The big three of E.

So, E3 --the biggest event of the year for anyone interested in video games and everything surrounding them--is here, and in full swing. Having spent the better part of my day watching the press conferences from the big three of E3, that is Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. I thought I'd share with you some of my personal highlights and disappointments of those shows. It'll be a grand mish mash of thoughts on the show.

So the first one I saw was Microsoft's conferense, which was good, but still worst of the three. Of course, a lot of the show was about their upcoming motion sensing camera killer machine thing, Project Natal. Or as it is now known, Xbox Kinect, a name I'm torn about. It makes sense and all but it just sounds wrong. Then again, that's what everyone thought about the Nintendo Wii when it first launched, and look how that turned out. Anyway, it isn't about the device's name, it's about it's capabilities, which from what was shown was very impressive. It may not have any titles of interest for me personally, but seeing what it was capable of was impressive none the less. Much like the Wii, Kinect is marketed towards a more casual crowd, which clearly shows through the titles they demonstrated. Think Wii Sports, Wii Fit and so on, but with better graphics and from the looks of things, even better controls. The thing about Kinect is that it isn't just a controller, it's a device you put in front of your TV (directed at you, not the TV) that allows you to control your games by scanning and recognising your entire body. So combine my Wii comparison with better graphics and that and you'll have a good idea of what Kinect is all about.

Now, the bad thing about it is that it took up most of Microsoft's show, which is kind of boring if casual games aren't your thing. They did of course show other games as well, such as Gears of War 3, Fable III, Halo: Reach and bunch of other non-Xbox 360 exclusive titles. What was shown of Gears of War 3 wasn't much, but it made me interested at least. Cliff Bleszinski showed off some of the 4-player co-op action of the game, which featured mutating lambent (bad guys) and female COG soldiers. All of which made me excited, but more about seeing how the story turns out than anything else. I mean, don't get me wrong, it looked great and all, but in the end it was pretty much more Gears of War. With sexy ladies and mutating monsters in four player co-op, so it's all good! Other than that, the only other exclusive game that interested me was Fable III. Peter Molyneux came on stage, talked for a while and then presented us with a trailer. It didn't show any gameplay of it other than in trailer-form, but my love for it's predecessors is enough for me to be happy about the promise of another game in the series. What they did show wasn't all that impressive really, but they didn't show much at all, so I guess we'll see how that one turns out. As I mentioned, they also showed off Halo: Reach, but since I have absolutely no interest in that game or that series in general, I didn't pay much attention to it. But hey, I guess it makes the Halo fanboys happy, right?

The day after it was time for Nintendo's and Sony's press conferences, but one at a time makes writing easier, so I'll start with Nintendo's. They started out by showing off a new Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Again, I've never played nor been interested in the Zelda games, so I don't have much interest in a new game in the series. What I can say is that Shigeru Miyamoto came out on stage to demonstrate it. To me, it looked very much like Twilight Princess but brighter, with new controls and new gadgets and weapons. The demonstration had a few technical issues with the Wii Motion Plus, which didn't do too much damage, but it's a shame that they couldn't show it off properly. At least for the people who cares. Anyway, the show went on and they went on to talk about numbers here and there, and how the general misconception that the Wii is a fad, is WRONG! Proven by sales figures. Then they started showing off some new games in trailer form, such as Kirby's Epic Yarn, Disney's Epic Mickey, Mario Sports Mix and so on. I say "and so on", because I have no real interest in any of those games, but what I do have an interest in is Donkey Kong Country Returns, which was announced at their briefing. It isn't a remake, but an entirely new game for the Wii. It did have some of the same music though, but that's fine by me, because the music in that game is great! They showed a little bit of it in the form of a trailer, and judging from that, it looks very much like the old school gameplay you know and love, but with better graphics, new levels and probably a couple of new game-mechanics as well. So I'm officially stoked about it, and it will probably be the next Wii game I buy, something I haven't done since I bought the first Super Mario Galaxy.

