The Gaming Week thread

[spatular]

this week i have been mostly playing Forza 3, it's great, i was expecting it to be great and annoying and boring in equal measure but it's actually just great (so far anyway, i've probably played 30+ hours), forza 2 single player was boring, this i'm not finding boring at all, i'm treating it as doing hot laps though and ignoring the AI drivers as they're on normal (there's still a lot of time left for it to get boring though, it's definitely too long, 220 events, each with multiple races, apart from maybe the endurance ones). forza 2 was annoying as the stock cars were setup to handle like crap, now they handle well, which improves online play and single player racing just because they are more fun to drive. it works great with the wheel too, using the wheel seemed a bit of a disadvantage in forza 2, it doesn't anymore. i've barely touched the other parts of the game like timetrials (which will be great), painting or tuning. have bought some nice paint jobs though, got ikaruga, jet set radio, ketsui, wiivo's (okami?) one and some random others

been playing some DJ Hero too, which is also great, it's hard to describe, you press/twiddle stuff as instructed on screen in time to the music - it's just a good rhythm action game, i can't see why anyone who really likes rhythm action games wouldn't like this, apart from the price and/or the music. i'm not really into music like this but i think it mostly works really well in the game. and any game where you can push a button to shout such cool phrases as "Yeah Boyee" or "Lets get it on" must be good (as also proved by frequency).

[badjuju]

this week i have become quietly obsessed with soul bubbles, just has a whole overall feeling of niceness to it, and super mario bros lost levels, as i completed this on the snes all stars game but wanted to do the vc version as well. although i did have to use the unlimited lives trick to do the game without warping to unlock world 9. does that make me less of a man?

[HandsomeDead]

Its still been the same three. Brutal Legend, Forza 3 and Borderlands. Brutal Legend was completed this week and I think it was brill, the ending was tied up a little to quickly, though. I thought there would be more game to come. I'm working my way through Forza, just bought a race car and I can't drive if.. great. And I've mostly been Blaying Borderlands on my own but I still like it that way, co-op is a blast though, alot of fun to be had.

After trying the Left 4 Dead 2 demo I got a taste for it again and put Left 4 Dead back on. I've been playing the Verses mode. My first game was a really good one, the randoms I was with were nice and knowing the infected are plotting against you alot more than the AI does makes it really intense, I'll probably play it some more to take my mind off the sequel.

[Bob]

This week has been dominated by Ratchet and Clank. Went through the main games, starting on Sunday and finished Quest for Booty 40 minutes ago. I am a massive Ratchet and Clank fan, probably my favourite series of games and with the exception of Secret Agent Clank I have loved them all. I would have liked to go through the two PSP games as well but there was not time. Going through them all again I did notice that the music really needs a lot of work. It's not that it's terrible, it's just really boring and generic. The first game has some decent music but after that the only thing worth mentioning is a fake Eurotrash style pop song by a hot robot.

Each one is better than the last and as such I really can't wait for the new one tomorrow which will be far too awesome for words and I am getting far too excited considering I am a manly man.

Apart from that I also managed to finish God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP which my mum loves. She was miffed when she found out this one was on the PSP and now that she has a HDTV she finally got to watch it. Looked surprisingly good stretched out although I doubt the same could be said for most PSP games.

Resistance Tuesday saw a return. Not to these parts obviously because it was never here (though you are all welcome) but me and Sly played it again and it's still a lot of fun, even if it does decide you aren't allowed in games sometimes. Superhuman is definitely the difficulty to play co-op on, medics actually go out of their way to heal you and more times than not people play as a team. Crazy as that sounds for co-op.

Finally, I played Uncharted 2 downstairs since my mum likes that as well. Played that while the nephews were around as well, didn't think it was too violent for them but if it was I can always sell my story to the papers when they kill kill KILL!

And that was my gaming week. Thank you and goodnight.

[Sly Reflex]

Forza 3 has been played. Not really much I can say about it that has not already gone before.

Both Left 4 Dead and the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo have been visited for a bit. I can't really add anything more to say about these either. I desperately want to get hold of L4D2 and play the fuck out of it with my homeboi's, but the 20th is so far away I don't think it will ever come.

