HO, HO, I puHOwned you.

So I know some of you out there are late on the get go, heck I’M ALWAYS late on the get go. I’m speaking to those of you who just now managed to be on the adequate behavior list, and ole Santa went and decided to drop you a Xbox 360 down your chimney last week. Now you have all that cash that your Aunt Edna and Uncle Willard passed on to you since they found out that you wern’t a Jonas Brothers fan, and bought you the boxed set last year…ahh what to do with all that fat dough.

Well I thought that I would convey on to you some vital info, since we do mingle some games around here with our busy lifestyles. Yes, we are awesome, and yes we occasionally get to fire up a console now and then. That being noted, I’d like to compile a few ‘must haves’ for new Xbox 360 owners out there. We know, since you’re here, you understand our BusyGamer Theology, and may not have, nor want to take risks on game titles that (a) you know nothing about; (b) may have the potential to just suck, and really suck; or (c) cost too much to risk beer money on.

So here below are some definite titles to consider, I’ve also tried to keep the genres varied (to cater to your playstyles). But these are games that I refuse to vendor back to my local resale shop, hence the fact I always come back to them. Kinda like bad girlfriends, only less pricey.

I could be running over prostitutes.

RANDOM CHAOS GAME
Grand Theft Auto IV – No questions asked. They should ship this to you when you buy an Xbox 360. You’ve seen it, you’ve heard the controversy in it, and yes, it’s all what they make it – AND MORE. For a 2007 game release, it is still one of my favorites that does not lose any thing on replay. It’s always fun running down pedestrians, chasing criminals (and the law), jacking a new Ferrari because you scratched yours on that old lady crossing the road, or taking over the local Burger Shot at gunpoint with my friends online, to see how many cars we can pile up in the lobby.

ROLE PLAYING GAME
Mass Effect – As much as I write about this game, and anticipate the sequel coming January 26, no surprise that I would put this on a list. And for someone new to this console, a $19.99 game that is well rounded, fun, surprising, beautiful, and well deserving of a play through with a new character type, this is a steal. A Science Fiction, RPG, third person shooter, with action reminiscent of Starship Troopers meets Star Trek meets Space 1999, hell I’m sold. AND a great story to boot!

We still look the best in armor.

FALLOUT 3 – Can you say HUGE? Let’s add a few DLC’s and then HUGEAMOUS! Yeah, this game is big. Not too good on the staying busy with your normal life, but a fantastic RPG game set in a post-nuclear-fallout environment. This game makes me feel like a character out of Road Warrior, mainly because my armor never matches and I’m always out of ammo. Guns and melee weapons are great, tons of quests, playthroughs will guarantee new things to discover, and if you think you’ve seen it all – just download some new content episodes, available online via the Xbox Live Store.

SPORTS GAME
Madden Football – Since one comes out every year just pick one. If you don’t care about the new rosters, and you plan to create all your friends on your hometown team, then buy one that is 2 years old. They all offer pretty much the same thing, and seeing my name on the back of a Texans jersey is damn exciting in my book. They all play great, and football video games are good party starters, plus injuring your friends for the season is fantastic too. Madden Football + beer + bowl of Doritos = win, no matter how you look at it.

Claymore, or less, I win.

FIRST PERSON SHOOTER
COD:Modern Warfare 1 or 2 – Like a story where you (the heroes) get to shoot the terrorists (the enemies) in a third world country? We do. Like a game that boasts an arsenal of real military weapons that you get to test drive, in a world where that would be impossible to the general population? We do. Like a game that offers hours upon hours of online multiplayer gameplay, with so many unlockables, that they themselves have wikisites dedicated to them? We do too. And again some could argue that the Halo series overpowers this, but I vote no, (my article, my rules), and lets add even more varied teamplay to the dish, better maps, and well executed co-op missions to challenge you and your war buddy.

STAR WARS GAME (yes it gets it’s own category)
Star Wars : Battlefront II – One thing that makes the Xbox 360 superior to other consoles, is BACKWARDS COMPATIBILTY! That brings this Star Wars title (from the original Xbox) to the table that won’t get pawned at the store. As much as I love the Star Wars franchise, a majority of the serious Lucas games are a big fail. Most of them. Not this one, BFII is still kicking butt at my house from a ‘console ago’. If you need a blaster fix, this is your game. The story starts at Episode III and goes on into Episode VI and beyond, even includes the fan based cosplay club, the 501st, in the story line, /WIN!

Old, but never outdated.

There you have it, these are all great games (my all time picks). And they most ALL have won awards for how bad a$$ they are, in their respective categories. As for the older titles, well it’s a bonus – because NOW they are discounted, and can be readily found at your local “previously-played shops”. So get to it, their are plenty of old worlds to fight battles in, and all in all, these worlds definitely deserve being saved again, and again, and again….

Cammy, your outfits rock! And welcome to our top 5!

