Yep, it's been a while, as my nonexistant readers can tell from the title of this entry. Summer has started, and a lot's going 'round.

First off, the Halo 3 beta started, well, three weeks ago exactly, and it's ending today. The gameplay is great, and I am much more appreciative of the graphics than most are. Come on, Gears of War uses an engine an entire team works on; Halo 3 uses an engine Bungie works on while developing Halo 3. They don't have the time to finetune an engine to Unreal standards. Also, the video feature is neat in the beta (you can only re-watch matches from your point-of-view),and has a ton of promise; fiddling around with slow-motion, moving the camera around, and watching vids with your buddies will be great in the full game. While playing the beta, I managed to get my hands on (like everybody else) the custom game feature that was restricted from the beta; fortunately, a viral glitch allowed many players to access it. There are a great number of variables, so the combinations for possible gametypes are near-limitless, if you get my meaning. The sword has been slightly nerfed; it now has a power source that depletes with kills. The pistol tries to live up to Halo's, but its slow rate of fire will only leave it in the dust.

I'd like to add that many reviewers are suddenly a-goggle at the appearance of legs beneath the player's Spartan. Ignorant bandwagon-jumpers; there were legs in Halo 2, and everyone's acting like they're some new, great feature! They might have even been present in Halo. Fools! That kind of thing seriously aggravates me.

Onwards, I have re-installed my copies of Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II. In a short thirty hours, [spoilers] I played KOTOR through as a primarily good character, woo'd Bastila, and defeated Malak, redeeming the name of Revan throughout the galaxy. [/spoiler] Then, I popped in KOTOR2, and was unfortunately most disappointed. I'm still in the process of playing it - I don't want to jump the gun - but I'm afraid Obsidian just doesn't stand up to the renowned creators of Mass Effect (my most anticipated game). Right off the bat, the story has a few mysterious holes in it; the characters can't seem to pin down just what happened to Revan after KOTOR. First, they call him a woman! You get to argue against this heresy, and the game should record your argument and use it in future conversations. Instead, they switch between calling Revan "he" or "she;" sometimes, they say he followed a dark path, others, a light. Who knows? Anyways, the swoop racing minigame was completely butchered and the characters just don't seem to have the charm of the original game.

Also, on the ol' 360, I've been playing the Need for Speed Most Wanted and Shadowrun demos. As one can see in my gamercard, I have played NFSMW, but I was just borrowing the game from a friend. Now, I am truly enchanted with it, though I keep in mind that the game is insanely difficult in latter parts. The cop chases are so fun! I want to buy the game the first chance I get, and it should be cheap; unfortunately, I'm going on a lengthy vacation soon (after a Rush concert on the 16th), and won't be able to play it, anyway. The Shadowrun demo is also great; I'm considering buying that game, as well, despite the pitieous review on Gamespot. The bot matches are fun, and just that one map is enough to keep me occupied. Perhaps buying it off Gamefly at a reduced price of $40 or so will be wisest.

Well, that's just about it for now. In GHII news, I've beaten the accursed hard difficulty and I don't plan on escalating to expert. I'm going to stay in my tiny, safe world of the last two sets on medium at hyper-speed. "Carry Me Home" on medium, "Push, Push (Lady Lightning)" on medium, and "Strutter" on hard with hyperspeed areoft enough to satisfy an audience. I still have to perfect Free Bird and get the 1000 note streak; I've managed 950, but I keep screwing up right after the intense red/yellow/red/yellow section, or Guitar Solo I and J.

EDIT: I suppose I should admit that KOTOR has instilled a strong sense of nostalgia in me for the old MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies. Should my memory serve me (and it's service is rather disreputable), the gameplay, or at least the combat, styles seem similar. I have a LOT of regrets regarding that old game; it was a five-hour part of each day for every day for a year, and everyone knows the semi-anonymity of the Internet only breeds bad results. My stupidity was legendary in that game; I was kicked out of a guild for faking bad language, generally condescended upon for my foolishness, and, in the end, I left my in-game "wife" (who was probably a man in real life) during a period of hard times in the ol' "RL." From thenon, I was a drifter; I resided on a little-used server as an entertainer in a Corellian town. That cantina still seems like a virtual home to me; just the thought would evoke tears if I weren't such a hard-boiled badass. I quit the game weeks before I would have received a free in-game pilotable ship with the Jump to Lightspeed expansion pack due to my "veterancy," having played the game for a year.

At this point, it really, really is a sad thing Sony cajoled SWG into an alley and then mugged and ravished it. I hear the game is dead now, due to several disastrous changes by Sony and their Online Entertainment, known as the devious "SOE" - wreaker of nerfs - during my tenure inStar Wars galaxy. They took a perfectly excellent MMORPG and killed it. Killed it, dammit. If it weren't for them, the game might still be alive today, and I could restart my membership, return to the old server, and re-join the clan I abandoned. Make up for my foolishness.

