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.

Guitar Hero 5 is coming and it has songs (surprise!), free-to-play MMO Free Realms has racked up quite the player base in its first few weeks of existence, Valve’s sneaky with its surprises as usual, and Mass Effect 2 footage is available for your viewing pleasure.

Not Guitar Hero 5–but close enough

Though the game has been known about for a while now, Activision today tossed out a few official scraps of details on the upcoming Guitar Hero 5. Players will be able to tackle the game’s tracks with any instrument combination they see fit. Want to sing through a song with three other friends all using microphones? Go ahead.

It’s an interesting mechanic to put into a rhythm game–certainly one that isn’t “authentic” as far real bands go (though, yes, these games aren’t meant to be taken literally). And while we’ve been somewhat biased in favor of Harmonix’s Rock Band titles (or, at least Nick and Doug have), I personally find the gameplay freedom Neversoft’s offering to be great. Add-in the beginnings of a solid-looking track list and the new instant difficulty/instrument swapping, and the next Guitar Hero game might turn out to be one actually worthy of the franchise’s name.

You'd certainly be happy too if you were SOE

Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment’s recently released free-to-play MMO, has already achieved 1,000,000 registered player accounts in under three weeks’ time. The “free” concept might tarnish these numbers a bit considering the zero-cost entry level for gamers to go and be wizards, but it’s still an impressive amount of people willing to try out an American company’s take on the international concept of micro-transaction gameplay. Also, there’s a trading card game within the MMO. I almost feel compelled to try it now.

You are encouraged to fear Mann Co., but that fear comes with the gentle and stern guidance of a near-naked Australian

Though we already mentioned Valve’s impending Team Fortress 2 update, they’re not quite done yet: The next Team Fortress 2 serving of additional content will also be a…gasp…Spy-oriented extravaganza! You have to love the design team’s miniature poster announcements, with their clever wording and immersion into the strange world of TF2′s 1960s super villain culture. Plus, who doesn’t get a kick out of Mann Co.’s CEO (and Australian), Saxton Hale. The name and trouser-shorts simultaneously scream manliness.

And finally, a closing treat for you: BioWare today released a dual-purpose teaser and pre-E3 video for Mass Effect 2. What else can I say but “Wow.”

Enjoy, and have a great weekend. We’ll be posting some great stuff over this weekend and throughout next week, so keep coming back for more!

"Awesome!" indeed

So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.

Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)

Let's hope Atari backing out of E3 doesn't mean advertising for Ghostbusters: The Video Game or Champions Online will suffer

Despite having a very capable line-up of releases coming out this year, Atari has suddenly decided to skip E3 2009, citing a desire to explore “other selling and marketing initiatives.” Joystiq seems to believe the company’s change of heart is due to a lack of sufficient cash flow to pay the Entertainment Software Association‘s fees. That’s possible, but without up-to-date financial analysis available it’s hard to be certain.

Our cursory research implies that Atari has seen significant increases in business-related performance over the last year in comparison to its stock delisting ordeal last May. Things might not be so bad at the company, but without knowing for sure that’s quite the guess.

Maybe Atari is actually going to pursue alternative methods of marketing its Ghostbusters and Champions Online titles as their announcement said. But with E3 2009 supposedly returning to its old tricks of cacophony and neon light insanity–which always made the event a great place to get a game noticed and hyped–this could be the makings of a huge mistake for Atari.

These financial issues are totally getting in the way of a sequel to Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Gamasutra has a fantastic post on the developing story of creditors who are suing Midway Games‘ former big-wig board members for running the company into the ground to allegedly benefit themselves.

Sumner Redstone, quite the controversial name as far as Midway’s current situation goes, is singled-out along with daughter Shari Redstone and former investor Mark Thomas, among others.  Two of the suit’s many claims center on the Redstones intentionally investing $90 million into the struggling company to then recoup it under claims of “debt,” and also using Midway’s $700 million in tax losses to later obtain a beneficial refund.

It’s a great if depressing read, and goes to show once again that money is quite the motivator when it comes to personal gain. No one wants to see any development studio go under thanks to fraudulent actions of insensitive businesspeople. But, yes, I suppose it’s “just business.”

Digital war has never been so cover-worthy, until now

Infinity Ward‘s Modern Warfare 2 is getting a blowout piece in the next issue of Game Informer, and multiple websites have posted some of the initial details. What’s known so far sounds both promising and unfortunate at the same time. Taking place years after the last game, “Soap” MacTavish–the main character throughout the British SAS missions in Call of Duty 4–is now a captain who will serve as the new character’s mentor as did Captain Price the last time around. It’ll be interesting to see a former protagonist in a different context.

