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)