The King of Kong Has Returned
It’s an ongoing war that has captured our attention for many years. For the third time this year, the Donkey Kong world record has been broken with an outstanding 1,064,500 points, set by none other than the legendary underdog of Twin Galaxies himself, Steve Wiebe.
Gaming
Deluge Incoming
In lieu of Power Rankings this week, I just wanted to mention how crazy it’s getting (already gotten?) around the video game world. This isn’t out of the ordinary that there is a glut of games coming out around the holidays but we’ve already had a solid year already (Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Alan Wake, Starcraft 2). The rest of this year is going to be bananas.
So after I looked at what we’ve got for the rest of the year, it dawned on me that tehre’s no way I’m going to get through even a quarter of this stuff, but here it is. I’ve broken it down into three groups.
Definitely going to play
- Halo: Reach came out yesterday and I have been really excited to finally get some “closure” to the Halo story. (Who am I kidding? This won’t be closure of any type)
- Mass Effect 2 DLC “Lair of the Shadow Broker” has been released and has been met with extremely positive reviews. ME2 was one of my favorite games this year and I have loved all the DLC, so I’m very excited about one more story before they concentrate on ME3. Bring on the Shadow Broker.
- Dead Rising 2 To be honest, I wasn’t really getting too excited about Dead Rising lately, but after playing Dead Rising: Case 0, I’m all in. Give me a stack of drill buckets and let me at ’em.
- Fallout New Vegas I really don’t know where I’m going to fit time in for this but I’ll make time for this one.
Will play when there’s time
- Borderlands DLC Zombie Claptrap Island or whatever it’s called looks cool, but our Borderlands group is still working our way through the regular game. We haven’t even made it to the older DLC yet, let alone this new stuff. But Borderlands is a game that is best consumed slowly, so I don’t have a problem taking my time with this one.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops is another game that looks great, sounds really fun and will probably suck a lot of hours out of gamer’s lives and I hope to play it some time. But I haven’t even finished Modern Warfare 2. So again, no rush.
- Enslaved is the only game on this list that isn’t an established franchise, but I am intrigued by the setting and what looks to be interesting gameplay. When there’s time, I’ll be playing it.
Probably won’t make it but sure would like to try it out
- Metroid: Other M has already come out (to mixed, but mostly positive reviews) and I love the Metroid franchise, I just don’t have time to get to this one. Maybe I’ll get to it. I probably won’t.
- Super Meat Boy is a quirky (and what I understand, extremely frustrating) platformer that looks like a blast to play, but it’s just on the back-burner for me. I’ll probably download it sometime after it becomes the XBLA deal of the week and absolutely love it when I get around to play it.
- Shank/Deathspank I grouped these together because for the longest time I thought they were one and the same. They are totally different games by totally different companies, but they look like tasty little gaming snacks.
So that is quite a list. And it doesn’t even touch on games that I normally don’t follow (Civilization 5, Assassin’s Creed, etc). What is on your list? What is your plan of attack?
In My Hands
Unfortunately, tonight is the season finale of Top Chef, which means Mrs. Buttonmasher rules the TV until late. I’ll still be on later if anyone wants to play!
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Email music to my ears (and eyes)
Video Game Power Rankings #17
Pinch hitting in for Tony this week–and it was a BIG week.
1. (-) Duke Nukem Forever – The devil woke up Friday and asked, “Who turned the air on in here?”
2. (-) PAX – This would have been at #1, but, well, DNF. It’s amazing what this show has become. Major releases are announced there now. It’s become the gaming mecca.
3. (5) Halo: Reach – moving back up the ranking because it is the Next Big ThingTM. The ads are getting prettier every day.
4. (8) Dead Rising: Case 0 – Prequel, paid demo, payquel, or whatever you want to call it. For $5, it’s one of the best things you’ll play on XBLA. I would imagine that it has convinced a lot of people to get Dead Rising 2. We’ll be yacking about it soon.
5. (-) Metroid: Other M – The game came out with very little fanfare and reviews were all over the place. That’s probably not good, or people’s perceptions of the game and franchise did not gel with Team Ninja.
6. (-) PlayStation Move – Review embargoes have been lifted and reviews are slightly above favorable. Will you be getting the wand…and the eye toy…and the accessory…and some games?
September Releases
It’s that time again, the long list of monthly releases. September is stacked with triple-A releases, plain and simple. We’re heading into the time of the year when releases come fast and easy and we’re starting things off right.
Week of September 7th
NHL 11
R.U.S.E.
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Week of September 14th
Halo Reach
Cabela’s North American Adventures 2011
Truth or Lies
Week of September 21st
F1: 2010
Week of September 28th
Dead Rising 2
Battle VS Chess
Quantum Theory
Front Mission Evolved
Plants Vs. Zombies
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Fifa Soccer 11
Week of September 7th
NHL Slapshot Bundle
The Bachelor: The Videogame
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Week of September 14th
Cabela’s North American Adventures 2011
Swords
Brunswick Zone Cosmic Bowling
Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp
Week of September 21st
Canada Hunt
Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America
New Carnival Games
Club Penguin: Game Day!
