Tuesday Recap - Sorcery Games

I figured I'd use today to give a quick mention to XBLIG developer Sorcery Games, also known as VoodooChief on Blogger and Twitter. In addition to being a talented developer with a pretty good focus on integrity (you won't ever see crappy avatar shovelware or applications with Sorcery Games on 'em), he's also a cool guy. On the downside, he thinks my blog is interesting enough to comment on, which means something has to be wrong with him. ;P

This last week's schedule seemed a bit more normal on other sites. Over on ForceDisconnect, I started things off with an interview with Hurdle Turtle's Holmade Games and ended my work week there with my usual indie week in review. Pixel platformer Platformance - Castle Pain and Pilotwings-esque AvaGlide were definite winners and games I'm looking forward to reviewing soon.

XBLARatings saw a couple reviews from me as well. I made the sleep-depriving mistake of playing Decay Part 2 right before bed last Tuesday and posted a very positive review the following night. After that, I wrote about maze game D.O.T.S. and kind-of puzzle game Blox, neither of which get my recommendation.

Tuesday Recap - Evo

I ended up glued to my monitor during the vast majority of the 9th through the 11th watching Evolution 2010 taking place in Vegas. Even though I don't want to play competitively anymore, there's still nothing I'd rather watch than live fighting game tournaments. And nothing is more hype.

Back on the indie scene, I've been as lazy at other sites as I have been here (sorry guys!). On ForceDisconnect, I just put up two weeks of my personal picks jam-packed with indie goodness. There's at least something for every gamer out there in that list of nine great games.

On XBLARatings.com, I ended up posting a couple reviews. One was for language study buddy German 101, which is a good helper for beginning German enthusiasts but not something that's going to teach you the language by itself. On a more traditional front, JRPG Aphelion ended up being a great game from Lunatic Studios. If you enjoy the genre, it comes highly recommended.

Later this week I'll have a couple indie interviews on ForceDisconnect as well as at least one review on XBLARatings.com for Decay Part 2. I'm quite anxious to play the second part to one of my favorite XBLIG titles this year, but...well...

...I'm seriously afraid to play it at night. I'm such a wuss.

Tuesday Recap - Formula De

This week's Tuesday Recap is brought to you by Formula De, one of the greatest board games ever made. It's one of the more simple board games i enjoy, but since it's about racing and allows up to 10 people to play at the same time it ends up being something everyone in the room can understand and play. Every gaming night I can pull this game out and get at least one race in is a victory in itself, regardless of if I end up first to finish or first to crash. Even though a lot of the game involves little more than luck and risk/reward management, there's still a decent amount of strategy involved and even more trash talk if you get the right crowd. Last race involved a friend having a bad roll of the dice when he had the race won otherwise that was followed by me throwing a dollar on the board in front of him without a word and him following suit. No speech is needed when you know what needs to be done.

In gaming news more related to things requiring electricity, I had a light week at ForceDisconnect. Not only did I not have an interview to post, but I also didn't see a single worthwhile XBLIG title last week. So, instead of just posting "these aren't the games you're looking for" I gave a nod to an older title, Along Came A Spider. It also occurred to me I haven't reviewed that game yet, so look for that this Friday.

On XBLARatings.com, I had a couple games to review. One was essentially a fast-paced geography quiz called Around The World, and the other, Avatar Fly, was...well, it wasn't good. The developer, Ninja Fever, must hate me by now as that's the second game from them I've given a 4/10. At least they have a reason. What's everyone else using for an excuse?

Tuesday Recap - STEAM!

Another week of too many distractions. This week's main supply of time-wasters has been brought to you by Steam. Check them out until July 4th as they're doing a HUGE sale. I ended up getting Plants vs Zombies, Super Laser Racer, and Puzzle Kingdoms for less than 10 bucks total. And if I didn't have Torchlight already, I would have snagged that for five bucks. Probably go back for a second round of bargain hunting before the sale is over, and I highly recommend you people do the same if you haven't already. Great stuff.

