I recently played Call of Duty 4 (PC) single player, and was able to complete the game on normal in just less than 7 hours. This isn't too bad, since it was an excellent game, and the multiplayer has kept me occupied for far longer.

BioShock (X360) took about 14 hours to beat, and wasn't particularly difficult thanks to the limitless re-spawn points and no real fear of death.

Army of Two (X360) is the most resent criminally short game. I beat it with an AI partner in less than 6 hours!!!! And if some of the achievements didn't feel like work, I'd have all of them in under a week. Why did I spend $60.00 on a game that I could have beat and finished in one rental? The game was good, but with a limited multiplayer mode, what else is there to do after you beat it?

Ok so short isn't always a bad thing, The Witcher (PC) drags out its game play into a claimed 80 hours by being way too detailed.

Where is the middle ground? I am willing to forgive games like CoD 4 for being short because there is a great multiplayer element. However the games with no multiplayer offer no real incentive for purchase.

I've ordered my first laptop for use at school this year.

It is an Asus F3 series laptop with...

Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.00 GHz) 4 MB L2 cache

Intel PM965 Chipset

2GB DDR2 667 PC5300

160 GB SATA 5400 RMP Hard drive

256 Mb NVIDIAGeforce 8600M GS

15.4" display at 1280 x 800

8x DVDRW drive

Integrated sound card

56K modem

10/100/1000 Mbps LAN

802.11 a/b/g Wireless LAN

Total weight 6.5 lbs

Total coast $1,300.00

I sent my original Xbox 360 in for repairs, after it continually froze while playing Forza Motor Sport 2, the game was causing an electronic beep, followed by the screen freezing. After restarting the console the same beep would occur on the Microsoft Xbox 360 logo, and the screen would freeze there. The only remedy was to let the system sit for 10 minuets and than it would work. However the system would continually freeze in Forza, and was increasingly having Disc read errors in MLB 2k7, and was unable to connect to any host for Gears of War multiplayer.

I sent the system in for repairs on June 18th 2007, and on July 18th 2007 I received a brand new replacement unit. The replacement unit is working well, it is quieter than the first console I had. Although I haven't been able to put the system through its paces yet... but so far it looks like this system is problem free. It's running Forza with out crashing... which is a plus.

I'm not overly impressed with Microsoft's handling of the replacement... I'm happy I got a new system at no cost... but I lost 1 month of my Xbox Live subscription... and even though Microsoft said they sent a 1 month subscription card in the replacement unit's box it was nowhere to be found... Additionally I feel 1 month (4 weeks) is too long a period of time to wait, if Microsoft is just going to give you a new unit any way... it should take 1-2 weeks at the most to replace a unit.

I was getting sick of my old Microsoft mouse, randomly moving the mouse wheel while I was playing first person shooters, Causing my weapon to switch from something lethal, I.e. a rifle, to something not very lethal, a Health pack.... so I figured It was time to get a new mouse. 

I am now the owner of a Logitech G5 laser mouse.  At $70.00 at Best buy it was a little more expensive than I would have liked, but you do get what you pay for.

This is a nice mouse, with 3 sensitivity settings you can switch to on the fly; this is great for first person shooters, as you can have a regular setting, a fast setting for tanks/vehicles, and a slow setting for sniping.  The adjustable weight allows me to make the mouse as heavy or light I would like.

As the title implies, I am stuck on an island quite literally...

The county bride to the island that I live on will be shut down from May 2nd through mid March or April of 2008 while workers replace the road deck...  this leaves me stuck on the island for the next 10-11 months... unless I want to spend $3.00 a trip to use a toll bridge at the oposite end of the island I live on.

But thanks to the interweb I can save my $3.00 a trip and have UPS deliver new video games to me for the cost of S&H, ussually free 3 day shipping from gamestop...  I can also waste 3 minuets of your time by having you read this...

In other news, I am done with 2 Associate degrees, and will be moving on to a 4 year school... I am now a student at the University of Toledo (Ohio)  but with my summer symester as two internet classes, i'm still liveing on this Island trapped...

I think that my Xbox 360, that is only a couple months old, is getting ready to die. 

It is continueally having disk read errors on CD's that for all intents and purposes are bran-new.  A game will run fine for a while and than after 20 minuets it will lock up and lose its track on the CD.  Thus forcing you to restart the system.  Even with the system laying flat it still manages to get the error, so I belive laser on the DVD rom is damaged or dirty.

The 360 has also had issues with Gears of War's multiplayer, as it is no longer able to connect to any of the players I use to play the game with on a daily baises over a month ago.

Perhaps I will trade it into Gamestop and Upgrade to the new Elite 360...

In other news, my PC is running great with 2 GB of DDR2 667 PC 5300 Ram.

System Specs...

Manufacturer: KLN2002

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs)

Memory: 2046MB RAM DDR2 PC 5300

Hard Drive:1: 160 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 930b 19" LCD

Sound Card: SB Audigy 2 Audio [B000]

Speakers/Headphones: 5.1 Logitec speakers ~ 70 wats

Keyboard: Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

Mouse: Microsoft PS/2 Mouse

Mouse Surface: Dell Mouse Pad

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.061219-0316)

Well I have got my new computer running, and the difference in performance in amazing, I can now enjoy S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in all of its wonderfully creepy DX9 dynamic lighting glory!

Unfortunately this build did not go as smooth as I would have liked.  One of the sticks of RAM was DOA, and i'm running on a single GB of RAM until a replacement arives.  Although the system runs great with just the 1 Gig of ram.

I have decided that while the Xbox 360 has been a nice addition to my collection, I can-not pull myself away from Online gaming on my PC.

After much debate I have decided that this will be my new setup.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
$222.00

ASUS P5NSLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$97.99

Kingston 2GB [2 x 1GB] 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5K2/2G - Retail
$119.49

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
$279.00 (+ a $20.00 mail-in rebate offer)

Total $719.97
Shipping $8.62
Grand Total $728.59

After much debate, and an $80.00 trade in credit for my old Xbox, I purchased an Xbox 360 on 12/29/06.  So far I must say I am impressed with this console.  Its graphics are generally better than what my PC can put out, although I do miss my mouse and keyboard.

Not owning a high-end HDTV, I spent $40.00 on the VGA output cable, and play my Xbox on a 19 inch CRT monitor.  The graphics are much sharper on the monitor than on my 480p TV, plus I route the Sound through my PC to 5.1 surround speakers.  I also am close to my router so I can use the Ethernet cable, instead of spending an additional $100.00 on a wireless card for the Xbox.

“Gears of War” has made the Purchase well worth While, This game has insanely good graphics, and the Game play is fast paced and fun.

Xbox Live Gammer Tag: KLN2002