Super Tofu Boy

So, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) creates a parody of Super Meat Boy called Super Tofu Boy to promote vegetarianism. In response, Team Meat makes a few light-hearted comments about PETA and, in a surprising reversal, announces Tofu Boy as a secret playable character in Super Meat Boy.

Then it gets weird. Team Meat's Edmund McMillen reveals that he has been creating fake user names on the PETA website, pretending to be people outraged by Super Meat Boy. He seems to imply that it was he who ignited PETA to create the Super Meat Boy parody game in the first place, so that Super Meat Boy could benefit from the free publicity at PETA's expense.

This is manipulation on the level of supervillain mastermind.

After following developments on game sites, the PETA site, and the Team Meat Blog, I'm trying to figure out what lessons there are to be learned in all of this. I've always been kind of dim, so these are the best I could come up with:

• Many gamers who post online love Super Meat Boy
• Many gamers who post online hate PETA
• Many gamers who post online love eating meat
• Team Meat is very crafty… beware

Scott Pilgrim vs. Scott Pilgrim vs. Scott Pilgrim

I finally got around to reading the series of Scott Pilgrim books. They were so awesome I read them twice. Then I played through the game again to see what new things I noticed from the books that weren't in the movie. I have played through the game seven times now. I think I have had enough. But I find it interesting how the game takes elements from the books and elements from the film, and then adds some elements of its own to create a three-way hybrid.

Final verdict:

• Books 10/10 Awesome
• Movie 10/10 Awesome
• Game 7.5/10 close to Awesome, because it's Scott Pilgrim and reminiscent of River City Ransom, which is 10/10 Awesome

Magic: The Gathering

I've had mixed feelings about Magic: The Gathering ever since high school, eons ago.

I've always liked the concept behind the game, and it can be a lot of fun when both players hit that sweet spot between drawing not enough land vs. drawing too much. But I never wanted to spend a lot of money building decks. I thought a video game version was a good compromise: pay one lump sum and get to enjoy the game at a level that I am happy with whenever I want.

I liked the presentation of the old Microprose version of Duels of the Planeswalkers, but was disappointed that they didn't create more than one expansion. I was hoping to at least have gotten Fallen Empires so that I could create my Tossed Thallid deck.

Then, recently I got the new version of Duels off Steam. I like that it is a lite version with prefabricated decks, so that I can be up and running right away. But I find the timers really slow down the pace of the duel compared to the Microprose version.

There's just always something, isn't there?

I started really getting into the new version over the past couple of weeks. But then I played three matches in a row where I drew only land for at least 6 turns in a row while the computer pummeled me down to 0 health. And once more I ask myself: why do I even like this game?!

All PopCap games (excluding bundles) are 50% off until November 29 on the PopCap website! And you can get an even bigger discount if you sign up for PopCap's free Passport.

This might be awesome, except for the fact that most PopCap games regularly sell for:

• $19.95 on the PopCap website (currently on sale for $9.95)
• $9.99 on Steam ($6.99 during this year's Steam Summer Sale) and Direct2Drive
• $6.99 on Gamestop.com/Gamestop.ca

Sale or no, Gamestop is still the cheapest place for PopCap games (that I am aware of, at least).

That being said, Plants vs. Zombies is worth any price you pay for it.

• I tried PlayStation Move at EBGames last week. It was neat enough, but not something I ever plan on buying. I tried table tennis and disc golf from Sports Champions. The movement tracking wasn't bad, but it was just laggy enough to be irritating. Plus, there was something unsatisfying about playing table tennis without feeling the knock of the ball on the paddle, and disc golf without the snapping release of the disc.
• Although my Year Without Buying Games hasn't started yet, I've already been downloading piles of (legitimately) free games to stock up my Alienware laptop. And I'm ultimately learning that I would much prefer to pay for a few awesome games than get huge quantities of good games for free. It's the whole quality vs. quantity thing. And not having tons of free time for playing games.
• Exceptions: 1) Super Crate Box is one of the awesome free games I've found. It is hard. And awesome. And really, freaking hard, 2) Canabalt is surprisingly fun and appealing for a single-button game. Excellent use of minimalism. 3) Cave Story is probably awesome too. I probably just have to play it long enough to get stuck in.
• I recently reached Level 10 on PSN and Level 35 on GameSpot. Woot for levels! Woot for me! Where is it all heading?
• Tuesday is finally the release date for the Scott Pilgrim Precious Little Boxset. I have been dying to get my hands on these books, having already spoiled the story for myself with the movie and game. Both were mega-awesome, so the original books should be uber-awesome.
• It's all awesome.

