I think I've already beaten more games this year than I did the last. I mean, I played plenty of them last year, but I don't remember beating too many of them since I jumped from one game to another. I've been working on handheld games recently since I can curl up in bed under the blanket and play them.

I finished 8 games by the end of January, as planned, though the 8th game wasn't Glory of Heracles. It was Advance Wars, which I finished yesterday, and then Advance Wars 2 today brings the total to 9. They were so short that I really don't know why I didn't finish them ages ago. Ron was teasing me about completing my games so fast, so I took a picture after beating AW2 as proof. I may start doing that with all the games I beat. xD

Since my last blog, the number of competitors has grown to nine people. It was at ten, but one of them dropped out since he doesn't have much time for gaming right now. Now it's mostly members from the RPG Temple and one outsider. I made a chart to keep up with it all.

Games beaten - 9

• Advance Wars: Dual Strike
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
• Hotel Dusk: Room 215
• Tales of Vesperia
• Magna Carta 2
• Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island
• Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
• Advance Wars
• Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

Now to get back to Glory of Heracles, and maybe start a console game.

Only six games completed so far this month, which is kinda disappointing. While it's much better than my usual completion rate, I don't think it's enough to reach my goal of beating at least half of my owned games by the end of the year, especially with all the new ones I'll be buying. I must play more games next month. O_O

Games beaten - 6

• Advance Wars: Dual Strike
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
• Hotel Dusk: Room 215
• Tales of Vesperia
• Magna Carta 2
• Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island

I'm playing Glory of Heracles and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis at the moment, so maybe I can get them finished by the end of the month and bring my total to 8. Oh, and there's yet another friend entering the competition, so that makes 4 now. I'll call him Mystery Man A since he doesn't like people keeping track of him. He's someone that some of you know though.

Now onto my purchases for the month. Yeah, not very much this time. Just bought Glory of Heracles and a few volumes of manga I found for cheap. My younger brother gave me the Final Fantasy game. I'll be happy when spring gets here and I'm no longer broke.

Right now, the total for all the games I want (that are listed with a price at Amazon, anyway) come to $1,214. I'll probably wait to get some of the games until the price on them drop, so it will actually be less than that. Until I start work again, I won't be buying much anyway. I doubt I'll buy another game until March, when Lunar comes out.

With my gaming time increased, time spent watching anime has been decreasing. I still make sure to watch the latest episode of Durarara! as any sane person should. If you don't know it, then shame on you. It's by the creator of Baccano! And if you're not watching it, you get out of my blog right now! O_O

Last but not least is the IGN For Haiti Charity Event. I may not have much money at the moment, but it won't hurt me to donate a little. It will also be interesting to see what gets auctioned off.

I've just finished compiling my list of games to buy, with some being released this year, some without release dates, and some I'm not even sure will be localized. A few on the list are other genres, but it's clear to me that this is a year for RPGs. Ignoring all the games that are yet to be confirmed for a U.S. release and even those without release dates, that's still an impressive list for the first half of the year. Who knows how many more will be added to the list as the year goes on. One thing's for sure — I need to find some more work to be able to afford all of these.

• Sands of Destruction - 1/12
• Glory of Heracles - 1/18
• Mass Effect 2 - 1/26
• Shadow Of Destiny - 1/26
• White Knight Chronicles International Edition - 2/2
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - 2/9
• Shiren The Wanderer - 2/9
• Ragnarok DS - 2/16
• Last Rebellion - 2/23
• Lunar: Silver Star Harmony - 3/2
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - 3/9
• Final Fantasy XIII - 3/9
• Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver - 3/14
• Spectral Force Genesis - 3/16
• FRAGILE DREAMS: Farewell Ruins of the Moon - 3/16
• Mimana: Iyar Chronicle - 3/30
• NIER - 3/30
• Monster Hunter Tri - 3/31
• Infinite Space - 3/31
• Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love - 3/31
• Record of Agarest War: Reappearance - 4/27
• 3D Dot Game Heroes - 5/11
• Hexyz Force - 5/25
• Resonance of Fate - 5/31
• Arc Rise Fantasia - 6/22
• Valkyria Chronicles 2 - 6/30
• Persona 3 Portable - 7/6
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII
• Golden Sun DS
• Atelier Rorona
• Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie
• Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
• Dragon Quest X
• Fable III
• Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll
• Ar tonelico III
• Tales of Graces
• Trinity Universe
• C|assic Dungeon
• Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku
• Prinny 2: Dawn of the Great Pantsu War
• Disgaea Infinite
• La Pucelle Ragnarok
• Phantasy Star Portable 2
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
• Estpolis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods
• Etrian Odyssey III
• Luminous Arc 3: Eyes
• Okamiden

That part was from my new blog at wordpress. I started a blog there for friends from other sites to read. This will still be my main blog though... maybe. GS needs to fix that stupid thing that causes sty|e and c|ass to be censored. =_=

So if you can't tell, Valkyria Chronicles is my most anticipated game. Then comes Zettai Hero, though I have no idea if or when it will be released here. I won't be getting a lot of these as soon as they're released, and will wait for a price drop instead, but those two will be pre-ordered for sure.

Oh, here's the stuff I got in December. Mostly anime I bought myself, along with DQ V that Ron sent me (thanks again Ron), a limited edition guide for the horror that is FFX-2 from my brother, and that Game & Watch game from Club Nintendo.

Competition progress -- Three games finished so far.

• Advance Ways: Dual Strike
• Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
• Hotel Dusk: Room 215

My friend Max (AzelKosMos), has joined the competition as well. Prepare to be destroyed along with the others! O_O