NBA Homecourt – Come to Daddy

As mentioned in “The weekend is nearly here” I’m itching to get NBA Homecourt. After looking through my games collection I came across 4 I would happily trade in, probably for a combined total of £30, meaning I’ll only have to pay £10 for the game (which I can afford!).

First game going back is PGR3. I’ve had it since release day and I’ve done a whole lot on it – everything done on Silver, several done on Gold and a few on Platinum – but I don’t have the inclination to put in the time and effort to develop the skills to knock off the rest of the achievements I need. Great game, but it’s time for it to go back now. Estimated value – £8.

The next is Splinter Cell: Double Agent. I got this in a sale from Gamestation for £30 when it should have been £50. I’d rented it and really enjoyed the first level, but despite that I never got around to playing it again. I figured I may as well trade it in while it’s still worth something. If I fancy playing it again I’ll just rent it through Swapgame. Estimated value – £15.

The 3rd is Jade Empire: Limited Edition. Fantastic game and certainly one of the best RPG’s I’ve ever played, but I’ve been through it twice and after that RPG’s tend to lose their charm as the story is pivitol. I can always pick it up cheap for the PC if I fancy going through it again later on. Estimated value – £7.

The last is Otogi 2. I got this as a filler game as part of a deal and never got around to playing it. Like Splinter Cell, it’s better off traded in while it’s still worth something, and I’m slowly getting rid of all my Xbox games that aren’t backwards compatible as I don’t play it much any more (bar Mercenaries and The Warriors, I’m preying they get made BC in the future). Estimated value – £5.

Hmm, that’s £35 if I’m right with the prices, which would be nice. The less I have to pay the better. Now all I need is the bus to be on time after work so I can get the game today and have a nice sleep in tomorrow

Test Drive: Unlimited

I’ve been playing this a fair bit lately, after a long stint of not playing it, and I’ve found that for chilled out gaming there’s not a huge amount that stands beside it. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve moved away from the 360 slightly and more towards the PC (Kotor, FM2007) and PS2 (Guitar Hero 1+2), as I’ve never been in the mood for many 360 games. I chucked it back in a few days ago on a whim, and rather than jump straight back into the races and challenges, I just hopped in my Nissan Skyline, put some good music on, and started cruising around the island. If I came across a challenge I’d not done before I’d give it a whirl, but it was really relaxing just driving around with no pressure, no time limits, and some good music. It certainly made me remember what a good game it is, and changing into the Ferrari Enzo reminded me what a hard game it can be to control at times! The 4WD Skyline is great to drive, but the RWD Enzo is much harder, as the power can easily make the back end get away from you if you’re not careful. Still, I had great fun playing it and will certainly spend a lot more time on it over the weekend.

The weekend is nearly here

And it can’t come soon enough! Work is really slow at the minute, there’s not much to do but due to the stupid council’s stupid proxy they’ve blocked all the gaming sites I’d spend some time reading through. Only a handful still work and none of my favourites (Ign and Gamespot) work whatsoever. It’s only 11am, I’ve been here since 8am, but it feels like it should be lunchtime already. Ah well, it could be worse. At least I can go home for my lunch for a quick go on Guitar Hero or something like that, and the sausage butty I just had has perked me up somewhat.

As the weekend is nearly here, I’m getting the urge to get a game. I want to get NBA Homecourt as I loved the NBA Street games, and the demo was excellent. Unfortunately, lack of funds mean I can’t go straight out and buy it. I’ll either have to find enough games to trade in towards it (possible), or wait until I’ve sold my spare K800i and use the cash to get it. I also want to get Guitar Hero 2 on the 360 when it’s released, but I’ll be trading in Guitar Hero 1+2 on the PS2 to help pay for it. I’ll be getting Virtua Tennis 3 at some point as well, but I can wait a little while for that if I need to, I’m in less of a hurry for that one.

Is it Friday yet?

You never really lose it, do you?

That gaming skill I mean. It’s been probably half a year since I played Ninja Gaiden in any way, and fancied going through it again, so I decided to play Ninja Gaiden: Black on Hard difficulty to ease myself back into it (I can picture people shaking their heads already at the thought of NGB and “ease” being used in the same sentence). I was pretty surprised that, despite some obvious rustiness in places, I was finding it all pretty easy and had no problems whatsoever dispatching any of the bosses I’ve faced so far (including the dreaded Alma). I’m currently on the Warehouse level and have saved it after beating both Tanks, just before facing the Helicopter. I hope to have it finished by the end of the week, then I’ll decide whether to work my way through Very Hard, or start on the challenges.

If only it had the Intercept technique from the Hurricane Pack, it would make the game even better, though probably even easier.

Saw III

I watched Saw III 2 nights ago and was thoroughly impressed by it. It takes a slightly different path than the first two films, with one of the main characters being tormented through a series of decisions he has to make, rather than his ability to withstand whatever trap he’s in, to escape. As with the previous films, it tries to shock you with a twist at the end, and like the previous films, it succeeds brilliantly.

A worthy addition to the series, it will be very interesting to see what path the already announced Saw 4 takes when it is released in October this year.

New Page Added

I’ve added a “To-Do” list of sorts, a checklist of what I want to achieve in games in the near (or distant future). Some of them are not easy by any means, but hopefully having the page there will help me if I get a little bored and can’t decide what to play

My first real post

Well, my first proper post on my new Blog. I’ve been thinking about getting a Blog for ages, but always wanted to build a proper website to go with it. I figured that while I’m still playing around with that (learning PHP at the same time could make it very slow going), I may as well get a free site set up in the mean time.

So expect this Blog to be full of gaming related posts and pages, with the occassional work based rant as well from time-to-time. I hope anyone who reads these pages enjoys themselves