Seems it has been forever since I've logged into Gamespot. I found myself back here today, mostly to read reviews and to complain about L.A. Noire. In any case, I'm curious how busy this site is or isn't. I used to frequent it daily, but that was like 4 or 5 years ago. I've hardly taken a look here since outside of when searches land me here. So what's the problem?

For me, it is lack of content interesting to me. I don't really need to keep up on the latest gaming news. I have twitter and RSS feeds for that. I still like to track my collection here, but it is very manual. Sites like 360voice and GamerDNA do a better job of auto-collecting stats and games I play. The forums seem dead as well. For me, I just haven't had the energy to put into the site like I used to.

How about my friends or random followers? Is this site still hopping and I'm missing the point? Are you finding what you need here, or going elsewhere for content? Looking for answers.

Why oh why did my 360 die

It isn't the hardware MS did lie

But low and behold its innards did fry

So back for repairs my 360 will fly

Okay, no I didn't get 5K in a day -- but I did finally hit 30K in glorious Xbox gamerscore yesterday. it was fun, it was sweet and now it is over. Time now to look ahead to 35K in a never ending quest for achievements and the points associated with most. I have a bunch of games to tide me over for awhile. Hopefully that means kicking down these next 5K pretty quickly.

Well, its been a pretty busy Summer for me. Both work and life have been crazy. My 360 took a powder -- and the replacement is acting up. Not sure if 2008 has been all that great a year. But School is starting and GameSpot has a new look, so maybe things are getting better. Too bad I still can't pull RSS feeds from GameSpot. Not sure what is up, but it is hampering my enjoyment.

See you on Xbox Live!. Well, assuming my console isn't acting up. I sure hope it is just the high heat in the area and not something more serious.

Sorry, I've been away for the last two weeks, vacation and other issues. I finally made it back home this week. Since I'm currently a married bachelor, the family is visiting family without me, I went and rented Ninja Gaiden II. Bad idea, I've barely slept! I've over half way through the game and I have to say -- WOW! It is so pretty and all the moves I was used to in Ninja Gaiden are back and still work! The game is much easier to get into then the first, but don't be fooled. The bosses are still a pain in the arse. However, other enemies should be of little consequence next to the original. Just Don't expect to just button mash this game. In all, it was just as good as the Demo and I'm enjoying it as much as I did the original. The only bad thing is, there are a ton of other 360 game to play. So, I need to finish this game so I can go play something else!

Even if it was just the demo, I gave Ninja Gaiden II a try and, wow! It is so fluid, clean and easy to get into. The visuals don't seem much different -- but I know they are. First think I noticed, you are tiny! If you remeber the first NG, Riyo was much larger on screen. I'm going to assume that is due to the difference betwen 480i (my 36" TV) vs. 720p (my 19" wide screen monitor). The cut scenes look great and once you start playing, it will feel just like you left off playing the first NG. Everything has a simliar look and feel, yet crisper and more interesting. NGII controls work much like the original and were quite responsive. I noticed that I had a hard time getting some moves to work that I enjoyed using before. But the old favorites appear to be there. The seeking system appears more responsive -- you can hack at multiple enemies by guiding the controller towards what you want to attack. Speaking of enemies, they don't like to die. You'll spend more time hacking at that before they finally go up in a puff of essence.

Of course, I'm playing the demo. The game isn't quite the same as what you'll play right away. You have three maxed out weapons with all their moves. You have pretty full health and nipon. Yes, even a resurection talisman. Because of this, and the fact that your health regenerates, the demo is pretty easy. I seriously doubt you will die. I didn't even need to use any health boosters aside from hitting the save points. Well, just in case mind you!

I was disapointed that you didn't get to try a boss battle. Not surprised, but the demo is pretty long so I can't complain. I sure look forward to give NGII a purchase, when I have the money of course. I'm still broke from getting GTAIV. Sigh. If I didn't have to drive to work, I could save a tank of gas to get this game. For now, I'll probably give the demo another go.

Yes! Finished GTA IV's main story missions today! Did it in under 30 hours too -- pretty good considering I did a bunch of side stuff too. Now, I just need to go back and finish up the rest of the stuff. The Assassin missions are fun. I also want to go and finish the helicopter tours. I'm not too keen on the races, but I'll probably do them to get the achievement.

So, I gave multiplayer a try a month ago. It was okay, but I still enjoy Halo 3 a lot more. I don't own COD4, so I can't comment on if it is better or not. I'll probably play some more GTAIV just to get the achievements, but if I'm not enjoying it, I'll quit. I really hate multiplayer achievements -- they usually are pretty tedious. Although, GTA's don't look too hard. Unfortunately, I probably won't get a 1000gs. Killing a developer for 10gs in multiplayer is going to be a crap shoot at best. Too bad, since I was really hoping to complete the game. Oh, well!

See ya around live! P.S. If you see me playing Halo 3, shoot me an invite! I'm a big team slayer player, even if I'm all that great. :-(

Was at K-Mart to pick up Pepsi's on sale and also picked up two games! Bullet Witch was on clearance for $10. Yeah, I've heard the game isn't great, but $10 bucks for a new game for 4-6 hours of gaming can't be too bad. I also found Oddworld: Munche's Odysee for $5. Yeah, I was a late arriver to the Xbox and just never picked it up. It is the first time in about a year I've put an original Xbox game in my 360. I've put in about an hour into it and find the cut scenes justhilarious. How did I miss this one? Two complete games for $15+tax seemed like a good deal to me. Cheaper then a movie and popcorn. )

I finished Assassin's Creed the other day. Now going back to finish up the achivements -- flags, templars, and a lot of throwing of knives. Oh so fun!

For all you Halo 3 fans, the Heroic map pack is set to be free on March 25th at 2AM PDT. For those of you that hadn't paid for the maps, you should hold off another week and get the maps for free. I'm looking forward to seeing the new maps show up more in the hoppers.

Also, The Legendary map pack is set to release in April. I haven't seen a specific date yet. I should read better, new maps will be available April 15th. Bungie has said that they haven't seen any plans for making the Legndary maps free, but I would assume they will be at some point. From what I've seen the next set of maps will be way better then the Heroic maps. The ones they've previewed so far look great and very promising. You can bet I'll be grabbing the Legendary maps when released.