As far as getting things accompished (novel idea), over on ForceDisconnect.com I published a fangirl-ish interview with Duct Tape Anonymous Entertainment about their amazing game, Urban Space Squirrels. If you don't remember me saying that I like it, you need only look a couple weeks back to see that I'm madly in love with it and want to have DTAe's babies. In other news on FDC, I did my weekly indie recap with a nod to Ancient Trader, Vampire Rage, This Is Hard, and an honorable mention to Point Blank-inspired Sharpshooter. And, finally, I chimed in on the weekly podcast with my thoughts on E3.

On a less busy note, XBLARatings.com is home to my newest review, Puzzle?. No, that's not a typo. There really is a question mark in there. Though with the score and review I gave it, I'm not surprised. Kinda bad.

Tuesday Recap - Blur

Thanks to some stupidly good coupon juggling and a $5 Reward Zone certificate at Best Buy, I ended up with a shiny new copy of Blur for the 360 for a whopping $6.74 post tax. That might be a crime in some states, and it's certainly going to make getting everything else done this week a difficult task. Maybe I should hide the case until after my reviews and blog posts are done for the week.

In the days pre-Blur, I did manage to jot down a couple things. On ForceDisconnect.com, I had the honor of interviewing Tim of My Owl Software about the amazing XBLIG platformer that is Apple Jack, and then finished my week with my usual indie game recap that gave a nod to Old School Racer and a few others. Look for a review of Old School Racer soon as that'll be my Four Quarter Friday title.

Last week was also another slow week for me with XBLARatings, with only a review of SFG Beach Volleyball to show the class today. Hopefully I'll review more than one this week...though I'd be happier with a good night's sleep tonight. I do heart myself some sleep. Now if only someone would please tell Blur that.

Tuesday Recap - Zero Wing

Yes, Zero Wing, also known as "that All Your Base Are Belong To Us game". Has anyone actually played the game itself? It's freaking hard. At least, it was eight years ago when I tried it. I had no chance to survive and I definitely didn't make my time.

Tuesday Recap - Tears in the Rain

I've reviewed things you people wouldn't believe. A WW1 flying game with Snoopy and the Red Baron. I've tried this week's indie games and had an interview with a developer. All these moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain. Time to sleep.

Tuesday Recap - Game Over

Practically every game over screen I saw over the course of last week, outside of about an hour of Super SF4 and roughly that much of N+ with Lomyn from ForceDisconnect, was while playing a game that I needed to write about. Strangely, that makes me think of Game Over screens as signs of longer work days. This could be hazardous to my sanity.

Tuesday Recap - Playin' With The Boys

I'm trying to remember how much time this weekend was actually spent relaxing and I'm not coming up with numbers I like. Oddly enough, however, it did have a lot of playing games, with a good portion of that spent with Super Street Fighter IV and some friends. When I wasn't cussing at them, I did manage to type words. Promise.

On ForceDisconnect.com, I put up an interview with Binary Zoo about XBLIG twin stick shooter Echoes+ before throwing a quick post about the greatest tribute to Pac-Man ever. Then, as the week came to a close, I decided on four XBLIG titles from the last seven days that were worth your time.

Moving over to XBLARatings.com, I was told that there was a backlog of games and promptly bit off more than I could chew, reviewing four games over the course of last week. I started off with a review of Ranger done to the tune of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", and then after finishing up Protect Me Knight here I took the three hit combo of Murphid, Bit Crunch, and Quarantine.

And now I really want to watch Top Gun.

Tuesday Recap - Recap Harder.

There must be something in my head that links random words at any given moment with Die Hard. Or hearing the number "two" and wanting to say "Electric Boogaloo". I think it's a medical condition. Or just a sign that I'm a big effing nerd. Yeah, we'll go with that one.

Speaking of me being a lifeless awkward dork, here's what I've done over the last week.

