ZeroAnd09

So, the Xbox hasn't been getting much love in my house of late.  You could say it's been the sudden flood of fantastic free-to-play MMOs that have caught my eye as of late.  So, I thought I would take an hour or two one night and revisit a title that reinvigorated my love of gaming, Bayonetta. Nothing but class When I last left Bayonetta, I was working my way through hard mode and was on the first boss, Fortitudo.  Now bear in mind that Bayonetta was ridiculously hard, even on normal, and I remember hard mode wiping the floor with me.  So I jump back into the game on the boss fight and after a few attempts, I get the pattern down and began shaking the couch as I furiously mash buttons in an effort to earn the multipliers.  Twenty minutes later and he's down. I move on to the next area and encountered the toughest bastards from my last play through, Grace and Glory. Working as the tag-team from Hell, they continually denied me any further progression. ...

Place: ? Location: Twin Lakes, WI Burger: Double Decker Burger Ingredients: Lettuce, tomato, American cheese Verdict: The place I went to was the perfect example of a mid-western diner.  Booths lined the walls underneath stuffed fish and ducks.  The decor was generic and twenty years out of date.  It's a place that only locals will know and visit as evidenced by the place having no online presence.  Be it Google, Bing, or Yellow Pages, I could not find any information other than a blurry photo with "Restaurant" and "Pizza" on the signs. The burger itself was nothing special.  It was average, neither lacking or excelling in flavor.  It was exactly what one would expect when ordering a burger in a place like this.  The lettuce and tomato were fresh and crisp.  The lightly toasted bun was a nice touch and the meat did not rain grease on the plate, something that puts this burger above many others in the area. On the side:  Bland, av...

My review of Digimon Masters is up at www.gamingclimax.com

Get More: GameTrailers.com , Alan Wake: American Nightmare - New Features Featurette HD The first Alan Wake was a surprise hit for me.  I loved the spin on combat and the story driving the entire experience.  With the sequel due for early 2012, the new year can't come soon enough.

It's that time of year again.  A time where heroes and villains relax in the ski chalet of Pocket D.  But of course, evil strikes and Baby New Year has been kidnapped...again.  A new threat also arises in the form of Lady Winter who wants to cover the whole world with snow and ice. This year, the ski chalet got a face lift in the form of new ski slopes.  Players can race down to try and get the best server times.  There's also a slew of rewards for completing the holiday missions.  From all of the badges of past Winter Events to Santa costume pieces and naughty/nice halos. So from December 13, 2011 to January 3, 2012, come take part in my favorite MMO holiday event. City of Heroes - Winter Event

For a game that I claim to not like all that much, I sure played a lot of Call of Duty.  How did your November look?

My review of Brawl Busters is up at www.gamingclimax.com

Before the lot of you begin asking, "Where's x, y, and z games?" and "Why are there only nine games?"  There were a lot of games that I wanted to play in 2011, but did not get the chance to for a number of reasons.  I'm sure the list would look quite different if I did get the opportunity.  If you want to see a more robust list next year, feel free to donate to my Paypal account and I'll see what I can do. Without any further panhandling, I present to you, The Top 9 Video Games of 2011 (That I Played). 9.   All Points Bulletin: Reloaded - PC Mix equal parts Grand Theft Auto and intense PvP and then make it free to play and you wind up with the relaunched version of All Points Bulletin.  The game is gorgeous and plays incredibly well.  It brings about a breath of fresh air in the stagnating world of MMOs.  Best part of the whole deal?  The game is completely free to download and play. 8.  Wizard's Choice (series) - Wind...

My review of the All Points Bulletin: Reloaded open beta is up at www.gamingclimax.com .

Some Duodecim wallpapers for your enjoyment.  They're 1920x1080.

Who doesn't love new wallpapers?  Especially those featuring the excellent artwork of Tetsuya Nomura?  All wallpapers are 1920x1080 resolution.

My preview of the Tribes: Ascend closed beta is up at: www.gamingclimax.com .

I've added wallpapers of Raphael, Lexia, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze.  All are 1920x1080.  Find them here .

December 02: Assassin's Creed: Revelations (PC) December 04: Mario Kart 7 (3DS) December 05: Fortune Street (Wii) December 06: Trine 2 (PC) Defenders of Ardania (PC, 360, PS3) The Adventures of Tintin  (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, 360) December 13: Rocksmith (PC) Marble Arena 2  (PC) December 20: Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC) Dec 27: The Ultimate Battle of the Sexes

With the release of a new game comes the release of more wallpapers.  Again, if you have a favorite team, put it in the comments and I'll make a custom wallpaper for you.

