3/06/2007

Those rectangular thingies with words in them...

Yes, despite my many hours in front of all things involving a monitor, I do regularly read books. I generally prefer paperbacks, not necessarily because they are cheaper (though that is a plus), but I honestly just like the compact size and feel. That being said I will make the occasional exception for a book I'm particularly excited about, and that is the case this week with the release of Hardcore Diaries, another book about his most recent WWE exploits, but it also gos very in-depth on the "whole behind-the-scenes" aspect of wrestling. Now generally I'm not a huge fan of autobiographies, especially ones by wrestlers, as they tend to be extremely phony and full of kissing one's own ass if not their superiors. Foley's books are always incredibly funny and well-written along with being incredibly earnest. Even non-wrestling fans should enjoy this.

Is XBLA finally starting to not suck? It's well on its way. In addition to the highly anticipated Worms being available to us in just a few short hours, the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game has been confirmed for release on the 21st, and for the very sweet price of only $5. The only arcade game I ever played more than this classic was The Simpsons Arcade Game, which had a pretty similar setup anyways(I can only pray that'll be on XBLA somewhere down the line). I'll be looking forward to many hours of Turtle Power in the coming weeks with this and the new movie, which looks fantastic.

More blundering by Sony at GDC? At least it's more up in the air this time, depending on your view. Apparently one of Sony's big plans to differentiate themselves from their competitors in the online arena is to have not just episodic content, but full-on episodic games. Some people don't mind them, but that's really the best opinion you'll get. In my opinion, they are a bad & dangerous step in gaming, offering completely rushed and feeling very unfinished short term thrills to nickel & dime us to death. I absolutely refuse to buy games in "episodes", just give me the damn finished product.

At least PS3 players finally have a reason besides Resistance to pick up their controllers. Motorstorm is finally out this week, and from all reports is the first truly worthwhile post-launch game. If you've played the demo at various PS3 kiosks in retail stores, you know it's fun and looks amazing. 12-player online racing sounds really sweet as well.

Also out this week is Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for 360 and Def Jam: Icon for both 360 & PS3. I'm sure GRAW 2 is great for guys who enjoy realistic tactical team FPS games, but I'm definitely not one of those. And Icon's reviews pretty much confirmed what I played in the demo-that it's pure crap. It's funny cause you would've expected EA to play it safe and release a game that was roughly the same as Fight For New York, only with shiny new-gen graphics and a roster update, and I would've been happy with that. For once they tried to do something different with a franchise, and it bites them in the ass.

Finally, if you want to get some goosebumps just from reading an article, check IGN's "Mass Effect-The First Hour", but really the best line that should sell anyone is the one right under the headline: You are Jack Bauer in space, blasting zombies with your boomstick.

Free Game of the Week: Break In

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