Heh! If you are refering to Syc..no. But good guess..LOL!

It was the USPS clerk, who was pretty useless. I thought that once she supplied the box, that SHE would be the one to pack it and tape it up. Turns out that *I* had to pack the box, and I taped the box together, but she added her "special" touches to it.

I think that she didn't want to ruin her Lee Press On Nails. :mad:

I got Rainbow Six 3 for Xbox a few days ago. Friday or something. Thursday, I think. It's pretty freaking suh-weet. Definitely looking forward to getting Live set up and playing on that. I'm enjoying single player, but the AI isn't super awesome (like it was in Halo). It's still challenging, though, since it strives for realism. You don't get shot very many times before you're dead.

I also bought Morrowind. Luckily, I didn't open it, because a few nights later, I saw Morrowind: Game of the Year edition. I was like "Well, I guess I'll get that instead." I'll take the original back. Anyway, IGN's review made it sound pretty freaking good, and I'm determined to play me some RPG's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you can basically get lost in this. And that's kinda one of the things I'm looking for. Linear gameplay has its good points, but having something different every once in a while is good.

I got some other shit too, but I'm tired. Ha! So I'll write about it later.

vsp, sell me shit. :)

I got GTA3 about a month ago from Jimbo, and threw myself headlong into it. Only have a few more gigs to finish up in Portland and then I'm off to the island. But I could tell I was playing it too much when I got a headache after playing it for like 8 hours one Friday night.

I've been focused on NHL '04 the last 2 weeks, playing the Blues in Dynasty mode: I'm finally up to today's game (except in my world, the Blues will not lose to the Flyers 7-2). I haven't made too many roster changes...I think the biggest trade I've made thus far was Al MacInnis and a few no names for Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh and Pronger on defense...that's wicked.

Unlike previous EA Sports games I've owned for Genesis and PSX, I make sure I bump up my ability level with NHL '04. It's no fun to beat teams by 10 goals anymore...just bumped up my skill level to medium (I think I've played 32 games thus far).

I'm not sure what I'm going to get next, game-wise. My brother got me a gift cert from Best Buy for Xmas...might go with March Madness or FIFA, though Madden is tugging at me too.

I am quite happily playing games on my GameBoy Advance SP. Damn but that thing is SWEET.

I'm about to start the boss battle with the vat of Chuckola Reserve Cola.

When I need a break from that I'm playing Super Mario World (Super Mario Advance 2) ... it's a full port from the SNES game. I'm remembering enough of the tricks from the original game that I'm making pretty good progress, but being frustrated over stuff I remember as "easy" from playing through it the first time.

I broke down and got two additional games for it, Splinter Cell and Wolfenstein 3-D (yes, the original Wolfenstein PC game. I'm a sucker for game nostalgia. If they come out with a full port of Doom and Duke Nukem I am SOOO there.) I'm considering seeing how I make out for birthday loot and possibly getting the Atari Classics and the Midway Classics. (Or saving for a trap gun.)

You know, it's a difficult having so many hobbies and so little time.

I didn't get much in the way of consoles this Christmas, but I did get a couple cool things.

For the GBA SP, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I might not have read the manual thoroughly, but I had a really hard time figuring how to view stat changes, skill masteries and the like until I started browsing for it at gamefaqs.com. Once I figured that out, I found myself having a *lot* of fun with it. Its making me nostalgic for the original on the PSX, so I might have to dig it out. The game has a learning curve, but its not too bad, and once you figure it out, its a hell of a good time.

I also subscribed to Nintendo Power. Not for the magazine, which is a big Nintendo advertisement made for 10 year olds. I got it for the free gift. One CD, loaded up with Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. The first two play exactly as they should, perhaps a bit smoother. I never got to play the other two, as I have never had an N64, so its nice to finally get to play them. Ocarina of Time is okay, but Majora's Mask is a lot of fun.

Midway Arcade Treasures for the Xbox. 20-odd arcade games, including Gauntlet, Joust, Spy Hunter, Road Blasters, Rampage, Marble Madness, Smash TV and Rampart, to name my favourites. The price was right, found it in a bargain bin at Best Buy the day after Christmas for, get this, 8 bucks.

Seems like a lot of companies are getting on this nostalgia bandwagon lately, and I can't say that bothers me. I didn't get to own a lot of these games as a kid, and many of them are really hard to find used. Capcom is apparently doing a Megaman compilation, it would be nice to see Konami do the same with Castlevania. Nintendo has been doing neat things with their older games. The reason I bought Animal Crossing was for the emulated nintendo games your character gets. I think it would be very cool to see Square Enix re-release *all* the Final Fantasies on the GBA, individually or as compilations.

