Thought I'd drop a new blog update. Why, yes, it IS after midnight for the time of posting.

As you can probably tell, I've been playing a lot of Duke Nukem 3D. Yeah, it's dated, but it's darn fun to play. Why? I don't know. It just is. I've finished the first three chapters of the game (yeah, already), and one more to go. And to think I only downloaded it a few days ago...yeah, I'm having fun with it.
The first and third episodes rocked. The second one was kinda boring. It's so pleasing to maul a boss with Devastators (think dual grenade launchers shooting about as fast as a submachine gun).
Multiplayer is a riot. Sure, I've essentially only been playing people in the top 50 (of at least 20,000), but the best thing is that it really isn't something to be taken seriously. If you're unlucky you die almost as soon as you spawn. If you're lucky you might last a few seconds before dying again. Pipebombs and RPGs going off everywhere...not to mention turning on auto-aim helps a ton...it's comedic, it's almost pointless, and it's just darn fun to play. Oh, plus the achievables for the multiplayer are fairly generous.
Wish I could report on the co-op. Did ANY of you buy it? I remember quite a few blogs ago asking you guys to get it, because the idea of 8-player co-op sounds awesome...and after playing through most of the game, it seems like 8-player co-op would be an absolute riot...

I've also been playing a bit of Halo every so often. I was glad to have played in Icy Treats. Fiesta Slayer seemed to be the most popular gametype, plus Rockets. Good time were had.
I'm hoping to get the Annual achievable pretty soon. Getting new achievables are fun, aren't they?
Just a reminder: it's after midnight as I type this.

Haven't touched Force Unleashed since getting Duke Nukem. I really should be getting those last three achievables...because the game was just so darn fun...

In two weeks, I get to spend that weekend with my girlfriend. Yay. :D
She told me recently that she's applied to a few colleges near where I live. Naturally I became extremely happy about that. :D
Getting pretty close to the eight-month milestone here...

School's going less than OK. I was supposed to have finished Moby Dick a while ago, and I'm only about a fourth of the way through it. Sigh...luckily my teacher understands my situation here at home. But a teacher can only be so kind...
I saw Behind Enemy Lines recently and I wonder why the heck I didn't earlier. It's a nice, adrenaline-pumped action flick.

I've figured out what I'm gonna spend my last 800 MSpts on: Vigilante 8 Arcade. It comes out in a month. I can wait that long. I like car combat games like that anyway.

GO BUY DUKE NUKEM 3D XBLA
NAO
ARGH

I guess that's all for now.

Mid-term grades came through, got As across the board (I wonder how many A+s I would've gotten...too bad my district thought it was smart to get rid of A+s). So my dad decided to buy me three months of Live and a 1600pts card. Yay, yay, and more yay.

First things first, I'd like to try getting that new Annual achievable in Halo 3. Makes for some good goofball antics, yes? Anyone up for it?
Second, I -KNOW- I'm downloading Duke Nukem 3D. But what should I spend the other 800pts on? A game, or just content for...stuff? I'm thinking stuff, unless you guys can talk me into getting an Arcade game that looks really great.
Maybe I'll get N+ instead...
Third...well, there is no third. sorreh.

Not much has been happening around here. Whenever I find the time to play video games, it's usually SW: TFU. I've almost got all the achievables in it - just three left.

Oh wait! How did I forget?
Back on Friday, I went to a neighborhood Xbox LAN party (of just two Xboxes and four people...sigh). We goofed around in Halo a lot, I found inspiration to start making Infection-related maps and gametypes, but then we started up Castle Crashers, and the hilarity began. We're probably gonna start getting together after school...like every day to play Halo and Castle Crashers now.
And maybe another multiplayer XBLA game, if you guys can recommend any.

And that's all I can really think of. I have Live again, so I'll be playing Halo mostly, as usual. Hope to play with some of you guys soon.

That's all for now!

[MAJOR UPDATE]

How in the hell did I forget about posting this?
I met Peter Mayhew, the actor who portrayed Chewbacca in the older Star Wars movies. He was doing autograph signings at a Halloween haunted hayride place, so my family dressed up as Jedi to go and meet him.
He's freaking HUGE. Big hands, big face, big eyes, big ears...he's freaking HUGE.
The only downside is that his assistant was extremely rude; no one was allowed to start a conversation with Peter. At least we could take photos.
Oh, the other downside that the assistant was charging twenty dollars per item to be autographed. I really wanted him to sign my copy of The Force Unleashed novel. Twenty bucks is asking a lot, though.
First time I've met an actor. Feels pretty good. :D

That's really all for now. :D

The reason behind this blog post's title is because apparently I already wrote a post with the title "A few updates, including one you all saw coming." Go figure.

