I've seen it way too much recently, too many people who claim to be hard-core gamers, those who think they know what makes a good game. These people have no idea what a hardcore gamer is. I think there are certain requirements for one to be a hardcore gamer.

1. Must be of LEGAL age to play all the best games (17+).I played games when I was a kid, and I did play the more violent games before I was 17, but my parents made the responsible choice and waited until they knew that I was mature enough mentally to not take those games too seriously. Also, back then, there was no online gaming (at least not how it is today). Today's young gamers are not only over-exposed to today's violent HD games, but they are exposed to the rude and crude talk of the older generations that could easily poison the mind of today's youth.

2. 16-Bit or less. If the first game you ever played wasn't in 16-bit graphics or less, don't even talk to me thinking that you are a hardcore gamer, get a few more years and games under your belt and then you can say something, until then, you have no credibility.

3. Toddler days... If you are one of those people who played video games before you even set foot in a school setting, or before you could form a coherent sentence I salute you. I've been playing games since I was four years old, and my first game was the original Mario/Duck Hunt combo that they had for the NES.

4. Know your Roots.NEVER forget the first games you ever really liked and played. I've seen it too many times where people think that newer is better and they keep forgetting their classic heroes. On the other hand there are those who say things in reference to this "all time greatest hero" debacle: "people are just voting for (insert classic game character name here) just because he/she is older?" No, people are voting for those characters because they are truly great characters such as Link who is an older character, but he is also undeniably a great hero whom (if you have been around since 8-bit) has seen many adventure and many top-notch games. In all honesty, people are overlooking this fact and putting their recent games ahead of the best classics, Link should have NEVER lost to Freeman.

5. Don't be a Fanboy.I can't stand fanboys. These are the people who have had one system and one system only because they think its the greatest, and they say the others suck and yet they have never owned that system or even played on it. If you only own one system you are a fanboy and are not a hardcore gamer. Personally, I've never been completely loyal to one company, when a new generation of consoles comes out, I make sure I own every one or at least try it. The past 3 generations I have accomplished this.

6. Game time. Also known as Gaming Marathons or whatever else you wanna call it. Every hard core gamer has risked starvation and sleep deprivation for their favorite game that they just had to finish. If you started playing to see the sun set, and didn't finish until you saw it rise the next morning or for it to set the next evening, kudos to you. Gaming is a hobby and a commitment with no reward but knowing that you beat that one game or got the highest score.

7. Dont forget that its only a GAME. Some will argue with me on this one, in order to be a hardcore gamer, you must not forget that its only a game, you are playing it for FUN. No game is worth getting all stressed out about, there is no reason anyone should ever take a game so seriously that they are willing to do some radical in real life to someone else. Win or lose, gaming is meant to be fun, and never forget that.

8. Multi-player. Online gaming is HUGE nowadays, and with the internet being what it is today, there is no excuse for anyone not to play online with other people. Even before online gaming, you could always play with your friends on split-screen or something. If you never play with others and don't experience what the multi-player side of the game has to offer, you are not taking that game to its full potential.

That's all I can think of, and I'm open to suggestions. Oh yea, I got this picture too that can be found on ( http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php) its a picture of the commandments of gaming which I really think applies in this situation and I am a huge fan of the Ctrl+Alt+Del comics by Tim Buckley.

Sony has too much ground to cover to catch up to the 360at this point(not going to mention Wii, I don't consider that thing a gaming console anymore). I have both systems with all the best exclusive games and I have to say that I am not impressed at all with the PS3. I think the biggest edge that the 360 has over the PS3 is the online service. Xbox live is just miles ahead of PSN at this point. Yes, XBL is $50 a year, but I believe that it is money well spent to help Microsoft bring us a superior online interface. Today the Internet has just become something that people see as being essential and having something well-designed for people to make use of the Internet really helps move things along. When I turn on my PS3 I always feel like its something I will regret, the interface just seems so spread out and it always makes me think that I may not find the option I am looking for. PSN is free, which is nice, but I cant help but think that because of that they are losing money every day (as if theirfinancialissues weren't bad enough with the money they are losing for each unit they put on the market). I know there are a lot of people who complain about the price of XBL, and realistically, people just need to freakin' realize that $50 a YEAR ($4 a month)isnt that bad at all in exchange for a superior online experience.

