Several months ago, PlayStation sent out some random invites to users to participate in the beta for a program they were trying out called “PlayStation Rewards.” Basically the program would track a user’s forum and blog use, as well as their activity in PlayStation Home, and reward them points for each participating. There were several tiers you could get into, and they netted you unique avatars and the chance to enter into special contests.

For whatever reason, Sony decided that through the beta, PlayStation Rewards was not ready for the general public yet. The beta was canceled and they sent me an e-mail thanking me for participating. Then about a month ago I received an e-mail from Sony saying that to thank me for participating in the Rewards beta I would be receiving a t-shirt in the mail soon.

So today when I went to the mailbox and saw a package from PlayStation inside, I figured it was the shirt, and I was right. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the shirt is pretty lame. It’s a solid black shirt (they shipped size XL and never asked me what size I would like, so I assume everyone received XL) with white and blue lettering in the front, which I’m assuming is Japanese for either “PlayStation”, “Sony”, or “PlayStation Rewards”…something along those lines. The right sleeve has a white PS logo on it.

They also sent a postcard inside further thanking me for my participation:

So for commenting on a few blogs and entering a contest or two (I never went on the forums or into Home) I got a free t-shirt. Now if they REALLY wanted to thank me for participating they could start busting their butts harder to bring PSN back online.

Edit:

A special thanks to Joystiq for picking up this blog and using it as a source for one of their articles, including using the above pic!

While on my honeymoon, I stumbled across a $50 Best Buy gift card in my wallet, and was itching to head to the mall and buy something neat. In the end, I decided to finally pick up the Wii Motion Plus, which came packaged with Wii Sports Resort. I enjoyed the casual games of Wii Sports, so I figured I would equally enjoy Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort is kind of a mixed bag, with some great games, as well as some lame ones. There are twelve total, though two (golf and bowling) are basically clones from Wii Sports, but with the Motion Plus controls. Before I get into the game, let me talk about Wii Motion Plus. It’s a small device that attaches to the bottom of the Wii Remote, but the problem is that the Motion Plus is encased in a silicon sleeve, so you have to go through some effort to attach it each time. The Nunchuck then connects to the bottom of the Motion Plus. This makes the controller bulky…what was initially a nice light controller in your hand is now getting weighed down with the Motion Plus and the casing. However, it’s only a minor annoyance, and if anything I hate it more for the effort to hook it up than the weight it adds (which is actually minor, but I just want to complain about it.)

As for the controls, I definitely see an increase in the motion detection. It really is spot on, and I could only imagine re-playing Twilight Princess or Force Unleashed with these controls. It really does perfectly mimic your motions on screen, and some of the games included in Wii Sports Resort really play well to these capabilities. I look forward to future games that will be able to really take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus.

Now on to Wii Sports Resort. Just like Wii Sports was intended to introduce people to the Wii’s capabilities, Wii Sports Resort does likewise in regards to the Motion Plus. As I already mentioned, Sports Resort comes packed with twelve games which utilize this new controller add-on. Some of the games are very fun, while others are annoying complex and difficult. One of my favorites right off the bat was Swordplay, which involves two players going at it with swords. It plays very similar to Wii Sports Boxing, except that your every slash (whether horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) or even stab is accurately replicated onscreen. The object of the game is to smack your opponent back enough to knock them off a platform and into the pool below. It kind of looks like something reminiscent of American Gladiators, and it is definitely my favorite game in the collection.

Some other notable games included Archery, Frisbee, Table Tennis, and Basketball. Archery was pretty cool, in which you really have to hold steady and focus in order to score points. In Frisbee, you throw your Frisbee at a target and hope your dog catches it. The closer he catches it to the target, the more points you gain. Table Tennis is kind of a revamped Wii Sports Tennis, except that it involves ping pong rules, and not tennis. Basketball is basically a game of 3-point free throws, where you compete to score as many baskets as you can in the allotted time. In all these games, the Motion Plus controls do come through and allow you to do things you couldn’t do with a regular Wii Remote.

