There are games that we intend to finish, but never get around to it. Here's my list of shame for the year:

Half Life 2 (PS3)
Patapon (PSP)
Bully (PS2)*
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)*
Secret Agent Clank (PSP)
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (PS3)*
Fable: The Lost Chapters (Xbox)
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
No More Heroes (Wii)*

* Game I still intend to finish, but have put on extended hold.

Amazingly, that list is smaller than the list I completed this year (listed in blog header). I have gamer ADD and tend to get bored with games if they aren't interesting enough for me. It's a bad habit, but something I've always done.

I've been playing Resistance 2 online co-op pretty much exclusively for the past few weeks; I just haven't been interested in starting a new game. I did pick up Crush to play on the go. Originally, I wanted to complete Chain of Memories before starting a new handheld game, but have since given up hope. I've been at it for too long and have grown bored with it.

Games Completed 2008:
Portal: The Orange Box (PS3)
Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
Final Fantasy III (DS)
Final Fantasy VII (PS)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Gears of War (X360)
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
Me and My Katamari (PSP)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
Ōkami (PS2)
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PS3)
Tales of Vesperia (X360)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
Fable II (X360)

Maybe this blog should be more accurately titled, "How Not to Score with a Girl" as I'll be sharing some experiences I've had with guys awkwardly trying to communicate with females in Home.

Upon entering the Central Plaza, be it warned that if you have a female avatar, you probably won't make it halfway to your destination before being approached by at least one guy. Apparently, at the sight of pixilated boobs, the male stops thinking above the waist and quickly reverts to below the waist thoughts. I feel it necessary to advise you at this point that a female avatar is not always a sign that there is a female controlling said avatar. I know of quite a few guys that use female avatars almost exclusively.

Most conversations have been started by simply asking where I live. Normally, this question doesn't faze me, but in Home I will often not give an answer to some random guy who just walks up and expects me to hand out my location. The answer you will most likely receive from me is something to the effect of "here and there" or even "Central Plaza" (which yes, I said and the guy accepted it). Please do not send me a friend invite when I've never even said a word to you. All random friend invites will be denied, as well as guys that give me the wrong vibe. I don't need more "friends" that I won't talk to or will never join in a game.

Do not use pet nicknames. I'm not "Sweetie" or "Pretty Lady" and I'm definitely not your "Ma" so don't make it a point to call me so, because you will most likely get a frustrated grunt from me and I'll walk away. I will not "follow you" if you don't tell me where we're going, and please don't ask me to join you at your apartment or Summer House for whatever you may think will happen there.

I think that pretty much covers the "Do Not's", and you'll find that my "Do's" list is much shorter.

Asking me to play a game with you such as pool or bowling is definitely okay. I may be horrible at it since the controls are a bit odd, but at least I have a good sense of humor. General conversation is also fine. I don't have a specific list of what to talk about, but I'm guessing that since I have a PS3 I might enjoy games. As long as you don't sound like you're trying to get in my virtual pants or becoming my new stalker friend it's cool.

This is just my personal experience. Other girls may want to hang out with you in your virtual home or are looking for a hookup, but chances are she's already been approached by several other guys and may just be tired of people wanting to know her A/S/L. With that being said, I'm not opposed to finding new friends in Home, but I'm not necessarily seeking them out either. I think of Home as more of a place to hang out with friends you already have or find people to play games with when they get the game spaces up and running again.

As far as gaming goes, I finished Fable II a few weeks ago. I got all 50 gargoyles and I somehow acquired 51 silver keys. I haven't completed all of the side quests, but I will probably get around to it when I finally decide to open the last 2 demon doors. Overall, I thought the game was some of the most fun I've had in a while. It wasn't deep or revolutionary, but it was an enjoyable to play to the end. In taking a break from long drawn out story modes I decided to start Call of Duty 4, since I got it a year ago and never played it. So far, I'm very impressed with the mechanics, visuals, and action sequences. This game really is beautiful. I am also playing quite a bit of Resistance 2, though I've only played the Cooperative portion with a little bit of Competitive on the side. I haven't touched the campaign yet.

