Posts Filed Under: video games

In previous years, our brief deliberations on Game of the Year nominations typically focused on games for a wide range of tastes: Dance Central 2, Limbo, Red Faction Guerrilla, Demon’s Souls, Red Dead Redemption. This year, however, just one game was deserving of our collective GOTY accolade: From Software’s amazing Dark Souls.

Curiously, we all agree that the spiritual sequel to Demon’s Souls was the most memorable game experiences of 2011. That’s pretty damn impressive, given the competition. Sure, we loved The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bastion, Mortal Kombat, Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP and Batman: Arkham City too, but nothing really did it for us quite like Dark Souls.

Mike platinumed it. Scott was consumed by it even while playing Skyrim. Jason simply adored the first five minutes.

So, congratulations, Dark Souls. You’re Meat Bun’s 2011 Game of the Year. We’ll prove just how much we love you in 2012.

That’s right! We’re going back to GR2 this weekend to help present another glorious night of video gaming at Game Night 5. Our next gathering, a joint effort with our friends at Giant Robot, Attract Mode and Angry Bananas, will feature two upcoming indie greats, Reverge Labs Skullgirls and Haunted Temple Games Skulls of the Shogun.

As a bonus/side effect, there will be some serious Nintendo 3DS StreetPassing going on. So bring your 3DS!

We may even have some new Meat Bun stuff for sale. Maybe!

It all happens this Saturday, June 25 2011, from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. Be there!

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

Man, where the hell have we been lately? Oh right! E3 2011 and ReveLAtions! That sure took a toll on the Meat Bun collective energy levels, but we’re back, well rested after watching some great fighting game tournaments and ready to roll. Thanks to the wonderful Freddie Wong and his latest video jam, “Arcade Dominator,” we’re more fired up than ever.

What else have we been doing besides attending convention centers, hotel meeting rooms and grand ballrooms? Playing Dark Souls, for one. We might go far enough to call it Meat Bun’s game of E3 2011. We just might.

We also got to play a little Skullgirls, which the LA Weekly and everyone else seems to be gushing over.

A few things we didn’t get to play–but desperately want to, hopefully at Tokyo Game Show–include Dragon’s Crown, the latest fan service fest from Vanillaware.

:3

Err yeah! There are more reasons that anatomically astounding warrior women for wanting to play this gorgeous PlayStation 3 and PS Vita game. Maybe you should watch the trailer to see why!

Also on the list of interesting Japanese curiosities is a Neon Genesis Evangelion game that might actually be a good Neon Genesis Evangelion game. That would be Rhythm Evangelion: 3nd Impact, a PSP game being made by Grasshopper Manufacture and musically touched by the great Akira Yamaoka.

The special edition(s) look fantastic.

Finally, I’ll cop to having a strong desire to play Dancing Eyes, the most unexpected entry in the Namco Generations line of HD recreations of classic (well…) Namco games. Have a look…

Whew! Anyway, please give us a follow on Twitter and/or Facebook so you can stay up to date!

E3 is the battle ground where the big three fall all over themselves vying for the top slot in your lil’ gaming heart. It’s beautifully ridiculous. Last year Microsoft handed out free Xbox 360 Slims like sample teriyaki chicken on a tooth pick to all conference attendees.

Seems Sony knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This year they called in a fleet of LA’s best gourmet food trucks, and parked the caravan around a large open bar. I was gorging myself like that scene in Defending Your Life where you could eat whatever you like, as much as you like, and it all tasted great. Dim sum, Cajun gumbo, spicy shrimp tacos… even had a dessert course or two. But somehow Subway got mixed into the picture. Yes, I know not everyone is going to partake of free, delicious tuna sushi hand rolls — but that’s what the corn dog and tater tot stands were for! Watching chumps eat prefabricated lukewarm turkey 6″ subs just because it was handed to them by a professional Nathan Drake cosplayer earned a scornful glance as I finished my gourmet tamarind/chili popsicle.

Now that I was thoroughly wined and dined, I was curious to see where this evening was headed. Kevin Butler was a no-show, and the mood took on an understandably humble and contrite tone in light of the massive network outages. Oh, no! I was hoping for something a little more fun and… titillating… like the Bioshock: Infinite trailer. After more than enough talk about AT&T partnerships *groan* and demos of first person shooters, things became a little more exciting.

Jane’s Addiction fit the bill nicely, though I had to force myself not to calculate how long ago I last saw them at the original Lollapalooza. The juxtaposition of hearing Perry Farrell singing Mountain Song and then chatting about Congressman Wiener tweeting his wiener proved to be a little surreal, but I am in no way complaining. Thank you, Sony. You have my number.

Things have been very, very busy here at Meat Bun HQ. We’re prepping for all kinds of things, like visits to E3 2011, Tournament Legacy’s ReveLAtions upcoming event and this year’s EVO 2K. Yes, we’ll be heading back to Las Vegas this year, stuffed with new tees, posters and much much more. But we’ll have more to talk about soon. In the meantime, let’s catch up on things.

As Darkstalkers collectibles go, a Lord Raptor statue sounds like a good investment. Still, $300! That’s a lot of scratch. Let’s hope this is Capcom testing the waters for a Darkstalkers return.

Absolutely returning is Demon’s Souls in the form of Dark Souls, undeniably a very familiar sequel with a few new gameplay elements and a fantastic URL.

Pixel maestro Paul Robertson did his part for a Minecraft documentary, cranking out some inspired player skins (while also creating the most amazing, most NSFW Pokemon-inspired animated GIF ever).

If we’re going to vote for alt Chun Li costumes, this cyber-version will be at the top of the list. Hey, if Akuma can be mechanized, why not Chun Li?

Finally, the soul still burns in the upcoming Soulcalibur V, which seems to be going about a sequel in all the right ways. Smaller character roster, half of it new and 17 years in the future. Yes, we’re quite curious to see what a 49-year-old Ivy is looking like too…

Let’s catch up on some of the recent things we’ve been waxing about online. Like Catherine. That Atlus game had me on the fence for a little while, thanks to its weirdness, difficulty and what appears to be lots and lots of block climbing. But then the limited edition came along, with its pizza boxes and boxer shorts. And, well, they had me at boxer shorts.

I’m still on the fence, however, about Kinect. Street Fighter hacks like this one might make me a believer. I’m holding out more hope for Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and Grasshopper Manufacture’s baseball horror… thing Codename D.

What’s one of my favorite things about Mass Effect? Ugly Shepards. Speaking of unattractive Commander Shepards, have you seen what happens when big head mode invades space sex scenes? Total horror. That’s what.

To cleanse your brain, how about Tristan Reidford’s stunning Portal 2 movie poster?

That will be available for sale on the official Valve Store soon, apparently.

Finally, speaking of Valve, Portal writer and Old Man Murray vet Erik Wolpaw dropped some serious knowledge about making games at NYU recently. Here’s a recap.