Iggy approves of the gratuitous display of raw power.

We are bringing the thunder this week; the appropriate background soundtrack for the Backlog this week can be found right here. Aaron is blowing stuff up in a variety of games; Doug is breaking free from the shackles of the standard Xbox 360 hardware; and Nick is breaking hearts and tiles with another great Scrabble lookalike.

So kick back, put on some real proper ass-kicking music, and prepare to have your mind BLOWN AWAY!

No, Russian.

Aaron

After the long-winded diatribe I offered earlier this week on the subjects of Pokémon and, to a greater extent, Just Cause 2, I find myself a bit winded as I sit here trying to explain what else I played this week. I did happen to finish Just Cause 2 last night, but I’m not sure if you can really call it “complete” when I’m only 28 percent done with what Panau has to offer. For those interested, 28 percent equals out to just a bit under 24 hours of game time played. Each person’s mileage may vary, but that’s how long it took me to do whatever I wanted in-between the seven main story missions — which are miniscule at best, by the way. I wouldn’t recommend buying or playing this game under the impression that the story campaign will last you a long time. What you get out of the game comes mostly from the free-spirited roaming (and destroying) of Panau. Blowing up things as you see fit does have a greater point other than twisted satisfaction: you’ll need to cause chaos through numerous side missions handed out by three separate Panauan militant groups to unlock the next tier of Agency missions, thereby advancing the plot.

There are also ninjas in Just Cause 2. Make note of that fact.

I haven’t dipped my toes into any other pools of gaming this week, aside from the kiddie pool that is Bad Company 2. I’m rank 27 now, which is just a bit under half of the way to the max rank of 50. A friend of mine purchased the PC version allowing us to bring another body into the war; now my three Bad Company 2-owning friends and I can fill an entire squad by ourselves. The thought is that with a full squad we will forever erase the possibility of having an unknown squad member hang back at the HQ where the tanks and helicopters spawn, and do nothing for an entire round but C4 the vehicles before his teammates can enter them. Our newly acquired “band of brothers” doesn’t mean the general teammate population won’t continue to engage in such methods of douchebaggery; it just won’t be under the command of our squad (unless we decide to do it ourselves, for laugh-out-loud purposes).

On a side note, it’s depressing to see so many of my other friends playing the game on Xbox 360 night after night. We’ll never be able to fight back hordes of enemy combatants together, separated for an eternity by a digital sea frothing and churning with incompatibility. I thought we were all supposed to play together one day (i.e. now), regardless of platform preference, in what would resemble the videogame version of a hive mind. I’m aware that mouse and keyboard controls are more accurate, but I’d think a slight bit of auto-aim on the consoles would assist with that perceived discrepancy. Whatever — that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

Blue skies and wide open rolling countryside — eastern Oregon, or a metaphor for Doug's spacious new 250 gigabyte Xbox 360 hard drive?

Doug

After getting past the crippling effects of jet lag, I’ve been turning to gaming to grant me sweet release from my degenerate graduate student lifestyle (or, perhaps, to encourage it? I’m not 100 percent sure). Strangely, most of what I’ve been thinking about this week isn’t playing games on Xbox 360, but how to manage memory on my 360.

Please keep in mind that, unlike my comrade in arms Nick, I haven’t taken the opportunity to upgrade my 360′s hard drive capacity whatsoever. The problem with this lies with one game: Rock Band. Since so much of a bog-standard 20 gig hard drive is taken up by system files and management — only roughly 13 gigs is free for your saves and content — having an export of Rock Band 1′s song files and a decent collection of download packs quickly starts chomping into your hard drive’s available space. And since mandatory content packs, game demos, and Xbox Live Arcade games are getting bigger and bigger all the time…this causes problems.

For the past few months I’ve had roughly 500 mb of available space on my hard drive. I didn’t want to delete anything else; I’d been avoiding going through my Rock Band collection and thinning some tracks out for the time being because there are so many files to go through. Regardless, when I heard about the USB drive memory capabilities coming this week, I was giddy — I don’t know if anybody else has dealt with it before, but even if the USB drive capability was limited to moving gamertags around, it would be amazing. Neither overpaying for a memory card or recovering your gamertag via Xbox Live is a particularly quick and easy process, so being able to use a damn thumb drive is spectacular.

So that kicked off a nice hour or two worth of moving older, unused game saves and files from my hard drive to the thumb drive I received with my limited edition copy of Forza Motorsport 3 (it seemed the appropriate thumb drive to dedicate to this task). And this was a solution that worked…well enough. But I was hungry — I needed more.

Enter the 250 gig Xbox 360 hard drive. Because, in my typical American viewpoint of the world, if some is good, overkill is better.

I transferred over my 20 gig’s contents, as well as the thumb drive’s life boat supplies, and then decided to go batshit crazy with the downloads…because I still had 200 gigs of space to use. Lost Cause 2 demo? Sure. MLB 2k10? It’s probably janky, but what the hell! MotoGP 09/10? Why not! I also installed PES 2010 to the hard drive, and damn — I have been missing out. The difference between my jet-fan-sounding Xbox 360 DVD drive and running a game off the hard drive was incredible; I’m definitely going to have to take a couple hours to install other games I have.

I also got the chance to quickly play a couple rounds of Guitar Hero Arcade last night. A one-sentence review would be that it’s an arcade-focused version of Guitar Hero circa Guitar Hero 3 or Guitar Hero: World Tour, but with even looser note hit detection than the console versions of those games. The lag between when a note appeared and when you needed to strum it was, frankly, ridiculous. I’ve put just a little bit of time into some other games — including enough to go get Broken Sword for the iPhone after hearing a lot of good about it from Nick, and a challenge to Nick in Words with Friends — but mostly it’s just been basking in the real, raw power of 250 gigs. I love the smell of overkill in the morning.

Just Cause 2 allows you to, much like the Master Chief in Halo 3, take the fight directly to your enemies — in this case, helicopters.

Nick

I’m as big a proponent as any for games with emotional weight and social relevance — it’s a big part of why I want to start making them myself. But I think gaming enthusiasts often are quick to overlook the importance of just having fun in a game.

Just Cause 2 has no weighty morals or long-winded diatribes about the impact of United States military interests in developing nations. It’s only concerned with setting the player free in a massive, gorgeous world and letting the campy humor and visceral explosions do the talking. Simply put, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a game in a very long time, and I cannot stress enough just how much I loved every moment of it. Even if open-world games aren’t your thing, this is something that simply must be experienced. And with a free demo available on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam, you really don’t have much of an excuse.

Oh, and Aaron? I finished the game at 31.50% completion in 17 hours and 31 minutes. Consider the gauntlet thrown, son.

When not gallivanting around the beaches and jungles of Panau, I’ve been hopelessly sucked into an iPhone game. Words with Friends reminds me of the glory days of Facebook’s Scrabulous in that it’s a Scrabble knockoff that looks and plays better than the original. For a paltry $1.99 on iPhone or iPad (although that’s currently a sale price), you can play games of Scrabble with friends across a variety of platforms. You can play at your own pace, and once it’s your turn to play the game will send your phone a push notification. While I’m usually wary about enabling push notifications on my phone for most apps — I sure as hell don’t want to be woken up at 4 in the morning because We Rule wants to let me know that my turnips have finished growing — I look forward to each new opportunity to play a new word and turn the tables in my favor. Unfortunately I’m losing all four games I’m currently engaged in.

