Morning all - hope you are doing well out there in all your various parts of Gamespot Land.  :)

Haven't been Gaming a whole lot recently, although I do try and get some quality time in front of my various Consoles where I can.  Managed to spend the best part of a day playing some GRAW with a mate of mine - finally managed to complete all the Missions from Chapter 1 as actual Missions (as in, no infinite lives or NEthing easy like that).  Took us a few hours, but we got there in the end.

Actually, having played a bit of GRAW multiplayer encouraged me to wade back into the single player Campaign.  Sat down for a few hours last week and shot up some rebels for a while.  Managed to get through a few of the missions too, which was kinda kewl.  Playing all the multiplayer GRAW helped me a bit, but I'm still managing to take more than a few headshots - dying in spectacular ways is fun, but still frustrating.  :(

So I've got two Games of GRAW going right now - one on Normal difficulty, one on Hard.  Currently playing through each mission on Normal first, then swapping across to Hard and completing it there.  Or at least, that's the plan for today.  Already knocked off a few missions in Normal, so I'm looking to sit down and blow away some bad dudes on my day off.  :)

I've also managed to drag out an older Game of mine, Mortal Kombat - Deception, for a bit of a play.  It appears Anna has played an older version of the Game, so we beat each other up a bit a couple of nights back.  I also tried to check out some of the goodies in the Krypt, but I have forgotten my Profile Kode.  As such, I've had to start again in Konquest mode, which is kinda annoying.  Gives me a chance to get good at it again though - which I'm gonna need if I wanna kick Anna's butt some more.  :D

Also managed to play some Guitar Hero from time to time, and even some Guild Wars - finally managed to pick up the original Prophecies campaign, so I've created a new character or two to run around with.  Haven't spent a LOT of time on either in recent days, but they're still there, and I mess around with 'em when I can.  Anna's been kicking my butt in Guitar Hero, so I should spend some time practising on that one - part way through the Hard Career at the moment, but I'm outta practise, so I should prolly go back to Easy and Medium for a bit, I think.  :)

Finally, I'm kinda hanging out for Kingdom Hearts 2 to be released here in Australia.  I've been watching some of the Videos people have been posting here at Gamespot, and read Reviews and other such things.  It's due out in only a couple of weeks here, so I'm getting a bit excited.  Yes, I know all you other people in the world have had it for MONTHS, but we're a bit slower here Down Under.  NEone who tries to ruin any of it for me will suffer a slow and painful death, so consider yourselves warned...  :P

Well, I should be off to do some housework and watch some TV - perhaps even play some Games.  I'll chat with you all another time.  As always - my apologies for being lax in commenting in your Journals.  I'll get there at some point, really I will!  Just bear with me, K?

In the meantime, don't forget to...

GAME ON!  :D

As you may have guessed from the title, this is the fourth part of my (somewhat large in size) update on my life in recent times.  If you've only just come in at this point - perhaps having noticed that I've finally written another Journal entry - then you've possibly missed the previous three entries.  Go back and read them first, and then come back here and we can chat some more, K?

All done?  Right, then let's continue on with all things Gaming, shall we?

Finally!  Something About Games!

Yeah yeah, I know.  So I waffled a bit in my previous entries about all the other stuff in my life first.  Gotta save (some of) the fun stuff 'till last, don't I?  :)

Gaming-wise, I haven't been terribly active recently.  (If you don't know why, read Part 2)  I have played a bit of Guitar Hero, and managed to complete it on Easy and Medium Career modes, which is kewl.  Just working my way through the Hard Career now, but taking it slowly (as it's Hard, as the name suggests...  :)).  I'm enjoying the gradual difficulty increases with the extra fret buttons being used, as well as more of a reliance on the advanced techniques.  Personall, my crowning achievement in recent times was managing to actually finish Bark At The Moon on Medium difficulty without my head exploding - quite a challenging song, I might add.  :D

On to other Games?  Well, I've recently picked up that Brain Age edutainment package thingy, and been working on youthening up my brain.  My Brain Age started out around 30 years old (younger than the rest of me, it appears), but I've since manged to bring it back down to 20 years old.  If my Brain is only 20 years old, then I'm wondering what I was using up until High School?  (Of course, it does explain a few things about my behaviour back then...  ;))  Quite enjoying the challenge of the puzzles and mind games, but not sure how far you can go before it gets a bit repetitive.  Still got a couple of Training Games to unlock before I've got them all, so I've got a bit of play left in it, I suspect.  :)