On XBLARatings.com, I got to review Things on Wheels, a game by the team behind Mad Tracks. I still like Mad Tracks better, but I enjoyed it. Thanks to Andy from that site for letting me review it. The XBLIG games I got to review were action/platformer Nomis and fan-freakin'-tastic twin-stick shooter radiangames JoyJoy from, uh, radiangames. I almost regret playing Super SF4 earlier, since I could've been playing JoyJoy. It's just THAT good.

On ForceDisconnect, I had the honor of interviewing Bad Egg Studios about THEIR fan-freakin'-tastic twin-stick shooter, Pew Pew Pod. If you don't recall all the nice things I said about it a few weeks back, here you go. I also had a short summary of my favorite six XBLIG titles from last week. I had to go with six instead of three thanks to the fact that over THIRTY games came out. Expect me to review nearly all of those in that article, as each of them are that good. Speaking of which, I'm definitely reviewing Protect Me Knight this week for this blog. I would've said it yesterday but, well...I'll explain that on Thursday.

Until then.

Tuesday Recap - The Evil That Men Do

I just want to remind all of you that Iron Maiden is better than whatever band you like, even if that band lists Iron Maiden as a direct influence and thanks them in the album notes. I don't even know why "The Evil That Men Do" came into my head as I went to type this week's recap of all my nerdy notes and dorky doings from the last seven days, but dammit it's a good song. Also, has there been a better band mascot than Eddie? That's another thing Iron Maiden does better than every band you like. As a matter of fact, the next song that I listen to will immediately cause me to think, "You know, this song's good, but it's not Iron Maiden. They should work on that." Unless it's a song by Iron Maiden. Then I'll just say, "You know what I like about this song? It's not not Iron Maiden."

...yeah, on with the recap before I lose any other fans...who I love, but YOU JUST AREN'T IRON MAIDEN.

On XBLARatings.com, I accidentally punched kittens with Super Avatar Hero Force before ending my week with two Old Spice themed games, Gentlemacho and AvatarFever: Capture the Spice, both of which make me want to boycott the deodorant company. Don't worry, I'll still wear deodorant if I go through with it.

On my internet home away from home ForceDisconnect.com, I got to spend some time with the boys on last week's FD Podcast (warning, we cuss like sailors). Later on in the week, I looked inside the minds behind XBox Live Indie Game Decay in last week's Indie Interview. And, on Mother's Day, I listed my favorite three XBLIG titles on Indies of the Week. I touched on puzzle game Fumbo, storytelling device Moon Taxi, and old school shmup Retrofit: Overload, all while reminding you why I love your mother. Er, why we all love mothers. Especially yours.

Finally, somewhat related to ForceDisconnect, Lomyn (owner/admin of FD) posted some videos of he and I scrubbing it out in Super Street Fighter IV on the ForceDisconnect YouTube channel. Watch me win with a bad Vega and lose with a worse Cammy.

That's all for this week's recap. See you tomorrow!

Tuesday Recap - 05/04/2010

Start of a new weekly segment of "Let's see what Michael's been up to over the last week"...and I was almost late getting this up before midnight. You can blame Super Street Fighter IV and the 30 matches of it I played with Lomyn over at ForceDisconnect.com.

Speaking of which, on ForceDisconnect.com I've put up two articles. One is an interview with MStarGames, maker of XBLIG Blazin' Balls. Easily one of the more entertaining sets of answers so far from my weekly interviews, and the guy's cool as hell. The other, also weekly, is my synopsis of the best three XBLIG titles from that week, the best being don't-play-me-in-the-dark Decay (Part 1).

On other parts of the internet, I write XBLIG reviews for XBLARatings.com, finishing up a group of reviews for Laserbreaker, Simply HangMan, and the previously mentioned and pants-filling Decay (Part 1). Speaking of which, that's where I'm off to right now to finish a review, but that'll have to wait for next Tuesday's recap. Until then.