My backlog of mostly PS3 games has been building up quite rapidly.

Going back to my middle and high school years, I would only get money to buy a game when I got a report card with straight A’s. This resulted in me focusing on one game at a time until it was beaten, like Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht for the PS2 which I dropped over 80 hours into.

Now I have the opposite problem: enough money to buy any game I want, but no time to play them all. I keep purchasing new releases because they look interesting and I want to play them. However, I add it to the backlog pile and assume I’ll get around to it someday. Anyone else experience the same problem?

It doesn’t help that video games are horrible investments. The majority of them never increase in value, but instead plummet to the $20 or $30 mark within a few months. Of course, there are rare exceptions such as Suikoden II and Valkyrie Profile. This has prompted me to stop buying games on their release day and instead wait for the price drops.

A few games that I had to pick up right away were all the big titles such as Final Fantasy XIII and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Most of my gaming time in the recent years has been devoted to MMOs like World of Warcraft along with the new SC2. The online community aspect of these games paired with the ability to play with your friends makes them easy choices to start up when there’s free time.

So I guess the issue here isn’t about not having enough free time, but instead about which games are appealing enough to actually play. The video game market is oversaturated with new releases every month. Unless it’s a blockbuster title, a game has to be innovative and polished enough for me to even consider trying it out.

Most games just seem to be variations of other games in their genre. Plus, my gaming experiences has probably altered my mind to find games with similar and unoriginal concepts to be boring. At least Steam gives independent developers an easier way to bring their products onto the market, which I find are usually more innovative than the stuff from larger companies.

I’m still waiting for a full immersion virtual reality gaming system though.

osu! is a free rhythm game for the PC that is somewhat in the style of DDR except with clicking.

I discovered this game after watching a Starcraft II stream where the player was warming up with osu! before playing his matches.

There is a built-in editor that allows you to create your own beatmaps, which has resulted in a large selection of user-generated content. Plus, there are online rankings and even multiplayer mode!

I’m pretty impressed so far with what I’ve seen, and it looks like this game will last me quite a while considering that normal difficulty is challenging enough already.

Level-5 teams up with Studio Ghibli to bring us Ni no Kuni (The Another World), a jRPG in development for the Nintendo DS and PS3.

After Level-5′s somewhat disappointing White Knight Chronicles, I have high hopes for this game. From what I’ve seen so far, teaming up with Studio Ghibli has produced some impressive results.

Ni no Kuni PV (PS3)

The in-game graphics look amazing! It’s as if you’re playing through a Ghibli movie. Add on the fact that Joe Hisashi is behind the music, and what’s there not to like?

Maybe if this joint venture turns out to be a great success, we’ll see more game and anime studios working on projects together.

Since the release date in Japan for the PS3 version is some time in 2011, we probably won’t be seeing it for a while here in the US.

Image Source: Ni no Kuni Official Site

After playing the StarCraft II Beta for a while, it still holds up as a solid successor to the original StarCraft.

Battle.net has been completely revamped with Achievements added in and a ladder/match-making system similar to that of World of Warcraft Arena.

New teams play 5 placement matches that will land you in a league ranging from Copper to Platinum. I love this new system since it saves me the trouble of finding matches against players of around equal skill level. You can still play private matches against friends, but those aren’t ranked.

My only gripe with the new Battle.net is that you invite your friends to a “party” and you get a tab that pops up into a small chatbox. I miss having the channels in the old Battle.net where large groups of people could meet up.

As for the game itself, it’s mostly the original StarCraft with updated graphics similar to WarCraft III. There are of course new units, abilities, and structures, but the core gameplay remains largely the same. The pace of the game feels quicker with units and buildings being destroyed more easily.

Protoss is my race of choice, and I must say that Void Rays are amazing. They’re basically flying glass cannons that annihilate buildings in a blink of an eye, but can easily be destroyed itself. I haven’t played Zerg or Terran much since I was mainly a Protoss player in SC1, but I’ll still give them a try.

Look at how long StarCraft has lasted. StarCraft II will be played for many years to come, making this a definite purchase for me. I can’t wait to do some 4v4 matches with my friends!

As promised, here’s a preview of Witch on the Holy Night from the Type-Moon Magazine, volume 4.

Witch on the Holy Night was a novel written by the Type-Moon co-founder Kinoko Nasu and released way back in 1996. They decided to turn it into a visual novel that will be released sometime this year.

Fans of Melty Blood should recognize Aozaki Aoko, who is one of the main characters from the novel. Her sister Toko Aozaki will probably also be in the game. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, think Kara no Kyoukai.

Type-Moon really likes having their priest/priestess characters.

His character design reminds me of some other characters. Maybe that one guy from True Tears? (it’s the hair!)

This is the Type-Moon Magazine where these pages came from. The Type-Moon 2010 calendar was also included as well.

What can I say? There was a plethora of good games released this month.

• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy XIII Limited Edition Strategy Guide
• Final Fantasy XIII OST
  
• God of War III: Ultimate Edition (PS3)
  
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC)

FFXIII is the shiniest gem out of all the March releases. Graphics are so amazing that it’s hard to tell the FMV sequences apart from the in-game graphics, and the combat system is innovative and actually gets fun deeper into the game. Some people might complain about the linear plot and endless sprawl of dungeon maps, but it’s really not that bad. I actually prefer the way the maps are structured and that there’s only one ending. Well, I’ll share my thoughts in an actual post focused on FFXIII later on.

Moving along, the FFXIII Limited Edition Strategy Guide is one out of a total of 210,000 printed. Mine is numbered 103,100 and worth every dollar I paid. As for the OST, I haven’t had a chance to listen to all of it yet, but what I heard so far was superb. Figure Haven will actually be carrying a few copies once I update the store with the new inventory we received. Square Enix decided to drop the price of the OST from $49.99 to $34.99 since they were pleased with FFXIII‘s reception in North America. We’ll probably offer it for $29.99 or something, but I digress.

Ah yes, the God of War III: Ultimate Edition. It naturally comes with the game, an art book, and a replica of Pandora’s Box. Basically you pay extra for a rather realistic-looking, but plastic box. I was surprised at the size and how it looks to be made of metal, but you realize it’s simply plastic once you touch it.

Then finally I got Bad Company 2 for the PC after reading great reviews about it and watching gameplay videos on Youtube. Fully destructible terrain? Sounds perfect to me.

Now I just need to find time for all this. FFXIII takes priority of course.

Since many people have been purchasing FFXIII recently, I thought I would share this in case anyone hasn’t heard about it.

Square Enix has a members reward program where buying their games nets you points which in turn increases your membership “tier”. Gamers located in North America can sign up here.

Games like FFXIII and Star Ocean: The Last Hope, which are published by Square Enix, should contain a registration card with a serial number in it. You simply login to your members account and add the game to your “Collection” by entering the code.

Your tier level resets every year, and the date for the next reset is March 31st, 2010. The rewards program sends out free goodies after each reset.

Bronze tier members will receive a postcard set featuring Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Star Ocean The Last Hope International artwork. Silver tier members will get a desktop calendar with artwork from Final Fantasy XIV, Front Mission Evolved, and other games. Gold tier members will get a music compilation on CD while Ultimate tier members will get an 8GB iPod Touch.

So if you have bought Square Enix games recently, it doesn’t hurt at all to sign up and register them. Plus, there’s usually a sweepstakes going on that you can enter. The current one is for a FFXIII Xbox 360 bundle.

So far it seems like one game will net you enough points for Bronze while two games is enough for Silver.

News Source: joystiq
Image Source: pixiv

I don’t really do loot posts that often, but maybe I’ll get in the habit now. It’s titled Part 1 since I don’t know how much stuff I’ll be getting in the future. I’m somewhat impulsive when it comes to purchases.

Got White Knight Chronicles International Edition and Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Blu-ray) in the mail today from Amazon. It has been a while since I’ve played a PS3 RPG.

Time to try it out!

The PS3 definitely feels like it has been lacking some good RPGs (Side note: Valkyria Chronicles was awesome), but this year’s lineup aims to remedy that. After patiently waiting for years, this game is finally coming out next week!

I preordered this along with the rest of these RPGs over at Amazon as usual. No tax along with Amazon Prime makes it all worthwhile.

Release Date: February 2, 2010

Amazon Product Link

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

I was disappointed when this was released only on the Xbox 360 since I’ve played all the previous Star Ocean games. Good thing it’s coming out for the PS3 on February 9th since it saves me from having to buy a 360.

Release Date: February 9, 2010

Amazon Product Link

Final Fantasy XIII

It’s the next game in the Final Fantasy franchise, what more do you need to know? Despite some gamers ranting about how the plot is too linear, I still highly anticipate FF13 due to its graphics and what will hopefully be entertaining gameplay.

Release Date: March 9, 2010

Amazon Product Link

Resonance of Fate

Known as End of Eternity in Japan, the name was probably changed for release in NA to Resonance of Fate due to copyright issues (I recall an Asimov novel named End of Eternity). Anyways, tri-Ace is the developer behind this game, and I look forward to what they have to offer if their previous work on the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series is any indication of what’s to come.

Release Date: May 31, 2010

Amazon Product Link

Image Source: Wikipedia

Yes, it’s finally here – for those of us that can understand Japanese. Final Fantasy XIII was released in Japan on the 17th of this month.

I was debating whether or not to order a copy from Play-Asia and play through the Japanese version, but I opted not to after watching a stream of the game. I didn’t want to miss out on the dialogue and plot, but too bad the North American version won’t include the Japanese voices.

The battle system looks like fun, with a lot of customization and paradigm shifts. Anyone here already playing the game?

March 9th couldn’t come any sooner.

Image Source: Wikipedia