Well my friends (well, anonymous fellow Gamespot patrons at any rate) I have discovered a tried and true cure for the blues that certainly works for me and I wager will also help many others. Theres this fantastic auction site known as ebay (perhaps you have heard of it) and it enables you to purchase weird and wonderful things from around the world. Well, I bought something truly fantastic last week and it must be made known.

I got me the Katamari Damacy Gold Collection. Thats right folks, every single song from every single Katamari Damacy game on four fantastic CDs. Each track is just packed with insanely happy sounds making it nearly impossible to stay gloomy when listening to them.

Still not convinced? Well, lets hear the testimonial from one satisfied user of this fine product (myself). I was driving through morning rush hour traffic to a seminar, got lost and ended up on streets I'd never heard of delaying me a good quarter of an hour. Normally, you'd expect road rage or at least some expression of anger and frustration. This was not the case thanks to my Katamari Damacy Gold Collection soundtrack. Sure fellow motorists may have thought I looked like a complete idiot trying to sing along to crazy Japanese songs but I was happy as a clam.

So there you have it, despite the cost and shipping charges I am thoroughly happy with my purchase. Are you feeling down? Is nothing going your way? Well, do yourself a favor and seek out your own copy of the Katamari Damacy Gold Collection.

Well, just thought I'd mention a unique idea I concocted concerning my thoughts on purchasing an Xbox 360. I initially had little interest in the system but given the recent release of Dead Rising, the greatness of achievement points and the fact that I now have a job and, consequently, some cash flow, my interest has piqued and I now plan to buy one.

However, this also led me to thinking about a bunch of current-gen games I have but haven't beaten yet. Considering I will likely have less and less time to play older games once I hop aboard the next-gen train, I decided it would be best to beat 10 games I already have before getting a 360.

So far I've beaten two games out of the ten and am currently working on some others. The best part is, I am seriously motivated to play these games now as finishing all of them means hours of zombie-killing mayhem in the future and I'm really looking forward to that.

Whether or not anyone reads this, I'm still going to list the games I've beaten and continue updating that list in the days and weeks to come.

Games beaten:
-Half Life 2: Episode One
-Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
-Second Sight

UPDATE: Just beat Second Sight bringing the total to three. Woohoo.

UPDATE: Beat Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando bringing the total to four. Unfortunately, my PS2 doesn't seem to be working right now which certainly is helping my progress. I'll either buy a new one or fix this one sometime soon.

UPDATE: Beat Jak 3 last week bringing my total to five (half way there). Now, technically this is a breach of my oath but I just got Okami and I want to beat it so its going to qualify as one of the 10 even though I just got it. Also looking to beat Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest VIII and Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner.

Well, when I first saw footage of this game around E3 I was really interested but not really looking forward to it as I assumed my system couldn't handle it. Well, now that I've played through the demo (several times) this game has shot to the top of my list of most-wanted PC games.

The game uses the Source engine which is really easy on older systems (Half Life 2 looks great on my computer) so the game  manages to look really great despite my Nvidia 5200 FX card. I was not able to get Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion due to that game's requirements but this game promises a similar, though more straight-forward, experience. I have played Oblivion, however, so I can definitely say this game does some things better then Oblivion ever did.

The combat is far superior. More attack animations, greater variety of weapons (or so it seems, theres about half a dozen very different weapons in the demo and I'm sure theres more to be found in the rest of the game) and smarter enemies. Also, the game uses physics extremely well. You can pick up a crate (and your hands actually grab the crate, unlike Half Life 2) and hurl it at an orc sending him off a huge cliff. Very satisfying. Or you can kick the support beams of a balcony and have the whole thing crash down onto a group of enemies. The whole thing was just really impressive and I can't wait for it to come out.

One minor complaint about the demo was none of the cinematics worked (no Ubisoft logo, no intro, nothing). I assume this is because it uses Bink video ( I seem to recall having problems with that before) or its a glitch of some kind. Either way, great demo and definitely worth the download.

Been a fan of Weird Al for a long time but only recently, thanks to Gamespot's user videos, was I able to see some of his music videos. I liked what I saw so I decided to order the "Ultimate Video Collection" off of Al's website and it just arrived today. My favorites are probably "Amish Paradise" and "Smells like Nirvana" but they were all pretty great.

Anyways, looking forward to his new album (Straight outta Lynwood) and waiting for any info on another tour (hope he comes to Canada this time). Thanks to RolandReeve and SamQur for posting some of his videos.

