The Recycle Bin

It’s been a while since my last update, which is kind of similar to my free time for gaming. While often limited, my random gaming sessions have been all over the place. The theme of this post has to be ‘backlog’ – as in I could not purchase a game for the next couple of years and still have something new to experience.

With that said, let’s jump into a whirlwind tour of random gaming bliss …

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
I picked this one up a month ago, once the price fell below $20. I just started in the last couple of days. It is pretty much what I expected – LotR, with poorly implemented Move support (i.e. probably a Wii Remote straight port), but very family friendly.

So far I am enjoying it, but probably only because I am a huge LotR geek.

Days of Thunder: NASCAR
This morning I picked up Days of Thunder, along with Star Trek DAC, and Top Gun via a 50% off PS+ sale. While I have not played the other two games in this Paramount bundle, $7.50 looks like a steal of a deal for all three games. If nothing else, Days of Thunder is shaping up to be easily worth ~$2.50. Yes, it is arcade racing, and only loosely based on the movie with the same name, but so far my boys (along with day) are having a blast playing this one.

The game feature rubber band racing to the extreme, but that is OK, when the experience is still fun. I was shocked once I made it to the ‘Sprint’ circuit – Daytona became total hell on wheels, but in a fun way.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest
I cannot exactly put my finger on the reason, but I am very much looking forward to Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest, which is due a few days (November 15 to be exact) shy of Thanksgiving. What’s not to like? Family friendly, Move compatible, and based on lessons learned from Sports Champions.

PixelJunk Shooter
Let’s put this one in the looking forward to category, which will just add further to my backlog, but with a PS+ 20% off discount, who can complain?

Some people reckon PixelJunk games are a little tough, and well… yes, they are a little because I think games should be a challenge. However, what we’ve done this time is scattered loads of checkpoints so even if you do die, you’ll restart really close, and we also give you the option to downgrade your difficulty setting if you get a Game Over too. We’ve created 4 difficulty levels so everyone is catered for (I hope!).

For an old man gamer, I am giddy over frequent checkpoints and multiple difficulty levels for a shoot-em-up. Not to digress too much, but the October PS+ offering has been butt-nut crazy.

Afrika
While Afrika may not be the greatest ‘game’ around, it holds a special place in my heart. First, I love the experience. It is different, and I sometimes blow my wad over games that are a little off the beaten path. Of course it is hard to call Afrika a ‘game’ … at least not a proper game. Second, Afrika was my first Platinum. Your first is always special, and all that jazz. At any rate, this article was a fond remembrance of picture grabbing animals and insects in my romp through Africa.

GT5
When I first read about the GT5 2.0 update, I started longing for the game again, and when the F1 Championship winning Sebastian Vettel Red Bull was on offer a couple of weeks ago, I (briefly) jumped back in for the first time in a while.

Getting the $1 million credits was a nice bonus. I made the Bronze in-game trophy without too much difficulty, but didn’t spend much time trying to place higher. I now have some much needed money to burn, which should help me push forward in the game without having to stop for a short term grind.

I will be picking up the upcoming DLC, but I am far from maximizing the current DLC free version (that backlog thing again).

We are confirming that the Gran Turismo 5 DLC update will be available to download on 10/25. We apologize for the delay in the content however as a gift to our eager fans we are offering free bonus content. For those who purchase the “Complete Pack” by November 7, we will throw in a unique GT Academy dynamic theme as well the Honda NSX GT500 Stealth Model. Just to be clear, both the dynamic theme and the car are free with purchase of the Complete Pack. Again we are sorry for the delay and hope that fans will enjoy all of the fantastic new content to come for GT5.

It is not like I have ants in my pants or anything, so I am happy to wait another week and pick up a couple of free throw-ins by Sony for putting up the DLC one week later than originally planned.

Ico – The No Update, Update
I haven’t started on Ico collection; same song and dance. Never enough hours in the day. I guess my appetite for gaming is bigger than the time I have to appreciate the games.

I would love to see a decent action RPG based on the current D&D rules, released for the PS3, thus I have been waiting on info on Daggerdale.

