The rack has seen some serious action since I last addressed this topic back in March (not the smallest change has been the introduction of an entirely new physical rack. It’s more of a drawer now, but that has less torture-device correlations). As you may know, one of the most important ways in which I get access to video games over time is through my long-running subscription to Gamefly. I use the two-game package, because inevitably at least one of the two games sits around for ages while I play the other and any new releases… still, it does give me a way to play a bunch of games that I would never consider spending $60 on. In theory, GameFly will send you the games you really want at the top of your list. Of course, the reality is that when you build a queue of 40 games it’s sometimes a surprise to see what shows up in the post. Am I getting some A+ rated game I forgot I wanted to play two months ago, or something terrible that had some flashy reviews and bamboozled me? Well, if it’s the latter, at least I didn’t pay full retail.

Anyway, non-seq introductions aside, here once again is my Video Game Power Poll… in April. These are games that command significant time. If you think I have good taste in games, you may want to check some of these titles out. As always, I’ll try and give long-winded blurbs about each game as we go. And they’re still in reverse order. And no, I wouldn’t turn down sex for any of them. (Well, maybe for #1). Also, I’ve only got seven entries this month. I’m more dedicated than usual.

7. Call of Duty: Black Ops. Still standing strong months, and months, and months later. I’d actually taken a significant break from this title, but then my friend B and I played some the other night, and I was right back in. There’s something about the visceral pleasure of shooting people who think they’re doing a great job camping that never tires. Of course, when I first came back, the rust pretty much locked me up… and some of the game’s flaws have me longing for the next Modern Warfare release. When does that launch again?

6. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. This one is really up and down depending on mood. I had whipped myself into a serious fighting game craze for a couple of weeks there… and it made me think harder about Mortal Kombat. I’ve had some predictable issues with the online multiplayer. I still hold strong to the belief that fighting games were meant to be played against people in the same room. You know, to avoid that whole lag issue.

5. League of Legends – It’s been suffering from some server instabilities in the last little while… but they thoughtfully gave out a pittance (and I do mean pittance) of in-game Riot Points to buy things with as compensation. I did buy some stuff from them to support disaster relief in Japan, and I saved a copy of the picture of their CEO holding up a huge cardboard check to my hard drive. This game is never going away, though, because they just keep improving it!

4. Bayonetta – This one is a GameFly rental. It’s actually kind of an old game by now, apparently. I had never even heard of it until it popped up while I was perusing GameFly’s database. It sounded worth a look, so I went for it. It’s visually stunning, but took some real getting used to after years of playing FPS, sports, and RPG games. Maybe I need to branch out more often.

3. Dragon Age II. It still won’t die. There’s a lot of permutations to this one… and I love the fact that the automatic dialogue from Hawke changes based on the responses I frequently pick in-game… I love the characters. Wait, I did a whole review on this.

2. Red Dead Redemption. Another GameFly-er… finally. I actually had wanted to play this title since its launch, and I’m just now getting to it. Definitely going to be the subject of the next ‘what I played today’ style column. This one is definitely worth checking out for anybody who hasn’t gotten around to playing it yet. It’s very much in the style of Grand Theft Auto 4, but with a lot of improvements (in my mind) to the game-play. Of course, if you don’t like westerns, it’s probably a stay-away.

1. MLB 2K11 – I’ve been trying to author a review to this game for months. Seriously. I started writing the day of its launch after I bought it and powered through a few games straight. I love it. It has some weird glitches that are kind of frustrating, but if you want to play baseball, there’s a lot to like in this release… I guess pretty much like every year. Anyway, with all of the excitement over the baseball season itself, I’ve been glued to this title a lot. I suppose it will cool off in time (just as my Madden obsession inevitably does) but then again, the baseball season is a lot longer. I particularly like the ‘My Player’ create-a-player mode in this year’s offering, which is pretty meaty. Baseball is a good sport for it.