Christmas Gaming Loot: None, yet.

Well, to be precise, I got Monster Rancher 4 for my birthday earlier this month, but I'd bought Fatal Frame 2 for my wife the day before and figured I'd give her a lengthy turn with the PS2 (as I'd hogged it for months before that with Dynasty Warriors 3 and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, both of which are pure gaming gold).

I'd love to pick up either a GBA flash cart or a Gamepark GP32, but I can't really justify the expense right now, so I'm putting both off for a while.

In lieu of crunchy Monster Rancher goodness, I've been on a retrogaming kick lately:

* I dug out my Intellivision and gleefully plowed through a variety of my old games (see relevant thread).

* I dug out my Ultima Collection disc and re-addicted both my wife and myself to Ultima V. (It's nice to have two computers.)

* I downloaded the latest build of NetHack. There goes the neighborhood.

I downloaded a PC version of Puzzle Bobble last week, and have been playing that as well. Not as good as the arcade game, of course, but not bad.

vsp, given that you and your wife both seem to be gaming whores, have you considered the possibility of buying a second PS2 (perhaps used)? Or do you guys not overlap on systems that much?

Since there are five different arcade Puzzle Bobble games available for the PC (via MAME), I'm not in a big rush to download a port...

We've thought about a second PS2, but not for long. In general, we have sufficient toys to play with that we can share and do other things when it's not our turn.

Rho's parents gave us a nice-sized gift cert for Best Buy for Xmas. So, we bought a new printer...and I bought Madden '04.

I haven't played it much this week, but I'm very impressed with the improvements made over the past 3 years. It's like being a real owner, without the real money and headaches.

I'm kicking ass thus far. Playing the Rams with Kurt Warner as QB, we're 6-0...just took off Easy Play for the last game (against Green Bay) and still did pretty good. And because I hate the amount of money that is charged for food and drink at sports venues, I've dropped the prices to very reasonable amounts...like $3 for a beer and $1 for a soda. The Board of Advisors tells me I'm not charging enough, even though we're making money hand over fist...fuck them.

No more new games for a while (probably until spring), though I'm set up for the moment: NHL '04, ATV Offroad Fury 2, GTA3, and Madden '04...I can't complain. :)

Since NetHack is kicking my ass, I started over with Morrowind. I'm forcing myself to abide by at least one major restriction -- no paying Enchanters to _make_ custom items. If I want custom, I have to make it myself.

This makes the game _much_ more playable, as otherwise the equation of:
(money is _very_ easy to accumulate)
+ (when you pay for enchantments, they never fail)
+ (custom enchantments blow the doors off of most pregenerated magic items)
== lets you become SuperCharacter who can rip through anything far too early in the game.

I'd like to say "no trainers" as well, but that will reduce levelling-up to a snail's pace.

Damn, I need a laptop that can play this game...

Y'know, I've played Morrowind on both the PC and Xbox. Everyone says this game is amazing, but I swear I'm missing something. I guess I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to play a game without clearly defined goals. Maybe I'll give it another try tonight.

That's part of its charm, actually, in that you can ignore the "main goal" completely for months and it won't affect your gameplay one bit. It's quite a difference from typical RPGs, most of which severely restrict your travel range, weapons, armor and skills based on what main-quest tasks you've accomplished. (You know, the usual "can't get by the river unless the dam gate is closed, but the king won't do that unless we rescue his daughter, and we can't do that until we find the Amulet of Guacamole, which means we need to visit the Dungeon of Bile and collect the six pieces of the Amulet Locator" convoluted-requirement plotline.) In Morrowind, 99% of the gaming world is open on day 1.

The main quest itself is actually rather straightforward, if you keep at it -- it takes a handful of missions for you to get a decent idea of what your real goal is, but by then you're knee-deep in it. You can end up joining every guild and group there is for tons of side quests, and there are plenty of unaffiliated one-off quests as well.

Now if it just wouldn't crash so often...

I have a Nintendo GameCube that needs selling. It was the greatest, but now that i have a AMD Athlon 2600+. It is no longer needed. Ive heard alot of bad reviews about the gamecube, but it is a great gaming console

Unless you can now play Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness and Smash Bros. Melee on an Athlon system, it and the GC would seem to be complementary.

(Besides, when used Cubes are going for < $100, you won't get much for it.)