What have you been playing lately? Old or new, fun or not, we’d love to talk about it.

If I had been playing games, I’d probably be neck-deep in the classic cyberpunk espionage action of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Alas. I haven’t even had a chance to augment my vision yet, meaning JC Denton’s still got the upper hand on Adam Jensen.

So yeah — Leave a comment! Let’s talk about some games.

Once again, we have returned from a brief hiatus to discuss what in the world of video games has been on our mind and taking up our time. It’s been a little while so we’ve had plenty of time to get some games in during the early summer — Nick and Tyler both have thoughts on InFamous, Aaron’s now one of us, and Doug’s catching up with two of 2010′s best action games. Nick also weighs in with what is easily one of the most bizarre recommendations we’ve ever made.

Anyways, without further ado (do do), TO THE BACKLOOOOOOG!

Nick

Oh, that wacky Conquistador.

Duke Nukem Forever is out, and I’ve played the demo. After more than a decade of waiting uneasily, its release is not unlike the removal of a benign tumor. Good riddance.

InFamous 2 is also out. Based on the demo, Sucker Punch has delivered some impressively animated and ultimately soulless action-platforming, just like the first one. I can’t help but feel like some of that blame can be placed on them for not sticking with their initial, more humanizing redesign of Cole, the protagonist from the first game. Fans were outraged for reasons I can’t even begin to understand, and Sucker Punch acquiesced by returning to the shaved-head, gruff-talking hero from the first game. Just like every other blockbuster game in the last five years. Way to go out on a limb, guys. Let me know when Sly 4 is out.

Look, I realize this is getting a little pessimistic, but I wanted to point out that there is still some originality to be found and joy to be experienced in gaming. I’ve got two examples: something old and something new.

The old game is The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. I never realized just how strange this game was until I revisited it over the last couple weeks on my 3DS. There’s something wonderful about the peculiar diction used by Koholint’s inhabitants and the Mario-universe enemies that populate the game’s side-scrolling sequences. It’s also a true classic, sporting some seriously compelling dungeon design, excellent music and goofy humor. While I could go on, I’ll save the rest for another day — and possibly another medium.

Don’t read too much into that. Unless that’s your kind of thing.

The new game is an absolutely outstanding tribute to Cave’s shoot-’em-up bullet-hell games. It’s called Jamestown, and it’s ten dollars on Steam. Buy this game.

Go ahead, buy it. Seriously.

I’m not going to beat around the bush. This game is amazing. The core game is supremely tight and refined, combining gorgeous sprites running at a high frame rate and several distinct, easy-to-learn but hard-to-master ships to play as. It’s also got a lot of extra content to keep you occupied, including challenge missions and an alternate, unlockable campaign.

The plot is compelling and epic in scale. You’re a British colonist in the year 1619 in the settlement of Jamestown, struggling against the hazardous native populations and the campaign of destruction being waged by the Spanish Conquistador.

Also, Jamestown is on Mars, and there are squid-like aliens.

Still with me? This is the game for you. I recommend it without reservation.

Tyler

The cast of "X-men: First Class" is bored of this InFamous talk. Go see their movie instead.

One of the most unique aspects of video games as a medium is that, as a direct result of their inherent activity you can, to some extent, influence the outcome of every situation. In some ways this is more significant than others. In Super Mario Bros. you will always complete the game by saving the princess; however, the means with which Mario deals with enemy encounters and the order in which he progresses through the levels is left entirely to the judgment of the player. As narrative has begun to play a stronger role in contemporary titles, the amount of agency a player has has likewise shifted. A game in the Call of Duty series will allow players to deal with enemies how they see fit but only with the tools the designers provide in a very careful constructed environment. For all intents and purposes, these type of games are a slightly more interactive blockbuster movie.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum you have titles like Nick Cummings’ 2010 favorite, Minecraft. This is a title almost completely devoid of any narrative other than what one makes of it, and whatever happens in the world is almost certainly the result of direct action by the player. I can, to some extent, respect either extreme; both present unique cases for the potential of games. What I have a difficult time appreciating is when a developer will try to have their cake and eat it too by creating a tight, forward-moving narrative and provide some sort of illusion that the player has any real agency in this world or story.

Sony recently made their “Welcome Back” PlayStation Network promotion available to users and I took the opportunity to replay Sucker Punch’s 2009 open-world superhero title InFamous. I enjoyed the game for what it was two years ago and it worked well as an early summer release, but after two years much of the veneer has worn off for me. The gameplay is there, protagonist Cole McGrath has electricity/lightning-based powers (ala Marvel’s Electro and DC’s Livewire) that upgrade in interesting ways over the course of the campaign. What is most frustrating about the title is the aforementioned illusion of player agency. Open-world titles such as Just Cause 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and FarCry 2 provide strong reasons to break away from the level-act structure most narrative based games employ by crafting an interesting world with a variety of ways to influence it. InFamous’ Empire City is neither interesting as a setting nor is there any meaningful reason to interact with it beyond story missions. It is itself yet another New York City analogue, minus any of the personality (granted, part of the game’s narrative is that the locale is recovering from a severe explosion and is under quarantine), with plenty of other titles that have explored similar ideas with superior results. InFamous actually drew many comparisons to a similar title released in 2009, Prototype, which actually took place in a quarantined Manhattan with a super-powered protagonist.  Though Prototype was much less polished than Sony’s exclusive, the traversal and interactions with the world it constructed are significantly more entertaining.

The second egregious offense of dangling player agency as this carrot to the stick is InFamous’ morality system. I can accept that the decisions player makes in missions are obnoxiously binary (i.e. save this orphan or kick this puppy), many other modern releases have similarly employed such concepts to much more successful results. The first time I played InFamous I chose the evil path; this time I took the other route and was good. The powers are different, but evil’s are much more useful, which certainly put a damper on the more recent play-through. This is a trivial complaint compared to the fact that Cole does not feel any different as a character as a result of choosing alternate decisions at these key moments. The immediate result changes but his reaction to the circumstances of the world is uniform to each side of the story.

My opinion of InFamous has changed because everything it does that is intended to make the game unique and stand out are aspects I have seen done better one way or another in other media very recently. Mass Effect 2 has a better personality system, giving the player much more simulated control over their protagonist, even in an extremely linear space; Fallout: New Vegas provides a far more compelling destroyed open-world and a more diverse toolset with which to effect it. And ‘X-Men First Class’ (a truly fantastic film, by the way) shows that there are far subtler ways to show moral relativism with regard to super-powered beings in a comparatively realistic setting.

It is unfortunate that the reason I chose InFamous as one of the two free titles Sony made available in their Welcome Back promotion is that I sincerely wanted to get excited for the just-released sequel. Playing through InFamous did anything but, and unfortunately reviews seems to indicate most of these issues were not fixed for InFamous 2. Three Sly games gave me faith that Sucker Punch can deliver an entertaining title and I truly want to seem them do more with their next release than what InFamous delivers.

Aaron

Proof that Aaron is now one of us!

There’s been a significant development since our last Backlog.

I’m an iPhone owner.

My years of protesting aside, it’s only taken a few weeks of acclimation to my newly connected lifestyle to make me appreciate the special nook a smartphone has in day-to-day wanderings. I’ve got my apps set up, I’ve purchased a few games (Sword & Sworcery EP, Infinity Blade, Puzzle Agent, Army of Darkness Defense, Words With Friends and Gears) and I spent a large portion of my recent vacation to Bend, Oregon tweeting, posting to Instagram and following up on my Facebook news feed. I don’t think the folks at Verizon realized they were creating a monster.

But I haven’t always embraced the best parts of Web 2.0, 3G and app-fever. The people closest to me can attest to my notoriously bad social habits when it comes to phone calls, text messages and emails. Now with an iPhone always within reach, I have no excuse. And I’m preserving the lifespan of my ancient desktop by doing the majority of my Internets on the ol’ Jesus Phone (named so for its magical powers, which are beyond those of normal phones). Shit, I’m even digesting more media content than before thanks to apps like Pulse news — in many ways I’m becoming a better, smarter and more handsome human. Who doesn’t look cool holding an iPhone?

Most of you have suffered and recovered from this type of new-phone fever by now, but this is a pretty big development for me. I apologize for any curmudgeon-y attitude I may have demonstrated in the past when discussing the iPhone. Everyone but me was right, for once.

Now regarding “traditional” videogames, I have little to say. I’ve begun an attempt to 100% L.A. Noire, and I even purchased the Rockstar Pass because I just can’t get enough of Phelps and Co. And last week I polished off The Witcher 2, which should be remembered as the most-improved sequel in the last 10 years.

Honestly? I’m not jazzed about much else right now. I can definitely feel my mind focusing its entertainment needs on my iPhone and its seemingly endless vault of treasures. Couple that distraction with a general lack of any major games releasing in the next month that I care about (InFamous 2 is…”a’ight,” I suppose), and I’m starting to get restless. I need Deus Ex: Human Revolution to come out, and be amazing too, or I need to give up and buy a 3DS and Ocarina because I’m simply outta-my-fucking-gourd.

Doug

Doug is glad Ubisoft gave Ezio more ways to kick ass in combat in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood; it got a bit stale in AC2.

