It's been quite a while since my last real blog, so I think it's about time for another one. You know, just to prove that I am still alive and playing games. :)

I'll start by listing the games I've bought since my last update. I'm only listing games I bought at retail. I also purchased a bunch of games from Steam, but those are not listed here.

• Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica (PS2 / new)
• Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey (GameCube / used)
• Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS / new)
• Eternal Poison (PS2 / new)
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS / new)
• Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (DS / new)
• Lost Kingdoms (GameCube / used)
• Master of the Monster Lair (DS / new)
• The Orange Box (PC / new)
• Princess Debut (DS / new)
• Retro Game Challenge (DS / new)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2 / new / includes Amazon-exclusive goodies)

I think that covers all my retail purchases. I hope I'm not missing any.

Since I had bought the Rockstar Collection off Steam, I played through and beat both of the Max Payne games. This means my PS2 copy of Max Payne will probably never be played. I've also found myself playing Grand Theft Auto III quite a bit, but I've only beaten a few missions.

At some point I also opened up The Orange Box and installed Portal. It was fun, it was funny, and yeah, it was short. But that just gives me more motivation to replay it, and that's fine with me.

I'm currently at the Secret Lab in Persona 4, with three Social Links maxed. It's really fun so far and has been taking up most of my gaming time.

But another game that's been taking up time recently was Retro Game Challenge, which I recently beat. It's quite enjoyable, but the challenge structure can be a bit annoying at times. Still a really good game though. The Haggle Man games are more fun than they ought to be, and I plan on playing through Guadia Quest soon.

Now there's another game that I've played that I think is worth a mention. Yes, you all know what I'm talking about. The greatest game ever made:

Princess Debut!

This all started on the Giant Bomb forums. Axersia made a page for this game I had never heard of, but the concept sounded incredible. So I created a topic pointing out the awesomeness of this game that none of us actually knew anything about. The game soon became popular, even appearing on the front page as the most popular game of the month. Someone created a topic suggesting we send a copy to the Giant Bomb guys to review. So Axersia actually called up Natsume's Vice President of Operations, and Natsume sent off a copy to the Giant Bomb offices.

Although they didn't end up Princess Debut Luchadeer soon took a liking to the game, and it can now be seen in most videos where Luchadeer makes an appearence. It even appeared in Giant Bomb'sGame of the Year awards, where it garnered 16 votes. Truly that is a testament to the GB community's influence on the site and our ability to ruin awards shows.

But seriously, it's actually a pretty good game. It's like Ouendan/EBA, but with princes and an anthropomorphic rabbit.

Man, you really have taken a long time to finish P4... Don't let Vinny and Jeff catch up to you! :P

Have you played one of the Ar Tonelico games? I like the art in them, from what I've seen, but I've never played them...

And where is Nocturne? Not there yet?

Princess Debut is a game I really should try.

I'm still waiting on Nocturne. Not quite sure when it'll arrive. And don't worry, I'll finish Persona 4 eventually. :D
I haven't ever played Ar tonelico before. I missed the first one when it came out, so I couldn't let myself let this one slip by as well.

Yes, Matty. You should try it. :)