Week of September 28th
Wii Party
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Duel Transer
Samurai Warriors 3
Haunted House
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Week of September 7th
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Dawn of Heroes
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Week of September 14th
Phineas and Ferb Ride Again
Gormiti: The Lords of Nature!
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp
Week of September 21st
Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
Jewels of the Tropical Lost Island
Logic Machines
Week of September 28th
Jewel Master: Cradle of Athena
Fifa Soccer 11
Treasures of Montezuma
Week of September 7th
Ultimate Mystery Collection
R.U.S.E.
Aion: Assault on Balaurea
The Sims 3: Fast Lane Stuff
Week of September 14th
Hunting Unlimited 5
Painkiller Pandemonium
Patrician IV
Week of September 21st
Final Fantasy XIV
Sid Meier’s Civilization V
Victoria II
Week of September 28th
Final Fantasy XIV
Front Mission Evolved
Black Mirror 2
Week of September 7th
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
R.U.S.E.
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2
NHL 11
Week of September 14th
Sports Champions
Kung Fu Rider
EyePet
Week of September 21st
F1: 2010
Week of September 28th
Fifa Soccer 11
Battle VS Chess
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Quantum Theory
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Front Mission Evolved
Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists of Arland
Dead Rising 2
Week of September 7th
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
UFC Undisputed 2010
Week of September 14th
Cabela’s North American Adventures 2011
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
Gladiator Begins
Phantasy Star Portable 2
Week of September 28th
Fifa Soccer 11
The Warriors
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.)
Batman: Arkham City Screenies
Kotaku has 20 new screenshots from Rocksteady. Re: Batman Arkham City. Fall of 2011 cannot come soon enough. I’m thinking of playing through the first game again just for kicks.
Image above is in higher-res if you save it.
Video Game Power Rankings #16
After couple weeks of slow news and other conversation, this week is chock-a-block full of topics. Let’s get right into it.
1. (-) Used Video Game Sales – We can take this in two chunks. The first part is the flurry of internet chatter that Tycho of Penny-Arcade set off with, among other words, the following: “I honestly can’t figure out how buying a used game was any better than piracy.”
If a blogger or random video game website had such thing, it would be branded as “link-bait.” Since I’m pretty sure Penny-Arcade is doing okay in the traffic department, we’ll take this as pretty much indicative of how he feels. It’s good to have convictions, but when you express them in an open forum like Penny-Arcade, the sides are going to be drawn and opinions are going to be given. Syp at Bio Break falls on the “used car” argument (which I mostly agree with) Gus at Joystick Division takes the, “If game makers weren’t so stingy for so long with the price of games we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” angle.
Where do you stand?
2. (-) Used Video Game Sales, Part Two – On the heels of the more philosophical discussion of whether it’s right or not comes news that Target is going to get in the used games business – “Target has started rolling out a new electronics trade-in program designed for mobile devices and video games.” Oh, and best Buy is going to revive their trade in program, as well. Things, as they say, just got interesting.
3. (-) Elemental – I’ll just point you to Tap-Repeatedly for the recap. That isn’t pretty.
4. (-) Portal 101 – Where were these classes when I was in college?
5. (1) Halo: Reach Halo: Reach and Bungie just can’t catch a break. First, the digital version of the game was pirated. Then, they (allegedly!) had game discs stolen and being sold on the streets in Puerto Rico. Again, this is just a rumor, but if it’s true, Halo: Reach is going to sell 4 copies, because everyone is already going to have played it.
6. (-) Dead State – The question is: “Can there ever be too many zombie games?” The answer is no.
7. (-) Mafia II – No links here, just a general observation that a lot of people seemed mostly disappointed by the mostly loved original game. Have you played it?
8. (-) Dead Rising 2 – A deluge is coming, and Dead Rising 2 is part of it. Joystiq has a (spoilerish) look at a few of the weapons you’ll be able to “craft” in Dead Rising 2.
9. (7) Starcraft 2 – Because it can fall off the list yet!
Weekend Gaming
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, but now would be a great time to break your “lurker” status and come out of the wirework and let us know what you’ll be playing this weekend.
I like to refer to this weekend as my “most productive weekend ever” because it’s the last weekend before college football starts, which basically means my Saturdays are booked until December. I have to cross off a bunch of my to-do items so I’ll be ready when the madness starts next week. It also means my blogging slows here a little during this time. I’m hoping this will give me some time to work on some of the reviews I’ve wanted to write.
In the meantime, though, I still plan on gaming some this weekend. I’ve been working through Dragon Quest IX on the DS and enjoying my first foray into Dragon Quest since Dragon Warrior on the NES. Along with DQIX, I’ve been playing through Metro 2033. This game is maddeningly frustrating. I am really enjoying some of the unique things they’re doing with this game while I’m struggling through their sadistic checkpoints and unhelpful feedback. I’m this close to switching to “Easy” so I can make it through a particularly rough section. But overall Metro 2033 is really close to being a great game. Right now, I’d consider it a flawed game.
If I have time, I want to fool around with Steam on my Macbook, but we’ll see. What will you be playing?