I'm a bit of an old-school gamer. Not Asteroids/Pac-Man old-school, but Monkey Island and Star Control 2 old-school. I haven't forgotten those and new games get measured up against them. That's one of the reasons Castle Crashers took me by surprise; it's such a well-executed fusion of old and new, and it's shot straight into my favourite games list.

I took a friend's advice about Mass Effect and lowered the difficulty during the boss battle I was having trouble completing, though this is something I always try to avoid. I nearly made it on the first attempt, but then failed quickly every subsequent time - only to discover that the difficulty setting was stored in the save game and had to be reset each time I loaded up. I finally completed the fight and now I'm on some minor side mission on the Moon, trying to outwit some rogue military virtual intelligence.I'm struggling to care...maybe things will improve when I complete the next major story mission, assuming I can tear myself away from Castle Crashers for a while.

I found a second hand copy of Eternal Sonata for a song (ha!) and picked it up, and so far it is the most ridiculously cutesy game I've ever played. Polka, the initial character, has a dress as her equipped armour and attacks using a "cute umbrella". It's sort of fun; I wonder if my beloved, who is a musician by trade and loves classical music (by whch I mean orchestral music, not just the actual classical period), will be able to stand the cuteness to enjoy the Chopin-inspired storyline.

Not playing much else at the moment, though at some point I'll try and finish Braid - only 10 puzzle pieces to go! I find it harder to get a decent block of time to play in, though, so I tend to stick to Castle Crashers for it's easy pick-up-and-play style.

Currently at the top of the wish list: Lego Indy, Lego Batman and The Force Unleashed.