This is my second blog of the day, and I want to make sure you guys check out my previous one as well, it's more interesting lol.

I hate to blog twice in one day, but I have just recently managed to aquire an iPhone! For those of you who haven't managed to mess with one, this thing does EVERYTHING... there are tons of apps to do everything from giving you drink recipies to finding out the current weather anywhere. A lot of them are free, but some you have to pay for. I'm really enjoying it, as I can use it to check email, go online, use AIM, anything wherever I am. This should probably allow me to keep up with Gamespot more often, I'm sure you've noticed my slight lack of activity lately. Now I can comment on your blogs whether I'm at home or not! For those of you who might already have iPhones, any tips or tricks I should know, or good app suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Although the majority of my game purchases are release-date pickups, it is possible for games to be lost in the shuffle alongside the Call of Dutys, Gears Of Wars, and other such large titles. When this happens, a game I had a slight interest in may be forgotten for a long time, and I may not rediscover it until it's hit the "bargain bin." Unfortunately I feel that these forgotten titles are hit or miss - sometimes they're great fun at a cheap price, but other times its an experience that was better left forgotten and collecting dust. Even some new games are like this - I recently picked up Shellshock 2 for my x360 for $40, which seemed like a good price for what is obviously not a big name title. After playing the first level or two, I almost feel frustrated about paying $40, since there are a lot of flaws and problems with it. On the other hand, picking up a new copy of The Club (after my friend lost my original one!) for $30 was no question at all, because it is really a fun, graphically impressive, and polished game. While not as amazing a title as GoW or CoD, The Club is a cheap, fun arcadey style action game. Bargain Bin games of The Club's caliber are games that shouldn't be missed, as the amount of fun and enjoyment gained far outweighs the low cost.

Another title I've picked up recently was Quantum Of Solace, as I had heard it was a similar game to the Rainbow 6 Vegas series, which is one of my personal favorite series of shooters. I've never been a huge Bond fan, but the idea of a R6V type game was too good to pass up (and also brings the question, where's the next R6 game???). I'm only a short way into the single player story, but it's giving me a good challenge(on 007 difficulty; the hardest in the game) and I like the way the action flows. On the other hand, what looked to be an interesting combination of R6V and CoD multiplayer is extremely dissapointing. The graphics seem to suffer a huge decline in multiplayer, and the game feels very... unbalanced. The gameplay seems inconsistent; I've noticed many times I or someone else will die in one shot, and then the next person takes a half-clip or more before dying. The cover system seems flawed in multiplayer, causing many problems that don't effect single player at all- generally when in cover you are still very exposed, leaving you to be easily headshot by someone you didn't think could have any angle on you at all. Gears of War's cover system keeps you closer in cover and more protected; you can be headshot or shot in general, but the enemy is required to be at much more extreme angles to have a shot on you. Also there are a couple weapons in QoS multiplayer that are a bit ridiculous in their effectiveness - namely the shotguns. I've one-shot someone from across the room with even the basic one, and one of the upgraded shotguns seems like an instant kill gun on full auto, usually with a silencer to boot! Generally, this brings me to my second 'debate,' because as a big fan of multiplayer, I'm tired of seeing game developers throwing multiplayer in as a half-conceived afterthought, with poor execution and quality. Some of the most stand-out offenders in my mind are Call of Juarez, Far Cry 2, and The Darkness. Games like Gears, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Halo, and many others have come up with winning combinations for multiplayer - fun. balanced, competitive gameplay, good graphics, interesting concepts. Some games, like Shadowrun, Counter-Strike, or Team Fortress, focus on multiplayer exclusively, and although they have multiplayer hands down are criticised for lack of single player modes. We need to start putting that same kind of criticism towards companies who hand us lackluster multiplayer - since you OBVIOUSLY DON'T CARE about those of us who enjoy multiplayer, scrap the multiplayer altogether and put more time and energy into a longer, better story mode. I'd rather have no multiplayer at all, than some of the garbage we've suffered through!

Well it's been another several weeks, and it's time for a Skeletal Update!

I've spent the last several weeks working at my new job as a Tech. I'm enjoying the job, having a career, although the work can be difficult from time to time. I've found a new level of love and commitment to my fiance Alicia, although I'm unfortunately unable to see her too often as she is in another state for school. I miss her terribly when we're apart, but I'll be enjoying spending Valentine's weekend with her!

In gaming news, I've been playing TONS of Gears Of War 2. I've got a bunch of friends I play with on Xbox Live, and when we all team up, we almost always win. I'm getting pretty good with the Longshot and Torque Bow, the Shotgun and the Hammerburst. I've got a 2.20 Kill/Death ratio too, which I'm pretty proud of!