Unfortunately, there are some flukes in the Sports Resort collection as well. Canoeing and Power Cruising both proved to be marred in controls that were too sensitive. It was difficult to get the character on screen to move in the direction you wanted, especially in Power Cruising. The cycling game was decent, but was pretty boring. If it wasn’t for the fact that Shell and I could play it by riding a double-seater bike, I would have not played through the entire race. The Bowling and Golf games are fun and all, but are simply re-hashings of the same games from Wii Sports, so it’s not exactly the most original ideas for games.

Overall, I was pleased with both Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus. I really do enjoy playing the casual Wii games (especially since those are the games Shell will play), and Sports Resort is clearly a successful sequel to Wii Sports. While there are a few duds in the game, the majority of them are either great or decent, and worth the purchase. I would have liked to have seen more co-op game modes, as well as online play, to break up the monotony of the single player and vs modes. As for the Motion Plus, it is not given enough credit in Sports Resort, and it’s true abilities are not yet tapped. I believe that it will take a more “hardcore” game (not a simple casual game) to really unleash what the Motion Plus can do, and it will enable the Wii to keep up with Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect. Personally, I would love to have some kind of lightsaber Star Wars game, or a new Legend of Zelda…something with blades!

Im not saying that what follows are the 10 best games ever made, or my top 10 favorite games. Instead, I starting thinking back through my life about some fond memories I have of playing video games, from growing up to nowadays. I  brainstormed a bit about these memories and to see what would to mind, and then I organized them chronologically and as you see below. Enjoy taking this trip down memory lane with me.

• Well, my first clear memory of gaming is, of course, the day I got my first console. It was the NES, and I got it for Christmas from Santa. I remember ripping that packaging open, seeing it, and going nuts. I had been playing it at a friends house before, so I knew what I was missing out on, and was so excited to see it. I remember then ripping the box open, to only find it was empty. Im pretty sure I started crying at this point, thinking that Santa had gyped me, but in fact he had set it up the night before while I was asleep so that I could play right away. Man, I loved my NES. I wish I still had one…

• My friend’s Dad playing Dr. Mario (occasionally topless) pretty much every time I went over to his house

• My friend and I went up with my Dad to our house in Oneonta. At the time, we both had the old school Game Boys, and we carried them around in these huge carrying cases that looked like a giant Game Boy and referred to it as our “business.” When we got to Oneonta and were unloading the car, my friend dropped his Game Boy in the snow, and Im pretty sure he started crying. We were able to dry it out over the heater, and it and the games were not damaged

• After trading in my NES and games for a Sega Genesis at the local Funcoland, I started getting into buying and selling used games. Funcoland would print out a newspaper that kind of looked like a stock report and it would show how much they were buying and selling used games for

• Helping my sister play through Sega games like Aladdin and The Lion King

• Going to my friends when in Middle and High School to play games. I would bring my PS1, he had an Atari Jaguar, and his brother had an N64, so we had a ton of different games to play. In particular, we pumped a lot of time into Goldeneye

• Making my first CAW on my first wrestling game on the PS1, which was WWF War Zone. That was the first game to have Big Bad Bob, and every wrestling game I owned since then (up to this year’s Smackdown vs Raw 2010) has had a Big Bad Bob CAW. Other CAWS that first appeared there were based on my High School friends

• I was never a true RPG fan until Final Fantasy VII. Prior to that, the only RPGs I had played were the Shining Force series on the Sega. But I remember seeing the commericals for FFVII, and it was epic. I was super psyched and couldnt wait to get my hands on it. Playing through that three-disc game is one of my fondest gaming memories. Also, this is one of the first (and only) games that I actually bought a strategy guide for

• Upgrading to the PS2 was one of the best gaming decisions I ever made. I enjoyed the PS2 so much, and to me, it is one of the best systems ever made. I probably owned a PS2 the longest of all my other consoles before eventually upgrading to the PS3. One of my fondest memories of the PS2 was playing Dynasty Warriors IV for the first time. Steve and I were up until the wee hours of the morning playing that game, and we would always flip out when Lu Bu approached. Seeing and facing him for the first time is an excellent memory

