A New Addition!

Hey everyone, so I've gotten behind on this blog because my wife had the baby early! It's a baby boy and he and his mom are both doing well. For internet purposes we're going to refer to him as Mark Rypien Jr. He's three weeks old now and we're starting to settle back into a schedule.

So how has this affected my pile of shame? Not as much as I thought it would honestly. He sleeps almost all of the time and there's a lot of late nights waiting for his next feeding. I'm too exhausted during my free time to do anything more productive than watch TV or play videogames.

During the hospital stay I did make some more progress on Pokemon Platinum. The DSI XL was very handy in that situation and I was even able to do some web browsing from it.

I've also still managed to keep playing Rock Band 2 which I thought would definitely stop. I play it during the day when he's sleeping to much to wake him up. So I've made some more progress in the World Tour mode and finally unlocked a few more achievements.

I've also continued my obsession with soccer games by continuing to play 2010 FIFA World Cup and FIFA 10. I've started playing FIFA's Utimate Team mode which has the same appeal of Fantasy Football. You buy packs of cards that will give you random players that you can then put into multiple teams. There are bronze, silver, and gold level players. This is important because some tournaments you can enter have requirements like all players must be silver or the maximum player level is bronze. There is a team chemistry aspect that doesn't seem to work very well.  Players from the same club team, country, or league have a "chemistry" together. The more players from the same club in proximate positions the better your team should play together theoretically. It doesn't to really work though. Fielded the best players seems to give you a better team than fielding a team with the best chemistry.

I've also been playing Darksiders. It's has been billed as Zelda meets God of War and it lives up to that description. It doesn't have the complexity of either  Legend of Zelda puzzles and dungeons or the combo system of God of War. It still ends up being a good combo of mechanics. The gameplay is polished and the level design is varied enough. I'm having a lot of fun with it though its one of those games that's hard to describe what makes it so enjoyable.

I've also recently bought Prince of Persia 2008 to add yet another game to my pile of shame. I've only played it a little bit but I've enoyed it so far. I like the cel-shaded art design and the easy to pick up controls. Many people complained about the "no-fail" mechanic of the characer Elika saving you everytime you fall and returning you to a spot just before you fell. I have no problem with this, I actualy like it a lot, it takes away some of the frustration of failing at the same jump over and over.

So, that's it for the past few weeks. I'm going to keep plugging away at Rock Band 2 and Darksiders. Catch you all later.

World Cup Fever and the Steam Sale

So my pile of shame has grown quite a bit the last few days thanks to the massive Steam sale going on. I picked up the CodeMasters Racing Pack, Trine, Zeno Clash, Crysis Warhead, Shatter, Beat Hazard, Torchlight, Toki Tori.

My brother has Shatter on his Ps3 and it is definitely my favorite of the "brick-breaker" games, largely due to the twists it puts on the genre. Beat Hazard is a twin stick shooter that creates levels based on your music. So it has a similar idea to Audio Surf but is executed differently. It is a rather fun take on the twin-stick shooter and has some great visual effects. I've played a little of Toki Tori and have been a bit disappointed in it. It is a decent action puzzler, I am little perplexed at the critical reception it got. I haven't even installed most of the other games I downloaded yet. Got save some space on the hard drive!


Of all the games in CodeMasters Racing Pack the only one I've been playing is FUEL. Which is at the very bottom of my list and the worst reviewed game on it. I've enjoyed myself so far, but I've only played a few minutes. I tell you what though, the 360 controller for Windows I bought doesn't seem like such a waste now.

Back on the 360 all of my gaming has been eaten up by 2010 FIFA World Cup. The controls, graphics, and gameplay are all virtually identical to FIFA 10. World Cup probably should be a mode in the main FIFA game. But if it was people wouldn't shell out 60 bucks simply to play a World Cup mode.