Now the other big thing at Nintendo's press conference was of course, the Nintendo 3DS. Their upcoming portable successor to the DSi. And man oh man, what an awesome little machine it is, or at least seems to be. It's pretty much a DSi with better graphical capabilites as well as the ability to show it's image in 3D, as well as taking pictures with it's three built-in lenses, also viewable in full 3D. All without the need for 3D-glasses, so it will definately be interesting to see how well it works when I can finally get my hands on one. Even if that may be a good while away. They also announced a slew of developers that had signed with them to make games for the N3DS, and I mean a lot of them. And it wasn't just Nintendo and some guys you've never heard of, but big developers like EA, Activision, Harmonix and so on. So yeah, interesting stuff indeed!

So, on to the third of the three, Sony. Their show had some great stuff for us to enjoy, maybe even so great that they stole the show for me. The show pretty much starts with them telling us that 3D is big and here to stay, and by telling us about Killzone 3 and how it will be 3D-enabled when it launches next year. Subsequently followed by some gameplay in 3D, which doesn't really do much for people like me who are watching online, but they gave the audience that was present 3D-glasses and urged them to put them on. I can't really say anything about the 3D in the game but what I do see was graphically impressive, just like Killzone 2 was. Other than that, though, there really isn't much of interest to me about the Killzone games. Sure, they look good, but from what little I played of the second one in the series, it just felt like your run of the mill shooter. Albeit a really, really good looking one. Then they went on to talk about how they are giving the PSP a big marketing boost with great deals and new games. On top of that, we supposedly need to "step our game up" with the PSP, because that's the only place you can do that according to Kevin Butler and some kid in their commercial for it. While that's all fine and good, I and probably everyone else who watched was disappointed, since we were all suspecting Sony to say something about a rumoured PSP 2. But no, they're sticking with the current PSP, which I think can work, but I doubt it will, unless they start releasing really, really good games for it. They did announce new games, but given it's success in the annals of history, I don't think it'll work this time either.

Of course, since both Microsoft and Nintendo are doing it, so are Sony. I'm talking about motion sensing technolgy. Something they're calling Playstation Move. It looks pretty much like the standard Wii controllers, but with a big glowing ball on top. When they showed off games for it, it was more or less the same deal as with their competitors, very casual focused games, sport games and cutesy throwing stuff-games. However, they seem to have more 'real' games coming to it than both Microsoft and Nintendo, which is good. It seems to work well enough, but there wasn't anything that got me excited.

--Stand by, for an important announcement from the Aperture Science Emergency Surprise System: Deploying surprise in 3... 2... 1...--

Portal 2! PORTAL 2! At SONY's press conference! Aperture Science had previous to E3 announced that there would be a surprise at the event. But I doubt anyone had expected it to be at Sony's conference, although I must admit that I had a sneaky suspicion while watching the earlier parts of it, that it would be here. Why? Because it hadn't appeared as Microsoft's conference, nor at Nintendo's, so where else could it be? Especially since Gabe Newell, founder of Valve, had been very outspoken about what he thought of the PS3 a few years back (it wasn't pleasant). So yeah, surprise indeed! Gabe Newell entered the stage as soon as GlaDOS had announced and deployed the mentioned surprise. He goes on to tell us that Portal 2 will be available on the PS3, and not only that, but it will be the best version of it on any home console. It will also use Steam throught the PS3 for automatic updates, Steam achievements and so on. I'm guessing that's a big part of why Gabe went with Sony for this one, the ability to update his game at will, without Sony having to approve everything first. A process he had to go through with Microsoft. After that announcement he gave us a very cool looking trailer, in which we see GlaDOS booting up and what looks like rebuilding the Aperture Science facilities. Telling us: "It's been a loooong time, how have you been? I think we can put our difference behind us. For science. You monster.". While watching this, I am of course giddy as hell and overjoyed by just hearing GlaDOS's sweet, sweet voice again. So I am more hyped than ever about Portal 2, and I can't wait till I get to play it next year.

After that there was one more surprise, they showed a trailer that showed two cab drivers arguing about some car combat games. One of the drivers leaves, and the other, cigar smoking driver throws away his cigar. The camera follows the cigar as it falls to the ground, where it is subsequently picked up by none other than Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal, using it to set his head on fire, and telling us that "it's good to be back!". After that, David Jaffe of Eat, Sleep, Play, Inc entered the stage and showed us some gameplay from the new Twisted Metal game. I haven't played any of the previous games in the series, but I've always enjoyed it's dark and gritty style. So I guess time will tell if this game will be any different. With that said, I have to say that while watching them play it, all I could think about was how much I liked Vigilante 8 back in the day.


