Dirt 3

I've been playing this series since PS1

Date played: February 29th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played through a grueling 8 lap Rally Cross. In the snow. I changed my style a bit because now I run with no HUD at all but I added the racing line on corners. It's less distracting and as efficient as the mini map so I'll stick to that. I also played a four round Rally event in Monte Carlo, the DLC track. I'm reaching the end of the Dirt Tour now with only the last "triangle" of events left to complete. I look forward to it!

Super Mario 3D Land

I killed these two guys dozens of times now

Date played: February 29th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 115 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I've finished Super Mario 3D Land and holy fucking mother of God this game is hard. Seriously, this game just got serious. I played through the end of Special World 7 and all of Special World 8 and I really had to concentrate on some of these levels. The worst ones is where there is very limited time, there are clocks to gather and there's a giant homicidal Mario chasing after regular ass Mario.

I had to go back in a few earlier levels to gather some special coins to access the last level and the contrast in difficulty is kind of crazy. At the very end, there was a last fight with Bowser where he had amazing fireballs that go through walls and shit. Then when I finally beat him, I was rewarded with a dance with Princess and a Tanooki powered flight through the credits. There was also a cute picture of Princess in Tanooki suit where it's like a fur dress. Cute!

Apparently, there is a secret level that unlocks if I play through the game with Luigi and get all golden flag poles but it really doesn't seem worth the trouble so I am done with this game. It was easily one of the best Mario games, up there with Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros 3.

Uncharted 3

Date played: February 28th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

It seems I've finished Uncharted 3. It was a great game but I feel like I liked the second game a bit more, I think it's because there wasn't enough Helena in this one. Either way, I started by exploring the ruins of an old city in the desert, which, of course, was full of enemies. There was some cool stuff in there though like destructible ruins and stuff. After that, I was rescued by mysterious strangers on horseback who gave me a horse.

This was one of the better levels in the game

I then chased a convoy on horseback where Sully was being kept prisoner. It was a lot like the airfield level from the multiplayer beta I played this summer, jumping from truck to truck and back to my horse. After saving Sully, we discovered the hidden city we had been looking for the whole time.

This is where the game got a little too weird. Drake drank some water from a well in the hidden city and started to hallucinate. There were even some weird flaming head turban men who explode when they die... It was a bit silly and the visual effect used to show how Nate is drugged was annoying and ugly. To finish it off, he and Sully found the source of the water beneath the city. It turns out that this is what everyone was going after. It was a large relic at the bottom of the cave that was leaking a weird chemical that made people go crazy.

In the end, the old bitch died from quick sand without fanfare and I had a hand to hand fight with her right hand while the whole city crumbled around me. It was very similar to the end of Uncharted 2 actually. The epilogue was nice but it felt like the game didn't really have a story to hold it together. Time for an Uncharted break Naughty Dog?

Mass Effect 3 demo

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Don't get me wrong, I'm playing this demo on PS3 simply because that's where I spend most of my gaming time but I will be playing the full game on Xbox 360. The reason is simple, I want MY Commander Shepard, not some new made up fake-Shep bullshit.

This will be epic

Either way, I didn't get that choice with the demo but at least I got to pick Fem Shep. The demo was pretty great but it gives off a bad first impression because the frame rate in the first cut scene really sucks. The demo starts off with Shepard being summoned by high officials on Earth. It turns out the Reapers are here and they need me to go get help from the other races of the universe.

I then fought some dudes with a pistol while escorting Anders, the old guy. Eventually, I got on the Normady (greeted by Ashley!) and head off into adventure. There was a second part of the demo where Shepard, Garrus, Liara, Mordin and Wrex all team up to go rescue the last female Krogan. It was more a combat scenario and tit felt pretty good. There was even a boss fight that was kind of tough. I cannot wait for this game but now I'm thinking I let Mordin die in the last game... Maybe I should go back to Mass Effect 2 and get a better ending?

Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater demo

Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAAAAKE!

Date played: February 27th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 1/10

Well, MGS3 is as boring now as it was when I tried playing it on PS2. The 3DS version is decent enough. Graphics are ok, controls work and the voice acting is still great but the frame rate sucks ass and some of the design decisions are really iffy. For example, having to go in a menu to change not one, but TWO types of camo is just plain old boring.

I guess I stopped being a Metal Gear player a while ago...

