Im sure many people on GS have seen this, but I havent posted anything in a long time and thought this should be shared:

Penn & Teller's take on video games. Spoiler: They have a 10 year old shoot an assault rifle!

http://www.wisevid.com/gateway.php?viewkey=jk2bukzbugecqgg26262

...They sucked me back in.

Im talking about Metal Gear Solid. Until yesterday, I had played half of 1 and 4, and about a half hour each of 2 and 3. I honestly could not beleive the hype surrounding this series, and was baffled by the devotion of gamers to Hideo Kojima's masturbatory opus.

Sorry. I was wrong.

Yesterday, I decided to give the game one last try. I figured that with such a convoluted story, Id have to start right at the beginning. Up until yesterday, Id only played MGS1 to the torture scene (a couple of times) and quit. Man, I was missing out. I ripped through the whole game, Im already halfway through 2 now, and I get it. I have a feeling I wont be playing anything else until Ive finished 2,3,4 and portable ops.....This is the epic story Ive been looking for in a game, and it was right under my nose.

I may still think the story gets a little self-serving and heavy-handed, but **** its good.....

After watching my stack of in-progress games grow to a daunting level, Im finally gonna take some time and finish my old games before startying anything new. Its almost embarassing how many games Im "in the middle of".....

Im proud; Ive actually finished up four games in the last few days, and its reminded me how alot of games really reward you for playing them through. First on the list was Heavenly Sword, and Im really glad I gave that game a shot. Its among my favorites now...great action (people who say you can button mash through the game are full of it), varied gameplay, and the most phenominal acting and character rendition Ive seen yet. Bohan alone was worth the price of admission; Andy Serkis did an amazing job with dramatic direction and acting. Bohan might be my favorite villain ever. It jsut goes to show, reviews cant always hit the mark, especially paid professional reviewers.....

I also finished LBP, which was...okay. The MGS add on was really the best part, as well as some awesome player-created levels. The game had such potential, I really hope they make the next one everything this one could have been....

Ghostbusters was a letdown. I kept playing it for the story, and in the end, it just....ends. They hinted at so much more of a story, that what we got just felt tacked together. Dont get me wrong, Im glad the game is as good as it was. It just left me wanting more....

The best game Ive finished, and definitely in my top ten games of all time, is Shadow of the Colossus. I heard the ending was epic, but #$%%!!!! Ive got to go back and replay ICO, and then SotC, just to get ready for the Last Guardian! This could be the best trilogy in gaming history, imo. The amount of back and forth on the ol heartstrings al through this game was incredible for something with such a barebones story and little voice-overs. Ahhh, with these games, and some of the fantastic new games that value good art direction and unique experiences, there is a bright future for gaming, at least as Id like it to be....

So, what now? I guess Ill write myself a list of games to finish, in a somewhat prioritized order, just to keep it straight...

-Modern Warfare (and I need to get my grunt leveled up for multiplayer)

-GTA IV and SA

-FFVII

-Conker's Bad Fur Day

-Quest for Booty

-MGS 1

-Okami

-Uncharted

.....hmm, thats a good start. I really want to finish some before Valkyria Chronicles comes this week; I hear my life will get a lot smaller once it arrives!!

Cheers

-

I realize that with my first two reviews (both of them 10s at that) being for ThatGameComapany games, I may seem like a fanboy, or perhaps an employee. Truth is, that couldnt be further from the truth. What it really is.....I like to rate a game on its own merits; for myself, both flower and flow have executed perfectly exacltly what they set out to do. In my experience, few games can do that (more complicated = more chance to screw up), even if they state clearly their purpose. Both of these games have proven to me that there is hope for the future of gaming, and that future is never going to be the most lauded or advertised.....

Oh, Flow, you remind me of the games I loved as a kid, as well as the drugs I took shortly after; there might not be much point, but the journey is astounding and unparalleled by anything the mainstream has to offer.

I will get around to other reviews, and I do love a good number of games; I just felt so compelled by these games that they had to come first. Add that to the fact that Im in the middle of some amazing new-gen games, and that increases my respect; Ive put down everything else Im playing except for FFVII for these two games..........

