and that's a wrap

Ah, 2008, we hardly knew ye. And hardly had time to play the games we bought so freely (er, charged up the credit cards so freely, rather.) Nevertheless, it was indeed a Banner Year, and one ought take a moment to Pause, and to Reflect. To that end, the best of the best:

1. Wipeout HD (PSN)
The racer of the year. Gorgeous, flawless HD recreations of all the classic Wipeout tracks of old. Killer online, custom soundtracks. The Game to Beat this year.

2. The Last Guy (PSN)
No game owned my immortal soul like this modern take on Pac-Man mashed up with strategy games of old. And at $9.99, it is an absolutely steal.

3. PixelJunk Eden (PSN)
There's a reason PSN dominates the top slots on my list: the best games of the year were found there. This gem is deep with rich replay value, which is ruxpin shorthand for It's Kicking My Butt Still Months Later. Great soundtrack too.

4. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
...and I haven't even touched Create mode yet. It's a charming, addictive, fun platformer romp. Hopefully the sales will pick up in '09. This one's a keeper.

5. Everest: Hidden Exposition (iPhone)
Yeah, I said it! Casual games rock. Really far more fun that it has a right to be, a simple find-the-hidden-objects game proved perfect for the iPhone. Casual, difficult, addictive. More please!

6. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
A worthy sequel to the system-launching Motorstorm. I'm finally getting halfway decent at it, too!

7. Burnout: Paradise (PS3)
The game that keeps on giving. The developers have broken with tradition and a year later, never stopped updating the game with fresh (and thus far free) features and content. Think Grand Theft Auto in terms of scale. Every stop sign is a different challenge, online is slick as shit, and I love the mode where you try to crash and destroy as much property as you can in one shot. Happy joy joy!

8. Dizzy Bee and Dizzy Bee 2 (iPhone)
It was obvious with this launch title (and now, its sequel) that the iPhone was going to quickly give the PSP and DS a run for their money. Delightful, approachable, charming.

9. I Heart Katamari (iPhone)
The late '08 unexpected arrival. So far, so good. The iPhone accelerometer works like a charm.

10. Lux Touch (iPhone)
A passable Risk clone for the iPhone. See also: honorable mention for similar vConqr.

11. Monopoly (iPod Click Wheel)
Despite the pricey iPhone with me at all times, I found this iPod nano game more addictive than anything the App Store offered this year. Even the new iPhone Monopoly.

12. Rolando (iPhone)
The anticipation was worth it...they beat the drum for this one months and months and months in advance. Think Loco Roco built for touch & accelerometer.

13. Buzz! TV (PS3)
A new arrival that I'm enjoying immensely. Slick, addictive trivia fun for the whole family. The bonus question packs look pretty damn pricey, though. Good thing you can make your own quiz packs online...and sample those of others...Simpsons trivia, anyone?

14. The Price Is Right (iPhone)
Yep. And it's good! No Bob Barker with "spay or neuter your pets" messages after Showcase Showdown, though.

15. Unreal Tournament III (PS3)
This game so completely owned the first half of '08. Pity no one's ever online to do battle anymore. My one UT3 online buddy got pulled into World of Warcraft and that was the end of that. Sigh.

16. Echochrome (PSN, PSP)
Pretty sad that you have to dig this far down the list to find a PSP game to rave about, and it's a port from PS3 to boot. But what a lovely port: M.C. Escher come to life in wicked-hard 3D puzzles that defy dimensional space and make your brain bleed. Fun.

17. flOw (PSN, PSP)
I hesitate to even call this a game. But it sure is pretty. And numbingly addictive.

18. Everyday Shooter (PSN, PSP)
Hard. But lovely! I think I like it even better on the PSP.

19. Toy Home (PSN)
Fun, Katamari-esque romp through a house of giant objects.

20. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
Honorable mention here: it's jaw-dropping in its size and beauty. But intimidating in in scale and complexity. I am ashamed to say I've only put in about 2 hours on this game since buying it. This kind of commitment may well be a thing of the past; looking at the preceding 19, one thing they all share in common is the ability to pick up and play for short bursts, and be satisfied. Granted, some of these glorified mini-games and their "little" chunks of time really added up, but that's testament to their approachability and play value: none forced me to put in 50, 60 hours just to get through basic story mode. GTAIV and its fellow $60 ilk and their massive time requirements just seem too much like work to get into anymore...there is such a thing as TOO big, at least for me.

