DJ MAX Fever (PSP) – Man do I ever suck at this these days. 5Button Mode is all I can handle! Not that I was great at 6B before, sure, but I was definitely better than this! I was also really frustrated at how fast this game decimated my PSP battery. It felt like every few missions it would shut down on me due to the incredible amount of disc access. On that note, load times suck. Right after I bought the physical copy of the game someone told me that it was also available on the PlayStation Network. Hamburgers. Grr. I’m not willing to pick it up twice, especially since it won’t be able to use my save file from the UMD version. After my last batter charge it dawned on me to keep a sticky note on my case and keep track of how many songs I play before it dies. It’s more than I thought! 44 songs and counting. I just get too into it, stop blinking, and time flies :)

Portal (PC) – no update for me yet. I’ve downloaded it but not played it yet since Borderlands consumes me.

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3/360) – Thanks to a dear friend it looks like I’ll be able to get this close to launch after all!! TheEggplant pointed me to a great article by Eurogamer about the graphical difference between the two. I don’t know which version I’m getting yet, the differences don’t bother me, but I kinda hope it’s the PS3 version. It’ll be nice to use it more and I just don’t have the space to put it on my 360. It grinds like a chainsaw if I use the disc and there’s not enough HD space with my saves, even if I delete Borderlands & DLC from it.

Starting Sunday I’ll be taking care of a puppy (not mine) and that should give me ample time to get through a good chunk of it. It’s been ages since I’ve had the time for a JRPG and I’m excited, no matter how linear it is. While I love FFXI I haven’t played a Final Fantasy since 8. I hated 8. It was death for semi-OCD people like me thanks to the draw system. Also, certain characters can DIAF, kthxbai. Skipped IX, skipped X (this was back when I was completely against voice acting in RPGs. Yeah, yeah, I know…) and X2 (even though I might have liked in in spite of myself) and my copy of XII got stolen before I got past the first save point. XII might have even worked for me since I liked the look of the combat system. Ah well, it’s in the past now!

Assassin’s Creed: the first (360) – F the flags. Seriously. I don’t even have all the orbs in Crackdown since I didn’t mark them off this awesome map while I was enjoying myself in the game. I hated AC1 for the first half. When it came to the voice acting I was all SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP. The fact that they didn’t have subtitles made it even worse since I couldn’t mute it. This ire mostly applied to the assassination targets and everyone in the lab area. I know AC2 vastly improved, well, everything so I will be giving that a shot when I need a break from linear RPGs. I’m glad I have it on the 360 instead of the PC since their new DRM is serious bs. I hate the idea that my cash for these games went to funding this crap. Of course, right now pirates are the ones who are able to play it while the paying customers get screwed. WTG.

Now, it’s Borderlands time. Again. I’ve brought my older Siren up from 37 to 42 and I want to bring her up to speed. My Hunter is still just under 51 but I know it’s easiest to beat <spoiler> with the Siren and it’s fun to use more SMGs and combat rifles instead of sniping and pistols all the time. They will both get to 61 eventually as I play the game with more people. If you want to join in, let me know in the comments or e-mail jenn@openalpha.tv and we can work out a time. I own all DLC packs so everything is fair game. I don’t mind boosting your lower level characters either. Getting a new headset later this week and I’ll be looking for excuses to try it out :)