January

Here's a pretty simple and interesting game I came across earlier today. The title is called January and the concept is just walking forward while catching snowflakes on your tongue. Each time you catch one, a single note is played. As you move forward, more and more snowflakes fall, causing faster and more complex music to play. At the same time, collecting a certain amount of snowflakes causes a poem to be read to you.

This is probably the most interesting, free, and simple game I've played since Digital Ai - A Love Story.

Top Down Perspective 10 - 10 - 10

Top Down Perspective 10 - 10 - 10

This week we discuss more Dead Rising 2 frustration, Comic Jumper, Enslaved, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and GAME BOAT!

Gamerscore Update: 04/10/10

It has been a long time since I did one of these. That was mainly due to PAX and then moving got in the way. Also, I didn't play anything 360-wise last week so the dry spell just kept piling up. I did get a bunch this week though.

Dead Rising 2
This was the clear winner this week with 400 points achieved in it. Though this may not seem like a ton, especially considering the amount of time I put into it, compared to most people with the game - it's a lot. On my friends list, I don't think anyone else have even broke 200. I really enjoyed it, and though it is an open world game, almost every achievement is for doing something non-story related. Oh and also, every achievement is 20 so that was annoying.

Quantum Theory
This game sucks and I have no idea how the points are because I only got 15 in it and didn't care to spend any more time with it.

Top Down Perspective 04 - 10 - 10

Top Down Perspective 04 - 10 - 10

This week Jon is gone but Nathan and Sean played a ton of Dead Rising 2. Nathan also did some more Halo: Reach but who cares cause Sean played Quantum Theory! He also spent a very little amount of time with Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution.

On the news side: Microsoft announces a great October deal. Also, the Just Cause movie gets a screen writer, the 3DS gets a release date and price for Japan and Gears of War 3 gets pushed back until Fall 2011. Last, NBA Elite 11 also gets pushed back but who cares cause NBA Jam is getting an individual release now.

Tuesday Movies

Good stuff came out last week! I wanna see them!

The Social Network
This movie I have been waiting for ever since I saw the full trailer for it. I really loved that trailer and made me realized this isn't just gonna be "the facebook movie." Also, the director alone should be enough to make you realize what this movie is going to be about. I can not wait for this.

Let Me In
My hatred (fear?) of scary movies makes me really nervous about seeing this but I am really interested in what I've heard about it. I probably won't get to it this week since in the next couple weeks, nothing is out, and then I can fit this one in there. I am looking forward to it though and I like Chloe Moretz.

Loot of the Week

Alright, back with some games cause stuff came out!

Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
I downloaded this on Tuesday but should note that I only did the first objective and have yet to return to it. This is because I realized that the level cap increase wasn't included and I didn't feel like wasting my time later when I have to grind through all that again. So I am planning to wait on that until I can level up while playing soon. The release date isn't announced but it was said to be before the GOTY edition so I have less than a month to wait.

1400 Microsoft Points
I bought more of these, I think I have around 2600 at the moment. I mainly got these because of Microsoft's 800 points back deal going on this month. I already knew I wanted to get enough stuff to meet the requirements but I just needed the points and Blockbusters was giving a good amount of trade credit for Bioshock 2.

Quantum Theory
I should start off by saying that this game is garbage and I can't wait to get it out of my house. I only have 15 points in it and I know I could get more but I'd rather stab myself in the eye.



Pick of the Week

Dead Rising 2
This game was a lot of fun. I never really got into the first one, despite owning it for the last few months and having access to it for years. I don't really know why, I think it was the psychopaths if I can't remember correctly but it was years ago. I very much enjoyed my time with this and already beat it, however, with it being very sand-boxy, I can't see myself going back just to mess around.

Review: Metroid: Other M

My long overdue review of Other M is online over at the Comic Book Bin now. It was alright, I enjoyed the majority of my time with it.

Top Down Perspective 26 - 09 - 10

Top Down Perspective 26 - 09 - 10

Jon is back and talking about Guilty Party and Dead Rising: Case Zero. Sean has been addicted to Professor Layton. Nathan on the other hand spent some time with Minecraft and Civilization V.

The Tester season 2 has an air date and cast, Netflix comes to Canada and PS3's are updated to block out some third party controllers. Along with this, Halo Reach doesn't land first in the top ten played games on the week of its release and girls can now play video games!

Tuesday Movies

This week features two movies. One of which I'm not excited to see, the other I physically can't see.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
I know this has been getting bad reviews and the story is apparently terrible, but as a huge fan of animation, I want to see how it looks. The trailers made it look good (aesthetically) and it's also by the guys who did 300 and that's just weird. I'm not super looking forward to it but it just came out and I have no desire to see Wall Street or You Again.

