Here's hoping Revelations is more fun and more like past entries in the series when it becomes available for PS3. I have high hopes from reading the 3DS reviews and HD previews...

Anyway, I hope everyone is well out there in gaming land, and oh yeah, try Runner 2!!! I'm off to draw dinosaurs with my 3 year old, who thinks "Pachycephalosaurus" is the funniest word ever...

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I've been having a hard time enjoying video games lately. Tried to play MGS4, and while I'm impressed with the visuals and really want to see the story, I have zero patience for the actual gameplay. The screen is littered with so much information about items and controls that I get a headache before I can clear the second objective. I can't even get excited about Resident Evil 6. Who isn't excited about RE6!? I get overwhelmed just watching the early footage of button prompts and QTE's and... it's looking like Youtube playthrough marathons are in my gaming future. And chilling and tapping to some music...

Peace out...

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Since I've been looking at the PS3 back catalog and drooling, I decided to get myself an original model used PSP just to try out some of the Sony exclusives like Little Big Planet... also, I can't resist a portable version of Xenophobe (on Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play - $9.99 on PSN) It seemed like a logical and inexpensive first step, especially since I learned that PSOne Classics can be downloaded to more than one portable device (NGP!?) AND are playable on PS3... RE2, R Type Delta, while standing in line at the post office? Yes, please!

I've been really impressed with the Playstation Store, at least as it appears on the PSP. Purchases are registered to an overall user account, and "activated" on new pieces of hardware as necessary. Prices are in US dollars, not Distracto$oft Points. It's always bothered me that 100 Microsoft Points cost $1.25, so an 800 point game is actually $10.00. It's a blatant strategy to make games appear less expensive than they actually are, and to keep us disconnected from how much we are spending. On PSN, when I made a $5.99 purchase with .03 cents left in my virtual wallet, I was charged exactly $5.96. It was awesome! And then...

At first I thought something was wrong with my PSP; it is an older machine, after all. But when I went online to check the error code, I stumbled upon a much larger story aboutthe external intrusion that prompted Sony to temporarily shut down the whole PSN, a shutdown now in its 10th day. It's been interesting following the updates here on Gamespot, even when they amount to little more than "boo! haha gotcha" and especially the fanboy wars that ensue. 500 comments after each update! Anyways, I've been through the stages of grieving as outlined in the Dork handbook, and thought now might be a good time to share...

1) Denial: It'll be back up soon. It'll be back up soon. Sony's just overreacting to a minor thing, and it'll be back up soon.

2) Anger: Serves 'em right, those greedy corporate bastages. Teach you to mess with the H4X0R5 (it'll be back up soon, right?)

3) Pleading: Please please please bring it back soon...

4) Panic: What? My credit card info!?

5) Acceptance (more in a moment)

Okay, that was kind of fun, putting the PSN outage into Psychology 101, but take a look at the comments after any of the updates on this story and tell me a little grief counseling for the gaming community isn't a good idea...

I'm holding steady at Step 5 for now. As excited as I am by the forward compatibility of my PSN purchases, and by the flexibility of the store as compared to the Live Marketplace, I know it's not a perfect system. Nobody in the world has been able to play Bionic Commando ReArmed 2 on PS3, since you have to be logged in even to play a single-player game at home. As the outage continues, I'm hopeful that Sony is actually making significant repairs to the system. Also, I'm happy to see the FBI and Homeland Security getting involved, even though I think it's part of a "Shock and Awe" show to discourage hackers from future attacks on other, more vital networks. Having once lost a laptop to viruses, I like any news that suggests malicious hackers will have less room to hide in anonymity. I write this even as I admit that hacking is also a major driving force for advancing online security, technology in general, and gaming technology in particular. A few years ago, I was positively giddy watching video of Super Mario World running on a hacked PSP... Ultimately, though, I think it's good that Sony is taking steps to protect its customers and keep its products from being used in ways that were not intended. It (hopefully, at least) lets them fully support all the services that are officially offered for those products, instead of trying to keep up with all kinds of patchwork-messy additions. It's why, even at $599, a PS3 is still cheaper than a full-featured PC.

Now, what I really want to know is... is it back up yet?

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In the meantime, I picked up Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for Wii to get my fighting fix. What a game! I'm sticking with the Capcom characters to start, but after a few battles online I realize I might do well to really learn a few from the other side to have more tricks up my sleeve.

