• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

  • News
  • Featured Articles
  • Game Reviews
  • Weekend Gaming
  • Archives
  • About Us
    • Contact

Gaming

January Releases

January 7, 2014 by Tony Leave a Comment

Well, after a ruckus holiday, we’re back to a new year of releases and we are no longer looking forward to the Next Generation. We are now in the Next Generation. This month is relatively harmless, so feel free to stick with what you picked up for the holidays and the Steam Sale. Not much to see here. With that said, on to this month’s releases:

Xbox One

Week of January 28th
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Week of January 28th
Tomb Raider Game of the Year
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z

Week of January 7th
Wii Fit U w/Fit Meter

No January releases for the Nintendo 3DS.

Week of January 7th
METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE – ALL CAPS MEANS BUSINESS.

Week of January 14th
Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD

Week of January 21st
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

PS4 Banner

Week of January 28th
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Week of January 28th
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
Tomb Raider Game of the Year

No January releases for the Sony PSVita.

(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: Gaming

2013 Fun Games of the Year

January 2, 2014 by Tony Leave a Comment

If you’ve read this site for any period of time, you know that we’ve always shied away from naming a “Game of the Year.” The reasons are many, but mostly come down to the fact that we don’t have time to play everything and saying something is the “Best” of “the Year” reduces games to some arbitrary set of factors that qualify it as the best. I don’t have the time nor authority to make such proclamations.

We, in the end, play games for fun. To be entertained, to be challenged, but ultimately to have fun. So that’s what we’ve done every year — reflect on which games we had the most fun with this year.

First, a quick list of games I picked up in the last couple of weeks (or planning on buying) that seem to be on everyone’s year end list that I haven’t got to yet: Super Mario 3D World, Brothers, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Fire Emblem: Awakening. They all look tremendously fun (although Fire Emblem’s Permadeath is hardly ever fun) but they didn’t make the cut.

To be honest, 2013 wasn’t the greatest year for me and playing new games. Time and resources were in short supply. And there wasn’t anything the jumped out and grabbed me as a must have until the end of the year, anyway.

The Fun Game of the Year that didn’t come out in 2013 was: Super Meat Boy. I’m really bummed I didn’t jump on the Super Meat Boy train earlier. This game is tremendous. This game falls into that same realm of accomplishment that Portal and Portal 2 did — whereas solving a level in Portal 2 bestowed the feeling of superior intellect, getting through a Super Meat Boy level (and grading out an A+, of course) makes you feel like you are Billy freaking Mitchell, the greatest video game player that ever played in the history of gaming.

Super Meat Boy is pixel-perfect platforming, challenging, unrelenting, brutal, disgustingly tricky and ultimately fair and balanced.

The game is over three years old. You’ve probably read it all before — the music is great, the controls are perfect and the game is just fun. Straight-up video game fun. I wish I would have played it sooner. This definitely would have been on 2010’s list.

(Runner up: Mark of the Ninja)

And the Buttonmasher’s Fun Game of the Year is: State of Decay!

Wow! State of Decay? Another zombie game?

Sure, why not? When I started writing a review for State of Decay, I described it as, “one part GTA’s open world, two parts Dead Rising’s zombie brawler (minus the good fighting mechanics), sprinkle in some Animal Crossing and a dash of Fire Emblem and you’ve got State of Decay for the Xbox 360.” (Fire Emblem? Permadeath.)

State of Decay is the first zombie game that deals with the topic covered by the show “The Walking Dead” — how do you survive? There isn’t a helicopter on its way in 48 hours to rescue you from the mall. You’re stuck here, so what are you going to do about it? And who are you going to trust?

State of Decay has its issues, the wonky fighting mechanics being the most egregious one. But overlooking the little nits and concentrating on what the game tried to do and what it was successful doing puts this game in the top tier of my favorite Xbox 360 games and it’s my 2013 Fun Game of the Year

(FGotY runner up: Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Runners up runner up: Bioshock Infinite and Halo 4)

As you can see, I didn’t really play a lot of new games this year. I hope to remedy that in 2014 with a new console and new approach to how I play games.