If Words with Friends sounds like fun, there’s also a free, ad-supported version of the game in the App Store. Give it a shot, and send a game invitation to Whymog — I could definitely use the practice.

I kinda got carried away with Photoshop this week. You see, Rico Rodriguez, the protagonist from the Just Cause games, is chaotically belly-flopping into a child’s sandbox, which serves a visual metaphor for the open-world adventures he stars in. Hence the headline.

With that out of the way, I can tell you this edition of our beloved (by some — maybe our mothers) Backlog pertains to Nick’s first aural experiencing of Axis: Bold as Love, Doug’s dusting off of the old Xbox after his adventures in Asia and my unbelieving satisfaction from playing a ton of Just Cause 2.

Imagine the sound of high-performance machines vying for 1st place while looking at this photo

Doug:

And I thought returning to classes after winter break was hard. Adjusting to being at home in the United States, versus being in various hotels around Asia, has taken some doing — never mind doing it while returning to graduate school classes AND trying to fight jet lag.

I’ve taken a bit of refuge in gaming to relieve stress, and because I hadn’t fired up my Xbox 360 in a month! I spent a little bit of time finding Pocari Sweat and JR East logos on the storefront for my cars in Forza 3, driving around Shinjuku and Shibuya in Project Gotham Racing 4 and worked on my second Mass Effect 2 playthrough for a short time as well.

What took more free time, though, was PES 2010 — I’m fully re-addicted to Konami’s soccer games, and it feels good. Along with that, I spent time on Tuesday playing a bit of Rock Band 2 for the first time in a while. Nick reminded me that a Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Axis: Bold as Love, was being released for the game last week; I haven’t been following RB2′s DLC schedule as much as I had in years past, and haven’t been as excited for new songs since the middle of last summer. It felt really good to hop on, get an invite from Nick to rock, and get some play time in. I’d been thinking about hosting a Rock Band 2 party at some point this spring; that’s definitely going to happen now. (Editor’s note: I’m totally going to be there!)

Artist's interpretation of Hendrix enjoying his music in Rock Band

Nick:

With Final Fantasy XIII and all its broken promises having been returned to the shelf, I’m back to actually having fun with the games I play — fancy that!

My love affair with Just Cause 2 (or, as my girlfriend derisively calls it, “Lost Cause”) continues to burn passionately. It’s just a big, stupid game with more than a few clever ideas and a heart of gold, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone with an appetite for destruction and a flair for open-ended game mechanics.

In order to make up for the hours of excruciating voice acting and mindless violence that dominate my Just Cause 2 playtime, I’ve been spending a good amount of time playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii co-operatively. Now that we’ve finally beaten the game (which, by the way, featured the most difficult Bowser fight in any Mario game I can think of) we’ve begun the exhausting task of hunting down every single star coin in order to tackle the stages in World 9. It’s a real credit to Nintendo’s ingenuity that I’m still avidly playing a Mario game months after its release.

But the best surprise this week was the latest batch of Rock Band songs, including the entire Jimi Hendrix album Axis: Bold as Love. I’ll be honest — I never knew much about Jimi Hendrix’s music. Other than a handful of songs like “Fire,” “Hey Joe” and his cover of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” the closest I ever got to Hendrix was the time I broke the rules and touched his guitar on display at the Experience Music Project. (Please don’t sue me, Mr. Allen.) I’ve found that playing songs in Rock Band is often one of the best ways to gain an appreciation for an artist, and Axis didn’t disappoint. Doug and I both grabbed the album and played through the vast majority of it, and it hooked me immediately. It’s the rare song collection that speaks for itself, and it’s an infinitely replayable addition to any Rock Band collection — or MP3 library, for that matter. Definitely don’t pass this one up.

Rico does his best flying squirrel impression high above the waters of Panau

Aaron:

I’m a dabbler in the realm of videogames. I dabble. It’s good to keep things varied, in my humble opinion. For example, this week my gaming time has been split between four vastly different games: Final Fantasy XIII, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Pokémon HeartGold and Just Cause 2. The former two games have been discussed at length in previous Backlogs, so I’ll talk about the newcomers.

Pokémon means a lot to me, as far as games go. When Red and Blue first released here in the U.S. in 1998 I was 12, and highly impressionable. My friends and I watched the cartoon, played the games and collected the cards. With the onset of puberty we became a bit more reserved in our enjoyment of the merchandising, but the games continued to hold a lofty place — in my mind at least. The enjoyment of an extremely simple goal, to catch them all, has stayed with me throughout the years, and it’s forced me to buy almost all of the various new games in an attempt to recapture the mystique and newness experienced through the original games. From Gold and Silver to Diamond and Pearl, I’ve bought at least one of the subsequent games, and each time I slip back into the catch-crazed mindset I first felt 12 years ago. The recent release of HeartGold has brought those feelings to the surface again for a sixth time, but each time I arrive in the world of pocket monsters on a quest to defeat a new set of gym leaders, thwart the evil machinations of another group of criminals and capture one more unique cover-photo Pokémon, the thrill of it all diminishes a little bit more. Economics 101 wasn’t lying when it told me all about the law of diminishing returns, though it would probably be unhappy with how I’m using the concept as a metaphor for my wavering commitment to a child’s videogame series.

I love HeartGold (and I prefer Ho-Oh to Lugia [yes, I know their names still]), and though it may be a rehash of a game from 2000, it’s still a rehash of a great game from 2000. The new/old batch of poké-creatures are second only to the original 150 (or 151, depending on which kid in the GameStop you ask) in their design factor. Chikorita, I can assure you, is bad ass. If you fancy yourself even the most fair-weather of Pokémon fans, you should pick up HeartGold or SoulSilver. It’s still great fun, but I can’t help feeling less and less impressed with the formula as the years go by. Maybe it’s time to go all Pepsi on us and try something new, o’ great minds at the Pokémon Company.

Onto the topic of Just Cause 2. Are you readers prepared to read a heaping pile of praise? You should get ready to, right now. All set? Okay.

Just Cause 2 is, as of this writing, my new favorite game of 2010. Forget Mass Effect 2, disregard Final Fantasy XIII, ignore Bayonetta and scoff at God of War III — Just Cause 2 is my kind of game, and I’ll tell you why.

A lot of videogames work hard to fill-in the blanks of your imagination and answer the questions you might have by the time the credits slide down the screen. Developers don’t always intend to make gamers confused by ignoring this one iota of information here or that plot point there; sometimes it simply happens throughout the development process and gamers are left to figure things out themselves on fan fiction sites and hardcore forums in an effort to tie together all of the threads dangling in front of them. So while I’m enthralled by the history and culture of Mass Effect’s universe, and appreciate the great lengths BioWare has gone to cover all of their creation’s bases, I don’t necessarily want the story to be told for me. On occasion I enjoy imagining a narrative and plot structure by myself — personal motivations for my character to do whatever he or she is doing at that point in time.

