It’s my favorite time of the year, when opinions clash over what game should and shouldn’t win inconsequential award shows, and when the anticipation for next year’s inevitable disappointments is still in unchecked levels of hype mode. Your favorites are my favorites and my favorites are your favorites, or some such nonsense. Ignore all that. I’m here to tell you what I enjoyed the most from the thousands or so games I managed to play in these last 365 days. (And by thousands, I mean probably 20 or 30, because as we all know, you can’t have a “complete” list unless you’ve played every single game, right internet?)

So, let’s get right to it, shall we?

10. The Darkness II

The original Darkness is one of my top five games of all time, so let’s be clear about this: there was little chance The Darkness II was going to surpass it. The removal of Kirk Acevedo as the voice of Jackie Estacado, and the shift in developers to a more dubious group of individuals set some pretty low standards for this game. But as it turned out, The Darkness II was a respectful continuation of that story that I love so much. And while the ending felt fairly rushed, and the game’s campaign was on the short end, the improvements to gameplay and Mike Patton’s incomparable return as the titular character secure The Darkness II at the tenth spot on my list.

9. The Last Story

Nintendo’s pun-friendly console refuses to die. Last year’s Monolith Soft’s Wii exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles managed to sneak its way up to the second place on my list, and this year, Mistwalker’s The Last Story finds itself on the back-end of my picks. Hironobu Sakaguchi’s love letter to the Japanese Role-Playing Game evokes memories of his first classic, the original Final Fantasy. With no shortage of obvious similarities in title, The Last Story is memorable mostly for its endearing and evolving cast of characters. Sure, the story is fairly typical and the combat is on the frustrating side of complex, but this ragtag group of individuals is one of the most genuine bunch you’ll likely find in any game this year.

8. Assassin’s Creed III

Ubisoft had a tough act to follow after their three-game epic starring Ezio Auditore da Firenze. And while Connor doesn’t exactly meet his ancestor’s charm or charisma, he definitely has the heart. Assassin’s Creed III’s thoughtful take on the American Revolution expands on the time-traveling wizardry of series protagonist Desmond Miles, while also setting up inevitable sequels in the best way Ubisoft Montreal knows how: cliff-hangers. Though the game was marred by a number of bugs, the struggle of Connor and Achilles, and the bonds formed with your Homestead inhabitants are things I’ll remember most fondly.

7. The Walking Dead

Few things can claim total multi-media domination like The Walking Dead. This long-standing comic series-turned-tv-show-turned-video-game franchise has become a household name in the last year alone. Telltale Games’s five-part saga about a convicted murderer, an orphaned child, and a number of other stranded survivors during the zombie apocalypse managed to do something that so many games of a similar endeavor fail at: it treated its source material with respect. Adaptations of licensed products often end miserably, with few exceptions. The Walking Dead series of adventure games is probably (no, definitely) the best use of a licensed property.

6. Far Cry 3

Massive island to explore; intelligent enemy and wildlife AI; the creativity to play how you want to; and one of the most fascinating villains in recent years; Far Cry 3 is everything good and just about shooters and open world games. Ubisoft brings the series back to its former tropical glory and shows us just what’s in store for the genre in the years to come. When you get tired of playing your standard run-and-gun military shooter or your 700^th round of team deathmatch, take a trip down to the Pacific.

5. Spec Ops: The Line

From a shooter willing to push the genre further, to one content to stay in the past. The strange irony is, for Spec Ops: The Line, it needs to feel like your average run of the mill war simulator. That’s the point. Where every other shooter of its ilk glorifies the art of war and killing, Spec Ops demonizes it, makes you question the value and entertainment of it. The genius minds at Yager Deveolpment sought to create a character so conflicted with his ideals about upholding justice and peace, while at the same time feeling overwhelmed by the immense prowess that he exhibits. This bold retelling of Joseph Conrad’s classic novel Heart of Darkness finds its hero, Martin Walker, in search of his own Colonel Kurtz – a once-revered war hero named John Konrad. The result is a game that treats its subject matter with the utmost respect and shows us that war is not a game, and one’s descent into darkness can lead men to do terrible, unimaginable things. Just remember: white phosphorus.

4. X-COM: Enemy Unknown

Oh, how I hate you, X-COM. And yet I love you so. You’re the abusive spouse in my relationship, the one I can’t stand to be around but I’m too afraid to leave. Every second I spent with you was wonderful agony. I lost many friends because of you, whose names are now etched into the hull of my underground headquarters. I vanquished much alien scum, shot down hundreds of UFOs, and researched countless projects. I even fought alongside the legendary Sid Meier in a few battles. I will never forget you, X-COM. But please, stop killing all of my units.

3. Max Payne 3

Max, dearest of all my friends. Rockstar did the unthinkable. They shaved your head. “Doomed!” was Max Payne, they said. They of little faith. You showed them, didn’t you? Unmatched physics, spectacular attention to detail, and the same soul-crushing feeling of self-guilt you were always known for. Sure, you may have toned down a bit on the long-winded analogies, but hey, you’re getting older. I understand. You’ll always have a place on my shelf, Max.

