Another year, another great PAX. If you've never been to the Penny Arcade Expo, it's debatably the best gathering to celebrate videogames and videogame culture on earth. E3 might win out in terms of sheer size, number of parties, and the incredible quantity of games on display, but PAX has never attempted to be direct competition. Instead, this convention focuses more on the gamers themselves, and in doing so, has become the preeminent place to be a gamer.

Caught in a Bad Bromance

HIGH: Unique and visceral camera work.

LOW: Everything else.

WTF: The level where you run around naked with more open bloody wounds than Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

It's not too often that a first-party Nintendo release is disappointing, but Metroid: Other M is one of those rare titles. It's been facing adversity on two fronts. The first problem is that the game strayed from Nintendo's recent trend of releasing first-party titles on Sundays by releasing on a Tuesday. The second problem is that the game has been receiving some criticism from various sources on the internet, ranging from issues with the controls to focusing too much on story to even issues with sexism.

So, yeah. I called it. Sure, it was just shy of 10 months ago, but I did predict that Microsoft would increase the price of Xbox Live (XBL) subscriptions… and here we are. The increase occurs on November 1st, which is just before the release of Microsoft's Kinect camera and associated hardware bundles. It's a blatant attempt to cash in on these new users while raising prices for legacy consumers at the same time.

Completed Dead Rising 2: Case Zero last night. I was having so much fun that I decided to go for all of the Achievements and just wrapped it up a few hours ago.

Hellishly Good

HIGH Demolishing hordes of demons with righteous holy light.

LOW Trying to figure out how to stay airborne for eight seconds.

WTF Why is there no second, darker ending for playing the evil side?

Don't Knock the Farmer

High Wiping the floor with enemies who wiped the floor with you earlier.

Low Adding a new class mid-game can mean a lot of painful leveling-up.

WTF Would it really kill the game to have the experience accrue just a bit faster?

Too Human? Too Tedious

HIGH Fantastically creative re-imagining of Norse myths.

LOW The repetitive, soul-crushing flatness of the gameplay.

WTF Why does each part of the game feel like it doesn't fit with the rest?

Escaped the Police, but got a Little Banged up Along the Way

HIGH The first few hours of story.

LOW The driving.

WTF Driving into a barrier on an overpass, being thrown through the windshield, falling six or so stories, and still walking away.