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As a belated birthday present, I have to make a decision between these three things... 1) Age of Conan time cards (I'll still be able to get one reguardless, but the more the merrier) 2) Ninja Gaiden II (I enjoyed the first game, and the demo was pretty good.) 3) Metal Gear Solid 4 (I'm not a big fan of the series, but it looks pretty cool and it's supposed to be one of the biggest releases ever basically..) *shrug*

New all time in one day play record.

Played 15 hours of AoC today. Aye.

Well talk to y....zzzzz.....

It's been exactly one week since I started playing Age of Conan, and after 7 consecutive nights, my play time is at..



Sheesh.

I bought WoW expecting to be consumed, but I never got that level of "OMG Addiction". I bought AoC expecting to barely like it at all, and I was consumed. Funny how that works out.

I'm having fun though, so that's all that matters.

Later. (I promise I won't keep posting stuff like this, I'm just excited right now).

If you think about the fact that, when you're addicted to an MMO, you're less likely to purchase any other games, to go by a whole month only paying $15 dollars rather than paying $60, $120 or more, it's actually a bit like... OCD dampening. :lol:

I was going to buy MGS4 next month, but after hearing about the lengthy cutscenes, and getting Conan, I think I'm just going to skip it for now, or maybe just completely. I definitely will at least rent it at some point, but I have this horrible habit of playing MGS games for 2-3 hours and never going back and playing them. This comes from two things: One, the gameplay just isn't that fun to me, and two, there are usually things in the controls or interface that bug me beyond belief, such as the delay in bringing up the menus and no radar in MGS3, the lack of interesting environment and variety in MGS2, and MGS1 I just plain sucked at.

Anyways, are you guys doing alright? Hope so. I'm still toiling away at Age of Conan of course, I'm up to 41 hours at the moment. Wow, I never thought I'd be this far into an MMO ever. Pretty coo, I must say.

Later guys, and have a great day.

So, monday morning I decided to take a walk up to GameStop and aquire something. Let me let this little image from my xfire page sum it up..



Ultimately, I was getting a bit jealous hearing ol' Art (capin131) and John (Arcavial) yack about it nonstop for a few days, and I also felt a bit left out, so I took the plunge.

I bought... an MMO? Yeah, if you know me, I get bored of those really quickly. For some reason though, this game is just different. I've been the opposite of bored, obviously, considering I've put 25 hours into the game over the past 3 days and I'm highly likely to go increase that number after this blog.

What makes it different for me? Well, let me introduce my character, Gynessa:



She's a level 20 stygian assassin. Yes, I like playing female characters in MMO type games, because I figure.. hey, if you gotta stare at someones backside for hundreds of hours, it might as well be a girl's right? ;)

Anywho, back to my point. Assassin. Oh how I've longed for a GOOD assassin cla$$ in an mmo. I used to play this text/image based MMO long ago called Realms of Kaos, and the assassins to me were cream of the crop. The whole mechanic where you could hide then backstab your foes for massive damage was really appealing to me, and still is. Guess what? Age of Conan does this FLAWLESSLY! When you want to hide your assassin, you just select the command (or hit H), and your character becomes invisible to everyone outside of your party (unless someone with a really high searching skill spots you), then you can just sneak up on enemies and WHAMMO, you deal a whopping sneak attack strike.

The second part to my enjoyment, comes in the form of being on a pvp server, and teaming up with other assassins. You can attack other players in nearly every hostile zone in the game, and thusly, we went on a glorious hunt of anyone and everyone with great success. Suckers didn't even know what hit em. :twisted:

So yeah, Age of Conan is awesome. I'd be higher level but I started a new character to level with a certain someone who got the game last night. ;) Right now though, I'm off to play.

Adios.

EDIT: Or not...

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Let's get right into the final five!


5. Grand Theft Auto IV



The thing that's great about playing this game online is being able to get 16 people together and cause maximum carnage and lolz. I'm sad to say I've never managed to get a full party of people I know together, but when I did get together with the gang, it's always a pleasure to play and there's so much fun and laughter to be had. Outside of the cool ability to just explore this giant and well detailed city, there are plenty of modes to delve into such as the standard deathmatch type, cops and robbers, racing, missions, and more. There's plenty here to keep you going for a long, long time... and I am still enjoying the hell out of it.


