Achieving: A premature explosion in Rochard

Rochard was part of Sony’s 12 for 12 promotion so I’ve been playing through the full game this past week. There’s a trophy (yes, I can still Achieve on PlayStation 3) for “killing a human enemy with another enemy’s body“. This Trophy would be almost impossible to miss by the end of the game but I happened to unlock it a wee bit early; it turns out that Rochard’s body qualifies as an “enemy”.

Having mowed down a group of dudes I was finishing off a distant security robot. It fell to the ground next to the dead bodies and charged up to explode. My ill-timed jump put me in proximity of the robot’s blast damage which took my health down just low enough for the body it tossed my way to finish the job. Dead… DING! I’m not sure if it was a glitch but I know this one was way more memorable than it should’ve been.

Achieving: Tales of Pointless Self Reward in Games retold in brief posts whenever we feel like it.

2011. The Year in ShawnS

What a weird year in gaming 2011 was for me. Games continued to get chopped up into smaller, more annoying DLC chunks. Kinect, which I was pretty excited about in 2010, had only one or two titles worth even a glance. The “AAA” titles were mostly sequels to games I haven’t cared about this whole generation. The quirky Japanese stuff continued to dry up. I voluntarily skipped Uncharted 3! Between catching up with Fallout New Vegas and journeying to Skyrim I spent more time in 2011 with Bethesda games than anything else. I could go on and on about how I am at odds with the modern gaming populace but I think my ‘of the year’ winners below probably illustrate it much better.

Favorites of 2011 – Retail
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Portal 2
Saints Row: The Third
Dead Island
Test Drive Unlimited 2

Favorites of 2011 – Download
The Adventures of Shuggy
Terraria
Orcs Must Die
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Age of Empires Online

Most Hours Spent
Fallout New Vegas (110)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (72)
Dead Island (53)
Test Drive Unlimited 2 (47)
Saints Row: The Third (37)

DLC I Willingly Paid For
Age of Empires
Bastion (Soundtrack)
Dismount13
Beat Hazard Ultra
Mass Effect 2 – Arrival

Best Undead Encounters
Dead Island
Dead Nation

I’ve kept track of the games I’ve played for several years but it wasn’t until 2011 that I broke them down into a multi-functional spreadsheet. Seriously, thanks to the magic of Google Docs you can check it out yourself. It’s not in exacting chronological order but the oldest stuff is at the bottom. I also have charts! Delicious and colorful pie charts that illustrate that I got way more games on the cheap than I paid full price for and that most of those were still brand new 2011 releases. Go me!

For a more traditional Top Ten list check out my Giant Bomb page where I’ve made similar annual lists for the past two years. And if you want to get even more granular than that spreadsheet, my Raptr page breaks it down by hours played and Achievements unlocked and more. If you’re going to those lengths you might as well take a look at my 401(k) and offer your investment suggestions, and while you’re at it could you take a look at this thing growing on my leg?

Just past the break is your bonus Close-Personal-Friends-of-Me Awards as shamelessly solicited on formspring! Never mind that thing on my leg, this should give you that blinding insight into the Me of Me.
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Over a decade later and these things STILL cost too much!

Over a decade later and these things STILL cost too much!, a photo by dionisio on Flickr.

Target is finally closing out some PlayStation 2 products and these once-$30 Memory Cards still seem too expensive at only ten bucks. I don’t miss memory cards as an overpriced accessory but having come to store all my Xbox 360 saves on a USB drive I do love the convenience of having all my saves and profiles at hand.

OnLive challenges gamers to 100% LEGO Harry Potter at midnight

Get your stud-sniffing LEGO hats ready, OnLive is doing it again! Last June the streaming game service offered big prizes to the first gamers dedicated enough to fully complete LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, a feat that was accomplished in just over 24 hours.