We wanted to make the game as accessible as possible, just let players play, harkening back to the ‘old school’ days of gaming. You should be able to play alone, call a buddy over and play locally or jump online and find a party of adventurers to group with. There are definitely development issues with balancing and performance having a downloadable PSN game that is fully featured, but we felt strongly about the usability of the game. Besides, isn’t that what D&D is about – freedom of play?

Kind of lame for the Daggerdale director to post to the official’ish PlayStation blog, and then abandon the blog post without answering any comments, providing insight into the PSN release date, etc.

Daggerdale for the PS3 via PSN; better late than never?

NCAA Football 12, what else? It is actually growing on me as I continue to fine tune some of the sliders, but the reality is that under the covers this is still the same NCAA Football that I turned my back on several years ago. Sure, there are improvements, small little niggles that any simulation fan will pick up on, but casual fans are going to wonder why they should continue to “upgrade” yearly.

I have not started farting around with Dynasty mode yet; mostly because of time commitments, and secondly because the developers have taken Dynasty mode in a forgettable direction. Is it really so hard to get this right? Just throw a couple of dedicated NCAA football fans at the helm as “consultants,” find some decent software engineers that understand progression modeling, standard deviation (from walk-ons to blue chip prospects), make it adjustable via various slider settings, and tie it all up with a pretty interface (hire a UI consultant) and we would have the killer experience that we have been longing for since we first fell in love with NCAA Football during the heydays of the 2000-2001 releases.

One can dream, right? Instead, according to Bill Abner at nohighscores, we get recruiting run amuck.

In 2013 we see…

42 quarterbacks rated 90 or higher

41 running backs rated 90 or higher

The country is filled with B+ to A+ rated teams, as progression has simply gone insane. You can make the case that the overall score for these players doesn’t matter, that it is the individual ratings that carry more weight and this argument would hold more water if EA shipped rosters that reflected this. They didn’t. This CLEARLY can’t be how it’s meant to work. EA can’t possibly mean for Ohio U (not Ohio State, but the Bobcats of Athens) to finish 12-0 in 2013 and have an 81 rated HB win the Heisman. That can’t be right.

What this does is effectively make your NCAA Dynasty a crap shoot when games are simmed as truly great programs are likely to go 6-6 because everyone is rated so closely together (unless you are truly a bottom feeder team.) A team might go 11-1 one year, still have a great team the next and lose 5 or 6 games due to randomness.

Is this harsh? Not at all if you admit to yourself that …

(A) NCAA Football is a niche title, which a simulation fan base and mass market appeal. The former demands a decent (that is really the mark at this point – decent) simulation, while that later just wants their beloved team to beat the shit out of everyone else.

(B) While my gaming habits these days are still rooted in simulation experiences, I have shifted (kicking and screaming) into the realm of a semi-casual gamer. This has an interesting impact on my gaming because I can really appreciate the full spectrum more so than at any prior point in my gaming life.

Catherine Demo
I spent a little time with the strange and curious Catherine; what will those crazy Japanese developers think of next? After watching this game for a while, I was interested to get my hands on the demo. It is really just a block pulling/pushing/manipulating puzzle type game, with an interesting story. While I like interesting (i.e. different) games, I am not so sure that I am going to keep this one on pre-order. I would actually like to see how the story plays out; could probably save $60 and just wait for the eventual youtube videos to make an appearance.

The Sly Collection: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus
Still working my way through this one; currently in the Mesa City section. I missed these games the first time around (PS2 releases) and am glad I am giving the HD versions a go. The Sly games, at least the first one, are all about classic platform gaming action; however a little on the easy side. The cartoon cell-shaded graphic style makes the game appear to be a kiddie outing, but I think adults that grew up in the Mario world should enjoy the Sly games.

Where to from here?
Any gaming time this coming week will probably be spent with NCAA 12, exploring the broken Dynasty mode, looking to see if it is really as bad as has been reported. I’ll probably also turn back to LBP some; have given it a rest the last couple of weeks in order to recharge my appreciation for this true gem.

