So we’ve got a lot of good games on deck, and even a few that were just released.  Over the last few months, I’ve been getting progressively more excited about a great number of these games.  The problem is, I don’t know when I’ll have time to play through all these games, and I really don’t want to rack up a huge bill by buying all of them at once, either.  Christmas is right around the corner, however, and so is my birthday, so I’ve decided I’m going to separate my hotlist of games into a few groups: must buy, gift request, buy later, and undecided.

Following is the list of all the games I’m looking forward to, and how I’ve split them up (and if you’re reading this, Mom, this might be a good place to start for my Christmas list).

Gears of War 2

Must Buy - Though I’ve been careful not to spoil any of the surprises of the Gears sequel for myself, each time I get a glance at any new information on the game it seems better than before.  This game is going to be awesome, and I’m really looking forward to playing through the campaign with my buddies, as well as jumping back into Gears multiplayer.  Grenade sticking FTW!

Fable 2

Undecided - This is another game which I’ve been anxiously awaiting for some time now, and in only a few days it’ll be on store shelves.  It’s garnering good reviews so far, and like Gears 2, each time I do some research on the title, it seems that much better, and I get more excited about it.  Albion never looked better, and it’s going to be hard to wait until Christmas or my birthday for this game, if I can go that long.

Left 4 Dead

Must Buy - The co-op multiplayer for L4D looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, and come on, it’s a great-looking new Valve game.  The only trouble I’m going to have with this decision is which platform to buy it for: PC or Xbox 360.

Fallout 3

Gift Request - Don’t get me wrong here; I’m really looking forward to Fallout 3.  I like the whole idea of a more modern Oblivion-ish RPG, and all the tweaks Bethesda has made to the game engine in order to create Fallout look both interesting and well done.  But since, to my knowledge, the game doesn’t feature any multiplayer action, I can shelve it for a few weeks while I play the rest of the games, since the world will be just the same when I decide I’m ready to enter it.  And that’s why I like single player games.

Wrath of the Lich King

Must Buy - Only 3 weeks are left until the long-awaited second expansion to the World of Warcraft universe is released, and after spending two days at BlizzCon and experiencing all the big changes to the game introduced in last week’s 3.0.2 patch, I’m more than ready to start working my way up to level 80, and maybe even turning my main character into a Death Knight.  I won’t be one of the people who gets in line a few days before the release, and I probably won’t even pre-order.  But I’ll definitely be picking this one up within a day or two of it’s release.

Dead Space

Buy Later - Initially I wasn’t too excited about Dead Space, as it looked very generic and Doom 3-ish to me.  Since I’ve read a few reviews however, I’ve changed my mind on the game, and I might just pick it up at some point.  I’m not sure if I want to buy it or ask for it as a gift - it probably depends on how long I can hold out on buying all the other titles in the list.  This game looks pretty fun though, and I am sure that at some point it will become part of my games library.

Banjo Kajooie: Nuts & Bolts

Undecided - The vehicle-crafting platformer gameplay in the new BK game looks like it could be a lot of fun, and pre-orders for the game nab you the original game (updated with a better display resolution and higher resolution textures) on Xbox Live Arcade as well, all for only $40.  I’m going to have a hard time passing this game up if it gets good reviews on release.

Chrono Trigger DS

Gift Request - It’s Chrono Trigger, but on the DS.  I shouldn’t even have to explain how awesome that is.  It’ll take a good gift request though, because it’s cheap, and like Fallout, is single player only.

Saint’s Row 2

Buy Later - I wasn’t too hot on the original game until a few years had gone by and I gave it a second chance.  Much to my surprise, the original Saints turned out to be a lot of fun, and was a great deal at only $20.  Saints Row 2 looks pretty similar, only with more mayhem.  The good reviews have convinced me that I will have to pick the game up sometime, but we’ll see if that happens before this one hits $20 as well.

Call of Duty: World at War

Undecided - I came to COD4 a little late in the game, but still had a blast with its multiplayer and a good time working my way through the campaign.  I’m hoping COD:WAW will be similar, but I want to see how the game turns out before I make any final decisions on it.

