Since my last post I've finished PSIV, Earthbound and on the crux of finishing PEII and KH:358/2 Days. Should be getting Re:Coded soon.

I've barely touched RE5 and Xeno III. 😮

Marvel vs. Capcom 1. Trying out some characters ive never touched before, because im planning on picking them up in MvC3. Really digging Cap. America. And Hulk...is pretty fun. ^_^

Final Fantasy XII. This is probably the most original in the entire series, and why I keep going back to it time and time again! Also gets me in the mood to play some Final Fantasy Tactics. Weird right?

Not at all, seeing as they take place in the same time line and world. Just different parts of it. I picked up Oblivion again recently. I'd forgotten how godlike my character had turned out.

VOOT 5.45. <3 I...can't say anything else about this game. Except...if it existed as an entity...i'd worship it.

I'm recently playing Ghost Trick...Playing it So, So Hard. :3

I freaking love Sissel - he's an awesome character...and so is MISSILE! <3

So, Little Big Planet 2 is out now and it continues the LBP trend of being relentlessly charming.

I'm happy because now I can continue the adventures of Comrade Leo the Cowardly Communist Lion!

He laughs in the face of his enemies!  He shows no fear as he protects the Motherland!  There is nothing he is afraid of!

... Okay, so maybe a few things...

I beat BBS last week, including the Unknown with all 3 characters, and now I'm playing Re:coded. I'm currently on Agrabah, and I'm having fun with it. I know some say the story's weak, but I've been enjoying it too.

Platinum'd Black Ops about a week ago, just been playing that for awhile. Still need to pick up on FFXIII again but can't for the life of me get into it :/ Probably some day I will but right now its just not grabbing me at all. Need to find something to catch my interest.

Still playing Final Fantasy 12. I decided to start all over from the beginning though at a much more casual pace. Of course the game goes much easier the second time through. Dreadnaught Leviathan level gave me so much hell when I first played 12, but this time it was a breeze (only died once). Still I have no idea what possessed me to fight the Elder Wyrm at such a low level (Ashe was my highest char and she was only 22!!), still I managed to win (though my stock was practically depleted). Quit the main quest line for now (while I have Larsa in party) so I can get all the marks I can. Other than FF12 not much else. Very busy in RL at the moment so I play when I get the chance! Oh and Plants Vs. Zombies (for when I have some free time) this game rules!

Shinobi and Nightshade (or Kunoichi) back to back. (That's the PS2 Shinobi, in case you didn't gleam that little tidbit.) Forgot how AWESOME these games are. And how freaking HARD they are, especially the latter. Although easier, I first played it right after beating the predecessor, so I had played a LOT of Shinobi (obviously, because you sure don't beat it in a few hours let me tell you...) and felt it like a cakewalk compared to it. Now that I'm out of practice (at least 5 years!) and don't remember the tricks of the trade, Kurohagane Fight #2 whooped my ass hard on Normal (although I WAS playing as Hotsuma. I tried out Hibana and kept trying to use Hotsuma's controls.) And this was after earning a few more "S" ranks in Shinobi beforehand!

Makes me wonder if I should play Ninja Gaiden one of these days. See if it could possibly be harder than Shinobi on Super difficulty.

Took a break from LBP2, White Knight Chronicles and the Sly Collection to play some Super Street Fighter 4...to only lose hundreds of matches to a friend. To compact the gaming shame, fired up Bubsy and proceeded to burn off lives faster than man can comprehend.

Shinobi and Nightshade (or Kunoichi) back to back.

I never got to try Nightshade, much to my dissapointment. Loved the hell out of Shinobi PS2 though.

Finally, after owning it since day one, and even after having a sequal come out, I'm getting around to Fallout 3. I had started it all that time ago, but I only ever got out of the Vault and gave up there. Not sure what else it was at the time that grabbed my attention more. Started a new charcter and have just arrived in Megaton. Apparently I should have dumped more points into intelligence at the start, but meh, can't be bothered going through the opening again.

Also playing Chrono Trigger again. Nothing fancy, just running through the story via New Game+. Need to reach level 99/** so I can get the last entry in the beastiary. Just finished Magus's Castle.

Playing through a variety of things atm. Been playing a bit of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow on and off; just breezing it through easy mode because I want to see the story and all the oh-so-very pretty graphics and locations without worrying about getting my arse kicked on 360. For PS3 I've just started on Dead Space 2 and Extraction which have both started off very solidly so far. Quite impressed.

