Yes, it is the end of another year and the beginning of a new one and here is your little treat (if you can call it that) in a form of a video blog.

[video=ICM0xDWr5bkMuTHY]

This is just basically what occurred in the year 2006 in the gaming world and what 2007 hope to bring to us.  Like new games, ideas, innovations etc.  It will be interesting to say the very least.

So watch and enjoy and I am getting Okami, as I got a copy on ebay but the postage states it will take 15 business days meaning it will probably be a few weeks before I get it.  So I will let you know what happens with the disc I got and Okami and Final Fantasy XII but I talk about them in the video anyway.

Well, that is me once again for another blog.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks or so where I will be doing gameplay videos of Zelda games and also, hope to get a video capture device in order to record the footage proper.

So until then, this is Darrogamer0r or should that be 07 telling you to have a great 2007 and to ROCK ON!!

Hey, welcome again to another blog by Darrogamer06 and first of all, would like to wish each and every one of you out there a happy and most of all safe new year and I am sure 2007 will be a great year for us gamers considering some of the games out are really big.

Well, this blog is basically a request to anyone out there that has a certain game that unfortunately is not out here yet and won't be out for another month or so and to tell you the truth, after watching capin131's blog and reading Jimb0's blog, I must have this game NOW!!

Sorry, but this is a game I am just upset had to wait until next year while garbage games had to come out here before it and it sucks that once again, us Europeans get games last.  But, I am just requesting that if any of you out there that have this game or know anyone that has this game in the UK or US that is willing to sell this game, then let me know.

I know I am being a bit silly pleading for someone to sell this astounding game but there is only one auction for it on ebay at the moment and I don't know if there is any import sites out there that have it besides play-asia.com (sold out of the US version at the moment).  Actually, that is the only import site I know of, so if there is any other ones that you guys know, please let me know.

This will be a game I am looking forward to a lot next year and it would be great if I can somehow get it before its release date of February 9th. But I know a lot of people out there love this game and have named it their game of the year and I am sure it would be one of mine if I had the chance to play it and will love it if I did within the next month.

In other news, I actually might do a video blog later today or tomorrow just going on about games I am looking forward to playing in the next year amongst other things and also going to have a few gameplay videos, which will be talked about in the video blog so stay tuned.

Anyway, that is what I wanted to get off my chest.  I got a disc on ebay stating it can play NTSC games and the guy says it works perfectly and I don't need to chip my PS2 so if it works then it will be great for me then.  That is the reason why I asking for Okami.

Anyway, once again, have a great and safe new year and ROCK ON!

Hello again fellow Gamespotters, it is Darrogamer06 here again with another blog for all you out there and I am now going to give you my impressions on a game I got for Christmas but only started playing yesterday and after playing three different sessions of it yesterday, I regret not playing it sooner.

For what I have played thus far, I kind of agree now why Gamespot put it in a bunch of award categories like GOTY finalist and best 360 game because this game is a lot of fun to play and can easily get you addicted to it especially when you have friends who have the game also and can trade stuff etc, which is a nice touch. 

To me the game is like The Sims except a bit simplified.  I don't know what Animal Crossing is like now since I never played it but I know some people out there say it is similar to that also.  But overall, it is a nice little game to get into and there are a few things that help you along with the way.  One feature I like is the notices when they pop up in the bottom right corner telling you all sorts of things like a certain pinata has visited your garden or that a resident pinata is ill and then you go to it and just click A to call the doctor and heal it.  Things like that make the game a bit more easier for you.

The graphics are really pretty in this game and all the different pinata are nicely designed and just look fun to have in your garden.  You definitely know this game is from Rare since the sounds of some pinata are reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie.

At the moment, my garden is at level 10 but the problem is, I don't really know how and when your garden gets bigger because I am seriously running out of room for things and will probably have to sell some pinata and probably the Whirlm house or one of the other houses but we have to wait and see.  It is probably going to get harder for me and may eventually have to start over again but as of now, I am doing alright and enjoying the game very much.

