The Last Quarter of 2010

I can't believe that we are almost done with 2010.  We've got one more quarter left which means I've got only 3 months to meet the goals I set for myself at the outset of this year.   Some of them are pretty much out of reach at this point. 

So, where am I at at this point:

According to my count, I have 1,404 titles in my collection, which makes for 1,468 unique games (some of the titles being anthologies and such).

I had 6 goals this year:

1. Beat or Complete 40 or more unfinished games - I'm doing okay with this goal and I think I'll be able to easily get to 40 games.  I'm at 31 games as of right now, so I only need 9 more games to finish out the year.
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 - So far so good.  I need to beat a game on the Wii and the Xbox and I'll have this goal done.
3. Finalize game inventory - I have been doing this and have made a lot of good progress.  The PC games still need to be finalized but all other platforms are pretty much complete
4. Finish at least 1 Zelda game - I'm working on The Legend of Zelda right now.
5. Buy a Nintendo Entertainment System - I ended up getting a Dreamcast instead.   I'll push the NES to next year
6. For every 2 games I acquire, I have to beat least 1 game - Ok, I'll fail on this one.  Not a chance.  I've had too many acquisitions this year to beat half of my acquisitions.

So, here's what I have planned for the rest of the year:

• Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - I'm current playing this, I don't see any reason why it won't be beat by the end of the year.
• Legend of Zelda (GCN) - 4/8 Triforce pieces.  Yes, it tries my patience but I should be able to complete it by the end of the year as well.
• Klonoa (Wii) - I'm targeting this as my first Wii game to beat.
• Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - I played through Ico earlier this year and really enjoyed it.  So I'm really looking forward to this one.
• Final Fantasy III (NDS) - I'm probably close to halfway through this one, so this should be a pretty straightforward beat.
• NCAA Football 07 (X360) - I've been told by KaiBueno that I need to beat a sports game, so this is it.  I'm going to pick a ranked team an roll a single season.
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Xbox) - I started this a while back and never finished it.  I should polish it off to knock out an Xbox platform beat.
• Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS2) - I enjoyed the first Sly, I've heard this one takes the series to a new level.
• Spyro the Dragon (PS1) - Old school Insomniac.  Should be a quick beat though.

I'd like to beat more than that, but that's what I'm targeting right now.

Enough posting, onto some gaming!

This week in collecting...Sep 26 - Oct 2, 2010

So here's the damage this week, 4 titles, 3 new and 1 upgrade.   Click on the images to enlarge.

Crash Bandicoot

I had given up hope trying to find this title in wild.   I ended picking it up disc only just a few weeks ago.   I ran across it this week in all it's glory.   Disc is fantastic.  A lovely upgrade from a disc only version.

SaGa Frontier 2
With this addition, I now own all the SaGa titles.  Of course I'm only counting domestic releases and non-handheld (Final Fantasy Legend) games.  So....SaGa collection done!

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

I couldn't not get this.   I recently finished Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories on the GBA and I've become really drawn into the story.  Here's hoping for a PS3 KH game down the road.

Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland

Total impulse buy.   I was planning on getting this at some point but when the GameStop employee (who knows I have a thing for the more obscure titles that Atlus and NIS tend to release) pointed out that it had released and that the GS version had a nice box with a hardcover art book, well, that was it.  I was sold.

That's it for this week!

Fun with physics

Ever since games started using physics engines gamers have been able to see all sorts of fun little glitches.

I've collected a few of my favorites.

Enjoy!


EA's Skate, funny (and sometimes brutal) physics glitches

Halo: Combat Evolved, Flying Warthogs


Far Cry 2, fun with barrels


Just Cause 2 a really long fall, or should I say, roll?

Discounting the Legend

I really didn't want to pay $150 for Halo: Reach Legendary Edition.

So I didn't.

The game comes with a code for a Flaming Helment and some Elite Armor for mutiplayer.  I don't really care about that so I sold it on E-Bay.

Apparently there are some who really do care about it as I was able to sell it for $81.

I'm fairly stoked about that.

Unboxing the Legend

I picked up my copy of Halo: Reach: Legendary Edition today.  It's huge!

Here's some shots of the grand unboxing:

The Big Box

Opening it up...

All the contents, note the size of the standard game case in relation to everything else

Closeup of the game case

Noble Team standing ready

Seriously, I don't know where I'm going to put that.

Shadows of the Empire Get!

Yes! I've finally got a complete copy of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. That brings my N64 collection to a total of 16 titles.

Being the Star Wars nut that I am, I really don't know how this game slipped through the cracks.  I was always planning on getting it, but for whatever reason, I never actually got it.

Feels good to close this hole in my collection.

The new goal

I've resigned myself to the fact now that I'll never be able to Beat all of the games in my backlog. For a while, I had set out to at least get a certain percentage Beat. I'm now going to modify my backlog goals into something a bit more manageable. This whole I idea came out of an ongoing (over several months really) discussion about backlogs with Mamba219.

So instead of a flat percentage goal, I'm going to shoot for getting a platform Beaten. This way, I can show some tangible progress, without limiting my collection needs. Once I've Beaten a given platform, I have to maintain that status, so any additions to my collection for a platform that has been previously Beaten, will get priority. After a platform has been Beaten, I'll pick another platform and start in on that one.

So, I may never be able to defeat the Baklaag. But at least I'll be able to harm him!

To start, it's going to be the SNES. Right now I've got a total of 6 games on that platform, so it's definitely doable.

Here's what's on the schedule then (in order of release):

Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
Illusion of Gaia
Donkey Kong Country
Chrono Trigger

Kinda works out nice as it alternates between a platformer and an RPG (and yes I'm counting Zelda as an RPG for the purposes of this statement so don't bug me about it).

Game On!

The neverending backlog

I've been desperately trying to clean up my inventory and officially set things right. So in addition to some of the normal collecting I do, I've been reconciling my personal collection and my Backloggery Collection.

It will be a long process...

I do need to sort it out and I need to make some decisions, especially around my PC titles. I have quite a few duplicates across platforms and I sort feel that I should pick a platform for any given title and then get rid of the other version. I still can't decide on that though.

For example, I have Tomb Raider on both PS1 and PC. Should I get rid of the PC version? It's a pain to install, and the controls are kinda wonky on the PC. I should probably just be done with the PC version right?

Arrgh, I don't know what to do. It's against my religion to get rid of games so this one hurts.

P.S. I saw this today. I really wish these bumper stickers were real. That would be fantastic.

This is how a new Sonic should look

Korean Gamers APM

Crazy!