So I read about GameGround on GamesRadar last night. It claims to be a social networking site for gamers. As one of the GamesRadar commenters asked: like Raptr?

Yes and No. With GameGround, at least as it currently exists in beta, you create a profile and then proceed to earn points, levels, badges, and achievements for almost everything you do, all with various ways to brag about it. The experience starts off pretty intensely nuts, and it brings to mind all of the articles I've read recently about ways that MMOs and achievement systems try to get you hooked. This site is trying hard!

What I found strange is you don't import the games you own or play into GameGround. There's an already populated list of fully and partly supported games. Fully-supported games include GameGround's own set of achievements (called Missions) and leaderboards. Partly-supported games just have basic activity tracking. At the moment, you kind of hope your games are supported, and you try not to get distracted by the dozens of games that don't interest you in the least but beckon to you all the same with their missions for points and levels and rankings and so on.

After you create your (free) profile (and get an award for doing so), you download the (free) GameGround client, called GG1, which tracks your PC, Facebook, and web-based gameplay (Xbox tracking is apparently in the works, PS3 tracking is apparently a more remote possibility). I'm not quite sure how the client works, but you're supposed to maximize your browser when you play browser games, and make sure that nothing is obstructing the game, to ensure the client can "see" your gameplay and score. Weird, eh? Like it's watching over your shoulder.

As a beta, it's expectedly buggy at this stage. At least it was for me. It registered my very first round of Canabalt, which, of course, I blew on the first jump. But then it didn't pick up any of the next 20 times I played it, even with restarts of the client, browser, and computer. Even when I ran over 7000m! So, right now I have a registered high score of like 325m. Embarrassing.

Then it picked up some of my PC-based Bejeweled 2 play, but not my web-based Bejeweled 2 play. That's what I find a bit off-putting though. GameGround's design makes me feel like it's suggesting what games I should be playing, like web-based Bejeweled 2, rather than asking me what games I like and enhancing my experience of those.

Ultimately, GameGround's bugs and current design led me to remove the client a few hours after installing it. As it stands, it's not for me. It might be for you, though, if you're the kind of person whose hunger for points and status and rewards can never be sated and your taste in games undiscerning. Remember, all this insanity is free after all. I will give it a few months and then try it again because it does show promise of new and fun things, but at the moment, this is not the social networking site for me.

So, yes, it's kind of like Raptr, but also, no, it's kind of not. After last night's experience with GameGround, I have come to appreciate what Raptr offers me much much more than I did before (and I already thought it was awesome). Raptr lets me play the games I want to play in peace, quietly keeping reliable track of game time and achievements and friends' activity, without trying to throw other games with their uncompleted missions at me in obtrusive ways.

GameInformer has a poll running now until November 30 that you can vote on daily for the Top 30 Game Characters of the Decade. I'm not sure how they compiled their shortlist (Example from Street Fighter IV: Why C. Viper and Seth but not El Fuerte and Rufus?) but at least they have left an open field for any characters you think they missed.

Here were my choices:

1. Gouken (SFIV)
2. GLaDOS (Portal)
3. Amaterasu (Okami)
4. Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2)
5. Kratos (God of War)
6. Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
7. Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim)
8. Meat Boy (Meat Boy)
9. Patapon (Patapon)
10. Locoroco (Locoroco)

Additional character: Biggs (Critter Crunch)

I recognize that my choices are probably far off the mark from what will end up being the most popular choices. (I totally bombed the GameSpot Greatest Hero and Greatest Villain brackets because I chose my favourite characters over who I thought might actually win.) I also didn't spend a lot of time debating why I made the choices I made. I think I based it on how excited I felt when I read each name. Several names I didn't even recognize. For example, who the hell is Dr. Derek Stiles!?

Patapon and Locoroco were total throwaway votes... I just didn't know who else to put in there and they're visually distinctive.

Crap. I should have included Lei Fei!

At least I can vote again.

I know Hallowe'en is over, but I only just got a copy of this photo.

