It's a slow week for game releases. So slow, in fact, that one of our picks for a game we're not playing is actually a remix of "Lost Planet." The option to play as an akrid in multiplayer isn't enough for Jason Cipriano or myself, apparently.
We also found common ground on "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars," and Jason tries to convince me for the second or third time that I should give "Call of Duty 4" multiplayer a fair shake. I may take him up on it this time.
JasonCipriano: Aside from the really obvious choices this week, I will be passing on "Lost Planet Extreme: Colonies"
JasonCipriano: Does that count?
PatrickKlepek: Well, did you play the original?
JasonCipriano: I did not, and that's basically the reason.
JasonCipriano: The first one was paced way too slow for my enjoyment
JasonCipriano: Slushing through the snow at a snails pace causes me to be bored and frustrated, and I lose interest really quick when something like that happens
PatrickKlepek: So you're not interested as playing as a giant alien akrid in multiplayer.
JasonCipriano: Not at all.
Discover more of our reasons for passing by reading on.
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2008 has been hyped as the year of the PlayStation 3, but one of the year's biggest PS3 exclusives, "Haze", won't be getting much love from Stephen Totilo or myself.
In an otherwise slow week, I ponder whether "SingStar" has enough to pull me away from "Rock Band" and we debate why I'm obsessed with finishing games I start -- even if I don't like them.
PatrickKlepek: "The World Ends With You" is next on my handheld list. I'm on a Square Enix streak lately, having finished "Kingdom Hearts 2," "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles," and "Crisis Core" in the last few months.
PatrickKlepek: Of course, two of those I finished out of an obsessive tick, rather than because I wanted to.
StephenTotilo: I was going to say, do you not regret finishing any of the three?
PatrickKlepek: I regret wasting my time with them. I don't regret finishing them. I have this thing about not finishing games I've started. It's the same thing with movies, games, books.
StephenTotilo: So do I, but I also have this thing with realizing how 25 hours of my life were spent doing repetitive tasks that the makers of "Portal," "God of War" and "Call of Duty 4" didn't seem to think I had to do
StephenTotilo: Rare is the game that benefits from 10 or more hours of single-player campaign
Read on to find out why "Haze" isn't on our to-do list.
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If you're not busy at pre-E3 festivities, you're probably playing a lot of WiiWare.
Which means some other games are getting the shaft -- even some Wii games. While I'm thinking about trying "We Ski" (whose cover art I loved by the way), my colleague Jason Cipriano doesn't even want to go down that slippery slope (sorry):
JasonCipriano: I'm too big a fan of "SSX" (prior to the last two releases) to offer up my downhill love anywhere else
TraceyJohn: there are racing modes in "WeSki"
JasonCipriano: yeah, there are
JasonCipriano: But they don't appear to be even remotely close to "SSX" and all its glory
TraceyJohn: Would you like an "SSX" with the board?
JasonCipriano: If they are making "Skate" with the board, "SSX" seems like a natural next step.
JasonCipriano: I'd have to play it first, but I fear it could very easily suffer from the same problem as the Wheel
JasonCipriano: where it doesn't offer the same level of precision that I'm used to.
JasonCipriano: So we've digressed to the point where we are talking about not playing games that may or may not exist.
Read on to see what else will get ignored this week with all the WiiWare madness... Read more...
It's only been a week since "Grand Theft Auto IV" was released, and it is still coveting our precious gaming minutes.
Fortunately, it was a slim release week, and Patrick and I were left to debate the best use of the Wii's motion controls, SRPGs and the existence of The Candyman. (Don't worry, we don't think he exists.)
Needless to say, there were a couple of standout games that we probably would have passed on had we not still had so much of Liberty City to explore.
PatrickKlepek: You're completely selling the game short. It has an aesthetic that appeals to kids, but the gameplay is anything but. And to say you "get it" from a tutorial is just ignorance! There are a great many modes to "Boom Blox," much more than just Jenga.
PatrickKlepek: Nor have you played the game's true highlight: multiplayer.
JasonCipriano: I didn't even do the Jenga one... I get that too ... It's Jenga ... just virtual, and better than Atari made it.
PatrickKlepek: My apartment's intercom is busted, so my copy of "Boom Blox" may not show up this week. It's the one thing that would pull me away from "GTA."
JasonCipriano: It just doesn't seem deep enough for me to spend time on it.
PatrickKlepek: That's like saying "Tetris" is just about dropping some blocks.
JasonCipriano: Boil it down.... It is.
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Two little known games called "GTA IV" and "Mario Kart Wii" came out this week.
Seriously though... We'd be fools to not be playing them, right?
But one of us hasn't even gotten Niko off the boat yet in "GTA IV."
Why? He says there's been too much hype:
JasonCipriano: I've been playing "Mario Kart" pretty steadily, and I'm sure I'll get into "GTA" by the weekend... I just haven't gotten to it yet
TraceyJohn: Did you intentionally choose "Mario Kart" over "GTA"? People might say you're crazy for even waiting 'til the weekend
JasonCipriano: I'm okay waiting until the weekend. My girlfriend won't be around and I'll be able to dig in
JasonCipriano: I'm a little in "GTA" overload anyways
JasonCipriano: I've been tired of hearing about it for a couple weeks now
JasonCipriano: We get it. It's a big game... and it's out. Can we all please stop talking about it, and maybe just ... ya know ... play it, and keep to ourselves
JasonCipriano: There has to be other things to talk about
TraceyJohn: Hmmm... Like what we're NOT playing this week!
