Lauren Cohan @ New York Comic Con - "The Walking Dead" Panel

Lauren Cohan @ New York Comic Con - "The Walking Dead" Panel

Lauren la premiera sezonului 2 din "The Walking Dead"

Lauren la premiera sezonului 2 din "The Walking Dead"

FanMade cu Lauren in stilul Vampire Diaries ;)

FanMade cu Lauren in stilul Vampire Diaries ;)

My Matchday - 300 Priestfield Stadium

Gillingham 1v0 Oxford United

League Two

Saturday 22nd October 2011

My penultimate ground on this long journey towards the completing the 92 takes me to the only ground in the football League which is set in the Garden of England - the county of…(wait for it)..Kent!
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway which includes the settlements of Brompton, Rainham, Hempstead, Rainham Mark and Twydall.
The name originates from the Gylla's family, followed by the Old English words; ingas (family, followers) and ham (village, homestead) and was first recorded as Gyllingeham in the 10th century.
Gyllingas was a war lord named from the old English word "gyllan" meaning "to shout". He was a famous man in Kent history as he led his fighters into battle screaming and shouting. (If a biopic was made Brian Blessed would be perfect for the role…Eddy)

New Brompton FC formed in 1893 originating from a team called Excelsior which played on the Great Lines. The new club proceeded to purchase a ground on Priestfield Road for £600, which had a wooden stand and a pavilion.
In 1899 a stand was built by a group of dockland workers on the Gordon Road side, made up of wooden benches under a thin roof that remained robust and survived until 1985, being the oldest remaining stand in senior football at that time.
The club changed their name to Gillingham FC in 1913 and the following year built a new stand which was damaged in a gale, having its roof ripped off and most of the ironwork damaged. The structure only lasted one year due to its poor design, pity the dockland workers weren’t around to build another sturdy stand in exchange for beer and tabs!
The Gills were elected to the newly formed Football League Division Three in 1920 which was followed by extensive ground work over the next decade with new terracing and cover to the Rainham End.
The club lost its league status in 1938 and as a Southern League club the renamed Priestfield Stadium witnessed a record crowd of 23,002 for an FA Cup tie with QPR in 1947. Gillingham again became Kent’s only League club in 1950 and more ground improvements followed at a cost of £28,500. The pitch was levelled with a new perimeter wall, as well as new terracing and cover added on Gordon Road.
In 1963 Priestfield became one of the last League grounds to install floodlights at a cost of £14,000, switched on for a League Cup tie with Bury, which was the last noteworthy development until the Taylor Report in 1985.
The Priestfield Stadium as we know today was developed after Paul D.P.Scally took over as chairman in 1995.
The first new stand was built in 1997 on the unused Gordon Road side. The 2,400 capacity stand cost £2m, kept as a single tier due to row of houses on the street, with only 12-15 rows of seats. Above there’s a TV gantry and electric scoreboard central with the club name on the facia in white capital letters.
The main stand at the north side is the Medway Stand opened in 2000. The two tiers are split by a row of 20 executive boxes with two rows of seats outside each box. The stand also housed the changing rooms, media centre, fitness facilities, offices, club shop and the Blue Rock Café nightspot.
The Rainham End terrace was replaced with a single tier cantilevered stand in 1999 and like the other completed stands is decked out in blue seats with white lettering.
The Town End terracing was removed in 2003 and replaced with a temporary seated stand named after the late legendary football commentator Brian Moore who was a former director and Gills supporter. The away end has 3,400 uncovered green seats and depending on the away following only one section of seating is open to spectators.
In the north-east corner is the Conference and Banqueting Centre and the players enter the pitch from here. The ground is completed by a set of four tall corner floodlights which I spotted from the train station and due to a sponsorship deal the ground has been rebranded as the MEMS Priestfield Stadium with a capacity of 11,582
Even though I attended the match as a neutral, I favoured the home side because like a vast majority of football fans on Tyneside, we have a soft spot for the Gills as they were the team that sent SAFC into Division Three in 1987.
As the game progressed my favouritism diminished in desperation to see some goalmouth action from either side, as neither keeper had a save to make in a dire opening 45 minutes. Then when least expected, just on the stroke of half time, the best effort on goal found the back of the net with a spectacular effort from 25 yards from Lewis Montrose.
The U’s dominated after Joe Martin was sent off for a second booking early in the second half with Davis, Potter and Hall all going close for the visitors.
Goal scorer Montrose was shown a late red for a rash challenge on United substitute Asa Hall, then deep into injury time James Constable missed a sitter when clean through on goal, chipping his effort well wide of the post.
The nine-men held on and the result leapfrogged Gillingham above Oxford into fifth spot as the U’s drop down to seventh after their eight-game unbeaten run came to a disappointing end.
The journey from Newcastle to Gillingham is quite a decent trip, once arriving at Kings Cross there’s no clart on with the tube, just a simple stroll around the corner to St. Pancras International to catch the South Eastern connection to Kent. So after departing on the 0630, I arrived in Gillingham bright eyed and bushy tailed by 11.15am.
As Priestfield is a short 10 minute walk from the station I decided to head straight there to take some photos plus I thought while I was on, I may as well enquire about a press pass, because like wor lasses granny use to say “shy bairns get nowt”
On arrival the on duty steward allowed me through the players entrance to the media office where I eventually met a very nice helpful club official called Ray Foord, who on my behalf tried to contact the press officer on his mobile. Unable to make contact he took me up into the players lounge to wait, telling me to help myself to a hot drink and a sit down after my long journey south.
Just then an elderly club official approached me telling me off for wearing jeans as there’s a dress code in the players lounge. He also mentioned that apparently I’ve got him into some kind of trouble, that was until Ray piped up to tell him that I’m not the man he thought I was, seemingly I have a doppelganger in Gillingham!
I decided to decline the offer of a drink and a seat and head into town instead. “Why do you want to do that” said Ray “There’s nothing there!” Of course there were some things in town that I found interesting - Medway Records which is a cracking music store and two GBG listed pubs; Will Adams and the Frog & Toad. When I returned at 2.15pm there was a press pass with my name on it at the desk, so many thanks for your help and hospitality Mr. Foord you’re a genuine gent.

