The 2010 Final Tally

2010 is done.

So how did I end up?

Here's the overall count of games owned. Note that this is games not discs or carts or whatever, so a compilation that is on a single disc but has 4 different games will count as 4.

Status	2010	2011	Net Change
	1092	1254	162
	157	191	34
	37	48	11
	5	6	1
Total	1291	1499	208

While I made some good progress on beating games in my collection, the collector in me just took over this year and my backlog grew by 162 titles. Ugh.

In total I beat/completed 48 games. Not too shabby if I don't say so myself.

Here's the breakdown of the 48 titles by platform:

Platform	Total
GBA	1
GCN	1
NDS	5
PC	3
PS1	2
PS2	8
PS3	11
PSN	1
PSP	4
SNES	1
Wii	1
X360	9
XBL	1
Total	48

For fun I could squish that down and see which is the console family that gets the most love:

Vendor	Total
Nintendo	9
Microsoft	13
Sony	26
Total	48

And here's the full list of everything I played and beat/completed this year:

Status	Game	Platform	Date
	Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80's	PS2	Jan 03
	Super Monkey Ball	GCN	Jan 14
	PixelJunk Monsters	PSN	Jan 20
	Assassin's Creed II	X360	Jan 27
	Game & Watch Collection: Oil Panic	NDS	Jan 28
	Game & Watch Collection: Green House	NDS	Jan 28
	Game & Watch Collection: Donkey Kong	NDS	Jan 28
	Halo 3: ODST	X360	Feb 01
	Final Fantasy: Anniversary Edition	PSP	Feb 05
	Kingdom Hearts	PS2	Feb 14
	Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim	PC	Feb 15
	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	X360	Feb 19
	God of War: Chains of Olympus	PSP	Feb 24
	Mass Effect	X360	Feb 12
	God of War Collection: God of War II	PS3	Mar 21
	God of War III	PS3	Mar 29
	Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy	PS2	Apr 15
	Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus	PS2	Apr 24
	Defense Grid: The Awakening	XBL	Apr 25
	MotorStorm: Pacific Rift	PS3	May 16
	Need for Speed II	PS1	May 24
	Final Fantasy X-2	PS2	Jun 01
	Red Dead Redemption	PS3	Jun 08
	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All	NDS	Jun 23
	Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition	PSP	Jun 30
	Red Dead Redemption	X360	Jul 09
	Ico	PS2	Jul 11
	Raiden III	PS2	Jul 18
	Secret Agent Clank	PSP	Jul 21
	StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty	PC	Aug 12
	Halo: Reach	X360	Sep 25
	Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories	GBA	Sep 26
	Super Mario World	SNES	Sep 28
	Spyro the Dragon	PS1	Oct 22
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed	PS3	Oct 23
	NCAA Football 07	X360	Nov 06
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector's Edition	PS3	Nov 10
	Shadow of the Colossus	PS2	Nov 15
	Assassin's Creed II: Sequence 12: Battle of Forli	X360	Nov 17
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Tatooine Mission Pack	PS3	Dec 12
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Hoth Mission Pack	PS3	Dec 12
	StarCraft	PC	Dec 12
	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Apprentice Mission Pack	PS3	Dec 13
	Dead Space	PS3	Dec 15
	Klonoa	Wii	Dec 20
	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Collector's Edition	X360	Dec 25
	Lair	PS3	Dec 27
	Final Fantasy III	NDS	Dec 31

As for my goals this year, I think I did okay.

1. Beat or Complete 40 or more unfinished games.

Done!

2. For any console that I have 10 or more unfinished games, I have to beat at least 1 game for that console over the next year.

Close but not quite. In the end, I had 10 of the 12 platforms done. For some reason I never got around to playing a game on the original Xbox or the N64. However, I did beat and SNES game (Super Mario World) so it kinda offsets it even though I only have 6 titles on the SNES.

3. Finalize game inventory

Yeah I pretty much choked on this one this year. I did make some headway but my PC collection is still in disarray.

4. Finish at least 1 Zelda game

It's not as though I didn't try. I did get about halfway through The Legend of Zelda and then I couldn't get past the 5th dungeon, so I stopped playing for a while. I think I might come back to this in 2011. Or maybe I'll just jump straight to A Link to the Past. We'll see

5. Buy a Nintendo Entertainment System

No I didn't actually do this but I did get a Dreamcast so I'm calling this one done as part of the idea of the goal was to add a retro console to my collection in 2010, which I accomplished.