• At a time when the Wii was impossible to find, Shell spent $325 to buy it off some guy on ebay.  After we sent out a money order (I know it was stupid), the guy never sent us the Wii, and his account was eventually deleted. I had a police officer meet me at my apartment in Oneonta so that I could file a report against the guy (who lived in California), doubting it would ever come to anything. Well, a few months later I finally found a Wii at a Gamestop and picked it up at retail for $250. About two weeks later I get a package in the mail from California, which ended up being the Wii. So I then had two Wiis, and sold one to Steve’s friend. The reason this is one of my top gaming memories is because I was so excited to get a Wii, and it really ended up being worth the wait and stress. Its one of the things Shell enjoys playing also, and I never would have imagined that I would be gaming with my Mom or my Uncle, and yet if the Wii is out, they will give it a shot.

So those are just some of my memories of gaming. Ive been gaming for over 20 years, and I hope to be gaming for another 20 (hell, lets make it another 50). While I dont let games run and take control of my life, they certainly have an impact on it, and have given me some rather fond memories over the years. Im sure that as time goes on, I will get even more and more great memories stored up. I think one of the happiest days of my life will be the day my first child places a chubby hand on a controller for the first time…

I always start off these reviews by saying this…I am no longer a fan of the WWE (I stopped following it in about 2001 or so, back when it was still the WWF). I do not watch it during the week, I don’t follow it online. All I know about whats going on in the WWE is based on each edition of Smackdown vs. Raw that comes out, so my knowledge is generally limited. That being said, I LOVE playing the Smackdown vs. Raw games (to hearby be referred to as SvR), and I tend to purchase the newest edition each year. Normally, there are some minor changes every year, but this years edition (2010) surpasses them all, and I think it is safe to say that SvR 2010 is the best wrestling game ever made.

I guess I will start with the actual in-ring gameplay. SvR 2010 now allows each wrestler to perform 16 strong grapples, as opposed to the old school 8, which means that each wrestler now has a move set that is twice as large. You use the right analog to perform a quick grapple, which is usually a cheesy weak move that wont do much damage, but is a great way to get in a cheap shot (usually a punch, kick, elbow, or quick takedown.) Then if you hold R1 while using the right analog, you will initiate a strong grapple. These are the big, devastating moves such as power bombs, choke slams, suplexes, DDTs, and all that other good stuff. Depending on the direction you push the right analog will result in different holds. For example, R1 and left on the analog will initiate a wrist hold, and R1 and up will start an up-close true wrestler grapple. Once the grapple is initiated, pushing the right analog in any of the four basic directions will result in a different move being performed. So that’s where you get your 16 moves from…four different grapple holds, and four moves for each grapple. You can assign which moves you want for each hold from a menu screen, and there are literally hundreds of moves to choose from. Oh, and lets not forget the grounded grapple moves. When an opponent is lying on the mat, you will be able to perform up to six different moves, depending on where you are standing (head, side, or legs), and if he is lying on his back or face-first.

While grapples are the bread and butter of any wrestling match, there are other things to do in the ring. The basic punches and attacks are still there, so you will be able to pummel the heck out of your opponent. Of course if you are a fancy pants you can jump up to the top of the turnbuckle post and perform a diving attack on a dazed opponent. However, for me, I prefer submission moves, and this year’s edition of the game pays a lot of attention to them. In previous games, if you wanted your wrestler to have submission moves, you had to place them in the strong grapple sets. Thus, you lost having a sweet power move by having to have a boring ol’ submission move instead. That is not the case in SvR 2010. The controls for this edition have really been improved, and from now on you can initiate submission moves by pushing R3. So when you have your opponent in a grapple, instead of using the right analog to perform a normal move, you can hit R3 to initiate a submission hold. I really love this because you can assign a different hold to each grapple, so you can have four different holds from the standing position. Also, you can do the same thing when the opponent is on the ground. You will be able to perform three different submission holds to a grounded opponent depending on where you are standing compared to him (head, side, and legs.) This tweaking of the submission system was one of the greatest accomplishments that SvR 2010 made.

