So Far in the Land of Skyrim...

(In no perticular order and as Spoiler-free as possible) In about 35 hours of Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I...

Living - My Skyrim Impressions

Dragons are bad for your health... really...

As you saw from my previous post, I've been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a bit. I have clocked in 25 hours of game-time so far and I can't even say that I've just scratched the surface. I can't even scratch the thing.

Skyrim and Mead

Yup. That's The Elder Scrolls V with a bottle of Mead.

Deus-Comfort

In video-games, I do not dislike very specific styles or genres. But there are specific things that will push a game outside my comfort-zone.

With Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montréal has been complimented on their ability of staying true to the Deus Ex IP while still resulting in making the game they wanted, the passion and research behind the development, and so on (you've read them all). But there's one thing that's not often mentioned that I think is really important. Something that probably contributed a little bit to the Critical and Consumer Reception it received.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Live Action TV Spot

Fresh out of the official Elder Scrolls Website is Skyrim's Live Action TV Spot. It's pretty darn sweet!

Speaking of which, I did something lately that I had done only once other time before: I pre-ordered a game. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is coming out on a statutory holiday here in Canada. In most provinces, including New-Brunswick, stores are closed on that day. A local game store is doing a midnight-release because of this. I will be there.

All-4-One

Resurrection

My laptop is now alive... don't know for how long. The repair could last 6 days like it can last 6 years.

While my laptop was out, I was able to finally finish a Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness playthrough. This doesn't sound impressive, but I've had this game for years and before that I had the PS2 version. With about 200 hours between the two, I never did finish it... until now.

Currently cleaning out some of the pre-death mess in my laptop. If I can't be sure how long it will last, might as well make it run as good as it can. In the meantime, I'm plowing through Mass Effect 2. Pretty far in the game (clocked at about 41 hours). I'm hoping to finish this soon, so I can play a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution before Ratchet & Clank: All-4-One comes out.

Death to my Backlog

I've talked about this before and I've changed position multiple times. I don't want to force myself to play a game through completion and then having videogames feel like a chore to me. I also don't want to just start games without ever finishing them. Balance?

It became obvious to me that I needed to have an overlook over my completion-rate. Heck, might as well have an overlook over the games I own and have played. For this, I have decided to finally register and use Backloggery.

My completion-rate is not as bad as I thought it was. There's some work, but now I know a bit more where to put a little bit more focus. I completed Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep yesterday as a result of this.

You can check out my backloggery here.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Completed

After a combined 61 hours of gameplay between the three characters and including the Final Episode, I can finally say that I have fully finished Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PSP.

The ending was very moving. I was struck with the feeling that many questions that were brought up from the original Kingdom Hearts were finally answered, but many more questions were raised.

I am very happy to have completed another game out of my collection. Even more so that the experience was very enjoyable.

Happy [Early] Birthday to Me

My birthday is only a few days away, but I still got an early birthday gift from Stéphanie.

PS3 Trophy Get: My first Platinum

The Lombax Triumphant, obtained by getting every other Trophy in the game

It's official. As of yesterday, I have obtained my first PS3 Platinum Trophy. The honor goes to Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.

This took a bit longer than expected. I would've saved a ton more time if I would've started my original save file on Hard (finishing the first playthrough would've unlocked all three difficulty trophies in one go).

Dragon Age: Lessons - Assume Nothing

(c) EA/BioWare
Look at me not updating my Blog! Truth is, I've been rather busy with a few things. I have a bunch of articles drafted, but nothing complete. Now I'm on vacation. Time to catch-up on a few things.

Throughout the year so far, I've been catching-up to a bunch of video-games that came out last year. There have been some good surprises. And then there's Dragon Age: Origins.

I admit, it was an impulse purchase. Seeing the expansion Dragon Age: Awakening for $30 and then seeing on the row above, three games to the right the Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition for the exact same price. I was tempted.

Useless Podcast

A plug: Two of my ex-Insomniac buddies, Mike Stout and Tony Garcia, started a "developer commentary" video podcast: Useless Podcast.

The current series of episodes are covering Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, the first game they worked on together.

Do check them out!

Overstrike

It's official: Insomniac Games has revealed their newIP during EA's E3 Conference: Overstrike

Expect Insomniac's signature humor and wacky weaponry.

PSP Successor is Codenamed NGP

It's official. The handheld that redefined the quality portable gaming can and should have, is getting a successor: Codename NGP (Next Generation Portable).

Sony has made the NGP a sexy beast, both aesthetically and technically. They have incorporated everything fans and even "anti-PSP" fanboys have been saying for almost 6 years the PSP should have.

Rundown of features, specs and games after the jump.

Galaxy Grandmaster...

Finally!

I finally completed the very last star in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

2010... Culmination & What to do in 2011

On this last day of 2010, it's time to look back on the goals I had set myself at the beginning of the year. This is essentially looking back at the three ((1), (2), (3)) posts I made in January where I noted what I wanted to accomplish during the year.

XML with PHP - Distraction & Relaxation...

I'm putting this project on hold until next week. It's not so bad, I'm taking the four-day weekend to relax. There are two reasons for this. First, I need to write a flute partition for the Advent theme this year.

Secondly, and the biggest, I'm being sidetracked by a massive project in Minecraft. A sudden idea that sprouted from two others.

PSP RPG-gasm!

Who says the PSP has no great games?... These all came out within a month.

Ys Seven Limited Edition

One of the games I'm looking forward the most this year is coming out next month, in limited edition form too. I got it pre-ordered! It comes with

• The game (duh!)
• Soundtrack CD
• 60-page art book for Ys Seven, Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys I & II Chronicles
• 12.5" by 34" cloth map

Ys Seven is one of three Ys game coming out for the PSP in the next 6-months or so. I'm probably going to get them all. They rock!