Left 4 Dead and its sequel are good examples of that self-created narrative because the series’ mythos is so vaguely explained. You’re allowed to decide exactly what type of shady life Nick (the character, not the legal assistant) lead before he was dragged into the zombie apocalypse, or why Bill has what looks like stains of SpaghettiOs on his shirt. The gamer answers the questions of his own accord, and that design strategy pleases me greatly. Which brings me to Just Cause 2, and how it encourages my mind to run wild with imaginative motivations for blowing up helicopters, swimming to an island in the middle of the water and enjoying the beautifully rendered sunrise atop the highest peak in Panau.

Call me a dreamer — or some dude who thinks too hard about his games — but 90 percent of the fun I’ve had in Just Cause 2 has been in exploring the gorgeous landscape of Panau and putting myself into the game — doing what I’d do if I had that much freedom to romp across a series of island paradises as I pleased (and with no possible need for traveler’s checks). I’m not playing as the protagonist Rico on his quest to assassinate a despotic president; the main plot is paper-thin and far too easy to disregard. I’ve instead removed any of the preexisting narrative and simply traversed the 400 square miles of land, sea and air to seek out my own exciting preoccupations.

I wonder how long it would take to grappling-hook climb that mountain? Let’s test it out. Hey, maybe that desolate, unpaved road goes somewhere cool. Nice — I found an ancient native temple with weapon upgrade parts. There’s an entire digital country to explore, and everything I’ve seen in Panau during the past 20 hours (I work fast: I just got it on Wednesday) has kept me wanting to see more. And in all that time, I’ve only completed two of the main missions.

Now, all of this virtual wanderlust wouldn’t be enjoyable if the core mechanics failed to work right, but thankfully Avalanche Studios has made a top-tier game that controls, sounds, looks and performs far above average. Just Cause 2 is exactly why I play games: to explore new and different worlds on my own terms. I of course enjoy the story-heavy linear experience when it’s well done (i.e., BioShock 2, Prince of Persia and Batman: Arkham Asylum), but ever since I played Grand Theft Auto III, and EverQuest shortly thereafter, in 2001, the games that taste sweetest to me are of the sandbox variety. Let me do what I want, and I’ll have a great time.

If Rockstar can hurry up with Red Dead Redemption, 2010 will become one highlight of a year for my sort of games.

Though I’m of partial Irish descent, I’ve never felt the need to “act a fool” in the name of the motherland during March 17th festivities. It doesn’t mean I’m against getting intoxicated while listening to Flogging Molly; events in my life just haven’t amalgamated to make such things happen.

Also, a note about Irish fashion: Requiring the adornment of green garments on St. Patty’s Day is quite the intolerant and abuse-inducing tradition — those who don’t are assaulted with a barrage of pinches, punches and ridicule. We Irish are weird.

This week’s update will be a mostly one-man show starring the gaming exploits of Mr. Nick Cummings. I’m still without a new Xbox, because even the slightest chance that the U.S. Xbox 360 Arcade will be dropped in price à la Canada’s current discount is enough to make me wait it out for a couple weeks before handing over the charge card. Otherwise, I’ve been playing the hell out of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 — to the detriment of my usually calm composure. Doug is still out and about in the Far East, but I’ve included his most recent tweet in an effort to include him anyway.

This is why I play Bad Company 2

Aaron:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a partially broken PC game. Its problems are spread across a number of key areas, from an inadequate (and inaccurate) server browser to the severe bullet lag, which causes two players to kill each other at the exact same time, constantly. The game’s problems are much more noticeable now after having spent a week on the virtual battlefield. Yet I still love it, despite the numerous shortcomings.

Frustration — i.e., yelling, cursing and beating an innocent computer mouse — is an unfortunate side-effect of the release version of BC2, but when the game works well it’s brilliant fun. However, those great moments are interspersed throughout an incessant stream of cheaters (most servers don’t use Punkbuster because the anti-cheat software is causing disconnect issues), overpowered guns (the light machine guns [specific to the medic class] have pinpoint accuracy from a significant and unfair distance) and repeated connection issues on Electronic Arts’ side (meaning the rented player servers go down fairly often).

In lieu of a review — which I’ll be writing soon — I’d suggest holding off on Bad Company 2 for a month or so. By then the price will have likely come down a bit, and DICE will have put its team to work on fixing the issues with a big update or two.

This might be Doug in China. We have no way of being sure.

Doug:

Via Twitter on March 8th: “Heading out to the airport in a bit…and on to Beijing. China ahoy.” It’s been well over a week since he’s posted an update. For all we know, Doug has been swept up into a martial arts film as an extra. I picture him as a modern version of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Bruce Lee’s unfinished-but-still-awesome film Game of Death.

When the only likeable character in your game plays host to a baby bird who has nested in his hair, something is probably wrong

Nick:

You’ve gotta hand it to the Final Fantasy team. It takes some real audacity to build a successful franchise out of a game that’s constantly reinventing itself. No two Final Fantasies play exactly alike, and while there have been relative hits and misses, there’s no question that each entry’s unique qualities give it a greater enduring value than if each game merely iterated upon the previous one.

But none of them has ever been as impenetrable as Final Fantasy 13. After ten hours and six chapters under my belt, I probably ought to be somewhere near the end of the first act, but I can’t shake the feeling that the game is going to spoon-feed me lesson after tedious lesson without ever letting me take the reins, so to speak. I’m fine with a linear approach to role-playing games — it worked admirably in Final Fantasy 10 — but with a cast of characters I can’t help but detest, not even one of the greatest real-time combat systems can salvage the experience.

The consensus seems to be that RPGs are in a state of flux right now as developers struggle to make old-school, time-honored tropes and mechanics meet with the perceived needs and interests of the modern gamer. Mass Effect 2 showed a very clear evolution favoring its shooter underpinnings while sloughing away methodical inventory management, repetitive side quests and anything else that bogged down the original experience. Final Fantasy13 takes an entirely different approach by embracing what Square Enix apparently perceived to be the series’ strong suit: guided, focused narrative that is methodically paced and tied together with an engaging, robust combat system. While Final Fantasy 13′s combat is fast, fun and surprisingly well designed, its story is just…well, embarrassing.

The game’s requisite unlikely heroes tumble head-first into the depths of the uncanny valley, thanks to a level of detail in textures, rendering and animation that is at times stunning and at others deeply unsettling. Compounding the effect is a melodramatic story delivered through forced lines and awkward gasping noises — the sort of voice work you’d expect to hear in a half-assed dub of an anime. When games like Uncharted 2 set the bar so high for human performances, a credible story delivered by these actors and their characters is just impossible.

I’d love to go on, but an invitation to the Starcraft 2 beta just popped up in my inbox. Duty calls.

There’s not much to say this week. Doug and Aaron are both on trips of varying intensity and length, and I’m once again at the helm. But I’m not jealous! There’s a quiet dignity to be found in staying at home, you know. And it saves money. Really, it’s the only reasonable way to live in these uncertain times.

Yep.

I mean, what kind of person would really want to go on a whirlwind tour of Asia for a whole month? Doug. Doug’s the guy. And, wow, big deal — the first weekend with amazing weather in the Pacific Northwest. “Hey everybody, we need to go party at the coast now!” That’s definitely what Aaron said when he left to go party at the coast with his totally awesome and probably quite attractive friends.

But no. I’m fine. I’m fine! Just, you know, read this thing and leave me to my unbridled joy.

Aaron

Gross!

