Blue Toad Murder Files: Girl Friendly

The wife and I downloaded the first three episodes available on the PS3 last night in a bundle ($14.99). Damn the wireless adapter in the PS3 is slow. Anyway, this looked like a co-op adventure/puzzle game, so it was a must buy. The game will be releasing another batch of three files for sure somewhere in the near future, so I assume all six will run you about $30 when all is said and done (unless you're an idiot who buys the episodes one at a time for $7.49).

With My One Eye I Cry!

Recently, the next step in video games seems to be 3D projection. Lot's of companies like Sony and Nintendo are taking a look at the 3D video games market. What does this mean for gamers like me?

Pixeljunk Monsters: girl friendly

Yes, I'm aware this game has been out for over a year, and yes, I was an early adopter who also has the expansion pack. The point of my 'girl friendly' posts is to review games I have played, or attempted to play, with my wife and the impressions we have had. If you haven't played this game yet, and are on the fence, read on...

Beyond Good

I just finished "Beyond Good & Evil" today, writing up a review on the PC port soon.

I've been WoW'ed

Sorry, I haven't written jack in well over a week. My excuse? Gate River Run (15k) and World of Warcraft. I completed the run on Saturday in 93 minutes, which put my like 5400th out of 13.3k people, so being a more than casual runner, I was pretty happy.

As far as WoW? Well, I gave it another shot, and with Kinto's help, I'm loving it. 10 years late to the party, but oh well. This will carry me over until we all get on FFXIV. Come join WOW!

Work picked up also so I'm not getting quite as much gaming in as I'd like, but that ebbs and flows.

Also, been co-op gaming with the wife in the evenings, so I'll be writing a review of those experiences soon. Titles include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Lego Star Wars (PS2), and Pixeljunk Monsters.

Game Achievements

I may have become addicted to in game achievements and gamer points. Recently I played some Halo 3 and went on the hunt for the hidden skulls. One skull hidden on each level. The skulls allow the player to modify certain aspects of the game such as having the enemy throw more grenades than you can juggle and turning off things like your motion radar or your HUD entirely. You also get in game achievement points for obtaining these skulls. I have only played a few games on my 360 recently but I’m up to 4000 gamer points now and it’s quite interesting looking back on all the achievements you’ve obtained throughout the different games played. Some of my friends online have in excess of 10000 gamer points or more!.

Mario's 10 Dreadful Secrets, You Probably Don't Know! (Japanese Article)

 Recently, I came across this Japanese article about video games most persistent and loved hero, Mario. The article was based on an American article written in Orange County, California but there are slight differences. Translation after the jump and links to both the ocweekly site and yahoo!Japan site. Enjoy!

Does Japan like Borderlands?

Though Borderlands has been released in the west since last October. In the land of the rising sun, Borderlands was released just last month. When it comes to RPGs we know that Japan and the west don't see eye to eye on the core mechanics. So how well does this fun to play coop game hold up in Japan?

God of War I + God of War II = God of War III

Next week the king of brutality comes back. I finally had a chance to play the 2009 E3 demo. What can I say about one of the most anticipated games for western PS3 fanboys? Well it looks really, really awesome on my HDTV.

Turn based strategy games.

So I’ve been playing through Front Mission on my NDS and am just in absolute nostalgia. Not because I’ve played Front Mission before, but simply because it’s been so long since I last touched a turn based strategy game. I’ve played Front Mission 3 on the PSX, Advance Wars on the Game Boy Advance and the Final Fantasy Tactics series too and love the simplicity of the gameplay yet the complexities in the strategy involved. At times it can seem overwhelming and in most cases I wouldn’t recommend these games for the quick “fix”. I think last night I went to bed with my NDS with the intention of falling asleep around 12ish and staying up till about 2 in the morning! Turn based games just take time a lot of time! Especially the ones where you can customize the units you use in game. Final Fantasy and Front Mission have always allowed the player to customize the load outs of the characters / mechs. Advanced Wars focused more on just having a set of units with pros and cons but then mixing it up with Commander Powers that buffed your units or debuffed your enemies.

PSP Cell really happening?

According to Kotaku (who got it from the Wall Street Journal), Sony is planning to release a smart phone that can play PSP games. Can we say, "duh"? I mean, we've only been saying they need to do this for...6 years? Or however long the PSP has been around? I'm actually pretty pumped, though. If they do that, I'm probably in. Better late than never.

What about you? Good move or more iPhone fodder?

HALO Reach Multiplayer Video (aka Tribes Returneth)

Like I've said before, I'm not going to buy a 360 for one game. But I do love me some Halo. Or at least I used to, before they became TRIBES. I LOVED Tribes. So maybe this is Bungie trying a formula that THEY KNOW DAMN WELL WORKED! I'm getting upset because I don't own a 360 and this is one games' multiplayer that I could totally get into! Compare this video with the TRIBES video, and you tell me what I'm missing.

More coming to the waste land

Looks like borderlands will be getting more DLC love as Take-Two has just let everyone know that there DLC is making such a return for them there going to keep shovelling out bit and pieces at you for more money =D. The next DLC(s) are unknown but said it could also be just stuff you can pay extra for example(making s*** up): Buy the best weapons, buy more talent points, more bag/bank space, new skins, New extra super more hot than that other girl sexy hunter model. IDK, I just like to ramble and .... BL!

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield Bad Company 2 recently got released on the 360, PS3 and PC platforms. It’s been a while since I last played a battlefield game, Battlefield 2142 was the last one I touched. Since then however I never felt the urge to play the original Battlefield Bad Company or the recent online only Battlefield 1943. The original Battlefield Bad Company seemed too oriented towards console gaming and not so much PC. Battlefield 1943, aside from the graphics didn’t really seem to offer anything new to the franchise. So why has Battlefield Bad Company 2 got me nursing a semi in my panties you ask? Do read on…

The Other M(ario)

Nintendo had it's media summit last week. As a big Nintendo fanboy, the past two media summits have been somewhat disappointing. Last years announcement of Punch Out wasn't anything new and it wasn't the flag ship franchise everyone was waiting to hear news from. In all due respect SMB Wii was a pleasent surprise last year. But finally a media summit that was worth reading about.

Civilization V

I've played Civilization IV, and all it's DLC's (or whatever you want to call their add-ons), plus Colonization, for hundreds of hours now over three years. I don't play it online or competitively, because I get all the challenge I want from the game AI. In fact, I have a new game I just started yesterday. So needless to say, I'm pumped it's truly being worked on. Not only that, but it's scheduled for a fall 2010 release! Seriously, why are all the greatest games ALL COMING OUT THIS YEAR! Sheesh, our wallets and lives need a break!

PS3 suffering "hiccups"

According to Kotaku, the PS3 is having a problem. I won't re-report their story. Go read it. But I checked, and I, too, am affected by this problem. Hopefully they will get this resolved soon. Like before March 9th.

PC gaming FTW!

Update: Sony has said they will have a fix in 24hours. If you have a Pre-Slim machine, they recommend you don't turn it on until tomorrow. Details in the original link.

Borderlands: Dr. Zed's Zombie Island

Late to the party, I know, but hey, this blog is about anything gaming related you want to post, and since it is what I played over the weekend (with Kinto...thanks!), I'm going to post about it.

"Dr. Zed's..." is a DLC (one of three) for 'Borderlands'. Once installed, you get there by teleporting to "Jacob's Cove". A brief intro starts, similar to the beginnings of Borderlands, where Marcus is telling a story to his kid. Seems Dr. Ned...*ahem*...Dr. Zed needs help. As far as the story goes, that's all I'll post so you can play it yourself for the story. What little there is, anyway.