Hey everybody! How're you all doing? I meant to update this a while ago, but due to reasons concerning my baby sister's heart and people coming over to visit, it has been delayed considerably.

I went to a garage sale and found a Microsoft Sidewinder gaming wheel and pedals for $8. I was hoping it was 360 compatible, but that was not the case. The wheel came with all the cords and A/C adaptor and works really well on my computer. Feel just like an arcade.

You all remember Best Buy's $10 game sale. On the day of the sale, Mom drove me to best Buy before they opened (Don't have my driver's license yet. Only a couple more months... :D) and there were about seven people waiting outside. Best Buy opened and the seven people and I all headed for the 360 section of the store. I was confused at first. All the prices seemed normal. Something I didn't know: Yellow Best Buy labels on the game were indicators that it was $10. Everyone was frantically grabbing games off the shelves and the store became very busy very quickly.

I was really looking for Pure, however, someone had asked the woman working at the store and they didn't have any. I also want 007 Quantum of Solace, which my Best Buy had...but for the full $60 price. Slighlty disappointed, I grabbed Alone in the Dark, Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy and Soldier of Fortune Payback/Rambo First Blood DVD combo. They were $10 each and after looking at my total, I got $120 of games for only $32.

After that day, I heard rumors about Wal-Mart price matching the sale. I printed out Best Buy's weekly ad and they actually had a picture of Pure on it...which is good, Wal-Mart most likely wouldn't accept word of mouth. Because I was busy with school that day, my mom and oldest younger sister were in town already and decided to try and do a price match for me. It worked. They bought me Pure with an exclusive bonus DVD for only $10 once again. This one Mom paid for. I suspect it's just because she's nice but she says it was because of all the babysitting I had done lately.

That week was one of the best deals on gaming I have had in a very, very long time. $210 worth of games/accessories and I only paid a clean $40 for it, with another $10 given to me.

Edit: I have already beaten Pure and look for people to race against online, but not a single person has been on every time I have checked. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

Yesterday I was able to tag along into town with my older bro. Because I didn't have any younger siblings to keep track of, I was actually able to browse one of my favorite places to get games: Entertainmart. I browsed the whole game section and had four games in my hand with one more in consideration. My goal was not to go over $40...a hard thing to accomplish when you're surrounded by a bunch of games you wish to buy. However, I made my choices and then went to the checkout. The total? $37.someoddcents. Here is what I bought:

The Thing (Original Xbox...works on Xbox 360) $4

Red Faction (PS2) $4

Splinter Cell Double Agent (360) $13

Prince of Persia Sands of Time (Xbox...playable on 360) $4

The Darkness (360) $10

All the games are in excellent condition. Prince of Persia Sands of Time has scratches that are indeed noticable, but nothing major. The others have hardly any scratches at all! I am very pleased with these purchases because normally when I buy three games or so from Entertainmart one of them is in considerably worse shape than the others and I've had two cases where the game won't even work. The only one I haven't tried yet is Red Faction, which I plan to today.

About two days ago I preordered Splinter Cell Conviction in full. I'm only hoping it's June 30th release date will stay! :D At the same time, I ordered Splinter Cell Chaos Theory for the PS2. I know I know, it's the best in the series so far and I haven't played it. I will soon! Now I just need to wait for it's arrival.

After I beat Chaos Theory, I plan on buying and beating Splinter Cell Double Agent before Conviction is released. It shouldn't be too hard as-is, but it'll be even easier if Conviction gets delayed some more. I will then have played the games in order and will be just at the right spot in the story for me to get excited about Conviction even more. :D

Anyone else here a fan of Splinter Cell? Are you looking forward to Conviction?

I haven't seen any of my friends get this high;y-anticipated title yet...I haven't purchased it either! Currently I have other games I want to buy before it and I don't have the money for it currently. :P

Just wondering if any of you bought it or are planning to buy it soon?

So last weekend was pretty productive gaming-wise. I beat Prince of Persia and my older bro and I beat Gears of War 2 for the first time.

I beat Prince of Persia first. It was a really fun game, lots of dialogue and humor too. Prior to purchasing the game people had led me to believe the Prince was a jerk. From the start of the game I never got that impression and as he said funny line after funny line I began to wonder what everyone was talking about.

The ending of the game was pretty sad.

SPOILERS

Elika gave her life to keep the evil god Ahriman sealed away in a tree. The Prince then picked up her lifeless body and the player is given control of the Prince. The credits begin to roll as you make your way out of the temple. Once you get out, the Prince lays Elika down on a table similar to the one in Shadow of the Colossus. Then, the player is tasked with breaking all five trees that keep Ahriman contained. After breaking those, I carried a Light Seed to Elika, bringing her back to life. She questioned why the Prince brought her back to life and the game ends with the Prince holding Elika while walking away from the temple. Ahriman is now free and the land is getting corrupted once again.

