Here we are, the official end to Holiday Gaming Season 2012. The Wii U has launched, Agent 47 finally gets to skulk around and kill people and the various publishers trot out their wares to get on store shelves before American consumers trample each other for televisions on Black Friday.
I won’t be repeating my Black Friday shopping posts from last year, as that’s a hell of a lot of work and I wouldn’t be able to replicate the already excellent efforts of everyone at Cheap Ass Gamer. If you want to get the skinny on all of the gaming deals for Black Friday, Brown Thursday, Cyber Monday, Mauve Wednesday and For Pete’s Sake, Enough With the Colors Tuesday, check out the thread at CheapyD’s place of business.
New Releases
The Wii U launched on Sunday, and man, what a mess that looked like. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s a capable little machine, but come on Nintendo, you not only have most of the online functionality unavailable for reviewers to play with before the embargo drops, but you also expect consumers to download a 5 gig firmware update as soon as they hook the blasted thing up? That’s just silly. Usually I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to link to the Amazon listing here and throw a little cash our way in the process, but Amazon is sold out and the only people selling the system are scalpers. I’d much rather you find a console somewhere else and we get nothing from it then you pay an exorbitant amount. That’s how much I love you. Remember this come Christmas time.
On the other hand, the games are well stocked, so get cracking:
- New Super Mario Bros. U
- Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Bonus Edition
- ZombiUCall of Duty: Black Ops II
- Scribblenauts Unlimited
- Nintendo Land
- Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Just Dance 4
- SiNG Party with Wii U Microphone
- Skylanders Giants Starter Kit
- Rabbids Land
- ESPN Sports Connection
- Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
- Arkham City: Armored Edition
- Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U
- Tank! Tank! Tank!
- Madden NFL 13
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Darksiders II
- Transformers Prime: The Game
- Game Party Champions
- Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
- Mass Effect 3
- NBA 2K13
- Wipeout 3
- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
- Funky Barn
- Ben 10 Omniverse
Epic Mickey 2 (360
, PS3
, 3DS
, Wii
, WiiU
) comes out this week. Reviews have not been kind. Now Warren Spector will have to find an entirely new set of excuses to explain how people don’t understand the game. Nice job, internet.
I very much want to play Hitman: Absolution (360
, PS3
, PC
) but I’m currently playing Dishonored and I’m not sure I can go right from one skulking assassin to another. I only have so much patience for hiding behind dumpsters.
Speaking of assassins, Assassin’s Creed III
gets a PC release this week.
After the disastrous showing of Call of Duty on the Vita and the less than stellar Assassins Creed: Liberation, I am very, very close to ditching my Vita. Persona 4 Golden
may be enough to get me to hold on a little while longer.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that Sony has a big enough roster of memorable characters to fill out a fighting game like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (Vita
, PS3
). I mean, when you have the fat princess as one of your characters, you’re not exactly pulling from the top tiers.
Deals
Toys R Us – Buy one, get one at 40% off for all Wii and WiiU games. Free $20 gift card and Mario starter kit with purchase of a 3DS. Get any of the following games at two for $40: Angry Bird Trilogy, Adventure Time, Hello Kitty Picnic, Imagine Fashion Life, Lego Batman 2, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Monster 4×4 3D, Rayman Origins, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Transformers Prime, Poptropica Adventures, Power Rangers Samurai.
Target – Free $10 gift card with purchase of Epic Mickey 2, Hitman: Absolution or Sims 3. Buy two Wii U games, get one at 50% off. Get NHL 13 fr $47. Get any Skylanders Giants set for $47.
Best Buy – Free $10 gift card with purchase of Hitman: Absolution. Free $20 gift card with purchase of Wonderbook starter kit. Free $10 gift card with purchase of Wonderbook game only. Save 50% off of the Epic Mickey 2 strategy guide with purchase of the game.
About to finish off Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. Easily my second favorite after Unwound Future. The story is a little obvious, but quite well told. I am mere inches from the finale and unless the whole thing implodes at the end my opinion will stand.
Then Dishonored and Layton turn into Halo 4. Which will keep me going for some time.
I want a Wii U, and a five gig update is no worse than the ridiculous amount Sony foists on us on a regular basis, IMHO, but I can wait a bit longer. Totally okay with not having it by Christmas. The new Mario game sounds amazing.
I got a Wii U yesterday, walked into Best Buy 2 hours after it opened and just grabbed it off the shelf. No fuss, which was nice. Wii U doomsdayers think what you will about that.
I don’t think the patch is actually 5 GB, I have a 3Mbps connection speed and finished it in about 80 minutes (and I was using my internet to watch Doctor Who at the same time so that full 3Mbps was not being used on the download).
I’ll be playing New Super Mario Bros. U this week with my brother. It’s been fun so far, better than the last few New Super Mario Bros. anyways, but I feel like it’s still missing that magic from the early years.
Oh, and also because I want to complain about this somewhere, the Wii U menu system is slow, like Pony Express in the days of next day shipping slow. Just terrible.
The new ones are lacking a little something, agreed, but I can handle it for some solid 2D platforming.
The new 3D is where I want my mind blown when they make it.
You’re lucky in the States. To my knowledge the Wii U shipments to Canada got slashed to make more available in the States so finding one here is not easy.
Don’t forget, the last chapter of Telltale’s Walking Dead comes out this week!
That’s right! Totally forgot about that one. Thanks for mentioning it.
can’t wait to finish it and try another playthrough. my second playthrough i will make Lee as close to Samuel L. Jackson as possible
With no desire to reach the end of a chapter and be forced to wait weeks for the next installment, I’ve been waiting for the full set of Walking Dead to be available before jumping in. The show is better than ever too, so I’m really looking forward to it!
Also, I wasn’t sure how much Brandon would enjoy Persona 4 because it seems so different from most of the other things he plays. Then I realized just how much like Pokemon it is, collecting and leveling up a stable of creatures through turn-based elemental combat. Heck, with that in mind, it’s possible he’ll like it almost as much as I did!