Building the Dream

Picked up a couple of Dreamcast games yesterday. Picked up Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Jet Grind Radio. This brings my Dreamcast total to 13. Not a huge amount, but I feel that my Dreamcast collection is finally starting to be legitimate. I also found a complete copy of The Final Fantasy Legend for the Game Boy. Box had some damage, but the contents were in great shape. I was very happy to find this game and give it a home. And as part of my ongoing effort to rid my PS1 collection of the evil green label Greatest Hits, I picked up a complete black label copy of Final Fantasy VII.

Duke Nuke Forever

Yeah I bought it.  So what?  You judging me?   I know I said I wasn't planning on buying anything else but it was only $8.   The game can't be that bad, can it, especially for only $8.   It looked brand new.

I loved Duke Nukem 3D, played the heck outta that one.  Surely the sequel can't be that bad.

Well, now I'll know for myself!

The year is almost over

The year is almost over, and while I'm still working on a couple of games (Dark Souls and Crash Bandicoot), there's a high likelyhood that I won't beat any more games this year as the ones I'm currently working on are rather time consuming.

Additionally, I'm not really planning on any more acquisitions.   Oh, I'm sure I'll get a few for Christmas, but for the most part, 2011 is at a close.

So that means I need to start the plan for next year!   I've already got a few ideas, but one thing I know is that I'm not shooting for quantity in 2012.   I've done that the last few years, which is fine, but it does impact how I approach some of the games.

Anyway, I've already got a few titles rattling around in my brain that I want to beat for 2012, I had a great 2011 (gameplay-wise) and based on some of the titles I'm thinking I'll be playing in 2012, it's looking to be a solid year as well.

This Month in Collecting - November 2011

November was solid collection month for me.  Picked up quite a few good titles and continued to fill out some existing series.   I decided to go all out and post up some individual game shots so enjoy.  All the games are listed in order of acquisition and as always, you can click the image to view a larger image.

This Month in Collecting - October 2011

Had a decent month for pickup.  Nothing particularly fancy or rare, mostly just rounding out the collection.

So without further ado, the photo!:

Click for larger image

Here's the breakdown details

Need for Speed Shift 1 & 2 - Basically these were acquisitions to make sure I don't get too far behind in this series.  Now I'm only missing Hot Pursuit and (in a couple of days) The Run.

DarkStar One: Broken Alliance - I've been eying this for a while now.  I love a good space sim and they are few and far between so I figured I'd give this one a whirl.

Dark Souls Collector's Edition - As if I wasn't going to get this.  I really enjoyed what I played of Demon's Souls so I'm all dialed in on this.  Course I need to beat Demon's Souls first, and since my PS3 died and I lost all my savegames, I'm going to have to start that again.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - More filling out of the collection and I've heard alot of good about this game.

The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection - Duh

Batman: Arkham City - I loved Batman: Arkham Asylum (so much that I've got the Platinum Trophy to prove it) so there was no way I was not getting this game.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - This seems to have a lot of positive buzz, so when it asked to be part of my collection, I agreed.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village and the Diabolical Box - I recently finished the third Phoenix Wright game and starting looking into some of the other Phoenix Wright games and saw that they are doing a PW/PL crossover game.  Well I've heard much good about PL so I figured I'd pick up a couple.

Class of Heroes - Read a review; sounded fun.

Phantasy Star Portable 2 - See above

That's it for October

Some collection pics

I've not posted any recent collection pictures (other than recent pickups) so I figured that I'd snap a few of the current setup and post them up.  I recently acquired a new media shelf so it allowed me to put the titles up nicely and not randomly scatter them around my office.

I'll start with the stuff in my office:

Here's the shelves that used to house the PS2 titles now repurposed for Xbox, GameCube, Wii and DS (Click the images to enlarge)

Xbox, GameCube, Wii and first part of DS

Last bit of Xbox, GameCube, Wii, DS and Dreamcast

PSP Collection, Wild Arms XF, Wipeout Pulse, Yggdra Union and Ys Chronicles are behind Ys Seven and Ys: The Oath of Felghana

As I stated before I finally bought a new shelf (one designed specifically for DVD/Blu-ray cases) and I've put that up with the TV and moved it all out of my office.  It's now upstairs with the TV and the consoles (which makes more sense).  Here it is in all it's glory:

All the PS2, PS3 and Blu-ray

I'm planning on picking up another one of these and putting all the Xbox and Xbox 360 titles in it and a third for the Nintendo games and handheld titles.   Then I can rest with the knowledge that my collection has a nice home.