Uncharted 3

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Whoa, amazing! I fought my way through the ship graveyard just to end up chasing a cruise ship where Nathan thinks Sully is imprisoned. Most of it was pretty standard third person shooting. It seems that this game has a lot of armored guys with shotguns running around and flanking. On multiple occasions, I got killed in one shot because I got flanked by these guys and it seems like they're a bit cheap sometimes.

After that, I pretty much sunk the cruise ship. It was a really cool sequence because as the mission progressed, the ship became more and more at risk of sinking. At one point, there were literally waves going from one side of the ship to the other. I even ended up running on the side of the ship and on walls and stuff.

I washed ashore and met up with Helena who got more info on Sully's location. We head out together to catch a cargo plane that was headed where we needed to be. We stormed the air base and Nate managed to jump onto the plane's landing gear and hijack the plane from the cargo bay. This being Uncharted, the fucking plane went down in flames because of Drake and there was even a short free falling sequence! I then landed stranded in the desert as seen in the trailers.

Ruins in the desert

This was one of the most bizarre sequences in a game as Drake was simply walking in the sand and the action was cut into short segments of a long journey. Either way, after braving the heat, the cold, the thirst and mirages, Nate reached a ruined city. I should also mention I had to turn off the 3D for a bit because of the sun outside my room making it difficult to see the screen properly.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 4/10

After playing Skyrim for so long, another WRPG probably isn't a good idea. I tried Reckoning but it didn't really interest me. The combat is the best part of the demo with fast, easy to pull off combos and multiple weapons. It also has some decent magic and cool character designs. The game runs super well, has nice graphics and is smooth as butter.

However, the text is boring and there's too much of it, the quests I played were very generic and had almost no story. This game reminds me of what Fable was supposed to be in many ways. Unfortunately, that's not for me, at least not right now. At least I made a hot dark elf chick who's good with daggers, that counts for something fun right?

Dirt 3

Date played: February 26th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played a few events like rallies, land rushes and gymkhana. I made two nice videos, one at night in Kenya with an Audi and a cool looking run in the same car during the day. I still think this is the best racing game with wheels of this generation. I'm nearing the end of the single player campaign soon so hopefully Dirt 4 isn't too far away.

SSX demo

Yippee!

Date played: February 26th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

SSX is back baby! I had a lot of fun with this demo, it's basically just old SSX but now with dual stick controls. It feels good, plays well, is fast and fun, I might just pick this up.

The demo starts with a cool jump from a plane way up in the air and I did a bunch of tricks while free falling, as a tutorial. Then I just shred some slopes, grinding and flipping my way through to the end. It was fun for sure but I was left a bit underwhelmed.

Binary Domain demo

A binary domain might look like this

Date played: February 26th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

This game is the definition of generic. I was kind of excited for it since the story seemed cool but the demo so was just a Gears of War knockoff that was less fun.The weapons felt decent and the combat was actually pretty fun but the framerate sucks, the voice acting is some of the worst I've heard and it just feels like a B game. It might be worth it at 20$ though as it's still a competent third person shooter.

Super Mario 3D Land

Poison mushrooms suck

Date played: February 26th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I played through the end of Special World 3 and completed 4, 5 and 6. I also started Special World 7. 7-2 and 7-4 were bitches. The game just keeps getting better and better. Level design is top notch, difficulty is just right and the special coins are really fun to hunt down. I can't really ask for better, love this game.

Metroid Fusion

GBA goodness

Date played: February 25th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

This seems to be a much better game than I expected. I never played Fusion but I love most Metroid games. This one is really close to Super Metroid in terms of mechanics and aesthetic. I got missiles and the morph ball so far and have fought a boss who was infected with X, an evil virus thingy. I'll play this some more later.

Dead or Alive Dimensions

Sexy

Date played: February 25th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I was watching a quick look of Tekken 3D Prime at Giantbomb.com and it put me in the mood for an online fighting game so I popped in Dead or Alive. I played a few online matches, winning about half of my matches. It was kind of difficult to get matches so I also played one arcade round, a survival round ans a couple of time trials. I've been using Christie as she seems to fit my play style.

Dead or Alive has cool mechanics. It's not too complicated, not too simple, fast and gorgeous. It's actually one of my favorite fighting series, up there with Street Fighter and Soul Calibur.