One of the things that wrestlers are best known for is their finishing moves. Whethers it’s The People’s Elbow or the Tombstone Piledriver, its usually an extremely flashy move that spells the end of the match for the wrestler on the receiving end. The finishers in SvR 2010 work a little differently then in past games, but I like it. Each wrestler has a momentum gauge that is located at their feet in the game. As your wrestler performs moves and taunts, the momentum goes up (as the crowd gets more fired up). Eventually when it gets high enough, you will see an “S” appear at the end of the gauge, meaning you have stored a signature move (basically same thing as a finisher, but not as powerful). Once you are in the current position to perform a signature move, you can hit triangle to initiate it. It all depends on what the move is…it can be a standing grapple, a diving attack, or a ground grapple. If the signature moves hits, then not only is the opponent damaged by it, but your momentum automatically maxes out, and you will be able to perform a finisher. Unlike other games, you cannot store your finisher, so you have to use it quickly before the crowd quiets down and you lose it.

Just like in previous games, you will be able to counter an opponents attacks. However, its much easier than before. R2 now counters all attacks, whether they are strikes or grapples. Like other games, pretty much any move can be countered, including initiating grapples and finishers. I do like the new system, as it was a pain in previous games to hit L2 to counter strikers and R2 to counter grapples.

In SvR 2010, each wrestler has six “abilities”. There is a pool of at least 15 abilities to choose from, and these are aspects of the wrestler that may give him or her an edge in matches, and usually deals with their strengths. For example, a wrestler who is performs a lot of turnbuckle and diving attacks will probably have the “high flyer” ability, which allows him to climb up the turnbuckle ridiculously fast, and also allows him to dive through the ropes at an opponent standing on the outside. A submission wrestler should have the “lock pick” ability, so when he is in a submission hold, hitting triangle will allow him to automatically break the hold. Many of the big superstars (such as Triple H, Batista, Cena, etc) will have Resilency and Durability, both abilities that make it tougher to pin or submit them. One of my favorite ones is the hardcore ability, which allows you to perform grapples with weapons. Nothing is funner than strangling an opponent with a sledge hammer or placing a folding chair around his leg and then stomping on it for maximum pain. The abilities are an improvement over last years, which only had a few to choose from.

There isn’t anything too new as far as match types go. You still have the normal selection of one on one, tag team, steel cage, ladder, tables, Hell in a Cell, etc. The only new match is something called “Championship Scramble.” I tried it and hated it. Its quite a challenging match to partake in. It starts off like a Royal Rumble, with two men in the ring and others running in at set intervals, until six men are in total. It also plays kind of like an Iron Man match, where once a pinfall or submission tapout is achieved, the match continues until a set time. However, unlike an Iron Man match, there are no points. Basically, if a wrestler gets a pinfall, he becomes the champion. Then whoever gets the next pinfall or submission becomes the champion. So its basically a match in which you have to get a pinfall or submission, and then make sure no one else does. Its quite a challenging match to have, and I was not a fan.

Another thing they did do as far as matches go is that they revamped the Royal Rumble. The features they added are all very well done. Its still the same basic Royal Rumble gameplay, but there are a few additions. First off, you can now perform special “Royal Rumble finishers” to quickly eliminate an opponent who is about to be tossed out. If you don’t have a finisher stored (in a Royal Rumble match, every superstar can store up to three finishers, and you will not lose them if you don’t use them), then you will have to do it the old fashioned way. There are three ways to do it, and each one has its own mini game of sorts. The normal way is to throw an opponent over the ropes (so hes hanging on from the other side) and then to perform a game where you rapidly push the button the comes on screen (square, x, triangle, or circle). If you are successful, your superstar will punch the opponent off the apron, and he is eliminated. Secondly, if the opponent is hanging on from under the ropes (lying down) a game pops up where you have to stop a scrolling icon at a particular “sweet spot”. Doing this twice will eliminate the opponent. The other way is if the opponent is leaning against the turnbuckle. This is one of the easiest ways to eliminate an opponent, as you simply have to hit a button once when it flashes on screen.  Just be mindful of superstars with stored finishers…they will be able to use it to get a free escape from your attempt to throw them out.

