My biggest fear about the iPad and Apple at this point, is that they are setting standards for new devices that aren't exactly well thought out. There are so many little question marks about the iPad that are easy to get over for first adopters, but will be annoying if they become the de-facto standard for the tablet device. The HP Slate seems so much more thought out with it's standard resolution screen size, utilizing Windows 7, multi-tasking (even though iPad will have this soon). However, we all know the Slate won't get the sales of the iPad so it won't matter. So my dream of having one unified gamerscore that carries over from my 360 to my Window 7 Mobile device to my tablet, will never happen, because I will give in to Apple just like everyone else.

• a shotgun with bouncing pellets
• rocket launcher that fired three rockets at once in a spiral
• the rocket fires and then it splits into two and if it doesn’t hit anything it splits into four, eight, you know. It keeps doubling, basically. So if you found an open enough area and fired it at a flat enough angle you could generate like, tons and tons of rockets in one shot
• it’s like a death stapler
• a repeater that has a knife on the front that add like 300 to your melee damage. You can just run around and decapitate people without firing it
• this is Diablo and Halo with a really cool art style

I suggest playing with friends as you will see better guns based on the harder enemies you fight together.

Worms 2: Armageddon
Easily the game of the week was Worms 2: Armageddon. The version they should have released the first time. Unfortunately, the tight restrictions of file size around the first release date pretty much crippled that game. This version, however, is Worms in all its fully arsenaled glory. Everything has been polished, the smoke effects are well done, the customization options for your worms are a nice touch, and the vertical levels definitely mix up the map variety. Canceling out of the 5 second wait when it's your turn seems to be the only quirky issue, we had 3 accidental deaths from that in our first multiplayer round. I was surprised to see that the achievements were so hardcore. I thought there'd be one or two quick wins from our first few rounds online, but no such luck. Casual fans of the first Worms probably won't find enough new here to warrant the purchase unless you have friends that are actively playing it. However, if you held off on the first, this is the one to get and you should talk all of your friends into it. Drop a donkey on 'em.

Trine
I was blown away by the Trine demo. Physics puzzles set in a fantasy world with a witty narrator, plus an absolutely gorgeous game engine. I grabbed it off of Steam but I'm going to wait and purchase the full version on the 360 since it's $30 on Steam and $20 on the consoles. $30 just seems a bit steep. The 360 version isn't available yet, but I'll wait for some quality achievement points.

Adventure gaming is back
While I was logged into Steam, I went ahead and played the intro to Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Just needed to confirm that it was indeed Monkey Island, and it was. I'll play through it this weekend. These are brand new episodes from the original developers, but LucasArts is actually doing a release of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition which is where I got hooked on adventure gaming originally. In all the Monkey Island news I got confused that all of them were going to be available on the Xbox 360, but it looks like only the remake is going to be on that console. Tales is going to stick to WiiWare and the PC. After I get through Chapter 1, I'm going to turn my attention to the Sam & Max Save the World that was released on Xbox LIVE recently. I've never played a game in that series, but from the hype around its humor I've decided I need to finally check it out.

Buy Now!
One of my top 3 Xbox Live Arcade games, N+, is on sale this week. Any fan of platforming needs to have this in their collection. Plus, NINJAS! They are still cool, right?

Rock Band 2
Had our first Rock Band night in about two months. We had to keep it small to keep from flexing the walls at the duplex, but it's always good to break out the Ion Drum Rocker and mic stand and to get serious with the fake band. Smooth Criminal was played multiple times, unfortunately for the drummer. Minds were blown (he's sorry) by @craigtsns during Master Exploder. For the first time, Don't Stop Believing wasn't butchered, because female singers can imitate Steve Perry so much better. Our goal of picking a song for the Pepsi Rock Band Video Challenge was a failure, I still think EndeverafteR - I Wanna Be Your Man is our best song, but it's not well known enough. Surprisingly, No Doubt - Sunday Morning had the most crowd participation. Next time, we'll be trying Rock Band outside on the deck to see how many neighbors we can annoy. In DLC news this week, band #4 of my top 5 showed up with a solid selection by Thrice - Image of the Invisible. Screamed that one as soon as I got home from work.

