Whoa! Another year has passed and what can I say? It was the year of Destiny 2. Although I did just sell my PS4 machines so I’m pretty much done with Destiny. I still have it on the Xbox One but only the base game. I plugged in my old PS3 and have been running through Uncharted 3 again. Man the controls are terrible compared to modern games. It’s almost unplayable.

My son is 11now and spends all day on the Xbox One playing Fortnite and Terraria. I feel like video games are losing their luster for me. It’s probably for the best. I’m almost 43 now and I don’t want to look up When my kids are leaving for college and wish I had spent more time with them. That’s why I stopped playing Destiny 2.

I was looking through my PSN trophy list and that was bringing back some memories! Then it reminded me of this blog I started on so many years ago. I wonder if a single person has read these. I’ll never know.

Here’s to the future, my friends.

So I haven't blogged in almost three years! I completely forgot about this thing. What have I been up to? Destiny. Best game ever. I started with the beta back in the summer of 2014. At least I think it was the summer. I started a titan on day one and joined a clan so I could run the Vault of Glass raid. I was having so much fun I quit playing Worldof Warcraft. I just didn't have time to play an MMO and Destiny. I must have been getting tired of WoW because it wasn't too difficult to let my guild know I wouldn't be back. I officially quit in January 2015 via Facebook. Actually I told the I was taking a break but never did come back. They weren't hard core enough for me and I was always getting annoyed since they didn't seem as committed as me.

Anyway about Destiny. In the early days I had to make three Titans to get enough chances at gear to get to level 30. Forever 29! I ended up playing a ton and finishing all tithe raids in all DLCs. This game is by far the best I've ever played. If you read through my previous blogs you know how much I loved Uncharted. Destiny blows them away to the point where I didn't even care for Uncharted 4 much.

So now it's all about Destiny 2. Can't wait for that one. Over the past few years I haven't done much gaming. In my first blog I mentioned I had a 2 year old. He's 10 now and my daughter is almost 7. I play Plants vs Zombies Gardein Warfare 2 with him. He loves Minecraft, Rocket League and some iPad games like Clash Clans and Clash Royal. I played Uncharted 3 and 4 since we last talked. I did Gears of War 4 and Halo 5 on the old Xbox One. Everytime I try to play anything it's just not as fun as Destiny.

Well, it's getting late. I just wanted to give an update to no one, since I'm sure no one else has ever read this blog.

I'm back, baby! As if you cared. As if there's anyone reading this. I started a GameSpot blog on May 24, 2009 and my last entry was on August 23, 2010. Originally I was going to write a weekly blog about my thoughts on my own personal gaming. Holy cow! I haven't written anything in four years! A lot has changed since then. Reading my first blog I complained that I purchases too many games that I didn't play and that having a two year old was taking away from my gaming time. lol! Fast forward to September 8, 2014 and my two year old is now 7 and I have another 4 year old!

So my gaming has changed significantly. I've pretty much stopped playing console games, except when I play with my 7 year old son. He's really getting into video games. He's just discovered online friends with the old Xbox 360 I talked about in my early blogs. Just for the record I (or at least in my household) own Xbox One, Ps4, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, DS, Alienware gaming PC, iPads, and Kindles.

I pretty much stopped playing console games when I began playing World of Warcraft in November 2010, with the release of the Cataclysm expansion. I pretty much play daily and raid with a guild. Looking back at the games I used to own, just about all of them have been traded in for games for my son. He's big into Mario, Minecraft and Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare.

I've been quite disappointed with the PS4, which I purchases at launch. The only game I found worth trying was Killzone Shadowfall. It just wasn't the same as Killzone 2 or Killzone 3. It just didn't have the same feel and I got about halfway through before selling it on ebay. Consoles just don't seem to hold my interest as much. Since then there literally hasn't been a single game released for the PS4 that has been worth of my attention. There's been nothing that seems next gen. I picked up Wolfenstein: The New Order on sale for $38 and aside from a few lighting effects it could be a PS3 game. Meh.

I did just pick up the Xbox One (Xbone) because it looked really cool and I wanted to play Titanfall. So far this system seems very impressive. I played Titanfall for a bit and it's really good. In earlier blogs I stated I wasn't a big fan of online shooter games. Well, that's changed. I still enjoy a good campaign but that online thrill just can't be beat. Titanfall is great in that regards.