I had planned to meet up with squad#68 Jonathan Elton when I eventually came to tick off Priestfield, as he lives in nearby Chatham, but unfortunately it was badly timed as he’s currently on holiday.

I received an email from squad#153 Mark Chatterton this week saying he would love to meet for a drink to celebrate my 300th ground, but he text me that morning saying he couldn’t make it due to car trouble.

Last week I had my annual bevvy with squad#31 Steve Dobson prior to his beloved Spurs playing at Newcastle, he was in the company of football blogger Richard Bysouth who said he hadn’t been to Gillingham. But guess what? I didn’t meet him either, as he was running late so we didn’t have time for a drink, although luckily I bumped into him at half time and we also had a quick word after the match.

Overall I had a great day, the only downer being engineering works between Peterborough and Doncaster which put an extra 2 hours on the journey home, so it was nearly midnight when I arrived back at 100FgC HQ. Nevertheless that couldn’t spoil my good mood after completing another expedition from The 92 tour, which leaves me with just one left to go and that final destination is a club with a brand new stadium that coincidently once used to play home games at Priestfield.

Matchday stats GFC 1(Montrose 45) OUFC 0
att.5819
Admission:Press (£21-£24)
Programme £3

Flysouth Bysouth(report to follow)

Ground no.300 Priestfield Stadium - Matchday web album (20 pictures)

Japan Envy: A 3DS that's "A Little Bit Mario"

Anyone watch the Nintendo Direct livestream this evening (or morning, for those of you on the other side of the world)? Well, unfortunately for me, I was in the middle of having a late dinner and managed to miss the greater part of it, but I did tune in for the last 10 or so minutes, which was long enough to see the lovely Monster Hunter 3G trailer as well as a few announcements from Iwata-san.

I'm sure your favorite game news website of choice will be covering all the announcements, so I won't attempt to summarize what I saw. I did, however, want to point out these adorable 3DS's that Japanese Club Nintendo members can enter for a chance to win over the holiday season!

Oh, what I wouldn't give for one of these! Apparently you need to buy 2 Japanese 3DS games and register them on the Club Nintendo site to be entered for a chance to win. Only 1,000 of each design are available.

I have to say I'm going to go against my usual affinity for Princess Peach and pick the Mario-themed design this time–or I should say I would pick the Mario design, if I were given the choice. Oh, to live in Japan and own a Japanese 3DS!

You can see all the trailers and interviews from the Nintendo Direct conference here. They're in Japanese, of course, but the language barrier won't stop you from enjoying some of the lovely new trailers, including one for Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance!