The roster was a bit of a disappointment, as it usually is. Since I do not follow WWE anymore, I don’t know any of the new faces. So while some of my older favorites are there (Undertaker, Triple H, Kane, Jericho), I don’t care for the new talent that’s in the game. Of course I don’t blame the game for that…its just going by who’s wrestling in the WWE today, and Im sure someone who follows it regularly will be pleased with the roster. But since I do not know many of the wrestlers on the roster (there are over 40 of them), I tend to create many custom wrestlers in the create-a-wrestler mode (henceforth to be referred to as CAWs.) As Steve can attest to, the CAWs will suck in a heck of a lot of my time and energy as I will make at least 15-20 of them.

Since I am so into the CAWs, it is always a feature I look into. Whenever I get each new edition of the game, the first thing I do is create BigBadBob, who is me. After he is done I will start taking him through the career mode to get his stats up (I will talk about that in a bit). The creation mode hasn’t changed much, as most of the different articles of clothing and all that other creation stuff is there. One thing that changes every game is how to determine the “weight class” of custom wrestlers. Their weight class determines the moves and abilities they will be able to have. In some games, you just selected what it was. In other games you set your CAWs weight, which determined his class. In SvR 2010, it is based on how tall you make the wrestler. I was not a fan of this at all…I prefer to be able to just set it. Also, it is a bit difficult to set up different attires for the CAWs. Usually you have three choices…what they wear to the ring, what they wear in the ring, and what they wear backstage. In SvR 2010 it is a bit difficult to figure out how to successfully navigate these different menus. Once you create a custom superstar, you will go into a separate menu where you can assign what moves he will perform in the ring. It is here that you will also assign finishers, taunts, and abilities.

Another feature of CAWs is the ability to create your own finishers. This is an interesting process where you basically choose different parts of a finisher and then string them together for a move. Its hard to explain, but its fun to make ridiculous-looking finishers. While this feature was in SvR 2009, 2010 revamps it to allow you to create your own diving finishers. It was a blast to make my wrestler leap 100 feet in the air and come crashing down.

Now once you have your CAW, how do you make him strong enough to take on the greats? He needs to gain levels and experience points of course! Every wrestler has an overall rating which signifies how powerful he is. The highest overall wrestler in the game is Undertaker at 94. There are several stats for each superstar…strike, grapple, durability, submission, hardcore, charisma, speed, and technical. Each of these stats has an effect on the wrestler. For example, grapple raises the damage your grapple moves will do, durability reflects how much damage you take, and technical determines how likely you will be able to counter an opponent’s attack.

Each CAW starts with an overall of 38. To raise this, he must raise his stats, which is done in the ring. The actions you perform in the ring will increase the level of a stat. For example, using punch attacks (square) will raise the wrestlers strike level. If done enough it will level up, and the max will increase by five. For example, if the CAW starts with a strike of 30/30, the next level will raise it to 30/35. So as you perform actions in the ring during matches, the maximum of the stats raises. Once this occurs, you will be able to put experience points towards these levels. You get XP based on the overall match…how you won, if you have a winning streak, how exciting the match was, etc. So by playing through matches, you will be able to gain XP for your CAW and he will eventually be strong enough to take on the greats (a CAW can get maxed out at an overall of 99).