Zeno Clash
I was waiting for the price drop and it finally happened over the weekend when the bizarre first-person brawler, Zeno Clash, went on sale. I've only played through the prologue to this point, but it's pretty much as weird and brutal as expected, so I couldn't be more satisfied with my decision. Now I feel bad for not forking over the full $20, but thank you Valve once again for the Steam client. My impulse decisions are no match for your accessible digital downloads.

Progress
Not much going on this week as far as milestones. After the 20k gamerscore mark, I've been kinda burnt out in general. I'm still pushing through on both Ghostbusters and Red Faction: Guerrilla which shouldn't say anything about the quality of either game. Ghostbusters continues to be an entertaining experience just as a fan, and Red Faction keeps giving me some solid thrills. I think the summer weather is finally starting to get my attention, so I probably won't make any serious progress until a stormy weekend pops up. There's nothing pressing yet on the new releases front to make me rush through these games, that will change as we get closer to the fall and the threats of too many new releases refocuses my attention.

Curious
Reviews of Overlord II are getting enticing. The consensus is that its as solid as the original and that its more of the same. Then, I got to thinking, I'd like more of the same, as long as it's evil. I'm going to push through and wait for a price drop to the $30 range as I bit the bullet too early on the first one. I could also satisfy the craving by actually finishing the first one, but that last level is punishingly difficult and glitchy.

My will wasn't quite as strong when it came to Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii. I'll get my hands on the MotionPlus racket next week when it arrives at my door. The office Wii just became a lot more dangerous to work next to.

Reaction
Sad to see that The Conduit is what we all expected, solid control mechanics on a completely generic shooter. Good try to all involved, but that may have been the last gasp of the Wii to capture my attention to a genre I'd rather play on another system.

What the hell is going on at id? I was shocked when the company was bought earlier in the week. Relieved when it wasn't Activision. Confused when it wasn't EA. And finally intrigued when it was Bethesda's parent company. Letting id focus on the tech behind games like Fallout, and letting Bethesda focus on the story/gameplay elements seems like a killer mix. Always glad to see more serious and strong partnerships out there to keep things interesting in the industry. However, someone needs to calm John Carmack down about the iPhone. I don't need another crappy version of DOOM or Quake (or Hexen or Commander Keen). You don't need to release games on there every few months, focus your efforts to push the technology of our games further than it can go. Push Epic to do the same. That's your biggest strength and potential benefit to gaming. I don't doubt the potential success of gaming on the iPhone or other mobile platforms, but it's a waste of one of our greatest talents. Between that and his rocket science, he may have completely moved on this time. (I don't care if he deserves it, I'm a selfish fan)

20,000 Gamerscore
Hit an arbitrary milestone this weekend when I cracked the 20k mark with my Xbox LIVE Gamerscore. Gamerscore is one of the biggest strokes of genius Microsoft had with the Xbox 360. Sony is still trying to catch up with their flawed Trophy system, and Nintendo just doesn't care too much, which is pretty much how I feel about their games since gamerscore started being measured. It IS silly, but it has affected my gameplay. I only buy games on the PS3 that I can't get anywhere else, if a game is out on both systems, I buy the 360 version because I have the chance to play it with my friends. My LIVE friends list is much larger because it was established first and gamerscore gave my friends something to talk about, and now none of us want to move to another platform. With sites like 360voice.com and GiantBomb.com tapping into my stats, it's really building up my loyalty to my Xbox LIVE profile. Gamers are all about loyalty, we need to be loyal to something, so it's going to take a royal screw up on Microsoft's part to lose us down the road.

Burnout Paradise
I was glad to have Burnout Paradise take me over the 20k mark. I've spent a lot of time with this game in the passed year and a half, and I feel like I'm just now learning to play it with the Big Surf Island DLC. All I have left to do on the island now is the online challenges as soon as Robeque and I can get our schedules straight. Overall Burnout Paradise is my favorite game on the system, next to Rock Band, which is saying something.