A 9-Year-Old and inFamous 2

My 9-year-old picked up my controller when I had inFamous 2 loaded and thought it was great fun to knock people over.   Imagine the fun she would have when she realizes that she can toss sticky grenades around.

1 Goal down; 4 more to go...

So at the beginning of the year, I posted up my goals for 2011.  We are now in Q4 of 2011 and I finally knocked out one of the 5 goals.   Goal number #1, Beat or Complete 50 games.   On October 11, 2011, I beat Gears of War 3, making that the 50th title on my backlog that I beat in 2011.

I'm also on track for beating goal #3, Finish a Zelda game.  I'm on the last dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, so that should be a goal we will see knocked out before the year is over.

As for the other three, well, I'm not so sure about those.  I've pretty much screwed myself on acquiring to many titles so goal #2, For every 3 games I acquire, I must beat 1 game, is pretty much unreachable now and goal #5, Beat all my SNES titles, actually got harder over the year as my SNES collection count went from 6 to 8.

Ah well, there's still goal number #4...

This Quarter in Collecting - Q3 2011

I'm long overdue with my collecting posts and pic so in order to catch up, I just posting three pics, one for each month, of the game acquired for that month.  It actually takes quite a while to setup the individual pictures for each game like I've done in the past so for this period, I'm going with the group photos.  Who knows, maybe I'll post some collection vids of my box sets, down the road.  Anyway, here pics for Q3 2011!  Click on the picture to see view at the full resolution.

July 2011

 

Yes, I picked up the Killzone 3 Helghast Edition in July.  And because I waited so long, I got a great deal on it.  Best Buy had it on sale for $10 less than the standard edition.  Who ho!

What else did it get?

• Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (PS3)
• Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (PS3)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (NDS)
• The Conduit Collector's Edition (Wii)
• Endless Ocean (Wii)
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (PSP)
• Rayman (PS1)
• Vandal Hearts II (PS1)
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (PS3) - not pictured

August 2011

 

The big pickup for August was Catherine: Love is Over edition.   I wasn't originally planning on picking this up but it seemed to be just too unique to pass up, so I had my local GS manager track one down for me.

And the other titles?

• Ghostbusters: The Video Game (X360)
• Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (Wii)
• Medal of Honor: Vanguard (PS2)
• Metroid Prime: Hunters (NDS)
• Armored Core: For Answer (PS3)
• Cross Edge (PS3)
• Incredible Hulk (PS3)
• NHL 08 (PS3)
• Medal of Honor (PS3)
• Scooby Doo! Night of 1000 Frights (PS2)
• Scooby Doo! Mystery Mayhem (PS2)
• Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (PS2)
• The Operative: No One Lives Forever (PS2)
• Loco Roco 2 (PSP)
• Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)
• Death Jr (PSP)
• Death Jr II: Root of Evil (PSP)
• The 3rd Birthday (PSP)

September 2011

 
September was the biggest month this quarter, at least from a collection standpoint with the addition of 3 separate box set additions, Disgaea 4 and Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (not pictured) for the PS3 and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin for the PSP.

And a bunch o' other stuff:

• God of War Origins Collection (PS3)
• Resistance 3 (PS3)
• Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (PS3) - Imported this on disc so I now have all the R&C games on disc
• Prince of Persia Trilogy (PS3)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike (Xbox)
• Scooby Doo! Unmasked (PS2)
• Sports Champions (PS3)
• Battlefield Bad Company (PS3)
• Gear of War 3 (X360)
• Crackdown 2 (X360)
• Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico (Xbox)
• Amped 2 (Xbox)
• Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP)
• Knights of the Nightmare (PSP)
• Maken X (DC)

Well, that's it for Q3.  Q4's got some great titles in store with Batman, Uncharted, and another Assassin's Creed in the mix.

