Ignoring the brouhaha that's been bubbling lately, this game is a must-have for any shooter, zombie, co-op, or multiplayer fiend.

The pacing is great, the audio cues are helpful, and the A.I. director is... good. I don't see how this feature is so incredibly innovative, when games like SIN Episodes already had adaptive and dynamic A.I. But, it does its job, and it does it pretty well.

To date, the game has three major modes: campaign, versus (where you can take control of the boss infected), and survivor (where you see how long you can last against waves of zombies). While many people are clamoring on about playing as the boss infected, I find the campaign to be the game's meat and potatos.

You can "finish" this game quickly, and it's up to you whether replaying the levels with the A.I. director is any fun. For me, the glow died out months ago, and now it's a fun but casual game to come back to every once in awhile.

A great game? Absolutely. Worth $50? Not so much.

Score: 8.0

I SHOULD have several more Gamespot tags than I currently do. For some reason, I don't have my E3 day 3 emblem, theemblem for watching the MS press conference live, or my tagging emblem. I know that the tagging system is broken, but still...

No, this shouldn't bother me. No, this shouldn't be a big deal. But I'm a collector.

I entered this year's E3 shennanigans with a snarky eye. Last year's presentations sucked so much ass, I decided to expect the worst going in. Here are my thoughts:

Microsoft: STILL known as the "PC Gaming? WHAT PC Gaming" group, but at least they continue to push the Xbox 360 as a media platform; and by "push" I mean improve. A glaring lack of games were presented, however.

Sony: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Nintendo: After last year's debacle, I decided to tune out and pick up the snippets from the intertubes. I'm excited about some games, but Motion Plus seems... so underwhelming.

Now, on to the good stuff; the GAMES!!!

PC

Alan Wake

A psychological-horror that I've been watching for a long time. The gameplay looks very similar to Resident Evil, but what I'm really looking forward to is the story and the setting. The same studio that made Max Payne (the great games, not the **** movie) and its sequel are dropping this beauty in the near-future.

Bionic Commando

Sure, it's getting average reviews. Sure, it doesn't look like it's as good as the original, or Bionic Commando: Rearmed (I still have to beat that). But, it does look like it's worth $30 or so. Definitely something that I'll pick up once it goes on sale, STEAM or retail.

Borderlands

This game had "meh" written all over it until they decided to drastically change their art direction last-minute.

Crysis 2

The original was the pinnacle of current-generation PC shooter. I just hope that the multiplatform nature of this next game doesn't dumb-down the PC experience. Read: no checkpoins allowed. In the meantime, we have this video.

Dark Void

Two words: vertical shooting and dude with a freaking jetpack.

Dragon Age

Baldur's Gate's spiritual successor? SIGN ME UP!!!

Dante's Inferno

A game version of the ****c piece of lit.

Deus Ex 3

Guess I better play and finish the second game.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The MMORPG to end all others.

The Sims

Yeah, so it looks ok.... SO WHAT OF IT???

Wii

Endless Ocean 2

My favorite fish-petting simulation/SCUBA diving game is back!

Super Mario Galaxy 2

The first one has been fun thus far, but I MUST make time to go back to it. I'm glad to see the return of Yoshi. As much as some people are starting to hate him, my girls are still fans.

Ghostbusters

It may be my age, or it just might be that this game looks awesome. Controlling a proton pack's stream with the Wii-mote? Yes, please!

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Just because it's a Silent Hill game.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Dead Space: Extraction

Boob Blox: Bash Party

Xbox 360

Bayonetta

Although I'm not a fan of the Devil May Cry series, this game (same developer) is actually raising an eyebrow.

Brutal Legend

Psychonauts done heavy metal, and voiced by Jack Black, Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jet, et al. LOLs are practically guaranteed with this title.

Dead Rising 2 & Lost Planet 2

I haven't finished the original of THESE games, either. But, that will give the sequels enough time to come down in price!