I was at the store the other day and realized they didn't learn anything with the crappy Wii shovelware. The Wii U shelf is full of just crap. The only good games are the Nintendo games. This could be the last console from Nintendo. The Wii U is a lot of fun if you have kids, but dang, non Mario games suck.

Anyway, I've run out of stuff to write and my attention span is waning. Maybe I'll see you again.

Until then, I remain...

So I decided to finally try Halo 3: ODST. I picked it up last Christmas when I picked up my 360 and handful of games. I hadn't played it until now because I also picked up and tried Halo 3 and hated it. I was hoping ODST would be better since it was newer. My God in heaven I don't understand what people see in Halo. The graphics are sub par and the shooting mechanics and game play are second rate. I can't believe GameSpot gave this a score of 9.

First off these graphics don't compare to Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Uncharted, or for that matter any PS3 exclusive shooter. They don't even compare to multiplatform shooters like FEAR2 or Dead Space. Ugh! I just don't get it. I will say that ODST is a little nicer than Halo 3, but still it's rather bland. The graphics are bland. The enemy AI is horrible and will get stuck on obstacles. The weapns are cool but even on Normal difficulty it takes several clips to kill anything other than the little triangle weaklings.

You know, I will admit that multi platform games seem to be a millimeter better on the XBox, but the exclusives on the PS3 are a generation ahead. I'll continue to search for the XBox exclusive; that game that makes my purchase of the XBox worth while, but until then, bring on the PS3.

My last hope is Mass Effect 2. I hated Mass Effect 1. The graphics were PS2 quality and the shooting mechanic was terrible. If Mass Effect 2 isn't up to my standards I just may get rid of all things XBox. If anyone happens to read this and knows a few good XBox games I should try please reply.

I've been more and more interested in trophies lately and as I scan my list of trophies I find myself disappointed. Why? I don't have very many even though I finish games and typically search for the hidden items. My only two accomplishments as far as I'm concerned is that I earned two platinum trophies; one for Uncharted and one for Uncharted 2.

I found myself wondering why only those two games. I know those are my favorite games but I don't recall it being all that hard to earn those trophies. Well, for one each trophy requirement is spelled out in the actual game. There are no hidden trophies that would require me to research online. Also, except for the two cursory online trophies in Uncharted 2 (at the time the game was released), those games don't have online trophies.

It's true. I despise online play. Why? Because I suck. I can admit it. Or at least I suck compared to people who play all the time. I know there's no way I'm going to play online enough to rank up or be number one or otherwise grind through the requirements to earn them. It just isn't fun for me. Playing online is just an experience in frustration. I do enjoy online coop games though, that is if I can manage to find someone who won't quit halfway through.

So I call on all game makers to find another way to reward the online players. If you want to create online trophies don't make them a requirement to earn the platinum trophy. There are players like me who love the campaign aspects of games and would also like to platinum a game without being forced to slug through online play. So have the trophies but make them separate from the campaign trophies, please!

I played through my first Xbox 360 game this past week: Gears of War. I played it on Hardcore, which was the second of three difficulty levels (Insane not being unlocked at the time) and I must say the difficulty curve was not well done. Most of the game was a decent challenge. By that I mean it wasn't too hard or too easy. What I didn't like is how much shooting it took to take down an enemy grunt as well as the ridiculous checkpoints full of cheap deaths.

It seemed to take a full clip just to drop one Locust even if I didn't miss many if any of the shots. I'd have preferred more enemies to ones that take a million bullets to kill. It just added to the frustration. The other part I didn't like was the cheap one shot deaths you see later on in the game. There was one scene where I had to defend a house and I think I died 100 times. I'd get to the point where I only had to kill one of the "Boomers" and he'd just one shot me. Usually they say "boom" right before they shoot but this guy, perhaps it was a glitch, would shoot first and say "boom" as the screen turned red from my one shotted death. Argh! That part had me hating this game.

The gameplay was good unless I had to get into melee with the saw blade. What a complete joke. Any little hit would reset my melee attempt so I'd have to repress the button, but in the split second it takes to get the saw going I'd get hit again. Repeat twice until I was dead. Plus the enemies would run fast and get behind me and it took so long to turn around and face your enemy that most of the time they had moved on. The cover system worked very well. It was refreshing to move to and around cover. Running was a chore since it is hard to see any enemies in front of you as the camera gets low and shakes as you run. Stupid.