Japan Envy: Pokémon x Famitsu for Game Dot Series

No matter how much I try to deny it, I'm a sucker when it comes to Pokémon. I only play the games so much (I've only ever beaten the Elite Four once!)... It's the cuteness of the Pokémon themselves that gets me every time. Honestly, I'll never pass up a chance to look at Pokémon merchandise.

So when I heard there was a special promotion going on combining the famous Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu and Pokémon, I had to know what it was all about. Well, in celebration of a new series of Pokémon merchandise titled "Game Dot Series" that is launching in December, Famitsu is holding a contest for its readers to determine the sweatshirt design that will be sold at Pokémon Centers across Japan. Cast your vote in, and if yours is deemed the most popular, then you have a chance to win a sweatshirt for yourself!

Lucky for me I have a host family who is extremely, er, tolerant of me, so I voted using their address. I doubt I'll win since there'll only be 10 individuals who score the sweatshirt out of all the entries, but I'd be happy enough to see my pick be the one that gets sold in stores. Unfortunately, as always, the contest is open only to residents of Japan.

Pictured below are the four sweatshirt choices. My favorite has to be #3 for both its color and the fact that there is a giant Pikachu made up of smaller Pikachu sprites on the back. Which would you choose?

Top right: "Pikachu looks cute hiding in the pocket!"

Top right: "The directional button has turned into Pikachu? Go anywhere together"

Top right: "Pikachu's silhouette becomes one big Pikachu!"

Top right: "The hood takes center stage for an exceedingly cool style"

Gender Disparity in Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny

I've yet to play a Rune Factory title, and I consider that a crying shame. With my newfound love for the Atelier series and borderline obsession with doing everyday tasks like fishing and furniture purchasing in games like Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, with combined elements Harvest Moon and traditional RPGs, is clearly up my alley. So, of course, I was very excited when I heard there was a Rune Factory game coming out for the PS3. Not only that, but this time it was to feature a female protagonist! Best of both worlds, right?

Unfortunately, a couple of things have come to my attention recently in regards to Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (also known as Rune Factory: Oceans in Japan). You do get to play as a female, that's true, but there's a catch: Azel and Sonia, the male and female protagonists, are trapped in the same body. As such, you're required to play through the game's main story as Azel, the male protagonist, before unlocking the ability to switch to Sonia.

Even more frustrating than that is the number of bride to groom options. One of the big draws of Rune Factory, much like Harvest Moon, is the number of potential partner choices available, allowing you to woo the man or lady you choose depending on the gender of your main character. Of course the lack of  a same-sex relationship option is a bit disappointing, even though it's not surprising. In Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, though you do have the option to marry while playing as Sonia, the pickings are rather slim: there are only 4 marriageable men in the game, including childhood friend Azel, contrasted by a whopping 10 marriageable women for gamers who choose to play as Azel.

According to Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny producer, the decision to keep the number of groom characters low was so that they wouldn't have to cut into the number of bride characters, given the time it takes to create each one. Mr. Hashimoto, I'm sorry, but that just seems like you're saying,"we couldn't really be bothered to make more grooms because we're really catering this game to men anyway" to me.

Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed... But that probably won't stop me from buying the game in the future (Even with all the ladies, that trailer still looks gorgeous). I hope that when Rune Factory 4 comes out for the 3DS, however, they will give gamers wishing to play as the female character an experience that is on par with that of the male equivalent.

Guess who got to play Professor Layton and the Last Specter on Saturday?

Why, it'd be me, of course! I had the honor of going to the EB Games Exposition in Gold Coast on Saturday, which featured all the latest and greatest games available to demo, along with a whole lot of other things I honestly didn't get a chance to check out. Armed with my first ever press pass and my ever-tolerant husband (I think he'd rather be at home playing games than waiting in line to try a 5 minute demo), I endured long lines and more sweaty men than I'd care to remember to try out all the latest games.

Obviously I played a whole lot more than Professor Layton and the Last Specter, but for the purposes of this post I thought I'd just quickly recount what I thought about one element of the game that I was particularly excited for– the additional game, Layton's London Life. Let's face it, I really only got to play the thing two days before it's officially released in America, but early is early, right?

It was a bit sad to see one lone DS XL hiding in the corner of the Nintendo booth, but as soon as I saw the Professor Layton logo I swam through the masses to get my hands on it–and play it I did, because absolutely no one was interested in trying it except for me. Too bad for them, I guess!

The main story mode was more of the same, really, and since I figured I had limited time I decided to see if I could back out and try Layton's London Life. I honestly think it was a full version of the game, as I actually got to start a whole new Layton's London Life save and create a character, whom I gave an incredibly grouchy face, pigtails, and the name "Nimmy." The character creation is a bit limited but the options available make it fun nevertheless, and I was not one bit disappointed by the lovely Mother-esque graphics.