What end of the year is complete without some sort of top 5? Initially, I was ready to do a top 5 based on times I lost my pants during 2009 but the rest of the Reckon Crew didn’t want to relive those moments. Can’t say I blame them either. So you get a Top 5 Video Games of 2009, and please, keep in mind that while we use the BG rating scale doesn’t mean all of the games on our top list are going to be Busy Gamer friendly…

#5: Street Fighter 4 – I know most people have been turned off by the Street Fighter franchise with its re-fitted, re-skinned, re-released titles in the past. Or at least I have been. Seriously, how many version of Street Fighter 3 did we see? Street Fighter 3 Turbo, Street Fighter 3 Really Fast Turbo, Street Fighter 3 Dance Dance Revolution, Street Fighter 3 Happy Fun Time Sunshine Edition… Okay, so I might have made some of those up but you get the picture. Fortunately for us, Capcom decided to take all of the things that made Street Fighter a great franchise, slap on some new graphics, and finally reward us for taking the time to learn some moves instead of just mashing the quick kick button over and over. Packed with some extra goodies and bringing back the old school flava, Street Fighter 4 gets my vote for one of the top games of 2009.

RE5, dead on at our number 4 spot! BANG!

#4: Resident Evil 5 – Yes, that came out this year, bitches. Your copy is probably sitting on a shelf collecting dust because you got the big gun after the second playthrough and you decided it wasn’t worth playing any more. Not me. I fire this game up at least once a month and find the time to shoot some Majini in the face… Gorgeous graphics, top notch voice acting, and a solid story made this a game to remember. Unsurprising that another sequel from Capcom barges into my top 5. Someone over at Capcom needs a raise.

Borderlands screams in at number 3!

#3: Borderlands – I’ll be honest, this game caught me off guard. When I first saw the ads for the game I thought we were seeing a Fallout 3 clone but that was not at all the case. Featuring four classes with customizable builds, a barren wasteland filled with strange beasties and roaming bands of lunatics, and some very funny voice acting, Borderlands caught my fancy with its mix of first person shooter and role playing elements. After all, how many games do you know of that give you a mission to wipe out a horde of midget psychos?

#2: Left 4 Dead 2 – Yeah, I liked the first one and I have to say the second one was done right. Not liking yerself some zombie killing is just downright un-American, I say. Delivering on the promise of more weapons, more action, and more undead, Left 4 Dead 2 built on the franchise by taking a different route and showing us a new band of survivors and their attempt to escape zombies. Now if it just had more Ellis and his stories of his buddy Keith…

#1: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Yeah, it’s another sequel. Sue me. Maybe 2009 was the year to put out game sequels… Modern Warfare 2 showed us CoD4 wasn’t a fluke and managed to live up to our expectations. We wanted more, we got more. Another action packed, fingernail biting single player campaign and had us defending American soil. More controversial content was available through the portion of the game that had us gunning down innocent civilians as we walked through an airport with a known terrorist. I thought I hated the guy for making me do that but then he shot me in the head. Jerk. Stunning visuals, realistic weaponry, and even more multi-player modes had me up late way too many times. And if that isn’t enough, I’ve got two words. Lance Henriksen. ’nuff said.

So, those are my picks for 2009. Here’s to 2010. Two more years till the world ends. Maybe we’ll see “Duke Nukem Forever” before then… Naaaaah.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Red, Green , Fire!

If you are a color-blind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 player (like myself), a group of gamers have started an online petition in the hopes that it will convince the developer Infinity Ward, to release a patch for the game to correct some red/green issues.

In multiplayer matches of MW2 (VGA’s #1 FPS game of 2009), the fastest way to distinguish a teammate from an enemy is if their name is in red (enemy) or green (teammate). The same colors are also used in the game’s radar, that allows players to view the location of others. The petition also cites some statistics saying that about 1 in 10 of all males are color blind, and 1 in 20 are females.

I have been playing quite a bit of MW2 lately, and I although I don’t think that the red/green issue could be soley responsible for my awful kill/death ratio, it did spark my interest when I ran across this info. I do find myself firing at teammates quite a bit.

If a color-blind patch does get implemented, I will gladly post ‘before and after photos’ of my stats to see if their was actually a significant amount of impairment.

Until then, I’ll just aim at what moves. And ask questions later.

[Source]

-Crutchboy Out

Modern Warfare hits shelves today!

(Gamespot) – As is often the case, the street date of a major game was broken a few days before its official release. Over the weekend, game blog Kotaku received word that several retailers in the Northeast and Midwest United States had begun selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

However, unlike most preemptive sales, which typically happen at non-specialty stores, apparently the game was being sold under a corporate directive by the country’s top game-only retailer, GameStop. When contacted by GameSpot on Monday, GameStop’s vice president of corporate communications Chris Olviera offered the following statement:

“This past weekend, GameStop made the decision to sell reserved copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in select markets where other retailers had broken street date. Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base. Today we are focusing on the launch of the title in 4,200 of our US locations and the New York City launch celebration that we are cohosting with Activision [and] Microsoft.”

There may be some behind-the-scenes awkwardness at Modern Warfare 2′s New York City launch, since Activision apparently ended those conversations by voicing its disapproval. “Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date,” a spokesperson told GameSpot. “The company fully supports the November 10 street date.”

[Full article at Gamespot.com]