And that, my friends, is it for today. My highlights and thoughts of the big three's press conferences. There is undoubtedly stuff I've forgotten or have been too lazy to go back and add, and I will do so tomorrow. Other than that, since E3 isn't over yet, I will be updating with more jibberish about more games during the week.

The funeral of hearts.

So, I haven't written in a while, mainly because I haven't felt like it. Since last time I've begun studying for my drivers' license, and I've come pretty far, but not even halfway done. With that said, I haven't been at the driving school for about 6 weeks now, due to me and my girlfriend breaking up. And I haven't really felt like doing anything at all since we did. Which could explain why I haven't been writing here as well, I'm not feeling any better now either, I actually feel worse due to some events involving her. But I guess I only have myself to blame, like always. In either case, it's hard as hell having the one you love with all your heart and soul not wanting to be with you nor hear from you. So that's how I'm doing on a personal level, crap.

Anyway, once again I am broke-ass broke. I once again have no money at all, not for games at least. Which really sucks because there's quite a few games on the horizon that I'd be very happy to purchase. Such as UFC Undisputed 2010, Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake. I won't be able to get a hold of any of them, but me and a friend of mine have been playing the hell out of the demo for UFC Undisputed 2010 and if that demo i anything to judge by, they've really improved on everything. And I do mean everything, the game has an incredible feel to it in comparion to UFC Undisputed 2009. It's no longer as clunky or 'stiff', it is smoothe as hell, from the animation to the controls to the look and feel of it, it's really fluent. There's also the ability to dodge strikes now, which makes for more fun fights. Also, you don't really feel like you're going in to different modes while clinching or being on the ground, even though you actually are, it blends from one 'mode' to the other so well that it's not even an issue. If I do get a hold of it once it's released, I'll have a full review up here. But in the meantime, there's a demo out for both PS3 and Xbox 360, so go play it!

I really don't have anything else to say, but now, if anyone reads the blog, they'll know that I'm alive.

Peace out, yo!

Kif! We have a conundrum.

I'm broke... I'm broke-ass broke. I have no money to spend on anything other than surviving and paying bills. To solve that problem, I'm trying to sell 2 tickets to a Depeche Mode concert. If I'm successful in that endeavor, I will have some money for a game, which is great. Here is where the conundrum comes into play; I don't know which game to get, and I can't get both, making this potentially new found money more problematic than I'd like it to be.

The games duking it out in an epic battle inside my head are Bioshock 2 and Heavy Rain. The former because I loved the first one, and would obviously like to play the sequel. It's much of the same reason for the latter, but it's more that I loved Quantic Dream's last game, Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy). So it will be very interesting to see how that game turns out, seeing as I've been hyped about it since before I even got a PS3, which was back in '07 I think. The information on Bioshock 2 has been kind of... Not great, as many people that have actually played says it's nothing special. But now that reviews are starting to come out, they're saying the complete opposite, of course it isn't by the same people, but still. It makes it hard for me, the consumer, to decide whether or not to take the plunge. But even so, I'm very interested in Bioshock 2, so unless I see a majority of reviews being negative, I will take the plunge eventually. This is true of both games, I will be getting both of them at some point, the problem is that I can only get one of them now. Of course, If I wasn't such a sucker for Collector's Editions of games, this would be a much, much easier decision to make. I am a sucker for that stuff though, so it kind of renders the point moot.

Since neither games are out yet, I'm obviously talking about pre-orders, which you have to do if you want to get the Collector's Edition of games. At least if you want to be sure that you're getting a copy. So yeah, Bioshock 2 has more goodies, but Heavy Rain has more appeal. What to do?

Other than that, I've been playing through Dragon Age: Origins again to unlock my remaining achievements so that I can add yet another game to my 1000/1000 collection. It was going fine and all, thought a few things was odd, like that I couldn't unlock talent specializations and so on. But I figured that you had to do that again for a second playthrough, so I kept playing happily. When I got to the point where I would normally unlock the "Recruiter" achievement, I got all excited and thought "finally! After 20-30 hours of no achievements at all, here it comes!". But this was not the case, I didn't get my precious points. So I thought that maybe you had to finish the game first, but I still checked it out with my friend, Mr. Google. And both to my surprise and relief, there is in fact a bug with the latest patch that causes all these problems. Re-locking specializations, making people not get their achievements and making it impossible to hit level 20. I don't know if that last problem is just me, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was also due to the patch. So now I've stopped playing while waiting for a patch to fix the patch, because why play when I can't get any achievements? That was the whole point of me replaying it, it's fun too, don't get me wrong, but that was the main reason. Anyways, now I really don't have anything to play, or at least nothing that I'm interested in at the moment. Bioware said that they're working on it though, and that they've begun testing a patch, so it's all good I guess.

