Games Played in 2010

My “Games Completed” list this year is quite good.  Part of that is that my total number of games played is inversely proportional to the amount of time I play World of Warcraft.  Meaning I didn’t play much Warcraft this year, so I played a lot of other things.  The other reason is that I really tried to put an emphasis on completing games this year.  I pick up a lot of games and tend to dabble a lot, but I’m easily distracted by the next thing and leave many games hanging.  This year I dabbled less and finished more.  So without further ado…

Zark’s E3 Roundup and Best of Show

Ok, I’m saturated with E3 2010 news, and ready to throw down the final verdict.  It’s a long one, so grab some popcorn and adult libation (or beverage of choice) and read on…

Game Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII

Introduction

Of the recent main series of Final Fantasy games, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.  I didn’t play FF XI very long, mainly because after a certain point you were pretty much required to group with people to advance, which really didn’t suit my playstyle or available time.  Final Fantasy XII took me two years to complete, though I mainly played it in two large blocks, with years in-between.  I loved the style and most of the gameplay mechanics.

I tried to avoid a lot of news or info on Final Fantasy XIII before playing it, but it looked to be similar to both of those titles, making it a must-get game on release day.  But games like FF XIII require quite a large time investment.  You could probably play Halo 1-3 and ODST in the same time it’d take you to finish FF XIII.  So was it worth the time and effort, or will it be my Final Fantasy?  (I had to go there.  It’s over now.)

Netflix for Wii Case Cover Art

Getting that shiny new disc in the mail this week for instant streaming Netflix on your Wii? I got it today and gave it a try.  Works pretty well on the little console that could.  Better than on the PS3 for standard def streaming and load times!

You don’t need to return the disc, so print yourself a nice Netflix Wii-style case cover from The Cover Project, grab a white DVD case (or buy empty cases from Nintendo if you are a perfectionist), and put that disc in your game library in style.  If you have a PS3 disc, you can do the same for it with a Netflix PS3 case cover.

Exaspirations: My PS3’s “10 Year Life Cycle”

What the hell happened to my PlayStation 3’s 10-year life cycle?  In 2006 Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Kaz Hirai stated:

We look at our products having a 10-year life cycle, which we’ve proven with the PlayStation. Therefore, the PlayStation 3 is going to be a console that’s going to be with you again for 10 years. We’re not going to ask the consumers to suddenly buy another PlayStation console in five years time, and basically have their investment go by the wayside.

This was reiterated over and over in the early days of the PS3 when Sony’s console sales were in the toilet.  Well it’s been a little over 3 years since the PlayStation 3 launched in the U.S. and it seems like lately I’ve had nothing but trouble with my original 60GB 1st gen PlayStation 3.  First, Batman: Arkham Asylum started freezing on me in late August.  Then I got the God of War Collection, and it freezes on me on the first boss battle in the first God of War game!  And then starting yesterday, PlayStation 3’s across the globe started having glitches such as error codes, lost trophies, and unplayable games (to which Sony advised owners not to even turn their consoles on!).  The common thread here?  These are all issues with non-Slim PlayStation 3 consoles, a.k.a. PS3 Fat’s or PS3 Phat’s.

So am I going to have to buy the new PS3 Slim three years into my console’s famed “10 year life cycle” in order to get a console that works properly all the time with new and older games?  As far as I know, the problem with Batman: Arkham Asylum and the God of War Collection are known issues that have never been patched or fixed.  And as of this post, the current worldwide issue is apparently magically fixed, though no explanation has yet been given for what happened or what Sony will do to prevent it in the future.  Coincidence or Planned Obsolescence?  I want my 1st gen console to work with every game, every time, just like the latest gen one.  I want my promised 10-year life cycle!

Game Impressions: Heavy Rain

Introduction

By description, Heavy Rain is the type of game to which I would naturally gravitate.  Developer Quantic Dream describes it as interactive drama, which smacks of my love of interactive fiction, choose your own adventures, and point-and-click games.  The game uses a unique control scheme that uses context sensitive actions and quick time events to tell the story of four characters and the mystery of the Origami Killer.  So what’s my take on this new interactive drama?

