At the beginning of the year, I posted a list of games that I planned to finish this year. I also stated that I was going to try and beat more games, instead of replaying the same ones over and over. I am happy to say that I have beat 22 games this year, which is probably more than the last 2 years combined. Last year, I think I only finished 12 games, and the year before, hardly beat any, because I was playing Guitar Hero most of the time. The only games remaining from the original list are MS Saga, an MGS game, and an action RPG.

Since the trend for July 17 seems to be posting games completed lists, I will do the same. Actually, I will just post links to the lists, too lazy to type everything out. I have beat 93 games, and completed 25, for a grand total of 118. Only 35 of those games are RPGs though.

If you couldn't guess by the title, I've posted pics of all my games, consoles, handhelds, etc. If you'd like to check it out, go ahead and click here. There were a few thing that I forgot, will get around to posting those pics eventually.

This is my first attempt at making a banner. It's not perfect, was trying to hurry up and get it done before I have to leave for work. When I have some more time, I'll make a new one.

My vacation is finally here! I'm not going anywhere, but it will be nice to just relax for a week with my family. Of course, there will be some gaming too, got a stack of games that I plan on finishing.

I have a bad habit of starting games, getting about halfway through, and then stop playing them. My original intention is to put the game on hold for a bit, while I check out the new game I just purchased. But I usually end up not playing them ever again. Not this year! This year, I will be hacking away at my backlog, and try very hard to resist the urge to start brand new games. So without further ado, here is my list of games I must beat this year.

Baten Kaitos - I honestly don't know why I haven't finished this one yet. It has great combat and a somewhat interesting story. I'm currently on disc 2, about to enter the Garden Of Death.

Puzzle Quest - I think I just burned myself out on this one. I would play it constantly for the first month I had it, never wanting to stop. I only have 7 more battles to go.

MS Saga - This game suffers from Grandia 3 syndrome. Great combat, but everything else is just meh. I just got the airship, so I should be able to go anywhere.

Metal Gear Solid - I love this series, but I have never finished any of the games. I wish I still had my save file from the PS1 game, was pretty close to the end. Looks like I'll be working on The Twin Snakes instead.

an action RPG - I have never beat an action RPG. I got about halfway through Star Ocean 2, and sold the game. I'm over halfway done with Tales Of Vesperia, but I no longer have a 360. I'll most likely work on the Star Ocean 2 port that comes out next week.

more strategy RPGs - It is my favorite genre, but have only finished 3 games (Disgaea, FF Tactics, and Fire Emblem: PoR). I've been working on Tactics Ogre for a long time, still not very far though. I'm about halfway through the story of FFTA, but that game is pretty mediocre. Also spent about 20 hours on Eternal Poison, but got distracted by Persona 4.

Hopefully, this list will be complete at the end of the year.

So I go to turn on my 360 this morning, and I'm greeted by one red light, and an E74 message. I am NOT happy! I've only had my 360 since February, and was hoping that the failure problems would have been fixed by then. I've been taking good care of it too. I plugged it directly into the wall, kept it well ventilated, and NEVER had it on for more than 5 hours at a time. I'll be getting my 360 repaired, then I'm getting rid of it, and getting a PS3 instead. And I won't buy any more MS consoles in the future.

Thank you Microsoft, you just ruined my Christmas!

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'd like to wish everyone here at GS Happy Holidays!

I finally beat Final Fantasy Tactics: The War Of The Lions last weekend. My total play time was 195 hours, and it could have been even more. I didn't get the Zodiark summon, and never got a Dark Knight either.

The other game I completed was Golden Sun for the GBA. Out of all the RPGs I own for the portable system, this one is my favorite. It has great graphics, a great battle system, and some nice puzzles too.

Now I can move on to some other games that I have invested a lot of time in, but haven't finished yet. I'll be working on Grandia 3, Valkyrie Profile 2, MS Saga, Baten Kaitos, Skies Of Arcadia, Puzzle Quest, and Final Fantasy III.

I finally got an XBOX 360 pro on February 21. They were kind of hard to find that week...I made about 20 phone calls to various stores in the area and nobody had one. I ended up gettin' one from Gamestop eventually.

My hard drive was packed with all sorts of demos and videos. There were 3 normal game demos, 12 arcade demos, the game Hexic, and some cool trailers for Halo 3, Fable 2, and Forza 2. I already had purchased Burnout Revenge and Oblivion before I bought my console, and just picked up Dead Rising last week. All 3 of those games are great, although it is really hard to read the text on Dead Rising without a hi-def TV.

I finished Chrono Trigger about a week before I got the new system, and it is definitely one of the best RPGs I have ever played. It was a little on the short side (about 30 hours), but there was a lot of great gameplay packed into that short amount of time.

Got some other cool classic games last month too...Chakan and Toejam and Earl for the Genesis, and a brand new copy of Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver for the PS1.

I plan on picking up a router so I can get on XBox Live sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'll be using my Gamespot name so keep an eye out for me.

I turned 33 on January 10, and I just received my present from my girlfriend in the mail today. It was the SNES version of Chrono Trigger!!! I won't have to play the cruddy PS1 remake anymore.

Sorry I haven't been too active lately, been spending my free time playing lots of RPGs.

This is going to be a great month for new games! Final Fantasy Tactics will be coming out tomorrow, Castlevania on the 23rd, and Guitar Hero III will be hitting the shelves on the 28th. I will definitely be buying all 3 of those games, and they will seriously cut into my posting here at GS. If I have any extra cash this month, I'm also gonna pick up the Disgaea remake, and the new PSP Syphon Filter.

I will try to remain as active as possible in my two main unions, don't know if I will have any extra time to be active in any other unions though...

I went to go see Rush down by the lakefront...and it was an awesome show! It was an outdoor concert, and the weather was almost perfect. We did get a little wet because it rained really hard for 30 seconds, but it was worth it.

There were seven giant TV screens, 3 on stage, and 2 on either side of it. They were showing some cool psychadelic graphics, along with footage of the band while they were performing. They also showed the kids from South Park doing a Lil' Rush bit where Cartman was totally messing up the lyrics. They also had some cool stage lighting, with a little bit of pyro here and there.

The band sounded great, and Neil Peart played an amazing drum solo. The only bad thing about the show was the guitar wasn't mixed quite loud enough, and was a little difficult to hear at times. But they jammed for about 3 hours, and performed 3 of my favorite tunes. Freewill and Subdivisions were excellent, and so was their last tune of the evening, YYZ. I hope I can go again next time they are in town.

This past Sunday, I headed over to the pawn shop in my area. I was hoping to find some old school goodies for the Dreamcast, SNES, or PS1. I ended up finding some really good games. I bought Space Channel 5, Chu Chu Rocket, NHL2K, Jungle Strike for the SNES, and NHLPA '93 for the Genesis. The 3 DC games were actually brand new, unopened copies!

One game I saw there was a card based RPG for the SNES called Arcana. I checked out the box, and it looked like a decent game. I was trying not to spend a lot of money though, and this game cost $20. So I decided not to get it. When I got home, I looked it up here, and discovered that it's a pretty good, but overlooked RPG. Now, I'm kicking myself for not picking that game up. I really don't have any extra money to spend for a couple of weeks, but when I do, I'm heading back there to buy it! I just hope it's still there...

I just wanted to let everyone know in advance, that I may not be on GS for a few days next week. I'll probably be rockin' the 80's!

I was walking through the parking lot on the way to work today, and I found a $10 bill on the ground! I used that money to get myself a copy of Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time. With my employee discount, and the ten dollars I found, it only cost me $2.11!