Though people have been calling London Life an RPG, it's really more of a lifestyle game a la Animal Crossing. You get to dress up your character, go fishing, pick flowers, and do various fetch quests for a myriad of London's inhabitants. People who like Animal Crossing are going to find a lot to like about London Life. In fact, I'd hazard to say it'll hold you over until Animal Crossing 3D finally comes out!

So, in the end, I didn't really get to play a whole lot of Professor Layton and the Last Specter, and the release date is so close that it seems a little silly to write up demo impressions, but suffice it to say if you're planning on picking the game, I don't think you're going to be disappointed. Oh, and any of you who do better tell me your friend codes so we can visit each other's Little Londons!

299. Stark's Park

Raith Rovers 2v0 Partick Thistle

Scottish League First Division

Saturday 15th October 2011

I first clapped eyes on Stark’s Park whilst travelling on the east coast line from Edinburgh to Dundee and since then its been a ground that I’ve been looking forward to visiting, not just for its unique appearance but because it’s the only ground with a rhyming name in senior fitba.


Raith Rovers formed in 1883 in the former royal burgh of Kirkcaldy on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth, the largest populated town in Fife. The town takes its name from the Pictish words Caer and Caled which translates as "place of the hard fort" or "place of Caled's fort". Kirkcaldy has long been nicknamed the Lang Toun in reference to the nigh mile long main street, which eventually stretched to four miles when the burgh boundaries were extended to the neighbouring hamlets of Gallatown, Linktown, Pathhead and Sinclairtown in 1876

Raith isn’t actually a settlement but an area of land that once stretched from south of Loch Gelly as far as Kirkcaldy. The Battle of Raith is said to have taking place here, when invading Angles forces defeated an alliance of Scots, Britons and Picts under King Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata. There is also a Raith House and Raith Tower which sit on Cormie Hill to the west of the town and several parts of the town are build upon the Raith estate.


Although there were other football clubs in the shape of Kirkcaldy United and Kirkcaldy Wanderers, Rovers were the most successful team in the town, turning professional in 1892 and became the first club in Fife elected to the Scottish League in 1902/03


The club played at two previous grounds until settling at Robbie’s Park, then in 1891 were forced into a move when the land was incorporated into a new public estate called Beveridge Park, named after Provost Michael Beveridge. The team moved a short distance, transported their pavilion along Pratt Street to Stark's Park named after and run by councillor and licensee Robert Stark.
The Archibald Leitch Grandstand was built in 1922 and was partly funded by the sale of Alex James to Preston North End, replacing the original main stand which was destroyed by fire in 1918. The L-shaped structure still stands today, its main feature being the gable roof with the RRFC and club crest an the facia. The stand runs from the corner of the ground to half way which leaves the other half filled with unused terracing. The players emerge from a proper tunnel as the changing rooms are under the stand with the team dugouts pitchside. The stand is furnished with a mixture of old and new, with wooden flip seats and a section of bucket seats. The pavilion remains largely unchanged apart from remedial work and upgraded seating and a new metal roof in 1999.


Major developments were made to Stark’s Park during the 1950s after a record gate of 31,306 against Hearts in February 1953, with new concrete terracing and partial cover behind each goal, which along with the "coo shed" opposite the main stand meant there was cover to all four sides of the ground. Shortly afterwards four large floodlight pylons were added with the cost of the improvements mostly subsidised by the sale of star players like Jackie Stewart to Birmingham City, Jim Baxter to Rangers and Jimmy MacEwan to Aston Villa.


The Railway End shed was replaced with a new roof and seats in 1981 which also ran half pitch length, which was later extended in 1996. It’s now easy to see the two separate stands as there is no seats in the empty stand, which is unused apart from the TV Gantry and a large Rovers supporters flag.


Raith won their first major honour in 1994 after lifting the League Cup(Coca-Cola Cup) by causing a major upset in defeating Celtic 6-5 on penalties after the final finished in a 2-2 draw. This success meant to club qualified for the UEFA Cup and with the extra revenue two new 3,370 all seated stands were built behind each goal by Barr Construction.
The stands are decked out in dark blue with white lettering amongst the seats, with the main feature the floodlights perched in each corner of the stands. The McDermid Stand is set aside for away supporters and the overall capacity stands at 10,104.


