I purchased Black Ops 2 on Friday, and experienced a hard freeze during the first mission. (At the checkpoint where you hide under the log before the radio tower.)

After two or three restores, I knew it was the game and not the HDD because it always froze at the same bit. Which was annoying because I was enjoying the campaign up until that point.

I was ready to take it back to the shop, and put it to one side.Last night, I loaded it up again just to see if the same glitch would happen during zombies. The session worked fine, and I went back to the campaign.

This time, I saved and quit after each checkpoint and then resumed the campaign. I wasn't sure if it would help at all, but tried anyway. When it came to the scene with the kids and guard, I waited for the freeze but it never happened.

The checkpoint saved and I haven't had any more problems since.

On Tuesday, the WWE World Tour came to the UK.

I wasn't able to see the live event, but I managed to go to a store signing for Kane and Daniel Bryan instead.

The fun part was having to wake up really early and get to the shopping centre where it was held before 9am. (Which meant travelling 40 mins by train and maybe an extra 20 mins by taxi.) The signing wasn't even until 3.30, but I knew that the 400 free tickets would disappear faster than Ryback's hunger pangs.

I waited in line for six and a half hours, eating a subway sandwich and reading a Walking Dead magazine to stave off the boredom, but it was completely worthwhile.

The fans were in high spirits, shouting 'we want goat face' and 'yes/no' chants. At one point, there was confusion over the beginning of the queue. I think a lot of new people were trying to skip ahead which got the dozen or so people in front (and including) me slightly nervous. :D

At the signing table, I managed to talk for a few minutes and shake Kane and Daniel Bryan's hand.

All day, I'd heard rumours about the superstars helping to turn on the Christmas lights.The names changed and the numbers went up. Zack Ryder, Santino and Layla were names that eventually stuck.Originally, I never knew about it, but wanted to take photos.(Because no cameras were allowed at the Kane/Daniel Bryan event.)

I had to wait another hour before they turned on the lights. A radio station were holding a special live show, which meant surviving a boyband, a gangnam style dance off, and kids doing air guitar. There was also a cinderalla play and a guy dressed in a reindeer suit.:shock:

When the wrestlers arrived, they walked across the third balcony toward the elevator. Santino paused to work the crowd, and the whole place erupted which was cool. The biggest surprise was spotting AJ Lee while taking pictures. She was one person that I never knew about and it made my day. :)

Here are some pictures from the day:

My latest piece of fan art - WWE's Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

I sketched this piece of Gears fan art recently:

Driver was one of the first demos I played on PsOne. It was the first driving series that I became addicted to. Film director, especially, is what defines my driver experience. I used to waste A LOT of hours in Take A Ride, just to make wild chase vids.

So you can understand my excitement about the current gen debut.

Last Wednesday, I picked up my copy of San Francisco.

After a week of shift, hot pursuits and diffusing bombs underneath moving trucks I'm loving this inCARnation. (No pun intended.) The story reminds me of Life On Mars, but the wacky lives of free roam drivers is keeping me entertained.

Graphics-wise, the cars and streets look realistic. It took a little while to adjust to the handling, because it looked amazing, but it's now second nature. The pedestrians slide out of the way in an arcadey fashion, but the bodywork damage, and shift induced crashes are satisfying as hell.

The tv show format is fun. The plot is riduculous, but in an entertaining way. There are crazier sci-fi shows out there. The only thing that irks me, is no off-line film director.

I finally got my trigger happy digits on KZ3 this week.

I'm a couple levels past the one shown above, and it hasn't disappointed thus far. The visuals are undeniably stunning, but I'm happy with the characterisation and game play this time around. The set pieces are MUCH bigger, and gorgeously detailed. The jungle levels were probably my favourite by far. The arctic level reminded me of MW2.

In terms of team mates, I didn't have a problem with Rico the first time around, but it's great to see they've fleshed him (and Sev) out a little more. Jammer is my new favourite video game heroine! They should've given her a mission or two, instead of just cutscene appearances.

The jet pack is how I imagined it to be. Although, it would've been amazing to take down a massive enemy with it. My favourite weapons are the bolt gun and Wolfenstein-esque ray gun.

Overall, the sense of chaos and war is elevated further, making an immersive and satisfying experience. Malcolm McDowell completely hams it up as the villain, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the game ends.

Do any of my GS friends have a facebook profile?

Mine can be found here: facebook.com/Dual.Aestheticif you wish to add me! :)

Gaming on my Ps3 is back! WOOP! :D

On Thursday, I bought a 320GB slim with a free Move starter pack. Generally, I was fine with waiting - Left 4 Dead and Daxter were the latest fixes elsewhere. Although, I'm kinda glad it was sooner rather than later, because Killzone 3 has been peering back at me from the shelf. :)

It had to happen eventually..

I'm restoring the default settings of my Ps3, which I've had since April '09. The start operation failed to read blue ray discs,which became permanent. Thankfully it isn't the YLOD (not yet), but it isn't without some frustration. Hopefully, a reformat is all it takes to fix the problem. I love my console! :)

On the plus side. at least 2GBs are backed up onto a flashdrive. Although, a lot of games on the HDD were already complete. Only a small amount need to be finished and are now safe which isn't bad. The ones that I couldn't salvage (beaten or not) aren't a huge loss, and don't mind restarting. My Tomb Raider homage in Little Big Planet 2 will need to be built from scratch though. I was halfway through building it, and I'm kinda p***ed that all the effort has gone down the drain. I was having fun with it. I'll have to restart Resident Evil 5, and Heavy Rain also. :(

I've been enjoying some old school gaming in the meantime. Tomb Raider games are getting a lot of love especially.

Anyway.. If this doesn't work, then I'll have to consider buying a slim.

Since yesterday, I've been playing Little Big Planet 2 and am loving it to death. Media Molecule have truly outdone themselves with the sequel. Thus far, I'm loving the broad range of tools (the creatinator, grabinator and ability to make freakin' movies !!! instead of workable levels) and am finding it a bit overwhelming, but it's VERY, VERY cool.

What's great is that I'm now able to finish those early custom levels, where I ran out of inspiration. I always wanted to finish my Spooky Lodge level for example. Depository One (my noir/government facility stage) is another. With the addition of bounce pads, advanced logic and Sackbots, it's good to have more freedom to mix up the action.

On a lighter note, I want to make a Metal Gear machinima from the GOTY edition, which should be a good laugh. :D

The campaign is witty and cute so far. I'm only three sections in, but am enjoying this character driven story more than the first outing. The levels appear to be more striking and imaginative than before too.

I'm also keen to build a top down racer, but need to figure out how to use the controllinator, The track is coming along nicely, but other things like the music sequencer are a pleasant distraction. :)

On top of all that, I received a free copy from my cousin (who worked on the game) for which I'm grateful. Anywho.. The depth is just impressive, and definitely know that I'll be hooked for a while now.