2. Rift: Storm Legion

On first consideration, I didn’t think to include this on my list. It’s just an expansion, after all. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how irrelevant that sounded. Besides, there’s nothing else on this list (either individually or combined) that I’ve put more hours into besides Storm Legion. They say MMOs are a drug, well let me tell you: they’re heroine. Trion’s sophomore launch didn’t go off without a hitch (unlike the release of the base game last year), but the expansion’s pound-for-pound value make it one of the most jam-packed content updates I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. With more than triple the size of new real estate, a dozen new dungeons (either raid or party sized), more levels and classes, and the best player housing system seen in any MMO period, Storm Legion is a rousing success.

1. Dragon’s Dogma

You know a game is good when it tries its hardest to make you hate it, and you just can’t. Enter Dragon’s Dogma. Not since Deadly Premonition have I seen a game with such a conflicted sensibility about itself. On one hand, Dogma is a sprawling action epic with hundreds of exciting monsters to kill and miles and miles of land to explore. It has a tremendously diverse class system that allows you to mix and match traits from each one, and one of the most ingenious uses of passive multiplayer I have ever seen. And yet, on the other hand, the game’s quests system was archaic, the amount of on-foot traveling through well-ventured areas was borderline insulting, and the pacing hit a major lull in the second act. Despite this, if there’s one thing I’m most looking forward to seeing more of in the years to come, it’s Dragon’s Dogma. With some major refinements, this potential series could find its way up to my pantheon of RPGs inhabited only by a special few: Final Fantasy Tactics, Demon’s Souls, and Dark Souls. On a final note, Dragon’s Dogma has one of the most thrilling final boss battles – ever. (No, not the Seneschal. The other one).

Notable Absence: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition

I wanted to include this on my list. I really did. Anyone who knows me personally knows I’d give Dark Souls “Sports Game of the Year” if I could. But as I considered it, I realized it would be unfair to the 10 games I did select to have to remove one of them to make way for a game I had already named as my favorite game of the year back in 2011. Though the Prepare to Die edition offers enough content on its own to merit some sort of recognition, the game, as a whole, was still merely a port to the PC with the inclusion of the downloadable content. In any case, there’s always Dark Souls II.

Did somebody say games? No? Well, I’m gonna, so whatever. The weekly latecast of me bringing you fine people the latest games late continues unabated, with a full two day lateness this week! I swear, one day, I’ll get my schedule sorted out so that I have time on Sundays but until then, enjoy the guessing game.

Of note, I actually followed up on my comment last week about The Testament of Sherlock Holmes and…yeah, that game isn’t great. Probably coulda called that, but hey, you never know until you try it, right?

Anyway, that’s old news. Onto this week!

Coming out this week:

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission – October 2nd for PC & X360
This remake of the original 1988 Carrier Command is curiously being developed by the same developer, Bohemia Interactive, that created the first, leading me to wonder whether or not this is a real remake, or more of a reboot. But, hey, who am I to argue with Bohemia after the revitalised success that Arma II had had since DayZ‘s release, not to mention the impending DayZ retail release?

NBA 2K13 — October 2nd for PC, PS3, PSP, X360 & Wii
You guys like Basketball, right? Well here comes the biggest Basketball release of the year to not come packaged with a free basketball! Hell, it’ll still probably be bigger than NBA Baller Beats, because really, who the hell bought NBA Baller Beats?

New Little King’s Story — October 2nd for PSVita
The sequel to the Wii’s Little King’s Story will, according to Japanese magazine Famitsu, have “love elements, along with new visual stylings for its characters.” Without delving into press material, that’s all I could find about NLKS (although, let’s face it, that quote is just about the press-iest thing anybody could ever say about a JRPG.)

NiGHTS into Dreams… — October 2nd for PSN, October 5th for XBLA
One of the top selling games from the Saturn era comes to your Hard-Drive on digital platforms! Includes levels from some weird expansion thing called Christmas Nights! Can you tell I have no interest in this game at all?!

Resident Evil 6 — October 2nd for PS3 & X360
Speaking of games I (and the rest of the OWNT staff) have no interest in, there’s Resident Evil 6. In the coming months, we’re planning to get reviews out for all the major releases, but honestly…I don’t think there’s any point to an RE6 review. From what I understand of the series, you need to have a longstanding relationship with Resident Evil to comment on this title, which I don’t think any of us have, and the reception it’s received so far has been polarizing enough that if you’re really on the fence (after what I understand was an utterly abysmal demo), you should probably read the review from somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about. Might sound like some sort of a cop-out, but hey, full disclosure is a thing, so there you go.

Sonic Adventure 2 — October 2nd for PSN, October 5th for XBLA
I’m gonna go out on a professional limb here and make what other people have led me to believe is a controversial opinion: Fuck Sonic. I hate Sonic. I’ve never liked Sonic and I don’t get the appeal. Maybe my reflexes just kinda suck and I’m looking to blame the game, but I’ve never had a great deal of difficulty with other games based on speed, like say Burnout. If you do like the little furry hedgehog, though, here, take some classic Dreamcast era Sonic, and enjoy! Wait, when did the Dreamcast become classic? Sheeesh.

Port Royale 3 — October 4th for PS3 & X360
Port Royale is apparently a business simulation game and I’m already bored. Except for maybe you can be a pirate! Which isn’t boring. But if you can’t, this is probably a game solely for the businessy sorts, like OWNT’s founder Coop, because I guarantee he’s the only one on staff who knows how to turn a profit. The only one.

