K Monthly - January 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS January 2010 FEATURES How Cover Shaped Gaming’s Last Decade by Brian Ashcraft Are Game Companies Spoiling Their Own Games? by Luke Plunkett Bayonetta Is Not Too Sexy, But Maybe Too Serious by Lisa Foiles Why A Man Plays Mario by Stephen Totilo The 2009 eBay Holiday Video Game Grey Market Report by Mike Fahey Kotaku’s Game of the Year Uncharted 2 vs. Assassin’s Creed II vs. Demon’s Souls REVIEWS Assassin’s Creed II: The Battle of Forli Micro-Review: An Un-Macchiavelian Plan(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Micro-Review: A Bloody Fun Hazard-Time Muscle March Micro-Review: Flex Crimes Mass Effect 2 Review: Once More Unto The Breach Alienware Area-51 m15x Laptop Review: It Ain’t Heavy, It’s My Laptop Serious Sam HD Review: This Time It’s Really Y1 Games Serious Dark Void Zero Micro-Review: Classic, Focused Fun Dark Void Review: Innovation In A Void Pocket God Micro-Review: Heaven or Hell? Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Micro-Review: Something M2 Whipped Up VVVVVV Micro-review: AAAAAAH!!! Army of Two: The 40th Day Review: Co-Op Shooting At A Crossroads Trajectile Micro-Review: Testing Your Talent For Precision Demolition Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot Micro-Review: A Very Long Engagement Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers Review: The Big Book Of FF Activities Bayonetta Review: To Infinite Climax Action And Beyond Darksiders Review: Harbinger Of The Apocopylypse 0 Day: Attack on Earth Micro-Review: Where’s Will Smith When You Need Him? PREVIEWS & IMPRESSIONS WarioWare D.I.Y. Has Made Me A User Generated Content Convert Split Second Preview: Happy With Second Place Another Impossible Preview MLB 2K10 Preview: Battling Back to Even the Count Assassin’s Creed II Discovery iPhone Preview: Sonic-y God of War III’s Wildest Moment (So Far) Explained BioShock 2 Preview: Something Bad Is About To Happen Hell Hath No Fury Like Video Game’s Take on Dante’s Inferno Hands On With Apple’s iPad, Everything But The Games Hands On With Apple’s iPad, Just The Games Y1 com MAG: Y1 apk First-Day Impressions of a Burgeoning War Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days: Eyes-On With The Best Worst Camera Ever Razer Reinvents, Perfects the Xbox 360 Controller Hands-On With Street Fighter’s Juri Or: How I Stopped Playing Ken and Learned to Love Da Bomb Scrap Metal Hands-On: Calling All Twisted Metal Fans Hands-On With Unreal Engine On The iPhone, Nvidia Tegra Super Street Fighter IV FightStick Tournament Edition S Hands-on More Hands-on Details From Xbox 360’s Game Room COLUMNS WELL PLAYED by Brian Crecente Oh What A Year CES 2010 Aims to Resurrect 3D Video Games Survive Recession, But At What Cost? Gaming: The Fifth Network Game Developers See Potential, Not Gold Rush in Apple’s iPad STICK JOCKEY by Owen Good The Replacements, Still Replaced in Video Games The Problem(s) with Olympic Video Games If It’s In the Name, It’s In the Game Can Sports Video Games Win One for the Little Guys? A Picture Worth More Than Words TIM ROGERS The Best Games Of, Sort Of, The Decade