I've also rekindled my interest in Warhammer 40k, thanks to a friend from my new job getting into it. For those of you who don't know what Warhammer is, it is a table top war game where you collect, assemble, and paint an army of models from one of several different races, and using rulers, rulebooks and dice, you battle another person's army. It's kind of like a big game of chess, with vehicles, aliens, all sorts of things. I play Space Orks, which is a pretty cool army if you get a chance to check them out. I'm looking forward to getting in my first game with my buddy sometime this week, and with 500 points worth of Orks painted up and ready to go, I hope to stomp his Tyranids into the ground haha!

Anyway that's how I'm doing, how is everyone else?

So after nearly five years, I popped the big Q to my girlfriend yesterday! She came home from college yesterday for Thanksgiving break, and I got out of work early without warning her. Lol. I brought her a bouquet of deep red longstem roses and showed up unannounced. I gave her the roses, then got down on one knee and told her how much I loved her, and that I wanted to be with her forever. She was stunned and wicked surprised lol. I had to try hard not to laugh at her expression, and the fact that she kept asking if I was joking or making fun of her. Lol.

 This is the ring I got her. It's a 14k white gold band with a .51 carat diamond in it. Simple, but as soon as I saw it I knew it was the one I wanted to give her. The expense was worth it. We had a great day, played some Rock Band 2 together, and enjoyed each others company. I'm looking forward to announcing it to my family with her this Thanksgiving!

I've been really excited about Left 4 Dead for a long time, as a fan of zombies in almost any form.

Left 4 Dead is so much fun, and I love the gore/teamwork ideas Valve put into the game. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve though, as certain parts of the mini campaigns are ridiculously difficult. Mostly the finale sections, where several hundred zombies come at you alongside a ton of special zombies. Fun, but REALLY tough to beat. Anyone else notice this?

On a different note, I've been very busy with work lately, and I've been spending the remainder of my time gaming, which is both a good and bad thing. I've got a ton of games I plan to review, as within the last month I think I've gotten 6-7 games! I'll have some reviews coming soon, so I'd appreciate it if you guys would check them out once they're up. 

Also with the new Xbox Experience thing debuting today, and all the co-op or at least Live capable games that have come out lately, I'd like to see who from Gamespot has Xbox Live and is interested in Friending up and getting some games going in the near future. So if you have XBL and are interested let me know, I know I already have a few of you on my list but anyone who is interested in some gaming, please let me know!

More from me soon!  -Skeletal

Oh. My. God.

Gears 2 is out now, and I am so happy! I love the updated graphics, physics, weapons, almost everything about this game is simply amazing! I've put many hours into it already, and I know this game is going to suck up my time for a long time to come. I managed to play some campaign with MissMorphine today, and I know I have a few other people from GS I need to game with. So anyone who has or is planning to get Gears 2, let me know and feel free to shoot me some game invites- I'll be curbstomping and chainsawing for a long time to come, and I'm always up for gaming with friends!

Welcome once again to the Skeletalknight blog of the day.

As some of you have noticed, I've been somewhat absent from Gamespot blogging and commenting lately. This is due to a newly busy schedule that is time consuming, tiring, but awesome. On October third, I graduated my tech school! In one year I did 3-4 years worth of college level work (only on computers, mind you) and I finished school with three different certifications, a diploma, and most importantly, a job! On the 6th of October, (2 days of vacation, WOOHOO) I started my career at a software manufacturer, and have begun the process of familiarising myself with the procedures, software, and people at said company. I'm enjoying it immensely, between the set schedule, good pay and benefits, and a good group of people who are ready to help out when I need it.

The only bad thing about having a fulltime job is that it limits my gametime. :P

I still play tons more than I realistically should, but now I am out of the house until at least 5:30 and usually there are things I need to do once I get home. Not to mention friends wanting to hang out, and the load of awesome games coming out soon that I need to budget time for, Fable 2 and FarCry 2 both coming out this week, Fallout 3 the week after, and Gears 2 the one after that..... I'm going to go crazy(er) before this year is up! Anyway, I'm back to stay now, and I'll be making it a point to come by and check out everyone's blogs and such daily. Anytime anyone's up for a game, let me know- I already owe MissMorphine a game or two as I said I'd play some Mercs 2 with her a long time ago haha.

Now, you'll probably think you know why I'm saying this, as I'm an extremely avid Gears Of War fan. You might assume I'm just anxious to be able to play all the cool new stuff being offered with Gears 2.

If you assume that's my reason, you're dead wrong.

Gears 1 has a great story, but the real meat of the game is in its multiplayer. The game is graphically impressive, fast paced, and addictive. It allows for tactical maneuvering using cover and smoke grenades. It has in your face, unapologetic violence, and it keeps you coming back for more. Nothing says "fun" like COG and Locust ripping each other to pieces in the ruins of Sera.

Unfortunately, by this time, Gears has lost some of what made it so amazing.

