So in the last week or so I've managed to complete 3 games from start to finish. Wow, I have way too much free time... Anyways, I'm going to be posting some text reviews for them, so if you're interested in my opinion, keep an eye out for that. The games include God of War 2, Guitar Hero 2 (360), and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, which I have had for a few years but only recently finished. I'm so glad I did because that game is awesome despite how old it is (2002, I think?). Guitar Hero 2 for 360 is awesome too. I beat that on expert the day after I got it, but that's not saying a whole lot since I already beat it on PS2. Still, with the 10 new songs and the promise of tons of DLC, GH2 is worth every penny for the 360 if you're a fan of the game. God of War 2... If you don't know or haven't played it yet, it rules pretty hard as well. Not too different from the first gameplay wise, but that's perfectly fine. Like I said, I'll post some text reviews for all three games within a week or so.

 

I'm also taking part in the open beta for LotR Online: Shadow of Angmar. I just kicked the habit of World of Warcraft for the second or third time a few months back so I doubt I'll get too involved with another MMORPG any time soon, but since PC Gamer was nice enough to include open beta clients in their most recent issue, I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll definately be post my impressions and opinions of that game as well once I have played around with it for a while. I can tell you now that the game borrows a lot from other MMOs such as EQ and WoW, but I honestly think that as it is, it could hold its own against those two MMO juggernauts.

 

Aside from gaming, I've been planning for a trip at the end of this month. My girlfriend got us 2 free tickets to the New England Hardcore and Metal festival via her job as a radio dj at her school. I am so pumped about this because not only do we get to go, but she is also working real hard to get an interview with one of the bands on the bill. This is such an awesome perk. She works with major record labels (Metal Blade, RoadRunner, Nuclear Blast) to promote the bands on her block on the staion. So in doing this, she also get oppritunities such as the one I just explained. The radio station (WNRS, a subsidiary of WNRN, Lynchburg VA.) is not a big time station (atleast not that I know of), but they still get all of the perks from major record labels and anyone trying to market their music. The whole thing is so surreal and over my head, that I just can't get over how awesome it is. I'm so jealous. As always, if you're interested on the details, keep an eye out because I'll definately be posting updates on that as well. Until next time...

 

 

EDIT: Also forgot to mention: Happy Easter! 

It was only a week ago that I bought Titan Quest for the PC and just the other day, I beat it on the normal difficulty. The game is pretty solid. I dig it, but it wasn't the only game I've been playing. I beat a couple of other games I had on the backburner, including Star Wars: Republic Commando and Mario Kart DS. I also posted reviews for TQ and MKDS. That's about all in my world of gaming though. I might go pick up Immortal Throne sometime this weekend. In other news, Nile has been confirmed to play at Ozzfest this year. Still, it's ozzfest. Nothing like sitting through 1000 crappy bands (crappy by my own personal opinion) just to see one or two good ones. Ah well, each to his own I guess............................... Wacken >>>> Ozzfest!!!...............Musics, lol.

    I recently bought a Super Nintendo and it finally arrived today. After 10 years, I finally have one back in my posession. I also went ape-*** crazy and bought a bunch of older games from e-bay. So far, the only on to arrive was Super Mario World, which came with the SNES. I mainly bought games for Nintendo 64, because that is my all time favorite console. Mortal Kombat 4, Doom 64, Blast Corps, Resident Evil 2, Mission Impossible, and Destruction Derby 64 are some among the N64 games I bought. I also got some other SNES games that I once owned when I was a wee lad. I also got Rebel Assault 2 for the PSX, because for some strange reason, I loved this mediocre game.

    I absolutely love the N64 and SNES, mainly because I have so many fond memories of these two consoles. I've owned just about every console since the Atari 2600 at one point or another, but the SNES and N64 are the two that I grew up with. The ones that I had the most fun with when I was younger. Nothing beats having some friends over and rockin' them in some classic games for such ultimate systems. It's just a shame that my weekends usually consist of going to the bar and what not because nowadays, that's all any of my friends want to do. It seems that the novelty of being 21 in the US hasn't worn off for them yet.
 