What a week! In the span of seven days I’ve managed to acquire three new games, one of which I finished last night and loved – in opposition to my formerly hesitant feelings toward it. That game was BioShock 2.

My final contribution to this week’s backlog is about this Eurogamer article comparing the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Final Fantasy XIII. While the technical and detail-rich write up hasn’t told me anything that I didn’t already expect from a three-DVD port of a Blu-ray title, it still frustrates me to think that Square Enix half-assed a version of their game for a console with a larger install base in the U.S (based on summer of 2009 sales numbers for both consoles). In Japan, the PlayStation 3 matters for RPGs — I get that. But here, the latest game in the series has the potential to sell extremely well on the Xbox given the popularity of the RPGs (though Western they may be, i.e. Mass Effect) already available for it. For all I know, the sales numbers for both of Final Fantasy XIII’s platforms could be very close. Oh well, I suppose. I’m still buying it for my 360, only because I don’t have a PS3, and I’m still not going to rectify that anytime soon.

Doug

Doug shot this photo of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ultraman-themed merchandise, which has been adopted as the unofficial national currency of Japan.

Editor’s Note: Doug was too busy having the time of his life traveling throughout Asia to contribute this week. In the meantime, enjoy this photo he shot.

Nick

Spider-Man ain't got nothin' on Rico Rodriguez.

I’ve got a soft spot for any game that has ambitions of enabling the player to pull off ridiculous stunts in open-world settings. I loved Saints Row 2′s unabashed emphasis on comedy and excess instead of story and realism. Mercenaries 2 won me over with its B-movie appeal. And Red Faction: Guerrilla? After two playthroughs, I’m still craving more  of its trademark destruction and hammer-swingin’ goodness.

So it’s no wonder that I’m currently having the time of my life with Just Cause. You remember Just Cause, right? It was a port of a sixth-generation open-world game that garnered mixed reviews when it came out nearly four years ago. It’s certainly far from perfect — imprecise controls, uneven design, abysmal acting and animation — but the game has a soul.

The grappling hook isn’t exactly a new concept to games — Bionic Commando is probably remembered as the first mainstream example of swinging based action — but when paired with a parachute, the possibilities explode. Instead of being a mere diversion, BASE jumping is the most reasonable way to travel. Why drive a car when you can hook onto one and parasail the highways of a war-torn Central American country?

But even for all the fun I’ve had with it, Just Cause 2 looks like it’s going to blow it away. The action is tighter, the music is better, and the landscapes are absolutely stunning from the air. And most importantly, the grapple/parachute combo has been reinvented. Grappling now works on any surface, meaning Rico can build up momentum and deploy his chute anywhere. And in a clever twist, the grappling gun can now be used to attach any two objects to each other — such as gas tanks and bad dudes.

Just Cause 2 looks to refine and update what made the original so fun while also cutting out the things that held it back from being a uniformly great game. The demo’s live on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and I’d highly recommend you go check it out.

Finally, I also completed BioShock 2 and Heavy Rain. But after playing so many games about water, dads and crazy people, I think I need some time to decompress before I revisit those experiences.

Time for a mea culpa, guys. I was hoping to broadcast this backlog at its regularly scheduled time (“whenever on Friday, I guess”) but unfortunately ran into a snag where I was unable to use my computer. Something to do with driving through planned communities in Wilsonville in the middle of the night; I don’t know, let’s not dredge that episode up. Anyway, the short version is I invented a time-traveling DeLorean and traveled to the past to get the backlog posted on time.

Everything was going just fine — I survived an adventure in the wild west and I made Biff look like a total dweeb — but unfortunately, I ended up getting totally distracted by the same exact scenario and wound up just where I’d started. Except it was now Sunday.

Oh well. I guess I should be grateful; for a while there, I was kinda worried I’d end up creating a time paradox.

There's an inexplicable, potent comfort to be found in always having Plants vs. Zombies within arm's reach.

Doug

I hate to be The Guy Who Brings In Real Life all the time…but this week has been finals week, and all I’ve really had time to do is play a little bit of stress-relief NCAA Football 10 at night once, and then burning my iPhone battery a bit continuing on with Plants vs. Zombies.

I know that it’s always a discussion amongst certain core gamers, but seriously: PopCap makes some great games, period. Not great casual games; not great iPhone games, or baby games, or whatever other pejorative you want to tack on. PvZ, Peggle, and Bejeweled are all some of the best examples of quick-fix gaming available; the steady stream of hits that PopCap has managed makes them one of the developers and publishers with the best track record out there right now, too. It’s rather amazing when you stand back and think about it.

The other part of real life I wanted to throw out there is more related to the site: I’m going to be traveling with my graduate program in Japan, South Korea and China for the next month. If you have any ideas or topics you want me to cover, please send comments or e-mails and I’ll take them under suggestion. I’m going to have a whole week to myself in Tokyo to do some exploring, and I definitely plan on hitting up nerd mecca at least once.

If you're capable of playing a game with this much happening on-screen, I think I owe you a dollar.

Aaron

I’m going to drop some knowledge on you, dear reader. I lost five hours of my day to a haze of space-faring political machinations and plasma-cannon combat.

That’s right: I ordered a used copy of an Xbox 360 launch title that I previously had zero interest in (and zero knowledge of). Why? Well, I was linked to a video from Giant Bomb. This nearly hour-long look at Amped 3′s numerous cutscenes has shown me the brilliance of the game’s insane humor, especially after the 20 minute mark. The video’s claim of Tim and Eric-like influence was at the back of my mind before it was even said. And that, friends, is why I’m excited for Amped 3. I smell a Retrospective in the air.

Broken Sword is clever, intuitive and gorgeous. So naturally, it's the perfect complement to any iPhone.

Nick

I began playing Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director’s Cut on my iPhone earlier this week. Without a doubt, it’s the most accessible traditional adventure game I’ve tried for my phone. While The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and Beneath a Steel Sky were both good games, their interfaces left a lot to be desired. Broken Sword is built upon the same adaptations that were in Beneath a Steel Sky, but the control scheme is a lot more polished and intuitive this time around. The sound quality, voice acting and visuals are all top-notch, and the experience has been very engrossing. It’s currently available for five bucks on the App Store — why don’t you give it a shot?

Being the fiscally irresponsible person I apparently have become, I picked up Heavy Rain this Tuesday. I have some serious reservations about the game and its creators (other than Guitar Hero 3, I really can’t think of a more disappointing game in recent years than Fahrenheit) but after about four hours immersed in the experience, I’m utterly amazed at what Heavy Rain shaped up to be. I’ve long been a proponent of interactive fiction — involved, intricate stories that mold to your actions — which is a fledgling genre if ever there was one. Most people who go out to buy a game probably expect the gameplay to be the main attraction with the story functioning as window dressing. Heavy Rain delivers just the opposite. It’s a compelling experience with a surprisingly elaborate amount of nuance and variation based on your actions, and while the controls are sometimes frustrating, they’re more than adequate to suck the player in to the experience. If you’re at all interested in how interactive storytelling works, Heavy Rain is perhaps the boldest experiment yet.