Since we last spoke, my most significant achievement has been winning my second World Drivers Championship in F1 2010. Okay, so in the grand scheme of things it isn’t that important — packing and preparing to move to Japan in August is probably the most important thing I’m doing now. But, as somebody who loves F1 racing, loves playing racing games, and was hopeful last fall that the first F1 console game in five years would be as good as advertised, I’m happy to see it’s a little more Ferrari than Minardi, if you follow the F1 allusion. I’m now on my fourth season in the game and will probably keep with it until F1 2011, which should be out this fall, and if previews are to be believed, should be much improved.

On a related note, if Kairosoft ever releases Grand Prix Story for iPhone, my life will be over. It’s out on Android, and if the name sounds like Game Dev Story, that’s because it’s that game. But with auto racing. So, yeah.

However! In an unexpected turn, I’ve been playing games with single-player storylines and third-person cameras! No, I promise, I’ve broken the fever of sports games for the time in order to finish a couple of last year’s best before I bid my Xbox 360 adieu. First up is Bayonetta, which I never put enough time into when I borrowed it from Nick last year but have grown to really appreciate and love since buying it on Xbox Live.

It’s a very different game from what I’ve grown accustomed to with modern action games, where you unlock all the moves and weapons you need through the course of play. Sure, this also happens in Bayonetta, but a lot of the good stuff is stocked in the Gates of Hell store. Combine that with no suggestion as to which upgrades to pursue and ignore, and you’ve got the recipe for a very old-school, trial-and-error experience. Adding to that is the control and gameplay, which can be overbearing and difficult, but rarely in a way the player can’t understand or learn from.

As an action game, though, it’s a very different animal from the other title I’ve just picked up, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. After such a rocky start with the first Assassin’s Creed, the gameplay and storytelling have taken massive steps in the Assassin’s Creed II games. I only got through AC2 earlier this year (which is my fault) and when I saw that Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was available for $40 on Xbox Live, I knew I had to have that, too.

I was a little disappointed with the very beginning of the game. It’s a necessary contrivance, and actually pulled off halfway decently, but damn am I tired of games Metroid-ing you right at the beginning. I know it’s necessary in order to have a “difficulty ramp” and to re-acquire goods so that the player isn’t overpowered at the beginning of the game, but I think it would be a neat change of pace for a developer to roll with once. Maybe Ezio won’t lose all his mojo at the beginning of Revelations this year?

To focus so much on other aspects should tell you two things: First, that I’m not terribly far into the game. Give me a week or so and Rome will bend to my will. Secondly, that the game is still so good. I was a little worried about stepping back into the fray and picking the controls and systems back up, but damn, Ubisoft has refined them in such a way as to make the game feel incredibly natural. Climbing buildings for viewpoints is such a cool experience, and I think one of the defying gameplay experiences in this generation.

We honestly can't remember what Snake is memorializing here, but the old soldier sure is rocking an appropriately solemn mustache

Don’t call it a comeback? We’ve been through down periods before, and we’ve come back stronger before, but this one feels good. We’ve got a four-man strong Backlog that is incredibly lengthy (helped along by Tyler’s mini-article about RPGs) and features as disparate things as L.A. Noire, Fallout 3, Chrono Trigger, LAN parties, Doug’s sports games, Bayonetta, and more.

There are also more promises to write again, so please be on the lookout online, on Twitter, on Facebook, in RSS feeds and via smoke signals to see when we’re publishing great articles once again. So, without further ado, TO THE BACKLOG!

Aaron

What's Aaron learned from L.A. Noire? Cole Phelps can grill to make a suspect spill.

I’m cutting a swathe through the bullshit and getting to the point today: L.A. Noire is among the most engaging games I’ve ever had the pleasure of shoving into my console’s disc tray. It’s nearly two weeks after its release, and I can’t get it out of my mind. When I’m at work, I’m analyzing my case load for mistakes. When I’m cooking dinner, I wonder who would have been convicted if I’d used a different piece of evidence in an interrogation. When I’m not playing L.A. Noire, I’m thinking about it.

And why is that? What makes a modern take on a classic film, literature and television genre standout? Well, dear reader, that’s because Rockstar and Team Bondi (whose backs should certainly be patted) have made a game more real than anything else on the market today; its realism lies in its intrinsic reliance on the human condition and a player’s complete suspension of disbelief. Your instincts matter, and your natural intuition, which evolved over millions of years for the express purpose of reading emotion, can change the entirety of the scripted experience. As much as I love choice and consequence in videogames, the good and evil dichotomy most games latch onto (since Knights of the Old Republic popularized the notion) is infantile compared with the responsibility a player is entrusted with throughout L.A. Noire. Lives are in your hands, and your indecisions or your missteps can — and will — cost lives. It’s so brilliant that I still can’t believe this game exists, and isn’t just a complete mess.

A CSI-branded bargain-bin game L.A. Noire certainly is not. A fictionalized pulp tale that in 30 blissful hours justifies videogames as an artform L.A. Noire most certainly is.

Tyler

Tyler thinks that New Vegas' sense of humor is a strong contrast to such a bleak world.

When an acronym is used with enough frequency it begins to lose the meaning of what it stands for and takes on an identity all its own. A major offender in gaming in this regard would be Super Mario RPG, a game featuring one of the most famous protagonists in gaming, a man whose role for all intents and purposes is very clearly defined. When I was younger, an RPG wasn’t a “role-playing game”, it was a game with magic points, some (however slight) degree of strategy in combat and usually an epic storyline filled to the brim with melodrama. RPG for me back then was all things Squaresoft plus a handful of other titles hailing from the far east. I never played Dungeons and Dragons and had no experience with the progenitors of the genre like Ultima or Wizardry. No, it wasn’t until I received a budget-priced Fallout two-pack as a gift in middle school that I truly understood what it mean to play a role of your own making in a video game.

It was daunting then, and perhaps more so now, to come from the experience having only played linear titles to be thrown into a world with the freedom to go everywhere and do anything with only the slightest degree of direction. The first two Fallout games remain in my mind some of the only games in existence in which there is no correct way to play. Don’t enjoy combat? Whether you wish to be an explosives-loving, smooth-talking locksmith, a drug-addicted, kung-fu field medic or an autistic, sharp-shooting savant, the progression of the games and how the wasteland welcomes you is entirely within the player’s control. The difference between an RPG like Fallout and one like Final Fantasy VII is the difference between playing with action figures and playing with Legos. Once the rules of the game are understood, true role-playing games stop being intimidating and become freeing in ways that truly show off their potential of the medium.

The most recent release in the series, Fallout: New Vegas, represents those ideals better than its immediate predecessor, Fallout 3. Not to put down 3, as it served wonderfully as a reintroduction to the franchise, but it lacked much of the series’ levity and do-anything/be-anyone mentality. The player’s role was more clearly defined and his/her choices more limited. It makes sense to have this return to what Fallout originally stood for, as developer Obsidian was formed from the fallout (hah!) of the collapse of the franchise creator Black Isle.

Right from the start, Obsidian’s additions bring the classic Fallout experience to Bethesda’s formula; the game was built on the Gamebryo engine used for Fallout 3. I have been playing in Hardcore mode: selectable from the start of the game, the option is seemingly built entirely for role-players. The mode causes the player to grow tired, thirsty and hungry and adds some other difficulties that one would naturally expect to encounter were they forced to roam a post-nuclear apocalyptic Mojave desert.

Also evident at the beginning is a secret feature present in the first games, the caustically fan-defined “retard mode.” If the player chooses to set their avatar’s intelligence to a level of three or below, NPCs will believe that the protagonist must be suffering from some sort of severe brain trauma, and player responses will be written as short and simple sentences, sometimes even being simple grunts or nondescript noises.  It may sound pointless and almost counter-intuitive but it adds so much to the experience and does a great job of setting the tone for the game.

Talking to a friend yesterday about why Final Fantasy XIII failed so completely from a design standpoint, it drew to my attention how different these two games are, despite them both being released in 2010. XIII is sterile and pristine, every environment is meticulously designed with such a narrow path the player sees it all. It lacks a lot of the bugs and overall jankiness New Vegas suffers from, but it also loses so much personality and charm in the process. If you don’t like the characters you’re playing with, tough shit, you’re stuck with them for the entire experience. Naturally there is a balance between these two ends of the RPG spectrum, but ultimately it comes down to choice and freedom. If a developer wants to constantly throw the player down a set path interrupted only by quick-time events and cutscenes then there’s certainly a market for that, as titles like God of War and Call of Duty prove time and time again. But please, developers, leave RPGs for those of us that want to make our own path, not walk down yours. When designing an RPG it’s important to know your role.

Nick

Nick wants to revisit Chrono Trigger every year, like a fine well-thumbed-through novel, but doesn't have the time! Oh, the irony.

When it comes to gaming, the biggest problem I’m facing is probably the best problem I could ever hope for: There are too many great games to play and not enough time to play them.

I’ve got a stack of games in front of my TV that I fully intend to finish off before the post-E3 onslaught descends upon us. It includes recent games like L.A. Noire and Mortal Kombat, but there’s also quite a few less-recent hits that I really need to finish off. I know that I could wrap up Singularity, Enslaved and Bulletstorm in a couple of hours each, but I just don’t have that sort of time anymore. And that’s not to mention deep, rich RPGs like Demon’s Souls and Valkyria Chronicles, both of which have much more to offer before I can feel comfortable putting them to rest.

And Chrono Trigger! No game has ever come close to the impact on me that Chrono Trigger did, and yet I haven’t played past the Millennial Fair on the recently-released Virtual Console version. CT is just one of those things that I need to revisit every year or two, much like Harry Potter or Calvin and Hobbes.

