The Video Game Revue

Time to Relax

I'm having a somewhat bad day today, although in all fairness, I think I've earned it. I think you know the kind of day I'm talking about; it's been an unreasonably busy week and I've been working my ass off right up until about an hour ago. Then I went out for lunch and kinda sauntered around the mall, not really looking for or at anything in particular. I just need to freakin' relax.

Normally when I get into this sort of a rut, I have a tendancy to medicate myself by buying something, which I think is really unhealthy (not to mention, sort of a waste of money.) Thankfully, this time of the year is generally a pretty slow time where video game releases are concerned, and the temptation to generate a little "pick-me-up" through frivilously spending was easily resisted. I could have picked up Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, but I'm already quite busy with DS games and I think that one can afford to wait a little longer. I also saw a used copy of Musashi Samurai Legend for cheap, but honestly it doesn't look like a game that I'd actually play. Still, there was some temptation there. I was also happy to note that there were new copies of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness in stock; of course, I already have that one.

I guess what really helps is that I knew that I had Electroplankton on order. It's easy to tell yourself that you don't need to buy a new game when you know that one is already on the way. Mind you, I'd checked Nintendo's online store a couple of days ago and was sad to note that my copy of Electroplankton had not shipped yet, and also, it was listed as being out of stock (ditto on EB Games's site.) Amusingly enough, when I got back to the office where I work, I found that my copy of Electroplankton had actually arrived, so I ended up getting my little consumeristic fix in the end anyway.

I'll post about Electroplankton after I've had a chance to try it out (no, I don't actually take my DS to work with me, unfortunately), but for now I'm very happy to note three cool things about the packaging:
1. It's shiny; ie. it uses foil.
2. It has "Created by Toshio Iwai" right on the front cover, which is excellent because game creators so often do not get a proportional amount of credit or recognition for the work that they do. There's also a blurb about Toshio Iwai on the back.
3. The back has a musical track listing, as if Electroplankton were more of a music album than a game.

I won't really know whether or not buying Electroplankton was the right thing to do until I get home from work and am able to give it a whirl, but it sure is exciting to actually have the game in my hands. Ah, to be a consumer in love.

Seriously, though--I need to spend less time shopping and more time gaming. I miss that feeling that I get when I shoot a zombie in the knee and then blow off his head while he's stunned in Resident Evil 4. I miss the groovy jazz tunes of Katamari Damacy. I miss watching Laharl commit acts of violence on cutesy anime villains. I miss the spectacular crashes of Burnout: Revenge. I've even been craving that feeling of being "in the zone" with Counter-Strike, and perhaps building up some skill at Age of Empires III. In other words, I just gotta make some time for gaming soon.

Oh yeah, I did finish Mega Man X last week and start on X2. Good times.

posted by Parappa @ 12:13 PM