I whipped up some Marvel vs Capcom 3 wallpapers this morning.  All of them are 1920x1080 resolution.  As an added bonus, if you list your team in the comments, I'll get together a customized wallpaper for you.  Enjoy.

Call of Duty Elite is the premier service launched in conjunction with Modern Warfare 3 that allows players to track their stats, view and manage videos, enter competitions, etc.  You can use the service for free or pay $50 a year to become a premium member and gain early access to DLC, manage a clan, and more.  Elite in many ways is similiar to Bungie.net or Waypoint for the Halo series.  However, the console app has been plagued with problems since release.  The developer cites an overwhelming demand that has caused many of the outages experienced. I also have had a difficult time logging into the app on my Xbox 360.  For the first few days, it would say that the servers are full and to try again later.  The past week has presented an endless loop of accepting the EULA.  Last night, I found a way around it. 1.  Head to  http://www.callofduty.com/elite 2.  Click the banner that says "Join up for free" 3.  Follow the steps...

Skyrim is the latest smash hit from Bethesda.  In the first week, the game sold 7 million copies.  It is a serious contender for game of the year among many publications and critics.  Every other site online is covering it and people are only too eager to share their experiences.  It seems that everyone is loving the shit out of this game and I just don't get it. I see the excitement for Skyrim.  I can feel it while reading the feeds.  It's almost palpable.  It's even greater than the love the community had for Oblivion IV.  I hated Oblivion IV.  It is the only game that I've returned.  To be exact, I played the game for a few hours and desperately tried to like it, but it wasn't in the cards.  From the hideous NPCs to the poor translation of first person medieval warfare and the bland empty world, I hated every moment. Oh sweet Jesus!  Get me a stick so I can beat this mutant! This was a game that seemed perfect on the ...

Don't deny it.

Another month has gone by and another usage report has landed in my inbox.  Netflix is still the dominating force, but Gears 3 made a valiant attempt.  How did you spend your month?

Place: Aurora Memorial Hospital Location: Burlington, WI Burger: Cheeseburger Ingredients: Lettuce, onion, tomato, American cheese Hospital food gets a bad rap for being terrible.  Granted, it is all low quality for the sake of being cheap.  But the one thing hospital food is, is consistent.  When I bit down into this burger, it tasted exactly the same as the first burger I made as a cook in the retirement home.  Personally, I don't think the burgers are awful.  They're not great, but they're edible and reliable.  What was particularly tasty and shockingly so was the lettuce, tomato, and onion.  They were fresh and crisp and better than most of the restaurants in the area.  Let that sink in for a moment.  The toppings on a hospital burger are better than those of most restaurants in the surrounding area. On the Side: Crinkle cut fries One out of five stars

With the release of new character art comes new wallpapers. Nightmare Astaroth Viola Yoshimitsu Aeon Xiba Cervantes Go ahead and grab them here.

In the latest batch released, we see the familiar faces of Yoshimitsu and Cervantes.  There's also a few shots of the new stages.   The stages appear to be Ivy's alchemy lab, an underground river, and a ship at sea.  Two of the three are popular stages that have appeared in nearly every game.  We're also introduced to new characters, Xiba and Aeon.  Xiba seems to be the spiritual successor to Kilik.  If Xiba ends up being the new Kilik, I don't look forward to fighting him 90% of the time online.  Aeon is a new winged version of Lizardman.  Said wings appear to help launch an aerial flame breathing attack.Cervantes is looking rather healthy for an ancient undead pirate.  And Yoshimitsu continues to impress with his imaginative costumes.

Modern Warfare 3 wraps up a trilogy that has spanned the past four years.  Questions finally get answers.  Buildings blow up.  People die.  Most important of all, I finally take an interest in the series.  No, not really. As far as story telling, Modern Warfare 3 doesn't fare much better than your standard action movie.  It's a B grade plot with predictable twists and turns.  I'm being dead serious when I say that nothing should come as a shock as the game progresses.  The story moves along at a break-neck speed that sweeps you from New York to London to France and more.  But because you're only shooting Russians (again) in the face, there's not much to tell the settings apart.  I suppose there's the Eiffel Tower, but then that gets blown up.  All in all, it's just lazy story telling.  Most first person shooters are guilt of this these days.  There's a global threat and the only way to stop it is shoot Russians in the...

