Nevik's Notebook » game backlog

Cake

nevikjames — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:41:00 +0000

This has been an interesting week. Tuesday being a “holiday” caused work to be ridiculously boring. I did however make the best of it and tracked down a copy of Persona 3 “used.” A collector had traded in all of his PS2 games and the staff at this particular Gamestop didn’t see the need to open up the shrinkwrap to ensure that a fast one wasn’t being pulled on them. When I worked as a Gamestop manager I always checked, even if I didn’t get a suspicious feeling. I’m not complaining though, I picked up a “brand new” copy of Persona 3 for the used price. Which means I picked Persona 3 up for half of its market value on eBay ^^.

After finishing my last project for my computer systems course I got a chance to pop in The Orange Box for 360. I had picked up The Orange Box on Monday after my sister gave me a gift card to Gamestop. I was never able to finish Half-Life 2 on PC due to my old graphic card overheating and rebooting my computer at a particular portion of the game. The added value of Episode 1 & 2, Portal, and TF2 made The Orange Box a no brainer for me. So first up was checking out Portal.

I managed to get through 18 of the 19 experiments Tuesday night and then finished up the game Wednesday night. What an incredible game, albeit short, but so very sweet. “Still Alive” has to be the greatest ending credit song I’ve ever heard. I’m compelled to attempt the challenge modes to earn all golds (for XBL achievements =) to get some more mileage out of Portal.

Yesterday I managed some incredible luck. On the last day of Gamestop’s 25% off used Xbox 360 with coupon special I happened to find a copy of Lost Odyssey used. I had been checking various stores around in the Sacramento area for Devil May Cry 4 considering the likelihood of finding Lost Odyssey used would be astronomically small.

The last Gamestop I decided to check happened to be the lucky store I was hoping for. Shortly before my arrival, a copy had been traded in after the buyer discovered that it was an RPG. He even preordered it! So not only did I pick up a virtually brand new copy of Lost Odyssey used for $39, but I even scored the pre-order bonus. (The coupon stacks with the EDGE card)

So now I have a huge backlog of games: Lost Odyssey, Persona 3, Magna Carta, Mass Effect, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Forza 2, Grandia 3, and Rogue Galaxy. At least after finishing this current term of classes, I’ll have a 2 week break. Now I just need to decide which game to give priority to.

Nostalgia

nevikjames — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:51:00 +0000

Today I made it a mission to discover where I had put all of my “other” video game stuff in the storage unit I have. After 30 minutes of playing tetris in reverse I finally discovered the three missing boxes, at the bottom no less. After reversing my reverse-tetris I started to feel geniune excitement over my rediscovery.

Mainly I wanted to find my missing PS2 games including Fantavision, FFX, FFX-2, Gran Turismo 4, Grandia Xtreme, Soul Calibur II, Taiko Drum Master, VF4 Evo, and Wipeout Fusion. I’ve been itching to replay FFX and “zen-out” to Fantavision … Maybe I’ll even toss Grandia Xtreme back onto my long list of PS2 RPGs I’ve started and mean-to-finish-someday.

But who am I kidding? I don’t really have the time to dig into my collection, school starts back up next week, and work has been unfun recently. Yet, even though they’ll continue to be “neglected” I can rest easier knowing exactly where they are.

There was some purpose to digging my dusty video game collection off, I intend to sell some of my collection to buy an art tablet for my PC, or perhaps a PSP which I can play for a week or two, and then neglect as well. >.<

In my collection I have a Sega Saturn with many import games, a Sega Nomad with a few Genesis games, a PSone with the LCD screen, an American and Japanese Sega Dreamcast, and a refurbished Xbox and a handful of quality titles.

