Yup kiddies, it's that time of year, where the snow melts and birds sing. You know what I'm talking about... Oblivion season! Shivering Isles came out yesterday and you can bet your ass I was one of the first to get a copy. After playing it for a few hours (after I got home from work), I must say I'm very impressed. Of course that shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing as this is an expansion to my number 1 favourite game of all time. But still, I am very impressed at how well it expands the Oblivion universe. Not only does it add a whole new land to explore, but this land is drastically different from anything else in Oblivion. And I'm not talking just the geography either, it's the inhabitants (creatures and npc's) and the overall atmosphere as well. Being based entirely upon the mind of Sheogorath is just brilliant. Oh yes and Lord Sheogorath is real entertaining to talk to, I can't see why Gamespot labeled him as annoying. I always enjoy talking to him as he's bound to make you chuckle.
In other news, I've been pre-ordering myself all of the games due out in the next 10 months or so that I know I will enjoy. Why you ask? Well because EB Games here in Canada is having an insane deal that involves trading in 3 games (min. trade in value of 8 dollars each) and getting any new game (upcoming or already out) worth 69.99 or less free. With a little exploitation of this deal I have managed to pre-order some games for less than 30 dollars each (all worth 69.99) and some were pre-ordered for around 12 dollars (but this involved exploiting multiple deals at various places :P). So far I've managed to get the following with this deal; God of War 2, GRAW 2, Assassin's Creed, Bioshock(360), Two Worlds (360), Tenchu Z, and Stranglehold(360). I'm planning on switching Stranglehold to the Half Life 2 orange box (360) when it is on EB Games pre-order list and I plan to use this once more to get Mass Effect when it is also on the list. So far I've saved myself over 300 dollars (assuming I was to buy each game at the 69.99 retail price). Let's put it this way, some of those $6.97 bargain bin games at Walmart actually have a TIV of more than 8 dollars at EB Games. Just phone ahead and get some TIV quotes from EB Games before buying up the whole bargain bin. By the way this deal is available for all games on the weekends and select titles during the week. This deal ends the last weekend of March (so this weekend coming up).
GRAW 2 is good fun online, and is a great all around multiplayer game (online and off). It even supports 4 player split screen! But the single player is severely lacking. Not a game I would recommend for the full retail value, but worth it if you can get it for around 30 bucks.
Finally it seems Kengo Zero may be seeing a North American release, as it has popped up on the pre-order list at EB Games. I'm seriously considering pre-ordering this bad boy as well. Kengo was quite a bit of fun on the PS2, and I would love to see another iteration of it.