Hey, I'm practically righting a drama book, here. I suppose I've never had a chance to vent my true feelings for SWG, but, since no one reads this, I might as well. My best friends were in that game; they were that Correllian cantina, that small town. My best gaming experiences were there; they were that time I spent an hour dead waiting for a doctor to arrive in the Tattoinian wilderness, or the time me and my "wife" indulged in some "hanky-panky" in a camp outside my guild's city, only to have an impromtu visitor interrupt us. Yes, embarrassing.The best characters lived in that damned world, they were that Twi'lek, who betrayed the Empire for our friendship; they were that short Bothan who'd take on an entire Stormtrooper encampment with me; they were my "wife", who'd never pass up the chance to hunt some great beast; they were those Rebels of my Corellian small town, who'd form a league of defense to fight off the clutches of the Imperial wastrels. I hated PvP in that game, I sucked at it.

Anyway, SWG was an iconic stepping-stone to where I am now; it started my on video games, led up to Halo 2, which started me on the Xbox as a serious gamer. Without SWG, I'd probably be preparing for tomorrow's soccer match. I'd be a jock, or something equally brainless. Anyway, my ranting and deep introspection has drawn to an end. I'm tired. I'm now even sadder than I was at first.

My first review for this profile is up: Guitar Hero II. As you may see by the score, my opinion of the game has changed drastically since my last blog post. But the game deserves that; it has serious scaling issues that devastate your enjoyment. That is exactly what video games are for, and should be for: enjoyment, pure enjoyment, the sense of escaping from a dull life to enter a world of awesomeness, where you can be, or do, anything. Instead, lately, we have seen a crapload of games going for challenge over enjoyment: Gears of War's final boss; Project 8; S.T.A.L.K.ER., and others. There should be an option for a challenge, but don't make it necessary. Please.

In other news, I am going to the Tampa Rush concert in June! Bring on Snakes and Arrows! I bet we'll shout Freebird, and then Stairway to Heaven. I shouted both of those at a recent Jazz festival in Jacksonville.

EDIT: Surprising, the uproar over my review has been. I really expected no one to read it, but look - 1 out of 16 recommend it at this time. And I got hate mail! Reviewers reviewing my review. It really makes me proud.

EDIT2: In response to an overwhelming amount of insults, I increased my "reviewer's tilt" for the GHII review. Either I was a little harsh or I'm a self-masochist myself, as I continue playing the game through the hard (HARD!) difficulty.

Yeah, but the ache is starting to go away now.

My point is - I've bought Guitar Hero II! The game blew my expectations sky high. The song list is spectacular. I was dubious of the songs at first, but that was just due to my incompetence in recognizing song names (YYZ pretty much sold the game on me, though). Cherry Pie and Carry On Wayward Son are fantastic. I can't do the "Opening Licks" songs too well, as they are kind of boring, but I rock on Cherry Pie. Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" is pretty awesome, too. I find it funny that a Kiss song is under "Opening Licks"; perhaps RedOctane has the same opinion of them as I do.

Well, the game totally owns; every 360 player should buy it, despite the high price ($60 for the game, $30 for the controller). Casual players can pick it up quickly - my father will love it - and hardcore players have various difficulties and an increasingly difficult songlist, plus very creative achievements. Guitar Hero II does not disappoint.

EDIT: On my second day in, I'm still enjoying the game (of course). The seams have started to show, however: your guitarist's eyes never move, and seem to be completely black (I'm playing Izzy Spark, who I hear is based on Jimmy Page . . . though he doesn't look anything like Mr. Page). The lack of online co-op was a very bad idea. Also, why is it a wired controller? It's more realistic, I guess; real guitars are wired into amps. But I can't strut around my front lawn, playing the screen inside my house (like I could have done a freakin' thing that way). And what's up with the lack of any Led Zeppelin songs? I have a feeling it's due to Zeppelin's fast-acting crack-team of lawyers and their foolish defense of their copyrighted material; a la youtube.com. All of Zeppelin's videos were taken off that site, which leads me to believe RedOctane isn't able to acquire a Ledded song for GHII.

However, the core gameplay is enthralling enough to make up for these errors. Ripping riffs on the more difficult songs gets your blood pumping and your [fantasy] fans cheering. This is a GREAT game for attracting buddies in college; Madden no longer holds stake to that claim.

I've been overflowing with cash since last holiday season, and, unsurprisingly, have made several bad decisions of the like that commonly accompany newfound burgeosity. Like, impatiently buying Tony Hawk's Project 8 on a whim instead of renting it first. I've also purchased Crackdown - worth it, thanks to the Halo 3 beta, Medieval II: Total War, Killzone: Liberation - awful decision, Lumines II, and, just recently, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. After having my save games deleted by the recent patch, I have not yet finished the game, but I will share my initial thoughts.

