The biggest news of the past week was, of course, the launch of the Nintendo 3DS. Many of our staff have taken quite a liking to this shiny new device, and are providing great insight into what this handheld can do. Our week was also sprinkled with some other games, although it’s hard to outshine the 3DS in this round. As usual, let us know what you’re playing too and don’t forget to welcome our newest editor, Adam Tabor!
Editor-in-chief: MasterAbbott
This week I’ve been super busy getting things organized with new writers/editors, and also making sure the site is functioning as it should be. I checked a lot of emails all week as well which has cut into my game time for the week. I did get stuck into Sacred Odyssey on the iPhone early on in the week, then on Thursday the 31st of March…I picked up my Black Nintendo 3DS and since then everything else I was meant to do has been thrown out the window. Emails have been piling up, and I’ve even stopped bothering the crew (who knows what sort of mayhem they’ve been causing in the office and on the site).
For the last few days I’ve been playing and testing out the 3DS. I did a 3DS unboxing video for anyone that doesn’t have it (check it out here). Games so far I’ve tested out include (VERY briefly) Chronicles Samurai Warriors from KOEI. This is quite an impressive title, graphically stunning especially the cut/movie scenes in the game. If you’re a fan of Dynasty Warriors series this is one title you should consider taking a look at if you have a 3DS. As you might already know, the 3DS has a lot of cool extra built-in features and games that can keep you busy for hours, from its 3DS Camera, Sound Studio, Mii Maker, Mii Plaza with Street Pass, the funny Face Raiders, and my personal favourite, the AR (Augmented Reality) games.
I could go on and on about the 3DS with its cool little pedometer that grants you the ability to earn play coins that you can spend in the Mii Plaza when playing Puzzle Swap and the SUPER cool StreetPass Quest that uses Mii’s that you find when you activate Streetpass. Okay, okay, I’ll shut up now; I’ve probably bored you all to tears with my constant rambling about how great the 3DS is. Oh by the if you’ve got a 3DS add me a friend my 3DS number is : 1805-2193-1145 😉
Till next week…play hard or don’t play at all!
Senior Editor: Travis Bruno
Well it is that time of the year when the winter season is ending and spring is just beginning. With that also comes the change in seasons for anime and that means that most of this week has been spent watching some great shows try to wrap up as best they could, especially To Aru Majutsu no Index. Then again with the spring season about to start there is a whole plethora of new things to watch. Other than that I picked up my 3DS on launch day here in the United States and have been quite busy playing Samurai Warriors Chronicles and Super Street Fighter IV 3D.
It seems that I have grown partial to using Ibuki as my main fighter but considering I haven’t played a Street Fighter game in some time nearly half of the fighters are new to me. Outside of the 3D realm I’ve been busy playing The 3rd Birthday that was released earlier this week. It certainly is as hard as I remember the original Parasite Eve games being but there have been so many changes to the game that it feels completely different. My week hasn’t been entirely filled with handhelds however; I’ve spent a decent amount of time on Crysis 2 and am having a really hard time feeling anything from the title besides being just another shooter with aliens in it.
Senior Editor: Jed Bradshaw
This week, I finally finished War for Cybertron. I love that game and I was so sad I had to send it back to Gamefly. In addition, I started playing Just Cause 2. It is pretty fun, but wow, that voice acting is bad….plus the controls are awful. However, plenty of explosions , creative uses of the grapple and fun gameplay make up for everything.
I also got really into Homefront‘s Battle Commander multiplayer, mostly trying to get the achievement for being a 5 star threat. I was able to get a 3 star (thank you, flying drone) but a 5 star is just too insane for me.
Finally, this week I played 3D Twist & Match for review (link here). Sanuk Games makes some great games like Pix’n Love Rush, but this game is boring. Its a simple puzzle game that will barely keep you entertained for a few hours. Moto GP 10/11 was also spinning in my PS3. Expect a review soon.
Senior Editor: Dustin Spencer
This week has mainly been all about the 3DS here. I have been working on Rayman 3D which is actually a decent launch title and enjoying it. It reminds me of playing a classic N64 platformer which to me at least is a good thing. I missed Rayman: The Great Escape the first time around, so when this review goes up, I wouldn’t expect to judge this title too much by its age as most seem to have done. Super Street Fighter IV has gotten a little bit of love as well, but I still have been using my standard DSi XL as I am also going through Okamiden and am nearly done with it now. It really plays and looks like the original, but for a DS game to stand on par with the PS2 I think that is a great to see. The story is actually a lot of fun to follow as well.
WWE All Stars has been a nice console game to play, but it has a few issues such as AI problems that need a patch. There really is nothing like watching Macho Man do a backflip straight on to a turnbuckle though and the game has a lot of fun moments so I have to give it a bit of credit on that. Other than that, I finished Monster Tale which was one of my favorite titles this year by far, you can check out the review as well which is now live on the site (link here).
Editor: Ben Webb
This week I finally got my 3DS device, so I’ve been playing a fair bit of that.
On the 3DS I’ve been playing through Super Street Fighter IV, I started on Very Easy difficulty and can now do Normal mode (which is strangely easier than Easy Mode). My fighter of choice is Cammy, as I’m a bit of a pervert and I also tend to go for the more militaristic units in fighters; for instance, in Bloody Roar my main fighter is Gado the Lion. Both Cammy and Gado have a similar feel to their play style (even if they’re from different games) so that’s why I think that I gravitated to her a bit more.
I’m also currently working through a few other titles on the 3DS which are surprises until I get the reviews out for them 😀
On the PC front, I’ve been playing some more QuakeLive as well as visiting other titles, such as Dragon Age 2, but at the moment I’m more concerned with getting these 3DS games reviewed.
