Power Rankings

Okay, posting around here has been light lately (UNDERSTATEMENT!) but for your reading pleasure, here’s the last couple weeks of Power Rankings in one post.

1. (1) Halo: Reach – Still going strong in the buttonmashing household. This past week or so was a lot of Firefight. I never got into ODST’s version of the Firefight, but I am loving Firefight in Reach. Got my first Killionaire in there, too. I’ve also been working through the campaign. I NEED MORE HALO.

2. (-) Bioshock Infinite – Ten minutes of Bioshock greatness.

3. (4) Dead Rising 2 – I finished Case 0 a couple weeks ago and I am ready for Dead Rising 2. Have you played it? I know what I’ll be doing, so I don’t need to ask, “What would Chuck do?” I already know.

4. (3) Zombies – Last Power Ranking it was the 18th century. This week it’s Zombie Samurai.

5. (-) Pokemon – It’s a little old, but this is a very cool fan made “trailer” for the Pokemon Apocalypse. Speaking of Pokemon, Portrait-Dex is a pretty cool Tumblr of cartoonists creating Pokemon self portraits.

6. (-) Achievements – Two things here. I don’t know where I saw it first, but I found “Mojo,” a system to put Achievements on your site and I think I’m going to give it a try here on buttonmashing. If it’s annoying, let me know and I’ll turn it off. (All you have to do is sign up). Second: Get achievements while skiing. (Yes, I am an achievement whore)

7. (-) Free Money – Microsoft is basically giving it away. Buy 30 Imaginary Space Dollars worth of XBLA and game-add on items on the XBL Marketplace and get 10 Imaginary Space Dollars back. They also offered some ISD for renewing your Xbox Live subscription, but I’m not sure if this deal is still available or not.

8. (-) Spelunky – Speaking of XBLA, Joystiq has some screenshots of the soon-to-be on the Xbox Live Arcade, Spelunky.

9. (-) OnLive – Is this is a sign of desperation or of a solid business model?

10. (-) Team Fortress 2 – Speaking of “going free,” Team Fortress 2, the three-year-old game that has been updated more times than I can count, just added a micro-transaction (read: trickle down economics, aka drain your wallet) store.

11. (-) Jack Thompson – Hello Jack. Didn’t know you were still around. Okay, time to go back to being irrelevant.

12. (-) Hacking This iPod Nano in a Dreamcast controller is just cool

I’m back at it after a week off, so this week’s rankings will encompass news from the past two weeks.

1. (3) Halo: Reach – We have to start off here because Halo: Reach is everywhere. It’s on the TV, it’s all over the major sites and of course this little Halo fanboy here has it on the brain, too. It also sold rather well.

2. (-) Minecraft – I don’t know where I heard about it first (I believe it was the Gamers with Jobs podcast, but I could be mistaken) but this game has rocketed to the forefront of the gamer zeitgeist. My interest level has saturated, and after seeing it was offered on the Mac, I will be giving it a try this week. Check out RPS excellent “Mine the Gap” realt-time review of the game.

3. (-) Zombies – You’re semi-weekly new Zombie Game, Dead Meets Lead. This addresses an under represented era in the Zombie genre — the 18th century.

4. (4) Dead Rising: Case 0 – Nat mentioned it earlier, but this game brought me back into the “excited about Dead Rising 2” fold. Also: it sold a lot of copies, which has spurred the announcement of a epilogue XBLA title, as well.

5. (-) Lord of the Rings Online – LOTRO is the latest MMORPG to go Free to Play. I think it’s safe to say that we’re at the point where any non-Blizzard MMO is going to be F2P. I would still pay for World of Diablo or World of Starcraft.

6. (-) PSP 2 – Is there a PSP2 in the wild? Does it have two analog sticks?

7. (-) Civilization V – I’m not a Civ guy myself, as I just played it for the first time a couple weeks ago (Civ IV) but I know many people are Civ junkies, so with its release this week, I’m sure people were clamoring for any review of any kind. Of course, no surprise, the game is really good.

