I'm slowly making a transition to the Giantbomb site, so if I make a blog over there then it'll also show here. And if you're a member of the site don't be a stranger and add me as a friend, my screen name is the same for this site. I have a feeling that I'll be making this switch permanent, only because I'm highly enjoying their content, and am actually debating on becoming a paid member, something I normally don't do.

Sadly the first thing I will be talking about is my pure hatred toward Microsoft, for good reason I might add...and no this isn't a fanboy rant where I spew how much my PS3 gets more love or whatever rambling nonsense others speak of. I just get so tired of how they do business. Like for instance, you have to call a 1-800 number to cancel your Live account, doesn't seem to bad until you factory in the people with cell phones as their primary means of communication. Now lets add in the fact that they put you on hold to "look over your account" not to verify but look over. I was on hold for a little over 7 minutes. The entire call, which should have only lasted 5 minutes, went a little over 15 minutes for me to complete.

I started thinking about my entire time with the 360 and I'll admit there have been some good times but when I factor in all the bad I can't help but think that they should fire their entire staff and start from scratch, or at least get rid of most of the high ranking people at the top. The system was a rushed mess when launched, they treated the first people that got the RROD like crap, because they didn't want to admit having such a high rate of failure. And then people began praising them after they offered the extended three year warranty, granted that was nice of them but it wouldn't have been necessary if they stayed into development a little longer and didn't try and beat Sony. If you wanted to extend your hard drive space, you had to buy their overpriced hard drives. If you found yourself in need to get online wirelessly, you had to buy their adapter, which cost the same as certain expensive routers.

In all honesty, the new 360 is the console that should've shipped day one. But I believe Microsoft is that little kid that won't listen to others that have good advice to share, because they think they know it all. They refused to implement HD-DVD as their format, which I believe would have given Blu ray a run for its money, but instead stuck with the now almost outdated DVD-9. I can only hope that someone listens somewhere in their little corporation when someone tells them that need a new format to place games on, but I'm afraid they won't because more than likely their only option is blu ray at this time...unless they can create their own, which probably won't happen.

Now, don't get wrong, I do enjoy the games, I'm not complaining about the games or the developers. I just really think Microsoft needs to rethink their entire business strategy, because at the moment they seem like the bully at school who holds the little kid by the ankle to shake all the money from their pockets. I'll definitely be waiting when the next console hits store shelves, and chances are I may not even buy one. This entire generations has flipped for me, where the original xbox gave me no hassles, but I constantly had issues with my PS2 and so I waited, now I've been through four or five (can't remember) 360s but I still have an original 60gig PS3.

Sorry for the rant, but I truly believe that even though all companies are out to make money, Microsoft does it on a whole new level of greed. I mean sure everyone wants to make money but at the same time make your customers feel important. Don't make them buy only your peripherals, give them a few options or at least make them affordable. I do like how Xbox Live is and the two different methods of online, but don't make it difficult to cancel just because you want to keep them as a Gold member.

Well, that's it. My next one will be more chipper, I promise.

I've been fighting with Fallout New Vegas to work properly for the last few days. Each moment I think I'm enjoying myself the game will freeze up and make me get up to reset the console. What I don't understand is how a game developer like Bethesda could allow a game such as this to ship with as many bugs and glitches as this game has. There is no way the quality team didn't run into what many gamers are having to deal with right now. The sad thing is, I really want to love this game and at first I did but after the 25th game freeze I pretty much had to say enough. I've stopped playing for now but when and if I go back I'm just going to finish the story and put it up until a patch hits, otherwise I'd be putting in some major hours with side quests and other such hunts. Don't get me wrong, the game is fantastically written, the game world is, in my opinion, 10x better than Fallout 3, and overall it's a wonderful gaming experience but when you hit a dead stop it kind of takes away from the experience. I'll definitely go back but it'll take another patch to get me back in to playing.

