Just finished another Mummy segment. God I love that guy. I had to split the poor fellow in three in order to solve a puzzle. It wasn't taxing by any means (this game is aimed at a young age group after all) but I have to say I'm having fun with it. Seems as there's no voice acting I've been turning the sound down low and playing some music over the top. For some unknown reason, Neil Young's On The Beach seems to fit very well. Pulp's Different Class was fun, but didn't suit the game as much.

I'm back with Sphinx now, trying to rescue some hound dog's missus. Kept buggering up on this bit last night, but then I was getting tired so I'll get back to it later. Right now, I've got work to do.

Sphinx has just learnt to somersault, which is nice. He can swim pretty quick too, with a fabulous looking manouevre that looks like some kind of underwater caterpillar. Reminds me of doing the swallow (breakdancing move) when i was about seven. Couldn't do one of those now though. I'm off looking for Horus or somebody in a big castle, apparently.

I'm missing the mummy already, he's funny. Great animations and the fact that you can set him on fire, electrocute him and squeeze him into a paper thin version of himself is just wonderful, but I just love the way he picks himself up after he's fallen from a great height. Hilarious.

Still, Sphinx has a cool tail and he climbs walls in a bizarre fashion so it's not like I hate him or anything. his game, whilst simplistic, is turning out to be a lot of fun.

I got the Xbox for free. Or rather, my girlfriend did. It came with a mobile phone. She got the phone, I got the Xbox. Good deal. It also came with a Formula 1 style remote control car, but I broke that beyond repiar within an hour. I was trying to make it do somersaults on the roof at the back of the flat. It succeeded in landing a couple of complete loops, but then it landed awkwardly and the steering refused to work after that. I suppose I should have known better.

The Xbox came with Halo and Midtown Madness 3 and I went out and bought a couple of cheap games to go along with it. (Serious Sam for 10 Euros was an absolute bargain). Then, for the first year (2004) the Xbox and I had a simple, effecient and effective partnership. I would buy a game, play it, finish it, then buy another one. A nice and simple process that worked wonderfully, but then, in the early days of 2005, something changed. I became greedy.

First off, I managed to hook the Xbox up to the internet. Xbox live was finally a world that I could move into. A free 12 month subscription was gained with a knockdown price copy of Splinter Cell : Pandora Tomorrow and a lot fo fun was had.

A friend of mine had Halo 2 and he'd completed it so I borrowed that off him and pelted through the campaign in one single sitting. At the time I was playing the single player portions of Midnight Club II. A cracking game. I got as far as Tokyo and damn it became difficult. I never finished the game. It was the start of a new trend.

I started looking in game and toy shops for games on sale. Anything, everything with a sale price.

Suddenly my Xbox collection started to grow, but at the expense of something. I've stopped completing games before moving on. I went out last week and bought Breakdown and MechAssault. Two games for a week, that should be enough, surely? Nope. On Thursday I got a new job, so went out to treat myself, avoided the dvd and record sections and came home with Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Broken Sword : The Sleeping Dragon and The Chronicles of Riddick. 3 games for 50 euros.

I'm a bargain hunter, just like my Mam, only I buy cheap cds, dvds and now games. It's ridiculous.

I was looking over the games in my collection and, of those that are there, here are the games I've bought and NOT completed.

Ninja Gaiden (marvellous and it WILL be completed - just as soon as I can get past that wench in the Monastery)

Deus Ex : Invisible War (slightly dissappointed with it, but may return to struggle through a few more hours)

Midnight Club II (only Tokyo to beat, should I continue?)

Outrun 2 (classic arcade fun. Don't know if I'll ever complete it, but I will return for a race every now and again. Love the ridiculous power slides)

Manhunt (still in box, never played)

Tenchu : Return from darkness (played for half an hour)

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (currently playing and enjoying quite a bit. Save points seem a little oddly placed though)

MechAssault (about half way through - enjoying blasting the hell out of everything)

Chronicles Of Riddick (waiting patiently for me)

Azurik : Rise of Perathia (horrible controls mean that I'll probably never pick this up again. Shame as it could have been a lot of fun)

Battlestar Galactica (great fun but bloody hard. Stuck on the bombing mission, so not far to go, but can't be buggered to try it again just yet)

Breakdown (played opening level. May take some getting used to)

Broken Sword : The Sleeping Dragon (watched opening sequence)

Dead or Alive 3 (play it with friends. Can't be bothered with teh arcade mode or whatever)

Forza Motorsport (won this in a competition. Up to about 30 percent on single player. getting bored of it now.)

Shenmue 2 (got to second city and couldn't be bothered carrying on)

Sonic Mega Collection Plus (play regularly. Sonic 1, 2 and 3. Bean Machine and Sonic GG)

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 : Black Arrow (enjoyed the game, but got about three quarters of the way through and stopped playing. I don't really know why?)

I suppose all this means is that I really should start spending more time playing these games than compulsively buying them. Although I did see a couple of others on sale the other day. Oh God help me.