Still a few days left, but essentially another year in the books. 2009 was just like any other year for me, particularly the last few. But I did purchase a house in August/September. But otherwise, not much has changed. In the gaming realm, it was both a good and dull year. There weren't as many games as in years past, but the high quality of those made it a good year. Still, the lack of depth was unfortunate. I did set a number for the most games I've finished in one year, with a soon to be final total of 23. What's especially nice about that total is that I didn't purchase too many more games during the year. In previous years, I'd have a nice total averaging about 1.5 games/month, but I tried way more games. This year I stuck to games I trusted. Aside from one or two bad purchases (I believe just Skate 2 & Prototype), I put significant time into every game I purchased, save for the Tales of Monkey Island season, which is on the backburner.

Having said all that, what were the worst games I played this year?

The Worst Game I Played this Year:

The 'nominees' are:

-NBA Unrivaled (XBLA/PSN)
-Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (X360/PS3/Wii)
-The Punisher: No Mercy (PSN)
-Watchmen: The End is Nigh (PSN/XBLA)

Each of those I only put a little Demo-time into, but they weren't impressive at all, and judging by the fact that the first three have GameRankings averages under 50%, and Watchmen's is just over, the full games were very bad. NBA was a fine idea, but it was a broken mess of an impression of the great NBA Jam. Clone Wars tried to make a simple action game based on the cartoon, but it just stunk. Shocking, seeing as so many other licensed (especially Star Wars licensed) games are awful. Punisher was just a bad idea, making it an online FPS. The PS2 Punisher game was pretty cool, until the final release was censored a bit. Watchmen was just a cash-in, and a dull brawler when played.

And the worst game I played this year is ...

"Winner" - NBA Unrivaled (PSN/XBLA). Like with the NFL Blitz clones, NBA Jam clones are still prevelant. NBA Street was a great successor to the legendary NBA Jam. Sadly, the last two installments weren't great. However they were at least playable and somewhat enjoyable. I tried playing this, and after like a minute, gave up. It was downright awful. I would probably have more fun playing 20 year old basketball games, like Double Dribble or Bulls vs Lakers or Bulls vs Blazers than this. It was deleted off my 360 HDD as fast as it would let me. What's a little unfortunate is way back when, when NBA Jam ruled the land, I wasn't able to rent it at all. So I ended up renting Tecmo Super Basketball. It wasn't NBA Jam, but I liked it. Granted Jam was way more fun, but TSB was pretty good. Based on that, I had a tiny iota of hope that Unrivaled would be at least fair. Well, at least it got the name right. It is unrivaled in terms of how bad it is.

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The Worst Game I Payed for this Year:

The 'nominees' are:

-Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (X360/PS3)
-The Last Remnant (PC)
-Secret Agent Clank (PS2)

And the worst game I payed for this year is ...

"Winner" - Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (PS3). Where do I even begin. Well for starters, I needed a couple nominees. Last Remnant wasn't that bad, but I gave up on it after getting to a point where I just couldn't progress (just saying). Secret Agent Clank wasn't that bad, but clearly it was a PSP game, so porting it to PS2 was good so I could play it, but playing it wasn't much fun, since it was a PSP game. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is almost on another scale. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was very good, and its predecessors, X-Men Legends, were very good. MUA2 was just awful. For starters, the enjoyable Diablo-esque combat system felt so dumbed down. The fighting still felt about the same, but the RPG aspects behind it were so stripped down, that MUA2 was less of an RPG and it was basically a brawler. Instead of multiple options for abilities and spells, you only had 4 abilities (all tied to a face button), and only 4-6 passives, at least 2 of which were locked based on storyline registration decision, and you had seperate point totals to power up abilities and passives (so levels actually meant nothing). Add in the touted Civil War story, which was fine until they completely changed the story and the latter half of the game was just made up, nullifying the registration decision. Lastly to avoid another rant, another touted feature, Fusions, were just plain useless. Yes they did pretty good damage, but in context, they were just dumb. Its like they had two or three in mind (Wolverine + Colossus "fastball", Invisible Woman + Iron Man/Hulk) and the rest were just random (Wolverine + Daredevil running at people clotheslining them??). The previous games ultimates were better. This all just stems from a different developer making the game instead of Raven, who made the previous 3. If an MUA3 is going to be made, and knowing Activision it probably will be, Raven had better be at the helm or I won't bother.

Finished up Valkyria Chronicles the other night. After making my way through about 3/4s of the game, I was getting a little weary of the tactical part of the game. VC has a ton of charm though. I couldn't just give up on it, so I just used a guide to help out, which was probably the first game I willfully used a guide to help me get through the game in over a year at least. Was proud of that. The reason I didn't try to gut it out mainly stems from my dislike of tactical strategy games. Whatever it is, I just don't understand them. I get the concepts and whatnot, but when it comes to the battles, and using those concepts to your advantage, I don't see it at all. And since VC is so charmful (the "sound" effects, the graphics, the fantasy WW2 story), I wanted to see it to the end. Definitely a very good game, so long as you enjoy that type of game. I really enjoyed it for about half the game, until my embarassing tactics impeded progress. Still, I was glad to have gotten through it.

Its just about that time of year once again, as Christmas nears, and GameSpot's Game of the Year announcement approaches, that I begin preparations for my own Top Games of the year, coming up on year 6 now. I have a few days off upcoming, so I will probably try to get it typed up over the weekend. 2009 was an interesting gaming year. I feel it was better than last year in terms of high end games, but much weaker when it comes to depth. When I started brainstorming my top games list, the first 6 or 7 came easy, but after that it was pretty tough. It will be interesting to see what I come up with.

I've finally gotten back to playing Dragon Age: Origins, only after a 6+ week break, whatwith Assassin's Creed 2 coming out, and finishing Valkyra as well. Forgoing my original thought to play the 6 origins, I started a new character (Human Noble Warrior), and just started playing. I just finished off my first boss last night, so I'm making some progress. These days off will help that, and seeing as I have 4 weeks until Mass Effect 2, that hopefully should be enough time to polish off Dragon Age.

Well the title pretty much says it all for starters. Finished Assassin's Creed 2 the other night, earning my second Platinum trophy along the way! Luckily you were not required to do everything in the game to earn it, so once I got far enough along, I could stop doing the fairly annoying Races, Courier, Beat Up, Assassination side missions. The Assassination contract side missions were neat though, as they tied up some events from the main story, but I got tired of them. I would say I enjoyed AC2 more than AC1, partly due to the mission structure, which was far less repetitive. Plus the cities felt better this time around, mainly because it was so much easier traversing between the cities. In AC1, I remember there being guards at the entrances to each city, so it was just a pain to exit a city to move to another one. Here, you just walked or rode a horse or even used the fast travel, aka Carriages. While it didn't detract from the game, there was plenty of additional things added to AC2, such as the side missions, plus all the extra weaponry, not to mention the villa. I didn't bother with all the various weapons. I just stuck with the best weapon I could afford. And while I liked the villa, money at the end of the game was a joke, b/c I upgraded the villa early on, so I always had enough money to purchase anything (paintings, pouch upgrades, armor & weapons, etc). While on my feather hunt, at one point I just kept throwing money for fun, easily dropping over 1K at one point (throwing money is -10).