As I sit here typing away on this keyboard Fable 3 is sitting on my desk staring at me. I wasn't neglecting it but it seems Fallout kind of had all my attention. I've heard mixed feelings about the third installment but that won't keep me from trying to enjoy it. This time around though I'm going to have to do things a little differently, for starters I'm going to do one quest at a time, or maybe one main quest and one side quest. Hopefully that will keep the game breaking bugs at bay. I really do hope this makes me love the Fable universe, I have my doubts but it and Final Fantasy are two franchises that I've always wanted to get into but have always been unable to. Final Fantasy has the turn-based, which I'll never get into but Fable seemed right up my alley and for some reason it was never meant to be. I'll see though, starting tomorrow I'll be Fable bound.

After much needed time with Fallout New Vegas, I believe I can safely say that I like it a lot more than Fallout 3. I'll explain further within this post.

First off, to me Fallout 3 was a lot like The Road Warrior, but something was missing. After many hours playing Fallout 3 I became bored, and then after only a few hours with New Vegas I finally figured it out. In Fallout 3 all I did was search in abandoned houses and stores for loot that I could sell, trade or make use of. I only consumed food and water...and Cola for health which to me seemed unrealistic. I want a game that makes me feel like I need to grab food for survival, to pick up water (even dirty water) as part of the means in which to survive. And with New Vegas' Survival Mode I do just that. It has allowed me to play the game not just to find loot to sell but to pick up items that otherwise would have been useless to me. You have to eat, drink and sleep...and even though I complained about all that stuff in Grand Theft Auto SA with New Vegas it feels more like a way to survive rather than a series of mini games to level up the character.

Also, after much running around I have noticed a huge difference within the landscape of both games. In Fallout 3 the land was very bleak and devestated where as New Vegas just seems dry. Sure there is a look of destruction but that isn't the only thing I'm staring at constantly. And I love how you can pick fruits and other plants to either consume or combine to make other things. I guess you could say it's a good mix between Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

But, yes there are a few things that bug me to death. There are bugs and glitches galore in this game. I've walked through a small hill, witnessed a character that I needed to speak to hanging in the ceiling with half his head stuffed into the next room, some characters don't move their mouths during conversations, and I've noticed on one occasion that they used two different people to voice one character. Luckily none have broken the game but I've had one instance of game freeze...which is what brought me to writing this, otherwise I'd still be playing.

Enemies seem much easier to handle, the surroundings are more pleasing to the eyes, the addition to people joining your group is a godsend, and the fractions are a nice addition as well. The only real thing I can say right now is that I wish they had added means of transportation, like mutated horses or something. But even with the bad I still plan on playing this to completion and then playing some more...although I will say that all of this wouldn't be possible for me if they hadn't added Survival Mode, which is truly the only way to play.

It's funny to see something so simplistic and very old school take as much of my time as it has. For the last couple of weeks my attention has been placed upon Minecraft, a very simple game of survival while also giving you the creative aspects of building anything the five year old inside us all can dream of. At first glance it seems like a game you would throw away by todays standards but in reality this game is like crack, it literally will wither away your spare time and that hour you set aside specifically to this one game turns into a marathon of several hours if you aren't careful. Lucky for me I've had plenty of time to play around and figure out all the little things you can mine and forge. If you haven't checked it out I highly suggest that you do and for anyone interested the game is a still in the alpha stage and so the creator has said that as of right now the game is only $14 and includes all addons and updates in the future but when the game finally releases in its full state then the game shoots up to around $35, just something to keep in mind.

Fallout New Vegas is a game I wasn't entirely looking forward to, simply because it seems like a re-hash of Fallout 3 and in many aspects it is. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the time I had with FO 3 but you feel so isolated and with no one in the game acting as a member you can kind of join yourself with it seems too lonely for my taste. Although I did hear that you can join factions or something to that measure so sure enough I'm giving it a shot. And maybe the Survival mode will immerse myself further into the game, something I've wanted but felt has been lacking in today's video games. I've played a small amount and so far it's enjoyable but still very FO 3 like so I'll give my impressions in another post when I've played more into the story.

Fable is one of those franchises that I've felt interested in but could never finish any of the storylines. I truly hated the first fable because it was way too linear, fable 2 had the same problem but the areas seemed bigger which didn't bother me all that much. My problem with the second really deals with one quest that had such a huge glitch in it that I couldn't finish it, and with me being a "finish all or nothing" it put a sour experience on the game as a whole. I always said I'd go back to it and start from scratch but I was already 9 hours in and when other games grab your attention so quickly it truly is hard to re-start a game.