It’s a shame, because having that time to get deep into a videogame is so important to me. A solid single-player experience can be so intellectually enriching, much like reading a good novel.  I’ve got my hands full in other aspects of my life, but I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the importance of downtime.

That goes for older games, too. Last night I went to a mini-LAN party at my friend’s apartment. As someone who hasn’t so much as plugged his desktop into a network with other Windows-based machines since PAX 2009, it felt a little bit like going home again. A four-player local run of Left 4 Dead 2 on expert was one of the most challenging and gratifying group experiences I’ve had recently.

There’s just something weighty about LAN gaming. I think a large part of that is owed to just what a pain in the ass it is to throw a LAN event together: people have to haul desktop computers — all but a relic of the past at this point — into a shared space, troubleshoot network issues, make sure games are patched, and so on. Because there’s that base level of commitment, the cooperative spirit is deeply entrenched in the LAN environment and taking on the hardest challenges in a fiercely collaborative game like Left 4 Dead works amazingly well.

Finally, I’m spending a good deal of time trying to get my shit together when it comes to writing. I’m not going to beat around the bush: I have been a colossal disappointment on this front. We’re coming up on nearly three months with almost nothing to show for it, and as a writer, that’s pretty much a death sentence. I’m trying to find the right routine or mindset to get back on the wagon, but until I figure it out, any and all suggestions are welcome.

Doug

Doug is going to be seeing the shining neon of Tokyo and Japan again soon.

Much of what I’ve been playing has involved scratching ritual itches: Formula 1 2010, Pro Evo Soccer, NCAA Football. Time keeps on ticking, but it seems inevitable I’ll be playing some kind of racer, soccer game, or football game at any given point. But what’s this? Something new, as well? Well, at least a little new: Bayonetta.

I picked Platinum and Sega’s game back up a week ago via digital download on Xbox Live, and after crossing my fingers that it would read my existing save data, fired it back up. Nothing like jumping back into a complicated game you haven’t played in a while at the worst possible time — right before a boss. As a tangent, this is why I haven’t played Fallout 3 since it killed my last Xbox 360 — by now I have no clue where I am, how dead my character is, if it’s in a firefight, or what. Kind of a risk to take, and the re-learning curve is incredibly steep.

But I found my feet again in Bayonetta, and I remain incredibly impressed with the title. Combat is wonderfully fluid and creative, controls are weighted perfectly, and nothing is ever really taken out of your hands. Despite the difficulty, it’s more a challenge than ever really unfair; you have all the tools to kick angelic ass, and the battles are never so tough to feel overly punishing. Even jumping back in during a boss fight, I could figure out what the pattern was and then try to execute on it. The challenge was in staying alive long enough and not accidentally jumping into attacks that would kill the hell out of you. Sure, there’s a really goofy story and the aesthetic of the game is definitely Japanese, but I feel it’s much better executed in the game than if you were to get a quick glimpse from screenshots or videos.

I don’t know if it’s available direct-to-download on the PlayStation 3, but it’s all of $20 as a download on Xbox Live and can be found for a little cheaper in stores. It’s completely worth your time and money.

The other game I’ve been playing as of late is “prepare and pack to move overseas,” one that I think Tyler already has a bunch of the achievements for. I’m going to be moving to somewhere in Japan as of this August (I still don’t know where specifically, which just adds to the fun!) and though I’m worrying about things like banking and the culture clash and doing an entirely different job and what clothes I need to take, I’m also a gamer, and trying to figure out what I can take with me. Of course my Nintendo DS is going to come along for the trip — it’s region free, it’s one of the most popular systems in Japan, and I can fit all my games for it into an Altoids tin. My laptop is coming along as well. What gets tricky is when I think about my Xbox 360. Time to investigate my options, although I think I’d have to get it shipped over, because my packing options are limited.

Regardless, I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge. Hopefully it will lead to interesting stories to be related here.

Doug has hit the track again, Tyler has wound through the Mass Effect 2 DLC, and Nick has finally settled down in the great state of Texas and has time to play lots of games again. So without further ado, on to the Backlog!

Nick

This illustration is pulled straight out of Gray's Anatomy. Side note: This is also how I feel after watching Grey's Anatomy.

After what has seemed like a vast expanse of time without digital entertainment, I’m finally back in the saddle. I re-upped on my Xbox Live gold subscription and started digging into the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta test, which I’d sincerely forgotten was even underway. I bought Bulletstorm based on its own merits, after all, and given how totally disappointing Gears of War 2 was both online and off I really wasn’t all that interested in being chainsawed repeatedly by stoned twentysomethings online yet again. But I’m a man who writes about the video games, and I don’t want to shirk my responsibility. So after a quick patch download, I was running around as Marcus Fenix and digging the familiar thrill of roadie running from cement barricade to cement barricade.

Ten minutes later, I’d been slaughtered a half-dozen times and had failed to kill even a single opponent. I’m officially done with Gears of War 3′s multiplayer.

I’m not surprised, though; Gears’ multiplayer offerings have never done it for me. As a co-op shooter, though, the original Gears is largely unsurpassed even today, and I’ve got high hopes for Epic’s conclusion to the trilogy on that front.

In other news, I finally got to partake in an honest-to-goodness Rock Band night last night — the first since I moved to Austin. I can’t begin to describe how awesome an experience Rock Band is when you’ve got a few friends, a good speaker setup and plenty of beer. Absolutely unparalleled multiplayer fun. I just hope Harmonix manages to keep innovating for its next release; clearly the now-traditional formula isn’t a commercial magic bullet anymore, and frankly, I feel like Rock Band has pretty much hit its apex. Unless the next entry goes full-bore into teaching real instruments and allowing for recording, mixing and distribution of music, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of room left for development within the traditional Rock Band formula.

I’ve been flying, gliding and jet-packing my way through Pilotwings Resort‘s brief but altogether enjoyable series of challenges. At forty bucks, it’s sure not the best value out there, but it excels as a pick-up-and-play experience. I’m finding that the real meat of the game is in its free-roaming exploration mode, which has plenty of objects to track down and secrets to discover. If nothing else, it’s a very relaxing way to unwind after a long day, and the 3D effect really makes for an engrossing experience. It gives me hope for the long-term potential of the 3DS platform.

Now that PSN is back up, I’m hoping to finally purchase a few great downloadable games that I’d been holding out on, like the surprisingly excellent Might & Magic Clash of Heroes. But even without a functioning online infrastructure, I’ve still managed to have a great time playing through God of War III and engaging in a few rounds of the thoroughly brutal and incredibly satisfying Mortal Kombat.

Let’s start with God of War III. I’m nearing the end of the game, or at least I’m pretty sure I’m close to the end, because there really aren’t that many gods left to kill. I’m racking my brain and seeking out the most obscure reaches of Greek mythology, and nope — Kratos has pretty much concluded his deicidal rampage. I’m having a whole lot more fun with that game than I ever imagined possible, especially considering how lukewarm I always was on the combat in the first two. But God of War III is so smartly designed and finely tuned that I have to admit that it’s truly an excellent game. (Somewhere in Japan, Tyler just fist-pumped – Ed.) I’m glad to see such an important series go out on a high note.

As for Mortal Kombat, let’s just say that I never liked the games all that much in the first place. Sure, it was a huge deal when it first came out — everyone remembers the nudality and playable Goro rumors — but I never thought it had the polish or the replayability that made Street Fighter II so great. The violence was kinda cool, I guess, but really, Mortal Kombat was and always has been kind of a one-trick pony.

But the new Mortal Kombat? It’s actually pretty fucking fantastic.

I haven’t dug into the single-player story mode, which I hear is shockingly robust, but the pure one-on-one and tag-team versus combat is seriously top-notch stuff. Characters feel distinct and balanced, and the visuals and sound work are unparalleled in any fighting game to date. I can’t wait to pick up my own copy in the near future.

But before that happens, I’ve got a date with L.A. Noire. And of course, I’d be making a terrible mistake if I didn’t remind everyone that Chrono Trigger is coming out for the Wii’s Virtual Console today. If you’ve never played it — and really, why haven’t you? — it truly is the best 16-bit roleplaying game, and it’s perhaps my absolute favorite game ever. Trust me: If you have a Wii and eight dollars, you can’t go wrong with Chrono Trigger.

Tyler

Tyler's advice for Mass Effect 3 DLC: Attractive Aliens = Good; Autistic Cyborgs = Bad.

I’ve had a relatively busy week here and was left with very little free time. The few moments I managed to squeak in to my hectic schedule were spent putting the finishing touches on my PS3 play-through of one of this generations finest gaming experiences, Mass Effect 2. I also apologize for being late to the party, I’m usually a very punctual person, but I have finally completed the Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC packs.

The former left me rather unsatisfied. It reminded me of a more polished version of the Bring Down the Sky DLC for the first Mass Effect. I say more polished because at least with Overlord, there is some variety in the environments, but both epitomize the kind of DLC that doesn’t work in this series. They are side missions with little to no bearing on the overall stories or characters and leave little lasting impact on the narrative the player is weaving with their Commander Shepard. Also, both are chock full of vehicular combat and traversal…a style of gameplay Bioware has yet to really grasp. It’s not to say the Hammerhead hover-tank isn’t an improvement on the Mako from ME1, but it’s still not something I have any desire to spend any amount of time with.