Also, a guy that runs a site I used to write for (ok, I wrote one review and a demo impression) and recorded a single podcast with, said that he's thinking about starting up the podcast again. Which means that I would probably be involved, so hopefully people on the interwebs may still hear me and 2 other guys' bad english in audioform. Talking about games and stuff. Nothing is certain, but here's hoping!


Until next time, dear readers. Of whom there are none!

So it's that time of the year again.

I know you're thinking christmas time, but you are wrong! The time I'm referring to is GOTY time, so I though I'd share my top games of the year. Now it won't be a top ten list because frankly, I couldn't think of ten games that I think deserves to be put on such a list. So here are the games I liked the most this year and why.


7. DJ Hero.

As a fading fan of rhythm games, I found DJ Hero to be an extremely welcome change to the initial concept. It's still the same idea, hit the notes as they come at you, but with the turntable controller, complete with crossfader and effect triggers, it makes the gameplay feel completely fresh. So except for it being a rhythm game, it really hasn't got much in common with it's Guitar Hero / Rock Band counterparts. From it's name it's quite obvious that it isn't going to be the same old rock songs you've already played to death in other games, rather DJ Hero focuses on Hip Hop, Club and Dance songs in various formats. The mixes are actually pretty good in most cases, but there are cases of songs being used in mixes too much, on the other hand you have 8 mixes by Daft Punk and they're playable characters as well, so that's an instant win.


6. Infamous.

This was kind of a surprise to me, I had heard something about it back in 2008, but then it kind of disappearedfrom radar. However, it came back close to it's release and since I had heard good things and read good reviews, I figured that I'd give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. The game is about Cole McGrath, a bike messenger who ends up being at the wrong place at the wrong time. This, in turn gives Cole the supernatural ability to control and eminate electricity. From there, you start off your adventure across Empire City. Cole can traverse the city with ease, using telephone wires, trainrails and his ability to fly for short periods of time to get places. This is part of what makes the game so great, how you get around. It's got a really nice flow to it, whether you're climbing up buildings or flying, it feels great. Not to mention his newfound powers, which you can upgrade as you go along. It's really satisfying electrocuting people to death in whatever way you do it. The environment, how you traverse it, and the fantastic gameplay is what makes this game stand out to me.


5. Modern Warfare 2.

What?! Modern Warfare 2 isn't on the top spot?! Nope it's not. But believe me, this is a great game that belongs in everyones collection. It takes what the first Modern Warfare brought to the table and amps it up a good deal. The main campaign is like an adrenaline fueled roller coaster from start to finish, it's more over the top than the first one, and I for one didn't think that was possible. The story is similar to that of the first one, with political intrigue and terrorism, but it takes it to a whole new level here. In addition to a great single player campaign, it has also greatly improved on it's multiplayer aspect, which also brings up a notch from that of it's predecessor. For example, now you can shoot down UAV's. The leveling mechanics make a return, but with much more added to it, there's litteraly hundreds of badges and emblems to unlock for playing multiplayer. Killstreaks are still there, but now much more devastating, like the 25 killstreak reward of having a nuclear bomb delivered to the battlefield, blasting everything and everyone to smitherines and automatically ending the match, giving you the win. This is probably what will take up the Xbox Live servers more than anything else in the coming year.


