Category: Games

So it turns out I’ve got mad DDR skillz! In fact, I have even bested female players ten years younger than me!

One day, I may be good enough to challenge the girl 12 seconds into this video (which was taken during our last Japan trip).

Notice, by the way, the dominance of ‘rhythm games’ in that particular arcade…

I apologize this post has been so long in coming, especially since I know everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for…the 2007 game collection year in review!

2007 saw me buy a total of 98 games, which is a 17% reduction from the previous year. Dollar totals increased though (by about 10%), mostly due to the purchase of the PS3 and PSP Slim. Discounting hardware, the average cost/game of about $20.50 was almost identical to the previous year. Here’s a chart summary of both totals:

The above is a breakdown of games per system. Unsurprisingly, the DS is far in the lead. 2007 saw my DS game collection pass 120 games – this year will see it pass 138 (my GBA total) to become the system for which I have the most games. 2007 also saw the ‘retirement’ of the Gamecube, as I doubt I’ll ever buy another game for it. The one Gamecube game I bought in ’07 was Odama, the microphone-based pinball simulator (which I played for about an hour and put away…). One pleasant surprise in 2007 was the re-emergence of the PSP as a viable system. I was ready to write it off at the end of 2006, but the good games finally started coming and it had a good year. This will continue in ’08, which has already seen some stellar releases for the system (Patapon, Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, R-Type Tactics).

The dollar totals are above. Please don’t add them up and make rash judgements about my spending 🙂

Excluding gifts (which I value as zero in my database), the least expensive game I bought in 2007 was Piyotama, the download-only game from the Playstation store, which cost a mere $2.99. The least expensive packaged game was Quick Spot, a DS puzzle game bought brand new at a CompUSA closing sale for $4.98.

The most expensive game purchase (excluding hardware) of 2007 was World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Collector’s Edition which was purchased shortly after midnight on the day of release and cost $80 and nearly much more, since I fell on ice on the way back to the car and landed painfully on my wrist! The game on which I spent the most in 2007 was easily World Of Warcraft, since my account was active for 6 months (about $90) on top of the cost for the expansion.

The best game of the year, at least that I bought? That’s a tough call, and depends on what mood I am in. Contenders would certainly be World Of Warcraft (PC), Osu! Tatakae! Ouenden 2! (DS) or Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP). I’ll leave you all to decide which one I enjoyed the most 🙂

Seconds (joke!) after returning to America I renewed my World Of Warcraft account. There’s still a lot to do in the game for me, and I still enjoy playing. Doubly so since I’m in a FF (Friends & Family) guild now, and helping others level their characters.

JBF is almost 70 on his Paladin. We’re at the point where we can 2-man the level 60 dungeons with ease:

I also stuck my head into The Temple Of Ahn’Quiraj the other day so I could die to the first boss 🙂

< Skeram Anyway, since this game is so fiendishly addictive, for the first time I enabled 'Parental Controls'. I have now prevented myself from being able to play the game except for Friday afternoons and weekends. Removing such restrictions requires a password that is entrusted to KLS. Apparently my trust of my own ability to resist the urge for the occasional Tuesday afternoon WoW binge is not high enough... In short, I have taken the first step toward treating an addiction: recognizing that the addiction exists. And if you're wondering, this is a Perentie: