Yeah, I've officially started up WoW again. Didn't think I'd ever go back but now that I'm actually playing it I don't regret it. Managed to get my Warlock up to lvl 22 so far.

One thing I'll say about WoW that really applies to all online game is that playing with friends is where all the fun is at. If you're not in a good guild you might as well not even bother.

Thankfully a few people from my original guild Tourian are playing again as well as some people I post with on another forum.

In other news I've officially received my PSP for Christmas. So hawt...  Been playing lots of MGS: PO and even more Phantasy Star IV. Even put my mp3's and a few videos on it. :)

15 months or so since I updated this thing. I can’t say much has changed with me over that time. Just been gaming and hanging out with the gf for the most part. Once the board I spent most of my time in went privately hosted elsewhere there wasn’t much reason to stick around. I did miss updating my journal though.

Gaming wise my 360 has seen a ton of action the last couple months. Marvel is an amazingly fun game to play online with a bunch of friends. GoW pretty much overtook all my other games when it was released though. I’ve played it almost every day since it came out. It’s easily my favorite fps in recent memory.

PS2 is still chugging along with FF XII. I’ve only put about 10hrs into it though… GoW really did take over my console gaming.

DS has been sporting FF III and not much else at the moment. Can’t wait for the next Phoenix Wright game…

Pretty psyched about getting a PSP for Christmas. Managed to snag a 4gb SD card for $65 and the Logitech Playgear case in preparation. It’s amazing how many people seem to get so much joy out of declaring the system dead where the way I see it, it’s just coming into it’s own.

I love my DS but the PSP has just as many games that I’m interested in right now.

MGS: PO
MGS: Acid 1 & 2
Lumines
Kingdom of Paradise
GTA: LCS
GTA: VCS
Sega Collection (Phantasy Star 2, 3, and 4 SPLORT)
Loco Roco
Daxter
Burnout
Valkyrie Profile
Field Commander
Syphon Filter
X-men Legends 2
Hot Shots

Not to mention the video and mp3 capabilities. It would be nice to be able to listen to my music when my gf snags my ipod…

Sure it might have had a disappointing start but I don’t see how that should discourage me or any other people interested in the PSP right now…

So, that’s pretty much it for now. Maybe I’ll even post some thing again sooner than 15 months from now…

*some slight spoilers below but nothing major*

I’ve only played a little of it but what I have played has been excellent so far. The first section I was already familiar with from the demo so I breezed through that with out too many issues. The second section switches you over too the two cops who just got assigned to the murder case you just committed. It’s an interesting situation to be in as you come across all the evidence that you just so recently left behind.

You can also switch between the two cops at any time to get different perspectives. So far it seems like the female cop (I’m horrible with names) is the person who you’ll be doing most of the investigating with while the male cop is there for dealing with his personal life and a little comic relief. Using the urinal while she was investigating the murder area is a little crude but the reaction was hilarious. It even dropped her mental health bar down 5 points. lol

Once you finish gathering clues you can leave the area and it takes you back to Lucas Kane who understandably is having a few nightmares before he wakes up with sheets full of blood (cut his own arms up before the murder). Your mental health bar is pretty low here so it’s best to get started on raising it a little. Of course one of those pesky visions haunts you as your walking around as well. This one is rather useful though as it indicates a cop will be shortly visiting your apartment and gives you a not so subtle hint that you might want to get rid of any evidence you’ve carelessly left hanging around. Taking some pain medication next to the bed, covering the bloody sheets with the blanket, putting the bloody clothes in the washer, and bandaging up your arms gets you back on the right track mentally and evidence wise.

Just in time too as the cop just started knocking on the door demanding to be let in. You have a certain length of time to let him in or… well I’m not sure but I doubt it’s good. I was just about to let him in when I realized I hadn’t gotten dressed yet. Seeing as how I had bandages running the length of my arms I rushed off to my closet and got dressed. Meanwhile, he’s yelling about kicking in the door if I don’t open it immediately. With time to spare I go to open the door only to find out it’s locked and needs a key to be opened (Who the heck has a door that locks from the inside?). After a mad dash looking for the key I finally manage to get the door open in the nick of time. Phew…..

He asks you some questions about some screaming that was heard by the neighbors last night. Apparently your responses can lower or raise his suspicion bar. My answers seem to make him more suspicious and he asked if I’d let him have a look around. Figuring I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself I complied. Thankfully there was nothing to be found and he soon left, though I was sweating buckets when he was standing next to the washing machine with the bloody clothes. It was also a little creepy as he addressed me as Mr. Kane as that’s my actual last name. Took a second before it dawned on me that the main character is named Lucas Kane. lol

So far I’m really digging this game.

That's my early choice for favorite track so far in Revenge. Oh and I love this freaking game! I think the track layout are much better than BO 3's from what I've seen so far. I was skeptical about the new shortcut feature because it seemed like it would make harder it find other people, let's face it that's the best part about Burnout games, but they're so well done that it's never a issue. If any thing I seem to be around player and AI controlled cars even more.

