That’s not the point of this entry though. As my PS3 went through it’s very painful process of downloading updates and installing games, I noticed something in this process I had never seen before. When it was nearly finished, it installed/downloaded the ‘Trophy list’. Now, I know for a fact that when you download an Xbox Classics game that you don’t get any new shiny achievements added to it. Unless this has changed since I moved, then I apologise, I have not been connected to the internet on my Xbox since July last year. The thing is though, why do I need trophies on a port of an old PS2 game?

It got me thinking about this perhaps being a bit of a scheme (a very clever scheme) by games developers to get you to buy their games. Slap on a few trophies or achievements that weren’t there before, and you have an instant hit. We have become the generation of gamers that is addicted, sometimes, to achievements and trophies. I won’t lie, I did get a little excited at the prospect of earning little virtual trophies for kicking ass on Tekken Bowl for the first time in many years, but I don’t really need them. I’ve already finished this game a long time ago, but trophies seem to add more replay value to it. I mainly bought the game for the HD shiny-ness, and the hilariously dubbed film. The game was just a bonus.

Another thing I have just noticed though is the sudden abundance of HD releases. Okay, well abundance might be stretching it a bit, but looking on Amazon I have just noticed they are releasing a HD pack for Devil May Cry 1,2 and 3 and also a HD pack for Silent Hill. This is where I may contradict myself, but oh well. I still own all of the Devil May Cry games on my PS2. I still have my Ps2. A fat one, and a slim one. I don’t really need a HD release of games that I already have, but then again, could they contain shiny new achievements? Probably, so no doubt I will end up buying it. My brain will tell me that it’s worth it, when actually £25 for games I already own, just for the sake of virtual kudos really isn’t worth it at all.

Dante is sexy enough without a HD rehash.

It would be nice if they would just release older games. PS2 is only last generation. I know we’ve got Xbox Classics and PSOne Classics, but what about the poor people (such as myself) who aren’t connected to the internet, and can’t download the retro goodness?

I think we really have reached the point where we’ll never come back from being achievement whores. It happens to all of us, even those who claim they haven’t fallen into the trap. A virtual ‘ping’ and a little box appears and we get so excited it’s like Christmas. Virtual rewards are now invading our retro gaming, and I’m not entirely sure that I like it yet.

A belated happy new year! 2011 was a slow year for games in my opinion. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really have the time, or maybe I’m just becoming too difficult to please and a little fed up with the gaming industry taking two steps forward, and about five steps back when it comes to my gaming preferences.

For Christmas I received  RAGE and Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar in terms of gaming. RAGE is very good, but more like a poor mans Borderlands. I’m very much enjoying it, but can’t really spend more than a couple of hours on it before becoming, not bored, but a little frustrated with the ‘Go here and get this, then come back again’ quests. The racing is excellent, but it feels as though the game tries to split itself in two. One minute it’s a FPS with mutants and evil factions out to get you, and the next minute it’s a racing game with weapons and upgrades for your dune buggy. It’s like Bethesda tried to cram so much into the game, that they didn’t notice that some of it had spilt out of the sides like salad escaping from a sandwich when it came to release.

Post apocalyptic wasteland? Seems familiar.

Grand Bazaar is a very big step in the right direction in my opinion for the Harvest Moon franchise in my opinion though. It works a lot better on the DS than previous releases, and I can actually just use the buttons and D-pad, leaving the stylus to just be chewed on (which to be fair, is all it’s good for most of the time). It takes a while to get going, and because it’s so different this could put people off, but getting rid of the pointless stylus commands is one of the best moves the franchise has ever made. Harvest Moon games are meant to be simple, and use the control pad. None of this silly stylus nonsense and tickling horses (Yes, it sounds wrong, and it is).

Aside from those games, as I said 2011 was a bit ‘meh’ for me, in lack of a better way to put it. I always find though that at the beginning of every year about three or four games come out all at the same time, all of which I want to give all my attention to. This year these games are; Final Fantasy XIII-2, Catherine and Soul Calibur 5. These three games come out essentially the same week. This is ironically the week of my reading week for uni. Not only are all these games coming out, but the man is also coming to stay during the timeframe they are all being released in. Maybe I can distract him with shiny cars…

They just have to do the dramatic pose...

To be fair I have missed the new Assassins Creed and Batman, but anyway! Hopefully this year will be better for gaming. Catherine will satisfy my quirky taste, Final Fantasy should satisfy my JRPG craving, and Soul Calibur, well, that’s just a classic. Needless to say I am excited for next month, but i am also slightly scared of the hammering that my bank balance is going to take. I so wish my birthday was closer to the beginning of the year so I could just request games as gifts from people instead. What on earth will I play once February is out of the way though…

And on one final note, Kairosoft are continuing to steal my money and my soul. Mega Mall Story was released a short while back, causing my eyes to light up, making me lose all sense and press ‘Pay and download’ far too quickly. I have played it twice now, soon to initiate a third, but am still eagerly awaiting another surprise Kairosoft game to launch on Android. Too much mobile gaming excitement. Now, back to uni work.

