September 20 - September 24

Section: 

Sometimes it's tough for a variety of reasons to pick the Game of the Week. I know a number of you like to ascribe all kinds of hilarious and flatly incorrect theories to the crafting of GotW. It's an inelegant process, one where I look at the list of whatever is going to be released and make a relatively knee-jerk reaction about what stands out to me. What's the standard? The best game on the list? The most popular? The one with the best chance to succeed? The one I have the most to say about? The one I, personally, am most interested in?

Yep, all of those. And what applies this week won't apply next week. But, like I said, sometimes it's tough to pick. Maybe there are several good options. Maybe there are no good options. Maybe there's a good option, but frankly I just don't care about that option.

So, I'm grateful when a week comes along where there is only one choice. This is one of those weeks, one of the rare moments where it is trivially easy to choose and defend the choice. Civilization V is this week's Game of the Week. That's not opinion, folks. Them's just facts.

PC
- Sid Meier's Civilization V
- Darksiders

Xbox 360
- F1 2010
- DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (XBLA)
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (XBLA)

PS3
- F1 2010
- High Velocity Bowling
- DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (PSN)

Wii
- Club Penguin Game Day!
- New Carnival Games

DS
- Dreamworks 2-in-1 Party Pack
- New Carnival Games
- Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
- Farm Frenzy: Animal Country
- Jewels of the Tropical Lost Island
- Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy

Coming Soon

- Dead Rising 2 -- PC, 360, PS3 : September 28
- Fallout New Vegas -- PC, PS3, Xbox 360 : October 19
- Rock Band 3 -- Xbox 360, PS3 : October 26
- Fable 3 -- PC, Xbox 360 : October 26
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 -- PC, 360, PS3, Wii : October 26
- DC Universe Online : November 2
- Epic Mickey : November 30
- Little Big Planet 2 : January 18

Comments

LarryC wrote:

The choice this week shows an obvious bias against Wii games. Clearly the GotW should have been New Carnival Games.

I suspect that if we were going by lifetime sale numbers, this maybe should have been the game of the week. It's the sequel to what was once one of the better-selling Wii games.

It's actually supposedly pretty fun, and it's MotionPlus-enabled, which is something I like to see from third-party developers. It could be a fun party game or game for kids.

I would bet I have put more time into the Civ series than any other gaming series. Actually, it's probably not even close. Does it drop at midnight EDT? If I stay up until 11 p.m. my time, can I instantly start installing it?

Civ V is supposed to unlock at 7AM PST.

Jasonofindy wrote:

Assuming it doesn't get trashed as a horrible port, I can recommend it as a very good Zelda-type game. Much like I thought Shadow Complex actually was a better Metroid game than Other M, I also thought that Darksiders was at least as good of Zelda game as Twilight Princess. I thoroughly enjoyed my rental of the PS3 version earlier this year.

I agree completely. I had a blast with Darksiders on the PS3 - there were a few bumps along the way but largely it was a more than just a competent Zeldalike, I felt it actually surpassed the recent Zeldas in several areas. Here's hoping Darksiders 2 actually sees release and keeps moving the ball forward.

Also regarding CIV5. Turns out I was so excited about this release that I accidentally ended up with 2 copies (well I will as of tomorrow at least) due to general boneheadedness. Fortunately, I already found someone to buy one of the copies from me, a I suspect two copies of the game doesn't equate to twice as much content.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I would bet I have put more time into the Civ series than any other gaming series. Actually, it's probably not even close. Does it drop at midnight EDT? If I stay up until 11 p.m. my time, can I instantly start installing it?

Well technically you can start installing it right now if you preorder through steam, since they are offering preloading. You just won't be able to play until it unlocks.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

I'm glad to see Darksiders come to PC, so I will wait to hear how well it's been ported.

Assuming it doesn't get trashed as a horrible port, I can recommend it as a very good Zelda-type game. Much like I thought Shadow Complex actually was a better Metroid game than Other M, I also thought that Darksiders was at least as good of Zelda game as Twilight Princess. I thoroughly enjoyed my rental of the PS3 version earlier this year.

edosan wrote:

I want Civ V, but the rational side of me keeps telling me to keep playing Civ IV until the inevitable "Civ V Complete" comes out later for twenty bucks.

My rational side says the same, although to be honest my "gotta have it now" side usually wins. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, my rational side will likely win this time as I don't see either of my current PCs running Civ V.

I really want to buy Civ 5. And I can run it on my PC. But I'm on a lean budget and have so many other titles, like Civ 3 and 4 that I can play. I'll likely wait for a gold pack or a winter steam sale (please) to purchase this. I wants it... but can live without it. (for now)

Redwing wrote:

I wish the Australian version of Civ V on Steam wasn't so darn expensive. 2K do that with Borderlands too, making me a grumpy Aussie.

The really sad thing is I'll probably go right ahead and get it anyway. :(

You can always try and sweet-talk one of the American goodjers into gifting it to you on steam and then paypal them the money.

I've had that Baba yetu song in my head all day

(screw Halo) also can't wait for my Dead Rising 2 to arrive. Hey, throw L4D's The Sacrifice on your coming soon list, would you? I think it will be released on Oct 4th or 5th, for both L4D1 and L4D2, on both PC and Xbox.