8. (-) Gamers are smart – “Study suggests that video games could be training tool for quicker reactions.” Of course, you already knew gamers were smart.

9. (-) APB – APB will be known as the shortest-lived MMO.

After a week mostly off (thanks, Nat for picking up the slack) I’m back with another week of Power Rankings.

1. (7) Halo Reach – In a move that makes little sense to me, Microsoft made Halo: Reach available to reviewers through a download from Xbox Live. Hackers found it and figured out how to download the game for themselves. Hilarity did not ensue. Spoilers did. I’m doing my best to ignore them.

2. (-) Monday Night Combat – No specific link on this one, I’ve just heard from multiple trusted sources that this game is FUN.

3. (-) Dragon Age 2 – I petered out earlier this year playing Dragon Age but I still recognize that BioWare crafted a pretty great game and the trailer for Dragon Age 2 has me thoroughly impressed.

4. (-) Final Fantasy XIV – I really want to see an MMO on the 360. I think it’s the future for the genre, on consoles. So when I heard FF XIV was not coming to the 360, I was bummed. Turns out that may not be entirely the case — It appears that development of the 360 version is only “on pause.”

5. (-) Age of Empires Online – No sooner had the announcement of Age of Empires Online hit the wire then more details started coming out concerning their freemium model. I just signed up for the beta and I’m really looking forward to this one.

6. (-) Torchlight – There was the announcement of Torchlight 2 and now the word that it will “hopefully” be available on XBLA/PSN by the holidays. Which got me thinking — if this Diablo-esque hack-and-slasher is successful, how awesome would Diablo 3 on the console be? Awesomer than most PC gamers would like to admit.

7. (3) Starcraft 2 – I can safely say that this would hover at the top a lot longer if I was actually playing it but the other sites I read and the podcasts I listen to can’t stop talking about it.

What’s going on in the world of Video Games and video game blogging? Here’s my observations.

1. (1) Starcraft II – Yep, people are still playing it and talking about it. It’s still going strong.

2. (-) Borderlands DLC – This one stinks — Borderlands developer Gearbox accidently left a folder on the PC version of Borderlands detailing the story behind their upcoming downloadable expansion. Like that’s going to stop any of us from picking it up.

3. (-) Zombrex – While I haven’t been chomping at the bit to get my hands on Dead Rising 2 yet (and I stress yet), I am still interested in what they’re doing with these Zombrex mini-movies, which are being released on Xbox Live. Have you been watching?

4. (-) OnLive – Yep, I’m not letting this one die. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor with a solid investment: OnLive is worth a lot of money.

5. (-) Syndicate -I have been watching the Syndicate news ebb and flow and I’m getting a little frustrated. Will someone just make this game and get it over with already!?

6. (-) Two Worlds II – James and I were both interested in Two Worlds was announced, but neither of us actually took the plunge. I avoided after I read review after review, reading about what a stinker it was. It’s funny to see that marketing for the sequel, Two Worlds II is actually making fun of how bad the first one was.

7. (-) Epic Case Mod – This Warhammer 40k case mod is awesome.

8. (-) Quinn Pitcock – This one hits close to home. Pitcock was a former college football player who played at my alma mater, Ohio State. He was a very got defensive linemen and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL. He fell off the map and quit football a couple years ago. An introvert to begin with, he battled depression with video games, which ultimately became an addiction. Hopefully he will be able to rebound and put his addiction behind him. I have always been a huge fan of Pitcock.

This week’s power rankings are fairly sparse. Mostly Starcraft 2 and not a whole lot more.

1. (2) Starcraft II It came out and some buttonmashers have already picked it up but the internet can’t stop talking about it. Nat isn’t the only one who felt that the game was “unfinished” in the sense that it’s only 1/3rd of game. So it’s unfinished and, oh, it can ruin your video card. Sorry ’bout that, folks.