One of the last things I will discuss in this review is the storyline mode. A well-known aspect of the WWE is the soap opera-ish plots and stories that go on behind the scenes. Whether someone is mad because someone else got a title shot or someone is sleeping with someone else’s girl, there is always some crazy twists and turns in the story. In SvR 2010 there is an in-depth creation mode that allows you to create your own stories. You basically select a day, and then select what happens. You can set up scenes that occur backstage, such as two wrestlers talking, or you could set up an ambush. You will have the ability to add text into the scenes to help tell your story. Once the story is set, put a match in there to drive the story on. You can make a story last as long as you want…from one day to two years! It’s a really great mode that allows you to create your own stories to keep things interesting.

All in all, SvR 2010 is the best wrestling game to date. It has pushed the envelope as far as graphics go (as usual), but the additions to this year’s edition really had a huge impact on the overall gameplay. The CAW leveling system, the addition of more moves and things to do in the ring, and the story creator are all great aspects of the game that really drive home the replay value. There is a lot more that I did not mention about the game, but I feel like I probably said too much already (this has got to be one of my longest reviews!)

The point of writing this article is not just to review the game, but to try and turn people on to the wrestling game genre. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like watching wrestling…the WWE games are a unique fighting game. The move sets are ridiculous and the customization is amazing. Also, its one of the very few fighting games where you can co-op with up to two friends (for three on three tag matches). In this day and age, with the wonders of Gamefly, I think that any fan of fighting games should take the chance to rent SvR 2010 and give it a whirl. It is such a fantastic gaming experience, and the fun is only multiplied when you get friends involved as well.

Since the schools are closed tomorrow for Election Day, I dont have to go in. So Ive been thinking about my plans for tomorrow, and this is what I hope to accomplish:

• Finish watching Season Nine of The Simpsons
• Play SvR2010 (so long as it comes in on time)
• Get my lessons finished for Wednesday
• Start reading my Civil War book for class
• Get a hair cut

That is what I hope to accomplish. Who knows what I will do. One thing is for sure though…the leisure activities will take precedent over the school ones!!!

So this whole thing really got me mad. I had pre-ordered MUA2 for the “exclusive” Juggernaut code. I generally hate pre-ordering, but when the benefit was this good, I had to.

Then last Thursday Juggernaut was available on PSN for a $1.99 DLC.

Now, maybe its just me, but an “exclusive” Juggernaut character is one that is only available through Gamestop, and not through PSN. Dont get me wrong, Im not mad that its on DLC. Im glad…I think that making something as beneficial as an additional character an exclusive offer is stupid.

Anyway, my point is that Gamestop is messed up for claiming it was going to be exclusive, when it clearly was not. I only pre-ordered (thus paying the MSRP of $59.99) to get this once-in-a-lifetime character. Had I known that PSN would offer it, even though it was not free, I would not have pre-ordered. I would have just got it through Gamefly, do the “keep it now” for $47.99, get my 10% discount for having the year membership, and then use my $5 game credit you get every three months.

Bottom line is that I could have got MUA2 and Juggernaut for about $45 or so in the end (getting the game from Gamefly and then buying Jugs from PSN), but instead was misled into paying $60.

For shame Gamestop, for shame.

Finally got Wolfenstein in from Gamefly. They shipped it Monday, but I didnt receive it until today (Thursday). But enough about how slow shipping is. Onto my first impresions of the game!

Wolfenstein is a FPS set during WWII. The basic story is interesting, as it has the Nazi’s doing some crazy occult stuff, and its up to you (Agent B.J. Blazokwicz) to put a stop to it. So you run around, shoot Nazis and creatures from another dimension, and collect gold and intel pickups. You also get cash at the end of each mission, which can be used to purchase new weapons and upgrades. What was interesting was upon starting the first mission, I was rewarded bonus cash for playing Wolfenstein 3D from the PSN.I didnt play too much into it, so I only got $1000, but I wonder if I play more I get more cash, and possibly some other goodies.

The difference-maker in the game is the Thule Medallion. Its an artifact you receive early on, and you use it to alter the environment. For example, the two powers I have for it allow you to either view the environment with enhanced senses to easily pick out key locations, and also lets you slow down time, making it easier to dodge traps and bullets.

