Did you know that Plants vs. Zombies existed as a boxed retail game for the XBOX 360? I had no idea. I knew it existed as an XBOX Live Arcade downloadable game, but not packaged like this, alongside of Peggle and Zuma. I stumbled upon this over the weekend while video game shopping with my girlfriend and couldn’t let it go.
Well, this sucks. I just ran into a game-breaking glitch in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.
As much as I loved Assassin’s Creed 2, I cringed when Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was announced. By the sounds of it, this game exhibited all the signs of a dirty cash-in. For one, this wasn’t called Assassin’s Creed 3. Two, Ubisoft planned to make this game in only a year. Three, and most alarming, Ubisoft announced that this game would feature multiplayer, a feature that nobody asked for from this series.
I’ve warmed up to it enough to pick it up on launch day, but I’m still a bit skeptical. Is Ubisoft treating Assassin’s Creed: Botherhood as a real game? Or is this just another title to slap the franchise name on?
While everyone dropped their bones on a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops last week, I was saving up my pennies for today. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is out now, and I am hyped to jump back into Italy, get back in touch with Leonardo Da Vinci and stab more dudes in the face with my spring-action wrist blades.
Last time I wrote about this game, I was debating to myself whether or not I wanted to drop $10 on it. Based on what I had played from the demo, I enjoyed what was there, but I wasn’t sure if there was enough to justify my $10. Yes, I understand that in the grand scheme of gaming (console gaming in particular), $10 isn’t that much. However, I want a certain level of value out of my games and $10 for that particular package didn’t add up to me.
None of that matters now, at least for this week.
Earlier this evening, I wanted to download something on XBOX Live while waiting for my turn in Super Street Fighter IV on PS3. I had them both going thanks to picture-in-picture. It was crazy to see that everyone on both of my friends list was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Even though I’m a video game news junkie, the launch of the Kinect totally slipped my mind until just now. Microsoft’s entry into the motion control market are sitting on store shelves as you read this. I love buying the latest and greatest when it comes to video game stuff, but I’m sitting this launch out. Considering the fact that this product is backed by a $500 million marketing campaign, Microsoft is hoping I’m in the minority on this one.
Yesterday, Harmonix announced the full track list for Dance Central. Despite my reluctance to buy a Kinect, this game is still very high on my most wanted list. Harmonix is one of my favourite developers and I’m really excited to try their take on the dancing game genre. If you’re wondering what tracks you’ll be shaking your booty to this holiday season, click through to the rest of this post.
Last year, my 7 year-old cousin at the time discovered Modern Warfare 2 through my 12 year-old cousin. Ever since that day, my now 8 year-old cousin has become enamored with the Mature-rated Call of Duty series. For him, Modern Warfare 2 was his Mortal Kombat; it was his gateway drug to Mature-rated games. As of now, he owns Conflict: Denied Ops and Sniper: Ghost Warrior, which he brags about being M-rated all the time.
I didn’t bring this anecdote up to talk about parenting. I don’t approve of him playing content I would deem inappropriate for him and I do what I can to keep that stuff away. The reason I bring this up though, is because my 8 year-old cousin now views that M rating as a symbol of cool. He loves the fact that he owns games that he knows he’s too young to be playing. They’re his forbidden fruit and he’ll take anything he can get at this point.
All of this made me think about my video game collection and how it relates to the ESRB. Once upon a time, the Mortal Kombat series was my forbidden fruit. Did my catalogue of games evolve in relation to the ESRB guidelines or did I overdose on forbidden fruit? I do the math to answer these questions and highlight any insights regarding gaming as I grew up.
It looks like EA Sports listened to the voice of the people after all. After an incredibly poor response to the NBA Elite 11 demo and the anger that ensued with the XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of NBA Jam, Peter Moore, President of EA Sports, announced that NBA Elite 11 will be delayed indefinitely and that XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of NBA Jam will be sold separately in time for the holidays. For full details, go here.
In Third Person 