And that's the list. I'm struck by the dearth of PSP titles, although encouraged by word of '09 "everything-at-retail-will-also-be-available-downloadable" that Sony is shovelling out currently. Hope that pans out, and that the games themselves prove more inviting. I mean, I'd be quite surprised if Loco Roco 2 (coming soon for PSP) doesn't top the list this time next year, but one awesome game every 2.5 years does not a mobile platform make. And with iPhone bringing the heat, Sony better step up in a MAJOR way. Here's hoping my $249.99 (times two) proves a sensible investment come 2009. I'm still waiting...

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. See you next year.

No Whammy, No Whammy, Big Bucks!

This is easily the second-best news of my entire day!

Press Your Luck Revived For Consoles, PC, iPhone [No Whammies]

via Kotaku by Michael McWhertor on 11/4/08

Short-lived classic game show Press Your Luck is returning in video game form for consoles, PCs, iPods and iPhones thanks to Montreal-based developer Ludia Inc. They're the team responsible for the recently shipped The Price Is Right video games for the Wii, Nintendo DS and PC, which may or may not have been any good.

Whatever! Press Your Luck will feature thousands of trivia questions, a new "big board" and, most importantly, "never-before-seen animated antics" from the show's iconic Whammy. Awesome.

The game is slated to ship in 2009. Ready your giant button-slapping arm!

Video Games Based on Hit Game Show Develop in Montreal [MediaCaster via Destructoid]

failing to contain ourselves yet again

Failing to contain ourselves yet again, I see, what with three--count 'em--three PS3 delights shipping our way as of this writing: Little Big Planet, Soul Caliber IV, and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. Well, what else would we do with our November? Aside from continuing my addiction to Wipeout HD, Pixeljunk Eden, and the amazing The Last Guy, that is.

And speaking of Sony, here's a credo for the Portable: I hear future PSP releases will be sold both as UMD and simultaneously available via the PSN store as electronic downloads, a trend I heartily encourage. There's no reason to lug about all those freaking discs. Let me fill up a memory stick with games upon games and travel light! Thus I pledge to never, ever, buy a UMD game again. Actually, this is an easy pledge at present, as there is nothing in the piles and piles of crappy PSP game library currently that has the slightest appeal to me. (Granted, some of the backlist might have some appeal if priced fairly and available as electronic downloads. The PSN store is beginning to see the light on this front, oh so slowly.) Right now the only games I play on the damn thing are Echochrome and flOw anyway, and they're PS3 ports. It is pretty sad when (the still incredible) Loco Roco remains the best PSP game I own, some two years after its release. Where are the killer PSP games, darn it? It's a no-brainer when I am packing for travel these days: the PSP is the first device pitched overboard when the luggage starts to fill. With iPhone and iPod nano games in such abundance, who needs a bulky PSP along for the ride, particularly when there is nothing of interest to play on it? (Now, Loco Roco 2 is coming, so I hear. That will, naturally, cause much flying of dust, late night marathons, and twitching of gamer fingers. Until then though: meh.)

Semi-related kvetching: when exactly did iPods and iPhones game crashes become the acceptable norm? My lovely, lovely new iPod nano (silver with black scroll wheel, natch) can't make it through jack squat on the gaming front without crashing repeatedly. I mean, c'mon Cupertino. It's only friggin' Monopoly. Fix this crap! And for iPhone-related crash complaints, see my previous posts. It's too painful to relive again. Some two months after the major daily crashes stopped, I still walk on eggshells fearing the phone will crash anew. Once bitten and all...

Related kvetch to above: And why in sam hell would all my previously purchased iPod 5G scroll wheel games not be compatible with the nano? Same scroll wheel, supposedly newer & better innards. You telling me those 15-20 games I bought last year are just dead & gone now as far as the new device is concerned? (I've since sold the only iPod that would play them.) I submit the only reason the newer iPod nanos don't play the older games is crass, cold-hearted capitalism: because Steve-o wants to sell us the same dreck again and again. Not cool. I bought my Zuma once for iPod, I should not have to buy it again for what's a minor update in the hardware side. It's not like I expect my scroll wheel games to play on the Touch or the iPhone, but this is another scroll wheel device sold less than two years after the last device. Sure, the screen dimensions are a little different, but it's called scaling, guys. With 25 billion in the bank, Apple can't spare an engineer to make the new devices backwards compatible? Yeah right. Very very Microsoft, Apple. Tsk tsk.