My FC is ELGUAPO 4427-0874-1343

...if anyone reading this blog is interested in a casual match or two, as always, probably late at night. Later...

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Racing games often have a "ghost" racer you can watch to see your ideal line for a course, so what if other games had a similar feature? Say, a "ghost" player you can watch if you get stuck on a level or a boss... A game with a strong story focus could offer super-novice players the option to just watch a chapter or even the whole game unfold on an "auto" or "cine-o-matic" playback. It could be a streamlined experience, just enough to tell the story, but not showing a lot of the exploring we always do in the course of discovering all of a game's hidden areas and other secrets. It could still offer the non-player the chance to make choices that alter the game's ending, just without requiring the same shooter skills or reflexes as playing through on the normal or even easy difficulty settings, sort of like a digital C.Y.O.A. movie.

"Sure," you say. " Take ALL the fun and challenge out of video games, why don't you..."

I'll defend the idea with myself as an example, and what I call the "Dark Knight Disconnect." Batman: Arkham Asylum was a pretty brilliant game, but... I watched a lot of Joker death screens and spent a lot of time looking for where to go next. I definitely did not feel like a gifted martial artist and detective! I know that games are best when they are challenging, but wandering aimlessly and repeatedly getting clobbered by goons and bosses really took me out of the experience of being the Dark Knight. I'm not saying the game should have been easier, or "dumbed down" for novice players; it was (or was almost, at least) a Game of the Year, right? But an option to watch Batman actually BE a badass might have brought me back in enough to give those tough spots another try, and even finish the game...

Games are more and more often compared to movies recently, both in terms of "dollars per hour" entertainment value and quality of storytelling. Wouldn't it be nice to have a discussion with your grandma about the use of metaphor in Devil May Cry 6? It's really not too far-fetched to imagine a game that presents itself as a movie, where the player can jump into the action whenever it seems interesting, for a chance to explore the story, world, and back-story in more depth before moving on with the plot. In practical terms, there could still be a place for both casuals and the hardcore gamers; you obviously wouldn't earn achievements or trophies just for watching the game, and there could be hidden areas, characters, and multiple endings for dedicated players to enjoy.

Which gives me an idea for an actual game... which I'll try to explain in more detail in another note...

'Bye for now, and Happy Holidays to anyone who takes the time to read this, and especially to comment!

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Speaking of LIMBO... what a great way to spend five hours... and fifteen dollars. I'll be writing a full review soon, but it's worth mentioning here that despite its short length it's really one of the best values I've had in a game in a pretty long time, especially in the Live Arcade.

You see, I often regret my Arcade purchases. When I've either finished a game or just lost interest and moved on, and there is no "trading in" games in the download format, I'm left pondering whether I shouldn't have just had a little more willpower. LIMBO, while short, is as much about a uniquely captivating experience as it is the puzzles, gameplay and deceptively simple black-and-white aesthetic. It's a trip I'll remember taking, and that I'll probably even revisit a few times. Compared to a game like last summer's Shadow Complex, which I never finished, and was disappointed that I just couldn't "get into it", in the time spent in LIMBO I will see pretty much all the game has to offer, and enjoy every moment of it.

Still, it's a bummer that in Xbox-land, 1200 is the new 800; the inflated price seems to be here to stay. What continues to disturb me is the shady pricing tactic of Microsoft Points. Yes, I can do math, and I know that 1200 points is really fifteen dollars, but it's meant to look like twelve dollars. There's just no way around that little deception. I mean, I wouldn't want to shop at a grocery store where I had to buy 400 "Milk Points" for five dollars, and then pay 349 points for a gallon of 2%... Luckily, games are a luxury to begin with, so I can take my lumps such as they are...

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It's one thing to make players learn moves one cheap death at a time, and lots of people did it that way in the arcades, but when I pay $50 for a console version of a game, I want to know how to play it. All through the Genesis, SNES, PSone and most of PS2, the moves were mostly still "secret" and even though I eventually learned about quarter-circles, multi-button hits, and charging moves, I remained turned off by the invisible secret move lists required to play the games.

Now, enter the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 trailer...