Times are hard.  The economy is in the crapper.  My bank account laughs at me each time I check it.  There's a ton of great games coming out this Fall, but no money to get all of them.  What's a guy to do? I took inventory of my collection and trimmed it down.  I took five games that I no longer play and went to Gamestop.  While titles like Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3 caught my interest more, I knew that if I wanted to spend any time playing online with my friends, I would have to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. So here's the breakdown of what was traded and how much I got.  Bear in mind that I got an extra 10% for having a PowerUp Card and 30% for putting it towards Modern Warfare 3. Aliens vs Predator - $7.00 DragonBall: Raging Blast - $14.00 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - $8.40 Madden NFL 2010 - $1.40 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - $12.60 All told, I got $43.40 for some games that will only collect dust.  Add in the $3.4...

I'm new to DC Universe Online.  I just started playing last week.  While I love the game, it's prone to disconnects and sometimes it takes up to two hours to get in.  Turns out, I was one out of a million who decided to join the game in the week after it went free to play. Source - Kotaku

Redesigned costume Droseria and I

I just discovered that DC Universe Online is now free to play.  I also found out that it's really fun to play!  It's like a better looking City of Heroes with some of the most natural controls I've come across in a MMO.  Also, Gotham City is just jaw dropping. Hanging out near the Gotham coast What to do?  Where to go? The villainous Averu.

Batman.  The goddamned Batman.  For decades, young boys everywhere have wanted to be The Dark Knight.  Many, myself included, strapped towels around their necks and stalked the hallways of their homes.  For just as long, games have also tried to capture the magic of being Batman.  Most have failed terribly. The only Batman games I remember playing was the 1993 SNES version of Batman Returns and 1995's Batman Forever.  Both fell under the beat-em-up  category and while very enjoyable, didn't capture the magic of being Batman.  There was no detective work, there was no skulking in the shadows, and no general sense of them being Batman games.  Sure, you could play as Batman, but you could swap Batman out with Mike Haggar and not know the difference.  2009 would see a dramatic change. The game begins with the Joker's capture and escort to Arkham Asylum by Batman himself.  With the help of Harley Quinn, the Joker manages to escape...

Lineage 2 joins City of Heroes as NC Soft's latest free to play MMO.  Unlike City of Heroes, there are no restrictions or different types of accounts.  Lineage 2 is free to play for everyone with unrestricted access. From Lineage 2's official site: "Lineage ®  II: Goddess of Destruction ™ —truly free! Why play a free to play MMO with account or game limitations when you can play  Goddess of Destruction  truly free? We've added free packs to help you level faster, and a new in-game store loaded with useful items to enhance your play experience. Lineage ®  II: Goddess of Destruction ™  becomes truly free later this year. Experience the large-scale castle sieges, clan wars, and head-to-head Olympiad competition that made Lineage II  famous. "Truly free" means no separate account types or blocked game content—everyone is treated like a VIP! Other than the in-game store items, all game content (character creation, races, classes, skills, zone...

Wondering why you paid $10 for an unlock code?  Kotaku has an answer. http://kotaku.com/5856425/gears-of-war-3-creator-explains-why-theyre-charging-to-unlock-content-thats-already-on-the-disc

Get More: GameTrailers.com , Soul Calibur V - Character Creation Trailer HD , PC Games , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360

Let me tell you a story.  An Italian man from half way around the world comes to my shop in Wisconsin.  He had just purchased an iPad from the local Walmart and needs to activate it by connecting it to his iTunes account which was created in Switzerland. Before this, I had never used an iPad.  To tell the truth, I've never used an iOS device beyond tinkering for a few moments.  But, the idea was simple enough: sign in to his iTunes account and connect the device to activate it.  Then, it would be a simple matter of updating the software to iOS 5.  So, it was set forth and done. The next day, my foreign friend returns.  His iTunes and other applications are in German.  It turns out that all apps will default to the country that the account is registered in.  Apple's instructions don't cover situations like this.  They say to change the International language in the iPad settings and that should be the end of it.  Such was not the...

I looked into the void and saw nothing.  I looked into the void and saw everything.  I saw despair and emptiness.  I saw anger with no feeling.  I saw the end of the world and everything it contained.  I looked into the void and saw a great beast full of fury. The beast looked at me.  The beast saw into me and through me.  The beast looked into me and saw nothing.  The beast saw despair and an anger greater than his own.  The beast saw the lack of feeling.  The beast knew of my disconnection from the world. I looked into the void and saw myself.  I looked and felt nothing.  In the void, I saw the futility of it all.  In the void, I realized that the world is everything and nothing.  When I walked away, I looked from the void.  In my place, the void spread to the world.