Other games I’m interested in, but weren’t worth mentioning in the list yet: Tom Clancy’s Endwar, Spore, VIva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Need for Speed: Undercover, Far Cry 2

Oh, and on a completely unrelated digression, I spotted this video clip on Digg from last night’s WWII-themed Family Guy episode.  It’s surprising, funny, and just a little bit true.  Enjoy!

Working Link!

I’ll be back later in the week with more to say about some of this stuff, I’m sure.  Thanks for reading!

As a gamer, I’m not normally the type to look down upon the gaming habits of others.  Sure, I’ll make the odd quip about “freestyle” DDR players now and then, but generally I don’t give my fellow gamers too much grief for doing whatever it is they choose to do.

This stance has lead me to defend Guitar Hero / Rock Band, games which I have played very minimally, whenever someone brings up the “you should just learn a real instrument” argument.  I’ve even argued this point with my dad, who is an actual musician (he plays bass guitar).  I had an epiphany at a GameStop which changed my views on this slightly, and which makes me wonder about how far the rhythm games can go before they’ve gone too far.  It also makes me wonder if I’m the only person who’s ever had an epiphany at GameStop.

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Grids, numbers, and logic.  What comes to mind at mention of such things?

Countless squares filled with seemingly random numbers here and there, all working towards some final solution that one without a deep background in mathematics might never fully understand.  These things should be kept under wraps in the cold, dark recesses of Excel files and databases.

But what is this?  I’ve been having quite a good deal of fun over the last few days with all these things.  No, I’ve not gone completely mad (yet); you won’t find me poring over any massive spreadsheets or manually entering thousands of bits of data into MySQL in the late of night.

No, I’ve found myself yet another game to add to the collection, and a fun little one at that.

Picross DS.

As an artist who has embraced the pixel for many years, I’ve had my eye on games like Picross DS for quite some time, but never really had a chance to get into it fully.  The previous Gameboy version was unfortunately released before I ever owned a Gameboy myself, though I do remember reading about it in Nintendo Power.  If it counts for anything, I have trained for the game somewhat, with innumerable hours in Mario Paint, working with the limited collection of user-editable stamps.

So I strolled into Circuit City the other day, just to see if I could find anything cheap, and sure enough, there was a bargain bin set up with an assortment of games inside.  I nabbed two games for only about $30 total: Picross DS and Lost: Via Domus (or Lost: Easy Achievement Points, as I like to call it).

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Being as interested in games as I am, it’s hard to keep from playing them.  I do play quite a lot of games.  And even though much of the time I spend playing games amounts to nothing so far as actual, tangible achievements go, I do consider at least some of the time spent useful as far as my knowledge of graphical effects and current gaming trends goes.  I’ve got to stay on top of this gaming thing, after all, especially if I’m making games of my own!

The trouble is, I’ve accumulated a pretty large backlog of games that need finishing, or some other attention of sorts.  In order to help myself organize this list, I’ve posted each game on my to-do list below, along with a progress report.  Read how behind I am!

How many games are in your backlog? None, I finish my games! (12%) Only a few, I'm mostly caught up! (26%) A lot, I'm somewhat behind! (42%) All of them, I never finish games! (20%) Total Voters: 50  Loading ...

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Just about every day, I find a little time in my busy day to sit down with my Nintendo DS and get a some quality hand-held gaming in. And while I’ve yet to finish Phantom Hourglass from Christmas, I recently picked up a used copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in order to see what all the fuss was about, and further diversify my library of DS games. Turns out that there’s not a lot to object to - public defender Wright’s got a pretty fun game on his hands.

The game plays much like you’d expect from a defense attorney pseudo-simulation; you are presented with a series of trials in which you help Phoenix carry out his duties and have the defendant found not guilty. This is accomplished via a combination of pre-trial detective work and courtroom shenanigans. There is a lot of reading to be done as you work your way through interviews, witness testimonies, and the courtroom process. Those who take the time to actually read all the text are rewarded, though - sifting through the details carries the obvious benefit of helping you solve the cases, and you’ll enjoy the game more, as it is very well written.

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