So, after the break, we have assembled three DC strips out of six of these seemingly random scripts. They might appear a bit scatter-brained, but they are actually transcendently sensible, with high-brow subtext. They are, after all, powered by monkeys. Enjoy!

1/Too Friggin’ Hard Comics:

2/Everyone Defaults to Ice-Cream Comics

3/Scientific Breakthrough Comics

Seriously though, Dinosaur Comics is awesome, check it out!

Oh and the StarCraft II beta has launched! If the only good thing to come out of it is this thread, it’ll still be one of the most worthwhile projects ever. Anyway, here’s this month’s list:

9th: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3/X360)
19th: God of War 3 (PS3)

That’s 1.5 PS3 exclusives, and they might actually be… passable? That’s some record Sony is setting.

Next JRT episode on track for mid-March!

This episode has been at 95% since early December, so there exist a couple of dated comments, but NSMB Wii is still going strong in the charts; I figure the review can still be helpful. The sound should be clearer than usual, but there are a couple of instances near the end where it fluctuates out of its own volition. You’d think it’d be easy to fix, but it only appears at the final encode and not while editing, so I suspect metaphysical shenanigans. Probably one of those damn Boos.

Next review will be of a much fresher release and it will be up… soon!

9th: Bioshock 2 (multiplatform)
16th: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
23rd: Heavy Rain (PS3)

As a reminder, I’m not saying any of the other games coming out this month aren’t promising, it’s just that I’m personally not as excited about your Star Trek’s Inferno Chronicles as I am about the above three.

Here’s to a lovely February!

Link’s Valentine’s courtesy of Scott Ramsoomair of VGcats.

Wedged between an idyllic 2008 and a promising 2010, 2009 was a pretty mediocre year for videogames, especially since Modern Warfare 2 scared many interesting titles away from the holiday season. It’s finally behind as, and here are the games I’ll be looking forward to the most this first month of 2010!

7th: Darksiders (X360/PS3)
8th: Bayonetta (X360/PS3)
29th: Mass Effect 2 (X360/PC)

One of videos I didn’t manage to finish due to the festivities was a 2009 recap, where I focused on the two games that are on everyone else’s Games of the Year lists and my top two picks (which, of course, also appear in many such lists). My candidates were Assassin’s Creed II and Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I’ve analysed ACII, both in text and video form, and I might eventually do a proper review of Arkham Asylum, but, to summarize: It’s really surreal that a relative newcomer, Rocksteady Studios, released such a textbook example of a videogame, and it’s that precious detail that serves as my tiebreaker. Congratulations Arkham Asylum, you are my Game of the Year!<

Contact me if you want the bumper sticker.

The next episode has been stuck in editing limbo for the past couple of weeks, but we’ll get it to air once the festivities are under control. The original plan was for a release on the 24th and then a special JRT on the 31st; since the special episode is a bit like a “Best of 2009 in Gaming” recap, it’d be neat to have it out before the new year… but, at this point, this seems highly unlikely.

Dare I say,  it would take a… Christmas Miracle™?

As the seminal (PC) gaming connoisseurs over at RPS might put it, my analysis starts a bit like:

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than three years since my review of the DS version. I think that my writing style has changed a bit, but I have an innate aversion to looking at my older pieces for too long, so I can’t say for sure.

Most of my reviews will probably be considerably shorter, but I like to be as informative as possible and keep even the casual gamer in the loop. For a high-profile sequel such as Assassin’s Creed II, that means quickly going over the original, the special editions and the downloadable content, so the run-time piles up.

Still, some bits are edited out, believe it or not. For example, I really wanted to debate whether “Assassins” is an accurate name for our hero’s group. They are vigilantes, sure, they take the law into their own hands, but assassins?

When I think of an assassin, pop culture makes me picture someone you’d hire to sneakily & efficiently terminate an enemy.

In Assassin’s Creed the self-proclaimed Assassins usually kill out of their own volition, to protect their beliefs, and they go about it using the most extravagant methods possible. There is no poisoned food or drinks, there are no “accidents” or staged suicides.

You might argue that you can play it very sneaky if you want, but the gameplay clearly regards complete stealth as a secondary matter. Besides, even in the short movie, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, Giovanni reveals himself early in order to have time to make his little speech first. The bad guys of the AC universe actually prove much more assassin-like in their ways.

Now, I’m fine with fiction breaking stereotypes, but I’d like some acknowledgment that the writers do realize that if an average person met an assassin, they wouldn’t curiously look at their ring finger and assume they’re looking for Templars to kill.

That would be like having something as strikingly unconventional as vampires that sparkle in the sunlight or werewolves that are unaffected by the moon, yet every supposedly normal person in your universe acts all nonchalant about it. That would drive me crazy.

Speaking of which, if you are a new visitor, you might want to first check the lighter, more “newcomer-friendly” JRT episodes, Punch-Out!! & Monkey Island SE. Of course, we also have the epic, 5-part, Metal Gear Solid 4 review/playthrough, but its terrifying length & troubling sound means it’s probably best left for last.

Also, under the break follows a list of new releases most likely to help us have a fantastic December!

4th: James Cameron’s Avatar (Multiplatform)
4th: The Saboteur (Multiplatform)
8th: Tales of Monkey Island Finale: Rise of the Pirate God (PC/Wii)

Yeah, it’s a slightly underwhelming holiday line-up, especially for us Europeans, but fear not, for we have enough reviews in the back-burner to easily keep us rolling until January, even in the unlikely case that I actually manage to churn-out videos every week!

Even though I did like the original and had high hopes for this one, Ubisoft still managed to surprise me positively with Assassin’s Creed II. More insight when the video review goes live, hopefully by the end of the week!