Ghostbusters
Too many recommendations from gamers and movie fans like me made me overcome the average review scores for Ghostbusters. Picked this one up later in the week and have been having a blast. The game is noticeably flawed, but nothing gets in the way of the characters and the unique ghostbusting gameplay. There is so much obvious fan service in the story and hidden items, that I can't help but love it. Be warned though, anyone with just a passing interest in the source material will be bored very easily. Trapping ghosts can get tedious, and enemy targeting could have been handled a lot better. My brain chalks it up to authenticity, or maybe that's just me rationalizing the fun of having Bill Murray and the entire cast being a part of this game.

Rocket Riot (demo)
Real-time Worms with rocket packs, ninjas, and pirates. As soon as I can talk someone into multiplayer, consider it bought. The pseudo-3D and blocky art style definitely makes this game standout, and the "descriptive" music got a few laughs the first time I paid attention to the lyrics. This game will be great for short and mindless online sessions with friends while we wait for a larger game to come together. At least, until Worms 2: Armageddon comes out.

Trash Panic
The PlayStation Network definitely gives me the hit I need from weird Japanese games. Trash Panic is a unique Tetris-meets-physics style puzzle game. The game is hard and unforgiving, but it's still the best $5 I've spent on the PS3. I have no idea what is actually going on in the game outside of the core gameplay, but I like it. PSN Exclusive games have been the redeeming factor of my PS3 purchase outside of Blu-Ray.

Red Faction: Guerrilla
I finally figured out how to properly play Red Faction. Only took me 6 hours of gameplay and a few videos online, but the game is fun again. You absolutely have to us hit-and-run tactics to have any chance of survival in this game. Which makes sense if I had read the title :P Do NOT stick around after a battle, run away, wait for your alert level to die down, then come back to clean up.

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Elsewhere

Overlord II comes out this week, which is the sequel to one of my favorite games of 2007. This is one of those games I'd buy out of support of the developer, as I like their style, their evil, evil, style. However, I've obviously purchased more than I have time for recently. Reviews are saying this game is just more of the same, which isn't a bad thing when I'm ready for a bit of some strategy based minion destruction.

Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii keeps trying to get my attention. It's been out for a couple of weeks now and was one of the first games to utilize the Wii MotionPlus controller add-on. Apparently, this game has a pretty steep learning curve in order to be able to compete online. I assumed the gameplay would be dumbed down, and I'm happily mistaken. Color me intrigued.

Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island
Oh, Burnout. Will you ever stop being fun? I ended up buying the new Big Surf Island DLC. I Did a few of the ridiculous jumps and decided I needed to go back to the mainland to unlock the rest of the cars and finish up my license. Nothing against Big Surf Island, but I don't feel like I deserve the vacation before I fully complete the main game. Gotta figure out how in the hell I'm going to get the online achievements though, need to remind a few friends just how unbelievable it is that this game is $19.99. I'd play full price for it again. It's pretty much flawless.

Red Faction: Guerrilla
The debate I've been having all week between picking up Prototype or Red Faction was finally settled once reviews started rolling in for Prototype.  I underestimated just how open world Red Faction was going to be, so I'm still adjusting and hoping for more mission variety than what I've run across so far. I'm spending way too much time collecting scrap to build up to better weapons, but those new weapons look like they'll open up some appealing gameplay options. Rocket launchers may compliment this physics engine quite nicely. The one solid part of the open world gameplay that I didn't count on though, is that the vehicles are a lot of fun to use. I expected only shooting and explosions on foot, so being able to trigger explosions as I drive away is a welcome bonus. Sorry Prototype, although I do appreciate the fact that you can elbow drop a tank it just goes to show that realistic building explosions trump mindless superpowers and gore.

Art Style: PiCTOBiTS
Insomnia got the best of me recently, so I passed the time with Pictobits. The only DSiWare game worth paying for at the moment (after you use your free points on WarioWare and Bird & Beans). Unlocked a few more stages and beat my first dark stage. The difficult ramps up pretty quickly, but it definitely teases you to replay each level one more time to try and beat it. I learn a few new tricks each session it seems. I also love the fact that Bowser is my nemesis in that game. Seems fitting.