It feels so weird knowing that you have a published work on sale at many different online retailers. To see your name in the Author title is just surreal. I just can't quite fathom knowing that I'm officially done with Audia, a project that took two and a half years. It's weird cause I was so ready to be done with the whole thing and now that it's finally finished I can't help but look back at the whole experience.

Before I get into why I actually am making this entry let me go ahead and talk about recent games I'm playing. First and foremost I forgot I had Dead Rising 2 pre-ordered and went ahead and finished paying it off (I was about half way in so I figured why not), I liked it a lot more than the first. Survivors actually could survive along side you and I don't know if it was just me but the whole timing system seems easier to keep up with. But the bad, I love killing zombies but there is only so much I can do until I start to get bored. I was getting into the story but when everything else surrounding me loses interest then I tend to stop playing.

Another game I've been playing is the demo for Civilization V, I don't even know what to say about this game besides AWESOME! I've played the demo twice yesterday and got mad every time the timer ran out, usually when I had enough units to declare war. My notebook doesn't struggle too bad with all settings on low but maybe one day when that money tree begins to grow I will be able to own a high end PC to fully accommodate this game. Until then I'll have to suffer with the demo.

Game I went back to, Just Cause 2. I truly loved the first game, merely because the landscape was beautiful and your character did seem like a bad ass. This game is no exception on how amazing the game world looks but I just can't stop muting the TV when a cut scene hits. The voice acting is just awful while the character design is horrid. The game world although beautiful it's too big with not a lot to do in between. I shouldn't complain about the size of a game world but if it takes me more than 5 to 10 minutes every time to reach the next mission then all the time in between is just another way for me or anyone else playing the game to get bored and lose interest. I'll continue to play but if I see credits anytime soon then I will more than likely not do any side quests and put the game up for good.

Now for the reason I started this entry. Have you ever sat down and thought about all the wondrous times you played video games within your life? To the first game that dropped your jaw to the first time you yelled at your television screen. All these moments live inside us a never forgotten memory. I still remember playing Super Mario Brothers and Metroid for the first time to seeing a fully 3-D Super Mario 64. I can still feel the ache and tiredness after spending a full 26 hours playing Grand Theft Auto 3, a game that literally allowed me to do almost anything in a game world that felt truly alive. I remember thinking of all the Oblivion quests I would challenge myself with when I got home from work or the hundredth time I said, "just one more cave" or "just one more side quest and I'll get some sleep." Video games have inspired and kept my imagination aflame in a world that would deem the same media a burden on our society. How can anyone play Shadow of the Colossus or Okami and not think of it as an art form? All this thoughts and memories merely the tip of the iceberg as the life I've lived revolved around the games I played. Still I'm older with more responsibilities and I find myself still holding on to a past time many around me feel inappropriate. I've seen many things change, from the age of a core gamer to professional leagues dedicated to playing Halo or Starcraft. I remember spending $80 for a Nintendo 64 game and all the post complaining about the $10 rise in charge for this current generation. Today you buy a game to simple slide the disc into the tray or push it into the console but I still remember the mini game you had to play in order to get Mike Tyson's punch out to work. Consoles back then would last a few decades when now you're lucky to have a console continue to work past five years.

And this is where I leave you. Just couldn't help going back through memory lane at all the amazing moments, from the bad to good that influenced the gamer I am today.

I won't go into the nonsense of this being the first post in such a great deal of time.

Everything seems to be coming together, or so I would like to think. I finally finished my book and it is now on sale through Amazon.com and will soon be available through BarnesandNoble.com. The process was a bit stressful but nothing worth doing in life ever isn't. For those that don't know, the book is called Audia and it's my first real novel length story. I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.

