Playing Today: Alien Hominid HD, Wii Sports, Guitar Hero II

With my new found Easy Difficulty, I burned through the rest of Alien Hominid like it was a diarrhea-sufferers roll of toilet paper. I really love the art style and silly sense of humor at play in this game. They could easily adapt the game into an animated TV show (or just make a sequel). I'm especially psyched to see what is in store for Castle Crashers. Alien Hominid HD is one of the best XBLA games available and worth spending your well saved points and free time.

I spent some quality time with Guitar Hero II. So much so, while not blinking for about 7 minutes straight, my contact lens literally peeled off of my eye. My eye was so dry from not blinking that the lens curled up and attempted suicide. Weird. I survived Message in a Bottle on Medium and loved discovering War Pigs as an unlockable. Hopefully, I will get some more songs over and done with this evening.

Playing Today: Alien Hominid HD, Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising, Wii Sports

Just to keep things brief I won't be mentioning any of the repeat offenders today. My thoughts on Wii Sports, Dead Rising, and Texas Hold 'Em aren't bound to change, so why bother?

I spent so quality time playing Alien Hominid HD today and found a way to finally make some progress - change the difficulty. Playing on Medium Difficulty I was making the slowest progress and became annoyed by the see the same (awesome) scenery over and over. After switching to Easy Difficulty I've made quite a bit of progress and love the game even more now. Alien Hominid HD is easily one of the most titles XBLA has to offer and deserves a place in everyone's home. Anyone can play it but it takes a ton of practice to get good. And your alien avatar is so dern cute that you want a little plush doll. Ok, maybe just me.

Playing Today: Super Paper Mario, Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising, Wii Sports

Adding my first new game to blog in a while, I played Super Paper Mario. Too bad the game fell completely below my expectations. As I've matured as a gamer, I realize that I'm becoming more and more of a Tallarico than I might have thought. I cannot play a video game that requires me to read days worth of text. Games have moved from being a literal entertainment to an auditory one. I need to hear what characters are saying not just a collection of "Who-ahs" and "Wee-oop" to emphasize text. Nintendo needs to to suck it up and make there first party titles fully voiced. I think that New Super Mario Bros. may be the only new Mario game I've liked in years. I sent Super Paper Mario back partly due to the sound but also because the story and gameplay didn't seem as interesting and innovative as I had heard.

I'd rather get verbally assaulted by a Scottish dude on Texas Hold 'Em. I still took his money and gave him a dose of the right feedback. Hopefully, I won't ever see him again.

Dead Rising is still getting a ton of play as I hope to finish it within the next 17 months. Thankfully, Wii Sports never ends...

Playing Today: Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising, 300, Wii Sports, Loco Roco

Nothing new to really add today except that I've officially wrapped up playing 300: March to Glory. I failed to reach the ending but I figure my 80% completion total is good enough to support my upcoming review. Overall the game earns a B grade mostly due to the great voiceover and cool cut scenes. The gameplay and in-game graphics leave something to be desired and hopefully a new console version will take care of that.

Working through Dead Rising for what must be the tenth time now. I played through hoping to earn the 20 survivor achievement and was stuck with saving only 19 people. That is quite the frustration.

Time was spent with Wii Sports, Loco Roco, and Texas Hold 'Em and it really isn't worth going in depth.

Playing This Weekend: Loco Roco, Me and My Katamari, Dead Rising, Texas Hold 'Em, Guitar Hero II

I was on the road on Friday and was stuck playing quite a bit of Loco Roco. The difficult continues to creep higher, but never gets so hard that you can't progress. Now being at stage four (and with 4 hours played), I wonder how much longer this game could possibly be.

Dead Rising took up most of my console time today. I still need to go back and earn the Mega Man suit (technically, I already did) to get closer and closer to unlocking the full 1000 gamerscore. This might take a few months (or years).

And some minimal time was spent in Texas Hold 'Em, Me and My Katamari, and Guitar Hero II. Damn, Message in a Bottle was hard on Medium.

Playing Today: Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising, Band of Bugs

Band of Bugs was the only new game I picked up yesterday. I wasn't sucked in just yet but I can see curiosity grabbing hold in a month or so. This doesn't look to be as much fun as Cloning Clyde and probably isn't worth an immediate purchase.