4. Resident Evil 5.

First thing's first, I still absolutely love Resident Evil 4, I own multiple versions of it, and I've probably played it upwards of 50 times. It is one of my favorite games of all time. With that said, it's no surprise that I was stoked to finally play it's sequel, and you know what, it does not disappoint. Sure, it doesn't pack the same punch as RE4 did, but what you get here is an action packed adventure in the same vein as it's predecessor. In addition to that, everything has been improved upon, from the sound design to the impressive graphics and atmosphere. The game plays almost exactly like RE4, and since I love that game, this automatically wins me over. The story is still pretty bad, but in a good way, you know how B-movies sometimes are so bad that they're actually good? That's how it is with the story. You play as Chris Redfield and his newly found partner, Sheva Alomar. Together, you're sent out by the BSAA to put a stop to a looming terrorist threat. It's no surprise that it's Wesker who's behind it all, and in this game you finally put a stop to him and his devious plans. Which is both good and bad I guess, because Wesker was one hell of a character. The game is now focused around co-op and you will always have your partner with you, even if you're playing by yourself. The AI of Sheva can be pretty bad at times, but if you're playing it with a friend, it gives you a fantastic co-op experience.


3. Batman: Arkham Asylum.

When this was first announced, I didn't have very high expectations, so I didn't really follow it, but closer to it's release there was incredible hype for it. So I started looking closer, but I was still thinking "yeah, like this is going to be any good" because how many good Batman games have there been? Well you can count them on one finger, and it's this one. The game puts you in Batman's shoes as he's walking The Joker into Arkham Asylum after capturing him, something that Batman suspects was way too easy to do this time. His suspicions were right, as everything goes to hell soon after you enter, Joker takes over the prison and your adventure begins. On your way to capture the Joker once more, you'll run in to some of his friends at Arkham, like Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Croc and a few others. On top of that, The Riddler is afoot at Arkham, leaving you a plethora of riddles to be solved, mocking you as you progress. The game has absolutely stellar gameplay and mechanics, and navigating Arkham Asylum is as fun as it is exciting. With an extinsive arsenal of Batman's gadgets and hi-tech toys at your disposal it makes everything even better. In addition to that, the game also has great combat mechanics, ones that are easy to learn, but difficult to master, and they're put to good use in the many boss fights you'll encounter. As you explore Arkham you'll come across patient interviews with many of Batman's mor noteworthy enemies. Even if they all don't make an appearance in the game, it's interesting to listen to and read up on them, especially if you're not that into Batman, like myself. The game has absolutely nothing to do with the recent movies and builds entirely on the comic books, something that I really appreciate, since I'm not that big of a fan of the movies. Lastly, something has to be said about the Terrific voice acting of Mark Hamill as The Joker, fantastic work, and he practically steals the show. However, it is Batman's show, and it's one you shouldn't miss.


2. Assassin's Creed II.

Even with the first games' many problems and repetetive nature, I still liked it a lot. Coming in to this sequel I was a little worried that it migh still have the same problems. But my worries were unfounded, as it contains none of those problems, not a single one. It has the same basic mechanics of climbing buildings, jumping on rooftops and murdering people. But it improves massively on all aspects of it, making traversal that much more fluent. It has also implemented a monetary system and ways of fast-travelling to different cities. Being set in renaissance-era Italy, and the cities of Florence, Rome and Venice to name a few, it makes it feel far less tedious getting to each. The game also adds in real-life figures of tha era, most notably Leonardo Da Vinci, who will help you progress in the game by helping you build various weapons and gadgets from schematics that you'll find throughout the cities. This time around, you're put in the role of Ezio Auditore da Firence, and you'll follow him on his journey from being a careless youngster in the streets of Florence to finding out that his father used to be a member of the Assassins and taking over his part as an assassin yourself. It's a more interesting character than Altaïr was, since you find out more about him as the story progresses. Said story is one of massive conspiracies against you and the Auditore's and the Assassins. It takes you on a journey of assassinations that makes much more sense then that of the first game, so it's not as repetetive. The story is also what makes this game stand out, on top of the story that takes place for Ezio, there's another level of going on for Desmond Miles, they guy you're really playing as. That story unfolds by finding hidden glyphs around the world and translating them through the Animus. It builds on the whole conspiracy thing heavily and mixes it in with real world conspiracy theories, mentioning Nicola Tesla, the first generation of independent bankers and so much more. And since I'm very interested in that sort of thing, it's really nice to see these thing being implemented in a game of such a high caliber. The game's story is ultimately what makes the game stand out to me, though it's a great game even without that.


