After playing non-stop ME2 this week, I managed to finish the game this afternoon. Every second of it was awesome! I ended up finishing with everyone surviving the last mission. By the end, I had become attached to everyone on the team so I couldn't stand to see anyone die. :P

Now I have the urge to play Mass Effect 3. Unfortunately, I JUST missed picking it up at Walmart for $30. It's been on sale there for a month (in Canada at least) and yesterday just happened to be the last day it was on sale... go figure. :cry:

I was going to play Xenoblade next but now i'm thinking I should tackle Metroid Prime Trilogy first since it's also spaced themed. :P

Just finished up the main quest in DQ9 after almost 2 years (had it since launch in 2010). Overall, it was pretty fun game; very classic JRPG. Anyway, I don't plan on doing much of the post-game content; too much grinding for my tastes. :P

As noted in my previous blog, finishing up DQ9 was on my to-do list for the summer. Glad to see it's done and out of the way now. Next up, i'm probably going to finish up Mass Effect 2. I'm planning on playing Skyrim on and off so that means Xenoblade will come after ME2. It's gonna be a awesome few weeks coming up! :D

Finals will be done and over with in about 2 weeks, hooray! It's that time of year again to finally get cracking on my backlog of games! Hopefully this summer with be just as awesome as last year. Last summer was my first real chance with my PS3 so I ended up ploughing through well over 10 different games. On top of that, I played some other titles for my other systems like Pokemon White for DS.

So far, this will be my lineup for this year as of now:

Dragon Quest IX - I'm on the last stretch of the story, I think I left off just after arriving at Upover. I've had this game a for a long time now. I'm gonna try to finally finish it this time.

Mass Effect 2 - About 10 hours into it during Christmas but haven't had time to finish.

Metroid Prime Trilogy - Have had this for AGES now. I've only partially played through the original MP3 so this version is untouched. Also a few hours into MP1; might as well just restart it completely at this point. I've been passing this off for a long time now; hopefully this is the summer where I actually finish it!

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - I kinda bought this for my new PC on impulse when it was on sale recently. I didn't like Oblivion on PS3, hopefully I end up enjoying this more when I have a chance to play it.

Xenoblade Chronicles - Just got this yesterday! Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up jumping the queue and being played and finished before the others. :P

I mentioned in a previous blog a while ago that I wanted to spend less on gaming this year so I actually haven't bought or plan to buy too many new games. Fortunately, this current backlog should last me quite a while considering I have two freakin huge open-world RPGs.

It's been a while since my last blog post. So, i'm just going to make this short and sweet with my thoughts on some latest things.

I picked up Resident Evil Revelations (3DS) over a week ago. Been really busy so I haven't had the chance to play too much but this game is just awesome. I absolutely LOVED RE4 and RE5 was pretty decent. Having played the RE:R demo a few times, I just knew I had to pick this up; definitely worth every penny.

No Pokemon Grey but we do have Pokemon Black and White 2. I was really hoping for a 3DS game but hey, I can't complain about a sequel to Black and White! Can't wait to see what some of the new features are and what new story elements they have included. Although I loved White's story compared to previous games, there was a lot of things left unknown. Nimbasa Central Station: *ding ding* Next train arriving: SUPER MEGA HYPE TRAIN!

Lastly, only one more month till Xenoblade comes out! I've already got my copy paid off; can't wait! I've been listening to some of the epic soundtrack as of late. :D

Four weeks has come and gone and a new semester starts tomorrow. :|

On the bright side, that was one of the better winter breaks i've had in a while. Lots of time to go through my backlog and play some new games as well. The games I managed to finish were (ranked in the order in which I enjoyed them most):

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

2. Infamous 2

3. Mario Kart 7

4. Assassin's Creed Revelations

5. God of War Origins Collection

All of these games were all very fun but in the end, I think Skyward Sword turned out to be one of favorite games in all of 2011. Now that's saying A LOT considering I ended up playing a mountain of games this year (mostly catching up with PS3 games). This includes plenty of popular titles such as Uncharted 2, Red Dead Redemption, God of War series, Assassin's Creed series, Ocarina of Time 3D(for the first time ever), Twilight Princess, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart. In the end though, they were all so awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed playing all of my games this past year.

