Crispy Gamer News

Today The Game Trust tackles Soulcalibur IV, the importance of cooperative play, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and the latest releases on the Wii Shop Channel.

First up is Gus Mastrapa’s feature Bring a Friend, which talks about what upcoming games are offering cooperative play, why it is important and which game developers have made the mistake of omitting this popular style of play. Feature - Bring a Friend

Next is Harold Goldberg’s review of Soulcalibur IV. Despite some grumblings about Star Wars sullying the game’s cast, Harold gives the game a ringing endorsement.  Reviews - Soulcalibur IV (Xbox 360),  Soulcalibur IV (PS3)

Kyle Orland puts Enemy Territory: Quake Wars through 60 minutes of scrutiny in the latest Games For Lunch. Column - Games for Lunch: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Finally, the latest edition of Virtual Player takes a closer look at Fatal Fury 2, Donkey Kong 3, Ninja Commando and more on the Wii Shop Channel.  Column - Virtual Player

Oh wonder of wonders, what headlines our content on Crispy Gamer today? Well judging by the pretty picture to the left it is a review of something involving an oversized chicken. Today we review Final Fantasy Tales: Chocobo’s Dungeon and NCAA Football 09, with only one of these titles getting our stamp of approval.

Also on tap today is a brand new Games For Lunch featuring Don King Presents: Prizefighter (I played 20 minutes with the Xbox 360 demo and wanted to punch myself in the face - I hope Kyle can endure an entire 60 minutes), and a new edition of LiveWare (Soulcalibur, Schizoid, Ticket to Ride and more covered):

» Review - Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon (Wii): Square Enix’s cute, treasure-hunting duo make their way to the Wii in this action-RPG. Will Harold Goldberg be charmed by Cid and his giant, dungeon-crawling chicken? Or will he serve them up fried? Read on to find out.

» Review - NCAA Football 09 (Xbox 360): Will the ‘09 edition score a touchdown for EA Sports’ college pigskin franchise? Read on for William Abner’s play-by-play.

» Column - Games for Lunch: Don King Presents Prizefighter: Kyle Orland gives Don King the KO treatment for his latest column. Glove up and get in the ring for an hour of play.

» Column - Live Ware: Soulcalibur, Schizoid, Ticket to Ride and more: Does the original Soulcalibur hold its own nearly a decade later? Phil Theobald has the word on this and other recent offerings on Xbox Live Arcade.

All of this week’s post-E3 coverage has been leading up to today’s coup de grâce, a final and mighty blow against the atrocity that was the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit. We end our coverage with the first annual Crispies - awards of a cynical nature that put a spotlight on some of the not-so-glorious events, people and games that let us down the hardest.

We also analyze why E3 was broken and what the ESA can do to make things right in 2009; we deliver part III of our E3 Greatest Hits, which reveals the top five games of the show, and Gus Mastrapa’s bittersweet look back at what games tugged on his heartstrings and what games left him with heartburn. Buckle up, because this will be a bumpy ride.

Feature - Eyes-on at E3 2008 by Gus Mastrapa

Feature - The 2008 Crispy Awards: Special E3 Edition by the Crispy Staff

Feature - E3 Aftermath: The CG Greatest Hits, Part Three by the Crispy Staff

Feature - How to Fix E3 by Billy Berghammer

The E3 Media and Business summit may be over but our post mortem coverage continues with bloody, soul crushing results.. for some. More after the jump.

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As the corpse of E3 continues to decompose, we continue to roll out or E3 coverage, including a round table analysis on the show in the latest episode of Blazing Prattles:

Feature - The Five: DC Universe Online: Comic book lovers, your dreams might just be coming true. The Justice League of America is preparing to pit superheroes against supervillains on a massive scale. Evan Narcisse got an early look at this upcoming MMO at E3.

Feature - Blazing Prattles Podcast, Vol. #14:
What did the Game Trust think of the biggest week in videogames? Tune in for their rants and raves about the biggest games — and the smaller size — of this year’s E3.

Feature - The Five: Animal Crossing: City Folk
What will your Miis make of the City Folk moving in on the Wii? Billy Berghammer got an early look at E3.

Column - I Call Bullshit: Special E3 2008 Edition: E3 2008 has come and gone, leaving a trail of offenses in its wake. Scott Jones tugs on his wellies and sorts through the notable nuggets from the week.

Feature - The Five: Dead Space: Horror is heading for outer space, so get ready for gore in zero gravity. Russ Fischer got an early look at this game at E3.

Column - Games for Lunch: Boom Blox: Kyle Orland throws, grabs and blasts away in this action-puzzler for the Wii. Will an hour of knocking down towers of blocks be more fun than it sounds?