As per annual tradition, the WingDamage crew will be tackling the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) yet again. Our biggest goal for the site will be to get as much hands-on time with as many unreleased games as our modestly sized team can muster.

If we can manage to acquire a decent internet connection during the trip, we may have some coverage during the con. Otherwise, expect hands-on impressions to pour in as early as Monday.

Either way, we will be updating our twitter feeds all throughout the con. For a complete twitter list of the attending WingDamage staff, head past the break.

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Scott Pilgrim is having a bit of a media explosion at the moment. It’s gone from an independent comic (started in 2004) that I had only heard about in passing, to a franchise that the entire internet seems to be talking about (both positively and negatively) with a movie and a videogame released last week.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is an old-school brawler through and through. You and up to three local friends (sorry, no online multiplayer) play as either Scott, Ramona, Kim, or Stills and get to punching and kicking your way through each of the game’s stages.

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Back in my younger days, I swore by genre definitions. I had a very clear idea in mind of what I thought classified a game into each genre. Any deviation from those rules outlined in my head required a subgenre. But as time marched on, I’ve come to realize how incredibly ridiculous all this is.

While genres are a nice way to quickly identify what to expect from a game, I’ve run into quite a few issues with the concept. For one, different people classify genres differently. There’s also the issue of the increasing trend of blending genres. And what about the literal names themselves? Some of them just don’t make sense any more.
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If there’s one thing I hate about the digital age we live in, it’s that everybody complains too much. For whatever reason, people in comment threads, forums, and even videos feel the need to aggressively shove their cynicism down the throats of everyone in their digital vicinity.

What if all those comment threads were combined into the form of one person, and that person wouldn’t stop talking as you try to play a game? It might sounds something like the video above.

Much like Dragon Quest, the Monster Hunter series is one of the biggest names in gaming in Japan and almost unheard of in North America. Most people over here just don’t “get it”, and many of them don’t want to put forth the effort required in order to really understand what the game is all about. After all, even with more accessible entries in the series such as Monster Hunter Tri, there is still a very steep learning curve to overcome.

Originally I wanted to write a review of Monster Hunter Tri in order to spread the word. However, after over 100 hours of playing the game, I still haven’t experienced all it has to offer. I’ve come to realize, it’s not a traditional review that’s going to spark interest. My hopes are that by sharing the reasons that the series is so engaging (many of which are not immediately obvious to the new player), it will help more people realize the joys that can be found from becoming a Monster Hunter.
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"A new song, every day... that I feel like it."

People that know me well know that I can’t shut up about videogame music. I love the stuff. I listen to it all the time. I remix it. Yet, I don’t always feel like writing a full, long-form piece on it which is why my music posts here on WingDamage don’t happen that often.

For this reason, I’ve created an outlet for myself where I can share a few words about my game music passion each day. Main Finger’s Videogame “Jam a Day” Blog is a place where you can hear a videogame song hand picked by me every day (barring unforeseen circumstance) and read my very brief thoughts on it.

Sometimes it will be directly from a soundtrack, sometimes it will be a remix. There aren’t any strict rules here. However, my goal is to introduce people to new music they might not otherwise hear from a variety of genres and artists. Because of this, you might not always see me pick the most well known tunes (though I’m sure classics will appear from time to time).

So head on over to mainfinger.tumblr.com and see for yourself the songs I love. And if you like the blog, be sure to recommend it in the gaming and/or music directory of tumblr and spread the word to your friends. Hope you enjoy!

I really enjoy playing old games. This will come as no surprise to readers that keep up with our Friday Old Games series. But when I do get in the retro mood, I almost always do it on the real console. ROMs, collections, and downloadable releases just don’t feel the same as hooking up an NES (or whatever other system) and playing the game with the setup it was intended for, controller and all.

Lately, this has got me thinking. 20 years from now, will we still be able to experience this current generation of games? And if so, to what capacity?

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Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is often referred to as a “dream sequel”. The original Sin & Punishment never made it to America in cartridge form, though it was later released on the Wii’s virtual console. It’s been a full decade since the release of the last game. Now in 2010, not only is there a sequel, it’s actually released outside of Japan.

For those not in the know, Sin & Punishment is a third-person rail shooter. In other words, it has more in common with Star Fox than House of the Dead. Quite possibly the best way to describe it is to take a Bullet-Hell SHMUP, combine it with a Run ‘n Gun game such as Contra, then put that in a 3D space.

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“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Back in the glory days, when companies would send out VHS tapes to promote their games, there was Donkey Kong Country. Rare took the series from its arcade roots and transformed it into a platformer, boasting revolutionary 3D graphics without the need for additional hardware.

The premise is simple. The Kremlings, a group of reptilian creatures, have stolen Donkey Kong’s giant banana hoard. With the help of his friend, Diddy, they must go through each stage, defeat a boss, and get more bananas back.

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You’ve probably noticed that things over here at WingDamage have looked pretty differently the last couple days. Your eyes do not deceive you. You are reveling in the sheer fanciness that is the new WingDamage.

While the new design is more of a drastic revision than a complete overhaul, there are a few changes I’d like to point out. For one, you can now see the handsome faces of the author of each post, making it easier to identify who’s writing what. There are also large comment count indicators above the posts that can be clicked to jump right into the discussion.

Our categories have also bee revised. No longer will you have to dig through Hands-On Impressions, Anticipated Games, or lists when trying to browse our articles. Instead, these types of posts have been moved to the new “features” category, leaving articles with only the pure editorial content you’d expect from the name.

This isn’t the end of the changes. What you see here is only the beginning. More features are planned in the near future. So stay tuned, WingDamagicians! It only gets better from here.