Outland

Date played: February 25th
Platform: Xbox 360
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 5/10

Meh, I was bored after watching a movie on Netflix so I just played a bit of Outland. Nothing special to report, the game is pretty simple really. I destroyed some ants, absorbed bullet fire and progressed slightly in the story. This is a great time waster even if it's not an amazing game.

Uncharted 3

Date played: February 24th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 75 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played Uncharted 3 in 3D for the first time today, or should I say Unchart3d? Lame puns aside, I actually had a good time playing this in 3D. I was skeptical at first because I had seen reports of lower quality graphics when using 3D but I have to say, I didn't notice anything like that. In fact, the game seems to look that much better because of the added depth.

Helena looks even better in 3D! Just look at those nice B cups...

On the flip side, there is a bit of ghosting when in darker areas but it wasn't that distracting. I continued the story. Helena, Drake and Sully adventured through a dungeon full of devious and fun puzzles. We then found some vital information that Drake decided not to write down, instead asking Sully to remember it. Good thing he did because shortly after leaving the dungeon, Nate got drugged by the crazy old blonde bitch. This led to a weird sequence where Drake runs around drugged. The perspective changes, the sounds are messed up Nate is difficult to control. It was ok I guess but it felt a little out of place.

When I woke up, the blonde bitch had stolen all my evidence except for what Sully is guarding in his brain. I then escaped and went through one of the coolest foot chases I've ever played. I was chasing one of her major henchmen. Unfortunately, he got away and I somehow ended up in a boat yard where I finally got to use my guns a bit. That's where I stopped playing.

Battlefield 3

BF3 felt like this today

Date played: February 24th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I felt like shooting people in the face today. Unfortunately, in my 30 minutes of BF3, I only killed 3 guys. I thought this was a shooter? Either way, I still had a ton of points as I am always good at capturing and defending control points. It got boring without any opposition to shoot at though. I'm thinking this game must be a lot better on PC, with 64 players and all.

Motorstorm Apocalypse

I raced a tornado. A FUCKING TORNADO.

Date played: February 23rd
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Life after Skyrim... I didn't really want to get into a very involved game just yet, having just spent so much time with Skyrim, so I gave my 3D monitor another go with Motorstorm. I played a good chunk of the single player mode. The game is split into three characters, each with their own set of races and events. I completed the first character, Mash, and did about half of the second character.

Mash was pretty easy overall but the second guy is a bit tougher. The tracks are getting crazier too, many of them with crumbling buildings and even one track with a tornado and a hurricane! It's pretty epic. The game also handles much better than Pacific Rift, a game I wanted to love but couldn't. It's also worth noting that this game gives out trophies like candy. After almost every event, I get a bronze trophy. I should try this game online sometime.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 21st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 100 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

OMG I did it. I am completely done with Skyrim! Until they release DLC that is. I basically went through the Stormcloaks VS Imperials quest line, completely crushing all opposition. My Dremora summon, decked out Lydia and killer sword and board skills combined to just decimate everything without effort. I took over a bunch of fortresses then took on Solitude.

My end game Argonian with Lydia and my Dremora Lord

It was cool and all, I think the Stormcloaks are better than the Imperials, they act cooler, they are proud and strong. The only problem is that they are fucking racists. I think Skyrim is the best game I've played this generation and cannot wait for DLC.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Well, I've finished the main quest in Skyrim. It was really cool actually, after trapping Odahviing in Dragon's Reach, he agreed to help me defeat Alduin by flying me to his secret lair that has a portal to his location. It was one of the few cut scenes that took away control of my character and camera and it looked amazing as I flew on the big red dragon's back to fulfill my destiny.

Alduin was a fun fight

Then there was a large outdoor dungeon where I was attacked by a whole mob of strong Draugr and multiple dragons. It was really epic fighting these dragons while fending off the Draugr. Then I fought him. It was the best fight in the game as the background looked amazing, Alduin is a fucking badass, fireballs were dropping to the ground like rain and the music was truly epic. After that it was all kind of flat though, Alduin, I get teleported back to the Throat of the World and talk to Paathurnaax and his brothers.

I also did the Bard's College quest which was cool but short. There was a nice sequence that asked that I fill out parts of a book that weren't readable. I also started the Imperial VS Stormcloaks thing and cleared out a few Imperial forts and stuff. I should be able to finish this quest next time I play and that will be the end of Skyrim until DLC for me.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This door talks!

