After not playing much of anything for a few months, I have jumped back in with both feet recently.

First I bought Bionic Commando: Rearmed when it was half price on the Playstation Store. I played the demo back in August when it was first released and the controls worried me enough to make me not buy it. At only $5, I took the chance that my initial impressions were wrong, and that has turned out to be true for the most part. The original is one of my all time favorite NES games, but it had been a long time since I played a game like that  without a jump mechanic, so it took some getting used to. I'm playing through it on easy and enjoying it. The challenge rooms are really tough, but the regular stages are fun. I'm sure it gets more frustrating as you ramp up the difficulty levels, but for now I'm happy just playing through it to enjoy the visuals and music.

I've also rediscovered my love for NHL 09. I had only played a handful of games since January, but after picking it up again, I've powered through the remainder of the first season of my Be A Pro character and finished as the top line, right wing sniper for the New York Rangers. We are currently in the Eastern Conference Finals vs Atlanta and we are one win away from making the Cup final. This game is the best simulation of the game of hockey that I've ever played. I really do not know how they are going to be able to improve upon it for NHL 10. They are going to have to do more than add first person fighting to get me to stop playing 09. I still haven't even played online yet. If any of you guys have teams that need a guy, let me know. I've made a more concerted effort to get the achievements too. I couldn't take having a C for this game on Giant Bomb's new achievement tracker. That thing is great. I love the color coding system.

Speaking of achievement whoring, that brought me back to Castle Crashers as well. It made me realize I had left a few easy achievements on the board, so I went back and beat the barbarian boss with one of his minions and collected all the animals. After having the same gamerscore for close to 5 months, it's nice to see the number start to increase again.

During my absence, I also got a chance to play Guitar Hero & Rock Band at a few parties and I've been converted from my prior staunch, anti-plastic instrument stance. When you are with a bunch of friends, and especially if alcohol is involved, those games are just a crazy amount of fun. The ability to scale the challenge and the mix of songs makes it the perfect party game. I have now caved and just picked up the RB2 kit this weekend. Now I just have to figure out how to stop myself from buying a few hundred dollars worth of DLC songs.

It looks like I'm going to need plenty of money this fall with all the great games that we saw coming out of E3. These are just the ones that I'm hyped for:

Uncharted 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Ghostbusters
Lost Planet 2
Pixeljunk Shooter
Assassins Creed 2 (I really should play the first one already)
Mass Effect 2
Alpha Protocol
Crackdown 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Bioshock 2
Dark Void

I mean, damn, that's just the next 6 or 7 months. I better get back to playing!