1. Dragon Age: Origins.

I knew coming in that this was supposed to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate II, but having never played that game, that didn't really matter to me. What made me interested in this is that it is an old school styled RPG, and it's made by BioWare, so you can't go wrong, right? Right! This is probably the game that I've sunk the most hours in this years, probably over a hundred hours on multiple characters. The main story clocked in at about 60 hours for me, but it could easily have taken much longer if I wanted to do absolutely everything. Even if I did most of it, there's much more to be had. If this game is played on the Xbox 360, which I did, it has much in common with BioWare's Mass Effect, in how it plays. Your spells are on a dial and all that, which makes sense for a console. If you play it on a PC however, it has a more traditional layout, more like that of World of Warcraft for example. The game starts out with you picking a race for you character and an Origin story to go with it, there are 6 all in all, and the game can vary heavily depending on which you chose. Each has it's own starting area and it will affect what an how people speak to you throughout the game. After completing your origin story, you're set out in the world of Ferelden, free to go do whatever you want. As you progress through the game, you'll soon come across other adventurers and characters that will join your party, and then it really gets going. I didn't feel that the story was all that great as just a story, but the way you play through it is absolutely fantastic. There's something to say for the voice acting as well, the various characters that will join your party have their own opinions on things and they will chit chat amongst eachother, which makes for some really funny dialogue. Your decisions through out the game will also affect what your fellow party members think of you, and this is important as you can make them either love you or hate you (more or less). And that also has it's effects on things, as they can outright leave your party for good if they don't like you. Following both your own and your party members characted development is greatly done, as they all have their individual personalities, opinions and tastes. Of course some are more interesting than others, but that's the way thing are I guess. It's hard for me to put in to words what exactly I liked so much about this game, but I'm sure it's lengthy, exciting, thrilling, fantastic adventure has something to do with it. As well as great voice acting, combat mechanics, dialogue and gameplay does. This is one game you should not miss out on, and it's the best experience a game could give me this year.


So there you have it, my favorite games of 2009. There's a few games that I haven't played that might have made it on this list, but since I haven't played them, I can't say anything about them either. Borderlands comes to mind, a game that I've wanted to play but can't really spare the cash for it. I guess I'll get around to it when it gets a price cut.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good year for games, again. And 2010 doesn't look like it's going to be any different, starting off with such high caliber games as God of war III, Final Fantasy XIII, Dark Void, Bayonetta and Mass Effect 2. I have to say, I'm looking forward to it.

See you in 2010, people!

I cönqüred Brütal Legend!

Finally! After having spent the past 2 weeks playing it, with a few days of break from it. I've gotten the full 1000/1000 achievements points out of it, and while I'm glad that I don't have to go back to it, the last two achievements have been a pain in the ass. Basically it boils down to you having to win 50 match-made matches online, which is hard for numerous reasons. The game's multiplayer isn't all that great, it's unbalanced and relies on an aspect of the single player campaign that wasn't too good to begin with. The multiplayer takes the form of the campaign's "RTS battles", and while that system isn't broken, it's not adapted well enough for multiplayer. One of the other parts that makes this a hard thing to accomplish is that there's barely anyone playing it online, or at least not that I can connect to. Most of the time it takes several minutes to find someone to play against, and when you eventually do, it's often laggy. And lastly, it's heavily unbalanced. A good Ironheade player won't stand farfin chance again an equally good Tainted Coil player, at least not in any of my cases. As for the Drowning Doom, while facing Ironheade are a tough opponent, they are at least managable. Even if I ended up just surrendering many of matches i had against them and the Tainted Coil.

On the good side of things. The single player campaignt was excellent, which might be a bad choice of words because the game certainly isn't without it's problems. While it is funny, great looking, has good voice acting and a superb soundtrack, it does try to be too many thing at once. So the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none" fits perfectly here. As an open-world game it does alright for itself but in this aspect it is way too restricitve and repetetive. It also tries to be a hack n slash game, which it also does well, except for the fact that every time you fight a larger group of enemies, it goes into it's RTS mode. If it would just maybe skip one of these elements, it might have been much better, but as it is, it's an alright game. I for one greatly enjoyed it because of it's heavy, heavy, heavy metal inspirations, and being the metalhead that I am, I might have an easier time overlooking it's problems and just enjoying the environments, dialogue and the ever so awesome soundtrack.

