I love Windows 7. Absolutely freaking LOVE IT. For my Master's program, I have to record a video of me teaching onto a DVD, and mail it to my advisor. Before Windows 7, this would have been a nightmare. But today, things went like this:

1. plugged in camera to computer and turned the camera on
2. Windows automatically detected the camera type and model
3. Windows automatically downloaded and installed three drivers and programs to make the connection operate correctly
4. An upload window appeared that allowed me to name my movie
5. I clicked "next" and Windows rewound the tape, played the tape, and began digitally copying my movie

These are the games that I have yet to beat. At least the number is coming down.

Wii
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Mad World
Super Mario Galaxy

Gamecube (Wii)
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3

NES (Wii)
Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse
The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

DS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
New Super Mario Brothers

PC
Arx Fatalis
Command & Conquer: Generals
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Fallout 2
Fallout 3
Indigo Prophecy
The Longest Journey
Mirror's Edge
Planescape Torment
Prince of Persia
Sam & Max Season 1
Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil

Xbox
Ninja Gaiden Black
Psychonauts

Xbox 360
Alone in the Dark
Assasin's Creed
Condemned 2
Dead Rising
Ghostbusters
Halo Wars
Lego Indiana Jones
Lost Planet
Ninja Gaiden II
Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Dragon Age: Origins rocked my world. That's no secret. But now that I'm wrapping up Mass Effect (again), I'm looking forward to the Dragon Age expansion pack that's coming out in March. Yet, I still want to go back and go through the different origin stories. So far, I've only completed the city elf origin story.

And this Thursday, the new DLC for Borderlands comes out! All hail the Secret Armory of General Knoxx!

I'm so excited!

and other stuff.

I'm still plodding through the PC version of Mass Effect. Unlike with my 360 version, I amdefinitelygoing to keep my save game files in order to carry over all of my decisions into Mass Effect 2. I've been eying Bioshock 2, which is odd. After playing the first game, the sequel just sounded like such an attempt to cash-in. But after watching the video from Revision Three's Co-Op, I'm tempted to return to Rapture again.

I'm trading No More Heroes in to Goozex... whoop, spoke too soon, I already have a taker. The game was repetitive: ninety minutes of boredom punctuated by twenty minutes of mildly entertaining. I don't know why this game got so much hype; maybe it's simply because it's an "adult" game on the Wii.

Maura's car has just returned from the shop; not bad, they took less than a day to repair the leaks in her transmission.

We finally finished repairing our fireplace. First, we got the chimney cleaned. Then, we got the flu repaired. Then, we got inch-thick cracks sealed with high-temperature cement. Finally, we cemented over the ash capture box at the bottom of the fireplace. All of this in an attempt to keep our family room from being so freaking cold all of the time. We were losing heat through the fireplace like we had a hole in our wall. February's in Michigan are not fun with a draft.

I'm liking the new ranks that 1up has, though I'm amazed that the release is still buggy. That seems inevitable. I think Thumpp needs more QA testers to find these bugs. My custom rank came from a time in band rehearsal. I rolled my bass guitar backwards up my body, and noticed that the strap was now wrapped around the instrument. Hence, it was a mummy. My guitar player has never let me forget that; he finds it hilarious. Weirdo.

That is all.

As I continue to play Mass Effect, I've noticed my consoles gathering dust. Poor them.So tonight, I popped No More Heroes into the Wii, and gave it a second spin.

So far, so meh.

I've heard **** of hype about this title, and how it's one of the few of a short list of outstanding Wii games, and yet I'm not very entertained... overall. See, I threw that in there because the game does have its charms. Taking out the ten bosses is fun, beating up their minions is ok, but everything else is boring.

I keep telling myself that I'll give it one more assassination round, and if I'm not enjoying it, I'll trade it in. One more round, I guess.

My whole family has it. It's nasty.

With the recent release of Mass Effect 2, I decided to blow the dust off of my Xbox 360 save game files. They weren't there. Somehow, I deleted them between the time that I completed the game and now. Great.