mum's the word (a.k.a. There's No Place Like it)

Hmm, nondisclosure agreements being what they are, here at ruxpinplay I can only note that some PS3 players have received invites to the second-wave beta test for Playstation Home. Beyond that, I can say no more. Mum's the word, baby. I certainly cannot confirm (nor deny) whether I in fact have been playing around with it, decorating my apartment and summer home spaces with more potted plants than one would think possible, nor could I comment on what I think of the game zone with its retro-esque arcade games and bowling, nor can I postulate on whether or not I'd actually use the thing to chat (shudder) with players (ugh, interaction is overrated, no? especially when discourse consists of "sup?" and "hello." repeated ad nauseum. But you didn't hear it here.)

what I CAN confirm is that, halfway across the continent from our own PS3 at the moment, I are seriously jonesing for some more Wipeout HD action. Dear god. The beauty of this game is just amazing. You owe to yourself to fork over the (entirely reasonable) twenty smackeroos to download this gem immediately. Yes, one can grumble about the tracks all being HD-updated versions of ones from previous Wipeout releases. But this iteration takes it to a new level of awesomeness. Online implementation is near-perfect and where PS3 ought have been out of the gate. This one is a winner.

And at risk of repeating myself, Burnout Paradise (now available as a download from the PS3 store) is chock full of hours and hours of fun. I don't even mind that, in order to take advantage of its new Trophies support, I have to restart the game over from a fresh game save. Hell, being one of the first to do so, I even set some records on city streets! Of course, someone has already come along and mopped the floor with me, but no matter: I was, albeit briefly, PS3 famous baby. And motorcyle and day/night environments being added to this game make it even more wonderful. Just wonderful. Go buy it immediately.

here comes iPhone

Next up, iPhone's 2.1 update. Don't even get me started on how my iPhones have been doing since that crashtastic debacle 2.0 arrived on the scene. I love how they blame the user with this weak ass "some users who had a large number of apps have had some problems" line of BS. Look, buddy, you built a phone with X number of slots to put apps in, and then opened a store with 3000 applications for sale. Did it ever occur to you folks might, like, you know, run out and fill their nine screens up with 16 apps a page? Especially when most of the apps on the Store are free? Hmm. I hope someone got a good spanking at Cupertino headquarters.

What was my primary business phone was rendered in-frigging-operable for nearly two months and Apple takes this long to get it fixed? Shame on you, Apple! The worst part was you'd then have to go through an eight or NINE hour restore process, and then think everything was groovy, and lo and behold, 20 minutes or 20 hours later, an app would crash, or suddenly your iTunes library would disappear from the device, or some other horror, and you knew you were in a death spiral again, facing another fruitless eight or NINE hour restore process.

If this thing crashes even once after the update, I may just go Newton on somebody's behind. It has not been a good two months, folks.

If, however, Steve & Co. have actually got their act together and set this ship back on course, well, then I'll be all hummingbirds and butterflies, sunshine beams and rainbow dreams. And I'll have all manner of iPhone game reviews to shower upon le blog. You have been warned.

has Trebek been briefed on this fiasco?

I actually looked forward to the new PSN downloadable title Jeopardy! The PS3 has been woefully neglected by the casual play, quiz-show and board-game type games that appeal to those of us who will never, ever, get more than 15 minutes in to any first person shooter story mode before being humiliated in defeat time & again (I'm talking to you, Resistance). I've been jonesing for Monopoly, The Game of Life, Trivial Pursuit, you name it. So when J! hit the PSN for a sweet-spot $15, I didn't hesitate. Pity. Sure, the package is slickly put together, and though it lacks Alex Trebek, the game is a real beauty on the big screen.

I was kind of curious how they'd handle inputting your questions...support for the PS3 wireless keyboard? As if. But. Can you believe they have you pick the answers (er, questions, rather. This is Jeopardy after all.) from a freaking LIST? WTF? They have got to be kidding. From a frigging list? So it turns every question (er, answer) into a race to hit your X button, so you may have the luxury of perusing a list of five answers. Ugh. Anyone with half a brain will be able to spot the correct answer from the losers without breaking a sweat. Jeopardy, reduced to a button masher. Sigh o sigh.