I also need to decide if I am going to take the plunge on any of the PSN Summer Sale games. I have such a huge backlog of games that I will probably pass; have to admit that Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is tempting me.

40 is just a number … although a scary one!
Speaking of 40, while it’s really not so old, it’s darn hard to believe that my household now features a 40 year-old better half. Cheers to Tonya; 40 is really just a starting point, a silly number if you will.

Today is the last day to claim any “welcome back” games. When Sony’s package went live in early June, I picked up the free PS3 theme and LittleBigPlanet (LBP) for the PSP. I still have not made my other PSP selection; will probably settle on ModNation Racers as Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation are not my typical fare for PSP gaming.

From a PS3 standpoint, I already purchased the PSN titles Dead Nation and Super Stardust HD. I also own LBP (although the Game of the Year Edition), and inFAMOUS. While I do not technically “own” Wipeout HD, I do have it available to my library as part of the initial PS+ offering. I also took advantage of a PS+ discount last September to pick up the Fury DLC for $7.99, which also renders this option as semi-worthless.

In other words, my PS3 choices are rather limited. I decided on Wipeout HD just because I would now “own” the game; not that I am planning on letting my PS+ subscription expire anytime soon.

I also decided on inFAMOUS; was there really any other choice? inFAMOUS was packed in with my PS3 Slim that I purchased around this time last year as a replacement to my original PS3 60GB system. Would you believe that I never actually played inFAMOUS, much less opened the game? I know; I suck. Figured I would get to it at some point down the road as I work my way through my backlog of games.

By going with inFAMOUS, I figure I can at least flip my copy for a few bucks on eBay or via some sort of trade in down the road, although the value has to be pennies on the dollar due to the game being offered in the “welcome back” package.

Yesterday I attempted to add inFAMOUS as my second game, however it was not offered as an available “welcome back” choice. After a lot of pain and suffering (i.e. research), I realized that because I never deleted and never played the free trial I received last year as part of PS+, I needed to download the trail again, play it, and let it expire.

That is a hell of a lot of work to try to get some value from the “welcome back” package. It fact it was way more work than I anticipated. For some reason the game took impossibly long to download; maybe hordes of other gamers were also making last minute “welcome back” selections.

At any rate, the download completed and installed just before midnight last night. I played it for about 30 minutes before crashing for the night. When I checked the available “welcome back” options this morning, there sat inFAMOUS. So happy days; I am currently downloading the full game now.

I know I should not look a gift horse in the mouth …

********************************
[July 4th Update:] If you failed to collect your free “welcome back” games, Sony has extended the offer: “The Welcome Back offer has been extended until 9am Pacific on Tuesday, July 5th. If you haven’t had a chance to download the offerings, please do so before then.”

If you have not already done so, now is the time to do the needful.

Journey is one of those really compelling games that I have been keeping close tabs on, and now it looks like PS+ is paying some dividends in landing a limited beta invite.

To test Journey’s innovative and unusual multiplayer functionality, we are conducting a small, invite-only beta that will run tomorrow, June 28 and will run through July 12. If you were one of the very earliest adopters of Flower, and you are a PS Plus subscriber as well, watch your XMB inbox for your invitation and entry into the beta. Additionally, we’ve been able to free up a limited number of additional spots for the beta. Please check thatgamecompany’s Facebook page, here on the PlayStation Blog, or our media partners and their sites for code give-aways.

It is not 100% clear from the article if all PS+ subscribers are getting an invite. Keeping my fingers crossed, because I am really interested in this one.

[Update June 29, 2011] I was a day one PS+ subscriber, and I didn’t receive an invite for the limited Journey beta, so it is safe to say that not all PS+ subscribers will receive an invite.

Or maybe we should have called this one the Trophy whore edition. Yes, while putting in a few hours of “fun” time, I have actually been doing a little Trophy chasing (i.e. being a total Trophy whore).

Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet
I am all in on this one, which is great fun to play with the kids. Would I ever actively play this one on my own? Not with so many other great titles out there waiting for my attention. The AI can be kind of cheap and inconsistent. Some of the challenges are really a mess, and while nothing is overly difficult, some wore my patience to the nubs. Oh yeah, and the game will often crash, not saving your hard earned progress, which at times can make for a frustrating experience due to a clunky and slow menu/interface.