First things first...yep, I got Force Unleashed. A while ago. Back on the 17th. Yeesh...sorry about not blogging about it, but do you really care? Hmm.
Anyway, my solution was this: dad agreed to buy it then like an advance for the next three times I mowed the lawn. So far I've mowed it twice since.
I've beaten it on the Apprentice difficulty so far, and I'm finishing up Sith Warrior tonight. It's a relatively short campaign, but I'm just enjoying the heck out of it!

I finally get to read Herman Melville's Moby Dick for my English c-lass. And I get to write a literary analysis paper on it. Yippee skippee...

I also scored a complete set of the director's cut Hellboy DVD for eight bucks the other day.

I got to spend the previous weekend with my girlfriend, and always it was to die for. Fun fact: three months into the relationship, she was convinced she wanted to marry me. It's been over eight months, and our bond has only gotten stronger.

Apart from playing Force Unleashed when I got the chance, and everything mentioned thus far in this post, things have been thoroughly uneventful here.

Duke Nukem 3D finally released on the XBLA. I would've downloaded the demo immediately if my Gold subscription didn't run out. Don't think I'll be getting another one anytime soon. I could afford a points card to buy it, but my girlfriend has top priority, followed by Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Unless another Force Unleashed-type miracle happens, looks like I'll just have to stick with the demo...for now.

I'm not quite sure if another review will come within the next week - if it does, it'll be made purely on impulse. So that means don't hope too much. :P

Umm...hmm. I guess that's all for now.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/theelderscrollsivoblivion/player_review.html?id=606846

You guys are probably sick of seeing my reviews beginning with a 9. The next review will be 8.5 or lower, I promise.

Wow, I haven't reviewed anything since February. I guess being in an English class helps me have the desire to actually write a review. And yes, the desire to write reviews has returned - I think I'll write another tomorrow. 8.5 or lower, I promise!

Looks like I won't be able to afford The Force Unleashed on launch. I'm apparently not allowed to use my 'older' bills, so that means I only have about twenty bucks. Friends aren't buying my games, and I doubt I'll get $45 from everything I listed at GameStop. *sigh*

At least Duke Nukem 3D XBLA releases September 24...I'd be able to afford that...or I might get Shivering Isles. I dunno. But here's hoping my parents will be graceful enough to help me out here...

That's all for now!

Today was it. I finished the main questline of Oblivion.

So I can now say that the first game I got 1000/1000 Gamerscore in was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

...but not Halo 3?! Shocking!

I really didn't want to end the main questline. Oblivion was such a fun game...luckily there's just a few more things I can do in the game...like buy all the buyable houses and things...:(

I'm trying really hard to get the last Heart Container before finishing Phantom Hourglass. It just HAD to involve finding an extremely rare fish...ARGH

Still trying really hard to get enough money for The Force Unleashed. I've accepted that I'm just going to have to spend those 'vintage' bills. If I can't get enough money by its launch...hmm, I suppose I could talk my sister into getting me a copy of Duke Nukem Advance off of eBay, if the local GameStop doesn't have one. Or not. Force Unleashed looks - and is - fun. Gah.

GameSpot's playing tricks on me. As I was browsing my games list (which I have complaints about), one of them popped up in the previous site design. Wow I miss it.
So, these complaints. It's really disorganized. I miss being able to view my games by individual platform and alphabetical order, not this heap of games I have. Grargh.

Stressed-out gamer who only wants to play Duke Nukem and Star Wars.

That's all for now.

Although there's a little bit of good to come out of this, let's get the bad stuff out of the way.