Unfortunately, Infinity Ward won’t be including a cooperative campaign option, although Treyarch managed to include the feature in Call of Duty: World at War in a very polished manner. Also, MW2 sounds like it might be shorter than CoD4′s already short campaign.

Knowing Infinity Ward’s track record, the title will likely turn out to be superb. It’s just a shame to see the team once again won’t add co-op, an ironically modern gameplay feature, into the so-called Modern Warfare 2.

While this picture isn't related to the Sniper update, I think we can appreciate an engineer in mid-burn

And because they’re just so sweet to their fans, Valve has teased its impending Team Fortress 2 Sniper update with details on one of the new unlockable weapons: The Huntsman–it’s a bow and arrow!

The extremely old school weapon will actually pin its victims to surfaces upon a killing shot; even if the target lives through a direct hit, they’ll still have an arrow protruding from their bodies. Groovy.

Valve has consistently supported Team Fortress 2 with new maps, unlockables and achievements since its 2007 release, all for free, and it’s a real testament to the company’s belief in PC gaming.

Now we eagerly await the inevitable Zelda mod using the new bow and arrow’s physics. Get to work!

Left 4 Dead (L4D) is still the paramount zombie apocalypse videogame — there are no contenders, no second place awards. It’s a frenetic, hair-trigger suicide mission into an infected wasteland that doses players with relentless fun.

Even five months after its release, the original Campaign mode continues to be both exciting and trying, while Versus still turns up the intensity by forcing players to alternate between the roles of survivor and infected.

But despite the release version’s polish, there was always some tiny element missing, something teased but never fully delivered: unadulterated intensity free from the stairstep pacing of the campaign. The strongest moments of L4D lay in its massive NPC crescendos, where a horde of the undead claw, vomit, smash, strangle and pounce to ensure every survivor is indeed, left for dead.

Valve finally realized it could hack all of that terror and confusion into one sanguine slab of gameplay, resulting in the recently added DLC pack.

Patching the game will install the anticipated Survival mode — essentially a steroid-enhanced version of the horde encounters in Left 4 Dead’s campaigns — along with the Dead Air and Blood Harvest  maps for Versus. Luckily, everything’s free (and also available on the Xbox 360).

The experience of playing Versus on Dead Air and Blood Harvest is as great, and frustrating, as it was in No Mercy and Death Toll. To be honest, Versus is still too much like regular FPS deathmatches to warrant a lot of playtime.

Sure, it’s unique to swap between running and gunning as a survivor and hiding and ambushing as an infected, but L4D is better served in straight co-op fashion with real players against tough NPCs. For Versus diehards the new campaign maps are a welcome addition, but the real meat of the DLC is in Survival.

Get used to seeing this a lot, again

Obviously the titular goal of Survival is to stay alive, but the caveat is just how many infected you’ll be encountering in even the first two minutes of play.

Hundreds upon hundreds of salivating enemies are thrown at players from start to finish and rarely ever let up; boss infected spawn repeatedly every 15-30 seconds, though the exact timing is random thanks to the AI Director. Don’t be surprised to see two or even three tanks tossing asphalt around during a match. Valve wants teams to mow down many more zombies than they would in a typical chapter of the campaign. That’s exactly why this mode was created.

Trust me, this isn't typical

But a guaranteed mauling wouldn’t have worked without some kind of reward system. Included in the DLC are bronze, silver or gold medals rewarded per-map depending on how long the team survives.  While 10 minutes for the gold sounds a bit laughable, keep in mind that average time Valve has survived is a little over 14 minutes. Taking into consideration that nearly 1,000 infected are wasted after a successful gold medal run, teams will have some strategizing to do.

Even the mighty fall

For the DLC’s digital playgrounds, the Left 4 Dead team crafted 16 contained Survival maps — 15 of which are based off of the campaign — to let players try their luck. The campaign maps are essentially smaller chunks taken from the original experience. Lighthouse is the only new map, and it’s perfectly made for the mode.

Survivors spawn outside of a lighthouse building and can climb all the way up to the rotating bulb. While the top of the lighthouse is likely to attract new players, its compromising lack of cover guarantees someone will be pulled away by a smoker or jumped by a couple of tanks who find their way up top. As the Rebel Alliance’s Gold Leader would say: “They came from…behind!”

