[PS3:]

Your random tidbit this week: In all my years of doing this, I've never seen so many active consoles at once. I mean, think about it for a moment - there's 3 Sony consoles and 4 Nintendo consoles all getting weekly releases (more or less - the PSP, Wii, and DS are quickly dying down).

Crazy stuff.

PS3:
Karateka
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault
Under Defeat HD

PSP:

PSV:
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault

360:

Wii:

Wii U:
Cloudberry Kingdom

DS:
Invasion of the Alien Blobs!

3DS:
Aero Porter
Classic Games Overload: Card and Puzzle Edition
Jett Tailfin

PC:
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
EverQuest: Rain of Fear
Frozen Hearth
Karateka
Miner Wars 2081

What a weirdly quiet week considering that Christmas is just around the corner. Anyhow, what are you buying this week?

 

As of right now, when I try to read any article, review, anything, off of the main page, I get errors like these:

"Not Found

The requested URL /game_reviews/hitman-absolution-is-the-best-hitman-yet was not found on this server"

Or links like: http://gamingtrend.com/2012/11/19/lofty-ambitions-and-broken-televisions-the-current-state-of-motion-gaming/
are bad.

Just wanted to let you all know.

I've noticed that your host seems to go into backup mode around 11:30ish PM Arizona time every night or so. I've had quite a few of the 'there's no backup of the site to visit and the live part is down or whatever' errors very late at night. But it might be when your host does its backups and such.

[PS3:]

Whoo, new console launch!

PS3:
Clan of Champions
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
Hitman: Absolution
Iron Sky: Invasion
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Rise of the Guardians
The Walking Dead: Episode 5 - No Time Left
Zen Pinball 2: Marvel Pinball - Civil War

PSP:
Elminage Original

PSV:
Jet Set Radio
Persona 4 Golden
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Sine Mora

360:
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
Hitman: Absolution
Iron Sky: Invasion
Pinball FX 2: Marvel Pinball - Civil War
Rise of the Guardians
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
The Walking Dead: Episode 5 - No Time Left

Wii:
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Rise of the Guardians

Wii U (launched 11/18):
Assassin's Creed III
Batman: Arkham City - Armored Edition
Ben 10: Omniverse
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Chasing Aurora
Darksiders II
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Game Party Champions
Just Dance 4
Little Inferno
Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition
Nano Assault Neo
NBA 2K13
New Super Mario Bros. U
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
Nintendo Land
Puddle
Rabbids Land
Scribblenauts Unlimited
SiNG Party
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Skylanders Giants
Tank! Tank! Tank!
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition
Transformers Prime: The Game
Trine 2: Director's Cut
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
Wipeout 3
ZombiU

DS:
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!
Rise of the Guardians
Spirit Hunters Inc: Shadow/Light

3DS:
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!
Crashmo
Rise of the Guardians

PC:
Assassin's Creed III
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Iron Sky: Invasion
PlanetSide 2
Real Heroes: Firefighter
Reef Shot
Scribblenauts Unlimited
The Walking Dead: Episode 5 - No Time Left

What are you buying (or in the Wii U's case, what did you buy) this week?

Wii U can at-least use just about any HD.  Hitch a nice terabyte drive to it and never have to worry about space again.

Exactly.

Which would you rather own? A HD from the 360 that gives you 1/4 or less the space of a drive that's the same price (think about how much 1TB laptop drives cost nowadays, and realize how much Microsoft is charging for a 250GB drive), or do like the PS3 and Wii U is doing, and let you toss in just about ANY drive you want at normal drive retail?

Frankly, I don't see a reason (if I was getting it) to get the larger storage console - just buy a nice 500GB USB drive and call it good for the system's life.

[PS3:]

And just under the wire. At least in this time zone.