Well, after watching Masoumi's now legendary video (no longer there for some reason, did masoumi leave Gamespot?) I decided I wanted to take a stab at Abadox, "the hardest game ever made". I went on ebay and purchased it for 1 cent (plus 10 dollars shipping and handling :roll: ) and it arrived in the mail today.

Now, I'm not sure if its just because of all the Gradius I've played over the years but I really had no problem at all with the first level, nor the second. But the game suddenly switches perspectives come level 3 to a top-down view. Now, normally that wouldn't be a problem but the game moves from TOP TO BOTTOM! What is that all about? Needless to say, it threw me for a loop and halted my progress rather quickly. Its still paused, I'll go try it again when I've finished writing this. I wouldn't call it the hardest game ever but it is certainly challenging. I wonder how many copies of this game masoumi inadvertently ended up selling to legions of Gamespotters looking for a challenge? Oh well, back to the game.

Well, I've been curious about Call of Cthulhu ever since it first came to the Xbox. I was going to buy it last week but the box features some extremely grotesque screenshots and the price was a tad more then I was expecting. However, here I am a week later and I have the game sitting beside me. I don't know, I just couldn't stop thinking about playing this game. Greg K's review made the game sound extremely interesting and the violence is really the game's way of scaring and disturbing you.

I've been a big fan of horror games ever since Resident Evil was remade for the Gamecube so I want to check this one out. Supposed to be really atmospheric and my computer exceeds the games recommended requirements which isn't true of many new PC games nowadays so I guess it was worth the expense. Anyway, I haven't played it yet but Greg's reviews have led me to some gems before so I hope thats the case here.

I know it is somewhat old news at this point but one of my favorite shows of all time is finally coming back to life. Futurama was underappreciated in its day, not necessarily by fans but by the evil corporation known as Fox. Comedy Central has the rights now so lets hope the show enjoys a long second run.

It took me a while to get on the Futurama wagon. I started watching at the end of season 5, mere months before the show was cancelled. I bought all the DVDs and got me a birthday cake with Fry on it but my favorite show was still gone,seemedly forever. I've watched every episode at least once, some over a dozen times.

A key factor for me will be the genius of David X. Cohen. I sure hope he'll come back to the show. Anyway, just wanted to document this great news.

Well, I just got my special G.A.P. shirt in the mail today so I might as well inform you all that I am now a member of Sony's Gamer Advisory Panel. After signing up for the Playstation Underground and registering all of my PS2 games a few months ago, I was sent an e-mail from Sony stating that I was an elite "gamer" who is key to furthering the industry. It seems the only reason I was selected is because I own approximately 50 PS2 games and they want more customers like me. Oh well, I got a pretty sweet shirt and couple of cards out of the deal (like a business card saying how I'm a member). However, this is apparently the highest honor a Playstation Underground member can achieve so it is still pretty cool.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. My Gamecube, which has served me well these past four years, finally stopped working last night. I knew the end was coming as it was having disc read errors more and more frequently over the last few months.

What I find especially amusing is the fact that the last game I played on it before the end was Pikmin 2. You see, the original Pikmin was the first game I ever got on Gamecube. It began and ended with Pikmin. Oh well, life goes on. Already replaced it with a discount priced, jet black one from Best Buy. Got Super Mario Strikers with it for 20 bucks less then the system alone (apparently the box was opened during shipping so they had to knock down the price).

Anyway, just wanted to commemorate the first "next-gen" console I ever got. Slaved for months with a terrible paper route to save up the money for that Gamecube and now its gone. Lot of memories and good times were had, but now its all over.

R.I.P. Indigo Gamecube

Winter 2002- Spring 2006

After watching the E3 footage of God of War 2 I decided to take another crack at the original on God Mode (Very Hard Difficulty). I started the file months ago but just wasn't up for the challenge. This time around I was determined to go on and am actually doing suprisingly well. Just as an indicator of where I am, I'm a bit past the giant Minotaur boss battle and am currently in the Cliffs of Madness.

Can't wait for the sequel, looks really fantastic based on the bit I've seen. I especially like the jungle setting as it really gives a different look to the game. I haven't really been updating my blog frequently but I got some ideas for some future posts and hope to write some more reviews soon.

UPDATE: Well, beat the game on God Mode. Final boss battle was crazy hard but I finally prevailed and unlocked Secret Message 1. Kind of neat but I was a little disappointed. Those who have beaten it know what I'm talking about. Oh well, still a great game and I am eagerly awatiting the sequel. Have yet to beat the challenge of the gods so I'll have to get that done sometime.