I checked my achievements yesterday and I saw a new one for choosing the games that were picked the most often for the 2010 Reader's Choice. I come back today and it's gone and has been replaced with the one that says I didn't choose well. Whatever, I don't really care I chose for the ones I thought deserved it. Just saying though, it's like putting bacon in someone's face and eating it. Thanks anyway Gamespot.

Well after complaing to Gamespot that I couldn't put up my new banner it turns out that it was just my computer. Once I upgraded to Windows 7, it worked fine. Also I've recently gotten into comics, finally finding a comic book store near me, my first day there was Free Comic Book Day, which gave me an immediate liking to the place (Free Stuff!). I'm a DC fan, it's practically my childhood, with the DC Animated Universe. Anyway, Marvel's fine I just prefer DC. Anyway, I'm going to need a better sentence trasitioner than "anyway". Oh, yeah one last thing, I love summers!

My Internet connection died when I was submitting this so I had to retype it, sigh.

In one of my prior and, um, more basically-written blogs, I wrote about Raptr and how it would bring benefit to Gamespot, ya-dah, ya-dah. So now with Fuse, it is finally happening, in that the Achievements and games played by others are finally being added through Raptr. Other games on older consoles that you play can still be added manually like always, but the best part is anyone lazy, like me, no longer has to if it is on a Raptr tracked profile (for example: An Xbox Live account, PS3, etc.). Mind you there are some bugs in it, I did not purchase the $5 DLC for Assassin's Creed 2: Bonfire of Vanities, yet in my Playing Games list there it is. For achievements, now that I think about I'm not sure why that excited me, but I guess it should be a standard for a gaming-based site. And that's basically all I have to day on Fuse, since it just went into effect...I just had a thought, Raptr should give the numbers of how many new accounts are created within this month. It wouldn't be all from the beta, but the majority would. Same for Gamespot, since you can sign up through Raptr that way, I would imagine. So here's to success with this new feature.

Every time I try to upload a new image to replace my old banner that mysteriously disappeared I keep running into the same problem that I have when I try to change my profile image. I browse for the image, prepare to click and...a blank screen with a horrid four letter word; done. Obviously there is something wrong here and I really hope they can fix this, once someone notices I am actually blogging besides the level calculator. In the mean time I have nothing wrong with being stuck with Roxas as my profile image. In fact I've gotten quite fond of the image, though he does look slightly irritated from this thumbnail of the actual portion of the picture. Here's to bug-fixers!

If you follow the news here on Gamespot daily, weekly, or whenever, you might have a heard of this lawsuit by a Pennsylvania man on the system of Microsoft's points. His reason is that it is confusing and that there are usually points left over. I myself, bought a card of 1600 points for my 360 (1600=$20) and I still haven't spent any of it wondering what DLC I should spend it on, because there are usually points left over. Maybe they want you to buy stuff for your avatar. Also I have tried the DSi's shop feature using the original $10 worth of free shop points that came with it, though I still have $2 left. The problem with these systems they are giving us, is they are making extra money off of us, with those extra points that just sit around when we only wanted to buy maybe $7 worth of stuff we have to pay for a $20 gift card making them a $20 profit either way. Of course you're saying we could jsut spend the money so it doesn't just sit around and you're right, but it while we sit around doing that as I have done there are people trying to change it. They are going up against major corporations, meaning rows and rows of lawyers. Still even if they don't win they have raised the issue and we should applaud them.

Recently I created a Raptr account, when I heard that they were going to partner with Gamespot. After joining, I feel even more anticipation for the partnership coming in 2010, because of Raptr's amazing capabilities. One of such is its ability to track whatever gamertag, code, or username you give it. With my recent purchase of Xbox Live Gold, it is very interesting after playing, to go back and check how long I played a certain game. Another thing it does is compile all of the hours people spend playing the game and create total hours to show the most played game, this feature is already on Gamepsot. Also, it tracks all of your achievements, and posts it on your page when you receive new ones. And finally, one thing that Gamespot does not do, that Raptr does, is take all of your owned games and show you with a graph, your gaming interests. With all of these abilities, it is hard not to get excited by the coming year and how they will help Gamespot reach new heights.