In other news my life has taken a turn for the worst. I was in a car accident back in August and as of now I'm still not any better. I seem to have some complications with my back which my physical therapist can't put her finger on. Hopefully I'll be getting an MRI and staying away from such words like surgery. Only time will tell but I'll go with the positive and just say that this event will remain a teaching tool or more or less an experience that will hopefully make me who I will become in the future, if that makes any sense.

I haven't played too many games, with me being out of work it's hard to justify paying a large amount of a video game when I have bills to pay. Although I did cash in a few old games and picked up Mafia 2 for the boredom that plagues my everyday. I really enjoyed it. I know a lot of people found it to be too predictable but what mob story isn't. I loved the story, gameplay and the city always kept it interesting, which is all I really ask from a game.

I won't make this too long, so I end it here. I hope all is well with whoever is reading this.

These coming months will surely be some to remember. For anyone hiding under a rock, in the next few months two out of the three game companies, Microsoft and Sony, will be launching their motion control devices to the masses. The Playstation Move will be a whole new controller paired with the already existing Playstation Eye which closely resembles the Nintendo Wii setup while Microsoft's device is a simple set top accessory with two cameras that track your movement allowing the player to be the controller.

I would like for both companies to succeed but from what I've seen so far from both parties it's not looking so good. The problem I have with the Move is the fact that you pretty much have to buy everything separately. At E3 they show a price tag of $49.99 and everyone cheered but then you have to take into account that if you want the bundle because you don't already own the PS Eye then you are going to shell out $99.99, then you have to add the Navigational controller which is another $29.99 and then if you want to play games that require a second Move controller that's another $49.99. So to play every game that comes out for this new motion device you're spending upwards of $180 and that doesn't include buying anything extra if you want to play with someone else.

I will say this though, pricing aside I think Sony is doing everything right. For one they aren't isolating the hardcore market by introducing this new setup, in fact the majority of the games can be used with a regular controller. It's just nice to see that motion control can be used for both the casual and hardcore market without alienating either side. Also I love the fact that they're including a game with one of the bundles, something I wish most companies did all the time. I believe all of these reasons will help Sony gain ground for the Move to be successful.

Microsoft's device called Kinect is a whole other monster. This long bar like device sits on top of your TV and tracks your movements via a system of cameras. I like the idea but I was shown nothing new or interesting at E3 and unless they have something hidden from public few that no one knows about I don't see this thing doing very well. Now I'm not saying it won't sell well when it launches but I don't see any promise after all the hype dies down. I also have a major problem with the pricing, I just can't see myself paying $150 for an accessory which doesn't include a game! What angers me is that I want it to succeed but I don't want a lot of shovel-ware, basically the main reason why my Wii doesn't get a lot of attention. This is beginning to resemble the 360 launch, where they have the technology and they could fix all the bugs and glitches and have it ready within 10 months but more than likely they'll rush it out the door like it is, half working. What I think Microsoft should do is first and foremost make sure the device is 100% ready at launch. Remove the price tag and make it between $99.99 - $129.99 but pair it with a game. And most importantly, drop the price of games, these aren't Halo and Gears of War games we're talking about and I'm not paying $60 to play with a virtual pet!

I have freed up enough time to warrant another blog entry. It's becoming pretty clear that the holiday season isn't the only time for video game releases, or should I say good video game releases. With games like Alan Wake, which have been getting really good scores across the board, and of course the game I've been waiting for Red Dead Redemption just around the corner it seems like my wish of the video game world to branch out instead of using 3 months out of the year for all the games I want to buy is coming true. With each month with its own top title, hell even some months have more than one title getting high marks by both the journalist and the community, its kind of hard to not be a gamer at the moment.

I have come extremely close to pre-ordering Alan Wake, a practice I reserve for only a handful of games I plan to purchase but I never pulled the trigger. My only reason is due to a rule of mine, I can only buy one game a month which keeps me from spending more than I have on a hobby I don't have to have.It's been difficult but it has kept me from going broke so it's not all bad.Inside my head I keep coming up with new ways to allow myself the indulgence with such talk as, "This will just be my June game!" which almost had me pushing the order button but I still have time to decide.

