I’ll grab any excuse to promote a good comedian, so this week I would like to remind everyone that Ray Peacock exists. Here’s one of the few bits of stand-up that you can actually find of the guy. He’s a very funny man indeed and his work with fellow comedian Ed Gamble is highly recommended. Check out the Peacock & Gamble Podcast. It’s very good for doing a listen at.
Speaking of things that are good, we played videogames this week. As always, hit the jump to check out what the Destructoid editors have been playing, you tosser.
Niero: It’s all about The Chickening. Also, after watching Public Access Destructoid Outsourced I’ve been dying to play Super Monkey Ball.
Holmes: Tomena Sanner (awesome) Blaster Master: Overdrive (disappointing with moments of brilliance), Super Mario Galaxy (feels like the first time) Tatsunoko Vs Capcom (endlessly replayable) and a bunch of other games to test out that Tatsunoko Vs Capcom stick.
Also, just got the new Super Monkey Ball, but haven’t opened it yet. Hopefully I’ll get to it later today.
Concelmo: After beating Mass Effect 2 (no crew dead, mother effers! Heeeeeey!), I moved on to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, which I am surprisingly loving. The 8-bit references are wonderful, my favorite being the meat grilling mini-game. So good.
Sterling: BioShock 2 multiplayer, although for some reason I can barely get it working on Xbox Live. No idea why. Also tried playing GUN, which fucking sucked. In continuing my search for a good art game, I played Edmund, which wasn’t half as shocking and mindblowing as it would like to be. Also, more AvP demo and I’ve been messing around with old Genesis Sonic games to keep me pumped for Sonic 4. Oh, and FlOw because it was free on the PS3 this weekend. I’ve also decided to play Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood which so far isn’t too bad. I don’t know why I’ve had such an aversion to Westerns. They carry a ready charm.
In other news, I am giving Mass Effect a second chance. PC version this time. We’ll see how that goes.
Razak: Meat grilling is awesome, Chad.
I finally got four friends over and played all out New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I didn’t think I could have more fun with the game, but with four people it’s even more brilliant. Otherwise I’ve been playing No More Heroes 2 over so that I was able to get my two posts up on it. Loving it even more the second time, especially with the added challenge.
Tolentino: Last Rebellion for review. It’s…well, I’ll save it for the review.
I’m almost ashamed to admit that the only thing I’ve wanted to play, even after my super-fast new beast of a computer arrived, has been Star Trek Online. What’s wrong with me?! I have both Mass Effect games, Bioshock 2, the Bad Company 2 beta, Dragon Age and all kinds of crazy-great games, and what I want to do is shove photon torpedoes up a Nausicaan raider’s aft.
Carnage: Ive been rubbing my self down with a hearty dose of Bio Shock Deuce . I luv it!
North: White Knight Chronicles. The bitch froze on me…now 8 times since I’ve started playing it. I swore off it after reading tons of other internet accounts on the same game lockups. I can’t serve my readers by being a little bitch though, so I’m pushing through, having to fucking restart every time it locks up. Now that I’ve passed a certain part in the game, it seems less lock-up-y.
Rice: During this storm week, I finished up Batman: Arkham Asylum and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and have moved on to Bakugan: Battle Brawlers. I swear, I’m going to become the Bakugan master.
Gutierrez: Been playing PR wrangeling and industry patty cake, loving every minute of it.
PerLee: After X10, which utterly kicked my ass, handed it back and then kicked it again, I’ve been playing some stuff to clear my head. Still digging Chime, like I said in my review, is great. Hopefully dlc for that is planned. Also, ‘Splosion Man, which is an awesome game, although the multiplayer is very hard and the game is killing me often.
Also, since Joseph and Conrad and I are working on a piece on Dante’s Inferno, I’m blasting through that. Should be fun, even with baby-shitting nipples. Somehow I suspect that wasn’t in the poem.
Grim: Mostly BioShock 2. I was never a huge fan of the first one gameplay-wise, so it’s nice to see the shooting is improved here. It’s not nice to see the repetition return, but at least the multiplayer is decent enough that I was able to play single-player for a few hours, then switch to multiplayer when I couldn’t handle being a babysitter to the Little Sisters any longer.
Ross: Finished up Mass Effect 2 this week, which was one of the best games I’ve played in a long, long time. Started a bit of Bioshock 2, but I’m really just not feeling it. Borrowed Bayonetta from Chad, so I’ll be playing that for most of this weekend.
Nicholson: I’m watching the BioShock 2 credits scroll and I’m glad. It took about seven hours for the game to get interesting for me. The “Gathering” mini-missions, poor pacing, and dull shooting mechanics killed the experience for me until then. That last level, with all its plot revelations and twists, finally made me feel like I was in the curious underwater world of Rapture — that mysterious place rife with decaying life and remnants of a culture gone sour.
I feel like the game could have been more than what it was. I also feel like the FPS has moved on, evolved since the original BioShock. I also think 2K Marin should have experimented more, changed up what Rapture is instead of toeing the line.
I also spent a lot of time with Darwinia+. I’ll share more about my experiences with that game in the near future. I’m guessing around Monday or Tuesday.
Sarkar: This was my first full week as an Xbox 360 owner, and I finally got my first few Achievements a few nights ago playing 1 vs. 100, of all things. I love trivia games in general — I really hope to make it onto Jeopardy! someday — and playing the game in a party with three friends makes the experience even more fun. I also checked out the Bayonetta demo, which looked/played much better than the PS3 demo I played a month or two ago.
In addition, I think I’m now officially addicted to the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer demo: even with one map and one gameplay mode, it’s plenty of fun, especially when playing in a squad with friends who know what they’re doing (even as I’m still feeling my way around the game).
And no, I haven’t abandoned my PS3 or anything — I downloaded the Heavy Rain demo on Friday evening and played through it a few times. I love the way your decisions and actions have a real impact: the first time I played the Scott Shelby section, I was “perfect” in my fight with the white trash dude. Then I missed some of the prompts on purpose, and Shelby came through the fight with a few bruises on his face. Finally, I didn’t execute a single prompt correctly, and he ended up with what looked like a broken nose (and some different dialogue, too). Man, I cannot wait for that game to come out.
Chester: Brad, if you’re referring to the Little Sister Adam gathering missions, you should have just skipped them entirely. That’s exactly what I did after a few of the “horde-style” gathering moments, which were fun at first, but grew tired quickly. Turns out simply harvesting them for the Adam will get you plenty to buy upgrades!
Myself, I’m still playing Bayonetta and nearing the end. Yes, I’m taking my time. Having a newborn baby and sitting down to play games for hours at a time don’t mix. Next up I’m going to give the original Mass Effect a go (AGAIN) before moving on to the by-all-accounts “omg so amazing” sequel.
I also picked up all of the Brothers in Arms games which I’d like to finish before E3. Why? Oh, no real reason.