Date played: February 18th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 75 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Well, I am nearing the end of this game, at least the end of the parts I care about. All I have left to do that I WANT to do is the Stormcloaks vs Imperial, the Bard's College and the main quest.

I did two sidequests today, one where I killed all the Dark Brotherhood in their lair and the other where I hunted a vampire, neither of which were terribly exciting.

Resident Evil Revelations

Chris and his dumb blonde

Date played: February 18th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Well, it turns out that this is a Resident Evil game for better or for worse. It really feels like RE4 with a bit of the action from RE5. I played through two sections, one on the ship with Jill and one in the snow with Chris Redfield.

I shot some zombies as Jill and discovered a fake Chris in an empty room. All I can remember as Chris is bad voice acting, ferocious zombie dogs, a shotgun and a sequence where Chris has to crawl and defend himself at the same time. I like this game, it's creepy, cheesy and pretty.

NHL 12

Right.

Date played: February 15th, 16th and 18th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 100 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Played a close game that ended with me losing in shootouts 0-1 to Edmonton. I played well but again, couldn't score. The next day, I played three games against my friend online. The first was between the Binghamptom Senators and the Hamilton Bulldogs. I won 3-0 woot!

Then he beat me 1-0 when we did Sweden VS Russia. He also beat me 3-0 as the Sens and me playing the Habs. Then I got beat AGAIN 3-1 this time. I have to get better at this stupid game.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 140 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Most of my time with Skyrim today was spent doing those stupid fetch quests for the Thieve's guild. I got it done though and I became GM.

The guild is cool now there's a bunch of new vendors with lots of cash so I will come sell my shit here. Then I hit level 50! Yay! In the process, I got the Dremora lord summon who slices people's fucking heads off on a regular basis, and I got the perk that gives me 50% more powerful summons so I just got a lot more powerful.

115 hours, 50 levels, 3 guild leaderships, dozens of dragons slain and a partridge in a pear tree!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 13th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 240 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Patch 1.4 is out, yippee! I played a shitload of Skyrim today and completed both the Thieve's guild quest line and the Companion's quest line. The last time I played some Companion missions, the game bugged out but this patch fixed it for me.

The Companion's quest wasn't that great, I had to go retrieve the fragments of Wuuthrad in a dungeon and I had to attend their dead leader's funeral. I also had to find his spirit in another dungeon and free him of lycanthropy by dropping some witch heads in a fire. Whatever, I'm their leader now and I'm done with the Companions.

As for the Thieve's guild, it was a lot better. I finally killed Mercer in a room that had a giant statue of what the Falmer looked like before they were blind. Then I had to bring the skeleton key to the Daedric princess. Unfortunately, that isn't enough for the thieves, they want me to improve their reputation by doing repeatable quests before I become their leader. These are by far the worst quests I've played in Skyrim so far. As far as I can tell, I need to complete five mini quests in each of the four major holds, Whiterun, Markath, Windhelm and Solitude. I managed to complete the five in Whiterun and got a final quest that had me forge some ledgers to free a man from jail. I have yet to receive a quest in Markath but I'm close to being done in Solitude and Windhelm.

Dungeon Defenders demo

Date played: February 12th

A great game I'm sure, I just hate the genre.

Platform: PS3
Time played: 45 minutes
Session fun rating: 4/10

Well, as far as tower defense games go, this is the best I've played. Too bad I really don't like tower defense. This game is cool for people that like that stuff though. You can fight in the field yourself with your hero, there's a bunch of equipment to equip, a lot of stuff to upgrade and the graphics are really cool, including some well done 3D. I don't even know how I spent 45 minutes playing this, time just kind of went. Either way, this is a good game, it's just not for me at all.

Red Faction Battlegrounds demo

Ewwww....

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 10 minutes
Session fun rating: 2/10

Yuck. In my search for 3D content, I stumbled upon Red Faction Battlegrounds. As far as I can tell, this has nothing to do with Red Faction except that it's set on Mars. This is a twin stick vehicle arena combat game with an overhead view. It controls like ass, looks like ass and is about as much fun as being fucked in the ass. The 3D is awful too by the way. Stay away from this game at all costs.

