The ultimate game release calendar has begun! I'm already finding myself switching between quite a few games each night, trying to get some progress in all of them. Right now I'm trying to get through Bioshock a second time (rescuing all the Little Sisters this time), playing a bit of World of Warcraft (leveling my mage until I'm able to transfer my priest to my old server), getting some practice on Guitar Hero 2 (only Freebird is left), building a pilotable blimp in Garry's Mod (low priority :D), and puzzle-solving my way through Metroid Prime 3.

Metroid Prime 3 is really fun, and the controls are executed perfectly, to make the experience feel much less taxing. For example, you can now switch between visors, scan something, and switch back, all without having to stop moving. The environmental puzzles are much more involved than in the prior Prime games, and this time around you often have to fight waves of enemies that won't cease until you complete the puzzle. The voice-acting makes the Metroid world more immersive than any iteration before MP3 (plus its nice to see how to properly pronounce Aran :P).

Sadly, there is no game listing for Garry's Mod on Gamespot. I think it definitely deserves one. It has its bugs, but its really fun to just make random stuff and see if it works. If you don't know what gmod is, it is essentially a sandbox mod for the Source engine, downloadable through Steam for around $10. You have access to all the models from Half-life 2, Counterstrike, etc, and can always download others that people have made. You can weld together crazy contraptions, give them wheels or thrusters, nail things to the walls, the list goes on! There is a very popular mod for it called Wiremod, which adds electronic wiring capabilities. You can add processing chips and sensors to give your contraptions a mind of their own.

As you can guess from the first paragraph, I have unfrozen my WoW account. I want to get my 70 shadow priest back onto the server I used to play on (I transferred shortly before quitting the game) so that I can play with the friends I made on there. However, with the way these next few months are shaping up (especially with TF2 coming very soon), I doubt I would put much time into the game. I'll at least play with my friends until early October.

Here is the list of the games I'm most excited about and their release dates according to Gamespot (I like to stay organized):

Eternal Sonata - September 17 (Mon)
Halo 3 - September 25 (Tue)
HL2: The Orange Box - October 9 (Tue)
Beautiful Katamari - October 15 (Mon)
Guitar Hero 3 - October 28 (Sun)
Hellgate: London - October 31 (Wed)
Call of Duty 4 - November 5 (Mon)
Super Mario Galaxy - November 12 (Mon)
Crysis - November 16 (Fri)
Mass Effect - November 20 (Tues)
Super Smash Bros Brawl - December 3 (Mon)

Well, I hope ya'll are enjoying these times as much as I am. Take care!