I went to rent a PS2 game last weekend and found Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. Prior to that, I’d barely even heard of its existence. This game must not have received much ad and media attention as the others have. Having played all the games in the Guitar Hero series, I felt compelled to rent this one and check it out.

I have to say that overall this game is very mediocre. It only has 30 songs, and you cannot buy bonus tracks in career mode, as you are probably used to in the normal Guitar Hero series. There are indeed a few gems in these 30 tracks, but overall, they should have made a way better setlist with which to showcase the 80s. Those gems in the list for me are: Turning Japanese, Radar Love, We Got The Beat, Hold On Loosely, and What I Like About You. While still fun to play, the rest of the song list doesn’t have nearly as much appeal. There don’t appear to be as many stage characters to choose from, either.

It turns out that this game was released in July 2007, so it doesn’t have some of the snazzy new features that are in GH3, such as a splash indicator of how many perfect notes you have scored in a row. This Encore 80s game feels more like it was pieced together with leftovers from GH2. The menus and look and feel of the game are somewhat simplistic. Perhaps I am being overcritical here. I rented Guitar Hero 3 a couple of weeks ago and I think it is blurring my expectations a bit, since GH3 is way better than this one.

All that said, it is still a fun game to play since I love jamming on Guitar Hero. This game is just a little more stripped down. I can understand them wanting to release an 80s-only game, but I wish they’d picked much better 80s songs to put on it.

Me and Laura both are on a big Pogo.com gaming kick. I had visited the site in years past, but didn’t get hooked until more recently. I’ve played games on Yahoo and MSN, but Pogo is my favorite. I haven’t actually tried Yahoo Games in a while. It got kind of stale. There were no rewards. As for MSN, I love the reward badges, but hate that the whole site is so heavily built for Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer. Almost none of the games play on my Mac, which is ridiculous.

Pogo, on the other hand, mostly has Java-coded web games, which work on my PC platform. A few of the games do require IE and Active X (like Bejeweled), but I have found there to be decent alternatives to these that use Java (i.e. Sweet Tooth). Pogo is a product of EA Games, who I have much more admiration for than Microsoft. I love the reward of earning tokens. You can use them to buy in to nightly, weekly, or monthly drawings…for real money! Overall, the site itself it is a pleasure to navigate and use. Adding friends is also easy, allowing you to join your buddies in a game.

I now use Pogo exclusively for web gaming. I think it is the best of its kind. Laura is now a Club Pogo member. She is enjoying ad-free gaming, with access to 30+ games that I cannot access on my free account. Sweet. It is easy to lose a couple of hours on the site without even realizing it.

Laura bought me a guitar for the Playstation2 and the Guitar Hero game for Valentines Day this year. Laura went above and beyond and bought me the wireless guitar from Red Octane (who also make the Guitar Hero game series). It was totally unexpected. I hadn’t had feelings for or against it or its premise, despite loving the karaoke games that are on the market. I really hadn’t paid much attention Guitar Hero beyond watching a few people play it at Best Buy over Christmas.

Now that I own it, the game is simply terrific! I didn’t know how much I’d be into it when I first heard about this game, but all that changed once I had the instrument in my hands. I have never owned a wireless controller of any kind for a game system. I recommend the wireless guitar for sure. It is an incredible amount of fun. It looks like a toy, but don’t be fooled. Each song is stunningly complex, even at the Medium level. The fingerings and chords truly do mimic natural guitar handiwork. And the game gives you an incredible feeling of power when you rip your first few chords. The song list is quite good. I had never heard of most of the songs in this game, since they tend to be of the hard rock and metal variety, but the guitar work in each song is quite catchy, and I grew to like each of them after only one or two attempts. Overall, the game is truly awesome. Highly recommended! I can’t wait to get Guitar Hero 2 someday!

Over a week ago, Me and Laura were ecstatic to discover that the makers of the Karaoke Revolution game series for the PS2 were set to release a new installment. So far they have released numbers 1, 2, 3, Party, CMT Country, and now the new one is called “KR Presents: American Idol”. Regardless of the Idol branding, we own all of the other titles and were thrilled at the news of this new game. The game shipped January 2nd and it was on the shelves at Best Buy the following day.

The new game has 40 tracks. Many of the new songs included are outstanding. The game supports all of the features of the last two in the series, such as the Eye Toy device, duet modes, and multi-player games. The American Idol twist is new. I think it was wise for them to pair up with the hit TV show, especially since season six of the show starts in mere weeks. The Idol mode of gameplay takes you through the whole audition process, from start to finale. Each performance in this mode is verbally critiqued by Simon and Randy. Paula Abdul is noticeable absent from the judges panel, being replaced by some look-alike named Laura. The judges comments are pretty funny, but seem a little long-winded and become repetitive after a while. One thing worth noting is that if you pick one of the more absurd full body costumes for your character, the judges will comment on your bad style.

If you like singing, if you own another KR title, or if you like American Idol, this game is well worth picking up. It costs $40 without an included microphone, which is a good price for a just-released Playstation 2 game. Me and Laura have already had a ball trying out the new songs and unlocking new goodies. Here is a complete song list for all KR game titles. Scroll to the bottom of that page for the 40 tracks included with this new Idol game.

Worth noting is that if you happen to have any of the SingStar karaoke games from Sony, the microphones used for that game are not compatible with any Karaoke Revolution title. I have never played any of those games, but I thought it was worth mentioning. If have no interest in those games because they aren’t easily available in the U.S. and the song lists aren’t as inspiring. Not to mention the microphone incompatibility. I recommend this new Idol game (and the KR Party) over any of those SingStar titles.