Even so, there’s just something satisfying about picking off infected from high ground.

Do the Zombiestomp!

Players definitely need to think differently in Survival. It’s a mode where ammo’s constantly running low, but the ammo piles are in extremely poor positions open to attack from all sides. Supplies in general are spread out aside from one or two fortifiable areas in each map. Half the fun is in finding just exactly where the team can make its stand. It’s not uncommon for three survivors to scramble reloading their last clip of ammo while the fourth teammate dangles by his neck from a grimy brick building to be overwhelmed in a matter of seconds, all because the defensive formation wasn’t tight enough.

As you can probably tell, I died here

Overall, Survival mode is a genius concept: its extreme action coupled with quick-and-dirty tactics ensures easily digestable playtime that can be picked up whenever one has an itch to scratch. Although, if you’re scratching too much you might be infected with something and, well, you know what that means.

Antibiotics.

Recommended for:

• The unrelenting fury of thousands of the undead ensuring your doom
• Surviving even 10 minutes of that fury is an elating accomplishment
• A quick alternative to playing the game’s campaign maps, guaranteed to satisfy your L4D urge and let you go on with your day

Not Recommended for:

• It’s free, come on.

Read our policy on reviews here.

For those that don’t know, the NPD Group is the data analysis group that keeps track of video game sales data, which they then release to the masses on a monthly basis. While in some seedy parts of the Internet the NPDs may be nothing more than “troll food,” providing console crusaders proof that THIER CONSOLE IS TEH BEST EVAR for message board flame wars, the sales data are useful to show a few things we can dig into and analyze.

Resident Evil 5 was the sales leader in March, nearing 1.5 million total copies on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Image from residentevil.com.

A full list of console and game sales totals for March can be found at 1up.com’s news article on the topic. Salient analysis? Resident Evil 5 was popular – selling more than 900,000 copies on Xbox 360, and 580,000 on the PlayStation 3. On the console side, the Wii just keeps selling – moving more than 600,000 units in March, and 700,000 in February. Yowza. RE5 360, Pokemon Platinum on DS, Halo Wars, RE5 PS3 and Wii Fit are the top five games for March, and Wii Fit, Street Fighter 4 360 and then PS3, Wii Play and Killzone 2 are the top five for February.

Also from NPD land: In an article on Joystiq, a survey conducted by NPD suggests that, despite the economic downturn, game sales will continue to stay at around the same level this year – with 65 percent of the people surveyed saying they are planning to spend as much or more money on games this year than the year gone. It makes a certain amount of sense – in talking about this topic before, many gaming pundits have said they wouldn’t be surprised if sales stay strong because of the escapism and value-per-dollar offered by gaming. People may not get as much out of their extra cars, homes, meals out, or vacations, but they certainly can get the extra mile out of their games.

Adding on to a leak that Destructoid got, Giant Bomb puts together the puzzle pieces and deduces that it appears a current-gen downloadable version of classically chaotic fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2 may be inbound. Destructoid received a listing for a MadCatz-made MvC-branded arcade stick, which lists the game title by name in the release. There was previously an ESRB rating put out for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, and – to add fuel to the fire – a Giant Bomb commentor adds that MvC2 achievements have been spotted at xbox360achievements.org. MvC2 – which originated in arcades on the Naomi board, allowing a direct, perfect version on the Dreamcast – was previously ported to the PS2 and Xbox. All three still command a premium online, especially the Dreamcast version.

Left 4 Dead is getting an update next week, and the developers say the new Survival mode won't just ask for teamwork – it will demand it from players. Image from l4d.com.

Numerous sources point back to the Left 4 Dead developer blog, where the game’s creators at Valve detail the new Survival mode that will come to the game next week. The popular online multiplayer shooter, which pits players against waves of zombies (as well as placing them in the tattered shoes of the undead), will soon have a new mode that the developers say focuses on communication and teamwork.

Survival Mode draws on the planning and communication aspects of a successful Finale or Crescendo event, while taking it to another level. It rapidly hits a fever pitch that only a well coordinated team will be able to successfully survive. Everything from simply covering a reviving teammate, to making every shot count to minimize reloads becomes crucial in Survival Mode.

Valve says that even trying to take advantage of runs for ammo will be dangerous for players and fits in with the theme of necessary teamwork. See for yourself when the DLC drops next week.