Games of the week for 12/17/07: Jesus Christ Superstar edition

 

Nick: Topher came over today, and along with my wife, we rocked through Rock Band‘s “Endless Setlist.” If you’re not familiar, this is the portion of the “Band World Tour” mode which has you playing a continuous set list of the game’s 58 songs (not including DLC). We started around 1:30 p.m. and finished up around 9:00 p.m. During that time, we ate one sandwich, and upon completion of the “Endless Setlist” awarded ourselves with a Ho-ho snack cake. We’re disgusting human beings, but we completed the “Endlist Setlist,” and for that, we deserve respect.

Also, Unreal Tournament 3 on the PlayStation 3 — I think the reason I like this game is because I can win! It would be nice if people I knew owned PS3 consoles, though.

 

Jim: Mostly Call of Duty 4. When my Internet isn’t lagging, I’m actually a pretty good player, so I enjoy the online mode a lot. Otherwise, I’ve been addicted to Lumines Live, especially the free J-Pop skin that makes my heart sprout little rainbows. I’ve also been slogging through Arkadian Warriors, with slog being the operative word.

 

Gameboi: I completely ignored my 360, Wii, and PS3 this week, and instead spent some quality time with the good old PlayStation 2 and GameCube once again. Need For Speed Underground, held my attention for a while. I always was a sucker for the opening song on that one — “To the windows, to the walls, till the sweat rolls off my…”   nuff’ said. Who’s that Little John cat, again?

Other than that, I continued my fixation with some short guy  in spandex named Joe.  Henshin a-go-go, baby! Damn, he’s Viewtiful.

 

Husky Hog: I’m just thankful that my Guitar Hero 3 disk wasn’t destroyed in my last 360 tipping incident, because that’s all I’ve had to play this week. It’s great though, because while everybody enjoys rock band I’m shredding it up on expert mode, which I finally got the chance to complete. Now it’s on to the countless impossible achievements that I hope will last me through the rest of December. As far as PC gaming goes, my friends have recently discovered some game entitled World of Warcraft, and I was glad to discover payment for this month was no more successful than my recent attempt to convince the bus driver that Canadian money counts, so in order to satisfy my PC gaming craving with The Sims 2 and all of the expansions, which I keep on my computer in case I’m in need of a binge.

Colette: I’m slowly replaying BioShock, working on my daily training in Taiko Drum Master, enjoying Arkadian Warriors on Live and just tonight put on Oblivion, which I have never played before because the FPS point of view didn’t appeal to me. After BioShock I’m converted, and I find myself actually enjoying it.

 

Topher: Like Nick said, many many hours of Rock Band. Totally worth the Ho-ho. At home it’s been Ikaruga, Arkadian Warriors, and Draglade. 

 

Faith: So far this week, I’ve played My Sims for long periods of time. I blame the new Wii promotional video at work. It has a commercial for the game and the haunting music keeps beckoning me. Must design homes and furniture with videogames painted all over them. And bacon … must paint bacon on my sim’s bath tub.

Also I’ve been playing Dragon Quest Monster: Joker and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. Dragon Quest is really fun, but I’m not big on the whole tactics angle of FFXII: RW. Kind of annoying, plus I keep hitting the wrong spot on the screen and screwing up my plan of attack. It starts off well, but dies quickly after the third time I fail to move my team into position.

That’s why I bought Cooking Mama 2 … I need to play something easy. Tapping the screen is so much easier than tap, move, circle, tap, etc.

 

Chad: In about two hours I should be finished with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and will then move on to the epic Orange Box. Maybe now I can finally understand what the hell a companion cube is. Also, when my friends joke about “the cake is a lie” and wax poetic about how awesome Portal‘s end song is I may actually be able to join them in the conversation rather than nodding politely and pretending to know what they are saying. Sadly, by now all these references are probably old anyway. Dammit.

 

Dyson: Well, thanks to Jared Rea from Gametap; .tiff, Hamsa, and myself can now enjoy the bounty of old and new school games that Gametap provides — for free. Unfortunately, the lovely free month of the service that he gave us does not work on my Mac computer and I will probably have to spend the next month listening to Hamsa tell me how “cool” Gametap is. Can’t wait.