I started The Lost and Damned which was on the disc version along with The Ballad of Gay Tony. Man, it was difficult to get into, GTA games have always been a bit of a clusterfuck when it comes to how you control the game, but it is really apparent when you go from something that controls great (like Saints Row 2), you really feel it when going back to something like this. To start with I thought it was really hard, but the more I play it and the more I get used to the controls the easier I am finding it. I remember when I first booted up GTAIV and I was amazed at how detailed it was and how good the graphics were. Well, that's not so true now, the graphics actually look a little bit of a mess compared to what the norm is now, but the high level of detail still remains, and the physics engine is fun to play with. It does work against you sometimes though, I have had countless times where I have rode my bike over a kerb and it has popped it really high in the air or spun it around in a unrealistic fashion. It isn't so bad when you are in freeplay just ambling around Liberty, but it is a royal pain in the arse when it happens during an action piece. Still, now I have my teeth sunk into it I am enjoying it, it is nice to see what happens regarding the other characters in the story. I hope when the next instalment comes out (which is going to be in Florida if you are to believe the rumours), they maybe toy with having what they have now with Niko's, Johnny's and Luis' story, but put it all on one disc or one package with each persons story been affected by the moral choices of the others.

After a long break, I went back to Resistance 2sdays after managing to regain possession of my PS3. I intended to play for a few hours with people on the forums on the Tuesday night as the terrific pun in Resistance 2sday suggests. What I didn't intend was to be playing it every night until the early hours of the morning. I started late on Thursday night and played until 6am, even then I only stopped because I realised that the central heating boiler had fired up, normally when it does that I am laid in bed snoozing away. I made some progress in levelling up my Medic, as well doing tiny bits on the Soldier and Spec Ops. Not overly keen on playing as the Soldier as you are very reliant on the 2 other classes to keep you fed with health and ammo, the trade off being that if you have people doing these things for you you can rack up silly amounts of EXP. Saying that, it's still a really well balanced way and the final scoreboards at the end are never dominated by 1 particular class because of the way EXP is scored. If you have this game and have never sampled the co-op how it is meant to be played, get yourself online on Tuesdays and join in, once you settle in I assure you you will have fun.

I might even open up Motorstorm Mondays again at some point if there is enough interest.

[Cyberpunk]

Not much this week, I'm afraid. I've been a bit busy. I've played some more Half Life 2, and I'm almost to the final showdown at the Citadel. Half Life 2 Episode 1 next. I haven't played any Mercenaries 2 this week. I've been practising on Trackmania for an upcoming match night. At the time of writing this, I've just ordered Dragonage Origins for the Pc, and I'm about to play Borderlands. I've heard good things about Borderlands, so I'll let you know what I think later.

On a side note, a friend actually paid for Dj Hero, so I got to have a play. I've been curious about this game, as I used to amature Dj in the good ol' Hardcore 90's, and old/new mashups was my thing. I've got to say that it's a whole lotta fun, and has some really good tunes. My favourtie so far is a mashup of Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby, and Mc Hammer's Can't Touch This. Anyone around in those days will remember the rivallry between these two Rappers, and this mashup SO should have been done in the early 90's. I'll not buy it now, but maybe in a while when it goes down in price a bit.

[retroed]

I've been playing on the DSi again, now that the honeymoon period is over with the new and shiny other handheld. I'm just over six hours into Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, and it is superb, far better than Partners in Time. The dialogue is hilarious and the gameplay is top stuff. I'm enjoying playing as Bowser, and the 2D platformer style Mario & Luigi parts mix things up nicely.

I've also played a bit of Forza 3, mainly tweaking a couple cars, and finishing my third year in the career mode. I'm looking forward to the MFGamers time trial challenges that Riva has very kindly set up. I'll probably end up using the Honda I posted in the Forza 3 thread, it has a PI of 200 and hopefully it will do me proud. I just hope I can tear myself away from Modern Warfare 2.

I managed to play a little more Borderlands, and it's ace. I've only played it single player thus far, and I don't feel like I'm missing out; I like to do things at my own pace. I love the art style and the looting is addictive as anything. Controls on the 360 pad are identical to CoD which is nice. I'll be keeping hold of it and will no doubt return to it once the initial MW2 rush has worn off.

I also started LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival on PSP which is ace, but a lot more challenging than its predecessors. It's the first LocoRoco game that can be played completely using just the triggers. This is excellent for the PSP go, as you can have the system closed. The regrouping is automatic, and even navigating the menus is managed using the triggers. It has a new 'boing' feature too, where you can jump very high by hitting both triggers in time, you can build up combos by keeping your rhythm. £11.99 well spent.

Next week will probably be just more Bowser's Inside Story, and a lot of Modern Warfare 2.