I've also been downloading some videos and demos from X-Box Live, and checking 'em out.  Most recently I've been checking out Ninety Nine Nights, which is looking a bit like the Dynasty Warriors series so far, but I still wanna check it out some more when it is released her in Australia.  (Should be somewhere near Christmas, I suspect...  *shrug*)  Seems to be a bit of variety with characters and storyline, so I reckon this one may turn into a present to myself when Christmas and my Birthday rock around...  :)

I've also checked out demos for Dead or Alive 4, Rockstar's Table Tennis, and the Lord of the Rings - Battle for Middle Earth 2.  Had some fun getting my butt kicked in DoA, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to making a full purchase on that one NEtime soon - fighting Games are fun, but not exactly my forte.  BFME2 is one I haven't spent a lot of time on, but looks like it will be as much fun as the first one - just gotta decide whether to get it on PC or 360 now.  :D

However, I had some trouble with Table Tennis which marred the experience.  The sound was howling at me the entire demo, which I don't believe was supposed to happen.  As such, I didn't enjoy playing it as much as I could have.  I'll check it out another time, Znuggles and Tinoshke.  Can't say the Game (even without the sound issues) has caught my attention too much, but I'll play it again another day, once my hearing has returned, K?

I've also managed to download a whole bunch of Arcade Games from X-Box Live to try out, and even decided to purchase a couple of 'em.  Earlier today, I picked up Bejeweled 2, and a quirky lil' Game called Cloning Clyde.  I've been meaning to pick up Bejeweled for a while, as it's a kewl lil' Game.  But when I checked out Cloning Clyde last week, I knew I had to get the full version to cause some trouble in.  I must admit, X-Box Live Arcade has had a few kewl releases since I got my 360, and I'm looking forward to Streetfighter 2 coming out, and to see what else is on their release schedule...

NEhow, that should just about do it for the time being.  Hopefully these past four entries should keep you all amused and chatting away merrily for a lil' while.  Actually, I've decided to resurrect something I started a while back, and simply haven't updated at all since then.  Of course, I'm talking about...

Malkav's Completed Game List (tm)

We Love Katamari - 25th of February, 2006

Tomb Raider: Legend - 15th of April, 2006

Me and My Katamari - 6th of May, 2006

Guitar Hero (Easy Career) - 12th of June, 2006

Guitar Hero (Medium Career) - 24th of July, 2006

See?  I actually have been playing and completing Games over the past couple of months.  I've just neglected to tell you guys about 'em, is all.  (Actually, I reckon I've mentioned Katamari on the PSP once before, but here it is - all official like)  Still trying to complete Tomb Raider on the Tomb Raider difficulty, but I'll get there at some point.  I'm also looking to add two more entries for Guitar Hero - at which point I will have completed all the Careers, and become a Guitar God, if I keep at it.  (Or so goeth the plan, NEhow...  :)).  More updates as I remember them, K?

NEhow, time to dash.  Hope you're all doing well out there in Gamespot Land, and never forget to...

Game on!  :D

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've done any proper updating on what's been going on with me, hasn't it?  I've just read through the past couple of entries prior to these Life Updates, and my last several updates were all about Gaming and whatnot from sometime in June.  Ooooops!  :)

The Gaming update is coming, just one more for ya prior to that.  Ready for Round 3?  Right-o, then here we go!

Things That Pay The Bills (And Things That Don't)

Work has been a bit up and down for me recently.  We've had meetings in which it has been explained to us that we're not assessing people properly and need to change.  This has led to some stress on my behalf as I try to adjust styles to suit the new requirements.  It has also meant that the timing of the courses I run have to change considerably to allow more assessment points during the course itself.

All this has led to some very good courses, and some quite bad ones as well.  I have received positive feedback for the most part, but also some quite negative feedback about my courses as well.  This causes me some angst, as I always strive to be the best I can when it comes to my work...  *shrug*

On to the Volunteer side of my life, and to all things RAT-ty.  RAT hasn't been my main priority recently, a fact which caused me some grief in the past couple of weeks.  The RAT Executive (of which I am the President of Vice) got their butts kicked by our State Cadet Officer recently, due to some misbehaving by members, and some poorly planned events that failed kinda miserably.  In fact, the Executive hasn't been working well together at ALL this year, so we're now on notice - we've got a month (which is mostly up as we speak) to sort ourselves out, or we're gone.  Fun fun fun...  :(

Having said that, I have just gotten back from a trip down to the South East part of South Australia, to a li' town called Mount Gambier.  Myself and the RAT President headed down there to help out at their Regional Cadet First Aid Competitions, and had quite a good time.  The drive there and back wasn't much fun (6 hours in a vehicle each way), but the company was OK, and the weekend was kinda relaxing overall, which was good.