And of course, I’m still tromping through BioShock 2 in my Big Daddy suit. (No, not that suit.) What began as a modest successor to a groundbreaking commentary on games has taken form over the past few hours into something much more substantial: a brilliant game in its own right, and a significant improvement over its forebear. And despite the widespread criticism surrounding the multiplayer component, I’ve been getting my kicks blasting splicers apart for the last couple weeks. I think it’s a pretty inspired take on class-based multiplayer, and it’s sure a lot more interesting than Modern Warfare 2′s modest (at best) improvements over Call of Duty 4′s fiendishly addictive online scene.

Lots of good things start with the letter “b”; Many games right now, for instance (Battlefield and Bayonetta being two of them). Other things start with that letter — like business school, bad tests, The Beatles…and also brains.

Wait, brains? It will make more sense in a moment! So, without further ado, here’s the log.

The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" seems apt for a week where the sun shone through the usual February doldrums in the Northwest.

Aaron

What a boring week for me. I didn’t play that much of anything during the past seven days, aside from more Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and a little bit of Bayonetta. Isn’t it bad when you can’t remember what you did for one-quarter of the month?

So, I apologize for my lackluster contribution to this edi…oh, wait, I remembered: I did some drumming. I rocked out in the virtual sense with Beatles: Rock Band, but I also played music outside of the game when I took my non-plastic drum kit to a friend’s house to spend an entire day in a focused jam session. It felt good to do what I used to do — it’s been nearly three years since I had my full kit set up. I laid down some sick beats, bro.

Next week will be seven days of the letter B (I think I just turned into a Sesame Street character), with a mixture of more Bayonetta and Bad Company 2, and the arrival of my brand new, $8.99 copy of Bionic Commando from Amazon. Sure, that tiny bit of money could have gone to BioShock 2, Darksiders or covering the cost of Bad Company 2 now that Barnes & Noble cancelled their $20 mistake, but I like to live in a state of stupidity sometimes.

Netflix Instant Watch has been all that's kept Nick connected to his Xbox 360 this week.

Nick

Bayonetta. Darksiders. Forza Motorsport 3. Mass Effect 2. DJ Hero. BioShock 2. They’re all sitting right in front of me, but I haven’t touched any of them in days.

I wish I could say I’ve been getting lots of quality time in with a few of my current favorites, but this week has been so draining that I’ve only had the energy to come home and boot up my Netflix Instant Queue before my eyes glaze over and my jaw falls slack.

Also, this weekend I’m looking forward to taking the GRE. But that’s not a game (It is, in fact, the most dangerous game of them all – Ed).

Now that PopCap has released Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone platform, you can use the dark horticultural arts to protect your house on the go.

Doug

Add me to Nick in the “too busy to play games” category this week, sadly. Finals are next week, and between school and real life my AS Roma team have had to wait patiently on the PES 2010 sidelines, my Forza 3 cars have had to sit in the garage, and the Normandy has just had to cruise in a holding pattern for my second Shepard in Mass Effect 2.

However, one bright, shining, wonderful gaming thing has come into my life this week: Plants vs. Zombies has been released on the iPhone platform. That sound you hear is my free time being sucked right up by yet another Popcap game for iPhone. I didn’t buy PvZ last year when it first came out, but played and saw a decent amount of it — certainly enough to know that the new handheld version is an almost-perfect port. And, yes, the touch controls work brilliantly.

Plus it’s $2.99. What are you waiting for?

Why am I so conflicted over BioShock 2? The original was great, brilliant even. And if 2K Marin’s sequel is half as good as the first, that would still make it better than all of the dust-collecting shovelware currently sitting on store shelves.

Nick doesn’t seem as wracked with indecision this week as yours truly, and I fully believe it when he predicts BioShock 2 will soon find a spot in his vast library of interactive software. However, Nick doesn’t know that upon purchasing the game he will be obligated to review it. Sorry, friend.

Doug takes this edition’s opportunity to educate us on the intricate differences between Pro Evo Soccer 2010 and FIFA 10, and it’s an extremely informative primer about a segment of gaming I’ve all but forgotten. I actually want to give soccer sims another shot after reading it. Truly, I do.

And for me, well, I’m in love with Bayonetta — the game, mind you. Though with her strength-based sex appeal and quotes such as: “Do I look like I’m a child person? Making children, on the other hand,” it’s easy to swoon over the ridiculous charm of the character and to even feel all right about it; hopefully without coming off as a chauvinist.

Also, apologies for the article headline. An Otis Redding track pack is coming to Rock Band next week, and I thought the titular pun was appropriately humorous. I was likely wrong.

Cut from Heavy Rain was a special DLC skin for Radiohead's Thom Yorke

Nick:

When you’ve been playing games for 20 years, you tend to appreciate the major advances that have been made in game design. But at the same time, it’s nice when an ages-old strategy remains as relevant as ever. And in the case of Mass Effect 2, it turns out that maintaining multiple save files is still a really, really good idea.

I managed to save the universe last Sunday, but not without paying a heavy price: My crew was decimated by a couple of terrible decisions that I made. While I appreciate the real weight of the consequences your actions have in the game’s suicide mission finale, I wasn’t about to let my game end on anything but my own terms. I re-evaluated what went wrong the first time around, and managed to complete the mission a second time last night without a single mistake. That felt good.

I held off on picking up BioShock 2 this week, a decision that gnaws at me every day. I’ll probably cave and purchase it soon. What can I say? I’m a sucker for art deco, big band music and Objectivism.

And in a few moments, I’m going to boot up the PlayStation Network demo of Heavy Rain, a game I’m both anticipating and dreading. Back in 2005, I was captivated by Indigo Prophecy’s demo and its revolutionary, open-ended adventure game design. I wish I’d known at the time just how disastrous the rest of the game was — frankly, it was the absolute worst game I finished in the last decade — but from what I’ve heard, Quantic Dream learned from its mistakes when it set about designing its latest game. Indigo Prophecy was proof that Quantic Dream was a team filled with brilliant ideas. I just hope they managed to fully develop them this time around!

Doug told me this is from a fictional version of the World Cup. The Konami Cup? How clever, you crafty developers.

Doug:

Along with finishing Mass Effect 2 — which was an incredibly satisfying and very well done game from start to finish — I’ve hopped back into one of my classic addictions: Konami’s Winning Eleven soccer series. In lieu of sitting down and working on a review that very few of our readers would likely find useful, I will instead take some time here and justify how I can absolutely love Pro Evo Soccer 2010 but also want to give it a mediocre review score.

This game does lots of things right. It provides a deep, customizable single-player mode in the form of a refined Master League (with added UEFA Champions League licensing!), an improved animation and physics engine for the gameplay, and even more expansive customization possibilities. As somebody who’s put probably 200 hours into PlayStation 2-era PES titles, the latest game is what I’ve wanted for the last two years: a good next-gen console PES.

The problem is the learning curve. Not only do you have to have a real interest in soccer — not a given here in the U.S. — but you have to be willing to put a lot of time into PES 2010. The controls are an evolved mish-mash carried over from the PS2 era; there’s little doubt that some parts of the control could be better. Intimidating for newcomers, yes, but for somebody who already knows what to do it’s an adequate improvement over the previous incarnations. The same goes for off-the-field mechanics too: Konami has never secured as many licenses as EA Sports’ FIFA titles, but that’s fine because you can edit the non-licensed teams to within an inch of realism. Buyers of the PS3 version of PES 2010 can do a little heavy lifting by importing game files that will fill the lackluster licensing holes; problem is, it’s much more difficult on the 360, and even renaming teams can be an intimidating process — never mind renaming all the players on any given team.

