Let’s take a walk down memory lane:

July 1991 – Duke Nukem, a side scrolling shooter is released for PC.  Available on 3.5″ floppy!

August 1991 – The Super NES debuts, 2 years after the Sega Genesis.  Marking the beginning of Nintendo’s fall in to ‘kiddy’ games.

August 1992 – Mortal Kombat is released in the arcades.  Virtual disembowelment has never been this realistic!

December 1993 – Duke Nukem 2 is released for PC to little (if any) fanfare

May 1995 – The Sega Saturn debuts!  Stock in fork lifts soar as consumers have to use them to carry their Saturn controllers around.

January 1996 – Forever’s predecessor, Duke Nukem 3D is released for PC, pubescent teens everywhere (including your’s truly) were giddy over the strippers, toilets and masturbatory jokes

March 1996 – After 7 months, the Virtual Boy is discontinued.  Nobody cares.

September 1996 – The Big N releases the Nintendo 64 with launch title, ‘Super Mario 64′

January 1997 – Final Fantasy VII is release for Sony’s Playstation (yes, there HAS been 6 Final Fantasy’s before a sequel to Duke Nukem)

April 1997 – Duke Nukem Forever is announced to MUCH fanfare.  It is scheduled to be released no later than Summer 1998.

June 1998 – 3D Realms decides to switch Forever from the Quake II engine to the Unreal engine.  Effectively restarting the project.  Pricks.

Sometime around 1999/2000 – Someone (anybody?) at 3D Realms actually does some work.

October 2000 – The Playstation 2 is released, will go to sell over 6 times as many units as the Gamecube, released a year later (and still counting!).

June 2001 – A trailer is released at E3, fans are excited, ecstatic even.

June 2005 – There are rumors the game will be shown at E3.  Much to the surprise of nobody, it doesn’t.  Nobody cares anymore.

January 2006 – George Broussard is interviewed by 1up.com. Declares the game is close to finished.  It isn’t.

November 2006 – The curiously named ‘Wii’ is released and flies off the shelf.  Grandmother’s everywhere go bananas for them.  No actual games are sold.

December 2007 – Another teaser is released

May 2009 – Development suspended due to lack of funding *yawn*.

September 2010 – Game shown in playable form at PAX 2010, release date set for 2011 for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.  I’ll believe that when I see it.

• $40 (X360, PS3, PC) Dragon Age Origins, Brutal Legend, Need For Speed: Shift, Halo 3: ODST (X360 only), Left 4 Dead 2 (X360 Only), WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 ($45 for PS3)
• $47 (X360, PS3, PC) Madden 10, FIFA 10, NHL 10, NBA Live 10
• $30 (Wii) Madden 10, FIFA 10, Tiger Woods 10
• $28 (DS) WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010
• $15 (X360) Tales of Vesperia

Click here to see these deals and more

I will post any Black Friday deals I find here:

Walmart

• PS3 bundle: Infamous, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Dark Knight on Blu-Ray: $299
• Xbox 360 Arcade bundle: Madagascar 2, Madagascar 1 and 2 on DVD :$199
• Nintendo DS Lite – $98
• NBA 2K10 (X360): $25
• Carnival Games (Wii) – $10
• Grand Theft Auto IV (X360) – $10
• Madden 10 (PS2) – $25
• Rock Band Special Edition (PS3/X360) – $50
• The Godfather II (PS3) – $10
• The Sims 3 (PC/Mac) – $25
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii) – $25
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (X360) – $25
• WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2009 (PS3) – $25

Best Buy

• DSi bundle: buy any system, get a $20 gift card
• PS3 bundle: a PS3, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction – $299.99
• Xbox 360 bundle: an Elite 120GB system with six games (including Ghost Recon 2, Lego Batman, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows) – $299.99
• Boom Blox: Bash Party (Wii) – $14.99
• Bioshock (PC) – $4.99
• Brutal Legend (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• Dragon Age (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• Fallout 3 (PS3/X2360) – $19.99
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) – $34.99
• Madden 10 (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• NBA Live 10 (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• Need For Speed: Shift (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• NHL 10 (PS3/Xbox 360) – $34.99
• Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii) – $9.99
• Resident Evil 5 (PS3/X360) – $19.99
• World Of Warcraft (PC) – $4.99

Gamestop

• Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3/X360) – $39.99
• The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360) – $49.99
• Borderlands (PS3/X360) – $49.99
• Crisis Core – Final Fantasty VII (PSP) – $9.99
• Dead Space (Wii) – $19.99 *
• Family Game Night (Xbox 360) – $39.99
• Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360) – $39.99
• Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3/X360) – $19.99
• Guitar Hero 5 (PS3/X360) – $39.99
• Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) – $39.99
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) – $39.99
• Mario Kart (Wii) – $49.99
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS) – $34.99
• Need for Speed Shift (Xbox 360) – $39.99
• Prototype (PS3/X360) – $29.99
• Scribblenauts (DS) – $29.99
• The Sims 3 (PC) – $29.99
• Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 (Xbox 360) – $49.99
• New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) – $49.99
• World of Warcraft Battlechest (PC) – $19.99
• World of Warcraft (PC) – $4.99