Are you suffering from "GTA" overload, too? We know some other games that are, and we discuss why we're not playing them. Read on...
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The last few weeks have been a bit dry in terms of game releases, but this week brought at least a small handful of games that were worth checking out.
There's a little something for everyone to help bide their time until they can get their hands on "Mario Kart" and "GTA IV" in less than a week.
Today, Patrick and I discuss of the finer points of JRPGs, Pokémon, and wonderfully awesome bad games. Enjoy!
JasonCipriano: What's your problem w. "Persona 3: FES?"
PatrickKlepek: My reasoning is simple. I used to be a huge fan of Japanese RPGs, but since I left college, I haven't had time to invest in them. I still haven't finished "Final Fantasy XII," and I've finished every "Final Fantasy" since "FF6/3" on SNES.
PatrickKlepek: So I can't reason why I would move onto another, apparently fantastic, JRPG, when I can't finish the one in front of me.
JasonCipriano: But you beat "Kingdom Hearts 2".
PatrickKlepek: I never said I was especially proud of that!
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It was another slow week of game releases...
But we here at Multiplayer always strive to find something NOT to play in order to raise discussion about games.
This week, I grilled our resident Nintendo fanboy Jason Cipriano to see if he was suffering from a case of "Wiimorse":
TraceyJohn: The 360 shouldn't have mini-games? Why?
JasonCipriano: It's a market the Wii has cornered. Something that also pains me to say -- since it's become a dumping ground for crap titles laden with mini-games. But, to its credit, it does allow for interesting and competitive gaming, in the right environment
TraceyJohn: But speaking of the Wii as "a dumping ground for crap titles" ... I read an article on The Escapist yesterday about "Wiimorse"
TraceyJohn: You're one of the biggest Nintendo fanboys here
TraceyJohn: How do you feel about the Wii now?
JasonCipriano: As long as I have something like "Mario Kart" or "Smash Bros." then I have something that can keep my console from getting dusty.
Do you agree, Wii owners? Read on to see why I'm really not playing "GT5 Prologue" and how Cip won't shut up about "Rocky and Bullwinkle"...
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It's been a busy few weeks here in the Multiplayer cave, so thankfully we're not missing out on much during this period of not-so-exciting releases.
Today, Totilo and I traded IMs about the games we're ignoring this week. I decided to skip out on "Ikaruga" on Xbox Live. In mentioning this, we discussed a strange feature in the game:
StephenTotilo: But what people don't mention is that, at least with the GCN version, that for every hour you log in the game you get an extra continue at the start of your next session
StephenTotilo: And after about eight hours logged (not consecutively, cumulatively), you get started with infinite continues
StephenTotilo: Like having a bottomless pocket of quarters
StephenTotilo: It makes it impossible not to complete the game
TraceyJohn: What if you just leave the game on for 8+ hours?
StephenTotilo: I believe you would get blown up. I don't think it clocks time if it's paused. But I could be wrong. I'm too classy to have even considered such a dastardly cheat
TraceyJohn: Classy? Not sure about that, but whatever.
Read on and find out why Totilo is snubbing Sony's new controller and see how much I can sass my boss and get away with it... Read more...
It's fair to say that certain weeks of the year have stronger video game releases than others.
However, it's also fair to say that every other release week in the history of the world was better than this week.
Fortunately though, it doesn't look like this week is going to set the pace for the rest of the month (thanks to the likes of "GTA IV" and "Mario Kart Wii").
In this week's "What We're NOT Playing," Patrick and I discuss the finer points of some of the best games released in the past few months that we just haven't gotten around to -- including "Patapon," "God of War," and "Super Mario Galaxy." Patrick also professes his love for "Bully"... over and over again. We think that he enjoys it so much because he's living out some kind of childhood fantasy in which he actually gets to be the bully for once...
PatrickKlepek: I've been playing a ton of "Bully" lately, too, in anticipation of "Grand Theft Auto IV." Open world games have never been my thing. I like a concrete goal. I don't like getting lost. But I am absolutely falling head over heels in love with "Bully."
JasonCipriano: You don't think playing that in anticipation will burn you out come release day?
PatrickKlepek: The settings are so vastly different, I don't think so. It's made me wonder if I should go back and check out some of the old GTAs, though. I never played any for more than a few hours, and didn't even turn on "San Andreas."
JasonCipriano: I almost failed out of college looking for all the packages in "GTA3" ... so I haven't played "Vice City" or "San Andreas" in hopes that they wouldn't ruin my life.
PatrickKlepek: But are you going to play "GTA4"?
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So many games. So many to avoid.
In "What We're NOT Playing," we usually discuss the week's new releases and which of them we're not picking up to play.
But this time, Jason Cipriano and I delved into the logic behind the titles we do end up playing:
TraceyJohn: ...the games are piling up. How do you prioritize the games you play?
JasonCipriano: Honestly, I'm not really sure. If I'm playing something already and I feel compelled to finish it, I work on that.
JasonCipriano: If I'm starting something new, I wanna make sure I have a few hours to really dig into it.
TraceyJohn: I think I'm the same way. But do you try to keep up with newer games? Do you feel obligated to play a newer title that just came out, or an old one you never tried?
JasonCipriano: I've pretty much given up on trying to keep up with newer titles
Read on to see which one of us is ignoring "Ninja Gaiden Dragon Swords," "Viking: Battle For Asgard" and a few new RTS titles out this week...
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