SPOILERS END

I was very surprised I got the 'Speed Demon' achievement, for beating the game in less than 12 hours. I took my sweet time and planned on getting that on my second playthrough. I even took a lot of detours and collected a bunch of light seeds! Now I will try to beat the game again to get the 'Be Gentle With Her' achievement, which requires Elika to save you less than 100 times though the entire game. Worth 100GS.

Gears of War 2 thoroughly exceeded my expectations. I was expecting a lot too! The game was easily four hours longer than I expected, a very nice surprise. It combined the things that made the first Gears great, while adding a lot more gameplay elements, locations and twists. My bro and I are also enjoying Horde Mode quite a bit. We haven't done it much and we're only on wave 18. I'm just glad you can pick your starting wave. :D

Anyone else beat a good game over the weekend? Did you enjoy the ending?

So today I was reading GS news and whatnot, only to find out Motorstorm Arctic Edge, Little Big Planet and a PSP exclusive Assassin's Creed title are in the works!

These are all PSP games I have wished for. Assassin's Creed looked like a really cool game on the home consoles, but I didn't have a 360 yet so a PSP AC was a wish of mine. (I've yet to play the home console version, but it's pretty high on my 'to-buy' list.)

Motorstorm was cool when I first tried it on a PS3 at Wal-Mart! I'm a sucker for offroad games, especially ones with destructible vehicles. :D I was really hoping this game would come out for PSP (Especially after seeing what the PSP was capable of with FlatOut Head On) and now it is! :D

Little Big Planet looked like a fun and long-lasting game on the PS3, so understandable I hoped for a portable version with most of the same features. This game isn't as wanted as Assassin's Creed or Motorstorm, but it's still a title I would buy.

Overall I am very happy at the moment. :D Now to save money! :P Anyone else excited that these titles were announced?

My older brother and I have been doing an extreme amount of babysitting and extra chores lately, so Mom was really nice and bought us Gears of War 2! Now I can stop saving for it. :P Anyway, my bro and I are having a blast with the game! I'm going to list a few of the differences between Gears 1 and 2 that I found important, or that kept coming into my mind while playing Gears 2.

1. Running

In the first Gears, Marcus (Or Dom) seemed to be moving with urgency. It wasn't a run, but their movements were fast=paced and they made good time. In Gears 2, their movement has been slowed down a little bit. Not a huge change, but it feels slightly more relaxed, like the Gears aren't in a big hurry anymore. Doesn't detract from the gameplay at all and I got used to it pretty quickly, but it was a noticable change.

2. Roadie Run

Yes, another movement change. In the first Gears, when you used the Roadie Run, you could only go a short distance before your character would start to breath heavily and then they would stop. In Gears 2, so far I have been able to reach any destination using the Roadie Run without getting tired yet! Perhaps this was to make up for the slower movement? It is a welcome addition. (Another minor difference is that the screen no longer shakes back and forth in Gears 2. I actually miss that effect. :P)

3. Levels

In the first Gears, most of the levels took place in dark areas around crumbling buildings or underground. It really set the atmosphere and feeling for what was happening in the game. Gears of War 2 doesn't try to blow that out of the water, but it seems to try to improve on it. The game takes you back underground (Though it is looking quite different), back outside in the rain (And razorhail, another cool addition) and back in crumbling cities and buildings. However, the game also has you *SPOILERS* outside in a really cool truck sequence, inside a giant worm trying to kill it from the inside-out and driving around snowy mountin paths in a Centaur vehicle. *SPOILERS OVER* The Gears 2 levels are much larger and for the most part, longer as well.

4. Guns

There are quite a few differences between the guns and the way the act and sound. I'll start with the Lancer. In Gears 1, it was a powerful assault rifle with a wicked chainsaw attachment. In Gears 2, there are a few differences. First, the Lancer doesn't 'feel' as powerful. It seems to how a sound downgrade. Instead of the primary Locust-whoopin' gun I cam to know and love, it now sounds like a generic machine gun you would grab from an enemy in a lot of games. The chainsaw on the Lancer, however, has received an upgrade. There are now more ways to cut enemies apart and it takes less time. A great addition!

Another really noticable weapon difference is with the Hammerburst assault rifle (The one most Locust drones drop). It now sounds much more powerful than it's Gears 1 twin and so far it seems to pack a bigger punch too. There are other weapon differences and of course there are the new weapons, but these are the biggest changes in Gears 1 weapons I have seen so far.