As far as the traffic checking I wouldn't say it's an amazing new feature but it's still pretty fun to chuck cars at opposing players. It does make the single player portion of the game a bit easier but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. You still have to be careful what you hit as some of the bigger vehicles still wreck you and even when you're clearing out smaller cars it makes seeing in front of you a bit difficult. I was chucking cars all over the place and than proceeded to run into a wall that I couldn't see through the whole mess. So far Revenge gets a big two thumbs up from me.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention the jumps. The jumps are freking awesome!!!

What is it about competitive gaming that makes it so hard for people to lose without acting like it’s the end of the world? I was playing a random guy last night in NHL 2k6 that seemed like a pretty cheerful and friendly guy. The game was fairly close until about halfway through the 2nd period when I started to pull away. It was like talking to a completely different guy at that point. He wasn’t being rude or talking trash (which is usually what happens) but he sounded like he wanted to go hang himself in the kitchen. I was starting to feel really guilty whenever I scored.

People need to lighten up a little or something. Gaming isn’t supposed to be something taken so seriously that you can’t enjoy yourself whether you win or lose if you ask me. I think I'd rather be yelled at and accused of cheating. lol Any of you ever run into people like that?

I just turned 25 and football starts up again tonight baby! Life is good. :)

I'll probably use my birthday money to pick up the following:

NHL 2k6
Indigo Prophecy
Burnout: Revenge

Woot!

I’ve been a fan of adventure games since I first started messing around with computers when I was five years old or so. I’ve played a ton of them over the years, Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Loom, Monkey Island, and all that jazz. As much as I love them there’s no denying that the genre has seen very little in the way of change in the last twenty years. It hasn’t stopped me from playing them but when a new adventure game comes along that seems to be trying to break the mold I can’t help having my interest piqued.

I came across a thread yesterday about a game called Indigo Prophecy and even though the name isn’t unfamiliar to me for some reason I thought it was a FPS. Happily proven wrong I proceeded to download the demo and came away pretty impressed. You start out with a brief cutscene showing a man in a stall, armed with a bloody knife, that seems to be having a seizure and some type of visions. There’s a guy out side the stall finishing up at the urinal and heading over to wash his hands. The guy in the stall stumbles over to the other guy and proceeds to stab him.

The seizure ends and you find yourself standing over the dead body in a public restroom of a coffee shop. Thanks to a nifty split screen (sort of like 24) you also see that there’s a cop conveniently sitting out in the main room sipping on some coffee (lucky you).

This is where the open ended gameplay kicks in. You have the tools available to you to hide the body, clean up the mess, and try to casually walk out the coffee shop or you can just make a mad dash out the exit (though someone mentioned that it’s easier for the cops to identify you later in the game if you make this choice). I’ve only played the demo three times and come across three different results which is pretty impressive considering how short the demo is.

I think I’ve rambled on enough. Bottom line is I just found another game that I can’t do with out this September. *cries*

Here’s the link if you have any interest in checking out the demo and check out the latest preview as well. I’m sure it does a much better job of describing the game than I do.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/fahrenheit/downloads.html

I can't seem to fall asleep tonight so I might as well ramble on in here for a bit. There's really nothing out of the ordinary going on in my life at the moment which is a good thing I guess. When my life gets "exciting" it's usually not for the better. Here's some of what I've been up to in condensed form.


WoW

I was right on the verge of canceling this game a couple weeks ago. The guild I was in was rapidly losing the core group of people that I loved to play with for the last 6 months and the Alliance areas were starting to bore me. Starting up a horde character has reinvigorated my love of the game. It will never be like the first couple months but at least I'm enjoying myself again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Resolutions

Well, everything comes to an end eventually. After 8 months I've finally caved in on my "no new games" policy and picked up an Xbox live 3 month starter kit (I have commitment issues) and a copy of Phantom Dust to go along with it. I'd probably be setting up an account and playing right now if I wasn't such a numb nuts and left the bag in my girlfriends car. :| That will have to wait until Monday night now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For My Viewing Pleasure

I've been on a tv show watching spree lately. Alias, Grey's Anatomy, The L Word, Smallville, and Lost have all finished up for the season and I don't have much to look forward to this Summer. I really dig Rescue Me, which starts up again soon, so I'm not completely deprived of my vegging out time.

I've been watching Farscape religiously and am now on the 9th episode of Season 3. As much as I love Sci-Fi, I don't know how I missed out on this show up until now. It does a nice job of mixing humour and drama without coming off as silly, which isn't easy for the genre. It will be sad when the journey's over.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's pretty much everthing going on with me right now. I'm actually starting to feel a little tired now so this little writing shindig had the desired effect. Have a good night, morning, or afternoon depending on when you're reading this.