Rayman Origins demo

Couch co-op rocks

Date played: December 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I had played this demo already but my girlfriend was home this morning and we decided to try co-op together and it was great!  She found the character selection lacking but once she got moving, she seemed to enjoy herself.  The funny sounds and cool music helped I think.  We've played quite a few 2D platformers in co-op together, stuff like Kirby's Epic Yarn (100% bitches), Little Big Planet 2 and New Super Mario Bros Wii so she was immediately on known ground.

I think I might pick this up when it drops in price a bit, which shouldn't take long at all.

Ratchet and Clank All 4 One demo

Date played: December 14th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 3/10

This should have been good.  The demo wasn't.

I'm a big Ratchet and Clank fan, having played most of the PS2 games and the two PS3 games.  However, I really wasn't excited for All 4 One and it turns out, it was with good reason I think. The demo was definitely underwhelming.  I played it in co-op with my girlfriend and while it looks great and handles well, it just feels like co-op was forced into it.

She was Ratchet and I was Captain Quark.  We blew up boxes, punched some dudes and shot some giant monsters.  It was all right but I will not be buying this, it feels like a cheap cash in.

Mario Kart 7

As you can see, Bowser and DK are heavy and Princess is light.

Date played: December 14th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I went through a quick 100cc Grand Prix this morning before work and as usual, I am having no problems winning. I unlocked a new kart that works for me, the Zucchini. I've also settled on using Donkey Kong and some skinny wheels.  I like DK so far because he is not as heavy as Bowser but is still a heavy.  I like being able to push people around and I can maintain good speeds.

It's also becoming clear to me that the the Flower Cup is fast becoming my favorite.  All the tracks are really good in it. Wuhu Loop is the circuit track, Mario Circuit is plain fun, Music Park has some cool musical corners and Rock Rock Mountain is full of action, steep climbs and crazy handglider jumps.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The previous owner of the cursed ring

Date played: December 12th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 90 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

I decided to explore a bit today and went to one of the holds I had never seen, Falkreath. On my way there, I stopped at a suspicious looking house and found a big dungeon hidden beneath it. I explored it and found a nice cache of treasures.

Falkreath is a small town to the south and it seems to have a few cool quests so far.  In fact, in the jail, I found a dude that had a cursed ring, the ring of Hircine and he gave it to me.  The only problem is that it transforms it's wearer into a werewolf at random times, not exactly the most practical thing when in a town.  I then had to seek out a giant deer that holds the spirit of the hunt.  After killing the deer, the spirit talked to me and asked me to go kill...something before he could lift the curse on the ring.  I found this quest very interesting so far and will keep going with it until the end before doing other things.  At least that's the plan.

Mario Kart 7

Date played: December 11th and 12th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 100 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I played MK7 on and off during the last two days, playing single player cups.  I completed 50cc and did two about four 100cc cups. For one, the new tracks are mostly very good and have a lot of underwater and flying sections compared to the retro cups.  Also, 100cc is definitely a little bit harder as I ended a few races in second and third but still managed to win all cups during my first attempt.

Wuhu Island!

There is also a very cool new feature for the series in MK7, point to point courses. These are easily the highlight tracks in the game. They have Wuhu island in there, the island that was in Pilotwings Resort and Wii Sports and is easily one of the better tracks. The new Rainbow Road is also fucking awesome!  There is a section of it that takes place on the moon!  THE MOTHERFUCKING MOON!

Mario Kart 7

Date played: December 10th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 7/10

I bought a new oven this weekend because my old one simply stopped working and was very old.  After picking out a nice new oven (POWER ELEMENT), I stopped by Gamestop in the same mall and grabbed Mario Kart 7.

I have a long history with Mario Kart.  In fact, Super Mario Kart (Mario Kart 1)is the game that got me to buy my first system with my own money back when I was a 12 year old kid.  I played that one for hours and hours with my brother.  We spent all our time doing versus and time trials, no balloon fighting bullshit here.  In fact, we were so fast on one of the tracks that some of the time trial times were exactly the same.

Then we moved on to Mario Kart 64 (Mario Kart 2).  We didn't like it as much as most people did.  We preferred Diddy Kong Racing and Crash Team Racing.  It was still a fun game but it's the one I spent the least amount of time with.  I played Super Circuit (Mario Kart 3) briefly for GBA on an emulator and while it was fun, playing on an emulator just isn't the same.

