October 13th is going to be a particularly bittersweet day. Every minute I’m playing Brütal Legend is time not spent playing Uncharted 2 – and vice versa.

I’ve just spent a few hours throwing down with some randoms in Uncharted 2 co-op. There’s only one level, but even on easy it’s intense. The game throws out the notion of attacking from safety – everywhere is vulnerable, so you’ve got to stay on the move. You need your teammates as well – get caught in a choke hold and the only reliable way out is to have someone shoot the bad guy off you.

Visually the game is mint. The controls are spot on, and the co-operative bits aren’t a pain. I can say without hesitation that I’m going to be logging a good chunk of time with this in both single and multiplayer. It’s a great time to own a PS3.

@brutallegend on twitter was handing out beta codes for the demo yesterday. I managed to snag one for the PS3 and I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed with the game. From the incredible opening sequence to some deliciously squishy combat: I’m in love.

It’s pure Tim Schafer, of course. The writing is just dynamite – and the delivery (by Jack Black) is mint. The hellish world of Rock is entirely believable. I found myself overly jubilant and even a little giggly as I played through.

The worst part of the demo was that it ended. Rocktober is going to be freaking fantastic – it’s a cruel world that sees both this and Uncharted 2 released on the same day.

I was on the fence about Halo 3: ODST. I think it’s reasonable to be a bit concerned about a title that began life as an expansion; it felt like someone at Microsoft decided that they could sell it for more cash and shoehorned in Horde mode from Gears of War and some map packs for good measure. Given that I haven’t spent a ton of time with Halo 3 Multiplayer, I can’t say the addition of these features appeals to me.

Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica panned the game based on length of content and price. For once I think I can agree with Ben without reservation; ODST should have dropped (heh) at $39. Batman: Arkham Asylum was priced at $40 here in Canada (thank you Future Shop by way of a Wal-mart price beat) and it made the game a no questions asked day one purchase for me.

As it stands, I’ve got plenty of other games to play. I was browsing through my achievements list on my 360 yesterday and realized I’ve only full cleared 2 games. Needless to say, I’ve got enough gameplay to keep my going until ODST hits $19.99.

Besides, I’ve got to save my pennies for Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend. Priorities, people.

Yup. It’s hard.

The 21 day trial of EVE seems to make more sense than a 14 day trial; just getting used to the interface is going to take some time. I managed to get started with the tutorial missions yesterday. After the first few I wandered off to find the offices of a Penny Arcade Forums corporation. I ended up doing some tutorial missions for a race/bloodline that I’m not – meaning I couldn’t use some of the rewards yet. Curses.

I wandered back to my section of space and got through about half of the missions for my race and bloodline; I’m not sure if I’m just supposed to do one of these task lines or all of them – I’ve always been a bit of a completionist (within reason) so I’ve been doing all of them.

The new ships I’ve acquired are quite nice. I made the mistake of going out with a rail gun without loading ammo no less than three times (it’s not terribly intuitive – I’m not sure how to make that happen reliably).

I wish there were a way to increase the size of the interface the text is very small. I’m playing on both a 15″ laptop and a 30″ LCD on my gaming rig and everything feels like it could be sized up a tad.

I haven’t received an invite from the Deepcrows yet – I’ve read the threads a few times and I’m already comfortable with the idea that they’re going to call me a spy. Political intrigue is fun!

I spent some time talking to the EVE Online people at PAX; I was just starting to suffer from the early symptoms of H1Nerd1, so it was a bit hazy, but it’s the third year I’ve stopped into the booth and been intrigued.

The EVE threads on the Penny Arcade G&T forum make it clear: EVE isn’t easy and it can be flat out cruel. That said, it looks like there’s a strong community there. Shortly after my trip to the EVE booth I found myself in line, waiting for a Guild Wars art book; the chap behind me in line noticed the EVE magazine I was reading and commented that he played. He spun a tale of a game thick with political action that was a masticatory machine, spitting out those who couldn’t hack it.

He got my attention.

Steam has a 21-day trial, so I’ve downloaded it on both my MacBook Pro and my gaming rig. It’s time to see what this is all about.

It’s clear the Nintendo Wii hasn’t lived up to its promise; while the system has sold well and continues to sell well, the drastically unimpressive numbers put up by both third and first party titles makes it clear that, like the pet rock and the hula hoop before it, the Wii has lost its lasting appeal when it comes to new and interesting games. There are folks out there who will cite games like MadWorld (did anyone actually buy it?) and No More Heroes as the cutting edge of Wii titles – or those who cling to the fantastic numbers put up by Wii Fit – but it’s a fallacy. The system is Nintendo’s finest achievement in dust gathering – a system that everyone had to have, but no one played once it got old.

That’s going to change next month. I had a chance to play New Super Mario Bros. Wii at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle at the beginning of September and I can say with certainty that it’s going to be a hit. The classic 2D sidescrolling Mario gameplay that everyone grew up on (and that sold 14 million copies of New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS) is back with a crucial addition: local multiplayer.

The blend of competitive and co-operative multiplayer in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is irresistible fun. Play as one of the Mario brothers or as a stout Toad of the Mushroom kingdom and seek the holy grail of the gaming world of yore: a high score. While the objective to to get to the end of the level, you’ll do so with one to three friends, each trying to out-do the other in a quest for a higher score.

It’s a purity of gaming that isn’t incredibly common. I can say without hesitation it’ll get people playing with the Nintendo Wii again.