of the DLC packs (probably Broken Steel) or I can go back to Mass Effect, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. I’m planning on starting over with a fresh new character and playing it start to finish. Any suggestions?

I also will be playing some NCAA 10 as a primer for the upcoming football season.

What will you be playing?

Filed Under: Gaming

Weekend Gaming

August 14, 2009 by Tony 7 Comments

So I’m on my way home from my last (hopefully) two-week business trip to New England (this time I’m in Maine) and I’m looking forward to a nice long weekend of gaming (and taking my wife out for our anniversary, of course).

I picked up Pure a few weeks ago, which is the greatest racing game you didn’t play in 2008, so I’ll be putting some more time doing my best to not fall off my four-wheeler while racing at insanely high rates of speed. I also started back up with Fallout 3 before I left for Maine, so I hope to get back to the Capital Wasteland this weekend. Other than that, I’ll be playing some New Super Mario Bros. and NY Time Crossword on the DS as I travel home. Oh, and some Punch-Out!! on the Wii.

What gaming does your weekend have in store for you?

Filed Under: Gaming

Wuv, true wuv

August 14, 2009 by Tony 3 Comments

Since I know she is subscribed to the feed, I’m going to wish Mrs. Buttonmashing a happy anniversary and thanking her for the twelve years she’s put up with my hobbies, including these here video games and this here site. I’m slowly but surely going to turn her into a gamer.

Love you, babe!

Filed Under: Asides

August Releases

August 3, 2009 by Tony 6 Comments

It’s that time again, the long list of monthly releases. Thankfully, July is mercifully bereft of top-tier games, so we can play catch up with all the good gaming that has come out recently.

Xbox 360 banner

Week of August 3rd
Brave: A Warrior’s Tale
Fallout 3 Downloadable Content: Mothership Zeta
G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra– At first, I was skeptical that the movie was going to stink. Then I was sure of it. Now I’m not so sure. I have the same feeling toward the game.

Week of August 10th
Madden NFL 10– No surprise here that no other games are coming out this week. Madden is a digital force of nature.

Week of August 17th
Raven Squad: Hidden Dagger– This is the first time I’ve even heard of this game. That doesn’t bode well
Wolfenstein

Week of August 24th
Black College Football Xperience: The Doug Williams Edition
Batman: Arkham Asylum– I’m guessing James is pretty excited about this one.

Wii banner

Week of August 3rd
Daisy Fuentes Pilates– I could have listed any number of ho-hum games this week, but I chose this gem to be representative of the week. In other words, it’s full of exercises that make you feel uncomfortable and ultimately are NO FUN.

Week of August 10th
Phantom Brave: We Meet Again– Any NIS game gets a free pass from me. But shouldn’t it be “Phantom Brave: Wii Miit Again”?
Madden NFL 10
Groovin Blocks– Klax says hello, from 1989.

Week of August 17th
Sudoku Ball – Detective– Three words I never expected to go together: “Sudoku”, “Ball”, and “Detective”.
Spectrobes: Origins

Week of August 24th
Metroid Prime Trilogy Collector’s Edition– Updated Metroid Prime and MP 2, Wii controls and variable difficulty. It’s like they looked in my brain searching for the perfect Wii release and came up with this. It will be very hard to pass this one up.

… skipping the rest of this week’s dreck. I don’t even know why I list Wii releases.

Nintendo DS banner

Week of August 3rd
DS Paint
G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra
Aliens in the Attic

Week of August 10th
Fossil Fighters
C.O.R.E.
Sky Pirates of Neo Terra

Week of August 17th
Ant Nation
Marker Man Adventures
My Friend– Your life has reached ROCK BOTTOM if you are buying a video game titled “My Friend.” Please, before you do this, give me a call.

Week of August 24th
Monster Racers
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
7 Wonders 2
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming– Any chance I get to link my post about how I feel about Harvest Moon, I take it.

