Not much new stuff going on with me.

I put a review up for Gun, one of my favorites. I went to my local cybercafe and spent some time with Painkiller. Let me tell you, I had a blast. It's not exactly engaging, but it's intense, somewhat challenging, and just plain fun. For those of you who haven't played Painkiller, it's the type of game where the doors lock and you have to defeat hordes of demons to advance to the next area.

I wish I had a 360 right now...I'm in love with Mass Effect and I haven't even played it! Knights of the Old Republic was great fun, but this justtakes everything that I love and expands itto perfection.

Look for my Medal of Honor: Allied Assault review coming up! Oh, by the way, as soon as I reach level 10, I'm going to be doing video reviews.

Who remembers this game back on the PC? It was great fun, and kept me busy for a while. I've been wanting to play through this one again,along with the sequals.Because I don't have anything else to do (due to my lack of income) I think I'll beplaying this one again. I don't think I made all the way through Breakthroughwhen it came out, so I'm looking forward to that.

When these games came out, Medal of Honor was great, and probably the best WWII experience out there.I'm dissapointed that they've been going downhillever since. I hope someday they can revive this dying series. Although I'm not sure if I want another WWII game...

I'm really getting into speed running. It just takes a cool game you've probably beaten a million times and adds a little challenge. Speed running's competitive and rewarding, and you just feel so damn cool when you do it! Anyway, I'll be posting videos of myself speed-running through various games soon. So far, I haven't found a PC game in my collection that I can speed run...I'll have ot work on that. But, I can speed run Super Mario Bros!

Oh! Hold the phone! I can play through Morrowind in about 20 min. That's pretty cool I suppose. Do battlefield-style games count? Hmmm...

I've got an idea! How about Portal? That'd be a good one.

I recently came across a video on youtube.com addressing video game addiction. The video featured a sad mother wanting to connect with her jobless dropout 15-year-old son. He apparently was playing World of Warcraft for up to twelve hours a day.

Throughout the video, all I could think about was the parents. Why aren't they doing anything? A lot of people expect everything to be solved for them, and they have no personal responsibility for anything.

If your kid is addicted to World of Warcraft, why don't you take away the computer? Why do you continue to pay for their account? The boy in the video didn't go to school, didn't have a job, and yet his mother allowed him to play games and didn't try to help cease the addiction. That is unacceptable.

Regarding the Hot Coffee incident, why couldn't half of San Andreas audience purchase it? The Hot Coffee mini-game was completely separate, and you had to download it with your own free will. Why does that affect the rating?

If you look at the blood mods that populate almost every multi-player game, wouldn't those affect the rating?

Why the government is trying to take up our responsibilities into their hands is beyond me. Different people have different tolerances to violence, nudity, and language. I believe that the ratings should go back to a mere warning.

"Oh, but some innocent child might buy Grand Theft Auto! We can't have that!" Well, parents should be monitoring what there kids are playing. If a parent allows their 7-year-old to play Manhunt, that's their choice (I don't necessarily agree with that decision but...).

This personal responsibility topic gets me riled up. We are intelligent beings; we need to figure out how to handle things ourselves. We also don't need the government looking over our shoulders and covering our eyes.

There is somewhat of a debate on what the term "gamer" means and whom it applies to. The dictionary refers to a gamer as "a person who plays games". That is simply what a gamer is. If you play games, at least on a somewhat regular basis, you are considered a gamer.

What is the purpose for all the sub-categories? In my personal opinion, it's a title. I believe that is where the controversy comes from. If you play games all the time, and you consider yourself a gamer, why is that kid over there considered a gamer? Hey! He doesn't even play games that much, what gives? That's where the categories come in.

The different categories, again, are used as titles to differentiate between different types of gamers. This way, you can tell who is who. Because of the issues in the above paragraph with the term, "gamer" has now been divided into two separate groups, the "hardcore gamer" and the "casual gamer".

The "hardcore gamer" is widely known as a gamer who spends a lot of time playing games, can know a boatload of information on them, and can be very skilled at games. This, again, splits into more sub-categories for more precise recognition (like a retrogamer or a competitive gamer). We'll go more into that later. The "casual gamer" is a gamer who doesn't play games too much, but enjoys them when they do play. So now you know what they are, but where do you draw the line? What is the difference between a "hardcore gamer" and a "casual gamer"? That is another subject of controversy, and there is no real answer to it.