On the DS there's Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Ghost Trick. Ghost Trick is downright phenomenal, whereas Zelda just has me feeling more of the same. It's a solid enough game but I'm feeling a bit bored with how samey it feels to every other Zelda and it even feels a bit more kiddish than every other game in the series.

And on the psp I'm making progress with Lunar every now and then. I really want to get this finished to move on with the rest of my 30-something psp backlog but the game just feels a bit... slow. Lovely graphics though.

I just played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. With Downpour looming on the horizon and looking pretty effing sweet, I suddenly got an urge to play this chapter. The clerk was interested enough to comment on the purchase, and I said something along the lines of "I don't know why I haven't got this game yet." As soon as I said that, I realized I did: I heard some bad things about it, stuff I didn't like the sound of.

As it turns out, I know myself VERY well. I have a great nose for finding games that I like. I own approximately 300 games, and I need only 1 hand to count how many games I bought that I actually regret purchasing (I can think of 3.) Pretty damn good record I say. Could my intuition have been steering me away from decreasing my ratio? Well... I don't think SM falls into my category of regret, but man, this is probably the least satisfying game that I actually enjoyed. It's hard to explain.

For one, it's just not scary. At all. This game took the psychological and abandoned the horror. I played at night the first couple times, but then said "screw this, it's not scary" and took to daytime (that's the roughest part of these games - resisting playing them until nighttime. I don't like to wait to play my new games.) A good part of that may have to do with the fact that monsters only appear in the dark world. In the light world, you're totally safe. The game doesn't even TRY to challenge your sense of safety in daytime. In fact, the daytime parts are actually pretty boring. With few puzzles and no items except keys, you're mostly just walking around.

Which brings me to the dark world, which is truly a nightmare, and not in the scary way. I'm sure you've probably heard about the biggest change to the formula, which also happens to be the #1 complaint of this game... YOU CAN'T ATTACK THE MONSTERS. There is no combat in the game. You need to stay away from them. BUT YOU CAN'T AVOID THE MONSTERS. They're everywhere and there's really no way around them. No Metal Gear Solid here. Your only option is to flee. BUT YOU CAN'T OUTRUN THE MONSTERS. They're considerably faster and will catch up with you quite quickly. You need to pull stuff down to slow them, use rare flares to hold them off for a brief while, or hide for some breathing time. BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HIDDEN FROM THE MONSTERS. They will find you eventually. The best you can hope for is that they wander far enough away so that you can make a break for it before they find you. But that is inconsistent: I've hidden when I was sure a monster should have seen me duck into a cabinet and remained safe for a while, and another time a monster entered a room and made a beeline for my hiding spot. Your only way out of this hell is, well, to get out. You have to navigate a maze of doors, ledges, and crap all while being chased by these freaks. Unless you possess Jesus-levels of skills, you're gonna get lost as s___ as you run around shucking monsters off your arms. You are thankfully given a map which indicates where you need to go, although not how to get there. BUT YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY HOPE TO USE IT WHEN YOU ARE AROUND MONSTERS. Which is, like, anytime. You can't run with your phone out, and it takes 3 button presses to put the damn thing away. Oh, and then there's one spot where the game doesn't even have the decency to give you an idea as to where you should go. Definition of frustrating.

And just for the random "giving Stickghost the finger" moment... During one such darkworld, there's a puzzle which requires you to refer to an object located elsewhere in Monsterland. Being the smart guy I am, I decided to snap a picture with my in-game camera so I wouldn't have to remember it or get my lazy ass up from my chair and write it down. Upon returning to the puzzle, I opened my gallery of snapshots to discover it wasn't there! Turns out that after you take a picture, you have to save it. What the hell kind of stupid camera is this? Of course I wanted to save the picture, THAT'S THE WHOLE F___ING POINT OF A CAMERA: TO GET AN IMAGE OF SOMETHING SO THAT I MAY LOOK AT IT LATER! It was back to Monsterland after that, this time with no flares. Goddamn it.

At least the story was interesting. Supposedly it changes stuff based on a profile it gathers on you, but I only beat it once so I can't comment on that yet. I want to beat the game again, but not right now. I just have other stuff I'd rather do now. I have to say I'm disappointed in this game.

