Ok its been awhile and i haven't posted a blog so i decided to break the rut and post something small to get me going again. Ok so 10 facts about me.

1: I am Irish

2: I live in Dublin

3: Favourite colour's are blue and green

4: I study Animation in college

5: I have skinny dipped before....... during the day!!

6: Had my first taste of alcohol at 8 (Im Irish lol)

7: Had a dance off with a girlin a night club with everyone circled around watching (i lost lol)

8: I love America (New York primarily) and plan to live there some day

9: I am 22

10: I have been on television before

Yes, you read it right. I have been sleeping with the enemy.

Ok what i am referring to is FIFA09. People who know me know that i am a PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) man. I have been since the days of the N64 with ISS (International superstar soccer).

I have played both titles for many years but i gave up on FIFA back in 2002 and devoted all of my time to PES. At that time FIFA was an arcade style game that a child could pick up and play. It was repetitive and offered no realism at all whatsoever. In my view anyway. PES was the hardcore football game, better player models, more freedom on the ball, variations in how you could score goals that where realistic. It had everything, other than licensing. That didn't matter, us football sim fans had pure football. For me FIFA was cast aside in 2002 and i said to myself it would never get a look in again.

The years passed and i was was a veteran of PES v FIFA wars. This game is better etc etc. I had my scars and i wore them proud as i was 9/10 right and victorious. From 2002 there was PES, PES 2, PES 3, PES 4, PES 5 (the best) PES 6 (first on next-gen, xbox) all where great games. From PES to PES 5 there was great improvements, the biggest jump being from PES 2 to PES 3. PES got proper licenses etc. Then it steadied out after that. It was still better than FIFA but wasn't making the giant leaps some had hoped, especially on next-gen. But hey, it was still better than FIFA.

PES 2008.......... for people who know the series i will give you a moment to break something in your rage.... are you calm now? OK. Well what a bad game that was. Terrible frame-rate, poor graphics for next-gen, not a step forward rather a 5 year step backwards. The game was unplayable to a degree offline and unplayable online. It was a bad Ps2 game on the Ps3 (that's what i play on). There was many problems and no proper Edit mode. Meanwhile EA Canada had been using there brain and started developing a next-gen engine for FIFA a couple of years before the 360 and Ps3 where out. At the time of release of PES 2008, FIFA08 with its new game engine and next-gen installment was out. FIFA had completely turned the tables! I was in shock, and denial. I started to see and feel what it was like to be the fan of the poorer title. It was harsh and a wake up call.

PES 2009 arrived October 17th. Was it a revolution? No. Was it an evolution? Somewhat. It fixed the problems of PES 2008 and glossed it up, made it playable. Am i happy? Sort of. It fixed the problems of 2008 but made a baby step forward from that.

Ok, now to what i opened with. My time under the duvet with FIFA09. Well where do i start?..... well i applaud you EA. You have made a mighty fine game worthy of a true football sim and next-gen game. I have been playing it a lot and love all the little realistic features and the gameplay is top notch. It has it's problems regarding shooting, some AI trouble and a few others. Nothing to bad. Maybe i am liking this because it is fresh and feels new? Maybe i am liking this because i am a football and gaming fan and appreciate the great effort? Maybe i am really liking this because PES has lost its spark? I love PES and will never stop but the time away and fall from grace has matured me and opened my eyes. PES has faltered and EA caught up and passed PES by.

PES will be my number one football game every year till it stops being made but my affair with FIFA09 has opened my eyes to its allure and pleasures. I will not overlook it anymore. I will be balanced with my views and play both as both offer a lot and are great franchises.

US as gamers. Your probably wondering what i mean with my title. Well let me start. Us as gamers have a great (gaming) life. Most if not all have now got the latest console(s), we game online, we are opinionated, we know what we like and we know the in's and out's of the gaming world.

All of that opening paragraph is now going to bring me onto the topic(s) i want to discuss. Christmas, Game shops and shop assistants!! They all sound normal just by saying them but they add as one chaotic entity.

Christmas is the time of the year us as gamers love. We are in the middle of the Fall release of games and if your cunning enough four or five of the great fall games are on your wishlist for Christmas. With the time some us have off for Christmas, be it Work holidays, College holidays, School holidays or your unemployed and every day is a holiday.... i kid. We can sit around and play that much wished for title, stuff our faces with turkey and enjoy the festivities. All sounds great doesn't it?

This is where US as gamers must come into play (pardon the pun lol). Game retailers and the shop assistants in them used to love gaming but now they are all about the money. Sales have to be made and sales assistants have to make targets. If your lost let me give you a true example of what i am talking about that i witnessed. I was in my local Game retailer and was browsing through the many games i yurn to have when i overheard a discussion between a mother and a sales assistant. The mother was looking for the best game to get on the PS3 so she can suprise her son. Now us as gamers know the truly good games to the badly developed wastes of money that arrive on the shelves. The shop assistant then turned to the lady and suggested that the best option for her son would be A) purchase Need for speed undercover B) FIFA 09 or an alternative which was the Wii with the Wii fit!! Does your gaming soul hurt? Mine does. This is where US as gamers must step in and help the bewildered mothers, fathers, girlfriends etc and help them make a constructive well purchased decision. I don't mean persuade them to choose the game you like but to help them.

