Box3ru13

Interesting match-up. My take:

I have never played SMG and probably won't for the foreseeable future (lack of Wii and all) but I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge it as one of the best Mario games ever and probably the best platformer of the generation and certainly on the Wii. I do know that the soundtrack is fan-fucking-tastic though and that goes a long way in my book.

Rock Band was a great party game, I can still remember my during my Fresh/Soph years of college hanging out with some friends, drinking and singing Maps because it was the only song my terrible un-vocal ass could even remotely sing. They were fun times to be sure. I absolutely enjoyed the varied tracklist and the DLC and subsequent games improved on all of that--but I didn't play past the first because fuck having all those stupid instruments lying around.

Ultimately, in five, ten, twenty years I'll be far more likely to go back and play SMG and appreciate it than I ever will do with Rock Band. Completely different criteria than what I've been basing most of this tourney on but hey, gotta come up with something.

SMG by a solar system.

Halo 3 isn't even the best Halo game overall (CE) or best 360 Halo (Reach). That being said its a very important title and was still pretty fun, had a good soundtrack, and actually wrapped up the trilogy in a semi-satisfying way (Spark or no Spark).

But AC:B made a SP game have MP where it had no business being, and pulled it off. While I didn't play a ton of said MP the fact that it worked at all is a good accomplishment. It also has one of the best campaigns in an AC game and the most compelling characters/setting to still be featured in a AC game. Also feel the setting was the best the series has offered.

Toss up here. Going AC:B for the mostly personal reasons. Both are good choices, but one has to lose.

Braid did nothing for me, tried multiple times to get into it and just couldn't. Batman AA on the other hand is pretty fucking great. And between the Batman games and the trilogy being out around the same time. One could argue that Batman had the best run of the past five years culturally.

But still AA all the way.

Really hard to nail down ten but here we go:

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

3. Dark Souls

4. Dragon Age: Origins

5. Bioshock

6. Civilization 5

7. Mass Effect 2

8. The Last of Us

9. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings EE

10. Valkyria Chronicles

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but this is it for now. So many good games left off this list.

DBOX is pretty spendy but if you find the right movie it is completely worth it. Tech should get cheaper and more prevalent so hopefully in the near future more people can access it.

I wouldn't want it for all movies but popcorn-summer action flicks are ideal.

Giving any amount of money to Grown Ups 2 is a goddamn travesty. People who willingly give money for that money are literally everything that is wrong with this country.

That being said, giving money to Pacific Rim is pretty fucking awesome, so you just might come out ahead on the Karma aspects. But still, goddamn, fuck all non-90s Adam Sandler movies.

I thought it was fan-fucking-tastic! Saw it in DBOX yesterday (Thanks Ryan) and as an experience it was incredible. Well worth the extra money spent. The movie was silly, big, loud, and everything I was hoping for.

It this movie didn't have Del Toro attached to it I would've dismissed it faster than you can say Transformers, but he really makes the well-worn and archetypal characters work in the movies favor rather than against it.

The late title card was great as well. And the first battle scene really set the tone early. Cannot recommend it more.

Perfect. Just Perfect.

Here goes nothing:

Man 'O Steel: $65.9

Monsters U: $70.4

WWZ: $35.5

Total: $171.8

KZ2 and MGS2 were the two I completely lost my shit over. I must've watched both a million times each. Thankfully neither game disappointed. I'll have to do some research and find others but those are the immediate ones that popped into my head.