Still, I really enjoyed the game. The gameplay was pretty much on par with the first game, although it felt a tad bit easier this time around. I don't recall any sequence that was very difficult. The dual story was good too. Like in AC1, the main story took place in the Animus, which was good. But the present day story picked up steam as well. The Assassin's Creed story really feels, in base ways, to LOST. You have two main stories present: in LOST its the survivors & the island; in AC its the Animus story and the present day one. The Animus story along with the LOST survivors is for the most part straightforward. It tells a story, simple as that. The island & present day AC stories though are big mysteries. You keep getting clues but there's a lot more going on that you don't know about. Not to mention you still have an underlying us versus them situation, survivors versus Others and Assassins versus Templars. That's pretty much the extent of my comparison, but I like it. While watching the ending, there was one part that made me a little disheartened at the possible direction they are headed, but after rewatching it on YouTube, I've softened on that a little bit, and I can't wait to play Assassin's Creed 3.

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Meanwhile, now its time for me to pick up on another game. For whatever reason, everytime I finish one game, it takes a few days before I can realistically begin another game in earnest. I'm not sure why that is. The last two days, I just looked at my pile (Dragon Age, Valkyria plus two new arrivals to be revealed shortly) and couldn't decide where to go next. I'm further along in Valkyria than Dragon Age, but I'm at a part of Valkyria that I know will be tough, plus if I need to grind some more, its very slow to grind in Valkyria. However, I'm basically at the beginning of Dragon Age, so that's a tough sell too. Not to mention my two "new" arrivals: Final Fantasy Anthology and Final Fantasy Chronicles, aka Chrono Trigger & Final Fantasy IV-VI. Technically they are new (very surprised Amazon had new copies still), but I originally bought them way back when they came out, but for reasons I don't remember anymore, I never got around to playing them. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and Game Informer's Top 200 Games list, and seeing FF6 and CT, plus talking about both games with a couple friends, and a fire was lit in me to made a concerted effort to play through the two greatest RPGs ever made (at least widely regard as the two greatest). So, as I was looking at Dragon Age & Valkyria, and Borderlands, I had to ponder FF6 and CT as well. And I'm still pondering that even as I'm typing. What I'll probably, and should, do is continue Valkyria as far as I can, then switch to Dragon Age. I'm not going to give up on FF6 or CT anytime soon, or ever. I do have sort of a deadline in mind though, with the clock ticking until early next year when another huge gaming swing is taking place.

Jan 26, Mass Effect 2, Feb 2 White Knight Chronicles, Mar 9 Final Fantasy XIII. Oh boy. Plus there are a number of other games I've kept an eye on, including a trio of GoW/DMC/NG games at the start of the year (Darksiders, Dante's Inferno, Bayonetta) that may or may not be worth looking into. The other games include: Star Ocean: Last Hope International, Heavy Rain, Splinter Cell: Conviction, MLB 10, Resonance of Fate and going a little further, God of War 3 and Red Dead Redemption, then Alpha Protocol, Nier, Fallout: New Vegas, and Modnation Racers. Yikes, that's a pretty bloated first half of 2010. Now, most likely that last group of games won't come out til the August-Holiday part, but still. Looks like I'll be busy for quite awhile.

I haven't had a Top 5 post for a long time. Probably for the same reason I only have like two reviews all year, they just take too long to put together and write out. And I've gotten too lazy about it. However, I do have a special Top 5 planned that I do want to get written out in the near future. More of a special feature post than a Top 5, but I am planning on getting it ready, possibly next week. And of course, seeing as the year is winding down, my Top Games of the Year is also on the way. Next week looks to start GameSpots awards, so I'll probably keep my tradition of typing it out around Christmas going. This year's will be interesting, as I truly believe that I am getting really good at only getting games I truly want to play. Its taken most of this decade to finally start to weed out games I don't need and only play games I know I'll like. Honestly, with the Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, and the iTouch app store, any bad purchases are WAY cheaper, but even still, I've been good keeping those bad purchases in check. My favorite games of the year list will reflect that.

Finally, I don't think I have more to type about. I have some random errands today and I need to start building another computer, so I probably should get started on that. Oh yeah, GO BROWNS!!!!!!

After dividing time between 2 games, last week I seriously began playing Assassin's Creed 2, and I haven't really stopped yet, culminating in a fairly lengthy, possible 8-9 hour stretch Sunday night. I think I need a little breather before I make one run for all the feathers (attempt at second platinum trophy) and finishing the game. After Sunday's marathon, I checked my game save and was slightly surprised to see 21 hours played. Slightly because I think I've put in more than 2/3rds of those hours in the last 4-5 days. Suffice to say I have been enjoying the game. In some ways its a worthy successor to AC1, in others it tries to add too much, but there are still other areas where new inclusions are very well done. So far I'm having a hard time deciding which is the better game. I may say AC2 for now just because there is no repetitive setup like AC1 (go to assassin's guild, do two "investigative" missions, return to guild, do upto 5 optional missions, assassinate target, rinse repeat times 9). A story helps flesh out the missions now, moreso than in AC1. Plus there is continuity to AC1 in the form of Codex Pages and Assassin Tombs. The early batch of codex pages seem to have been written by Altair, helping with continuity. And there are 6 Assassin Tombs in the game, each holding a seal which can be used to unlock Altair's armor, another awesome touch. And there were a few other touches that added to this Assassin continuity. I love the idea of Altair's armor & sword being the best in the game, plus him looked at as essentially the first of the Assassin's as we know them in AC's world, seeing as he discovered a Piece of Eden, and then continued on after the events of AC1.

Elsewhere, I picked up a used copy of Borderlands for the 360, and a lot of co-op action has taken place. We've made it to the second city, New Haven, and we're both about level 24. I was not really expecting much from it even after hearing some praise for it prior to launch, but with that praise and a bunch more after it came out, I figured it was at least worth a shot on a used copy. If I/we didn't like it, I could just return it. But its been worth it. Its like Diablo 2, with a questing system like WoW or any MMO, but in a setting reminiscent of Fallout, except its on another planet. Oh and its an FPS RPG. Amazingly it all works very well and its a lot of fun. Very surprising in that I wasn't expecting a lot, much like last year with Fallout 3 ironically. After playing co-op exclusively so far, I would like to try my hand at solo'ing the game, just because. With all that's on my plate, that might take awhile. Still, definitely a good game and one worth trying out.

That "stuff on my plate" is quite a bit. Assassin's Creed 2 has taken up quite a bit of time recently, but Valkyria Chronicles was splitting time with AC2 before my AC2 binge. I'm past the halfway point on VC, having just leveled three c1asses to Elite status. I still planning on finishing VC as best I can, though doing it before my end of the year "deadline" may be a bit much. For the year I've completed 20 games total and I was hoping to somehow make a run at 24, but I don't think that's gonna happen. Still, I'll be pleased with however many it ends up being. There's also Borderlands, not to mention Dragon Age: Origins. And somehow someway I want to make time to play through Final Fantasy VI & Chrono Trigger. A couple recent discussions have really got my gaming blood boiling over those two games. With this group, but a pretty big group starting 2010, it'll be tough to squeeze much else in, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