Other bits in miniature: the new sorta-sequel, PSN downloadable Ratchet & Clank looks to me like a side quest they didn't have time to complete before shoving the last game out the door. Not that that's a problem...that game still remains one of the most beautiful, jaw-dropping gorgeous titles in the whole PS3 library. This one is on par, but you can't help feel it's something they ought have included in the original release. Still, cheap! Let's hope more PSN goodies like this rain down upon us.

I'm kind of surprised to find that games I just knew I'd happily be shelling out $60 for (hello, Soul Caliber IV and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift) have become less likelies. And those are games I've been eagerly awaiting. Sixty dollars is just so high a price point. I remember the days of PS2 when I might gamble on a game if it was $30-40. Fat chance of that at sixty. So many Blu-Ray games have paled in fun & replay value when held up to the recent exhilirating, creative crop of PSN downloadables. If I can fork over a $20 (or considerably less!) instead of three times that much, AND have three times as much fun, well, that's a trend I can get behind. That said, sure, I'm getting the new Motorstorm. I mean, who am I kidding? The demo is so hot. But only one level for the 700 MB demo? Weak. And of course, Little Big Planet is practically required for any serious PS3 owner. Beyond those, though? I'm keeping my remaining dough for PSN goodies. It's been a bumper crop this season.

And yes, PSN downloadables Pixeljunk Eden and The Last Guy are really, really, really that wonderful. You should go buy them immediately. Good luck on the National Mall level though! Those damned bugs are wicked hard to get past with your thousand survivors.

Hell, I've even finally started playing Loco Roco Cocoreccho which I've had for ages. There's a lot of good stuff on that PSN, boys. Poke around.

p.s. Added reason to heart PSN: unlike my dwindling PS3 library (eBay, take these duds away!), once you buy a PSN game, you're stuck with it. Grow cozy in your walled garden, Sony purrs. Sleeeeep.

double the pleasure, double the fun

we shall set aside discussion for the time being of all things iPhone,
for it has been a season of excitement and lost potential with that frustrating App Store launch,
and talk instead of that which brings me most joy in the here and now:
dear, sweet pixeljunk eden and maddening addictive the last guy.
to have one of these land in our gamer lap would be a treat,
to have both within such short time is delirium.
"but why aren't you playing Grand Theft Auto IV?" jMo taunts again & again,
but really. I mean, really. with two lil' PSN perfects like eden and guy, who needs the big stuff?

besides, I'm stuck on the National Mall in level 3 of last guy trying in vain to get my thousand survivors. the agony! (and therefore, the bliss).

more anon.

spring is sprung

A few notes, brief by necessity.

Echochrome (PS3, PSP) is awesome. But is it just me, or does the difficulty level go crazy astonomical a little too quickly here? I find myself giving up on levels more frequently than when the game first arrived. I think the (frankly, amazing) user-generated levels are jaw-dropping in scale and creativity. But they're HARD.

Downstream Panic (PSP) is more of the same. Clever cute lil' game, but damn! I've been stuck on level 16 for a month. Granted, I pick up the game about as frequently as the PSP (i.e., seldom) but it's frustrating to get stuck so early in the game and have no helpful hints or anything to move beyond. This was to be my go-to Airplane Game but instead it's a screw-this also-ran.

GTAIV is everything you've heard. For me, the scale is intimidating to the point that I haven't played much yet. I'm only barely into the missions and taking it veeeeerrrry slowly. Hopefully I will find motivation to devote more significant game time to this over the summer. Then again, Soul Caliber IV and Little Big Planet are coming too, so I am simply screwed, dude.

Next up: time to eBay half my games since I never play 'em. More anon.

and ruxpin comes up for air

Well. So much to play, so little time to write about it. That's a problem I can live with.

At the bare-bones level, let me just note in passing those games gobbling the most time of late. Others on the list have impressed, but the proof is in the pudding, and here pudding equals time spent playing. To whit:

Unreal Tournament 3. There is only one. Even if the recent patch wiped out all my custom mod levels. I'll download them & reinstall a million times if you make me, you beautiful game! Man, I'm a terrible shot though.

Burnout Paradise. I'm surprised at how much I have been playing this. And sucking miserably. But fun, more so than anticipated.

Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. Fun, but a pain that you have to unlock the six courses through hours and HOURS of tedious replay. For $59 you should be able to play all the courses out of the box. And don't get me started on there only being SIX courses! But the game is slick fun, the new Advanced Shot option is okay after the first curse-filled game. It's not the HD showpiece I expected but it is a pretty, almost Nintendo-esque escape.

