He also looks like a burning Hatchetman

I wanted a donut cake (since I hate cake) for our wedding. That idea never made it very far.

Here's where we're getting them from. www.voodoodoughnut.com

For Corvin

Dunno if it's been mentioned here, but one of the Listen Up guys had some really positive things to say about Shadow Complex during the most-recent podcast (mp3). They spent about twenty minutes or so on it. The guy (it was one of the two guys who aren't Garnett or John) said that he had already played through it twice and was still planning on buying it when it comes out. Said the first time he finished it, he was about five hours in and around 45% complete. The only real negative he mentioned was that the game had some slight pacing problems--he actually beat the end boss without realizing it was the end boss--but other than that it sounds like he really enjoyed it.

Off-topic: They also spent another twenty minutes on Scribblenauts for the DS, and it sounds super-interesting.

I got two Wavebird controllers from our gift registry.

Superfro, i blame both you and Prof for me heading home and buying Splosion Man. I had been successfully holding off but listening to the podcast pushed me over the edge.

Jerks.

Pardon me if I don't lose any sleep over the hours of enjoyment you're going to get for a measly $10.

(Or the agony you may experience in some spots too. )

Well i was extra cursing you guys this evening. I so far have avoided both Splosion Man and Battlefield. You guys were making both pretty tempting.

I ended up going with Splosion Man since my daughter would enjoy watching it being played. She thinks the main character is an absolute riot.

Last podcast though.... had naughtier language than normal. I actually had to turn you guys off in the car when the 5 year old was listening.

If possible, could you do the Developer stuff first, leaving the ending discussion for as long as possible? Of course, if I just finish the damned game I wouldn't care, but who knows when that might happen?

I must say, I'm shocked by the poor reviews TMNT Turtles in Time Reshelled is getting. The Metacritic score is brutal -- a "61" now..

If it's a few bad reviews that's one thing, but this is everybody but Team Xbox (who never met an Arcade game they couldn't gush over) saying pretty much exactly the same thing. Imagine how harsh the critics would have been if they had stuck with 1200 points! That's the lowest Metacritic score for any of the XBLA games in any of their featured promotion times. I'm waiting to see what I think of Trials HD now...

It's pretty damn dull, all things considered. I believe that TMNT Arcade is a much more fun experience, even though they're largely the same. It may be that the first is harder. It may be that the first has more memorable bosses. It's probably both.

But for achievements, there's not a lot of replayability here. And even those are easy except for the Survival one, which feels extremely doable.

TMNT is not bad, it's just a beat em up. Of course it's boring and has little replay value, they all do. I found it fun the 2 times I played through it, which is about what I expected. It's just as repetitive as 'Splosion Man, which everyone busts a nut over...just not as frustrating.

Yup, I said the same earlier. For some reason the old one is just more fun. For some reason, I think it would have been more entertaining if they had the original graphics or maybe even used the SNES version as a base rather then the Arcade.

The controls also feel kind of floaty to me and imprecise.

I haven't bought Splosion Man yet, but I have played through the demo multiple times, and while it's repetitive, I don't think it's ever boring like a traditional beat 'em up can be. I mean, at its core, the great Mario games are repetitive too, but what makes that ok is in a platformer you're trying to do something. How I mean is there is timing and puzzle elements that break up the monotony. TMNT is just move right and hit X.

Which is all well and good, but I think when it comes to beat 'em up gameplay simple shit like combos goes a long way. A good comparison to TMNT would be the X-men legends type games. At it's core, it's the same "move forward/kill everything" gameplay of old school beat 'em ups, but being able to do combos and level up moves and unlock various moves goes a long way in putting some foundation over the bruise of tired game play. At least for me.

As a TMNT fan from the 80s, I like the existing TMNT Arcade more than In Time for the following reasons:

1.) Memories from playing it in the actual arcade.
2.) Felt more like the cartoon
3.) 400 pts. vs. 800 pts.
4.) Original graphics that weren't "re-imagined"
5.) More difficult.

I blast through it at least once a week and if I can get 4 people together it's even more fun.

Trials HD review is up at IGN. Score = 8.5. They like it but confirm that it's hard as hell and frustrating. I'll have to see how the demo is. It HAS to be easier to control than using the arrow buttons on the PC. I like the idea of seeing how the top 5000 people beat the level via instant download. That's a good idea.

Trials HD 1200 pts

Yeah, the Turtles in Time remake suffers from ugly, desaturated "HD" graphics (is there a problem with modern GPUs being able to display colorful colors, I always wondered this) and probably the most bland soundtrack ever, especially compared to the awesomeness of the arcade/SNES music.

I still need the two multi-player achievements if you want to play some time.

Nope, it definitely isn't a problem with modern GPU's. Actually they have much larger color palettes than previous GPU's.

I wasn't sure if you were being serious or not, since that subject is pretty much a broken record with you at this point.

Well, I tried Trials and actually liked it a lot. It's still hard, but at least with the analog controls, I feel like I've got a fighting chance. The demo is short, but it gave me a taste of what the game is like and it feels much better than the PC version. I figured, what the hell, for 1200 points (A/R) I'll get it and TMNT Re-guritated. It looks like a game I'll play in short bursts for a while.

Put me in the camp of people who like the Turtles in Time remake. If I want the original version, I'll play it on SNES.

Can't wait to play Trials tonight! It'll be nice to finally play this game from the comfort of a couch.

Not sure how worth it TIT remake is. 4player co-op we beat the game on hardcore our second time through. Needs an extra few levels, otherwise should be a 400 pointer.

Ok, Trials is going to be my shit. I can see how it's going to get hard as balls, and I'm not usually one for headache games, but I LOVED the demo. I love how quick you can restart after you bail.