Quiet month for gaming, save for Super Mario Galaxy 2 - and my enthusiasm is tempered even for that, due to my Wiimote still experiencing syncing problems.  I passed on Nier for the upcoming 3D Dot Heroes; was that a good choice?

Looks like it's going to be a crazy month for Cave music fans: Deathsmiles Arrange Album, ESPGaluda II Black Label Original Soundtrack, Mushihimesama Original Soundtrack, Ibara Original Soundtrack, and Cave Song Black Label are all hitting on the 15th.  (Don's surely gonna be on Cloud 9 this month!)  I was a big fan of the original Cave Song album, so the new Black Label remixes are definitely anticipated. 

Any word if Symphonic Fantasies - Music from Square Enix will be released outside of Germany?

Wii, in black. I waited three and a half years, but who's laughing now? (everyone still)

I have quite a stockpile of Wii Points from when they were 50% off many moons ago, so a good list of those, too... just have to pare down which ones to start with. Certainly Megaman 9 and 10, and Super Mario 64 and the Zelda 64 titles, as, *gasp*, I've never played them in full.

Nice.  Picking up any retail games to go along with your purchase?  The first Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil 4, and Punch-Out!! get my highest recommendation.

I actually already own Galaxy and RE4w, having picked them up at remarkable bargains with the intent of buying their console in the future. New Mario will be a belated birthday gift from a friend, having played a bit of his copy and falling in love all over again.

Just Mario Galaxy 2 for me. I have a whole bunch of games from the last two months that I still need to play.

Super Mario Galaxy 2, for sure!
And contrary to Angie, I'm greatly looking forward to it, since I enjoyed the last one even more than NSMB.

3D Dot Game Heroes is an excellent choice for some classic Zelda gameplay.
Plus, lots of cute references to old 8-bit classics!
I had a blast with this game.

I'm playing NieR Gestalt (the 360 version) right now and it's definitely not bad either, though.
Going to have to play a bit more before I pass any final judgments.

Seconded, both on the purchase and the sentiment.

Picross 3D is a definite, even though I still have absolutely no idea how the puzzles work yet.
I'm also getting 3D Dot Game Heroes, and maybe I'll be able to play it on my own system by then. Woo!
There's something out there called Hexyz Force, which seems mildly interesting in the way portable RPGs usually do, that has two seperate stories, Threads-of-Fate style. I'll keep an eye on it.
Mario Galaxy 2 is on my radar, but I'm not as enthused as I could be. I liked that hub world and Rosalina, and (Yoshi's Island excepted) I don't like Yoshi. At all. So there's two things working against it right there. I know it'll be good and all, but I'm persnickety about such things, as people from the AAI thread may recall.
I don't know whether to pursue Arkham Asylum GotY. I'm interested in the game, but if 3D-glasses hooey is the only difference between this and the standard edition, I'll get the other and save some money.

On the downloading front, looking forward to the Rocket Knight revival, and there's Raystorm HD. Also, if I don't get my Ema on with that Rise From the Ashes DLC this month, I'm flying out to Sunnyvale to crack some heads at Capcom's office.

Don't get me wrong, I thought the first Galaxy was far and away the better game when stacked up against NSMB Wii, and I'm positively dying to play the sequel.  I'm just not looking forward to the inevitable drops in said Wiimote syncs when I'm just fifteen minutes (sometimes less) into a game -- and then it won't re-sync for hours, sometimes days.

Seriously Nintendo, I've gone through TWO of your systems already; I thought that was a 360-specific syndrome.  What am I doing wrong?

Soundtrack:
Deathsmiles II Makai no Merry Christmas Original Soundtrack
Deathsmiles Arrange Album
ESPGaluda II Black Label Original Soundtrack
Cave no Uta Black Label (or might pick up Twin Pack instead)

Glad May also has a couple more interesting releases, but I'll go with only the items that are quite hard to obtain later (I think I can order EPGaluda II BL in Summer with ease) because I'm becoming jobless by June and have to rely on unemployment insurance for a while It's a good chance to finally have a good job, but how come the economy still sucks so much.

Bold = definite, non-bold = interested but not necessarily buying right away (need to hear/play first)

Music

FINAL FANTASY XIII Original Soundtrack -PLUS-
Final Fantasy XI 8th Anniversary - Memories of Dusk and Dawn
Sekaiju no MeiQ³ Seikai no Raihousya Super Arrange Version
Symphonic Fantasies - Music from Square Enix
Chill SQ
ALAN WAKE SOUND TRACK

Games

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Alan Wake (I don't have a 360 but I wish I did just for this game, looks so good)

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Cave shmave!  It's actually a quiet month for me which is good because my wallet seriously needs a break!

