January 29 - February 2

Section: 

Our skepticism for this week's Game of the Week is so healthy that its genetic structure should be used in medicines to heal terminally ill patients. It's not just that Brad McQuaid and that other guy from Verant who started Sigil seem stuck in a lot of the gameplay mechanics that most of us were happy to see eliminated by better games, but that the final beta seemed to indicate that, short of a PC accidentally sent back from the future, most everyone can expect crippling performance. So why is it the GOTW? Simply, lack of competition. Battlestations: Midway was intriguing but the demo left me stone cold, and Rogue Galaxy for the PS2 appears to be about Anime Space Pirates in actual space faring boats. I can assure you that such shenanigans will never be rewarded with the GOTW nod. So, it's Vanguard: Saga of Heores. Caveat Emptor.

IMAGE(http://www.ebgames.com/common/images/lbox/646264brp.jpg)

On DVD this week we have a long list of not much. There's Open Season, and outside of that there's seasons of Dallas or Murder She Wrote. Woooo! More here.

PC:
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (01/29)
Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich (01/29)
City Life World Edition (01/29)
Battlestations: Midway (01/30)
Monopoly Here and Now (02/01)

PS3:
Sonic The Hedgehog (01/30)

WII:
Mario Kart 64 (01/29)

XBOX360:
Battlestations: Midway (01/30)
Fuzion Frenzy 2 (01/30)

PS2:
Rogue Galaxy (01/30)

Comments

Does that mean I win?

I think maybe it does.

Maybe I just need to make Psychonauts Game of the Week everytime we have a week like this.

That generic platformer?

Stupid Meat Circus.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:
zeroKFE wrote:

Oh, and if your estimation of my character hasn't dropped enough in this thread already, I also play DDR.

I think he was talking about you specifically the first time.

Hmm, if I followed the logic he was attacking Edwin's character at the time. Or a guy on 3rd Avenue. But in any case, my dirty little secret is out now, and there is no turning back.

Elysium wrote:

Maybe I just need to make Psychonauts Game of the Week everytime we have a week like this.

Dwarf Fortress.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Elysium wrote:

Maybe I just need to make Psychonauts Game of the Week everytime we have a week like this.

Dwarf Fortress. :D

Hexic HD. FTW.

momgamer wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Elysium wrote:

Maybe I just need to make Psychonauts Game of the Week everytime we have a week like this.

Dwarf Fortress. :D

Hexic HD. FTW. ;)

Or, perhaps, Lumines? That's something Elysium and I can agree on.

Anyone spotted Europa Universalis III? It is shipping THIS week (umm, bothered enough to add it to list?). First two games were fun, but devs were aiming for European market, I believe, so most of you might not even heard about it. If you like grand strategies in Civ-alike scheme (quite easy to start, but hard to master), give it a shot.

momgamer wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Elysium wrote:

Maybe I just need to make Psychonauts Game of the Week everytime we have a week like this.

Dwarf Fortress. :D

Hexic HD. FTW. ;)

That game's soundtrack depresses me every time I play it. I don't know why..

Elysium wrote:

Perhaps we're taking this way too seriously.

Wow. I take a day or two off posting and all of the sudden it's poptart-pee interface city.

FWIW, I think GotW has little to do with "woo hoo, thank goodness this thing's out! My life will now be better and my wife will love me and the kids will call be Dad again!" and everything to do with "Here's what everyone is going to be flappin' their gums about." By my all-powerful definition based on which the very fabric of the universe bows in suplication to the Rabbit-god, I think Vanguard qualifies. Put another way, if BattleCruiser: Millenium, the "I really mean it now edition" was dumped onto this craptacular release week, I'd put it in the top spot.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled pit-fight.

PS: If our standard is 'what's the single best way you can spend money as a gamer this week on something that wasn't around last week' then the new release of Diamant (now called Incan Gold) for the universal Card-Table console has all of these turds beat hands down. Even though it now features miserably horrible components vs. previous super duper ones, it's a fabulous game for more than 3 players.

My work here is done.

PS: If our standard is 'what's the single best way you can spend money as a gamer this week

If that was our standard GotW would be hookers every week.

PyromanFO wrote:
PS: If our standard is 'what's the single best way you can spend money as a gamer this week

If that was our standard GotW would be hookers every week.

And beer. Don't forget beer.

Vrikk wrote:
RoninStyle wrote:

We need a "None of the above" for GoW for weeks like this Best thing about this week is we are one more week closer to the release of Crackdown.