Halo 3: ODST

I STILL think they should have stuck with the name Halo 3: Recon. Ah well. It'll be cool to play in the Halo universe without being the Master Chief.

Halo: Reach

Bioshock 2

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

Lego Indiana Jones 2

Assassin's Creed 2

Mass Effect 2

I fell in love with Prince of Persia when I got a free copy of "Sands of Time" with a videocard a few years back. Much has already bee said about that title's gameplay mechanics, animation, story, and characters, but suffice it to say I loved it.

Then came "Warrior Within." While many people hated the darker tone of this game, I felt it fit perfectly with the Prince's ongoing story. While I didn't love this game, I did like it; something needed to replace the whimsical tone of the first game in order for the sequal to be as great.

"The Two Thrones" drove my into fits. I only wanted to complete this game to finish the storyline begun several years ago, so I set this game on "easy." You would think that the combat would be easier, the platforming more foregiving, the traps slower, etc. Well, if they were, I certaintly couldn't tell. In fact, from my observations the only thing that became easier was the combat. Well, when the your time is spent mostly platforming, this does not help.

Beyond that gripe, I loved the new mechanics. The Dark Prince introduced a new character with new weapons; a character who would die if he didn't find more sands of time. The chariot races were a fun diversion from the normal game, and I'm glad they didn't overdo it.

Alltogether, this was a fun game. But in light of the fact that it was supposed to be the final send-off to this "Prince of Persia" series, I feel it's only slightly above average. Fix the difficulty issues and this game would be at least receiving a "good" rating from me.

Score: 5.5

That's right, I'm tired of numbering my random updates. So now I DATE THEM!!! They're very nice; always offering to go Dutch.

Houses

Our favorite house (you know, the one that was on the market, off the market, back on the market, and then off the market all in a few days?) is back on the market, and we may be putting an offer in. The house is gorgous, and even the mold in the basement is... wait a minute. That's right, there's mold from a recent flood (we had 5-6 of torrential downpours a month ago) in the basement, and now there's mold growing.

We like the house, and the only way to be sure it can be cleaned and that it's not toxic is to get it inspected. And before you ask, yes, it's worth it to get it inspected. The house is that full of awesome.

Games

I'm not currently playing Resident Evil 2 (GC/Wii), Prince of Persia 3 (PC), DiabloII (PC) and Dead Space (PC). They are slow with bad graphics but fun, fun but challenging (even on "Easy"), fun but dated, and scary... respectively.

Boredom

The 1up and Gamespot boards have been D-E-D. Somebody, please, do or say something entertaining.

The short version:

My buddy, Doug, and I make our way to Detroit. As I hadn't bothered to look up an efficient way there, it took us forever. Once we got there, we enteedr the wrong theater, andwere directed three doors down. Oops. This place has a smaller stage, and an outside patio-bar. Kickass. Drinking through the opening band (they sucked).

"Hey... I have a beer" -Doug

A few hours, and a few beers, later, we met up with an old college friend of mine, "Crazy" John Geis. I also bought a simple black T-shirt that says "Toadies Fuc**** Rock." Yup, you can't get any more straightforward than that. Luckily, we stopped the man-chat short enough to get a good spot in front of the stage.

Clark tears his Strat a new one.

The band sounded great, and even came out at the end of the show to chat and have beers with the fans. I managed to corner each member to talk music and get them to sign a flyer for the show. The bass player even recommended some specific amps for my bass. It takes some time, but I finally utilize the lead guitarist (Clark, pictured above) to get the drummer off the bus for a quick pic and signature.

Mark "The Rez" Reznicek and me

A good night. Definitely worth the $20.

Today will kick all sorts of ace.