PS3:
Ben 10: Omniverse
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
F1 Race Stars
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Wonderbook: Book of Spells

PSP:

PSV:
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified

360:
Ben 10: Omniverse
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
F1 Race Stars
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Power Rangers Super Samurai
The Hip Hop Dance Experience
Tropico 4: Gold Edition

Wii:
Ben 10: Omniverse
Big Time Rush: Dance Party
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze
The Hip Hop Dance Experience
Victorious: Taking the Lead

DS:
Ben 10: Omniverse
Big Time Rush: Backstage Pass
Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze
Victorious: Taking the Lead

3DS:
Ben 10: Omniverse
Monster Shooter
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Rabbids Rumble

PC:
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
EverQuest II: Chains of Eternity
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Magical Drop V
Rift: Storm Legion
Scribblenauts Unlimited
The Sims 3 Seasons
Tropico 4: Gold Edition

What are you buying this week?

So, put that way, that does make sense. Blizzard's system outright ignores CaPiTal letters outright (everything is stored as lower case in their system for some retarded reason), and yes, seems to be extremely vulnerable to external hack attempts (I myself got my account 'hacked' despite not having played the game in over a year).

I absolutely loved it. Seeing all these classic video game characters together in one film made me enjoy it far more than I should have.

The Authenticator is entirely optional (but highly recommended), and by all reports, $6.50 is their cost (especially once you factor in shipping).

Hell - it makes Blizzard titles MORE secure than most BANKS for crying out loud. I know my bank doesn't offer two factor authentication when trying to access it online.

And as mentioned, they offer a completely free iDevice/Android/Blackberry/Windows Phone 7 version.

This 'lawsuit' needs to be thrown out because it's fucking stupid. But that's the normal course it seems nowadays.

Dragonborn DLC Trailer

Okay, that looks cool.

Too bad Microsoft has their usual exclusivity 'we get it first for a month or two' bullcrap on it so I won't see it until next year on the way it was meant to be played (PC).

At least I have mods. Tons of awesome mods.

[PS3:]

I wonder what big game release is due out this week:

PS3:
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
History Legends of War: Patton
LittleBigPlanet Karting
Midway Arcade Origins
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line

PSP:
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
Ragnarok Tactics

PSV:
History Legends of War: Patton

360:
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
Halo 4
History Legends of War: Patton
Mass Effect Trilogy
Midway Arcade Origins
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line
Sega Vintage Collection: ToeJam & Earl (XBLA)

Wii:
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line
Nickelodeon Dance 2
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013

DS:
Bubble Guppies
Come On! Dragons
Dora & Team Umizoomi's Fantastic Flight
Poptropica Adventures

3DS:
Freakyforms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive!
Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning
Petz Countryside
Pokedex 3D Pro (eShop)
Rayman Origins

PC:
Angry Birds Star Wars
Chaos on Deponia
Emergency 2013
History Legends of War: Patton
Mass Effect Trilogy

What are you buying this week?

So, question:

I know that Microsoft is offering an upgrade deal for $40 to any XP/Win7 user. Is that a System Builder (only good on one PC) edition? Or is it a full fledged one (where as long as you can install XP/Win7 onto it, you can upgrade to Win8 via it)?

The reason why I ask is that my current PC is a full retail copy of Windows 7 (so unlimited reinstalls). And I'm debating on replacing the motherboard, processor, and RAM shortly. And no doubt drop Win8 onto it after, assuming it'll let me.

[PS3:]

And Christmas is in full swing it seems - look at that release list!

PS3:
Assassin's Creed III
Killzone Trilogy Collection
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Okami HD
Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point
Sports Champions 2
Toy Story Mania
WWE '13
Zone of the Enders HD Collection

PSP:

PSV:
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Ragnarok Odyssey
Smart As

360:
Assassin's Creed III
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point
Toy Story Mania
WWE '13
Zone of the Enders HD Collection

Wii:
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Transformers Prime: The Game
Wreck-It Ralph
WWE '13

DS:
Lalaloopsy Carnival of Friends
LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park
The Trash Pack
Thundercats
Transformers Prime: The Game
Winx Club: Magical Fairy Party
Wreck-It Ralph

3DS:
Hello Kitty Picnic
Lalaloopsy Carnival of Friends
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Moshi Monsters Moshlings Theme Park
Myst
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
The Trash Pack
Transformers Prime: The Game
Wreck-It Ralph

PC:
007 Legends
1953 - KGB Unleashed
Day One: Garry's Incident
Dungeon Gate
End of Nations
Natural Selection 2
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point

What are you buying this week?