And closer to FF VI Advance as well! Yeah man, that's going to rock. Portable FF III US. Mmmhm. Don't you all think so? Come on, stop fighting!

Definitely, I cannot wait for that game I have it paid in full, I look forward to getting it

It cannot come soon enough

But I am also really excited for Crackdown as well.

PS: If our standard is 'what's the single best way you can spend money as a gamer this week on something that wasn't around last week' then the new release of Diamant (now called Incan Gold) for the universal Card-Table console has all of these turds beat hands down.

Seconded, Rabbit - Diamant is a great very light family game. Works with up to 8 too, big families take note.

Ok, I'll be the odd man out and say it - I like Vanguard. I'm already as addicted to it as I've ever been to any MMO. To me it's like the bastard love child of EQ and WoW and despite everything, for me at least, it works.

On my system it looks great and I'm getting a steady 35ish FPS in most areas. There are some things that are a bit "EQish" but the rest of the game manages to rise above it.

There is definitely a small cluster of folks who take the GoTW distinction quite seriously, I never really got that myself. Like I said earlier, and rabbit said again only better, to me it's less about which game is most awesome and more about which game is going to generate the most discussion.

It's not reasonable to expect us to post the BEST game of the week since there is no way for us to know what that is. Our time machine broke a while back, we can only live in the present now. Stupid present.

All I really wanted to do was to point out that the whole damn week (and month) didn't necessarily suck. I got dragged in to the stupid GotW argument as a result, despite not really giving a damn about it.

That said, I think you guys have unique opportunity to point people's attention toward worthwhile games with the GotW concept. Even though Rogue Galaxy and Vanguard were the subjects of the discussion, I think that a much better example was last week's release of Hotel Dusk. Sure, we had a thread in the Games forum about it, but the game could have received a well deserved shot in the arm had it been highlighted in this space last week. In the end it may not matter a whole lot, but it is always nice to see you guys use your powers for good, so to speak.

The Everloving Overlord wrote:

It's not reasonable to expect us to post the BEST game of the week since there is no way for us to know what that is. Our time machine broke a while back, we can only live in the present now. Stupid present.

For the record, it's Rogue Galaxy.

All I really wanted to do was to point out that the whole damn week (and month) didn't necessarily suck.

We've replaced this website's normal Elysium with new Cranky All-Day Elysium (with flavor crystals). Let's see if anyone notices!

(my apologies.)

wordsmythe wrote:

My copes of Bauldar's Gate II, Icewind Dale, and Psychonauts (from that sale a couple weeks ago) came in the mail yesterday.

Does that mean I win?

Great, now I want to go play through BGII AGAIN.

If you want to make BF2 more interesting try one of these mods :

http://www.spellholdstudios.net/down...

Especially note:

The Big Picture = a lot of mods in 1 package.
BG Trioligy = play BG1 in the BG2 engine.

On-topic:

Great to have no good game of the week. Saves money for the better times.

Elysium wrote:

We've replaced this website's normal Elysium with new Cranky All-Day Elysium (with flavor crystals). Let's see if anyone notices!

(my apologies.)

No harm done; cranky or not, you were still plenty civil. And funny to boot!

Elysium wrote:
You pick a game that you know sucks as game of the week?

They all suck. The whole damn week sucks. The whole month, save one game has sucked so far.

Elysium is a hater!

Rogue Galaxy all the way for me, since I have some trade-in credit I can use! Been excited for this one since last January, quite a wait!

Though I must say that Vanguard reads to be an utterly amazing mmo on paper. Granted, most EVERY mmo has read to be an utterly amazing game on paper, and few have actually even come close to their promises. I'm keeping an eye on Vanguard and hoping it turns out great. If it works out the way it's being promoted, it could be a new obsession for me in the future.

I finally made use of that Wii Points card I bought on launch day and purchased Comix Zone. Maybe as a sign of contempt you could give that game GOTW. It'd help with my buyer's remorse.

Releasing Vanguard a week after Burning Crusade is financial suicide, especially when the game is as mediocre as Vanguard is.

Elysium wrote:
All I really wanted to do was to point out that the whole damn week (and month) didn't necessarily suck.

We've replaced this website's normal Elysium with new Cranky All-Day Elysium (with flavor crystals). Let's see if anyone notices!

(my apologies.)

Me thinks that the Under-The-Desk-Gnomes have not been doing their job for Ely.

OK guys, I'll take one for the team.

Tension breaker, has to be done.