I went back to Home over the last few days. It has certainly changed since I was in the closed beta and it seems as if there are a good amount of people roaming around at all parts of the day.They outlined the whole experience into a very gamer friendly world but if you want the full experience than you'll have to fork over some dough with home spaces, avatar clothing, furniture for your home spaces and other home based items.I saw an option to form clubs and I would like to test this out but I noticed a small amount of text which stated that for right now forming a club costs a small fee of $5 but sometime in the future the cost will switch to monthly, which I wasinterested in knowing how the whole club thing works but got turned off by the whole month cost.All in all Home is a fun little place to go if you have a lot of friends online at once or if your just bored and need a time waster but not something I would visit everyday.I guess it's more of a great idea on paper but not very interesting activity when executed.

My game for the month of April was SplinterCell Conviction which had me a bit frustrated. I remember playing the first splintercell on the original xbox and thought, oh my god this game is hard but incredibly fun and addictive.Everything that made the first game fun it seems missing in Conviction.The option to hide bodies is now completely gone, stealth seems more a option rather than the whole means to play the game, and is it just me or was this game way to short and easy? I thought this was a stealth game? What happened to the stealth? Did gamers complain so much that they finally gave in and made a game that took patience and skill and turn it into something a four year old could complete in one sitting? Granted i've only played the first and last splinter cell games but how could they come so far off the formula?

Another game I played in April butbought a long time ago was Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2. I waited on this game cause I don'tplay online and I know how short the single player campaign will be so I buy all of these games used now. I thought itwas about the same length as the first and I really did enjoy the experience butI feel as though I'm getting bored with the whole genre.

I've been spending a lot of time listening to the podcast from Giantbomb.com, which wouldn't be happening if I didn't have such an awesome cell phone. I now look forward to listening to the 2 hour conversation that takes place.I wasn't a fan of Giantbomb at first but they are beginning to win me over. I haven't officially moved over to their site but that actually may happen within the next few years. I guess it's so hard for me to leave gamespot due to the people that inhabit the site, not the employees by the way.

If you're wondering on the title, it's a song lyric from a band called Abandon Kansas.

It's been a while so it seems. The gaming world is kind of coming and going to me, I'll play a few that I've been waiting on but nothing really new hitting me over the horizon. Let's see I've played Borderlands, Rock Band Beatles, God of War 3 and now I'm on Just Cause 2 with Splinter Cell and Red Dead Redemption coming up shortly.

Borderlands was fun for a while but after finishing the main story I had no interest in leveling up my character to the max so it stayed out of my PS3 until the first and last expansion pack came out, finished the first but stopped on the second and will probably not get played again. I still wish they would have kept the old art instead of the hand drawn. *what is up with gamespot? I tried to use a word with art in the last sentence and it kept censuring it? It wasn't dirty! I tired to say Art St*le and the * is an y, whatever I guess some things don't change*

Rock Band Beatles was a little disappointing with the fact of you couldn't really make a setlist from each venue and the way it was set up it reminded me of Rock Band 1 which to me was a step back in my opinion. Thought about getting some DLC but it feels a little weird spending so much money on an album that I already own and it almost feels like I'm buying another game with each album purchase.

God of War 3 was epic by all definitions but I had only two small complaints, it was a little shorter than previous games and the difficultly level was a little weak. Other than what I just mentioned the game had me wanting to play it from start to finish and very few games have me thinking about them at all hours of the day. The bad news is that they have decided to not make a sequel for a good while so we will be waiting for a long time apparently.

Just Cause 2 kind of pissed me off when I first started playing it. The story is so paper thin that it sometimes just makes me loose interest but then the game play makes up for the crappy story so it's all good. This game is huge! I placed a marker on the map that was less than half an inch from where I was standing and it took me a good 3 to 4 minutes to get there with a vehicle! The explosions are awesome, the grappling hook is very useful, the landscape is very lifelike which includes the sea bed. It's not without it's flaws though, enemies respawn if you haven't completed the location to 100% so looking for the last case or trying to figure out what it is you haven't blown up can get a little irritating when you have ten guys shooting at you when the last 10 guys drained your health to nothing. The story of course is just terrible like I stated before and the voice acting is just awful. I like this game but I think it could have used a little more time under development which I would have been more than happy to wait for. Sidenote - 1up gave this game a prefect score! What is wrong with them? I'm not one of those people who says no game is perfect so we shouldn't have a perfect score but this game is far from perfect. I even agreed with gamespot's score of a 8.0 and I rarely agree with this websites reviews.