4. Gears of War



THIS game. Y'know, that one that the GameSpot crew cracked out on for months, daily, without ever getting bored? Yeah. I got pretty good at this one, and I played so much with the same people that I pretty much knew exactly how they were going to play out each round. The unrivaled thing especially in this game was the one on one duels. Unlike nearly every other shooter out there, the one on one duels could last minutes, and whoever came out victor felt pretty awesome. I hope that Gears 2 can capture that essence again for us, but sadly I doubt that those moments could ever be rekindled. I'll just stand back and remember the amazing times we had.


3. StarCraft



For me to get into a game like this is saying a lot itself. I've never, ever liked ANY RTS games besides this one. The game was just so well crafted and fun that I became super addicted to it and started even making my own maps and campaign scenarios. I never got to the high level of play as some of those CRAZY koreans that still play to this day, but I could definitely hold my own, and facing off against a full game of bots was nothing. There are also a lot of community made mods and maps that kept this game fresh for months and years, and there are still things being pumped out today, which shows how great of a game this is. Please Blizzard, make StarCraft II just as awesome so I can be addicted all over again.


2. Counter-Strike



I played this game more than any other game in my entire life. I'd estimate I've put in about 2000 hours across all versions of this game, and I still have this great affinity to go back and play it from time to time, even if it's not as fun as it used to be... but don't get me wrong, it's still fun. There are tons of mods and maps that you could literally play a new map every day and never run out. Some of my favorites were the ones modelled after retail stores, grocery stores, restaurants and the like. It was fun to see how accurate the recreations could be, and it was fun to play on to. The gameplay always felt balanced, tactical yet arcadey, and just easy to get into. When they eventually come out with the sequel, I'll be there. Recurring theme on this list, but hell, I can't deny, I'd eat up more!


Well, before we get to number 1, let's recap...

20. F.E.A.R.
19. Wii Sports
18. Call of Duty 4
17. Ikaruga
16. WCW Vs. NWO Revenge
15. Mario Kart DS
14. Goldeneye 007
13. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
12. Quake III Arena
11. Bubble Bobble
10. Halo 3
9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
8. Super Smash Bros. Melee
7. Unreal Championship
6. Diablo II
5. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Gears of War
3. Starcraft
2. Counter-Strike

And my number one is...


1. Street Fighter III: Third Strike



Of course, right? I'm a huge Street Fighter fan. I don't think I've ever gotten bored of any of the games in the series. It was a tough pick, but I settled for the third game in the series because of the crazy depth and awesome fighting system that it had over its predecessors. Sure, the cast of characters isn't as all star as the others, but when you get to learn them, they do have some great personalities of their own. Squaring off with a friend is very fun and gratifying because the game is highly skill based; you aren't going to get too far on luck. I've put tons of hours into this game, and needless to say I will probably buy the uber collectors edition of Street Fighter IV when it releases. I just hope Capcom doesn't flub it up.


Well this concludes my list. I hope you guys enjoyed this feature. Video Blog soon.

Later.

We're finally cutting into the top ten of greatness here folks. I won't drag this introduction out any longer than need be, so..


10. Halo 3



At number ten we have the best in the long running and well acclaimed series. What made this game for me was a lot of the small things you wouldn't expect. The theatre mode is awesome to share and replay moments with your buddies on the fly, the forge mode is outstanding especially when you use the map MADE for it Foundry, and the fact that you can go through the campaign with up to 3 of your buddies makes this a fantastic package of multiplayer tidbits. Oh, and did I mention, it's a blast to play.


9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2



This one came out of left field for me, as I actually hated the first game. Why did I bother trying the second one? Well, thanks to GameFly, there wasn't much to think about. I rented the crappy PS3 version that was a CHORE to get into online matches with, but I was totally hooked, to the point where I just had to buy the 360 version right away (the working one), and I continued to play it for at least a good month. I really liked the level design in this game, because it wasn't just wartorn middle eastern cities; It was filled with houses/offices/every day areas which made it feel cool.

The shooting feels great as well. Some can argue that it feels sloppy, but I don't agree. It's a lot more tactical and realistic than most shooters out there, without going too far, and it can lead to some fantastic team play. Too bad nobody I know plays this anymore, as I could see myself playing this for a long time from now even with the right group of people. Only need one map and mode. Team Leader on Villa.


8. Super Smash Bros. Melee



Not Brawl? Nope. While it is cool you can play Brawl online, I just felt that the controls, character list, levels, and game mechanics felt a bit more smooth in this one than its successor. I played INSANE amounts of this game in high school, to the point where my friends wouldn't play vs me anymore because I was so good with Samus. This game just plain owns, there's nothing else to say.


