Zero Punctuation review: Demon's Souls

I promise that other worthwhile articles will be appearing soon, but in the meantime this "Lazy Wednesday" thing brings along Demon's Souls as this week's target for Yahtzee and his perverbial wit.

What I keep hearing about the game is that it's hard as fuck, that you'll die several thousand times, and that you'll still keep playing the game despite such harsh conditions. While I have to admit that the use of online's very (and almost inspiringly) unique, Demon's Souls still has the potential to be the first game to make me toss my controller at the wall.

So while I sit here enjoying a bit of cheese with my whine, I still have other, less harrowing games to play through before I subject myself to the self-killing spree that is Demon's Souls.

Enjoy the NSFW video below!

Update: Noticed that the video seems to be a bit off, so here the direct link to the video.

The Street Fighter 4 TE Stick arrives

I've mentioned it before, but I'm not a good Street Fighter 4 player. So why do I even have an arcade stick, and the Tournament Edition no less? Well, I've told friends that if I ever get at least 40% better, then I would "treat" myself to the joystick. Well, that, and a chance Amazon "deal of the day" deal sorta clinched it for me.

So, after getting somewhat better in the game (thanks to the less-frequent losses over the past few months), I bit on this chance to get a pricey gaming interface.

But I have to admit, the quality is all there. Real arcade buttons and joystick, hefty controller weight...It's like I ripped the controls off of an arcade machine.

Wait, that gives me an idea... ;)

zero punctuation catchup: Assassin's Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii

With all the holiday spirits, cold mornings, and busy schedules, I've had hardly the time to even have a "Lazy Wednesday." So this week I bring you two of Yahtzee's witty reviews, covering three games - Assassin's Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

I'd comment more, but I'm prepping more posts to fill out the rest of this week, so I'll just say "NSFW" and "enjoy" for now.

Assassin's Creed 2


Left 4 Dead 2 & New Super Mario Bros. Wii

The push to playing online

There's no doubt about it - playing online has become big this year. If not this year, in the past two months. Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, Demon Souls, and Borderlands (which I have borrowed from a friend) have all become extremely popular in their own right, and it's all thanks to their online properties.

Maybe it's just me and the friends I've been with, but when all these titles came out on their release date, I've observed an increase in friends not only talking about the game, but when they will play online with each other, myself included. I think after Uncharted 2, I felt more connected online than I have with any other game that offered as such.

Sure, I'm not the typical Halo or Gears of War online player, and that's not because I don't have the console for it - I just earnestly didn't feel like I would offer much to the online community, let alone feel good about not doing well. And I never was into World of Warcraft either, which, in the long run, was probably for the best. And I'm sure these games handled online just as well as these titles. So what changed?

I think the ideal that good online multiplayer can only exist on Halo titles is wearing thin. Or maybe the concept of only playing deathmatch online where everyone is against everyone else is boring. I mean, no one wants to play online only to find time and time again that they just suck.

Nowadays, there's much more variety now into online capabilities, as Demon's Souls demonstrates with their unique way to communicate our past failed attempts to other online plyaers randomly. Or in Borderlands, where the seemingly-limitless gun stats produces countless hours of playtime to find the best weapon for the job. Maybe the opportunities to become great online has finally exceeded the need to have the highest ranking.

Either that, or I just have more friends that want to play online games with me.

Happy Gobble-Gobble Day

Just want to wish all gamers a Happy Thanksgiving on this festive holiday! And rest up for the deals that will start Black Friday morning!