This week, we try to cover a topic, and fail.  We have some good conversations about games, though.

First off, Alex and Jonathan talk about the wildly different whether in their wildly different states.

Alex discusses Shadows of the Damned, a grindhouse-type game with an angry Mexican and a lot of penis jokes.  Despite Jonathan’s reservations, Alex also has nothing but good things to say about Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon.  We’re also looking to start up a regular, monthly AssBrodeo.  Check the forums for more info.

Jonathan pimps the Steam Summer Sale, which has ended already, and reminds everyone just how much fun Team Fortress 2 is.  He also talks about HOARD, a game about dragons, and Terraria, a game with Minecraft‘s addictiveness AND a purpose.  Bonus!

Sam wishes F.E.A.R. 3 was scarier, wishes Far Cry 2 was less realistic, and wishes Crysis 2 was eligible for marriage.  Jonathan and Alex are suitably disturbed.

Alex brings a themed version of Name That Game! to bear this week: Lousy Games!  He scraped the bottom of Metacritic’s barrel, and brought a number of truly terrible games to the table.

Next week, we really do get to our topic.  See you then!

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This week, we talk about the past six months, covering the games we’ve loved, the games we’ve hated, and the games we don’t really care about either way.

Up first, Jonathan talks about how smart that Cracked.com writer was to call for a free-to-play model in the competitive gaming market, as Team Fortress 2, Tribes, and WoW all go the way of the microtransaction.  He also does a terrible job of describing Solar 2, although in fairness, it’s not an easy game to describe.  Jonathan’s also surprised to find that Yakuza 4 is more RPG than Beat-Em-Up, though perhaps he shouldn’t be.

Alex talks about Trenched, the latest release from Double Fine.  Given that Trenched is a variation on the tower defense genre, and Alex has little love for the tower defense genre, his verdict may surprise you (or not).  He’s also picked up the Captain America table for Pinball FX2, which he’s been very pleased with.  Finally, Alex went sales bin diving and came up with a copy of Daisenryaku VII Exceed, a modern military tactical strategy game for the PS2.

Sam played some games, but left no notes to remind me what they were when writing the show notes, so those’ll have to be a surprise.

Interesting tidbits from the topic:

• Sam gets it wrong about Portal 2 and L.A. Noire.
• Jonathan puts a bunch of weird indie games on his “Great” list.
• Sam praises a couple of sequels.
• Alex thinks Child of Eden is pretty, but not much more.
• Everybody’s less than impressed with Duke Nukem Forever.

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Two Days: F.E.A.R. 3

Two big 3’s this week: F.E.A.R. 3 and Dungeon Siege 3.  On the PC side, Eve Online gets an expansion (Incarna), and Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising drops.  On consoles, Shadows of the Damned is coming out, which is apparently a collaboration between Suda51 (No More Heroes, Killer 7) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4).

It’s a slow week for me, as I’ve never played anything in the F.E.A.R. or Dungeon Siege series. As for Shadows of the Damned, well, let’s just say the marketing is… confused. One trailer makes it look like a serious action shooter with horror elements, while another plays up the horror angle and melee, and a third makes dirty Johnson jokes.  All three failed to pique my interest.

What are you looking forward to this week?

And we’re back!  We had a plan, and then chucked it in favor of talking about a bunch of games.  We also introduce a new game this week, though it has no name as of yet.

Sam talks about how L.A. Noire has grown on him, once he realized it’s a puzzle game, not an action game.  He wants to get the crap scared out of him, but unfortunately F.E.A.R. 3 hasn’t released yet.  He also wishes he’s just looking over the “Motorcycle” menu in Forza 3, but we’re pretty sure he’s not.

Alex talks up Frozen Synapse, a game that takes the planning stages from the early Rainbow Sixes and turns it into a simultaneous turn-based tactical action game.  Alex also talks about L.A. Noire, and the World of the Living Dead beta.

Jonathan’s not had much opportunity to play more L.A. Noire, though he’s still very pleased with it.  In addition, he’s been playing the toddler-soothing music game, Chime, and enjoying it quite a bit.  Less enjoyable was Mindjack, a game with an awesome concept that falls flatter than a planker.

Other games that get mentioned include F.E.A.R. 1&2, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, FortressCraft, and Terraria.

We wrap up the show with a new game, one involving terrible translations and full coffee.  If you’ve got an idea for a name for it, let us know!

Next week, an eye doctor and E3 predictions!

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