Rogmeister

My birthday was May 7 and I wasn't really expecting much of anything from anybody...but one of the regulars at a message board I frequent wanted to send me a game for my birthday...I told him he didn't have to but he seemed to want to. I was kind of expecting one used game from his collection...he actually wound up sending me four games, all still sealed in their original plastic wrapping. Obviously, I was quite flabbergasted but deeply grateful. I'm not buying much in the way of games these days (I had only bought 2 so far this year myself) so this was a nice addition to my collection. I don't have the latest systems (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360) so the games I got are for their forerunners, the GameCube, PS2 and original Xbox. Here's what he sent me... 1. Def Jam Vendetta (GameCube) 2. NFL Street 2 (GameCube) 3 PK: Out of the Shadows (PS2) 4. Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus (Xbox) I have been a bit preoccupied with my health and all so I've not had time to really try these games out but I will try to finally play them some this upcoming weekend. What little gaming I've been doing is playing my favorite baseball game, MLB Power Pros 2008. I am in the home stretch of that game, playing in the final month of the regular season so it's nearly playoff time in that game. Once I get through that, I will happily give it a rest for at least a month or two.

I don't plan on buying many games anymore (I don't have a current system and I don't know that there are many games coming out on the PS2 that interest me) but I love baseball games and last week decided to get one of the new baseball games...another reason is I wonder if they'll be phasing out the PS2 soon so maybe it doesn't have many baseball titles in its future. I nearly considered getting Major League Baseball 2K9 but then I read that it was getting mixed reviews so instead I wound up getting MLB 09: The Show. I had bought the 08 version last year but never played it much, mostly due to the fact that shortly after I got that one, I got MLB Power Pros 2008 which I love. I don't know if we're going to get another edition of MLB Power Pros this year but if we do, I imagine it won't be until well into the season...perhaps July or later. So I have plenty of time to enjoy this game. So far I'm enjoying it though it's not the easiest game. I lost my first 4 games before I finally won one, beating the Astros 6-3. I don't mind that, though...while winning at MLB Power Pros all the time (or at least most of the time) is fun, I also appreciate a game that is more of a challenge. And I think this game is that.

There is at least one other...I have Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection for the original Xbox

It's been awhile since I bought a game...I'm not sure when that was exactly or what it was (LEGO Batman, perhaps?) but it was last year. So I finally made my first purchase of 2009 a day or two ago. I noticed earlier this week that Wal-Mart had a selection of games discounted to an even $10.00. One caught my eye, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, but I didn't buy it right away. Instead, I came home and checked out a gaming message board and did a search for this game and it seemed many people liked the game. So I went back and bought the game...I guess I was lucky, because the first time I noticed it, they only had one copy of the game and when I went back, that one copy was still there. I like pinball games...I have several including Pinball Dreams and Super Pinball on the SNES, a handful on the original Playstation and some others but this is my first pinball game for the PS2. This game has 8 tables and they even tell you what year these pinball games were originally released...they range from Gorgar (1979) to Funhouse and Whirlwind (both from 1990). The games are bright and colorful and a lot of fun, but it'll take me a bit of time to get used to them, right now any game I play is a fairly short one. But I'm having fun with it.

My brother got a Playstation 2 for Christmas...given to him by his son. This makes me wonder if he'll invite me to play a game or two with him when I visit him now and then. He might but his son nevere invites me to play so who knows? I do have my own copies of at least a couple of the games he got for Christmas...MLB Power Pros, Grand Theft Auto III and Hot Shots Golf 3...of course, since I've had those for awhile, he may not want to play me on those as I might be better than him. We could always play some of his other games, ones I've never played myself. He got a couple cheap ones I've never seen before...a racing game and a basketball game...I never was that good at basketball games. So we'll see what happens.

I mentioned in my last entry (written way back on December 1) that I had received a package of games in a Secret Santa exchange. I wound up getting 7 games, all for the Playstation 2. Here is the list of games that I received... Disaster Report Gran Turismo 3 A-spec Grand Theft auto III Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Kingdom Hearts Madden NFL 06 Virtua Fighter 4 I sent out a package of games myself...my package went all the way to Alaska. I sent him 18 games for the N64 along with a pair of Xbox games (007: Everything or Nothing and a Batman game). Then, my nephew (who has an Xbox 360) strongly requested some of my original Xbox games that he could p lay on his system so I wound up giving him 11 of my Xbox games including Halo and Halo 2...I hated to give those up but figure I can probably get myself replacement copies for not too much. In fact, I think I'm going up to my local Gamestop today and will look for those, along with Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the PS2. I'll need to retype my game lists for the Xbox and PS2 now...my Xbox collectioin has shrunk now to 64 games (it'll go back up to 66 if/when I find replacement copies of the two Halo games) and my PS2 library has grown to 40 titles.

