This week's cultural exchange video is some very old school Rik Mayall. Before The Young Ones or Bottom, Mayall had a character called Kevin Turvey, an investigative reporter who spoke at length about his ridiculous "investigations" with reams of extraneous information and pointless rambling. A very subdued character when compared to Mayall's other work in alternative comedy, but a good series of monologues nonetheless.

Okay, back to videogames. Some were played, and you can see them after the jump. I'd say more, but it's 4am and I really want to pass out.

Topher: Castle Crashers. Duh.

Hamza:  CASTLE CRASHERS! I've only been playing by myself, but still, AWESOMENESS! Just beat it a couple of hours ago and want to go through it again with you bitches. Gamertag is Hamsatoid. PLAY WITH ME!

Jim: 

Hamza: CASTLE CRASHERS! I've only been playing by myself, but still, AWESOMENESS! Just beat it a couple of hours ago and want to go through it again with you bitches. Gamertag is Hamsatoid. PLAY WITH ME!

Jim: At least you didn't italicize everything and leave the games unformatted like last time, you utter, utter fuck.

Topher: 

Colette: Castle Crashers (AWESOMESAUCE), Infinite Undiscovery (hmmmm) and slogging my way through the advanced levels in Rhythm Tengoku Gold.

Samit: After returning from PAX, I turned on my PS3 and downloaded the NHL 09 demo. It's just the third period of a game (clock set to five minutes) between this year's Stanley Cup contenders, the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and if there's a tie at the end, it goes into a shootout. The game is absolutely amazing. The graphics are so great, and the animations are so fluid, that at times, you'll be fooled into thinking you're watching a game on TV. In addition, the commentary from Gary Thorne and Bill Clement is fantastic and accurate. I can't wait to get my hands on the full game next week -- keep your eyes peeled for a Destructoid review.

I also did the usual Thursday night Rock Band thing with shipero. "Still Alive" is deceptively annoying on Expert drums (by "deceptively," I mean that I didn't see the difficulty coming). Finally, I've been wishing I had a 360 to play Castle Crashers.

Jim: Hmmm is right, Colette. I have been Infinitely Unimpressed with Infinite Undiscovery.

Samit: Also, it's a stupid-ass fucking title.

Colette: I wrote about my hatred for the title months ago. I don't want to give too much away since we have a review coming, but I feel sad about the game. I wanted it to be good. ;__;

Jim: I was hyped for it until I bought it and then remembered Tri-Ace was developing it. After that awful Star Ocean PS2 title, I have very little faith in anything Tri-Ace does. But yeah, I'll save the heavy criticism for the review.

Topher: oh, so Jim draws a penis on something and it's LULULUL but Topher draws a penis on something and it goes completely unnoticed. I see how it is.

Hamza: It's because you didn't italicize the penis.

Chad: Castle Crashers! Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2! Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2! Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars! Clu Clu Land! All these games are great, but they pale in comparison to hanging out with everyone at PAX. I miss you all so much! :(

Samit: LULULULULULULULUL

That was directed at Topher. Not Jim. :)

Conrad: Castle Crashers, mostly. I've also picked up Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise and Spore Creatures (both of which for review).

Finally, I played some Rock Band for the awesome new PAX pack of songs which you should all go and buy immediately. The tracks by Jonathan Coulton and The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are soooo much fun to play and the MC Frontalot song is a landmark in that it's the first "hip-hop" to hit the game. Plus all of the proceeds for purchases made before the holidays are going to be donated to Child's Play, so you're doing a good deed at the same time.

Nick: Pure, Rock Band 2, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on the Nintendo DS. One of these things is not like the other ... but that one thing is actually not as bad as I had expected it to be. I'm talking about Rock Band 2, of course.

Jim: As already mentioned, I've been playing through Infinitely Disappointing, as well as some other review stuff. Pocket Paradise is a great little DS game that's been making my "other" job go by a lot quicker, while Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball deserves the 3.0 I scored it. Also, I haven't enjoyed a retail console game in weeks, and that's very sad. 

DMV: I'm playing ディスガイア３, along with a bit of ピックスルイーデン and some 世界樹の迷宮 in my free time.

Dale: I So have not started ディスガイア３yet. Fail. And my Castle has yet to be Crashed. But I am rocking the nerdy games. Rhythm Tengoku Gold is solid gold, and one of the best travel games ever. SCRATCHO. Look out for a Colette/Dale tag team review soon. I'm also re-playing Nocturne, one of the finest fucking games ever made. That's right, I said it. 

Topher: Break, c'mon, move.

Colette: SCRATCHO!!!!

Niero: STOP!  EVERYBODY JUST STOP. STOP.

NO, I'M SERIOUS.

STOP.

...






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SCRATCHO!

Samit: I have no idea what's going on.

Topher: SAN. SHI. GO!

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Samit: LOUD NOISES

Jonathan: I want in on that Rhythm Tengoku Gold review, if only to just for the opportunity to say that the wine glass flicking mini-game is epic. This one game alone takes RTG from the "A great game for long car rides" category to the "this game must be bought by anyone who has both a soul and at least one working eyeball" category .

All the games in RTG are great, but that game really takes the cake. Lets hope NoA doesn't fuck it up when they bring it to the states as Rhythm Heaven later this year.

As for what I'm playing, Castle Crashers (still only single player, still loving it), Dragon Quest Swords (more than worth the $20 is cost me), and Lego Indiana Jones on the DS. A friend insisted I give it a try, and though I resisted for weeks, I finally gave in last night. I don't like Indiana Jones and I honestly resented the fact that he got the Lego treatment before other more deserving properties (Nightmare on Elm St., Aliens Vs Predator, Rambo, etc). Still, the game is fun, and for the same reason all the Lego games are fun- the destructible objects.

Dyson: WTF is SCRATCHO?

I'm playing Star Wars: Force Unleashed for review (thanks Jim!). I won't say too much about it, even though I know Samit wants to hear about it, but I have yet to form a complete opinion about it. There's good and bad, but I'm going to wait until I get to the end to make a final overall opinion.