I downloaded the free MvC2 demo from Xbox LIVE out of pure curiosity, and *gasp* there was a move list for each character! I ended up buying the game, and I think I get it now. It's like an alternate kind of RPG, where you mold yourself to a character and style of your choice, and your dedication pays off in flashy victories and screen-filling super ultra hyper combos. Theoretically, at least... The game is a little too hectic for my old, slow, unpracticed fingers, and even with an arcade stick on the easiest difficulty, I suffer humiliating defeats both on and offline. Thinking Super Street Fighter IV might be more manageable with one-on-one battles, I traded some other games for a used copy...

Wow...

I'm still terrible, but now I'm hooked. I love playing through Arcade mode on Easy to see the story and Rival segments, and sit through the credits every time, fascinated by the gorgeous slo-mo character animations. Now I'm even more excited for MvC3, since I expect it will be a more complete package, including a real Training and Challenge mode, and maybe a Replay channel... hopefully this week will bring lots of new details...

Ever the multitasker, I've been typing while waiting for the cupcakes to cool for my son's first birthday party. Now it's time to do some frosting! If you've read this far, thanks, and help yourself... there's chocolate/chocolate and lemon/rainbow chip!

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Also, I got hooked on After Burner Climax in the Xbox Live Arcade. It's a good enough game that I wrote a review and even made a cross-platform Gamespot friend. Hi GeekyDad... And that's all. Time to go shovel the foot of snow that's piled up outside... in April. Sheesh...

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I've powered down the Wii completely, all the way to the red light. I don't even bother checking the Nintendo Channel for videos any more. This is hard coming from someone who has been a big supporter of the Big N's little underpowered console, but the lack ofeffort put into the Wii is starting to make me sad. Just a couple weeks ago, Alison and Gary of "Nintendo Week" told me I can download classic games onto my console from the Shop Channel if I connect my Wii to the internet. Then Gary got lost in a blizzard and ended up in a marshmallow factory. There were zombies and ninjas, too, I think. This is big news! ...or not... The bottom line is that it's been a long time since I've played a game on the Wii and wouldn't have rather been playing on the 360. RE Darkside Chronicles is good fun, but I'd trade it for RE5 in an instant. Just this morning I had a rousing game of Discs of Tron...

Even the bright spot on the horizon, Metroid: Other M, comes with a rusty tin lining. As brilliant as that game promises to be, it controls with the Wiimote alone. No need for a nunchuk, classic controller, Wii Motion Plus, Zapper, Vitality Sensor or Steering Wheel. All those gadgets really are a waste, apparently... Hm.

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Meanwhile, I've been getting lots of fun out of the supposed flop Darkside Chronicles. Too bad it didn't sell better... while I would much prefer a traditional REmake of RE2 or a port of RE5 with RE4 Wii controls, I think Darkside Chronicles has gotten an undeserved bad rap. It's fun!

What's not fun is Zelda: Spirit Tracks on DS. I have to rant about my frustration with that game: the VERY FIRST thing that happens when you start Spirit Tracks? A kid dares you to tumble into a nearby tree, releasing a swarm of bees that chase you until they kill you. Less than five minutes into the game. Now that's a kick in the teeth. Later on, you'll find "Demon Trains" that block your path on the already-frustrating train sections of the game. If one catches you, you go back to the start of your most recent journey. Tedious, frustrating and no thank you. Ebay, here comes my copy of Nintendo's latest... between work and the awesomeness that is being a new parent, I don't have time for sloppy crap like this!

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This is worth mentioning as a follow-up to last blog's Dorkonomics lesson. I had a lot of fun with it while it lasted, but broader statistics aside, my personal experience with Microsoft's popular console has a 100% hardware failure rate. A new Xbox won't be a priority until there's another price drop and some reassurance that the new units are more reliable.

Meanwhile, I'm lucky enough to have a Wii, so I picked up the Wii version of Rock Band 2. EA, Harmonix, and Pi Studios deserve some very high praise for making the Wii version of RB2 a full-featured peer to the 360 and PS3 versions. This game is a surprisingly capable stand-in for the other versions, and includes DLC which can be peppered into the World Tour and Challenges, along with Battle of the Bands and online play. After spending a little more time with it, I'll write a glowing review...

Four weeks until baby... who's going to have time to play Xbox anyway?

