I exchanged Skate today after realizing the game had some major gameplay issues. Notably getting onto side walks when skating slow... you always end up grinding the curb. Plus I really felt some of my moves weren't being read properly. It was no loss though Gamestop has a one week exchange policy for used games. So I traded it in towards more XBLA points and the remainder to add to my Too Human pre-order.

Now about XBLA..... I can't get over it, this is exactly what I wanted to see in video games. There's a great variety of games on there. My most recent purchase is Braid (I'll post a review on that once I beat it, but so far it's incredible). But being able to play all these demos makes me search around for something new to try and then buy.

They aren't full scale games but they do have a lot of replay value because almost all of them utilize Xbox Live.

But I'm serious when I say this: I hardly play disc games any more. I sit down and play XBLA games or console game demos instead of playing Halo 3 or GTA IV. Which are also both mammoth games.

Basically because of XBLA I can buy games that I would normally think twice about when they're boxed and $30 and instead spend $10. I can't wait for XNA Games either then there will endless content to check out.

Tony Hawk comes out year after year but last year Skate came out and totally blew me away. But I only have to demo.... I'm dying to get into it. But I was afraid Skate 2 would be out exactly one year after Skate 1 came out, making my purchase not worth the money. The good news is that it's planned for '09. Hopefully November '09 which, like Gears of War, is a good 2 year cycle will be when it's released.

The trailer for it was brief but completely blew me away. FIrst of all, like Tony Hawk Underground (which is probably the best tony hawk), you can get off your board. But different and probably better from Tony Hawk you get off your board for more than pinpointing a starting spot for your trick run, you also use it to push objects. I hope they don't let you get off the board as part of a combo multiplier which THU did. Anyways there's so much going for this game and series I can't wait to play more of it.

To add to EA's credibility, who has heard anything about Mercenaries 2 lately? I'm guessing that means more development time, which rocks. I can wait forever as long as I get a great game that I'll play for just as long.

I like the new guy that headed the company late last year.

Wishlist:

-Too Human (I might trade in GTA IV towards it)

-Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix

-These are all up in the air: Gears of War 2, Mirror's Edge, Braid, Castle Crashers, and Skate.

Fallout 3 and Silent Hill are interesting and I'll probably rent those.

I can't wait for the 360 dashboard redesign so I can be in college with my friends and watch Netflix with everyone after going to dinner or playing games earlier in the night. This definitely means I'm bringing my Aerobed to college this year. Much more comfy and suitable than the floor of the school's desk chairs.

Pretty sure Spore is supposed to be a mass appeal game. Yet they demand OSX Leopard. That doesn't make any sense. That's like releasing it for Vista only about a year ago. It's a stupid decision and an easy way to exclude one other game from my wish list. I got a brand new mac book pro for school last year (it was mandated by the school). I can't use that 1 year old top of the line laptop to play a game intended for the masses? It's almost a comical decision, I'm pissed obviously, but it's just dumb.

Oh well, as I said, it makes my Games To Get List a little shorter.

As in:

-Too Human

-Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix

-Castle Crashers (just because I like supporting the indie developers that do cool stuff the The Behemoth has a great track record, making Alien Homonid)

Honestly, I'm not even sure how many of those will come through.

Madden and NHL 2k are always valid options but I've been more inclined lately to stay away from realistic games. (Why not just play real football or hockey/soccer?)

Gears of War 2 may be another great game. So who knows?

But one or two XBLA games and a 360 game (Too Human is my top choice but again no guarantee) are all I'm after this holiday season after EA blew it on the Mac front.

Smash Bros Brawl is a game I could play for a very long time but it suffers from something Nintendo HAS to fix, their online policy. Adding online to games could solve a lot of problems. In the same way they make hardcore games like Mario Kart more casual they could be making casual games more hardcore.

Think about Wii Sports with a ranked online mode..... People would be playing competitive doubles all the time, or even golf or boxing. Bowling is too easy to perfect and baseball is a little to shallow but they could still add fun for anyone.

If Smash Bros Brawl stuck to 2 player, 3 stock brawls online they'd be pleasing everyone. It's much more likely the game would be playable too.

The big problem is they haven't pushed hardcore games in many ways and they could have been much smarter about it. So my anticipation for Wii has been reduced to frustration. I waited outside on launch day overnight and now I really don't care about it. If Nintendo changed their online philosophy I would gladly buy their next system but not until then. The DS is about as good online as Wii but they gotta give DS a good (not PSP like) analog stick.

But back on track, I'm selling my Wii. I have 360 and DS and a Mac and those are more than enough.

I keep finding myself impressed with the things Apple is doing. I never really payed enough attention to their product lines (besides iPods) until I wound up in college with a MacBookPro I was mandated to have by my college.

Now I find it very easy to use, bug free (Tiger OS), and easy to keep up with Apple itself as a company. Mac Book Pros, MacBooks, and iMacs come out the same time each year, around mid-may. The iPhone it seems, will get updated slightly after. And the iPods are updated end of september/early October. I always liked iTunes and found it was a convenient way to view or listen to media and it continues to improve.

The main focus though here is the iPhone, now that you understand my perspective a little I'll start: This thing is the all in one portable machine. Media, games, phone, messaging, business, and education. (though some of these are being upgraded through the new Apps Store)

Sega showed Super Monkey Ball up and running on an iPhone in near Gamecube quality. It's all about playability but the the is, it runs good. So there's a lot of exciting possibilities for games on the system. Monkey Ball btw is going to have 110 levels and be $10, good deal.