Day three of the Texas Hold 'Em contest had me earning some nice fake cash. I placed second in a second tier tournament, which may be my highest finish so far. Drawing pocket aces is quite helpful (so is another player losing internet after he was in the final three).

Dead Rising has continued to be my game of choice (obsession). I'm just one face away from a full journal of characters. I'll have to wait another two days before I get to him, but it'll be worth the wait. Perhaps I'll just spend some time driving over Zombies. Heh.

Playing Today: Wii Sports, Texas Hold 'Em, Dead Rising

A lot of time was spent bowling last night. Too bad I've completely lost my skills. My high was maybe a 150. So, after months and months of playing, I'm probably worse than when I first started. Frustration.

One table of Texas Hold 'Em keeps the streak alive. I really wish that this game had video - it would make the experience more entertaining and perhaps would help my game even further. Maybe next month.

I opened up Dead Rising for the first time in a long time. I think I'm going to go back to the beginning a try to unlock the Mega Man suit. I can't believe that I screwed it up to begin with.

Playing Today: Wii Sports, Uno, Burnout Revenge, Texas Hold 'Em, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II

A nice mix of games over the past two days have kept my attention. I'm still playing Wii Sports, although, losing your bowling skills is quite a frustration. Perhaps I'll just earn a pro score and retire. I played a three inning baseball match and it was pretty cool seeing Rosie O'Donnell (Mii) hit quite a home run. Paris Hilton singled in the 6-0 victory, likely her first game without reaching third base.

A new XBL contest has me returning to Texas Hold 'Em after a hiatus. The contest requires an online multiplayer match per day and I can easily sacrifice 40 minutes for some poker. I wish they would implement the Live Video option, but I'm sure that isn't an easy task. Online play has been more realistic than when this game launched, so, I think a lot of the kid gamers have moved on...

...to games like Gears of War. I played quite a long match of Annex the other day. Annex is the newest gametype with a slew of new Achievements worth attempting. Too bad my first game was ruined by a host that bailed right before the match became official. Sure, it was fun to play the game, but the hosts early exit blanked all of our stats and ended up as a waste of time. Lame. Stunts like this, expensive new content, and glitchers have forced me to retire Gears of War. It has a great single (co-op) campaign and had a great multiplayer component. However, the time has come for me to leave it behind and wait for Gears 2.

I've played some quick games of Uno and I continue to have interest in the Kameo deck. For $1.25, this might be one of the best downloadable bargains on XBL. Hmm.

Played some more Guitar Hero II, mostly just amping up the difficulty of songs I already know. I'm not sure how I'll ever get to the Hard Difficulty and I'll probably bail on the game before then. I have this vision that Super Paper Mario is going to suck away my life soon.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Wii Sports, 300

I keep forgetting to mention that I've been playing Wii Sports almost every day. Specifically, Wii Bowling has been on my daily dose. This is by far the best game available on the Wii and releasing it for free is one of the smartest thing that Nintendo has ever done. Nintendo knows how to build a brand from the ground up and by including a new product for free (Tetris, Mario, Duck Hunt), players a more likely to buy future iterations. Bowling is a perfect simulation and incredibly fun at the same time.

I played several hours worth of 300 and can see the end of the story on the horizon. The story is still great and the absurd decapitations of naked whores and midgets is so over the top, it is plain silly. Its as if the makers saw God of War and decided to blow the roof off.

Forza. Still great.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Guitar Hero II, 300, Prince of Persia Classic

Prince of Persia Classic made its way to XBLA this morning. I spent about five minutes with the demo and it was quite the classic. The control is really screwy (like the original) and might turn a lot of younger gamers off. The CGI cut scene at the beginning was a cool touch and the lack of voiceover is understandable. I might need to give this a more thorough look-see.

I turned my PSP back on and spent some time on 300 again. This game is not made for the casual gamer and the bosses get really hard near the halfway point. Some of your deaths are downright frustrating, a vibe that some gamers enjoy. However, if I can't get past this point soon, I'm just going to hang it up and spend my time with something else.

I'm still working on perfecting Possum Kingdom on Guitar Hero II. A day or two more and I should have what I want. I played Jessica for the first time and its tough, but not impossible. I think that I just need to learn the tune.