5. Ammo

In the first Gears, the Hammerburst could hold 780 rounds of ammunition, while the Lancer carried 660 rounds. In Gears 2, the Hammerbust can only hold a pitiful 323 rounds while the Lancer dropped a modest 110 rounds. (550 rounds fully stocked). This isn't a huge problem, because ammo is more plentiful in Gears 2, but I miss knowing I have that extra ammo waiting to be used. Another difference is ammo crates don't give you as many rounds. Not a huge deal, but when you're low on ammo you want to see yourself acquiring 400 rounds at once instead of 81. :P

There are too many differences currently for me to list in a short amount of time, so I will cut them short at only 5. :D My bro and I are a decent way in and dreading when the end will come. :P

So two days ago I finished up Prey. It had a cool ending with a lot of twists! :D I was really looking forward to the ending too, because the story did a good job of making you wonder what the heck was going. At the end, I have several questions in my mind still, but I at least I have evidence to assume what happened.

Prey started out with a bang, but slowed down near level nine. Then it picked back up again near level 17 and the last couple levels were really intense and a lot of fun! I reccomend playing this if you have patience. (The middle of the game does get very tedious.)

My older brother and I are making good progress in Gears of War. We have only two acts left on Insane mode and then we will have beat it on every difficulty. So far Hardcore was actually more of a challenge, but I think it's because we're getting a lot more skilled at the game so that makes a difference. I have been ignoring the online mode for a couple reasons. The first reason is because my LIVE Gold trial ran out. I have a 3-Month card I can use, but I'm waiting until I'll be able to get the most out of it. (Summer vacation anyone?) The second reason is because I want to finish the Campaign first, because usually if I go online first I lose interest in the single player portion. GTAIV has suffered this fate but now that my trial ran out, I'll go back to beating missions instead.

Anyway, I'm working my way through Prince of Persia and after my bro and I beat Gears, I'll put a second focus on Dead Rising. Or maybe I'll just wait until I beat PoP and then focus on Dead Rising. I am also working on Sega Superstars Tennis (Not too difficult, but I can't play for long otherwise I lose interest in it) and the Arcade Disc that came with it. Then I also have Stuntman Ignition which I stopped playing in favor of FlatOut Ultimate Carnage (Which I still need to finish). Decisions decisions! I'm focusing on games now, instead of switching back and forth all the time. So now I am actually making good amounts of progress in them. :P

Just a small update on what's going on over here. I haven't blogged in a while and I figured beating Prey would be a good reason to blog. :P Hope you all are doing well and enjoying your games!

BradHummr out.

So I went to Gamestop and eneded up buying Gears of War. I was looking for a co-op game, heard more than enough good things about Gears, so I wasn't surprised when that's the game I bought.

After buying the game, I checked the disc and found a lard half-circle scratch. I knew right away it wasn't going to work, so I brought it back in and explained to the guy that there was a huge scratch. I had read enough about those scratches to know it wasn't going to work, but I was a fool and decided to bring it home and try it anyway.

As expected, it didn't work and I coukdn't install it to the HDD either. Now, I can't even remember the last time I walked into Gamestop, picked out a game, and left with the right game, a working game, or the manual that had previously been in the case. So on the next trip into town, my family picked me up a brand new copy of Gears and I plan on returning my used copy back to Gamestop for a full refund.

Now, so far Gears is a ton of fun. I bought it so my older bro and I would have something to do. The game starts out great, breaking Marcus out of the prison. The action picks up fast and before you know it, we were sucked into the world of Gears.

The story, while not especially great so far, keeps giving us new objectives while keeping us on one solid objective. That's really cool and it sure keeps the game moving. The combat is amazing! Being pinned down by Locust, doing a blind-fire shotgun blast as the come to close to my place of hiding, running closer to the spawn hole for them and then taking them out at close-range is a blast! The revival system is also a great feature.

My bro and I are currently just starting Chapter 3 and couldn't be having more fun. The game is intense, atmospheric and has some really cool situations. Overall a great game so far and I haven't even taken it online yet!

So I have been thinking about Gamefly for quite a long time now. I found both pros and cons about getting Gamefly. Here is what I have come up with so far.

Pros:

I will be able to try out WAY more games than I currently do.

Won't need to pay to rent them individually, nor drive anywhere to go get them.

If I try a game and really like it, I can always go and purchase it confidently.

Cons:

I really enjoy owning games. Adding them to my collection and being able to replay them whenever I want. (This may be countered by the fact that due to Gamefly, I will be able to buy games that I want the MOST and not just ones I am interested in.)

I'd have to work a lot harder to find game time. :P

I thought I had a few other reasons for both, but I can't think of them right now. What are your opinions on Gamefly? I know some of you had/have it. Did you enjoy it? Do you miss buying games or do you find it has saved you money?

Thanks to any and all insight on this.