I love this commercial

This is probably one of the best gaming commercials I have ever seen.   Absolutely love it!

Too many good games this Fall

I'm looking out at the release calendar for this Fall and it's looking mighty full of games I want to play.   As of right now, the games I'm looking forward are:

• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin
• Batman: Arkham City
• Atelier Totori: The Adventure of Arland
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Uncharted 3
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
• Gears of War 3
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Resistance 3
• Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
• Driver: San Francisco
• God of War Origins Collection

That's a lot of games.

How am I going to play all of those?  Geez.

What I want to see in the next Assassin's Creed

So a new Assassin's Creed is coming soon (November to be specific) and while the core gameplay hasn't changed there's been tweak and changes that have had major impacts to the overall feel of the game.

Going forward, here's some changes I'd like to see in future games.

• Bring back the Kingdom - The first game had this rather huge area that you had to travel through to get to and from each major city.   There was a number of viewpoints, Templars, and flags to collect there.   It was a huge wide open space that made the game feel rather large.   For the impatient, once you had traveled to a particular city you could fast travel but I liked knowing that I could ride through the kingdom.  With the exception of a single road at one point in the ACII (which I actually really liked), the game never let you travel from city to city.  And since ACB was all in a single city, well there you go.
• Add difficulty levels - Let's face it, Assassin's Creed is easy.  It would be nice if the game had additional difficulty level or maybe even a New Game + option.  The full sync addition to the missions in ACB was a really nice addition, but why no Achievements/Trophies for my electronic bragging rights?
• Try to stay historically accurate (aka - Don't get too crazy) - The War Machines from Brotherhood provided an interesting diversion, but it started to take the series in a bit of a, "Hey that's not in my history books" direction.
• Bring back the investigations - I don't necessarily mean that you need to have it quite as rigid as it was in the first game, but every once in a while (more so in AC II), you'd get a contract with no rhyme or reason and somehow you know exactly where they would be and what they would be doing.   I actually liked doing some of that find out myself.
• Pickpocketing - I used to be able to pickpocket.  Bumping to people is all fine and good for small change but I want to be able to take that nice shiny dagger they have in their belt.
• More Cities - Rome was nice, and it was huge, but I kinda wanted to be able to go to other places (and travel to get there).
• More side missions - I love all the hidden catacombs and places that you can explore in ACII and ACB.  Keep that stuff coming.
• Keep the flashbacks coming - I loved the bits with Altaïr in ACII and the sidestory with Cristina in Brotherhood.  Let's have more of that please, maybe some Desmond backstory would be interesting.
• 100% Sync Achievement/Trophy - There should be an achievement/trophy for this.  And while we are at it, how about a bonus cutscene or something.

Of course, I also want them to continue the great story and gameplay, but I think the above would help.

Cleaning house

I was cleaning up and putting away some games and I realized I have quite a few duplicates of games.   More than I actually thought I did.  Why?

For years I was a PC only gamer. Consoles were for the unwashed masses.  The only people who gamed on them were kids, or uneducated adults who couldn't find their way around an autoexec file.

PC gaming controls were better, the graphics were better, the customization was better, the multiplayer was better, everything was better on the PC.

However, there were a few titles here and there that made me consider getting a console, that is, until they actually released a PC port.

Those days have long since passed and I now embrace all forms of gaming, from consoles, to handhelds, to smartphones and of course, the PC.  But as a result of my stance against console gaming, I had picked up a few titles that, once I began collecting console games, I ended up getting another console copy.

Which takes me to my dilemma.  Most of the duplicates I have were ported to the PC and while they may actually look better on the PC due to higher resolution, they generally don't control as well, as they were designed with a controller in mind and they are, in some cases, a pain to run.

I do generally frown on eliminating titles from my collection as I have done it in the past and always regretted it, but this time is different as I am not ridding myself of the title completely, just the duplicate copy.   So what should I do?  Should I get rid of the duplicate copies?  Or keep them for posterity's sake?

