PixlBit

1977 was an important year for me: I was 10 years old, Star Wars was in the theaters that summer, the first Electronics Boutique (which became EB Games and then was merged with Gamestop) opened in my Mall at King of Prussia, PA, and the Atari 2600 was out for Christmas. For me it was ground zero for video gaming and science fiction, two of my favorite subjects.

My plan in 2014 was to keep up with the latest releases, buy one new game a month, and play that game as thoroughly as possible. Well, I've finally got overwelmed by the number of games out now that I haven't played. Not only that, my best friend and gaming buddy is out of work, probably for good, and can't keep up with me anymore. This kind of kills my interest in keeping up with the Joneses, so I'm going on a vacation and taking a long nostalgic trip through the years of gaming history - and my collection.

Just for fun I went through the database at allgame.com and wrote down how many of each genre of video game I've played all-time. This is the result.

On Monday this week I picked up some under $5 games to try online co-op on PS3 now that my friend and I both have the system and he has no ID problems there (I also picked up a Dreamcast memory card and a copy of Sega Bass Fishing for him since he misplaced them. They were both under $10 at Jay Street Video Games, my go-to source for all things retro). Here's the result of my efforts.                          

Last week I went through the headaches of transfering data from my old 360 to a new one as did my friend Mark. This week I experienced throbbing pain in my head from transfering data from my old PS3 to my new Azure Blue PS3 Super Slim. Somehow I managed to avoid a migrane and squeezed in some EDF 2025 on my Xbox 360, some Silent Hill Book of Memories with daftman on my Vita, and some PixelJunk Monsters when everything was up and running. Gaming today was like eating lots of appetizers or Spanish tapas.

Sunday may have been blah but Monday was much better. My friend was able to log into Xbox Live and we played EDF 2025 most of the day with a couple hour break for me to play some Silent Hill: Book of Memories with daftman here at Pixlbit. Then I switched my schedule around so I could get some handheld play in the wee hours instead of my usual blogging and what not, which I moved to the daytime right after breakfast. All together, it made for a game filled day. My only regret is that I didn't get in any Demon's Souls like I wanted to for the Pixlbit Club, but after Sunday, I didn't want to do much else than lots of EDF 2025 co-op.

Sunday was setup new Xbox 360s day. I got a new R2D2 console and gave my friend my old Xbox 360 Slim who used it to replace his Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360 with the broken drive. Then we had to go through the transfer of data, purchases and licenses. This went well except for one vital hiccup.

Oh man! I didn't think there'd be this much new stuff from Gamescom, but there is. Here's a whole heap of trailers that I liked.

First thing I did this weekend was try and fix my friend's Xbox 360 by getting a laser cleaner. The box still wouldn't read it, so it's hopeless. The thing needs to be replaced.

     Remember the movie The Seventh Seal where Max von Sydow plays chess with Death? Well, I played board games with The Old One today. Those who know what I'm talking about. . . know.