Playing Today: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Wii Sports

Another day without an XBOX. Another day of Pirates. This game so far is a breeze. Just invest about 30 minutes per level and you'll be through in no time. I can't say that I hate that because if you're going to make a crappy licensed game at least make it quick. Remind me what the movie is about and keep it moving. I did find some strange continuity issues where I am mid-fight and the game skips to a cut scene. It's almost as if the game is rewarding me with progress just for investing my time. Odd.

I played some more Wii Sports and progressed further in Baseball. The game does get a little bit harder and pitching to the computer AI is so erratic. It kind of weakens the overall feel of the game. Not a lot, just a smidgen.

Playing This Weekend: Resident Evil 4, Wii Sports, Pirates of the Caribbead: At World's End

My XBOX is officially dead. It boots up and freezes at the XBOX ball. Oh well, now to send this sick puppy back to its maker. In the meantime my Wii has gotten some action.

I spent some time (5-10 minutes) with Resident Evil 4. I like the controls so far and the story is only slightly hokey. Hopefully, Sunday will get a ton of playtime.

I played Wii Sports Baseball and owned the easy computer. I've had lead of home runs three games in a row and forced the mercy rule consistently. This game is fun in multiplayer mode but really suffers because it lacks depth. Three innings is the max that I can play? Why put such a strange limitation on?

Finally, I started playing Pirates on my PSP again. The voiceover really sounds like Johnny Depp. Too bad that Orlando Bloom definitely didn't participate. So far this game is a simple hack'n slash, much like 300 was.

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 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.