With all that said, my four and nine year olds love the game. They are enjoying the game, working to unlock all the characters, and of course earning Trophies. I have had to use a couple of “cheat” guides, mostly to find a few of the “ collectible” items; in most games, including this one, Trophies around collecting stuff are a total PITA. Thus the guides, as I really don’t have enough hours in the day to find overly complicated hidden crap, including BS Trophies. The joys of going after a “family” Platinum trophy, which we picked up tonight.

Ferrari Challenge
It is not the best racing game out there, but at this point I feel like I need to keep slowly pushing forward towards the Platinum. I have written about this one enough in the past to limit this entry to a single, decent racing experience description.

3 on 3 NHL Arcade
I picked this one on sale with a PlayStation Plus (PS+) price of $3.00 (compared to the way over inflated regular price of $9.99). If you are a complete Trophy whore, you probably already have this one. It is ridiculous easy to rack up the Trophies within a few games (2-3 hours tops).

As luck would have it, 3 on 3 is a fun arcade experience for playing with my kids. I can actually see this one sticking around for regular pick up and play sessions. I’m not a huge hockey fan or anything like that, but it is kind of disappointing that the game does not include some sort of team license. As it stands, there are a few ‘real’ players, but it would be nice to give the Thrashers a little glory.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene
This continues to be one of the better shooters around. You can just trip back and completely zone out on this one. I am not sure exactly what a “zen like quality is” but Infinity Gene must be what people mean when they throw out this description.

I’ll have 100% complete if I can manage to complete the game without continuing. Of course I doubt that  will happen anytime soon; not enough skill in these old gaming bones. No regrets; well worth the purchase (I got it a while back for a tick under $5).

Little Big Planet: Game of the Year Edition
Everyone loves LBP, right? Right now I am just kind of playing the game here and there, exploring the different levels, and having a good time experiencing this one with the kids. I am trying to get my oldest kid interested in designing games or programming, so I am kind of keeping my fingers crossed that this perks up his interest.

Up Next …
As we turn towards July, and the long Independence Day weekend, I have several games lined up for my three day weekend rotation.

Dungeon Hunter (PS+ price $10.39, regular price $12.99); looks like some decent co-op gaming action. Notice the theme? I am really turning my rotation towards games I can play with the kids, without have to go 100% in the direction of Marvel Super Hero Squad type games.

Dragon’s Lair (picked it up for $4.99); really just got it for nostalgic purposes. Probably paid $1-2 too much, but it should be enjoyable, and will also give my kids a little history and perspective on the industry and what use to pass as a serious quarter muncher.

Sly Collection; re-mastered HD versions (improved with the addition of Trophies) of all three Sly Cooper classics.
Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. I am sure the boys and I will have a blast with this one.

Wizardy; I keep thinking about picking this one up. Maybe a sale will tip me over the edge, but as it stands, I think my backlog is too great to justify this one. But I am so tempted!

Good gaming!

Last week I spent my limited game time playing a hodgepodge assortment of games.

Ferrari Challenge
Not a great racing game, but it is fun. After watching some Le Mans Saturday and early Sunday morning, I am reminded that the PS3 would really use an updated version of Le Mans racing. At any rate, I’ll probably tool around with Ferrari Challenge some this week as well to decide if I should keep it and maybe grind a few Trophies, or if I should see if I can flip it for a few bucks on eBay for my future gaming fund.

Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet
Typical beat ‘em up, easy puzzles, and very lame dialogue, but what would you expect from a title targeted at kids? I play this one with my four-year old son; great way for him to learn the ins and outs of gaming. My eight-year old is also helping out with the Story mode. I think we are almost at the end; however there are a ton of other modes to complete, items to unlock, and the Trophy list is 60 or so deep, which should keep us coming back for a while.

Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse – Episode 2 and 3
I have two confessions to make. First, I am not really a fan of this type of game. Second, I just kind of went through the motions, and finally looked to a couple of Trophy walkthroughs to complete each game. Yes, color me a whore. The only reason I had these in the first place was because I received them with my PS+ subscription. At some point down the road I will probably attempt to knock off Episode 4 and 5.

Shatter
Shatter is another ‘free’ PS+ game from last November. One of my many backlog games ‘collecting dust’ … as much dust as a digital PSN distributed title can gather. This one is a typical revamp of breakout, with a fresh coat of paint, interesting physics, and a decent techno soundtrack. Fun game, but one I would probably never buy, so it was nice to get it as part of my PS+ subscription. I pretty much already played this one out. While there are a couple of Trophies left, for the most part I doubt I will put in the time (and may not have the necessary skill) to try to get 100% complete on this one.

FIFA 11
I have written plenty about FIFA 10 and 11; great sports games. FIFA 11 is fantastic, but it is perfect for short bursts of gaming, which is pretty much what my schedule allows right now. I can knock out a couple of games with my virtual pro and feel like I have actually accomplished something in a short gaming session. Not to mention the satisfaction of playing a well rounded sports title.

First, let me start with a quick ‘Sony sucks’ statement. Earlier today I wanted to make a quick PSN store purchase. I could not; I guess legions of gamers are still attempting to pull down some ‘welcome back’ package goodness, which has overloaded the store to the point of no return.

Once I did manage to be awarded with a session in the store, I could not actually add funds to my wallet. WTF? I checked my account; credit card is still on file and all info is correct. It’s kind of a bummer not to be able to purchase something when the needful is burning a hole in my pocket. Then again, by Sony f’ing up, I guess I am saving money. Go me!

I have not played much of anything over the last 4-6 weeks, so the last couple of days has seen a variety of ‘go to’ games and a hodgepodge of random distractions. To name a notable few; Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, and FIFA 11 have managed grab my attention.

Sonic because it was included a few months ago with PS+, and it is a fun platforming trip down memory lane. I forgot how much I sucked at these types of game; humbling to be an old-ass gamer. Space Invaders because it is a great pick up and play shooter; loads of fun. FIFA 11 because it is just a damn good soccer game, and deserves a spot in the rotation of any discerning sports gamer.

I also spent some time with my four year-old and soon to be nine year old sons, playing Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet. My twelve year-old stays away; he is too ‘grown up’ for this one. Too bad, because he is missing out. Sure the humor is downright preschoolish, while the action is downright button mashing smash ‘em up action, but it is not a horrible game. Decent distraction if you can get past the deformed super heroes, and a fun way to spend time with the boys.

The weekend is not even half over, so (hopefully) more gaming action to come, but date night looms. Happy me!

It seems that Sony just cannot catch a break. They were doomed to criticism over the hack attacks, and rightfully so on several levels. Being hacked, poor communication, not being exactly forthcoming, and so on; one nasty little cluster that has probably cost Sony a load of creditability and serious buckets of cash.

In an attempt to make amends, Sony is offering a ‘welcome back’ package that went live early today. Of course Sony, in their ongoing series of blunders, did not anticipate volume and user demand.

UPDATE: Due to high traffic on PlayStation Store, you may encounter error messages or issues. We advise you to check back a little later and try again.

Thanks Sony. Love the errors. Even if I cannot use the ‘welcome back’ games (more on that in thirty seconds), I at least would like to be able to get into the f’ing store. Not so much; really appreciate this ‘welcome back, you cannot enter the PSN store’ at the start of my gaming weekend.

Making matters just silly, the ‘welcome back’ package just could not please everyone. Some consider the free games weak; others already own much of the content. [Raises hand] One would think it would be reasonable for Sony to check previous store purchases and offer a voucher or even a discount for some other produce. That would be too much to ask.  Does everyone really have to get their ‘welcome back’ package today?  Good grief!

If I were into things like saying ‘fail’ then this one would be rather epic.

So the PlayStation Store is back online, but strangely enough, the ‘welcome back’ package is still MIA. I understand that the package is in the works, but it seems like this would have been a slam dunk for the Store’s triumphant return. I would hazard a guess that a ton of PS3 owners expected to get some free treats once the store was fully restored.