That turned to be some kind of quasi-review for the game, which wasn't intended, but oh well. So, what else is new? Well, to no one's surprise I couldn't stop smoking this time either. But I'm still trying to cut down on it at least, which is better than nothing I guess. Oh and I finally took the plunge and preordered a copy of Dragon Age: Origins - Collector's Edition. So that's a bit more of the money I barely have that I've spent on things that doesn't really matter. But I like me some games, and some sacrifices must be made. Even if that means eating noodles for breakfast and dinner for a few months.

I've recently had my birthday, so I'm now a year older and can call myself a 24 year old person, which is just meh. It's just another year in my book, but it's weird to think that in just 6 years I'll be 30 and am expected to have a house, job, wife, kids and a car! None of which I have right now, but I'll deal with all that when that time comes around I guess. So anyway, my girlfriend gave me a surprise visit the day after I had my birthday, so that was a pretty damned great gift from her. Even if she only stayed for less than a wewk, it's still better than nothing, so thankyou for that, my love.

Now that we're really in to the fall season, things does look beatiful around here. Very warm and vibrant colours everywhere, and that crisp winter air is slowly making itself more and more noticable. And it gets dark much earlier now too, just a month ago it got dark a lot later than what it does now. It's odd how fast the seasons changes things. Anyway, all of this makes me feel very cozy and warm and stuff, it's a great feeling to have. Now if I could just get rid of my psychological problems, things would be all fine and dandy, but no such luck yet.

Xbox Live Blacklist.

I've had enough! Enough of these people who quit the game as soon as they're about to lose. It's so goddamned annoying and well... You know how it is. So I've decided to post all the people I come across that play this way, more for myself than anything, since no one reads this blog anyway. I'll update this as I come across these people.

Allright, it's time to break up this party and stop smoking.

So yeah, I've tried before but I really have to stop smoking before it's too late. I've only been smoking for about a year or so, and not in huge quantities either, but it's not good for you any way you cut it. With all that said, today I said to myself that this is it, I have to stop. So now it's been a couple of hours since my last cigarette and so far so good. As I said I've tried to stop smoking before and those times I've lasted about a week or so before I've caved in and started again. Hopefully it'll stick this time and last forever, or at least until I die.

With that out of the way, I can tell you that the hunt for achievements in Batman: Arkham Asylum I was talking about in my last post is going... So-so, I've gotten all the achievements related to the predator modes, but I can't seem to get the hang of this freeflow combo thing. I mean it worked fair enough in the story mode, but when you have to reach a certain score to get a medal, it gets a little harder. I haven't even been able to get a single medal in those modes. Then again, I haven't put that much effort into it either, so I guess I just need a little more practice. Other than that I've gotten various achievements here and there, like catching the batarang and so on.

I'm also trying to get into Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band 2, but it's just not what it used to be. At least in Guitar Hero 5's case, or maybe it's just me who has grown tired fo rhythm games? Or perhaps the choice of songs in them, I don't know. But I'm having a hard time getting into them as much as I used to. Rock Band 2 is pretty much more of the same, which is a good thing. As I personally think that they tend to have better songs to play. Speaking of which, I've come to the conclusion that the difference between GH and RB is that while both have good songs, GH has a majority of songs that are great to listen to, not necessarilly to play. While Rock Band has more songs that aren't so big or that I've never heard of, but the majority of it's songs are great to play and let's be honest, nice to listen to as well. I think that's why GH falls short when you compare the two, or at least it does for me.

Speaking of guitars, today I've finally been able to properly tune mine, which is great because I haven't touched a guitar for months, due to me moving and having no cables for it mostly. So it's been standing there and looking all sad and lonely, without me being able to do anything about it. But today I got it done so I was able to play again, there was a short but well needed warmup time until I got the feel for it right again. So I played what I used to play and learned som new stuff and then played some more, great fun! I just wish I could get better faster. In case you're wondering, I'm using a Maison LPC-190 with a KORG Toneworks AX1500G and a Fender amp. Nothing but low-end stuff here, but you don't need high-end hardware for my skill level and what I'm playing either. I mean if it does the job, who cares? The one in the picture isn't mine but it's the exact same model and color. I tried taking a picture of mine but my cellphone won't connect with my PC so I gave up on it after trying a few minutes. Oh, and apparantly that model is one of the last hand made models that Maison produced. Which is good to know :).

Anyway, until next time, keep watching the skeeeeeeeeees!