Remington’s Super Slam Ultimate Sportsman Challenge — October 5th for PS3 & X360
Hey, you! Are you so sports?! Yeah, but are you ultimate sports?! Yeah, but are you SUPER SLAM ULTIMATE SPORTS?! Then go out and buy this goddamn light-gun game. Maybe lay off the adrenaline inducers as well, the veins in your neck are freaking me the hell out.

Pokémon Dream Radar – October 7th for 3DS
This downloadable Pokémon game barely seems to be an actual game, and more a sort of AR-enhanced DLC for the real Pokémon game that comes out this week. See below.

Pokémon: Black & White Version 2 — October 7th for NDS
Well, they made another Pokémon game. This one, believe it or not, is a Japanese Role Playing Game in which you collect pocket monsters and utilize their varied skills in pitting them through inhumane duels with their kin, before enslaving them within miniature balls that would fail to pass Geneva Convention standards for Prisoner of War containment! You know if you’re buying this or not already.

OH! Before I forget, I think The Walking Dead: Episode Four is coming out this week. Just watch me be wrong.

Well, that’s Your Week in Games. See you next week. Maybe on time this week.

I know, I know, I’m a day late. Cut me some slack, I broke 3 toes today. No punchline here, only pain, kinda like this weeks releases, amiright?! Yeah? No? Psch, whatever.

Coming out this week:

Dead or Alive 5 — September 25th for PS3 & X360
If you like women in bikini’s kicking the living shit out of each other, you’ll probably like this! If you’re more into ‘the art’ of fighting games, though, you might wanna skip this and keep to Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which I hear is pretty good.

Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure — September 25th for PC, Wii & 3DS
What with the growing general interest in broniism and whatnot, I imagine any degrading comments I could make about these sorts of kid-friendly games will sooner or later result in management calling down to me from their cloud of dollars and telling me to cool down a little. That day hasn’t arrived yet, though, so if you’re expecting any real information about this game…what is wrong with you?! Ah, I kid, I kid. I actually watched a couple of episodes of My Little Pony with my niece a few months ago and you know what? That show is entertaining enough that I get why some people would be attracted to it. Apart from obscene animated crushes, though, I don’t know what people’s deal is with Disney Princesses…

DragonBall Z for Kinect — September 25th for X360
Namco Bandai refused to respond to my query as to whether DBZ for Kinect would cost “OVER NINE-THOUSAND (DOLLARS)”.  I probably wouldn’t have responded to such a question either, to be fair.

FIFA Soccer 13 – September 25th for PC, PS3, PSP, X360, 3DS
Over here in Britain, this game is just referred to as FIFA because ‘soccer’ is not a word. You crazy Americans.

Final Fantasy III —  September 25th for PSP
In Square Enix’s eternal quest to bring every FF game to the PSP, no matter how out-dated the hardware may seem to the rest of us, FFIII follows suit.

Grand Theft Auto III — September 25th for PSN
A part of me is still trying to comprehend how GTAIII wasn’t already on PSN. Does this mean that Vice City and San Andreas aren’t on there either? WHAT SORT OF WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN?!

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita — September 25th for PSVita
New rule: I’m not going to comment on any title that includes the name of the system it is being featured on within its title because you probably already know what to expect. Starting…Now.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors — September 25th for PS3
Apparently One Piece is a manga, rather than a swimsuit, as I first assumed. However, because that manga is not Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Battle Royale or something, you know, recognisable, I can’t say I care about this game. Probably doesn’t matter because word on the vine is that it’s not very good.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 — September 25th for PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, X360, Wii & 3DS
That’s right…they’re still making games for the PS2. Inorite?! I was surprised too.

Realms of Ancient War — September 25th for PS3
RAW (okay, that’s kinda cool) sounds pretty blase, so let’s take a look at one of Wizarbox’s previous titles, So Blonde.

Sunny Blonde is a 17-year-old teenager who has been spoiled by her rich parents. On a cruise with her parents who are celebrating their wedding anniversary, the ship is struck by lightning, and she is knocked overboard. She finds herself stranded on a beach of a remote “Forgotten Island” in the Caribbean Sea.

Holy crap, did they create the upcoming Tomb Raider 6 years before Crystal Dynamics?!

She is totally alone and worrying about her nails and messy make-up

…maybe not…

 The Testament of Sherlock Holmes — September 25th for PC, PSC, X360
Alright, that’s it. After seeing the Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper game cover all over the place for years, I’m officially hella curious as to what these games are. I’ll probably take a look at some point later this month/week/year/sometime in the future. I promise.

 Tokyo Jungle — September 25th for PSN
From what I understand Tokyo Jungle is set after humans have left planet Earth and follows the plight of the animals left to fend for themselves against each other in the streets of Tokyo. This sounds half bizarre, half awesome, all Japanese.

Warrior’s Lair — September 25th for PS3
If you didn’t already get your isometric RPG fix from Torchlight 2 last week, Sony got your back with…well, another isometric RPG…

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria – September 25th for PC, Mac
I do not care for WoW but the CG trauker they released for MoP really had me curious as to how Blizzard would handle the opportunity to make their own WoW movie, because hey, I think it’d be pretty awesome.

Bad Piggies — September 27th for iOS, Mac, PC
Anybody here ever play Angry Birds? A couple of you, yeah? Here…have a sequel. Then tell me how you play this on a PC?