Yes, more Forza.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Ninety Nine Nights, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Uno

Ninety Nine Nights came in the mail today and I was completely sucked in. It is an okay distraction but nowhere near as good as the initial hype might have you believe. No wonder Microsoft was unable to gain traction in Japan with games like this. Instead of an original story or gameplay, you pretty much got more of the same. Maybe I just need to spend more time with it?

I also played my first game of Uno with the Kameo deck. I can see why Uno fans might enjoy playing with this deck and as premium content, it probably keeps the camera pervs away. I wouldn't pay for the deck but it was a worthwhile distraction.

Forza & Pac-Man demo continue to entertain.

Playing This Weekend: Forza Motorsport 2, Loco Roco, Shadow of the Colossus, Pac-Man Championship Edition

Not a lot of time for gaming this weekend, sorry. I played mostly Forza Motorsport 2. The game continues to entertain and suck away hours that should be better spent. Oh well. Same deal with Loco Roco. I've reached level three and the difficulty doesn't seem to have changed and the similarities to Super Mario continue to grow. This game is easily one of the most innovative 2D Platformers ever.

I spent about twenty minutes with Shadow of the Colossus. The into movie is really long and quiet, which is strange for a video game. Its almost as if they didn't make this game for 13 year olds. I haven't found a colossi, so giving a review just yet wouldn't be very fair.

And Pac-Man Championship Demo is still quite fun. Who knows, maybe I will buy it.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Guitar Hero II, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Loco Roco

Nothing new played today, although I wrapped up one game (hopefully) forever. The majority of my play time was with Fuzion Frenzy 2. After several hours of play, I have all of the achievements and I don't think I'll ever play it again. The game isn't extremely difficult and can be fun in groups, but playing alone or online is frustrating. As many other reviewers have said, the card system is completely screwed up and should be optional. If I want last second cards to completely screw me over, that should be my choice. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is likely the last game in this series (please!) and will disappear into history as an awful follow-up to a mediocre game. Fuzion Frenzy gets a D+.

My time spent with Forza Motorsport was a lot of experimentation with hiring drivers and tooling around in the Auction House. Now with Fuzion Frenzy done, I expect to spend more time racing around and leveling up.

Guitar Hero II continues to give me a case of tendinitis. I tried out the Lefty Flip and decided... I'm very much right handed (at least when playing a plastic guitar). I've mastered Possum Kingdom on Medium and I have no idea how much time Expert players have invested in this game. I'd rather play Open Season than listen to Cheap Trick hundreds of times.

And, finally, more Loco Roco before I went to bed.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2, Guitar Hero II, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Loco Roco, Grandia II, Pac-Man Championship Edition

A whole bunch of sequels have been in rotation this week. I finished up some achievements in Fuzion Frenzy 2 and I have one more left to go. This game is still absolutely redonkulous to play but once you've figured out some of the mini-games, the computer is pretty easy to beat. Soon enough I'll never have to play it again.

More time spent with Forza Motorsport 2. The graphics continue to amaze and staying on the track continues to frustrate. I was able to win a race with all of the assists of and while driving manual. Doing so took multiple tries but is fulfilling in the long run. Also, figuring out that you can hire a driver to win for you is a nice little bend-of-the-rules.

After a few days off, I picked up the axe and returned to Guitar Hero II. Possum Kingdom is like second nature now and I wasn't very far away from my first 100k performance. Too bad when I tried hard & expert I was annihilated. For now I'll stick with Easy & Medium.

I bought Grandia II used for the PlayStation 2. I loved this game on the Dreamcast but memories and video games tend to warp drastically. The dialogue is still corny and silly, but for some reason I remember the music being much better. Who knows if I will ever pick this game up again.

Loco Roco is still awesome and the new Pac-Man was better than expected. Although, I doubt I'll end up buying it.

Playing Today: Forza Motorsport 2

I've been hella busy moving into my new house. Fortunately I've had tons of games to keep me preoccupied while my cats carry in all of the furniture. While I've played Fuzion Frenzy 2, Guitar Hero II, Lumines II, Loco Roco, and Mad Tracks, Forza Motorsport is what has eaten up most of my time.

Forza is a stunning game. The cars are pretty, the menu interface is pristine, and the gameplay is near perfection. Even guys who don't like racing sims should give it a shot. The learning curve is not that bad and I enjoy this game a bit more than Project Gotham 3. I haven't played online yet and I'm sure it kicks ass too.