These are my parents. They are in their sixties:

What else need I say?

I used to love sequels. LOVE them. Back in the day, I couldn't wait for sequels of my favourite games to come out because it meant even more hours of unmitigated awesome. Things would go something like this:

1. Street Fighter II is awesome! I want more! Yes! Street Fighter II Turbo!
2. Street Fighter II Turbo is awesome! I want more! Yes! Super Street Fighter II!
3. Super Street Fighter II is awesome! I want more! Yes! Super Street Fighter II Turbo!

Or like this:

1. Mega Man is awesome! I want more! Yes! Mega Man 2!
2. Mega Man 2 is awesome! I want more! Yes! Mega Man 3!
3. And so on for Mega Mans 4 through 6.

I still love sequels. I still do. But these days I find that each game has so much content that by the time I get to the sequel, I still feel burned out from the first game. I wind up dropping the sequel much sooner than I would have hoped.

Things these days seem to be going like this:

1. Street Fighter IV is awesome! I want more! Yes! Super Street Fighter IV!
2. Super Street Fighter IV is awesome, but, but I hardly got a handle on the first 25 characters from over 115 hours of Street Fighter IV… I'm actually... I'm actually kind of tired of this right now. These new characters are weird. I should have played more Street Fighter III when it came out. Crap. I'll come back to this later. I'll just play a bit of Minotaur China Shop…

Or:

1. DJ Hero is awesome! I want more! Yes! DJ Hero 2!
2. DJ Hero 2 is awesome, but I've already scratched this turntable for hours… I've… I've kinda played this thing out… And my wrists feel… wrong. Now what?
3. Minotaur China Shop?

I find this has been the case for several games, mostly fighters, I've bought in the past couple of years: Virtua Fighter 5, Tekken 6, SoulCalibur IV (and SoulCalibur Broken Destiny), Super Street Fighter IV, DJ Hero 2. Even games like 3D Dot Game Heroes or Torchlight that borrow heavily from old games I feel like I've played out before I even finish them.

What gives? Another sign that I'm getting old and crotchety? (The evidence is mounting.) Or are games becoming so jam-packed as to promote burnout before the sequel arrives?

This might not bode well, considering that most of the games I currently have on my wishlist (e.g. Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, StarCraft II, Bioshock 2, Puzzle Quest 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3) are sequels.

I've been playing video games for almost thirty years and I have never suffered any injury worse than sore thumbs. Until this year. Two culprits appear to be responsible:

1. Street Fighter TE Fightstick: If I play too much SFIV or SSFIV, my right shoulder starts to ache from all the button-mashing. (I guess it serves me right for button-mashing.)
2. DJ Hero Turntable Controller: If I play too much DJ Hero or DJ Hero 2, my hands feel closer to suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome than they ever have from all the keyboarding and mousing they have ever done combined. (I guess it serves me right for… pretending to be a DJ?)

What gives? Am I just getting old or are controllers getting more deadly?

I think this is a warning that I should steer clear of Move and Kinect. They could be the end of me.

I just received a book that will keep me busy for weeks: "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die."

It's over 900 pages, weighs more than 5 pounds, covers 1001 top games in chronological order from the 70's through to 2010, has a foreword by Peter Molyneux, is edited by Tony Mott, editor-in-chief of Edge Magazine, and is 1001 pieces of awesome.

I wonder how long it would take someone to track down and play through all 1001 games...

I picked up the freshly-released DJ Hero 2 on Tuesday. So far, it's a fun ride, but the overall familiarity of the game, due to all the DJ Hero 1 I played, keeps it from being quite as exciting as I had hoped, even with the new freestyle sections. Maybe I need to get stuck into some online matches or give it more of a chance. I have yet to hear all of the awesome new mixes after all.

Incidentally, I unlocked my 500th Playstation trophy last night while playing DJ Hero 2. Yay for milestones! I've come to like trophies generally, and I have had a lot of fun getting some of the more challenging ones. However, the excitement of the 500-trophy milestone is diminished a bit in knowing that some of the trophies I've unlocked have been for watching credits (DJ Hero 1 and 2) or dying (God of War 1) or other equally dubious achievements.

Now that I say this, I ask myself, am I going to bother unlocking the DJ Hero 2 trophy that requires me to fade all freestyle crossfades in a single mix to the left?

…

Probably.