Other than gaming and standard homeowner stuff, I haven't had many opportunities to do too much else. I did finally watch one of my DVD/Blu-Ray movies, Angels and Demons. I've lost track how many I have that I haven't seen yet. I just know the number isn't small. Sure hope I can get that number to at least reasonable levels. I think I'll need a movie marathon weekend to put a dent into that list. Eh, I'll get to them eventually. As far as TV shows go, I watched the early episodes of FlashForward and White Collar, but kinda lost interest in both pretty early on. FlashForward had a great premise, but I failed to see how it could translate to not just a full season, but a series. It was interesting early on, but it was just too slow. I don't really mind if a show takes time to put things together, kinda like LOST, but for some reason I just didn't get hooked on FlashForward. Maybe it was the characters, maybe it was the real deliberate pace, whatever it was, I just didn't feel like keeping up on it. As for White Collar, I also like the premise, but I don't think they're utilizing it properly. Its like if Psych's Shawn & Gus were one character (criminal Neal) and Juliet & Lassiter were another (FBI Agent Peter), and instead despite USA promoting the show as if it revolves around the criminal, it doesn't. There was an episode where Neal just disappeared for half the episode. I have a handful left, including the Fall Finale, so I may still try to finish those up, but I may not continue on with it. How I Met Your Mother is still doing well, and despite a few issues, The Office is holding strong. I think Animation Sunday is on life support. The Simpsons is still okay (code for probably not that good, but being a fan for so long, I can tolerate very average episodes with a few laughs and a "meh" story), but Family Guy has had more bad episodes than good ones, and as for American Dad, well, a good episode would be shocking at this point. Fox seems to have gone "All-in" on Seth McFarlane, and seeing as I don't bother with The Cleveland Show, FG & AD have only had a couple good episodes between them this season. Not so good. Oh well, I do have 4 of my favorite shows on the backburner, only a month plus away from returning: LOST, 24, Psych, & Burn Notice. Can't wait!

Having started this last night and not being able to finish due to work, I think that's good enough for now. I think next time I'll try to tackle GameInformer's Top 200 Games of All Time, along with preparations for my Top Games of the Year, going on 6 years now.

I finally made time for Brutal Legend toward the end of last week & weekend, finishing it last Saturday, despite some struggles towards the end. Brutal Legend ended up being an interesting title, not just for its development history, but also my experiences with it. Didn't help I picked it up the same day as Uncharted 2, but I did start Brutal Legend first. I got up to the first stage battle, and wasn't all that impressed, although I wasn't bored of it. I just wasn't hooked. Fast forward three weeks (and finishing Uncharted 2 & Ratchet & Clank), and I finally got back into Brutal Legend, and was enjoying it.

I think I made one mistake: trying to plow through the game. Usually I take my time through games trying to unlock everything, or as much as I can without getting bored. I was doing that initially, but then I was just enjoying it so much I kept going. The last handful of missions/battles weren't fun at all because of that. I had a decent axe/guitar string combination, but I didn't have enough tributes (aka $$) to get the more optimal axe or guitar strings. So, the battles were a lot tougher, b/c I couldn't just solo some of the enemy units as it took a lot of hits to take them down. Plus there was a couple key solos I never looked for that would've really helped according to a forum post. So that didn't help. Neither did the fact that it felt the story didn't do a good job at all explaining things, such as the world's history. Stuff was brought up towards the end of the game that didn't seem to make a lot of sense, nor were they explained at all. Maybe the struggles during its development hindered this. Maybe it was due to the fact that the game itself doesn't have an identity, as far as a gaming genre is concerned.

Side rant about that - I don't mind games attempting to combine a few genres into a game so long as it makes sense. I like to use Ratchet & Clank as an example of this, seeing as its an action/adventure game with 3rd person shooting, RPG (leveling weapons), vehicular combat (spaceship missions), and occasional other elements worked in. Brutal Legend has hack n slash, RTS & vehicular combat as part of its makeup, but it had an odd progression. It started out like it would be a hack n slash for awhile, then the RTS kicked in, but then it just flipped back and forth between RTS & vehicle combat, ignoring a nice hack n slash beginning (with a pretty good boss fight too), which felt like it was totally ignored after awhile. Although, thinking about that now, maybe they rushed it a little, as that boss led to the acquisition of an RTS unit, and you knew what the unit did. Later on, you weren't given any real introduction to the new units, and just had to go forward.

Back on task, the final quarter of Brutal Legend didn't leave a very good lasting impression. If time was spent explaining some more of that world's history, it would have really helped just for clarification purposes. As it stands though, Brutal Legend was a pretty cool game, despite its inconsistencies. The ending kind of hinted at more, like maybe a sequel, but Psychonauts did too, and I would much rather see a sequel to Psychonauts than Brutal Legend. Of the two, Pscyhonauts was just better. It had an identity (as a great platformer, funny, with great level designs), it did a better job with its world, and told a more cohesive story throughout. Of course I haven't played it in 4 years and a hint of bitterness lingers with Brutal Legend. Either way, I still really appreciate the work from Double Fine, and I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves next.

Picked up Assassin's Creed II at a midnight launch on Monday/Tuesday night/morning. I think I just finished the first DNA Sequence, but already I believe that its a superior game to the original. The way it tells its story is greatly improved compared to the original that I wanted to make the statement that the original didn't even have a story within the Animus' 12th Century world. And since its been two years since finishing the original Assassin's Creed, I'm trying to avoid saying that. But from what I remember of the original, it wasn't very cinematic with its cutscenes, and there wasn't a whole lot of exposition either. In Assassin's Creed II, there are more cutscenes, and within the Animus, there is a developing story that has been pretty good early on. I believe I just got to the point where I could go after my first assassination, so we'll see how the buildup to it will be, as I have heard that ACII is not as repetitive as AC, which is a good thing. Not to mention there's a lot more to do within the city: finding viewpoints like the original, but also treasures, random side missions (races, courier, beating people up, etc). After about two hours of play so far, I gotta say that I am very impressed. I liked the first one, so that's good news for ACII.

So yesterday plus today and tomorrow are my first actual days off work while living at my new home! I'm a little surprised it took over a month before I took a day off work, discounting a day I took off because I went to see a concert. I can get used to this.

I finished Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time earlier this week, netting my first Platinum trophy along the way. The only thing I didn't do, which I usually do while playing any R&C game is upgrading all the weapons and netting as many skill points as possible. Weapon leveling was tougher this time around, so we'll see if I make a run at that or not. As far as impressions, well, its Ratchet & Clank. Of course I loved it. But also, having heard the rumors that this may be the last R&C, I believe I can safely say that this may only be the last R&C game for PS3. The game finishes in a way that, to me, they're adventures are far from over. Still, it will probably be awhile until another game comes out, so here's hoping that maybe we'll see another Ratchet: Deadlocked kinda game in the meanwhile.

I just started up Dragon Age: Origins the other night. I was worried because it froze on me within 10 minutes after starting a Mage's origin. But after playing more yesterday, its okay. I finished the Mage origin story and put that game on hold to play the Dwarf Noble origin story. I really like this setup. Once I finish a game, usually that's it. I very rarely replay games. So to have other stories be at the beginning is great for me, as I'm pretty sure I can find time to play all 6 origin stories, then pick the one I liked and finish the game. So far, its tough to say. Reviews have been very good, so I'm sure it will be good. With any RPG, its hard to get a good grasp on everything after a few hours.

After playing thru Uncharted 2 & R&C, and even starting Dragon Age, I finally got back to Brutal Legend late last night. I guess what really drew me to BL was Tim Schafer/Double Fine. I'm not a big metal fan, although I do like Jack Black most of the time. I think Penny Arcade was right on their analysis of Brutal Legend. I forget the exacts, but I did have similar feelings. The gameplay didn't quite have that great hook that I felt Psychonauts did, or any R&C game does (for me anyway). So after a lengthy absence, I finally started it again and will continue to see if I can finish it prior to getting Assassin's Creed 2 next week.

In other pursuits, I've been working my way thru Bill Simmons' book, The Book of Basketball, which has been very good thru over 400 of the 700 pages. Will go down as the longest book I've ever read when I finish it. And I don't count textbooks for that.

And I'm not sure what else to say here. I need to get cleaned up.

