Alright gang, today we enter the most easy-going month of the year and summer is so close we can practically feel the revitalizing sea breeze! You may check past the break, for my thoughts on May’s most interesting videogame releases!

13th: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Multiplatform)
17th: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (PC)
20th: L.A. Noire (X360, PS3)

My affection for both the LEGO: [Insert Franchise Here] concept and the Pirates of the Caribbean setting is common knowledge nowadays, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m happily looking forward to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game. Sure, it’s not likely to set the world ablaze, but it will be a very fun cooperative platformer nonetheless.

The original Witcher was an ambitious variation of the standard “Neverwinter Nights“-style for PC RPGs and Assassins of Kings looks set to be as pleasingly familiar, but still weirdly exotic as the first one. Of course, the thing I’m really curious about is whether I’ll be able to actually play it: DRM is always a hot topic on the Internets, but it’s with the Witcher that I’ve personally felt its sting, as no matter of customer, technical, or psychological support could get my legitimate copy to run past its unapologetically daft copy protection system.

Finally, L.A. Noire seems to be the game adaptation of your token “Gritty Police Procedural” TV show and has already picked up loads of press for having the most realistic facial animations ever rendered by a computer. It is also the latest in a string of Rockstar games that interest me immensely more than their Grand Theft Autos and I really hope it’ll hold up better than its honorary predecessor, boRed Dead Redemption.

There is also one more game that was in the Brink of making the list, but the bar has been recently set a bit higher for cooperative First Person Shooters. In unrelated news, 100% new JRT by the end of the week!

Cats & kittens, it’s already February: the most playful month of the year! Granted, most of its playfulness is attributed to Valentine’s Day, but these new, less racy, but still interesting games you can play in your bedroom do have their own part. Click past the break for their names and my quick thoughts!

18th: Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Multiplatform)
18th: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (X360, PS3)
22nd: de Blob 2 (Multiplatform)

As I’ve mentioned before and as silly as it might sound, the Lego [Insert Film License Here] series is actually pretty great! The Clone Wars focuses on the well-received animated series of the same name and the most interesting thing about it just might be that the portable versions are shaping up quite well. As a two-player experience, I’ll probably end up recommending this one over New Super Mario Bros. once again.

Fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, usually put me in the awkward spot where I’m too good to have fun playing them with my friends, but too n00b to make it online. And it is awkward, because they’re really meant to be played with other humans. Still, I feel that simply seeing all those beloved and despised characters co-existing once again will be a treat, even if the matchmaking isn’t fair enough to make online play enjoyable. And, of course, if you are a hardcore fan of fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom certainly has you covered.

Lastly, De Blob was a rather clever platformer for the Wii, with a pretty great development history. It was successful enough to warrant a sequel, probably because there doesn’t exist a playable Call of Duty game on the Wii for you lot to blindly buy instead. The sequel is multiplatform, however, so, if it bombs, I am blaming you and your BLOPS.

That does it for this month’s plan! As far as our posting schedule goes, we’ll have a piece covering the rest of the month’s videogame releases, then a review around Valentine’s Day and another one to close out February. Stay tuned to find out if I’m talking about text or video reviews, and if they’re for games that actually came out in 2011!

- Samus’ Valentine by Katrin Auch

Alright, apparently you do like The Plan posts, enough to also ask for an additional monthly summary of the less interesting, by JRT standards, releases. Let’s call it “The Back-Up Plan” and check out the very first one, after the break:

14th: Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (DS)
14th: DC Universe Online (PC, PS3)
21st: Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
21st: Mindjack (X360, PS3)
25th: Knights Contract (X360, PS3)
28th: Dead Space 2 (Multiplatform)

We do have a healthy selection of games this month and the reason these six don’t make my A-list is not that they look set to suck; you can’t really judge that from trailers and previews because these are pretty much required by law to be positive. But a game can give you a certain vibe, depending on what you personally like, whether it tries to bring something new & creative to the table, and how much effort the developers seem to have put into it.

These are the games that, to me, don’t look to be bringing something special and, even if I end up liking them, it’s unlikely they’d be intriguing enough to warrant a proper review. But don’t worry, we won’t be turning this into “Johnny Previews Tonight”, the team is working on some actual reviews that will be finding your way soon. But for now, here are my two cents on the aforementioned releases:

As absurd as it is, I really love the idea of Kingdom Hearts and it’s actually executed rather well. That said, I feel the handheld versions never quite reached the level of the “proper” installments, so I’m not holding my breath for Re:coded. However, it does make me want to count how many emails I got with that exact subject title.

As I’ve said before, I haven’t been excited for a MMORPG since Everquest. I have high hopes for Guild Wars 2, which shows ambition and a willingness to rework a lot of facets that have become taboo, but even The Old Republic, with its high production values and narrative hooks, leaves me bemused. So, if the Star Wars license can’t do it for me, what chance does the DC Universe have? It does have a veteran EQ developer working for it, strong backing by Sony and some cool trailers, so I’m fairly certain it’s going to be pretty good, but “pretty good” is not enough to get me back in the grind.

I actually briefly mentioned my thoughts on the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 way back in my video review. It has since been crowned the “JRT Game of the Year: 2010“, but you just can’t be legitimately excited for a re-release of a game that’s been out for so long.

Squeenix needs a solid title after bombing Final Fantasy XIII and especially XIV, will Mindjack be it? It looks ok, I like the Matrix-esque premise, but I am always wary when Square tries to switch genres.

I can’t quite get a read on Knights Contract. Sometimes it looks awesome, other times it looks like something you’ve played a million times before. It’s certainly something to keep tabs on, but I have a feeling it will be a somewhat enjoyable but easily forgettable game.