6. For every 2 games I acquire, I have to beat least 1 game

Ok, I choked really hard on this. I beat 45 games (that's unfinished to beat or complete not the total games I played this year) and I acquired 208. So instead hitting a 50% ratio, I was at 21.63%. Ouch.

And that's about it! Over the next few days I'll be posting up my goals for 2011 as well as my yearly GOTY update.

Until next time...

I just couldn't do it, Part Deux

Target had TRON: Evolution on sale the other day for 37.99.   Back to Gamestop I went to return the game I got after returning the TRON: Evolution Collector's Edition.

I've now saved myself over $90 on this game from my original purchase.

The Silent Protagonist

For some reason, developers have this crazy idea that if they don't make the player's character talk, then it allows you, the player, to 'become one' with the character and somehow allow you to identify with him/her better.

Loads of crap.

I recently finished Dead Space and other than a few grunts and groans here and there, I never spoke a single word.  I was talked at a whole bunch but I never uttered a single phrase.  Never acknowledged a single message, never any reaction to the nasty things he encounters, not even a, "Phew, glad that is over" when it is all over.

Far from helping me be the character, I found myself wondering why in the world this guy is such an emotionless tool.   And he's not alone.   Gordan Freeman is a mute.  Meets all sorts of people in course of his games, never says a word to any of them.  Not even a simple, "Hey what's up?"  People through the course of the game have entire conversations with him, even to the point where they act like he's actually responding to them.  To me they seem like crazy nut jobs who are talking to themselves.

Sometimes the developers go so far as to give you character who has no identity.  Last year's Halo: ODST didn't even give you a name.  You are simply known as the "The Rookie".   And on top of that, you don't even have a face.  You're the helmeted unknown.  I guess that makes it nice for all gamers as it really could be anyone in there (male or female) but it also makes the protagonist rather uninteresting.

As I said earlier, I recently finished Dead Space and the whole time I was bothered by the lack of reaction from Issac Clarke.  I compare this to some other titles I played this year, such as Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Red Dead Redemption, and Mass Effect.

In all of these, I became engaged with the protagonist in a way that would not be possible with silent method.  I cared about the plight of John Marsten and his desire to see his family.   I understood Ezio's motivation's and what drove him to Rome.

And Shepard from Mass Effect, far from being a silent protagonist, I got to not only become engaged in his/her story, I got to shape the character into something that I wanted without the character being silent.  I identified with the character because I shaped the character.

Here's the deal, I like Half-Life.  I like BioShock.  I like Dead Space.  But I often wonder if I would have liked them more had I been allowed to get know the protagonist better.

I just couldn't do it

Earlier this month I bought the Tron: Evolution Collector's Edition.  It was pricey.  And what does that extra CE get you?

Hmm, let's see.  I get the game, a big box, and a lightcycle with a display case.  Oh, and a $10 movie pass.

So, assuming no sales on this you are paying $130.  That's $60 for the game, $10 for the movie pass, and $60 for a lightcycle?  Wow that is steep.

For $60 I could go to Amazon and get the Sam lightcycle, the runner, and Flynn's white lightcycle.

Yeah can't justify that.  So back to the store it went and I swapped it out for the regular version.

I feel better now.

Wampas like to exercise too...

I think this guy ate too many rebels and needed to work off the extra weight.

Tron is coming...

The new Tron movie is coming and it makes me feel like a kid again.

Daft Punk has taken the reigns on the soundtrack front and has given us this lovely preview of one of the tracks from the movie.   The video itself is not from the movie, and in fact looks like what we may have gotten if they released the movie 10 years ago and decided to stick with the 1980s aesthetics.

Daft Punk - New Music - More Music Videos

Man, the sounds of that arcade at the beginning sure takes me back...

This month in collecting - November 2010

It's been awhile since I posted. I've been very busy of late.  So this post will cover the tail end of October and all of November

Click on the images to enlarge.

Driver 2

I picked up a little bit ago and so when I found this really nice copy of Driver 2, I couldn't pass on it.  It's a Greatest Hits but I'll survive.

Enslaved
I enjoyed the demo, reviews were good, so when Amazon had this on for only $25, I couldn't resist.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Collector's Edition (PS3 and 360)
I wanted the collector's version but then I found out that the depending on which retailer you bought from, you'd get a different Jack in the Box.   So, I ordered one from Gamestop (Jester) and one from Amazon (Doctor).  Now I have both.  Excessive?  Yes, but since Assassin's Creed is my absolute favorite IP from this generation of consoles, a little indulgence is okay. Right?