When someone described Boom Street to me as "Monopoly with Nintendo characters", I wasn’t exactly excited to try it. Actually, saying that something’s similar to Monopoly is among the quickest ways to completely unsell me on a game’s concept. In my eyes, the world renowned boardgame of real estate magnates is less of a game and more of a teaching tool that can be used to have kids learn some basic, far-reaching principles which get used in other games. As it turns out, the comparison is valid, but extremely reductive. It’s rather like saying Chess is ‘like’ Checkers: They use the same 8×8 board, players take turns, and when certain pieces reach the end of the board, they become more powerful. In this scenario, Boom Street is Chess to Monopoly’s Checkers, and I really quite like it.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Rabbids: Alive & Kicking Review (Xbox 360)
As gaming characters go, the Rayman spinoff miscreants known as The Rabbids have always struck me as endearingly goofy. Having said that, I’d never completely sat down to play one of their titles in my own home, and I was keen to jump into some augmented reality minigames with the the madcap silliness that is trademark for the Rabbids. Continue reading
ButtonMasher Podcast #166
Possibly the last ButtonMasher Podcast because the germs that Gar has brought to the podcouch this week are surely going to kill us all. But at least we got a chance to talk Vita, and Mass Effect 3. Gar has found that the best way to not divulge things that we’ve been forbidden to talk about is to actually forget them, so look forward to not hearing about that!
List of PSP Titles For Vita Released
“Compatible” is a word that seems to be being used in the various news articles covering this, though that might be a bit inappropriate, given that if you have it on UMD, it’ll be totally incompatible, but you’ll be able to get them online presumably. For a price of course. Maybe you’ve already bought it before, but unless that transaction took place on the PSP Go, it’ll probably involve another, in order to dissuade piracy. Upon a cursory glance over the list, I’ve confirmed for myself that most of the games that matter to me are there: The God Of War games and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. Missing, however, and this wounds me greatly to learn, are the two Metal Gear Acid games. Guess I’ll hold on to my old PSP for a while longer. Full list after the break. Continue reading
Mass Effect 3 Hands-on Preview (Xbox 360 (with Kinect))
We’re getting close now. Mass Effect 3 drops on March 9th and we are getting our anticipation on.
Wugga and I just got our mitts on the 360 version, this time with Kinect. For the most part, ME3 is more of the same, only better. The action, the dialogue… it’s the Mass Effect we know and love.
Double Fine To Embark On An Ambitious Adventure
Did you hear? Tim Schafer & Ron Gilbert are making a point & click adventure game! No joke.
Plus 2 Player Productions are making a documentary of the entire process. They worked on the first season of The Penny Arcade show, on the upcoming Minecraft documentary, as well as some behind the scenes of Naughty Dog & Sucker Punch. If anyone knows how to make a doco about videogames it’s them.
You can support this project on Kickstarter, where for $15 USD you get a pre-order for the game on Steam as well as access to the doco as it develops. Or you can choose one of the more elaborate rewards such as a portrait of yourself from one of the game’s artists.
Unfortunately the lunch with Ron & Tim is sold out, bummer. Anyway, donate now and make this dream a reality.
ButtonMasher Podcast #165
Paul and I take serious business in this episode; the most serious business there is, virtual business. Stock markets. Dividends. Profit margins. Quarterly reports. Performance reviews. TPS reports. ROI. Cross media synergy. Revolutionising paradigms. Gar gets some pretty savage ADHD twitches and railroads that within about two minutes though. Oh, at the end of the podcast when I cut him off, Paul was about to say “My Grandmother always said, you know what politician I hate the most? The one I thought of most recently.” Sick burn!
Win Kinect Sports: Season 2!
With the wide array of sporting minigames, Kinect Sports is, along with Dance Central 2, the best franchise(s) for gaming on the Kinect. Featuring skiing, darts, tennis, baseball, American football, and golf, Kinect Sports Season 2 is a great avenue to go down if you want to spend a little time flailing around in front of your TV. To win a copy, send in a picture of yourself or someone in your household doing some sort of sporting activity to wugga@buttonmasher.co.nz and provide explanations if necessary (kicking a bottle can totally be a sport if there’s another guy who wants to kick it in the other direction.)
Dance Central 2 Winners
As predicted, not as many people were keen to enter this competition, despite my firm belief that Dance Central 2 is without a doubt one of the best games available for the Xbox Kinect. Thankfully we did get enough entries to actually give them away, and the winners can be viewed and admired after the break.
Stepto Leaves Xbox Live
I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t mean that their “totally unfair” decision to ban you, after all the dumb stuff you did, will be reversed, though. Stephen Toulouse, head of security at Xbox Live announced his departure a few days ago after 18 years with the technology giant. Like other Microsoft departures, he has made his farewell e-mail available for all to read. His last day is on February the 15th, has ‘no plans’ for the future, and insists the split is amicable. With this in mind, I submit this video excerpt of Stepto reading the “Book Of Enforcement” for your viewing entertainment.
