Well, it’s the end of the month so it’s that time again.  I had a discussion a few days or so ago about how I’m playing way too many games.  If I don’t finish some of these up soon I’ll never get anywhere in my huge pile of games.

Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online (PC)

The day Siliconera ran, what was at the time a rumor, about Imagine coming to the US by way of Aeriagames I decided it was time I finally checked out Imagine Online.  After a bit of searching, I was able to track down a wiki page that had all the info needed to get up and running.  I haven’t put too much time into it since, it’s a bit difficult to play since I can’t read Japanese.  I could just use a walk through but whats the fun in that.  I probably will shelve this though and wait for the US release to come along.

Persona 3: FES (PS2)

I’m still working my way through the first part of Persona 3.  I’ve been slowly grinding through the levels and finally got around to fusing my frist demons to get Jack Frost.  I’m still really enjoying the game.  I still have mountains of work left to do in the game and even after that, I still have the FES portion to do.  Expect to see this here a few dozen more times.

Max Payne (PC)

All Rockstar games were on sale this weekend, over on Steam, so in a moment of weakness I decided to pick up the Max Payne collection.  After all, I need to be ready for when the movie comes out (hah).  I’m already on to into the second part of the story – although I can’t remember how many where in it total.  I figure with a couple of more sessions I’ll have this beat.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (360)

A friend of mine picked this up the week it came out, went home to play it and just moments before taking control of Darth Vader was treated instead to the “Red Ring of Death”.  That’s right I finally know someone who has encountered this problem.  So, I managed to get my hands on the the game since, I wasn’t about to actually buy it.  Like most people I really enjoyed the demo when it came out.  So, I was looking forward to the game.  I’ve only played a couple of levels – starting as Vader was pretty awesome.  There is nothing like force choking wookies and then throwing them off a bridge – I could have done that for hours.  Unfortunately, there are a couple of little things that just don’t feel right in the game.  I found myself fighting with the camera a bit more then I feel I should have and the enemy AI is a bit spotty at times.  My biggest gripe with the game – and it may be just a technical issue – but when Vader attacks a fern (or any number of objects) with a light saber that fern better take damage…

This morning I received an e-mail from one of the guys over at Good Old Games, with the good news that PayPal had been added as a payment option. I’m still not sure why it was not available from the beginning.  Anyway, I clicked over to the site and after some initial log on issues – it seems my beta website cookie had been deleted causing me to be unable to access the site.  Which, if you click on any of the links I posted last time around is why they did not go anywhere but the teaser page.  So, I picked up a copy of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division using the PayPal check out and all was fine.  That was quickly followed up with a “purchase”, using my buy one get one code, of Fallout 2.  I have only had a chance to install Shogo so far and just like Kingpin, it ran with out any issues – I have a feeling Fallout 2 is going to work fine as well.

I still don’t know if I’ll be picking up anything else from the site once it goes live, I just can’t let go of the fact that it isn’t Steam.  I’ll keep an eye on it and see how it developes and what games are added…

Good Old Games is open!  Well, the beta is open anyway.  Developed by CD Projekt (they made the The Witcher) the site offers up DRM free copies of some classic games.  Currently, the site carries games were published Codemasters and Interplay – such as Fallout and Fallout 2, as well as, surprises like Kingpin: Life of Crime and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division.  During the “beta” GOG is having a buy one get one special for people who signed up for early beta access.  All of the games are decently priced coming in a either $5.99 or $9.99, at the moment only six titles carry the higher price point (four of which can not be purchased yet).

Each game purchase comes with some extras, for instance, Shogo:MAD includes the manual, an avatar, the game reference card, hi-res wall paper and the in-game soundtrack.  It may not seem like too much but it’s pretty much what I got when I bought my boxed copy back in 1998.  The payment system appears very straight forward – accepting only Visa and Mastercard at the moment.  So, I jumped in and grabbed a copy of Kingpin (listening to the Cypress Hill soundtrack right now) and the check out was relatively painless.  However, my bank or Visa (they can’t decide who did it) charged me a 6 cent currency conversion fee.  I’m still waiting to hear back from GOG on that topic.

Anyway, a few minutes and three hundred megs later – the game was installing.  GOG has packaged each of the games in custom installer that takes care of all the hard work.  This alone should make it worth it to people who can’t be bothered to download and configure everything needed to play old games.  I’ll decide what my free game will be over the next day or so.  I guess the big question is – Will I buy anything else?  Well, at this point I don’t know, it’s just that I like purchasing my computer games over Steam…

I happened to check the balance of my PayPal account a day or so ago and I noticed I had just over $19. Just enough to pick up a new title on Steam. So, I logged in just a few minutes ago and was greeted with the above image. Since, I’m an X-Com fan from way back – in fact I have box copies UFO Defence and Terror from the Deep at my parents house. Anyway, coming in at $13.49 for 5 games this comes in as a must buy – so go buy it!