PixlBit

First, some new stuff, then the old stuff. Eight more down and less than a dozen left. I'm chomping at the bit to start into my DS collection. 

I saw the Super Mario Galaxy movie in IMAX. Pretty good. It's weird seeing it solo in a room full of parents and their kids, but it's funny to hear the kids yell out their favorite characters during the film. I almost did too when I saw (spoiler) the Pikmin.   Also, it was a surprise to see the Game & Watch character show up. The music is always great. I love hearing all the game soundtrack references. Jack Black is a surprisingly good Bower (and Bowser junior too?). I love Charlie Day as Luigi too. 

I got a new gaming TV at Goodwill for $15. My old one was a 28" and this is a 37". I can play without my reading glasses now. It's a LG 37LG30, which I just learned, came out in 2008 (kind of perfect for the gaming I'm doing right now). It'll do 1080p through HMDI. It's a bit heavy though. Today's TVs are super light, one-handed carries. This is a grunting, two-armed lug but manageable. I love $15 for a TV. Brilliant!

I've discovered two more game stores within an hour of me and have visited one (and about to do a second after this writing) and bought Far Cry Instincts for OG Xbox ($8 CIB). The first Far Cry games before Far Cry 2 are confusing: There's Far Cry for PC; Far Cry Instincts, a remake of the PC version for Xbox; Far Cry Instincts Evolution, a sequel to FC Instincts for Xbox; Far Cry Instincts Predator combining Instincts and Evolution for Xbox 360; AND, Far Cry Vengeance, a remake of Evolution for the Wii. THEN, Far Cry 2 came out. I think I got that right. So I have the needed ones for OG Xbox now, Instincts and Evolution. 

The old plays:

Serious Sam First Encounter - I swear, some details of this are different from the remastered versions I've played on later systems like the red Dr. Who phone booths used to save the game. I really enjoyed this run-and-gun, million-enemies-on-screen, shooter again but got stuck in a room where I couldn't find that thing that progresses the game. I can't remember everything. . . or is that anything? 

Burnout -  The first Burnout is interesting to play after playing 1-3 in reverse order. Features disappear as you go from 3 to 1 until there is just basic aggressive driving, no crash junctions, and no knocking opponents off the road. You just drive fast and crazy and try not to crash. But if you do crash, you get points for that. So crash, I guess, just not too much or you'll lose the race. 

Darkwatch - Supernatural horror in the old west. Yes please. You get bitten by a vampire and have to undo it, but you're a vampire. So that's cool. Things is, after a long while enjoying this, I found the weapons to be a little frustrating. Shotguns don't stop werewolves, zombies, vampires and banshees hardly at all, only head shots really count for much, and your melee attacks are almost more useful than any weapon, but annoyingly slow. It's just a fraction of a second slow but that's enough. The game is very dark too, but I switched my new TV to the Vivid setting and it was much better. Great game though. I like it a lot. 

Sonic Mega Collection Plus - I still struggle to understand the appeal of Sonic. I got a little farther in many of the games here and understood a little more. It's like a 2D platformer but with mega speed when you roll into a ball. So I was alternating between regular platforming speed and mega speed dashes. I realized that the object is to learn the levels and repeat them for all the rings, but I don't like the word "repeat". Sonic Spin-Ball was interesting. A pinball game where Sonic is the ball. Neat!

Dai Senryaku VII - I used to like the idea of a grid-based war board game on my TV, but today, only if it is simplified to heck. This is too complicated for my brain these days. I wear that out on books the other half of the week when I'm not gaming. 

Red Dead Revolver - So interesting to see where the Red Dead series got its start. It has all the elements of the later games but much simplified. I love the grainy old time film look of the game and the story and presentation are top notch. It feels like playing episodes in a TV show with an open world town to explore in between. The shooting is good and I love the Dead Eye mode you can activate to place targets on enemies in slow motion. Dueling sequences are handled very well too. The game gets difficult too as you go. I beat the game way back, but not this time. I'm only back for a quick visit. 

Call of Duty Finest Hour - I remembered this game right away. It has a more realistic simulation feel compared to Big Red One. Spark Unlimited developed it. Especially memorable was the sound of many bullets pinging around you as you made your way through Stalingrad. What a racket! The game captures the chaos and brutality of battle reall well. I kind of wasn't in the mood for careful progression though and stopped. Great game though. 

Serious Sam II - Serious Sam has a confusing order of games as well as Far Cry. There's First Encounter, Second Encouter, Next Encounter, then Serious Sam II. Weird. SSII is a very elaborate game compared to its predecessors. I mean, the gameplay is the same but the locations, voice work and story are much more developed. I was surprised at how many varried locations you go to in this game and the complexity of the graphics. I managed to finish the game because it's just fun to have a dozen weapons all at once (where does he put them?) and run-and-gun constantly. Very satisfying. 

And that's a week. Maybe another week or two of OG Xbox before I'm done and can move on. Hopefully, I don't buy any more games for it.