Thats right folks. I've just experienced the infamous error that every Xbox 360 owner fears (and eventually gets) and it really couldn't have come at a better time.

Well actually before I get into it more I'll explain how it got to this point. The last couple of times I was on Halo 3 I heard random noises from the console and I just assumed it was a problem with the disc. So I checked it, cleaned it a bit and poped it back in. Well matchmaking was still fine so it had to be a problem on the console's end right?

Turnt it off for a whie, turned it back on and it was perfectly fine. This then happened again several more times but around the third I saw those dreaded red rings. Got worried, turnt it off then back on again. It was back to normal again but it was the last time when things got pear shaped.

You see this time when I tried turning it off then back on again the red rings continously showed up and eventually I accepted its fate. Yes the consoles fate and you know what? I'm not sad or down in the dumps.

No I was more concerned about an upcoming demo featuring a certain group of evil red eyed fanatical futuristic cult- like troopers (yes I like using adjectives :).

As you can see everything I've written thus far has been happening a couple of days prior to me playing the living Helghan out of the recently released Killzone 2 demo. SUPPRESIVE FIRE!!

Oh yes my friends I like it very much. All of you complaining about the control issues, I say WHAT ISSUES? Get used to the controls and try aiming more precisely. Its called practice so you may as well get used to it and the controls aren't bad either just becase they ain't the same as COD4.

Coming from someone who unfortunately missed the closed online beta late last year I was blown away by how good it was. It really did exceed my expectations and by god they were high. So to answer this question here and now to my 360 buddies, no I probably won't be on Halo 3 for a while. Just don't call me a fanboy for deserting it.

-Rocket Splash

-Spawn Kills on Standoff (particularly BTB playlists)

-Sword Campers

-Shotgun Campers

Just four of the many reasons why Halo 3 online ticks me off so much but I still came back for more. Its called an addiction which happily should go away with the arrival of my copy of Killzone 2 on the 27th.

So now just to top off what would be my longest blog ever (I think) my wishs for what PS3 games I would like to see pacthed for the future:

- Metal Gear Solid 4 (Would give me incentive to purchase)

- Singstar

-Ninja Gaiden Sigma

- Lair (highly unlikely)

- Heavenly Sword

- COD 4

- Tekken 5 DR

And pretty much the entire back catologue of PS2 games to be pacthed. I'm thinking trophies in Onimusha 2 which would be kickass. Yes I know extremely wishful thinking :(

Anyways hope you had fun reading!

I want to be really honest here. I've been extremely lazy for the past couple of weeks, I've missed several deadlines at college, I haven't done any overtime at work for a while and I just feel really clueless all the time. Mabye its just me but very often I always seem to have this grudge against the rest of the world.

I don't know if you have ever had anyone say the term 'The World doesn't revolve around you you know' to you but I just can't stand it when that term gets refered to me. I'm not an attention seeker and although I think my life is often s**t I am aware that pretty much every other human being has the same going for them. So I ask anyone and everyone that is reading this blog the next time you go out and you think you have had the worst day ever just think how it could have been even more worse than it already was.

You might have got run over by a car and left permanentely disabled for the rest of your life. You might have tripped over in a puddle in front of a crowded bus stop IN FRONT of a crowded bus full of ticked off commuters.

I'm not really important compared to the rest of the worldso why complain about my own problems?

On a slightly positive note If all goes well I should definetly be getting a 360 next Friday along with at least one game to boot up. I'm also planning to download Sonic 1 and 2 via XBL Arcade assuming I manage to hook my network up without any problems. I've been thinking a while about whether to get a PS3 or 360 and when it comes to choice of games its kinda hard for me to decide.

For some weird reason I suddenly got this amazing feeling when I unlocked my first ever achievement in Gears Of War on Windows (one of my many Chrimbo presents) and after discovering that all Xbox 360 games support achievements I was pretty ecstatic! I think replay value is always important to any game and achievments just puts that incentive into wanting to play it more.

Oh yeah can someone also give me some help on putting my Gamertag on my profile homepage? I'm trying to follow the steps on Xbox.com but it keeps coming back with bad request for some reason. Pretty random and weird blog I know but I just wanted to write something long anyway.

I hope that everyone had a great time over Chrimbo/New Year drinking, socialising, partying, orgy-ing etc but remember to start working hard again especially if you are in college like me! Later

Well folks despite rumours (well actually there were not any) I'm not actually decesaed or anything. Apologies for not making a blog for so long as I became extremely lazy in the run up to Chrimbo/New Year and just didn't do much really.

I hope everyone is doing ok (that includes everyone I'm tracking and I hope you had a good one.

I'll do a better blog later on.

Yeah I know guys its been awhile since I did a blog (after a ridiculous temporaryban) so I've got some newthings I'd like to talk.A couple of weeks back I finally got to see one of my favourite rock bands IN PERSON for the first time ever!