So why do I put up with this crap instead of just buying FIFA 10? Because of PES 2010′s on-field gameplay and presentation. FIFA’s graphics are very good, but they have always looked “off” to me; PES looks more like how soccer has been broadcast on TV for years. It’s an aesthetic preference. FIFA’s gameplay is fine as well — the last few years have improved both the passing system and the A.I., making the series more robust — but it still feels a touch hollow and boring. Few PES games are boring, especially in all the ways one can move the ball upfield and put it in the back of the net; FIFA over the last few years can feel like foosball at times.

For example: my current Master League save is with Italian club AS Roma, which has a very good attacking left fullback (John Arne Riise) who can bomb up the wing and put crosses in from deep with pinpoint accuracy. I’ve scored a couple of headers this way, and trying to work an opening to make use of this particular player’s strength is engaging and fun. Making use of other players and their talents is also a challenge — playing tappy-tap football with my favorite team, Arsenal, is a very different game from building Liverpool’s attack around Steven Gerrard’s surges forward and Torres’ brilliance and speed. They’re all rewarding, true to real life, and once you’ve built a team that plays how you want to play, it’s utterly brilliant.

If you understood any of that above paragraph, PES 2010 is probably for you — it’s not for everybody. Otherwise, stick to FIFA and enjoy the ride.

One word: Redonkulous.

Aaron:

I’m not even close to finishing Bayonetta, which arrived in the mail last Saturday. Each day I chip away a little more of the game, constantly pausing between chapters to evaluate such things as: my foolish blocking mistakes, which combos work best, how many halos I need to save up for a cool attack, and so on and so forth. The fact that I’m taking my time and being meticulous about my decisions tells me that I actually care about the entire experience. I don’t want to ruin it.

When I plow through big games like Borderlands, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, it’s because I find the experience addicting;  I’m flushed with the desire to keep amassing experience, loot or whatever other incentives are there. That’s just my style, and it’s why I’ve been a diehard RPG fan for as long as I can remember. But sometimes, it sucks to play games like that — no matter how many moments etch themselves into my brain, I get the sense that I’m missing something by forcing myself to perform a blitzkrieg of playtime. In that sense I highly appreciate Hideki Kamiya’s work in the action genre. Bayonetta has forced me to use gaming muscles I’ve lost since the PlayStation 2 days.

Back then I played Devil May Cry to death, dominated God of War (and also yelled at it in anger) and absolutely loved the Viewtiful Joe titles on GameCube. Ever since the latest generation of consoles started I’ve forgotten how to play certain games, and I’m quickly remembering that it’s very important to diversify your gamer’s resume to effectively expand your digital horizons. I’ve missed relying on my twitch reflexes and an intimate knowledge of combo systems to achieve battlefield domination.

Bayonetta has brought that level of fun back to me. It’s witty, intelligent, hilarious and has the greatest videogame heroine I’ve had the privilege of playing as (aside from Beyond Good and Evil’s Jade, perhaps). I’ve never seen an action game that takes itself seriously while simultaneously laughing at its own lineage since, well, Kamiya’s other games.

I’ve also put around 16 hours into the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo.

I’m buying the full game, no question. And don’t forget to highlight March 2nd, 2010: Look forward to it as the day I will absolutely destroy you with my Bad Company 2 sniping abilities. I rarely boast, but this time I’m telling the truth.

The heroes from just a few of the major releases coming in the next few months: Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell: Conviction), Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII) and Shepard (Mass Effect 2).

After building this list from a shorter one we borrowed unceremoniously from Kotaku, we weighed the evidence presented to us so far and drew up our own shortlists of essential titles, as well as a handful of potentially great purchases.

You’ll find our own lists, along with our justifications, after the break. And if we ignored a great game or missed one completely, please let us know. Thanks!

Nick’s Picks:

Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360: This one’s a no-brainer; I loved the first game (like most people here) and replayed it multiple times. And while Dragon Age was excellent on PC, the original Mass Effect felt better tuned to me on a console. I can’t wait to see how the story evolves.

Final Fantasy XIII on PlayStation 3: It’s a great thing that Final Fantasy is available on multiple platforms, but there’s no doubt that I’m going with the PS3 version. Not that I have anything against the 360′s RPG prowess — after all, Lost Odyssey proved the machine does a perfectly acceptable job of handling JRPGs — but the PlayStation controller is so familiar to me in a lengthy, story-driven game that it’ll hopefully help fuel the fond memories I have of the series when I pick up the newest iteration. And also, I’ll admit I’m looking forward to playing a game without disc-swapping.

…and some possible additions:

Army of Two: The 40th Day on Xbox 360: Call me a fool or a hopeless bromantic, but I’ve always felt that Army of Two was a great game that suffered from its marketing image and brain-dead protagonists. Underneath all that was a pretty smart and thoroughly enjoyable co-operative game with some clever new ideas and intelligent things to say about the state of warfare in a world where private military companies command lucrative contracts, expensive hardware and operate just shy of any established moral compass. The sequel seems largely on-track to add credence and weight to the philosophy of the first game; let’s hope they deliver. I’ve been starved for a great co-op shooter since Gears of War 2 amounted to such a disappointing sequel.

Bioshock 2 on Xbox 360 or PS3: I’m still struggling to understand why a sequel to Bioshock is worth making (potential for profit aside). I felt the original was one of the best games I’d ever played thanks to an incredibly distinctive setting and poignant commentary on the role of players in games. I’d be happy to fall under Rapture’s spell once again, but I want to be absolutely certain that this return visit is being given the same top-notch attention to detail and purpose that the first game was hailed for.

Splinter Cell: Conviction on Xbox 360: What an inconsistent series Splinter Cell has been. From its excellent debut on the original Xbox to a shoddy sequel, followed by an absolutely astounding third entry with Chaos Theory, Splinter Cell has seen its ups and downs. The only iteration released on this console generation, Double Agent, was unfortunately another step back for the series. With Ubisoft Montreal back at the reins (and several years to be refined to perfection) I’m hopeful that this latest entry in Sam Fisher’s story could be the greatest yet. Clever art design, refined combat and interesting mission structure all seem to be the game’s best assets. Here’s hoping the game shapes up in time for its February release.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on PC (or maybe Xbox 360): If any modern multiplatform game series sticks in my mind as a PC franchise, it’s Battlefield. Sure, the games have been inconsistent in quality on PC, but I’ll never forget the sheer scope and brilliance of Battlefield 2, with its robust squad system, addictive unlockables and massive online battles. No other Battlefield game has come close to capturing the sheer scale of BF2, but Bad Company sure came close in terms of bringing the Battlefield multiplayer formula to consoles. Bad Company 2 looks to be a return to what made BF2 on PC such a riot; unfortunately, the PlayStation 3 beta hasn’t offered much to judge the game with.

Aaron’s Picks:

Mass Effect 2 on Xbox 360: BioWare becomes a more impressive developer with each game it releases. Mass Effect was a fantastically original RPG, and proved our northern neighbors can craft an epic story without the involvement of an established franchise (Dungeons & Dragons/ Star Wars). I expect the second Mass Effect will mend the first’s technical issues, as well as offer a logical replacement for the old combat system. I think it’s safe to say that after playing the original game to completion six times (and starting my seventh run through this week), I will absolutely buy whatever BioWare packs on the disc. But please, more Garrus!