We have enough very bad movie tie-in's and annual sequels cluttering up the charts when there is great games being made and overlooked. This in return kills our opputunity at having a good selection to purchase from. How many developers with great game titles get overlooked and subsequently go into liquidation because there game was not a sequal or movie tie-in. Now i am not saying that all of us purchase this way and that every great game gets lost in the annual sequal rush, it doesn't but most if not all game retailers operate in the way i just described.

My message is this, help the bewildered gamers, stop the retailers pushing rubbish at us and help game shoppers (politely and constructivley) make a proper purchase. Because US as gamers can make the difference. Merry Christmas and happy gaming.

Yes thats right!!....... I am G7SEV and iCOD!! I am not ashamed.

Man what a game this has turned out to be for me. Endless hours online dominating and teabagging opponents. Great craic. When i first bought the game the first thing i did was play through and complete the story mode just to get a feel for CoD4 before i went online. The story mode was very good, very cinematic and had a great atmosphere. Favourite mission for me was "All ghillied up". It was an enthralling chapter of the game that i truly enjoyed. It was also the hardest chapter for me :oops: lol. I just could not get by the last part of the chapter where you are held up at the back of the abandoned fair ground. Endless soldiers, gunfire, grenades and dogs made it impossible (for about 50 attampts) to stay alive and complete the chapter. I eventually did and went on to complete the game. I liked the story even though it was short (if you take out my 50 attempts).

Now to the meat on the bone of CoD4.... the online multiplayer. Wow!! Does this have depth and longevity or what?? A perk and class system, great graphics, very good servers (a lot of the time) and challenges to keep you going. Not to mention the Prestige mode which for me is basically for people who want to do the challenges again and get a shiny new badge. It doesn't make you better or have any significance. I am level 55 general and have not prestiged and i am as good if not better than most level 55 gold crossers!!

I have had plenty of great rounds of TDM, nail biting Search & Destroy and heart pounding one v one (against good players). I am addicted. I currently have a KD ratio of 1.55. Accuracy is 23.40%.and Win/Loss ratio is 1.04 (average) this is at the time of blog entry. At the moment i am exclusively playing Hardcore TDM and Hardcore S&D. I have all red tiger camo's for my snipers plus the gold Dragunov. I have red tiger for the M4Carbine, G36C, G3 and RPD. I am working on the M14 and have blue tiger for that.

Anyway enough of my bragging lol. On a closing note, CoD4 has been a great FPS game and a game that i will still be playing as much till CoD5 modern warfare 2 arrives. Before you think to yourself, the answer is yes! I have CoD:WaW (well Christmas) and will be playing that also. Activision have their hands on an FPS gold mine.

Well where do i start?! Straight off, i like the game. I like it a lot. Is it a great game? No not in the slightest but with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 being the big steaming pile of horse crap that it was and is, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 was always going to look good in comparison.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is a good game. Not the great one that it can, should and hopefully soon enough (Pro Evolution Soccer 2010) will be. In Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 they added a wealth of new options. Become a Legend is one of the new modes in the game, not to be confused with EA's Become a Pro (Become a Legend was around first). It makes it's appearance after a long spell on the sidelines. Konami had used this mode in the Japanese version (Winning Eleven Soccer). The mode is such that you make yourself or any other person as a footballer. You choose your position, your appearance etc and so on. You are then thrust into a trial match and after that match you get offers from 3 clubs that are usually mid to low table clubs. You choose your team and away you go as a fresh faced 17 year old. All good so far. Legends mode is also there. You take your created player online and join other BAL players. Also good. The big deal this year was that Konami secured a year licence with UEFA for the exclusive rights to the Uefa Champions League. This in my opinion is a very big coup for Konami, especially since EA dominate the licencing department. Also the edit mode is back to it's full glory.

That all sounds great to the casual Pro Evo player but to the die hard Pro Evo fan and player who follow the franchise will have seen the lines between the lines that where there to read. Those lines read out as "Konami have lost the licence to the Spanish La Liga, The Italian Seria A and a host of miscellaneous clubs like Bayern Munich. This in my view is very lazy of Konami. The La Liga is not licenced but has a small amount of clubs from that league licenced like Real Madrid & Barcelona but they have no official league emblem. The Seria A is not licenced, all clubs are there with full kits but no league emblem. This might sound like i am nit-picking but Konami have had these licences in previous versions of Pro Evo but now have not renewed them and got lazy in my view. So they obtain the Champions League and throw other things in to take the look off their short comings.

That rant aside for the moment i will discuss the most important thing this year Gameplay. Its Back!! Some might disagree and that is there view, i respect that. But in my view it is back to its classic PS2 days. It is now a more slow paced, passing game rather than the pin-ball-esque fast paced arcade game that was 2008. I am happy with that. The ball physics have been reworked and it is visible. I am definetly getting many enjoyable hours with the better gameplay. Me and my mates have had very many great Pro Evo tournaments since i purchased it and that is what i wanted from this game this year. I wanted the Pro Evo feel back, i also wanted Konami to correct the mistakes of there first (PS3) next-gen version which was 2008. In fairness they have. This year was an evolution, for Pro Evo 2010 i want a Revolution. That means a new game engine, more licences, better gameplay etc. It has to be done or otherwise Konami are going to lose a lot more fans than they already have.

In the middle of all the ranting and nonsence i am just saying in my view that Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is a good game, better than last years but ultimatly has to be reworked from its foundations up to make it truly next-gen.

Also i know i did not touch on the online part of Pro Evo 2009 and that is because it is nearly impossible to play online and Konami's servers and general lobby interface online is just down right terrible.