Today’s push is fairly large, with a lot of decent content, and demos. Existing PS+ subscribers can look forward to a continued stream of “free” stuff and discounts, but give me a break on offering Lilo & Stitch.

As far as the new stuff goes, this weekend I will probably take a look at this potential nostalgic gem:

Wizardry: Labyrinth Of Lost Souls ($14.99)
The popular Wizardry franchise is reborn on the PlayStation 3 system as a downloadable online title! This classic 3D dungeon-crawler remains true to its roots, with all the deep gameplay fans have come to know and love. These beloved dungeons and monsters have all been reborn in glorious high-definition, and new stories for each of the 10 main characters, breathing new life and hitherto unseen replay value into one of the old-school RPG greats.

Then again, I have such a huge backlog of games that I am not sure I will pull the strings on anything else right now. Right … probably. At least there is a demo on offer.

I doubt Sony will do the needful, but it would be really entertaining if Sony decided to post some statistics – number of Store visits, number of downloads, and number of purchased items (I know Sony would never publish money spent). Anything to show consumer confidence (or lack thereof). I can dream. It would be entertaining.

Bring on Friday!

Sony has announced that all PSN services will be fully restored by the end of this week. Of course it would have been nice to see the services, including the store, fully functional before the three-day Memorial Day weekend, but I digress.

Once the PSN Store returns, Sony will offer a ‘welcome back’ package. While this is a nice concession on the part of Sony, it kind of sucks for me that I already own the PS3 games on offer:

All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.
*Dead Nation [day one purchase]
*inFAMOUS [own, but have never played; yes, I suck]
*LittleBigPlanet [own the Game of the Year Edition]
*Super Stardust HD [long time ago purchase for me]
*Wipeout HD + Fury [via PlayStation Plus (PS+) service, so technically I don’t “own” this one]

My PSP situation is much better, as I do not own any of the games being offered:

For PSP owners, you will be eligible to download two PSP games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.
*LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
*ModNation Racers
*Pursuit Force
*Killzone Liberation

Of course it will suck if you have to download these straight away, because I will have to pick up another memory card. Hopefully this will work like other PSN items; ‘purchase’ and download later.

Other ‘welcome back’ items of note:

A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.

I have never ‘rented’ a movie from the PSN store. I think Sony should offer a couple of vouchers vs. limiting this offer to one specific weekend.

Existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an additional 60 days of free subscription.

This is a good deal. For my money, PS+ has been a good value; Sony should offer time lost plus an addition month.

To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

I am not really a big Home user or fan; I guess I do not have enough ‘virtual’ friends, and at my age, many of my friends and colleagues do not game. I know, I need to run in different circles. I will have fun letting my kids help me decide which free items to consume for my avatar, home space, etc.

I have a smorgasbord of games in my current rotation, which is really unusually because I almost always sick to 2-3 games at the most. In no particular order:

Joe Danger – What a fun little game. It is going to be really hard for me to get 100% (from a Trophy consideration) on this one because some of the Time trials are really tough. This has to be one of the best games I have purchased from the PSN (got it when it was 50% off).

FIFA 11 – I play this one a few times a week when I want to get my soccer/football jones satisfied. I love the Virtual Pro feature.

Marvel Superhero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet – I picked up this one to play with my 4-year old, as he is really into superheroes right now. One of our favorites is Captain America (for me) and Bucky (for my son), so it was really cool that the version of the game I purchased had a good for this DLC.

Dead Nation – Only when the kids are in bed. To be fair, I have not played it in a while, but would play it more if I could play when I was not such a sleepyhead!

Gran Turismo 5 – Need I say more? It is really the only racer I am playing right now, but at some point I have plans to jump back to a couple of forgotten titles.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene – I got this one a couple of weeks ago for the low, low price of $4.99. What a great pickup. As a fan of shooters, I have to say that this game provides a lot of nice shooter pleasure. The music mode is incredible; nothing like putting in some Cure Disintegration and just sort of zoning out.

