I would have covered this DLC add-on later, but between my trip to Hawaii and my Xbox dying immediately after, I wasn’t in the mood to wax nostalgic about gaming.

But L4D2‘s “The Passing” is too noteworthy to pass up.

It is largely fanfic crossover, but in a good way. You know something is immediately wrong when you see the immediate group, and the interactions between the two teams are diverse and vary more than I expect. There’s a lot of new chatter.

There are only three levels, but there are more than a fair share of random factors: For starters, weather effects happen sporadically, so you never know what the condition of the skies will be like. “Hard Rain” is easily my favorite campaign of the sequel, and having moments like that in a new setting are pretty awesome.

There are other events, such as seeing the Midnight Riders’ bus drive by, giving credence that the band is still alive. There’s also new music, new Infected, new weapons, a Dead Rising and Plants Vs. Zombies nod as well as other mentions of classic zombie flicks…. I felt “Crash Course” from the first game didn’t provide as much as it Read the rest of this entry

Pun-based as it may be, this is the current state of my Nintendo system.

In the last two weeks, the Wii has been putting weird scratches on my games. Not the “circular” scratches that are most common with system/disc damage, but these weird scuffs on the outer edge of the disc. Some can be wiped off like a smudge. Others are set in a straight line of little scratches. I’m having to go back into my “game tester” mindset, and the closest thing I can think of is that it’s either that black rubber piece on the front of the system that keeps dust out and discs stabilized, or…. You got me.

I’ve called Nintendo twice on it. Both reps had zero idea of what I was talking about, and honestly, I think Nintendo reps get a sadistic kick out of hearing people say “I think I have a problem with my Wii.” I had two female reps, and each one has that little undertone of “Oh, you have a problem with you Wii?” I’m sure this is a high point of comedy in the Nintendo tech support department.

At any rate, neither girl had heard Read the rest of this entry