WonderCon 2012: Day 1 recap

Well, I'm back from my 3 day whirlwind adventure from WonderCon and we have a lot to talk about. First of all, this was our first con since 2007 when Anime Expo changed venues from the Anaheim Convention Center to the Long Beach Convention Center, so we were pretty excited to get back into the con scene. Hopefully, we'll get to experience WonderCon once again next year (or some time in the future) when it returns to its rightful home in San Francisco. 

But let's get to the juicy stuff. I'm going to give you a play-by-play of what we did all three days, with the bulk of the events happening on Day 2. Each day will have its own separate post. If you are so inclined, you can also check out my Flickr photostream starting with Day 1 right here. 

One of my biggest fears...

...is that no matter how many times I edit, revise, re-edit and re-revise, I'll always pass up the most obvious typo ever, like this lovely Resident Evil: Revelations bit:

image courtesy of Yahoo's Plugged In blog. See above link for
the full article

Oh my gosh that's totally something I've done before too! It's embarrassing...and how I've hung my head in shame :(

Child of Eden - Duke Nukem PR Scandal - Shoes!

CHILD OF EDEN

Guess what game was released yesterday?! If you guessed Ubisoft's Child of Eden, you won a prize: you get to read my review on the game - wee!!

Oh man, lemme tell you, Child of Eden is one pretty-ful game. You've probably heard me call it Rez 2 (or not), and if you've yet to play Rez at all, don't worry - you can still download it from XBLA. Here are my thoughts for COE so far:

Review: A World of Keflings

Image courtesy of recgamers.com

A World of Keflings
Developed by NinjaBee
Released December 22, 2010 for XBLA
Cost: 800 MS Points ~$10
Downloaded December 22nd
Completed December 25th (Merry Christmas to me!!)

In a nutshell

PROS:
- Multi-player
- Story-driven
- More floorplans
- Three kingdoms to explore
- High replay value

CONS:
- Not enough kingdoms
- Length vs. cost (still on the fence about this)

Best indie game 2010: LIMBO



Best Indie Game 2010! Image courtesy of Playdead Studios and
Microsoft Game Studios


Is it any surprise that LIMBO keeps getting the recognition it deserves on all sorts of "Best of..." lists? Here are a few accolades this awesome x 3 $10 game has received in the past year or so:

• Best Indie Game 2010 - Spike Video Game Awards 
• 6th Best Video Game of 2010 - TIME magazine 
• 3rd Best Xbox Live Arcade Title - September 2010, IGN 
• 10th Best Indie Game 2010 - Gamasutra.com 
• Winner of the "Technical Excellence" and "Excellence in Visual Art" at the Independent Games Festival at the 2010 Game Developers Conference 
• Winner of GameSpot's Best Downloadable Game - 2010, E3 Conference

Some of you may complain about the lack of a narrative and its relatively short length compared to the price (you can finish this game in a day, I think), but I find this game to be absolutely charming and quietly gory. Playdead Studios presented a visually simple masterpiece that has become a sleeper hit in the gaming community. It's an unexpected winner for 2010 and I can't help but keep singing the praises of this game.

Playdead Studios - congratulations! I'm looking forward to your next game!

Current Obsession: Me as Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

Damn the holidays! Damn it all! Shopping for Christmas presents and cosmetics (for me) has kept me from doing what I love most - writing (and gaming). So here I am once again, on my hands and knees asking every one of you in Denmark, Canadia, Japan, and Alaska if you could ever forgive me for this unintentional hiatus.

Also, do you like me? Circle yes or no.

Ahem. I digress. Before the holidays took ahold of my life, tsudoku and I started playing the awesome side-scroller Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (now available on XBLA for a cheap, cheap price). Let me tell you, it ain't easy, but it sure as hell is FUN! My thumb calluses have returned and I wear these badges of honor with pride, which tells you that I've been playing non-stop AND that I was born during the age of button mashing.



That should be me second from the left. Image courtesy of SpawnKill.com



Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage - the XBL demo



Scene from Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage; image courtesy of
Amazon

 If it weren't for @JoystiqXbox for blasting the PSA about the forthcoming Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage demo on Xbox Live, I wouldn't have even known that this button-mashing game was going to be released just right before the holidays.

After waiting for the game to download for about 45 minutes (1.31 GB file AND I completely forgot that nothing will DL if you're watching Netflix - my bad) and about 45 minutes worth of gameplay on Legend mode (story mode based on the manga), I've reached the following conclusion:

I royally suck at this game.

LIMBO: My progress thus far

Watch out for that pit



I probably should've updated this about two weeks ago, but my progress in LIMBO is going pretty well. In fact, I've 98% of the game.

That's right, 98%.

What the heck does that mean, you ask? It means that according to the 'Cheevy Squad I haven't unlocked the final achievement to warrant a congratulatory clap handshake and a card that says, "Yay! You beat the game and as promised, here's some cake." Instead, I've been listening to the sound of crickets and once again, the cake was a complete and total LIE (there is no cake). Frickin' frakkin' frakker.

At this very moment...

...tsudoku is at home playing Medal of Honor with the rest of the Tactical Gaming team, Miller Squad.

We stood in (a very short) line last night for the midnight release of the game at our local GameStop and he's been playing it since we got home. I believe he came to bed around 2:30 a.m., woke up at 6:30 to feed the cats, and as I was walking out the door, he was sending a party invite to one of his friends, khazadhea.

By the way, he's only been playing non-stop because I threatened to walk out with the game and take it with me to work.



tsudoku at the end of the line & some guy, approximately 12:15 a.m.