In case you are wondering, here's the duplicate game list:

• 007: Nightfire (this one I could arguably keep as the PC game differs in content from the console)
• American McGee's Alice (I now have a copy of this with my Alice Madness Returns on the PS3)
• Assassin's Creed (Extra content on the PC! Who hoo!)
• Call of Duty 2
• Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
• Darkened Skye (I can't even get this to run on XP/Vista)
• Dune 2000 (This is one where I think I should get rid of the console version)
• Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind + Expansions
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion + Expansions
• Fable
• Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Grand Theft Auto III
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Gun
• Half-Life 2 (This is the CE version just FYI)
• Half-Life 2: Episode 1
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Jade Empire
• Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
• Metal Gear Solid
• Oni
• Red Faction
• Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
• Star Wars Rogue Squadron
• Tomb Raider
• Tomb Raider II

It would pain me to do so, but there's alot of those that I know I'll never play, so I feel like I should just be done with them.

What do you think?

Wow, just, wow...

This tech looks amazing...

The Juggernaut of Gran Pulse

Ran into this guy during my travels.  I'm I don't think I was really ready to face off against him as I was just exploring but I did eventually take him down.  Took almost 25 mins, but eventually he succumbed to my blade!

The end of Harry Potter...

Please note, there are Harry Potter spoilers below, so read at your own risk:

It's been a few days since I finished my Harry Potter Marathon.  I've seen the last movie as well, and as a result, there's been a bit of a letdown since I finished.  Far from being disgusted and frustrated with a crappy movie tie-in, I left the series feeling satisfied, and wanting more.

It seems that in the gaming media, trashing movie tie-ins is considered a safe and fun thing to do.  As I played through each of the Harry Potter games starting way back with the 2001 PlayStation 1 release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and ending with this years PlayStation 3 (and 360/Wii/PC) release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 the one constant that I kept seeing was that the reviewers had it all wrong.

Perhaps it's because the reviewers try to review the games in a vacuum.  Meaning, that they play through the game and judge it as a stand-alone product.  Perhaps they are looking for innovation.  I'm not really sure what it is but a movie tie-in game isn't designed as an innovated product.  It's there for fans of the movie, and as such should be judged accordingly.

Let me clear, none of the Harry Potter games I've played would be able to compete with a Super Mario Galaxy, or Red Dead Redemption, or Ratchet and Clank, or Assassin's Creed.  But when I see a game get a 4.0 (GameSpot's review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2), that to me says, "Do not play this game as there are no redeeming qualities in this title and you will probably want to gouge your eyes out after you are done playing this."

However, far from that, I found all the games to be fun, engaging and at times, challenging.   If there is any complaint to be leveraged against the games, it's that they are far too short, if you plan on just playing through the story.  If you decide to maximize your playtime with each game by completing everything, you can probably at least double your playtime, thus increasing the value derived from each game.

The games, like the books and movies, have evolved and matured over time.  You can almost see this transition just by viewing the covers from each of the games, starting with the cartoon Harry Potter on the Sorcerer's Stone cover to the photo of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint with a burning Hogwarts in the background.

The first few games were fun, with a bare skeleton of a storyline.  They took quite a lot of liberties with the source material, but in the end they were enjoyable if somewhat disjointed from a narrative standpoint.  From a gameplay standpoint they were like platformers, with a minimal amount of combat but lots of levels to navigate while solving puzzles from level to level.

Goblet of Fire took a completely different approach, going for a more combat focused game while being structured like a Mario game.  Throughout the game there was a total of 38 Triwizard shields you could get (much like stars in Mario) and you had to earn a certain number before you could unlock the next level.   While there was more combat, it really just ended up being a button masher to cast jinxes as quickly as possible.  Being strictly level based, this game dropped almost all the narrative in favor of the gameplay.  Unless you read the books or saw the movie, you would hopeless lost.  I'm sure the majority of players were in one or both of those categories but it still would have been nice to have a bit more narrative to the game.

With Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, the gameplay changes once again, this time to an open world/sandbox style.   You are given the whole of Hogwarts to wander about in and out of, and these two games represent two of the best games in the series.  Both game stick to a light version of the story presented in the movies, with a few embellishments but have added tons of items to do in each game, with collections, classes, Quidditch, and more.  Just being able to walk freely through Hogwarts is great in and of itself.  Between the two, I'd give the edge to Half-Blood Prince as everything looks better, there's a bit more variety in the events, dueling was really fleshed out as a combat mini-game and the game was actually really funny.