I had to choose an Elf as my race. I’m not a Dark Elf, as pictured above, but a High Elf. I wanted to really go for the magic this time around. If I can’t use guns, then I don’t really want to be swinging my sword around and getting hacked to shreds. I’ve never really enjoyed being a magic user, but the idea of it in Skyrim just seemed right. I think it helped that I knew I could dual wield spells. I knew that in one hand I could have burning flame, and in the other soothing restoration. Pretty much I just wanted to burn things down.

I have noticed in my short play through so far that Skyrim has many paralells with a lot of my favourite games. Obviously I love Bethesda anyway, but Oblivion was lacking in oomph for me; it was dull and dreary. Skyrim has elements of Fable, World of Warcraft, Bioshock and even Red Dead Redemption. The last two have probably confused you a bit so allow me to explain. The Bioshock element comes form the visual aspect. It’s the magic hands on screen, they just remind me of plasmid infused limbs. It’s the way your character holds them. The RDR element comes from the wide open spaces and the horses. The horses are very expensive so I find myself stealing them and then paying a small fine every time I accidentally stumble into a guard. It is also the collecting of herbs and various flowers that remind me of RDR.

I am enjoying the free roaming aspect. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and speak to whoever I want. It would be nice to have a little more guidance every now and then, but I’m not complaining. I’ve currently gone to see the mages and be trained further in the ways of magic. I’m struggling a little bit so I’ve gone off on a bit of a wander to get my skills up a little before I carry on. I like the fact that I can do this, and I also like the fact that there are so many companions dotted around so soon in the game. They actually help as well (When they’re not dying in a crumpled heap on the floor because I’ve taken them somewhere scary…).

So all in all I am enjoying my jaunt through Skyrim at the moment. I can’t wait to get myself on the property ladder and start buying things because I am intrigued to see exactly how much like Fable this has the potential to be. I know I can invest in things, and for some sick reason this excites me.

In other news, my phone broke and I spent yesterday fixing it. All my Kairosoft data completely wiped. I won’t lie, I think a few tears may have slipped out. Thankfully the man came swooping into my rescue with his tech knowledge and fixed it! I now have the latest Android build (Gingerbread) and it is so much prettier than Froyo. I suppose the only good thing that’s come out of this is that I have en excuse to play all my Kairosoft games again. Value for money? I think so.

Remember my previous blog post and my rant about not having Tiny Tower on Android? Well, the man in his infinitely awesome geekiness provided me with much happiness on Sunday night with the announcement that Tiny Tower had in fact made its way to Android. It was only right to have a bit of a spasm, make my way to the Android market place and download it as quickly as I possibly could. I didn’t think it was possible for me to make the noises of glee that I did, but the man can vouch for that as he was on the phone to me at the time.

He may look bored, but really he loves building endless towers.

After having just under 24 hours with Tiny Towers I can say I am in love. I have 7 floors, 10 bitizens and I’m trying not to get too addicted before Friday otherwise I will simply lose my soul to it and not do any uni work. It is truly awesome though, my favourite type of Sim game where I have to restock, sell things, restock, add more people etc. Yeah, you’ve got to wait around a lot and it will take a while to get going, but that’s not the point! Take all my battery power Tiny Tower, it’s yours for the taking.

On a different note though, I think I’ve decided I’m going to buy Skyrim on Friday as a reward to myself. Asking family about it and reading stuff about it online it does look really good. There appear to be a lot more Fallout mechanics in it than Oblivion, so I’m pretty much sold on that angle. I just want something to really immerse myself in, and I don’t really think there’s anything else out right now that will do it for me quite like Bethesda do. Plus I just wanna kill some dragons like a badass mofo.

I will end you.

A new Dragon Age game would be nice, so I can muck about with the character mechanics in that, but that’s gonna be a long time coming from EA I think.

I’ve got a love hate relationship going on with Kairosoft at the moment. I love them for producing awesome Sim style games on my mobile phone, but I hate them for not giving me all of them! I am but a lowly Android user (I have no issues with this, I like my phone and have no desire to buy an iPhone any time soon), and I seem to be being punished for this by Kairosoft. I have been deprived of Mega Mall Story, Oh! Edo Towns and Pocket Academy. Grand Prix story was meant to be an Android exclusive but now iPhone have this as well. I don’t care that they have an Android exclusive, I just want the other games as well!

Thankfully the man has an iPhone and was kind enough to buy Pocket Academy and Mega Mall Story before he came up to satisfy my rage and urge to play childish simulation games for hours on end. Mega Mall Story is incredibly fun, but brings me to yet another game that Android users are suffering without; Tiny Tower. Noticing a theme here? Yeah, I like sprite animation with never ending monotony. I like stocking shops with goods, I like trying to please people and get bonuses on things that are ultimately pointless in life. It keeps me happy. I can waste my entire life on these games and have no remorse.

Maybe it’s a good thing that Kairosoft are depriving me of all these things right now. I don’t think I’d have enough time for anything else. I’ve been playing World Cruise story for about 4 hours today, and for a game that’s cost me £2.99, you can’t go wrong.