Plants vs Zombies
I finally gave into Peggle, so I thought PopCap Games deserved the benefit of the doubt on their latest game. I'm not one for tower defense games, but it seems like Plants vs Zombies simplified the formula enough that it isn't as stressful as the others that I've tried. The sense of humor definitely got me through the initial levels, but the variety of zombies is what's carrying me into the later levels. Well worth the $10.

Gaming recap from the past weekend

inFAMOUS

Wrapped up Sucker Punch's open-world action game as the anti-hero. Being evil is so much easier than being good. I'm about 2/3 of the way through as a hero since I was playing them at the same time, but being evil just became more fun as it required less thought and skill. I will finish the game and clear the streets as a real hero, which is a huge testament to this great PS3 exclusive. I'd still only give it an 8/10 since it's not all that unique and crashed on me more than once. I really enjoyed exploring Empire City and parkour-ing my way from building to building. Not to mention the fact that I purchased the soundtrack, and adored the comic book style cutscenes. For a PS3 game to keep my interest away from my Xbox LIVE Gamerscore for multiple weeks, it must have the total package, and inFAMOUS was firing on all cylinders.

Red Faction: Guerrilla (demo)

As long as the story or characters are halfway interesting, this game is should tide me over until Bad Company 2 comes out. I had very low expectations for this game, but its high Metacritic score peaked my interest to download the demo. After I collapsed my first building by blowing up only its support beams to have it fall on top of enemies, my wallet started itching. Still trying to decide if it will be a Gamefly rental or a purchase later this week.

1 vs 100 (beta)

Played 30 minutes of an extended play round in the 1 vs 100 beta. It was frustrating to not be able to start at the beginning of the round, but we had a good time once we got in from question #4 on. Really interested to see how Xbox Primetime works out, but I can see getting a few trivia happy friends together to try and win prizes down the road.

The closest midnight release would be Halo 2. Where I showed up to Wal-Mart after I finished watching a movie at about 12:15 am. I got in the existing line of about 8 people that were remaining, and ended up getting the last copy. Surprisingly though, the kid ahead of me in line was there to buy a PS2 for some reason and had no clue why there was a line around him. At the time, I was a new Xbox owner and only stopped by because I was awake anyway. I knew I wouldn't have trouble getting the game the next day.

A close second would be the morning of the N64 launch where I waited outside of a local Target for one hour for the store to open. Ever since then, I have just pre-ordered major releases and consoles online way ahead of time, and patiently stalked my UPS man.

These lines are always an interesting combination of anti-social hardcore gamers and whipped parents.

After decades of deliberation and analysis, I have narrowed down my gaming choices for the holiday season of 2008 just in time for the flood. Sit back and allow me to convince you that my opinion should become your own.

CANT MISS

MY KIND OF AWESOME

AM I MISSING SOMETHING

• Fable 2
• Far Cry 2
• Fallout 3
• Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
• Mirror's Edge
• Call of Duty: World at War
• Tomb Raider: Underworld

SEE YOU IN THE BARGAIN BIN

• Pure
• Blitz: The League II
• LEGO Batman

WOULDN'T SAY I MISSED IT, BOB

• Guitar Hero: World Tour
• Rock Revolution
• Quantum of Solace
• Need for Speed: Undercover

IN ANOTHER LIFE

The latest generation of gamers shouldn't even know who Sega's beloved mascot is. Erase from your mind the entire 16-bit era, and what memories of Sonic are you left with? Maybe the graphical leap made by the DreamCast at the launch of the console, but since then the only waves Sonic has made has been with fanboys reacting to the horrible reviews and gameplay.

We all have high hopes for Sonic Unleashed but as more and more gameplay is shown, the more it looks like the same recent story. Maybe the 8-bit revival that Mega Man is enjoying is the way to go for the Sonic franchise. There isn't a mascot I want to like more than Sonic or a company I'd like to see reinvent itself more than Sega.

Right now, though, it looks like that day will never come.