The results of last week’s poll utterly shocked me. I far expected more fans of Rock Band 3 than I did Fable III. I had actually thought about getting Fable III before I heard it was like a mish mash of the Sims and an RPG. I hated urban planning in Sim City, so I’m not that excited about planning what to do with a run-down part of town in a console game. I hope to God that what I’ve heard is just an oversimplification, because if it isn’t, Mr. Molyneaux, seriously, what are you thinking?

This week’s poll regarding the release of the Kinect should be a surprise to no one. I promise I’ll get back to strategy guide-related polls in the future, but for the rest of this month, expect polls like this and from the last couple of weeks. Too much hot stuff is getting released to not ask about it!

So really, who out there is interested in the Kinect? I tried it out at E3 this year and it created a big fat “Meh” from me. Read my story at the now-defunct Kombo for more details on my thoughts and my experience. Maybe something, some day will change my mind, but for now, I’m sticking to my thoughts that I have no interest in standing in my living room to play a game.

Despite all the Fallout New Vegas hype, it seems that most of my readers are more excited about Vanquish (or as I like to call it, Mech Bayonetta) than the post-apocalyptic game. I have to wonder if this is because of all the bugs that have been reported in the game or maybe Fallout isn’t as popular as advertised.

This week’s poll is a redux of last week, simply because October continues to flood the market with highly anticipated games. This month was supposed to be my catch-up month. Not sure what happened. It looks like December will have to become my catch-up month, because we all know how screwed our wallets will be come first quarter of next year.

Of this bunch, it’s a toss-up for me between Fable III and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I haven’t even started the first game yet, but I really want to find time to. I think I need to stop buying games and guides first.

Nah, that will never happen.

It seems that the majority believes that strategy guides are great for games other than puzzle games. While I see some relevance to this argument, I have to say that I would have never gotten through half of the first Scribblenauts‘ action puzzles without the guide. Well, that’s a huge exaggeration because I didn’t make it through two worlds of action puzzles. After Maxwell went running off the edge into a pool of lava one too many times, I had to call it quits.

While last week’s game releases with Medal of Honor and  Super Scribblenauts was big, this week’s knocks it out of the park and is quite reminiscent of the stacked releases from January and February of this year. So of all the big name releases–I ignored all the Wii and DS shovelware–which has you the most excited?

For me, it’s Vanquish. I had an absolute blast with the demo, so I’m eager to get my hands on it. I’m also eager to get my hands of the guide, as it’s from Future Press, the same company who brought us the greatness that is the Bayonetta Strategy Guide. Since this game is also about beating levels quickly and stylishly, I expect the same bar that was raised with Bayonetta.

No pressure, guys!

Despite the request for a write-in vote for Call of Duty: Black Ops, it seems that Fallout 3: New Vegas is the highest on the want lists. This should honestly come as no surprise to me as Fallout has a ginormous following, but I’m in shock that there aren’t any votes for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Maybe that comes in as a close second for you? Or maybe I’m just clueless as to what everyone wants.

The insane Fall line-up continues this week with Super Scribblenauts, and once again, Prima Games is supplying the guide. Their first guide was very well done, so I anticipate that their second one will be just as up to snuff. Since I liked both very much, I’m going to be picking up their sequels hopefully this week.

While planning this, it made me wonder: don’t strategy guides for puzzle games defeat the purpose of the games? For instance, Professor Layton has not had any guides, and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that this is a good thing. Part of the reward for solving those insane riddles was the sense of accomplishment (and the picarats…always the picarats), but for some reason, I don’t see a problem with Scribblenauts. Is it because I found Maxwell to be so darn frustrating? Or maybe I just eat up every strategy guide imaginable.

The answer is most likely the latter, but now I want to know what you think. Do strategy guides for puzzle games defeat their purpose?