WRUP: What Are You Playing This Weekend ?

Lanarchy: I am finishing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii) tonight, and before I list the other games, I want to say the characters of FE:RD will stay with me for a long, long time. Such memorable characters. Micaiah, Sothe, Ike, Titania, Queen Elincia, Empress Sanaki, The Black Knight, Ilyana, Volug, Zyhark, Ranulf, Skrimir, Naesala, Tibarn, Yune, Zelgius, and so many others. I'll never forget them. OK, so I'll also play some Borderlands 2 (PC), and probably Demon's Souls (PS3) and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii).

Andre: For me it will be LBP Karting (PS3), Infamous 2 (full trophy run, PS3), Wii U if I can get some games first, Gravity Rush (full trophy run, PSVita) and I'll also watch Unite 9 on TV.

And you ?

Review: The Walking Dead

Platform : PS3 / Xbox360 / iOS / Steam 
Developer : TellTale Games
Price :20$ to 30$ (Depending of Season Pass, Single Episode or Retail Disc)
Type : Point and Click
Time played : Playing Episode 5

The Walking Dead game receives praises from everywhere. It is nominated as Game Of The Year 2012 (Editor's note: Actually won the VGA GOTY) from many magazines and online sites.  But here, I will tell you where it fails! But first, I must admit it is a pretty good game. It really got me in the story and I had to made some rough decisions that I actually found hard. Keep in mind, in a world where everyone is doomed, you can only hope to make things less bad than it could be.

The game plays itself like a standard point and click puzzle. You are in a scene and you must complete the puzzle to access the next scene. Puzzles consist in completing some tasks to continue over to the next scene. Example of tasks would be to find a key to open a door, or a way to distract zombies to go over to a certain object.

**SPOILER HERE, READ OVER IF YOU DON'T WANT THE SPOILER**
Where it excels, is in the moral difficulties of some of the tasks. The game itself is not hard, but the decision you will take are.  In Episode 1, you will have to choose between two characters. Who to save and who to let die... In episode 2, you will have to decide if you cut the leg of a trapped survivor or if you let a bitten women end her days or not, help a survivor having a heart attack or bash his head so he won't turn.  Most of those choices are made while characters scream at you, cry, beg for help and the timer will go fast... faster than needed to think about what is the best choice. Choices go up to a point where you even have to decide who has to shoot that kid in the head between his mother, father or yourself.

Keep in mind, you might think choices will be easy, but I found myself having some hard thoughts after playing. Pretty much like Heavy Rain.

**END OF SPOILER**


Where it fails is on one of the biggest advertised features. "The Game is tailored  by the choices you made", so I  decided to run 2 games in parallel, and a 3rd one on the side.  While your choices make the story differ a bit, everything that has to happen, happens. At some point, you decide to leave characters behind or not, well you will lose that character from either decision. If someone gets shot, no matter what you do, this person will get shot. The only thing changing is some of the dialog, the way the characters talk to you and that's about it.  You won't play two different games if you took two different decisions. For example, one of the first decisions you will take in Episode 1 is if either you leave the house right now or wait for the night. Either choice, you'll meet Hershel's son and end up at his farm. If you want to take an opposite decision from where the story wants you to go, they will find a way to make the group choose otherwise, and they'll just trust you a little less. Many of the actions you take are even useless in changing the story, it might just help you bond with character (in real life, taking care of them like in The Sims), but does not seem to have any effect in game.

Only in the last episode might we see the impact of our choices, I have yet to discover.

Conclusion:
It is still one of the best games this year if you like deep, story driven adventures. See it as an interactive story where you can make some changes in the way it is played, but the result would still remain pretty much the same. It's moving like any really good TV show and the spirit of the game remains true to the world of The Walking Dead.

Killer Instinct Trademark Renewal Denied - Why We Don't Have KI3 (Yet)

I wish we had Killer Instinct 3. So, so much. We kind of have lost hope over the years, until recently when one ex-Rare employee said he doubted Microsoft would let Rare make a new one, they were more interested in Kinect games. But there might be hope after all !

A trademark renewal for Killer Instinct has been rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) because they believe people could confuse it with a FOX show from 1995 also titled Killer Instinct. Do you remember that show ? Yeah, exactly. No one does.

Microsoft has 6 months to respond to the rejection. Basically, what this all means is MS would like to do another Killer Instinct (OMG YAY !!) but the USPTO said "Sorry, there's something else trademarked with that name" and that's where we stand now. If Microsoft explains that well, they had KI first, and that they would do something with the franchise (the show will never come back), they might get it back. Let's hope it happens ! KI3 would kick SO MUCH ASS (if done right) !

WRUP: What Are You Playing This Weekend ?

What are you guys playing this weekend ? This is a new column we'll have every Friday, asking you what games you'll be playing over the weekend, and telling you ours.

Lanarchy: I'll be playing Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (God damn this game is hard), Borderlands 2 (PC), Darksiders (PS3) and Dragon Quest Swords (Wii).

Andre: This weekend I'll be playing Gravity Rush (PSVita), Walking Dead (PS3), Modern Warfare 3 (PS3), LBP Karting (PS3) all while listening to Fisherspooner.

And you ?