Just like last year, if you can 100% complete Harry’s brickified senior adventure before anyone else you’ll nab an iPad 2 and a Blu-Ray collection of Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection. The next five block hunters to finish will also win a copy of the Blu-Ray set. You might want to finish your iTunes sync and wrap up those torrent downloads because the game hits OnLive first thing Friday morning — as in 12:01am PST — and you’re gonna need all the bandwidth you can get!

It’s another example of one of OnLive’s greatest features: instant access to new games. I just wish they could pull it off for more enticing titles. Those LEGO games, man. That’s some masochistic torture for us OCD types.

Eddy Gordo: The Game coming to German PCs this month

Nowadays you’d expect something called Martial Arts – Capoeira to be a low impact lifestyle/exercise game for Kinect, but it wasn’t long ago that many of us would’ve expected it to be a spin-off of Tekken. Eddy Gordo, the limb-flailing fighter in Tekken 3, was an introduction to the real-life art form of capoeira for many of us. Soon you’ll be able to sort of experience a more realistic depiction of it on PC, if you live in Germany.

Eddy may have been synonymous with capoeira to gamers in the late 90′s but in modern day Germany the name that springs to mind is most likely Kerstin Linnartz. Though she’s not in the game the TV personality and Yoga instructor has endorsed it, presumably as a way to remind people that capoeira is still a real thing and it’s another viable option for exercise. Only, don’t rely on this game to help you exercise because you still play this game with a controller.

The “exotic” PC game, which was originally planned to hit all major consoles last year, is out November 25th in Germany for €19.99. You may not need to import it to get an idea of what the game is like as the official website promises “attractive competitions, community events and lots of ingame footage, which will bring them into the right mood, and shorten the waiting time.” That sounds good enough for me, I just wanna see those amazing moves again!

Free scary games from OnLive this weekend!

You can spend three free days with Orcs Must Die!, Amnesia, Metro 2033 or FEAR 3 right now! The only problem is that it’s through OnLive and if your internet connection is anything like mine you may be able to get 20 minutes of smooth gameplay at a time. Still, free games is free games and if you haven’t been back to OnLive in a while this is one great incentive to stop in. It’s as easy as the directions above and the deal runs through Monday the 31st so you can start your three-day rental at an appropriately spooky hour.

Uh, sagely advise on dating from Shepherd’s Crossing 2?

Uh, sagely advise on dating from Shepherd’s Crossing 2?, a photo by dionisio on Flickr.

Uh, sagely advise on dating from Shepherd’s Crossing 2?

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure features neat toys and tech

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is out and in the process of finally looking into what it’s all about I made a startling revelation. Well, more like a startling wishful daydream but I assure you there’s more to Skylanders than “just another Pokemon”. I poured out some thoughts on it over at PEGreviews.com. Beyond my attempt at big thinking these toys are generally pretty neat. This Darklight Crypt gives me a heavy metal album cover kind of vibe and the likes of Stealth Elf, Sonic Boom, and Hex look good enough to have sitting around even disconnected from the game.

Just Dance in Japan features Jpop, rekindles my desire to waggle dance

So unfair! I had no idea that Ubisoft had taken their mega-surprise mega-hit series Just Dance overseas. This is AKB48′s ‘Heavy Rotation’ which is joined by a healthy mix of Western and Eastern pop tracks in the just-released Just Dance Wii. Other heartbreakingly exclusive Jpop tracks I’d love to waggle dance to include Kishidan’s ‘One Night Carnival’, BoA’s ‘Valenti’, and Toho Shinki’s ‘Why’. If only Ubisoft would take the show a little farther Southeast and turn out a Korean pop version. We would import it so damn fast! Or, ya know, if Harmonix wants to beat them to the punch, Katy has the open plea letter ready to go.

Its still there! The non-lightsaber in ICO Collection

Its still there! The non-lightsaber in ICO Collection, a photo by dionisio on Flickr.

Its still there! The non-lightsaber in ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection. Non-lightsaber meaning that in the non-US versions of the game it is a lightsaber that comes tumbling through the secret window. It’s green and kills enemies super fast and it gets longer if you’re holding Yorda’s hand. But us? We get a mace… hrmm.