What are you playing: Max pain

This week can't be over soon enough. Video games are good at distracting me when I'm depressed, sad, angry, or even happy. But the one thing they can't do is distract me when I'm in physical pain. I've been battling chronic back pain for the last few years, wasting hundreds of dollars in ergonomic cushions that never work. This week has been particularly painful for one reason or another.

But, because I love pain, I'll be picking up Dark Souls for the PC when it launches. That way not only will I be in physical pain, I'll be in mental anguish as well. Are you going to grab it? Prepare to die, indeed.

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• Garnett Lee: [Forgot to confirm this weekend!]

• Andrew Yoon: This weekend, I’m all about Sound Shapes for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on PlayStation 3, and Sleeping Dogs on Xbox 360. Multiplatform love!

• John Keefer: [Stepped out for a few minutes.]

• Alice O'Connor: I may very well die if I don't get to dance this weekend.

• Jeff Mattas: The summer drought has got me going back to revisit Grand Theft Auto IV in anticipation of the next series installment. I’ve also gone back to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this time as a warrior type modeled after Eddard Stark (with his head still attached). iPad is still getting a good influx of fun titles though. Gasketball, Fieldrunners 2, and ORC: Vengeance are all in heavy rotation.

• Steve Watts: I'll be trying to wrap up Darksiders II and getting in some Hybrid, though I'd like to block out time to dig in to Sound Shapes and The Walking Dead as well.

• Ozzie Mejia: I'm wrapping up Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance this weekend, before curling up into a drooling mass of goo in a vain and futile attempt to understand the plot up to this point.

• Tyler J. Smith: Is there a game where you take as many pain killers as possible, and then scream at the sky in agony? I'll be playing that game.