I think ultimately for the better it introduces a simpler control scheme. you've got two touch points on the screen, and an accelerometer. That's it. To me that sounds like pure gameplay. Of course when you consider the touch screen could have buttons on it, that opens up a lot of possibilities.

Seeing stuff like this i can't help but thikn the future will be to have a portable device you can do everything on. including playing your games on a TV through blue-tooth or Wi-Fi transmissions from your portable to the TV and using the portable as your controller. It makes sense I hope that's what we're moving towards.

It would be so much better if we spent $400 on one system and then paid for some add ons from major companies. Like Nintendo adding motion sensitivity, Microsoft making a premium internet service that only works with certain games (all games would be even better), and Sony's more arthouse approach games through online distribution. Just a bare system with the controller varying depending on the company who makes your game player and a 100-200GB hard drive. Of course the specs would have to be like a PS3 or 360. But that's in an ideal situation..

I've been playing the game for approximately 4 or 5 hours now. I haven't completed too many missions, but enough to get the gist of it (maybe 5 or 6) mainly I've been exploring the possibilities of Liberty City. I'm fairly familiar with the sections of the city that are open. Now I can tell you straight out THIS GAME IS NOT A 10. Not to discredit everything it does right. like the fact when you've beat up someone and you stand over them your leg which is on top of their body rises. There's tons of impressive details along those lines BUT you cannot go into any more buildings than you could in San Andreas. It seems like there's less actually.
People have complained about driving but I can tell you its fine, you're not supposed to drive 100 through city neighborhoods and this game won't let you do that unless you're a really, really good driver. The controls DO feel a bit wonky at first, but this is a long game and there's plenty of time to adjust and they DO work.The reason ITS NOT A 10 though are because of the previously mentioned problem with buildings not being accessible, other little glitches like the fact you can crouch and be submersed in water yet stay there forever and not drown, and almost all the little problems from previous GTA games as well as other various problems with games (ex:stand near a group of people talking and very often all you'll hear are sparse random comments)HOWEVER one big positive for this game is that Liberty City, as the reviews state, does looked lived in. THAT IS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE GAME over everything else. It looks like people use it, trash it, and use it for all it's worth. In that respect the game is beautiful.So I mean they've improved combat with the cover system and battle mechanics. (people want a Tekken type of battle system in gta and that's not meant to happen). The gunplay is great, everything feels great BUT IT'S NOT WORTHY OF A HIGHEST AWARD from any site. Close but it needs to do more than just make a prettier city than what was in the GTA III series to make that game.

I have logged a solid 35 or so hours into Smash Brawl and I'm pretty sure I haven't even unlocked half the stuff yet. I've only beaten 28 missions and under 10% of the Subspace Emissary but on the other hand we've had around 500 brawls during that period. I've also created a few really good stages, defeated classic mode a few times on intense, unlocked miscellaneous stuff through Break the Targets and Home-Run Contest, used some hammers to unlock some stuff relating to coin matches (which we hardly play but are a nice variant and change in pace once in a while when playing solo). The bottom line is that there's so much to do it's unreal, I guess I plan on doing it all, getting really good, and eventually, play some tournaments.I've also been thinking about getting a PS3. I figure if I want to have a future in game music composition I have an excuse to get all 3 systems. PS3 looks like the indie games system to me, the good stuff comes through its online store. And of course LittleBigPlanet looks wicked. I also like Motorstorm the core racing mechanic seems really good from what I've played. Plus having a Blu-Ray player would be nice. Especially because I have a nice TV for it.As for music equipment over the summer I want to buy a wireless mic that can go over my ear, no burden of microphones while I play guitar. Those cost about $400 so it's something to work towards. I also want an amplifier. I'll see what my options are, but I plan to spend about $1,000 but I have no idea what a really good, small gigging amp costs and I'm in music school so that's not good.Finally my 08 wish list is pretty simple:-Too Human (360)-Spore (Mac)-Mario Kart (Wii)-Pikmin_if they don't announce a new one I'll get Pikmin 2 (Wii/GC)-I never know what's coming but I'm sure DS will have something. (DS)

I may not have been awake that whole time. (I don't know if I was) Anyways it's the game. Let's go play it and get serious good, rock the cradle, etc you know the deal its amazing. Can't wait for the good times ahead playing this with friends. (not just weeks or months but years, no doubt years ahead)

I traded in a few games Sunday. Mario Kart DS, Mario Strikers Charged, Trauma Center, and Advance Wars Dual Strike. Not only was I able to fully pre-order Smash Bros Brawl with that money, I was left with about $12 after the fact. (when you pre-order Smash at Gamestop you get 20% extra trade-in value for your games, plus I had my EB Edge card which gave me an extra 10% on top of that I believe.) So sure enough I find on the store shelf a game i was looking at years ago, Odama. For those that don't know it's a military command game for Gamecube. You use the mic to control troops (I guess not unlike Tom Clany's EndWar but a little more shallow and then you basically are playing pinball try to kill other troops with a huge ball that goes around the screen, while mnagine your own and trying to carry a bell to an objective point.) It's a great concept and it works. There's some time you gotta spend to adapt though.

anyways that was $13 plus tax so for $1.68 after trade-in's I got Smash Brawl pre-ordered and Odama with the mic and the thing that clips the mic to the GC controller. Mondo cool.