The DENPA Men: They Came By Wave — September 27th for 3DS
Uhhh… this is a role playing game in which you play as the DENPA men and is that supposed to mean anything to anybody? Oh, Japan…sometimes I just don’t know what to do with you!

Everyone Sing — September 27th for PS3, X360 and Wii
Until a karaoke game includes the following, I don’t care about karaoke games:

Catch you guys next week.

Borderlands 2 comes out this week! And all you Americans get it, like, half a week before I do. Which makes me angry. But not too angry because I am just stoked to get the chance to play a game I’ve actually been looking forward to. Mike is gonna be playing it as soon as and will get a review up sooner than later and we might start trying to figure out how ‘Second Opinions’ work with this game, but no promises. We should certainly have those up and running in the coming months, no matter what, because there is a whole mess of games on the way.

Speaking of games (and Borderlands!) lets see what else is on the horizon for the coming week.

Coming out this week:

Harley Pasternak’s Hollywood Workout — September 16th for X360, September 20th for Wii
If you want a workout guided by the Canadian *SENSATION* responsible for the figures of Hilary Duff, Katy Perry and…uh, Lady Gaga then look no further. I spent enough time with an old room-mates Nike training game for the Kinect to know, goddamn, I neither need nor want to spend any time with any more exercise games.

Borderlands 2 — September 18th for PC, PS3 and X360
Do I even need to explain why you should play Borderlands 2? I could point you to what I want out of the game, but otherwise things are looking good. Just look at this screenshot.

F1 2012 — September 18th for PC, PS3 and X360
I don’t know whether it’s got something to do with being in Britain, a place with less fondness for NASCAR than Formula One, but I still see an abundance of F1 2011 copies all over shelves, whenever I stop by anywhere that sells games at all. So, yeah. Now I get to look forward to seeing F1 2012 all over everywhere instead.

Hotel Transylvania  – September 18th for 3DS
Apparently Hotel Transylvania is a movie, starring Adam Sandler. Now I’m pretty into movies and whatnot and I have never even heard about this feature. Adam Sandler as Dracula sounds about as appealing as any of Sandlers recent roles recently, though, so not very.

Jet Set Radio — September 18th for PC, PSN and XBLA
Jet Set Radio is an action platformer that originally debuted on Dreamcast. You’ll probably remember it better by the name Jet Grind Radio, although I don’t think I ever even heard of it. So this is a HD remake. Apparently the original was pretty good, so take that for what it’s worth.

 Kinect Nat Geo TV – September 18th for X360
I’m sure this already came out, but looking back, I don’t seem to have written anything about it. So hey, if you dig on elephants and shit, National Geographic got your back with the most appropriate game for you since…well, Afrika for the PS3.

Kinect Sesame Street TV — September 18th for X360
It seems to me that this game is utterly moot, what with Double Fine having released what will likely prove to be an exceptional Sesame Street-Kinect based experience with Once Upon A Monster. Apparently, though, Sesame Street has a big Kinect initiative which means this is probably the second of a whole myriad of SS games coming along in the future.

Street Fighter: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set — September 18th for PS3 and X360
I’m just gonna give you the hard info because that’s probably the most informative thing I can do, rather than crack some lame old joke about Street Fighter.

The Street Fighter: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set includes Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and Street Fighter X Tekken. All costume DLC is included for Street Fighter IV along with all character and Swap Costume DLC for Street Fighter X Tekken. The set will also include an eleven disc soundtrack filled with Street Fighter music spanning the last twenty-five years. In addition, a two disc Blu-Ray set will feature a documentary covering the franchise, Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV anime films, all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. A 64-page art book, eight inch light-up Ryu statue, full-size Ryu martial arts belt and certificate of authenticity are also included.

I legitimately kinda love the Jean Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie. Legitimately.

La-Mulana — September 20th for Wii

La-Mulana is an Action Archaeological Ruins Exploration game.

What in the holy fuck does that mean? As Dr. Lemeza Kosugi you will fight monsters to get to the mystical city of La-Mulana and you know what? This just sounds bad. I don’t even want to know anything else, it just sounds bad.

Rayman: Jungle Run — September 20th for Android
Who loves Rayman? You love Rayman! Who loves Android? Fucking no-one, that’s who. Alright, I kid, I kid. But seriously, I couldn’t care less about an Android version of a great game, because I simply don’t have an Android.

Torchlight II — September 20th for PC
Torchlight II isn’t coming out. I know they say it’s coming out, but it isn’t. It can’t be. My universe implodes the moment this game finally comes out. So no, it’s not coming out. It’s especially not coming out the day Borderlands 2 comes out where I live, because, hell, that means I’m probably not gonna play it.

Anna — September 21st for Mac
So, this is a first person horror adventure that debuted on PC earlier this year and has very little profile as far as I can tell. But I’ve been looking into getting into horror games, so the PC version may end up making its way onto my personal wishlist. We’ll see.

So, to surmise: Borderlands, Borderlands, Borderlands. Any thoughts? Hit the comments, below.

