I think it's sometimes important to remember that games are just games.

That's not to say they shouldn't be your passion in life, but remember what's truly valuable. Appreciate the people who care about you. Especially the ones who love you for no other reason than the fact that you exist.

I made a thread in System Wars that got locked for being too general.

What happened here? You can look at my history and see that I don't post much here anymore, and crap like that is why. I'm not saying the moderator was in the wrong, because he/she is just doing their job, but the new rules and "cracking down" has gotten ridiculous. Since when did System Wars get so serious to the point where your topics are moderated based on how focused the argument is? This isn't a college English course, guys. Lighten' up!

It was a tough call. I knew it was going to come down to Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Team Fortress 2, and after playing each I'd have to say CoD4 won my heart in the end.

The campaign in Call of Duty 4 is awesome. The graphics are great, the story is cool, and it being a Call of Duty game and all means it's super intense by default, but I think CoD4 really shines in the multiplayer department. The main things that make it work so damn well are the guns, the map design, the classes, and the fact that it's so satisfying every time you kill someone. There's just something about it. The only time Halo 3 comes close to feeling as good in the killing department is when you melee, but even that is trumped by the knifing that takes place in CoD4.

Something else that it does great is that you're rewarded instantly for doing good. Every time you kill someone, you see the experience points you earn come up on screen. When you level up, it tells you as soon as it happens in game. Plus, you're rewarded in that you get special abilities after killing so many guys in a row like radar, air strikes, and hellicopters coming to shoot dudes up.

Don't get me wrong, Halo 3 is a great game--fanstastic even. Call of Duty 4 just feels better, though.

I'm more excited for Half-Life 2: The Orange Box than I ever was for Halo 3 or BioShock. Even though I've played through Half-Life 2, and HL2: Episode One, there is still Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Episode Two to enjoy. Better yet, it's going to be running at 60 FPS and vsiaully be on par with a high end PC (I'm talking about the Xbox 360 version). I think I just wet myself.

My only problem now is deciding which multiplayer FPS to get into. I want to get really good at one, and I can't decide between Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4, or Halo 3. So far, Halo 3 online is excellent, so TF2 and CoD4 have their work cut out for them. But, they both have a chance of kicking Halo 3 out of my Xbox 360. One thing Halo 3 has is it's always going to have more people online than the other two, but no one knows how significant the player base is going to be. With that said, maybe with less people playing there won't be so many 11-year-olds yelling garbage in my ear.

Yup, I am indeed a nerd.

I have a copy of BioShock in my house right now, but I am not playing it. In my last post, I said how my launch 360 finally red ringed, so I had to borrow my friend's. The only thing, is that I'm scared that I'm going to turn his 360 on and get the RRoD! So I'm not going to be playing many games over the next few weeks.

I'm using this as an excuse to pick up the Halo edition Xbox 360. On GameStop.com, they have the release date for 9/16/07, so assuming this is correct, I'll pick my next gen gaming back up then. Until then, it's going to be going back and playing some DS games I never got to finish! Wish me luck!

I never thought it would happen to me, but what's real is real--that's right, I got the red ring of death. My 360 seemed to be working fine this morning when I download the Skate demo. Nothing could prepare me for what would happen later on in the day.

I was laying in bed, watching Judge Judy, when I got the knock on the door from the UPS guy. We quickly exhanged a couple hello's, goodbye's, and have a nice day's. I ripped open the box and saw that Big Daddy figurine staring at me from behind the plastic, he had his drill pointed directly at me, almost as if he was pointing and saying, "You're 360 is the next to go." I then opened the game case and pressed eject on my 360, and that's when it happened. I got the red ring of death. The red lights were not all that different from a Big Daddy's eyes when he's in attack mode. I will never forget today.

Luckily, my friend let me borrow his 360, so all is good....for now.

This month is going to be the start of the busiest and most expensive time of the year to be a gamer. They say true gamers own all the systems, but I'm not even going to be able to keep up with the Xbox 360, let alone the Wii, PS3, and PC. I feel disappointed that I'm going to have to wait a few more months to play GTAIV, but it's also one less thing I feel obligated to buy. Here is my 360 Fall/Winter list:

- BioShock

- Halo 3

- Mass Effect

- Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

- Virtua Fighter 5 (if the online isn't too laggy)

- Lost Odyssey (probably)

- Rock Band

- Guitar Hero III (maybe)

- World in Conflict (maybe)

- Call of Duty 4

- Assasin's Creed

- Stranglehold (maybe)

It's also worth noting that I'm getting The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS. Good thing I have a Best Buy credit card, am i rite?

So yeah, I downloaded a few demos off Xbox Live and decided to say a little something about them here. Let's get right to it!

Dirt - They basically give you three different cars to try on three different tracks and modes. It looks great and seems like the game is going to have a decent level of depth, but stay easy enough so casual racing fans can have fun. I think it's going to be great!

Monster Madness - This game sucks. Every now and then a tiny glimpse of potential will seep through, but it's not nearly enough to even call it average. The camera angle sucks, the weapons suck, and it's just not fun. I don't understand how trash like this even gets released. Are the developers even playing the games they make after they're done?!

Overlord - I have mixed feelings about this one, but it's mostly positive. I like the idea of controlling little minions to kill dudes and gank their treasure, but I don't know how well the gameplay is going to hold up after five hours of play. We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

Shadowrun - Counter-Strike with magic? Dude, that sounds awesome! It actually seems like an alright game. You can tell it's one of those games that's going to have a small, but dedicated following. So, that means whenever someone new wants to try it out online, they are going to get their ass handed to them. It should be fun for people that have friends that are willing to really get into it.

And there you have it! I think Dirt is the only one that I really want to buy. I'll probably rent Overlord, and maybe Shadowrun.

Well that didn't take too long, did it? The beta has only been out for a week now, and there are already people ruining the game for other people. I'm not sure why--all the rankings and records are going to be erased when the beta is over.

Usually, this type of thing would anger me to no end, but I honestly don't mind in this case. I don't know if the cheaters realize this, but they are only showing Bungie how to fix the problem. Part of the reason this beta is out is so people can go through and uncover glitches, cheat, and basically try to break the game (the other part is fan service). So I say find any way to cheat or glitch you possibly can, because you're really just helping the people that want to play a fair, balanced game in the end.