[HandsomeDead]

Played and finished Borderlands this week, the ending was a little unimpressive but then it isn't really a game thats story is important, I don't actually remember any of the characters names or anything, I just got the gist of a mission and had my fun doing it rather than wanting to find out what would happen next. Still playing bits of Left 4 Dead's Verses mode, even though I've played it quite a bit now I'm still useless with a Hunter, I will take a Boomer over own anytime strangely.

I'm doing the forum Forza 3 shindig which was fun until Spatular came and spoiled it for everyone with his fast time and shit.

I've also been putting more time into Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story which I'm really enjoying, I wish I could get in the habbit of playing my DS more because it is the most light-hearted, charming, and enjoyable game I've played in ages, you just don't get this type of thing on home consoles. A really brilliant piece of work.

Oh yes, Jak & Daxter. Finished that during the weekend, a game that has taken me this long to actually "get" and start enjoying. Its not clever or anything, just a bit of simple fun which I think you need to play ocasionally to stop all the browns and gun metal greys from taking over your head. I ordered Jak II but its still sitting in processing so who knows when I can tell you guys about it.

Yup, thats it.

[Bob]

The main game for me over the past week has been Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Excellent addition to the series although if you never liked it before I doubt you will like it now. New time bending puzzle sections remind me a lot of Portal and the cut scenes are amazing this time round. For the first time the series uses fancy pants Pixar style cut scenes rather than using in game graphics and unsurprisingly it is very pretty. The usual destruction and over the top weapons are there as well. The weapons feel a lot more balanced this time round and even the one that uses crappy motion control is a pleasure to use. Each game has a weapon called the RYNO, or rip ya a new one if you prefer that is stupidly powerful and I would say this has the best one yet. Certainly not as powerful as previous versions but it slapped a massive grin onto my face that wouldn't go away until I changed to a lesser weapon.

Bought Call of Duty Classic off PSN which has been excellent so far. Up to the last campaign I think and although it's been really tough at times it has always been the right side of challenging. That's not stopped me from saying things like, "that's fucking stupid. How is that fair? Come on!? And a nice and simple, CUNT!" when things have got bad. Enjoying it a lot more than I enjoyed Modern Warfare 2 as well. There is a lot more variety here, there has been large scale battles, small skirmishes, secret agent man type missions, urban fighting in Russia and tank battles. My only real complaint about it so far is that you have to use the crappy PS3 triggers to aim and shoot, no option to switch it to L1 and R1.

Modern Warfare 2 as well. Played that a bit. Not enough racism in it for me.

[Cyberpunk]

Everything else is now on hold, and I have no life anymore.

Here's my inpressions.

Current Gen Impressions, MfGamer

[retroed]

Bought Call of Duty Classic off PSN

Lucky, it wasn't meant to be put up, and has been taken off PSN now. I have the 360 version, a friend got the Prestige edition and didn't want the game so gave me the token. I've only done the training mission thus far so can't really talk about it, but it looks like a decent port. Also, I really want the new Ratchet & Clank.

This week I've been playing more of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I'm around nine and a half hours in now and it's still making me smile. The dialogue is superb, laugh out loud funny, and the gameplay itself is top notch. I'm loving the variations in play style there are, and the rhythm based battles are even better than you'd hope they would be. I agree with DifferentClass, you don't get this on the home consoles. It's so well suited to the portable. I'd go as far as saying it will be my handheld game of the year. I'm looking forward to Spirit Tracks, but I can't see it topping this.

Modern Warfare 2 has been played. I went through the single player campaign to begin with, on regular, and it was good but not as 'wow' as CoD4 was. It did nothing wrong though, and felt genuinely epic at times, but it was a bit copy and paste in certain areas. But then, they were copying and pasting from one of the best shooters there's been, so it's all good. I played through a few of the spec-op missions with Alex, and that was good fun. My favourite one was the AC-130 mission, where one of you takes control of the gunship, and the other is on the ground trying to get to the other end of the map. It was brilliant, I played as the guy on the ground first and then we swapped roles. Excellent stuff. But of course, the multiplayer is where this game is at (hello Mr Reflex), and Modern Warfare 2 doesn't disappoint at all. I've been playing solely team deathmatch, and having an absolutely superb time with it. The maps are great, new weapons feel good to use, upgradeable perks are genius, and the kill streak awards, just add to an already jam packed multiplayer experience. Even the death streaks are a welcome addition. I'm using the Famas as my primary weapon, which is a three round burst. I never used any burst weapons in CoD4, but I'm finding it pretty good, and seem to be a lot more accurate with it. I've unlocked a holographic sight for it now too, replacing the red-dot I unlocked a few days ago. I really do think that Infinity Ward have improved on Call of Duty 4, and I honestly didn't think they would come up with the goods. I'm going to be playing this for a long time.