I'm taking part in a Secret Santa gift exchange this Christmas (an annual tradition) and my package arrived today. I have no idea yet who it's from and the games are gift-wrapped. Specifially, there are 3 wrapped packages and each package is thick enough to contain two games, unless one contains something extra such as a microphone (for a Karaoke game, perhaps) which would require thicker packaging. As everyone does, I provided a want list (participants are urged to give from their own collections rather than having to go out and spend a lot of money on new games) but I wonder if I listed enough. Since sending my want list, I actually thought of a few items I had overlooked and would have also liked to suggest (such as Tomb Raider: Anniversary) but I figure I can always get those myself later if no one gets them for me for Christmas. The gift exchange is always a fun thing and I look forward to Christmas Eve when I can finally unwrap these...unless I fall to temptation and open them early!

I don't see myself buying any new video games for the rest of the year...I am involved in a Secret Santa gift exchange with a group of gamers so I expect to get at least one or two more games there, and don't want to buy anything else in the off-chance that I'd get something that my Secret Santa might get me. So I'm thinking of deciding just how many more games I might want for each system and make want lists accordingly. Unlike many hardcore collectors, I don't really want every game for any system. I think I have plenty of games for my older systems such as the SNES, Atari 5200 and even the PS1 and Dreamcast. One system I might try to add some games for is the original Xbox...I have 77 games for it currently and wouldn't mind bumping my collection for that system up to an even hundred games. I only have 33 games right now for my PS2 so that's probably the system I'll concentrate most on (but not exclusively) next year. I may also get a few DS games if I can find some more that appeal to me. Of course, I want games that are not just cheap, but good. I saw some recent bargain games but found they weren't very good when I started looking them up on the internet. I'm glad I didn't buy them impulsively as I was leaning towards. What will be my first games of 2009? I think I might want to get Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a game that came out last year. I gather it's something like the GameCube's version of Resident Evil where they redid the first game with improved graphics but added some new stuff as well. I also might want the newest Call of Duty...maybe by January I can find it for under $40? I will most likely be centering on good fun adventure and platform games but I do also like my FPS games. And if no one gets me one, I may finally have to get a Madden game for my PS2...

I must confess I never played Spidey on the GBA since I never had that system...

The question is kind of rhetorical...of course, there are good super-hero video games. But it seems there are more bad ones than good ones. That seems kind of strange when you think that super-heroes and action video games ought to be a marriage made in crossover heaven...but it hasn't always been that way. Batman has probably been the worst offender. Has any super-hero had more bad games than the big Bat guy? There was Batman: Dark Tomorrow and Batman Forever and so many others. There are also some (like a couple PS1 games) that I never got to play but which I never really heard good things about. But there are a few that I've played that I liked including a couple for the Super Nintendo. Batman Returns was actually only the second game I ever got for the system. Today many think of it as a glorified Final Fight-type game and perhaps it is, but it's still a great version of one with really nice music and graphics and fun gameplay. I also like The Adventures of Batman & Robin which was done in the style of Batman: The Animated Series. The Batman games since then have not exactly been winners...most were mediocre and a few were downright awful. Superman is my favorite super-hero but he hasn't done as well as Batman because he doesn't really have one outstanding game with the possible exception of Superman for the Atari 2600. Since then? Ehhhh. The Death and Return of Superman had its moments on the SNES where you got to control 4 different versions of Superman. One main problem with that game was it had no saves so you had to play it from start to finish in one setting and that wasn't easy since it had about 16 levels. I've heard mixed reports on Superman: The Man of Steel (Xbox) and Superman: The Shadow of Apokolips (PS2, later ported over to the GameCube) but never played either. I never played Superman Returns, based on the movie, but maybe I should pick up an Xbox version of it now since they're dirt cheap. Of course, people to today consider Superman 64 for the Nintendo 64 one of the worst games ever made. It seems Batman and Superman make up about 90% of the games based on DC Super-Heroes, though there've been a few others. There was a Flash Game Boy title which I had, played briefly and then quickly lost. Aquaman had one game by himself which was bad enough to be touted by many as a stinker of the year. And the Justice League has gathered together a few times...Justice League Task Force, a 2D fighting game for the 16-bit machines. I kind of liked that but wish it had more characters. And the XBox and PS2 got Justice League: Heroes in which you got to play as various members of the troupe. Now, of course, there's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, a team-up I'm not surprised to see...after all, didn't the Marvel guys fight the Street Fighter gang? If anything's surprising, it's that it took this long. Unfortunately, I'll probably never get to play it as I doubt it's coming to the PS2 and I don't have a PS3 or Xbox 360. Oh well! I've talked about the DC guys mainly because that's always been my comic book company of choice but the Marvel heroes have had plenty of videogame adventures, too. Spider-Man may have fared the best of anyone with decent adventures on the Atari 2600, SNES, PS1, Dreamcast and GameCube/PS2/Xbox trio. The X-Men have gotten a few decent games, too, especially the X-Men: Legends games and The Hulk has gotten a few good games. Unfortunately, games for such other heroes as Iron Man, Fantastic Four (especially the PS1 game), and a few others have definitely been found wanting. But there are a few good super-hero games out there. You just have to look for them.