I could go on about how popular this game is, but I’ll save my time linking all the different blog posts and just point you here.

2. (-) Gamespot buys Kongregate – Possibly seeing the future of digital distribution cramping their money making style severely, Gamestop purchased the gaming “hub” Kongregate. Kongregate is free-to-play (or F2P if you’re one of the cool kids). Gamestop really likes making LOTS of money. It seems that these are at odds with each other.

3. (-) EverQuest 2 – James blogged the Sony announcement that they were taking the free to play route with EQ2, in a way that only Sony would try. Ardwulf has played in the Alpha and came away with a positive impression. He also has a good roundup of other people’s reactions to the announcement.

4. (-) Disney buys Playdom Speaking of buying game companies, Disney purchased the social gaming company Playdom for a tidy sum.

5. (-) Plants v. Zombies – Dancing Michael Jackson Zombies will not be dancing the Thriller through your backyard any longer.

Wow, that was even shorter than I originally thought it would be. I guess August is going to be a boring gaming month.

This week just snuck up on me. Here’s the week in video games.

1. (-) Limbo #2 on this list could easily be #1 here, but this game is actually out this week. Limbo came out this past week on Xbox Live Arcade and has received nothing but high praise. Justin at the Rumble Pack says, “If you let it, the game can be an intensely personal experience.” The review at Madison.com says, “Limbo harks back to the old black-and white horror movies, where your imagination was so much more effective in evoking the sense of something gone horribly wrong.” Have you played it?

2. (-) Starcraft 2 Yeah, I’m not going to say anything snarky or witty here. You’ve heard it all. But tomorrow a force of nature rips through the gaming community as Star Craft 2 is released to the wild. I read early this morning on Twitter that had over 800k preorders for this game. We’ll be hearing a lot about this game for the foreseeable future. If it’s been awhile (and it probably has for most of us) since you played the original, Kotaku has a great round-up of the story lines of the first game. Then go over to Joystiq to see the most recent trailer. Then compare and contrast ten plus years of cinematic progress. Blizzard is still the best at it.

3. (-) SF v. Tekken – There were a lot of news and announcements that came out of this year’s Comic Con but I think the Capcom v. Namco/Street Fighter v. Tekken announcement. This is huge.

4. (-) DarkSpore – I never played Spore, I was never really caught up in the hype (and subsequent disappointment) so I really don’t “get” DarkSpore of what it means for gamers, but it did generate quite a bit of buzz this past week. This is clearly in the “not for me” ballpark.

5. (-) Kinect – Did you know that the Walmart Kinect page is the first result when you Google “Kinect”? (Sure, it’s a sponsored link, but I would bet 99% of people searching for it will click on that link.) That’s all to say that Kinect was priced at 150$, to the surprise of no one.

6. (-) Inception – We went and saw Inception this past weekend and I LOVED it. I can’t recommend it enough, especially to my fellow Buttonmashers. At more than one point in the movie I thought, “this movie was made for gamers.” Referring to dream constructs as “levels” and watching the action take place with variable gravity were two specific situations that made me go “Hmmm”. It seems like I wasn’t the only one who thought that, as Totilo refers to many of the same things in his review of the movie.

7. (-) DeathSpank – Maybe this should be higher, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention DeathSpank, the highly regarded XBLA/PSN downloadable game from fabled game designer (and Patron Saint of the Carnival of Gamers) Ron Gilbert. Viking Funk says to “Auto-equip your Epic Chestpiece of Awesomeness and get busy!”

8. (-) Console Gamers Stink at Games – This post generated a certain amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth between PC purists and Console Gamers. I stink at anything involving skill or twitch, so I don’t have a dog in this fight. Maybe you do?

9. (-) Achievements – A fight I do have a dog in is the hunt for Achievements. If you like to get down and nerdy, this post on the Xbox Engineering Blog about the story behind the technology for Achievements is a great read.

10. (-) Plants vs. Zombies PvZ was announced for for Xbox Live Arcade. Even though I played it for hours and hours, I’ll probably pick this up for XBLA, too. Why? See #8 above.

