With Rez HD arriving on Xbox Live Arcade next week, it's time to give my PlayStation 2 copy the send-off. A quick 30-minute play through of the original should do the trick, but maybe I'll cut loose and play in Morolian form. Something zany! No, I can't be tamed, as this is how I've chosen to live my life. I've also got an Advance Wars: Days of Ruin campaign to finish, so if you need to use the bathroom on Saturday, let me know ahead of time. Speaking of, need to get that friend code out there. Find some Kotakuites to beat up on. :)

Oh, must remember to invest in PixelJunk Monsters, too. And No More Heroes. Damn this economic slowdown! What are you playing this weekend, ladies and gentlemen?

Days of Ruins New Units

In my impressions of the campaign mode of Advance Wars Days of Ruin I mention that there are a few new units that pop up in the game. Fortunately, Nintendo sent along these little reference cards for the units when they sent me the game. Take a gander. So far I find the bike the most useful, thought that's probably because I tend to lean more on my infantry and artillery than planes and tanks. Hit the jump for a look at the anti-tank and duster units.

I spent way too much time playing Advance Wars: Day of Ruins over the weekend. The latest in the franchise, remains just as addictive as its predecessors. I was disappointed to find that the more detailed, grittier look found in the game's cut scenes vanish when you drop into play.

Once you're in the game, duking it out with a new slate of bad guys across a post apocalyptic wasteland, the game looks an awful lot like Advance Wars Dual Strike. Fortunately you don't have a whole lot of time to sit around marveling at how the vehicles still look like Tonka trucks, because the game's artificial intelligence ramps up quickly.

By level 14, in fact, I had hit the sort of wall that required me to play the conflict over, and over, and over again, getting so annoyed at my imaginary adversary at one point that me wife asked me who I was playing. (She walked off in disgust when she realized I'd been yelling at the DS and not a real person.)

In fact, some of the single player campaign battles almost feel like tactical brainteasers. These levels are constructed so tightly that I suspect there are actually only a few ways to win.

We finally start getting some good titles this week with No More Heroes, Advance Wars 2, Pirates of the Burning Sea and Burnout Paradise My wallet is going to start emptying itself again. I can just feel it coming. What are you going to be picking up this week?

No More Heroes (WII)
Suda 51's surreal cel shaded adventures of Travis Touchdown.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
The follow up to the wildly popular Advance Wars hits with a new storyline and wi-fi.

Pirates of the Burning Sea (PC)
Arrrgh! Live the life of a pirate on land and sea in this new MMO.

Burnout Paradise (PS3, X360)
Drive, crash and burn!

Endless Ocean (WII)
Explore the mysterious world under the sea.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
Pit Mario against Sonic on your DS.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure (WII)
Search for booty with Capt. Monkey.

Iridium Runners (PS2)
It's a space race!

Rainbow Islands Evolution (PSP)
Bub and Bob are back again in a new old adventure again.

Me? I'm playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and I couldn't be happier to have the opportunity. In fact, I'm playing it right now. I swear. It's paused. Okay, that's a lie. I'm actually taking a break from the soon to be released strategy game while posting from an incredibly pretentious, over-priced coffee shop with a smarmy name. But, I promise, once all this unfortunate blogging is done, it's back to the darker, dust filled world of Days of Ruin for me. I'm also planning for a bit of Omega Five finishing and, apparently, a go at Undertow. Good times.

Your plans? What do you have on your plate for a game-filled weekend?

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Commercial (With Special Guest Appearance)

There's no hiding the fact that McWhertor loves the art style of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. In fact just the other day I believe I overheard the two discussing plans to elope. Love of a game is a beautiful thing, even when narrated by the gravel-voiced pitchman in a television commercial. Sorry Mike, your secret is out. Better still it's out in a sneak peek of a commercial that hasn't even aired yet.

Just because your world has been ravaged by a cataclysmic meteor shower and billions of humans are dead, with the rest scavenging for whatever scraps are left, doesn't mean you can't look good. To prove it, a gallery of the new commanding officers of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. They're snappy dressers and the ladies in power don't mind showing a bit of leg or exposing some midriff while slaughtering enemy troops. Check out the new cast of the darker, more streamlined Advance Wars for the Nintendo DS in the gallery below.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Hands On Impressions

Intelligent Systems has reinvented Advance Wars. They're stripped it to the bone, giving it a mature bent that borders now on dark, brooding and violent. Gone are long-standing Commanding Officers Andy, Sami, Max, and Eagle. Gone are Orange Star and Blue Moon. Gone are a series of precocious teens and sassy officers in capri pants ordering thousands of units to their doom, ultimately ending in a root beer party commemorating the dead. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a post-apocalyptic war game that is expected to get a T-rating, so leave your soda at the door.

The story of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is one of a world in chaos following a cataclysmic meteor storm that leaves 90 percent of the population dead. The scattered survivors live in a diseased, war-torn world controlled by roving bandits and power-hungry warlords. The tone is muted, the dialogue dreary, the characters devoid of smiles.