I finished The Darkness last night. I'm pissed though. I didn't get the 100 point achievement for being the Master of the Darkness. For that achievement you have to get a set amount of kills with each of your darkness powers. I got enough for all of them except the Demon Arm which was only 61% complete. I guess I should have used that power more. Maybe I'll purchase this game when it's in the bargain bin 2 years from now and play it again just for points.

Overall the game was ok, just a tad too difficult and pretty short. Towards the end of the game the enemies all carried automatic weapons and you'd die in just a couple seconds, especially if you didn't have the darkness activated. That sounds like it's not a big deal but you can't use the darkness for long if you're in the light. You have to waste ammo and time shooting out the lights to effectively use the darkness. I may put up a review soon, so look for that. I will be sending that back to Gamefly today.

Yesterday I received Dynasty Warriors Gundam from Gamefly. So far, I played one mission with Amuro Ray using the original Gundam that started it all, the RX-78. The game is pretty fun, especially since I'm a big Gundam fan. It's cool to see all the characters from the animes, even the minor ones. There are some neat cutscenes that take place before and during the battle. If you start a fight with one of the Guards (or bosses/minibosses), sometimes a CG cutscene occurs that is almost identical to the battle in the anime. I'll try and put up some footage at a later date to compare the two. It's also nice that you can put on the Japanese dialogue (complete with subtitles) so you don't have to listen to the atrocious English dub job. The game has its issues though. The camera is really bad and you have to constantly move it around so it stays behind your character and so you can see what the hell you're attacking. The combat gets pretty monotonous. You have a slash attack with a melee weapon, your long range attack, and then your super attack. There are really only a few different combos that you can perform and you'll probably end up using only 2 or 3 of those. I'm not positive but it looks like you may be able to make additional combos by using the skills you earn as your pilot and mobile suit levels up. Look for better impressions of the game in a couple weeks.

I'm going to Toys R Us again this week before their buy 2 get 1 free sale ends to purchase Beautiful Katamari for Liz, and get a free game for myself. She purchased the Phantom Hourglass last week so we're going to return that, re-ring it, purchase Katamari and then I get to pick out a free $39.99 game. What should I get? I was thinking either Lost Planet or Earth Defense Force. Maybe I could get Spider-Man Friend or Foe since that is only $49.99? Decisions, decisions....

BTW isn't it kind of odd how I just achieved level 28, Bionic Commando, and they just announced a new Bionic Commando game? lol

Well, Friday night I finished BioShock and I got the good ending. Now that I've finished the game I can officially say this is a top contender for Game of the Year and right now it gets my vote. I enjoyed the ending a lot more then say, Halo 3's ending, however it was a lot shorter then I expected and the final boss wasn't quite as hard as I thought he'd be. It was still a great end to a fantastic game. I wasn't expecting that huge twist in the middle of the game and I certainly wasn't expecting that Big Daddy part (won't go into detail for those that haven't played BioShock, but for those that have, I think you know what I'm talking about:) ). I got all the achievements except "Seriously Good at This" which is worth 40 points and you get it for finishing the game on hard. I finished it on normal. Thanks to the 960 points from BioShock I am now a member of the 10k club! w00t!

I rented The Darkness from Gamefly and started that on Saturday. I think I'm close to the halfway point now. I just finished "The Hills," where you get the Darkness Guns. The game is pretty cool, but it has its issues. For one, the controls are a bit stiff. Jackie doesn't move/aim as smoothly or quickly as say, Master Chief or Jack from BioShock. I've also found that the Darkness powers are a bit unbalanced. Creeping Dark is extremely powerful and usefull, almost too much so. It kills any enemy in one attack and most of the time the baddies don't even notice it, even when you're coming straight for them. I've found myself using almost nothing but Creeping Dark. The Dark Arm (or whatever it's called) is cool but I mainly use it to put out the lights. It's not very effective against enemies since you have to be like 10 feet from them to kill someone with it. The Darkness Guns are great and have unlimited ammo but require a lot of power. I haven't gotten the Black Hole power yet but I imagine that will be very effective. I've gotten to a point in the game where the regular weapons (handguns, shotgun, submachines guns, etc.) are almost useless. It's like the game forces you to use your Darkness powers, which in turn forces you to shoot out all the lights and that is very boring. It's too bad your powers and guns aren't a little more balanced like BioShock, for example. So far The Darkness is a pretty good game and worth checking out, especially for the lighting effects, story and voice acting.

