It's hard to believe (mostly because I'm a habitual liar), but today marks my one year anniversary at GameSpot. As you can tell by going back and reading my blog post from my first day there were a lot of unknowns about the job. I had new co-workers to get to know, a new writing format to adapt to, and I had to get familiar with the GameSpot way of doing things. Thankfully I've had Greg, Jeff, and Alex to guide me and answer my many questions along the way. I only got to work with Greg Kasavin for a few months, but I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to pick his brain before he left. Jeff and Alex have seen it all at this point so anytime I'm in a situation where I need some advice they're always happy to share. Ryan's always happy to share, but usually his method of sharing involves obscene gestures and/or knocking my toys off of our shared cubicle wall.

In the last year I've written 155 reviews, which is crazy. A lot of those were multiplatform so I haven't actually written 155 different reviews, but I have played 155 different versions of games. No matter how much you love a game it's pretty tough to enjoy when you're playing it on your fifth different console. I gave Call of Duty 3 an 8.8, but I was totally sick of it by the time I got through the PS2 version. The 8.8 I gave COD 3 was the highest score I've given to a game so far. Hopefully the next year will see me reviewing my first 9.0 (or higher) game, but you never know--they get what they deserve.

One thing I've done a lot of that I wasn't expecting to do was cover events. I knew I'd be going to E3, but I wasn't sure how much other preview coverage I'd be helping with. It turns out I've done a lot. I've been to events around San Francisco, EA Tiburon for Tiger Woods and NCAA Football, Santa Monica for E3, San Diego for Sony's Gamers' Day, New York City for NBA 2K8 and NBA Live 08, Leipzig for the game convention, and I'm writing this from Namco Bandai's Japan offices as part of my TGS coverage.

Now that I've written a bunch of previews I've got a newfound respect for our previews crew. You have no idea how difficult it is to write a preview based on 10 minutes with a game when we've already previewed the game three times. Brad, Justin, Brian, and Ricardo have an amazing ability to turn lemons into lemonade and turn bad demonstrations into good previews. I've gotten better at doing this, but I still have a lot to learn from the masters.

I haven't done as much on camera stuff as I'd like, but hopefully that will chance over the coming year. I'm the first to admit that I'm not great on camera, but I try to make up for my inexperience by carefully preparing for each appearance. That way if I'm boring at least I know I'll be informative and boring. GameSpot Live guys like Vinny, Frank, and Jim (and Rich, too) have been great sources of information and they've always been happy to give me feedback on my appearances. I've only made it onto our pod cast three times this year, but I look forward to being on the show more often and getting more comfortable there as well. I really enjoy it, so hopefully I'll get the chance to yap into a microphone on the Hot Spot again soon.

I've never kept a journal or blog longer than a few days before losing interest so it's somewhat surprising that I've kept up with my GameSpot blog as well as I have. I enjoy hearing from the readers and you seem to enjoy what I've got to say, which is crazy, but nice. Getting To Know GameSpot is still rolling along and I've done 21 episodes so far. Everyone wants to know when I'll turn the camera on myself, but I'd rather get to know my co-workers before I suffer the same torture that I subject them to. I'll also do my best to spotlight the UK and Australia crew this year. This is no small feat since the only time we're together is covering huge events, but I'll do my best.

Overall it has been a great year. I love the job as much today as I did when I started and I hope that never changes. Hopefully my writing and on-camera work will continue to improve, or at least not get any worse. Though I have no idea what's in store for me I'm looking forward to tackling some new challenges this year,

I'd like to thank you all for reading and watching my blog, especially those of you who have taken the time to comment on them or email me. As long as you keep coming back I'll keep coming up with new stuff.

Now, on to year two!

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Good morning! Good night? I don't even know anymore. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that I'm in Tokyo and--if you're reading this in the United States--I'm in the future too. The future isn't all that different actually. There are no flying cars and no weird one-piece silver suits to wear. I guess I'm only one day ahead in the future, but still, it would have been cool if there were flying cars.

We left San Fran at noon on Sunday and landed in Narita, Japan at 3pm on Monday. I could barely stay awake on the 1 hour car ride to Tokyo, but I wanted to check out the sights so I forced myself to stay up. Once we got to the hotel we were all super-tired, but it was too early to go to bed. Since we had to stay up to adjust to the time difference anyway, we hit the town for a huge meal in a restaurant where each table was in its own room with cool sliding doors. It was kind of like being in Tenchu, but without crappy controls.

After dinner we went to the Sega club down the street and played some awesome arcade games like Typing of the Dead, House of the Dead 4, and Mario Kart 2 (arcade). I also won this cool little bobble-head guy out of a UFO Catcher game. He's now my official mascot for TGS 2007. You'll learn his name during the video. No, I can't remember why we named him what we named him--we had been up for 24 hours at that point so we were a bit loopy.