PC banner

Week of August 3rd
Hearts of Iron 3
Amazing Adventures: Around The World

Week of August 10th
The Nightshift Code (JC)
War Leaders: Clash of Nations
Text Twist 2

Week of August 17th
Wolfenstein– I love the box art for this game.
Plants vs. Zombies– This game has been available on Steam for like ever, so I don’t know why it’s showing up in this month’s releases, but you should be playing it anyway, so if you don’t have it, GET IT.
Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy
Death to Spies: Moment of Truth– This game wins the “ridiculous” box art award for the month. It looks like that man has a microphone at the end of his pistol.

Week of August 24th
Fallout 3 Game Ad-On Pack: Broken Steel and Point Lookout
Joint Operations Complete Collection– Dragon-AK-47s!!

Week of August 31st

PS3 banner

Week of August 3rd
SingStar Queen – Stand Alone
G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra

Week of August 10th
Madden NFL 10

Week of August 17th
Wolfenstein

Week of August 24th
Batman: Arkham Asylum

Week of August 31st
Guitar Hero 5

PSP banner

Week of August 3rd
Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show
G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra

Week of August 10th
Madden NFL 10

Week of August 24th
Warriors Orochi 2
Dissidia Final Fantasy

Week of August 31st
Mytran Wars
SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny

Another ho-hum month. 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.)

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Monthly Releases

In My Hands

July 29, 2009 by Tony Leave a Comment

In my hands: Punch-Out!! for the Wii and Pure for the 360.

Filed Under: Asides, Gaming

Another milestone reached

July 24, 2009 by Tony 1 Comment

Sure, it only took me two measly years to get here, but I finally hit 10,000 Gamerscore today. I hit 5,000 exactly two years ago. What a coincidence!

I am especially proud of this milestone, since the achievement that put me over the edge was the “Big Cheese of the South Seas” achievement from Hexic HD. Not exactly the easiest one for me to get. You might say it was a real achievement.

Here’s to hoping it doesn’t take me another two years to hit 20k!

Filed Under: Asides, Gaming Tagged With: Achievements, gamerscore, Xbox 4360

Epic blogpostage

July 23, 2009 by Tony 2 Comments

This may be the most epic blogpost I’ve ever endeavored to read: It’s a Secret to Everybody. Ever wonder about the origins of video game characters’ names? Wonder no more. See you in a few hours.

Filed Under: Asides

Weekend Gaming

July 17, 2009 by Tony 6 Comments

So I’m coming home from a two-week trip for work and I have a very long weekend ahead of me, hopefully chocked full of gaming. While I’ve been on the road, I’ve had a chance for a little New York Times Crosswords on my DS, but I just haven’t had a lot of time to play anything else. So now that I’m homeward bound, I’m ready to get some heavy duty gaming in.

So what will I be playing? I’ve got the new NCAA 10 sitting on my desk, awaiting my arrival. I can’t wait for to pop that game in. In addition to that, I need to get back to the Red Planet to smash some stuff with my super sledgehammer and help out the Red Faction. And maybe if I can convince James to join me, we’ll get some quality time with Mercenaries mode in Resident Evil 5. With the kids, it will be some Boom Blox Bash Party. Oh, and I picked up Plants vs. Zombies before I left, so I need to get back to that, too.

Sheesh, that’s going to be a busy weekend. What will you be playing?

Filed Under: Gaming

My Podcast Playlist, updated

July 16, 2009 by Tony 5 Comments

PodcastingI never meant to wait this long to update my podcast playlist, but my how the time has flown.

For reference, this was what my podcast playlist looked like a couple years ago. A lot can happen in that time. Three of those shows are no more, a few are a shell of their former selves and the rest are going strong. But now it’s time to reorder my top 5. For a while, I was listening to a lot of different podcasts. Way too many. So I decided to whittle my playlist down to a select few. These are the ones that have made the cut.

I recently got a new iPod Nanothat plays video, so in addition to the new podcasts I’ve picked up to replace the old ones, I also started watching a few video podcasts. I won’t include those in the list, but I’m really liking Area 5‘s video-cast, CO-OP.