Now with that being said, 2011 was also a year where I think I spent way too much money on gaming alone for my liking. I like to keep tabs on my spending and my total for games in 2011 ended up being just over $700. I know gaming can be an expensive hobby and i'm sure there's people out there who spend way more than I do but for me personally, it's still a bit much. Although I have to remember I did purchase a brand new system this year too; 3DS at $250.

Fortunately, most of my PS3 purchases were at bargain bin prices (Greatest Hits titles). I have about 16 PS3 games and I don't think I spent more than $35 for any of them. Most of them were price at around $20. My only Wii investment was the Skyward Sword bundle ($70). The only things I bought at full price were the 3DS, Super Mario and Mario Kart 7. I had trade credit to spend on Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64 3D.

So, what does this mean for 2012? I've actually bought pretty much all of the PS3 games that I wanted so that's a definitely plus. I'm actually aiming to get just the games this year that will last me a really long time and stick with those. The occasional price drop or sale will probably have me picking up some other goodies too. But for now, the long-lasting titles i'm thinking of are:

- Xenoblade

- Animal Crossing 3DS

- Monster Hunter Tri G (if it ever comes to NA)

Of course, that's only in terms of what we know is coming out. I'm sure E3 is gonna bring lots of irresistible titles. :cry:

Speaking of E3... I don't care if Nintendo has me drooling over my desk with the Wii U at E3 this year. I am not buying one at launch or anytime soon. Not because I don't want one, i'm sure I will. With Wii mostly out of the way, i'm expecting my 3DS and PS3 to hold me over for a few more years. :P

I managed to snag myself a copy of Assassin's Creed Revelations ($20), Infamous 2 ($30) and Batman Arkham City ($30) during Boxing Day yesterday. I'm pretty happy considering I wasn't planning on these new releases until they had reached PS3 Greatest Hits pricing ($30) so it's great to know that I managed to get them much earlier than expected at that price.

Having just finished Skyward Sword on Christmas Day, these will pretty much be what i'll be playing for the next 2 weeks of winter break. I've also got Mass Effect 2 partially played in my backlog to I may finish that after i'm done with AC:R. I dunno if i'll be able to finish all 4 of these in 2 weeks though. Speaking of just finishing Skyward Sword, I don't know how these games are gonna feel considering how awesome I thought SS was. :P

Here are my personal ratings for the retro tracks in Mario Kart 7. I'm not really rating them based on new content; more of how much I like the track in general. While I don't think they're all great; I do like the majority of the retro tracks and I think this is a much better selection than in MKDS and MKWii.

Note: I've never played the Super Mario Kart nor Super Circuit (GBA).

--

N64 Luigi Raceway - 5.0 (Pretty bland track)

GBA Bowser Castle - 7.0 (I loved the old Bowser Castles that were included in DS and Wii. This one isn't as good as the others though. This one is much simpler but still decently fun overall.)

Wii Mushroom Gorge - 8.0 (I enjoyed this in MKWii.)

DS Luigi's Mansion - 7.5 (Average track.)

--

N64 Koopa Beach - 8.0 (One of my more liked beach tracks.)

SNES Mario Circuit 2 - 7.5 (Generic SNES Mario Circuit. :P This one's alright.)

Wii Coconut Mall - 9.0 (One of my favorites from Wii.)

DS Waluigi Pinball - 10 (One of my absolute favorites from DS; very glad to see it return.)

--

N64 Kalimari Desert - 7.5 (I love trains and this has always been one of my favorites. Without the train, this would be a really boring track though.)

DS DK Pass - 8.5 (Pretty fun snow track; I absolutely love the music for it though.)

GCN Daisy Cruiser - 9.0 (One of my favorite GCN tracks! Glad it was one of the 2 GCN tracks that made it.)

Wii Maple Treeway - 9.5 (One of my favorites from Wii. Looks wonderful and has great music.)

--

Wii Koopa Cape - 9.5 (Another one of my favorites from Wii. The underwater tube section feels a bit less fun without those spinning electric beams and the fast current though.)