So that was Monday. Today I went to a neat park in the middle of downtown Tokyo and as soon as Brad finishes writing his Assassin's Creed preview we'll be headed to Akihabara to blow obscene amounts of money on toys and games. You know I'll be filming that so check back tomorrow, today, or yesterday for more!

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Get to know the people that bring you all of the great content on GameSpot in a regular series of short and lighthearted gaming-related interviews.

Episode XXI: Guy Cocker

This week's Getting To Know is with Guy Cocker of GameSpot UK. I actually shot this video at E3 figuring it would be my only chance to interview a member of the UK crew. As fate would have it just a month later I found myself in London hanging out in the GameSpot UK office and joining their podcast. So I guess I could have shot this then, but then it wouldn't have had a sweet roller coaster in the background.

It turns out there's (a little) more to Guy than a funny accent. Find out just what the heck they do over there in the UK; if he likes Pro Evo/Winning 11 or FIFA better; and why he's drawn to the seedy world of videogame hip-hop. These are the things you can only find out in Getting To Know GameSpot: UK Edition.

Getting To Know GameSpot will return in a few weeks with the long-awaited appearance of Justin Calvert. As always, thanks for watching!

Dear Sony,

I am tired of updating my PlayStation 3. Here's why: It feels like every time I turn the system on the little box telling me I've got to update pops up in the corner. So even though I just wanted to see what was new in the PlayStation Store, I've got to waste ten minutes with yet another update. Downloading, restarting, installing, and then restarting again is a blast, but my favorite part is when I have to stand right next to the TV because I'm forced to plug in the controller via the super-long three-foot USB cable you included with my $600 system. I guess I shouldn't complain--$600 wasn't enough to get you to toss HD cables in the box...

Now, if there were some tangible benefit to most of these updates I'd be less annoyed, but most of the time I don't feel like my PS3 experience has been enriched in any way. The ability to watch video remotely on my PSP seemed like an awesome idea--at least until I thought about it. I have to find some worthwhile (legal?) video on my PC, convert it to a PS3-compatible format, put it on a Memory Stick, copy it to the PS3, and then go somewhere with an Internet connection and then connect to the PS3 and watch it (I know I can watch it on the PSP in my house, too, but that's even more useless). And this was one of the more high-profile system updates--I don't even know what most of them were for.

It's also true that if I played my PS3 more and used it for something other than a Blu-ray player (I'll never drop $30 on one, by the way. Netflix all the way!) that there wouldn't be an update waiting for me every single time I turned the thing on. I tell you what; give me some more good reasons (like the awesome, but hella short Heavenly Sword) and I will happily use the system more. Until then, try holding off on the meaningless updates and wait until you have a few worthwhile features to add before you waste some more of my time.

Regards,
Aaron Thomas

P.S.
I'm also annoyed with the Wii as well. That will be my next letter.

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While the primary purpose of my trip to Europe was to cover the Leipzig Games Convention, I had a secondary agenda: Snacks. I started my trip in London and my first or second night there I went to a convenience store with Justin. I was amazed by the vast array of snacks and candy that I had never heard of. So I did what any sensible person would do--I bought a ton of junk food over the next three days, ate it all, saved the wrappers, hauled them around Europe, and finally shot a video detailing my thoughts on each snack when I got to Milan.

So there you have it. Watch and learn. Or if you live in the UK, watch and see what I think of your crazy snacks!

It's not every day that you get to meet someone famous, but sometimes fate smiles upon you and you get the opportunity to meet someone who is known to people all over the globe. Thursday, August 23rd was one of those rare days when fate intervened and allowed a skateboarder named Tony Hawk to meet me, Aaron Thomas, someone whose reviews are so popular they've been stolen by other websites and translated into Portuguese.

It was immediately evident just how thrilled Tony was to finally get to meet me. Obviously unable to contain his excitement he was already sitting at a table eagerly anticipating my arrival. Almost as soon as I sat down Tony began to pepper me with questions, inquiring as to how I was doing. Now I get this question from nearly everyone I meet on the street, but answering the same questions over and over again is just part of working for a big-time organization like GameSpot. "Fine, thanks." I replied, taking note of a skateboard lying next to him. "Is that yours?" I asked, nodding towards the well-used board.

It turns out that it was his skateboard and he would be skating a brief exhibition later in the day. Hey, not everyone is so good they can compete in the X-Games, but at least he's enjoyed a modest amount of success. While traveling to a video game convention to give a skateboarding demonstration isn't the most glamorous way to make a living, you've certainly got to admire someone so dedicated to their passion, regardless of how meager a living it provides them.

