Alex misses this episode due to a funeral in Florida.  Dr. Luke steps up to take his place.

After some reminiscing, we jump into game talk.

We start with a first-hand account of the SimCity debacle.  Luke tolerated a lot of the server issues, right until they rolled back his city.  Luke will be voting with his dollars in the future.

Luke also shares his experience with the culture shock that occurs when you jump into ranked matches in League of Legends, which killed his enthusiasm for that game, too.

It’s okay, though, because Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is successfully scratching his online strategy itch.

Sam finally broke out some WolfPack in Assassin’s Creed 3, and things get crazy.  Just as Alex says, the single-player may be lousy, but the multiplayer still sells the game.

Sam has also picked up Forza: Horizon, which features a version of Colorado that Jonathan can’t (or won’t) corroborate.

Jonathan’s been playing Faster Than Light, and the final boss is a bit of a shock.  That said, he’s still ridiculously addicted to it.

In the MetaGame, Gears of War: Judgement helped to bring the scores closer together.  The game scored a 70 on release day, five, seven, and nine points lower than Alex, Jonathan, and Sam’s guesses, respectively.

Luke joins the game this week, as we anticipate the multimedia Syfy experience, Defiance.  He guesses 57, Jonathan goes for 60, Sam takes 65, and Alex goes big with 75.

Next week we’ll find out how Army of Two: Devil’s Cartel plays out.  Feel free to join in in the comments below.

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We have an… interesting opening this week.  Once the shenanigans are over, Sam talks about his early disappointment with Fallout: New Vegas.  He’s also been playing Fable 3, and three hours in, he’s got some… issues, but he’s happy with it overall.

Jonathan’s trying to make use of his GameFly subscription, and is playing ModNation Racers.  When it’s not dragging you around by the nose, it’s not too bad.  When it is, Jonathan’s blood pressure skyrockets.  Also, the Aztecs continue to be broken in the iPhone version of Civ Rev.  Also, Jonathan’s in the Spooky Outhouse Starcraft 2 Tournament!  At least he was at the time of recording.  Spoilers!  At the time of release, he’s no longer in the tournament.  If you’re interested, you can watch the massacre here and here.

Alex finds something to like in Halo: Reach.  Despite that, though, he’s loving MLB 2k10.  Game of the year contender?  He’s also playing Fable 2 Episodes, but thinks he’s just playing Fable 2.  Finally, on the DS, he’s been playing Master of the Monster Lair.  A comparison to Minecraft is made, but Jonathan isn’t the one that made it.

No wait, that wasn’t his last game.  Alex also played (and reviewed) Arcania: Gothic 4.

Oh, and Pinball FX 2.

Now!  Headlines!

• Champions Online goes free to play next year
• Minecraft server slammed by DDoS initiated by whining players.
• Activision playing ‘good cop’ with Call of Duty: Black Ops pirates
• Jailbreaking your phone is officially legal. Jailbreaking your 360 can get you three years in the slammer.

And this week, we introduce a new game: Wingman!  Sam presents us with a sordid tale, and we present him with video game characters that can save him from his predicament.  Hope you enjoy it!

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