Yesterday, Nintendo made the announcement that everyone has been waiting for: the price and release date of the Wii U. Along with that, they made the shocking reveal that Bayonetta 2 will be a Wii U exclusive. Among the handful of other games discussed during their live press event in New York City, Nintendo and Capcom announced Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the 3DS and Wii U. The details right now are sparse, but here’s what we know.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is going to be a graphically enhanced port of the original Monster Hunter Tri which was released exclusively for the Wii in 2010. In addition to the updated visuals and a reconfiguration of controls to support the gamepad, the game will include all of the content updates found in Monster Hunter 3G, which was the handheld version of Tri released exclusively in Japan for the 3Ds in 2011, as well as several features from Tri that were cut from 3G (including underwater battles and Free Hunt mode). In other words, Ultimate is going to be the complete package for Monster Hunter fans.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will also be the first game in the series to feature dynamic shadows and implement a new “Target Camera” setting that centers the camera on the monster rather than the direction the character is facing. The latter is an experiment Capcom is hoping to fine tune and adapt for the next iteration of the series. Perhaps the biggest news about the game is the cross-play between the Wii U and 3DS versions. Players will be able to cooperate and team up with friends and go out on a hunt together. Save games can also be shared between versions.

The game is set to launch early next year, with a tentative March release date for Europe and North America.

Jesus, this week is quiet and I can’t say I mind, as I’m having an extremely busy day. So let’s just get straight into it.

Coming out this week:

Critter Crunch — September 11th for PC
Critter Crunch is an iOS game that has been ported to PC and will later be available on PS3. According the the iOS reviews, it’s pretty good. GREAT!

Double Dragon: Neon — September 11th for PSN, September 12th for XBLA
Another game in the utterly ‘meh’ beat ‘em up franchise that is still alive after 25 years. GREAT!…ish.

Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue — September 11th for 3DS
C’mon, everybody loves Finding Nemo. I don’t even need to do any research for this one. GREAT!

NBA Baller Beats — September 11th for X360
It’s a rhythm/basketball game. So it’s a second tier mash up of a dead genre and a mass market Kinect game that…
Nobody cares. GREAT!

NHL 13 — September 11th for PS3 & X360
Hockey. GREAT!

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 — September 11th for PS3 & X360
I almost care about Tekken, in some alternate reality when I never stopped being 13 and Tekken 3 was still the greatest game of all time. Almost. GREAT!

Empire: Total War (Gold Edition) — September 13th for Mac
Something, something, Total War, something, Gold, something. GREAT!

Prince of Persia Classic — September 13th for Android
I’m sorry, I just don’t see the appeal of PoP classic for anybody to young to have played it ‘back in the day’. And for Android? Just…urgh.
But still, GREAT!

Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition — September 16th for Wii
I’ve admitted before that I’ve never played a Zelda game. Is it reputation suicide to admit that I’ve never played a Kirby game either? You know what, just imagine a world where I’ve never heard of Nintendo. Because, honestly, that’s not far from the truth.

Super speedy, like I said. This should counteract the fan-gasm I have next week when Borderlands 2 is released. So, look forward to that.

Comments, below, all that jazz. Lates!

You guys must remember Kevin Butler, right? He’s the guy who made Playstation cool again, for a good year or so. Here, it’s this guy.

For anybody who doesn’t remember, Kevin Butler was the goddamned man. He was gamer spirit personified, a master of publicity-spinning crossed with Barney Stinson in his late 40′s. The advertising campaign was fresh, funny and so utterly watchable that it was, in it’s own way, shocking. Bear in mind that prior to this, just about all of Sony’s Playstation ads were either creepy, weird or mind-bogglingly offensive. All you have to do is google ‘PS3 White Room’ or ‘Racist Playstation Ad’ for examples and there’s plenty more where that craziness came from.

Anyway, watch this video about…I don’t know, tires or something.

How cool is it that tyre companies the world over are integrating video-games into their promotions! You get some deal including a Wii, because the Bridgestone guys totally love the Wii. Especially that one guy there who…who looks kinda…similar…

Jesus, Christ it’s K.B.

So the internet lost some of it’s shit after discovering this. All I’ve seen so far is rantings about how Kevin Butler betrayed Sony and although I love the sentiment, c’mon, guys. It’s an actor. His name is Jerry Lambert and he’s been around for years. So many years, in fact, that if you look around, you’ll find him in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Do kids even know what Everybody Loves Raymond is anymore? I wish I didn’t…

But, I get the passion. Kevin Butler was a great advertising commodity and the writing behind the character was fantastic. This is the guy who crashed the Sony E3 press conference to give an impassioned speech about how awesome games are, after all. A part of me kinda wants him back now that I think about it.

And just for old times sakes:

Whenever there’s a new console release, the rumor mill seems to become an uncontrollable machine. With the Wii U set to launch sometime this holiday season, a recent product listing from Video Product Distribution – which maintains the distribution for many online retailers, including Amazon – suggests the console will hit store shelves on November 11 with a baseline price point of $250.

The listing was uncovered by registered Youtube user H0undd0gg and reveals three different SKUs for the Wii U. The three product codes indicate the aforementioned $250 console as well as $300 and $350 bundles. No other information was available, and of course Nintendo has neither confirmed nor denied this listing. If the multiple SKUs are in fact evidence of three different launch bundles, this will be a departure from the single-SKU releases of their last two consoles.

Earlier last week, another rumor was reported by Kotaku that scheduled the Wii U’s launch for November 18. This was based on a presentation by accessory-manufacturer PDP, made at a Gamestop managers conference in Texas. Whether the console comes out the 11th, 18th, or a later (or earlier date), Nintendo has confirmed that it will be available for the holiday season. Perhaps the official announcement will be made during a special presentation of the console in New York City on September 13.