^ I agree with you there for the most part. Being the huge Silent Hill fan that I am I bought SM the day it came out. The whole time I played it I felt is was less of a game a more of an interactive movie. To top it off toward the end of the game there is an Otherworld segment that's basically a big maze. If that weren't bad enough it relies on you to listen to your phone to find the exit which as you know also tells you where enemies are. I got sooo lost in that segement I eventually had to get the damn strategy guide just to get out the freaking maze. That said the story of the game is probably one of my favorites of the franchise. I'm not a fan of the whole cultist plotlines of some of the previous games, and I really dig the whole psychological of this game. It may not have scared me, but it sure did blow my mind in very much the same way as the big reveal in Silent Hill 2. Though that part may just be me.

Anyway. I decided to play my 360 again after I purchased a new Harddrive. It's 120 GB and cost me around 80 bucks. That's 80 dollars i didn't want to spend, but it beats paying Microsoft 150 to fix my little 20GB HDD. So what do I choose to play with my Xbox up and running again? Why Portal of course, but that game only lasts 3 hours tops. So I moved on to Bioshock which is a game I have been meaning to play since, well 2007. Pretty fun, and pretty scary. In fact I'm not used to my FPS games scaring me. I was soooo jumpy early on in the game, but that's gone now so I can focus on the wonderful story! FFXII is on the back burner for now, but I'll get around to it later this week.

The Bulletstorm demo.

This is a vulgar, juvenile, profane, stupid stupid game.

I love it to pieces.  It's like Bayonetta and Duke Nukem had a baby and Duke got custody in the divorce, so the baby gets Duke's sense of humor and propensity for violence and Bayonetta's sense of "why kill enemies when you can make it humiliating first?"

Birth By Sleep and re:coded are beaten! That's enough Kingdom Hearts for
a while. I'd go after all the extra bosses, but I'm not a masochist.
I am on Ganon's Tower in The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I've
never gotten this far in the game before, so I'm pretty proud of myself.
Next up is Dragon Quest IX for DS and Yggdra union for PSP.

I have just finished Ghost Trick and my mind is mind-boggled and blown. I think this game broke the Plot Twist meter twice over. This game owns.

With that said and done, I can focus my attention back on MOTHER 3.

I've been having a hard time forcing myself to finish Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I know that sounds odd, the game's a blast, but I'm just so bored with it. I'm in sequence 5 and have a hard time talking myself into doing the story missions. Unfortunately, that's all I have at the moment.

So, I've been spending more time with Call of Duty: Black Ops online.

So far, having just reached Chapter 10 of Dead Space 2, I'm quite impressed. The sense of isolation is not as relentlessly present as in the first one, but there's more variety, and it makes for a more gripping atmosphere.

Though this does come after playing both Mass Effect 1 and 2 for the first time. And a second time. (First time through: Paragon Male!Shepard, Earthborn and Sole Survivor; second time through: Mostly Renegade Female!Shepard, Colonist and War Hero).

I'm playing through Dead Space 2 as well, here and there. Really quite enjoying it although it's definitely not scary. It also highlighted to me the whole thing where most games have writing on the walls written in blood, intending to evoke some sort of horror but so many games do it nowadays that it just makes me roll my eyes. Surely there's another way to present messages without having to use that trope or the constant stream of audio logs?

I'm also playing through Lords of Shadow; very good game, and have started up Last Window: Secret of Cape West for the DS. It's the Hotel Dusk sequel and its a very good game, I'm quite enjoying how pedestrian the story is compared to other games that usually involve the fate of the world or some such. Kyle Hyde is also a very cool character, his bluntness and lack of consideration for others, despite always helping people with their problems makes him feel like such a unique character. Such a shame that the developers, Cinq, folded.

Also trying out a bit of Killzone: Liberation for psp, and that's a very, very fun game too.

I recently found my old copy of the first Sim City. Of course, I responded by making Tokyo and using the Godzilla disaster.

They made a new You Don't Know Jack.  On X360 and PS3, it has online multiplayer (do not let the $20 PC price tag entice you, don't get it.  No online MP).

THIS IS AWESOME.  Man, so many memories of my teenage years playing this with my family and friends.  This would make such a fun drinking game now...

Still working through Ghost Trick. On Chapter 15. Obviously the story is wonderful. I guess I'm just taking my time, trying to savor it as much as possible. Definitely liking it better than AA:I. I still need to take a pic of the shirt I won from Capcom

Tried to get back into Borderlands, but found I could not. Also tried to get back into New Vegas, but failed at that as well. The magic that Fallout 3 had is gone for me =|. Looking forward to giving Elder Scrolls a try though

Played a little bit of Epic Kirby, but found it too unkirby like for my taste. I also gave NBA Jam a try... It's been over 10 years since I last played it. I don't know if my love of sports games has changed that much, or if the gameplay itself has changed that much, but I just couldn't get into it. Also had to pass over Golden Sun DS.