First and foremost, Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time is out!! I made sure to avoid as much info on it as I could since getting early impressions of it from E3 because I wanted to find out what the game had to offer as I was playing through it. Thus far, after playing for about an hour and a half before work, I love it. The gameplay is the same as ever, but there are some enhancements. It seems like it has a bit more of an open "world" design to it, which strangely enough, I like. I am not a big fan of the open world designs, but with the way the R&C games are designed, having a bit more freedom is a good thing. Plus you can now fly Ratchet's spaceship around areas of space, which is very cool. Previously, flying the ship was limited to shooter levels. Here you have the freedom to fly around sectors of space, which is a great addition. Already this is shaping up to be a great addition to the franchise. Here's hoping the rumors that this will be the last game in the franchise aren't true. But if they are, I do hope it makes for a fitting conclusion.

Last night I finished up Uncharted 2, after a healthy amount of playing the last two days. It was fun, it was entertaining, it was challenging, and got me thinking about the reviews for Uncharted 2. I remember playing through the original Uncharted and really enjoying it. Some reviews didn't quite agree, but they were still very good (in the 8.5-9). Particularly this is in relation to Gamespot's 8.0 review. Then along comes Uncharted 2. Having just finished it, the single player isn't all that much different from the original's. The pace of the game feels a lot better, and a bit tighter, but otherwise I didn't pick up on any aspects to the game that would warrant such a huge leap in scoring. Except one thing: the multiplayer. Now granted, maybe I just didn't pick up on any subtler improvements, like the gun and/or melee combat, partners helping out more during the game, etc. But still, the single player didn't feel any different. It still played the same way, had plenty of challenging sections, told a very good story and looked great. And yet Uncharted 2 gets 9.5s & 10s, whereas Uncharted got 8s, 8.5s & 9s. So that got me thinking: Does multiplayer make that big a difference?

I first want to start by saying that I do have plenty of memorable multiplayer gaming memories, and I'm not opposed to multiplayer, mostly of the local multiplayer variety. My beef stands with online multiplayer. I was disappointed to find out that Uncharted 2s co-op was online only. Naughty Dog couldn't add a split screen local co-op?? But more to the point, online multiplayer isn't that good. Yes, you can play with a lot more people online, not to mention its a lot more accessible, in comparison to local multiplayer. But what happens when the online community latches onto a new game? Or others potentially abusing mechanics makes playing multi unbearable? Or the community is just not pleasant to play against/with (thinking of the "Halo 2 kids" phenomenon here)? Or any other random complaint I could lodge at it.

What it came down to was how the game would stand up over time. Someone I work with has been playing various old games on an emulator for awhile now, and that got me thinking of more modern games and how we look back on them. Say in 5-10 years, when we are on new consoles (PS4??), I would assume some games from this era would still be supported online, but who is still gonna be playing it then? So looking back on a game, the multiplayer value of it drops dramatically, while the single player value stays where its at. Short term, should I really be worrying about something like this? I highly doubt it. Why do I think about it?? Because I prefer single player games and I don't like it when it seems like developers focus more on the multiplayer side of a game as opposed to its single player side. I remember when Ratchet & Clank went multi, with Up Your Arsenal, the third game for the PS2. It had multiplayer for the first time, yet I absolutely loved its single player. So maybe my argument isn't very valid. But I do fear the path that's being taken by developers this decade. Far too many RPGs are being taken the MMO route, which negates any potentially intriguing story since MMOs can't really tell a story (unless the KotoR MMO, The Old Republic, proves me wrong). FPS games are a dime a dozen, and seem to only focus on the multiplayer, and FPS games aren't very story dependant, but still, games do tell stories, even shooters.

Of course, after typing all that out, it feels weird thinking about this argument. Perhaps I just don't get the appeal of online gaming. Maybe its because I prefer genres that typically don't have multiplayer components. Whatever it is, I just hope that online multiplayer doesn't take down single player. Uncharted 2's single player was very good, on par with the original in some aspects, better in others. Ratchet & Clank has always been a terrific single player game, and I don't want to see it go away any time soon.

Enough rambling. Time to finish up work and get home to play more R&C!!

Picked up my preordered copies of Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 on tuesday. So far I've played more Brutal Legend than Uncharted, but I've enjoyed both of them. I've played thru the first few missions in Brutal Legend, 21% completed according to the ingame stats. I'm not a big heavy metal fan, but Brutal Legend does an incredible job taking that musical genre and creating a world around it. As for Uncharted 2, the reviews have surprised me more than the game itself. I really enjoyed the first Uncharted, so after playing the first two chapters of 2, I'm not surprised the quality of the game, as well as the storytelling, has kept up with its high standards. The glowing reviews are very impressive, and I'm happy to see a 1st party PS3 exclusive receiving this kind of attention.

Well, October 5th would be the official first day I was fully moved into my house! I spent the night last Saturday, and we finished moving the last of my stuff on Sunday. As of about 5pm Sunday the move was complete, and I say Monday was my first full day living here. It is a very different feeling. On the one hand I miss how nice my parents house was in terms of space and how it looked. Not to mention the food supply. On the other hand, I have an entire house for my stuff as opposed to two bedrooms, so I'm not cramped and when I come home from work I don't have to keep the TV at a lower volume so I didn't wake them up or anything. Not that I want it cranked up, but it is nicer to be able to turn it up some, especially for Rock Band. And that is another big point. Now if I feel like doing a little drumming or vocals at midnight or 1am or both after downloading new music I can. That is a great feeling. The one thing I certainly won't miss is the commotion that accompanies my nieces and nephews on the weekends.

Busy gaming period coming up. Picked up NBA 2K10 on Tuesday. I got the Anniversary Edition because I wanted the footlocker, which is very cool. The game has been just as good as I was expecting. The "new" My Player mode, aka bball version of MLB Road to the Show with a little 24/7 mixed in, is pretty neat. At times it can be frustrating when you make a play but get negative points for it (like driving the hoop and putting up a shot in traffic and getting bad shot selection; not like the CPU takes better ones, plus its not like it was a 26ft 3). But overall it is a very fun mode to play. I'm gonna have to try out a big man position, as my guy is a PG.

When I got my iPod Touch I wasn't really expecting it to kinda turn into a gaming platform for myself. Somehow it did. As much as I would like either a DS or a PSP for at least a half dozen games on each, I haven't yet. Probably the biggest reason has been my iPod. Seeing as its my media player, the fact that there are some decent to pretty good games is a huge mise. The PSP was attempting this but the problem was space. The fact you needed memory sticks wasn't good. I really like the idea of the PSPgo, with the internal memory, although I'm not positive all digital games was the best idea (not a terrible idea though). But since it just came out for $250, its hard for me to really consider it. If it came out sooner, possibly. The DS is a pure gaming platform, but seeing as I've been down that road before, its hard to make a case for it. Still both systems have a lot of games I would love to try, but having an iPod that has games makes it tougher to consider a DS/PSP, not to mention my own sordid history with pure handheld gaming platforms. Let's Golf has been the most played game, and best purchase, so far for me. It plays like Hot Shots, and it does a fine job of it. Most of the others I've tried haven't been as good, but they haven't been terrible either. Surprisingly I found the 24 game to be okay. The levels are very short, but it plays just fine. Secret of Monkey Island was translated very well and was a great choice for the iTouch. The rest has just been meh for the most part.

