Zero Punctuation review: Gears of War 2

If there's anything I'd like to try more of, it's the Gears of War games. I tried playing the first game with a friend, and it was great - until the part we had to take separate paths and no one was there to give me the "magic touch of life" to revive my dead carcass.

I'm almost absolutely positive I didn't miss out on much when Gears of War 2 came soaring in. 'Course, it had no glasses, so it couldn't have been mild-mannered original Gears of War...right? Well, Yahtzee's here to straighten things up!

This week's "Lazy Thursday" NSFW video review below. Enjoy!

Goodbye, old friend - you won't be forgotten

My fascination for music-based games has been a long and fruitful journey. I still remember when I found my first Guitar Freaks and Drummania arcade machines, how I enjoyed rocking out and looking like I knew what I was doing. And then Guitar Hero brought the experience home (well, the guitar, anyways), and I learned to adopt the extra 2 fret buttons that never existed in Guitar Freaks.

Then Rock Band 2 arrived at my door this past holiday season, and with it closes the Guitar Hero door.

I was there when you made your first appearance, showing everyone that a game with a specialized controller CAN survive in a market where people are forever trying to avoid spending more money on games. I followed you to your second foray into the market, with a slew of new songs to tackle and rock to. Sure, your 80's mix wasn't so well received, and the official third release became more focused on actual gamer difficulty than pure musical enjoyment...but your mark in video game history is prominent.

Alas, when I first laid hands on Rock Band's guitar, I knew that things would never be the same again. Those recessed fret buttons, the more responsive flipper...I knew that my Guitar Hero days were over. It was time for me to take off the Guitar Hero training wheels off and start riding my 10-speed bike towards the sunset.

Know that you, Guitar Hero, hold a special place in my gamer's heart - along with Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and all music-based video games in their time.

And now, a new chapter begins - one that is riddled and ripe with many opportunities to rock out with friends, in-house and online, where DLC brings new songs every now and then to feast on.

And perhaps...will become one more step towards playing the real thing.

Farewell, Guitar Hero. You've had a good run, but now I must move on.

Zero Punctuation review: Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2? I've never even played the first one, and they released a second? Was the first game even good?

Ignorant? Me?

NSFW below!

A brief moment of your time...

Things have certainly been busy in the Gameritis house. I've been busy trying to work out two New Year's resolutions to post more on this blog as well as on my friend's site Akiba-Station.com (under the name "GameOrDie"), not to mention squeezing in any gaming time I can between work, sleep, meals, and exercise.

That being said, I just want to take this post to mention how pleased I am with this site, whether or not there are people reading it or not. Not only does it serve as an outlet for my self-proclaimed alfliction, but it chronicles my love for the many games that are released. Sure, I'm not a big-named gaming blog, nor am I some corporate news site that is always up-to-the-minute...but just the typical gamer juggling between virtual entertainment and real life. I'm right smack in the middle between a completely hardcore gamer that practically does nothing but game, and the "reality first" gamer that dismisses games entirely and moves on. Just keeping a balance between the two worlds is a daily chore, and blogging about it has become an enjoyable routine.

Anyways, I won't want to be preachy, so I'll end it here. Thanks for listening, and remember to comment anytime!

Here's to another year of video gaming bliss!

Zero Punctuation review: Tomb Raider: Underworld

One has to wonder...how many other tombs are the left that Lara Croft can raid? And why must she do all of this herself? Can't she just gather enough resources to hire an expedition staff or something to assist her during more dire circumstances?

Ever since playing the very first two games, I can't find any reasons to continue on with her adventures. I guess Yahtzee also gets the same feeling this week, reviewing Tomb Raider: Underworld. But he's less forgiving.

NSFW (I mean, c'mon...it's Lara Croft, for fuck's sake) below!

Things will pick up soon...

Late posts all this week, but I promise to put up something worthwhile.