  I'm currently trying to rebuild my collection for these systems because at one point in my life (I'm sure many of you have done this in regret as well), I thought it was worth it to trade in games, so the majority of the games I once owned are now missing from my collection. I've comprised a list of SNES and 64 games that I plan on buying to bolster my library, both games that I once owned and games that I have shamefully missed out on. Here they are in a tentative priority order:

Super Mario RPG
Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and 3
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
Chrono Trigger
Breath of Fire
Secret of Evermore
Secret of Mana
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Ogre Battle 64
Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3
Shadowrun
Super Star Wars (and RotJ, ESB)
Super Punchout
Star Fox
Final Fantasy 3 (and maybe Mystic Quest)

    It's a pretty long list for a short term goal, but I think I can deal with it. I'm sure there will be some other random games thrown in there if I can find them cheap (as most random 64 and SNES games are). I shouldn't have much of a problem affording these since I won't be buying many new games until Crysis and Hellgate: London are released. I also might try and pick up a couple of old PSX/2 and Gamecube games in the mix. I've still yet to play Final Fantasy 12, Okami, Metroid Prime 2, Mario Kart: Double Dash and many others. Who knows though, I've gotta beat some of these games too, before I back myself up and have untouched games sitting around.

Yeah, a black DS lite. It's pretty sweet. I don't know why I waited so long to get one. I also got Fear, LotR:Battle for Middle Earth, and Fable: The Lost Chapters. Why do I wait so long to buy awesome games? I don't know. It seems that I am years years behind when it comes to buying new things. Oh well. My 360 should be back buy the end of this week too. Talk about being torn between games to play...

    So Christmas is here and gone. It was a good one for me. I got some cool stuff. My mom got me some new clothes and some giftcards and a sweet new leather jacket. It makes me look like a total bad-ass if I may say so myself. In terms of videogames, I've recieved quite a few since my last update. I most recently just bought Neverwinter Nights 2, which is awesome. I also bought Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War and the Winter Assault expansion. That game is pretty sick as well. I should also note that I picked up a slew of Nintendo 64 games since my 360 doesn't want to play nice. I'll explain that one later. Anyways, the N64 games I bought 1) because they were cheap and 2) N64 is pretty much my favorite old school console and my colection needs bolstering. I got Starfox 64, LoZ:OoT, Starcraft 64, Turok, and some others... 7 in total.

    About my 360... I love it, but it hates me. I bought the system on November 10th, 2006 and played the hell out of it. No more than 30 days later on December 10th, 2006, i turn my console on to find that I have a faulty CD/DVD drive in my 360. Wtf is right. 1 month and I gotta send the thing away to get it fixed. That's not even the worst part. Try calling the X-box customer support for yourself if you really want to give yourself an aneurysm. Anyways, I hear they'll fix it for free as long as it's still under the warranty. Now I just gotta get on the horn with them again and raise hell until they send me a box to send it away in. Not particularly looking foward to that, but hey, it's free... From what I gather anyways.

    Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas or whatever, and have an awesome (and safe) New Year.

That's right, I skipped out on getting a Wii this weekend. After I have waited so long, why? Honestly, I don't know. It's a combination of me trying to avoid the hype of the system and all the games that I already have or have yet to buy that I really want to play before I commit to a new system. As I mentioned before, I just purchased an X-box 360 a few weeks ago and have since then been adding games to that collection. Games that I want to beat before I move on to other ones. So this pretty much means that I will be holding off on a Wii for some time (contemplating whether or not I actually want one or if it's just the hype messing with me).

Also stated before, I have purchased some new X-box games in addition to Oblivion and Dead Rising. Namely Gears of War. Seriously. This game is amazing. Not as noob-friendly as Halo, but just as easy to learn and really get into nontheless. Great graphics, great concept, great gameplay, all masterfully executed in one solid package. Enough of that though. The real gems I bought for my 360 are not the ones I got from EB games or Gamestop. No sir. I picked up 3 potiental GotY nominees at Burger King yesterday with my whopper. Sneak King, Pocket Bike Racer, and Big Bumpin' all for $3.99 a piece. The best part was that I didn't even have to buy a meal to get them, but since I was hungry and BK is the **** I got something anyways. These games are either pure idiocy or pure genius put in little green cases. I figured they were atleast worth a few laughs. And they even have acheivement points so you can get the most out of your four dollars.

