Well yet again we have another awards show, and yet another time GoW walks away with the goods. And by now no doubt many (such as myself) are thinking, have awards shows really gone to hell? Do the judges even play the games anymore?

There have been many awards handed out this year, and often times no one can figure out why the winner... well wins. Of course there is the obvious; GoW taking away GOTY at so many places, when many of us believe its far from worthy, this of course is more of a matter of oppinion (and possibly hype). But there have been some awards handed out this year that truly do not belong with the game its handed to. Like for instance Legend of Zelda: Twighlight Princess getting best story at GDC 07. We all know that Zelda is more about the gameplays, experience and interesting world than anything. Zelda has always had mediocre stories, and with such games as Dreamfall: The Longest Journey being released last year, the judges have no excuse.

We also have GoW winning over Okami for the art "s t y le" (or "visual arts") at GDC 07, a game all about art losses to a game about shooting. Anyone sense the irony there? GoW winning every art related award at D.I.C.E. as well as Action/Adventure Game of the Year, a genre its not even part of. LOZ: TP gets the story award at D.I.C.E. when yet again games all about the story don't even get a mention. I could go on, but it would take forever.

My point is, are the judges of these award shows even trying anymore? Or have they simply given up on finding the true gems that deserve recognition and instead opt for throwing all the awards at whatever game is most popular?

Excuse my rant, but I felt it needed to be said. I just feel that awards should be given to those games that really work hard in their related areas, not to games that make the most money.

PS - yet again Gamespot's incompetence in its pathetic, blog/post editor shines through ever so brightly. Apparantly the word  "s t y l e" (without the spaces of course) cannot be used, and so it is censored. Just incredible.

Well I have started a new union today entitled "Tightwads Anonymous". My main goal behind this union is to provide a place for everyone on gamespot (and its other networks) to go to find and share deals. As such any user in the union can post deals.

I was asked by one of the prospective charter members what their responsibility would be should they accept the invitation. I thought this was a very good question, and one that no doubt some of you have. My response was, "If you would like to stay on as an officer, your only major responsibility would be to help keep the forum moderated. Anything above and beyond that is up to you. The officers and myself will simply be responsible for keeping the union free of trolls and spam, and to keep order."

I need at least 4 members to get validated, so if you are one of the ones who received an invitation, it would be great if you could join. And if you are unsure because you don't want to be an officer, that’s fine. The minimum amount of officers needed is 2, so the rest of you can be regular users if you wish.

If you have any questions in regard to this matter, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be glad to answer them.


In other news:

I tried Lord of the Rings Online during the stress test, and I can safely say that no matter what material an MMORPG is based on it still makes a game terrible. A comic from vg cats says it best: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=155

I think the only thing that kept the experience even remotely entertaining was the fact that I was walking around asking everyone "Do you know where the sailors hang out?" and "Do you know what the 4 wu du is?". Then I jumped off a cliff and killed myself. Had I not done that in the game, I probably would of done that in real life if I had played the game for 5 more minutes.

Also I watched the movie “Ghost Rider” on Monday. I must say that movie was so terrible that it was entertaining. One of those movies that is simply hilarious even though it’s trying to be serious. While I don’t regret spending money on it, since it provided me and my friend with plenty of laughs, I would never ever watch it again.

And finally, I got Supreme Commander last week. I dare say this is one of the most impressive games I have played since Oblivion. It is the RTS fan’s dream game as it gets all the little things right. And the addition of dual screen mode is just godly. Another plus is the fact that my PC can run it (seeing as it is 3 – 4 years old) and you have no doubt heard about how much of a resource whore it can be. But that’s what happens when you put an RTS game on a massive scale.

PS - check out the Battlefield: Bad Company teaser trailer. One of the best game trailers I have seen in ages.

Well these last 2 - 3 months have been nothing but good deals for me. And as such, I've spent more than I've wanted on video games.

Just today I picked up a copy of the Guitar Hero 2 with the guitar for only $30.99 CAD as well as Neverwinter Nights 2 (DVD version) for $14.99 CAD. Also snagged a copy of Devil Summoner ($19.99) for a friend who has been looking for the game. This was all from amazon.ca.

Anyway thats pretty much all the spending I plan to do on video games for the next 6 months at least. Only other games I plan to buy now are Shivering Isles for the pc and Assassin's Creed for 360 whenever that comes out.

Some good sites for deals
Americans:
www.cheapassgamer.com

Canadians:
http://www.pricenetwork.ca/
http://www.redflagdeals.com/
http://cheapassgamer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

I was trying to start a deal hunting union before, but seems I had little luck getting validated (3 out of 4 invitations joined). If there are 4 people who are interested, reply below and I will try it again adding your names to the validation list.

Well I tried playing through Gears of War for the second time, but it seems I have lost all interest in the game. The campaign mode was great for a single play through, but it really gets tiresome the second time around. While I realize that its unfair to say graphics is all this game has, at this point graphics is really the only surviving good thing about this game. Lets face it, there is nothing specifically revolutionary about the game play. Hell I'd even argue that the game play wasn't very good, but thats kinda unfair since its in a genre that has been pretty stale for a while now, so I suppose any improvement is a big one. Seems I may have been a bit too kind in my review, but I didn't want to come off as someone who is just bashing the game. The multiplayer isn't even worth commenting on. Anyway, EB games is offering a $45 trade in for this game, so I think I will take them up on this offer. Maybe the next guy will get more out of this game than I did.
On a lighter note, I'm thoroughly enjoying Valkyrie Profile Lenneth on mypsp. This is hands down the best turn based RPG I have ever played. The battle system for once doesn't make you want to shoot yourself, AND NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS! Yay! Plus there is a surprising amount of depth to the game, and quite a bit of freedom. The music and art direction in this game are fantastic. I'm thoroughly impressed. If you are an RPG fan and own a PSP, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
And finally, it seems Two Worlds has gone MMORPG on me. I know I had placed it in my top 10 list, but with this new info I think I will have to bump it off of there. Why? I despise MMORPGs with every fiber of my being. Not only are they boring beyond belief but users are usually charged a monthly fee to play a game they already paid retail price for. That my friends is a crime no matter how you try to justify it. One can only hope that the single player mode in Two Worlds has not been sacrificed because of this. I guess we will see when this game is released.

PS - finally got rid of the plague that is PGR3. Even though I got the game free with my 360, I couldn't for the life of me get rid of the damn thing (thanks to the "not for resale" bit on the cover). Anyway I finally just scraped the cover and was able to trade it in at EB games without incident. Who would of thought that a free game would cause me so much trouble. Heh I was close to just throwing the stupid game out. I truly feel sorry for those who actually paid money for that... abomination.

Top 10 games I just can't wait to play in 2007 (or I hope will be released in 2007):
1) Alan Wake (360)
2) Supreme Commander (PC)
3) Metal Gear Solid 4 (360, please!)
4) Assassin's Creed (360)
5) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC)
6) Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles (PC/360)
7) The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion (PSP)
8) Two Worlds (360)
9) The Warriors (PSP)
10) Burnout Dominator (PSP)

Ya thats right, its damn cold here right now.... DAMN COLD! With the windchill it is -43 degress celsius, in that kind of weather frost bite occurs in minutes. I hate Winnipeg, its a frozen hell hole. As far as I'm concerned global warming can't come soon enough.

Its time to take the internet by storm, and force sega to finally finish the Shenmue series. The campaign of justice is being led by BBC video game show VideoGaiden (which I had no knowledge of until today).

For more info visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/videogaiden/campaign/

Spread the word!

So if you actually read this, post a comment below. I just wanna know if writing anything here is completely useless like I suspect.