I did start playing Black Ops a lot more often recently. I have a good set of buddies to play multi with, and actually prestige'd for the first (and probably last... loose all my equipment, no thanks).

I also restarted my Okami save file. I've got the guide, and figured I need to beat it before I try the DS sequel. I also got a copy of Ocarina of Time Master Quest and started playing through that, to tide me over until OoT3D comes out =D.

And I think that's it for now. I'll pick up Beyond Good and Evil HD when it hits XBLA, and this time I'll actually finish the entire game. I've also got Pokemon Black preordered. Unless something changes, I won't be picking up MvC3, since I'm not big into fighters... and yeah that about wraps up my game purchases till the 3DS hits 😯

MvC1 on my lovely Dreamcast. Curse this D-pad though. lol

MvC1 on my lovely Dreamcast. Curse this D-pad though. lol

Oh god, don't remind me! I HAD to buy an arcade stick for this. Came in hand when SF: Third Strike came out as well. =)

Just finished the story mode for Split/Second Velocity. Was fun, but really guys? Trying to put a story in to that?

Just restored the Shinshu Field sappling in Okami . The game isn't quiet as crisp as I'd like, although it might be the cheap component cables I'm using. I'll have to throw in NSMBW and see if the visuals look the same.

Just finished 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors on the game's True path:

GOOD. GOD. I have not been so completely enraptured by a visual novel type game since the first time playing through Ace Attorney 1. SO. MANY. TWISTS. And then, they saved the biggest one for last in the True patch. Suddenly, everything... everything came together and made sense! The seemingly random musings from some of the characters involved in the Nonary Game, the bizarre narration style using both of the DS screens, the multiple endings (some very bad) and the paths you took to get there actually being canonical with the true path. And tying real world events like the sinking of the Titanic, the Gantzfeld experiments and actual debated scientific concepts like the existence of morphogenetic fields into the game's backstory is pure genius.

Soundtrack was appropriately awesome and creepy. If you're playing the game and you hear this start playing, brace yourself: it means you're about to %@%% some mighty big bricks.

If anyone's interested in trying this game out, there's an online demo you can play here at the official website. It's short but it instantly thrusts you into the game's first puzzle: a little taste of what awaits in the real game.

An old friend of mine is finally getting his PS3 online and has bought Burnout Paradise, wanting to play against me online. I haven't played that game in years. So, I started the game up and updated it, only to find that I should have entered my car codes before updating because the updates removed that feature.

I've been playing for a bit because I didn't have a save on my system any more, trying to get a few cars unlocked. I'm currently at License C, I think, after playing for about 2 hours.

The upside: I'm remembering why I played it for so long when it first came out. Paradise was my 'go-to' game for nearly a year in 2008-2009. It's hella fun just ripping through town and finding stuff.

The downside: I'm also remembering why I moved on once they stopped giving out free stuff. There are times where it's just frustrating. And once you find everything, the fun of just ripping through town wears off.

Funny that you mention 999, Psx, as I'm currently playing through it now. I have to say though that the beginning felt like quite a chore and slog as there was just so much text and not that much actual gameplay, but its definitely picking up and the characters are awesome. I'm just at the point where we've passed the first [4] door and am searching the two rooms for tiles at the end of the corridor.

I'm curious, how many endings are there and how long did it take you to complete?

6 endings in all, including the True ending. But in order to even see the True ending, you have to get one other particular ending first. Otherwise it ends prematurely (and it counts as one of the 6). Fortunately, New Game+ keeps track of what endings you've gotten, the choices you've made previously are greyed out for your convenience, and it even allows you to speed through text you've already read on a different playthrough (like the beginning sequence of events). Too bad you can't skip the puzzle rooms, too.

Don't know how many hours I put in, the game doesn't keep track. I was playing off and on for about a week and a half, if that helps any.

I kind of splurged recently and bought a boatload of games, so I'm trying to play through them all.

Got a little ways into Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, which is like a toned down Lego Batman. Nothing to cheer for, but certainly nothing to complain about. Then I've been working on Fable 3, and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Beat Bioshock the other week and loved it, started Bioshock 2 and liking it a lot. Also still play Black Ops.

Playing Sonic Adventure 2. Ahhh...such greatness. How I miss these days.

