Why can't finals be in the beginning of the semester, when I'm excited about school? Exams and papers are not my ideal way to end a semester, even though this is stuff that really interests me. I found out that for my two credit seminar next semester, I need to get a $160 book????? Does anyone know a good place to get books online cheap? In fairly good condition? In other news, check out my newly created comic blog: Your Comic Relief. It's new, as of this week, but I should be updating it weekdaily, especially over the holiday break, (which starts on Tuesday, once I'm fully moved back to my parent's house). I have my first comic review up, the next one should be up within a week, as well as a newspost on an interesting webcomic I got sent, which you should definately check out, it's pretty funny. I'm dead broke right now though and can't afford my last two week's worth of comics till I get my next paycheck. Speaking of money, I got an offer to go teach children in China for a upcoming charity organization, not sure if I'll take it though, I want to teach, but I don't speak Chinese very well anymore, and I need to look at grad schools. Ok, back to paper writing, let me know what you guys think!

-Theseeus

Well, it doesn't really exist. But I just took my Diseases of the Brain exam, and it went.... well, except for the 1st page, which was 30% of the exam. When I need a break though, I've been working my way through some XBL Arcade titles, like New Rally-X, and Dig Dug. Forza is up there as well, but it's only a race or two at a time. Essentially anything that keeps my brain from overloading with protein structures and treatment methods for whever I'm studying. Forza is good for that, Dig Dug is ok buf frustrating. I've found Sonic The Hedgehog and New Rally-X to be the best choices.

Anyone else have any opinions on this?

Having difficulty sleeping tonight. Exam stress maybe...

I played some Hardwood Backgammon to try and get me ready for bed, something real low key. No dice, so I'll talk about the day in brief I guess. REVOLUTIONfreak made a good post about the merits of consoles vs portables, while I may disagree with him on several points (I may post a blog about my own opinions later this week), he does make a good argument. I personally have never had a huge thing for portable games, outside of being on a train/plane alone, because if I'm there with people I know, I'll likely just talk to them instead of becoming anti-social. Speaking of anti-social, I was at a function at the Metropolitan museum of art a month ago, they were opening a new wing and the college board invited a whole mess of people, I was appalled by two things. First, that roughly 60-70% of the people there weren't going to see the art, while native american/african art is not my favourite, it's still what the function was for, come on people. Also, while I was browsing some of the art being shown, I came upon a whole room of people sitting down and texting on their cell phones. Seriously? Seriously? Wow, you're in new york, dressed up, at the Met, for FREE at that, and the best you can do it chat on your phone? It's kind of sad really.

Well, that's it for now I think, I'm gonna try and get some sleep, gotta wake up early to study slash write reports. Peace out gamespot.

Iron Man. Wow. Amazing. I can't wait. As you may know I am a huge marvel fan (DC is ok too, but marvel is where my heart is), so a video game that isn't spiderman based is pretty astounding, and for it to look so good? Wow.

Some other recent news articles of late include a review of a report by Screen Digest that states that the 360 will "crash and burn in 2011" and that the Wii will continue to be the most popular console of choice. I personally disagree, I believe that the 360 has graphical capabilities which, while they may not match those provided by the PS3, are still very stunning, and that it is more readily accepted by the established gaming community because of it's most conservative game design; we want analog sticks and a whole mess of buttons. The Xbox 360 in my opinion also provides better games.

FOX news ran a special on MMORPG's on Monday. This is a fairly serious issue, as someone who is fairly familiar with the molecular basis of addiction, I can say that while WoW may not be a dopamine reuptake inhibitor like cocaine is, it can still cause a large increase in dopamine levels throughout the striatum, and therefore upregulate AGS3, which causes downregulartion of the D2 receptor. This is associated with goal-driven, addictive behavior. Contrasting this with the goal bases system of questing in MMORPG's, a parralel can be drawn which could explain why something like WoW can really dominate someone's life.

Also, THESE look pretty freaking awesome!

That's it for now, back to studying and paper writing, I'll be back later this week.
Drop me a line or a comment on anything you'd like to see in later posts.