The series took yet a final turn with the two Deathly Hallows games.   Both games had a much tighter narrative and the gameplay itself change to a third-person shooter.   Best comparison I can make would be that the games were like Harry Potter meets Uncharted.   Part 1 had some issues both in narrative (Did you know that Harry Potter, while on the run from the Death Eaters and searching for Horcruxes, would often times pop over to various locations and directly confront the Death Eaters and Snatchers to save Muggle-born wizards and witches?  Not really keeping a low profile there, eh Harry?) and gameplay.  Thankfully, almost all the issues were addressed with Part 2 which ended up being a great adaptation of the events in the movie.  There were fantastic moments captured in the game, that we don't necessarily see on screen, such as Seamus readying the bridge for destruction, or Ron and Hermione's dungeon crawl to the Chamber of Secrets.  Of course one of best moments was the long walk as Harry went to the forbidden forest, attacked by Death Eaters at first and then taunted as they realized that the great Harry Potter was actually going to give himself up.  After I completed the game and the credits rolled, I was treated to a montage of all the past Harry Potter video games, which, for me, especially having just finished a Harry Potter marathon, was a fantastic ending to the series.

It was a great run, and while I am sad that the current marathon is over, I'm happy to say that I don't think it's really over.  There's quite a few of those Harry Potter titles that still need to be completed.  Maybe in the future, I can do a Harry Potter Completion Marathon.

2012 sounds good right?

Harry Potter Marathon Awesome moment!

While playing through the PS1 version of Chamber of Secrets I ran into what is probably one of the best parts so far. Afte Malfoy refers to Hermione as a Mudblood, Ron casts (or attempts to cast) a spell on Malfoy it backfires and Ron starts vomiting.   Here's the image as I try and keep up with Ron on the way to Hagrid's Hut.  Note the image of Ron at the bottom.  He's vomiting!

And then the best part of the game so far.   When I get to Hagrid's Hut, I get to catch Ron's slug vomit!  Sorry about the sound but I recorded it on the fly with my phone.   If I have the option of replaying this level maybe I'll try and get a better capture.

Mario Marathon time again!

Oh yes, it's Mario Marathon time time again.  Go and visit and donate (if you want)!

http://www.mariomarathon.com/

Collection Milestone!

Wow, I wasn't really paying attention this month but I realized just a day or so ago that I hit a pretty big milestone.   I now have over 100 PlayStation 3 titles, 101 to be exact.   I'm not referring to playable games or expansions, I'm talking about retail discs.  My backloggery count is a bit more generous as it counts expansions and compilations, so it's sitting at 124.   But from a collection standpoint, I prefer to use the number that represents the physical media.

In celebration of this milestone, I thought I'd figure out, from a retail standpoint (that is physical media) just exactly how many titles I have for the PlayStation platform:

Platform	Titles
PS1	88
PS2	267
PS3	101
PSP	80
Total	536

So my total retail PlayStation collection represents roughly 1/3 of my entire collection.   I'm a bit surprised, I always knew I was a bit of a PlayStation fan, but I didn't realize that it accounts for 1/3 of my total collection.   Wow.   Call me a true PlayStation Fanboy I guess.

This month in collecting - April 2011

Wow this last month went by really fast. I don't know why but for some reason, April has zoomed by. I had a very busy month from a work standpoint, so that probably had a lot to do with it. But who cares about my work, lets get on with the acquisitions!

Below is everything I picked up in the month of April.  Clicky the pics for larger images!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of the Sky

I love all the box sets that Xseed has been putting out and I obviously could not let this one pass me by. It also helps that I do like The Legend of Heroes so it's a win-win for me.

Collecting in Cleveland

So this past week I went up to Cleveland on a business trip.  It was my first time visiting there and it reminded a bit of Detroit.   I spent most of my time around the Rocky River area, but sadly didn't find much in the way of retro collecting.

The Entire GameCube Collection

Since I'm 'done' with my GameCube collection (meaning that there is nothing I particularly want anymore for that platform), I figured now would be a good time to post some pictures up of the collection.