The one I spent the most time with is Double Dash (Mario Kart 4) for Gamecube.  To this day, I still think it's the best Mario Kart (we'll see if 7 can best it!).  Again, I played a lot of multiplayer but this time, it was with my girlfriend.  The two person karts and the fun tracks really hooked us for a long time.

Mario Kart DS (Mario Kart 5) was a disaster.  While technically, it's a fine game and should be the best of the bunch, it was also the first with online play and the infamous snaking technique ruined it completely for me.  Then Mario Kart Wii (Mario Kart 6) came out.  I ignored it completely for the longest time.  I just didn't enjoy playing on Wii, I didn't care for the plastic wheel, I thought bikes would be a dumb idea and I thought stunts were even worse. Then I played it.  It's actually a really good Mario Kart game with fun tracks, good online multiplayer and lots of karts and characters.

Cue Mario Kart 7, the first to have a number in it's title!  I only played single player to unlock new karts and characters before heading online. I also chose to try out all the retro tracks before trying the new ones so I did the four 50cc retro cups.  So far, I'm impressed but not entertained. The best part of the game so far is it's graphics and performance.  This game looks better than any Wii game, runs at 60 FPS and has beautiful and easy on the eyes 3D.

The boring part is that it's single player Mario Kart.  I really wish they would let us unlock all this stuff online and in multiplayer, like Call of Duty basically.  Single player is boring as fuck.  I never dropped below second place during a race and I never got any good items of course.

Speaking of items, there is a cool new item, the tanooki tail.  It acts as a sort of shield I guess where you can swat away dangerous shells and such.  Another cool addition is that there are three parts to a kart now, all of which are customizable.  There is the body, the wheels and the glider, so that's cool.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there's a motherfucking handglider in this game. On specific jumps, the kart will spawn a nice wing that allows the player to glide in the air for a short period. 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The patch arrives, the game still hard freezes

Date played: December 10th and 11th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 70 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Fucking open world games.  I turned in my Forelhost quest (the quest giver was an imposter!) and turned in another quest at the Winterhold College.  Then I went back to Whiterun to do some smithing, enchanting and alchemy.  I spent a good chunk of time making potions and as soon as I went out of my house, my PS3 froze completely.

This is not the first time it has happened but this time, I had no patience and just stopped playing until the next day.  I then finally got to finish my smithing and enchanting.  In fact, I can now make Ebony armor, I even equipped myself with a new armor, shield and boots.  I also killed a Flame Dragon just outside of Riften and did a quest for the Black-Briars that involved stealing a horse and it's ownership papers.

Oh yeah, I'm using a new follower too, a mage Khajit.  He seems to really help with his shock magic and it's kind of cool having an Argonian-Khajit team. 

Sideway New York demo

Great concept, average execution

Date played: December 10th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 15 minutes
Session fun rating: 4/10

I tried this game out at random really.  It turns out it's really a 2D platformer with a neat concept.  It's about a kid out gets turned into a graffiti and is now confined to the walls and roofs of buildings.  The game is still 3D but all the action is 2D.  The best part is that sometimes, you get to transition between a roof and a wall and the perspective change is really cool.

However, the game itself isn't really fun and it has a few technical problems.  The framerate is the biggest offender.  For a simple game, it sure is chuggy.  It also has very basic gameplay.  Move forward, punch bad guy, jump up platform, collect collectible.  I will not be buying this but I appreciate the concept.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Draugr are stronger in the Dragon Cult

Date played: December 9th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 100 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I am still going going through the Dragon Cult's dungeon at Forelhost.  This has been one of the tougher dungeons so far as the enemies are quite strong and the place is riddled with traps of all kinds.  Swinging axes, rotating doors of death, pressure plates, arrow machine guns, deadly mage runes and even a rising platform with spikes at the top.  After playing for a few minutes and having Lydia die three times from traps, I decided to send her back home for the rest of the dungeon.

I even ran into some undead that have a disarm shout.  It sucks because my sword gets blown away somewhere in the room and it can be hard to find.  At one point, I even relied on my flame atronach, my shield bash and scrolls to deal damage while I tried to find my weapon on the ground.  After fighting a shit load of dudes, I reached the last boss which was very difficult for me. I really had to micro manage the whole fight.