Bad News 1: It's most likely that I won't be able to get Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on release day. Which is a huge bummer for me. I'm thinking about selling a lot of different games, but I just don't know if it'll be enough. I have...ten bucks in my wallet. Technically $40, but the twenty and ten are fairly old, and I'm not too willing to part with them. Although I might have to because I'm really excited for this game and I enjoyed the hell out of the demo...
I'll try to sell games to my friends before selling them to GameStop, because everyone knows how cheap they are.
I'm thinking of selling:
-Big Bumpin' (played once, thought it was abysmal)
-Death Jr. (tried to like, but it's just terrible)
-Extreme G-3 (tried to like, but couldn't)
-Freelancer (never played it)
-Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup (I don't seem to remember playing this one)
-Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (still thinking about selling it...it was a lot of fun, but I might be able to get quite a bit more for it)
-Monster Hunter Freedom (fun at first, but after every wyvern I encountered killed me, the experience got more and more frusterating. I think I'd be able to get quite a bit from this one anyway)
-Overlord (certainly fun at first, plus hilarious, but there's a point where the difficulty skyrockets and it just gets frusterating)
-Pocketbike Racer (I don't trust it)
-Sneak King (I don't trust it)
-Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (played for about 20 minutes and got bored)
-Ultimate Spider-Man (it's not fun playing as Spider-Man in this game. although Venom rocks.)
-WarioWare: Smooth Moves (only if I can get at least $20 for it. I had a lot of fun, but no one will play it with me...)
You guys are certainly welcome to try to convince me which ones to keep.
THE GOOD: Looks like I'll actually be able to read the Force Unleashed novel. I wanted to save it until after I finished the game. Oh well...

Bad News 2: I'm essentially blocked from Xbox Live at my house now. My older sister threatened to trash -all- of my video games, systems, equipment, etc. if I didn't put my X360 into the basement with the rest of the stuff. (yes, she -does- have this much power over me.) Which sucks, because just days before I finally figured out how to get my laptop to act as a wireless router for the 360, so I could enjoy Xbox Live from the comfort of my room and not take up space in my dining room (which has the computer and the massive HDTV that just won't be going downstairs anytime soon). So now I have to go back to the old method to play Xbox Live, and even then it won't be for long play sessions. I haven't played a console game since this happened; it's all handheld now. It's freezing in my basement.
THE GOOD: I've gotten around to playing a lot of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I'm at the point where I just go kill the final boss. Except I want to finish collecting the collectables...just one more Heart Container. The one involving catching an extremely rare fish. ARGH

On to lighter things, shall we?

Ever since hearing Duke Nukem 3D XBLA will have 8-player online co-op, I've really wanted to play a Duke Nukem game. Sadly the DN3D PC demo refuses to work on my laptop, and none of my friends seems to have a copy. I'd REALLY like Duke Nukem Advance. Seems to be the most expensive one, heh...

The Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion was reduced to 1600MSpts. Which means I need to get it before time runs out. Which also means I have to finish the main quest. I'm gonna miss the planes of Oblivion...

Tomorrow I'm actually going to play Oblivion, and probably finish the main quest. Or at least close the Great Gate. Yeah, probably that. Also tomorrow I'm going to see if my laptop gets a signal in my basement, so I can get Xbox Live down there, because there's...

NEW HALO 3 ACHIEVEMENTS! The new title update will bring some new achievements, with such generous gamerscore, too! A nice boost in points for everybody! Hooray!
Speaking of Halo 3, I noticed a few people -finally- downloaded my forged 'Rush' map. Well, what did you think? That bad, huh? Only spent five hours making it. :P

School's actually going great; just finished the first week. I have JROTC first hour (this is my fourth year in it), gym second hour, then lunch, Spanish level 2, and finally AP English 12. I got to give a dramatic reading of a passage from Beowulf a few days ago. It was awesome.

Hmm. I guess I have nothing else to say, video game-wise. That's all for now.

I got myself 3200pts today to spend at the XBLM, so here's what I got:

-Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack (NOW WILL YOU GUYS PLAY HALO WITH ME?)
-Castle Crashers Full Game (hoping some of you are willing to play co-op)
-Discs of Tron Full Game (I have very fond memories of the arcade game and I enjoyed the XBLA version, so I'm buying it)
-Rock Band songs: ...And Justice For All, Ride the Lightning, Blackened, Sleepwalker, The Hellion/Electric Eye, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Margaritaville

Just a heads-up: in a month I'm getting another card for Duke Nukem 3D, which will support 8-player online co-op, and I EXPECT some of you to be getting it!!

On the gaming front, I've started playing Oblivion less, seeing as I've done most of the quests. I'll be finishing the main quest soon, and hopefully I'll get another points card to get Knights of the Nine, perhaps Shivering Isles.
I've also gotten back into Halo 3, what with my favorite playlist being terminated (Ranked Big Team), not to mention I finally got the Legendary Map Pack...
Also also, since I've got Castle Crashers now, I think I'll be playing that a lot. And I'll play Discs of Tron until I get bored of it.