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Speaking of longevity in video games, when was the last time you spent more than a month on a single game? That's about the length of time I usually spend before moving on, and that's only if I'm really hooked... So here's where I must mention Blast Works for Wii. I already promote this game every chance I get, but it's worth bringing up again. I got Blast Works for $40 when it was first released in June '08, and I'm still playing it in February! I thought about retiring, but after two days of trying to play other things, I was back to downloading levels from the Depot and contemplating what to create next... Nine months of gaming for $40... that's hard to beat, and now the game is only $20...

My birthday is coming up next month, and I'm hoping to acquire both Resident Evil 5 and Guitar Hero Metallica, which should last me at least until the fall. Since this lesson is on Dorkonomics, I must express my frustration with the Guitar Hero franchise. Between World Tour, Metallica, and the recently announced Greatest Hits, a person needs 3 game discs to play all the available songs! At the very least, the Death Magnetic album is compatible with GH3, World Tour, and Metallica's game, but the number of discs is just ridiculous. I traded in GH3 for Rock Band 2, and don't currently own any Guitar Hero games, simply because RB is doing a much better job of getting me a variety of music that's easy to play from a single disc. I'll get the Metallica game because I'm a fan, but I'm disappointed enough to skip the rest of the games...

Class dismissed.

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Speaking of my lovely wife... she is carrying our first little gamer/dancer/soccer player/rock star, and she is craving Combos. You know, the pretzels with peanut butter or cheese filling. And our local stores don't have them any more! I have to drive 20 minutes to get to the gas station that carries the small bags and stock up there...

In gaming news, I signed up for GameFly when I realized my game budget would shortly be redirected to diapers and applesauce, and so far it's... okay. Recent 360 titles are in short supply, so I've been waiting forever just to try Golden Axe, while they keep shipping me Wii standbys like Bust-A-Move and Castle of Shikigami 3. Yes, those games are on my list, but the one I WANT is Golden Axe... I know very few people liked it, but the whole point of GameFly is that I can just try out games without losing time and money in the purchase-used-for-$5-less-than-new-and-trade-in-for-less-than-half-of-that system at Gamestop, an hour away. Eventually I'll get to play my Golden Axe, Fallout 3, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, etc. but for now... Animal Crossing?

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This was bad enough in real life, now I have to go through it online, too!? Radiant Silvergun has been the best level ever, and I'm afraid it's going to be all downhill from here... Please pardon me if I don't handle this transition well. For my 30th birthday, my future wife and friends took me to a casino arcade where I wore a hat with a propeller on it and dogs and acrobats performed in a circus ring. Really made me feel mature...

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I actually spent the night in the emergency room one year because some nutjob thought it would be nifty to put a stick of dynamite (yes, DYNAMITE) in an orange traffic cone and hide in the bushes while the wick burned down. It was like a war zone when that thing blew; I was walking by on the street with a couple friends and was the only one not actually knocked over by the blast. I couldn't hear anything for about half an hour while I ran around pulling the others to the curb and wondering if anything else was going to explode. And the best part? Sitting in an ambulance for an hour to get to a hospital less than 20 minutes away...

So yeah, Happy Birthday America! I'll pass on the fireworks as usual, but wish you the best. I will celebrate by drinking a beer with a cat in my lap, and maybe I'll use the weekend to finish my masterpiece of a Blast Works level.

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So my brother-in-law wanted a new 360 with HDMI output for his fancy TV, and sold me his "old" one for cheap... which means I have a 360 about a year earlier than I expected. I was going to wait for Resident Evil 5, but playing Rock Band on PS2 was really getting me antsy for a next-gen system. Now I've been going crazy on ebay getting caught up: BioShock, Rock Band, Marvel Ultimate Alliance... the big thing is DLC; I've doubled my Rock Band song library already!

And in the same week, Nintendo launched WiiWare, and I finally got Okami, too. Keep in mind I'm a (arguably) grown man with a wife and a full-time job, and now, finally all this video gaming goodness all at once... and the summer is my busiest time at work (I sell furniture for second homes in a resort town) I most likely won't sleep until October...

...except when my lovely wife is playing Beautiful Katamari or Dr. Mario. Then I might take a little nap...

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Guitar Hero 3: I already have two guitars for PS2, so that's where I do my Guitar Hero-ing...

