Game updates:

Finished Bionic Commando. Good times, worth the 9 bucks I paid for it. Horribly linear though, but good for what it was. It's just a pity that with Just Cause 2 on the horizon I kept trying to explore and to enjoy the swinging, only to be penalized for it constantly.

Played Just Cause 2 demo about 10 times (30 minutes each). 23rd is so far away!

Re-fired up Silent Hunter 3 + GWX spurred by all the talk of SH5 and its horrible DRM that will prevent me from buying it (you listening Ubisoft? I *am* the target audience for this game - and I will not buy it). Had a blast with it; it's still awesome; I keep sinking neutral targets. Oops.

Next up, Mirror's Edge is up for finishing. Surprisingly good, now that I have proper mouselook to play it with. After that, Dead Space is up for finishing. Maybe that will get me to JC2 release date.

I also checked out the Flight Simulator X demo, and liked it enough to grab the full thing (18 bucks at Amazon). It has more focus than XPlane, which is more of an enthusiast's toy that you can do anything with. I'd rather have a bit more direction and help in my flight sim, now that I'm taking it a bit more seriously. I think with FSX's missions, tutorials, and a focus on a smaller number of better-defined planes I'll get all the help I need to file and fly a genuine IFR flight. It'll help get my terminology straight, too.

GDC update coming soon; hopefully I'll be able to link to something real!

This is silly. I am very close to obtaining the game to end all games - Just Cause II - and my want list is suddenly expanding thanks to these wonderful indie developers.

To wit:

Shank - old school, brutal side scrolling action.
Joe Danger - old school, Trials meets Excitebike meets Racing Destruction Set.
Scrap Metal - XBLA game that's channeling Death Rally very, very hard.

And then there's the others like Silent Hunter V (link to a hands-on at SubSim). Since when did February become a month of gaming excitement? Ok, ok, I guess the upcoming GDC just might have something to do with it.

Oh, and then there's the games that I wasn't sure about a bit ago, that are now in the bargain bin. Way of the Samurai 3, Tenchu Z and Valkyria Chronicles all hit 20 bucks. After the demo yesterday I have to throw in Darksiders as well, once it hits that magic point. Sheesh.

There she be.

Interesting thing about hitting that level - it's not just an armor and officer upgrade, it's a full-blown do-over of your chosen play direction. You get so much new stuff that you have to start thinking about what direction you want to take yourself, your ship, and your crew.

Good times.

Tower Knight is down, the hard way. Hard way turned out to be ... not so hard. Just had to get over that OMG he's HUGE thing, and then it was ... well, not easy. Fun, though.

More STO shots below. Tons of stuff to do so far, and I'm 2 levels away from my new ship. I got exploration missions, patrol missions, new base missions, and storyline stuff as well. Therefore, whee!

So I'm trying to kill the Tower Knight without cheesing it, and he intimidates the crap out of me. I remember when I used to do boss fights with giant things, but this guy just scares me. Maybe it's because the entire game is so full of creepy tension.

Oh, I just realized what the game reminds me. Vagrant Story! Same creepy dungeon setup, same very fast death if you don't pay attention, same single protagonist against great odds, weapon modification, total player character customization, etc. Anyone familiar with Lea Monde will find Boletaria hauntingly familiar.

STO is fun, just wish the server didn't keep crashing. I have 4 more levels to get my first serious business ship, darnit! If I lost my Mk II quantum torpedo spec. tactical console I shall be ... annoyed!

Here's some shots of my shininess. A fleet battle (group mini-raid), some ground combat action (mmm random planet generation), ship showoff shot and ... I went to Vulcan and all I got was a screenshot of some ginormous masonry.

Apparently someone snuck in the original Alien vs Predator onto Steam without telling me. 5 bucks to revisit some of the most tense gaming ever? Yes please.

GoG has acquired rights to Activision's old catalogue, hopefully this means Interstate 76 will show up there one day soon. There's a classic and atmospheric game, even if I did get stuck on the dream race and ragequit because dammit, it's a dream. Losing the race shouldn't mean game over, dammit! Anyway, in the meantime, my newly whetted appetite for RPGs will be quite pleased with Arcanum. Never played it, heard great thing.

I have completed Dragon Age. Great game, complete with a great ending. Looking forward to replaying it one day again, with a mage tank and archery for a change. And someone with a big axe; definitely was missing someone with a giant two-headed axe.

I have begun my foray into Boletaria (Demon's Souls). I am slowly getting my reflexes back; still not sure if I should stick with my lightning fast (but very short) dagger, or attempt my sister's method of the Pokey Stick. Time will tell - so far, I died a lot.

HistoGrafica - old pictures of your hometown. Very neat concept for a site. Looks like only larger cities are covered, but still nifty.

Almost to the end of Dragon Age. You know a game drags on just a tad too long when you get more suspense out of what you will play next, and not what will happen in the game you're playing now.

Not that Dragon Age drags, but it does have a lot of content - which means that, given my available playtime, I've been playing it for over a month. It's new game time.

Star Trek Online headstart this Friday. Looking forward to making a new crew - this time I'm going Engineering. Other than that, I think it's Demon's Souls time. Unless I get sidetracked by this new Assassin's Creed DLC coming out.