LittleBigPlanet – Mostly the Game of the Year Edition right now, but I plan to jump right back into LBP2 Collector’s Edition soon enough. Actually waiting for a patch to make sure all my goodies from LBP1 correctly import. I wrote about my love for all things LBP a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how I made it this long without discovering the pure pleasure of LBP. Collectively, these two titles are easily in my Top 5 favorite PS3 gaming experiences (that is another article!)

PS+ Gets Some Love
I wanted to do a quick link to this article, which pretty much sums up how I feel right now about PS+. Subscribing to the PS+ service has been one of the best uses of $50 gaming bucks that I have made in the last calendar year. I am going to stack my subscripting in the new few weeks to take advantage of the continued opening gambit of 3 free months. If you have not subscribed to PS+, you should really check out the last 90 days of content and discounts, which have been incredible.

Looking Forward To …
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection, MLB 11: The Show, the next NASCAR game, Journey, and Catherine (as of right now, Atlus has not announced a US release date).

Now Watching
Spartacus: Blood and Sand. OMG (wanted an excuse to talk like the cool kids) is this one over the top, but from a story standpoint, it is actually really good. I am just starting disk 3, so I am about 8-9 episodes in, and I have to admit that I anticipate see what happens next. Some of the characters are really fascinating; I want to see how their story lines progress and see how certain political motivations will screw over various targets.

I could do without all the meat just flapping around; I have never seen so many dongs just out in front of my face. I guess turnabout is fair play for the fairer sex, but still, I am glad that the developers toned it down a little after the first couple of episodes.

On Blu-ray some of the scenes such as “… have your way with the girl’s ass a bit while I watch …” are nice, if not a little bit excessive. I could never get my wife to watch this with me; not because of the gratuitous sex. The blood and gore is so over the top that at times I find myself turning my head or at least cringing in a “I really didn’t want to see that” sort of way.

Good stuff. Picked up the Season 1 Blu-ray in the low $30s from Amazon; hopefully the rest of the shows are equally as appealing.

Now Reading
Bloom County Volume 3. Sometimes I have to have some light reading before heading off to la-la land.

Yesterday, Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal (I love Amazon Prime two-day shipping) showed up on my front porch. I decided to order immediately after see Ms. McGonigal on Attack of the Show earlier this week. I am looking forward to a book that actually advocates gaming. What a great tag line – Why games make us better and how they can change the world. Seriously; hope this one is as good as the tag line.

A mentioned in my comments yesterday about the 11 for 2011 Sale, I did pick up Tumble, but was on the fence with several other potential purchases. Final decisions?

Costume Quest looks like a lot of fun, but everything I have read said that it is only about 6 hours of fun. It is tempting to go after some cheap and easy Trophies, but I think I will pass for now. I bet the game is on sale again (maybe even cheaper) this October.

I also decided to hold off on Hoard for now. While the price seems to be a good deal, after doing a little research I am not sure that the game has an active online community base (probably just a dedicated few gamers). This is a classic chicken and egg situation; even if the game on sale, if no one picks it up due to a dead online community, the online community will never grow. For now I am going to take my chances that the price will drop again or Sony will offer it up as part of a Plus free game (or heavily discounted), which would in turn build up the online community (at least for a little while).

I almost held off on Space Invaders Infinity Gene; almost. The under $5 price point was too good to pass up. I missed out on the predecessor to this Space Invaders next generation reboot, so I am kind of going into this one blind, but from all the positive feedback Infinity Gene has received, I have a feeling that this one was a good buy. Besides, one can never have too many shooters!

Two solid games for under $10; color me pleased!

Sony is offering a number of 50% off games on PSN this week. This is old news since it was published last Monday, but as we are heading into the last few hours of the sale, I thought I would get in a few closing comments.

