Today's Purchases (Non-classical)

[Geo Dude]

If you wait around long enough, it might turn into a 3-pack.

I'm not sure I can wait that long, though.

[Mirror Image]

I'm not sure I can wait that long, though.

I don't think it will take as long as you think it will to release a 3-pack.

[TheGSMoeller]

Had this one in my wish list since its release. L'Atalante is one of the greatest films, I've been anxious to see Vigo's other films, and in HD!

[Mirror Image]

Since I'm now a fan of the Cocteau Twins, I found the original releases of my four favorite recordings. Plus, I wasn't really thrilled with the remastered sound on the new recordings which was remastered by their guitarist Robin Guthrie:

[Geo Dude]

Treasure is a sweet album.  A bit of a mood listen so I don't pull it out often, but it's great stuff.  Speaking of 4AD bands, are you a Dead Can Dance fan?

Thread duty:



I finally scraped together the money to buy the PS3 I've been planning on.  I tend to run systems into the ground (I'm still using a launch date X-Box - over ten years!) so I made sure to get the one with the 320 GB hard drive.  Got it used in good condition for a little under $200.  Needless to say, I'm happy.

While I was at it I added a few more games to the collection:

[Mirror Image]

Treasure is a sweet album.  A bit of a mood listen so I don't pull it out often, but it's great stuff.  Speaking of 4AD bands, are you a Dead Can Dance fan?

Can't say I'm a Dead Can Dance fan. Their sound is quite different than the Cocteau Twins, which people often lump the two groups together for some strange reason. Cocteau Twins are my favorite band on the 4AD label. Robin Gutherie's guitar work is a huge selling point for them IMHO and one of the reasons I got into the band.

Thread duty:



I finally scraped together the money to buy the PS3 I've been planning on.  I tend to run systems into the ground (I'm still using a launch date X-Box - over ten years!) so I made sure to get the one with the 320 GB hard drive.  Got it used in good condition for a little under $200.  Needless to say, I'm happy.

While I was at it I added a few more games to the collection:

Very cool. I hope you enjoy the PS3. It's my favorite system out right now. I never have been an Xbox fan and Nintendo has been going downhill in quality of games for quite some time now.

P.S. Shadow of the Colossus is one of the great games of all-time. The concept is so simple, but what I loved about it is each colossi required a different strategy to be defeated. A lot of thought and care went into that game.

[Geo Dude]

Can't say I'm a Dead Can Dance fan. Their sound is quite different than the Cocteau Twins, which people often lump the two groups together for some strange reason. Cocteau Twins are my favorite band on the 4AD label. Robin Gutherie's guitar work is a huge selling point for them IMHO and one of the reasons I got into the band.

I agree that the bands are quite different - I mentioned them because both groups had the selling point of being underground bands with their own very distinctive style...and they happened to be on the same label.  They also seem to share a lot of fans in spite of having two different sounds.  While some aren't fond of the change, I think it's fascinating to track the development of DCD from European and electronic influences to a more Middle Eastern oriented sound.  I also find it fascinating to witness the change in Gerrard's voice from a lighter alto to a much heavier one.

I love my original X-Box and the word on the street is that there are a lot of great games on the 360, but the PS3 currently has more franchises (and ports) that hold my interest.  I can always snag a 360 when the next system comes out.  I have and enjoy a Wii and the Mario Galaxy games are some of the best I've ever played but the system does suffer from a lot of shovelware and Nintendo, as you noted, has made some slip ups.  By the way, I agree completely about Shadow of the Colossus.  I played it through several times on PS2 and thought it was magnificent.  I never had the chance to play Ico so having this coupled port is a dream come true.  I will definitely be ordering The Last Guardian if it doesn't turn out to be vaporware.

[Mirror Image]

I agree that the bands are quite different - I mentioned them because both groups had the selling point of being underground bands with their own very distinctive style...and they happened to be on the same label.  They also seem to share a lot of fans in spite of having two different sounds.  While some aren't fond of the change, I think it's fascinating to track the development of DCD from European and electronic influences to a more Middle Eastern oriented sound.  I also find it fascinating to witness the change in Gerrard's voice from a lighter alto to a much heavier one.