I just did a little research on what has probably been the most successful video game console in history, the Playstation 2. It hit the shelves in Japan in March of 2000. Later in October of that year, it was made available in the US. I have had a PS2 for many years now and it has been worth the cost, many times over. The number of hours that my machine has been used is mind boggling, both for games and playing DVDs. For Sony, it has been a smash hit during the past six years. In fact, they still have strong sales of the system today.

Now, 2007 is knocking on our door and the very long awaited Playstation 3 is finally here. I stress finally! Years overdue, a massive production shortage, technical blunders, and with a price that equals an arm and a leg, I wonder what we’ll be saying about this machine in years to come. I even wonder if we’ll still be talking about it years from now. From what I have read, the small number of release titles have not been that well received. To top it off, some 200 PS1 and PS2 titles do not play properly on the new machine. That issue is being resolved via a firmware update that Sony is to release online. Combined, these issues just might make this product a failure.

At $600, I cannot afford a PS3. I don’t really want one, either. The games on the PS2 look and play good enough for my taste. I am not going to spend $60 a pop on brand new PS3 releases. For me to be interested, the price would have to be cut in half for the system and the games, and a lot more of the population would have to adopt it first.

If the PS3 had to compete solely against the XBOX 360, I think it would fair well in the long run, as long as prices come down, issues are resolved, and enough games are made. But since Sony faced so many delays to get the system on the market, they now have to contend with the Nintendo Wii, which looks to be kicking their butts. I just want a console game system that plays games well and connects to the Internet for online games. That is it. I don’t want it to serve as a computer, entertainment center, or DVR. I only want to play games. At this minute, if I could snap my fingers and have a new system to play, I would honestly like to play a Wii. After that, I’d like to play a 360. The PS3 is at the end of my list. A year ago, I never would have expected that.

What will come of the Playstation 3, time will tell.

I remember playing Sega Bass Fishing on the old Sega Dreamcast many years back, so I thought I’d pick up this one for the PS2. I recently bought this game on eBay, and surprisingly, Laura really enjoys this one. It is quite fun to play, but I think that trying to win CPU battles and fishing tournaments are both a bit too hard, though. The game feels very much like an arcade game that is simply ported to the PS2. Me and Laura play 2-player fishing duels and do have a great time. My only complaint is that the game feels a little too “programmed” in the habits of the fish. I wish it was made to be a bit more realistic. I don’t mean the graphics, but rather the motions and personalities of the fish in the water. After a while, it seems like there is a small list of scenarios that the game runs though and it soon becomes quite predictable. However fun to play, it is certainly one of those games that when you lose, you actually have cause to shout “RIGGED!”

Many years ago, one of my favorite games of all time came out for the ancient Sega Dreamcast console. The game was made by Midway and was called Hydro Thunder. The life of the Dreamcast was short and is now a device of the past. Hydro Thunder needs to be revived today on the PS2 or Xbox 360. The only other version of the game, to my knowledge, was released for the old Playstation 1. I have never tried that one, but I imagine the graphics were not very good.

Hydro Thunder is an intense speed boat racing game. I have spent many nights in the past, duking it out on 2-player mode. The game is just so much fun. The graphics, sounds, boats, tracks, etc. are all outstanding and top notch. The game has a very fun and loose feel to it. It is the kind of game that you can play over and over, and yet still find a new shortcut or speed booster in new places you didn’t even know were there. I simply never got tired of playing this game. It is among the most fun 2-player games ever made. I don’t have a Dreamcast, but I wish I had a way to play this game, even if just one more time.

Years after the original game, Midway tried to come out with a sequel, this time involving snowmobiles, called Arctic Thunder. When I heard it was being released for the PS2, I was excited. The final reality was that the game was absolutely terrible. It looked so unpolished and played so sloppy that it behaved like a beta release or something. The premise of the game was okay, but the actual game-play is nearly the worst I have ever played. All of the magic in the original Hyrdo was gone in this game. It is complete crap.

My plea to Midway: Please revive Hydro Thunder again and release it for the PS2 and/or Xbox. Don’t stray far from the original. Keep the same hilarious boats, such as “Chumdinger”. Perhaps juice it up by adding Internet play and even more arenas and shortcuts. The game is just too great to let this opportunity pass. We’ll buy it if you do.

GoldenEye is back online again! I was able to get on and play last night. The official EA Games website for GoldenEye says that the servers for online play will be taken offline on in October. That’s too bad. I guess it doesn’t have a big following, but I do enjoy it.

I turned on GoldenEye for my PS2 the other day and found that there were no game servers operating for the online feature. Since it is my favorite online shoot-em-up game, I have tried almost every day since, with no luck. I finally did an online search to find that EA Games is pulling the plug on GoldenEye: Rogue Agent effective October 1, 2006.

Other titles from EA Games have already had their servers taken down as of early August. Most of them are outdated sports titles with the year after them (like Madden 2004, etc). But I am very disappointed to find out GoldenEye is going bye-bye. The weaponry, respawning speed, and hilarious kills will surely be missed. No other game that I own quite compares.

Again, they say official online gaming ends 10/1/06, but I am finding that I cannot join or host a game, even now. So much for a good thing. Shame on you, Electronic Arts!

I created a Pokerstars account for Laura today. Now she can play online with the rest of us poker fans.