Local multiplayer only, seriously?

Today was a good day for every Xbox 360 owner who had at least 1200 MSP and a desire to play Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 once again. At the same time, it was also proof that the lame trend of limiting classic fighting game trials to local multiplayer only seems to be popular.

Don't get me wrong, fighting games are best played against another human but is it really wise to limit the trial to local multiplayer only? If it would have been my first time playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and I lacked someone to locally play it against, I probably would have been very put off by this as it would have prevented me from giving the game a reasonable test drive. This brings me to my next point, isn't this the point of trials, to let you test drive the game before making a purchase? So, why put such an unreasonable limitation? It seems that these trials are being targeted at those individuals who have already played the game which appears to be reasonable but it's really not as this group will probably buy it regardless of the trial's limitation since they already know what to expect and want the full experience. The group who never played it before on the other hand, is the one who gets screwed over as they get some strict limitation and never get a chance to kick the CPU's ass (or get their's kicked).

Now for the real reason as to why I'm complaining: I currently don't have enough points to get this game (don't want to buy more points yet) and I wanted to play against the CPU to bring back memories in the meantime but couldn't due to the limitations discussed earlier, so there, now you know. I blame the economy...

Talk about this on the forum HERE.

August 2009 gaming cons

Here's a list of upcoming gaming conventions for the month of August 2009:

Gen Con Indy - IN, USA
Mainly about table-top games but there are some video games involved.
http://www.gencon.com/

The following probably don't contain video games directly but are associated with gaming, mainly table-top games, board games, role-playing games and others:

Dragon Con - GA, USA
http://www.dragoncon.org/

Ropecon - Espoo, Finland
http://www.ropecon.fi/

World Boardgaming Championships - PA, USA
http://www.boardgamers.org/

The Path AKA "Little Red Horror Hood"

The Path is not a new game, as a matter of fact it was released months ago but since it's an indie game it's probably not as well known. Regardless, from what I saw in the demo, it seemed like a potentially good horror game but it's not for everyone. If you're looking for immediate action and some weapons to slay some evil creatures with then perhaps you should consider getting Alice instead as this game is more of a dark Dora the Explorer disguised as Little Red Riding Hood kind of thing. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be getting the full version anytime soon as my video card sucks which makes the game hard to enjoy as the low resolution graphics are rather stressful on the eyes but despite that, I still got a good idea of what to expect.

To download the demo and/or purchase the game for $10 visit the official website: http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/downloads.html

Ikaruga for $5!

Unfortunately, most of Xbox's Deal of the Week deals have sucked, however, there have been a few good ones such as July 13th's Ikaruga for 50% off ($5 AKA 400 MS points). If you've never heard of Ikaruga then I suggest you download the demo off the Xbox Live Marketplace ASAP! While the game is only 5 levels long, it's gameplay/difficulty will keep you both hooked and possibly frustrated...

Also, if you happen to own two Xbox 360 arcade sticks and are skilled enough, you can try imitating the guy below:



And yes, I'm aware that I posted this rather late as the deal will probably be over by the time you read this. Don't worry though, the game's regular price is still reasonable assuming you like the idea of getting your ass kicked by a Japanese arcade shooter for $10.