Hello GS People!

sooo I have a small list of things I'd like to accomplish for the new year, on GS mostly.

- put up a review of Hotel Dusk

- put up a review of DQM

- put up a review of the Burning Crusade

- get my druid to 70 (WoW)'

- pick up a new pc game (current top choices are The Witcher or Crysis)

- put up a new theme on GS (if any of you have theme ideas, let me know! I'm thinking of maybe using a nice snapshot of Oblivion for the header, etc)

For the average person, this list would probably take no more than a few days. But for me, nicknamed, "The Great Procrastinator", by friends, family, and various strangers on the street, this list should last me well into the next decade.

Speaking of lists, I had the chance to check it out the other day, from a roomate's friend's copy of a copy of a copy of a bad recording (the copy has a bigger family tree than I do). The sound was pretty weak, but I managed to hear most of it. While there are some pretty funny parts, its a pretty sad movie overall. They show Jack (and I call him Jack cause we're really close, I mean Ive never met or talked to him, but I know where he lives and have an elaborate plan in place to stalk him, if I ever need to), and Morgan Freeman's characters in the throes of cancer, going through chemo and everything. It doesnt really work as a comedy, as its more often sad than funny. (Of course they dont show that on the trailers).

i know its a tad early, but I'd like to wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!!

Do any of you have resolutions for the new year?

I'm hoping to post more reviews, and more random blogs, and of course, play more games!

I hope you and yours have a very happy and safe pumpkin day! I also hope that you get all the games/toys/old fruitcakes that were on your list. (unless you've been naughty, then I hope the Great Pumpkin gives you coal and pumpkin seeds).

You all may not know but in between fits of WoW, Ive been playing fits of Dragon Quest Monsters, no no, not the new, awesome looking DS version, but rather the original, from way back when.

Ah, the year was 1999 "Its time to party like its 1999!", and Enix released a little known game called DQM (Dragon Warrior Monsters here). It didnt have the massive hype, cute n cuddly critters, or army of Nintendo toy soldiers backing it, but it had features lacking in the Pokemon games of then (and now). It sports 3 on 3 battles (Pokemon is just now up to 2 on 2), and the ability to breed over 200 critters (breeding in pokemon wasnt in the games til the later versions and still limited).

Sooo for those of you that have never played it, you start with a basic slime, but capture new monsters the same way girls capture guys in real life, thats right, by feeding them meats of varying tastiness. You'll also defeat the general DW fare who'll join you, like dragons, golems, etc. Heres the nifty part, by raising critters to high levels, and breeding them, the babies will invariably have higher stats than the parents, at lower levels, plus the ability to learn all the parents' moves, plus its own species moves as well, and it will have a longer lifespan (max level).

So I'm a good 25hrs in, and while the healer slime you find early on is a decent healer, I eventually bred my own 2nd generation unicorn, which has a max heal, group heal, revive and at level 31 gains the yummy LifeSong skill (full party revive). Also from the early critters I bred a 2nd gen demon thingie with wings and while it sports a healthy immunity to fire spells, it also serves as a quite capable backup/second healer, as it has the max heal/group heal and a revive spell. This has been really nice in places where monsters have tossed instant kill spells at me and have managed to kill 2 of my 3 critters. Having 2 monsters with revive is really nice. My third monster currently started as a fat chicken thing I picked up early on and bred it into a 2nd gen ice phoenix thing which I used til around 36 or so, then bred it away and now its a 4th gen bug eyed, scorpion tailed bird thing with nice stats and a decent spell lineup.

If I sound like im way too into the game, im really not. Some people can spend hundreds of hrs breeding and training the ultimate team, in comparison, my team is pretty modest. But it has been enough to carry me through most of the game, so we'll see if I end up breeding again.

Well, after awhile with it sitting here, I finally popped the Transformers DVD in the player and watched it. I was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable it was. The special effects were awesome and I think it definitely did justice to the old cartoons I remember as a kid. I only wish Netflix would have sent me the blu ray version ( i guess it was out), so im gonna have to get it on high def eventually. I also enjoyed the music and loved seeing the giant robots transform. Even some of my favorites from the cartoon were included (Yay Starscream!). A few people I know have seen it and call it silly, but I definitely recommend it.

Hello nice silly GS people!

about a month ago, a couple friends said I should download this program, IMVU. Apparently they were really into it. IMVU, (short for instant messenger view), is kinda like a pseudo aol IM/second life kinda thing. Basically you download the client, and install and you create an avatar, kinda like Gamespot's own picture ones, but your avatar is a 3d, full bodied virtual representation of your virtual self. You create a name, give your matrix wannabe self a starter outfit and a few starting pieces of furniture and a basic themed room and go from there.

