Remember to pm me with your answers, do not reply to this post. For 1 point, where were the Meccaryns headed before they were so rudely interrupted?

U1 gave me a really great idea because not everybody can get on as fast as others so from now on, don't post your answers, just send them in a pm to me and I'll tell you whether they are right or wrong. This seems like a much better system, but the points for the previous question stay. Tomorrow at 5pm, another question will be posted so until then, prep your gaming diaphragm.

The gamer challenge has begun! For rules and regulations in case you forgot, refer to the previous post! Without further Aduex (snicker) the first question. For 1 point, what is the frequency that Solid Snake uses to save the game? The next question will come at 5 pm pacific so take your time and figure it out.

The challenge starts tomorrow so get ready to rumble. I don't think many of you understand the rules so I'll try going over them in a clearer way. 1. I post a question which you must answer (quote, picture, sound clip, whatever) at 5pm Pacific time. From the time the question is posted until the following day at 5pm, anybody can answer the question for a point. 2. If a question goes unanswered at the time of the next question (5pm Pacific time the next day), the question is discarded and nobody gets a point. 3. If you answer a question correctly, you get one point. If you answer a question incorrectly, you recieve no points. If you answer the question in a retarded fashion, you lose one point. 4. You can try to answer a question as many times as possible, but once the question is answered correctly, there can be no more answers. 5. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the challenge recieves a prize, and no the prize isn't something stupid like I upvote your stuff or join your unions. Think bigger and more dramatic, like a prostitute or a zombie. I hope that clears up everybodies question/concerns/hernias. Starts tomorrow, goes until I say stop. Enjoy.

Well I have my Medical Terminology final tonight, so on Monday I'm going to start the Gamer Challenge for all of you. In case you didn't read the first post, and you didn't so don't lie and go back through my blog posts because they suck, the gamer contest will be a series of questions, pictures, quotes, and whatsis that you have to identify. For every item that you are the first to identify, you get a point, and at the end of the contest, whomever has the most points gets a special prize, and no, it's not something stupid like me upvoting your reviews or some crap like that, but something more delicious. Anyway, the contest starts Monday at 5pm pdt, so get your gamer on and get ready to rumble.

Takeshi's Challenge is arguably the hardest game ever made, period.

It demanded that the player sing for an hour without hitting any buttons, go through a side scrolling shooter sequence without ever going up, and you had to hit the final boss 20,000 times. The video above is a man going insane from playing. This game was made as a joke, as Takeshi Kitano hated video games, but ironically this is consistantly voted in the top 50 best famicom games ever.

I had a thought that, since we're all gamers, why not have a gamespot and pals gaming night with an old school game like Diablo (snicker), Counter-Strike, StarCraft, or something like that. If anybody is interested, gimme a shout.

I saw this on Merovingin33's blog, and it's probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. For your pleasure, I direct you to his blog ftw! http://www.gamespot.com/pages/profile/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-24652127&user=Merovingin33

To preface this review, if you haven't had the oppertunity to try out Galactic Civilizations II yet, I highly reccomend it. If your interested in my thoughts, you can read my review, but you don't have to take my word for it. Regardless, my gripes with the uncreative crap factories churning out high priced prefabs have left me reminiscing of the fabled "good old days" when every game was exciting and offered something new. As such, I'm of the opinion that the following games need updates with current generation software and professionalism. Masters Of Orion II: The best 4x strategy game bar none, Masters of Orion II still has a place on my hard drive. Brilliant beyond words, unbelievably devious AI, streamlined interfaces, simplified routines that didn't cut out the depth, and oh god was it satisfying to build your first doom star with a stellar converter. Microprose ftw! Deus Ex: The original Deus Ex was probably one of the best games I have ever played. The best story, addictive rpg elements, an immersive fps style of story telling, and multiple endings that were all perfect. The sequel was pretty dissapointing, but still fun to play. Regardless this game was warren spectors best work. Mechwarrior II: This game, along with its two expansions, are probably the games I've played the most. The mix of action and simulation elements made this an addictive and immersive game that made owning a joystick a pleasure. I went through two though. System Shock II: Arguably the most intense, suspensful, and scary first person shooter I've ever played , System Shock II featured a number of advancements, like an open ended exploration system, an incredible rpg system, and item research and synthesis, it was way beyond its time. Baldurs Gate: This needs no explanation. It was the game that single handedly revamped the RPG genre, it did absolutely everything right. The only flaw was that it came on five flipping discs. I eventually broke so many that I started pirating the game to make it work. Act Raiser: Blending Action sequences with strategy, Act Raiser had you freeing lands from monsters in order to raise worshippers. Belief equated to magic and power, so it was a lot of fun. There are too many others to name, so I'm going to just stick with those for now. What games would you like to see remade?

Studying blood born pathogens can get mighty boring, especially a discussion in the evolution of the ELIZA test (google that for some nightmares) so my thoughts divulged into my pleasent utopia of gaming within my head, where everybody knows your name and a multi-kill is just a step away. Regardless, this particular foray got me pondering the inconsequential criteria regarding what makes a game succesful, more specifically what result (sales, critical acclaim) than factors (gameplay, graphics, etc...). World of Warcraft is the best selling massively multiplayer game ever. Period. Paragraph. Placenta. Hehehehehe, but seriously no time to laugh now. With over 7 million accounts world wide, WoW has eclipsed the market like a death star with no signs of stopping. Commercially this game is an unbridled success, accounting for no less than 22% of Vivendis total quarterly revenue. Commercially this is a success, but realistically, WoW doesn't look spectacular. The graphics were, and consequently are, sub par when it was released. The gameplay isn't anything to write home about; it's essentially the same thing as Everquest no matter how angry fan boys get. The quests are repetitive, with over half of them requiring you to kill x and bring y to z. The PVP is pretty uninspired and, most times, an anal affair. Almost 2 years after it's release, it still has a variety of stability problems. So why is it so popular? First, it's an entry in an established franchise which draws a great deal of excitement and fans. Second, it has an easy to navigate interface which holds your hand through most of the game. That's it. Now lets go do a ten hour raid. System Shock 2 is a critically acclaimed master piece. At the time of its release, it was revolutionary, featuring an open ended exploration aspect which eclipsed anything in the field at the time, the graphics, while not the best, were certainly amazing, featuring some frightening looking character models and beasties. The sound is something that I've never found in any other game, a terrifying mix of ghostly moans and chittering that haunts and scares. Everything about the experience was memorable, and was mimicked in a variety of other games to follow, even the spiritual follow up Bioshock. Commercially, this game didn't do well, with less than 60,000 units shipped, but it did everything right for a critical success. In a commercialized industry, any business exec is going to tell you that a commercial success is everything, which is most likely the reason that there are hundreds of crappy anime based video games. However, the gamer within me pines for the critical success, the System Shock 2 games where the developers martyr themselves and their companies to deliver the next step in gaming, even in the community isn't ready for it. Hats off to you Shodan, we anticipate your return.