First, I kited his minions out of the room and fought them off slowly before taking on the masked mofo. I then had to use a lot of healing potions and such.  I was actually applying poisons on almost every strike.  It worked out though, I killed him and looted his powerful mask.  It gives 70 more stamina!  All I have to do now is turn the quest in.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: December 7th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Today was mostly aimless for me in Skyrim.  At first, I picked a random quest from my quest log that asked me to kill a giant.  On the way there, I stopped in Riften and picked up a few quests and checked out the vendors and such.  I discovered a new ritual stone that allows brief invisibility I think.  I skipped it, it seems like the Warrior stone is still best for me.  Then I reached the spot to kill the giant.  This was much easier than the first time I fought giants.  I pretty much destroyed them without much effort.

I then found a dude on top of a mountain that asked me to essentially clear out a nearby dungeon.  It's full of spectral warriors, mages and undead.  I cleared out about half of it before having to stop playing.  I get the feeling that this game will NEVER end.

Skyrim = The Never Ending Story

Battlefield 3

The Rambo method works in BF3

Date played: December 7th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 40 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I wasn't really feeling it today.  In fact, I think it's because I was expecting to play the Back to Karkand map pack but as usual, Sony doesn't want my money!  It seems that every time I try to buy something off the PSN store, something goes wrong.  This time, I tried to add 25$ to my PSN wallet but I got an error message that said "Could not add funds".  I know the credit card works and I know the information is correct on the online form.

Either way, I gave up and played two matches online.  I did pretty good, I'm spending more time trying to lay down suppression fire. Usually, suppression fire in games means firing in the general direction of the guy and hoping he gets scared enough not to poke his head off.  However, in BF3, there is a mechanic where the enemy player's vision is blurred if suppressed.  This makes it much more important to fire in the direction of enemies, even if they are not seen.

Little Big Planet 2

Best. Box art. Evar.

Date played: December 5th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 50 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

I don't really know what got into me but last night, I didn't feel like playing something violent or serious so I popped in LBP 2 and played a few community levels.  The thing that is just great with this game is that it always has new content and people are really skilled and dedicated when it comes to making levels.

I played a Sonic level that was sort of boring but had amazing music.  I played a "Walk through the forest" level that was simple, pretty, happy and pure fun.  I played a third person racing game.  I played retro games like Pac-Man (in which I ranked 3rd out of 67 players!), Asteroids, Space Invaders and an amazing reproduction of Berzerk.

Berzerk is one of the earliest memories in my life.  I clearly remember the great box art, the smell of the box, the red carpet I was sitting on, the tips my grandma would give me, the crazy running animation and the click-clack of the Atari 2600 joystick.  I think I played Pac-Man first but Berzerk still holds an important place in my early childhood.  In fact, I think I should start hunting eBay for a 2600, it would make a nice addition to my retro game room.

Cruisin' USA

I love it when women shake their tits at me.

Date played: December 4th
Platform: N64
Time played: 30 minutes
Session fun rating: 6/10

I was playing in the basement with my daughter and she was engrossed in a game of make-believe gardening. I saw Cruisin' USA in my shelf from the corner of my eye and I got the urge to play.  As it turns out, I played the whole game, getting from San Francisco to Washington DC.  I didn't even remember but there are faster cars to unlock and I managed to win the blue Corvette.  It's surprising that this game is still fun, even if it looks like crap and handles weird.  

Uncharted 3

Date played: December 3rd and 4th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 110 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

I finally started the "real" game here, which means I started shooting bad guys in the face.  Our group went through the tunnel they found the last time I played and after a lot of platforming and pipe climbing, I reached a room full of treasures.  The nasty lady was there and she found out that the ring she has is a fake then stormed off.

We then stole the item, found a map with it and decided to head to France to find a chateau that Francis Drake wrote about.   It feels really good to be out of the darkness of the cave and out in a French forest.

As for the Chateau, well, it turns out it hid a bunch of underground passages and rooms filled with old relics and out of place puzzles.  We managed to find half of an amulet with crucial information on the lost city of sand but as we were heading out, the bad guys found us and set the Chateau on fire.  This is where I played the best part of the game so far, a daring escape from the flames and falling debris.  It's all so cinematic and exciting!  

Super Mario 3D Land

Date played: December 3rd and 4th
Platform: 3DS
Time played: 80 minutes
Session fun rating: 9/10

Screenshots don't do this game justice, it looks way better than this.

