Back After One Year!

Wow! So it’s been a long time since I posted on this game blog of mine, so I think I’ll need to recap on an entire year of what I’ve been doing, what I’ve been playing, and all the news of course. I’m guessing that this will be one really long post, but one long post is better than none, I suppose.

So, here we are! It’s 2009! What have I been doing? Well, unfortunately, the game that me, Brian and Jason had been put on hold indefinitely until we all somehow decide to start working on it again. I know that I had been in charge of leading the group, but it had been hard trying to focus on the project when we all really needing some kind of income to live our lives like normal people. Besides, I also had a baby girl on the way, so not only had I needed to refocus on my own needs, but for another one as well. So, what did I do? I got a new job! So, as of August of 2008, I’ve been working at Dream Arcades in Folsom as the shop manager and arcade technician. It’s not really in line with my degree in digital arts, but at the very least it is video game related and the hours are accommodating. I hope to someday set some time aside to do more programming and 3D modeling, but right now I’m pretty busy balancing work with family time, not to mention my own leisure time. I still have the dream of having my own programming and designs published someday, and I don’t think that dream will ever go away. It’s just going to take some major changes in my current situation that I don’t see happening in the near future. Hopefully, someday…

Now, what have I been playing? At this very moment? Nothing. The last system that I had been playing was the Xbox 360, but it turned out that my Xbox 360 had gotten the red ring of death again. Fortunately, the repair tech at Xbox says that the red ring on my system is still covered for repair, so I will send in my machine again tomorrow and hopefully it returns in a timely fashion.

Prior to that unfortunate incident though, I had been playing quite a few of Xbox 360 games, including Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Call of Duty: World at War during the last month. I would have to say that I enjoyed each of those games very much and would recommend them to anyone who is thinking about playing them.

For gaming news in the past… year? Well, from what I can remember, Jeff, Ryan, Brad and Vinny from Gamespot got together and started a new website and podcast call Giant Bomb. It’s just as great, probably even greater than they were when they were over at Gamespot, so I’m glad that they’re keeping their tradition of delivering entertaining news in the world of video games. If you haven’t heard them yet and you like learning about video game news, they’re the best out there in my opinion. Also, in related game news, the majority of the 1up staff had been layed off, including the entire staff of EGM magazine. Needless to say, the magazine will no longer be in existence and their whole staff will need to find another way to survive what we have been calling an economic recession. The Phantasy Star series had introduced a new game for the Nintendo DS called “Phantasy Star Zero”, which seems to be a completely new game set apart from the Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online games. As far as Phantasy Star goes, this will be the next installment that I am most looking forward to play. The Xbox 360 gets a new dashboard update that includes Netflix and Avatars. Playstation 3’s Home application turned out to be a flop. And the Nintendo Wii continues to outsell both of the other consoles despite having as many good games. Final Fantasy XIII had also been announced for the Xbox 360. That should be about it as far as news, at least for now.

Now for my top ten games of the year! I really didn’t play that many games this year, believe it or not. In a way, it’s a good thing because I was able to save lots of money, but I think that I may pick up a Gamefly account this year just so that I revisit some back catalog games this year. I may also retire my PSP and Wii this year. We’ll see. So, here is my list for 2008!

Sony Consoles

PSP: Nothing

PS3: LittleBigPlanet, LocoRoco Cocoreccho!

Microsoft Consoles

Xbox 360: Undertow, Burnout Paradise, Lost Odyssey, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Fable 2, GTA IV, Gears of War 2, Fallout3, Left 4 Dead, CoD: World at War

Xbox Live Arcade: Undertow, WOTB: Commando 3, Castle Crashers, Fable 2 Pub Games, Bomberman LIVE

PC: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Nintendo Consoles:

Wii: Mario Kart Wii

Nintendo DS: The World Ends With You, Bomberman, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy IV, Mario Party DS

So, that’s basically it! Just 24 games! Not too bad, considering that I was shooting for 36. That’s about 2 games a month, so that’s not too bad, I think. I think that I’ll probably try to shoot for around the same number this year too. Anyway, here is my top 10 for 2008 now.

1. CoD: World at War – Xbox 360
2. Gears of War 2 – Xbox 360
3. Left 4 Dead – Xbox 360
4. Castle Crashers – Xbox Live Arcade
5. Bomberman – Nintendo DS
6. Fable 2 – Xbox 360
7. Fallout 3 – Xbox 360
8. Final Fantasy IV – Nintendo DS
9. Lost Odyssey – Xbox 360
10. GTAIV – Xbox 360

Yeah! So I really enjoyed those games on my list. Looking at that list really makes me wish my Xbox was working right now. I guess I can play Final Fantasy IV in the meantime. Maybe I should have played Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii, but I wasn’t really interested in either of those games too much. I think I may even retire my Wii system soon. We’ll find out later this year.

As for the top sellers of last year, I predicted 4 of 10 that were right. What I didn’t expect were Gears of War 2 and CoD: World at War because I didn’t know they would be released in 2008, as well as the Xbox 360 bundles for Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones. I also expected the PS3 to do well with Haze, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet, but it didn’t apparently. Also, games like Resident Evil 5, The Agency, and Killzone 2 didn’t even make it before the end of the year. I’m pretty sure they’ll do well next year though, with Street Fighter IV, of course. I’m sure looking forward to those games in 2009.

Also, there is no round up on the game consoles this year. The value of the system really depends on what you’ll be using it for. So, instead of an overview for each system, I’ll just say this… if you’re a girl or a kid, go with the Wii. If you would like to play games online with your friends or if you have Netflix account, go with the Xbox 360. If you don’t mind playing games by yourself and would like to buy Blu-Ray movies to watch on your HDTV, go with the PS3. It’s as simple as that! There’s no stopping getting more than one system too. So don’t forget that. I think this should be enough to post for now. Till next time.