Dirt Malls 'n Stuff

Dark Sector review still forthcoming.

I decided to check out some of the flea markets in the area after having neglected to go anywhere near them for years, and came away with Iron Soldier, Rayman, Tempest 2000, and Zool 2 for Jaguar, Baku Baku for Game Gear, and an Atari Lynx II. Unfortunately, the "A" buttons on the Lynx II weren't working, so I brought it back and swapped it for an original Lynx... On which one of the "B" buttons was stuck :\ I also saw a SEGA Genesis 3 and a Vectrex, but neither was for sale. Oh, and a model 1 SEGA CD... Tempting, but entirely unnecessary.

Anyway. while I was riding the subway last week, this guy got on carrying a Game Gear and played it with the volume turned way up (without headphones). The guy beside him looked like he was gonna snap from the annoying sound... It was awesome :)

I bought Braid and Bionic Commando: Rearmed on XBOX Live Arcade. Both are wonderful.

Finished Call Of Duty 4. It's a really solid game, and the chapters "Shock And Awe", "All Ghillied Up", and "One Shot, One Kill" are simply amazing experiences that absolutely everyone should check out. I'm just about done Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on PSP, with just a few more secrets to locate. That UMD alone is reason enough to buy a PSP. Not only is it a gorgeous remake of the last great Castlevania game, it also includes the previously-unavailable-outside-of-Japan original version as well as the equally-great-but-just-a-Metroid-clone follow-up, Symphony Of The Night! Speaking of Metroid, I'm steadily progressing through Metroid Prime and constantly in awe of how well the game was transposed to a first-person perspective; Konami should be taking notes for Castlevania ;) I also played through the first episode of American McGee's Grimm (it's free, so I haven't given GameTap any money yet). It's very, very simplistic, but it's a whole lot of fun; really charming and a great way to sit down and kill some time. I'm sold on the concept, so I'll likely be getting a year-long subscription... But not until I plough through a few more titles on my "to play" list.

Finally, after picking up DOOM for the Jaguar, I got sucked back in and dug out all of my copies. On the PC, that includes The Ultimate DOOM, DOOM II, Master Levels For DOOM II, and Final DOOM. I also fired up the 32X and Nintendo 64 versions. It's really amazing how good they all still are, especially on PC with new source modifications like ZDOOM.