These are new games I picked up since my last blog, I'll also be getting Persona 4 sometime this week. All other games will wait until after the holidays and my birthday.

Have a good week everyone :)

A year ago I posted a picture of my gaming setup. I took another picture the other day for a comparison shot.

Last November:

This November:

Yes, I know the second shot is a bit messy. I'm now 3 games away from having 200 in my collection. You can't see my older cartriges in the picture because they're off to the side.

I've been playing a lot of Fable II. Though I realize the story isn't deep, the gameplay is a lot of fun and they've really done a lot to improve the formula. Plus, many of the side quests are unique and enjoyable. I've put quite a few hours into it, and I've been trying to get all of the gargoyles and silver keys along the way. I'm actually near the end of the main quest, but I am doing all the side quests and exploring I can. I might turn evil before the end of the game because I'm starting to get tired of people following me around and asking me to marry them. With the right amount of push I might just unleash an inferno spell on the whole town.

I also fired up Resistance 2 last night, with a bit of coaxing from some friends to play co-op.  We played a lot of Resistance last year, but this will definitely make the game have a lot more replay value than the first. I'm not sure when I'll start the campaign but from what I hear it's also a lot better than the first installment.

I decided to start up Fable II on Saturday since I figured I would enjoy it far more than Resistance 2 right now. I would rather play shooters with other people much more than by myself, and since they've taken out split screen co-op that was partly a deciding factor. I've played Fable 2 over 15 hours and I think I'm about halfway through. The environments are much more detailed this time around, not to mention larger. I've found myself spending a lot of time just exploring the different areas and earning money in various trades.

I really like how it's so easy to interchange between the different styles of combat. I'm actually using Will which i never leveled up properly in the first Fable. It seems like it's more rounded for this installment which i can appreciate because throwing fireballs at bandits has always been a dream of mine.

recent purchases: Valkyria Chronicles, ICO, and I'll be picking up Gears of War 2 tomorrow. That's pretty much it, have a good week.

It's a busy month (as I'm sure you've all noticed) and keeping up with new games is becoming quite difficult. I played through LittleBigPlanet a few times to get 100% with the help of a few of my friends from here and there ... thanks! :D I still have to ace them, but I don't think that's such a big priority right now since Resistance 2 came out this week and I still have yet to start Fable II. I feel a bit like this Penny Arcade comic.

I'll probably pick up Valkyria Chronicles later on today and as far as the next game goes, it's a toss up between Fable II and Resistance 2. I may end up playing both at the same time and work on the campaign in Resistance later.

Rock Band 2 I'm enjoying quite a bit as well. I haven't played too much of it, but they've improved in a lot of areas. I'm looking forward to taking my band (which is pretty much just me, lol) online for some co-op and see how that works out. So far I've just done the drums, but I hope to do vocals soon, I just like to hear the tracklist before tackling singing.

I did quite a bit of gaming over the weekend so I could finish Tales of Vesperia. I did complete the main story, but now I want to go back and do a lot of sidequest and guildwork that I missed. I know myself well enough that it's just a lot of talk and I'll probably never get around to it because of all the new games. However, it was a good game and I'm glad I picked it up.

I got started with LittleBigPlanet on Sunday evening, and though I haven't played as much as I would have liked, what I've played is a lot of fun. I got to the 5th world playing co-op last night, and so far so good. I can see that completing some of the levels without dying is going to be quite a challenge.

After having a little bit more time with the Resistance 2 beta, I can now say I like some of the changes. Skirmish is a match similar to control points. I only played one match, but it was pretty fun. We also played the cooperative mode. Your survival heavily relies on having a member of each cIass. Unfortunately, no one wanted to be special ops when we played, so it wasn't quite as well rounded as it could have been. I'm sure it's possible to have all soldiers if you wanted, but it would definitely be more challenging since you don't regain any health on your own. I'm not sure how the main game is going to be once it's released, but it seems to cycle through a few of the same multiplayer challenges, and the challenges change as your co-op team levels up their cIasses (just speculation).