Syndicate demo

The sniper is a lot of fun to use

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I think I just played four player Borderlands without loot. I was expecting Syndicate to be a pretty generic shooter but it turns out it's more like a co-op class based affair. I went with the sniper for some reason and it was a good choice I think. Don't get me wrong, this is a first person shooter at it's core, but it has really fun co-op elements such as healing, reviving and using different skill sets to overcome challenges. There are a bunch of unlocks, perks and skills to level up too which is really cool. I was the player with the most points on my team, yay me! I am definitely interested in this game, we'll see if I can find time to play it.

The Darkness II demo

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 25 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Holy violence Batman! I had played the first Darkness game a few years ago and I had loved it, even if the shooting wasn't great in it. From the demo for Darkness II, it seems like that's fixed. Jackie is back with his two demonic limbs with a taste for eating human hearts. The combat is the first obvious improvement over the first game.

The graphics are also much better, as expected. The developers went with a cel-shaded look that fits the game's ultra violent comic book feel. The demo features a cool scene in a restaurant where Jackie is attacked and has to be dragged out by a friend. Then there was a fairly long sequence in the streets and in a metro station.

There's not much to add, this is a fun shooter with amazing melee combat mixed with gun play. Add to that the fucking insane amount of violence and you've got a fun first person shooter. Apparently it's really short though and it will surely drop in price quickly so I'll wait for a price drop before going back to The Darkness.

Motorstorm Apocalypse

I dodged a flying bus. Yep.

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a bit more of Motorstorm today...in 3D! Anyway, I showed the Simulview thing to my girlfriend and she wasn't really impressed, she didn't like having to wear the glasses. She did have fun though, driving a little compact car and crashing all over the place.

I then played a good half dozen events in the campaign. There are motion comics between races and while they aren't amazing or anything, they certainly add a bit of fun to the usual race after race bore of other racing games. The tracks are also really cool and have been changing on the fly during races. The campaign mode forces me to use a specific car but it's cool, it makes it easier to get used to the different types. I also spent a good 15 minutes customizing my cars. This game is much deeper than I expected and I haven't even tried the online modes yet. What a pleasant surprise Motorstorm has been so far.

Wipeout HD/Fury

Yay for 3D!

Date played: February 10th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

Having just bought a cool 3D monitor, I wanted to see how it looked in a 3D game other than Motorstorm. I played one quick race and one zone event. In the first race, I was a little overwhelmed by the 3D effect. It seemed to make it harder to control the ship and it just didn't really look right. However, I messed with the 3D slider settings in the game and it was much better in the second event. In fact, Zone looked fucking awesome in 3D. I can't wait to try other games like Uncharted 3, Batman AC, Gran Turismo and Shadow of the Colossus.

Motorstorm Apocalypse

Date played: February 10th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 35 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I bought the Playstation 3D display! Normally, I would have never bought something like that but I was in the market for a PC monitor and at 24 inches and 1080p, the Playstation branded LED seemed like a good deal at 299$. It comes with only one pair of glasses so I bought a second pair. Thankfully, the package includes Motorstorm.

Sleek, sexy and affordable

I started by trying the much touted but barely supported Simulview feature. This allows two players to play together on the same screen...without split screen! My brother and I tried it out and it's really remarkable, it feels like something from the future hehe. Of course, when using this feature, it only allows 2D and being a small screen, we had to be pretty close to each other for us to be able to play but it really works well.

We then tried a few races from the campaign mode in 3D and not only did the 3D look amazing, the game is actually fun too! I had played the demo when it came out and hated it. However, I had a lot of fun with the final game. The cars were cool, the tracks are crazy and the controls feel better. 

Resident Evil Revelations

MEAT BLOB OF DEATH!

Date played: February 9th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a sequence that seems to be set in the past where Jill and her partner have to take samples of weird meat blobs on a beach. The game introduced the Genesis scanner, a Metroid Prime like scanning device. It allows me to scan items and creatures to get health items in return. It's a cool mechanic but I can see it becoming a hassle in dangerous situations.

I explored the beach, scanned the blobs and eventually fought two or three of them. I also found a grenade. It's amazing how much better the interface is than on console because of the touch screen. There are also shortcuts with the dpad that are very useful.

Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games demo

Just get off the bike Sonic, you'll be faster!

Date played: February 9th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

Whew, what a mouthful that title is! I was browsing the eShop for a bit and saw that there were two demos available. The first is Resident Evil Revelations which I bought. The second is this Mario and Sonic game. I've never played these games before but it turns out it's a mini game collection. Thankfully, it seems pretty well made. The five events from the demo were fun and the game runs well. It has good graphics, a nice frame rate and an overall good presentation.

