Well,  here it is only a few days before PAX – and due to my new job I won’t be able to attend.  That sucks, I finally am on the west coast during PAX, it’s only about a three hour drive and I still can’t make it.  Ever since moving I’ve been incredibly busy – it really cuts into the gaming time.  Although, since the new job allows me to work out of my home office so, I’ve managed to get a bit more in.  Of course I didn’t continue any one of the games I’m in the middle of now.  Nope, I started replaying Parasite Eve.

Parasite Eve (PSX)

It’s been such a long time since I’ve played this,  I can’t even remember if I ever beat it.  Anyway, thanks to an incredibly slow work week I managed to play up to Day 5: Liberation.  If this next week stays just as slow I’ll be able to finish it off.  Parasite Eve is a great RPG one you should go back and revisit if you have the means.  It’s such a massive departure from the Final Fantasy series, that’s probably what appeals to me the most.  I think I’ll pick up a copy of Hideaki Sena’s novel, which from what I understand is fantastic.  That reminds me I still have to pick up a copy of Birthday…

Company of Heros: Opposing Fronts (PC)

It’s been a while since I’ve played COH and I noticed this weekend that the expansion pack Opposing Fronts had finally dropped below $29.99 on Steam.  So, I picked it up and immediately rejoined the fight.  I really want to see Company Of Heros Online.  I’m not sure it will see a US release, for now it looks as if it is only being release in Korea and China as free to play.  Free to play and microtransaction games starting to gain a foot hold here in the US but, we still may not see a release here.  Even if we don’t see see the Online game it is possible we will be seeing another expansion soon.

Team Fortress 2 (PC)

Heavy!  Actually, I haven’t played Heavy since the update.  I started to play last night and then noticed the Opposing Fronts price drop.  But, I swear I’m devoting some time to it this afternoon.

Persona 3: FES (PS2)

I’ve only been able to squeeze in a little bit of time leveling since returning to work after my whole broken wrist saga.  I didn’t play enough of Persona or any of Persona 2 but, it appears that all of the games are not connected – one of these days I need to seek out a Persona wiki and read up on what the hell is going on.

Final Fantasy IV (NDS)

Not too much to say about this – it’s a updated release of a classic game.  I’m currently about half way through and not sure exactly when I’ll be finishing it since I don’t have to commute to work anymore.

At some point several days ago I was in Fred Meyer looking through the PS2 games and happen to find another item to add to my pile of shame list. So, I walked out with a copy of Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection. I had planned on playing the first game in the series but, I forgot I would need a PS1 memory card. Oh well, I’ll have to run up to the used game store and see if they have any one of these days. So, instead it was on to Metal Gear Sold 2 – a game I clearly remember beating on the Xbox but, about which I remember almost nothing. Anyway, I’ve currently played up to the fight with Vamp, maybe sometime this week I’ll get to put in the time needed finish the game.

On Sunday, I was able to knock Persona 3: FES off the list as well. I’ve managed to make it up to level 12 in the tower after only five and a half hours of game play. In game, I’ve also joined the kendo club and student council, heh. I’m not sure if I’ll beat this one considering the main story and the add-on clock in at over 100 hours of game play. Heck I’m not sure if or when I’ll beat any of them once I get back to my regular work schedule.

• Shadow of the Colossus
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
• Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection
  
• God of War
• Okami
• Devil May Cry
• Final Fantasy XII
• Ico
• Katamari Damacy

Again, if anyone has any suggestions on additions let me know.

According to CVG the upcoming QuakeCon is going to feature the first ever Quake Live tournament. While I’ve never been much of a tournament player or even followed QuakeCon that closely – I am a huge fan of Quake 3 and simply can’t wait for Quake Live open beta to start. Actually, maybe I’ll shoot an e-mail over to id’s press contacts and see about a closed beta slot. Between this news bit and yesterdays random post on Rock Paper Shotgun about Q3A – I once again reinstalled.

It’s not really easy to play with the broken wrist – holding the mouse is very difficult and just a bit painful. I did put in a bit of time against the bots which was fun – I’d be absolutely destroyed if I played on-line in this state so I skipped that.  Anyway, I should probably go get some ice to put on my wrist.

Back on June 28th I the unfortunate experience of breaking my wrist (took a dive on my bike to avoid being hit by a car). About a week after the break I had to undergo surgery to add a plate to the bone in order to help it heal correctly. The whole experience has not been to fun – as one of my friends pointed out no Team Fortress 2 Pyro achievements for me.

It hasn’t been all bad though – I have found several games I can play one handed. One of the new games to my Steam list was gifted to me because I can play it one handed. That would be Trials 2 Second Edition from Redlynx. Trials is a racing game in the Trackmania sense of racing games – meaning you basically are racing the clock. It’s pretty damn fun to break bones – in fact my first achievement was Every Bone Broken. The game is pretty difficult with absolute perfect runs required to make it to an acceptible place on the global score board. The controlls are simple since, only the arrow keys are used. Up and down, raise and lower your speed while left and right allow you to shift your weight back and forth on the bike. You really should check it out.

I also took the opportunity to get a bit further in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Playing one hand is a bit odd with the blocking system but I made it past the first “boss fight” with out much of a problem. I’ll be getting back to it soon maybe… Some how getting away from the one handed game play I bought a copy of SiN Episodes: Emergence since it was on sale for $4.99 and I had some money in my PayPal account. I only played for a few moments before I couldn’t take the pain and hand switching – my girlfriend and I did get a good laugh out of the the strange and unrealistic boob physics in the opening.

So does anyone have any other suggestions for one handed games?