What I've really been looking for has been an RPG for the iTouch. I've purchased two, and I've looked into a couple more. The two I picked up are Zenonia (comparable to 16-bit action RPGs, aka Zelda, with a Diablo like mission/item structure), which I've really enjoyed so far. The other is a port of a Sega CD game, Vay. That one is like the old turn based RPGs, like Phantasy Star, Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy. That one seems fine so far. What I would love to see is a Final Fantasy-like game, and that is why I tried Vay. I've also heard Dungeon Hunter is good (basically a Diablo-clone), as well as HYBRID (made by same people as Zenonia). At the moment though, Zenonia is the one that will probably get the most playing time. Plus it was only $3 so it was a very good deal.

I'll leave it at that for now. I want to take a shower and get ready.

Since my last post, I've picked up The Beatles: Rock Band, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Valkyria Chronicles, the Brutal Legend demo, and betas for the stand alone Dotas, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth. I'll start at the beginning. The Beatles game was fantastic. Going in I knew zero songs by the Beatles. Whether I've actually heard songs by them is another story, I know that if someone played one for me I wouldn't know it. Then all the previews and promos began and I found at least one that I had no idea was a song the Beatles played, Twist and Shout. Others cropped up as well while playing through the story. The music in the game is fantastic. A great choice of songs that range from pop at the start of the story to whatever you would c1assify the dreamscape ones to a little harder stuff to the mellower final group of songs. Very impressive and even if I minimum 4* every song on a sightread, they were still a lot of fun to play and watch. Can't wait until the album DLC comes out in the coming months to get to play more from them.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 was just awful. Maybe that's too kind. Its a travesty and an insult to the original MUA and the two X-Men Legends games. Where do I even begin here. Well I'll start with the fact that Raven software didn't make the game, even though they made the first three (XML & MUA). I remember Vicarious Visions having a hand in a port of either X-Men Legends 2 or maybe the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but I also heard they rebuilt the game from the ground up, so...... This leads to my next point, aside from the basic hack-n-slash, top down brawling gameplay, its totally stripped down compared to MUA and especially XML. Items are gone, replaced only by generic team boosts. Character ultimates are gone, replaced by worthless "Fusions" which only fit into like 3 categories so there were tons of repeats (That one felt like a good idea when you take a handful of heroes into account, but not when you have 24 total, and combinations that are just odd, Wolverine + Juggernaut has promise, but Wolverine + Daredevil? Or Wolverine + Songbird???). Also the customizability of leveling up is pretty much null and void. Your characters only have 4 powers, that's it, predetermined to a specific face button. Plus each character only has 5 or 6 passive abilities, and most have 1 or 2 that are locked based on the registration choice you make. Oh and to make all this worthless, when you level you get a powers point that's only used for powers, and defeating enemies gains abilities points to power those abilities, and everyone gets so many points there that why bother manually spending them. So taking all that into account, how can you call this an action-RPG like the original?? Plus I beat the game in under 7 hours. If I remember correctly, the XML games were around 30 hours. MUA was around 20-25. MUA2 not even 10?? Plus they're promoting the Civil War as the big part of the storyline, well it was until 3/4 of the way through when they abandoned it and came up with a terrible "new" story to finish the game. Safe to say my opinion of MUA2 isn't very good. It was okay while playing it. Not a lot of fun, but it wasn't terrible. However, it has the most ridiculous cavalcade of random villains for mini-boss fights that I have ever seen. The Wizard, Tinkerer, Titanium Man, Whirlwind, Molten Man, Firestar, Grim Reaper, Songbird, Penance, even Wonder Man and She-Hulk, who are most of these people?? There was only one real sequence I remember where you fought a good group of guys in a row (anti-reg side, vs War Machine, Mr Fantastic, Iron Man). If there is going to be an MUA3, its going to have to be one heck of a game or Raven has to be at the helm again, b/c if VV is in charge again, no thanks. MUA2 wasn't worth the money at all.

Moving on. I picked up Valkyria Chronicles a few weeks ago. I've made it upto Chapter 7 so far, and for the most part I've enjoyed it. I'm at a tough battle right now, so we shall see if that continues or not. Until this point the gameplay has been very good. The battles are enjoyable in their sort of free roaming tactical RPG way. With MUA2 out of the picture, I have two weeks until NBA 2K10 comes out, and another week after that until Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 come out, so hopefully I can finish VC.

Probably the biggest news is that I now own a house! I signed off on it on Friday, and it is currently waiting for me to move in, which I hope to accomplish at the end of this week. This will be interesting.

Final things before I get going on stuff I need to get done. I made an effort to reach the top 10 for El Scorcho in RB2, but I was only able to re-enter the Top 20 for guitar. However I did make a leap for Use It, reaching #3!!

To start with, I finished Batman last Thursday afternoon during my ever relaxing week off. Reviewed "earlier tonight" while at work.

Sunday I randomly picked up a used copy of Valkyria Chronicles after re-downloading the demo after talking with a friend about tactical RPGs. For starters I'm not a fan of tactical RPGs, or as I call them Chess RPGs (taken from an EBGames customer), but Valkyria isn't really one. I like that, plus I think its better. I've gotten up to Chapter 5 thus far and I like what I've seen so far. It was well reviewed toward the end of last year, and I did try it when the demo came out, but I passed it up. During a dry spell earlier this year I did take another look at it, but once again passed it by. Not so the third time.

Can't wait for the Beatles release next Wednesday. I'll be getting a new guitar along with the game because mise. After that it'll be Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, then NBA 2K10 (can't wait to see that footlocker), the Brutal Legend & Uncharted 2, then Ratchet & Clank and Alpha Protocol (that will be an awesome week) before Dragon Age: Origins and Assassin's Creed 2 come out in November. I will be busy that's for sure.

Today was my 28th birthday. Like I did last year, I took the entire week off, so today was just as nice as the last two days, just being able to relax around the house is a great feeling. Of course today was not immune to random errands, but I did get to play golf once again. Got off to a great start with a bogey-par-birdie start, but then didn't play as well over the next few holes before finishing the 9th with a birdie. I'll definitely take a 41 though, two shots better than my previous 9 hole best, which ironically enough occurred last year on my birthday, at the same course, on the back nine when I eagled a short par 4. So the last two times I've played on my birthday, I have a 41-43, pretty good.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is as good as advertised. Easily better than advertised. In fact so far its the best game I've played this year, and probably in close to the last two years. There is very little to complain or nitpick about. Combat is good, adventuring is good, stealth is good, solving the riddles is great, Arkham Island is large so there's plenty of area to cover/explore, the presentation is terrific, with excellent voice acting, and a great cast of characters. I guess there is one small complaint and that is just the lack of actual boss fights or at least boss fights against Batman villains. Otherwise this is the best game thus far this year, edging out inFamous for me.

It has been a long time coming. This isn't his first video game, but it is without a doubt his finest one. The world's greatest detective in the home of the world's greatest villains, Batman: Arkham Asylum is finally out!!

Picked up my collector's edition copy last night at a midnight release. The case it comes in is huge and looks sweet. The batarang looks cool; I personally like the Arkham journal, particularly the fact its in a leather wrapping like old school journals; and I'll check out the bonus disc soon enough. Started playing the game last night. The opening introduction is playable which is very neat, and the Joker is great during that stretch. Once you actually begin, in the same part where the demo kicks in, it'll be familiar, especially if you played through the demo.

So far I've only played about an hour and a half into the game, but I've made it back outside to Arkham's island surface, upgraded two things, and really enjoyed everything so far. From the reviews, it looks like I won't be disappointed, which is good because Batman hasn't been afforded a great game yet. Arkham Asylum looks to be changing that.

Also yesterday, earlier in the evening, I finished Secret of Monkey Island. It was good. I would love to see LucasArts rerelease the second Monkey Island game, or, hopefully, Grim Fandango. Will just have to wait and see.