Actually I lied.  There will be some money devoted to getting a few retro consoles hooked up to my HDTV and receiver once and for all.  Sega Genesis/CD (CDX) and SNES in true component video ran through an upscaler.. mmmm.  Will probably buy a few Dreamcast games off eBay as well.  Plus I'm very tempted to buy a flash cart for the Genesis and maybe the SNES too.  There are tons of import/beta ROMs I'd love to play on the Genesis, and imagine all the import SNES RPGs with translation patches applied running on real hardware?!

Yeah, I need to as well. The 8 games that came with the Dreamcast I just purchased aren't the ones I'm looking for. Still, considering what I paid for it it was worth it.

I think just Galaxy 2 for me unless there's something I'm forgetting. I just bought the God of War collection (only played the first one), God of War 3 (really looking forward to this) and Pokemon SoulSilver (have a bit of buyer's remorse over this one) so I'm well covered for games already.

Do you leave WiiConnect24 on? That generates heat while in use even if the system proper is off, which could in turn overheat the insides of the system and make it fluky.
I'd say either turn off WiiConnect24 except for when you're actually using it, or unplug the Wii when it's off. The little blue light it gives off when you get mail isn't worth it.

It's almost always off, and the system itself unplugged unless it's in use.  Amazingu, I also tried turning off all wireless devices like you suggested back in this thread, but to no avail.  Aside from that, all of the rest of the usual remedies (manual re-sync, unplugging the entire system for a spell, fresh batteries, a Wiimote replacement..... hell, I even bought a new sensor bar to see if that'd do anything) are a no go either.  Even Nintendo's customer service is baffled, and I'd hate to send in the system for a third time.

This is highly mysterious. Only explanation I can figure is that there's some network there that happens to interfere with the Wiimote frequencies. I assume you've taken the Wii to a friend's house or somewhere else and it has worked fine there?

Is Trauma Team coming out this month? I'm interested in that.

a black wii,, umm no. we have enough dark furniture to show off our perpetual indoor nuclear winter of shedding bunnies...
however we did get the netflix cd that allows you to stream movies through your wii's wi-fi

to dispel a common myth,, a black wii is the same size the a white one

CD's
Final Fantasy XIII OST Plus

Games
Super Mario Galaxy 2

I haven't even bothered to finish SMG1 yet... le sigh.  Or found the time to put in NSMB Wii either.  But I'm just about finished God of War III.

DVD/Blu-ray
Doctor Who - The Curse of Peladon
Doctor Who - The Monster of Peladon
Doctor Who - The Masque of Mandragora

Figurines
Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts Kai - Shiva Motorbike (arriving this week hopefully!)

You are awesome.

*high five!*

Games
None. Still working through Strange Journey and will probably finish Etrian II instead.

Music (Ouch)

M3 Doujins (boatload of cool game arranges)
Cave Matsuri (if I can find a way to get them from event or for cheap)
Super Mario Kart
OneUps 1&2 reprints

Official OST May releases held off until later in the year, but I may try to spring for the deathsmiles 2 and White Album (PS3 print) pack-ins if I can find them on YJA.

@Angela: I also agree with Sami's theory that there is some wireless interference causing a problem.  Do you live in an appartment building where many different people might be operating devices like cordless phones, microwaves, cell phones, etc. in close proximity?  Lights operating on dimmers might also release interference.

As for my May purchases, I really don't have much idea what's coming out, but I'll be getting Picross 3D and Super Mario Galaxy 2 for sure.  SonicPanda, there is a demo of Picross 3D on the Nintendo Channel if you want to see how the puzzles work.  I'm very interested in 3D Dot Game Heroes, but the reviews warn that the game, like the original Zelda, offers little direction and gets increasinly frustrating as you get in to it.  I'm might wait until it comes down in price.

I'll also be getting the following CDs:

-Final Fantasy XI 8th Anniversary - Memories of Dusk and Dawn
-Sekaiju no MeiQ³ Seikai no Raihousya Super Arrange Version
-FINAL FANTASY XIII Original Soundtrack -PLUS- (SQEX-10192)
-Chill SQ (SQEX-10193)

I suspect that I do.  But then, it not like I can ask everyone in the building to turn 'em all off just for an hour or two of gaming.   Don't Wiimotes run off of the same Bluetooth protocol as PS3 controllers?  I've never had problems with the latter.

