I've recently become a little in love with Simon Amstell. Clips like the above, from his recent tenure as host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, should show you why. He certainly did a better job of replacing Mark Lemarr than Ed Tudor-Pole did of replacing Richard O' Brien.
But enough of obscure reference to British nineties television. We played games this week and you can find out why, how, who and when right below.
DMV: Picked up Arcana Heart and have been alternating between that and God of War, a game which I am not at all enthralled with. But, I'm sure I'll play God of War II anyways.
Hamza: You got any change?
Nick: I popped in Unreal Tournament III for the Xbox 360 and am not at all surprised that it's just like Unreal Tournament III on the PlayStation 3, sans mods. I beat Parappa the Rapper on the PSP in less than a half an hour, and totally forgot how not-so-great that game actually is. If working on E3 scheduling and preparation were Xbox 360 games, I would have gotten 2000 achievement points.
Also, Rock Band.
Brad: I finished Hail to the Chimp in less than 2 hours, and laughed at how terrible it was. I have also still been traversing Brave Story: New Adventurer for the PSP. Brave Story is great thus far, and I wonder how deep the rabbit-hole goes with XSEED's PSP RPGs. Look at all those caps! It's a new record.
Jim: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. Also finished replaying Half-Life 2 and Portal. Can't wait for Episode 3.
Grim: My brother bought a Wii this week and has been playing it constantly, which was a problem for me since I became addicted to Schizoid and both systems are hooked up to the same TV. When I wasn't gaming on a 360, I was playing Titan Quest, Dawn of War, and TMNT: Turtles in Time.
Chad: You know what is (not) fun? Playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the first time ever and not knowing that it was somehow set to Veteran (hardest) difficulty level. I seriously thought I was losing my skills as a gamer when I kept dying over and over again. It wasn't until I was stuck on the damn ferris wheel ambush for, literally, 4 HOURS when I realized the difficulty setting. And at that point I didn't want to start over ...
The good news: multiple hours and an ungodly amount of deaths later, I actually beat it! For the first time! On Veteran! I went from feeling bad about myself to feeling absolutely awesome! In fact, I think I will have a chocolate milkshake to celebrate my glorious victory!
I drink it up ...
Hamza: Wow, that's amazing Chad. That Ferris wheel portion IS a bitch.
Grim: You're my hero, Chad. There are 3 missions I can't beat on Veteran, and the ferris wheel level is one of them.
Colette: Just finished Under The Knife 2, but it made me want to go back for more so I am trying to replay the first game. It's hard as hell, but I can't help myself. I'm also playing Chocobo's Dungeon for Wii, which is fun and really cute, although I have to take breaks from it periodically. The voiceovers aren't bad, but Cid's makes me cringe. Does "US voiceover" have to translate to "talk to me like I'm mentally retarded"?
Niero: In between the few site updates this week I'm pretty sure that at some point I probably played with my balls. Who wants to borrow my keyboard?
Jonathan: Finally tracked down a copy of Gradius Collection for the PSP. Like COD4 made Chad question his skills as a gamer, Gradius Collection has caused my long standing image as an expert bullet dodger to become highly suspect. Two of the games on the UMD that I'd never played before, Gradius II and Gradius Gaiden, are nearly impossible to get through, even on the lowest difficulty level. I died less playing Contra 4 on normal. Seriously, it's that bad.
Also played some more user created levels in Blast Works, and got back into Zack and Wiki, both on Wii.
Brad: That's a hell of a coincidence, because I caught myself playing with Niero's balls this weekend as well. It's a pretty fun game, although it can get smelly after awhile.
Dale: I only played Daigasso Band Bros. DX last week, and it will be my Official E3 2008 Downtime Videogame. Unfortunately, looking at my schedule, it does not look like I'll have much downtime this week.
Gameboi: Other than forming a CoD4 version Voltron with the Friday Night Fights PS3 Brigade, this week was mostly dedicated to nursing my inner Rock Star, via Rock Star. I also spent way too much time playing around with the Guitar Hero: On Tour display at the local Toys R Us, if that counts.
Contest:
7:25 PM on 07.13.2008
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Also,
DISCLAIMER:
Simon Amstell id definitely wrong
ahahahaha, that was awesome.
awww man :(
and I too played COD 4 for the first time,it's phenomenal.
I think it's time for some FF Tactics Advance 2.
and of course halo 3. thats basically it
Also, found Bionic Commando for the NES today. Much cursing at the tv... I really don't remember it being so hard.
As a tradition, I've also played Zelda: TWW this week. Its kinda a typical "summer game" for me.
Look for the same name ;)
I got your Crystal Maze reference. Strange though considering I've only ever seen a single episode of it ever. Good show from what I saw.
I'm trying to finish Lost this week. Also, still have lots to go in GTA, COD4, Simpsons, and I just bought Schizoid. Schiz is fun, but the AI blows on single player. It thinks I want to die repeatedly or something, I dunno.
Also, FFTA2. Lots of grinding left to do. That game will be in my play library for months.
I've played quite a few things this week.
Call of Duty 4. Grand Theft Auto 4. Played some Mario Bros 3. Some Kid Icarus. I showed a friend "I Feel Asleep" scene in Metal Gear. Played Mortal Kombat Armageddon with a friend and forgot how much fun it was. All the games in my old school games articles (Primal Rage, Zero Wing, Chakan, G.I. Joes) Beating Lego Star Wars right now.
Video games are fun!
Oh and some Patapon
Tuesday is my birthday, I expect to get a bunch more games to play then.
It's cheap now so even with all it's mistakes, I stil think it's worth it.
When the hell is the price coming down on COD4?
I'll be constantly switching between Buzz Quiz TV and CoD4 this week with the occasional move into the original Crash Bandicoot.
Also really trying to put in some time on Persona 3 so I can finish it sometime this year.
David Cross actually was quite unfunny, in that episode. He seemed really out-of-place. I mean, think about it: David Cross on a British celebrity music quiz show. I don't blame him for feeling and acting awkward, the show's hilarity not withstanding.
Simon Amstell: "Or she could kill me and make it look like a suicide."
<333333333
Also, whoever mentioned Zelda:tWW, good point. I never replayed TP or PH after the first play through but I think they were both still more recent than my last go at WW, and that game is awesome. the end.
I've been playing FF III (tough, but making progress) on the DS. I've also resumed progress on Shin Megami Tensei: LC (AKA Nocturne) on the PS2.
but man is he awesome and a really nice and funny guy in real life to!
I'm going to finish Lost Odyssey and Apollo Justice... like right now
I saw Amstell live at Endibourough last year, didn't traslate as well but he was quite funny. Phil was better with his reading tbh.
The worst part is, she appeared on Buzzcocks years ago, before she got into the hard drugs and heavy boozing. She was pretty and charming and funny. And while she's "entertaining" nowadays, it's just really tragic what a trainwreck she's turned into.