On the other hand, Lair of the Shadow Broker might be the finest piece of new content BioWare has ever constructed for one of their games. The gameplay mirrors the multitude of recruitment and loyalty missions in the standard campaign — combat from cover, use powers, shoot bad guys — however, the story has Shepard working directly with a Liara T’soni, a teammate and potential ex-love interest from the first game. I wish we had more missions directly tying events in Mass Effect 2 to it’s predecessor because the franchise excels when there is that sense of narrative cohesion. Lair of the Shadow Broker is rewarding, not only in the context of Mass Effect 1 and 2, but because it has implications that will play a pivotal role in the final act, now due early next year.

Video games, for better or for worse, are more than something myself and the other editors and contributors of Sasquatch do in our free time. Even when we’re not playing games, we’re thinking about them, we’re reading about them and of course, writing about them. The past week-plus has been especially newsworthy, with cover stories from several different publications focused on Mass Effect 3. Ordinarily, news of a delay of the release of a highly anticipated title would perturb me, but I could not be happier about the game’s move to early 2012. There are plenty of games I’m looking forward in 2011 and besides, a Q1 release worked out rather well for Mass Effect 2. Plus, I selfishly  want BioWare to spend as much time as is economically feasible to make the end of the trilogy the satisfying conclusion it needs to be.

Doug

Doug's still digging F1 2010, despite its most famous race leaving him absolutely befuddled.

I have admit something to you guys: I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I’m still on the mother of all new-game fasts (save sipping from the iOS games trough) but L.A. Noire is about to test my patience in a major way. I’ve been a sucker for Rockstar’s games on the current gen, and the thought that it leans more toward “adventure” instead of “go fuck around in a city” is peeeeeeeeerfectly fine with me. Being a noir detective and combining GTA with Phoenix Wright sounds like exactly what I want from a game right now.

But that’s a purchase away. What I’ve been digging into, though, is returning to Formula 1 2010. One of my friends started digging in to the game and it gave me the bug to head back out to the track and work on securing my second championship. I’d been dreading heading back into the single-player career, though, because it meant facing my F1 arch-nemesis: the streets of Monte Carlo. If you’ve never seen a lap at Monaco, go take a peek at a lap from last year — a former F1 driver described racing on those narrow, twisting streets as trying to ride a bicycle in a living room.

Now I’m hardly trying to run from a challenge (I do have the difficulty cranked up pretty high) and I do think I’m pretty good at this game and racers in general (I can and will beat the AI most of the time), but damned if I just can’t get up to speed at Monaco. It’s a classic downward spiral: the narrow confines mean there’s little room for error to learn the track, so I get frustrated and can’t get faster. And because I get frustrated, I don’t even want to bother.

I contend that, in games, there’s a difference between challenge and frustration. Just at this point, Monaco tips it from one to the other. Annoying.

Also I just remembered that, even though I don’t have a ton new to play still at the moment, I still have a lot left to do in Dragon Quest IX. I think that’s going to keep me busy for a while. And while Nick is digging through God of War III, I think I might have to get back into the original. Decisions, decisions.

The Backlog is, of course, for the games we’ve been playing as of late and, ideally, games that are brand new. The cutting edge!

That’s how it turns into our Backlog being full of brand-new bangers like…um…Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Quest IX? Riiiiiiiiiight. Well. At least we’ve got things to say about these games, plus honest-to-god newer wares, too.

Anyway. To the Backlog!

Nick

Nick thinks the co-op play in Portal 2 is as revolutionary as the first game was. Science!

When you finish Portal 2, you unlock an achievement whose description is simply “That just happened.” Truer words have never been written.

The single-player portion of Portal 2 was satisfying, cleverly told and just the right length. Smartly broken up into three acts, it logically extends the formula of the first game with some clever but not altogether earth-shattering additions.

Cooperative play is where things get downright revolutionary. Introducing two players and four portals is as mind-bending as the original Portal experience was, and the way GLaDOS taunts you and your partner’s friendship is wonderfully evil. I have yet to finish it, but it’s not for lack of wanting to. I’m just afraid of spoiling such a rare and inspired experience by rushing through it.

I’m on a short trip out to California this weekend so I won’t be playing many games, but I am planning on wrapping up both Puzzle Agent and Sword and Sworcery while airborne. To look back at the iPhone just three years ago and realize just how far it’s come in terms of hardware capability and ingenuity of software design — hell, there wasn’t even an App Store three years ago! — puts in perspective just how incredible a market mobile gaming has become.

Tyler

Fortunately, the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 comes with the DLC, so Tyler wasn't left out in the cold with PSN down.

I’ve been playing video games for nearly twenty years now. It’s been longer if you count the times when my babysitter brought over her Sega Master System or when I visited my cousins with their NES. I’ve owned more than a dozen consoles, and I don’t even want to consider how many titles I’ve played. I’ve long since understood that as far as entertainment goes, games are an imperfect medium. At a young age, especially when we were playing on cartridges, it was easy to think of games less as software and more as toys. However, these days when games are burned on to discs or downloaded and when your console’s value can be determined in gigabytes of storage and is expected to connect to the internet, the lines between a computer and a game console have blurred. And of course, where you have software, you’re bound to have bugs, glitches and other such impediments.

In the previous Backlog I mentioned years ago I built my own PC and played many a PC game. Two of my favorites were the much-revered Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment. I loved those games, and they were likely the first western-style role-playing games I truly adored. But oh, did I ever have problems with them. In addition to difficulties that came with my Frankenstein machine, both titles were just generally broken games that, while fun, had problems. These ranged from the minor (such as textures failing to appear and party members clipping through environments) to the major (the entire game crashing, corrupted save files). When I think back on those games, though, it’s not frustration but nostalgia.

This week’s PSN-is-down coping mechanism is another BioWare game, the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2. It’s still my favorite game of 2010, repackaged with a little extra polish and most of the DLC I missed out on. The port is not without its downsides, however. The motion comic Mass Effect: Genesis that comes with the PSN variant of the Cerberus Network is a less-than-adequate substitute for actually playing the first Mass Effect and transferring your save. The decisions are extremely limited, but the larger issue is that the few that existed were borked in my play-through. The way NPCs referenced my actions in the previous act in the series made it sound like an episode of TV’s Fringe with my Shepard moving between two parallel universes with completely different choices. Sometimes Kaiden would be alive, sometimes Ashley; maybe I saved the council, maybe I didn’t. It was frustrating in a game I love so greatly for the ability to craft your own personal continuity.

The worst part was that I wasn’t fully aware how serious the issue was until roughly twelve hours into the game. Luckily, despite PSN being down, game updates can still be issued if your PS3 has a network connection; the recent patch ended the parallel universes and brought my Shepard back to normalcy in a right-thinking universe where Kaiden is very much dead.

With the complexity of games, size of development teams and expectations of consumers rising each year, the issue of bugs or glitches in games is likely only going to get worse. And I hate to be the cynic, but I think it may be poor judgment to assume that PSN’s recent woes will be the last time one of the major online infrastructures goes down. Might this be the longest and most severe? Possibly, lord knows I hope so, but it would be foolish to say this is the end of outages for these services. The number of people playing games online globally is only going to rise, as will the bandwidth demands on games and networks, and of course there will always be hackers. I wouldn’t ask anyone to forgive Sony but this is, has been and always will be a medium with flaws.

And I love it, warts and all.

Doug

Doug's gone back to the world of Dragon Quest IX, and wonders why he ever left.

A funny thing happened to me this week: I ran my DS Lite’s battery almost all the way down. At the very least, I ran it down to the point where the light went from green to red and I had to madly scramble and remember where the charger wound up. For one reason or another, I’ve always liked the idea of handheld gaming much more than the actual execution; the time I used my DS the most was in college, where it pulled double-duty as a Japanese-English dictionary. When you have a couple of consoles sitting there hooked up to the TV, why bother with the little Nintendo handheld? I guess it’s the same reason why we bother with any of these consoles — because it has some damn good games.

Without much left uncovered on the 360, I started playing a couple of my DS games again. I’ve been intending to get back into Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for ages, and that’s definitely been fun. The gameplay is incredibly well-balanced and fun, but man, it’s kind of frustrating dying at the boss and having to go through the entire dungeon all over again. And since I’ve never gotten past that first dungeon, it feels like Groundhog Day in the worst possible way.

So I jumped back over to Dragon Quest IX, a game that…yes, kicked me back to town if I lost against the boss. Funny, that. I raved about this game last summer when I bought it and dumped some time into it, but after getting stuck and needing to level up, down it went and it became forgotten. I gave it another shot after seeing it still in my DS when I loaded up Zelda, and also listening to a recent 8-4 Play podcast where the discussion of Dragon Quest’s English translation re-sparked my interest.

Regardless, I’ve probably played it ten hours this week, gotten through three or four dungeons and bosses, and unraveled the story even moreso. I know the story isn’t exactly the point of DQIX, but I’m enjoying it, despite the awkwardly silent protagonist (and that giving him my name makes him stand out in the Celestrian world). However, the combat system has started to open up, even as I realize that it’s going to keep going forever. My characters are right around level 20, and that’s on their first jobs, too, so I’m going to be involved with this for a while.

Between the simple yet fun combat system, the charming Dragon Quest aesthetic and the surprisingly touching story, I’m hooked. I’m even thinking about taking the dive and picking up Dragon Quest VIII soon, though I think I should finish one before starting another up.

