Not every game can be a gem. Ultimately, the quality of a game comes down to the amount of work and time that the developers put into it. QA and bug testing are a huge factor as well, but less so for console games. Sorry Marvel sucked; it happens.

Castle Crashers, however, seems promising! I've read about it before, and it looks like fun.

Woohoo! Validation!!!

Thanks for the heads-up. I just read the reviews on Amazon and I'm seriously baffled at how people are rating this as a decent game. But meh. To each his own.

Do you know anything about this whole PSN Plus thing?

Castle Crashers.... I can't wait. I might go buy Monster Madness as well soon, too.

In completely unrelated news, check out this Gatling gun!
http://www.cabelas.com/p-0034775227757a.shtml

Last night I watched a review for the game "Flower". The first thing the guy said was that if I'd never seen the game, to turn off the review and just go buy it and play it because it was well worth the money and watching the review would take away from the game itself.

So I did.

I dunno what to think yet.

Ooh, Flower.......watched that review! Kinda trippy.

A quick Goolge of PSN+ brought up some pretty vague reviews. Seems like it's a Netflix-like service of certain games, but that's all I got out of it. No actual details.

So like the consumer whore that I am, I bought into PSN Plus the other night.

I wanted to buy Super Stardust HD. Regularly the game would be $10, but with PSN+, it would be a measly $5. The add-on packs are likewise discounted. So, gleaming with an excuse to blow money I really don't have right now, I purchased the PSN+ 1-year package for $50.

For those of you who weren't paying attention, I just spent $55 to buy a $10 game. Don't say I never did anything for this crappy economy!

But that moeny goes to Sony... in Japan!

Screw Ultimate Alliance!
http://marvel.com/videos/650.marvel_vs~ ... er_trailer

Sorry, thats the wrong link.
http://marvel.com/news/vgstories.13358. ... joins_mvc3

New games to talk about....

#1 Shank. Got the demo. It rules. Full game is only $15, so it's probably gonna be in my near future. It's like Double Dragon, but with updated fight style and a Cartoon Network kind of animation. Here's a link to a free costume code to myself as a reminder.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/08/ ... g-readers/

#2 Splatterhouse. Saw the preview on August's Qore and have been super stoked ever since. I think there's a video on this page. Very God of War esque, with a touch of horror. I'm hoping the price drops significantly over the next 6 months or so.
http://www.amazon.com/Splatter-House-Pl ... 855&sr=1-1

#3 Castle Crashers. Got it. Anyone who wants in, lemme know.

#4 Critter Crunch. Also got it, free with Plus membership. Definitely worth the money to pay for it, though. So far it's eaten up a few hours of my time, and a few more hours of Lisa's.

#5 Terrover. Got the demo off Plus, but the gameplay is just so damn hard that I'll probably get more frustrated with it than anything. The 4-Player Co-Op looks remotely interesting but again, the physics is really hard to master.

#6 Lego Indiana Jones. Not my style of game. Played the demo. Got bored fast. I don't know why people love these games.

#7. Earthworm Jim. I forgot how much fun this game was. Now that it's re-released, it's just as tempting as it ever was. The PS3 version has some updated audio bits and a multiplayer mode that I'm excited to see. That said, I have a hard time spending $15 for a game I already owned/played/beat/played/beat/played/beat 15 years ago. But I've also played the demo first level about 6 times so far and it hasn't lost its thrill yet. Haha.