I enjoy the Jaguar...I've had mine since 1994...well, that's when I got my first one. That one did go bad at one point...I turned it on and as the Jaguar was growling, my screen went red and everything froze. I sent it in to be repaired (Atari was still around then) and they sent me a refurbished one in exchange. I later got another one so I have a back-up unit but never needed it as I've never had any other trouble. I must confess I wasn't crazy about the CD-rom unit...mine never really worked right. I had to keep repositioning it hoping the CD would continue to turn. Eventually I decided to just stick with the cartridges and sold the unit and the CDs I had. I never got a huge library but I think the best of the Jaguar (Tempest 2000, AvP, etc.) match up well with any system. And the Jaguar's version of Doom is my favorite console version of that game. Ditto for Wolfenstein 3D though I've not played many versions of that game. Perhaps someday I'll get a larger Jaguar game library...

Thanks for the tip, Kevin. I didn't realize that. I will go recheck it.

I think I might get LEGO Indiana Jones after Christmas...if no one gets it for me as a Christmas gift. I might also look up that older Indy game that came out for the PS2 (and Xbox) a couple years back. I don't know if a new Indiana Jones game is being planned...but if one were coming, I imagine it would have been out by now, probably around the time the movie hit theaters. The timing for one would seem to be past now.

Well, they could be if it was played by someone that was just average. I enjoyed it though there were a few games there I wasn't positively sure what they were. Of course, it helped that every game in this video was arranged alphabetically. I'd like to know what game was after Battlemorph (could it be Battlesphere? I never saw that game), what was the one after Flashback, the one after Hover Strike, the one after Primal Rage, the two right after Ruiner Pinball, the one after Troy Aikman Football and the one after Worms?

I recently got what I figure will be the last games I buy myself this year so I thought it would be a good time to list what I have for each system. Some of these are precise counts while others are approximate. I do want to type up all my games before too long so I know exactly what I have. I've done that with 3 or 4 systems but have several more to go. These numbers could change by the end of the year because I'm taking part in a Secret Santa gift exchange. In that, I could get another handful of games and I could also give away a handful of what I already own right now. So I may update this list after Christmas. But for now, here's what I got... Atari 5200--41 games (Last bought: Miner 2049er) Atari Lynx--22 games (Last bought: Not sure, maybe Batman Returns) Atari Jaguar--21 games (Last bought: Bubsy in Fractured Fairy Tales...I think that's the right title) ColecoVision--22 games (Last bought: Arctic Adventure) Nintendo's SNES--200 games (Last bought: Nolan Ryan Baseball) Nintendo 64--Maybe around 30 games (Last bought: Not sure, probably one of the Mario Party games) Nintendo DS--23 games (Last bought: MLB Power Pros 2008) Nintendo GameCube--151 games (Last bought: Fight Night: Round 2) Sega Dreamcast--109 games (Last bought: Not sure, maybe a homebrewed strip poker game) Sony PlayStatiion--200 games, approximately (Last bought: Maybe a Madden game) Sony PlayStation 2--33 games (Last bought: Red Faction) Xbox--77 games (Last bought: Call of Duty: Finest Hour) I think I threw out one or two PS1 games recently so that collection may have dipped to as low as 198 or 199 but I'm not su re that collection was at exactly 200 games. So, until I can get a hard count, I'll still list it at 200 games. I also have 4 GBA games, I think (I don't have a GBA but I can play those on my DS) so all told, for now, I have 933 games. Added Note (Nov. 25)--Since writing the above, I have been pulling out my video games and typing up what I have...I'm not done yet but I have found I have one more Jaguar game than I thought I did. I actually have 22 games for that system. I only found 21 Lynx games...I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure I should have one or maybe even two other games for it around here. I just need to find them.

Came across this thread today. For the record there was at least one MOH game not mentioned here...MOH: Vanguard. That's the only one I have (I have the other three on GameCube) but I haven't got around to playing Vanguard yet. I guess maybe I shouldn't expect too much out of it...I don't know what kind of scores it got.

I caught part of the review of this game on XPlay...they gave it 3 out of 5 which marks it as an "okay" in my book but nothing special. I don't recall them commenting that it was a short game...they may have and I just forgot.

