Microsoft really isn't kidding about this being the "Summer of Xbox Live Arcade."  I'd acquired a handful of games over the first six months of getting a 360, but I've picked up three in the last month, and am thinking about grabbing Catan.

I finished Braid last night, and am still amazed at the polish and devilish simplicity of the game design.  Everyone on this site has heard enough about it, and I don't have much to add, but I will say that I was disappointed that I beat it so quickly; it took me three sessions to clear it out.  A few of the puzzles in levels 4, 5, and 6 were difficult for me, but I still figured them out relatively quickly.  While I don't know that I got my full 1200 MS points out of the game, I hope that my purchasing the game will ultimately help show other independent designers that they can craft a masterpiece and make some money on XBLA, thus enticing them to try it.  I really hope that Jonathan Blow makes some good cash from Braid.

I'm still grinding through Puzzle Quest, and it definitely feels like grinding at this point.  There are few normal enemies that can beat me, and I usually only struggle during item crafting or boss fights.  I think the appeal has worn off, but I'll keep at it.  The real competition is my girlfriend.  She kicks my ass at that game.  I think it likes her better.

I've been attempting to improve my scores in Geometry Wars 2, but have only made progress on Pacifism.  Wilkins III owns four top spots from my friends list (I hold the top spot for Pacifism and King).  I don't know that I'll top 7.5 million in Deadline or 45 million in Sequence, but I'm not far behind in Waves and I could get a lucky round of Evolved.  I hate Waves so much.

Lastly, I've been recording the last half of Reaper's first season, because I missed the finale.  Last night was supposed to be the finale, but the fucking Phillies game went into extra innings!  Damn it!  Guess it's off to Bittorrent.