Aaron

Aaron's not sure if Metro 2033 is going to be any good, but it was on sale so he didn't think to hard about it.

All I had time for this week was a few minutes, maybe a brief hour, of Portal 2. And no: I still haven’t finished it.

But the following three days will be productive. I plan to spend those precious hours of not-work going through my ever-increasing tower of videogames. Be it Portal 2, Dragon Age II, Metro 2033, Crysis 2, DJ Hero 2 or the handful of smaller add-ons and expanded content I’ve purchased on a whim over the last month, I’m going to get shit done. I want my plate to be cleared and squeaky clean by the time L.A Noire launches in a little over a week.

Now if someone could stop making me purchase things on Steam, I’d be in your debt. Sometimes having a little extra spending money is a total drag. And man do I ever look American/white/middle class for writing that.

Aaron and Tyler have each crafted ingenius methods to deal with PSN being down, while Doug has continued to play old games because that’s what you do with limited resources. Of course, this being life, not everything has gone perfectly well, but to say any more would spoil the fun!

And with that, to the Backlog!

Aaron

Aaron honest-to-god accidentally bought this game in his sleep. Seriously. Doesn't make Section 8 any better, though.

What a week. I had a schedule shift at work, which meant that I had three days off, worked two days and then had another three days to relax. I love it when computer-based schedules cause strange occurrences like that.

I’ve been in a holding pattern with Portal 2, mostly due to the ongoing PSN debacle. Eventually I will finish the singleplayer game I began on my console, and even though nothing involving the mega-hack is preventing me from doing that I just don’t feel like turning on my PS3 right now.  When I look at that console, I feel very let down.

Yet I haven’t stopped playing those silly ol’ vidyagames. On Tuesday I picked up DJ Hero 2 at Toys ‘R’ Us for $19.99. What a beautiful deal — it even came with the turntable!

So far I’m very impressed at how the second DJ Hero is presented, which is as an accessible and polished rhythm game not caught up in the overburdened feature set common to the contemporary Rock Band and Guitar Hero titles. I’m not an expert on a lot of electro/trance/techno-pop, but the soundtrack is diverse while being recognizable. It’s also an easy-to-learn-yet-nigh-impossible-to-master experience for the halfhearted fake music game enthusiast like myself.

And in an astonishing newsflash filed under “Aaron is fucking stupid,” I fell asleep this past Monday evening all delicately (and dare I say sexily) sprawled on my bed, unaware of the mischief that would soon ensue. At some point during my slumber I managed to roll onto my Xbox 360 controller, turn on the console and, using some unknown appendages, purchase Section 8: Prejudice from one of the dashboard’s promotional windows.

I woke up an hour later and heard the console purring away — the hard drive processing all its new, bullshit data. When I saw my 1600 points had dwindled to 400…I flipped. Then I tried playing the game, and flew into a deeper rage. Apparently no one told all of the bromigo fans of Halo and Call of Duty that they shouldn’t waste their years studying programming and game development to make a horrible, bastard clone of said franchises.

Section 8: Prejudice is so, so bad.

Like…really bad.

Doug

Previously, this was about as far as Doug got playing through Link to the Past. Clearly, this needs to be rectified.

Some weeks you don’t do much gaming at all. Other times, you play the hell out of just one game. This week, though, I’ve been all over the proverbial board, playing a wide range of games.

Most of this week’s contributions can be found here, in the LIGHTNING ROUND *thunder clap sounds* Retrospective Overdrive article. I plan to do this at least once more, FYI, so please send any suggestions you may have in to the proper authorities. I don’t want to be too redundant but man, the early Sonic the Hedgehog games are still damn fun to play. I may love Sonic 2 over the others thanks to nostalgia, but they’re just flat-out great games. Hard to complain there.

I’m also making good on the promise to finally legitimately dig into Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Now if I can only survive making a run through the East Palace I’ll be farther into that game than I’ve ever been. It’s a fantastic playing game so far, I can’t imagine how fun it will be once more abilities open up.

However, this week has also been a bit frustrating. In doing research for that article, I surfed my way down a k-hole and wound up trying to set up MAME on my computer. Or, rather, to get MAME to behave on my computer. I’m hardly inexperienced running emulators, but this felt like trying to work on an Italian car or something else that blends frustration with confusion. To finalize the comparison, I think my computer even had an electrical fire.

Okay, so maybe that’s a lie. But still, once I figured out what the stupid thing wanted me to try and do things got a bit better, but then the emulator wouldn’t read some of my games? Oi. I’ve since thrown all those files in the bin but I’d like to start fresh again eventually.

Lastly, in further news regarding frustrations, I tried to get a copy of the Utopia boot disc for Dreamcast working. All I succeeded in doing was turning three perfectly good CD-Rs into coasters. I know there are some tricks to doing this via OS-X, but dang, I just want that to work. If anyone can lend some expertise, I promise this is for a good (and legal!) cause. If you know your Sasquatch history, you might be able to figure out why I’d be looking to get this working…any help will be repaid with effusive praise for your efforts on our site.

Tyler

Pictured above is Tyler's Destroyer, Charles, and his faithful canine companion, Barkley. That's not turrible!

There was a good five years of my life I might have classified myself as a ‘PC Gamer’. I built my own machine, went to LAN parties (remember those?) and preached the superiority of mouse and keyboard controls over joypads. During that same period, however, in my vocabulary RPG still referred to Final Fantasy and while I experimented (like we all do at that age) with Forgotten Realms games such as Icewind Dale, none of them really stuck with me. My friends and I mostly rotated between Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament and the occasional game of Starcraft. Unfortunately, I’m terrible at real-time strategy games in general so my first exposure to Blizzard’s triage of PC franchises left a sour taste in my mouth so I stayed with shooters.

The last time I lived in Japan was the end of my PC gaming days. I couldn’t afford to keep my machine up to date with the latest parts and games, and I needed a laptop for a summer study abroad program I was enrolled in at Nihon University in Tokyo. A friend was nice enough to loan me his Powerbook G4. For those unfamiliar with Apple’s history, this was before they switched to Intel processors, so Boot Camp and Windows were not an option. My only gaming outlets for that summer were my Gameboy Advance SP and the Blizzard games my friend had previously installed on his computer. This is where my love for Diablo II began.

In retrospect, I think it might be the same factor that hooks me in achievements or trophies badges that appeals to me about the Diablo style of games. It is of course naturally dependent on how you play and on what difficulty level, but these games are never about story or strategy. Watching someone else play, it appears terribly tedious. It just looks like you’re clicking the mouse…a lot. No, these games are all about one word: loot. Most of it’s imitators adapted the Diablo-esque color-coded system of item classification: common drops are white, enhanced are green, rare are purple and uniques are orange. Similar to Sony’s tiered trophies and Microsoft’s point-value achievements, it’s easy to deduce value. It becomes even more rewarding when you can see the equipment on your miniature avatar slicing or spell-casting their way through the hordes. These are constant reminders of your progression. Once hooked, a player can spend literally hundreds of hours playing through these games and never feel the tedium because of that constant sense of achievement and the thought that you’re always just five minutes away from finishing a quest, leveling up, or getting enough gold for that next weapon.

With the PlayStation Network down, rather than rage against Sony, hackers and the world *cough* Aaron, I took the opportunity to jump into some old Steam-Play games I have on my MacBook. Runic Games’ Torchlight is the latest Diablo-style RPG to sink it’s teeth into me. Though to call it Diablo-like is being modest, Torchlight is essentially bargain-brand Diablo. Granted, it at least has authenticity as original Blizzard team members started Runic, but the title’s imitation could not be more blatant. With no release date currently given for Diablo III, however, I don’t mind the plagiarism; in fact I welcome it. Torchlight scratches the itch for a loot-focused RPG cilck-a-thon in all the right places. The only ways it is lacking should be fulfilled in the sequel, which is set for release this summer: these shortcomings include co-op play, new classes and some more variety in towns and characters. I still hope the troubles facing PSN will be adequately resolved soon but in the meantime I just need one more level before I can equip these boots.

Happy Easter! Or, in particularly snarky corners of The Internet, Zombie Jesus Day! We’ve got Tyler back again extolling the virtues of digital downloads, Nick and Aaron digging into Portal 2, and Doug still playing innkeeper and digital tyrant. So without further ado, to the backlog!

Tyler

Tyler thinks Split/Second is one heck of a successor to Burnout: Paradise, even if racing down the side of the Space Needle is a little disconcerting.

When I left the U.S. thirteen months ago, I was a fan of the trend of full retail games being released digitally on consoles, either via Microsoft’s Xbox Games on Demand or on Sony’s PlayStation Network Store. For me, it was a combination of laziness and convenience — no changing discs and no shelf space taken up by game boxes. One year later, however, I it’s essential and, I think, the future of how we acquire and consume games.

It’s difficult for me to keep up on the latest games. For starters, the vast majority of games released here are (obviously) predominantly in Japanese. My language skills are at best conversational and I’m not close to being fully literate. Also for western titles it can take months for games to reach our shores, just like the days of waiting for Japanese SNES & PS1 titles to be localized. Worst of all, game pricing here is market-driven, without standard $59.99 pricing. If your game is more popular, you command a higher price point. Accounting for exchange rates, Call of Duty: Black Ops new is nearly $100, and that isn’t even for the ‘Hardened’ edition.