Thanks for reading the first part of my little editorial. I'll be posting the second soon. As you can tell, I'm somewhat of a gamer elitist. I hope you all enjoyed it. Comment and give me suggestions or your view on this.

I went to GameStop to go look around today. My original intention was to buy Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, but, as always, they didn't have it. I've been looking for that game for a while, and the one time I did see it, I didn't have any money with me. Anyway, I looked aroundin the used xbox games bin and eventually bought MechAssault and Timesplitters 2.

I got home about an hour ago, so I haven't been able to play MechAssault yet. However, I did play Timesplitters 2 and let me tell you, what a game. There is an insane amount of of things to do in this game. Story mode, online, map-maker, co-op, challenges, arena things, unlocking new stuff...the list goes on. It'll be in my Xbox for weeks. I will say that the way you aim your guns (think Goldeneye) kind of pisses me off, but hey, it's a good game nonetheless. The many time periods just add even more to an already limitless game. I'm glad I spent a whole $2.99 on this game :D

I also picked up Gun last week, haven't really played it yet (I'm only about an hour or so in). I've always been a fan of Westerns, and after I saw 3:10 to Yuma, I had a gaming urge for a game set in the wild west. Red Dead Revolver is only $4.99, so I'll be getting that as well.

I haven't picked up Ninja Gaiden in a while. I think I'll go do that right after this.

I think I'm going to pick up a couple older consoles. I'm really getting into retro games, and I need to own something. The games, and consoles, I want to get are:

SNES-Earthbound, Super Metroid, Donky Kong Country (is that what it's called?)

NES-Super Mario Bros., River City Ransom, Final Fantasy, Kid Icarus

N64 (ok, it's not that old, but still...)-Conker's Bad Fur Day, Super Mario 64, Body Harvest, Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time

Maybe an Atari, or a PlayStation...

Well, this is what is in my head at the moment. I hope you all enjoyed it, and hopefully I can write something that is more interesting to read in the coming days.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Alright, after playing countless hours of The Orange Box, I've decided to take a break to talk about it. My review of it will be in soon, but for now, I must ramble (it's what I'm good at). First things first, the 3 new games are absolutely astounding. I love Portal, I love Episode 2, and I love Team Fortress 2. Portal has the unique ability to make me think (doesn't happen too much when I veg out in front of the monitor), and is one of the best games I've played all year. Episode 2 really stands out because of it's story, I couldn't wait for what happened after the ending of Episode 1.The story isn't the only great part, theexperience as a whole is amazing. The Half-Life series' gameplay is still as good as ever, and this iteration has some very intense situations. The ending left me imagining how awesome Episode 3 will be (I won't ruin it). After a little thought, Ihad to wipemy chin clean of drool. Team Fortress 2 is just plain fun. I cannot get enough of the hilarious, yet very impressive, graphics, frantic gameplay, and incredible maps. Everything is done just about right for it's genre, excluding the lack of maps. Although having few maps is disappointing, I don't mind at all when the maps are this good (I haven't gotten bored of any maps yet) and knowing that the mod community is on this issue right now.

That ends this week's update. I hope you all scare some kids, get some candy, and have a great Halloween.

I've scrounged up enough money to go purchase The Orange Box! I'm excited about everything! Team Fortress Two, HL2 EP1 and EP2, Portal...ugh I can't wait! What am I doing here? See you guys later.

I'll be posting my reviews and thoughts about these games in my blog.

I'm running low on money and stuff to do...

I had to buy Oblivion for the 2nd time because my insanely moronic "friend" lost it. That pulled $30 from my wallet, and now I'm $30 bucks away from getting the Orange Box. So, in preparation for Episode 2, I have been playing through Half-Life 2 again. Man, what a great game. Even though I love this game with all of my geeky heart, there's always that little voice in the back of my head reminding me that there is something better out there. Why won't that little voice just shut up?! Has anyone ever had that feeling when they're playing the not-latest-iteration of a game series (sorry, I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it)?

Anyways, I'm completely drawn to Mass Effect. Everything about it, sci-fi, RPG, action...everything appeals to me. It's a shame I don't have an Xbox 360 though...

I need a good multiplayer game, and I can't believe I never picked up Unreal 2004. I must get that. I really suck at Counter-Strike, Call of Duty 2 lost it's tendency to be addictive a while ago, and mods aren't really going well.

That pretty much wraps up todays jumbled up mess of a blog. Hopefully they won't all end up as me ranting about my gaming-needs.