That's is pretty much. I've really been meaning to play more Forza 3 for the time trial challenge, but I've been struggling to make time for it which sucks and I feel really bad. There's some kick-ass times there though, I don't think I'd stand a chance. EDIT: I managed to fit some in and have bettered my position (currently third in the leaderboards), but still a way off the top. Spatular is miles ahead!

[DANGERMAN]

Played quite a bit this week.

I'll start with MW2 to get it out of the way. It's good, the single player is way too short. the plot is all over the place, and the locations jump around too much. The gameplay itself is good, not much wrong with it at all, but it throws grande set pieces at you too often so they become a bit neutered.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night is still good, here's the controversial thing though... I'd argue that the last 3 DS Castlavania's are actually better games. The balance feels a bit off with this, I killed Death without much trouble, but then the standard enemies near Dracula are kicking the shit out of me. There's problems with the way the health/potions work in the game too, unless I'm missing something massively, you need to equip food as a weapon then throw it and walk over it to eat it. Stupid. Good game though, just need to tidy up some exploring and level up to beat those enemies, then Drac is going down... down town!

Finally played some Warioland Shake Dimension. Really good, quite easy in platform terms, but hard to get the bonus stuff. I moaned in the thread about having to buy maps with coins earned in the levels. It means redoing levels multiple times, and feels cynical, which has kept me from going back for a few days. I'm glad I finally got round to playing it though, looks awesome too

Also Minon: Everyday Hero, it's not very good. You have to lay domino's for Minon to run along, if you get to buildings/people/whatever then you can recover some domino's by timing shakes of the remote. This speeds you up too which makes things a bit more interesting. It starts off really linear, but after the first level you start having to hunt things out, which gets increasingly difficult as there's no map to speak of and you've only got a limited view.

EDIT: forgot to add DJ Hero. Played some with Spatular, it's quite good, I can imagine it getting way better as you get better, especially as a single player game. We played a bit 2 player with the guitar, the guitar is insanely fast compared to normal Rock Band/Guitar Hero. It keeps it interesting I guess, the note charts aren't all that complicated though considering. If it's ever really cheap I'd consider picking it up

[spatular]

played lots more forza and some dj hero as last week, still really enjoying both of them, although my turntable controller is broken

only new thing i've been playing is MW2, don't have much to say about the single player, pretty much agree with what everyone else says, i like it, it's like cod4, but not quite as good. multiplayer i have a "quite like"/"really hate" thing going on, when you're winning it's great (although i still don't gain much enjoyment from the underlying combat, but that's not a problem with the game really, just presonal preferance), but when you're loosing it seems stupidly badly designed, there's far too many advantages for people are already doing well from the killstreaks, i've moaned about this loads for cod4 so don't want to bang on about it but it seems they've made it even worse in MW2. and the deathstreaks are completely pointless, obviously you don't want to make them too good so people die just to get them but it seems like an attempt to balance it has completely failed

[Bob]

Also, I really want the new Ratchet & Clank.

The story to the new one ties in with Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty so make sure you play through them at least before going into the new one. Although if you really can't wait for something new and shiny then Captain Qwark does a great recap of the story while the game does it's mandatory installation. Best install ever in fact, even more exciting than watching Snake give himself cancer.

[Bob]

I have played quite a bit this week and finished three whole games, manly. Started off playing Army of Two again. Played it when it first came out and thought it was okay but didn't really meet it's potential. After playing it again I can see now that I was spot on and the game does in fact, not meet it's potential. It's a fun game but me and my homeboy played it through on Hard and for most of that we were safe just running round doing our own thing. Only had to use Aggro a few times throughout the game.

Call of Duty Classic was also completed on the PS3 and I was very impressed. I'd never played it before but it was such a varied game. The assault on the Reichstag level was fantastic and it really captured that feeling of victory after a long hard fought battle. The video at the end brought a manly tear to my eye.

I completed the original Halo with my bro. Some bits are still really good, some bits are either frustrating or boring. The last few levels especially have not aged well.

