Well, Rocktober has come and gone. It wasn't quite as awesome as I'd hoped. It rained so much that many farmers still have crops in the fields (and if you live in the midwestern US, you know that's a pretty big deal). As for me, I'm dreading the holiday season for the first time ever. I've worked retail before, but I've always escaped before the silly season arrived. I don't think I'm going to be that lucky this year.

Enough of that junk...let's talk about video games, shall we?

I took down two more games this month, putting me within one of my goal of 24 completions for the year. The gruesome twosome were:

22. WCW Nitro (PS)
23. Shadowgate Clas sic (GBC)

Nitro is one of those games that I loved when it came out, but the shine has worn off pretty badly. It's a really ugly game with some definite control issues, but it has tons of the WCW wrestlers I knew and loved back in the day. It was the most lovingly nostalgic 5.5 I've ever given out.

Shadowgate Clas sic is a nearly identical port of Shadowgate for the NES (and, oddly enough, the first handheld game I've ever completed). The game itself plays exactly like the NES version, but there are a few cosmetic differences to assist with it's move to a handheld. It's the same game I played before, so it gets the same score.

I was a little more active in acquisitions this month. I set (and achieved) a goal of acquiring my 200th NES game this month. I got some great suggestions (especially from hart704 and usagi704). Unfortunately, due to availability and/or price issues, I wasn't able to add many (if any) of their suggestions. Instead, they're now on my wishlist for the future. At any rate, here's the month's haul:

-The Last Remnant (X360)
-Silent Hill 4: The Room (PS2)
-Baseball Stars (NES)
-Elevator Action (NES)
-Ghostbusters (NES)
-M.U.S.C.L.E. (NES)
-Solomon's Key (NES)
-Track & Field (NES)
-Family Game Night: Battleship (XBLA)
-NFL Tour (X360)
-Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City (X360)

I'm still trying to knock out that last game to hit my goal for the year. I'm playing a bunch right now, but have settled into Saints Row 2 (again...I never finished it) and am about half done. I also need to finally get around to trying to beat the bonus mission in Medal of Honor: Underground (PS) and slogging my way through WCW/nWo Thunder (PS). Once Assassin's Creed II shows up, I'll probably forget about everything else for awhile.

Speaking of Assassin's Creed II, I have it preordered...and I can't wait. I played the first one on a whim and fell in love. I hope that I like it as much as I enjoyed the first one. I keep saying I want to pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum and Ghostbusters for my (newly repaired...or more accurately, replaced with a refurb) 360, and you can now add Brutal Legend to that list. And as always, I'm keeping my eyes open for any old-school gems I might find.

For all you North American 360 fans out there, I found an interesting little site a week or so ago. xboxamerica.com is a site where, if you plug in your gamertag and the state/province you live in, you get ranked according to other site users in your state and country. I'm currently ranked 237th in Illinois and 5,957th nationwide (as of yesterday). It's another cool way to obsess about your gamerscore.

Well, that's about it for this month. I'm hoping I survive the holiday retail season. We'll see. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have about a third of Stilwater to take over.