- Glitching -

From day one of Gears (or any online game, for that matter) there have been people trying to figure out glitches and exploits that they could use against people online. These can range from the ever-annoying and utterly wrong "weapon sliding," through "chainsaw glitching," "map escapes," and all the way to the absolutely F***ED UP "roadie run glitch." These exploits ARE cheating, although the pathetic souls who use them in games prefer to hide behind the ridiculous "it's in the game," excuse, convenientely forgetting that it's NOT INTENDED TO BE IN THE GAME. Players who abuse these exploits gain a significant advantage over clean players, and it is truly inexcusable that by this time Epic has not fixed these glitches once and for all, outside of the chainsaw glitch(I haven't seen a chainsaw glitch in a long time, so that seems to have been fixed). The roadie run glitch reduces the cheater's physical hit area, as they appear to be "roadie running" on other player's screens. The cheater also moves at increased speed, which allows plenty of damage to be dealt to a clean player, who will have 10x the difficulty injuring the glitcher. The weapon slide glitches are directly opposite to Epic's intentions, where picking up a weapon makes you stand still and present a vulnerable target to the enemy, adding risk and making players think a bit before throwing themselves into the open, by allowing the exploiter to pick up a weapin while moving into cover. Map escapes do exactly what their name implies, allowing a player to go outside of the normal boundaries of the map. All of these glitches ruin the way Gears is meant to be played, and certainly destroys any semblance of sportsmanship.

- Poor community -

In the last two days, I've experienced how bad the decline of the Gears community has fallen. I've not had a single game without at least 2 quitters, and there have been exploiters galore. There was even one particular A**hat named Die Past who enjoyed hosting then standbying a game, and lo and behold he had the highest score, and was talking tons of s***. For those who don't know standby freezes everyone but the host, allowing him to move around and kill people while they are still stuck in place unable to do anything. Suddenly you catch up to the game to find you've been killed by a guy who was on the other side of a wall. When Gears first was released, there were plenty of teamwork-oriented people in games, and game lobbies filled up fast. Now nearly everyone playing is a jerk who has no interest in playing WITH his team in a TEAM BASED MULTIPLAYER GAME, and you can sit in a lobby for a good 20 minutes waiting for it to fill, only to have the host quit within the first minute of the game. FANTASTIC.

Don't get me wrong, I love Gears. But between the glitches, host advantages, and sadly low quality community, Gears has lost a good deal of it's luster. Epic needs to fix the glitches and PREVENT further glitching, get rid of host advantage (which they have promised) and inject some much needed life into the Gears community. Here's looking at you, November 7th.

For some, its alcoholism. For others, an undeniable need for drugs. For myself, and probably tons of others on this site, gaming is the vice of choice. By definition, addiction is a "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal."

I've been playing video games since I was 4. That's 17 years of gaming. From the beginning there was something about the flashing lights and colors on the screen that enthralled me, and could keep me glued to the television for hours straight. Whenever I was at my grandparents' house, I was sitting in front of an Intellivision or an Atari, stealing untold riches in Lock N' Chase, or wasting enemy tanks in Battlezone. This was followed up with my aquisition of a Sega Genesis, and then a PlayStation, PS2, the original Xbox, and finally my Xbox 360. This is without mentioning my years of PC gaming, or the numerous handheld systems owned. Over the past 17 yearsl I've probably put more time into gaming than school, which is sad and upsetting, but nontheless a fact. I know when I have periods where I am unable to game, I feel anxious and think of almost nothing but gaming, I even get a little twitchy from what I at the time jokingly referred to as "Game Withdrawal," but now I see it may be more than a joke, that it is probably a true addiction.

Although it may not be a life changing or damaging as drugs or alcohol, gaming can be an addiction, and with more and more people getting into gaming each year, this could come to be a more widespread problem. I love gaming and I know I'll likely be addicted to it for the rest of my life, and following along with each new generation of game, but I also feel it won't be too long before we see "Gamers Anonymous" groups popping up, at least around the US. I'm sure I'm not the only one here on GameSpot who feels this way.

So yesterday I got my 360 back from Microsoft Repair, and although I specifically asked for them not to replace my system but to repair it, they replaced the entire system. This caused my licenses for downloaded content to become non-working when not connected to Live. I had to call 3 times just to get my system sent out since MS kept screwing things up, and I've been without my 360 for a month. Now it comes back and they screwed it up! I called support yesterday and they said I should hear back from them Thursday. So I'm unable to use my downloads offline until they can fix this goddamn problem that THEY caused! I told them I'm pissed, and I've spent a lot of money with them, I'm not going to stand for any crap from them.

Also I've been stressed from work lately, 40 hours on top of 25 hours of class is tiring, and I don;t have large amounts of free time which kind of sucks.

I graduate from tech school October 3rd, and I have an IT job lined up starting Oct 6th! I'll be working alongside a couple friends I made here at the school, and it's going to be a great starter job! $36,000 a year starting, with full medica! :D Also it will be m-f 830 until 530pm, which leaves me every evening free, and my weekends. Since I'll have weekends free I can keep my gamestop job and keep my discount!

Stay tuned in the next few days, as I will have a Warhammer Online Beta post coming soon! Don't you guys just love my blogs? lol.