Aside from that, I’m still playing through Kid Icarus on my DS Lite. I’m lame, I know, but this game is a game I’ve never finished before and I think that the groundswell appreciation for the series’ return is completely grounded. The only other thing I’ve been doing with my DS, is to play multiplayer battles of Tetris at work while we’re on break.

Oh, I also got sh*tfaced drunk last weekend and played Aegis Wing (a title whose name I still can’t pronounce correctly) with Topher until  6 a.m. It was awesome. 

 

Tristero: Pinball of the Dead for GBA, Klonoa for Playstation, and Parodius Portable for the PSP. Oh, and I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’m also playing the Russian hack for Manhunt 2 that lets you see all the naughty bits. It’s totally a guilty pleasure. A disgusting, amoral, cheap guilty pleasure.

Orcist: I’ve been playing Killer7 and Phantom Hourglass when I get the chance, and I powerlevel my already god-like characters on Final Fantasy III DS during my spare time.

 

Dale: Last week I said I stumbled on Swing Away Golf for the Wii. One week later I haven’t put it down; the game is so addictive. And, in true Tecmo fashion, it’s incredibly difficult. Once you get the feel of the swing you’ll be hooked too.

 

Blindsidedork: Since I made up a fake day, Metroid Day, I replayed Metroid: Zero Mission on my DS and got some good rounds of Team Fortress 2. Those demos can be annoying! I need more hours in the week to play and do work, someone help a brotha out!

 

Lettuce Head: Becoming an editor here at D-Toid has been the “videogame” I’ve sunk the most time into this week. Between hearing “You’re doing it wrong” from the tough but fair senior staff, to wasting copious hours trying to wrap my head around how lucky am I to be permitted to work with such awesome people, to searching to find a proper comeback to being called a lettuce head, (hint:there is none), my mind has had little extra power to actually play games.

But when that extra power was there, I’ve been playing SoulCaliber: Legends on the Wii, which is a good game in the same way Turkish Star Wars is a good movie. And I played through UmJammer Lammy on the PS1 just to psych myself up for that new project coming to the Wii from the Parappa team. And as always, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo online on the PSP.

For the uninitiated, here’s a link to Turkish Star Wars spine tingling climax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbYczbBlatA

 

Aaron: Universe at War reminds me that I’ve no gift for strategy, while Team Fortress 2 continues to rob me of my dignity via the able hands of twitch-junkie 14-year-olds. I’ve been playing Aquaria to fill the need for fun without my own boundless capacity for utter failure. Damnation!

TheGoldenDonut: Last weekend I happened upon a cheap copy of Virtua Fighter 5 and have been trying my hand at that.  Now while I am definitely not a connoisseur of fighting games, only playing some Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in my early youth, it does strike me as a pretty well made title.  My favorite character so far is definitely El Blaze; simply because of the terrible, terrible dialogue he spits out. The only gripe I have is with the 360 controller; specifically, its horrible d-pad (which is the only way I’m used to moving characters and executing combos in a fighting game).  I’m slowly getting used to the analog stick as an alternative, although it just doesn’t seem to register at times which forces me to rely on simpler combos.

 

Dick McHentai: I played Fifty Five Pages or Die this week, as I blazed through finishing a screenplay and two take home finals. So, if you ever need to know anything about the history of Japan, just ask me. Also, the Wan-li Emperor can go suck a cock.

 

Joe: I haven’t had much time to play anything because I’ve been helping CosbyTron move back from his long residency in Canadia. We did find some free time to play Rock Band, though. We also drank the drank.

 

Grim: Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3, WarTech: Senko no Ronde, and GripShift on XBLA, which I’m finding to be way more fun than I should be having. Also, Hydro Thunder and Virtua Fighter 3tb on the Dreamcast.

 

Hamza: I’m playing a ton of different games on Gametap because they gave me a few months free! TEE HEE!

 

What have you guys been playing this week? AH WANNA KNOW! OH AH WANNA KNOW NOW!