[Sources, Kotaku, Youtube, Amazon]

Woah, more games are coming out this week?! I still need to finish and review Sleeping Dogs before I start worrying about anything else. Speaking of reviews, we should be getting Darksiders II and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron reviews up in the coming days. Games, man. They’re like the future!

What isn’t like the future, however, is half of the games coming out this week. If you happen to be brand new to the Playstation scene, fear not! Sony have four compilations of previous series’ available for you this week. For everybody else there’s the obligatory niche PC game, the behemoth MMORPG and, of course, Madden. If you aren’t playing something current this week, you’re living in the past!
Unless you’re buying one of those compilations, in which case you’re still living in the past. Or something. I don’t even know anymore…

Coming out this week:

Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII – August 28th for PC, PS3, X360
All I had to learn about Pacific Squadron was that it begins with the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor and suddenly, I found I don’t care anymore. World War II was an absolute beast of a war, lasting six years, and all that developers can think to do is rehash old ideas? Forgive me if my memory’s hazy but didn’t I play this game nine years ago when it was called Medal of Honor: Rising Sun?
Oh, sorry, what? It’s a flight sim? Hell, now I definitely don’t want to play it.

It’s not often that something appears less interesting than its Michael Bay counterpart.

God of War Saga – August 28th for PS3
All that Sony have done here is prove how much of an utter fool I am for buying the original God of War Collection last year. Whilst that game simply included Kratos’ first two PS2 outings, God of War Saga includes his two PS2 adventures, both PSP titles and PS3′s God of War III. In hindsight it just makes me wonder how much free space was on that original Collection Blu-ray, if they managed to fit an additional three games on it?!

Guild Wars 2 - August 28th for PC
It seems that every news source I can find cite’s Guild Wars 2‘s release date as being the 28th, but everybody I know who plans to play the highly anticipated MMORPG seems to be on the servers already. I don’t know if they pushed the release forward or if it’s some sort of perk, but hey, if you’re super stoked about Guild Wars 2 go forth and…do whatever people do in MMO’s…?

Even I’ll admit, there’s nothing about this picture that isn’t badass.

Infamous Collection — August 28th for PS3
See?! They’re doing it all over again! C’mon, Sony, we know that two games cannot fill a Blu-Ray! How did you ever get away with selling each of these separately?
If you haven’t played the Infamous games, here’s your chance and it’s totally worth it. Infamous 2‘s story is nowhere near on par with the original and sometimes the sequel seems to be relying on reused assets or bland design (you made a supervillain called The Beast a giant magma-man? That’s it?!) but the gameplay is super engaging and tight enough to make these games more than commendable.

Journey Collector’s Edition – August 28th for PS3
For everybody out there who lacks an internet connection to their PS3, here are the two best games available on PSN, with a third outing by the same company that made the former two, but this time on a disc! I’ll admit, I never thought I’d ever see Flower on a disc.
Comprising of the thatgamecompany PSN-trilogy of Flow, Flower and Journey, this package is worth picking up for the latter two alone. They are both truly excellent artistic examples of minimalist game design and have been known to cause religious experiences for large gatherings in Cathedrals. That was not a joke, weirdly enough.

This is just a glimpse of how pretty Journey can be.

Knight Age – August 28th for PC
The guys over at Joymax are either ballsy, ignorant or outright stupid to allow an MMO to go into open beta on the same day that Guild Wars 2 is released. They’re taking on what has frequently been cited and voted as the years most anticipated game. In fact, if I don’t seem to be saying much about Knight Age, it’s because I’ve never heard of it, but I’ve heard of GW2 for a good few years now. Non-stop.

Lights, Camera, Party! – August 28th for PSN
Apparently this Playstation Move title is a fast paced and hilarious party game that involves a satellite crashing into the house of the Funzini family and the owner of the satellite…you guys don’t really care about this, do you? It’s probably not worth your time, but if you’re really desperate for a Move game then here, I guess.

Madden NFL 13 – August 28th for PS3, PSVita, Wii, X360
Last years Madden returns, but this time with more stuff! Or something! I don’t know anything about football!
Look, I’m British, okay guys? All I know about football is that the teams have a certain amount of time to take 100 yards of ground or something like that. And don’t give me any shit about not researching your favorite sport, I don’t even know how soccer works (although I still feel dirty whenever I type that word, urgh.)
I’d totally play NFL Crunchtime, though:

Mass Effect 3 DLC: Leviathan – August 28th for PC, X360
Jesus, does everything come out on this one day?  I still have like another three titles before we get away from the 28th!
Am I the only one who thinks Leviathan seems a little…sketchy? I mean, for those who have seen Leviathan‘s trailer and know the outcome of ME3, doesn’t this seem like it should have been in the main game? I find myself ever so slightly disconcerted by the fact that this DLC seems to take place before the end of the game, but we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe Bioware knows what it’s doing! I mean, I doubt it, but maybe!

Psychonauts – August 28th for PSN
Holy crap, I just realized that I never played Psychonauts.In fact, come to think of it, it’s entirely possible that I’ve never played a Double Fine game. I feel genuinely kind of dirty now.  But I guess now I have no excuse for not playing this psychic epic as of this week. I’ll let you guys know what I think whenever I get around to it.

