Lost Levels: Hey, I can read too ya' know.

I haven't had much luck tracking down retro gaming in recent months. I've come across the occasional SNES game or sealed DS classic, just nothing really remarkable. A couple of trips to local used book stores did produce some decent results, although not specifically video game software. While nothing rare these two strategy guides are two fine additions to the collection, each bringing a unique flavor to classic gaming literature.

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] - Mark of Mastery Unboxing

Sorry for the long hiatus. It took me a couple weeks to type out that title.Yikes.

It's nice to see a collector's edition for a handheld console, especially for the 3DS which has been missing true 3rd party love.  As far as limited releases go this one knocks others out of the park, considering the lackluster collector's editions made for the PSP. Check out the goodies for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] - Mark of Mastery Edition inside after the jump.

God that's exhausting...

Halo 4 Lithograph: Quoth the Raven, what a shine!

Jumping on the 'way-too-early-pre-order' bandwagon, Best Buy is currently offering a free lithograph with five bucks deposit towards Halo 4. Truth be told I don't know when the next chapter in the Master Chief saga is coming out, and frankly I couldn't care less. Remind me later when it's a month from release. Then I can stop playing Halo: Reach and drop $60 to play some more Halo. Because nothing is wrong with that picture. This picture, however, is what's right with Halo.

Lost Levels: NCSoft Collector's Editions - Part Two

My brief synopsis of NCSoft's past collector's editions ended up being more picture intensive than I planned, so I'm putting the overflow in a second post. Despite the game's lack of success, Tabula Rasa was a well-conceived action rpg with interesting weapons/magic combat mechanics. Without going into too many details, it played like an MMO of Mass Effect, which was also released during the same month. Coincidence? Probably. Still, Tabula Rasa has a much more comprehensive collector's edition pulled straight from its fiction.

Lost Levels: NCSoft Collector's Editions - Part One

As I've made clear in the past, I'm not much of a PC gamer. My roots were always firmly planted in console gaming; pre-Nintendo I was rocking the Odyssey in my parents' basement. I barely touched a computer for gaming until early high school after witnessing the marvels of Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight at a friend's house. Not realizing my PC was capable of manipulating the Force I promptly began to invest in some other worthy titles: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Civilization II , X-Wing: Rogue Squadron. Nothing really crazy, just the usual big-league titles that made the rounds in high school. It wasn't until college that I eventually dabbled in some MMORPGs like City of Heroes. While the appeal of playing in a progressive world kept me interested, the monthly fee draining my already low finances put a halt to the new endeavor. Eventually I met PC gaming halfway with Guild Wars, the only (good) subscription-free online RPG. By essentially flipping a massive multiplayer middle-finger to World of Warcraft, ArenaNet and NCSoft established itself as a respectable source of virtual worlds. Regardless of their level of success I've been a big fan of the games, and their respective universes. Here's a brief look at a few of NCSoft's other collector's editions, from the very successful to the quickly forgotten.

Preview - Game of Thrones: Visuals from the RPG

This weekend after a failed attempt to score some bonus AR cards from the recent Kid Icarus: Uprising events at Gamestop, I was able to secure a copy of the pre-order artbook for Game of Thrones. The upcoming RPG from Atlus is due next week and looks intriguing. Granted we're talking about a licensed game based on a cable show, based on a book series. Atlus has a respectable track record and usually does not disappoint. I haven't heard much about how this sidestory which blend with a compelling collection of literature, or the details of combat mechanics. Thankfully, from the look of this book, fans of the series expect a faithful visual interpretation of George R. R. Martin's fantasy epic.

Max Payne 3: The Promo Stuff

So Rockstar must really want us to remember the Max Payne series. Apparently they think gamers forgot about the awesome use of slo-mo bullet-time, the gritty and intense storyline, and the unique graphic novel style presentation. With the third and latest entry releasing next week, Rockstar has been ramping up awareness of Max Payne 3 like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully they're not asking us to remember this mess, but instead offering more reasons to support the original pill-popping hero in all his glory. With free stuff.

Ooh, you tease.