On the Fence: Tetris Party and Portal: Still Alive

Despite the crazy amount of big games out this week (I haven't bought any games this month yet, which is good considering how tempted I am to do so during this crowded fall season) like Fable II, Far Cry 2, and Midnight Club LA (I would so buy this), the downloadable services are also getting good big titles as well. First off for WiiWare this week is Tetris Party for 12 bucks (1200 Wii Points) and I do love Tetris (enough to buy Tetris Evolution and Tetris Splash on XBLA even though Splash was disappointing), but Party is almost like the second coming of Tetris DS in terms of new modes to mess around with Tetriminos. The video above is some new Race mode where you have to guide some piece through some obstacle course (Reminds of me that stick challenge in Unbeatable Basuke where you have to hold that stick in the air) where spins are a matter of success or failure. There are other new modes like a Shadow Puzzle mode of using Tetris pieces to make some shapes (a smiley face as an example) and another mode that requires the Balance Board. From what I read, only the default Marathon mode is the only online mode against other players and the Mii support is everywhere too. After beating Mega Man 9, my Wii is back to collecting dust, but Tetris Party looks like a great WiiWare game to get even though my fringe is starting to get full soon too (I'm passing on World of Goo despite how amazing it is).



On Live Arcade this week is Portal: Still Alive, which is my favorite thing of last year's The Orange Box plus some new content for 15 bucks (1200 MS Points). Sure, Portal is still amazing, but I don't know if the new content is enough for me to beat it again. Kind of like BioShock, I feel that Portal is an one time thing, meaning you see the awesome ending and that same feeling that cannot happen after multiple times. Plus, it is about a 600 MB download which is the largest XBLA game in terms of taking HDD space, but for those who never played Portal skipping The Orange Box last year, they should buy this game as soon as possible. I need to buy Points anyway to prepare myself for the next month of DLC and XBLA games (Buying Nevermind without the hits on Rock Band 2 on Tuesday plus other games like Super SFII Turbo HD Remix, Vigilante 8 Arcade, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 if Capcom confirms a surprise release on XBLA).

So yeah, I'm saving those big retail games for December during my Winter Break (my backlog list is in a previous post) as I'll let Gears 2, Banjo N&B, and XBLA be my fall gaming during this crazy and crowded stretch of greatness.

BioShock 2 gets teased...

The PS3 version of BioShock is out next week, still an amazing FPS for this generation of consoles, but a special teaser has showed up in the menus for the sequel, now called Sea of Dreams. This quick tease is nothing much other than maybe Rapture not being an underwater city anymore, but its still coming out next year.

Skate 2 allows bigger and more painful bails...

This new trailer for Skate 2 demonstrates the new Hall of Meat bail system allowing for more control when you want to beef it whether by flipping like a madman, letting go of the board, and more. If the best bails of Skate 1 are crazy enough, imagine how crazy the bails will be on Skate.TV on the sequel.

The second coming of MvC2 is upon us...

Pardon the language of the pic above (taken from NeoGAF), but Microsoft's PartnerNET service has a mysterious game I have been waiting for to be on Xbox Live Arcade (also ESRB rated for PSN as well) which is Marvel vs. Capcom 2. With the ESRB rating in place and this pic as proof that it exists, it is only a matter of time when do you go crazy with Hailstorms and Magnetic Tempests now that MvC2 will be out on Live Arcade and PSN soon (hopefully online and other stuff in). Even though a HD Remix-like version would have been cooler (then again, it will take forever because of new art like SSF2T HD Remix), at least it is still coming. Who knows when Capcom themselves will officially announce it, but as many have said, if out in a month or two, this could steal SSF2T HD Remix's thunder a bit. A possible scenario is Microsoft putting this to the Xbox Originals lineup, which means it will have the backwards compatibility issues that the Xbox version when it runs on 360. Another good thing is that Marvel wants a second coming of this game to happen too, so maybe those 2 companies finally made it happen and now in good terms that the dream MvC3 could happen someday (If Street Fighter IV can happen, this can happen too).

As a reminder why Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is awesome, here's one of many infamous videos to prove that.

Guitar Hero World Tour Blowout Part IV

This fourth part of the GH World Tour Blowout features "Beat It" by Michael Jackson (Yeah, that song and surprisingly fun too), "Re-Education Through Labor" by Rise Against, and "Assassin" by Muse.

Guitar Hero World Tour Blowout Part III

Another set of GH World Tour footage with "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)" by Lostprophets, "Santeria" by Sublime, and "Shiver" by Coldplay. At least the new long note system seems like a good gameplay improvement as well as getting more star power while in star power like Rock Band too. The new HUD seems okay with me even if the multiplier display is smaller than last year.

Someone is already playing Gears 2...

Watch live video from Gears of War 2 on Justin.tv

Perhaps the biggest game this fall has reached gold status and some lucky guy already has a physical copy of Gears 2. Check NeoGAF for more on this especially which stream site he'll use for gameplay videos of the campaign (Spoilers obviously), Horde, and multiplayer (with bots). Yes, Gears of War 2 is already insane from the first act on and who knows what will happen in the later parts of the campaign (I don't mind the spoilers since its still 3 weeks early and plus its off-screen, so when I play it on my own, at least it will be way better on my HDTV blasting the volume to high at all times).