7. Unreal Championship



The Xbox version of Unreal Tournament 2003 was the best version of Unreal to date, in my opinion. The thing that made this game was the fact that in this version only, the races had their own strengths/weaknesses/abilities and certain characters had specific starting weapons. You had the juggernauts that had mounds of health, the robots that could jump really high and were agile, you had the undead that steadily regenerated health, and so on. I remember I used to start off and run around with the lightning gun. For some reason, I could own people with that gun at any distance, pegging headshots and the like left and right. At one point in time, I was among the top 100 players on the leaderboards for deathmatch. I wish they would make a new Unreal game using these features, as I would totally eat it up.


6. Diablo II



I've always been a fan of the Diablo series, as I played the first game a ton not only over Battle.Net, but over direct modem connection with my buddy who lived nearby. The sequel however obliterated the first one in sheer depth, graphics, cla$$es, level design, etc. I played this game so dang much that my two main characters were practically unstoppable. I had a barbarian that I later turned into a "magic item find" character that has like 1000% chance to find magic items or some crap, and my amazon was a death machine that gathered hundreds of poison damage every second, and all her equipment replenished health and magic. I probably held just about every amazing item that is in the game, although I did quit a while back when hackers ran rampant. I think I did get hacked myself a while back, because my account got muted for some reason, and I never touch that stuff. Don't know how, but they're jerks anyhow.


Tomorrow reveals the big top 5. See you then!

Here's the next 5, but before we get started, I'd just like to address one thing to the readers. This is my list, so if a game isn't on the list or where you'd like it to be, it's because I don't think it belongs there. Okay? Thanks.

Without further adeu..


15. Mario Kart DS



While I was tempted to put Mario Kart Wii here, I eventually gave the nod to the DS version simply because of the selection of tracks, the ability to play it anywhere/anytime, and the single player challenges. I played a great deal of this game when I first got my DS Lite, and even though I would get my ass handed to me whenever an avid snaker entered the fray online, I always had a blast. I think I played it for a solid month, every day. Yoshi Circuit and Delfino Square were my favorite tracks.


14. Goldeneye 007



Hoo boy. This was THE sleep over game. I played this game so much, that I had every spawn point memorized by heart... which made playing proximity mines HILARIOUS. This was mostly due to the fact that I would place a proximity mine at every spawn point trying to get an easy (and cheap) 5-10 kills, but often times get killed and well... die.. OVER AND OVER. I used to always use Arctic Commando, one of the hidden characters that I think just about everyone knows about. I never quite got what was so cheap about Odd Job though, since we used to always play License To Kill and with the auto aim, everyone died pretty much the same. Good, good stuff, although doesn't quite have the same flair it used to with single analog control nowadays. Can we please get this revamped on Xbox Live Arcade? Thanks.


13. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3



While the arcade version of this game sported the best graphics and sound, the console version was actually a bit better with the inclusion Rain and Noob Saibot among others as playable characters. A bit faster and combo based than other Mortal Kombat games was what set this game apart from the others for me. Some say the combos are cheap, but they're definitely more fun to pull off than the standard jump kicks and stuff that you were limited to in 2. Great cast of characters in this as well, and with the ability to play online in the XBLA version, it's a lot of fun.


12. Quake III Arena



I remember playing THE DEMO to this game for months. Yeah, you heard that right. The demo only included I believe three maps from the final game, but I and some friends played this religiously for quite a while. I eventually did pick up the full version, and I was glad I did because it was filled with even more great maps to play around on. This game is incredibly fast paced, but I mastered it back in my prime of enjoyment with this one. I remember one time I was playing with just one friend and a bunch of bots, and I had reached 50 kills before my friend (in second) could even break 10. Yeah, I was a beast, and this game still is a blast to play to this day.


11. Bubble Bobble



It doesn't matter which version of this game you play, you're bound to have a great time if you're playing with a buddy. The game is not so incredibly special when you're playing all alone, but playing this coop is where the magic is at. The game was clearly designed for coop play, as some of the challenges seem pretty hard to tackle on your own. You will help each other make jumps, battle the time, and even take out the hulking (and relatively hard) final boss. The game had plenty of replay value too, as the levels were somewhat randomized every time you played, with different power ups, triggered events, and color schemes. I don't think I ever did get the "happy end", but who cares, I was happy reguardless.


Stay tuned for #10-6 tomorrow.