In other news, Toys R Us is having yet another Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on all video games. I picked up The Orange Box and Hitman Blood Money on 360 and Jeanne D'Arc on PSP. Haven't tried any of those yet. I will be receiving Dynasty Warriors Gundam this week from Gamefly, look for some impressions on that game soon. That's all for now, have a great week!

Well, Steve Rogers (the original Cap) is still dead but Marvel has decided to have a new character take on the mantel of Captain America. Notice the handgun and knife. I don't know about you, but the whole gun thing doesn't go well with Cap. They haven't said who the character is yet, but my bet is on Bucky aka Winter Soldier. Either way, I think it's lame and if Steve Rogers isn't Cap, then NO ONE should be. Just another reason for me to give my money to DC Comics and other publishers instead of Marvel.

More info and bigger pictures can be found at Newsarama.com.

UPDATE:

Oh look, this story has made national news now. I bet people will be flocking to the comic shops just to buy the first appearance of this new Cap just like they were drawn to shops just to pick up the death of Cap and sell it on Ebay.

Lately I've been playing a lot of BioShock, and I'm loving every minute of it. So far, BioShock is hands down the game of the year, and I haven't even finished it yet. I'll reserve final judgment until I finish the game and other contenders of GotY, like Mass Effect, haven't come out yet. I think I'm about half way through BioShock now, I've finished Cohen's Masterpiece and I'm currently trying to get into Ryan's office. I won't say much else since I don't want to spoil anything for the people that haven't played it, but I think this is a must play game. I'm certainly having a lot more fun with this game then Halo 3.

Speaking of Halo 3, I picked it up on the day it came out even though I wasn't planning on it. The peer pressure of all you guys got to me and I had to buy it. I played the first two levels on heroic with my friend James, and that was a lot of fun. It was great going through those levels with someone else who hadn't played it yet, the game was fresh and new for both of us. But that soon changed. By the time I had the chance to play it online again, James (and seemingly the entire world) had already finished the game. So I was forced to play it alone, on heroic, all the way to the ending. I did end up playing a couple levels with some people on legendary, but that was not fun at all since the person who hosted the game chose to play two levels near the end of the game, when I had only played the first two at that time. I made sure to mute the TV and look away during the cutscenes so the story wouldn't be completely ruined for me, even though it partially was. So my experience of playing Halo 3 on co-op was not a good one. I'm still looking to finish the game on legendary, so if any of you guys are available on the weekend let me know.

Now about the ending to Halo 3. Completely and totally lame. All that "finish the fight" crap, the massive marketing campaign and this is what we get? One of the worst endings ever and also one of the easiest final levels in the game. I won't spoil it for those that haven't finished it, but the last level seemed way too similar to Halo 1 and I thought it was extremely easy. I haven't seen the legendary ending yet, but I read about it. It sounds a little better, but not much. As far as online matchmaking and whatnot, I've only played online a few times. I've never been a big fan of deathmatch type FPS multiplayer and Halo 3 seems like more of the same stuff to me. I played a couple of slayer (deathmatch) matchmaking rounds in Basic Training and those were pretty decent. It seems like Halo's matchmaking works out well since it paired me up with people who were as good as me, or worse. I won both matches I played, and it was pretty fun kicking butt instead of getting my ass handed to me like I had been in Gears of War, for example. I played a few rounds of "Team Slayer" on a desert map with a bunch of Mongooses in the Zombie mode, or whatever it's called. I thought that was really stupid and boring. It didn't feel like you were in teams at all. Just everyone running around trying to avoid the zombie players and be the last man standing. My idea of Team Slayer would be capture the flag or something were you'd have to use some strategy. That match was also completely lopsided with several people that had spent a ton of time playing online even having sergeant ranks and whatnot, matched up with me, a little noob recruit.

