Many of you would probably recall that a few months back, I crossed the 500 game mark in my collection. Since then, my purchasing of games has basically ceased due to a lack of funds and getting royally screwed over by my EX-school (a very long story that I don't want to get into here).

Granted, I've still been lucky enough to add to my collection via receiving review copies of games for GrrlGamer, and up until yesterday was at a very respectful 516 games.

Now, over the last week or so, Target has been offering a White Elephant inspired auction to their employees (read: my mom), which just so happened to have four games up for grabs. Three of the games were in a bundle which included Thrillville (PS2), Theme Park (DS) and Crash Boom Bang (DS). The other lot contained SingStar Pop. Knowing how much I adore gaming, my mother immediately put bids on both lots, and ended up winning them when the auction ended yesterday.

The bidding rose in one dollar increments, with the set of three games going for $9 and the single game for $3...Great prices, if you ask me, considering as how a couple of them were still in the shrink wrap, with these prices being made all the better since I didn't have to pay them, hehe.

So, there you have it – four more games added to my collection, bringing me to an even 520 total games. And with two of them being in the theme park creation genre (one that I have adored since the days of the original Rollercoaster Tycoon), I am hoping they can last me until I have enough money to start buying games again… Or anything really…

Haven't really been in a GS mood lately - don't get me wrong, I like the new design well enough - I just hate the fact that I'm not torn between two sites (this and Giant Bomb) in order to keep up with all of my friends...But anyway, here's what I've been up to:

For all intents and purposes, my Gen Con coverage is complete, so make sure to check out those articles - new articles (other than the ones I posted about before, I mean) include coverage about the new World of Warcraft board game, a couple of trading card games (Blue Dragon and Universal Fighting System) and more!

As if I wasn't busy enough this week with finishing coverage and house-sitting once again for my uncle (meaning that I'm taking care of a bunch of dogs), I also found time to do a review for the new game in the Bangai-O franchise - Bangai-O Spirits for the DS. A huge bowl of mixed reactions with this one - while I found the game fun, I can easily see how many others wouldn't, but if you want to know why, you'll just have to read the review (See how I did that? Shameless self-promotion ftw!)

Until next time all!

Prepare for a blog of links all! And yes, the links really ARE there - for some reason, the new GS doesn't want to highlight everything - but it's not like THAT's really a surprise...

First, GrrlGamer updated while I was busy with Gen Con, but you can find my review for Wall-E on the PS2 here (GS Version). While at GrrlGamer, be sure to check out my preview of the new Pipe Mania game set to be released on multiple platforms this September.

Next, I'm slowly but surely getting through my coverage of Gen Con, and already have two articles for your reading pleasure. Granted, neither have pictures yet (long story involving Flickr), but the links are live to the public, so take a look:

Gen Con Wrap-up

Pirates of the Burning Sea MMORPG

I've also posted my four videos from the event on Youtube, so be sure to check those out if you want to see:

A functioning R2-D2

The destruction of a massive city made of trading cards

Dealer's hall hysteria

Gary Gygax charity auction

Until next time all!