During the clubs UEFA Cup campaign they faced eventual winners Bayern Munich at Easter Road due to their own grounds limited capacity with the Germans returning to the San Starko when the all-seated stadium was complete.
The Scottish Division One clash with Partick Thistle got off to a drab start, looking like of a potential nowts each draw which wouldn’t have pleased the three special guests in attendance. Those being myself, Squad#155 James Little and former PM Gordon Brown, who seemed to spend the game sitting in the pavilion checking his phone. (Probably checking on the Heed score as well…Eddy)


Raith took the lead on 31 minutes when a corner kick to the far post was nodded back across goal into the path of Laurence Ellis who tapped the ball home to score on his 300th appearance for the club.
The second half was much better with Rovers doubling their lead on 56 minutes through John Baird, giving plenty of time and space to nod home from six yards. The hosts won comfortably and could have expanded the score line, while Thistle depending on long range efforts, lacking a cutting edge in front of goal.


So it wasn’t exactly a vintage performance from Raith, nothing to get the Rovers fans so excited that they’ll be "dancing in the streets of Raith tonight" (in tribute to Sam Leitch)
After enduring long journeys south so far this season, it was nice to take a short trip north, leaving Newcastle on the 1144 direct train to Edinburgh. On arrival I met up with James the Hearts fan (I refuse to call him a jam tart!) for the rest of the jaunt across the Forth which took about 40 minutes.
On arrival we planned to call for a pint in the Starks Bar, but the boozer is now closed and boarded up. However we spotted three gents walking at a swift pace meaning they must surely be heading to a pub, so we followed them until the big red capital T emerged in the distance, which in these parts is a sign of a pub which sells Tenants Lager. The Estuary pub is on Links Street and had a mixture of Rovers and Thistle fans watching the football on TV.


Afterwards we were back in Edinburgh by 5.30pm which gave me an hour before my train home, so we had time for a pint in the Cask & Barrel(Swannay 'Orkney Best' 3.6%***) before James dropped me at the train station where I still had time for a drink in the Halfway House (Barneys Beer 'Pale Ale'3.8%***).


I was nice to be home early, back in 100FgC HQ by 8.15pm, but unfortunately there always has to be a fly in the ointment! I finished the ‘My Matchday’ report on the train which I was due to publish when I got home until it suddenly disappeared from my laptop and into cyberspace, which meant I had to write this whole article again from scratch. Also to make things worse and rub salt into my wounds, the breadknife was watching that effin X-Factor on TV, which all resulted in a disappointing end to the days events.
However these trivial things couldn’t spoil a great day, which was mainly due to Squad#155 for make the trip possible by picking me up at Waverley and driving across to Fife. My mission of finishing the English 92 is almost complete and I look forward to more trips north of the border in the spring when I’ll start chipping away at the Scottish 42.

Matchday stats
RRFC 2(Ellis 31, Baird 56)PTFC 0
att.1769
Admission £17
Programme £2


Ground no.299 Stark's Park - Matchday webalbum (24 pictures)

Gourmet Gaming serves up game-inspired delicacies

I just stumbled upon the most adorable gaming Tumblr! It's called Gourmet Gaming, and not only does it have a super catchy name and cute pixelated background, but it features weekly recipes for food found in all sorts of video games. There's everything from the iconic sandwiches from Deadly Premonition to the famous chocolate energy bars of Deus Ex. My favorite so far, however, is the birthday cake from Animal Crossing: Wild World. Don't you want to eat it right up?

I love how each recipe begins with a story about the game and is concluded with a lovely photo comparing the real version to the in-game food item. Though this cake looks delicious and is certainly one of the dishes I find most appealing personally (because, I admit it, I love Animal Crossing), the dish that I would most likely cook myself would have to be the starkos from Beyond Good and Evil. Which is another amazing game, by the way, and it's great to see it get some recognition!

Head on over and give Gourmet Gaming some love! What's your favorite recipe?

Zelda: Skyward Sword is looking mighty fabulous

The more screenshots I see of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the more I realize that this game is truly fabulous, if you know what I mean! See for yourself:

The boss baddie, Demon Lord Ghirahim, has impeccable taste in both makeup and earrings

See what Zelda has to say about that!

Now I don't know much about Zelda or even Skyward Sword, really, but I'm very pleased by the graphical style of the game and those awesome birds everyone seems to be riding around, so if I had a Wii I'd probably purchase the game eventually. It'll be interesting to see how the game is recieved when it comes out–from my understanding there's a fair bit of back-and-forth already about whether it's shaping up well or just trying to stand up against Ocarina of Time (which, by the way, I still haven't played...).