So yeah, at the moment I have no interest in Halo 3 and I've been hooked on the magnificence that is BioShock. If anyone wants to play through the campaign on legendary let me know. If a bunch of people want to get together for some Team Slayer, where we are actually in teams, I may be up for that as well, but not until I finish BioShock.

This week, The Orange Box sees it's release on the 360 and I'm very tempted to pick that up right away. Unlike a lot of people who are excited about Portal and Team Fortress 2, I'm just looking forward to playing Half-Life 2 itself. I'm one of the few people who has never played the game, aside from demos that is. Mainly because my computer couldn't handle it when it came out and partially because I've never been much of a PC gamer. I got a new computer last year that can handle the game but after I found out Half-Life 2 was coming to 360 I decided to just wait for that. I did try a couple demos on Steam and I enjoyed them a lot. I was tempted to just buy the game on PC right then. Question, is it necessary to play Half-Life 1 before HL2? I've never finished the game. I rented it on PS2 once and I got to this part in a sewer where you had to do a lot of jumping, which was a pain in the ass. I couldn't get past that point and I had to return the game. I should probably just buy it on PC and play through it some weekend.

Before I got my 360 back, I was playing a lot of Luminous Arc on DS and MS Saga: A New Dawn on PS2. Ever since I got Halo 3 and BioShock though, I've kind of neglected those games. Luminous Arc is a strategy RPG similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. It doesn't bring a whole lot of new ideas to the battle system but what I really like about it is the character designs and character development in the story. They have this "anime feel" to them, very quirky, energetic, and funny. I'm a big anime fan so this game is a lot of fun for me. Same thing for MS Saga, which is basically a Final Fantasy game except with Gundams. The story is no where near as good as a FF game, but the battle system and the fact you can get 39 different mobile suits, all with customizable items, weapons and armor, is what really hooked me. I've been really into the whole Gundam universe lately and I'm planning on doing a big blog on it, so I'll save my thoughts on the game until then.

I have a question to all you Wii owners out there. When was the last time you turned on your Wii? Or more specifically, when was the last time you actually played a game on your Wii, and not just browsed the virtual console new releases or the various Wii channels? I saw the news story posted yesterday where Reggie said the Wii won't meet holiday demand and I got to thinking. Does anybody really care anymore? Do "core gamers" even care about the Wii anymore? Hell, do "casual gamers" even care about the Wii anymore?

For a long time you couldn't walk into a store and pick up a Wii because they were always sold out, and always on the day they received their shipments. For the past couple months now, that has changed, at least up here in Minnesota. Every week or so my local Toys R Us will get a shipment of Wiis in time for their new ad on Sunday. Usually they'd sell out that day, and in the first couple hours of the store being open, but now they still have Wiis in stock well into the week. Lately on Sundays, I've noticed there is no more line of people outside waiting to get their hands on a Wii.

It's not just Toys R Us either. I went into Circuit City one day recently and I noticed they had a bunch of Wiis behind the counter. The clerk asked, "you want a Wii? We got em." I said no and asked if they still sell out right away, she replied "no, not as much anymore."

With this recent, albiet slight, decline in sales, I wonder if Nintendo can stay on top for long. From what I've seen in the GS Community, a lot of the hardcore or core gamers have abandoned the Wii completely, even selling their consoles, and have been focusing on the 360 and PS3. I don't know anyone that would be considered a "casual gamer" but I wonder if the Wii is still as popular as it was 6 months ago or has this fad, if you will, finally died out? It also makes me wonder if Nintendo is fabricating those news stories to garner more interest in the system and ensure it is a hot item come this Xmas or if they really do have problems keeping Wiis in stock as they claim.

I have yet to buy a system, and I'm not planning to anytime soon. The only game that somewhat interests me is Metroid Prime 3 but I still haven't finished (or started) Metroid Prime 2. With all the great 360 games coming out like The Orange Box and Mass Effect, as well as games out now that I haven't been able to pick up yet like Eternal Sonata and PGR4, I have absolutely no interest in the Wii.

