Playing Today: Poker Smash

Not much to account for the past two days. Except for the fact that I played Poker Smash on my XBOX 360. This puzzle game (aka Tetris clone) is pretty funny and fascinating. It doesn't require a working grasp of poker just the ability to match colors and letters. I've just touched on the surface and I enjoy it so far. Here's to hoping multiplayer is as fun as I think it will be!

Playing This Weekend: The Orange Box, Burnout Revenge, Burnout Legends, Rock Band

Still working on taking down Half-Life 2. One, maybe two more levels to go. I definitely like the story and can't wait to play some of Episode 1.

I spent some more time playing Burnout Revenge and Burnout Legends. Mostly, I played the road rage mode online; Revenge still has a pretty active community of players. Perhaps I will need to try Burnout Paradise.

We played more Rock Band. No new tunes just more world tour action. I tried my hand at three finger playing and played some songs on Hard difficulty. I even took down my first Expert song on Guitar.

Playing Today: Rock Band, The Club, Turok, NFL Tour, Frogger

I spent most of my gaming time with demos today. The best of the bunch was probably Turok and the worst was NFL Tour. Turok really brings life back to a franchise that I loved on the Nintendo64. There was plenty of intensity in the gameplay and the atmosphere was just right. The level was a bit dark for my liking and a bit confined. However, i hold out hope that this is an above average attempt.

The Club has a fun mechanic but might become repetitive. A few hours of gameplay will really shed more light on that possibility. For now this is a wait and see.

Meanwhile, NFL Tour is a joke. This crappy Arena Football knock off lacks the depth of Madden and the simplicity of Tecmo Bowl. Pretty much the worst of all worlds. This is not the football version of The Bigs.

Playing This Weekend: Pinball FX, Gears of War (PC), Rock Band, Lumines

With a special three day holiday weekend I get an extra day of gaming in. Nice. I played quite a bit on the new Pinball FX table and it is worth the 200 Points it costs. It has plenty of complexity to it while not being to crowded. Just the kind of table I enjoy.

I finally added another stick of RAM for Gears of War (PC). While the game is now playable it still stutters quite a bit and has challenges when dealing with either a lot of enemies or a big enemy. Nevertheless, I have progressed through Act I without seeing anything new. I tried to play in a multiplayer game and had zero luck. Apparently, this not a hot PC title.

Finally, we played a bunch of Rock Band yesterday (hi Beck!) and we unlocked the Endless Set List. We didn't invest the 30 hours it takes to beat it - that'll hopefully be next weekend. I also tried the vocal tour. At first it was a challenge to adapt my awful voice to pass the songs. Once I stopped worrying about how I sounded - things are much better.

One last note, OXM issue 80 arrived on Friday. There are three Rock Band songs on the demo disc. The tune Sprode is something absolutely amazing to behold. And that is all I will say. (This disc also has the Turok demo on it. I did not try it... yet.)

Playing Today: Rock Band, Pinball FX, Lumines

After beating Rock Band's Guitar tour, I took a few days off. Now I was ready to tackle the Bass tour... and found out that there is no Bass tour. While I understand this exclusion, I think the game could benefit from a Bass tour. Playing the Bass on expert is no cake walk. A tour would have been a great practice and test. Instead, I'm forced to either do Quick Play or Band Tour to practice.

The new Pinball FX table is out and it is one of the better ones. Like the Agent Board, there is plenty of open space to work with and I didn't feel as contained as on the Extreme Board. It appears that the new achievement might be a bit easier than it needs to be. It will suck if I get it quickly because it won't encourage me to come back and play some more.

Playing Today: Rock Band

Played a bit more of Rock Band today. I proved two things: I can't sing and that the headsets are not suitable mics. I also downloaded my first batch of songs. They're a bit pricey but worth it for now.

Playing Today: Call of Duty 4, Rock Band

My first few minutes with Call of Duty 4 were not the most impressive. The controls didn't come back as fast as I would like. I'm sure in due time that all will be just fine.

More time with solo Rock Band maintains its fun. Although, I've been told that the headset mic is not up to snuff for singing.

Playing Today: Rock Band, Lumines

Two games just arrived in the mail: Rock Band and Call of Duty 4. So, I left COD4 on the table and started jamming away on Rock Band. The solo tour mode is less fun than the band experience but still richer and deeper than Guitar Hero III. It is more obvious in your score when you're screwing up. Goes with the territory I guess.