VG OST Pick Of The Week: Super Mario 64 - Main Theme

The classic of classics. The Master Game. The one and only Super Mario 64. Do you remember the first time you played it ? The wooow effect the 3D camera had on you ? The N64 just blew us all away when we first inserted this cartridge. I remember it perfectly. It is also among the games you would play today and instantly have fun, never feeling it's outdated. Another timeless classic.

Nintendo's Deception : Is There A Wii U Shortage?

The numbers are out. The Wii U sold a little more than 400,000 consoles in its first week in America.  In comparison, the Wii sold about 600,000 units for the same region and time of year when it launched.

The Wii was a success, it was hard to find, it was sold out everywhere, even pre-orders were on a limit and got sold out in a matter of hours.  As soon as Wiis were put on shelves, they were taken by customers waiting days for a restock. It really did great.  I've helped many friends get one by telling them when and where shipments were received for different retailers. Future Shop couldn't even put the console on the shelves that they were sold out. They received about 2 or 3 units per week for every retail store.

But what about the Wii U?  Regis Fils-Aime told CNET that 400,000 unit is a great number because the console is SOLD OUT all around the country. He also added that "As soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately." Nintendo is apparently doing its best to restock the retailers.  Seems like the story of the Wii success is upon us again!  So if you want one for Christmas, you might have to get one of those cardboard consoles instead.

Should you get one of these until Wii U gets restocked?

Well I find it a bit awkward that after the Wii's long term shortage that lasted about 6 months, Nintendo did not plan on making their new console a little bit more available at launch due to the increase in Nintendo buyer potential. So I went and looked around the web for that shortage. Where is it? I can't tell!

I check store availability for Walmart in many states:

Florida : Out of 17 stores, 4 are Out of Stock.

California : Out of the 8 Stores, 1 is Out of Stock.

New york : Out of 20 Stores, 6 are Out of Stock.

Stocks everywhere in New York, same thing all around the country.

In Quebec, I checked Future Shop, it's a little more true for them, but still less than 50% of the stores are out of Wii U.

On about 30 stores, 12 are out of Stock.

Canada the same thing, It's everywhere!

Just take that in context, those stats were taken just after Black Friday!  So if it was such a big success, shouldn't it be sold out everywhere?  I called a Future Shop store just to make sure. Well it seems they have about a dozen consoles for sale. WHAT!!!

I'm calling it a big deception by Nintendo that is trying to make a false shortage to raise sales by having everyone jump on the "New Trend" that is supposedly out of stock making sure people grab one when they see it in case it disappears from the shelves for months like the Wii did! I'm really sorry for Nintendo today. 

Feel free to tell us if you had a hard time getting a Wii U or if you see them in stores where you go.

Review : Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack

Platform : PS Vita / Steam
Developer : DrinkBox Studios
Price :8,00$ (Currently free for PS+ Members as of November 26)
Type : 2D Platform
Time played : Finished in about 6 hours.

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack starts from a great concept. You are a small blob that escapes a laboratory.  When talking about blob, we think about growing to disproportional size by eating everything around.

Unfortunately, Tales From Space : Mutant Blobs Attack falls short of this concept. Yes you do grow by eating stuff around, but it is only used to block your path. Most of the game consist on going around and gathering blue points. Once you reach a certain part of the level, you must grow to swallow what is blocking your path. The fact that you also shrink between levels makes the feeling of growing just like an excuse for puzzle. Only in the last 2 levels do you really go around swallowing everything you can. The game would have been great if it was really based on growing and swallowing up everything in a level.

Swallowing stuff and people is the best part.

Level using Tilt functions of the PS Vita

All in all, it isn't a bad platformer. It uses some of the PS Vita touch and tilt features well. The puzzles are nice and skills are required to get all the trophies. It's not worth the 8$ for the best of it. I got it during Halloween sale on PS Vita for 3,50$, but if you can grab it free, it could get you hooked for a few hours. 

VG OST Pick Of The Week: Bubble Bobble - Main Theme

I often say that this track will bring a smile to any old-school gamer the moment it starts. Sure works for me. Bubble Bobble was so simple as a game, but it is as fun today as it was back then. I remember playing for hours, it got really tough at some point, I'm not even sure if I've ever beaten it. A timeless game, true classic.

Rebooting During 5GB Wii U Update Bricking Consoles

Be careful when doing your Wii U 5GB Update. There's been reports all over the Internet of people finding their console was bricked after rebooting. Since the update takes hours, many thought maybe the download had stopped, so rebooting is normally the common first thing to do. Not in this case.

Nintendo posted about it on their Facebook page as well:

Xbox 720 Leaked Infos

It seems that  Xbox World, an UK based magazine, got its hands on a few infos about the next Xbox.

Actually, it seems its name should only be "Xbox". In the line of this new fashion on generic names like the "New iPad", there are a few interesting details.

First thing that strikes me is the A/V input to record TV broadcast, and maybe some custom overlays while watching TV. No info on what type of input will be found.

It will have 8GB of Ram. 4 times as much as the Wii U and 8 times more than the current Xbox.

Blu-ray drive is the new official format. The Wii boasts a custom Blu-Ray drive as well, nailing things much for the Blu-ray technology.

Kinect 2.0 is also introduced with better (and most likely faster) movement recognition. A controller with an HD touch screen has also been reported. Finally, AR might come at the end of the console life cycle.

Pretty interesting and the real details should start spreading as soon as the magazine actually hits the stands.

Here is the cover of the magazine. Note that the console design is just a concept made by the magazine.