Zero Punctuation Special: Awards for 2008

The first Zero Punctuation of the new year officially dismisses the 2008 video gaming year with Yahtzee's 2008 awards. Of course, these aren't your typical awards, and this is one awards show that no video game company would like to see their games on.

But what better way to start the new year than to have Yahtzee poke fun at all the games worthy enough of his wit.

NSFW and funny below, enjoy!

Disgaea 2 PSP porting news = no surprise

I don't mention it enough here, but I'm pretty much an NIS/Atlus whore.

Does it surprise me that NIS is porting Disgaea 2 on the PSP? No.

Does it surprise me that NIS will bring the PSP port to the States? No.

Does it surprise me that I'll STILL plunk down change for a game that I already own on the PS2? Sadly, no.

The typical New Year's resolution routine

It's officially the first full week of the new year, and I'm sure many of you are still smashed from all the holiday celebrations. Nevertheless, it's resolutions time...time to make promises we'll try to commit to, but will never complete. And what better resolution to fulfill such a requirement than one to try to finish games one already owns?

Alright, so my New Year's resolution is to commit to finishing more games this year. And while this resolution may seem a bit unrealistic, there's nothing idle about it. Last year, I made a resolve to complete a Master's degree that I had left on hiatus for, oh, 3 years, and vowed to complete it and earn my degree, and last year was the first time I've ever actually completed a resolution. Well, at least to my knowledge.

And this year is no different. I feel a different surge of energy when I say that I will complete my games more often this time than years before, and I feel this blog will help me out along the way. It's been my marker for all my past finished games since I started this blog, and it shall be my marker for years to come, so I'm feeling pretty confident.

Speaking of "surges of energy," the little miss and I have made a "couples" resolution to be more fit for the new year, so I'm finally hoisting my lard-ass off the chair and going to the gym to workout. Needless to say, I'm ABSOLUTELY RELIEVED to be sitting down now.

(Image courtesy of icanhascheezburger)

Zero Punctuation review: Prince of Persia

Frankly, there have been WAY too many games to play that have been released in the past couple of months, so every time a game has come my way, I've only done test drives. Prince of Persia has been one of those games, and I left from my brief 10 minutes of gameplay satisfied and somewhat convinced that the game is worth my time and money.

Apparently, Yahtzee also gives his greenlight for the title, categorizing it as an above average according to his range. Of course, this doesn't hold up to the shrine he places for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but it still holds its own.

Enjoy the NSFW video below!

Happy New Year!!

Okay, so it's not a bottle of champagne, but it's still bubbly. What can I say...I likes me some sparkling cider!

In any case, what better day for "Lazy Wednesday" to land on than New Year's Eve? And being such a drunk-indusive night, you'll understand me posting Yahtzee's game review tomorrow instead of today.

So for now, celebrate the last of 2008 in style! Happy New Year from Gameritis!!

Kingdom Hearts 2...finished again!

It's rare when I finish a game for a second time on my own accord, and rarer still to enjoy the process of playing through a game again. However, Kingdom Hearts 2 was one of those very few instances where I enjoyed doing both. While the reward for me this time was a simple hidden video that I could've probably searched for on YouTube, the satisfaction of unlocking a tucked-away treasure on my own through a game I wholeheartedly enjoyed playing was a treat in itself.

You see, in Kingdom Hearts 2, there's this hidden video that, under normal mode, you can unlock if you complete everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - in Jiminy's Journal. Since that was almost a near impossibility for me, my other alternative was to complete the game in hard mode, with all of the worlds completed, which also unlocked the video. Seeing the simple (yet daunting) task of just finishing the game again before me, I decided to finish what I had started years ago.

And today marks the day I've finally finished Kingdom Hearts 2 once again, in hard mode, while successfully unlocking the hidden movie alluding before my very eyes.

Yes, I believe this was all worth the trouble NOT seeing it on YouTube.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

No one knows more about how difficult it is to get me gifts than my wife. With me pretty much on the ball when it comes to what games I want and when, video games are out of the question. So my wife, being the creative spirit she is, gets me the awesome gift of Jenga: Donkey Kong Collector's Edition! Gives new meaning to "high score," huh?