I have always wanted to check out the PC version of the game for the better graphics, mouse and keyboard support, etc. Well, STEAM made my dream a reality this past holiday season when they put Mass Effect on sale for $10.

After finishing Dragon Age: Origins today, I decided to jump back into Mass Effect. My life must seem like a nightmare to Bioware haters right now.So far, I'm enjoying it, but I don't remember the graphics being this fuzzy on my HDTV, and I'm bummed that the highest resolution that I can get is 960p. My monitor's stock resolution is 1200p. Balls.

Well, off to kill Saren again.

I haven't played a RPG like this in years. While this game pales to Baldur's Gate, I found myself unable to turn this game off, regardless of how late into the night I was up.

The story is pretty generic-orcs, dragons, etc.-but with a slight twist to create something that is believable and enjoyable. While the hero-who-must-save-the-world thing has been done to death, little nuances such as showing off the might of Fereldan's army before it's obliterated is a nice touch to make this rerun seem somewhat fresh.

The user-interface worked well, and I rarely found myself clicking on something that I hadn't intended. One small problem happened often; when I began to click on a pile of treasure and my NPC ran up from behind to join my character, initiating dialogue that took too long to exit from.

Themusic is sweeping and beautiful, with an opening track that draws me into clicking "resume" over and over. Props go to the owner of the haunting voice, and to the music director for creating something that I wouldn't mind listening to away from the game.

But what really added color to the canvas was the NPCs. Conversations among your group were rich and entertaining, fleshing out the personalities and backstories for each person. Romancing some of your NPCs was also a nice diversion from the hack-n-slash gameplay, and there are four possible liasons to choose from. Finally, there was the inclusion of NPC-specific quests, which I question why only a few of the NPCs had them.

On the negative side, the graphics look dated when compared with Mass Effect 2 (another Bioware game that was released within months of this title), the world is pretty restricting and closed off, and the party system is limited. Blocks of textures can be seen on some windows. Like KOTOR, each level is rather linear, with little chance for exploration and discovery. You're on ride whether you like it or not. Last, I think Bioware should have gone with a five-person party. Too often I was artificially restricted between choosing to take along a healer or a rogue. Why the limitation? I understand some limitation (you don't want to be able to bring along 10 people), but four seems so arbitrary and frustrating.

On January 29, Bioware finally released its second batch of downloadable content, Return to Ostagar. This journey takes you and your party back to the castle and battlegrounds of the prologue, and tasks you with finding the remains of the fallen king, weapons, armor and body.

For some reason, this tale doesn't feel as micro-epic as the first round of DLC, The Warden's Keep. That quest had you discovering the past of the Grey Wardens, and successfully conveyed a sense of nostalgia. Return to Ostagar should have been even greater, with a chance to redeem the armies of Fereldan and lay the king to rest. The primary reason for this missing greatness is a lack of difficulty, and the short amount of time that it takes to complete the quest. While I understand $5 is not going to necessitate a lot of content, I would rather have experienced more and paid for it. In the end, there isn't the same sense of accomplishment as there was with The Warden's Keep. While the few new enemies and chance to wield the king's armory is nice, I still felt a little let-down by the entire experience.

If you're a major fan of Dragon Age, this DLC is worth the $5 asking price. Moderate fans should probably avoid this, unless they feel the need to do and see everything

With the release (FINALLY!!!) of the new Dragon Age DLC, Return to Ostagar, I am ready to jump back into Dragon Age and finish it up. Previously, I had put it on hold because I was really close to completing it.

The only problem is that I have heard that this is only the tip of the DLC iceberg for Dragon Age. I wonder what I'll do if they keep releasing pre-completion DLC. Will I keep using a pre-end game save? Will I start with a new character and experience the new DLC quests with a new origin story? Will I use my completion save? Hmmmm...

Does anybody know if Bioware is planning on continuing Dragon Age: Origins characters into Dragon Age: Journeys?