I'm disappointed that correct horse battery staple isn't listed.

Oldish article, that's why. I think that xkcd came out after said article was released.

From the previews though, there's a few things going for it:

1) There's a huge established set of games set in this world beforehand. It gets people interested in the MMO before it comes out.

2) The devs have come out and said that it'll be soloable up to level cap.

3) On top of that, you can do things like pick whatever weapons you want to use, and there's nothing stopping you from using say, heavy armor while playing a wizard. A lot of the series' stapes are there for you to mess around with.

I'm starting to turn positive towards this. I hope I'm right in the end.

Wow, you really liked Adventure Island 2.

The amount of damage it caused to that car it hit is impressive

The tire itself looks to be going 35ish or so when it hits the other vehicle no doubt going the same speed (if not more). And your average truck tire is a pretty big piece of rubber.

Oh and there's a difference between the AI being 'unshackled' to use better tactics rather than just bumping up it's chance to hit numbers too.

In Classic mode both these things happen. So far, unless Firaxis updates the game, the only way you'll be able to unshackle the AI without the "cheating" bonuses is through modding.

The mods on nexus seem like just the thing. But it has been years (10!) since I've modded anything. How do I remove it once it's on?

From my understanding so far, 'modding' is just running a program that opens up the core exe file, makes the changes, and closes it back up again. All you need to do is make a backup of said file before it gets modded (no doubt it mentions what it changes in the readme files) and you're okay.

[PS3:]

Another week, a whole lot of games released. Ah, that joyous time of year.

PS3:
A Game of Dwarves
Cabela's Hunting Expeditions/Dangerous Hunts
Killzone Trilogy
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Skylanders Giants
The Unfinished Swan
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (DLC)

PSP:

PSV:
DJ Max Technika Tune
Street Fighter X Tekken
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

360:
Cabela's Hunting Expeditions/Dangerous Hunts
Forza Horizon
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Skylanders Giants
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (DLC)

Wii:
Cabela's Hunting Expeditions/Dangerous Hunts
Just Dance: Disney Party
Skylanders Giants

DS:

3DS:
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!
Liberation Maiden
NightSky
Skylanders Giants
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

PC:
A Game of Dwarves
Cabela's Hunting Expeditions/Dangerous Hunts
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress
Farming Simulator 2013
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
King's Bounty: Warriors of the North
Lucius
Medal of Honor: Warfighter

What are you buying this week?

You can also go really old-school with the Grimoire "Kickstarter".  Of course, it was actually new-school when it started development

Wow - he's still flogging that deceased equine?

Hasn't this been under construction for the better part of a decade? Or more? And I swear I read that 'in response to beta testing, we'll increase the resolution to 1024x768'. ...what decade IS he making this for?

i still have a love / hate relationship with my heavy, especially as the rockets become less effective

Don't tell me this. If rockets become less effective, then they are basically going to become useless...

Situationally they are effective.  Shooting a rocket directly at an enemy is never going to be an awesome.  Shooting a rocket at a car that the enemies are all near... that works out pretty well.

My last terror mission ended with three of the always flying mutant things right next to a car...which was on fire. Car exploded, all three of them went flying into the air, and the match was won.

The cover looks neat though.

I'm surprised that no 3rd party manfacturer has made their own version of it for the iPad (which odds are I'd buy).