Red Dead Redemption is my game of the year and I haven't played it yet. I tried to not follow the game so that when I received it I would be surprised with everything but I couldn't help it. I've watched all the videos, read all the hands on previews and I love everything about this game. I love how you can hunt and sell the skins, I love how you can heard cattle and break in wild stallions. I love how you don't go to one person to get a mission but rather pick up a wanted poster or hear conversations from a camp fire to know what's going on in the world. I love how you can pick a fight with someone and sometime in the future they could come to hunt you down. I don't care what I'm playing at the time, it will be set aside so I can truly have some quality time with RDR.

The Playstation Move is something I haven't been following and personally didn't really care too much about, I had been disappointed with the Eyetoy and other games of it's nature but after seeing it in action it sparked a small amount of interest from me. I may not get it but I'm keeping my eye on it for the time being. And before anyone says, "Hey man don't get it because Sony is just ripping off Nintendo!" Well by that logic Nintendo stole that idea from Sony cause I'm pretty sure the Eyetoy came out before the Wii and I'm pretty sure Sony stole their idea from someone else. Stop playing this game of they stole this from someone else, no would should care as much as some people apparently do! It's rare in this world to have an idea that wasn't borrowed from someone else.

I'm about 95% done with my book. It's been over a year since I started it and with over a dozen moments of writers block and think I can safely say that this project will be done within a few months and then will be sent to the publisher for editing. It's been such a long journey with a few road blocks along the way but I'm feeling good about it. After I finish the only thing I really am worried about is whether people will enjoy reading it or not, that thought is actually scaring me.

Well I believe I've made this long enough. Thanks to all who still read what I post, I know I can make this things a little long at times.

The minute I say I need to save funds for a certain event, I will discuss later within this entry, is the same moment I notice all of these games I simply can't seem to live without start showing themselves.

I've bought Kingdom Hearts 358/2, and yes anyone of knows me knew this was coming. I'm only on day 21, I think, and I'm slowly getting into it. I just don't like playing on handhelds all that much, is the only reason I'm not further. Plus even if I didn't like the game I would still be playing it for the story, in the same way I played Chain of Memories.

I've also bought but haven't received Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend. Uncharted was so amazing in my opinion that I have finished it four times, twice on normal, once on hard and then for the last time on impossible or whatever the hardest difficulty was. And of course all the reviews should make anyone who owns a PS3 at least think of playing this game, even if they haven't played the first. Brutal Legend on the other hand was a game I was watching, I'm a big fan of Tim, but after playing the demo I went ahead and purchased it. I hear it's rather short but if there are side-missions then I think I can make it longer. And last but not least, I will be purchasing Demon's Souls very shortly. Apparently DS is extremely hard but the difficulty won't detour you from trying to finish. Although I love a challenge and am looking forward to playing it, hopefully the challenge will be worth it.

And now for a small rant. Why do some people find it neccesary to buy movie based game when they first release and then complain when the game is crap? Shouldn't we all be skeptic on games of this sort by now? I mean there are exceptions but come on, 98% of all games based off movies suck and yet there are people out there that don't learn. I just don't understand it. At the very least you should wait for a few reviews or at least some user comments before even thinking of buying a movie based game. Just something I wanted to get off my chest.

As for my life outside of the gaming world. I've been to a good many concerts including: She Wants Revenge, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Dead Weather, and Thievery Corporation (All bands listed are separate concerts and were the head liners). Hopefully I will see David Cross tonight but chances are looking slim at the moment. I will say this though, Dead Weather put on such an amazing show that I would have paid double the original ticket price and still felt satisfied with my purchase.

As for my first statement on this entry. I'm saving funds so that I can move to Charleston, SC. I went there on vacation and just fell in love with everything about area. The beach, bars and people were enough for me to be wanting more. So within a year I should be preparing for the big move.