More of an update on my Volunteer life once I know whether I am still Vice President of RAT or not.  Who knows what the future will hold, eh?  Whatever will be will be, I guess.  *shrug*

And now, on to the final chapter of this most recent Life Update Thingy...

Well, time marches on, and I should be getting into the second part of my update on what's what with me at the time being.  Have you got yourself a warm drink of some sort?  Then I'll continue...

The Female of the Species

As I think you may have guessed by now, there's a new lady in my life.  Has been for a while now, in fact.  (Which is kinda nice, might I add.  :))  Her name is Anna, she's a country girl who works in IT doing all sorts of mystical things with computers.  She also likes to go to Church on occasion, and is quite musical - as she can play the flute and the piano quite well. :)

We've been going out for a couple of months now, and things are going quite well.  Parental figures have been met by both of us, as have other family and friends.  Everyone seems to be accepting of myself and Anna.  And I must admit, she's one of the main reasons you haven't seen me online much here at Gamespot recently.  I've still been popping in and writing a comment or two from time to time, I just haven't updated my Journal all that much people - sorry.  :(

Actually, I've even managed to introduce her to the world of Gaming.  Guitar Hero is a Game we've both managed to enjoy somewhat, although I must admit we're both a lil' competitive about it.  I Love Rock 'n Roll has been our main challenge - on Medium level we're currently duking it out to see who is best at it.  :)

Given that I'm not home every night nowadays, I can fairly safely predict that my Journalling will be somewhat sporadic for a while to come yet.  So please be patient with me, people.  I'll write stuff here when I can, K?

And now, on to Part 3, I think.  :D

Well, I'm back from my trip down South East, so I figure I should pop by here again and make some more noise.  How's everyone doing out there in Gamespot Land?

As per normal at this time, I've been away from Gamespot.  A fact that one or two of you have noticed and commented on.  Well, I'm gonna make an effort to be back here every now and again (I hope), and have decided to do a bit of an update on what's what in my life, Gaming and otherwise. 

Right then, are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin...

Vehicle Accidents

As you may have picked up from some of my earlier Journal Entries, I have had a car accident in recent times.  Stupid thing is, it was my fault.  I was driving home from work after a LONG week, and I was kinda tired.  So when I approached an intersection in the CBD of Adelaide, I didn't notice that a car in front of me was turning left, and ran up their rear end.  :(

This involved some damage to their car, and quite a bit to mine.  More so in the puncturing of my radiator, more than any massive amount of body damage.  Managed to get the car home, although I only just made it before the engine overheated.  Car was not driveable after that, so of course I had to get some repairs done to it.

From that point on, things got unpleasant.  When reporting the accident to the Police, I was accused of changing my story, and repeatedly told I would need to submit to a breath test (which I passed).  The Insurance companies involved alternately threatened to seek damages for not providing my correct details (which in fact, I had) and tried to accuse me of drink driving.  I have also been contacted by my compulsory 3rd Party insurer, who is claiming I failed to report the accident given that injuries were involved.  (At the time of the accident, both of the other people were walking around and apparently fine - seemingly uninjured in my eyes).

I managed to get my car repaired, although I had to rely on my parental figures for a week or so to get me to and from work.  Car drives better now than it did before.  :)  I have also managed to (almost) complete filling in some paperwork with regards to the accident, and will shortly have to hand over more money to pay for my insurance excess due to the other parties "injuries".  Fun fun fun, eh?

So if you hear me complaining about insurance companies, or being somewhat poor, then hopefully this first update will explain what's what...

On to Part 2...

Well, I've been kinda busy these past couple of weeks (still), so I must firstly apologise for my lack of effort in the whole Journal / Blog type world.  I keep popping in to make comments where I can, but I haven't really made much in the way of noise here at Gamespot in a lil' while...  :(

However, I found myself an interesting site (that a few of you here at Gamespot are aware of already, I suspect) which may take care of my lack of time to Blog in my busy life.  So I've decided to let my X-Box 360 take care of the noise-making so that I can go and sort out insurance companies (giving them all my money to make them shut up and leave me alone), go work, spend time with Anna, and even play some Guitar Hero when I can.  :)

So let me introduce to you my X-Box 360, care of it's very own Blog!  You can check out what stuff is going through it's mind right here.  Enjoy, people!  *grin*

And on that note, I should run away.  Got some stuff to do around the house today - masks to clean, clothes to wash, paperwork to complete - before I go out to dinner for Anna's Birthday and meet her parents.  Wish me luck...