So hey guys, I haven't been posting for a while, but I've been around, reading blogs and news etc. But I'm back and hopefully will be for a while with my biweekly updates. I've been having a rough senior semester, classes and labs and such, working my ass off. New chick in my life, but hey, that's not what you read this for. I'm back and will continue to link you what I feel to be some of the most important news and opinions about games today.

Short update for now though, I've got papers due Monday. Who is playing Mass Effect, I haven't had a chance to pick it up, plus I'm dead broke, and not getting a paycheck this week. But in my internet browsing I came across this, which may help some people get that ever elusive 1000/1000 gamerscore. Contra 4 got a pretty good review, I might go pick it up.

Last news update before I get back to my paper on addiction pathways; if you live in europe, you may see a change in Nintendo commercials, they will now become DS commercials. Nintendo seems to keep making better and better decisions, in my opinion. OK, my POS laptop is going to crash in a minute, enjoy the links, I'll be back later.

I got kittens yesterday. They are ragdoll cats and can grow to be roughly 20lbs. I put some footage together of them last night, so it's poorly edited and it's my first attempt at Microsoft Movie Maker. Check it out, I hope you enjot it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dapVXa8yTLI 

Well, yesterday was a really busy day, and I didn't really get to play too much.  I figured I'd post an update however, especially given the title of yesterday's blog.  I hit two stars with Driving, and collected a could agility orbs and a hidden orb.  I also found the locations of all the Los Muertos gang members.  Crackdown still proves to be every entertaining.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to play more of it next week, for now I need to look over my genetics text before class.

Have a good day everyone.

My first impression? Crackdown is amazing.

After waking up brutally tired, and taking a particularly nasty Molecular Genetics test, I was able to head to the local EB Games to pick up my copy of Crackdown. So far I have found 158/500 Agility Orbs, and 22/300 Hidden Orbs, including a level 4 agility orb on the top of the slide in the amusement park. I have 3 stars in Agility, two stars in both Firearms and Physical Combat, and only one star in both driving and explosives, despite the fact that I throw a ton of grenades. I have gotten 4 achievements, but can't connect to live currently to share them, they are: Take me to your Supply Point, First Blood, Airtime Assassin, and Untouchable Agent. I have taken out the two lowest bosses in the Los Muertos (translates to The Dead, fyi) gang. I am really excited about finding agility orbs, because I love jumping from rooftop to rooftop. I did it plenty in Oblivion and Morrowind. I also watched The Tick a lot as a child, that may have some influence on it. I'd say I probably put about 4 hours into it today, if that, I've had a busy day. I'll post a more detailed report of my first impressions tomorrow after forbidden>

So I woke up today, and I had 4500 GS and one hell of a hangover.  How is everyone else today?  I'm currently reading X-Men Deadly Genesis, which is pretty cool, it takes place, chronologically right after House of M, which I didn't read, I should I hear it's pretty good.

So, checking out Ctrl Alt Del by Tim Buckley, whom I like for many reasons, none the least of which is his first name is Tim like me.  He's playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, which sounds like a lot of fun.  But once again, I get the oppertunity to complain about my laptop: it's old.  It probably can't run this game, because it's pretty rough on the system requirements. Anyway, I have to go drink lots of liquids and study.

Busy times.  I have been pretty busy.  Haven't been playing THAT many video games.  I have instead been doing a lot of school work, I dropped Physical Chemistry, thank god, and instead I am doing research in Medicinal Chem, which is much more interesting.  I have beaten the first two levels in Rainbow Six: Vegas, which was pretty fun.  I'm not usually into the tactical shooter deal, but R6V has some good delivery, and after playing PDZ and Gears I like how the terrorists only take a few bullets before going down.  My old roommate came up last weekend, we played some Gears, beat act 3 on hardcore.  New roommate "Doesn't play violent video games," so he's pretty lame.  I hope I can find a new co-op partner before Army of Two comes out.  This is a game I haven't talked about enough. Don't really have a lot of time to talk about it now, but you should download the trailer off Xbox Live.

I have to get back to reading genetics, have a good snow day.