This game keeps getting better and better.  I went through the second half of world 3 and all of world 4.  Things are getting a bit more difficult, the levels are more complex and there is less room for error than before.  They also bring back a bunch of old Mario tropes like the falling donut blocks, red coins and the end of world air ships.  Add to that a bunch of new things like the 3D puzzles and you've got one of the best Mario games in years.  In fact, I think it's the best Mario game since Super Mario World.

Battlefield 3

Date played: December 3rd and 4th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 110 minutes
Session fun rating: 8/10

Tank killer

I played with my brother again and this time, I didn't have a lot of kills but we still topped our team's scoreboard, simply by capturing flags and supporting our team.  It felt good to play with someone who uses their head when playing.  We work well together as I am support and he is assault.  I give him ammo and cover his ass while he blows shit up, watches my back and revives me when needed.

I also discovered that I'm pretty good at rushing a tank from behind, sticking two packs of C4 on it and blowing the fuck out of it.  It turns out, most tank drivers don't look behind them. Sucks to be them!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: December 2nd, 3rd and 4th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 300 minutes
Session fun rating: 10/10

FUS RO DAH!

I played lots and lots more of Skyrim.  The highlight of my play time is the main quest which I continued.  I had to retrieve the horn of the windcaller or something.  When I got to the objective area, the horn was gone and I was greeted by a lady who told me she knew how to find it.  Somehow, that involved fighting a dragon which I killed easily.  I was also apprehended by another dragon who spoke to me but I didn't understand him and he left.

I then retrieved the horn and brought it back to the Greybards who taught me the last word of the "Force Push" spell.  The spell is now useful as it knocks enemies down for a good period of time.  I also discovered that the lady is part of a group called the Blades and she has some missions for me.

I also started the Mage College's missions.  They sent me to investigate some ruins which hid a bunch of weak enemies and a large magical orb of some sort. Then I was sent to retrieve some books from a rogue magic school.  This was a really interesting mission that has a good dungeon.  I fought mages in there and my many potions came in handy to buff myself against magic.  There was a pretty tough fight against a lady that wields shock spells like the Emperor from Star Wars. I also did a bunch of little quests, as usual, including killing another dragon and learning a new shout that basically makes a decoy to distract enemies.  I don't think it will be very useful for my build.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Date played: December 1st
Platform: PS3
Time played: 120 minutes
Session fun rating: 9\10

I spent a lot of time forging, improving, enchanting and concocting.  I am now able to make Orcish armor and weapons.  I had a bit of spare cash so I spent a lot of it on materials to make armor and weapons to skill up my smithing skill.  I am now wearing all Orcish armor except for my weapon.  It looks pretty damn cool too and I can see my face again!

I killed all of them!

I also leveled up my alchemy skills and made a bunch of new potions.  I'm actually using an Android app that shows all the recipes and all the ingredients.  It made my life so much easier!  I don't have to test combinations of ingredients and waste good materials to discover their effects.  Some may say it's cheating, I say it's being efficient.  My enchanting is leveling pretty well too and I have now noticed a difference in the quality of my enchantments.

I then went out on a short quest that had me kill my first giant.  These guys are pretty tough because they hit REALLY hard.  However, they are slow and usually don't come in groups so with a few potion buffs, I killed two giants and four mammoths.  There were really good fights because I felt like I really had to be careful and pay attention.  I've noticed that I could almost block all damage from a mammoth attack.  It feels nice to really see my character progress like that.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Time!  I want some.

Date played: November 30th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 60 minutes
Session fun rating: 8\10

I didn't actually do much this time.  I talked to a few quest people in the College of Winterhold and did some crafting.  I wish I had more time!

Battlefield 3

Patches suck on PS3

Date played: November 30th
Platform: PS3
Time played: 20 minutes
Session fun rating: 7\10

I played one quick match of Conquest.  I actually tried out the suppressor for the M249 and I think I like it.  I still kill people quickly but the recoil is better and the enemies can't find me as easily.  I made a great flanking move at one point and managed to mow down four guys in a squad from behind.  That was VERY satisfying.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the main reason I only played one match is because there was a giant fucking patch for the game.  A grand total of 45 minutes to download and install the patch reduced my available play time quite a bit.  At least it seems to have a lot of bug fixes in there but I haven't really noticed a big difference so far.