While I'm off being interrogated by parental figures, never forget to...

Game on!  :D

This entry is a few days overdue, but life has been a bit interesting for me over the past week or so.  What with a new lady in my life, challenges at work and a vehicle accident, I've been kinda busy.  So please forgive me if I've gotten a lil' slack in making noise here at Gamespot...

(Gaming news first though)

Well, the time has come for me to change names here at Gamespot again.  I've been stuck with the Rank title of Metal Slime for quite some time now (something about a Level 20 glitch or summat similar?), but I've finally earned the right to be called something different.  You may now refer to me as WerePaladin, the...

Rock God

What's that?  You're saying that's NOT the Level 21 Rank name?  Hmmmmm...  That's weird.  Then there must be some other reason I'm getting called that.  Perhaps it has something to do with this new Game I've been playing - Guitar Hero?  :D

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been rocking away to the awesome tunes contained within this great Game.  I've learned how to play the Guitar (shaped controller) right handed - which is challenging, given that I'm LEFT handed - and even managed to finish the Game (on Easy difficulty).  So I'm quite enjoying myself so far.

(Actually just wandered off - mid-entry - to go and play some more Guitar Hero.  Managed to pull off a few five star performances on Easy difficulty, and managed to unlock some kewl new Songs in Medium difficulty - so I'm pretty happy.  Only a few songs away from completing my career in Medium, so I shall persevere tomorrow...  *grin*)

I'm looking to complete the Game on Expert level one day - but I may have to grow another finger on my hand to do so.  Still getting used to the fourth fret button, dunno how I'll do with the fifth.  Time will tell, eh?  :)

NEhow, it's late and I'm tired.  I've gotta get to work tomorrow at a stupidly early hour, so I should get some sleep.  Perhaps I'll do more of a general update tomorrow?  Dunno.  Let's see how work goes, and we'll go from there. 

Take it easy, people.  Hope you're enjoying the many and varied Games out there in the world, and don't forget - as you travel down life's highway - to...

ROCK ON!  :)

Name just jumped out at me.  Couldn't help myself really.  But it IS (kinda) about what I'm talking about today, so I figured I'd give it a go.  :)

What I'm talking about today, is of course the Game Demo.  Recently, I got a bit busy on X-Box Live, and downloaded a few of 'em for my 360, to check out some upcoming and previously released Games.  Took me a while, as there were several gigs of data to shift around, but well worth the time taken...

Managed to download Hitman - Blood Money, Kameo (two Demo things there), Lost Planet, Rumble Roses XX, and Quake 4 to check out.  Some of 'em weren't half bad either.  I got killed lots in Quake, managed to run around a lot in Kameo, couldn't quite figure out how to win in Rumble Roses (although I must admit I enjoyed trying ;)) and quite enjoyed Hitman and Lost Planet.

In fact, if I was gonna purchase any of the Games I tried via the whole Demo thing, I reckon it would be Hitman and Lost Planet.  Both good Games, although I have to wait for Lost Planet until next year sometime - which is prolly not a bad thing, all things considered.  Hitman is one I'll need to make a decision on, but I might just play the demo again a couple of times before I make up my mind...

So my experience in the Demo field worked pretty well, even if it did take me a few hours to download all the bits and pieces.  Back to my usual Gaming commentary next entry, I reckon people.  Hope you're doing well out there in Gamespot Land, and until next time - don't forget to...

Game on!  :D

The English language is a funny thing, isn't it?  What particularly amuses me about it is how the meaning of words change over the years.

A bastard used to be someone born out of wedlock, and being gay used to mean you were just really happy.  You could even call a young lady a name beginning with s and ending with lut, and it wasn't actually a derogatory term.  Nowadays of course, each of these words has a different meaning...