Cool car, homes!

Ratchet & Clank Collection – August 28th for PS3
It’s a matter of public record that Metal Gear Solid 2 was the first game that I ever really played seriously but the original Ratchet & Clank is the game that showed me that games could still just be a whole lotta fun. I’m not especially crazy about the next two sequels (and Sony seemed disinclined to include the utterly ‘meh’ Ratchet: Deadlocked) but for anyone looking for a slice of classic action-platforming, this should more than satisfy their needs.

Rock Band Blitz – August 28th for PSN, August 29th for XBLA
Ahhh, Rock Band. Every time I think I miss you, I remember that there’s a reason I hung up the insanely expensive money-sink that was plastic instruments. After the relatively underwhelming set-list of Rock Band 3, it makes sense that the emphasis of this downloadable title would be making use of the catalog of songs available on Rock Band Network to build your own playlists.
One thing I will say about Rock Band 3, though, is that it taught me that Elton John is secretly an utter badass:

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – August 28th for PSN
I can’t pretend to remember much of the time I spent playing Tony Hawk’s in days of old. All I can say for sure is that without the original soundtrack this re-release holds no interest for me. Not one bit.

 Joe Danger: The Movie – August 29th for XBLA
Creating your own action movie, scene by stunterific scene?! Eh, why not. Sounds like dumb fun. Oh, it’s a sequel? Pass. I’m not up to date with the story.

Secret Files 3 – August 31st for PC
Apparently these Secret Files games are fairly popular. I have never heard of them. Not a once. But, hey, if somebody out there wants to continue making point and click adventure games well into the 21st century, they can be my guest. Maybe a series worth looking up on Steam sometime for experimentation and what not.

Wow. That was longer than I ever anticipated. That means there’s a potentially busy week ahead. Obligatory prediction for The Walking Dead: Episode 3 is that we’ll not get it this week. I’m thinking first week of September right now, but be sure to check back at OWNT for any updates.

Are you planning on checking any of these out? Drop the word in the comments, and remember to check back for your next week in games!

The Wii is many things: it’s a family friendly console designed to get men and women, young or old, playing together; it set the standard for motion control in video games; it was Nintendo’s first platform to utilize a full-sized optical disc; but most of all, it was fun. It was not without its faults, nor was it ever free of criticism. As a piece of technical hardware, the Wii was inferior to its contemporaries, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, in physical storage space, in processing power and in multimedia functions. Even before the console hit the market, there was a vocal backlash directed at its name – the ‘Wii’.

Up until April 27, 2006 just seven months before its North American launch date, Nintendo’s then next generation console was unofficially known as the ‘Revolution’. Following its name change at that year’s E3, Nintendo was met with a barrage of jokes based on the new name. Justification came shortly thereafter as crass jokes spread across the internet. The console’s pronunciation as “we” represented the company’s intent to blur the line between gamers of different ages. Nintendo was creating a new market of consumers, one that had yet to be introduced to the world of video games. Furthermore, the two i’s were said to imitate two people standing side-by-side, playing together, again an initiative of Nintendo’s that would get people up and off the couch.

Despite Nintendo’s best efforts to quell the storm of negativity, the gaming press wasn’t going to have it. The irony is that no matter who you were, when the Wii finally launched on November 19 or in the aftermath of it’s sales blitz, you wanted one.

But it was still easy to hate. It wasn’t as powerful as its competitors, its online functionality was hindered, and its launch line-up was less than impressive: its only games of notoriety being The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a mirrored-port of a GameCube game; Red Steel, an urban hack-and-slash whose promise of fluid motion controls was unmet; and Call of Duty 3, the forgotten soldier of the franchise before the storm that was Modern Warfare. Two highly anticipated titles, the conclusion to Retro Studio’s Metroid Prime series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and the long-awaited Super Smash Bros. Brawl, were pushed back to later dates, leaving the Wii’s holiday window looking rather barren.

The biggest launch title for the Wii was a GameCube port.

For most of the first year it stayed like this. Gamers could only play so much of Wii Sports and the lack of third-party support, a common problem with Nintendo consoles since the GameCube, discouraged all those waiting for AAA titles. It wasn’t until the Holiday of 2008 that the next installment of the Mario franchise hit store shelves.

For the first time since its launch, people were excited again. To this day Super Mario Galaxy remains the third highest rated game on Metacritic of all time, and is considered by many to be on par, if not better, than Mario’s previous masterpiece Super Mario 64. Finally, the Wii had arrived.

But alas, the Wii could not shake its reputation. It had endured a year’s worth of insults and severe lack of content. It seemed that in the public eye, not even Mario could save it. For all the anticipation and all of the promises, Nintendo had once again found themselves in a hole. The console continued to sell and exceed expectations for the company but in the mind of the hardcore gamer, Nintendo had sold out.

Of all those I’ve spoken to who have expressed either frustration or anger towards Nintendo, the Wii is the singular point of discussion. The motion controls, the graphical limitations and the online components are the most common complaints as far as the hardware goes but the number one complaint that I have heard in the six years that the Wii has been out is simply, “Where are the games?”

In the first year, I might’ve sipped a bit of the haterade and joined in on some of the anti-Nintendo uproar. But then I discovered something wonderful, a brilliant tool that could help me overcome my gamer angst: the internet. Where were the games, they asked? Right at the tips of my fingers on Amazon, on retail websites and all across the digital catalog. Therein lied the root of Nintendo’s problem – marketing.