Ahh, even though I had a vacation in June, this one is much better. I have all next week off with my birthday coming in the middle of the week and a party at the end. Not to mention it looks like good weather for golf, plus, finally, the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, which has been getting great reviews so far. Despite having Monkey Island to play, which reminds me I need to download Tales of Monkey Island Chapter Two, I haven't had a disc game to play since finishing the Simpsons Game. Hopefully Batman is a great as I'm expecting it to be, and from what the reviews are saying.

In the meantime, Secret of Monkey Island is fantastic. I finished the pirate trials opening, and now I need to get a ship and crew together. I'll have to make sure not to overlook this and Tales of MI with Batman on the horizon. But that's not the only thing. I've been thinking of popping in my copy of Mass Effect to either replay or ensure I have a good save file for next year when Mass Effect 2 comes out. There's also the latest Live Arcade game release to consider, Shadow Complex. In Gamespot's review of it, they compared it in a modern day sense to Super Metroid. This piques my interest for a couple reasons. First I never played Super Metroid, even though its widely regarded as one of the top SNES games. Second, one of the guys I worked with played thru it on an emulater recently and I got the chance to see Super Metroid in action. Combine those two factors and I may give Shadow Complex a try. Last night I played thru the trial and it was promising. We shall see.

Thursday night was one of the best nights I've had in a long time. Despite the fact I had to work, at least I got out early because I went to see Our Lady Peace play at the House of Blues, and to make the night even better, met up with two guys from work afterwards to see a midnight showing of Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglourious Basterds. Both were worth it, especially OLP. I've been a fan of Our Lady Peace for most of this decade, so along with finally getting to see Flogging Molly last year, they were both well worth the wait. OLP is great live, and they put on a very good show, highlights including vocalist Raine watching the guitarist play the solo for "Monkey Brains" off the new CD; during "Innocent", turning the mic around to let the crowd take over; disappearing and walking around the balcony during "All You Did was Save My Life", then continuing the song from the balcony and climbing down to the stage to finish it; asking security to not kick a guy out that climbed onstage, pushed him away, and belted out Starseed at the end of the night. Very good show, would love to see them again.

Inglourious Basterds was pretty good. Its less of a comedy than the commercials make it look like. It does have a lot of funny moments, lots of it coming from Brad Pitt. The movie is lengthy, and while a couple parts seem to last awhile, it rarely drags the movie down. Plus the dialogue is well written as it is in all Tarantino movies and the actors are well cast for their parts and all did a very nice job. I really can't think of anyone that was bad to be honest. Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt shine, Waltz as a German colonel, and Pitt as the Lieutenant in charge of the Basterds. Worth seeing especially if you are a Tarantino fan.

And now I need to clean up and get some lunch.

I have tried to avoid hyping up the new Batman game, Arkham Asylum, well, because there hasn't been a good Batman game ever. The others always seem to be some kind of beat'em up game, but there is much more to Batman than combat. I heard earlier in the week that a demo of Arkham Asylum was releasing last night and the anticipation began. Work plus hanging out with coworkers after work delayed my chance to try the demo until late, but boy was it worth it. The presentation feels very good, as do the controls, and the gameplay, for as long as the demo lasted, was very good.

You only get to try a brief snippet of the beginning of the game, but you get a decent feel for basic combat right away, then you get to play stealth Batman, and finally hunter Batman, or as the developers have been calling it "Silent Predator". This is very cool. Since Batman rarely goes headlong into a fight, not to mention he plays off thugs and criminals fear of him, you finally get to do that in a game here. The room and your inventory is limited, but it was a lot of fun both times I played through that room. You can swing across and survey the situation from up high on a sculpture high up on the walls of the room. From here you can watch the thugs movements and plan how to begin picking them off. You can glide kick down to take one out, but alert the other thugs, or you can wait for one of them to walk underneath you, and you can hang upside down and snatch him and string him up. What's cool is that you can see their condition as you pick them off. At first they're calm, just patrolling around. Get to one or two of them and they start getting nervous, worrying about the situation. Take out all but one or two and they get terrified and start thinking about their own safety. It all really feels like how Batman would act, finally.

And after finally getting a chance to play the game, as opposed to seeing brief gameplay videos of it, the hype and anticipation can really begin to build. Batman: Arkham Asylum looks to be the best Batman game ever made, and possibly one of the best comic book games ever made. It releases the day before my birthday, and it can't come soon enough!

In other gaming news, I gave up on Fable 2. I went a few days without playing it, and was thinking of starting again until I thought to myself, why? I didn't like the combat at all, and to be honest I wasn't all that impressed by anything. The minigames were dull. The environments were okay, but limiting and forced you to use the breadcrumb feature, which was like holding your hand. And well, I could just keep going but I don't feel like it. To me, it just wasn't that good, and felt really dumbed down compared to the first Fable.

I have enjoyed the Simpsons Game. While it may not be the greatest game there is, it has been fun and the presentation has been very good. The cutscenes look like they're straight out of the show, having the original voice actors helps. I really liked their riff on video games, plus I love the parodies they throw out in the latter half of the game. Like I said in my last post, the gameplay is what it is. Its just basic platforming and brawling for the most part, but its still enjoyable enough.

On my way to work, I was thinking of the games I'll be getting before the end of the year, and the list is ridiculous. October alone will be an incredible month. Batman: Arkham Asylum will come out soon enough; Beatles Rock Band and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 next month; NBA 2K10, Brutal Legend, Uncharted 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time in October; and Assassin's Creed 2 in November. Marvel might be the worst game in that list and its predecessor was pretty good. I've had really good groups of games I've eagerly awaited before, but this is something else. Any other quieter period and any of these games would be hyped up game. This fall might be the greatest stretch of gaming for me in quite a long time.

By default, Ratchet & Clank ranks as my can't wait for game. Interestingly I would put Batman at #2, solely b/c of the reasons I stated above. #3 is either Brutal Legend or Beatles Rock Band, probably leaning toward the Beatles in that case. #4-6 is some order of Marvel, Uncharted 2 & Assassin's Creed 2. Randomly Dragon Age is carrying the least hype for me. I'm thinking its b/c its a fully indepth RPG, and I realize how much time I'll have to put into it, plus I seem to be more into action RPGs or turn based RPGs compared to the Western RPGs, which Dragon Age is. Still, I've been looking into it since it was announced.

Outside of that incredible group of 8 titles, there are a couple others I'm curious about. Alpha Protocol, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Wet, & Dante's Inferno round out that group. Alpha Protocol is the one that intrigues me the most, although Splinter Cell is not far behind. Splinter Cell looks to have a bit of Hitman in it, and I loved Blood Money, so hopefully there's a demo of SC: Conviction. Alpha Protocol just sounds like it'll be right up my alley, a spy RPG. I've read you can play it like James Bond, or Jack Bauer, or Jason Bourne (the great JBs), and I love all three of those characters (in that order incidentally). So that one will have the greatest wait and see for me, as it could sneak its way into that first group I mentioned.

Alright, getting near the end of my shift here, time to finish this up.

Haven't exactly been super busy of late, but I just haven't gotten around to typing anything new up here. I finished Secret Agent Clank for PS2. The game itself was fine I guess, the port of the game was awful. About what I would expect but still, no more PSP to PS2 ports, they aren't worth the slowdowns and the fact that they were designed for the PSP. When I got my 360 back, I picked up Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts & Infinite Undiscovery, because I wanted to try both of those games. I have to get back to Banjo, but I tried Infinite, and I didn't care for it. The story seemed okay, as I liked the concept of the moon being chained to the planet, but it was the gameplay that failed me. Pretty much a real time hack-n-slash-esque game, the actual combat was like the Tales of or Star Ocean games, with two attack buttons, and holding down one does special attacks. In those games it works okay, but here the attacks aren't very fluid, neither are the movement animations. That and it was throwing all kinds of stuff into the gameplay, liking creating items, connecting with a teammate for attacks but also talking to townspeople?! So in a nutshell, I didn't care for it.

