The last few nights at the Nicholson residence have been full of Samuel L. Jackson, decapitations, and intense ninja action. My girlfriend and I have finally gotten around to watching Afro Samurai. I’m not much for anime (and she isn’t either), but we found the first season to be a satisfying watch. I suppose copious amounts of gore plus a vengeful protagonist always equals entertainment.
Surge’s videogame adaptation of the series is hitting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next week. It appears to be a finesse hack n’ slash title that prominently features crimson. And Samurais. And probably cursing.
In other news, my coworkers -- and hopefully you, my beautiful reader -- have been busy playing games this week. Hit the jump for the usual.
Brad Rice: Finally started playing Haunting Ground, and I'm surprised at how good of a game it is. It's rather scary, virtually no load times, and looks beautiful. I really hope it keeps up this trend throughout the game. Other than that, I've been hacking away at Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, as I'm almost done with the game, but I lost my progress a while ago due to a power outage and had to go a ways back. Also, Mario Kart 64, Soul Calibur 4, and Smash Bros. Brawl at parties.
Topher: Street Fighter IV, Soldner-X, Lumines, Espgaluda, and just a pinch of Persona 4. Oh, and The Maw.
Jordan: Got Ninja Gaiden II in the mail this week from the $10 Best Buy sale, and I finally beat it earlier today no thanks to a certain final boss who just wouldn't fucking die. Up until the last couple of areas, which felt extremely tacked on, I loved every minute of it. Besides that, most of my free time has been spent on gathering up the last 15 or so jiggies in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
Samit: I played Fallout 3 for an hour or so last night, discovering locations on the southern edge of the map like Tenpenny Tower and Warrington Station, but other than that, I don't think I did any gaming at all this past week. I did finally get around to buying "Are You Gonna Go My Way" in Rock Band, and after watching a friend play Call of Duty 4 multiplayer for an hour on another friend's brand-new 40" 1080p LCD, I kinda want to hop back into that game...
The coming week should be great for gaming, though. I think I'm coming down with the sniffles, and I don't get sick very often at all (thankyouverymuch, kick-ass immune system) -- but when I do, it often lingers for a while. I'm going to have a stuffy nose for the next month, I just know it.
Dale: Playing Moon for the DS. Can't put it down, actually. Fantastic game. I'm playing TrackMania DS in between levels, too. And I've busted out my import Rival Schools for the PS1 for the hell of it.
Topher: Fuck yeeeeeeeaaaaaah.
Jonathan Ross: Moon, Mirror's Edge PC (which controls much better than I thought it would, and looks GORGEOUS), and the usual TF2 and L4D, as always. Tried to get some Fallout 3 in, but the recent patch broke it for tons of people so I need to revert back to the earlier one. THANKS BETHESDA.
Samit: Haha, yeah...I was in Vent the other night, and Puppet was sad because his PC kept crashing when he tried to play Mirror's Edge with PhysX on; when he disabled it, he was like, "This looks so [comparatively] shitty that I don't even want to play it anymore."
Hamza: I played Moon and MadWorld. I'll have a MadWorld preview up tomorrow. All I'm going to say about it for right now is that the trumpet is the best weapon in the game.
Nick: Street Fighter IV, Skate 2, The Maw, and trying desperately to get the "210 in 180 seconds" trophy in Lumines Supernova. I got 200 today!
Dale: alright- i'm out to get your 210 in 180 sec!
Dyson: Tell your wife to stop all the downloading!!!
I played more Remix. This time against Conrad who has a pretty damn good Chun-LI. I also played the Wii Ware Tetris Party last weekend. I have to say that it isn't very good and I will probably not play it again. That, and last night I started a new game + of Dead Space with all sorts of pimped out shit. I don't know why I like this game so much but I do.
Nick: Bring it North. I don't know if Lumines Supernova keeps high scores for that stuff via an online leaderboard you can compare with friends. If it does, it's on.
Jim: I've been playing Left 4 Dead nearly every day. It's been so long since I had a game I could just keep playing for so long. I've also been playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It looks absolutely gorgeous, although personally I think the combat is a little "off" and there's a few annoying trial-and-error moments. Still, it has a "Sunday afternoon adventure movie" vibe, and I like that. I'd been playing it at the same time as Prince of Persia, which is very weird because both games have the same voice actor as lead. It's a bit of a mindfuck.
Oh, and I got very bored of Prince of Persia so I won't be playing that again.
Jonathan Ross: Well, it's my understanding that the PhysX really only affects the glass, cloth, and plastic textures, so I'm not sure why he'd feel that way unless his computer already sucks balls.
Brad Nicholson: I've been playing Cuboid (review soon), Trapped: Undead Infection, and Chronicles of Inotia.
Contest:
11:00 PM on 01.18.2009
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Ive been playing A LOT of Fallout 3 on the PS3, but it looks like the patch is making it freeze up after you reach level 19...from what I noticed. AND! Ragnarok Online. I don't know many people that even like that MMO...But I love it.
I've been playing the crap out of Guitar Hero II, Rock Band 2, and Guitar Hero World Tour, mainly to get my career progress back (And unlock songs) after my hard drive bit the dust. So far I've got my Expert guitar career in World Tour back to 100% and I'm about halfway done with the other two. Also been playing a little Tales of Vesperia on the side...I can't believe it took me so long to give that game a chance.
A FUCK ton of Persona 4 (Almost 60 hours in). And a bit of Professor Layton and the Curious Villiage on the bus.
I finally broke down and preordered the Street Fighter IV Tournament stick. I hope it's as good as everyone says it'll be.
Have an itch to play WindWaker agai. God I love that game.
- Infinity Ward > Treyarch. x100
- Treyarch can go suck a bunch of cocks
- Honestly, its really fucking obvious that the grenades are spawning at my feet. Cunts.
- Still not a bad game by any means, but could(should) have been better. I mean, Cod 4 was definitely not perfect, they should have tried to fix its mistakes, not ignore them. Even if it is GAY-arch. YEAH I WENT THERE!
Also some Rock band, Tf2, and Audiosurf. Have finally started to play the Radio songs, and the guy really picks out some great, interesting music. Was even winning one of last weeks bunch for a while :P.
This past week, I found myself sucked into Resident Evil 2, which i haven't played through in over ten years. For me, it still holds up and is definitely my favorite in the series (despite frustrating controls). I still feel creeped out everytime I entered a room.
Also, I finally started playing Left 4 Dead. I'm slowly learning to not suck (despite sucking a ton at FPSs).
Watched The Warriors recently and had an urge to go back to the game. I forgot how great it was.
And the obligatory Guilty Gear X2 Reload and Street Fighter III: Third Strike (both Xbox) which no one ever plays online anymore. Sucks.
Totally want to play it!
That is all.
Also cracked out on Virtua Tennis 3, Resistance 2, Luminous Arc 2, Gears of War 2. (I'll have two of those games beaten by friday)