What does that say about me as a gamer?

Now that Im officially a paper boy and can review, Ive got one under my belt, and for one of the best games Ive ever played! Flower hit me by surprise....I was just messing around in the PSN store, and saw this.....thing. Not really a game, just a "thing". I read a review, and thought, "Well, that sounds intersting enough". Man, I got sucked in. I cant beleive people arent lauding this as the best game in a long, long time. Well, I am, at least. Ive got other, older games I'd like to review, but I wanted to do this one first. It just amazed me in the way that games did when I was a kid. Actually, child-like wonder would accurately describe the experience, and I think Ill add that to the review....

To me, its funny how much the length of this game seems to detract from its score from critics. If it was longer, I suspect that it would be called "boring" or "too long", and Im left questioning why games need to be 10-100 hours, especially if they carry a price tag of $10. I still play Star Fox 64, and it is no longer, though it had added levels to strive for. Really, I would rather have an extremely solid game that lasted 2 hours, which I wantd to play over and over, than a 100 hour piece of frustrating garbage. And I do want to play this game over and over. Hitting each flower in perfect succession might not unlock anything, but it is incredibly rewarding in a sensory experience unmatched by most other games....

If anyone, and I mean anyone, out there reads this, and was doubting whether to get this game, do it. It blew my mind. And my mind has definitely been blown once or twice before....

In a few short days of being a member of GS, Ive gotten great advice, found this fromat much more navigable than my last primary gaming website, and no doubt, the community of gamers here is sweet. Thanks to all involved for making it free. I realize Im speaking either 100% to the choir and/or myslef, but the forums and enthusiasm for gaming here is amazing. Without naming names, and admitting that other sites have alot to offer, I found alot of the other sites I was digging around to be not all too excited about what theyre doing......I admire GS mission statement (though a mission statement is rarely carried through to its specifics) to essentially not get jaded on games. And even if the official reviewers do seem a bit jaded at times, it comes back to us, the everyday fools who devote (probably) too many hours of our lives to something fan-%$^#ingtastic that many around us do not understand...........Anyway, thanks for welcoming me into GS...Ive missed out on alot in the gaming world in the last decade or so, and its good to be back.

So I'm pretty new to the GS forums and such, but Ive recently gotten back into gaming in a big way, after about a ten year hiatus. Until a year and a half ago, the last console I owned was a SNES, and the only recent game I had played in any real way was Tony Hawk 3, after a surgery. I definitely couldnt have been considered a gamer at any point through that time, and then....I was dogsitting for a friend over Thanksgiving a couple years back, and picked up her son's copy of Jak II, and well.....my girlfriend was surprised as **** when she didnt see me that whole week as I plowed my way through not just Jak II but III as well, barely stopping to take breaks. Since then its been on like Donkey Kong. Ive been playing alot of classics (from NES, SNES, 64, genesis), and alot of the new-gen greats as well; some of my absolute favorites have been God of War I & II (between this and Jak, my re-entry into gaming set the bar high IMHO), FFX, Resistance, Chrono Trigger, Contra III, Ocarina of Time, JAK, and especially Bioshock...Theres not really one genre that Im most drawn to, but I really like the best of what each genre has to offer and this is what Im looking for. Speaking of, after playing a good share of newer games, Ive gone back to a classic: FFVII. I've had it for some time, but have just had so many great games to play, its epic lenght has pushed me away after 100 hours with FFX. Im only a couple hours in, and to be honest, I dont get the hype. However, I do know enough about the FF series at this point to know that the best usually doesnt start till a few hours in, and Im determined to make it to that point this time. I am liking the combat system, and I for one think it has stood the test of time well; I think a solid game can overcome a good deal of dated graphics and sound.... just look at Mega Man 9. I hope we see more developers return to sprucing up classic 2d formats; games like Odin Sphere certainly show the promise. Anyhow, FFVII.....I almost feel like I have to absolutely love it or hate it, with it seeming to be such a milestone in gaming...then again, some games are worth the hype. I was skeptical of Oot, but was immensely pleased.....