For these reasons I’m excited when a game I’ve been meaning to play becomes available digitally. It can be difficult with regional issues (especially Steam and PSN hating my credit cards for some odd reason) now that I’ve changed continents, but work-arounds can be found. Split/Second hit PSN recently for the very reasonable price of $29.99, which was a no-brainer for me.

I enjoyed the demo of Split/Second last summer but was wary of the final product. Black Rock Studio’s previous title, arcade-racer Pure, had major issues with rubber-band A.I. This issue still plagues Split/Second, as do other glaring flaws that would turn me off from any other racing title, but in the context of the mechanics they don’t bother me nearly as much here.

Split/Second puts you in a world that is Michael Bay’s wet dream playing host to a car-centric reality show. Every track is ridden with explosives to disrupt your fellow racers, and when you get bored of being a thorn in their side you can ratchet things up a little bit. You can trigger events like getting chased down by a missile-laden helicopter or passing trucks dropping combustible barrels. This mechanic is Mario Kart’s blue shell given a more realistic analog, allowing racers in the back to catch up more easily. It works without being as aggravating as in Mario Kart, though.

So far I feel Split/Second is a better Burnout Paradise successor than developer Criterion’s own Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The game is more focused on fun and destructibility than realistic car modeling. I had assumed some of the explosions and course changes would become tired after a few races on the same track, but there is strong enough variety in placements that it has yet to stop being exciting and it becomes even more of a blast online. However, presumably due to the title’s age, the number of players in the ranks online is dwindling.

Anyone with a desire to drive fast and blow up urban centers (and anyone that’s ever been stuck in mid-day traffic who has wanted to do both at the same time) should definitely give Split/Second a try.

Nick

Nick's been diving into the bloodiness of God of War III. Somewhere outside of Tokyo, Tyler's shouting "I told you so!"

Let’s sing the praises of Portal 2, but let’s also be quick about it; there’s plenty to discuss today.

Like any other game made by Valve, Portal 2 should be expected to be more clever and thoughtfully designed than 99% of the games on the market. All I really think needs to be said at this point is that Portal 2 is unmistakably a Valve game. I’m halfway through the game, and while I’m disappointed with the brain-dead simplicity of the game’s first few chapters, I’m trying to remind myself that the best is (theoretically) yet to come.

I’ve been playing on PlayStation 3, naturally, because I wanted two copies for the price of one. Steamworks integration on a closed, proprietary console network has some huge effing implications for the games industry, but that’s the sort of speculation that’s best saved for a lengthier analysis written by an author who isn’t running on just five hours of sleep.

The PlayStation 3 has been getting a fair bit of love lately, actually. My roommate is a diehard soccer fan, and for the past week or so he’s spent a couple hours per day deep within FIFA 11, driving the Seattle Sounders from relative obscurity to, um, something better. Let’s go with partial obscurity. Maybe a hardcore Western European soccer fan in the theoretical FIFA universe will have heard of the Sounders after he takes down LA Galaxy.

I’m not sure how soccer works.

But I do know God of War! And now that I’m finally playing God of War III, the most ultimate and final of all the God of Wars, I can say with confidence that this is one God of War-ass God of War game. Yes, that’s a tired joke — but so is God of War.

This final chapter in the Kratos cycle has bombast and dismemberment in droves. In other words, it’s a game that sets out to do one thing — to enable the player to just royally fuck shit up — and it is an incontrovertible success. But it’s still riddled with the same design problems and painfully hackneyed writing as before. I’ve been pretty vocal about my ambivalence toward the God of War series for its inability to fully nail either an epic story or a deep and rewarding combat system, but the experiences have been presented with such brilliance that I can’t totally fault them.

Anyway. The PlayStation 3 is all well and good, but you know what’s even cooler? Finally having a new PC build that isn’t just barely enough to run Age of Conan. (Remember that game?) I just upgraded to a quad-core i5 processor with a GTX460 video card and 8 gigs of RAM. I’m currently installing Crysis in the hopes that I’ll finally, finally be able to try it.

But while running a game from 2007 is a noble enough goal, my primary reason for upgrading ought to be obvious to anyone who knows me. Battlefield 3 is on the horizon, and I fully intend to be getting my squad-leader mode on with the best of them.

Doug

Doug's games of Civilization Revolution look much the same. Except, however, when it's time for a comp stomp.

Here’s a surprising thing: Nick’s been playing soccer games and I haven’t! Actually, in all honesty, I haven’t been playing all that much this week. At least, nothing new — beyond figuring out how to break Hot Springs Story, I’ve been engaging in another breakable-yet-fun strategy game, Civilization Revolution.

A moment on Hot Springs Story: If you were a fan of Game Dev Story, well, it’s very similar. However, the ramp and path through a play-through of the game is a lot different, and a lot more based on moving from targeted client sector to targeted client sector, unlocking new pieces for your ryokan and figuring out how they go together. It’s a little old school in that the game hints toward combinations of rooms around your hot springs doing things, but never explicitly says what to do; however, experimentation yields rewards. Also, try to avoid your hot spring looking like a rabbit warren at all costs. It’s inefficient.

In a certain way, Civ Rev is much the same — an enjoyable grind that, if you’ve beaten it before, provides comfort in getting through the steps. Or, on higher difficulties, a challenge to reach those goals. And a good challenge it is! But sometimes you just want to go out and squish ants, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m writing this as my world conquering continues unabated, my Spanish empire beating out India, Germany and the U.S. to conquer the whole world. And after a rough day, don’t you just want to take over the world sometimes? I desperately need a computer that can run Civilization IV and V, because I need to upgrade to the hard stuff post-haste.

Sword and Sworcery is now out for the iPhone. Should I buy that? I think I might have to.

Lastly, I’m going to embark on a dangerous, strange journey of gaming this coming week. It should prove for an interesting Retrospective Overdrive article soon. Secrets!

Aaron

Aaron thinks this is quite funny!

Much has been said about Portal 2 already, so I won’t rehash Nick’s words with additional input. But the one thing I do want to point out is that the sequel makes me laugh out loud — very hard. Valve sure knows how to write.

Otherwise, I hate to be the wet blanket but I haven’t played enough this week to contribute a hefty block of text to this ol’ log. Apart from Portal, my entertainment input focused on going to the movies to see Scream 4, which was expectedly cheesy, finishing book six of The Dark Tower series and playing another chapter in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with some pals.

Usually the turn of phrase “let’s play two” comes about for baseball — specifically for a double header. Kind of fitting, then, for the Portland Timbers, who opened the newly renovated Jeld-Wen Field in front of an international TV audience for the first ever home MLS game. After all, JWF (née Civic Stadium) was primarily thought of as a baseball field for a long time. Also kind of fitting because the Timbers get two home games in four days, since we’re hosting Dallas on Sunday.

Of course I won’t get the chance to actually see the new park for a while since I’m, you know, busy. Busy preparing Backlogs! Tyler joins the fray again this week, Aaron has been digging into Pokémon and back into New Vegas, Nick is contemplating some new computer parts, and Doug is burning iPhone battery on another Kairosoft game.

Onward to the (sizable) Backlog!

Aaron

Aaron wonders if ghouls, like Dean Domino here, have a hard time smoking because their lips are melted into their faces.

In the time since my last Backlog was written, things have managed to settle down. I’ve even aged by a year, thanks to a certain birthdate — 25 is the new 24, according to my sources (read: myself). The best news this week is that I don’t feel so guilty or, to a greater extent, flat-out sad for registering myself on the official Pokémon website. I can attribute some of this newfound confidence to the launch of the Pokémon Global Link on Wednesday of this week —mayhaps a justification for my downward spiral. The dreamworld portion of the website is essentially a glorified Flash game, but many rewards may be reaped in the form of rare Pokémon not obtainable in Black and White (I befriended a Ponyta and imported it back into my cartridge to capture it, and what’s more is it had special abilities!).

The content is robust, for what it is. Players are limited to an hour of play each day on the website, which I assume is to discourage a cheating or exploitation of the system by amassing too many free Pokémon and items. In my first hour of using the Global Link I uploaded my sleeping Clefairy, checked out my dream-house, planted some berries, explored the forest and browsed a catalogue of furniture and decor for said house. It’s all very novel, if not extremely childish and aimed squarely at the most devoted (and obsessive compulsive) fans, and for a free addition to an already packed-to-the-rafters game I can’t complain. And Nintendo was very smart to promise that special Pokémon may be obtained through its Web service; that way we players can keep grabbing at the carrot it has tied to its very lucrative stick.

Aside from my adventures in Unova, I took it upon myself to complete Fallout: New Vegas’ first expansion, Dead Money. Clocking in at around five hours’ worth of gameplay, it ranks up there with the longest of Fallout 3′s expansion packs (i.e., Broken Steel). Thankfully, Dead Money was a suspenseful and creative romp from Obsidian, and it didn’t have to rely on tossing purchasers some powerful weaponry to justify its cost (hello, Operation: Anchorage). What transpires is unfortunately not the videogame adaptation of film classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but is instead a tomb raiding of apocalyptic proportions. The ever-unlucky Courier, lured into a trap by a siren’s voice floating upon the airwaves of the Mojave, has been enslaved by an old man frothing with insanity and determined to loot the contents of a hermetically sealed pre-war casino of legend, the Sierra Madre. Perhaps the marketing for the expansion was skewed, because I didn’t expect the first New Vegas DLC to be so good. I bought it primarily because of a Live Marketplace sale the other week, and once I finally tried it out I wasn’t disappointed. Even the normal $10 price would have been worth the experience — an experience that educates you on how royally fucked-up, demented and inspired the writers of New Vegas are. If you liked the core game, get Dead Money. It’s damn clever. And don’t we all play these Fallout games expressly for the compelling stories they tell long after the gratification of scavenging for caps and bullets has soured?

