Here we are once again. It’s a pretty short list this time around but here it is.

God of War II (PS2)

Having to walk into the living room to use the PS2 has proved difficult over the last couple of weeks as I’m not much further in God of War II then when I last wrote about it. If I don’t get back to it soon I’m going to have to add it to the unfinished pile.

The Witcher (PC)

I’ve spent most of the month working my way through The Witcher. I had started playing a while back but, when I moved everything over to my new computer I had some issues with my save games. Which was kind of annoying but, I was able to catch back up to where I was in no time. The recently announced update brought the game to the front of my unfinished games list. This is one that I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze in enough time over the next week or so to finish it up. I’ve just begun chapter 3, out of a total of five, and am still really enjoying the game. I’m glad that I decided to get back into this – it’s a great game.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

Atlus US has just released it’s first Shin Megami Tensei game onto the DS. I’ve spent a little bit of time with it and so far it’s been pretty good. In the beginning it feels kind of like The World Ends With You but that passes pretty quickly once the game gets moving. I haven’t really played enough to pass judgment on it yet but, I can say I fused a Jack Frost yesterday. I have a feeling it’s going to turn into a major grind game but, I’m going to try and stick it out.

Assassin’s Creed has been on sale over at Steam for a few days now, and I’ve been waiting to pick it up since I never bought the Xbox 360 version. I finally grabbed it on the first, had it downloaded and was playing a few hours after later. So far, the game has been pretty fun however, I’m prepared for it to start to drag though, thanks to the warnings from the interwebs – I can already see it coming. That’s not what I’m writing about though, you see two days after I bought the game, I was playing when suddenly the game crashed out to the desktop. I didn’t think to much of it as I started it back up, only to notice that the Ubisoft introduction movie was very choppy. Once in game, I picked up just about where I left off, roaming around the city performing one of the missions that will follow me throughout the rest game. I go running along roof tops after a request to stealth kill a bunch of archers. I run up, unheard, behind the first – pressing the button to trigger a stealth kill. Jumping in the air Altair swings his arm back with his wrist blade drawn, when suddenly – nothing. He’s frozen in mid-air, just for a few seconds though, and then it’s back to business. Strange, I hadn’t noticed that before. I finished off the remaining archers with the same results, a pause during the stealth kill animation. I figure well, maybe it’s something to do with the animations themselves and run down to a group of guards and sure enough I start getting weird pauses during the fight while trying to use counters.

So, now I’m a bit concerned, I have done anything to the system since last playing so I defragment the hard drive that all my Steam games reside on. Checking it this morning I find I still have the same problem – and then the game is deleted. I figure I can re-download it quickly enough but, might as well do it during work. Fast forward to lunch time and giving it another shot. Upon start up I still have the same stuttering intro movie. Once in game I again attempt a stealth kill with the same results as before. Now, I’m starting to get a little worried – have I fried my video card already? That couldn’t be it after all, everything else runs fine. Deciding it might be time to see what the Steam forums have to say. I quickly find a post labeled “SOLUTION to Freezing while killing” right on the top of the Assassin’s Creed forum which details what is going on. Apparently, when ever the play attempts a stealth kill (or counter or picks up a flag or saves) the game attempts a connection to Ubisoft servers. Yes, it appears that as part of the games DRM the game is phoning home in an attempt verify it’s legit. Only problem is something has been up with the servers the last few days and they haven’t been responding properly resulting in stuttering while the game tries to sort out whats going on.

Luckily, the fix is to simply add the IP addresses of the servers into the hosts file making them redirect to the localhost. Computer gaming and DRM at it’s finest – thanks Ubi!

Now that Mirror’s Edge is down to a reasonable $19.99 on Steam, I’ve been really thinking about picking up a copy. However, when discussing this the other day with a friend, I got called out for playing (and not finishing) too many games. He’s right I’ve started more games then I can count, and the Now Playing posts don’t always cover games that I’ve started and never really gone back to.

According to Steam I currently own 76 games. Out of those games there are 22 titles that have a clear start and an end, which I have yet to finish. There are a couple I do want to get back to like, Beyond Good and Evil, Indigo Prophecy and definitely The Witcher. The others I want to finish at some point I’m just not in a rush to get back to them. On the PS2 side of things I really need to finish up ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, as well as Killzone. Then there are games I doubt I’ll ever actually finish, like Persona 3 (not to mention FES), Persona 4 and Devil Summoner 2. I just don’t have the time to give Atlus titles what they deserve. I feel a bit better about not working on Persona 4 that much more since I’ve caught a few random episodes of Giant Bomb’s Endurance Run.

I need to check out the Xbox 360 back catalog and see if there are some console exclusives that I want to go back and play. I say console exclusives because lately due to Steam, and buying a new computer, I’ve finally swung back around to being more of a PC gamer. Not that I ever stopped playing games on the PC it’s just that I find myself turning on my 360 less and less. Also, I have to figure by the time I pick up a PS3 it will probably have a OK library of exclusives as well. I’m thinking maybe I’ll do a full catalog of games I haven’t finished and start forcing my way through.

Oh, and I did pick up Mirror’s Edge… so the Steam game count is up to 77.

God of War (PS2)

I picked up God of War a while back when the hype train for the third iteration was building. It took a little while for me to beat it since I would play in short bursts, maybe one or two save points, whenever I could fit it in. Released way back in 2005 there isn’t much new to add to the discussion about it. I had a great time playing it and recommend it to anyone looking for an action game fix. Once it was over I really wanted more…

God of War II (PS2)

The PS2 didn’t even have time to cool down before I put in God of War II, I booted it immediately after the credits of the first came to a close. That being said I’m not very far in it yet since I’m still playing with the schedule that I used with the original. It’s great to be able to see the improvements made over the first game without having to wait through the actual development cycle. So far everything feels pretty epic. It’s probably going to be at least a month or so before I work my way all the way through.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II (PC)

Speaking of finishing games. I bought Dawn of War II on Steam and much to my surprise finished the campaign mode. I have to say I really enjoy breaking away from the normal RTS staple of base building. My favorite part of the game is the length of the missions. Most of the missions can be finished in fifteen minutes or so, some much faster if you push it. As usual though I haven’t had too much time to play multiplayer. I did get in a few games though and it was pretty fun. Once I’ve finished off some of these other games maybe I’ll dedicate more time to that.

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (PC)

I was real excited for Tales of Valor to come out. I bought it on release day and waited through crap download speeds from Steam to get it. To be honest, I wish I had waited. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the first story arch, I was just getting into it starting to enjoy myself and just like that it was over. So, I started up the next chapter, I guess it could be called. I’m not sure how long it was but, before I know it, it was over. Ever since then I’ve been dreading going back to the game. There is one chapter left and I really just get it over with. Anyway, this one is a definite wait till the price drops release unless, your really into multiplayer CoH, which I’m not.