I love my original X-Box and the word on the street is that there are a lot of great games on the 360, but the PS3 currently has more franchises (and ports) that hold my interest.  I can always snag a 360 when the next system comes out.  I have and enjoy a Wii and the Mario Galaxy games are some of the best I've ever played but the system does suffer from a lot of shovelware and Nintendo, as you noted, has made some slip ups.  By the way, I agree completely about Shadow of the Colossus.  I played it through several times on PS2 and thought it was magnificent.  I never had the chance to play Ico so having this coupled port is a dream come true.  I will definitely be ordering The Last Guardian if it doesn't turn out to be vaporware.

I think the interesting thing about Cocteau Twins is they're coming more out of rock idiom whereas Dead Can Dance are perhaps more as you mentioned electronic-based, which I suppose is not a bad thing, just not what I enjoy. But who am I to say that I wouldn't enjoy them somewhere down the line? Stranger things have happened, but I'm about to get back into Frank Zappa after many years of shameful neglect. I always admired the musicianship not only from Zappa but the plethora of musicians that have performed with him over the years. Aside from the high level of musicianship, the music he writes is some of the most absurd, crazy, but cathy stuff I've heard. I was so thrilled to have stumbled upon a guy's collection one day visiting a used CD shop. I think I bought 40+ recordings. It's really astounding that I came across this many and I bought them the same day. Many of the recordings I found are extremely rare now. Anyway, being a progressive rock fan, I had to have some Zappa even if I didn't enjoy everything I heard.

I loved Super Mario Galaxy, but didn't think too much Super Mario Galaxy 2. The inclusion of Yoshi wasn't a really big selling point for the game IMHO anyway. I was hoping for something different, but it seems we got more of the same. Another game I absolutely loved, and still love, is Zelda: Twilight Princess. Sure the game had some negative points (don't all great games?), but I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, the unfolding story, and the adventure. It began kind of slowly for me, but when it finally picked up, it really picked up and didn't let up until the game was finished. Speaking of Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, it doesn't look like The Last Guardian will be out any time soon. This is quite disappointing because I had such high hopes for it. Of the games currently scheduled to come out, Resident Evil 6 looks the most interesting to me right now. I bought Max Payne 3 last week or so and haven't started it yet. I still haven't beat Uncharted 3 or Rayman Origins yet, so there's still some unfinished business I have to attend to first.

[Geo Dude]

40 Zappa albums in a day...quite impressive!  I've dabbled in Zappa's music in the past but haven't found the right time to really dig in deep. (I've had a lot of fun with Hot Rats, though.)  I certainly see why people do, though.  I suppose I could be a member of the Zappa club if there's an opening at the poser level.

When I went into Mario Galaxy 2 I knew that it was going to be more of the same and I loved it because of the way it took an already amazing formula and really refined it with great level design and lots of new places to explore.  That said, the game did keep a few flaws from the previous one. (READ: SPRING MARIO)  I can see how you were disappointed if you were expecting something different, though. 

I've heard many great things about Ray Man Origins and will definitely be picking it up at some point.  I love the art style based on the shots I've seen.  I think the IGN reviewer hit the nail on the head when he said that the game was a refreshing, colorful change from the blood and guts that tend to permeate a majority of video games these days.  Don't get me wrong, blood, guts and worlds with perpetually grey skies has their place, but it can get tiresome after a while.  De Blob 2 is another game that makes for a colorful change of pace.  Not the most profound game or brilliant game you'll ever play, but it's fun. 

I don't mind waiting on The Last Guardian as long as it gets released.  Among other things, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls (when I buy it) should keep me busy for a long while.  There is good news on at least one front:  According to Amazon the Ico and Shadow of Colossus collection has been in their list of top selling PS3 games from the day it released until now.  I think this is great partially because it's wonderful to see those games finally getting their due and partially because those kind of sales figures make Sony less likely to cancel the Last Guardian project.

[Mirror Image]

I think Rayman Origins deserved more attention than it garnered. Besides the great graphics, it's a fun a game. It kind of takes me back to the fun I had playing games like Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario World. One of the impressive things are the water levels. They look and feel great! This might not be the deciding factor for some, but I judge games, that contain water levels, very critically. In a 2D format, Rayman Origins is one of the best looking I've seen. I didn't think much of the New Super Mario Brothers Wii. I mean it was fun, but it just didn't seem to be that creative. Have you played Zelda: Twilight Princess yet? I highly recommend this game. I would go as far to say it's one of the best games I've ever played. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, I played all the through three times in a row. In a 3D game, this is some of the best swimming I've seen in any game. Speaking of swimming, from a clip I saw of The Last Guardian there looked like there's some swimming in it! I hope they handle this part of the game well. By the way, have you played Batman: Arkham City at all? This was another favorite of mine when it was released. I consider it to be the best Batman game ever created. It blows Batman: Arkham Asylum away. The open-world concept of Arkham City was handled beautifully.