There a band called Electric Eel Shockwho originate from Japan and consist of three guys. You have Aki on Vocals and Lead Guitar, Gian on Drums and Kazuto on Bass. Since I first heard their song 'B*****d'!, they have fallen into my favourite band list for sure.

Infact in my eyes they belong right up there with The Doors, Supergrass, Franz Ferdinand and various others which I hold in high regard.

Actually it wasn't really a gig I went to. It was a launch party to celebrate the Special Edition release of therecent Ghost In The Shell film on DVD 'Solid State Society'. It was anime influenced as you can tell from the pictures below:

http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000625ja3.jpg

http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=034oj6.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/my.php?image=040oi7.jpg

*Gears Of War (PC)

*Killzone 2

*Crysis

*Splinter Cell Conviction

*Monster Hunter 3

*Burnout Paradise

*Tekken 6

*Wipeout Pulse

*Crisis Core: Final Fantasy

*Final Fantasy XIII

*Heavenly Sword

What about you guys? :)

You know why guys? Because of STUPID 'Greenwich Mean Time' thats why and since early Tuesday morning I stayed up all the way till 4:30 AM in the morning (thats right while most people were still asleep here in the UK. :x

Nevertheless I was almost going to fall asleep and miss the whole thing but I figured that since I maid it this far I can't afford to stumble down now. The E3 20O7 Microsoft conference was over an hour long and suprisingly I was impressed by the announcements that were made. Just to mention a few:

- Viva Pinata AND Gears Of War (YES! :D) coming to the PC!

- Call Of Duty 4 Exclusive gameplay footage!

- Halo 3 new E3 gameplay trailer!

- Mass Effect E3 gameplay trailer!

- New Crysis gameplay footage!

- Sonic The Hedgehog!! :D

All I have to say is Sony and Nintendo have a lot to live up to if they are going to beat anything Microsoft have shown. More importantly however I need to predict how long I can stay on my feet at work today. :?

Now leave comments boys and girls!

Alright first of all:

1) I can't express enough how much I appreciate the people who accepted my friend requests. Although I have sent a thank you PM to some of you there are still many others who I'd like to thank too. One step closer to getting my friend emblem upgraded but also its nice to have mates on Gamespot with diverse gaming interests. Again thank you so much. :)

2) If anyone has been tracking my reviews you will notice that I haven't done any new ones in a while. Well thats I'm currently writing someand the next couple of games I review next will be ones like Tekken 3, Street Fighter EX 1 and 2 (mabye 3 I'll think about it), Tony Hawks Underground and so forth. Mainly because these are some of my favourite games and I feel that they deserve an extensive review but obviously not too much as I know it can tend to be tedious andboring reading so many words. :P

Anyway as always do watch this space and if you have not already please take some free time to read my current reviews if you have not already and recommend if you like them. Cheers! ;)

Colin Mcrae DirT is the latest installment in the popular racing game series and was recently released for the PC and Xbox 360 respectively (a Playstation 3 version is expected around the end of Q3 this year).

After weeks of wanting to try the game out I finally decided to download the PC demo. I have played it for a while and can say that I was quite impressed. There are a few things about the game that I would like to discuss.

Firstly I would like to get the best stuff out of the way. The presentation is slick and ace and it seems the developers spent some considerable time with the menus, environments and car models. Although according to the system requirements a Geforce 8 series graphics card is guaranteed to give you the best performance whilst playing it still looks brilliant on my Geforce 7600. So fortunately the game can cater to least powerful GPUs but do be aware that anything below 6600 will refuse to work and as always 2GB memory is fully recommended.

The car damage is great too. Although were not talking Burnout here you can shred your motor down a considerable bit and thanks to the advanced physics system, pretty much every environmental object will affect your car's handling, speed and other attributes. The car models themselves look incredible and can easily be compared to their real life counterparts (the blue Subaru car to name one).

Gameplay wise DirT seems fine. Its not exactly a grand departure from the series but does feel different somehow. The racing disciplines allow you to choose different game types although the options in the demo are quite limited. Online is something I would like to go over more if I reviewed the game but the question is has the demo convinced me to buy the retail game? Not exactly since I'm a bit concerned about the multiplayer options whilst reading the GS review. Mabye when it goes a bit cheaper I'll give it a purchase but if I read other reviews I may be convinced to change my mind.

Anywho I didn't want to get into extreme detail about the demo but overall I'm happy. Incase you haven't downloaded it and want to try it out be prepared for some waiting since its almost a gigabit in size so I advise you have 1GB minumum broadband connection or similar. Thank you for reading.

Not in a rush or anything but I still haven't finiished bulding my PC (fully) yet. Its up and running of course but I still want to fit an X-FI Creative soundcard and decent TV tuner card in it so I don't have to keep sneaking to the living room to watch digital late at night. :P

Also I plan to upgrade to the Geforce 8 series graphics cards too. Because I want my PC to be futureproof I'll get a high end one but that also means upgrading my power supply since 400W (currently) is just not sufficient power!

So looks like more overtime at work. :x