This Week in Games: November 16 – 22
11 Comments
Posted on November 16th, 2008 by
Perhaps the interesting note this week is not that just abou every platform has a large release list with some standout games, but that the PSP has only one game … and it is a multiplatform game coming out on every platform. My personal ‘game overload’ comes from two PC expansions to major RPG’s – Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods(PC) and Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir(PC). Other highlights include Shaun White Snowboarding (Xbox 360/PS3/Wii/PS2/PSP/DS/PC), Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Xbox 360/PS3), Tomb Raider Underworld(Xbox 360/PS3/Wii/DS/PC), and Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii). Check out the rest of the list! more…
Pac-Man Christmas Ornament
Posted on November 15th, 2008 by
In my 10+ years reviewing video games for various publications, I’ve written about some pretty weird stuff. When I was writing for the Dallas newspaper, Chex cereal at one point included a prize in every box: a PC game called Chex Quest (a family friendly Doom clone). Thinking it would never be published, I wrote a review of it as kind of a joke. But the joke was on me because the newspaper actually published it and it garnered some pretty positive feedback! Later, when I was also writing reviews of video game accessories and gadgets, they had me review a PlayStation memory card that was shaped like Lara Croft. I mean, how do you review that? I wanted to say, “It’s the only memory card with breasts,” but this was a family newspaper so I wisely used some restraint. And then there was the time where I wrote The Grinch video game review entirely in rhyme. Well today I’m going to continue that tradition of writing reviews of weird stuff with the Hallmark Pac-Man Christmas Ornament!
Game Review: Monster Jam: Urban Assault (Wii)
Posted on November 14th, 2008 by
For my fifth or sixth birthday (can’t remember exactly), my dad took me to a monster truck show. You know, “Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY” and all that. Early childhood memories can sometimes be a little fuzzy, but I have a vivid memory of going to see that monster truck event. I remember that the big wheels crushing all those cars was so loud that we had to wear earplugs. And for the grand finale, they had a demolition derby with three Mac trucks with trailers attached! For a little kid, that was the coolest thing in the world. Heck, even as a grown up, that sounds kind of cool. Now, surely at some point, most likely while being stuck in traffic, maybe you imagined what it would be like to take one of those monster trucks out on the town, smashing and bashing anything in your way. Well now you can do that in the comfort of your own home on the Nintendo Wii with Monster Jam: Urban Assault.
Review: Buzz! Master Quiz (PSP)
Posted on November 13th, 2008 by
Party quiz games have been a huge market success since Trivial Pursuit launched back in 1982. Over the past several years there have been thirteen games in the Buzz! and Buzz! Junior lines, including the recently released Buzz! Quiz TV for the PS3. Buzz! Master Quiz is the first time the franchise has ventured onto a handheld gaming system, So how does the attempt to capture the fun party game spirit fare on the PSP? more…
Game Review: Rapala’s Fishing Frenzy (Wii)
Posted on November 12th, 2008 by
Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Mac)
Posted on November 12th, 2008 by
There is a reason why Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on PC and consoles has remained so popular for nearly a year since release – it is an excellent game. Often by the time a game is ported to the Mac players on other platforms have moved on to other games, making multiplayer matchups difficult and sharing the single player experience irrelevant. This was certainly the case with the recent release of Fable: The Lost Chapters, which hit the XBOX in fall 2004 and PC a year later in fall 2005. Three years is a very long time to move to the Mac from the PC, and that was reflected by the interest shown by Mac gamers slowly waning to the point that the actual release was met with a collective yawn. Three years is too long, but one year is not too bad at all – again witness the huge outpouring of excitement of Mac gaming forums.
Happy Veterans Day
Posted on November 11th, 2008 by
It’s Veterans Day. This day has usually been marked pretty quietly at my house. Most of our family’s involvement in the military was in the past and those men had passed on, so the bulk of our remembrances have been for Memorial Day.
But now my eldest son is in the Army, and has been through a tour of duty. His best friend is in the Navy. Among the gang who I used to clutter my foyer with huge sneakers every weekend there are two Marines, two more Navy people (both girls), and another guy in the Army. My brother-in-law is a Navy vet. Veterans Day isn’t only a day off school at my house anymore.
more…
Game Review: PBR Out of the Chute (Wii, PS2)
Posted on November 10th, 2008 by
Air Traffic Chaos DS
Posted on November 10th, 2008 by
Air Traffic Chaos takes the nightmarishly tense world of “pushing tin,” that is, managing giant aircraft with hundreds of lives at stake that are, at the same time, approaching, departing, landing, taking off, and circling above. It’s the kind of job that turns people into jelly or leads to early heart failure – so why not simulate it as the backdrop to a puzzle game?
Ask GamerDad 11/07/08
Posted on November 10th, 2008 by
Music, thievery, and librarians. A little bit of something for everyone from GamerDad after that busy, historic, nerve-wracking, blissfull day that will forever be known as the day the son of an idealistic Kansan and a Kenyan born Muslim became leader of the free world. I say it with a smile. Barack Hussein Obama. Amazing. I’ll probably always remember it also as the day I spoke in front of hundreds of Librarians too, though.