But the RT Surface (the one listed for preorder above which does NOT run native Windows and native Windows applications (but instead an app-store like Apple/Google) is in a world of hurt. Why? How do you explain to the average (dumb) customer that despite the Microsoft logo all over the device, it doesn't run Windows stuff? I guarantee this will be a problem everywhere.

Also, in the post iPad world, I see this device failing and hard.

According to the stream, once they factor in their Paypal amounts, they're nearly there for 4 million.

Jett looks surprised and a bit concerned as the siege cannon falls silent. "They have us obviously targeted and in range. Why would they stop firing for something as simple as lack of daylight?"

He ponders for a moment before continuing. "This means one of two things. Either this is our chance to make our move to shut that thing down...somehow, or else they're invading the town and don't want to set fire to their own troops."

If I'm remembering correctly, the Combat Drugs smoke grenade boosts Will and Crit.  I'm not sure what Will does though.  There's an officer's school perk that grants bonus will each level up for squad members too.  I purchased it last night thinking, I have no idea what you do, but bonus anything at level up sounds good.  

My 1st team usually runs with 2 support.  One provides medic support with all of the healing related skills, and the other is more combat support, with the smoke grenade enhancements and suppression.  I have 2 heavies, one suppression based, and the other more damage focused.  1 assault for closing with the enemy and clearing rear lines, and 1 sniper to reach out and touch any enemy.  

I have enough ranked up folks from mission rewards to outfit a decent team 2 if things go badly for my vets.  My one regret with skill selections is not taking gunslinger for my sniper.  There have been many occasions where I could have used the extra pistol damage.  The perk for being at higher elevation is ok, but sometimes that's just not possible given the terrain.  

The interesting bit with the skill trees is that the perks don't always seem obvious. Like the heavy's boost to mechanical creature damage isn't useful right off. But it's totally useful later down the line.

Same with the sniper perk. That's all I can say. I just know that I'd never ever use a pistol anymore.

I personally run one heavy, two assaults (both with the same perks), two supports (both full medic tree and items, because, you know, they're medics), and one sniper. So far it has worked fantastically.

[PS3:]

So, can this week top the awesomeness of last week's releases? Let's take a look:

PS3:
007 Legends
A-Men
Doom 3 BFG Edition
Mugen Souls
Zumba Fitness Core
The Unfinished Swan (PSN)

PSP:
BreakQuest: Extra Evolution

PSV:
A-Men
Dokuro
Silent Hill: Book of Memories

360:
007 Legends
Dance Central 3
Doom 3 BFG Edition
Zumba Fitness Core
Serious Sam 3: BFE (XBLA)
Zombie Driver HD (XBLA)

Wii:

DS:

3DS:
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D
Sparkle Snapshots 3D (eShop)

PC:
Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
Doom 3 BFG Edition
Ravaged
Rocksmith
The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan
Zombie Driver HD

What are you buying this week?

So I finally got around to starting this. Playing Outlander on Normal right now. Only lvl 10 but haven't felt threatened yet. Should I re-start on Veteran or will it get more challenging? I DON'T like having to randomly level up for bosses, which is why I started Normal...

IMHO, Normal will be a cakewalk. Veteran is where the difficulty is.

I think if you start a LAN game (via the multiplayer menu) you can choose a different difficulty, which I think will then stick for your character. NOTE: I think you'll lose out on your current map exploration if you do this.

Ah the hell with it. *throws wallet at the screen*

Just raided the biggest damn UFO I've ever seen. No losses but every squad member is injured and out for half a month. My engineers will have to build a couple SHIV's to fill out the backup team.

Okay, you seriously need the Barracks upgrade of, "Healing is now twice as fast" or something. Also, the Foundry? Very, very important.

I was in a weird point of XCOM for a while - I had nothing I could research because I didn't have Weapon Shards. Yes, that's right - I needed to kill more aliens (instead of capturing them) just to get parts of their weapons. Which also means that capturing is useless once you get enough Plasma stuff (because you can't sell it for some reason either).