Sega Saturn

American Sega Saturn (currently needs AV cable)

2 American Controllers
1 Analog Controller
Controller Multi-tap

Baku Baku
Christmas Nights (sampler)
Last Gladiators
Night Warriors
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV
Shining Force III
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Fighter Remix
Virtua Fighter 2
Virtual On
Wing Arms

Japanese

Multi-Game Adaptor (required to play Japanese games)
4mb Memory Cart (required for some games, mainly Capcom fighters)

Cyberbots
Dragon Ball Z
Fighter’s Megamix
Groove On Fight (memory cart included)
King of Fighters ‘96
Magical Drop III
Marvel Super Heroes (requires memory/4mb cart)
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (requires 4mb cart)
Pocket Fighter
Real Bout Fatal Fury (memory cart included)
Samurai Showdown (???)
Street Fighter Collection
Vampire Savior (requires 4mb cart)
X-Men vs Street Fighter (requires 4mb cart)

Sega Dreamcast

American Sega Dreamcast
Japanese Sega Dreamcast

2 Controllers
2 Arcade Joysticks

Games not cataloged yet

Microsoft Xbox

Refurbished Xbox System

Burnout 2
Burnout 3
Crimson Skies
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Fable: Lost Chapters
Halo
Halo 2 Limited Edition
Mech Assault
Phantom Dust

I’m torn on selling some of my collection, I have fond memories of hot-swapping adaptors with my Saturn to play Marvel Super Heroes in almost full arcade glory. Yet I have to ask myself “Why am I holding onto this stuff?” especially as they collect dust, and the chances of having a nostalgic bender last longer than the time to hook everything up is small.

Maybe it’s just me trying to hold on to my youthful memories of when I was a “hardcore” gamer. While I can’t consider myself a casual gamer, I’m definitely no longer of the hardcore crowd. I just don’t have the free time to do so anymore. (Not to imply that it is a bad thing)

Perhaps in the process of gathering everything together, cataloging it, and finally taking pictures of it I’ll find what I need to move on. Some extra money couldn’t hurt right about now.

Covetous

nevikjames — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:28:00 +0000

Combine the void of waiting for FFXII and the now confirmed slippage of TBC into ’07 I’ve come to realize how busy this quarter is for gaming. I haven’t even really paid attention to the release dates and already I have a growing list of must-haves or really-wants. If I had a large disposable income I could top 5 bills not including any new systems, easily. Toss in my continuing desire to pick up a 360 (finally) and I’d just be wrecked, both financially and time-wise.

It’s just impossible to work in that many games into my busy schedule and that’s not even bringing in my back-log of games that I continue to neglect, but still would like to finish. Thank god Blizzard pulled another Blizzard and delayed the expansion. If TBC were to have come out this quarter … At least now I’ll have some time to work on that back-log as well as add to it.

Obviously FFXII will take precedence over everything else for my gaming time. However it might still be a good idea to plan out in what order I’ll try to tackle things. Grandia III is high on my list of must-plays, but there’s also .Hack//G.U. vol.1/Rebirth that looks incredibly intriguing. My love for the Shin Megami Tensei series (even though to this day I’ve never completed a single title) compels me to pick up Devil Summoner, especially since it’ll more than likely be a limited run.

Then there’s this little game called Ookami that I’d love to dig into. The artistic visuals appeal to me and I’ve heard countless comparisons to Zelda which happens to be my all-time favorite Nintendo franchise. Which also reminds me that the Twilight Princess is on the horizon and although I’m opting for the ‘Cube version, I suppose the temptation might become too great and I’ll end up purchasing a Wii just so I don’t have to wait for the GC version.

And who can forget about PSU? This title could single-handedly keep me occupied completely until TBC. It’s going to be difficult to fight the urge to pick it up this week, but I must stay strong. Forcing myself to get it on PC along with a 360 USB controller should help considering my current financial limitations.

A look at my back-log places things into an even grimmer light; Dragon Quest VIII unfinished, Radiata Stories unfinished, Drakengard 2 unfinished, Shadow of the Colossus Hard/Time modes not even started, Fable TLC only an hour in, Advent Rising unfinished, Indigo Prophecy still interested, Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked not even started.

I suppose I have no choice but to pace myself, ugh.