I had an appointment immediately following our meeting, but I wanted Tony to feel like a friend and not an obligation. I don't know much about skateboarding, but I asked him a few questions about his little hobby, nodding like I understood what he was talking about when he mentioned something about a "900" or whatever. Even though we had already spent 15 minutes together, Tony was still bursting with questions, and at one point interrupted me mid-sentence and asked me to repeat mysel--another question I get all the time. Apparently what I say is sometimes so profound that people simply must hear me say it again.

Finally I had to leave so I stood up, shook his hand and told him how nice it was to meet him. With a sparkle in his eye he said the same and I turned to pack my bags. As I got ready to walk out the door I looked over and saw Tony standing alone against the wall with a look I've seen many times befor--he wanted a picture together but was undoubtedly too nervous to ask. I grabbed my camera, asked another fan of mine if he wanted to get in the shot, and happily obliged Mr. Hawk with a picture.

Sometimes meeting your idols is everything you dreamed it be.

As you can tell by looking at the above photo, the GameSpot crew covering the Leipzig Game Convention has been hard at work scouring the massive convention center in an effort to bring you the best the show has to offer.

But just because we haven't had much time for fun it doesn't mean you can't have a little fun...at our expense. This is an open invitation to all you Photoshop masters out there to have your way with this picture taken early in the morning before the show opened. Click the photo for a high quality version and then change the background, add speech bubbles, new people...whatever. Just make sure to keep it clean and hopefully at least a little tasteful.

When you're finished, post your masterpiece in this forum thread. I'll then post the best entries in the soapbox as well as the Leipzig blog section for all the world to see. Have fun!

To see a full-size version of the pictures all you've got to do is click them.

Click here to listen to the GameSpot UK Podcast

As you may or may not know I've been meandering my way around Europe, slowly heading toward Leipzig, Germany for the big games convention. My first stop was London where I did what most tourists do: eat blood (I will get you back for that Justin), get my picture taken with R2-D2 & C3PO, and crash the GameSpot UK offices and their podcast.

So for all of you out there that can't get their podcast fix by the HotSpot alone, I have logged in to an Internet café from Paris and typed on this crazy keyboard to spread the word about the great job the GameSpot UK folks do on their regular podcast. They're even great when I'm there to ruin things. Well, what are you waiting for? Check it out!

*Spurs got killed 3-1 by Everton at the premiership match I went to. At least the home team managed one goal. You've never seen a crowd go crazy until you've been to a football match (I'm still in Europe so I'm legally bound to call it football) and the home team scores. It's like they won the SuperBowl every single time.

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The life of a GameSpot Editor isn't always cupcakes on your birthday, happy hours on payday, and free bagels every Friday. Lurking in the shadows, striking fear into each and every employee is a terrible game. A game known as: Big Rigs.

Alex first discovered the pain and misery that Big Rigs was capable of way back in 2003. The game's true awfulness and status as the only game in GameSpot history to ever receive a 1.0 has been well documented, but one thing hasn't been documented: Alex's use of the game to punish staff, screen potential hires, and train new editors on exactly what the bottom of the barrel looks like.

Sick of being forced to sit and endure the broken gameplay every time I crossed Alex, I grabbed a camera, determined to expose his evil ways to the world. He seemed more than happy to brag to the camera about his methods, but hopefully this video will put an end to Alex's reign of terror so that we, GameSpot Editors, can be punished for our misdeeds in less harsh ways, like getting punched in the eye or pushed down a flight of stairs.

*I'm headed to Europe for a bit of vacation before I cover the Leipzig Games Convention so you won't be seeing or hearing much from me until the end of August. As always, thanks for watching!

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I was in New York City last week not only to get the first details on NBA 2K8, but also to see a motion capture session in person. After we saw 2K8's new dunk contest we headed off to the mecca of streetball, Harlem's Rucker Park. Upon our arrival Rudy Gay Andre Iguodala, Chris Paul, and Gerald Wallace were just suiting up for the session. After they got all decked out in the very uncomfortable looking motion capture suits they warmed up for a bit and then captured a few shots so their signature shots would be in the game. Once that was done they played two-on-two for a while, giving the guys from 2K some great moves (and quite a few turnovers) to add to their game.

As you know by know I'm crazy with the video blogs so I whipped out the camera and caught some of the evening on tape. We'll have a fancier version up later in the week that will include interviews with the players, but until then you can check out this video to see how the evening went.

*Yes, that announcer dude in the background is all sorts of annoying. Imagine him going on like that for 3 hours...