Comet Crash – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Costume Quest – Sale (PS3)(now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Hoard – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Motorstorm 3D Rfit – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Peggle – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Shatter – Sale (PS3) (now $3.99, original price $7.99)
Soldner-X-2: The Final Prototype – Sale (PS3) (now $6.49, original price $12.99)
Space Invaders Infinity Gene – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Swords and Soldiers – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Tumble – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

Because Sony does not do a good job of offering up a quarterly upcoming PlayStation Plus publishing schedule, it is impossible to know if any of these 11 for 2011 games are going to show up as discounted or free items for Plus subscribers in the immediate future. I already have Shatter as part of my Plus subscription, and I picked up Soldner-X-2 as part of a Plus bundle discount. What about the others? Only time will tell …

Tumble
Overall this is a good sale, from a variety offered and discounted dollars standpoint. The only confirmed pickup for me is Tumble; I played the demo a while back and while I liked the game, I figured I would wait until the inevitable sale. I think Tumble at 50% off makes for a great pickup; it is interesting to see the wide range of metacritic scores.

No go …
While I may have had some interests in Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue in the future, for now I’ll pass until this one is further discounted. I am on the fence with Costume Quest, which looks like a really fun game, but once again, the price is not that appealing. “A little bit lower please …”

Right now my gaming Jones is not moving me in the direction of RTS or tower defense type games, which rules out Swords and Solders and Comet Crash respectively. Probably my loss since the price is right on each at under $5, and they both received positive feedback.

Conundrum
As mentioned earlier, I am on the fence with Costume Quest, but only because I may wait until it is under $5. The only other games on this list that I am uncertain about are Hoard, which looks like a fun concept, and the Space Invaders, but I do not really need another shooter.

Final Results
Before the weekend is out, I may end up with four games (Tumble, Costume Quest, Hoard, and Space Invaders) for $25, which is not bad for about $6 a pop. Most likely I will just end up with Tumble, but I always like a good sale, and the Trophy whore in me could use a few new diversions.

I am not sure how I previously missed out on all the LittleBigPlanet fun, but stranger things have happened. I remember when the game was announced; the build-up until release was really exciting. Somewhere along the way I decided that I had better things to do, and I figured I would get sucked into the create mode way more than necessary.

So LittleBigPlanet passed me by. Circumstances dictated that my PS3 would die a painful death last summer, although my successfully YLoD repair project is an entirely different story that has already been documented for your viewing pleasure.

When I replaced my original 60GB PS3 “Fat” with a new (and debatable not so improved) PS3 “Slim” model, the bundle I purchased allowed for two Greatest Hits titles. One of the titles I selected was the LittleBigPlanet Game of the Year Edition.

And, for everyone looking for a great value, the GOTY edition includes 7 packs from the PlayStation Store. These packs feature tons of costumes, stickers, objects, [18] new levels and the “Paintinator” to amplify the fun you’ll have. Once more, these are on the disc FREE (that’s nearly a $30 value)

Content Packs include:
Metal Gear Solid Level Pack – featuring the “Paintinator” paintball gun
Metal Gear Solid Costumes
Monsters Costumes
Monsters Pack
History Costumes
History Pack
Animals Costumes

The game sat unopened in my PS3 box for the better part of 6+ months, before I finally decided to give it a go and see what the fuss was all about. That and on a whim I decided to preorder the Little Big Planet 2 Collector’s Edition; yes, it is a sickness.

So here I am to profess (or is that confess) my love for all things LittleBigPlanet. While I have yet to really tackle the create mode in either version of the game, I can say that I really love the ingenuity offered up by the LittleBigPlanet fan base.

While this is almost random and irrelevant to my newfound love for LittleBigPlanet, I will close out with a quick link to an article from the Examiner that outlines some of the details from the various LittleBigPlanet 2 DLC costume packs.

Those who purchased the collector’s edition of LittleBigPlanet 2 received all of the pre-order DLC costumes mentioned above in addition to the exclusive Jak, Daxter and The Great Gonzo (from The Muppets) outfits. As expected, the 11 costumes voucher code ended up being the most demanded of the bunch with the bids topping at $31.00.

I think it is interesting to see what “virtual” items are worth, or at least the perceived value of said items. If you consider that the standard edition of the game is $59.99, the LBP2 Collector’s Edition was a great deal: Sackboy + bookends + DLC.