Gruel's Game-a-Thon

So I won't bore you to death with my personal life I'll just copy and paste all the thoughts about gaming from my last entry from my livejournal blog (http://gruel.livejournal.com) so with that said, enjoy the randomness

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July 29, 2007

So my gaming scene has been pretty busy as well. Gotta love summer, it is the only period of the year I can make some serious time for my backlog. Just several days ago I achieved the goal I set at the beginning of the year by beating my 12th game, this one being the Shield on PS2 (my review - http://www.vgpub.com/Shield-PS2-Review/review). I upped the ante just a tad and am going to shoot for 15 games now by the end of the year, so if I can meet goal number two, I'll be thrilled. Right now I am about three hours into Syberia 2 on Xbox, and if you recall from a few entries back I beat the first game about a month ago. I am digging the story thusfar and the storytelling is just as good as the original. I am also making a little progress here and there in the original Phoenix Wright on DS, only about 2 hours into it overall.

I am actually building up a decent collection of RPGs that I will probably barely make a scratch through. I know I mentioned in past entries earlier this year I got Dragon Quest 8 and Star Ocean on the PS2. Then just a couple weeks ago Matt hooked me up with a great deal where I got Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and X-2 combined for $40. Then just a few days ago I picked up Final Fantasy IX for $20. So yeah.....if I ever make time to beat all these games I will consider it a miracle.

One other note on the gaming scene is that publisher Agetec announced they are bringing the latest installment in the uber popular Japanese wrestling series FirePro over to the PS2 in the US. It is called FirePro Returns. And actually just a couple weeks ago I hooked up the Dreamcast and rolled out my import copy of FirePro D with Dick, and saw some footage of FirePro R on youtube and came pretty close to paying around $40 for importing it. Thank you Agetec, other than a couple ok GameBoy Advance ports several years ago we never ever got any major FirePro releases in America. Out of nowhere this release is now one of my most anticipated releases of the year.

-I believe I mentioned here several times before I listen to a lot of podcasts. I had to cut off a few from my daily rotation as work banned headphones about a month ago, and I had to regrettably cut several podcasts out of my favorites out of my mix. Unfortunately one of the ones I still listened to ended after a great run for two and a half year run and 153 episodes. Broadcast Gamer was the very first videogame podcast I listened to and remained one of my favorites. Host MC Wilson just had such a natural radio voice for a indy podcast and his co-host Boric Phallico complemented his style perfectly. Just wanted to say thanks for the many good shows and memories MC and best of luck with whatever you work on next.

Speaking of podcasts that are leaving....well at least certain hosts of some. Another podcast in my rotation, The Hotspot (Gamespot.com's podcast) is another one of my favorites. Its show is a lighter take on the gaming business with plenty of jokes and is a very fitting alternative to the many serious ones I listen to. Anyways, their host (and host of all Gamespot's video features), Rich Gallup is leaving and his last shows just went off this week. Rich ruled and was a natural on the sets and brought some great humor to the shows and he was a pro at improvising. Listening to all future podcasts and watching all the future Gamespot video specials without him just won't be the same. Big ups Rich, I will miss your ****ed up eyebrow!