So, who else has plopped down 60 big ones for the North American version of Yomawari: Night Alone?

What kind of idiot agrees to spend $60 to buy a second copy of a game he already owns--especially when that money could be put toward the purchase of one or more of the titles currently taking up space on his or her miles-long wish list?

This kind of idiot, that's who.

I say this because over the weekend I decided to pre-order one of the Yomawari: Night Alone limited editions currently being offered up on the NIS America online store.

That wouldn't seem light such a stupid--or at least strange--move if I didn't already own a copy of the Japanese release of this cute-yet-unsettling Vita game. (Check out some photos of Yomawari's Japanese case, cartridge and instruction sheet in this recent "Nice Package!" post.)

Worse yet: I've yet to even stick my Japanese Yomawari cart into my pink-and-white Vita.

So, why did I willingly agree to hand over $60 for the game's North American limited edition when it hits the streets here on Oct. 25? To be completely honest, I was suckered in by this LE's contents.

I mean, who wouldn't want a heat-changing tumbler that features an image of this adventure's protagonist? Nearly as appealing for yours truly: a pair of full-color, soft-cover art books (one for Yomawari: Night Alone and one for the also-included htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary) and a jewel-cased soundtrack.

NIS America's also selling a mousepad that's branded with imagery invoking both hotL#NiQ and Yomawari, but that's a separate, $15 purchase, and although I love it, I don't love it enough to blow $75 on the whole she-bang.

Will any of you also plop down some hard-earned cash on some version of Yomawari: Night Alone after it's made available this fall? If so, which one do you have your eye on at the moment?

See also: previous Yomawari-focused posts

A trio of spooky games I'm hoping to play between now and All Hallows' Eve

For those of us in North America--and any other locale where folks celebrate the holiday--it's that time of year again. And when I say "that time of year," I of course mean Halloween.

While my compatriots spend the next couple of weeks prepping costumes, planning parties and popping orange and black candies into their mouths, I'm going to spend them playing spooky games. Specifically, I'm going to play--or maybe I should say I'm going to do my best to play--the following trio of Halloween-appropriate titles.

Undertale (Mac)--The good news here is that I've already started playing this just-released, EarthBound-esque RPG. The bad news: I've only played about an hour and a half of it so far. I have no doubt that will change appreciably by the end of this coming weekend thanks to all of the grins and chuckles it's already produced.

My favorite aspects of Undertale at the moment, by the way, are its colorfully creepy "overworld" graphics, its wonderfully witty text and its unexpectedly unique gameplay. A highlight of that last component: if you want, you can dance, flirt or simply chat with baddies rather than beat them up during this title's battle scenes.

Corpse Party (PSP)--I put a small handful of hours into this game a couple of years ago while traveling for one reason or another. That playthrough came to a screeching halt, though, when I got stuck and couldn't figure out what to do next. Why didn't I turn to GameFAQs or some other online resource? I have no idea, I'm sorry to say.

Thankfully, I'm feeling decidedly less stubborn these days--especially after listening to my podcast pal, Mollie, rave about this original entry in the oddly titled Corpse Party series while we recorded the 17th installment of The Nichiest Podcast Ever a few nights ago. So, look for me to give the game a second chance (and write about it in one or more future blog posts) between now and the end of this month.

Clock Tower (Super Famicom or WonderSwan)--Can you believe I've never played any of the many versions of Clock Tower that have been released over the years? I can't. OK, so that's not completely true. I spent about 30 minutes with the Super Famicom release earlier this year, but I quickly gave up on that campaign when the game's scissor-wielding antagonist popped up and scared the living daylights out of me.

I can't guarantee the same thing won't happen again when and if I return to this pixelated horror title, but I can guarantee I'll do my best avoid it. Who knows, maybe playing it in black and white will help?

Any you playing any spooky, scary or otherwise Halloween-esque games this month? If so, which ones--and what do you think of them thus far?

Three scary games I'm playing as part of #HorrorMonth

Although I had a lot of fun playing the shoot 'em ups that I chatted about in these recent posts and that were inspired by my blogging and podcasting pal Anne Lee's #Shmuptember game-along extravaganza, I'm about ready to move on to another genre now.

Thankfully, Lee is one step ahead of me and already has announced another such event for October, with the theme this time around being scary games.

The thing is, I've never been one to play overly scary games--games like Fatal Frame and Silent Hill and Siren and Resident Evil. Oh, I love reading about them and watching videos of them and stuff like that, but playing them? Not really--which is kind of funny when you consider how much I love scary movies.

Still, I really want to participate in #HorrorMonth (that's the official name of Lee's latest game-along, by the way), so I'm doing my best to put my fears behind me and play through the following trio of terror-ific titles between now and Halloween.

Sweet Home (Famicom)--Those of you who have visited this blog for a few years now may remember me mentioning Sweet Home in previous posts that were published around this time of year. That's because this isn't the first time I've attempted to play through this spooky, Resident Evil-esque (due to its setting more than anything) RPG. I've never made it more than a couple of hours into it, though, so this year my goal is do do a bit better than that (if not make it all the way to the cart's credit roll).

Splatterhouse (PC Engine)--Here's a game I've been curious about since it first caught my attention back when the PC Engine was still in its infancy and its North American counterpart, the TurboGrafx-16, had yet to be released. I've barely played it in the ensuing years, although I couldn't tell you why that is--other than this genre generally isn't my cup of tea. Thankfully, the few minutes I spent with Splatterhouse the other day were a blast, so I have a feeling it won't be all that difficult for me to complete at least a handful of its stages before I call it a night, so to speak.

Clock Tower (Super Famicom)--Unlike the pair of titles discussed above, I've purposefully avoided this Super Famicom spooker over the years because I knew its scissor-wielding antagonist would be too much for my rather delicate constitution. Although that mostly was proven true when I played a fan-translated version of this unique point-and-click title over the weekend, I'm not going to give up on it--mainly because I want to learn more about the aforementioned villain, the titular mansion and protagonist Jennifer Simpson.

Are any of you participating--or planning to participate--in #HorrorMonth? If so, which titles have you short-listed for this particular game-along?