Mafia II on PC (unconfirmed release date): I said in our last “Games of” feature that the original Mafia exceeded in creating a realistic open world before Grand Theft Auto could. While times have changed and the charms of a classic mobster world have worn a bit thin, 2K Czech is still a talented studio that won’t compromise its vision. Based on trailers and previews, Mafia II is going to be told exactly how the developers want it to be, from the tiniest plot thread to the biggest twist. I’m looking forward to a gripping story filled with murder, intrigue, politicking and every mobster archetype imaginable.

Splinter Cell: Conviction on Xbox 360: Splinter Cell is my favorite stealth action series. Forget Metal Gear. I’ve found the less-insane stylings of Sam Fisher and Third Echelon to be a lot more tolerable than plodding through “Who Betrayed Snake This Time: The Squeakquel.” That said, Splinter Cell: Double Agent was awfully boring, poorly paced and extremely frustrating. Conviction is finally coming out, and the new hand-to-hand combat system’s intensity raised these thick eyebrows more than once during my first glimpse of the game in motion. The text-on-the-wall objectives are stylish and reminiscent of J.J. Abrams’ work, but I hope the effect isn’t done ad nauseam. Splinter Cell is, to me, an Xbox franchise. I made the mistake of buying Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory on the PC, and both just never felt the same without a controller in my hands. So I look forward to revisiting an old standby franchise on my Xbox this February.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on an undetermined platform: If I think Splinter Cell is an Xbox franchise, then DICE’s Battlefield series is the PC counterpart. And while I do believe my aforementioned statement, I truly had a great time with Battlefield: Bad Company on the Xbox 360. So I’m rather perplexed as to which version of its sequel I should buy. Without knowing all of the details right now, I can’t decide. If the PC version has even a few more features than its console counterpart, I’m placing my bets on the PC. It seems, from forum buzz and scant media previews, Bad Company 2 is extracting the essence of 2005′s Battlefield 2 more and more, which I hope is true. DICE needs to release Battlefield 3 soon, but BC2 might suffice for the time being.

Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360: I really don’t have anything to say here. I only have an Xbox, and I’m the guy who buys every numbered, non-MMO Final Fantasy console title (aside from FFX-2). I’m obligated to get it, and I’m neither thrilled nor disappointed. It’s like renewing your driver’s license: you’ll do it, without thinking, out of necessity. It doesn’t matter if you’re unenthusiastic about it, you’ll still spend money on what’s technically the same exact license you’ve always had, but this time it has a fancy new color scheme. And anime hair.

The Holidays approach. For some that means quality time with family members not seen for a year — maybe more. Others, well…can I get a “what what” if at some point during your life you hid away in the midst of celebrations to finish Earthbound (or, insert other game reference here). However, my adult years have made me more personable when it comes to the holidays; I’m now infinitely more interested in the going-ons of my kin.

Still, I won’t lie that this year I’d prefer to mow down more of Left 4 Dead 2′s cajunized zombies with a giant plate of delicious turkey and fixins on my lap. I’m thankful for me.

We’re back on track for backlogs, and this week is mega-sized to make up for our absence. To summarize: Nick informs us he essentially played everything ever released this month, Doug gushes about his beloved Forza 3 between study sessions, and I write about why two wonderful November-born titles should be played on the PC.

Do the Mario!

Nick:

Life served up a particularly hellish week for me, so it was fortunate that I had a slew of excellent games to escape with.

I spent a few fantastic hours in New Super Mario Bros. Wii in its fantastic cooperative/competitive mode earlier this week. What Jerry Holkins said about this game’s debilitating effects on a relationship is true, to a point; while we were able to help each other out for the most part, there were times where my attempts to “take the lead” or “get us through this tough spot” often led to one or both of us being killed, prompting my girlfriend to say some things about me that are rarely included in the same sentences used to talk about a Mario game. But it was all in good fun — something this game has in ample supply. It’s Mario in his best form ever, and anyone who grew up playing these games should purchase it without hesitation.

This week also brought another sequel to a game I adored: Assassin’s Creed 2. Transporting the game to Renaissance Italy is perhaps the most significant shift in story and setting that I’ve seen in a franchise in quite some time, and Ubisoft Montreal deserves some commendation for crafting an incredible sequel to an already ambitious debut title. There’s so much I could say about how things were improved — combat, economy, actions and consequences, exploration, story — but I’ll lay it out like this instead. If you loved Assassin’s Creed, you’ll love Assassin’s Creed 2. And if you hated the original? You’ll probably love Assassin’s Creed 2 anyway.

Having completed all five campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2, I’m happy to pronounce myself an official fan of the series. Although I bought the first game and had my fair share of fun with it, I always felt a little uneasy playing it. And it wasn’t because of the game’s tension, or horror-film veneer, or anything like that; it was just that the game sent a constant message that your survival was entirely at the game director’s mercy. In the sequel, the tone has changed significantly for the better. If Left 4 Dead was Valve’s attempt to make an interactive zombie movie like Dawn of the Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 is Valve making a balls-out Zombieland-style game. Melee weapons encourage close combat, lending a sense of strength and confidence to the survivors that was sorely missing from the first. All four of the characters in the sequel have stronger personalities than the first game’s survivors, and their determination on getting to New Orleans to be rescued encourages the player to keep slogging it out through hell and high water. It’s one of the most improved sequels of the year, without a doubt.

And when you consider that Left 4 Dead 2 was developed in just one year, it’s disappointing that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 didn’t shape up to be more substantial. To be fair, Infinity Ward’s last game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, not only reinvented the series — it raised the bar significantly for what an online multiplayer experience can be. I sank a “mere” 40 hours into COD4′s multiplayer mode, which pales in comparison to most of the people on my friends list. Multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 is technically just as good as COD4′s, but after a solid six hours online in a variety of modes I’m struggling to stay interested. The mantra in developing this sequel seems to have been “more options in every aspect of play,” which is a good thing, but the core sensation of Call of Duty 4 has dulled for me. I was hoping lightning would strike twice, and I suppose it did, but I was hoping for a more risky and adventurous update to multiplayer — not a mere iteration. If I wanted that, I’d have bought last year’s Call of Duty: World at War. If there is one area that received a substantial improvement, though, it’s the single player. Rather than attempt to keep things within the bounds of reality, Infinity Ward opted to create an over-the-top global conflict that was flawlessly paced from start to finish. It’s ludicrous, but it’s so, so much fun. At about six hours to complete, it’s shorter than COD4′s — but considering how tedious replaying that game’s campaign was for me, I’m much happier with the new game’s approach.

I’m still slogging through Dragon Age: Origins with my city elf rogue. Steam says I’ve played for quite a long time, but I’m only at about 15% completion. Maybe it’s because I love reading every entry in the admirably written codex, or because I can’t help but talk to every NPC, but I’m getting an astronomically entertaining experience for my money with this game. I’m really struggling to fathom just how Mass Effect 2 could top the quality of this experience once it hits in January.