Honorable mention: Mass Effect 2’s newest DLC, the Lair of the Shadow Broker.

1. (-) Zynga and Google – This news game early in the week, but for those who watch these types of things, this was big. Google is getting ready to launch Google Games. Of course this leads to everyone coming up with the original name of “Googleville” all at the same time. So original!

2. (-) 1v100 – I never partook in the 1 versus 100 games on Xbox Live, but I recognized it as a very cool idea, so I was really surprised to see it being shut down. Hopefully something good comes from it.

3 (-) Megaman Universe – Can gamers get enough Megaman? I would say, “yeah, probably.” Capcom would say NEVER!

4. (-) God of War Movie Trailer – Hot on the heels of the excellently produced Mortal Kombat teaser/trailer is the indie version of the God of War movie.

5. (-) Little Chun Li – Too cute not to post.

6. (-) New Xbox Live Dashboard – It’s no secret that the Xbox Live interface has gotten too big for its britches. Images of the new dashboard were leaked (and instantly squashed). Joystiq still has the image. Doesn’t the take-down notice more or less validate things like this?

7. (8) OnLive – I’m not giving up on this service, the more I see stuff written about it, the bigger of a believer I become (although I’m still not sold on the prices). Joystiq took it for a ride and had good things to say.

8. (5) Dragon Age II – Not a ton of new Dragon Age 2 news but Game Informer has posted the first screenshots of the game.

Did I miss anything?

This week might be a little PC and Microsoft heavy, but here’s the week’s Video Game Power Rankings:

1. (-) OnLive – I meant to include this from last week as reviews of OnLive’s beta launch was being reviewed. Farhad Manjoo at Slate said “So far, so good.” And BNET reported How OnLive Will Kill Video Game Consoles. I remain unconvinced but I haven’t tried the service so all I can go on is that OnLive themselves have said, “Now, ten days later, I’m happy (and relieved) to report the OnLive Game Service has been running 24/7 since launch, with games being played every day, around the clock, from every corner of the 48 States, despite the fact we’ve accommodated far more members at this stage than ever anticipated.”

2. (3) Are Games Art? – Give the man credit: Roger Ebert has admitted that he needs to actually play some games before he can make such divisive proclamations like “games can’t be art.”

3. (-) Microsoft Kinect – Microsoft is being aggressive, trying to convince us that hard core gamers will be the early Kinect adopters. Microsoft doesn’t really think highly of the hardcore anyway, so this is really no surprise. I say gamer parents (the “once-hardcore”) will be the first to adopt Kinect. They also compare Kinect games to Mario Brothers games. That may be a bit of a stretch.

4. (-) Torchlight MMO – A lot of info about the Torchlight MMO were released, whetting every Torchlight fans’ appetite for things to come.

5. (-) Hulu Plus – So will people pay ten dollars a month for what they can get (more or less) for free on the web? I think they will. In droves

6. (-) Nickelback – Here’s another one that was going to make the list last week that just slipped my mind — the Nickelback pack for Rock Band. Yes, the same band that earlier criticized gamers for playing plastic instruments. But that isn’t were the irony ends. After tasting the sweet nectar, they just go whole hog and get their own Tap Tap game. It appears their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

7. (-) Tapulous – Speaking of Tapulous, they were recently acquired by Disney Interactive.

8. (-) Diablo 2 – Speaking of Torchlight, Diablo 2 turned ten years old last week. If that doesn’t make you feel old, head over the Blizzard site with your speakers on. It’s a Time Machine. You’ll be instantly transported back ten years as if nothing ever happened.

9. (-) NCAA 11 Nicknames – Call me a sucker for gimmicks, but the addition of hundreds of nicknames that the announcers in NCAA 11 are going to actually say is super exciting for me. If the actual gameplay is just as good, I’m in for another year. (Who am I kidding? I’m already in, this is just gravy.)