Mario will always sell. Nintendo needs to focus on pushing the lesser known games.

You see, all those concerns about a lack of games or support from third-party companies seemed completely valid when you walked into your local GameStop or Best Buy and saw a row or two of Wii games and then five walls across of Xbox 360 and PS3 titles. To the ordinary consumer, it’d be easy to jump to the conclusion that the Wii had no games. What you see is what you get, after all. Then I learned a thing or two about marketing, about distribution and about localization.

I learned that not everything that is made can be marketed. The money that would be spent on commercials or store signage would be wasted if the sales expectations were not met. So the big games, the Marios, the Zeldas, those would get all the publicity because everyone knows about them and everyone will buy them. That’s just the way business works – you market what sells.

The problem with this is that in a generation when you have three corporate entities in the gaming industry who do you make the games for? Obviously first-party companies and subsidiaries would remain exclusive to their parents so you’d get Halo and Gears of War for Xbox, Infamous and Uncharted for Sony and Metroid and Kirby for the Wii. These are big name games coming from big name companies. But what about Activision, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Rockstar? The answer was simple: multiplatform. Make the game available for all platforms and reap greater rewards. The issue with that: Nintendo’s console could not handle the games that were being developed on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, for the ‘core’ audience. Because of this, most developers tended to shy away from a market that had already been saturated by family games and, as gamers lovingly referred to them, “shovelware.” Why would these big companies waste time on a console that they couldn’t even take as much advantage of as they wanted to?

The games that the Wii did eventually get came from the smaller, less financially-capable companies barely made a splash in the market: Tri-Crescendo (Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon), Grasshopper Manufacture (No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle), Vanillaware (Muramasa: The Demon Blade), Platinum Games (MadWorld), Cing (Little King’s Story), Treasure (Sin and Punishment: Star Successor) and so on.

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. One of the best games for the Wii. Sadly, no one played it.

Not a one of these games was multiplatform (although No More Heroes received an HD port in 2011 for the PS3 and Xbox 360), and yet if you were to look at the sales records for them, you’d be less than impressed. Not because they were bad games, far from it, but with few exceptions there was little to no marketing done on their behalf. As a result, stores either never carried them to begin with, or never restocked the shelves after their one or two initial copies sold out. And the tragedy is that most average consumers have likely still never heard of them.

I can understand the frustration with many of Nintendo’s business practices: the negligent online support shows how out of touch Nintendo is with the current generation of core gamers and the hardware deficiencies certainly hold back the console in the eyes of a worldwide market. I was told once by a colleague that the Wii is not a current generation console simply because there is nothing on it that couldn’t be on another platform. To an extent, he’s right. The hardware determines the generational gaps. When the technology improves, then the need to create a new product is there. The current iteration of consoles is the longest there has ever been.

But I’ve noticed a trend in the market lately. For as powerful as these current systems are, this year’s E3 made one point very clear: they are no longer purely gaming consoles. They are entertainment centers. They are computers. They will continue to evolve and become even more. The benefit is there and in the eyes of a consumer, having a single unit that can serve all of your necessary functions is ideal. But what happens when Microsoft buys the rights to use Blu-ray, and Sony starts charging a monthly cost for their online service to better support and maintain the network? Then what will distinguish one from the other?

Recently, members of a fan-driven community known as Operation Rainfall have taken it upon themselves to get several games localized in America that Nintendo had refused to support: Xenoblade Chronicles earlier this year and most recently The Last Story. The third and final game in their quest is Pandora’s Tower, which is currently scheduled for a European release in April of 2012. If the fans can be so passionate about the games, why can’t the developers and publishers?

With the Wii U set to launch in a few months, there’s one question on everyone’s mind (besides cost): what can I play? Nintendo needs to hit the ground running with AAA titles and this time they need to be supporting even the smaller companies as fully as it can. Having had a chance to get my hands on the system at a recent private demonstration, the potential is there. It’s a nice gesture to offer games like Batman: Arkham City and Mass Effect 3 but you don’t want to set another trend of simply picking up the scraps of the other consoles. Where Nintendo needs to shine is in its exclusivity and its first and its third party support for new, marketable games.

When the Wii launched six years ago, I went from an excited prospect to a discouraged fan quickly. I thought Nintendo had betrayed me – me, Mike, their loyal fan! How could they?! But then I discovered that there were games that existed beyond the veil. Nintendo didn’t abandon me, they simply prioritized differently. The hardcore market still existed on the Wii, I just hadn’t realized it at the time. Here I am, six years later, and I can proudly say I regret nothing. Some of the most fun I’ve had this generation has come specifically from Wii games (Monster Hunter Tri and Xenoblade Chronicles). Would I have enjoyed either game better in high definition? I can’t lie – of course I would have. But who wouldn’t?

In an interview recently, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stated that gamers will never be satisfied. We always want bigger and better. We could get a game that is, for hypothetical purposes, the greatest looking game of all time, and someone would say “Well I wish they would have done xyz better.” No one is an exception. To demand more from the industry is how it can grow and evolve. To be content results in stagnation and nobody wants that. But I come from an age when games were judged by one thing only: how fun it was. If it isn’t fun, why bother playing it?

And you know what? I’ve had a ton of fun with the Wii.