GCN Dino Dino Jungle - 10 (One of my favorite GCN tracks! Always like the big dinosaur in this one. :P)

DS Airship Fortress - 10 (Very cool track from DS; the bullet bills at the beginning at much faster this time! :o)

SNES Rainbow Road - 9.0 (For such a simple layout, this track is absolute chaotic! On 150cc with a cluster of racers together; absolute mayhem! :P)

I've just entered midterm season and i'm already thinking about what games i'll be enjoying during the holidays this year. :P

Metroid Prime Trilogy. I've played like 2 hours of MP1 and I played through quite a bit of MP3 (seperate copy). I quickly snagged this copy of MPT when I heard they were being discontinued but I haven't gotten around to playing it. I honestly would like to finish off these three games. I think one of the things holding me back is that there's apparently a lot of backtracking in MP1 and 2 which i'm not really a fan of. It doesn't help that I tend to play on and off and I always forget where to go when I come back to the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. One of my first few Wii games and I still haven't finished it! Still haven't gotten through the introductory stuff yet. This really should be at the top of my "to-finish" list. :oops: EDIT: Managed to finish this back in November 2011. Absolutely amazing game; can't believe I pushed it to the back of the list for so long! That frees up one big space in my backlog.

Mass Effect 2: Just picked this up a few weeks ago and i'm about 4 hours in. Great game so far; just haven't had a bit of time to continue playing it.

Super Mario 3D Land: I can play this while i'm going to/from school so time isn't as big of a problem. Since it comes out in November, i'll probably be done by Christmas anyway. :P

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: I'm getting this at launch for the remote bundle and soundtrack CD. Although... as much as i'm dying to try this game out, I really should finish up TP first. :lol:

Mario Kart 7: Good ol' Mario Kart, i'll be playing this for quite some time. Perfect game for everyday commuting.

What i'll most likely end up playing during the break: Probably gonna finish up Twilight Princess and Mass Effect 2. Both are pretty long games so that might take up my whole christmas break! Throw in some occasional Mario Kart too. A start on Skyward Sword would be nice too. :P

With yesterday's news on Mario Kart, we apparently now know 14/16 of the retro track selection for Mario Kart 7.

SNES Circuit 2

GBA Bowser Castle 1

N64: Luigi Raceway, Kalimari Desert, Koopa Troopa Beach

GCN: Dino Dino Jungle

DS: Airship Fortress, Waluigi Pinball, DK Pass, Luigis Mansion

Wii: Maple Treeway, Mushroom Gorge, Koopa Cape, Coconut Mall

The bolded ones were the ones on my wishlist so 9/16 is pretty good. :D

That leaves 2 unknown tracks and i'm really hoping they go for 2 more GCN tracks. More specifically, i'd love to see any of the following: Daisy Cruiser, Wario Colosseum, Mushroom City or Bowser's Castle.

That would make the distribution: 1 SNES, 1 GBA, 3 N64, 3 GCN, 4 DS, 4 Wii. I'd hate for there to be 4 N64 and 2 GCN... I love the tracks in Double Dash. :(

On the bright side, the streetpass/spotpass and online features are all looking great. No doubt this game is gonna skyrocket in my Activity Log charts. :D

Nov 13 - Super Mario 3D Land

Nov 20 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii Remote+ Bundle)

Dec 4 - Mario Kart 7

That's right, i'm only planning on getting 3 new releases this holiday season. I may pick up some older games if they go on sale but these are the only brand new games i'll be getting. All 3 will most likely be launch week purchases. Comes to a total of approx. $158 dollars including tax.

1. Two much needed additions to my 3DS library.

2. I don't wanna miss out on the Wiimote bundle or the soundtrack with Zelda.

3. There's quite a few PS3 games i'm excited for but those will all hit the bargain bin by next year. As usual, i'd still be paying full price if I bought these Nintendo games next year.. Might as well pay the same and get to play them at launch. :)

Speaking of next year, my wallet is really gonna be hurting in 2012. All those wonderful looking 3DS games plus all the bargain priced PS3 games that are coming out later this year that i'm passing on this holiday. :P