This sure beats the Etch-a-Sketch I got when I was six…but not by much
Although it is likely this information is only interesting to me, I’m so excited about all the video game related stuff I’ve gotten that I just have to write about it. As you can see, I got a lot of stuff, some as gifts, some borrowed, and some as gifts from me…to me. Here’s the rundown of what I got and my expectations for each, in order of my current level of excitement.
120 GB Hard Drive – I’ve been toying with upgrading my storage for months now. It’s a luxury, and not a necessity, but I’ve becoming increasingly frustrated juggling my limited hard drive space, especially since I like loading games to my hard drive. I kept bugging my wife to buy it for me for Christmas/my birthday, but to no avail. Finally, I managed to “negotiate” a purchase at cost: both financially and chores-wise. Transferring my data over was relatively painless, and now I’m enjoying quieter, fan-free gaming. Worth it! Hopefully.
DJ Hero – My sister bought this for my birthday, and I broke it out over the weekend and put in a few hours. I’m pretty excited about this game, if only for the music. It seems like it could be a cheesy idea, but from what I’ve read, it really seems like a solid first entry in the series and a refreshing change of pace for music games. Too bad nobody bought it, except for my sis! Expect espion4ge’s impressions soon, and my review after that.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Another system, another gift. I absolutely loved Super Mario Bros. 3, and NSMBWii, besides having a horrible name, is a spiritual successor to that game. I missed out on New Super Mario Bros. on DS, but I blew through this game on the 3 days during the break that I had access to a Wii. I’m not done with it yet, but a review will be coming soon. The short version: great game, but don’t play with friends if you don’t want to throw your controller out the window.
Resident Evil 5 – I picked this up for $13 in the Gamefly End of the Year Sale, and I’m actually looking forward to it. Going to try to convince a friend to pick it up so I can play it through on co-op, but after reading a bunch of game of the year stuff, the game looks really good and hopefully it won’t remain on my backlog for too long. One thing in the way though, is…
Mass Effect DLC (Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station) – EA had a “buy 3 Xbox Live products get 800 points” promotion over the holidays so I picked up the two DLC packs for Mass Effect and Boom Boom Rocket. I’m planning on replaying Mass Effect before the sequel comes out at the end of the month. I’m thinking about putting something up in the forums akin to a “Game Club”, so if anyone is interested in playing through at the same time keep an eye out in the forums.
LEGO Rock Band – I met up with LargeLobster and he gave me his copy of LEGO Rock Band after he downloaded the music to his console. We played a bit…it’s okay, but I’m probably just going to use this game for some music-related achievements.
Boom Boom Rocket – I downloaded this Xbox Live Arcade game because I heard it was pretty fun. I needed something else to get the 800 points from EA! They better credit my account. 
I also received a couple scarves and sweaters, but I’m certain nobody cares about that. Instead, I leave you with a few awesome Christmas present vids. Anybody else get any new games to play?
wow nice photo – I find it slightly amusing that you posed your loot just for today’s entry. talk about dedication – but nice haul regardless.
as for me, I ended up picking up and playing through most of all the big holiday titles back in like November, but I picked up some older titles I’ve been meaning to check out. i guess i could say these were my “2009 holiday” purchases (outside of the dozen or so games I ended up buying on steam -_-):
DJ Hero – Amazon was selling it for $70 at some point and I heard the music was good so I decided to check it out.
Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City – never played The Lost and the Damned but both expansions got great reviews so I am interested in playing them and picked up the physical disc on the cheap.
Way of the Samurai 3 – I love samurai stuff and actually enjoy Japanese developed games (unlike Western audiences). Amazon keeps dropping the price (currently only $21 now!) on this one so I picked it up.
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – Been meaning to pick this up on the cheap and Newegg had it on sale for $16. Too bad they sent me the Japanese version of the game. Luckily, it’s not region locked so I can still play it.
Red Faction: Guerrilla – This is a title that I had never really paid much attention to but it seems to be liked by more people than I thought. I guess there’s only one way for me to understand what they’re talking about!
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena – Never played the original on the Xbox, and while I didn’t like the demo too much, now that it’s under $20, I decided to give it a shot as my demo impressions may have been a bit premature.
Castle Crashers – Xbox Live had it on sale for 560 points on 12/30 I believe. Been meaning to pick it up so I was quite happy with the sale.
My “Holiday loot” continues this week, as I’m also thinking about picking up the Mass Effect DLC + Dragon Age: Origins DLC for the EA Buy 2 get 800 points back promotion. A Kingdom for Keflings is also half price this week, and I enjoyed the demo so I might go for that. Finally, getting Bayonetta today. Ugh too many games…too little time…
Good luck getting through all those games!
Revenge of the backlog!
now I just need to freeze time and I should be all set. (or plan b – get knocked out by my backlog and call it a day.)
Nice! I got Dragon Age for my birthday, and I ordered Forza 3 and L4D2 shortly after Christmas, which both just arrived today. Can’t wait to play them!
During the Steam sale, I tried my best to hold back but ended up purchasing Braid, Osmos, Killing Floor, Indigo Prophecy, Madballs in…Babo:Invasion, Zombie Driver, and Torchlight. Can’t tell if I’m happy I have all these games, or disappointed there aren’t enough hours in a day to play them. xD
I also bought quite a few Arcade games: Battlefield 1943 while it was on sale, A Kingdom for Keflings, and finally Puzzle Arcade. It’s just a game where you put together puzzles, but I heard it was really good and relaxing, and it has a few interesting modes (For example, in one mode you put together puzzle pieces. It breaks apart the main puzzle, then breaks apart each puzzle piece of that, which you have to rebuild.)
I too bought RF:G, but a bit earlier (November.). It’s a really good game, and if you enjoy smashing buildings, you should love Red Faction: Guerrilla. Although, as much as you may not want to, play on Casual. Really. The game is fairly difficult at that level as it is, as you’ll be trying to focus on breaking things more than the shooting.
And if you ever want to play some Castle Crashers Co-op, shoot me an invite and I’ll be more than happy to join, I haven’t had an opportunity to play that game in ages.
CASTLE CRASH. I see you are blessed/cursed with the December-ish birthday as well. It’s feast or famine! I can’t bring myself to go back to 1943 after MW2, but maybe I’ll play it to prep for BFBC 2
Hehe, yup. It’s actually two days before Christmas, so pretty bunched together.
happy belated birthday you two!
bloosoda – i thought i saw you on l4d2 earlier. cmfl3x and i aren’t done with the co-op just yet, so i’m sure we can party up at some point for co-op or adversarial action. expert is kicking our butts though!
Yeah, I was borrowing it from a friend to try it before ordering it at the time.
I’ve gotta warn you, though, I’m pretty bad. I dunno if I just never spent enough time with the first game or what, but I had difficulty beating the first on Normal. :F (Then again, I was playing with one friend and two CPUS…) I beat 4 of the 5 campaigns on Easy in L4D2, dying only once or twice in Dead Center.
Anyway, if you ever want to play Scavenge, definitely shoot me an invite; That was mainly what I played for the whole week I borrowed the game XD
nice pickup with boom boom rocket. let me know if you get the sore thumb award. that has been killing me forever and is the only achievement i lack.
i picked up Shadow Complex when it was on sale. can’t wait to try it in between MW2 sessions.
tell me about the sweaters!