And to think, in about 3 more hours my social life will take a nosedive.

A picture speaks a thousand words....

Hey guys, its been almost a year since I made my first video review... so heres my second one. I know I was tripping on some words, but don't be too harsh :).

LINK

Its official, Blizzard announced on its site that Diablo 3 will be coming out November 19th, 2010. Been waiting for this game forever! Blizzard.com's article.

NoobFeed has one more beta key left for StarCraft II. Heres a link for more information.

Hey guys, haven't done one of these in a while. I haven't been active on Gamespot as much as I used to be. I would love to say that the reason is because I don't have enough time or that I will be more active in the future, but the sad truth is im slowly losing intrest in this website. I apologize if I don't comment on your blogs (although I try to read as many as I can), or read your reviews. I will still be posting reviews and the occasional blog, but I will rarely venture to the forums. If I do post at all, it will be in my union (GS Lounge), the GameSpot Community Union, and the Off-Topic forum. If you are interested in reading all of my reviews, and blogs (usually daily), then check out my profile on NoobFeed. On a lighter note, I purchased the Uncharted PS3 bundle (160gb PS3, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and a downloadable game) and so far I have been loving every moment of it. I won't go as far as comparing the Xbox to the PS3 (both have their highs and lows), but I will say that I am happy with the purchase, especially with all the awesome exclusives recently released and announced at E3. As promised in the title, here are the reviews for Mass Effect and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

A few weeks ago I watched borninvincible's very first video review. This inspired me to make a video review of my own. As a sidenote, this is my first video review, I recorded it at 1 A.M, and I was hopped up oncoffee... which is why I studdered a couple times in the middle.

[video=dXU2kmD95bIJvz7c]

I would appreciate any feedback or constructive criticism.

EDIT: I just recieved a strange new emblem.

GameSpot stamped me as remarkable!
GameSpot members who frequently update their profiles with blogs, images, videos and reviews are remarkable! Those featured in the member spotlight are hand picked for having an informative about me page and interesting blog. Hats off to borninvincible for creating the emblem.

This emblem was awarded probably for this video review, and was made by borninvincible. If irony was made out of strawberries... we would all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now :).

I was getting a little bored with my old profile look, the banner to be more specific. What I have up right now is probably a place holder while I find an abstract fractal that I like, or just make my own. Keep in mind, I made this at 3 A.M last night, half asleep and half pumped up on coffee. The dimensions are a little bit messed up, but this will do until I get some free time. I would appreciate if you could rate the new look on a scale of 1-10. Thank you!

P.S: I just hit level 16, and I have been hearing a few rumors about it. The first one is the one I remember being right, that you get through level 16 in a day and move onto level 17... but then level 20 takes months to get past. The other rumor I heard is that it takes a little bit longer to get through level 16 (and a few other levels), but level 20 will be a little bit easier. If anyone could verify anything I would appreciate it.

So Thursday afternoon I went to Gamestop to pick up Gears of War 2. I had an extra sixty bucks flopping around in my pocket so I thought that Gears 2 would be worth the money from what I have heard. I snooped around the store for a little bit, and made a shocking discovery. Some of the best singleplayer RPG's and Shooters for the Xbox 360 range $15-30 dollars each! Usually I see used games going for fourty or fifty bucks... but I have never seen games this good for this cheap. I picked up Mass Effect, Oblivion:The Elder Scrolls, and Bioshock.... all for $55 bucks including tax. I bought Bioshock and Oblivion for $25 dollars each and recieved Mass Effect for free (buy 2 get 1 free).

I was planning on playing a lot of Bioshock, but to my surprise I have been addicted to Mass Effect lately.

The other thing that happned that Thursday, is right after Gamestop I stopped by Panera Bread. I turned out to be their last customer before they closed. I have never seen employees like that in my life... they were almost partying. Since they were donating their pastries to a foundation, they didn't see any harm in giving me a pound of cookies :). Good times, good times.

Well, at this point everyone is aware that the United States has seen better days. Everywhere you go you see companies folding, and the ones which are still alive are cutting back on the paychecks just to last another few months. During economic struggle, taking risks seems harder than usual... especially for the gaming industry.

If you are one of the few people on this website that knows me on a personal basis then you already know my idea of a relaxing afternoon. After I get home I like to forget about my stressful everyday life and enjoy some Headquarters or even Search and Destroy(Call of Duty 4). Honestly, I probably would not have even pulled out my Xbox from the attic if my PC didn't crash, so I did what any sensible human being would do; trade one addiction for another. Although Call of Duty 4 isn't as diverse as World of Warcraft, it still keeps one entertained. Why is it that hundreds of thousands of people still play a somewhat old game two years after its' release? From the exterior, Call of Duty 4 seems like an average First Person Shooter. There is no one thing that makes this game successful, but a combination of little details which create an atmosphere that keeps the gamer coming back for more.This atmospherealonegives Call of Duty 4 a unique identity, and feels like you are playing something entirely new.Infinity Ward gambled with their popular title, since all of its predecessorshave focusedon World War II (and were quite successful).

It seems that some of these "big" games that turned out to be flops have scared the developersfrom thinking outside the box. A perfect example of a game that flopped is Hellgate: London. The messiah of Diablo fans supposedly failed them. In reality, asjagged the game is(with the online servers done for), it introduced some brilliant ideas that were in fact "copied" by games which turned out to be hits. Without games like Hellgate: London, other games would not have been as successful, or diverse. The industry has its stepping stones, and what separates a stepping stone from ahigh quality game is the effort and execution.

Hype has a large role to play in how new forms of games are viewed. The first thing a game trailer will want to focus is what makes their game different from the Pacman and Mario games of the world. Back when the "current-gen" first started, the Xbox 360 had a clear head start, ranking in front of the PS3 and Wii. At the timeSony had no exclusive games that would make an individual want to buy the PS3. Sony went all in on a game called Lair. There was much talk aboutit being an AAA game. Everyone knows how that turned out... hard to have a successful game if the players can't control their units. With that, there was no more risk taking for quite a bit of time. All of the major corporations played it safe, mainly releasingsequels which couldn't be identified from the original games.

What is the objective of failing course in school? It isn't supposed to degrade you, it should show you that you need to put in more effort and inspire you. Going back to Hellgate London; after mediocre results Blizzard said "Screw it guys, were going back to the plan... Diablo 3." Very few sequels actually change the gameplay mechanics and atmosphere. The focus is on creating a new story wrapped in the same old gameplay with slightly improved graphics. It can be seen as tricking the public from a point of view, but the problem is the public wants the same old, generic garbage. We have had a gaming console for three years that is controlled by preforming actions in real life (Wii), and we have yet to come up witha gametruly amazing for it, unless your definition of amazing is doing yoga on a plastic board.

The sad truth is that the companies are scared to be creative, due to the increased chance of failure. Failure results in less money, and at this pointeveryone is trying to get as much money as they possibly can. I wouldn't blame them. The reviewers have gone after them like crazed dogs, emphasizing bad gameplay and other problems instead of focusing on the positives. With economic recession comes gaming recession as well.

By no means am I saying that there is no creativity in the business. Hell, look at Fallout 3.... that game is an experience which I will remember for quite a long time due to its unique mix of the roleplaying and first person shooter genres. The purpose of this blog was to remind people that you are playing the exact same game, just with different characters and settings.Maybe if we show a little more support towards the efforts for unique game layouts thenmaybe,just maybe we will restore some lost confidence to our beloved friends.