I would have instantly loved Dead Space 2, if only it had gone the B-Movie route and called itself Deader Space. I didn’t actually think the original Dead Space was that bad, I’m just not that big on its brand of survival horror and the sequel predictably looks to be more of the same.

So, that completes the picture of the gaming scene for this January! We might also get Stronghold Kingdoms, an MMO version of the average Stronghold line of strategy games, and some titles of an even lower profile, but this is where I draw the line. Next update will hopefully be a video review, in the meantime remember to check out the month’s predicted highlights I’ve posted earlier!

2011 is finally upon us and, when it comes to video-games at least, it is poised to kick ass, perhaps even rivaling the impossibly stellar 2008. And even though we won’t get to a drool-inducing avalanche of truly promising titles until Q4, we do have a couple of potential gems right off the bat; let’s check them out, after the break!

14th: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)
19th: Little Big Planet 2 (PS3)
25th: Two Worlds II (Multiplatform)

One of my new year’s resolutions is to stop whining about editing times & delays. Instead, I might use this space to talk a bit more about the releases I choose to highlight in the monthly plan.

Of course, sometimes there isn’t much to say, as is the case with Ghost Trick: When I learned it’s developed by the creator of the Ace Attorney games, I firmly stood up, authoritatively pointed my finger towards the computer screen and exclaimed “SOLD“!

Little Big Planet was an ok game, a bit boring for actual gamers to play, but with an excellent level editor and Stephen Fry. Editing potential builds gaming communities and Sackboy is impossibly cute, certainly a much better mascot than Crash or Kratos, so Sony wisely decided to invest even more money in the franchise. Let’s see if this manages to elevate it from the condescending “It’s good for a PS3 exclusive” status to the elusive “It’s good, period” one.

Two Worlds II is there mostly because the original Two Worlds was so bad! The way I see it, either Reality Pump deliver more of the same and I label them “the Uwe Boll of video-games”, or they somehow manage to turn their spectacular mess around and produce a decent game. It’s a win-win!

So there you have the first batch of 2011′s noteworthy picks! As always, these aren’t the only games I’ll be getting, or necessarily the ones I’m expecting to be “the best”, but they are the ones I feel you should definitely be keeping tabs on.

Should I start making an extra monthly list, summing up the other higher-profile games of each month and also explaining why they don’t quite get me excited? Or should I stick to simply making a slightly cryptic & sarcastic reference to them? Either case is fine by me, since we’re be talking about games I won’t be caught Dead replaying and probably a waste of Space Too.

The summer draught is officially over and we finally have a good selection of games to look forward to! These past months sure went by fast, as if someone kept clicking the days away, thinking…

3rd: Metroid: Other M (Wii)
10th: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (X360/PS3/Wii/DS)
24th: Civilization V (PC)
24th: Dead Rising 2 (X360/PS3/PC)
24th: Metal Gear Solid Rising (PS3/X360/PC)

In other September news, Sony promptly tries to get into the “motion gaming” market Nintendo created 4 years ago with Move and I think Beyoncé is releasing a new remix of a popular ballad of hers, called Halo: Reach, or something.

Here’s to a great September!

Another February, available in 2010 flavour, another JRT episode, available next week and another list of the month’s most promising videogame releases, available right after the break!

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.

September flew by, thanks to things like making an unplanned trip abroad, but we have reviews on the back-burner and it’s time to take a look at this month’s most intriguing releases!

2nd: FIFA 10 (Multiplatform)
9th: Scribblenauts (DS)
16th: Brutal Legend (X360/PS3)
16th: Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves (PS3)
30th: Football Manager 2010 (PC)

Will this be the month where I’ll manage to post a video review within a week of a fresh release? Finish up the site? Start advertising? Sound intelligible? Stay tuned to find out!

The next video review is being uploaded as I’m writing this, so we’ll soon find out if the third time is indeed a charm. Meanwhile, I can tell by the gleam in your eyes that you might be looking for something more…

A few extra reviews were shot only to be canned over the summer and some didn’t make it past the early script. The site is slowly coming together however, a sign we are slowly starting this show for reals, and with three episodes live I think I’ve definitely learned something: Never pay more than $20 for a video-game.

No wait, I’ve picked that up somewhere else…

Anyway, the first thing to be improved over the next episodes is sound quality. Hopefully you will soon be able to hear me, if not understand me due to my lightning-fast manner of speaking. And by “you”, I really mean “I”, as advertising has yet to kick in so this site is only visited by me and a handful of woodland critters (that are impressively adept at hijacking wi-fi connections, let me tell you). “Marketing” will also take shape before the end of the month.

Given that I still haven’t managed to cover a freshly released title, an endeavour sure to drive me insane, the plan still is for two episodes per month. At the beginning of each month, I’ll be making a list of the upcoming titles that most catch my eye, then probably proceed to review something else entirely.

So, intriguing releases for the month of September:

18th: Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC – Has already launched for the X360 & PS3)
18th: Red Faction: Guerilla (PC – Has already launched for the X360 & PS3)
18th: Katamari Forever (PS3)
25th: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion (X360/PS3)
25th: Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box (DS)

Note that these aren’t necessarily neither the most promising nor the only ones I’ll be picking up; just those I find most interesting.

Have a great September!

Unknown source for the demotivational poster, but the idea was shamelessly stolen by the funny and informative Fifa Soccer Blog.

My glittering review of New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.

I really loved this one, I thought it covered the game well while still being an easy read. Also, with Mario being universally familiar, this was the article I’d point friends & family to, when prompted about my writing.

This is the first Ciao! review that has a title I’m delighted with. It’s a little known fact that I always think in puns and this is the first title that has a nice one.

A lot of people really loathe ‘em, “the lowest form of humour”, but making horrible puns is apparently in the job requirements for Eurogamer, so they can’t be that bad.