1. Reason number the first: tonight is the Toadies concert. Although two friends cancelled on me and Maura can't go (no babysitter), I still have one friend accompanying me on this sonic journey to Texas Rock Heaven (tm).
2. Reason number the second: I saved a personal day to use tomorrow so I could recover from the concert. Combine this with Monday being Memorial Day, and I have a four-day weekend (no, I actually didn't realize this at the time I requested the day off).
3. Reason number the third: Right when we were about to put an offer on our second favorite house, our first favorite (?) came BACK on the market AGAIN. Time to see it a second time, wethinks.
4. Reason number the fourth: A few weeks ago, my PC speakers exploded in a sacrifice to the gods of rain, electricity, and expired warranties. Luckily, the company offered me a new set for 50% off. There is no way I could afford new speakers without this discount. Back to today: my new speakers are scheduled to arrive today.

Because I am board, here are some thoughts, predictions, and wishes for this year's E3:

Microsoft

Predictions: they'll continue to approach the 360 as the ultimate media experience, will have a major update for their Avatars, will show off perhaps 1-2 PC games (tops), and will make their usual major shakeup announcements.

Hopes: they'll admit that GFW was a complete joke, and immediately cue the "Haw-Haw" from "The Simpson's" Nelson Muntz. They will announce a patch for "Alone in the Dark," and show off some great footage of Halo: ODST which will NOT turn out to be a stealth shooter.

Nintendo

Predictions: will announce one "hard core" game that does little to appease their griping audience. More puppies, and Miyamota makes less of an ass of himself. $100 bills will be handed out to the crowd, just because they can. They'll call Sony and Microsoft "bit****."

Hopes: original or well-adapted games (such as Metroid Prime 3) will get announced, and their more casual games won't suck.

Sony

Predictions: will bail out water by the bucketload and show off some really cool upcoming titles. Whether this abates the fears of their fans remains to be seen.

Hopes: announce a $200 price drop and that the Xbox 360 game pad will now be compatable, as they realize their controllers suck.

A couple of quick notes:

1. I've decided the Gothic series is just too slow for me. So I've listed Gothic, Gothic 2, and Gothic 3 on www.goozex.com to trade. I might as well get a game that I'll want to play out of it.
2. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is frustrating. I set the game on "easy" so that I could enjoy the platforming and story, but NOOOOOO, I'm still dying every other second. I'm thinking that the difficulty setting doesn't matter that much.
3. I'm installing another game, as Rise of Nations, Diablo 2, and PoP is currently boring me, somewhat boring me, and driving me insane... Dead Space, here I come.
4. I still wish Atari would patch the 360 version of Alone in the Dark

House Hunting

The quest fora home continues. With our old favorite gone, we are officially moving on to our number two wish. It's not quite as much space as our number one pick, but then again, we didn't need that much room to begin with.

This house has an interesting story (well, at least to us): the owners have had it on the market for over a year, and they expect to sell it at a high price; a price that is well above the local average for a house such as this. We may make an offer soon, but we don't know if the owners will bite, or if they're going to laugh at our lower-than-expected offer.

Master's Degree

I am officially beginning week three of my Master's Degree program. The amount of work is not as bad as I pictured it, but the time commitment is. I knew the amount of reading would be high, but I didn't expect it to take this much time. I feel bad; my daughters and wife are already proclaiming they miss me, and I have only begun my program. I hope they can hold out for a year and a half. I think it helps that Ischedule time to be with them every day, but I also know that it's not the same as it was.

Gaming

Granted I'm busy, but I'm not too busy to sneak in 45 minutes of gaming at the end of every evening. After finishing Crysis, I've moved on to the final installment of the last "Prince of Persia" trilogy. Actually, I've only recently moved on toplaying it, as I spent the first few nights wrestling to get the game to work with the standard Xbox 360/Games for Windows control pad. I swear, this is the kind of **** that console gamers rightly complain about.

So far, the game is good, but not quite as good as "Warrior Within" or even the beloved first installment "Sands of Time." I mean, it's not bad, but I'm already looking over my pile of shame to determine which game I'll tackle next.