I also sank a few rounds in with the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta. I’d been hoping for a return to the glory days of Battlefield 2, and instead what I got was Bad Company with a moderate graphical upgrade; it’s good, but there are better options available. Looks like I’ll still be holding out for Battlefield 3 after all.

Doug sums up his feelings on this picture with an articulate "WEEEEEEE!"

Doug:

While I’ve been way too busy finishing up the majority of my grad school quarter, I’ve still found time to play a little bit of…erm…Forza Motorsport 3. And nothing else.

But it’s so good! I still love pretty much everything about it, even if I haven’t been able to play online with my friends at all. The rewind button is a godsend — it erases single-player frustration with the ease of control-z functionality. The selection of cars and tuning options are superb; I’ve made an old-school Volkswagen Rabbit into a fire-breathing, turbocharged four-wheel-drive monster that could eat a Ferrari for lunch and spit out its bones.

It’s been said that Microsoft and Turn 10 gets things right in the third iteration, and this particular game is a great example of that. It’s almost strange to think that all three Forza Motosport games have been released since Sony and Polyphony released Gran Turismo 4 on the PlayStation 2. It’s scary to think how much Forza has moved ahead certain aspects of console racing games.

Along with Forza, I’ve tried out a few of the Xbox Live improvements from this week’s update — namely the implementation of Facebook and Twitter. And that’s really the extent of my interaction; they’re there, they work just as advertised, but I feel like I’m kind of missing the point. It’s nice to have both services everywhere at all times, but until a real killer use for either blooms on the 360 they’re going to feel like tacked-on additions.

I don't think James Brown had this in mind when he wanted to take us to "the bridge."

Aaron:

Let’s get down to it. Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins are two amazing games that deserve to be played on the PC only.

Now, I love consoles. This isn’t a fanboy thing. And I fully understand that not everyone has a modern computer capable of playing the latest releases — Boot Camp Macs included. So, let’s assume you’re a lucky gamer who has the following: a home console of the PS3 or Xbox 360 variety, and a gaming PC. Let’s also assume you enjoy co-op zombie shooting and in-depth fantasy RPGs. You’re excited about the aforementioned titles, but you’re hesitant to commit to a particular platform. Here’s the answer: Play those games on the PC, or you’re not getting your money’s worth.

That may be a blatantly ignorant statement to some, but these words come from a person who, before this month, more or less abandoned PC gaming over the past year (aside from Dawn of War II and Left 4 Dead 1). PCs get the short end of the doomsday stick these days. People say the PC as a gaming device is dead, no one makes money off of the games anymore, and pirating is ruining developers left and right. Controversies aren’t helping the perception of PC gamers amongst the general gaming populace either. So that’s why I’m glad to see Electronic Arts promoting the platform with a definitive version Dragon Age, and Valve doing their thing by releasing such a quality computer title as L4D2.

Dragon Age works best on PC because of the following: the overall better performance (higher frame rate, less glitching, faster loading), a more sensible control/camera mechanic, and a BioWare community toolset that paves the way for future user mods. If Neverwinter Nights is an example to go by, expect years of free, quality content flowing from the collective mind of an invested fan base.

Now, Left 4 Dead 2 deserves to be experienced on the PC because it’s a Valve title first, console port second — plain and simple. The Steam service is consistent in its ability to match like minded players and bring friends together promptly. PC gamers are spoiled when it comes to online play. Thanks, dedicated servers.

I’d also wager the community on Steam is better than Xbox Live’s. Actually, it is better. Left 4 Dead 2 even has a section specifically for add-ons, and it’s exciting to think of the campaigns an active community will create using the sequel’s assets. The original’s user-made maps were generally great, so expect a longer lifespan if you pick up L4D2 on the PC.

Oh, and PC versions are cheaper than their console counterparts. That’s a plus.

The funk of 40,000 nerds awaits Nick at this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Expect the show floor to look much like this, a scene from the exhibit hall at the 2008 Penny Arcade Expo.

Here we are. The beginning of a three-day holiday weekend, the first day of the Penny Arcade Expo up in Seattle, and time for another week’s worth of gaming recounted in our Backlog. It’s been the calm ahead of the storm here, with Nick preparing for a feast of gaming at PAX, Aaron enjoying some comfort gaming, and Doug preparing to dig into some modern classics.

This is Nick's base of operations from the Bring Your Own Computer room at the Penny Arcade Expo. Updates from the expo and probably some good ol' PC gaming will be happening RIGHT HERE all weekend.

Nick

There hasn’t been much time for gaming this week, but that’s only because I’ve spent most of my time preparing for the Penny Arcade Expo: printing resumes, making business cards, packing up my computer and driving up Interstate 5 to Seattle. I just arrived and set up my computer as a base of operations, and I’m about to head down to the show floor. I’ll be posting when I can, but please follow me on Twitter (@sasquatchgaming) for up-to-the-minute impressions.

Some games I’m looking forward to playing include:

Diablo 3

The Beatles: Rock Band

Brütal Legend

Scribblenauts

Nostalgia

Battlefield Bad Company 2

If you’re at PAX, be sure to say hi!

Aaron informs me that while it's not his best game of Team Fortress 2, he's rather proud of the dominations handed out during this match. Can't say I don't blame him.

Aaron

I’ll have to disappoint everyone this week and confess I spent most of my gaming time playing in two separate three-hour-long Rock Band 2 sessions. Just one of those weeks, I suppose. It’s interesting though considering I’m the least enthusiastic toward the rhythm game genre compared with fellow Sasquatchers Nick and Doug, and yet I spent most of my free gaming time this week playing a title I’m sort of “meh” about. The plot thickens!

Otherwise I perused snippets of Castle Crashers here and Team Fortress 2 there — the general standbys when I need a strong dose of videogame fun. I also tried the exclusive Joker challenge room content for the PlayStation 3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I have to say to you owners of the Xbox 360 version: you’re not missing much. It’s a cool idea, but the challenge rooms are a hardcore-only affair already, and after playing the game as a nimble martial arts master in a batsuit, playing as the lanky, goofy Joker feels awkward. That’s my take though.

Readers of our site may or may not notice we have a favicon now! Check your address bar for a very small (but very awesome) sasquatch face. It’s not that exciting compared to a full redesign, but hey: I felt giddy about it.

Oh, I almost forgot. Next week brings us The Beatles: Rock Band.

Now that’s a rhythm game I can get back to.

I'm finally going to get around to finishing Shadow of the Colossus off, making me quite possibly the last hardcore gamer in the world to do so.

Doug

While I hate to be a spoil sport and overly sarcastic, I’ve been playing games like Finish My Summer Term Classes and Study For Finals, which I’m sure you’ll recognize as international bestsellers. I’m also partaking in the cult classic Follow Xbox 360 Repair Status Online.

Joking aside, I look forward to the silver lining of my Xbox 360 being sent away — being forced into playing some classics. I set my original Xbox up for the first time in ages, and hope to find time to play Beyond Good and Evil, which I’ve never finished, and NBA Street Vol. 2, which is a great arcade basketball game. Also please note that both of these games are not backwards compatible (*shakes fist angrily at Microsoft*).

Add PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus to that list and you have the games I want to finish before my 360 returns from beyond the grave.

Of course, The Beatles: Rock Band drops this week, too, and I cannot wait to get my hands on that.