Last weekend I went to the 37th Annual Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This was my second year there. My main goal this year was to find a staff/walking stick similar to the ones I had seen all over the place last year. I also was thinking about picking up a sword, axe, mace or some sort of medieval weapon. One of the first shops I went into sold broomsticks and what they called, "hiking sticks", that actually looked more like a wizard staff then just a regular walking stick. The one I picked out cost $90 but I think it was well worth it.

It's kinda hard to take pictures of the whole thing since it's so tall. It's around 5 feet tall, made of wood, hand carved and some suede grips. The merchant also carved my initials into it right when I purchased it. The orb on the top is really cool because it reflects light in an interesting way. If you look at the picture, towards the top of the orb you see a white line going across it. That is what I'm talking about. It looks a lot cooler in real life, trust me. When you move the staff around the line of light moves as well. I'm not sure what that orb is, but I think it's either crystal or glass, I don't think plastic would do that.

I looked around for a sword or some other weapon but the ones I saw were too expensive. You'd have to pay upwards of $150 even for a small short sword, which isn't even real. For that price I could get several similar swords on Budk or other retailers. In case you haven't seen the sword I do have, see below.

I got that sword for Xmas from my girlfriend's sister. It's designed by Kit Rae and it is called Kilgorin II - Sword of Darkness. I love Kit Rae's sword designs and I hope to own them all someday.

In gaming news I picked up Halo 3 on launch day even though I wasn't planning on it. I played through the first level with my friend James, but we haven't had the chance to play it again since. I've also been extremely addicted to MS Saga: A New Dawn, which I rented from Gamefly and just purchased at buy.com. It didn't get that many good reviews but I love it since I'm a big Gundam fan. It's basically like a Final Fantasy game, except set in the Gundam universe. There are 39 playable Mobile Suits and you also have the ability to change the color of your Mobile Suits as well as customize the parts, armor and weapons. I'll record some gameplay footage at a later date.

If you're wondering what is happening with that little project I hinted at in the video below, I'm still working on it. I was waiting for TGS to come and go before I finish the project. With any luck, the project will be completed by the end of October at the latest. Stay tuned for that!

[video=IHQyxmat5b8Oszfd]

FYI - I was just informed of an unadvertised sale currently going on at Toys R Us. From now until Saturday, all video games are buy two get one free. Now is a good time to pick up some of the great games that have been recently released or a good time to buy some games you've been holding off on. Right now I'm looking at possibly getting Dynasty Warriors Gundam and Eternal Sonata, but we'll see. Too bad the sale ends before Halo 3 comes out.

[video=ICM6wTCt5b8KuDXW]

I received my 360 this week, only it isn't my 360. Inside the box was a letter from Microsoft stating they gave me a replacement unit, as well as 1 free month of XBL Gold. Of course the letter doesn't say why they sent a replacement unit, or what was wrong with my 360, but the one I received seems new. It came in the same type of plastic wrapping my 360 was in when I first bought it, and it had the little protective plastic sticker things that covered the disc tray and sensor. I don't know for sure if it's new or a refurbished one but it works. I noticed the system is just as loud, but it sounds a bit different. The system starts up quiet, then slowly gets louder and louder, like a jet engine warming up and taking off. I thought there was a problem at first but it hasn't died on me.

Because I sent my 360 in without a faceplate on, I now have 2 original faceplates. I might paint one of them someday for the hell of it.

While I was at GameStop last week looking around, I was lucky to find the Transformers G1 Autobot faceplate. It comes with 12 different interchangeable pictures of 6 Autobots. Right now I have the Hot Rod one equipped. It comes with two pictures each of Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, Grimlock, Jazz, Bumblebee and Hardhead. Another cool thing is the faceplate covers up the ring of light with an Autobot logo that glows when the system is on. See pics below.