As far as the panic meter goes - they'll leave the Counsel at the end of the month if they're at 5 bars. So you have until then to do something about reducing it (either launching a Satellite if they don't have one up, getting lucky and having a mission there, or 'other means' (spoilers)).

Screenshots? Steam's screenshot function (F12).

Didn't think the laser had to be re-loaded any more than the gun counterparts. I can't tell yet if they're doing more damage or not since I'm still early using them but I know from my first game that traditional weapons were just not cutting it anymore. No overheating issues so far.

Laser weapons get -1 shot verses normal guns, but in return they do more damage. That said, once you plunk down the Foundry and work on an upgrade there, you don't need to worry about that decrease at all.

*throws wallet at the screen*

Is it possible that Jett or Ryla have a ritual that could control the weather a bit?  Such as the "Control Weather, level 17 ritual", to perhaps let mother nature assist us a bit?  Either in putting out the fires, or making visibility from the camp in to the city impossible.

Ryla doesn't know it (unless I already said she did and I forgot.  then she totally has it!)  If Jett has it (which I don't think he does, but I may have forgot!), he could try to stop the sporadic snow, increase it's intensity, or increase the strength of the local winds.  How any of these options would impact the siege is unknown.

No for Jett, and I don't think you said anything about Ryla in the past. As much as I'd like to say otherwise.

It's now late-afternoon and the winter sun is getting ready to set.  Is there anything else the party would like to do before nightfall?

Pray for the Gods to keep watching over our heroes during the siege? 

Did we ever decide about getting a message to Kavak and crew about what was happening here, and/or what might be visiting them shortly about their Shardmind?

Jett believes that 1) We need to try to keep the fires under control (while the city may not burn too badly thanks to most things being stone, it'll still badly affect morale), and 2) We need to take that cannon down ASAP.

Somehow.

Just any ideas how?

I've noticed some small issues with the PC version so far - like how I had to save and then reload just to get the Engineering console to display things to buy. But beyond that, the game is solid, loads and loads of fun, and I can't wait to see how many hours I'm gonna put into it.

Now, sleep. Sadly. More game time in the morning.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of PC vs. XBox?

From what I've heard, better camera control, higher graphical options, and (much) faster load times. Verses playing on one's couch.

A lot of people saying XCOM without specifying platform. I'd like to know what you'll be playing it on, people!

The only way to play a tactical game such as this - on the PC.

Also, Dishonored is getting some VERY positive reviews across the board. Good news for those of you diving in this week.

[PS3:]

*sings* Monday, Monday...

PS3:
Dishonored
Just Dance 4
Of Orcs and Men
Retro City Rampage
Worms Revolution
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

PSP:

PSV:
Retro City Rampage
Spy Hunter
SunFlowers

360:
Dishonored
Dragon Ball Z for Kinect
Fable: The Journey
Harry Potter for Kinect
Just Dance 4
Of Orcs and Men
Retro City Rampage
Worms Revolution
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Happy Wars (XBLA)

Wii:
Just Dance 4

DS:
Pokemon Black Version 2
Pokemon White Version 2
Robot Rescue 2 (DSiWare)

3DS:
Code of Princess
Crazy Kangaroo (eShop)
Nurikabe by Nikoli (eShop)

PC:
Dishonored
Of Orcs and Men
Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants
Retro City Rampage
Worms Revolution
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Whoo! XCOM! Now to wait for the Steam unlock and play it before all you console owners. 

What are you buying this week?

[Spoiler]

You can't buy them like in one?

It's odd that I'm this far along, beginning act two and haven't seen a single one.

Spoiler for Hiden:

About half-way through Act Two you'll get a vendor that has them up for purchase based on the RNG.

Huh. I'm the next Steve Jobs. Woot?

*cusses like a sailor and runs out of the thread*

now i just feel embarrassed for Microsoft and their $0.25 every birthday month

But...it's a whole quarter! On your birthday! I'd much rather have that than a measly $20!