Current mood:	working
Current music:	Kow Otani "Swift Horse"

January post mortem + February predictions
With the house move and related shenanigans, half of January was gameless, but I got a good bit in at the start of the year.

Mario & Luigi RPG 2: played up to the desert area. Some of the brother actions are a bit tricky, especially when you try to do the extra damage with the babies. So far a very enjoyable game, and I'll be back on it when there's a dull DS period, I expect.

More Brain Training for Adults: my calendar says I played this everyday in January except the 4th, and with my 30th hanko last night, I opened up the final training exercise. There is so much variety in this version, including kanji, music, arithmetic, logic, english, and even a chilled out version of Dr.Mario to help your brain relax after training. I can't wait to see how these Brain games are accepted overseas. They're crazy addictive, that's for sure.

Animal Crossing: still playing this on an almost daily basis. I am in the process of paying off my second floor loan. The fossil collection has come on leaps and bounds in the winter months, thanks to the snow on the ground letting the cracks show up better. I'm 12 away from completing the set now. Thanks to this, I haven't put much time into fishing or bug collecting. I did miss one bug though - the one that pushes the snowball around. Oops.

Metroid Prime Pinball: beat two bosses on one of the tables and got a decent score, but I'm not sure how you're supposed to progress beyond that, exactly. Need to spend some time on the second table too. It's a fun game, especially with the rumble pack, but pinball is something I play once in a while, not for prolonged periods.

Lost Magic: I really only played a little bit of this. It seems like it has plenty of potential, and one of these days, I'll put some more time into it. It plays like a semi-RTS, but I don't think there's actual unit production in the game. I know you can control multiple units later, but I think they're just a set number of allies.

[eM] eNCHANT arM: borrowed DCharlie's copy because I'm a cheapskate and he can't play it on his US 360. After a couple of hours, the game starts to get pretty interesting. The voice actors are obviously hamming it up bigtime, but in the world of hammed up voice acting, they are pretty good. The battles are relatively straightforward and only seem to last one turn, unless you're fighting a boss, in which case they take 2 or 3 turns. The graphics are really hot though, even in standard definition. Lots of potential, even if the characters are slightly annoying.

Mutant Storm Reloaded: one of the most accessible console games for me this month, since it has a pretty small play time, especially in Tally mode, where you can play each stage separately. The past week or so I got more addicted to getting my achievements in Adventure mode, and I've managed to get all but the last one. It seems only two people in the world have ever achieved the final one. Nice.

Zuma: Puzzloop clone to the max, but it's still entertaining. I've got to the point where it's rather tricky though. About half way through the second temple, I am just getting my ass handed to me. I need to step up my style of play and start working on combos rather than picking off the balls in single groups.

Marble Blast Ultra: Completed the intermediate stages and I need to try and beat about half of them in par time to get the achievement for that. Would love to play it online if anyone's up for it.

As I edited into my previous entry, I didn't buy Dirge of Cerberus because I heard too many bad reports about it. It sounds like Square has totally destroyed the FFVII story through dilution with crap, but I don't hold it against them. I'll just have to avoid the stuff so my memories don't become soiled.

As for February shopping:

Definites
2 Feb: Kameo (360)
9 Feb: Gradius Portable (PSP)
23 Feb: Baten Kaitos II (GC)

Undecided
9 Feb: Machigai Museum (DS) - bit expensive for a spot the difference game
16 Feb: Kono Quiz Yarou!! (DS) - depends on the language barrier
16 Feb: Call of Duty 2 (360) - or borrow
16 Feb: Radirgy (DC) - sure to be one of those collector's items

And a few XBLA games are due out sometime this month too, which I may or may not buy. Feeding Frenzy, Crystal Quest, Jewel Quest and Astro Pop.