There comes a time in the week to reflect on what got into my reporter's notebook but didn't turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we?
Shifting Responsibility: EA was nice enough to stage a game demo of Need For Speed Shift just one block from my office on Thursday. So I went to it, got past the oddly jokey bouncer and went inside to play some Need For Speed Shift. Short on time and barely competent at racing games, I handed the controller to Ray Wert, commander of Kotaku sister site Jalopnik. They're all about cars. Interesting to watch a guy who might not be a gaming expert but knows his cars take the controls. By his second try, Ray had figured it all out, knowing seemingly better than the game when to accelerate and when to brake as he took each turn. I decided I couldn't write anything informative up about this game, but Ray could. I hope he's able to get to it.
Wii-Less Batman: When games don't come out on the most successful home video game console in the world, I ask why. Especially if the games come out on the other machines. I've been asking Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment public relations this week why the acclaimed Batman Arkham Asylum isn't on the Wii — and whether Wii owners have any reason to hope to play the game on their console. I asked a couple of times this week. And a couple of times WBIE informed me that Batman Arkham Asylum was made for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Games for Windows. I've told them that's a non-answer. They have no other reply. That's not much for a post, so it goes in here.
NBA Ignorance: I'm barely a sports gamer, so I felt ill-equipped to write about NBA 2K10 after seeing it yesterday. I just did a post about the commentary but plan to leave the rest of the writing about the game to others on the team. What I can say without fear of seeming foolish is that core gameplay tweaks to players' turbo meter and shooting techniques are supposedly evident in the 2K10 Draft Combine, a downloadable training camp released this week that will let players start a rookie of their own making before integrating him into the game when it's out in early October.
Embargoes Galore: In the past few weeks I've played Borderlands and checked out two other titles, all of which I'll finally be able to write about next week.
That's all I can dump on you this week. Pax is next week. I'll be in Seattle for it and for some other cool stuff. Have a nice weekend, everyone. Even to the guy who said he hated me. I don't hate you!