Oh, and that box is not ridiculously huge next to my GameCube - that's the other gift in my stocking (yeah, my stocking's HUGE), a gummi-filled GameCube. It also plays something when you press its power button, some horrible mishmash of nintendo sound effects in unison. Like someone obnoxiously playing all Nintendo-themed toys in a store at once and recording the horrendous audio.

Happy Holidays, everyone, from Gameritis!

Zero Punctuation: The Year in Review - 2008

This week, Yahtzee is taking a much needed rest and has now resorted to dispensing a clip show of sorts of his best material. For someone who has brewed so much hate for games and their genres, a brief overview into why we enjoy his video reviews is certainly a nice change of pace.

Enjoy your NSFW Christmas Eve Year in Review, everyone!

When holidays and blogging collide

Given the amount of free time I have to actually interact with my blog is already a brief window, adding the holiday spirit to it makes it much worse. It's not that there's not enough articles to post...I'm just lazy, is all. Just know that it's rare for me to hit 5 posts a week (under the self-imposed one-post-a-day minimum), and that my average is about 4 posts a week. In other words, I'm posting to show that I'm still alive, so to speak. Asleep on my ass, perhaps, but still alive.

And yes, I realize the irony of me posting about my laziness to post, especially at such an early time. The only thing that trumps my laziness is cool technology, and blogging from my Blackberry at 7 AM will do just fine.

Persona 4, spoiler art book acquired!

Yes, I purchased Persona 4, through a finally-processed order. I also remembered to not peruse through the art book due to its spoiler-rific pages, so that's safely stowed away.

And yes, I own and still haven't beaten Persona 3. What's your point?

Zero Punctuation review: Sonic Unleashed

There was a point, I remember, when I was really excited for the new Sonic game, when they mentioned that the gameplay, while still employing the 3D environments, will retain the 2D level layout charm.

Then they revealed his "werewolf" form.

*sigh*

Anyways, it's nice to know that my negligence for such random plots is well rewarded with Yahtzee's thorough gutting of Sonic's latest game, Sonic Unleashed. In fact, I feel like rewarding myself again later today, just to feel good about myself.

NSFW video below, enjoy! And be sure to check out Yahtzee's latest internet video venture!

Club Nintendo is working! No wait...yup...nope...

While I'm happy to report that you can finally sign in for Club Nintendo and hoard your coins for many coveted Nintendo swag, not everything is easy sailing on their site. Here's hoping it's a small hiccup on their end, but with reports that people have trouble re-signing in (myself included), a lot of potential mishaps can occur.

But from what I've seen, it seems pretty simple to start earning coins. Just as long as you enter the registration code from Nintendo games and complete their survey, you get coins. I'll be spending most of my spare time updating my list.

What do you guys think of the new US Club Nintendo?

Playstation Home is...*yawn*

Even though this was a free download, I STILL feel like I paid too much for Playstation Home. Sure, you have your own place, you can wander the mall or plaza, or you can even sit down and partake a meh movie trailer...but in the end, that's all you can do.

What I'm really disappointed in is the lack of the one feature I was looking forward to: your own trophy room. I mean, wasn't that the purpose of these achiev...er, trophies I've been collecting?

At least my character can accurately portray my overall feelings for Playstation Home. I'd give them more points if they had a "face down in palms of hands" disappointment emotion.

Mobile blogging = more activity

Some of you guys (okay, probably nobody) might be wondering why some posts come with cruddy pictures. Well, due to my lost camera in Japan and me being lazy searching for the right images online, I've taken up mobile blogging from my Blackberry. I've been doing this for about 2-3 weeks now, and it rocks!

Since then, I've been better not only posting on a daily basis, but on more spontaneous whims. And yes, that's me below. Like my hair?

Anyways, expect more frequent (and potentially more lamer) posts now that I'm fully utilizing my smartphone.

I'm such a geek.