The next drawback that Sony has against them is their game selection. When I bought the PS3 thereweren't that many exclusive games at all that I saw as interesting enough to waste my time on. Obviously I had to get MGS4, I thought about getting LBP until I got to play a demo which changed my mind real quick. Killzone 2 came out, I bought that game and played about half of the story before I got bored and put it down for good (highly overrated in my opinion). I also bought Resistance, Heavenly Sword and SOCOM. The most common drawback I saw with every game I played was the motion controls, they pretty much try to jam that crap down your thought. The motion controls on the PS3 are lacking precision and they just seem to always make things worse, if at all possible, I turn that feature off. The 360 just seems to have the better exclusives that are so much more adept at drawing a crowd. Although I hate to admit it, Halo and Gears have a pretty tight grip on the vast majority of new gamers and those who don't know any better (personally I hate both games). Other than those two, the 360 has other games such as Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, Mass Effect, Fable etc. The PS3 does have some good games coming out soon that I am definitely gonna get (God of War 3 for one). As far as games go for either system, if something comes out that's for both systems, I will most definitely be getting it for the 360, there is no point in buying any non-exclusive games for an inferior system. I will say one thing though, since I bought my PS3, I haven't bought a DVD (unless the flick I was looking for wasn't in BluRay), so my PS3 will always have a place on my entertainment center as a BluRay player which is truly what I initially bought it for, 'cause it sure as hell wasn't for their game selection.

Overall, Nintendo will most likely stay on top for a long time(still not a gaming system in my opinion), they have just created so many games and such that appeal to too many people for them to fall behind. But other than that, I don't see Sony overtaking Microsoft anytime soon, they have just made too many mistakes, and Microsoft has been making a lot of good moves to ensure their spot on top for years to come.

Well, since there are plenty of games this year winning game of the year that have no buisness winning GOTY (**cough** GTA IV, MGS4), I'm posting my own list.

5.) Call of Duty: World at War - Finally the COD series broke away from the European theater of WWII (COD 4 doesnt count, talking about WWII here, I really enjoyed playing the campaign and the multiplayer was awesome as is true with most COD games.

4.) Metal Gear Solid 4 - I know I mentioned this game before, I never said it wasnt a good game, just doesnt deserve GOTY or a 10 score. Anyway, great game, clocked a lot of hours on this game, the main thing that turned me off about this one was the cut-scenes. There is just a point when somethin goes from being a game to an interactive movie, luckily you can skip the cut scenes.

3.) Fallout 3 - I was really sceptic when I first bought the game, didnt seem like my type of game. I never really liked Oblivion and I always thought it was overrated, but Bethsada did a really good job on Fallout 3. I clocked at least 3 days worth of play time on this game (if not more).

2.) Fable II - AWESOME game, I played though this game 6 times (that includes all the side stuff you can do). Despite its minor flaws, this is still a great game and I do agree with X Play for giving this game GOTY, it was well deserved, and they were completely correct when they said those who say the game is short or anything along those lines didnt play the game, there is plenty of stuff you can do outside the main story line. Kudos to Lionhead.

And my pick for Game of the Year.....

1.) Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - I LOVE this game, of all the games that came out in '08 I have played this game the most. It got crappy reviews that were undeserved. Everyone says it was the same as the first Vegas, but as far as I am concerned, if it isnt broken, dont fix it. There was no reason for Ubisoft to change a game that was already perfect. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is the best shooter out there, great cover system, weapons, character customization and so on. This game tops any shooter ever created (with the exception of Goldeneye, you just cant beat the classics) and that includes Halo 3 (most overrated game on the market as far as I'm concerned).

Honorable mentions:

1.) Left 4 Dead - Great game, just didnt like it as much as the other 5, but its a close 6th place, almost made it tied for 5th.

2.) Soul Calibur IV - Where I was dissapointed with this game (****** took out the chronicles of the sword) it was still good and is worthy of praise.

Well, thats it kids, my top games of the year. Flame me if you want that I didnt include GTA IV or Gears 2, I really dont care, those games are completely overrated and dont deserve any game of the year awards. If you think I should include more reasons for my picks, whatever, I can if ya want.

First of all, I didn't get it for the games, the games on the PS3 are nothing to swoon over, most of the best games for the PS3 are for the 360 as well, but I really just wanted a Blu Ray player. I did some research, and I found out that most of the Blu Ray players cost about as much as an 80GB PS3 or just slightly under. So obviously if I was the get a Blu Ray player, I might as well get one that does more than just play movies in HD. Besides, I kinda want to play MGS4, SOCOM, and GOW3. I just hooked it up and I'm downloading Playstation Home right now. I only have one game and 2 Blu Ray movies for now (MGS4, From Russia With Love, and 21). I plan on getting SOCOM and Heavenly Sword soon, and I might get some other games that I couldnt play on my 360, but I doubt it, those are the only games I am really lookin foward to. And I swear if anyone asks why I'm not getting Little Big Planet, I will personally go to your house and disembowel you with a rusty freakin spoon. Thats it for now, I'll let you know how things go later... but then again, probably not.