Overall Gears of War was a good game but its age is showing. It doesn't come close to comparing to the polish of today's PS3 games. But, it is 3 years old at least. Because of the boring brown and gray graphics (which almost bordered on not that much better than a top PS2 game) I doubt I'll ever play this game again, but I'll keep it in my collection. I still gave it a good score but man was it frustrating.

So far Gears of War 2 is noticeably superior in movement and graphics. It feels much more refined and comparable to maybe Killzone 2 in the quality of its gameplay. The graphics aren't there but I think that's what you'll find when you compare exclusives on each system.

I'm not sure why people compare the non-exclusive games for the PS3 and Xbox360 in an effort to show which system can graphically render the game better. If one system is technically inferior to another, and the game has to be made for both systems, it will be made to the lowest common denominator, which is the Xbox 360. The developers aren't going to make the game from the ground up to take advantage of multiple systems' capabilities when the systems are pretty close anyway. They're not going to optimize Modern Warfare 2 for the PS3. If they did you'd see a huge difference. How am I so sure? Look at Uncharted 2. No other game on the Xbox360 compares. Now if Naughty Dog can make Uncharted 2 look so good, why didn't Infinity Ward do the same for Modern Warfare 2? Because they're not going to go through the expense to redo the game from the ground up. Imagine if Naughty Dog had made Modern Warfare 2 for the PS3? It would completely blow the 360 version out of the water. So don't waste your time comparing cross platform games graphically. They dumb down the PS3 version for the Xbox 360.

That seemed pretty negative. Well it's annoying. That being said I can't wait to try Halo 3.

Alright you perverts I meant a quick little blog to continue my own personal Xbox 360 vs PS3 debate. So I've unwrapped my 360 and hooked it up and just wanted to give you my initial impression because I think you 360 fans will like it.

First I must say I was disappointed in how the Lego Batman and Pure games were included in one single case. I was hoping for two completely separate games for resale reasons. Oh well. The next thing I noticed was how the 360 wasn't packed nearly as well protected as the PS3. There wasn't even any foam! As a result, the casing to the Lego Batman/Pure game was cracked. I don't care enough to exchange it at the store but I was a bit taken back with the lack of tender loving care.

But, that's where my complaints end. Hooking it up was a breeze. I bought the Monster HDMI cable at Target so that's how I hooked it up. Since the 360 doesn't include wi-fi (grumble) I bought a Ethernet cable (not realizing there was one included with the 360) and hooked it up to my wireless router. Coolio! I turned it on and began the setup process. Hmm. $50 for an annual gold membership? Sure. That's pretty cheap for what I'll get out of it (but the PSN Network was free). It really felt like I was setting up a computer in that it was pretty user friendly. I don't know what it was exactly but the main interface seemed much better than the PS3's. It just looked nicer. I haven't had a chance to really dive into it but like I said, this was just a quickie. So far so good though.

One thing I was concerned about though was I hooked up the rechargeable battery and plugged it into the USB port (once I found that hidden SOB). After I turned off the system the controller keptcharging and the 360 fans kept running until I unplugged the controller. Doesn't the controller shsut off or does it keep charging? Do the fans turn off? I don't want to RRoD my 360 by running the machine all day. We'll have to see about that.

Anyway, my first game will be Gears of War. I think once I run through that I should have a good idea of how this system will peform against my PS3.

I love Killzone 2. It's such an awesome game. The graphics are 2nd to none except maybe Uncharted 2. The gameplay is fun. It's a little heavy but that just adds to the atmosphere of the game. It's definitely not a colorful game though and that's something I would have liked to see. However, the game is dark and the planet is in a constant storm.

That Radec is a **** though, or more accurately, the Radec level. I think I died 150 times. Seriously. And I'm only playing on the mid difficulty. I finally beat it again though. The game was so good I just had to post. I can't wait until Killzone 3.

A lot has been happening on the video game front for me over the past few months. Unfortunately I haven't felt like blogging. I actually started a new blog a few times but canceled it and moved on to surfing other sites. Well, I've got some news. I just got an Xbox 360.

