Push Button B

I know all of the cool kids release at least two solid games, movies, or (gasp) books before punishing fans with a prequel. I’m out to change all of that. Let’s get the prequel out of the way, because they’re usually terrible, and look forward to the good stuff!

Four Weeks Ago: I ran into Will at a local Long John Silver’s. I’m on my planning period between teaching 11^th grade American Literature and Student Publications. He’s taking a lunch break while a client’s network server bends the concept of time as we know it by doing three months worth of updates and subsequent reboots in a single afternoon.  After a short conversation about PS3 hard drive formatting and networking issues I was working through, Will brings up PushbuttonB (hereafter referred to as PBB). There was apparently some sort of web site resurrection in the works and thanks to this fortuitous lunch meeting, I was destined to play some part in it.

Three Weeks Ago: I sit down to check out the Playstation Network Store to see what new, free demos came out for the week. Mega Man 10 is the only release that week that even remotely sparks my interest, so I give it a try. If you’ve played any 8-bit iteration of the franchise, you know exactly what to expect from the tenth installment. After I played the whopping four to five minute demo, I realize that I found the part I was to play in PBB’s rebirth: giving my two cents on what PSN has to offer in the way of weekly freebies.

Last Week: Due to what doctors are diagnosing as the March Madness, the only available free demos to choose from during my first inspired week are  NCAA Basketball 2k10 and NBA 2K10. Since I still have a week before PBB goes live, I decide to give the NBA version a chance. I knew that this endeavor would eventually require me to play and review games, nay genres, that I couldn’t possibly care less about – little did I know that it would happen so early. In short, NBA Jam is the only basketball video game worth playing. This new-fangled 2k10 business (when did the number 10 start coming after the k? I remember when saying 2k3 was new and edgy) is more like watching a live basketball game, not playing one. The only purpose this demo served was allowing me to reminisce about the golden era of basketball games that gave birth the term “Boomshakalaka”.

This Week: It would seem that Sony’s only intent is to destroy my weekly contribution to PBB. What sacrificial lamb did they offer up to my reviewing prowess this week? Nothing. This week they decide to make news by taking away the “Install Other OS” option on their older, “husky” consoles, we’ll call them. As far as free downloadable content and demos go, there wasn’t a single offering. This isn’t to say that there weren’t plenty of opportunities for me to spend money in exchange for entertainment, but that’s not really what I’m after here. Besides that, the R&D fund at PBB isn’t exactly bursting at any hypothetical seam. Here’s to hoping for some not only free, but worthwhile demos in the not too distant future!