Gaming Update 06/02/2009 - inFamous, Devil May Cry, and Boom Blox

You're getting the update a day early, since I'm not entirely sure I'll have a connection to the 'net tomorrow.  I'm also withholding any E3 comments until next week (if at all -I've already posted a few thoughts on Giant Bomb's forums specific to the MS and EA conference).  Let's dive in.

• To know inFamous is to know addiction.  If you played Crackdown and, like me, thought it had a lot of untapped potential, try this one.  I'm cranking through the story pretty fast, and I'm already looking forward to my next, much slower playthrough as a baddie.  Not a lot that hasn't been said, but if you enjoy sandbox games, give this one a go.
• I picked up a few cheap games over the weekend.  I had posted about a Gamestop sale, but I had a chance to get out of town (no gaming shops in my little community - or for sixty miles).  Turns out my favored shop, a Play and Trade owned by a friend of the family, was having a Customer Appreciation Day, complete with some good deals on all their used games... and free burgers.  Mmm... burgers.  I picked up Devil May Cry 4 and Dynasty Warriors 5 for the 360.  Shouldn't have spent the ten bucks on Dynasty Warriors, but Devil May Cry was totally worth the seventeen or eighteen bucks.  Dynasty Warriors has way too goddamn many menus for what is essentially a simple action game.  With no manual to help me get into the nigh-impregnable menus, it's going to be relegated to the "shouldn't-have-purchased" line of games on the bottom level of my DVD rack.  Devil May Cry 4, however, is great mindless fun, and the cutscenes are right up my alley.  I don't mind Nero, save for the typical Japanese emo loner hero personality.
• If you own a Wii and have guests over on a regular basis, give Boom Blox Crash Party a go.  It's a hell of a fun game with a surprising amount of replay value.  It's easy to get into, easy on the eyes, and is pretty darned fun.  Sometimes, a game just has to be fun to succeed, and this is one of those games.  My Wii is quickly becoming my console of choice for what I call my "quickie" sessions, when I just need to relax and have fun with a game for half an hour or so.  Between this and Mario Kart, the Wii is getting a hell of a lot of love lately.
• Finding a bit of time still to cram in a few hours of Lord of the Rings Online.  I'm hoping to push past the 19-32 level droll that set in the last time I played through it.  They've decreased the amount of XP needed to level, and it seems like I'm blowing through the early parts of the game with a lot more ease than I used to.  I'm not an equipment whore (at least until Diablo 3 comes out), so I'm basically playing for the atmosphere, story, role-playing, and the great community.  However, I do find myself really looking forward to some of the late content of the game, like legendary weapons.