In other gaming news, I also started on Yakuza for the PS2 yesterday and thus far, I am enjoying this game also as it is kind of like Shenmue in that you can walk around, talk to people and play some games like slot machines and that, which you could do in the Shenmue games.  The combat in the game I like although the review said it gets repetitive after a while and I think I am going to agree but at the moment, the game is good and will be interesting to me for a while.

That is basically all I have to say for the moment.  I may have some videos up in the coming week of gameplay footage but as I said before, a video blog ain't coming until next weekend.  So this is once again, your Irish blogger, Darrogamer06 signing out telling you to ROCK ON!

Hello everyone and hope you had a great Christmas and sure did with the games I played and will go through them in a bit but first:

Last night or actually early this morning I finished Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess with all pieces of heart, all 60 poe souls, all 24 golden bugs, the cave of ordeals conquered and upgrades for the quiver and bomb bag and armour etc. if you do not believe me, then i will show you a screenshot to prove it. I did it in about 40-45 hours (somewhere around 42 or 43 I believe since it won't let you save at the end and show you how long it took).

I really had a lot of fun with this game and hate to say goodbye to it for the time being but I will play it again sometime next year because this to me is better than Ocarina of time and might be but not sure yet better than my favourite Zelda game, A Link To The Past. The boss battles were exciting although easy for the most part, the dungeon and puzzle designs were flawless and the story was good and it was good to see the game go for a more cinematic feel with its cutscenes.

Anyway, this would have to be my 3rd favourite game of the year behind Oblivion and Guitar Hero but it might have been 2nd but I hate a TON of fun with Guitar Hero though.

In other news, I played the games I showed you in my video blog except for Viva Pinata. I am not sure why but I have a feeling I am going to hate this game because it might be a little too complex or so for me (that is why I hate strategy games, I need to think about what I am doing for a bit rather than do it now before you get creamed). I will play it today and who knows, maybe I will end up loving it.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a lot of fun and only on the 2nd mission but thus far, I am enjoying this game a lot and hope to play co-op with people out there if they have this game sometime soon.

Call of Duty 3 is great also and just like COD 2 with its terrific graphics and sound and action-packed gameplay. Multiplayer in it is a lot better than 2 due to the fact it supports 24 and the maps are bigger and also more modes, which seem like fun.

Rainbow Six Vegas I haven't played a whole lot of now but I played enough to know that I am enjoying it and the cover system is really cool and that it kind of reminds me of Gears of War in a way but not all of it is appointed to a single button. Will try multiplayer later on today to see how it goes.

I also got Yakuza for the PS2 for 10 quid on Christmas Eve but haven't played it yet but have to because it reminds me of Shenmue and if it is anything like it, then I am going to enjoy this game a good bit since I love Shenmue 1 and 2.

Anyway, I got some other gifts as well that are the following:

• Friends Scene It DVD Board game
• Star Wars Monopoly Edition
• Family Guy 365 Day Calendar (Friggin Sweet)
• 3 Disney DVDS (Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast) - My 3 favourite Disney films before you say anything.
• Harry Potter Magical Creatures Calendar

So, that is what has been going on in my life since my last video blog. I will have more updates for you in the coming week and will have a video blog next weekend and hope to have it different now like show gameplay footage and other things.

So until then, this has been Darrogamer06 telling you all to have a great new year and most of all, ROCK ON!!

Well, the time is here where I tell you what my 2006 game of the year is and it is.....

[video=JnFnnjWt5bgFvzTa]

[video=JHEznjGs5bgFvz7Y]

you have to find out by watching the 2nd part of my video blog finale of 2006 and that is it, no more videos until the first weekend of 2007.  Also, if you want to know what the games I am checking out this holiday season then check out the first part.

So, enjoy both of them and also, to all of you loyal viewers out there, I thank you because I hardly get any now as opposed to when I started out at June but if you guys keep watching them then I will keep making them.

So until then, have a very merry and safe Christmas with loved ones and have a great new year so peace out!

Hello, this is the 2nd part of my game of the year of 2006 nominations where of course I will go on with a few more games that I really enjoyed this year and why I think they are great games. One game in particular you may disagree with but I thoroughly enjoyed it and provided me with 64 hours of entertainment and that is the game I am going to start off with.

Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
This was one of the games this year I was really looking forward to because I loved the first one because of the mixture of Disney and Square Enix brought the game to life and for that, I appreciated it to a certain level.

This game was supposed to come out in May, two months after the US launch but once again, the Europe delay bug strikes and was pushed back to August and then eventually September and got it the day it was out here and practically played nothing more for the next week or so because I wanted to play this game a lot and in the end I was not disappointed because first of all, I think it is better than the first in several ways and although the gameplay mechanics is a bit simplified in terms of button-mashing, the advantages outshine the disadvantages of this game in my honest opinion.

I played this game and practically did everything there is to do in the game apart from the missions for the gummi ship stuff because I could not be bothered going through them again and again but I did everything else required to get the secret ending and that includes the damn tedious synthesis items. But I enjoyed it for the most part and that is what counts.

What makes this game great in my ends is for starters, is that the game is quite long and will take you around 40 hours or so if all you wanted to do was just rush through the game and do no side missions like the underworld tournaments and the little missions that you can do around each world. I clocked in around 64 hours and that was by doing all of that stuff but if a game is long and I enjoy it, then I appreciate it because of its length.

The graphics in this game are visually nice to look at and most of the characters are really well designed for this game especially in the Port Royal level where you see Jack Sparrow and crew and they look quite close to their real-life counterparts. The worlds are beautiful to look at and the cast of characters in this game are a delight to look at and to listen to as another part of what makes this game great is the sound and music.

The voice-acting is really top-notch especially from the Disney characters, special mention goes to Christopher Lee for his peformance as Diz and although the Square characters have pretty bad dialogue, they perform them well enough to forget about them for the most part.

The gameplay is still button-mashing but new things integrated in it make it better than the first and the game is somewhat easy to get through but if you enjoy doing it, you will love it all the same. That is why this is one of my nominations for game of the year because of its length, graphics, sound and story that captivated me all through the many hours I played of it.

Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess (Wii)
You may be wondering, why I have this in my nominations when I haven't finished the game yet? Well, even though I have not finished the game yet, it is still one of the best games I have played this year because it is a great welcome back to the great Zelda series that I know and love. (Wind Waker, while great, was disappointing, as to how short it was if you did nothing but go through the dungeons etc).

Sure it is the same old Zelda in that you go through dungeons, get said treasure and use said treasure perhaps to defeat that boss and so on but with its mix of puzzles and nicely-designed dungeons, you will appreciate how much work the team put on this game just to make it feel familar and get those Zelda fans all excited again for a new and long-awaited Zelda.

In terms of scale, it is easily bigger than Ocarina of Time, as the world is spilt into different provinces that have their own sort of domain (Eldin Province has Karkariko Village & Death Mountain while Lanayru Province has Lake Hylia and Zora' Domain). The world is beautiful to look at even if it ain't the most visually impressive game to come out this year, it is still the best looking game to come out for the Wii in terms of scale and depth. The twlight realm might be the best part because of how artistically stunning it looks when you are in a part of the world that has been consumed by darkness and get to look at the world in a different way.

As for the Wii control functionality, it is tacked on in a way but the great thing is that it works and that the controllers are about 90-95% of the time responsive to what you do and it is a lot more enjoyable for me at least to use the Wiimote to fight with my sword and my other weapons including a bow, a ball and chain and other new weapons at your disposal. Also, the wolf side of things is a nice feature and it doesn't take up a whole lot of your time and is good as well because you will require being a wolf to solve some puzzles and get certain items throughout the game.

The sound is nostaglic and if you do not like that, then you will hate the soundtrack for this game, as most of the tunes are taken from past Zelda games especially Ocarina of Time but sort of redone in a way. The tunes are still a joy to listen to and the sound effects are quite nice but not superb. Also, the speaker in the Wiimote in my eyes, works well although I kind of agree with Jeff Gerstmann in that sometimes, you hear nothing from the speaker at all for a certain amount of time before it kicks back in.

I have not completed the game but have played it for nearly 30 hours to appreciated that this is a game that I am really loving and really enjoying and it is just classic Zelda all the same whether you love Zelda or not.