I guess that's all for now!

Short Version:
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD
JOYGASM

Long Version:
Exactly how I anticipated. Definitely getting this game when it comes out. I'm really grateful for a demo to help the wait. To be honest I must have played the demo...eh, at least fifteen times today.
I see lots of people complaining about the apparent transformation of the lightsaber into a wiffle ball bat. They're also complaining about the apparent lack of dismemberment. Well, quite frankly, bollocks to them. If I wanted dismemberment and insta-kill lightsabers, I'll go play Jedi Outcast. Enemies all die as easily anyway, plus it can get interesting to see how far I can hit some enemies. Oh, and of course, combos.
Graphics are stunning. Love 'em.
Physics are extremely entertaining, not to mention in my opinion very well done. Some call this game a glorified tech demo. Well, it's glorified enough for me to spend sixty bucks on the game. Based on the (however brief) demo, it's gonna be well worth it.

Of course, who cares about my opinion anyway. I overrate everything anyway. :P

Hard to believe around here.

Still playing lots of Oblivion, although recently I've been playing a little bit of Brawl (more on that later). I'm getting close to finishing; some of my character's stats are starting to max out, I'm getting a lot of the best equipment in the game (I was pretty surprised to find a Ring of Perfection as random loot), and I've done nearly every quest, save for a few minor quests and a couple remaining Main Quest, er, quests. I'm still enjoying the heck out of it. After I finish the main quest, and start to get bored overpowering everything, I want to make an Incredible Hulk-like character. Should be interesting. I usually make Hulk characters in Tony Hawk games...time to try something new. :D

Last Friday I helped host a Brawl tournament at my church. It went fairly well, a healthy number of people showed up, everyone was courteous and competitive. I managed to get fourth place. Oh, I was playing as Sonic by the way. Hard to believe a Sonic player managed to do so well in a competitive Brawl tournament. Maybe because the rest of you just don't know how to play as him?
I must say, Lucas is one devilish son-of-a-gun. A few contenders (including myself) spent some time in Training just smashing him around to loose some anger. Grah...

FORCE UNLEASHED DEMO. THURSDAY. :D
I'm really excited about The Force Unleashed. I'm definitely getting the game on day one (if LucasArts pulls a collector's edition out of its butt soon I'll pay anything...reasonable, that is). I'm also probably going to get a few other Force Unleashed items, such as the books.
Been waiting a very long time for this game to come out. One month...just one month...and a freaking DEMO is coming soon! :D

I find it a little strange that I found enjoyment in the demos of Iron Man and WALL-E. No, that wasn't a typo - I'd actually buy the games if I could get them for cheap. $20 at most I suppose. Same goes for the Incredible Hulk - if I could get it for cheap I would probably get it.
I must remind you that it is after midnight at the time of this posting, therefore some things may be a little more than strange here. :P

Driver's license exam is set up for September 22. Can't wait.

Seven weeks post-surgery and I've finally stopped losing weight. Now I've gotta gain it all back, hopefully with a little more - I was too skinny to begin with. :P

FORCE UNLEASHED DEMO. THURSDAY. :D

Life with my girlfriend couldn't be better. Yesterday was the six-month milestone.

Two days ago I saw Tropic Thunder and Iron Man at the drive-in with a friend.
Tropic Thunder is irreverent...but much better than I thought. I couldn't stop laughing. Go see it. Ben Stiller and Jack Black among their finest. However, Robert Downey Jr's finest is in the other film. Something about a man in iron...hmm...anyway, the DVD of Iron Man comes out at the end of next month, and I'm definitely getting it ASAP. Personally I loved the Iron Man movie, and I can't wait for the sequel and the eventual Avengers movie.
I think I'll see Dark Knight again later this week.

So there you have it. Life's been good to me recently. Of course a number of bad things happened too, but...why spoil such a happy blog post? That's all for n--

FORCE UNLEASHED DEMO. THURSDAY. :D

Huh, it's been a while since I blogged. Should've blogged more often while the good design was still around.

Why was this redesign necessary?! The profiles are so disorganized now! All of the hard-earned emblems are hidden. Heck, I even have a problem with the level-up bar; the previous one was unique and looked much more accurate.

Everything here just feels so...disorganized...

Don't like it one bit. Bring back the old one!

...as for gaming news I'm still playing Oblivion. 'nuff said.