The first thing that struck me was utter frustration at the lighting system. It. Needs. OPTIMIZATION. Seriously. My $200 graphics card - yes, I'm proud of it - can handle Half-Life 2 with HDR smoothly as a knife through hot, steaming butter, but this game brutally assassinates my FPS! So, I turn off object dynamic lighting, and instant peace and smooth sailing. But the game looks like crap. My card has shader model 3.0, so why can't it handle the dynamic lighting without lag and crashing? If it can handle Half-Life 2 with HDR - which has much better character and weapon models, I might add - fine, why can't it handle cruddy models with less than HDR?!

 Anyway, now that I'm over that, I can appreciate this game in its true glory: as an art form. This game is art. Not through its gameplay, and certainly not through its presentation, but through the environment the developers have wrought. The AI, by today's mediocre standards, is unfathomably awesome. I have not seen creatures and humans behave so realistically in any other game. And the world they're placed in is enthralling in its detail - horrifying at times, but constantly immersive, audioally and visually.

The AI, as stated, is great, and well-tailored to both humans and creatures. Humans, at leisure and unthreatened, will gather by the fire, belt out tunes on the guitar, chat in Russian, eat, et cetera. If approached at gunpoint, they will act equally hostile, cursing at you and waving you off. But the human AI shines best in combat. If alerted, they will actively seek cover, then seek to destroy you, often flanking and using their commonly superior numbers against you. They will pin you, then advance with whatever deadly tool they have at their disposal, though retreating if outgunned. They never charge at you; only intelligent, realistic actions are taken. Creatures will attack in packs, retreat if wounded, regroup, and attack again. When attacked while alone, dogs will be quick to run away, but soon return en masse. Mutants and zombies charge dumbly, though, which is rather disappointing. Creatures, contrare to humans, best show their AI when idle. They will chew on killed prey, drag corpses off, and protect the carcass of their alpha.

The environments are also amazing. If the lighting effects worked worth a fart, the game would be quite atmospheric. The ambient gunfire and screams of hunted Stalkers in the distance are very creepy, especially when you are alone and the fantastic music isn't playing (it tends to switch off abruptly, causing an occasional jump). The snarls of wild dogs, snorts of giant pigs, and roars of mutants will put your hair on end, but there is one major problem with the audio - the game is lacking in "distance detection" for many sounds. Even if the dog is fifty meters down the road, the bark will sound like it is right behind or before you. This gets quite annoying; I may start to haul anal region towards safety when the snarl I hear is actually from a creature undangerously far away.

While the great outdoors are scary enough, the "main quest" of the game often forces you into dark, dank and dreary corridors, far from any hope of rescue by a wandering ally. The developers pull the standard horror stops on you during these segments; when in big, dark rooms you'll hear a roar and not know where it came from; expected terror ensues. In tight, enclosed spaces you'll hear the pattering of feet or the ting of a boot on metal; expected soiling occurs. Between all the pants changing and wound bandaging, it's a surprise one is able to survive at all.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. These paragraphs will probably be assimilated into a complete review once I have finished the game, and expect more criticism of the difficulty and, of course, the lighting.

This is a continuation of my former profile on Gamespot, Raylen12. Just wanted to clean up the old one . . .

Anyway, to initiate a true introduction, one may consider me any of the following: Xbox fanboy hypocritically owning a PSP; washed-up Elder Scrolls fanboy turned Oblivion hater; game trivia guru; "one of the gang" on the xbox.com Official Xbox Magazine forums; a budding guitarist; a 70's rock obsessor (Rush pwnzorz!); a Gamefly user, which speaks for itself.

I also use Xbox Live. My gamertag is, predictably, NewCode12. I've used XBL for three years, and bought an Xbox 360 on launch day. Long story short, I waited for 13 hours in a Wal-Mart, and was cheated into a core package which I later traded to a premium. Lately, I have used Live only rarely; I am disappointed in Gears of War, and bored of many other recent games.

Since getting an ATI Radeon X1300 XGE 512MB DirectX 9.0 (no, not 10 - too expensive), I've also grown very interested in PC games. I greatly enjoy Half-Life 2, even years after it released. Company of Heroes is fun, but the back-and-forth land-grabbing is repetitive. I plan on buying Medieval II: Total War tomorrow - I was enchanted by the demo, even as it repeatedly whooped me in all but Agincourt.

Of all my systems, my PSP has gotten the most attention in recent weeks (as I just bought it in recent weeks). I own a broken Twisted Metal: Head on and a dull copy of Killzone: Liberation, but I've also been renting the addictive Lumines II and the plain fun Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. The multimedia features of the PSP rock - the main reason why I chose it over the Nintendo DS.

As previously mentioned, I use Gamefly, thus allowing me to amass a significant gamerscore. Despite the often long waiting times, I enjoy the service - especially the ability to blast my friends in achievements.

Anyway, that about sums me up from a gamer's perspective; I'll undoubtedly thing of something further to add after I've posted this. On this profile, I plan on occasionally typing up a lengthy review, scoring a vast number of games, and generally making my opinion known in the most obnoxious way possible, which is, fortunately for most, limited to this blog and my overly-critical reviews.