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
One of the biggest games to come out this year and what many deem it as the 360's killer-app and in certain respects, they are right because this game is without a doubt, one of the best looking games to come out this year if not the best and has blown most of the graphical competition out of the water with the exception of a few others.

This game has been a long while coming and I believe it is one of the first 360 games we seen back around when the 360 was announced but I could be wrong and from those screenshots to now, it looks really different and for the better, as you have to give a hand to Epic for creating such a stunning looking game but also to make a great action shooter with a touch of tactical thrown in.

It is not all brilliant now because there are certain aspects that make this game not be perfect but then again, no game is perfect. For starters, the story is not fleshed out as some would have liked because you don't really get any backstory, as to why this war is happening (maybe the sequel will let us know) and also about Marcus and co's past in any way but again the sequel hopefully should clear these points up. Another aspect is that while the campaign is really action-packed and exciting, it is over too soon for my liking and you will get through it in about 10 hours but that would likely change depending if you choose the Casual or Hardcore difficulty at the start.

But what is good about is a lot of things. One is that the gameplay mechanics works very well indeed in that the A button sort of corresponds to most of your tactical manouvers in that it is context and that it is used to cover and get out of cover and move to the other side etc and for the most part, works right. Another part is the weapons in that most of them are great weapons to use, especially the Lancer in that it has the infamous Chainsaw bayonet and quite frankly, you never get tired of chainsawing the locust to pieces and the blood going all over the lens of the screen.

Active reload is a great original mechanic in that you if you reload at the right time you get a damange boost but if you do it at the wrong time, your weapon gets jammed and have to wait a couple of seconds before you can use it again. A great addition to the great gameplay this game has to offer. Only minor flaw of this is that the AI partners for the majority of the time are pretty useless, especially Dom who wants to be the big hero sort of and just rushes and pretty much gets himself "killed".

The sound is another superb part in that the voices are quite well-acted in that they act like meat-heads and that is exactly what they are and that they are going for the real action movie and they do it well indeed. The gunfire and chainsaw-melee sounds are quite fascinating to listen to and takes the game to a whole new level in terms of sound.

The online component in the game is top-notch in that you can do the whole single-player campaign co-operatively and that it rarely lags, which is a big plus immediately and also the 4 on 4 team deathmatch is really action-packed and really fun to play especially when you have a group of friends on your friends list and from there, it is all guns blazing.

In the end, it is definitely one of the best games of the year but only if certain parts of it were more refined, it would make the game a whole lot better than it already is but I am sure the sequel is in the works and will clearly fix these flaws.

So there you have it folks, those are the six games nominated for my game of the year and hope you enjoyed my 2 part blog going through each of the six and explaining about them in hopefully a good, detailed way. Stay tuned this weekend in that I will do a special video blog going through the nominations one last time and finally crowning my 2006 game of the year so look out for that. Also, post questions for the blog also and got a few already, so thanks to those you did.

So until this weekend, ROCK ON!!!

 

Tes, I didn't get all of my targets done unfortuantely I done for myself this week.  The reason why is that I was just busy playing other games and that and didn't really want to go around to playing Hard in Season mode in Smackdown in which I only started it last night.

So I will just go through the tasks one last time to state which were done and which were not.

1.  Finish Gears of War
As I said before, this one was accomplished around the middle of last week and was fun to play although it was too short for my liking. Hopefully the sequel will be longer and have the story more fleshed out by telling you the backstory of Marcus and co.

2.  Complete Season mode in Hard in SVR 2007
I only started this last night and only go through about three feud stories meaning I have a way to go before I actually complete this.  If I started on say Thursday or Friday, then I would have had this one done but was busy playing Gears online and Zelda.  Will carry this one over for this week.

3.  Reach the fifth dungeon in Zelda: Twlight Princess
This one was easy to accomplish for the simple fact is that I played this every day last week for a few hours except Saturday and I am currently just finished the sixth dungeon in the game meaning I have surpassed the target I had.

4.  Reach 12500 achievement points on Xbox 360
Again, because of not going through Season mode in Smackdown, I didn't accomplish this task either and am going to extend it to 13000 and try to reach that target before the year is over.