Also, in between missions you go to the town, from which you interact with individuals to prompt the next mission. You can also search the town for gold and intel documents, and take down Nazi soldiers who are patrolling the area.

So far its a lot of fun. The WWII setting, and the occult twist, has definitely got me hooked, and I already know I’ll be playing this game through. There is also an online competitive multiplayer mode which I have not checked out yet, but I will get around to it eventually.

Today was the 20th anniversary of the U.S. release of the Sega Genesis. Since Im writing this, you are correct to assume that I owned a Sega Genesis back in the day. My first console was the NES, and eventually it was time to upgrade. I had two choices…the SNES or the Genesis. I dont remember why, but in the end the Sega won. I loved my Sega, until the day I replaced it with a PS1. Talk about brand loyality! However, I was happy with the PS1, and have since not strayed, still rocking my Ps2 and PS3. But I digress.

Sega was sweet. I remember how sharp and beautiful I thought it was, especially the original Sonic games. Sega had quite a few awesome multiplayer games such as  Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and that cowboy shooting game I always forget about (not MadDog for the Sega CD, the cool side-scrolling one.) I also loved Road Rash, and they freakin’ NEED to make a new version of that for the next-gen consoles. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR EA?!?!?!

Then came the six-button controller, and I had a blast using that with Street Fighter II, the BEST fighting game ever made. I popped sooo much time into that game. Oh yeah, there was also that Eternal Champions fighting game, which was weird. It was a neat premise, but I remember it being REALLY slow, like all the characters were extremely groggy.

I also had a collection of Disney games, both because I liked Disney when I was younger (and I still do dammit) and because of my younger sister. We both played those games, like Aladdin and Lion King. I remember when she would play to a certain point where she got stuck, then I would take over and get her past a level or two, then she would play again. The ol’ pass-and-play. Oh, and we also used to play the crap out of NBA Jam. That game was the shizzle back then. Someof my all-time favorite catchphrases from a video game are “He’s Heating Up”,  “He’s on Fire!” and “The Nail in the Coffin!”

So yeah, I had some great experiences with my Sega. Once again, I dont know what made me choose the PS1 over the Dreamcast, but I think I made a good choice, and dont regret it. In memory of today, I will pop in some Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on my Ps3 and rock through some games.

I popped the game in today, and instead of doing the random players assignment (where you say “play now” and the game lumps you into a quick-play mission with seven other guys), I decided to find and join a room. While going down the list, I came across a “Medics only” room. Now, there is no way to enforce this, but the host wanted everyone who joined to be a medic. I love being a medic, so I decided to join.

There were four of us initially the first time through, and it was fun. For starters, its hard to die since everyone has their Phoenix guns equipped. Thus, you are constantly healing yourself through the Phoenix’s gun, but you can easily heal a squad mate who is in dire need as well. And if you did happen to die, you didnt have to wait very long, since the medics have the fastest revival rate. Of course, relying only on Phoenix guns has its disadvantages.

The biggest issue is that you dont do a lot of damage. The Phoenix gun is the weakest weapon in the game, and is more useful in healing allies than taking down Chimera. So when playing all you see are these beams of red all over the place. So yeah, it took a long time to take down Chimera. I found myself doing a lot more melee attacks with the butt of the gun. In a normal game, I usually get at least one or two, but this time around I had sixteen. Also, since enemies take longer to get killed, they will do more damage to you and your squad. This goes particularly for bosses such as Titans, who take quite a bit of punishment before going down.

However, while it is more challenging, its also more fun. You have to move around a lot faster, and rethink your strategies. There is no soldiers with force fields in the front line to protect you from enemy attacks. Also, you get a lot more experience than usual, which is cool.

So while we started of good, eventually some jokers joined and either couldnt read or decided to ignore it, because in came some soldiers and spec ops, who started ruining our fun by getting all the kills. The second game went a little better, because it was just three of us for a long time, even though eventually some scum bag soldiers came in.

