Nintendo DS

The results for August are in, and while they seem to have shaken Michael Pachter, I'm here to tell you that there should be no surprise. Microsoft's continued success stems from its revisions of the Xbox 360 hardware—first with the $300 250GB model and now with the 4GB $200 model. These are "new", and combined with recent strong sellers like NCAA Football 11 and Madden NFL 11, the Xbox 360 platform has separated itself from the pack over the course of 2010 so far.

Another year, another great PAX. If you've never been to the Penny Arcade Expo, it's debatably the best gathering to celebrate videogames and videogame culture on earth. E3 might win out in terms of sheer size, number of parties, and the incredible quantity of games on display, but PAX has never attempted to be direct competition. Instead, this convention focuses more on the gamers themselves, and in doing so, has become the preeminent place to be a gamer.

It's not too often that a first-party Nintendo release is disappointing, but Metroid: Other M is one of those rare titles. It's been facing adversity on two fronts. The first problem is that the game strayed from Nintendo's recent trend of releasing first-party titles on Sundays by releasing on a Tuesday. The second problem is that the game has been receiving some criticism from various sources on the internet, ranging from issues with the controls to focusing too much on story to even issues with sexism.

Don't Knock the Farmer

High Wiping the floor with enemies who wiped the floor with you earlier.

Low Adding a new class mid-game can mean a lot of painful leveling-up.

WTF Would it really kill the game to have the experience accrue just a bit faster?

Game Description: Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) for DS and DSi that places the player in command of a band of adventurers on an ongoing quest to return their city to its once great status. The third release in the Etrian Odyssey franchise, the game features five character party combat, 5-player local wireless multiplayer support, a large number of character classes, the ability to explore and battle from sea vessels, customizable maps and three possible game endings.

For those who don't know, Case Zero is a bit of a weird beast. It's essentially a demo for the full version of Dead Rising 2, but not exactly—this demo has been reworked into a complete micro-adventure that gives players a real flavor for what the larger project will be like. It comes with its own achievements, and players who complete it will be able to carry over stats and items into the main game. If you ask me, this is a pretty bad-ass idea and I'm diggin' it…

Block like a Man

HIGH You gotta love the "click" that happens when dozens of minutes of frustration give way to a natural, logical conclusion.

LOW Please play me a different song on this next puzzle!

WTF My insurance provider doesn’t see Picross-related carpal tunnel syndrome as a viable reason for treatment.

What's unfortunate in all of this is that Ledesma's comments have not only damaged relations between the industry and its consumers who read Ledesma's views… but they've also succeeded in widening a rift between the haves and have-nots when it comes to this form of entertainment that we all enjoy. Charges of entitlement are flying back and forth and the argument that video games are a luxury—or even a service—makes what was once touted to be "fun for everyone" into a select group of individuals who are financially fortunate enough to take part.

Some things are better left unsaid. For example, most gaming consumers know that the industry doesn't care about them. The disconnect between the industry and the consumer has never been more evident than it's been during this console generation, as I've mentioned more than a few times before. We've known that the industry treats used game purchasers as second-class citizens—or worse—and this well-publicized "war on used games" has devolved into taking basic gameplay modes away from those looking to not pay $60 apiece for games that may or may not be worth their asking prices.