Just finished Sonic Colours. This ongoing hunt for Red Rings...I remember when replayability was a pleasant undertaking.

^ Hahaha is this on Wii or DS, Rapid? How did you like the game? After replaying SA2, I really want to hurry and finish Unleashed and then get Colors.

Had a copy of Rogue Warrior sititing around so I thought I'd give it a go.

I can see why it won no awards, and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It wasn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination. It had it's own little charm though, and I did enjoy the playthrough. This was about a 4 hour play through though, and that includes various pauses and breaks, not to mention my habit of running into things and getting myself killed. Mickey Rouke provided a fantastic voice for the protagonist, making swearing into almost an art form and even teaching me a few new ones, including the fantastic "It's a ********, Admiral." It was however, a fellow culprit with other games for one of the most horrid crimes in recent gaming.

If you are going to give achievements for finishing the game on multiple difficulties, when I finish it on Normal, GIVE ME THE DAMM ACHEIVEMENT FOR EASY TOO! I beat the game on a harder difficulty, I'm pretty sure I can beat in on an easier setting too! Don't make me play through the mind numbingly boring difficulty for my E-Peen points! Rarrrgh!

Have gone back to Mass Effect to try and finish the thing at least once.

Playing me some of my favorite game...OF ALL TIME. VOOT. Yay yay! Seriously...if SEGA needs money, make a Virtual On Tournament. I'd personally buy enough copies myself to put them in the black. ^_^

Bulletstorm is the best kind of ridiculous.

RIP Waggleton P Tallylicker.  Your heart was full of love and your eyes were full of lasers.

Finished Mass Effect as a Paragon FemShep. Was so damm impressed I started Mass Effect 2 straight away (after finding a download of that phenominal credits song), despite my plans to go through a few times for a few achievements and to see how things went in other ways.

EDIT: Nevermind! Just got brought a copy of Marvel Vs Capcom 3 as an early birthday present. A quick bit of house cleaning first, and then the world will not see me again for a while. =D

Quit Okami after failing to get the bee hive to the bear... Tried it 3 times and just had to quit I was so frustrated... The controls are just too wonky for my tastes. I'm guessing the DS sequel will control much better.

Also quit No More Heroes 2... just don't have the patience for it right now.

That said I downloaded Beyond Good and Evil HD today... already at the factory =) Definitely going to play it through and beat it

About to prestige Black Ops again. Going on the eighth one I believe. Gonna take forever to get to fifteen but atleast the new mack pack will help :3

I'm legitimately torn over the map pack.

I thought 5 multiplayer maps for 15USD, 3USD per map, was too high for a MW2 map pack. In this one, they're charging 15USD for 4 regular multiplayer maps (and 1 zombie map that I'll likely never play).

At the same time, I'm still enjoying the online in Black Ops and desperately want new maps.

Hiro. You quit NMH2? For that...i'm quitting you.

*weeps in corner and hopes you pick it up again eventually*

I've almost given up on trying to catch all the legendaries in Heart Gold. The birds are really annoying in trying to catch and let's not even talk about the roamers. Sad because in Platinum, I had no problems catching the legendaries but here? No, the game just hates me.

Oh and I'm regretting getting a Tyranitar now. He kind of looks...ugly now that I think about it. I kind of want to bring out my Aipbolm again but Tyranitar just crushes everything with such ease...*sigh*

Playing Pokemon Emerald, Pearl, Platinum, and SoulSilver in preparation for Pokemon White. Mostly preparing for mass transfers.

The Sandile line reminds me of the Kremmlings...I miss them a lot.

Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game, but it's inherently flawed and panders to the "games for the masses" perspective, the game shows promise in narrative and cinematography but generally sits down on what made people enjoy the first game so much, you can call this an EA problem; but Bioware is not innocent when they messed with their own consistency in it's canon. For one example, the dalish elves? yeah, they suddenly have welsh accents and these are the same dalish elves from the dalish origin from the first game. I have no problem with such integration, but when you mess with your own continuity that you have PUBLISHED you prop yourself up in a bad corner.

The clear complaints about the boring, repetitive gameplay is clear; and the game suffers for that as well. There is no tactical perspective and it's all so generic move forward and spam the attack button. This is not a game for an RPG fan, but a joe schmuck adventure fan. All in all, this is the first bioware game ever for me to make me rate it as low as a 6/10.

Playing Pokemon Black right now... er actually White... Trying to progress far enough so I can trade the starter to my copy of Black. Pretty awesome so far.