But yeah, I liked the medic-only run-through, and would love to do it again.

I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this game for awhile, and Gamefly finally delivered. The game is loosely based on the movie, but in many ways, is actually better. While the movie cut back on the violence and such, since it was a PG-13 movie and all, the game did nothing of the sort. It was Wolverine at his savage best- mutilating enemies in a wide variety of ways!

The game follows the basic plot of the movie, with Wolverine being tricked into returning to Stryker so that his regen ability can be used to power up Deadpool. The game goes back and forth across the time when Wolverine and the rest of the squad are in Africa looking for adamantium, and then it goes to Wolverine getting the adamantium skeleton and then going on a rampage looking for Sabertooth. Across the game you come across some bosses from the movie such as Sabertooth, Gambit, Deadpool, Blob, and Agent Zero (the guy with the accurate shot).

But thats where the similarities end. The basic story is also switched up, with some interesting content added in. The biggest change is the addition of Sentinels. As Wolverine tracks down Sabertooth, he meets up with Mystique, who happened to be with the team in Africa as a CIA operative (she was not in the movie at all). Upon speaking with her, she agrees to help Wolverine if he helps her rescue Wraith (the black guy with the cowboy hat) from a factory. The factory happens to be where Trask is building his first Sentinels, and Wolverine is forced to take a few of them down while hes in town.

So thats the basic story. Gameplay is pretty fast-paced and violently awesome. Square is the basic attack, and triangle is an uppercut attack that, when charged, will launch enemies into the air. Holding R2 will activate one of four special claw attacks, ranging from a spinning attack to a beserker fury which will inflict additional damage on enemies for a time. A really cool feature is that pushing R1 will allow Wolverine to lunge at distant foes and impale them on contact. And speaking of impaling, there are many environmental things that can be interacted with to quick kill enemies. For example, there are spike towers, forklifts, fuse boxes, and other goodies.

As you run about slaughtering enemies, you gain experience which can be used to unlock additional moves, as well as increase some of your stats. There are also powerups to find called mutagens. Wolverine can eventually equip up to three mutagens, and they act as “accessories”, giving Wolverine particular powers (increased health, does more damage, get more XP). Also hidden throughout the game are action figures which, when you collect two of the same one, you unlock that particular costume for Wolverine. Not for nothing, but I enjoyed playing through most of the game in Wolverine’s classic yellow costume as opposed to the Hugh Jackman look.

So enough about the technical stuff. I keep talking about the violence in the game, and Im going to get to it now. To put it simply, the Wolverine game is an over-the-top blood fest. He has moves that would make Mortal Kombat fans cringe. Wolverine will impale enemies on spikes as I already said, but his own physical claw attacks also make short and bloody work of his foes. He will rip enemies in half, slice off their limbs, decapitate helicopter pilots in their own helicopter’s rotors, slice through enemies, take an enemey’s shotgun and use it to blow away their face…I can go on and on. Not only does he do ridiculously bloody finishers, but each enemy also has a specific “quick kill” finisher that is unique to that class. Oh, and did I mention how awesome it is to watch Wolverine take so much damage that his bones and internal organs show, only to fully regenerate given enough time. Its definitely any Wolverine fan’s dream game.

So, the game is short and easy. Its back button mashing for the most part, and there are only a handful of levels. I would like to say that I blew through the game in under 10 hours. However, despite this, it is still an amazing piece of work, and it would be a shame if you missed out on this blood fest. I highly recommend renting this game. Like I said, it will only take a handful of hours to complete, and you’ll get some nice shiny trophies with it (they are quite plentiful and easy to get). However, I would recommend against buying it. While it is a wonderfully fantastic game, it offers little replay value, and I couldnt see myself spending $40 on it (that was Gamefly’s keep it now quote for me).

So it is essential that you rent this wonderful game. It is such a blast, and I guarantee you will enjoy it.

Just make sure the kids arent watching as you play.