'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe

I claim this is half detailed analysis of whatever games I'm playing and only half semi-intelligible ramblings about popular culture, and in any case only 2 of you lot actually answered the poll :)

talismancer made an interesting post about old games today, and it got me thinking. Like him I own relatively few recent games and tend to play older ones, though not as old as DOS. To give an example some games I've been playing recently and/or frequently are:

Wipeout 64 (N64)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (GBA)
Super Smash Bros Melee (Gamecube)
Metroid Prime (Gamecube)
Okami (Wii)
Twilight Princess (Wii)
Skyward Sword (Wii)

The oldest one in that set is probably Yoshi's Island as that was originally released on the SNES. The newest would be Skyward Sword - I have newer games, but none that I've played recently. Wipeout 64 is something of an anomaly: it's the only game in the Wipeout series that wasn't released on a Playstation of some sort. It's also possibly had the most hours put into it of any game I own, as I just find it such a fun racing game to play. What other racing game lets you throw the racetrack at your opponents?

Super Smash Bros Melee on the other hand easily has the most multiplayer hours, thanks to many, many years of elemnar and I honing our skills at it and generally teaching level 9 AIs to fear the Pikachu with a baseball bat and the Sheik with a star rod. From time to time ThatGNU would join in, and (with the aid of a glass of whiskey!) manage one devastating round against the pair of us before getting hammered in the next few.

The other odd thing about that list is there are no PC games on it. The last bunch of PC gaming I did was a while ago, when I leisurely trundled through Riven, Myst III and Myst IV (I would have started with Myst except the CD for that evaporated decades ago). They're an interesting set of games: Riven has the whole backstory with Gehn, Myst III makes for a comparatively relaxing interlude, while Myst IV has a much deeper plot with a couple of surprising twists. And while none of them are fast-paced action games, they do require a bit of thought and keeping a journal. Apart from text adventures, the only other game where I've been actively keeping notes is Skyward Sword.

I do keep meaning to have a crack at some more PC games again, as there's several that for one reason or another I've never got round to completing. I did enjoy the 5-way Command & Conquer ones in the flat in Brighton - we usually played them as us versus computers, with a general endgame of the AIs getting overwhelmed by Will's unstoppable zeppelin fleet (occasionally the AIs would wise up and gang up on Will, at which point they got flattened by the rest of us). Hmm... I really ought to get in touch with the (ex-)Brighton crew and set up a round of LAN games or something...

Well, it's been nearly two years since I did this...:

Tales of Symphonia	5%	Second run-through. Just left the village.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption	30%	Hard mode. Enter Metroids. Enter Samus. Enter overkill.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes	60%	Second attempt. Utterly pwned spider-ball boss.
Metroid Hunters	40%	Just run into the hunter with a sniper rifle.

Recently completed:

Starfox Command	Quite enjoyable, and I do like the multiple paths through the story.
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass	Beaten this one twice now, and I do like the humour in it.

Temporarily on hold: a lot.

Following the lead of nendil, current status of games that I'm actively playing through:

Baten Kaitos	| | __________________	10%
Age of Empires (+ Rise of Rome)	| ___________________	5%
Myst IV	| | | | ________________	20%
Ocarina of Time (N64)	| | | | | | | | | | __________	50%
Populous: The Beginning	| | | _________________	15%
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island	| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ____	80% (on hold due to sister having GBA)
A Link to the Past	| | | | ________________	20% (on hold for same reason)

Other games that I plan to complete or play through again at some point, along with why I haven't completed them yet (I'm not listing games that are as complete as they'll ever be, e.g. all emblems on SA2B ain't going to happen):

Game	Why
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes	Got utterly pwned by the spider ball boss. Several times.
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (+ Firestorm)	Always got stuck somewhere around the middle of the main campaign
Majora's Mask (N64 or 'cube)	Got utterly pwned by the third form of the final boss.
Sonic 3D (PC)	Didn't play it that much, and always forgot to back up the save
Pandora's Box	Just needs time put into it
Worms Blast	Evil! Evil, I say!
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (+ Mysteries of the Sith)	Dunno why I never beat this.
Warzone 2100	I think I got uberpwned somewhere.
Zork Nemesis	I think I got horribly stuck, and/or lost the save. Oh, and it takes a dislike to Windows 2000 or XP.

Oh, and a list of completed (at least main story sequence or majority of items, so SA2B counts even though I don't have 180 emblems) games:

• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
• Curse of Monkey Island
• Myst
• Riven
• Myst III: Exile
• Ocarina of Time (several times, N64 and 'cube)
• Ocarina of Time: Master Quest (several times, 'cube)
• The Wind Waker
• The Minish Cap
• Freelancer
• Tales of Symphonia
• Ikaruga
• Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
• Metroid Prime
• Starfox Adventures
• Starfox Assault
• Jazz Jackrabbit 2
• Hocus Pocus (shareware episode)
• Duke Nukem (original 3 episodes)

Those are by no means exhaustive lists, but it gives you some idea of what I've completed and what the backlog's like.