Onto a gaming failure now. Bought Jak X for a few quid and even though I have only ever enjoyed two racing games in my entire life I thought I would give it a try. Started off quite well, typical Jak and Daxter humour and loads of stuff exploded. Then I realized that the game has the worst rubber banding out of any racing game ever. Well, probably ever, I have only played a handful but this was pretty bad so I feel comfortable throwing that comment out there. Bump into something and you will be overtaken by a couple of racers. Get blown up and you will be put at the back of the pack, it's really quite horrible and there are no rewards for doing well, no punishment for doing badly. I wanted to see just how bad it was so I sat my car at the start while the others whizzed off ahead of me, started driving about 20 seconds later and there they all were, waiting round the corner for me. Incredibly frustrating and not at all rewarding. Still, it completes the collection.

Started playing Condemned 2 again as well. First time I played it I was going through a bit of an achievement whore phase and the game is far too stingy so I gave up. Now though thankfully I couldn't care less. I still like achievements obviously, they are very nice but I can't say a game not giving me many is enough to put me off. The game itself is okay, that;s about as far as I would go. It loses most of the atmosphere from the first game and Ethan couldn't look any more like a tramp if he tried. People said he was going for the emo look but I have never seen an emo with a missing finger, shit in his hair, beans in his beard and a drinking problem so bad he starts shaking uncontrollably if he doesn't down a bottle of rum every 2 minutes. Although rather impressively, he never needs to go the toilet. Either that or he pisses on himself which wouldn't surprise me.

Finally, Left 4 Dead has been played for the last time in a while. I will miss those guys but there are newer, prettier survivors out and about tomorrow and these guys can blow a man's groin off. So, you know. Laters Francis.

[HandsomeDead]

Due to technical difficulties I won't be on the podcast so here is what I've been playing.

I'm still on with Mario & Luigi: BIS, 11 hours in and enjoying it, I had a little fall out with it fighting a little worm but I got past it and its all good, I also had trouble fighting a train, too. I'm still slowly working my way through Forza 3, I'm level 35 for those in the know, its not unusual for races to be 9 laps long now and after I've done just one of those I think thats enough, the less interesting tracks can feel like a slog sometimes.

Got me Left 4 Dead 2, I'm enjoying it, can't help but feel this is maybe what the original should of been. There are more weapons and a bigger variety in them, you'd be surprised how many different ways there is to deal with the same situation, levels are also more open so you don't have to take the exact same route, or atleast they feel more open, that route could be the most efficient and going another way could just lead to death. I don't know how far they can take the series now, this seems like the most you could get out of a simple concept.

Finally I've been playing the beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Intimidating at first, even for me who has played all the console versions but I soon found the old skillz and I was doing as well/shit as I usually am. It looks fantastic now and the fully destrucable enviroments make you think differently, it also adds to the games abilty to make awsome set-pieces out of everyone in games actions. I can't comment on the balencing all that stuff yet as I haven't tinkered with it enough, but I do find the engineer useless.

[Jimboxy]

As is normal i've been playing a lot of Forza 3. Been flicking back and forth between time trial laps for the competition and chipping away at the Event grid. Now finished the first two sections and i've still barely scratched the surface.

Also played some Modern Warfare 2 on PS3. I got terribly stuck in the Brazilian level and haven't gone back to it since. Also played through a few special ops with my house mate. These were good fun, can see them being very popular online.

Started playing Final Fantasy XII on the PS2, i brought it on release day but never played it for more than a few hours. So far I'm enjoying it, the battle system is taking some adjusting to, but i think it'll improve once i get more characters. On my HD TV it looks absolute bobbins, truly dreadful. All the FMV's are in some kind of odd letter box and its all jagged.

Spent quite a bit of time on Mecho Wars, on everyones favorite touch device. Been playing the multi with Hendo and Jon, and also the single player as well. The single player campaign seems pretty good and lengthy, so far i'm still working through the tutorial levels. Played quite a lot of bejewled 2, with its newly implemented blitz mode. You get 60 seconds to get as higher score as possible, which in itself is pretty fun, but the real competition comes from the Facebook integration. It gives you all the highscores of your friends making it highly addictive.

[retroed]

I'm still on with Mario & Luigi: BIS, 11 hours in and enjoying it, I had a little fall out with it fighting a little worm but I got past it and its all good, I also had trouble fighting a train, too.

We must be playing at a similar rate. I defeated the train yesterday, and am only a little further after that now.

Another potential game of the year.

[Sly Reflex]

Plenty to talk about this week.

TBoGT was played a little, although not much as other games came and broke its party up. I will go back though, honest.

Resistance 2 was rained off by the PSN servers been shit and stuff. It's fighting a lot of big good games for time at the minute as well, so it might miss out next week too.