Gaming has also changed the way we look at some of the English language.  My experience with "new" words has come about due to my online Gaming - particularly in the arena of the MMORPG.  As such, my vocabulary has broadened somewhat over the past weeks, but it's still very much a learning experience for me.  :)

Up until recently, Grinding was something you did to wear down an object, a Tank was something used by the Army to blow things up, and a Rat was a creature requiring an exterminator.  I have since discovered new meanings for these words.  I've also found out that there are weird, shortened and (seemingly) made up words that also make some sort of sense.  Words such as Nuker, Alt, and Twink just to name a few.  And then there are the acronyms and other sets of letters that have some arcane meaning to the right people - thx, w8, LFT, LFG, pwned, amongst others.  Are there other words and acronyms I should be made aware of, should I wish to continue my Gaming existence?  Or should I continue to use something resembling "normal" English, and have people look at me strangely?

And don't even start on all the weirdness that happens when people send text messages to each other over those weird, mobile phone things.  Letters are dropped, words are mangled, and all in the cause of shortening (or speeding up) a text so that you can make noise at another person.  It's all a bit much sometimes...

It makes you wonder what we'll actually be speaking in a hundred years.  Many authors have imagined what we might speak - dialects of Japanese, merged forms of English with other languages, or new languages entirely, which bear only a casual resemblence to what we speak now.  What say the rest of you?  Is our language changing into something new and (somewhat) weird?  Or am I just falling behind the times, and should I take some sort of crash course in Gamerspeak?

Well, gotta go.  I need to grind a bit in Guild Wars, so I can twink my alt, who needs some new gear...  :D

(In the meantime, while I struggle with all this linguistic weirdness, don't forget to Game on!  :))

Yes, I AM still alive.  I've just been away from Gamespot for a lil' bit due to RL and other Gaming activities for the past week or two.  But I thought I would drop in and do my usual, semi-irregular update on what's been happening with me in recent times.  :)

Firstly, how are you all NEhow?  I usually just make noise in here about what's been happening with me, but it doesn't hurt to check in with you lot from time to time.  I hope you're all doing well and having some Gaming fun out there.  Feel free to comment about what you've been up to here - should you wish to.  Nice to hear what my friends have been up to in the big wide World.  *grin*

From my point of view, I've been insanely busy with work.  I usually work nine days out of ten in a row (day off in the middle) and then have four days off.  So goeth the plan, normally.  This fortnight has involved several of our Trainers falling ill, and the rest of us having to pick up the slack.  So my day off evaporated, and I have only recently finished a block of ten days straight without a day off.  So I've been a lil' tired - particularly near the end of this period...  :(

Gaming-wise, I've been making the most of my fourteen day Trial of Eve Online.  For any of you out there looking for a very indepth MMORPG set in space, with an AMAZING amount of skills, ships, items and missions available, the ability to do just about anything you want, and a HUGE Galaxy to explore, then I strongly recommend you check it out.

I must admit, I have enjoyed my time in EVE.  I've managed to play a bit with my mate Stan in an MMORPG, I've built up a character of some degree of skill, acquired mysef a Destroyer class vessel to pilot, and generally cause some trouble around the Galaxy.  Y'know, usual stuff.  *grin* 

However, this has posed me somewhat of a problem.  As some of you may be aware, EVE is a similar Game to World of Warcraft - in that you purchase the Game, and then you pay an ongoing subscription fee to continue to play the Game.  Now, while I understand the reasoning behind such a system (it enables the developers to maintain the Game servers, as well as continually upgrade the Client, and to even release various "free" add-ons and expansion packs directly to the customer), I still find it somewhat offensive.  For those of you who have been reading my Journal for a while, you will know that this is the reason I have no desire to become one of the Plague Bearers of Azeroth.  I now better understand the attraction of such a Game, but have no desire to become a "subscriber".

As such, I made the decision to NOT subscribe to EVE Online.  While I have been enjoying the Game, I recognise the fact that it has chewed up a decent portion of time in my life over the past couple of weeks.  Were I to continue to play, it would chew up even MORE time as I maintained my Skill development and ran cargo missions, pirates hunts and generally ran around a lot.  More to the point, 'twould make me somewhat of a hypocrite to subscribe to a MMORPG given my protests of the same system in World of Warcraft...

So tonight I plan on transferring all my money and various worldy possessions to my good mate What_Me_Worry - a man who has subscribed to EVE and continues to enjoy his time there - so that he may make wise use of them.  I will be uninstalling the Client and freeing up some space on my 'puter.  After that, I will return to my MMORPG of choice - Guild Wars.  :)

More another time, people.  Gotta go try and fix up a mate's 'puter.  Enjoy your time in whatever MMORPG takes your fancy, or continue to enjoy the wonders of offline Gaming, in whatever Game may take your fancy.

(What I'm trying to say here is...  GAME ON!  :))