What we're playing this weekend

by: Chuck - posted: 7/27/2007 12:00:00 AM

Randy Kalista - Staff Writer
I'm beginning to question the definition of "casual" gaming.  Because, more than anything else I've played this year, boardgame translations like Carcasonne and Catan, along with puzzlers like Hexic, are keeping me up way past my bedtime.  What makes these games so "casual"?  Is it that they're targeted at a mass audience?  (With Gears of War outselling everything else before it on the 360, who's this "mass audience"?)  Is it that casual games are easy to learn and play?  (Trust me, conquering Halo is far easier than forming a black pearl in Hexic!)  Or that they require no long-term commitment?  (Sure, MMOs are long-term commitments, but your average 12-hour shooter sure ain't.) 

Speaking of MMOs, Lord General British just shipped some Beta Keys to GamingNexus for Tabula Rasa.  I think that my weekend commitments just became very un-casual in nature.

Dan Keener - Staff Writer
I will be playing some Guitar Hero I and II on the PS2, whoring points from the various XBL Arcade titles I own and if the Gamefly Q is accurate, I should have NASCAR 08 for the Xbox 360 by Saturday.

Cyril Lachel - Senior Staff Writer
Ever since E3 I have been scrambling to finish all of the games I'm working on and get the reviews in, so this weekend will be the first time in a long time where I don't have any games I absolutely have to play.  Without any games to review I'm not sure what I'm going to play, there's a part of me that feels empty.  My plan is to get in as many rounds of Bomberman Live as I possibly can, and who knows, maybe this is the weekend when I finally go through and beat Okami!  Or maybe in honor of The Simpsons Movie I'll dig up my copies of the NES games, Bart vs. the Space Mutants here I come!

Tyler Sager- Senior Staff Writer
I probably won't get a lot of gaming time in this weekend, but I'll try to squeeze a little Overlord in where I can.  There's also a remote chance I'll pick up the Civilization 4 expansion, but that might have to wait a week or so.  So it's looking like more evil for me!

Charles Husemann - Editor in Chief
This weekend I'll probably be spending some more time with the Heavenly Sword demo, I've already played through it three times and every time I've found one or two cool new moves.  I'd like to get a better grasp of the combo and counter system and quality time with the demo is probably the best way to do that.  Like Randy I'm planning on spending some time with Tabula Rasa.  Time permitting I'll probably fire up Project Sylpheed for a while as I'd like to get the review of the game out by the end of he month.

John Yan - Senior Hardware Editor
I'm going to try and finish my second season of MLB07 The Show and see what kind of contract I can get as I'm hitting near .400 but I keep getting sent down to the minors because the guy in my position has a "hot bat" as my manager puts it batting .225. Man, talk about frustrating as I go on a 66-game hitting streak and I get sent down to AAA. I'm also going to check out some of the Heavenly Sword demo that just popped up on the PlayStation store.