Borderlands. It looks like Fallout 3 doesn't it? That's where the similarities end though. It's taken the combat from Mass Effect and made it all nice and shiny and FPS influenced, and it's taken the story that was probably turned down by a million B movies that would have been ashamed to give it an airing. The start is really shite, but once you have picked the introductionary scab and reach level 5 on your chosen class, it bleeds superb all over your jowls. It has the just one more thing about it, where you just keep on playing and playing. Co-op is also really good, although it can be a slog if any of your peoples are not all the same level, as some of the guys you fight tend to be at the same level as the highest person. Still, it's bloody good stuff, I am looking forward to playing it through from the very beginning with 3 of my peeps. I won't be rocking the soldier though on that playthrough, I'm looking to getting my scabby hands on the sniper class guy or maybe the ghost walking lady. Until that happens though I'll bang away at the SP with the soldier and his trusty turret. Man, I love that thing.

Left 4 Dead 2 is as good as I thought it would be, I really like how they changed the emphasis of enduring attacks and actually making them so that there is a sense of panic and urgency now. The way that they relentlessly attack until you achieve what the game wants you to do really makes you tense and on edge, the special infected seem to coordinate attacks now. It's rare you ever feel comfortable, and when you do it's always ready to piss on your parade by dropping the unexpected on you. Whenever they do a Top 100 list of gaming moments, I reckon pretty much all of L4D2's crescendo moments and finales will feature. The cast of survivors is great too, although I'm starting to really dislike Coach, mainly because the guy that controlled him during our playthrough wasn't much of a team player, and could be stubborn and just plain shit at times. I guess thats what you get though when you are as 1337 as me and my wingman though, other peoples flaws just stand out like an albino blackman on the family portrait.

I have been partaking in the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta that is running on the PS3. It's very good, although you can see that it isn't quite finished as there are a few bugs and shit, it look nice, but it's also a little rough around the edges. I have not unlocked any of the good shit yet, but it's only a matter of time before I do this. I can do ok with all the classes apart from Recon, I wasn't great with the 1 shot rifles they use, and because there is no auto rifles unlocked for them, I might be a while before I can use them as a valid class like I can do with the others. I really wish it was on the 360, as I think the DS fails in comparison to the 360 pad. They really should have retired the DS as it just doesn't cut it with a lot of games now.

Although I have not done it yet, I'll be playing Forza 3 for the Fujima Kaido TT that's happening on the forum before the Sunday cut off. No doubt I will be bottom of the table again.

[Hendo]

I guess thats what you get though when you are as 1337 as me and my wingman though, other peoples flaws just stand out like an albino blackman on the family portrait.

Teh lol.

I have a theme this week, and it's called "More of the same". As in, the games are new but more of the same as previous ones.

Mecho Wars has been played quite a lot by me and Jim, and now we have allowed Jon into our dirty little club and the fights have been intelligent and fierce, but not from my side. I suck quite badly on this, and indeed any turn-based strategy game. If you like Advance Wars, it's more of the same.

The Wii got a dusting down for New Super Mario Bros. Wii and me and my gaming buddy have invented new swear words, combinations of all sorts and enough threatening shouting that should bring in the riot police. I've also had tears streaming down my face from laughing too much, and being unable to carry on for a few minutes. It really is everything they say it is.

Looks fantastic too and with brilliant signature Nintendo level design. I think it's just as much fun if you play on your own, and I can see why it's not online because the tiniest amount of lag would kill it.

I got Assassin's Creed II and yet again, it's more of the same.

Looks stunning and the old feeling came back when I climbed my first tower to survey the surroundings.

This time though they seem to have a sense of humour as there's one bit that I won't reveal that had me bursting out laughing, and that came directly after one character exclaimed to you, "I've had enough of this boring game!". Gotta love post-modernism.

Also contains the most surprising use of the word "vagina" I've come across, so to speak.

Played lots of Modern Warfare 2 online and now I'm packing the ultimate in stealth in my set-up - a silenced gun, heartbeat sensor and the cold blooded perk that Sly brought up on last week's podcast, so I can walk under choppers and that. I also jam enemy radars if they get close to me.

Had a few brilliant games with the lovely people from Joypod on Friday and Campfireburning (who composed the Joypod theme) is much better at it than he likes to admit.

Did a bit of Left 4 Dead-ing the other day too with Sly and Badger and it convinced me to buy the new one which I have done, but not played yet, due to how much I'm enjoying the previously mentioned games.