I don't mind violence in games, but it can become a bit tiresome after awhile like you said. I prefer to play more of a variety of games.

[Mirror Image]

Just bought:



I've collected all of Stanko's ECM records up until this point, but this album is really special. It kind of goes back to the mood on Suspended Night. For those that don't know my jazz listening habits, while I very much love bebop and big band, I'm a big fan of European jazz, but not so much the free jazz stuff people often associate European jazz for, but for the melodic, moody stuff like Enrico Rava, Eberhard Weber, Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, and, of course, Tomasz Stanko. Gorgeous music, but takes some time to really appreciate the depth of these artist's music.

[Geo Dude]

I think Rayman Origins deserved more attention than it garnered. Besides the great graphics, it's a fun a game. It kind of takes me back to the fun I had playing games like Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario World. One of the impressive things are the water levels. They look and feel great! This might not be the deciding factor for some, but I judge games, that contain water levels, very critically. In a 2D format, Rayman Origins is one of the best looking I've seen. I didn't think much of the New Super Mario Brothers Wii. I mean it was fun, but it just didn't seem to be that creative. Have you played Zelda: Twilight Princess yet? I highly recommend this game. I would go as far to say it's one of the best games I've ever played. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, I played all the through three times in a row. In a 3D game, this is some of the best swimming I've seen in any game. Speaking of swimming, from a clip I saw of The Last Guardian there looked like there's some swimming in it! I hope they handle this part of the game well. By the way, have you played Batman: Arkham City at all? This was another favorite of mine when it was released. I consider it to be the best Batman game ever created. It blows Batman: Arkham Asylum away. The open-world concept of Arkham City was handled beautifully.

I don't mind violence in games, but it can become a bit tiresome after awhile like you said. I prefer to play more of a variety of games.

I agree about being critical about water levels, at least in the sense of how frustrating they can be if a game gets it wrong.  Right now I'm playing Monster Hunter Tri and love the way the water sections work.  The swimming is easy to handle, you start with a reasonably large oxygen bar (which can be upgraded later, of course) and water combat is efficient and painless.  I felt similar about New Super Mario Bros Wii, I bought it expecting a 2-D Mario extension with ridiculously good level design given all the great reviews (and all the people whining at the IGN reviewer in the comment section because he dared to give the game a score lower than 9 because he felt that a game oriented around multi-player should have online access. ) and was very frustrated with the game as a result of it.  World one had some great qualities and world seven was magical but other than that I thought it fell short.  I played through it a few times and came to accept it for what it was and liked it a bit more, but I still felt like the professional reviewers really dropped the ball on that one.  Fear of the backlash from giving a Mario game a poor review, perhaps.  I have Twilight Princess on GameCube but have only dipped into it.  Some day I'll set some time aside to really dive in.

I have not played Arkham City yet, but when I run through a fair share of my current crop of games I'll definitely be picking up Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.  Speaking of open-world games, I'm very much looking forward to Red Dead Redemption once I clear the slate well enough to justify purchasing it.  During the last era I played a lot of both Gun and Red Dead Revolver and wished that someone would have the sense to create a western game that combined Gun's open world with RDR's more advanced gun play.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I first heard about Red Dead Redemption.

[nesf]

Civ V - Gods & Kings

I should sink in at least 100+ hours into this one.

[Ataraxia]

This looked fun so I downloaded it for me Kindle.
[asin]1617130184[/asin]

And my wife bought this for me today in trade paperback:
[asin]0307744434[/asin]

[Geo Dude]

[Gold Knight]

Just ordered from Amazon:

Steve Winwood--The Best Of Steve Winwood: 20th Century Masters {Millenium Edition}

[Geo Dude]

The latter is a strategy guide for the game.  I'm primarily getting it for the amazing artwork it's supposed to contain, but it can't hurt to have a guide on hand for a game as difficult as Dark Souls.

[Mirror Image]

Bought some Hackett I didn't own:





Also bought this DVD of Hackett:

[Mirror Image]

Just bought:

[Mirror Image]

Thought I owned this but I don't so now I will: