Last week just wasn't my week. I was really just sick and so I'm still trying to get over it. To top off being sick, I couldn't get my hands on a copy of Army of Two, so unforunately I really wont have much to discuss this week. I recieve zero comments on my last blog, so this leads me to believe I did something wrong or no one at all read it. C'mon guys! I want to hear your opinions on things, at least some constructive criticism on what I could do to make my blog more entertaining. Ah well...

So I've been playing a lot of Mabinogi. It's a great MMORPG, if you haven't played it, you should head on over to the official Mabinogi website and start. I'm only level 15, perhaps 16, so obviously not too high. I've really just been enjoying the game for what it is. It looks great. It's not great in the same sense as Crysis great, but great as in unique. I really just love it.

The game features some pretty nifty things like composing your own music which isn't anything new to a game, but still fun. Since I'm a trumpet player, I've been composing all of my favorite pieces quite easily without the help of any program. I'm walking around town playing movements by Percy Granger which most people have never heard, but it's absolutely amazing. So yes, definitely worth checking out if you have free time and enjoy Japanese MMOs.

A friend of mine came over this weekend and we literally spent all Friday, Saturday, and Sunday gaming. No eating, no sleeping, no blinking. Definitely no blinking. I was really able to catch up on games I had bought with my 360 but never played like BioShock, Halo 3, and others. I even went out and bought myself a copy of Saints Row and Oblivion. I have yet to play Oblivion because I was working on Saints Row. Saints Row is a great GTA-like game and definitely worth a play through. This game has really got me hyped for the second one and it will hold me over until GTA 4.

I actually joined my first union, the Rock Band Union. The guys there are really great and fun to talk with. I really look forward to the day we can hop on LIVE and play some Rock Band together. If you aren't a member, then what are you waiting for? Head on over there now!

That is really it for this week. Mass Effect DLC was released today, however I was not able to finish it before the blog, so I'll discuss that next week for sure. I'm still trying to get of this darn cold, so excuse my blogs. These last just haven't been up to par. Expect some better discussions and soon to come, my forum discussions which hopefully will get you readers more interacted. I love opinions.

Don't worry folks, I plan this blog to be very, very short. There really isn't much I wish to discuss unfortunately, however, I plan on maybe blogging on Wednesdays where I will discuss certain topics that sparked my interest in the forums where I'll definitely want your opinions.

So last I week I unfortunately had to return The Club and Lost Odyssey. The Club was in fact my first game I played on LIVE and it definitely was a terrific game. It will all ways have a place in my heart. Along with of course Lost Odyssey. Lost Odyssey is one of those once in a blue moon kind of games. I sure hope Mistwalker continues on this path of amazing game development.

So I rented my last game, at least until this weekend which I will talk about later, Frontlines: Fuel of War which is surprisingly a good game. A lot of people on the forums are really hating on this game just because they played the demo which was supposedly really bad. Notice I bolded demo? You know what I have to say to those people? A lot of you same people complain about GameSpot giving Lost Odyssey a poor score due to a not finalized version of the game which game with long load times. Isnt a demo something like a not finalized game? I believe it is.

Frontlines is a great game that every fan of the FPS genre should definitely give a try, maybe just a rental for now. This game is still new and is still working out the kinks in the dedicated servers which is a big plus so you might have issues playing online at the moment. I know I do. Sometimes it's a really hassle trying to join a dedicated server because I'll all ways recieve errors like the session has ended. However, I found that if join a server with a what seems to be a low populated server like 8/32, I can squeeze in. When I join, it turns out that there is all ready 32 players in the server! For some reason, I get the feeling my error has something to do with it being full or not. I'm probably wrong, but this is just my theory. So yeah, definitely give a go at Frontlines. The single player story is actually relatively good.

A friend of mine who is a big PC gamer has talked me into playing this free MMORPG called Mabinogi. By the look of it, it appears to be a cutesy anime game, which isn't bad. I have nothing against cute and anime. My friend has created a YouTube video which shows off the combat during the pre-open beta. http://youtube.com/watch?v=GX_3qVt5NDk

This weekend I'm finally getting together with a friend, the same one who created the YouTube video, where we will have a Mabinogi marathon or should I call it a plain ol' game-a-thon? Along with Mabinogi, we will be trying to hopefully pick up some titles like Army of Two and some ****cs like Comdemned, Rainbox Six Vegas, and Crackdown along with enjoy some Halo 3, Rock Band, and BioShock.

That is about it for this week. Once again, feel free to comment on whatever. I really do appreciate constructive criticism as I am still but a newbie when it comes to blogging.

So, it's week two for the good ol' blog and I think it's turning out nicely. I was commented twice on my first post and tracked by two people, so thank you all who gave their time to read through it.

Last week I said I would discuss more on Dark Messiah Might and Magic: Elements. Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete the game due to business such as honor band which took up a good portion of my free time, however, I was really able to get a good idea of the game since I had completed a good half or so of the game.

A lot of people will probably end up never trying this wonderful port due to GameSpot's review, however I personally think it deserves a good rental. Elements offers some pretty amazing stuff. The combat is fun, the spells are nice even though I never used them a lot being an Assassin, the story is... Eh... Okay. It's an action game with some RPG elements, what more can you expect? The graphics at time really are great, however there are other times where terrain can look blotchy, and some things up close look horrid, but chances are, you will be so sucked into the action, you wont have time to notice.

In the end, Elements offers a good addition to any fan of the action RPG genre's collection. Well... At least just rental.

This week I was able to pick up Lost Odyssey and boy oh boy is this an amazing game or is this an amazing game? Yeah, that's what I thought. I also got my hands on a copy of The Club which was getting some attention in the forums. So far I'm really digging this game. The single player campaign is a bit dull due to how repetitive the missions are, but it really shines in online.

I've played Lost Odyssey a good three and a half hours and I just finished my first boss. I must admit, I'm in love with the writers. The way they have put together these memories that Kaim recover are absolutely amazing. These are really amazing stories that actually make me feel emotion. I can't remember the last time I felt sad or happy from playing a video game.

One problem I have with the Lost Odyssey, which is a small problem, but a problem nonetheless, is the camera. I'm really not digging the way it works. Actually, after playing so much, it's not too bad. Honestly, it just takes some time to get use to. The camera to me feels like it's zoomed out so far and it doesn't actually follow the character. It's all most stationary.

Maybe I'm overreacting. It's not really that bad now after I've put some time into getting use to the way it is.

This game is pretty big. Well, it is big. I mean, c'mon. Four discs? That's huge! I know I wont be able to finish it off or even be close to fininish it in only one rental period, but I'll probably rent it a few more times so I don't have to buy it and can save some cash. You know... I really should consider GameFly...

Anyways, on to The Club. The Club is a pretty sweet game. It's very arcade like when it comes to the single player. You choose from a list of so many characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. You then play through a series of tournaments which includes staying in a zone marked by street cones and chalk and surving for so long, scoring as many points as possibly and finding the exit, completing so many laps in a certain amount of time, and so on.

In the single player you get so many points for every kill depending on how you killed them. Like a headshot might score more points than a bunch of shots to the torso and so on. Every kill also adds one to a multiplier. If you're good, you can get your multiplier really high and start racking in the big points.

Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to playing on LIVE. They trash the multipliers and the scores and it basically turns into your usual deathmatch. For some reason though, this time it's okay. It stands between being a tactical third person shooter like Gears of War and a run 'n gun sort of game somewhat like Halo 3. All in all, it's worth it and should be given at least a rental.

2008 has been a great year for games all ready and will continue all the way to the end. In just this year amazing games like Devil May Cry 4, Lost Odyssey, Turok, and more have been released with more awesome titles to follow like Fable 2, Gears of War 2, APB, Grand Theft Auto IV, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, and a whole bunch more. As you can see, it's been madness.

When will we see a break!? All I ask for is one month of no games. Just one month! I haven't played any of my six purchased games since last week. I feel like I will have very little time if I'm lucky, if not, then no time to catch up on these old but great games like Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Dead Rising, Crackdown, and so on! The list just goes on and on. I try to get the latest games so I have something interesting to talk about in my blog, but those oldies are calling my name!

Those who have been reading my blog obviously know I'm a pretty active user in the Xbox 360 message board. I actually haven't posted anywhere else but there. I've had some great discussions with other users of the message board. Some people I have some disagreements with, but that's the best thing about forums. Everyone has their own opinions. Not everyone will agree and disagree at the same thing. This is the first step for great discussions.

Speaking of great discussions, while browsing the message board, some topics have caught my eye and are pretty interesting to me. Some of you might have all ready been involved with these threads, but some of you might have missed them. I would really love some feedback from readers and tell me what you think about these.

1: Are casual games taking over? I believe they are. More and more titles release every day than they ever have that appeal to a larger audience of gamers. Some young, some old. What about us dedicated gamers! We have a bunch of free time for games, but instead they throw garbage our way. This isn't true all of the game. There has all ready been great releases of games that better suit games such as myself who tend to have more time for gaming.

2: Is it still fair for games to recieve reviews? Sure, they are great for gamers to get a good idea whether they might purchase the game or not, but nowadays, it's cheating. Either games get the upperhand and recieve great reviews due to well... Obvious reasons that I wish not to explain or they recieve crummy reviews. Sometimes these games that recieve horrible scores are great games. However in 2008, after gaming has been around for so long, unique video game ideas are hard to come by because everything has all ready been done. Is it not cheating that a game takes a penalty because there idea has been done before?

3: Moderation in the forums is all ways good... Most of the time. Sometimes certain things are overlooked by moderators. C'mon, they're only human. They have a nifty little logo that says MOD next to their name, but that's nothing. However sometimes moderators go to far as to lock great discussions such as the Older Gamers thread which in my opinion is a great thread even though I'm 15 and I don't apply to it. Yes, the thread was eventually unlocked and only locked due to a misunderstanding of a moderator. Other times moderators just let stuff fly by without any action. Sure they can't be on 24/7, but it's rare that a moderator isn't on when a player creates another topic about x game VS. y game or x character VS. y character. Sure it's nice every now and then, but not ten topics a day! What about recommendation topics? There is a sticky for recommendations, but most members decide to create new topics anyways. Isn't the point of a sticky to keep the clutter away?

Anyways, thanks for everyone that brought up these discussions in the message boards. Remember, these are just my opinions. I look forward to hearing opinions from others.

That's about it for my second blog post. I really appreciate constructive criticism, so please, comment away.

Oh, and yes, I do know these blogs are long. I have a lot to say. Feel free to read what you want to and skip what you want to.

Recently I purchased my very own Xbox 360 along with six games. Mass Effect, BioShock, Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Gears of War, and Rock Band. It wasn't cheap, but it was totally worth it. I also picked up a rental of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements as I had never played the game for the computer and it's a fairly new game for the Xbox 360.

So, I've had my 360 and six games, or seven if you count the five day rental game, for less than 24 hours. So far I've only played about three hours of Mass Effect and about an hour and a half of Elements. At the moment I am enjoying both games very much and I plan to discuss more of Elements shortly for those who haven't played it yet. I'm just going to assume everyone has had a chance to play Mass Effect.

Before I going dive into the wonders that is Elements I would like to briefly discuss a MMORPG that I am greatly looking forward too, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures developed by Funcom. AOC is set to be released May 20 for the PC and later this year for the 360. The story, for those who aren't up-to-date with the game, will take place a year after the events of Robert E. Howard's, The Hour of the Dragon.

One of the features I am looking forward to is the Real Combat system. Instead of the traditonal "turn-based" combat, player must choose to attack one of three areas of a monster where a weapon of their choice. Then, to perform a technique, players must string together various attacks. Finally! A MMORPG that takes more skill than pressing your hotkeys the fastest! Along with mounted combat using the same Real Combat system, this most be one of my most anticipated MMORPGs of... Well, forever.

The combat is truly amazing but other features such as the creation of player cities sounds quite fun too. Player cities allow player-owned taverns and markets and a whole new battleground. Yes, players will even be able to participate in city sieges. Can you imagine how much fun city sieges will be with the Real Combat system? Don't screw it up Funcom.

So, I've been playing a good bit of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements just this day, along with of course Mass Effect. Elements is a truly amazing experience that all fans of the action genres and possibly RPG genre should not miss out. Elements is more or less a repetitive beat 'em up game with experience, level ups, spells, and fantasy creatures. The story isn't anything to brag about, but it fit perfectly with the sort of game it is.

I've only played a pathetic hour or so, but so far the action has been practically non stop with occasional cutscenes to progress the story forward. The game includes the use of the environment to kill your enemies such as kicking a guy off a cliff or into a wall of spikes, destroying support beams so that it collapses a structure and comes crashing to the ground to kill your enemy, and a whole bunch of other things.

The game looks beautiful. Well, it is beautiful because it's created using the Source engine. It's the small things that really bring the game to life like the wildlife and other various features the environment has to offer or even the way enemies wander dazed and confused after taking a beating. The same goes for the sound which in my opinion is wonderfully done. It feels great to hear the shriek of an enemy after the final blow which graphically look pretty darn cool.

So, upon the creation of a new game you get to select one of four classes to play as. The sturdy warrior, the quick archer, the intelligent mage, or the sinister assassin. That's about it for character customization. You the player control Sareth, the sudent of a wizard named Phenrig. During the course of the prologue which is basically a tutorial, you retrieve the Shantiri Crystal and then are instructed by Phenrig to take it to the wizard Lord Menelag who resides in his manor in Stonehelm. I wont go on as I don't wish to spoil any of the good stuff.

As I will all ways say when it comes down to recommending a game, in this case Elements, rent it. If you like it, buy it, if you don't, you only wasted $7.00. Personally though, I'm having a blast.

In other news for those who haven't heard, Marvel Universe Online, developed by Cryptic Studios, was offically canceled last week by Microsoft's Shane Kim. I am a big fan of the Marvel universe and all things X-Men and Spiderman so this news was quite devestating. Yes, the news was definitely quite shocking and didn't really help start the week off. That's life I guess... Painful and full of terrible surprises.

EA has finally, finally, finally announced the offical release date of Spore. In fact, it's not too far off from now, only... what? Six months and some days? Not too bad... Oh, who am I kidding! All of these delays have better pay off or I'm going to be angry... Really angry.

That's it for this week! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I'm actually quite new to blogging so I really, really appreciate constructive criticism. Next week I'll try to get my hands on Lost Odyssey for sure, go over the joys of being a 360 owner, and more news.