And for the hell of it, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle together once again. (Bonus points for anyone on GS that has any idea of the significance of that statement)

I stopped at Best Buy on my way home from work today and picked up the Ice Silver Slim PSP Daxter pak for $199.99. The packaging is surprisingly lightweight and not as thick as I thought it'd be. The thing is an absolute pain in the ass to open. When you open the box everythng is packaged inside this extremely thick plastic that you can not open unless you have a knife. The PSP itself is visible on the top of the packaging, and then the bottom part contains everything else inside a cardboard box about the size of the PSP. The memory stick is situated inbetween the PSP and the cardboard box, inside the plastic. They certainly packaged this thing well.

The pack itself comes with, the Ice Silver PSP, Daxter game, Family Guy Freakin Sweet Collection, AC Adaptor/Power cord, and a 1GB Memory stick, it does not come with a USB cable. That does suck for anyone that doesn't already have a cable but luckily I have a Sony Cybershot digital camera that uses the exact same cable so I think that'll work although I haven't tried it yet.

I haven't spent a whole lot of time with the PSP yet, but I really like it so far. As of 20 minutes ago, I had never played a PSP game, at all. I've held the original once or twice but never long enough to get any impressions of it. Anyway, the Slim PSP is freaking lightweight. It weighs practically nothing. The 360 controller weighs more, and going back to the clunky old DS (not DS Lite) is like holding a brick. You literally feel like you're holding a feather, it weighs so little. (The Slim PSP weighs about 7.2 ounces and the DS weighs about 10.4 ounces) The silver color seems to hold up very well to fingerprints, I can't see any on it at all. The screen itself? Wow. Very very clear and very very sharp. Going back to the DS feels like the screen is covered in mud or something, it's definitely not as sharp. The buttons all feel great, I especially like the D-Pad. Probably one of the best D-pads I've ever used. I haven't tried the analog nub much but it seemed a little weird, will have to get used to that. The UMDs go into a slot that you pull open on the back. I didn't know for sure how to insert a UMD properly but I noticed that the cover would not close if you had it in wrong, kind of a neat thing for noobs like me. The memory stick goes into the left side of the system. You pull out a little flexible, rubbery cover and insert the slot into the system.

Overall the system is really cool so far and I'm glad I picked one up. The only issue I've had so far, is the sound is not that loud, even when you turn the volume up to the max. I played the Family Guy UMD and I could hardly hear anything. I tried out a couple games and some of them were plenty loud and others were kinda quiet. I hear this is the case with the "fat" PSP as well so it looks like they didn't improve in that area, aside from moving the speakers towards the top of the system. I guess it's better to use headphones for the best experience. The pack does not come with cables so you can play PSP games on your TV and I have no idea if Best Buy had any, as I didn't ask. I don't even have an HDTV so I don't know if the TV Out function works with Standard Def TVs.

You will notice in the picture that I received a demo of Jeanne D'arc. That did NOT come with the system, so don't assume it does. I got home and my girlfriend Liz, got a bunch of free stuff from the Sony and Microsoft representatives that were in Toys R Us today. She brought home a really cool Heavenly Sword letter opener, that PSP demo (game is awesome btw), a Halo 3 bracelet, some promo information guides for Halo 3 and Heavenly Sword and I also got a Warhawk pin. Here's a pic of the bracelet and letter opener:

Excuse me while I go play some PSP games!!

UPDATE1: Ok the USB cable that came with my digital camera works for the PSP. I put some Mp3s on it just to try it out and everything worked ok. I also set up my wireless connection although that was a little tricky, but it works in the end. I also read the instructions and it looks like the TV Out function works with standard def televisions.

UPDATE2: I took some more pictures of the slim PSP to compare it to the other handheld systems I have, the DS and DS Lite. Sorry I don't have the original PSP to compare it to but I think this will give you a better idea on how slim it is.

Just called Best Buy and they have the Ice Silver PSP Daxter Entertainment Pack in stock!! I am going to stop there on the way home from work and pick up a PSP. Can't wait!!

Stay tuned for pictures and maybe even video of the new slim PSP...