Current XBLA Obsession: LIMBO by Playdead Studios

When I said I'd be right back, I didn't mean right away. =)

So here I am and let me start things off by telling you about my current obsession while I wait for the new A World for Keflings, Fable 3 and oh, yes, the KINECT (yes, I went to GameStop and reserved my VERY FIRST GAMING SYSTEM...actually, it's more of an add-on considering our current Xbox is still in working condition). This new obsession has a simple name and a simple premise; it's called LIMBO. The objective: to find out what happened to your sister (and to make it out alive).

...more after the jump

SFIV

Let me tell you, this game is gorgeous!! Hand-drawn characters, fluid animation, same tricks (minus the joystick/d-pad which I need tsudoku to get for me--$80!?! WTF!?), cheesier arcade soundtrack...YES! Street Fighter IV ROCKS! Unless you're playing against tsudoku (Mortal Kombat much, punk?) It's 1992 all over again.

Oh and you know, I just want to say that the only difference between me and that clerk at GameStop is that he's a virgin. (Now that I've bought my game from you and told you that I CAN PLAY Halo Wars -- albeit it was just the demo -- would you like me to tell you what sex is like?)

Speaking of Halo Wars, like I've said, I only got to mess around with the demo and it's actually kinda cool. I've never played a game like that, and my coworker tells me that type of game is called 'real time strategy.' I've got so much to learn! Apparently, if you keep playing games like that (Counter Stike, WoW), you end up ampng your multi-tasking skills. I'm going to keep at it and see if this is the route I'd like to end up going. I mean, it'd be nice to be able to eat a bagel, do my work and command an army of marines to attack the alien enemy all at the same time.

Halo Fever Strikes Again!

Sooooo with the major success of the last Halo installment, why not go a step further and involve some super duper talented artists and writers from Marvel Comics in on the action? While I can't access the photos of the absolutely amazing illustrations of Master Chief, I can point you to the right direction......HERE!!!! Oh, and gamerboyz, lo and behold, there may be a cameo by Spartan 117 before he became Master Chief!

I'm starting to geek out. PEACE!

Wood-n't you know it?

Horrible pun indeed. Someone actually sent in a wooden version of the PS2 and it made it all the way to Sony before anyone realized, Hey, this here's wood! LOL

Check out the article here on Joystiq. Photos included on the site--not bad for a wood shop project.

He Who Complains, Gets Cut (Darwin)

A-haha! You may have heard from awhile back that the voice actor who did GTA IV's Niko had bitched and complained that he wasn't being properly compensated for his role even though the game was making millions of dollars. (He was being paid $100,000 for the gig). Well, looks like he's being cut from the next installment...check it out here.

Red Ring of Death 2

Are you kidding me?!

Sunday night after watching a couple episodes of Trash TV I decided yes, now's a good time to play some Sea Life Safari. So 'doku goes and turns on the Xbox and what happens? A system error screen in English and Japanese pops up, roughly stating, Oh, haha. Fail.

We haven't even had it for a year! This is the second 360 it's happened to!!

OMG someone help me save it now before I go out and buy a Wii, DS, or PS3. Those sea horses aren't going to take pictures of themselves.

Max Payne

Starring Marky Mark and Meg from Family Guy. Out in theatres Oct. 17, 2008.

Chuck of Duty?

It's been years it seems since I've watched a weekly series on basic cable (remember Friends?) Indeed, I used to watch a show like Grey's Anatomy, it was called ER. Is that still around? While eating my pizza for one frozen dinner, I happened upon a show called Chuck. Don't know much about it, other than the basic premise of an awkward geek who becomes an awkward CIA agent. It's cute. There's a hot chick in it and everything.

Anyhow, what struck my fancy was the fact that in tonight's episode Chuck's coworker-slash-friend (the one pictured in the green shirt, is his name Morgan? And by the way, Chuck is a not quite higher up at a store called Buy More) unrolled what was basically a game map to (drumroll) Call of Duty. In fact, Call of Duty played a recurring role in the first half-hour of the episode (if it came up again after that I wouldn't know...I had dishes to wash at that point). Morgan had a strategy and everything, including x amount of foot soldiers, x amount of helicopters, etc.

If it sounds like a product placement, looks like a marketing ploy, or smells like a deal between NBC and Activision, it probably is.

I've got video game skills....

I just stumbled onto a small link for Napoleon Dynamite: the Game (PSP, DS). Seriously?

Tater tots not included. Image courtesy of
psp.ign.com

No. I'm sure it sucks, just like the movie. If you're so inclined, go to IGN.com for a fair review.

Gears of War 2

For you Gear-heads out there, Gears of War 2 made an appearance at a Microsoft press event held in San Francisco over the weekend. While the game's 2006 success and eminent sequel have been highly anticipated, some are thinking that perhaps the game is a wee bit...oh, violent. Some have even gone as far as question whether Microsoft has gone too far??

To give you a quick synopsis, the game takes place approximately six months after the end of the first Gears, and "humanity faces a new and more deadly threat from its Locust enemies." There's a deeper plot and more realistic visuals in the sequel, but what really raised some eyebrows was the gory reverse groin-split scene. What? Apparently, "Gears 2 adds a reverse attack that actually slices an enemy in half -- from the groin upwards." Yikes.

Without a doubt, regular gamers on Xbox 360 Live will appreciate the new effects and enhanced graphics, and Microsoft can already foresee the success of the game. Gears of War 2 is slated to be released in November and will probably be flying off the shelves by the time the holidays hit. Go here to read more about the game and press event.