Editor: Michael Irving
This week has been a busy work and uni week, so unfortunately my game time has been a little limited. As I was last week, I’m still playing Left 4 Dead 2 online when I get time, and slowly slogging away at Pokemon Black. One major problem I’ve encountered is that there are too many awesome looking Pokemon this generation, which makes it really hard to select only six.
We also had some mates over this weekend for drinks and my all-time favourite multiplayer game – Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This is the one game we’ve played fairly regularly since its release two and a half years ago, and it never gets old! I’m not into standard fighting games much, but I love the looser movement Smash Bros allows, jumping and running over huge stages; I love the randomness that items, weapons, and environmental elements add to the chaos; I love the unique health system, where rather than simply drain your opponent’s health bar, you raise their percentage, which increases their likelihood of being launched off the stage, but provides no guarantees you’ll defeat them. So someone with a massive percentage can still survive, if they’re awesome enough. And most of all, I love the way the game is essentially Encyclopedia Nintendica, with characters, stages, items, weapons, and trophies from all of Nintendo’s major franchises, together in one place. I cannot fault the game at all.
Editor: Kelly Teng
I’ve been slamming into LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars this week for review (check it out here), and to be honest, I am still having mixed emotions about it. It’s fun and a good laugh, but really the game is getting too frustrating for me to keep going onwards. It takes me far too much time for me to collect all the studs (I am obsessive about uncovering every nook and cranny in the game) and get all the unlockables.
Other than that, I reviewed the film Big Tits Zombie (if you really want to, check it out here)and I have to say I was not too impressed. Everyone else seemed surprisingly excited that I was reviewing this though, so I’m not too sure what the deal is with that. Films like this are great for laughing at, but I’m not too sure if there’s much more substance in them. In handhelds, I’m still Pokemon Black-ing it, and every spare moment I get I’m tackling Mass Effect 2. I’m excited for next week because I have a myriad of new DVDs and TV series to review, so stay tuned for more reviews of things (unfortunately for all those who love gore, there’s no more Japanese low-budget films). I’ve been missing my Top Spin 4 as I lent it to a friend, and am thinking of buying FIFA 11 just to tide me over until he gives me back my game. Also, I’ve been majorly hooked on the Alchemy game on my HTC…I’ve only unlocked 60 of the 370 elements!
Also, who heard the news about L.A. Noire being selected for the Tribeca Film Festival? Eeeeek, this game is going to be huge!
Editor: Chris Cerami
I spent a lot of time this week playing the four Oddworld games included in the Oddboxx, the review of which was posted on Friday here. I also downloaded and completed Mass Effect 2’s Arrival DLC, which was woefully inadequate in my opinion. I beat it in one hour. One hour! Come on! On a brighter note, I finally beat Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask this week, something that’s been hanging over my head for literally a whole decade. It’s really satisfying because now the only Zelda game that I haven’t beaten is Zelda 2: Link’s Adventure. Finally, I played a bit of the co-op in Dynasty Warriors 7 which can be pretty fun if you just want some mindless fun and a body count in the thousands.
Editor: Jack Joly
Due to a totally MAD sale on the Xbox Marketplace, I blew a lot of Microsoft Points picking up games on the 1st April Sale. DOOM II, X-Men Arcade and Darwinia+ all got a look-in, as did another Xbox Live Arcade title not in the sale, Full House Poker. I’m really enjoying Full House Poker at the moment due to its casual style of play where you can just kick back and play some Texas Hold ’em, including last night’s Texas Heat event where I picked up a tidy total of 1,000,000 chips, coming 1st on the top table. Also on the Xbox 360, De Blob 2 and Warriors: Legends of Troy saw a bit of action.
Editor: Darren Resnekov
I have gone back to the Xbox 360 and am playing Halo Reach as iIbegan it ages ago and got lost and never went back to it. It’s a fantastic game with amazing graphics and gameplay. I’m playing it on the heroic level and enemies are at a good level of difficulty compared to many other games. I’m also playing Crysis 2 which is my benchmark game. I even found myself in Halo trying to kick over cars to use as shields. Crysis 2 is definitely the best FPS I’ve ever seen on consoles. I can’t get enough of that guy’s voice who does the weapons and cloaking shield. As always I’m playing Fifa 11 and getting beaten. Gave MLBShow a go but need more time to get into it as the controls are very sensitive
Editor: Adam Tabor
Hey, it’s Adam the new guy. Just found out we do this thing where we talk about video games we played…but who plays games right? Okay, so I’m full of it and its 2:08AM and I got to make this out so here we go. Let’s start out with the Moon Diver demo on PSN. It’s a fun little game: think of it as a fast multiplayer Strider with a heavy anime overdose in the art department. I might snag it when it comes to 360. Also played the Mortal Kombat demo with a friend and well I think I’m good with the most hated character in the game, Mr. Johnny Rage….I mean Cage (I just think that’s a cooler name, that’s all).
Also I’ve been doing a lot of portable stuff this week. On the iPhone I picked up Fast Striker for $5 and then it dropped to 99 cents the next day which kind of made me a bit disappointed. Fast Striker is a top down bullet hell game that is a lot of fun but I rather play its Dreamcast counterpart. Also I picked up Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy; I’m not too far in it but I loved the first one and I’ll like this one and it gives me nerdgasms. Yeah, I just made it up – 10 EXP for creativity and 15 gil. Also played the prologues which cost me $3 and that was dull. I did get Aeris as an assist character though, so yay for me. Also this past Sunday I picked up my Nintendo 3DS and have been playing a lot of the stuff on it. I picked up Super Street Fighter 4 and Ridge Racer. Those games are quite fun and anyone who loves either games will appreciate it. Also this was my first Ridge Racer game and well I’m hooked into it.
Well, what’s up next on the games plate who knows? I want to finish Final Fantasy XIII…if I actually get to playing it is another story.
