I've been a busy guy, too. I still love to play games but don't blog at nearly the volume i did when I was on 1UP, sadly. My wife enjoys watching my games/listening to the music, but I can't neglect her, and would never want to. :) All good.
Hey, I just noticed you're in Baltimore? Howdy, neighbor! I just got here a year and a half ago myself.
You know me. I'm a bit behind on Talesing. Right now I'm enjoying Valkyria Chronicles Remastered and Twilight Princess HD. And I've been keeping up with your adventures on FB, as you know. :)
I kind of wanted a few of the Infinity figures like Wreck-It Ralph characters, and my wife was kind of interested in trying Infinity, but so far, the only game-to-toys I've made any kind of investment in are Amiibos, and I started my Amiibo collection with the Wolf Link that comes with the Twilight Princess HD CE.
I can relate on care registrations. Maryland has a godawful car registration process where not only do you have to pay a shit ton of money, your car has to pass a 60-point inspection where unless your car is fresh off the assembly line, you're going to be paying hundreds of dollars for the most petty repairs possible. You know why my car failed inspection? Its back bumper cover got dinged while I was at a doctor's appointment and stuck 1/16 of an inch (I measured it) out. The rationale was that, "well, a woman could be walking alongside your car and get her skirt caught on my bumper." If someone's that close to a moving car, they've got worse problems to deal with than a slightly dinged bumper. But that's what the state's law says, and I had to pay $170 before they'd sign a passing inspection certificate. That was before paying several hundred dollars to the state for Maryland license plates.
Fun fact: Parasite Eve was the first game I ever reserved (at Electronics Boutique, which is now Gamestop and is still there). I still have my original copy, too. I enjoyed it quite a bit and remember that the US rights to a PE movie were bought by Madonna at one time. I also have the demo disc, which had a 2-minute preview video of Final Fantasy VIII (then upcoming) as well as a playable demo of Xenogears, which I loved even more.
Metal Slug games are pretty good. I have the collection disk for Wii. On PS3, I enjoyed a similar game, Hard Corps: Uprising (a Contra game made by Arc System Works.)
Sounds like the "old" 3DS is probably good enough for you then.
I'd honestly still go for the New 3DS, but that's just me. It sounds to me like you're leaning towards NGP, so that's what I would pick for you. :)
Is this the New 3DS that you're talking about?
I think it's cool to find another PixlBitter playing Nights of Azure. I'm really enjoying that game myself. I like Gust's games in general, but Nights of Azure has been surprisingly engaging. I'm glad that it's avoiding all the BS that seems to plague more controversial releases nowadays.
You seem to be pretty good at getting into closed betas. What's the selection process like?