Also, allow me a second to prove how well rounded I am. I don’t just listen to gaming podcasts. Here are a few non-gaming podcasts I really enjoy (links take you to the iTunes page where available): The BS Report (Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy from ESPN, talks about sports, pop culture and a little of everything else. I’m not embarrassed to admit I like Simmons), Wizards of the Coast D&D podcast (I started listening to this to hear the Penny Arcade/PvP guys play D&D, which is strangely compelling), This Week in Tech, and You Look Nice Today (I don’t know how to describe this one. Listen to a couple episodes and you’ll know immediately if it’s for you or not).

So on to the new list.
Honorable Mention: VirginWorlds (iTunes Link) – I don’t play as many MMOs any more, but when I need a fix, I listen to a little VirginWorlds. Extra Life Radio (iTunes Link) – More of a geek podcast than a gaming podcast, but a fun listen nonetheless.

5. CAGCast/CAG Foreplay (CAG Cast iTunes Link, CAG Foreplay iTunes Link) – The CAG Cast was my #1 podcast the first time I made this list, but they faltered a bit and went through a period when they seemed tired of podcasting and generally disinterested. Luckily, they worked through it and seemed to have regained their enthusiasm, but I find that I listen to their show later than the other ones. I’m also including CAG Foreplay, another CAG podcast that is equally enjoyable.

4. Major Nelson (iTunes Link) – Not much more to add to what I said a couple years ago. Major Nelson is a podcasting machine. Still can’t get much closer to the source than Major Nelson.

3. Gamers with Jobs Conference Call (iTunes Link) – I’ve been going to their site for a while for their excellent writing, but when these guys get together in front microphones, good things happen. One of the things I really like about the GWJCC is when they talk about an esoteric game you’ve never heard and they discuss it with such passion that you can’t help yourself but give it a try.

2. Listen Up! (iTunes Link) – The artists formerly known as 1UP Yours, Listen UP is still going strong.

1. Giant Bombcast (iTunes Link) – My new #1 show, the Giant Bombcast is great. These guys are a riot to listen to and their gaming knowledge goes deep. I could go on and on about how funny these guys are, but you can listen to this (I LOL everytime) to get a taste (this was part of one of their E3 podcasts, talking about Nintendo’s Press Conference). This podcast is the real deal.

So that’s what I’m listening to. Do any of you guys listen to these? Am I missing any gems I haven’t listed here?

Filed Under: Commentary

Treasure Hunting, DS Style (Today’s Link)

July 11, 2009 by Tony 5 Comments

[We’re going to try and roll out some regularly scheduled content. This is some of that content]

My “Today’s Link” posts will be highlighting something from another blog or site that caught my eye. Think of it as “the best thing I saw all day” kind of a post.

Today’s link is about a Nintendo DS game called Treasure World, which I first read about at Offworld.

I can’t speak with authority about this game, as I don’t own it (yet) but the gist of it is this: You “explore” with your DS, looking for WiFi hot-spots, which are “Stars” from where your DS collects “Star Dust” that you can trade in for treasures.

That probably doesn’t make sense. Here’s a quote from the Offworld post:

Here’s the storybook premise: a Star Sweep — he’s the beardy one whose facial hair not coincidentally is teased into the shape of a star — crash-lands onto Earth alongside his robo-sidekick the Wish Finder. In order to get the necessary fuel to re-power Halley, his starship, he needs you to help him collect star dust. In return, he’ll trade you some of his vast collection of some 2500+ treasures, 20 star-dust-currency-units at a time.

How do you collect star-dust? By setting the Wish Finder to hunt for treasure by taking your DS out into the wild, where it can scan stars — stars here meaning the thousands of now-ubiquitous Wi-Fi signals that canvas and cloud every major metropolitan city. The DS catalogs every signal it runs across, and will, at times, also find its own special Treasure locked away in that star, above and beyond the ones you can purchase from the Hunter.

If a premise like this doesn’t warm your game-loving heart, you are DEAD INSIDE. But it doesn’t end there, it’s actually just beginning. Read the entire Offworld article to see how collecting treasures will eventually lead you to composing music that others can listen to — online. This game is going to be insane.

I can’t wait to pick it up.

Filed Under: Gaming Tagged With: Nintendo DS, Treasure World

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