Virtua Fighter 5. Because beating the snot out of each other is awesome.

Toy Home. All praise the extra content on PSN. Finally I can pick & play whatever level I want, whenever I want! Now I'm bored.

Time Crisis 4. As I affixed Post-it brand removable cable hooks all over my HDTV, to secure Guncon 3 sensors around the screen so I could calibrate my rifle, I did have a brief fleeting moment of lucid horror at how deeply down the rabbit hole I've gone. Once I read books, went outdoors, experienced sunlight. Now I hunt bad guys in the dark. But then I shot a bunch of terrorists with my machine guns at the TC4 airport and felt MUCH better.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I let jMo play this one a bit ahead of me and never got around to really starting this one. This weekend I finally sat down and played about 2 hours. Corny, yes. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Romancing the Stone? Guilty as charged. Lush and jaw-droppingly gorgeous with every frame? Pretty much. This kind of 3rd person perspective shooter is not typically my bag (no Max Payne fans are we) but here it works. The puzzles between firefights keep things interesting, and the transitions to movie interludes are as seamless as I've seen in a video game. It's worth a rental at the very least.

Skate is actually pretty darn impressive. I think I may prefer this interface to Tony Hawk and his legion of games. (BTW, love the hoverboards in UT3. It's approaching my dream game, where you shoot folks from your skateboard and then hop in a car and shoot other cars. with Plinko in the bonus round.)

flOw on the PSP has proven to be a treat, too. I do find it laggy though. I imagine I'll rediscover the PSP more, now that I'll be traveling for work more and separately from the PS3 mothership so frequently.

That is all. For now. More later!

Baby Steps are for Sissies: The ruxpin Launch Library, PS3 edition

All I have to say is that eBay helped keep the costs down a lot. You think I bought all this retail? Puh-lease.

Aquatopia
Assassin's Creed
Blast Factor
Burnout: Paradise
Calling All Cars
Cash Guns Chaos
Devil May Cry 4
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition)
Enchanted Arms
Everyday Shooter
EyeCreate
flOw
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Go! Puzzle
Go! Sports Ski
Go! Sports Skydiving
Godfather, the: the Don's Edition
Grand Turismo HD Concept
GripShift
High Stakes: Poker Edition
High Velocity Bowling
John Woo presents Stranglehold (Collector's Edition)
Lair
Lemmings
LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Mesmerize: Distort
Mesmerize: Trace
Mortal Kombat II
MotorStorm
MX Vs. ATV Untamed
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Nucleus
Operation Creature Feature
Orange Box, the
PAIN
PixelJunk Monsters
Piyotama
Q*Bert
Rampage
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Resistance: Fall of Man
Sega Rally Revo
Simpsons Game, the
Skate
Stuntman: Ignition
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Rub a Dub
Super Stardust HD
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07
Time Crisis 4
Tori-Emaki
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Toy Home
Trials of Topoq
Twisted Metal 2
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Unreal Tournament
Virtua Fighter 5
Virtua Tennis 3

...and after about the 6th eBay game arrived in the mail from the list above (The Simpsons Game, to be exact), the damn optical reader in my PS3 busted. (D'oh!) Now the avalanche of games has been arriving in truckloads in the mail daily, taunting me, unplayable, while the PS3 is in Tennessee somewhere being repaired. Tell me the universe has no sense of humor, I dare yah. Ah well, I waited a year to dive in to PS3, what's a few more weeks? Nowhere to go but up, I guess!

Gamer talk has been bleeding into my other blogs of late, and the rather significant financial investment I have made buying this library attests to how deeply down the rabbit hole I've gone with this adventure. So why not sprout another tentacle off the Seat of Our Pants media empire to celebrate this love of mine? A blog about video games...how original! Well, we'll see how this one flies. (Well, we will in earnest once the damn PS3 returns from Sony repair and we can start playing these a bit. Arg!)

In the meantime, a manifesto: Let this be a space, if you will, to pontificate about gaming observations...to review games (and it will take some time to play these all...jeez!)...to giggle with fanboy glee at games on the horizon (yep, there are still more games on my to-get list!)...to geek out, my brothers and sisters...to geek and game and geek the giggledy geek out. Amen.