In the process of writing the post I stopped by the Zelda Wiki and found out an interesting tidbit about Ghirahim... Apparently one of his ears is pointed and the other is round? I've only ever seen the pointed ear so I guess I couldn't say for sure, but I bet someone's done their homework. The more you know!

Also, in fairly related news, there's a great interview with Yoshinori Ono on EGMNow regarding Posion (you may remember a certain post I made regarding her a while back). It's definitely worth a read! The bottom line is that Capcom officially would like to stay ambiguous as to whether or not she a woman or a transgendered man and let the fans decide how they'd like to interpret her gender.

Ono said it, so case closed, right? What are your thoughts on the whole issue? How about the Zelda, are you excited for the game's release, or could you care less?

The Great American Game Haul

I'm back! Where was I, you ask? Well, I neglected to mention that I was actually away on a month long vacation to the motherland! I'm back with a vengeance and horrible jetlag, but I have plenty of things I'm psyched to post about, so you should be hearing from me much more often from now on. In fact, I've got 3 posts going as I type, all of which should be going up in the next few days.

Regarding my trip: it was a blast! I got to see all my family and revisit some of my favorite old haunts. The whole trip can basically be summed up by the following two photos:

Sugar cookies in the shape of my home state! And cows... because as the old saying goes, there are probably more cows than people in Vermont

Oysters in Florida! Yum yum

Yeah, so basically Shaun and I ate our way down the East Cost. But! We also purchased many a game, which is what this is really about. I organized all the games that made the trek back to our apartment in Australia and took some photos for your viewing convenience! Here's the first batch:

Actually, looking these over, it appears I've missed Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, which I'm actually working on a review of now. I also received ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection for review and I have to say I am extremely excited about that! I'll probably whip it out of its plastic either tonight or tomorrow since I'd like to get that review finished by the end of the week.

I'm sure you can make out most of the games pictured, but in case it's unclear, the disc in the white sleeve in the third picture is actually Threads of Fate, which is one I've been wanting to play for quite some time. Don't mention the fact that it's available for only $6 on the PSN and that I still have $30 of credit, I won't hear any of it!

Um Jammer Lammy technically isn't new, as I purchased that one just before I moved to Australia last year. Somehow it got lost in the madness and didn't make its way over with me back in June, though, so I'm happy to finally have it here so I can give it a go! I'm a very big fan of Parappa the Rapper, hence the necessity of playing Lammy as well.

I could go on forever about these games, but I've still got more to go, so I'll keep it short (but sweet): 999 is another title I've been looking forward to playing for a long time, so I'm super stoked that Shaun spotted it, and Atelier Annie for the DS should be fun considering my newfound love of Atelier games. Also, it's got my name in the title! Oh, and I definitely won't be playing Dissidia 012. That one's for Shaun (he's not even done with Dissidia yet but I couldn't pass it up).

Glory of Heracles was purchased new from Amazon for a whopping $4 (I'm sure can imagine the smug smile on my face right now) after one of my very favorite game writers, Brad Gallaway, wrote a few positive comments about it on Twitter. It was actually Brad that gave me the push I needed to finally buy a Monster Hunter title, as well! Peer pressure...

Grand Knights History and Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary are both Japanese releases that my mom so graciously picked up for me when she was over in Kyoto on business. The day that Grand Knights History finally made its way into my grubby little hands was also the same day XSeed announced that they would be localizing it... Well, I am certainly elated that they will be localizing it, just not that I picked up a copy of the Japanese version (I'm lazy and would probably have just played it in English, given the chance).

Finally, here are two games I know absolutely nothing about. They were both under $7, how could I resist? And that purple ghost with the top hat in the corner of Gurumin is just too cute. Did I mention that I'm totally jealous of the extent of PSP games available in US stores? I could walk in a store and actually find some PSP games, whereas half the time here in Australia they don't even carry any! I do regret not picking up a copy of Persona, but I had to reel it in at some point.

So, thoughts? I realize this haul is seriously skewed towards handhelds, but that's partially because Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny got pushed back, making me unable to through my money at Natsume for that one. Speaking of which, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove for the 3DS was released the day before we left, but I went to a Game Stop and they said they wouldn't get it in until this week. Unfortunate, because now I'll have to import that one.

Let me know if there are any titles in particular you'd like me to tackle first and share my thoughts on!