I downloaded and played through the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC for Borderlands over the last few weeks, and though it was more of the same, there's something addictive or even cathartic about this game that keeps me coming back. I have over 1000 Achievement points on it now, and I think I'm going to play it just a bit more... perhaps with my son Evan who I think is ready for the experience, especially if it keeps him away from his three year old relationship with all things Halo. We'll see about that, the single game co-op splits the screen horizontally which really messes with the game, if we're going to play it we'll need a second copy so that we can play online. There's also new DLC coming out for the game on December 29th, which means that I'll still be playing this one into the new year.

More recently, I started playing through the rest of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the first game in the series as a tribute to the glory of Uncharted II: Among Thieves, the best game of 2009 in my opinion. The first game is certainly not at the same standard as the sequel, but that's a good thing and it bodes well for the series' future development. Naughty Dog is on to something with these games, though it is interesting that as technically wonderful as the games may be, along with the graphics, the animation and the voice acting; they for whatever reason have not broken out as "super star" games in the same way that other genre defining games have. I think that the reason for this may be that the games are so cinematic that they actually take us out of the game: when I'm playing Halo, I *am* the Master Chief, when I'm playing Uncharted, Nathan Drake is the character that I am playing, and he is separate and distinct from myself. I'm going to probably finish this game in the next day or so, I understand that it's actually a very short game, maybe five or six hours in length. If that's the case, I'm about two hours in, so I'm one third of the way there, perfect. Uncharted and Uncharted II are both available exclusively on the PS3.

I have it on good authority that Brutal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2 are going to be in my stocking on Christmas (well, I know this because I paid for them), and I'm definitely looking forward to taking them on, especially the heavy metal genius that is Brutal Legend.