Luckily I have a great contact at a Gamestop, and she let me return it. Initially I planned on getting Fable 2, but after reading up on it, I was very leary of doing so. My other options were pretty bad though. I've wanted to try the Simpsons Game, so I looked for that, found a good PS3 copy, so I was going to just get that, but she's too good. Earlier in the week I asked her to set aside a copy of Fable 2, which she did. Of course she got a Limited Collector's Edition copy with mint condition discs, and it just so happened that its $10 less this week, so I got both, especially since she said I could return Fable 2 if I don't like it. I love having someone that will do that for me.

So, I started both games yesterday. First, Fable 2. Three things that I read that I didn't like: death means zilch, money is incredibly easy to make, and one button combat, aka mash A the entire time. Now I just played through the introduction 'child' part, so neither of those reared its ugly head, but another showed up, the "breadcrumbs". Basically its a yellow line that tells you where to go. How dumbed down of a game did Molyneaux make here? Fable 2 for dummies?? Needless to say, it has to really wow me or else its going back. At work last night I read some user reviews, and I'm a little surprised at how many good reviews are out there considering some of these very noticable flaws. Some even called the combat great, after saying it was button mashy early. Uh, how does it get less button mashy later?? Gamespot loved the dog companion, but I hear he does nothing, except maul enemies that are on the ground, and conviently point out hidden treasures for you. I hear how you can do all this stuff, yet the game still sounds as restrictive as the original Fable. To me, it really sounds like its a much more dumbed down version of Fable, with a slightly longer main story. Its also to the point where I might look for a PC "copy" of Fable just because.

As for the Simpsons Game, it is what it is. The presentation, story, voice acting, atmosphere is off the charts. As a huge Simpsons fan, I love it. The gameplay is fairly standard, but so long as its not horrible, it will make this one of the better Simpsons games in years. First level is Homer in the Land of Chocolate. Love it. Second level is Bart & Homer in a museum, with Bart using his newfound Bartman skills. Parodies galore come in later on, as the manual for The Simpsons Game fell from the sky and landed in front of Bart. At the least, it should be entertaining. Works for me.

Outside that, picked up Castle Crashers, Secret of Monkey Island, Tales of Monkey Island. Castle Crashers is very good, especially the co-op. The Monkey Islands I need to play more of, I'm at the beginning of Secret of MI and not sure what to do next. I want to finish Secret of MI before playing thru Tales.

Otherwise, I'm just waiting for my birthday to come around, which means a week off work plus Batman: Arkham Asylum!!!! Also Marvel vs Capcom 2 comes out soon, hopefully Trine releases for PS3 soon as well, as it sounds pretty neat.

Other than all that, just the usual stuff, not really worth talking about here, so I won't. Time to get some stuff done.

Its now official. I have purchased back my Xbox 360. Didn't cost all that much, so as far as money is concerned, it was a great value purchase. Along side it I have Banjo Kazooie, Infinite Undiscovery, Secret of Monkey Island releasing this week, and yesterday I bought Castle Crashers. Its been back for not even a day now, and I'm very pleased. Well that may also be the case b/c of the largest trade I've ever made in my fantasy baseball 3 sport league. CP3 for 7 baseball players. Now I just have to get another ethernet cable, as the other spare I have it not long enough to stretch from the 360 to my router.

Around this time ten years ago in the summer of '99, I entered/returned to gaming. Previously we just had a Sega Genesis and I just played whatever looked cool, and I mostly stayed in the sports and action/platforming genres. My first gaming purchase of a PlayStation 1 was a big deal to me. It was the first console I bought with my own money, and sure wouldn't be the last. And even though I have had times where I find myself with too many games to play, it has given me a very nice hobby that I can rely on during times when my friends aren't around, or bad weather, or on vacation, etc. Thinking back through these years, its amazing how far the technology has come along. PS1 & N64 reigned supreme, with their polygons & memory cards. Goldeneye was the FPS king, with Perfect Dark and Medal of Honor on the horizon. Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, and good ole' Mario led the platforming charge, with Mario & Crash as console mascots. Mascot platformers seemed to be the genre of choice, as there were plenty around. Then came the DreamCast & PlayStation 2, and business certainly picked up with the arrival of the Xbox and GameCube. FPSs slowly became the genre of choice with Halo leading the charge now. Sonic joined the platform ranks again, but the mascot platformer was slowly dying, although Ratchet, Sly & Jak did their best to keep it going. Everything started looking more and more realistic, characters were getting their own voices now, cutscenes were becoming more prominent. Online play took off, led by Unreal Championship originally for the Xbox Live & SOCOM for the PS2. RPGs even entered the online arena, with MMORPGs becoming a huge genre. Multiplayer gaming seemed more popular than ever, especially coop gaming. And this current generation, with the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, have kept enhancing that, with casual gaming erupting with the Live Arcade, PSN & WiiWare and Virtual Console. Gaming has really grown.

Like I said, my first purchased console was a PS1, along with Triple Play 2000 & Frogger. Spyro the Dragon also made an early appearance. Those days weren't that much different from my younger gaming days. Sports games were prevelant, along with licensed games (Star Wars Phantom Menace anyone?) & random platform or action games (Tomorrow Never Dies???). RPGs were games I avoided. I always believed I would not be able to figure out what to do if I got lost or something, so I never tried them. I very rarely finished games in those days too. Even the games I liked playing I didn't finish. Didn't help that I began a habit that I'm doing my best now to keep at bay: randomly buying another system. It started with an N64 for WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF No Mercy and Perfect Dark. I tried other games for the N64, like Paper Mario at the end of the consoles life (which I did finish), Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, various attempts at Zelda Ocarina & Majora's Mask, among a few other games. And not too long after that a Dreamcast entered the picture as well. Soul Calibur, WWF Royal Rumble, Crazy Taxi, & World Series Baseball got the brunt of my attention. I don't really recall if there was anything else, but I do remember those. This was an early lesson: I like having options, but there is such a thing as too many options.

Which leads me to another bad habit: buying handheld systems. First offender here was the original Game Boy Advance prior to a family vacation. Super Mario Advance, Fire Pro Wrestling, Zelda: Oracle of Seasons were with that purchase. In hindsight this was probably the best handheld purchase I've ever made, because of the timing. Not long after that vacation though, it found little play amongst too many other titles. Unfortunately I would not learn my lesson on handhelds until about 6+ years later so I'll return to this later.

I also don't want to forget that I did have a decent gaming PC during this time. Age of Empires 2 & Diablo 2 were the biggest ones, but plenty of other titles were tried that I'd rather forget about. Not that they were bad games, its just that I bogged myself down so much that I'd rather forget I did that and just move on.

The release of the PlayStation 2 was not a big deal for me. I do remember making an attempt for one when it launched, but to no avail. I was lucky enough to score one just before Christmas of that year though, which was very cool. Oddly enough, it was probably the only console I've ever bought where there weren't really any games I wanted for the system. Every other time a console has been purchased, there has been a game or two in mind that has fueled the purchase desire:

PS1 Triple Play; N64 WM 2K; DC RR & SC; GBA Mario & Zelda; XB Halo, Amped & Star Wars; GC Monkey Ball & Smash Bros; GBA SP Advance Wars & Golden Sun; DS Mario & a GBA Zelda; PSP Hot Shots, MVP Baseball, Lumines, Ape Escape; X360 Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo, & Call of Duty 2; PS3 Ratchet & Clank; Wii Mario, Smash Bros, Zack & Wiki. Quick aside that is an absurd listing of games.