Buried
This is the movie I would really like to see but its limited release taunts and tricks me. The theater close to me has had it advertised as "Coming Soon" for weeks now but no sign of it showing up this week. I'm really confused when they are planning to get it and I hope it's soon. The concept behind this movie has me really interested and I'd much rather see it over that owl movie any day.

Loot of the Week

It's been a while since I've done one of these but that was mainly cause I was moving and needed to settle in to my new place. I did get a lot of stuff since this last post (especially at PAX) but I only feel like writing about this last week's haul.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #14
Like with TWD above, this issue stood out amongst it's previous numbers. This book seems to have finished off the current story arc and it was pretty good to see how that will end. The cliff hanger at the end was also nice and got me excited to see how things are going to play out. The one downside is that I hope things don't change drastically with this story arc's ending.

1400 Microsoft Points
These are always exciting...right. I picked these up with some trade credit (along with pre-ordering Scott Pilgrim vs The World on BD). Along with my 400 or so points I already had on my account, I now have enough for both the new Borderlands DLC and Comic Jumper the following week.

Pick of the Week

The Walking Dead #77
This has probably been the issue I've enjoyed the most for the past few months. Mainly because it is starting up a new story line and it was a bit faster paced than the last few books. That isn't to say that I have been disliking these last few months of The Walking Dead, but I was starting to find it a little slow. With this issue though, I'm very excited to see where it goes from here.

Top Down Perspective 20 - 09 - 10

Top Down Perspective 20 - 09 - 10

This week Jon is sick and Sean messes up the release date of Comic Jumper repeatedly! Nathan talks Dead Rising: Case Zero, Shibuya and Halo: Reach. Sean brings up Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Puzzle Agent, Guilty Party and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

As for news, the Tokyo Game Show is happening and a smorgasbord of announcements come out. The next Devil May Cry game is announced. Suda 51 announces two new games he's working on. Along with this, Dead Rising: Case West, Alice: Madness Returns and Pixeljunk Lifelike get teaser trailers. Halo: Reach loads times are discussed along with some online co-op issues. Last, we talk about Team Ico's new HD collection coming to the PS3.

Tuesday Movies

Here are the movies I plan to see this week and what I wish I had time for:

The Town
My first reaction to this trailer was that it revealed way too much. Not sure if this next part will be too spoilery for some but: specifically the part where he removes his mask and we learn he's also a bad guy. I don't think that was necessary to show in the trailer but maybe I'm wrong and there's an even crazier twist later on in the movie. I really hope so. I'll find out this Tuesday.

Easy A
This movie I've been looking forward to ever since I saw the trailer a month or so ago and felt a bit weird for doing so. At first glance it just looks like another shitty teen romantic comedy but I found myself getting kind of a Mean Girls vibe from it - and who doesn't like Mean Girls? Anyway, it's been getting some great reviews but I feel I'd be seeing it regardless because for some reason, I'm really looking forward to it.

Alpha and Omega
This movie is not one I'll be seeing any time soon; however, that's only because there is a lot more I'm planning to see instead. If there wasn't anything coming out around this time, I'd go see it and I don't know why. This movie sounds and looks awful but for some reason I'd still like to go see it, probably cause of my love for animation....I hope.

Ni no Kuni TGS 2010 Trailers

I really want Ni No Kuni to come state side. It's being developed by Level-5 (who does one of my all time favorite game series) and animated by Studio Ghibli (one of my all time favorite animation houses). I think this is a winning combination. What makes this even more interesting to me is that it's being developed for both the DS (trailer above) and the PS3 (trailer below,) and I'm actually thinking of buying both versions. This is mainly due to the fact that apparently each console copy will feature a different story and, obviously, different game play. I really want this game.

Top Down Perspective - PAX Edition

Top Down Perspective - PAX Edition

We're back from the Penny Arcade Expo and we're here with and extra long edition of TDP. We discuss games like Duke Nukem Forever, Sonic 4, Dance Central, Hydrophobia, Bastion, Killzone 3, Portal 2 and much, much, MUCH more.

Planet Redwood

As the podcast I co-host (Top Down Perspective) grows, we all grow - fact of life. We recently received a wonderful email from one of our regular listeners informing us that they started a fan site devoted completely to Deadly Premonition. What links this to my podcast is the fact that we have been placed in the Media/Links section of the site under Video and Audio. The site's staff feels we are important to this community of DP fans if not to them especially.

As you know, the cast of TDP are all huge supports of the game and, I certainly, couldn't be happier to see more light being shone onto this game. More people need to play it, more people need to experience it.