I'll try Sami's suggestion, maybe try it at my parents' and cousins' houses.  Thanks, guys.

Is there anything special about the FFXI 8th anniversary CD?  From the description on CD Japan it seems to just be a compilation of stuff that's already been released, based on fan voting/polls...

Wiimotes and PS3 controllers both use Bluetooth, but I have no idea if it's the same frequency or anything like that.  If your equipment works fine at your relatives' houses, maybe you'll need to go to a medical supply company and invest in some lead sheeting.

Haha Angie, indeed it is. However, I'll be passing on Mushihimesama and Ibara as they are reprints and I already own the originals.

Games

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Soldner X-2 (looking forward to this one!)

Musics

Deathsmiles Arrange Album
Cave no Uta Black Label
ESPGaluda II Black Label Original Soundtrack
Deathsmiles II Original Soundtrack
yorlga
Sekaiju no MeiQ 3 Super Arrange Version
Symphonic Fantasies (although Amazon Germany postponed release so not sure if it comes out this month anymore)
Soldner X-2 Original Soundtrack(if it is released this month)
DJ Max Technica 2 - Original Soundtrack (Signature Collection)

Big month for music, but I'm looking forward to it all!

Your house wasn't built on some kind of ancient Indian burial ground, was it?

Are you guys aware that Amazon is offering a $20 credit for a future video game purchase with pre-orders of Super Mario Galaxy 2?

$200 for the Wii, both Wii Sports titles, and the Motion+ controller is actually quite excellent.  Kudos, ye of patience.

Gamestop.com appears to be doing the same deal.  I rarely order non-import games online, but this will be a terrific opportunity to put it toward the Deathsmiles Limited Edition in June.

Anyone want to clue me in on why Cave music is so great? Are they like Supersweep soundtracks, different, or better?

Are these also going to be rare prints?

Furthermore, who's even going to be carrying them in stock?

I've been kind of interested in some of their releases, but a lot of them are out-of-print, now, and even if they're being reprinted, I don't have a whole lot of spare money to...spare...so I want to be very prudent and judicious about my purchases.

I've found samples for

Cave Song Black Label           
Sekaiju no MeiQ³ Seikai no Raihousya Super Arrange Version   

and I've liked what I've heard, but how about the other ones:

Deathsmiles Arrange           
ESPGaluda II Black Label           
Mushihimesama               
Ibara                       
Final Fantasy XI 8th Anniversary - Memories of Dusk and Dawn

For CAVE music, it is usually only sold in Japan by Cave and it usually sells out the day it is released. No stores stock them regularly. It's a shame really since I'm sure it'd sell a lot more via normal shop channels.

The music for these games is a variety of styles. Let's see...There are no samples for Deathsmiles Arrange Album, but for the others, here's what I can provide:

Ibara - composed by Shinji Hosoe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T65Zmc6iWCc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NLl2DIbUA

Mushihimesama - composed by Manabu Namiki and Masaharu Iwata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLKKzrBus7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1sbYvcICFg

ESPGaluda II Black Label - originally composed by Manabu Namiki and Mitsuhiro Kaneda but arranged by Ryu Umemoto (some new compositions by him as well)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAWBiF7mZHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf07VRnjvkw

Hope that helps, but they are extremely hard to get a hold of. I had to get most of mine via Yahoo Japan Auctions.

Thanks for the samples, amigo!

Damn, and here I was, just ready to plunk some $200-300 down on this stuff...damn...it's kind of like a slap in the face, when you're introduced to good music, but it's so difficult, if not impossible, to procure...not that I'm faulting you, of course!

If paperclips were like Cave music, then about 5 people on this planet would have seen one. Maybe one person would have touched one.

So, I guess, if any of us are actually getting the music, most of us are, dare I say, d-loading it?

I would agree with your assessment. Some of us though...are crazy (like me).

http://twitpic.com/yukhe

That includes everything released up to 2010 (minus the INH DVD sets, since they aren't published by Cave). I do own all the 2010 stuff so far as well, but haven't updated my picture...

And don't forget about me! My collection is much smaller than Don's (only 7 albums), but I worked (sort of) hard to get them. :3

Also, Cave music isn't really that hard to get. You just have to be willing to search for it and then spend good money ($$$) on it.