Toys R Us

• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (Wii) – $29.99
• Dead Space (Wii) – $24.99
• Forza Motorsport 3 (X360) – $34.99
• Halo 3 ODST (X360) – $34.99
• Need For Speed: Shift (PS3/X360) – $34.99
• Xbox 360 Guitar Controller – $9.99

Target

• DSi bundle: buy any DSi, get a $20 gift card
• Xbox 360 bundle: an Xbox 360 Elite, 2 controllers, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and a $50 gift card: $399.99
• Assassin’s Creed II (PS3/X360) plus $10 gift card – $59.99
• Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3/X360) – $37
• Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (PS3/X360) plus $10 gift card – $59.99
• Halo 3 ODST XBOX 360 – $37
• Need For Speed Nitro Wii – $27
• Need For Speed: Shift (PS3/X360) – $37
• Personal Trainer Cooking (DS) – $7
• Wii Play Remote Bundle – $39
• Wii Sports Resort plus $10 Gift Card – $49.99

No one can deny that New Super Mario Bros. Wii features addictive, classic gameplay in just the right doses.  This game plays exactly like all the retro Mario games you know and love.  To this point the Big N delivers in waves.  However, once again, they have failed to deliver the polish and production we have come to expect from blockbuster 1st party efforts.  It is quite clear that they developed this game with the casual gamers in mind and did just enough to appeal to the hardcore crowd.

I am going to completely ignore the lack of online coop as this is the most maddening ‘missing’ feature of them all and it disgusts me to the point of sickness that it was excluded and I don’t think any further explanations are necessary.

First off, there is only 3 characters available to play with: Mario, Luigi, and Toad.  This is appalling.  Instead of Princess we get another Toad (albeit a slightly different palette).  Were they afraid of the rift in the space-time continuum that would likely occur if Princess was trying to save herself?  Are they that worried about realism?  Why couldn’t they have Daisy as a playable character?  Or, even better, have Princess as an unlockable character once you saved her.

How come said characters all behave the same?  I loved Super Mario 2 where you could choose your character based on their physical abilities.  Would that not be so much more fun with this one?  Would that not make it more fun from a teamwork perspective?  I think Nintendo is afraid that this would just baffle the casual gamer and that millions of gamers like you and I would be subject to countless phone calls from grandma imploring as to why she can’t get the second coin star in level 4-2 using Mario.

How about having unlockable characters?  Example, you finish 4-2 under a certain time and you get to use Birdo.  Is this too much of a stretch?  How about unlockable Mii clothes?

Lastly, I think the coolest thing they could have done was incorporate some sort of video sharing system.  How it would work is that the game would record everything you do in a certain level.  If you do something cool you could save the replay.  Trim off the cool part and upload it to the web or send it to your friends.  Even better if they don’t have to have the game to view them.  Seems like a great way to virally promote the game to me.

These are just a few features I have thought up.  Surely the geniuses at Nintendo with all their innovation can do better.  Why don’t they?

Several retailers are offering $20 gift cards on preorders of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, including Amazon, and Walmart.  If you don’t want to wait on shipping or too late to preorder you can pickup a $20 gift card at Toys R Us using your Rewards R Us Card (free) when purchasing.

Borderlands is a first person, Action RPG shooter set in a post-apocalyptic, cell-shaded wasteland.  It’s like someone painted the walls of their room Fallout 3, the ceiling World of Warcraft, then accidentally spilled a bucket of Crackdown everywhere.  In this game you assume the role of somebody, travel around some planet, fighting some creatures.  The beauty of Borderlands is that all that stuff doesn’t really matter.  All that matters is that you finish this one last mission so you can level up before going to bed.  I assume you run out of missions at some point, but that is OK.  You can start up a new game with one of the 4 different character classes (no doubt numerous DLC to be available soon)  There are tons of ways to develop your character and countless hours of addictive gameplay.  So what are you waiting for?  Get it now, it’s $10 off!

Screenshots have surfaced

Gone are the days of entering a room full of mature, knowledgeable adults sharing some Halo time between sips of tea and intelligent debates of the socio-political climate in Central Africa and the UN’s indifference to the mass genocides occurring there.  Logging on now, gamers are greeted with complete silence.  If you do happen to find a room with other stragglers, it will become apparent rather quickly why the other players have nobody to party chat with.  Also, you will come to know the sheer joy of getting your ass handed to you and your ‘lone wolf’ buddies by a group of people on party chat who play together all the time and lack the integrity to not call out your positions from the 3rd party cam after they have died.

SPECULATION and SPOILERS BELOW!!!

Infinity Ward has gone the extra mile to immerse the players in the war experience.  Included in this game are EMP grenades, which will disable the enemies communication.  This would not be possible if users were in party chat and would effectively render them useless.  Also, Call of Duty does things like being able to hear enemy chatter from distances, and other things that party chat would disable.

So gripe all you want fellow gamers, but I am completely in favor of this move by Infinity Ward.

Twitter API Documentation

Also included in the press release is the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes.  A disc containing both ‘Lost and Damned’ and ‘Ballad of Gay Tony’ episodes.  This disc will retail at $39.99 and will not require a copy of GTA IV to play.