The five mini games were trampoline jumping, swimming, soccer, target shooting and BMX. I found the best one to be target shooting and swimming. The game mixes it up a lot in terms of controls too. Some games had me just pressing a button, others were using the stylus and some used the circle pad. The BMX game even uses tilt control for the bike's pitch. It worked well enough but it screws up the 3D. It's kind of a cool game but it might get really boring really fast.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 8th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 180 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Non-sense? Yes. Fun? Yes.

Wow, the Thieves Guild has an amazing quest line! I spent most of my time playing through it last night and it was really good. First, Mercer, a member of the guild, sent me to talk to an Argonian thief who has something to do with the sale of the honey farm Maven Black Briar was interested in. I did the Argonian some favors and he revealed that he was hired by someone called Karliah. When I informed Mercer, he brought me along to some ruins where he knew she would be hiding. We then went through a Draugr filled dungeon together. At the end of it, I was shot by an arrow (in the knee!) which poisoned me and left me lying on the floor while Mercer and Karliah were confronting each other.

Then to my surprise, Mercer tried to kill me! It turns out that Karliah had saved my life with the poisoned arrow and that Mercer was a thief and a liar. I then went back to the Thieves Guild to inform their leader that Karliah was innocent and Mercer was guilty. He even stole the guild treasury! I then visited his house to find clues. In the end, I was brought before a Daedric Princess by Karliah to which I pledged my soul in return for some luck.

It's all crazy but it was really fun. I now have to go kill Mercer and I will become leader of the guild after that. I also bought a house in Riften that's really nice.

Resident Evil Revelations

Date played: February 7th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Resident Evil Revelations was released this week and while I had an eye on it for a while, I didn't know it was coming out until a few days ago. The reviews seemed positive and the game looks like a real RE game so I decided to buy it.

Jill's wet boobs look great in 3D

I only had time to play a little bit. It starts off with Jill Valentine and her new partner setting off to find Chris Redfield. It seems like they think he's on a big abandoned cruise ship, the Queen Zenonia. I explored the first area and it's clear that something really bad happened. There's blood everywhere and weird things crawling in the air ducts. I got attacked by a weird humanoid creature and killed it with my pistol and knife. Then the game just cut to a news report about a floating city that was attacked by creatures and chemicals. In the end, the city was destroyed just like Raccoon City. That's where I stopped playing.

The game gives a great first impression. The graphics are very good, looking better than anything on Wii and certainly better than anything I've seen on PSP and DS. It also controls well considering it's Resident Evil. The music is good and the sound effects are good (with headphones). The inventory seems a lot better than any other game in the series, it's easy to navigate, works with the touch screen and is just more user friendly. So far, the only part I don't like about the game is the voice acting. The sound quality is mediocre and the script is almost worst. I'm excited to play more though, looks like a good game so far.

Puddle demo

This puddle is 548% more fun than Puddle

Date played: February 7th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 5 minutes
Session fun rating: 1/10

Yuck. Fucking boring. Kinda ugly. Good concept, shit execution.

I don't know what it was about Puddle but I couldn't play more than a couple of minutes and I couldn't stand it anymore. It's a good idea, tilt the world to navigate a puddle of liquid through some puzzles/platforms. While I normally love these types of games, Puddle just felt....wrong. Enough said.

Soul Calibur

Date played: February 6th
Platform: Dreamcast
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

The Wii U's ancestor?

I was in my basement with my girlfriend and my 21 month old daughter. My daughter usually plays with her toys but today she grabbed a NES controller that was laying around, sat down in front of the TV and made sounds to get my attention. Having a heart, I found it so adorable that I looked for a game she was able to play and again, fighting games seem like the best option since she can just mash on the buttons and stuff happens. She also doesn't have to use the joysticks or dpads which require a bit more dexterity.

I went with the original Soul Calibur for Dreamcast. She likes watching the little characters bounce around on the VMU screen! Either way, she picked the Chinese girl (Xianghua?) and I went with Mitsurugi. She seemed to like the vertical attack and the kicks. We played a few more rounds where I used Sophitia and she used Taki. I know she's not really playing the game much yet but she is starting to see the link between pressing a button and seeing an action being performed on screen. I cannot fucking wait for her to beat me legit for the first time, that will be an epic moment!