What was your Fun Game of the Year?

Filed Under: Gaming Tagged With: State of Decay, Super Meat Boy

The Holiday Haul

January 1, 2014 by Tony Leave a Comment

We had quite the Nintendo Holiday around the buttonmashing household — we added to more 3DS XLs to the mix (along with Pokemon X, Luigi’s Mansion and New Super Mario Brothers 2) and we added the coup de grace:

Special Wind Waker Wii-U

I also gifted myself a copy of the new Zelda 3DS game, A Link Between Worlds, but I haven’t had time to pop that into the system.

All in all, along with the games I picked up in the Steam Sale, I’m flush with new games going in to the new year.

What was under your tree?

Filed Under: Gaming

In My Digital Hands

December 26, 2013 by Tony Leave a Comment

starbound

Getting behind on your emails is perilous: you might miss something you bought for a long time.

When I first saw people posting their experiences on playing Starbound, I thought “didn’t I back that game?” I didn’t remember if it was Kickstarter or what, but I was pretty sure I plunked down some coin to give it a whirl. The game looked fun and since I had so much fun with Terraria, and Starbound looked like Terraria in Space, I figured I’d like Starbound, too. So as I finally made my way halfway through my November emails, I came across two emails from Humble Bundle. One was for the Humble WB Games Bundle and the other was for my Starbound beta access! So that is now downloading and I think I’ll take a break from working on my to-do list to play a little Starbound.

And good heavens, I forgot how much crap came with the Humble WB Bundle! If anyone needs/wants a copy of Arkham Asylum or Arkham City for Steam, let me know and you’re welcome to my copies. I’ve got Xbox 360 copies already.

So along with the Holiday Haul (which I’ll be talking about next), I have gaming coming out of my eyeballs. I am literally set for a year of solid gaming. Who needs next generation?

Filed Under: Gaming

In My Digital Hands

December 19, 2013 by Tony 1 Comment

monaco_boxart

dishonored_boxart

The first two casualties of Steam Sale, Monaco and Dishonored. This time, I’m actually going to play them and not let them collect dust, uninstalled, in my library.

Filed Under: Gaming

Telltale Games and Borderlands?

December 7, 2013 by Tony Leave a Comment

This is a textbook definition of the phrase “Shut up and take my money!”

Tales from the Borderlands
Get More: Comedy Central

Filed Under: Gaming

December Releases

December 5, 2013 by Tony Leave a Comment

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:

Xbox One

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

PS4 Banner

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.)

Filed Under: Gaming

November Releases

November 6, 2013 by Tony Leave a Comment

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:

Xbox One

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

PS4 Banner

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.)

Filed Under: Gaming

How To Survive [Zombies]

October 16, 2013 by Tony 1 Comment

I come across a lot of gaming related stuff online — Twitter, Tumblr, blogs — but I have been a horrible blogger. I started this site to share cool stuff I found that I figured anyone who had similar (read GREAT) taste in gaming as I do would enjoy. So I’m trying to get back to basics, even if the posts are short and sweet (like this one. Because it’s late and I should be sleeping).

So “How To Survive” is YAZG, but that’s never stopped me from loving them before, so why would it start now? It looks like it has a little State of Decay vibe, a little Dead Rising, and maybe I’m reading a little too much into it, but a little Syndicate. Maybe that’s me projecting my desire for a sucessor to Syndicate.

Either way, it looks interesting and actually comes out next week. Check it out

(via Gamefreaks)

Filed Under: Gaming Tagged With: How To Survive, zombies

October Releases

October 1, 2013 by Tony Leave a Comment

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.)

Filed Under: Gaming

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

The Buttonmashing Podcast!

 

Loading Comments...