The Week in Games

Turntablism comes to the consoles, gamers celebrate the season of terror, and a moonwalking cat game — after the break!

Hype of the Week

DJ Hero (Xbox, PS3, Wii), the game that does for turntablism what Guitar Hero did for air guitar, was released this week to solid reviews — 84 to 88 on Metacritic, depending on platform. It was also released to an analyst’s warning — “blah blah blah, we probably won’t sell as many of these as we were hoping. Maybe next time.” I paraphrase. Personally, I’m of two minds: sad that a good title is likely to underperform; glad that, in March or so, this $120 title will be going for $60.

Here’s one of the many well-done trailers:

The intro cinematic is also worth a look.

Halloween Round-Up

GamesRadar chased down ‘the top 7 scariest games you’ve never played.’ BitMob talked about the things that make a game scary. There’s an XBox arcade app that features virtual pumpkin carving. The guys behind the highly recommended Castle Crashers demonstrated how to make a Castle Crashers costume. Many of the MMORPGs are celebrating halloween in their own way; Champions Online has their own event, and it’s free this weekend. And, finally, Valve leaked this outstanding trailer for Left4Dead 2:

iPhone Notes

An iPhone developer, Smells Like Donkey (!), posted an item this week that a) describes how to pirate iPhone games, and b) complains that over 80% of the copies of his latest iPhone game were pirated. … One iPhone game started offering extra lives for a buck. … Classic games Catan ($4.99) and Romance of the Three Kingdoms ($9.99) came to the platform. … Soon-to-be-released MeowWalker features a cat that dances like Michael Jackson:

Misc. Notes

I tried to figure out a way to tie these together better, and failed. Maybe I need more coffee. If you see a thread here, let me know!

Now that we’re three years in on this generation of consoles, G4 decided to do a well-written and informative check-in. The Wii has almost sold as many units as the Xbox and the PS3 put together. … Rockstar, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto is working on a title called LA Noire. What few details we know beyond that came from their voice-casting call this week. … Peter Molyneux, the game designer behind Black & White and the Fable line, picked his five most innovative games. They are: Dune 2, Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Halo and World of Warcraft. … In a surprise to almost no one, Netflix is coming to the PS3. … And, finally — as a resident of Austin, Texas, I’m obligated to report this — according to his harmonica player, Willie Nelson is addicted to Wii Golf.

Have a safe and happy Halloween! If you like this, tell your friends!