In an earlier entry, I wrote about ordering a used video game (Fight Night: Round 2 for the GameCube) but when it came I got the case and manual...but the game disc was missing. It turns out that disc was sent to someone who wouldn't return the seller's e-mails about it. On Sunday I ordered another copy from a different seller and today it arrived...this time it included everything: case, manual and game disc. So I wind up a happy camper at the conclusion of this episode of As The Game Disc Turns...

I decided I would change my vote. I like Galaga but I also like Asteroids...and right this minute I just feel like I'm in a very asteroidsy kind of place...

I received my first Xbox game in awhile today...probably the first one I've bought this year and maybe in a couple of years as I can't even remember the last one I got. I thought I had all 3 of the Call of Duty games that came out on the system but checking recently, I find I was mistaken...I had just the second and third so I ordered and today received the first of the series, Call of Duty: Finest Hour. This is part of the Xbox's Platinum Hits line which would annoy some people (and really bother some others) but I figure it's the same game as it would be in its origina packaging so it doesn't bother me. The content on the disc is the same and that's all that matters to me. This game cost me less than $3 plus shipping and it looks brand new so I think I got an excellent deal on this. This brings my Xbox library up to 77 titles...perhaps someday I'll hit 100 titles for that collection.

I hadn't been playing many games lately so last night I played the PS2 version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the first time. This one is subtitled "Operation Resurrection". I haven't got to any of the really weird stuff. I know some sites and magazines didn't care for it...Gamespot even rated it as "Poor", but I kind of liked it myself. Maybe later, when it gets really weird, I won't care for it but for now I'm enjoying it. It's certainly nowhere near as weird as Wolfenstein 3D was...at least, not yet. I also received another PS2 today, the last PS2 game I've been expecting, the first Red Faction. I haven't tried it out yet but I might in a bit, just to make sure the disc works properly. Interestingly, I had previously bought Red Faction II...and that one, I have on the GameCube. So if I play and finish this and want to move onto the sequel, I'll need to switch to a different system.

I wrote an entry on October 31, stating that I had ordered the GameCube title Fight Night: Round 2. The problem came when my package arrived...I opened the case, found the manual...but no game disc. I e-mailed the seller who said to give her a few days to look into it. I still hadn't heard back from her by yesterday morning so I e-mailed her again. Shortly after that, I got an e-mail from Amazon.com, stating they were refunding my purchase price (this was bought through their Marketplace program). According to the note from the seller contained within that e-mail, she accidentally sent the disc to another customer in another order. She said this customer refused to answer her e-mail so he/she probably decided "Hey, free game!" and is keeping it. The seller hasn't e-mailed me back so I assume she's letting me keep the case and manual. I'll hold onto it for awhile in case she does write me back and asks for its return but if she has no disc for it, what would be the point? I think that, after I have breakfast, I may take a drive over to my local Gamestop and see if they have this game. It would probably cost more there but at least I have it. If the case I have is in better shape than the one I get the game disc in, I could do a swap there. We'll see how that goes. In a totally unrelated comment, yesterday I gathered up all my games for my Atari 5200...and found, as I thought, that I have 41 different games for the system. I actually have two copies of Miner 2049er. I had bought one copy that was just the cartridge and then I found one with the box and instructions and grabbed that one, too. Update: It's now evening and I did go to my local Gamestop. They didn't have a copy of that game so I have placed another order for it through Amazon. I'm sure I'll have better luck this time. That latest one was my one real problem with an Amazon order so far. So right now, I'm expecting 3 games, each for a different system...Fight Night: Round 2 for the GameCube, Red Faction for the PS2 and Call of Duty: Finest Hour for the Xbox.

I'm not sure if it's the same game...it probably is at least a little different or it would have the same subtitle. I know it has no multi-player to speak of which is one reason it got a lot of negative reviews. I usually play by myself so a lack of multi-player options doesn't really bother me.

A day after receiving LEGO Batman, I received the FPS game Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection. I know this hasn't gotten very good reviews but at under $8.00, I figure I'm not taking too much of a loss if I hate it. The last couple of days I'd been playing some Duke Nukem 3D on the Saturn so I'm definitely in the mood for some 1st person shooting. I still have a couple games coming which are also FPS games: Red Faction (the first one) for the PS2 and the first Call of Duty on the Xbox. I notice the newest Call of Duty (out next week, I think) is coming to the PS2 so I may get that though I'm thinking of waiting to see if I can eventually get it for $20 or less.

This was a close call for me...I enjoy both games...but I wound up going with Galaga. I like the gameplay...and the fact I've scored a lot more points on Galaga than I ever did in a game of Asteroids...