NHL 12

Date played: February 6th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I finally won a fucking game. It seems like I never win at this game but this time, I was a bit more patient and disciplined. I didn't take many dumb penalties as usual, I had more shots on net than usual and I've been using the poke check more effectively.

Cocaine only fucks up real Gomez, virtual Gomez is still clean

I played against my friend online and we started off with a Jets vs Oilers match. I won the game 1-0 playing as the Jets. It was a pretty nice goal from the point, a big slap shot that hit the far post and rebounded in. The next game we played Sens vs Habs and while I completely dominated, I lost 4-1. I outshot, outplayed and outhit my friend but he is much better than me when he gets close to my net. He's dangerous on offense but I can usually keep him out of the dangerous areas. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough although it was fun to see Gomez score for once. The last game was Habs vs Sens again and I lost 3-1 but I deserved to lose that one. I wasn't paying attention and made stupid mistakes. At least my goal was frustrating for him. Nick Foligno swooped in from the back of the net with the puck and Carey Price kicked it in himself!

I'm getting better at this game slowly but surely...I would just need more time to practice, something all these other great games have been stealing.

Super Mario 3D Land

Lots of these guys in special worlds

Date played: February 6th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had a few minutes to kill before work this morning so I played three levels of Super Mario 3D Land in the third Special world. Again, the difficulty is making things much more interesting than the first half of the game. It's almost as if they made two games, one for the skilled players and one for bad players... I don't have much else to say except that this game easily makes my 3DS purchase worth it. I'm excited for the new Resident Evil Revelations game that comes out tomorrow, we'll see if it steals the spotlight from Mario.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 4th and 5th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 360 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Skyrim is great but there is a price to it's greatness; bugs and glitches.

Whoa, I had quite a Skyrim marathon this weekend! I played so much that it will be difficult to talk about but I made some major progress in side quests and a bit of the main quest. Before I talk about that though, I have to talk about a major bug I ran into and cannot fix. Last time I played, I was going through the Companion quests and after completing one of them, I was supposed to receive the next quest but it was bugged and it never started. I kept on playing as usual and looked it up online the next day. To my great surprise, there was no way for me to get the quest unless I reloaded a previous save. Unfortunately, my last manual save was 15 hours ago, 7 levels ago so I just kind of said "Fuck it" and moved on. Hopefully, they will fix it in a patch so I can see the end of that story but I'm doubtful.

In my Skyrim weekend, I reunited a large dog with his evil Daedra prince statue, I rebuilt an old weapon that kicked off the Oblivion crisis (then killed the guy who asked for it), I found a few new words of power, I finally discovered Dawnstar and I even held a successful peace council between the Empire and the Stormcloaks. Whew! I am making major progress here and cutting down on exploration. I need to be done with this game before Mass Effect 3 comes out.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: February 2nd
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I played a Companion quest that had me go kill some witches and harvest their heads. Simple, fun, satisfying. When I got back to Whiterun though, the leader of the Companions was killed when the hold was attacked by the Silver Hand, the werewolf haters. To me, that looks like an opening for me to become leader but Skyrim doesn't seem to think that's a good idea. After the quest ended, of one the dudes told me we would take the fight to the Silver Hand but there was no new quest. I spoke to the guy a few times and everyone else in the building and the next quest never triggered. I even reloaded the game but to no avail.

Epic

I then decided to just move the main quest along and went to the big grey beard mountain to read the Elder Scroll. When I read it there was a super cool cut scene that showed me what happened when Alduin was banished the last time. I learned a new shout that calls dragons down from the sky and forces them to land which I suspect will be very useful in future dragon battles.

Then, to my surprise, I fought Alduin! I buffed up on a bunch of potions and just wailed into him. I got him to run away after a bit of slashing and dicing and now I have to find out where he went. I just hope I can continue the Companion quest line, not sure what happened there.

Super Mario 3D Land

Luigi can Tanooki too!

Date played: January 30th and 31st
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

Wow, this game is really taking off now. I went through the first two special worlds and all of the levels have been a lot tougher than anything in the first 8 worlds. Jumps are more precise, enemies are more dangerous and lives are easier to lose.

I beat a Bowser level too and he was made of BONES! I also unlocked the ability to play as Luigi which doesn't do anything special as far as I can tell. I just love this game so much. The graphics are nice, the music is fun, the levels are well designed and it's just plain fun to play. There's something about tight controls that adds a lot to games like this.