The site is called Planet Redwood and features far more information than I personally knew about the game. I definetely recommend giving it a look over, I'm sure there's some information in there you didn't know either.

Top Down Perspective 30 - 08 - 10

Top Down Perspective 30 - 08 - 10

This week Nathan starts us off with some talk on older PC games and moves into the XBLA version of Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Sean picks up from there and rolls into some Shank and Monopoly. Jon finishes off with more Scott Pilgrim.

On the news side, Microsoft strictly watching Halo: Reach pirates and is sending out beta testing kits for its new Kinect peripheral. Sony slows down sales on the new modding chip and chooses not to release the new Kingdom Hearts game on their PSP Go. Death Spank gets an incredibly early sequel and the new Xbox 360 Dashboard and Avatars are leaked.

Loot of the Week

I picked up a TON this week. I'm going to write about it all!

Alpha Bounce
This was the first game I ever picked up for the DSiWare. I found an article over at IGN that updates weekly with micro reviews for each DSiWare title. I basically ran through that seeing which ones they liked (or loved) and decided if the price point sounded alright. I believe this was 500 points and they really loved it. It's a traditional brick break game with some RPG elements (specifically a loot system). I definitely see myself playing this game a lot.

Escapee Go!
This was another of the DSiWare games I found from the IGN article and mainly bought because they "liked it" and it was 200 points. I find the $2 price point very appealing, that's basically pocket change and even if the game sucks, oh well. I haven't played much of it yet but the premise I got from the first level sounds interesting. Looking forward to diving more into it on the way to PAX.

Don't Cross the Line
This was the last DSiWare game I picked up this week. It's the most puzzle oriented considering it's literally a series of variations on one logic puzzle. You need to connect like images without letting your connecting lines cross - hence the name. It's very straight forward and the number of different levels make this an easy steal for $2. The one downside I find with it is the lack or a quick restart to each level.

Gunpey
I'll be honest; I know nothing about this game besides that it got some average reviews from almost everyone. I just found it for $3 and the box art immediately drew me in. The concept of a simple puzzle game developed by Q Entertainment is what sold me though. Considering the fact I'm going on a series of trips soon, it was an easy choice. I am really looking forward to playing it.


Ultimate Board Game Collection
I have no idea if this is really the ultimate in board game collections. I highly doubt it is. The fact alone that it doesn't have Scrabble is criminal, but it does have Go so there you are. It was $5 and I could really go for some Go (see what I did there?).


Shank
I am very much enjoying this game and feel that it's worth the 1200 Microsoft Point price. There is a great single player campaign and the fact that the co-op has its own prequel campaign is great. Co-op specific bosses and some great silhouetted moments are amongst my favorite parts to this game. I'll probably run through it again on hard to get every last achievement.

I've decided to start doing a "winner" or "prize pick" section to these each week. The prize pick (maybe "choice pick"?) will always be at the end and will be either the item I had the best time with, or maybe spent the longest with. It may also be the purchase I'm most interested in and haven't even tried out yet. I'll go about explaining them each time they come up.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game
My love for achievements made me wait for this game to finally come to the XBLA and I'm glad I did because they are easy. I've played through the game three times now and I'm already on my fourth and awaiting my fifth. Really great game, can't say that enough. Despite the numerous bugs I've found it still remains incredibly charming. There is so much detail in this game and the fact that it came out for 800 was amazing.

Gamerscore Update: 29/08/10

This week was mainly downloadable games and the total stands at 74 585.

Shank
This was an overall good game and, though I'm not done the main campaign, the achievements are coming in quite regularly. The majority of them are from beating each of the single player bosses so I'll get those at some points. I currently have 80 of them and since there's one for 1000 kills and beating it on hard, I'm pretty sure I could S-rank this game.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game
I am loving this game and the fact that the achievements are quite easy. I've beaten it three times already and plan to do it another two times to wrap up one more of the achievements. I currently have 170 points in it.

Monopoly
This is where the points really came rolling in this week. I have 480 points in it so far and that was around five hours of play. I should note that three of these hours I had another TV on so I could watch something else because Monopoly is SLOW. Most of the points seem relatively easy, and considering all of this game seems to be pure chance, I think I can get another hundred or so just by having it on in the background. I don't plan to spend too much more time with it however.

Everything about this is awesome

This game is my pick for the best movie tie-in game ever. It is so fun and there is so much detail in this (especially if you follow the comics and the creator).

First Impressions: Shank

• Wonderful art style
  
• Very fluid movement and combo systems
• The co-op has its own campaign which is a great feature
• Doing some of the co-op combos are very tricky - I have yet to figure out just how exactly I was pulling any of them off
• This game is a hard Mature rating
• Nice silhouette moment in the first level of the co-op
• Long load times