Games Played in 2009

I tend to buy more games than I play, and play more games than I finish, so I though this year I’d make a list of games played, with an * next to ones I’ve finished.  I’m sure this list will miss a lot, but here’s a go at it.

• Age of Booty (XBLA) *
• Animal Crossing: City Fold (Wii)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360) *
• Bejeweled Blitz (web & iPod touch)
• Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered (iPod Touch)
• Beyond Good And Evil (Gamecube)
• Chrono Trigger (DS)
• Deadly Creatures (Wii)
• Dead Space (PS3)
• Dragon Age: Origins (XBLA)
• Dragon’s Lair (iPod Touch)
• Dungeon Hunter (iPod Touch)
• Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS)
• Fable II (Xbox 360)
• Farmville (web)
• Flower (PSN) *
• Final Fantasy XII (PS2) *
• Gears of War (Xbox 360) *
• Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) *
• God of War (PS2)
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
• Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox) *
• Halo 2 (Xbox)
• House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii) *
• Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (Wii)
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
• Legends of Zork (web)
• LEGO Rock Band (Xbox 360) *
• Metroid Prime (Gamecube)
• Moon (DS)
• New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)
• NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits (Wiiware)
• Pac-Man Championship Edition (XBLA & iPod Touch)
• Peggle (iPod Touch)
• Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) *
• Resistance 2 (PS3) *
• Rock Band (iPod Touch)
• The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition (XBLA & iPod Touch)
• Shadow Complex (XBLA) *
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)
• Sims 3 (Mac)
• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
• Tales of Monkey Island Part 1 (Wiiware)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Reshelled (XBLA)
• Toki Tori (Wiiware)
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3) *
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) *
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (Mac) *
• Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Mac)

Not a bad list.  I actually finished more than I expected. Sadly, there are no PSP games on that list.  Not a good year for the PSP, even outside the PSP Go fiasco.  The Playstation 3, the console I have the least amount of games for, actually had a very good showing this year.

For those that just have to know, my Game of the Year, without a shred of doubt, is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Game Impressions: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Introduction

A couple of months ago, I played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the first time, in anticipation of the then upcoming release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.  I liked it, but found that my anticipation of it was better than the reality of it.  (See my Game Impressions.)  Perhaps because it was hyped so well when it was initially released, being an decent exclusive on the underperforming PS3.  So when Uncharted 2: Among Thieves came out to heaps of praise, my BS radar immediately went off.  Could it possibly be as good as described, or was it just another above-average exclusive for the PS3?

Game Impressions: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Introduction

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is one of those games everyone said I should have played, but I never did.  I got my PlayStation 3 at roughly same time that Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune came out from developer Naughty Dog, but given that the console had been out for a year or more, I felt that there were plenty of games to choose from, and that I could probably pick up some things on sale rather than a brand new $60 game.  Plus, IMO it had the misfortune of having a lousy demo.

I had heard that it was a Tomb Raider-esque game, and downloaded the demo with those expectations.  But the demo starts you off just after the plane crash (Chapter 4), and aside from one or two platforms to jump across, all you do the entire demo is shoot at people.  No puzzle elements, very little platforming elements.  Just shoot, shoot, shoot.  My initial thoughts were “well, his pants do look wet when he walks through water, but aside from that, what’s the big deal?”

As the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves approached this month, I began to think more about the original.  High praise was starting to come in on the sequel.  Some people I talked to kept telling me that I was crazy not to have played the first game, and that the demo was not very representative of the whole game.  So I picked it up two weeks ago at the buy two get one free sale at Toys R Us, and finished it this week.  So was it worth it after all?

Game Impressions: Age of Booty

Introduction

I am not a fan of real-time strategy (RTS) games.  I can certainly see the appeal.  Maybe they’re intimidating, having to order little little troops hither and yon.  Maybe they give me the impression that in order to be any good at them, you have to invest a considerable amount of time learning all the nuances, and I just don’t want to limit myself to one thing.  So it’s odd, to say the least, to see me giving my game impressions of a RTS game.  I read about Certain Affinity’s downloadable game Age of Booty in a gaming magazine and the concept intrigued me.  I checked out the demo on Xbox Live Arcade, and decided to take the plunge.  So do I now have a Certain Affinity for piratey RTS games?