March 2011 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 Games Played: 31

Close... So very close: League of Legends for the Personal Computer was almost played for every single day of the month. It looks like I missed playing it on March 24th - I only ended up playing two games that day - and looking at my posted article for that day, I now remember what had happened. I was on the verge of finishing up Dragon Age: Origins and even though I still had time to play LoL after I was done, the incredible conclusion to Origins convinced me to continue playing its Awakening expansion that night.

Speaking of Origins, naturally the game took the slot for the second played game for last month. I have stopped playing the Awakening expansion however after I encountered a travelling companion from the main game. I didn't like how the game was merely using her as a ganeric quest-giver and nothing else and that left me a bit disappointed. I do have the interest in seeing the game through but that will have to wait for now. I am not worried about getting back to the game after a long break because I have done exactly that with the main game.

The third most played game last month was Pokémon: Soulsilver Version for the Nintendo DS. With the latest entry, Black/White Version released last month, I was reminded that I haven't even completed Soulsilver ever since I got it in April of last year! Oh, the danger of a continually expanding Game Library. It's really hard to continue to play this game however, especially after seeing how great the latest game looks - I absolutely love the new Pokémon animation during the battle scenes - but I am definitely going to hold off on getting Black/White until I have put many, many hours into Soulsilver.

Best New Game of the Month:

Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel (PlayStation 3)

Unexpectedly Forgotten New Game of the Month:

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Personal Computer)

I Missed You, I Want You Game of the Month:

Yakuza 4 (PlayStation 3)