Over-thinking is something that we all do at some point or another. Basically it could be thinking of a complex design just to move an object, or it could be asking why you're character cannot throw an enemy if he can lift a crate. In a way it's our mind's backup plan of separating us from our games, in ways of saying that: i slashed this wall with a lightsaber, why is it still standing (indestructible terrain, anyone?). More recently I have expierienced while playing Halo 3:ODST, where you are in a city landscape, meaning that there are multiple ways of reaching your destination. So I would consult my in game map and try to maneuver around Covenant squads, only to run into larger ones and be mowed down by snipers. The message is clear, use that easily forgotten hint feature, something Army of Two has built in inside it's Visor-ish Mode. Hopefully as we strive for better and more complex games, over-thinking will not become a bigger problem, but actually an asset. One example of this is a game I've yet to try, Scribblenauts; which in where over-thinking causes some of the joy of the game's puzzle solving. Still, I can see how over-thinking would be annoying in the shooter genre I was using it in, because over-thinking leads to second-guessing and that leads to getting flanked to getting a bullet in your skull and a game over screen. Strategy-based games should start to impart the human mind as well still, from the crate previously mentioned, to actually having something when a grenade is thrown at a wall, or tree sniping! In finality this trait of mine, might be helpful in programming and scriptwriting, but as far as shooters go, just fire straight ahead.

For those of us gamers living in the US we find ourselves under the ratings of the ESRB and in our local video games stores, some of their ratings, just seem pointless. Mainly, I am speaking of the Early Childhood rating which I have never seen in my local Gamestop, or Target, or any other game retailer out there. My question is why do we have a rating for Early Childhood if we have a rating that is available to Everyone. Even on those computer games that are played by four-year-olds on their computer, such as Pajama Sam or Math Blaster they are rated E, not the rare EC. As well, I think it is a mistake to allow young children to game at a young age, because many young children that game seem to have a shorter attention span and do worse in class, because of their expectation of constant entertainment. Also they then lose that part of their life where they gladly run around and play without the worry of gaining weight. My first video game was Pokemon Silver when I was five, now that game was not very exciting or graphically complicated, but it was a fun expierience and age appropiate.

I believe with these new technologies, such as Natal and those wand thingies, and also the Wii-horse...no nothing from the Wii, that the young children can know a different gaming expierience then us, maybe one more interactive. Still, whenever a child begins gaming, let it be three, four, five, six, seven; whenever, I believe that they should show a little maturity first, so that they know how to have fun without it and so that it doesn't affect their attention span. This rating would probably hurt somenone who's game is placed with this rating as well, because as it seems most game selling chains, wouldn't carry them. I see no reason for the ESRB to have a rating that will promote children of an early stage to begin into the virtual world, when they still need to explore their own world and its wonders first.

Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer in a speech for the Executive's Club of Chicago made a comment of "new xbox", which would be based off of Natal. Microsoft has dismissed these reports, but they also dismissed Elite's price drop, before doing exactly that about two weeks later. One PS3 fanboy left a comment somewhere predicting the failure of Natal mirroring it with the Eyetoy; his understanding was that as the Eyetoy was an exclusive only available to those that bought it. The games made for it would only be able to those people; excluding about 80% of their customer market. So for Microsoft to not go down this path, one option is exactly what they are dismissing. If they integrated Natal into every 360 after 2010 about half of the 360's purchased, in total, will contain this device. Then, when you add in the other 10-30% of the other people who buy it for their older model xbox's you end up with 60-80% of you customers now available for Natal-based gaming. Besides, with the Pro being discontinued, xbox has a new opening for a third xbox. One other question, what will Natal ultimately be named and how will this reflect into this possible products name? For the foreseeable future the only way to see it is to look straight ahead so we should all look ahead to 2010 and Natal's release and reviews. Can't wait to try it myself, really.