Ok, so I am out of boot camp and "A" school, so now I am at my first duty station which is located in Guam, its shore duty, and this island is freakin awesome, wouldnt say its as nice as Hawaii or anything, but it is still nice, a lot of freakin hotels, and there is a lot of scenery, I'm likin it so far, just gotta get internet set up in my room and such, also need to get a TV so I can start playing my360 again other than on the 52 inch they got in the lounge. Also need to get a car, it kinda sucks being on this island without an easy way to get around other than the freakin busses or bumming rides off my co-workers. Anyway, you will probably be seing me more than before now that I finally in more of a permant place, and I got a laptop now, sucks cause I dont have internet on it at the moment. I'll be around, especially the unions that I am an officer in, might poke in to some other those other unions too, but I doubt it.

Ok, I only got about 15 mins to write this message so its gotta be quick. I graduated boot camp on the 14th of September, and right now I am on hold waiting for my day of departure on the 19th which is when I will fly out to Florida for my A school. I will be there for 16 weeks, and I wil most likely have access to both internet and a computer, so I will be able to post here, and if they allow it, I will get a laptop and a 360 so I can play games and keep in contact with some of my friends and junk. I will find out sometime soon my exact orders and when I will be able to have certain things, hopefully it wont be that bad. By the way, the only reason I can actually be online right now is because I am in a mall outside of Chicago on liberty, and I have to get back to the base soon. Anyway, gotta go.

Ok, as I stated in a prvious blog post, I joined the Navy, and I will eventually have to leave to go to boot camp, well that time as finally arrived, and I am leaving today, and I will not be back for little over 8 weeks while I am in boot camp. Not sure about the exact date, but yea, somewhere around 8 weeks. I dont know if I will have access to a computer or the internet there, so I will most likely be inactive during that time. Anyway, see ya all later, or when I get back, whatever.

Well, this sucks, its about 4am here at the moment, and I cant sleep. I've got surgery in about 6 hours. Just a bit worried about weather or not the procedure will go well. For those who dont know, I am getting surgery on my left shoulder today because of reoccuring dislocations. That pretty much means that I have dislocated my shoulder so many times that they deemed it necessary to operate so that it wouldnt happen any more. Up until today, I have dislocated my shoulder about 8 or 9 times and once I dislocated it 3 times in one day, so it is good that I am getting it fixed. So, anyway, I will be in a sling for three weeks and I will be out of the sling just in time for Senior Prom, and I should be back at full strength just in time for boot camp.

I have been stuck on level 20 for the past 5 months or so, and its really getting annoying, I have a feeling that I am gonna be stuck on 99% for the next week or so, it always seems to take a couple days to go up the next percent. I heard somewhere that lvl 20 is kinda messed up and it always takes people a long time to get to the next lvl.

Well, if you bothered to read the previous blob thing, you would know that it is waaay too long and that I am posting this one to get right to the point. I joined the United States Navy, and I am currently in their delayed entry program. I went and got a physical and took the ASVAB last Saturday and I got to reserve my job that I will get once I finish with boot camp. I signed up for IT (information technician) and with that job, I am gonna score a $7.5k bonus just for enlisting for 6 years, and the job is gaurnteed, I will not be denied that job. However, I was also offered another job, that if I pass the physical test I will be joining instead, and that job is being apart of the US Navy SEALS. Now, if I do qualify and pass the test and so on, I will get a $40k bonus for enlistment. Currently, I am training for the physical test which consists of the following in order: 500 yard swim (breast stroke or side stroke in less that 12 mins 30 secs) (10 mins of rest) 42 push-ups minimum within 2 mins (as many as possible in 2 mins) (2 mins of rest) 50 sit-ups minimum within 2 mins (2 mins of rest) 6 pull-ups minimum (as many as possible, no time limit) (10 mins of rest) 1 1/2 mile run in 11 mins 30 secs or less That is just to qualify, you must also have an ASVAB score of 50 or higher, and you have to go thgough BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolitions). So, if I do pass the test, I will get to experience what it is like to be one of the elite fighting men in the world.