5.  Hit a home run in Baseball in Wii Sports
I haven't played Baseball  since I got the 3 home runs in that one game I talked about several days ago but least I did it.

Anyway, I done 3 of the 5 targets, which isn't bad but if I started on Smackdown earlier, I would have done that one as well.  Anyway, these new tasks are not being done for this Sunday and I am going to try to achieve them over the Christmas break meaning I have until the year's end to do them.

1.  Complete Season mode in Hard in SVR 2007
Nothing more to say about this except I have currently in the fourth feud or so.

2.  Reach 13000 achievement points on Xbox 360
There are a few games that I have yet to get some easy achievements from like Tomb Raider Legend, Kameo etc so if I played them for a while over the next few weeks, I can get this one done.

3 & 4.  Finish Saint's Row and Dead Rising
You may be wondering, why I haven't finished these games and the reason is I got sidetracked to playing a certain other game back in September (Kingdom Hearts 2) and since then, never came around to finishing them so I have to complete the story in Dead Rising and also in Saint's Row.

5.  Try to finish every song in Hard mode in Guitar Hero 2
Yes, I can say I am not particularly brilliant in Guitar Hero but am pretty good at best but at the moment, I am on the penultimate tier of licensed songs and still have to do most of the bonus songs before I can get this target accomplished.

6.  Finish Zelda: Twlight Princess with all pieces of heart, golden bugs, poe souls, the cave of ordeals conquered and all upgrades (in a shorter term, 100% completion)
Well, I have done about 27 or 28 hours I think it is now and as said before, just finished the sixth dungeon.  I have done other things besides the dungeons like I have got more than 20 pieces of heart I believe, nearly 30 poe souls and I think 3 or 4 pairs of golden bugs. 

I have to go through the other temples in order to do the cave or ordeals so that has to be done later and getting upgrades for the bomb bags, quivers etc won't be hard.

So there you have it, those are the tasks I have set out to do before the year is over so once 12 hits on New Year' Eve and becomes 2007 then that is when I hope to have done these tasks and when the time is up. 

I will have my 2nd part of my GOTY nominations up tomorrow and Friday or Saturday will have my last video blog going through the games and the GOY will be announced so take care and ROCK ON!

[video=IXMwnjL65bgEszTd]

Yes, the end is near for my video blogs of this year and this is my penultimate video blog I am doing this year and next week will include my game of the year amongst games and that I have played over the last 12 months so hope you enjoy this as well as this one.

Enjoy the blog and post questions and comments for the video blog next week, thanks!

Well, the year is almost over and it has been a great year for games in many ways. The launch of 2 new consoles in America (1 here in Europe). The 360's great post-launch line-up made up for its unit shortages and lousy launch line-up and games that are so graphically enhanced and long-lasting in that many people will be talking about them for years to come.

So, this year is nearly over, I am now going to talk about some of the games I have played in the last year that I have truly enjoyed playing and kept me on my butt playing them. And next weekend, I will tell you what games enthralled me the most and enjoyed the hell out of.

Without further ado, here are the games that I enjoyed in the past 12 months: This is spilt into 2 parts now so the rest of the games will be shown at a later date.

Psychonauts (XBOX)
Granted, this game was released April 2005 in America but it never reached our shores until February 10th of this year so I am including it as a game of this year here. This was probably the first game of this year I truly enjoyed playing and I heard such great things about it from critics and people who actually bought the game because unfortunately, this game did not do well in sales at all in America and it is safe to say, it was the same here also.

It is too bad because this was just a delightful and surprisingly funny platformer to play through and most of the things in this game just plain work. The graphics are great, as they are like Tim Burton-esque and the music and sound is just great to listen to, as the voice-acting in this game was top-notch and it had a variety of characters that you came to know and love throughout the game. The way that a level was designed from a person's mind was genius and that none of the levels felt the same at all and they had their own unique features that made it different from the others.