Heres a bit of backstory to hopefully help you understand the appeal of this kinda thing. I, and quite a few other people used to freeform roleplay on aol, back when it was cool (like aol 1.5 =p), if you've seen the weird public rooms on aol, like inns and taverns and such, then you have an idea. Soo once you're set up with your mini me on IMVU then you can browse all manner of oddly freakish public rooms on there, and join other like minded virtual people in dance clubs, freaky adult pass rooms, and theres quite a large population of virtual furry charries too.

Here's the catch. Theres quite a few items that you can buy for your virtual self, from an extensive developer base (people like you and me, only instead of playing video games all day, they figure out new ways to pretty up virtual avatars, cause lets face it, no one wants an ooglie virtual self). To buy this stuff, you have to buy credits, with real money (which is where IMVU rakes it in). Though , they even have credit resellers on there that offer more bang for your virtual buck. Oh, your virtual self also gets a virtual homepage, which can be customized to your virtual hearts' content.

Soo I try it out and figure, what a rip, I'm so not paying good money for virtual items that only make my virtual self look good. (thats what WoW is for). Fast forward a couple of weeks and my avatar soon has a virtual closet full of virtual outfits. Its strange that virtual shopping is just as addixtive as regular shopping.

Now AOL roleplaying is and was never perfect, but the rooms on IMVU seem mostly geared towards getting your virtual freak on (which is why I can see the appeal of the program to my friends), most of the rooms are adult pass only and from what I hear, sport a ton of advanced features like virtual nudity, furniture that boasts more positions for your virtual avatar than the entire Kama Sutra book, and other oddities. Needless to say, I avoid most of the rooms, myself.

Maybe IMVU's motto should be, "IMVU, Making Your Virtual Life As Happy As You Wish Your Real Life Was", or something, hehe

In my travels through the halls of eBay, I come across lots of odd stuff. But this one was so cute, I just had to share it. For a mere 99 cents, you too, can be the proud owner of a Lego rat aquarium. It even comes with 2 real Lego rats! Plus you get that happy looking Lego scientist, hehe! I'm not quite sure what he's carrying, but its nice to see a Lego person who's happy with his job (not like those obnoxious Lego knights!)

and if you dont think thats cute, check out Lego Emperor Palpatine, hehe!

Gone Baby Gone

With most of the movies set in Boston seemingly making it out to be quite the tourist attraction (The Departed, Mystic River), Gone Baby Gone, is no exception. Not having read the book, by Dennis Lehane, (who writes out of Boston), its no surprise that Ben Affleck, who's also from Boston, chose to direct and does a wondeful job of it. A little girl gets kidnapped from a not so nice family, though while the police are searching, the family hires a private investigator (played excellently by Casey Affleck) to aid in the search. Gone Baby Gone is easy to recommend for the awesome performances, by pretty much most of the cast.

Beowulf

Being a myths and legends buff, or I used to be anyway. I remembered a little about Beowulf, but not much, so I didnt go into the film quite knowing what to expect. I remembered Grendel, but didnt remember him looking like a World of Warcraft zombie, though that was kind of interesting. I also didnt see it in IMAX 3d, and I should have, cause theres an IMAX theater right near here. Performances aside, the CGI animation is a feast for the eyes. Everything is so nice to look at, from the close ups on faces, to a great scene with Beowulf running towards a bridge, which is in the background, while a dragon is flapping its wings, flying in place, and breathing huge amounts of flame at the bridge, setting it ablaze. If for nothing else, I'd recommend seeing it for the animation alone.

"Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's on its way!"

Happy Easter to all you Gamespotters out there!! (you've probably seen dozens of Happy Turkey Day blog posts, but I'll bet you havent seen too many Happy Easter ones!)

Start hoarding eggs now, cause its only five months or so before the Easter bunny comes calling. I suppose if you plan on filling up on turkey and stuffing and gravy and pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce, that will work too, just dont forget that the Easter Bunny is probably watching.

A very merry unbirthday to you all!

I'm assuming its your unbirthday, cause its mine, having had one more birthday yesterday.

Thats right, I'm one year older, one year closer to senility and one year more irreverant. While I do miss the gobs of loot from childhood, this year's major perks included a nice burgundy sweatshirt and sweats and a nifty sony vaio laptop. For those of you curious about the specs, they are:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

300gb hard drive

2 gb RAM

256 mb Geforce 8400M video card

blu ray recordable drive

windows vista home premium

Of course this is my first time playing around in vista and it looks hot, but i still miss xp. Sadly I dont have any bluray media or movies to play with, yet. I'll have to pick some up, soon.