If I'm feeling up to the challenge I may start Fable II over the weekend. I also picked up the special edition guide book which I generally don't do, but it comes with an art book and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. I generally try not to play two time consuming console games at a time, but it's a big temptation for me right now. We'll see how long that lasts.

I keep starting blogs, but then I get too busy with other things, so this is my summary blog, if you have any questions feel free to ask

Tales of Vesperia: 75% finished

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: 90% finished Sora's story

Warhawk = fun

Unreal Tournament 3: the bots say some pretty amusing things ("I can't feel my legs!")

LBP beta over: :(

LBP Delayed: GRRR :cry:

Home beta: cool Far Cry space, but full of online idiots

Resistance beta: I'm digging it, but I need a bit more time in other modes, and maybe an open match.

New adds:

FABLE II

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It had been about a month and a half since I'd finished a game, but I'm happy to say I finally finished Mercenaries 2. When I say "I", I really mean "we" because Vix played through the whole game with me, and frankly, I don't think I would have made it by myself. Like I, and probably others, have said before the game is extremely glitchy. Not only that, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it through some of the missions by myself.

After we finished the game, we leveled the PMC. Amazingly enough, Fiona was only upset about her car being destroyed, Ewan still could do pick ups in his heli (and landed on the rubble, lol) and everyone's ghost still talked to us. It didn't solve the incessant reminder problem... "If you're ever feeling a little bit lost, come talk to me in the PMC and I may be able to offer a few suggestions" bit, because you know... I always felt lost when I was destroying targets and HVTs. The ending was a huge disappointment; it lasted about 2 minutes, not that the game had that great of a story anyway. I was more amused by the characters adjusting the slides during cutscenes than what they were saying half of the time. If I didn't play this cooperatively, I would have given this a 5.0 just like GameSpot, but co-op was its one redeeming quality, therefore I'm giving it a 7.0.

I've been playing Tales of Vesperia for the past week, and I'm really enjoying it. For the most part the voice acting is enjoyable and the skits and cut scenes are interesting and often amusing. I'm only partway into chapter 2, but I like everything I've played so far. It has inspired me to pick up Symphonia at some point, and maybe Tales of Phantasia.

I purchased a few games over the past few weeks... Psychonauts (PS2), Dark Cloud (PS2), Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox), and Castle Crashers (X360). I did buy Dark Cloud again because I found a copy of the original game and took the greatest hits back. :P Castle Crashers is the only one I've played so far so I could play it with my nephew. I didn't realize the game was so gross. I laughed so many times at the animals and boss fights. Yay for crude humor!

I thought I was going to get more games this fall than I actually am. I just know that I won't play them all, so I'm trying to stick to my must haves. In order:

1. LittleBigPlanet
2. Fable II
3. Gears of War 2
4. Resistance 2
5. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
6. Rock Band 2

I think that's enough games to get me through the next few months, and if it's not then I'll just pick up one of the other games on my original list or pick up a new arcade or psn game. Plus, I still have a huge backlog to work through.

I'm in the SOCOM and Home betas, and next month I'll also be in the Resistance 2 beta, so if anyone else is in those let me know. I don't think I'll be playing SOCOM unless there is someone else on my friends list who's playing it because I don't think it's my kind of game, but feel free to ask if you want to take me out for a thrashing.

VixDiesel and I have been playing through Mercenaries 2 together for the past couple of weeks. Like most people have said, the game is fun, but it's chock full of bugs and glitches which only affects the gameplay in some areas. It's been fun to play waiting for more anticipated titles, but at this point it's definitely not worth a $60 price tag.

I'm geting my first current-gen RPGs this week. EDIT: the first current-gen RPGs that I'll actually play. :P I watched the video review of Tales of Vesperia and I loved the art style and it looks like something I would enjoy playing. Also, I've had my eye on Infinite Undiscovery for a while and here's to hoping that Square puts out another one of the quality games they're known for with this new IP.

Mercenaries 2 is coming out just in time for a long weekend and if all goes as planned I'll be playing a bit of Mercs and Tales. Sounds like a good time.

Here's my purchases for this past week. It's a bit slim, but I haven't seen the games I've been looking for at GameStop. I hate Greatest Hits boxes, lol.