What's up everyone?!  I'm back from my camping trip this weekend.  It was rainy as hell so it was perfect to for just sitting back with a beer (or maybe 10 and some gin and tonics, I lost count) and playing some video games.  I brought all my big consoles, but ended up not even touching them.  My PSP, 3DS, and Samsung Captivate were my systems of choice this weekend.  The best part of portable systems like these are that you can game anywhere.  So, I spent most of my time outside, under the awning of our RV with one system or another (that way I can still be social with everyone we were camping with),  and I have some pretty good games for the 'What I'm Playing' section for you, so let's get this thing going!

New Releases

There are some interesting looking new releases this week, beginning with Call of Juarez: The Cartel.  I really hope this game is improved from the first one.  I'm not denying the last Call of Juarez was fun, it just had too many problems for me to give it a full playthrough (the worst issue was TERRIBLE screen tearing.  It was so bad I had to stop playing halfway through).  Unlike the previous game, this one seems to take place in more modern times.  While I loved the old west setting of the first one, this new one has a great setting as well in modern day Mexico.  The few screen shots I've seen so far have not been very encouraging as the graphics look like it was being played on a PS2.  I have a feeling that this game is going to be a rental and not a must buy.

July 19th saw the release of Call of Juarez: The Cartel on PS3 and 360, Captain America: Super Soldier on PS3 and 360, Fast Draw Showdown on PS3, and a new DLC for Fallout New Vegas titled Old World Blues for PC, PS3 and 360.  Captain America is a movie tie-in, so I'm not really expecting much to come out of that one.  I also haven't heard much about Fast Draw Showdown other than it's a PSN download and is also on the WII, so your guess on the quality is about as good as mine.  But finally we get to Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues.  Yes, I downloaded this the instant it came out this morning, and I am very pleased with it.  There has yet to be anything from the Fallout series that I disliked (other than Mothership Zeta on Fallout 3, that was a little weird for me).  Old world Blues is the 3rd DLC for New Vegas.  The story reveals a lot about the Big Empty before the war and how the area came to be filled with all these mutated monsters even though no big bombs blew up in the area.  I am very excited to get some play time in with this to give a more detailed opinion on it, so stay tuned next week!

On July 20th comes the releases of Bastion for Xbox 360, Dead Block for PS3, and Runespell: Overture for PC.  Of these three the most interesting to me is Bastion.  The game looks gorgeous, with a brightly colored world that is sure to please for any Action RPG fans.  It looks like a Diablo style game, with graphics from the "Tales" series.  Runespell: Overture on the other hand looks like a strange knockoff of Magic The Gathering.  It is a card style game, like magic, only it looks like it uses both playing cards and creature cards, so a little weird.  And I've never liked playing card games on my PC, so no thanks for me.

Lastly, on July 22nd Left 4 Dead 2 gets some new DLC titled Dead Air on PC and 360.  The Left 4 Dead series is great fun, as long as you have a friend to play it with.  If it wasn't for game nights with Reaper, I probably wouldn't have touched this game with a 10 foot stick as it's not really my thing.  I'd have to say though, after a few beers, blowing off the heads of zombies is pretty good fun, and I just might pick up this DLC eventually.

What I'm Playing

As I mentioned earlier, I played a lot of games on my portable systems this weekend, so let's start with the simplest.  The Android platform is getting a lot of decent old school RPG's lately.  While on my trip I downloaded Symphony of Eternity, an old school, original Final Fantasy style game.  The graphics are great, sort of like an HD version of all the old 16 bit games from my childhood.  The story is nothing new, there's been a coup in the kingdom and the princess is a survivor.  She comes across the heroes and you end up helping her on your journey.  This is all revealed in the first 15 minutes so not many spoilers here.  The gameplay itself is typical turn based RPG style, with basic attacks, and spells.  There are plenty of items to equip so if you games where you can hunt for the best equipment, you'll be right at home here.  The touch screen interface works very well.  Right now the Android Marketplace has it for $2.99 USD right now while the Amazon Appstore has it for $6.99, so you know where to go get it!

I also picked up Phantasy Star Portable 2 for PSP, and boy am I impressed.  I never played a Phantasy Star game before, which is strange since I LOVE RPG's and this series has been around since the Sega days.  Phantasy Star Portable is based off Phantasy Star Universe for the Dreamcast, and I think they did a brilliant job making this game work on the PSP.  The main difference between this game and the original Phantasy Star Portable on PSP is this one offers online mode, which basically makes this game one of the only MMORPG's on the PSP.  You don't have to play it online though (I currently am not) but it's still a nice option to have, especially since there is a TON of loot to be found and traded.  The story and voice acting aren't bad, the graphics are decent for PSP, and the world to explore is huge.  This game get's 4/5 in my book and is a definite must buy for anyone with a PSP who is craving a good old action RPG.

Last, but certainly not least, I ended up going to the Costco in Warrenton, OR right next to the campground and picked up Pilotwings Resort for 3DS.  Pilotwings was a release title for 3DS that I neglected to pick up because I was mainly waiting for Zelda to come out.  Now that I've played it I'm kicking myself for not getting it earlier.  This game is actually FUN.  The basic premise is you fly around an island in various vehicles from planes to a jet pack, and complete challenges to advance to the next level.  while the island is really small compared to a lot of open world games out there, the challenges keep everything fresh and fun for many hours.  Since the game is short, if you play it a lot, it's certainly possible to finish it in a day, so you might want to wait until there is a decent price drop on it.  But if you're looking for a couple afternoons of good fun flying around, go pick this one up.

That's it for this week!  I'll see everyone back here next Thursday, July 28th for my next update.  Or maybe I'll pop in Saturday for a brief update if I get some good gaming in this week.  Have a great week, now get out there and play some games!!


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