I've had the PS3 since about October 2007 and I love it. I personally consider it the superior system over its rivals the XBOX 360 and Wii. However, it was easy for me to say that since out of the three I didn't own the 360. Let's just forget about the Wii. It doesn't compare.

Now keep in mindthe 360 isstill under the Christmas tree so I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm pretty excited to finally get to try it out. I will truely know if the 360 is a superior system. Now there's at least two categories I'm going to be looking at: game quality and value. I seriously doubt the 360 will edge out the PS3 in the value categorey since the 360 doesn't include wi fi or a bluray drive or a rechargeable controller (what?), which are important to me. However, I'll be able to try out the exclusive games and Live service everyone raves about.

I'll be up front with my biases, I personally believe the 360 has a much larger user base due to its earlier release date. I'm a gamer and I know gamers. The 360 was the first HD system released and people aren't going to wait for a whole year to buy a PS3 at, what was it, $599? Release the PS3 and 360 on the same date at the same price point and I believe the PS3 would have cleaned house with its, from what's being said on the net, superior system capabilities (which we're starting to see with games like Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2), built in wi fi and bluray player.

That being said I'll end phase one of this blog looking at the value since I've yet to play the 360 (but I'm so excited). The Xbox 360 Elite with 120Gb came with one controller and a headset plus I got Lego Batman and Pure. That was $300. I ponied up another $20 for a play and charge kit for the controller, which brings the total to about $320. My PS3 slim (I also have the 60Gb b/c version) also has 120Gb and comes with a rechargeable controller but no headset for a cool $300. So the PS3 costs $20 less and trades the headset for a rechargeable controller, built in wi-fi and a bluray player. Hmm. This is just a no brainer. The Xbox fails in the value category.

I'm not sure why some folks tout 360's Live service as better than the PS3's. I'm not sure if they're referring to number of gamers or reliability or both. I've only played maybe 20 hours of online play with my PS3 and haven't had any issues. You also have to pay a slight charge for Xbox Live so to me that negates any benefit compared to the PS3's online service since Sony doesn't charge for it.

On the other hand the 360 came with two video games and I don't believe the $300 PS3 comes with any games in any reiteration. Mine didn't. I may have read about some package deals online but I have never seen in any Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart any $300 PS3 come with any games. To me, this is a big deal but I would trade in these games for a bluray drive and built in wi-fi and a rechargeable controller. I think most would too. Lego Batman and Pure? Please...

That being said, this round in my mind goes to the PS3. I think it's clearly a better value when you compare the extra features the PS3 comes with. Yeah a headset is nice, but it's not like a top of the line headset (I bought a Tritton for my PS3). At most you could say the headset cancels out the rechargeable controller. You're still left with the fact that the PS3 has built in wi-fi and a bluray drive. Maybe that's how M$ got there system out so soon. That and a lack of quality control. I hope I don't get the RRoD!

I know, I know. You think I'm biased toward the PS3. Well, I have no reason to be since I now have both systems. Remember, this blog was about perceived value. We'll get to the games and online experience in a few weeks. At the end of the day, I do not believe anyone can argue that the PS3 is not a better value. For the same price you get built in wi-fi and a bluray drive (assuming the headset and rechargeable controller are equal. I am also not counting the two lame games that came with the 360 because I'm not 13 years old). Now, if I could have chosen my two games I'd call the value equal. Two good games compared to bluray and wi-fi? Mmmmm. Sounds pretty equal.

So I played through Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time this week. It was pretty good. I didn't like the weapons quite as much as Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, but I liked it well enough. The gameplay seemed the same with maybe a slight graphical update. The space sections were much more fun this time around. In ToD they were more of a chore but actually quite fun in CiT.

I still have to play though it to try to find more of the hidden or optional items, but with all the new games I have now I'm not sure I'll bother. Meh.

I picked up New Super Mario Bros. Wii today and played through the first level. There's definitely a learning curve when playing the old school 2D platformers compared to the new 3D platformers like Ratchet & Clank, or 1st person shooters for that matter. I think Nintendo did a great job updating a old game. It's similar enough to feel familar but different enough to feel new or refreshing. In other words it's nice. The graphics are what you'd expect from the Wii but they're good for Mario.

Anyway, my 2 year old is vieing for my attention so I have to go.