Back on point, the PS2 purchase wasn't really for anything specific. I remember getting Unreal Tournament for it, but the big game at the time was SSX, and due to the Tony Hawk Pro Skater craze, I wasn't all that impressed with SSX. Still, that purchase was most likely the best one I've ever made. At one point it got replaced by a modified PS2, but I still own a PS2 after close to 9 years. That is impressive for myself. Plus the PS2 broadened my gaming scope. Final Fantasy X broke the RPG barrier. Ratchet & Clank soared to my favorite franchise of all time. I started to actually look at games before purchasing them. Devil May Cry is most likely the game I've finished the fastest ever (beat in like two days playing it a bunch). No matter which systems eventually come out, the PS2, and the PS1 to a lesser extent, will hold a very special place.

The Xbox joined the party at launch with the GameCube not too long afterwards. Halo, Amped, Dead or Alive 3, Fuzion Frenzy and eventually the awful Star Wars: Obi Wan were the initial titles with my Xbox. The Xbox was a cool system for its time, even though it got overshadowed by the PS2 pretty much until Xbox Live came out. After all these years of having to buy a memory card, and now the Xbox had a built in harddrive!?! That was very cool. My time with the Xbox was tumultuous because of my PS2. There were a few attempts at keeping an Xbox, but they never panned out. The GameCube on the other hand was a fine purchase. Super Monkey Ball & Smash Bros Melee were the defining games, along with Eternal Darkness. Lots of fun and enjoyment was had with the GameCube. Even though I did obtain a second one at one point after donating my original one for my nephew, we still have that GameCube here, which is again impressive as I don't keep systems for very long if I start losing interest.

Let's see, I believe a DS and the PSP joined the ranks around this period too. The DS was just a dumb purchase (I still didn't learn), but I was able to sell that to someone so it wasn't a huge loss. Zelda Minish Cap was cool though, got to play that while I had the DS. The PSP was a good idea on paper, I think its still missing one vital thing, a second analog stick/nub. For Hot Shots & Lumines alone, I wanna say it was worth it. Those two games were awesome on the PSP. If only I could say the same for more PSP games. I also played Twisted Metal, Darkstalkers & Ape Escape at the PSP launch. Those were fine. The MVP baseball was disappointing. Later on, on a PSP rebuy, Valkyrie Profile was pretty cool, if only I continued playing through it. There was also the Ratchet & Clank game plus Daxter, which were both very good. At the very least, that last PSP purchase may have broken my habit of buying handhelds. It has not been easy. The DS has Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3, 4, 6 (GBA), World Ends With You, New Super Mario Bros, and probably a couple others. And the PSP has VP which I wouldn't mind finishing plus Star Ocean 1 & 2, Rock Band Unplugged, God of War, & Dissidia: Final Fantasy next month. I've done well resisting so far.

And this brings me to this current generation. The Xbox 360 came first, along with Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo, Call of Duty 2 & Dead or Alive 4. And frankly, the 360 is the reason I started thinking of this. I sold it to a friend's roommate last year, and a year later, I'm in talks to buy it back. Even though I moved onto the PS3, I do like the 360s setup. The Live Marketplace is fantastic, with plenty of updates, demos, not to mention demos of the Arcade games. I enjoyed having that system, and the main reason I sold it was because I had the PS3, and at the time, didn't see anything that held me to the 360 (the actual staple reason I don't hold onto systems; whether its nothing out now or coming out). The achievement system the 360 introduced was a clever idea. They don't mean anything, but they are cool to earn. Unfortunately, a red ring took my original 360, which led me to the purchase of my PS3, and about a week later I got a refurb 360 returned from MS (which is the one I'm trying to buy back). Once again, games fuel my desire for it, with Mass Effect 2, the Secret of Monkey Island SE, and Perfect Dark leading the way, with Infinite Undiscovery & Star Ocean helping matters.

I'll get to the PS3 in a moment, first how about the Wii. It was a great idea, it just didn't pan out how I hoped it would. I bought extra controllers to play multiplayer, and never opened two of them. Smash Bros Brawl was awesome, but the online was too laggy, and almost never got to play it multiplayer. Zack & Wiki was fun while it lasted. I was not impressed by Mario Galaxy. And to me the novelty was not enough. I guess I am a gaming elitist, but I know what games I like, and the Wii didn't have them.

My PS3 is one of the original 60GB models, purchased when Sony decided to cut stock on them when they announced their 40GB sku. A lot like my purchase of the PS2, it was not for a game that was out at the time (wow, didn't even think that that happened twice). I did get MLB The Show and All Pro Football with it, but APF was originally purchased for my 360 (which died), and the MLB was just a mise purchase. The big reason was, one the price cut of $100, but mainly for the release in the coming months of the new Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. It was worth it. Since then, more R&C with Quest for Booty and Crack in Time later this year, inFamous was great, Assassin's Creed & Uncharted were very good, and plenty of other games I've played since purchasing it.

Amazingly, throughout this 10 year period, I've stuck close to the people of the first console I got, Sony Playstation. Whatever it is, I have more luck with games on their platforms than on any other system. Insomniac, Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, and Santa Monica Studios certianly helped (R&C, Sly, Jak, God of War). But I just like to play good games, which has gotten me into trouble far too often (trouble = buying other systems). Through it all though, I've enjoyed it. Honestly I haven't always been happy with specific purchases (most of those handhelds for one) or specific games, but there have been enough that it keeps me gaming and looking forward to new games. For all the 007 Racing, Obi Wan, Phantom Menace, Prototype, Elder Scrolls, SSX, and Halos that have either been awful, I just didn't like them, or I didn't care for that genre, there are those that have been worth it: Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Dragon Quest 8, Final Fantasy X & XII, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, Hot Shots Golf, NBA Street 1 & 2, Tomb Raider Legend, Vagrant Story, WWF No Mercy, Zelda Minish Cap & Wind Waker, Sega Soccer Slam, Ghostbusters, inFamous, Fallout 3, 007 Everything or Nothing and countless others.

In retrospect, I don't want to think of all the games I've played, nor do I honestly want to know how many systems I've bought (although I will calculate that just because), but I do know that since that PS1, I've had all 12 major systems during their time (PS1, N64, DC, GBA, PS2, XB, GC, DS, PSP, 360, PS3, Wii). If I wanted to I can even count my iPod Touch. The only ones I can think of that I haven't owned are the Game Boy Color and the Nokia N-Gage. Plus I've gone from working at Blockbuster Video part time to a full time senior Help desk associate position at Key, not to mention not owning a computer until later that year to owning 3, having built two of them, with one of them also running a VM workstation. What are the next ten years going to hold in store???

Last night I just played straight through Ghostbusters, picking up after the second big boss fight of the game, and going all the way through. It was challenging in parts, particularly the boss encounters, but I still really liked the game. It really felt like a Ghostbusters game, and it very well could've been the third movie. It brought up stuff from the first two movies, and brought them to a resolution. Stay Puft, Slimer, the Library ghost all make appearances and all tie into the story, well except for Slimer. It wasn't super long, but it was fun. Definitely recommended for anyone that liked the movies and wants to play a Ghostbusters game.

Also I wrote my first review since New Years, of inFamous, which can be found here.