As I mentioned before, I loved Portal and even after spending hours on Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer servers, it’s probably still my favorite game of all time. So, when I heard that Valve would have official Weighted Companion Cube plushies made up I tried to grab one… of course, so did the rest of the entire internet. Not able to get one right away, I waited until they were reissued and grabbed one. It came a few weeks ago and has been spending its days on the couch. One morning I decided to snap a photo of it and then last night that photo turned into a desktop.

Grab the desktop wallpaper now at MyBestDesktops.com and enjoy.

I should remember to spend more time with my WCC so he doesn’t get too lonely… or watch too much TV.

 A year ago, I was playing through God of War II on Playstation 2. Building on the already insanely great God of War, GoWII did everything right… unfortunately, that just didn’t seem like enough. With the 360 out and games looking and playing better than ever before, GoWII just felt a little dated.

Now, a year later, we’ve got God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP and guess what… it’s damn near portable gaming perfection… but somehow it just doesn’t seem like enough… again. Yes, the gameplay is tight. Yes the environments feel massive. And yes, the stakes seem high. But sometimes you get the feeling like the developers spent way more time on getting the game to look and play perfectly than they did on giving the player strong reasons to continue through the story.

It’s funny, but I noticed it more when playing through the second time around when I realized that there were 2 female gods I was dealing with (3 if you count Athena’s cameo), not just 1 two-faced female god.

Additionally, the admittedly cool piece at the end where you resign yourself to a life of war and suffering felt almost tacked on. Like the developers thought that they needed a big moment, but didn’t really know what they were going to do until the end… then went back into the story and sprinkled in the tiny bits of information that would lead up to this final moment.

Again, I should remember that this game is literally portable gaming perfection. It made the PSP do things I never knew it could… like get me to pick it up again.

Who could have thought that a bizarre first person puzzle game with two unlikely stars in an insane testing computer promising cake and the lovable Weighted Companion Cube would turn out to be literally one of the best games ever made? Since the Orange Box’s release, the web has embraced Weighted Companion Cube with nothing but the love he (?) deserved! There have been fan movies, Halloween costumes, cuddly plush recreations, papercraft versions, cake versions and more.

Weighted Companion Cube, we love you… and we’re sorry we killed you.

I should remember to build or buy my own Weighted Companion Cube.

Everyone and their mother reviewed this game, so it’s not my place to try to be some kind of authority, but when I think back to my time anticipating and playing Halo 3, I want to remember that the story never pulled me in, the graphics rarely wowed me, the gameplay felt stale, and the ending left A LOT to be desired.

I should also remember that the warthog run through exploding platforms near the end was pretty awesome, though…

(Thank goodness Bungie is somewhat free from Microsoft to try something new now.)

The Metal Gear Solid series may have lost my interest towards the beginning of the 3rd game, but it seems like MSG4 is shaping up to be an amazing game and arguably the first platform defining moment for the Playstation 3. The above, newly released demo footage of the game running live on Playstation hardware is simply amazing. Nothing on the Xbox 360 even comes close.

I need to remember to keep watching how MSG4’s progressing and maybe even get a PS3 when Snake hits the shelves for the last time.

Seeing trailers like the one above lured me into purchasing Tenchu Z… That and the idea of being a bad-ass-ninja™. Well, Tenchu Z certainly delivers on the promise of being bad ass, but also completely doesn’t.

First, how it delivers: it’s rare in video games to find something you find yourself doing often as satisfying as pulling off “stealth kills” are in this game. Damn near every time you do it, a smile creeps across your face. It’s hard to resist. It’s that cool.

Second how it doesn’t: there’s barely any story and unless you’re killing someone stealthily, you better just run away and try sneaking up again. I dunno, I would imagine a bad-ass-ninja™ would be as good in a straight up fight as he would be sneaking around. The makers of this game disagree.

At any rate, I should remember to finish Tenchu Z if not to see how the weak story ends, then at least to enjoy stealthily poking thugs from the shadows with my katana.

I don’t know what the makers of this game were thinking when they were coming up with this shooter/fighter/dodger thing, but for some reason, they decided the one thing that could act like icing on the cake of their masterpiece would be an announcer with a bizarre Mexican accent shouting “You win!” and a bunch of other sound bytes.

To play the game, you stand in front of the arcade box holding a gun like Time Crisis or House of the Dead, but instead of going through a story, you fight other cyborgs (though no real explanation is given) in more of a Tekken or Virtual Fighter (which everyone was playing in Japan) style… but with guns!!

Your opponent in the game stands across from you and you’re both supposed to use use cover to hide from bullets and then shoot back. This control is accomplished by left and right foot pedals. The whole thing was very awkward at the beginning, but quickly became bizarrely fun. I would imagine they could pretty easily port something like this to the Wii, especially since the graphics weren’t mind-blowing or anything.

I gotta remember to hit more arcades whenever I get the chance… and figure out why this game is named “Too Spicy!”

Take arguably the single most bad-ass character in video game history, use basically the same engine from the original God of War, fix all the problems people had with the original game (not enough bosses, weapons, etc.) and what do you get? An unbelievably amazing game that had it not been the sequel to one of the best games ever and on a last generation system, could have really been memorable… but since it is both of those things (despite the many moments of sheer joy had playing it) when it’s over and done there’s an empty feeling inside leaving you wanting more.

I shouldn’t forget that I loved playing the game. (The climax of the third sister and Zeus fights are gaming gold!) I just didn’t feel like Kratos’ character grew. I didn’t feel like the high-res CGI cutscenes where amazing enough. I didn’t feel like the cliff-hanger, “finishing the fight” style ending was satisfying enough. I think I played through the first one 3 times, but I’m not 100% sure I’ll make another run on this one.

Obviously, I’m going to remember to get God of War III (Hell, I might even pick up the original storyline PSP game), but they better ratchet it up a lot more and really let Kratos loose.

Little Big Planet has got to be the most innovative thing I’ve seen in gaming in a long time. (Sorry Will, Spore looks cool, but not quite my thing.) The GDC presentation is a must watch!

I have to remember to check it out when it’s released and if necessary buy a PS3.

Crackdown has got to be the most enjoyable game I’ve ever played that I simply can’t love. Why can’t such a great game be enjoyable? Because it’s only 1/4 of a game.

As you play Crackdown, you get the feeling that tons of time was spent building the framework of the game. The fantastic level design. The unbelievably fun rooftop leaping abilities. The amazingly rewarding RPG elements. (Except driving because who wants to drive when you can leap tall buildings in a single bound? You ever see Superman drive?) But then, suddenly, you realize that there’s nothing more. That the game is just a longer version of the demo with almost nothing to add. It sort of gives the whole game a tech demo feel.

Well, after a week, the “campaign” (used loosely) is complete and a great many achievements have been gotten. I’ll still go back to grab a couple more achievements because the game-play is so great, but I can’t help but feel like if they had spent the time to truly craft a real game with a story line, varied mission types, and a more seamless co-op mode, this would have been a magnificent game.

Oh well, I’ll remember to watch out for Crackdown 2.