My complaints with the game being noted, the online World Cup is implemented very well. You don't have to join an actual World Cup tournament in progress. You can play the games whenever you want, because after you face one opponent in your group you don't face them again in the Group Stage. So you're still trying qualify against them even if you're all playing at different times.

The rest of the game is quality as well, so if you need a World Cup game, I would recommend this. If you have FIFA 10 or Pro Evo this isn't an improvement in terms of gameplay. But this is the only licensed World Cup simulation.






That's it for this week. I'm going to keep plugging away at Rock Band 2 and hopefully start to make some headway on my list. Buying a new game every week isn't helping my cause though.

Where you at?

So, where have I been for the past few weeks? I haven't been meaningfully neglected this blog, but too many other things have gotten in the way such as work and life. I haven't chipped away much at the ol' pile of shame at all lately.

I have been steadily attacking Rock Band 2, slowly but surely. That campaign seems a lot longer than the original's or maybe its my lack of four hour play sessions.  As excited as I was for Green Day Rock Band I believe I may know wait until 2 is polished off.

I have completed a few games since the last post, which is keeping them off of the pile of shame if not helping to decrease its overall size. I got really caught up in Mass Effect 2 and burned through that pretty quickly. And I completed every single loyalty quest. To be honest, I'm sort of itching to 100% that game but there's just no way I'd have time for that. That whole world, it's characters, settings, and history is fascinating to me. Its world is quite possibly much more drawn out than the Star Wars Universe.

I also managed to complete New Super Mario Bros. Wii literally the night before Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out. That last dungeon is brutal. That whole game is extremely enjoyable. It felt more like an original game with original game mechanics than New Super Mario Bros on DS which I found a little soulless.

I've only played through about 15 stars of Galaxy 2. I think I'm a bit letdown because I may have let the hype get to me. The first Galaxy is in all serious my favorite game of all time. Galaxy 2 feels more polished and adds a ton of new gameplay elements, but I don't know if I've really reached a stage that wowed me as much as the first game. It may be a case of it feeling a bit like a re-tread. That being said, the more I play it the more I like it and the more it seems to open up. My opinion is likely to change drastically.

I've also been playing UFC Undisputed 2010 almost non-stop since I bought it last weekend. I'd just like to get good at, but that seems like a lost cause. Its fighting system is incredibly deep which is both good and bad. I get my ass kicked every time I go online but I don't get tired of the fighting like I do in wrestling and boxing games.

This week the name of the game is polish off a few achievements in NBA 2K10 and put that one to bed and continue drudging forward on Rock Band 2. With the World Cup going on I'll likely also be spending some time trying to finish off FIFA 10 as well.

That's it for this update. I'll return to a regular schedule and start giving some more frequent updates.

Update on No Updates

So, I didn't have time this week to play any games on my pile of shame. My currently playing list is growing to the point were my pile of shame will be growing larger soon as well. I am still playing through New Super Mario Bros. Wii from last November.  I just got to the World 8, and it's getting pretty interesting. I recently bought Dragon Age: Origins, and Mass Effect 2. I also got FIFA 10 and NBA 2K10 as late Christmas presents two months ago which I want to put more time into before the next versions come out. I also just got Red Steel 2 in for review so most of my gaming time has been spent on that.

Oh, and I just bought a  DSi XL. Which I'm enjoying. I really like the bigger screen. The camera stuff if  a fun distraction, even if it's not very capable. I also really like the DSiWare shop. I've only downloaded a few games, but I've enjoyed them so far. Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is especially clever. I was disappointed in the Dr. Mario Express game. I was really hoping it would have stylus control. After playing the version of Dr. Mario on Brain Age 2. That felt like the most natural way to play the game. All I really want is a full version of Dr. Mario with stylus control. Is that so much to ask from Nintendo?

Anyway, so sorry, no update this week. I don't expect to be playing any Rock Band 2 this week. But  since I am currently enamored with my DSi XL and I'm going away next weekend I may play some Pokemon Platinum this week.