July 2008 Monthly Gaming Analysis

The results shown below are of course based on the combined data from the Daily Game Log which should provide a clear indication of a game's usage frequency. Bear in mind that even if a game is played twice or more during a particular day, it would still register as 1 in the Day Count column below. In a sense, "merits" are given based on how often a particular game can make me play it again throughout the entire period of the month on a daily basis. A game that makes a gamer play it over and over again or at least spend a lot of time with it... Isn't that what we mostly want from a great game? I don't think it's really fair to count all the way down to the number of hours played since some games only require a short amount of time to properly serve their purposes.

OVERALL BREAKDOWN:



Total Number of Games Played: 31

July 2008's top two spots were occupied by the fitness software, how about that? Not a bad investment if you are thinking about getting these two "games". In my daily routine, I use Yourself!Fitness in the morning and Wii Fit in the evening with a day off on Saturday. Since Wii Fit demands its users to weigh themselves everyday, it will always occupy a space on the Daily Game Log as long as I still want to follow its brand of fitness program. Ikaruga is still going strong because I am so addicted to climbing up its leaderboard. The game is all about skills and it is highly engrossing to be able to get better and better at it. During the Dreamcast years, I could hardly get through Chapter 2 without using a continue but now, thanks to the almost-daily practice, I can last all the way up to Chapter 4 that I have yet to master. The ultimate goal is to be able to get all the way to the end without losing a single life. The two MMOs I invited into my play time intrigued me for a while but there is a possibility that I may just discontinue playing this genre for a while. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is great but I am confused about the delay of the new PVP system that would help out with the game's suicide-inducing level of lowbie ganking, especially if you are playing as a weak mage class like the Necromancer.

Best New Game of the Month:
WipEout Pulse (PlayStation Portable)

Unexpectedly Forgotten New Game of the Month:
EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark (Personal Computer)

I Missed You I Want You Game of the Month:
Siren: Blood Curse (PlayStation 3)