So I’m playing Crysis 2 right now, as I type. I’m probably two-and-a-half hours in, and what’s there is exciting enough. I haven’t touched the multiplayer yet, but the campaign is keeping my interest. From what I’ve seen it’s exactly what I wanted: sci-fi action mixed with customizable tactical options and a fun hook (i.e., the nanosuit powers). I’m withholding judgment for now, but so far I’m feeling positive about Crytek’s latest FPS.

Lastly, I spent some quality time playing Forza Motorsport 3 last night with a friend. We set up custom races, played various modes like cat and mouse and tag infection, and had a great time overall. Which is why I felt awful that I hadn’t touched this polished racer (and faithful mainstay in Doug’s Xbox disc tray) since December. Maybe it’s all the Pokémon messing with my melon, but after leveling my car level alongside my driver level and then collecting more cars to achieve a balanced lineup for each respective class of car, I’m convinced Forza is the adult, manly version of Pokémon. Do with that statement what you will, because I’m very cool with the comparison — and the similarities.

Doug

Doug says if you can't appreciate the finer details of running a Japanese hot springs then he just doesn't know what to say

Oh god, it’s happening again. I’m addicted to another Kairosoft iOS game. After I was forced to lock Game Dev Story behind lock and key because of its addictive nature (just take a gander at the review here), I can fully blame Tyler for getting me hooked to the developer’s follow-up, Hot Springs Story. Thanks for telling me it was on sale, asshole! It is exactly what it sounds like: You’re in charge of taking a Japanese hot springs inn from the small time to being the best in all of Japan, while also improving the status of your inn’s hometown all throughout. It’s a game about making the right investments and planning, and while obviously similar to its predecessor, it’s also more nuanced, which is a refreshing break. It also drove me down past 25 percent of battery life yesterday, which is unreal.

I might also pop back in with Game Dev Story because it’s added Game Center and achievements. For what it’s worth, I’m currently sitting 40th in the world in capital through year 20 in the game. Yeah, I think I broke the game, but I started fresh because precious few of the achievements unlocked retroactively.

Also spent some time racing online in Forza 3, though not to great success. It was a series put on by one of the guys on the forum I’ve been on forever, all in the same sorts of car (the Australian V8 Supercar racers that are in the game), and I resoundingly stunk it up and lost focus. I couldn’t get higher than 6th place in any of the races, thanks to a combo of not having great setups on the car and driving poorly.

Aaron’s right, though — games like Forza and GT are totally Pokémon for adults. Collecting cars, styling and upgrading them the way you want, trading with friends, then unleashing them for battle…yep, sounds just like it.

Playing a little bit of the games mentioned in my Street Fighter retrospective has been fun, too. Need to keep practicing and improving!

Nick

Nick wants to have fun with science, but his gaming PC needs an upgrade. Time to raid Newegg!

It’s been another gameless week, thanks to the (mostly) welcome intervention of the real world. But just because I haven’t been playing much doesn’t mean I’ve stopped thinking about games. On the contrary! With Portal 2 out on Tuesday, I’ve just ordered Steam to reinstall the original Portal for one last run-through. But as it turns out, my PC just isn’t much for gaming anymore.

The last time I upgraded a few components was in early 2008, and the other half of this machine was assembled in 2005. At both junctures I was pretty low on money, which means this machine has only been a mid-level performer at its absolute best moments. And with games like Battlefield 3 on the horizon, I’ve started to get the itch to throw together a bundle of new components on Newegg. I miss the thrill of gutting my trusty Antec Sonata case like a tauntaun and filling it up with shiny new components.

I’ve got a pretty solid build ready to go. I just need to pull the trigger. So much pressure.

Tyler

Tyler thinks that Dissida 012 Duodecim can be pretty blatant in its fanservice but that doesn't exclude it from being an enjoyable experience, especially in short bursts.

This was the first full week of my new job as a private high school teacher in the Kanto region of Japan. Prestigious as it may sound, the position comes with its own set of drawbacks, the most glaring being that I work at nine campuses and each day requires long, grueling commutes. I am far from alone in this, however; if you heard that portable systems are the most popular platform for new games in Japan, this is why. Every day I see dozens of children, teenagers and adults alike with DSes and PSPs. It took a little while to overcome my uniquely American sense of shame for playing video games in public, but I’ve started bringing my PSP to work, and the title I’ve been playing lately is Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy.

Yes, that is the full title, and yes, it is only the first sequel.

Blame it on our culture, our parents or whatever else, but for young boys the most existential debate you can have is, “Who would win in a fight?” My dad or your dad? Superman or Thor? Ninja Turtles or Thundercats? These are endless debates. There is no universal truth to be had, so it’s not a debate we ever truly grew out of once we became adults. If you’re looking for proof you only need look as far as the popular franchise move in pop-fiction, the crossover. Characters from different worlds meet and more likely than not fight. In the medium of video games this handily translates into, well, fighting games. Capcom has been doing this for well over a decade now, partnering Marvel and Capcom many times. Super Smash Bros. from Nintendo is a similar concept, and it leads to gamers to wonder when we might see similar titles from other major developers.

Square-Enix is, of course, best known for the Final Fantasy series. This entire franchise was ripe for “Who would win?” disputes, as each installment is a self-contained story featuring only the most tenuous of franchise ties. This finally happened with the first Dissida title two years ago on the PSP. Two gods, Cosmos & Chaos (guess which one is evil!) are competing for control of the universe, and they have each summoned champions from several worlds to compete on their behalf. Each side features the recognizable protagonists and antagonists of the primary Final Fantasy games. There is some grey area when it comes to some characters like Jecht from FFX or Kain from FFIV, but for the most part the lines are clearly drawn.

The game plays like a hybrid of Smash Bros., Power Stone and a standard fighting game with RPG-esque elements, like equipment. You likely won’t see it being played at EVO anytime soon but it can be enjoyable when you’re not being dragged through the token long and melodramatic cutscenes. I’m not very far in at this point, but the most frustrating aspect for me is that while I transferred my progress from it’s predecessor, Duodecim forces me to start the game as one of the new heroes, Lightning of Final Fantasy XIII. Needless to say, she’s not exactly my favorite new addition. I’m hoping like the last Dissida title (and perhaps every Final Fantasy), it becomes significantly more enjoyable once it opens up.

I really dropped the ball on this one, guys. Everything was all ready to go well ahead of schedule last week but I just never got around to compiling the damn thing and getting it out the door. I sincerely apologize; I take this stuff seriously, and I’m still trying to figure out how to balance work and free time.

There’s another Backlog dropping within the next 48 hours, but hopefully this one won’t appear too stale in comparison.

Let’s just get right to it: Aaron and Doug have some great stuff to share, and I’ve got this bangin’ new 3DS to talk about. Baller.

Aaron

In The Road, Viggo Mortensen turns in a moving performance as a recent journalism graduate looking for work

In The Matrix, Morpheus told a bewildered Neo that he would show him just how deep the rabbit-hole goes when the latter found out his once perceived reality was actually a trick to keep his body feeding the machines. We all remember this scene: Two pills were presented, one red and the other blue. Neo chose to leap down that hole without hesitation, and his fate — really, his destiny — was sealed thereafter.

On Thursday, April 7th, I took my own red pill. Pokémon has infected me…has made me doubt my own existence like Neo did. I’m fucked, and absolutely down the rabbit-hole.

Why the melodrama? Well, I’m now an officially registered member of the Pokémon website. I’ve made my own trainer avatar, and used the coins I earned playing the “Play to Befriend a Pokémon” Flash game (which promises to bequeath upon me one of the seven Eevee evolutions if I reach the fourth level) to purchase new outfits and, um, animated scenes for my avatar.

Yep.

The only reason why I’d stoop so low is because I’m preparing myself for the most exciting, most next-generation feature of Black and White: the Pokémon Global Link. It’s been pushed back to an undetermined date in response to the continuing natural disasters striking Japan on a daily basis. Wait: A company would deny millions of children (and adults) an integral aspect of their latest mega-hit to help conserve energy after nationwide destruction of life and property? Respect, Nintendo. Respect.

Whenever the Global Link does show up I’ll be able to earn special Pokemon and items and fight real trainers online with my kick-ass team. The Global Link has all the charm of a schoolyard at lunchtime, but without the social implications of a 24-year-old man hanging around children on school property to trade and battle with his Poké-peers.

I didn’t believe that the fifth generation of Pokemon games were going to hold my interest past the sixth gym battle, but I’ve been proven wrong — and I’m ecstatic about that. Sometimes I feel like it’s 1998 all over again.

Also, I bought my first Blu-Ray movie this week. For $14.99 I couldn’t pass on The Road, which I thought was a beautifully poignant take on Cormac McCarthy’s dreary-as-all-hell novel. Does my purchase mean I’m finally ready to live in the high definition future? Is there now but a small step over the cliff into the churning sea of 3D television? Will I ever get a smartphone?

Unlikely as that all is (even though I bought Infinity Blade for my nonexistent iPhone when it was on sale last month), I’m probably going to pick up TRON Legacy on Blu-Ray after my next paycheck. Fuck that movie looked good, and Daft Punk’s soundtrack has to be the best film score I’ve ever heard.

Doug

Despite being one of the world's most famous political figures, and one driven by non-violence to boot, Gandhi always seems to be a dick in Civilization games.

There’s a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.” And whether that relates to major parts of your life or something as frivolous as one’s gaming habits, it’s something I’m better at espousing than actually following. However, with nothing to do but figure out how I must change and improve myself, I might as well give it a try in relation to this site and my gaming habits.

I guess that’s a more high-brow way of restating the impetus behind my current Retrospective Overdrive shenanigans. In this way, I’m trying to make gaming fun and interesting for me again, and try to rediscover the past, both my own and gaming’s. And you know what? It’s working, to a certain extent. I’m still booking time in Forza 3 and on other games on my 360, but I’ve also powered my Dreamcast on for the first time in a while and gone through a couple of my favorite games. A couple can’t be mentioned because I want to do Retrospective pieces and announcing that would spoil the fun, but a couple were just for fun. Crazy Taxi is just as batshit crazy as ever, but it’s a shame the Xbox Live and PSN re-release had some of the licensed content cut and put out at too high a price point. For $5, it’d be a scream with leaderboard support, but anything higher is too expensive. Plus, frankly, it’s not Crazy Taxi if I don’t have The Offspring and Bad Religion greeting me.

You know what other game has survived the test of time pretty well? Soul Calibur. As if I needed more reason to wish I’d bought that damn Dreamcast arcade stick in Tokyo for $2, picking that game up again provides me yet another. Best 3D fighter of all time? Best system launch title of all time? Certainly has my vote in both areas. Might have to do more of a write-up on this game soon.

So, in short, I promise to play more old games — even just in short bursts — to provide me with more reason to write and more articles to publish on the site. Productivity is a habit learned.

Nick

It's like that.

What can I say about the Nintendo 3DS? The only thing most people care about is whether it works, and I’m happy to report that it totally does. The 3D effect is pretty impressive, the button layout is solid, the GUI is fantastic and the feature set is strong for the first iteration of a new system. In other words, everything is there for a smash success. All that’s missing is the software library.

I picked up Pilotwings Resort along with my 3DS, fully cognizant of its less-than-stellar reception but driven to a purchase by raw nostalgia. It’s Pilotwings, but it feels pretty spartan compared to previous games in the series. With only three vehicles available (although I’ve heard more are unlockable eventually) and a relatively small open world to explore (by today’s standards, anyhow,) it’s not doing much to keep me coming back. But because it leverages the 3D effect and control scheme pretty well, it makes for an excellent system showcase. So that’s why I’ve sunk so many hours into it already; it’s not much of a game on its own, but it lets the 3DS really shine.

Oh, and I got Pokémon White, and it’s the first Pokémon game to hold my attention past the third gym since Blue and Red. That’s about as ringing an endorsement of a Pokémon game as you’ll ever get from me, so go pick that ish up.

Former Chairman of the Fed Alan Greenspan knows what things are worth. And he doesn't think this Backlog is worth much, apparently.

Dig into our writing and you’ll find the editors of Silicon Sasquatch are a value-oriented breed. As we’ve explained many times before, we buy the games we review and only rarely are we sent review copies from the developers and publishers themselves. Which is O.K. — we know our clout hasn’t developed enough to afford the more lavish side of videogame journalism and blogging: free crap.

But we’ve made do with what we have, and each time a game is dissected and discussed there’s always an element of the worth of that product. That value assessment is approached in a multitude of ways; we might be looking at the cost of a DLC pack one day and judging the necessity of a sequel the next. Worthiness is a hard concept to grasp because it means so many things to people, especially when it comes to videogames.

So read this week’s Backlog as us making statements on three things: downloadable content, pay walls and sequels. These are important, modern issues in today’s software marketplace, and topics I’d like us to revisit in length down the road. However, we’ll make do with skimming the surface for now.

Doug:

Mass Effect 2's Arrival DLC: More interesting than it is fun and good

It’s been a light week for gaming. What can I say? These things go in ebbs and tides, and between not buying much and not taking the time to play anything I already have, I don’t have a ton to report back on.

I did download and play through the Mass Effect 2: Arrival DLC pack. My thoughts are here, but the long and short of it? Arrival has value because it’s the DLC pack that sets the story up for Mass Effect 3. I love that it gave me a really good reason to put my ME2 disc back in, but as DLC, it’s a little bit of a let-down. Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker were both so much better.

Other than that, it’s been the usual staples for me: soccer, racing, football. I’m actually doing races in Forza 3 again instead of just screwing around with creating cars, and I think I’m going to start racing online again starting next week, so a few hours getting setups nailed in might be in order. In a strange, roundabout way, starting to learn how to prepare cars up to drift has taught me a fair bit about suspension setups; even though it’s a very different discipline, reading about the interplay of shock, damper and sway bar settings provides some good ideas for more traditional circuit racing.

Also, this isn’t strictly related to games I played this week, but this week’s Giant Bombcast provided some absolute gems. I damn near pissed my pants and crashed my car on I-5 at the same time. Thankfully, some kind soul trimmed the Hot 97-parody insanity into a YouTube clip. EXCLUUUSIVE! Enjoy.

Nick:

DONATE NOW!

With the sole exception of a thirty-minute cooperative Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light sesh (I’ll let this abbreviation slide, because it’s not “natch”…I hate that -Ed.) with Aaron, it’s been a week of gaming vicariously. I’ve been meticulously combing through impressions of fancy things like the Nintendo 3DS and parts for a potential new PC upgrade.

However, I did make two major gaming-related purchases. The first is a no-brainer: I pre-ordered Portal 2 on PlayStation 3 with the singular intention of popping the disc in, syncing my PSN ID with my Steam account, firing up my free PC/Mac copy and going from there. The second is a long overdue expense: a year’s subscription to Giant Bomb.

Doug and I are unambiguous in our love of Giant Bomb. It’s an encouraging story of a few great game critics moving from the old, autocratic games press world and building something new and unprecedented. It’s paid off in spades: for my money, Giant Bomb creates the best original games-related editorial content out there.

With the New York Times having launched its controversial pay wall system, I’ve been thinking a great deal about how much web-based news and editorial content is worth to me. But where the New York Times opts for a byzantine pricing scheme (someone please explain why iPad access costs more than smartphone access and must be purchased separately), Giant Bomb charges a paltry $50 per year.

That $50 doesn’t get you a whole lot of significant perks, other than access to cool paid subscriber content like their weekly Happy Hour show — but even that’s something that I’m frankly not a huge fan of. I’m paying the yearly fee primarily because I think what they’re putting out for free is worth a whole lot of money, and I feel good about giving the Whiskey Media team money to keep doing what they do.

Silicon Sasquatch is not a business, and I doubt it ever will be. But I think paying for original media is going to become the norm, even in spite of the clumsy precedent the New York Times is setting. I have to wonder, as someone who’s used to writing for no compensation, what the total worth of my work on this blog amounts to?

It’s not a question I want answered. I really don’t want to slap a PayPal link on the sidebar to beg for money. That’s not why I write. But still, I have to wonder, all these thousands of hours and hundreds of articles later: What are my words actually worth?

Aaron:

I can't get over how non-tactical it is to do a Maxim model lookback pose when all of NYC is on fire

Nick doesn’t lie. We certainly played Lara Croft last week, and what we accomplished in that short 30-ish minutes was unexpectedly fun. I assumed that the game was going to feel like a so-so copy of Gauntlet, but the multiplayer added depth to the entire game itself. Honestly, I don’t want to play it without a partner anymore.

Otherwise I’ve been up to my old tricks since our last Backlog:  leveling my Pokemon White team in the post-game world of Unova, starting a few games and never finishing them (Comic Jumper), buying more games and content that I won’t be getting around to anytime soon (Fallout: New Vegas: Dead Money and X-Men Arcade), pre-ordering a game I’m really excited for (Portal 2 [also on PS3]) and obsessing over The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Is that out yet?

Just a minute while I go search the web.

November? Shit. After Portal 2 I might have to stop playing games for a few months. I want to re-virginize myself.

And here’s something I can’t get off my mind: Should I buy Crysis 2? Is a Crysis game, the first being so frustratingly elitist with its then mind-boggling PC system requirements, relevant today? It seems the second one has moved past flexing its muscles in so many ways, if only because I have the choice of buying it for two console platforms that don’t require overclocking and liquid cooling to up the framerate by 10 per second. I understand as a long-time PC gamer why the culture of upgrading a computer to its limits is exciting, but I don’t have the patience for that these days. At least not for Crysis 2. Battlefield 3 is a different beast, and one that will be ceremoniously slain with my new hardware come this holiday season.

So I pose this question to anyone who’s reading: Is Crysis 2, as a game and not as a technical demonstration, worth purchasing for a console platform like the Xbox 360? Some background on why I’m interested in it: I want a solid multiplayer experience that has persistent goals and ranks but isn’t a Modern Warfare clone, and I want a singleplayer campaign that is memorable enough for a $60 investment, regardless of length.

I mention the Xbox as my choice if only because I know I can rely on Microsoft’s service to keep me playing at high bandwidth (compared to Sony’s [sorry, it's true]), and because as of this writing I have more friends with the game on the Xbox than anywhere else — PC included.

Maybe I should just save my money for L.A. Noire.