And now since it is compatible with the 360, I advise people who have 360s and never played this game in the first place, do so now because you are missing out on one excellent game.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360)
What can I say about this game here that hasn't been said? I got this game along with 2 others for my 360 last March two days after this game was actually released and this is probably the game I have played the most on my 360 and definitely played it more than the other two games I got with it combined because it was that good and just sucked you in and you were trapped in the land of Cyrodiil.

Granted, I don't really play it that much now but when I did, I did for hours on end because the game was just superb to play and that the game seemed somewhat endless as there were many quests to take, 4 guilds in the game along with their variety of quests and lots of caves and castles/dungeons to explore and raid some valuable items ranging from clothes to armour to weapons like maces and axes ans swords.

The world was massive and that you can practically go anywhere on it made it great to play. The graphics in it were great and although the game did have long loading times and occasionally froze, the pros far outweigh the cons in this situation. And that the text in the game was entirely spoken made the sound in the game top notch.

If you want a game that can last you a very long time before you get kind of bored with it, then this is the one and not only one of the best 360 games but one of the best games this year.

Guitar Hero (PS2)
Again like Psychonauts, this game was released in America last year in November but not released here until April. I got this game on my birthday and can just say it now that it was £50 of my birthday money well spent, as this is without a doubt the best rhythm game I have ever played and the fact that it is both fun and challenging to play at the same time makes the game the more better to play.

It is the Gibson SG Gutiar Controller that you get with the game that makes this game a joy to play because even though you can play this game with just the PS2 controller, it will just be plain dull and stupid to do so. The guitar controller while playing the game sometimes made you feel like you were playing a real guitar although I believe personally that the songs in the game would be a lot harder to play on a normal guitar than the one you use to play Guitar Hero. The graphics although not the main thing to watch in the game are nice to look at when you have the chance and the cover version in the game is excellent to say the least, as the song list in the game is another part of what makes the game great.

There are a variety of licensed songs in the game from Black Sabbath to Franz Ferdinand and a bunch of bonus songs that some are actually surprisingly fun to play and are a joy to listen to (Guitar Hero being my personal favourite song in the game).

Add the fact that the game gets really hard when you are playing some of those harder songs in the Hard and Expert difficulty and you can go no wrong with Guitar Hero, as it is a game that you can come back to again and again and play some of those tunes that you know and love.

Well, that is it for part 1 of my game of the year nominees. Stay tuned for part 2, which will occur next week and my game of the year will be decided upon after that in a video blog. So ROCK ON and play these games NOW!

Yes, if you read the blog title correctly, I have achieved a few targets out of th 5 I set out for myself this week and I will talk about them now along with updates of my other targets.

1.  Finish Gears of War
I played this for a good bit yesterday and last night I got to the end and ended up killing General RAAM after about 10 gos or so.  That means I finished the game and achieved my target.  I enjoyed playing this game though but if only it were 3-5 hours longer then it would be a lot more better than it is.

2.  Complete Season mode in Hard in SV3 2007
Once again, haven't touched on this but since I have got Gears out of the way, I will start on this one now.

3. Reach the fifth dungeon in Zelda: Twlight Princess
Currently, I am south of Castle Town going to Gerudo Desert, which is the location of the fourth dungeon in the game known as Arbiter Grounds.  So I am close to it meaning this target is in the bag I believe.  Enjoying this game a lot and love the Wiimote for it even if it is kind of tacked on in a way.

4. Reach 12500 achievement points on Xbox 360
Well, thanks to getting a few achievements out of Gears of War, I am now at 12384 meaning another 116 to go to reach the targeted achievement points. It will be easy for me to get since I get 100 just by completing Season mode in Hard in Smackdown.

5. Hit a home run in Baseball in Wii Sports
Not only did I hit a home run, I hit 3 successful home runs in the one game of Baseball and creamed the opposing team in that game 10 runs to 1.  The reason is since I am left-handed I changed the baseball settings to left-hand and it seemed to have worked.

So there you go, I have done two of the five targets and it is only a matter of time before I get the rest before Sunday so stay tuned.  Look out for a video blog sometime during the weekend where I discuss my Wii impressions and answer questions that I hope to get before so please leave me questions for the upcoming blog. 

So this has been Darrogamer06 signing out once again and to all of you out there, ROCK ON!!