Since I am not buying a Wii for a while, I've had my eyes on a few other games that I have yet to play or have yet to be released. Allow me to list them (in no particular order):

-Neverwinter Nights 2
-Medieval 2: Total War
-Final Fantasy XII
-Battlefield 2142
-Hellgate: London (I am really, Really looking foward to this one)
-Kingdom Hearts 2, because I still haven't played it.
-Maybe The Burning Crusade (WoW expansion) if I feel like throwing my time away again.

I think the titles in that list are more than enough to keep me busy well into next year. Anyways, it's enough to make me feel better about missing out on the Wii launch.

I finally, after much consideration, splurged and bought myself an Xbox 360. I'm pretty pumped about it. It's the first new console I have bought since I got my Gamecube about 6 years ago (I think it's been that long anyways). I bought The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Dead Rising with it. I also plan to get Gears of War as soon as the stores around here have them in stock again. I also got Guitar Hero 2 earlier this week. Needless to say, it's every bit as good as the first one. I'm pretty sure this has been the most expensive week for me in a long while, with a new console, a few new games and a car payment on top of that. Was it worth it? You better believe it. 

So it's been a while since I updated. A lot has happened in my lovely world of gaming in the past few weeks. First off, I got a slew of new games; Mortal Kombat: Deception, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Star Wars: EaW FoC, and A Link to the Past, just to name a few. I also Finally beat Half-Life 2... yep, after 2 years, I beat it and within the same week, I purchased Episode 1 and beat it too. Awesome games. I recommend them to any HL or fps fan. I also posted a written review for HL2 and I'm currently working on a few others.

In other news, my local Gamestop and EB games aren't taking anymore reservations for the Wii :( Now I'll have to go try and reserve it at a retail store (Circuit City or Best Buy most likely). It's really not a bad thing, just a minor inconvenience since Gamestop is closer to my house :P (and possibly open at midnight for the release). Anyways, I'll still have one come Nov. 19th.

One more thing to look foward to, maybe more so for me than for you. Video blogs, coming soon! The first one will probably be a long introduction to me. A "Hello my name is... this is why I rule... Check out my sick collection..." so on and so forth. That will (hopefully) be done within the next couple of weeks.

So I bought some new games that I think are worth mentioning. After the recent release of Lego Star Wars II, I thought I'd give the game a try but I wanted to play the original first. I bought it used for like, $18 and beat it in practically one sitting. Regardless, the game was totally worth it. It's so much fun and such a unique spin on the Star Wars franchise. A week or two later I bought the sequal. I haven't beaten it yet, but it is just as good, if not better than the original. I also bought Star Wars: Empire at War last weekend. (I'm such a nerd for Star Wars, I know) This game is probably one of the best RTS games I've played since Warcraft 3. I've been at this game pretty much all week. It takes a bit to learn the ropes, but that goes for any new RTS game. Once I finished the somewhat long tutorials, I am having a blast playing the game.

Also, this past Saturday (Sept. 30th), I got to see one of my favorite rock bands, TOOL, live in D.C. To sum up the show, it was F***ing spectacular. To be honest, I never saw TOOL as a band that I would want to see live. I was wrong. The show was an amazing experience and I'm so glad I got to go.

Ok, all the juicy launch details for the Nintendo Wii have finally been released, and I am so pumped for this system's release.

The scoop:
$249.99 (US) retail price
November 19th release date
30+ Virtual Console games available at launch
30+ Wii games to be launched by December 31st
Mother F***ing Zelda at launch
$49.99 price tags for new Wii games

The package will include the console (duh), 1 Wii remote, all the stuff to hook it up with, AND Wii Sports. I've managed to stash away close to $450- $500 in between carpayments and credit card bills for this system, and from the looks of it, I'll probably have some change left over after buying the console and a game (2 games if Red Steel is available at launch). That with the virtual console should keep me busy for quite some time. Ah **** I can't wait!