May 10 - May 14

Section: 

Lost Planet 2, despite being our Game of the Week, goes off my rent list with the general revelation that unless you're playing the campaign reliably with three other mouth-breathing humans, you are in for an extended exercise in frustration. Even if I were inclined to friend up a few LP2 players and engage in the alien exercise of co-op play, the idea of being able to do so with any predictable frequency for a game like this is exponentially ridiculous.

This coming week on the podcast we talk briefly about advances in AI as a desirable future for gaming's evolution, and I can tell you right now that we totally miss the boat. We got so focused on talking about enemy AI that we completely missed the area where games need the most improvement: friendly AI. I have rarely turned off a game simply because my enemies were too easy to kill, but when my veteran soldier companion starts running in circles as entrenched enemy snipers pluck the buttons from his texture mapped shirt, those enemies might as well be killing my very desire to play.

Word on the street is that if you've got a good group to run co-op with, then Lost Planet 2 may have a lot to keep your attention. For solo nuts like me, it's just another week until Alan Wake comes out.

Also of note this week, Skate 3 and 3D Dot Game Heroes.

PC
- Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer

Xbox 360
- Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition
- Lost Planet 2
- Skate 3

PS3
- 3D Dot Game Heroes
- Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition
- Lost Planet 2
- Skate 3

PSP
- NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3

Coming Soon -
- Red Dead Redemption PS3 / Xbox 360 : May 18
- Alan Wake: May 18
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 : May 23
- Crackdown 2 : July 6
- Starcraft 2 : July 27

Comments

I was thinking two weeks until Alan Wake. Yay!

does anyone still play Age of Conan? Last I heard, there was barely anyone playing that game.

You're dead right about friendly AI being terrible. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 are particularly bad in that respect - the games are pretty much unplayable by yourself.

If I were Elysium, I would have taken the easy way out and given it to Batman again.

I've been thinking about finally getting around to Arkham Asylum. What's so special about the Game of the Year edition?

ClockworkHouse: Apparently it includes the DLC challenge maps (which your enjoyment of is a hit or miss, it seems like), and - get this - 3D glasses. For some super cool 3D effects.

http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/batm...

Trailer for it.

Game of the Week goes to a game that is listed to come out NEXT week? I'm confused...

It comes out tomorrow. I forgot to fix the Coming Soon section.

I'm greatly disappointed that 3D Dot Game Heroes isn't this week's pick. That seems like the sort of unique, single-player experience that'd appeal around here.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm greatly disappointed that 3D Dot Game Heroes isn't this week's pick. That seems like the sort of unique, single-player experience that'd appeal around here.

Naw, this site is for the masses.

Still, if I had a PS3, I'd be getting that game.

For me, it's just another week until Red Dead Redemption releases.

I second the support for 3D Dot Heroes - certainly over yet another multiplayer coop shooter.

Elysium wrote:

It comes out tomorrow. I forgot to fix the Coming Soon section.

Oh? OH!

...........time to get to the store for an...unrelated matter.....

Right game, wrong system. Lost Plant 2 in a UPS package today.. for the PS3. Someday it will work the right way, I was trying to get the 360 version. Ooops!

mrtomaytohead wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm greatly disappointed that 3D Dot Game Heroes isn't this week's pick. That seems like the sort of unique, single-player experience that'd appeal around here.

Naw, this site is for the masses.

Still, if I had a PS3, I'd be getting that game.

I have that one on the way from Amazon.

Hyetal wrote:

ClockworkHouse: Apparently it includes the DLC challenge maps (which your enjoyment of is a hit or miss, it seems like)

Are those available on the PC?

Is it weird that the first game to make me REALLY wish I had a PS3 is a $40 bargain-bin title? I foolishly watched the Giant Bomb quick look of 3D Dot Game Heroes and was instantly filled with what can only be described as a need.

Oh, well. In a few weeks I'll have Alan Wake, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Red Dead Redemption and there won't be any shortage of distractions from my lack of a way to play 3DDGH.

hbi2k wrote:

Is it weird that the first game to make me REALLY wish I had a PS3 is a $40 bargain-bin title?

Since when is $40 a bargain? ...says the Steam sale junkie.

By Day-One standards. Hopefully by the time the price of the PS3 system has dropped to the point where I can justify getting one, it'll be even cheaper. (-:

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Hyetal wrote:

ClockworkHouse: Apparently it includes the DLC challenge maps (which your enjoyment of is a hit or miss, it seems like)

Are those available on the PC?

I'm fairly sure there's only two additional challenge maps for the PC version. But hey, they're free. Those other ones were fairly exclusive, even region-specific.

hbi2k wrote:

By Day-One standards. Hopefully by the time the price of the PS3 system has dropped to the point where I can justify getting one, it'll be even cheaper. (-:

With a game like 3D Dot Game Heroes, the price is more likely to go up by the time the PS3 comes down in price enough to justify your purchase, because the only people selling it will be Amazon sellers.

I preordered it for the simple reason that I expect this to be one of those games that everyone agrees is awesome, yet manages to spend exactly twelve minutes on retail shelves before being replaced by the next God of War ripoff.

And no, I'm not jaded at all.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

By Day-One standards. Hopefully by the time the price of the PS3 system has dropped to the point where I can justify getting one, it'll be even cheaper. (-:

With a game like 3D Dot Game Heroes, the price is more likely to go up by the time the PS3 comes down in price enough to justify your purchase, because the only people selling it will be Amazon sellers.

I preordered it for the simple reason that I expect this to be one of those games that everyone agrees is awesome, yet manages to spend exactly twelve minutes on retail shelves before being replaced by the next God of War ripoff.

And no, I'm not jaded at all. :)

It seems Demon's Souls has bucked that trend, so hopefully that won't be the case with future Atlus games that sell well. That's assuming that 3D Dot Game Heroes sells well.

I don't see any controversy over not having 3D Dot Game Heroes as the game of the week. I think it needs to prove something in its longer term reception beyond being The Legend of Zelda with a dash of modern gaming humor, a feature or two and its visual look. The few reviews I've seen seem torn between trying to label it an homage and just outright labeling it a remake of the original Zelda with some minor additions.

Maybe it was game of the week material back in 1986, and for fans of Zelda-style gameplay, maybe the the original is timeless enough that it transcends the loss of the IP itself.

Time will soon tell. And btw, before I get the 3D Dot Party-Pooper label, I have it preordered too. I'm curious.

yeah, but Lost Planet 2 already failed by the critics...

TheCounselor wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm greatly disappointed that 3D Dot Game Heroes isn't this week's pick. That seems like the sort of unique, single-player experience that'd appeal around here.

Naw, this site is for the masses.

Still, if I had a PS3, I'd be getting that game.

I have that one on the way from Amazon.

It's toward the top of my "games to buy if I were buying games, or maybe if I see it on sale and the wife's not looking" list.

LarryC wrote:

I second the support for 3D Dot Heroes - certainly over yet another multiplayer coop shooter.

Amen brother!