Medal of Honor Heroes 2: This one is online, right? Yeah, just not my kind of game...

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The big one. I tried to get into Melee but just wasn't into it. I'm passing on the Smash...

Mario Kart Wii: I played the heck out of Mario Kart on SNES when I was 19 in college. It's kind of the same as Brawl for me now. Looks kinda fun, and I'm glad everyone is enjoying it, but not for me. I got burned out on racing games after Gran Turismo 3.

So that's my "Not Playing" list... It's great to get invitations to play, and I'm glad Wii are starting to catch up with the whole online multiplayer thing. Just let me know when you want to trade levels on Boom Blox or Blast Works, and I'll totally be online blowing $#!t up!

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I've got both games for PS2, since the Wii is my only next-gen system for quite a while, and I already had the guitars for the PS2 Guitar Hero games. Makes sense, right? Now luckily, those guitars work better for Rock Band than they do even for GHIII. Unluckily, they don't seem to work with the multitap...

I've been through two Gamestop brand multitaps, and they just don't work, period. My official Sony slim PS2 unit arrived today, and of course I tried it out... everything's just a little wonky, but at least it works most of the time. It's just that sometimes it gets the controllers mixed up even if I haven't moved them, or it will tell me to reconnect one of them every few seconds (makes it kind of hard to rock out...) or the guitar won't hold a long note...

I realize the Rock Band official guitar connects via USB, and so all the instruments use a USB hub instead of controller ports, so that's probably the best way to go for that game, but then what about Guitar Hero? You see, I'm one of the people in the world who doesn't want to buy (and then store in my small apartment) four-to-six toy guitars in order to enjoy these games with my wife or friends. That's potentially two SG's, two Kramers, and two Strats, since the older GH guitars work best with the older games, but not so much with #3 (and vice versa) and then two USB guitars for the full Rock Band experience.

It would seem to be in the best interest of consumers for there to be a sort of universal guitar controller. I just wonder if it wouldn't also be in the best interests of the two now-rival game companies for the guitars to be compatible. They would both sell more games if the games were easier (literally physically easier to acquire and interact with) to play.

My next hope is in the Wii... and with the announcement of Rock Band for Wii! There's a chance, with the later start on development for this game and its controller, that several things might be possible. The RB guitar might be compatible with GHIII... the RB game might be compatible with the Les Paul controller...(drools) because the guitars are likely to be a shell to hold the Wii remote, which is the actual game controller. And then it really would be the one guitar to rule them all.

And I wouldn't have to deal with a sometimes-working multitap and cords everywhere. Thanks for listening and Happy Valentine's Day.

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These games are gorgeous, and I grew up loving the original Star Wars movies. I can actually say I saw A New Hope in the theatre in '77. So I really like the cinematic aspect of the games, but I just can't seem to make any progress in the games. The mission objectives (especially Prisons of the Maw) are baffling, and the controls... I'm never sure if what I'm doing is actually having any effect, or if I'm actually getting close to an objective.

Probably my biggest frustration is that in reading FAQs I see so many people who have mastered and love the game. I want to like these games!

So instead of trolling in forums or posting a mean review, I figured I'd blog about it and see if anyone wants to defend their favorite game and help me see what I'm missing...

It just seems like a rail shooter where you sometimes do and sometimes don't have control of where you're going, and the difference isn't made clear. Also, I just keep getting the feeling that each title is only half a game. Especially since Rebel Strike includes all of Rogue Leader as a multiplayer mode...

Every time I clear one of the levels I get all pumped up, but it's just frustrating to always have to look in a FAQ for how to progress... I guess it's good to be more complex than, say, the original Star Wars arcade game, but I just want to know how all the 12-year olds out there figured out how to master these games.

So thanks to anyone with comments!

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So I'm loving my Wii right now, with the new Metroid and upcoming Mario games, and the growing library of VC titles I either remember fondly or completely missed. I'm okay with all the PS2 ports, since I like the idea of having a better version of a game I already know I like, such as RE4, Mercury Meltdown, Rygar, or Okami. My poor old brain is tired right now, but in future installments of the Dork-O-Rama I want to ramble about the virtues of the arcade-y shmup genre, the artistic "quirky" genre, blowing up zombies, and why I'm disappointed with a lot of bigger name franchises. If you made it this far, thanks again!

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