This month in collecting - March 2011

It was a great month in collecting for me as I was able to finally bring one of my consoles, the Nintendo GameCube, to a collecting close.  I now have every title that I've ever really wanted for the GameCube, so...it's DONE!

Below is everything I picked up in the month of March.  As always, you can click the picture for a larger view.

Astonishia Story

I have been eyeing this game for I don't know how long.  Probably since it was release way back in 2006.  I kept skipping over it again and again and again.   Then I noticed that I was seeing it less and less and less.  So when I happened upon a nice, clean used copy, I picked it up.  I'm still looking for a new UMD as the disc cover is a bit beat up and looks like it might fall apart anytime soon.  So that's a bummer, but since I have the case and manual, finding a disc won't be as hard.

Collection Complete!

That's right!  With the addition of Donkey Konga 2, my GameCube collection is officially complete!

As of right now, every title that I want for the GameCube, I have.   That doesn't mean that I wont ever buy a GameCube title in the future, but as of now, there is nothing that I am looking for.

GameCube collection Complete!

Final Fantasy XII review

I finally got around to posting my review of Final Fantasy XII over on GamersVantage.  Go read it.

This month in collecting - February 2011

I went a little bit overboard last month in terms of collecting.  I tried to tone it down a bit this month, and I did for the most part.  Still, I did acquire a few games (I don't think it would be possible for me to not) so here's the rundown:

Click on the images to enlarge.

Me & My Katamari

For some stupid reason, I had decided a while back that I could put off getting this game.  I kept skipping over it and passing it by until one day I realized that I was no longer able to buy it new.  I searched high and low but to no avail.  My searches for a complete, used copy were fruitless.  All I'd find were disc-only versions; no case, no manual.  I searched for months until finally, this month, the King of All Cosmos hear my plea and I was able to find a nice clean copy for me to enjoy!

PS2 and GameCube Collections almost done!

So today I finally came across a pretty decent copy of Driv3r. I finally feel like my PS2 collection is almost complete.

As of right now I can only think of 3 more titles that I know that I want to add to it. Driver: Parallel Lines (also completing my Driver set of games), Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land, and Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power. Of course I reserve the right to add to that list should I get the urge.

On the GameCube front I'm even closer. All I need is a good copy of Donkey Konga 2, and I'm done! Oh I could got buy a new one on Amazon, but I'd prefer to find it on the cheap.

Of course, getting and calling my GameCube collection complete is really tempting...

This month in collecting - January 2011

Well, I skipped December 2010 so too bad. Here's the damage from January:

Click on the images to enlarge.

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

This I believe was the only Broken Sword that I didn't have.  Strangely enough each of the Broken Sword games I have is on a different console.  I is on the Wii, II is on the PS1 (below) and III is on the Xbox.  That really bugs me.

2010 Game of the Year Awards

I was hoping to get this out a few days ago unfortunately I have been rather busy.  Better late than never, and it is still January so I don't think I'm too tardy with this.

I do things a bit differently than most sites out there.  Rather than hand out the awards for the games released this year, I hand them out to games I played this year.  So, here goes.

2011 Goals

I had some trouble reaching my goals last year.  Based on my performance from last year I've tailored some new goals for me.

1. Beat or Complete 50 games.  I hit 48 last year so I don't think this is too much of a stretch.  It'll require some work, but at the same time, it should be attainable.
2. For every 3 games I acquire, I must beat 1 game.  Last year I choked hard on this one.  My target was 2 to 1.  I didn't even come close, I was 4 to 1.  That's just pathetic.  The idea was that I was supposed to limit my acquisitions but the collector in me took over in many cases.  I've modified this to be a bit more reasonable.
3. Finish a Zelda game.  I tried to beat the original Zelda, but there was so much grinding to get gems so I could afford things that it got tedious.  Dungeon 5 was the real killer though, I just could not get past that one.
4. Clean up PC titles.  Last year there was a goal to finalize my inventory.  I finished everything except for the PC titles.  That must be remedied.
5. Beat all my SNES titles.  I only have 6, and I've already beat 1.  This should be doable.

Here's to a great 2011!  Game on!

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...