Since I'm back from vacation, I finally got to download the new Force Unleashed demo. I'm a Star Wars buff, and I didn't know what to expect, but I loved it.

The graphics in the cutscene were painful, but the gameplay's were crisp and mind-boggling. Blowing up a Tie-Fighter by hurling an explosive at it looks (and feels) awesome.

I've played the demo three times, and now I can't wait for the actual game. In the meantime, I might go back into the demo and watch as I impale people while crushing others while Force-lightning(ing?) the rest.

Hack 'n' slashes live!

Another massive road trip for me. I'll be back in a week, but I'm not taking my laptop, so no contacting me for seven days.

How will you all survive without me for seven whole days? :P

I noticed that I love The Orange Box so much that I've actually been enjoying getting Achievements for it. I've long since abandoned attempting to get Halo 3 to be my first 1000/1000 for Achievements after realizing it's hyper-competitive and fairly unbalanced. I'm at 715/1000 for the Gamerscore and 84 out of 99 for the Achievements. Here's what I have left:

Half-Life 2

Counter-Sniper-I'm in the middle of that chapter, so I'm ready to do it. Not that it's hard.
Lambda Locator- This'll be a complete playthrough to find every one of the 40+ Lamda caches.
Zombie Chopper-All of Ravenholm with the Gravity Gun? I'm not looking forward to this, but I'll survive. Stupid zombies.

Half-Life 2: Episode 1

Citizen Escort-Spoilerific actions without letting any allies dies.
Pacifist-Do something spoilerific without killing anyone.
The One Free Bullet-This will either be really fun or really annoying. I have to do all of Episode 1 without firing any bullets except for the required one to shoot a lock. At least I can use the rocket launcher :twisted:.
Zombie-que-Lighting fifteen zombies on fire with flares is more time-consuming than hard.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - Yes, I did the Gnome Achievement. I had to start over for it, too :cry:

Get Some Grub-There are 333 Antlion Grubs in Episode 2. I have to kill them all in one go.
Neighborhood Watch-I have to do the awesome finale without letting buildings blow up. I hope it's easy.

Portal (Blargh, this would be much easier on a PC)

Basic/Rocket/Aperture Science-Every Portal map with bronze/silver/gold medals, respectively. Devilish, to say the least.
Camera Shy-Simply knocking down the cameras.
Vanilla Crazy Cake-I have to finish the advanced maps, which aren't too bad.

Team Fortress 2

With Friends Like These-A game with 7+ people from my friends list. Hm, this might be the hardest.

Well, I have work to do. Anyway, see you all in a week!

The new GameSpot (GameSpot Wide) is up!

Thanks to all the developers, designers, and everyone who made it possible. It's a great design.

Time to explore! :D

I saw this joke the other day and found it both genius and a real groaner. Read it at your own risk, it's that terrible (I don't mean tasteless, I mean it's a bad joke):

Didn't they make a Geometry Wars Movie?
Yeah, Snakes on a Plane.

I warned you.

Along with michaelP4, robbristow, and siberian142, I'm one of the new Welcome Newbies board moderators! Congrats, everyone!

Don't worry, I'm still going to be active on the rest of the site. I'm just going to spend more time in Welcome Newbies.

Also, I now wield the Warn-Hammer (think Ban-Hammer, but only good on Welcome Newbies and it squeaks when I bang it). :P

I bought Geometry Wars 2 (or yesterday, depending on your time zone!) and am hooked. I may write a review for it (in a very favorable light) and (this blog just needs more parentheses), which would be helpful, because it'd help me comprehend its addictive nature by putting it on (virtual) paper (I can't even justify this set).

Let me just say this: I will not rest until every (I mean it) funky green square-ish thing and snake is destroyed by my ship (?)!

Oh, and (thankfully), I'm not last on my friend leaderboards for any gametypes. (Phew!)

(I decided to make this a humor entry by spamming parentheses)

The love of my life has left me. We were together for such a short time, but the memories were priceless. I will never forget you.

I love you, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Les Paul Kramer wireless guitar. Why did you have to break (my heart)?

:P Piece of junk stopped registering green notes, so I have to send it in. Good thing it's under warranty :). And I had just beaten Before I Forget on Expert, too. Oh well. I'll survive two to three weeks.

*Twitches from lack of Guitar Hero*

As awesome as the game is, it still needs this.

That, my friends, would make the game a must-have for everyone on the planet!

Am I right or am I right?

I know that floor coverage is still going on, but I'm blogging now! Hahaha!

Again, formatting may be eaten by the HTML monster, and my memory may be poor.

Nintendo Press Conference

• Was it really that bad? All I seem to see is people talking about how terrible it was :|
• You're not Reggie!
• Why is Carrot Top on stage? Huh? He's Shaun White?
• Reggie! Yay!
• GTA on DS :|:o :D
• New Call of Duty on Wii! :?
• The Wii 2.0...or Wii Motion Plus, as Nintendo calls it:P. Seriously, that will redefine the Wii.
• The man himself: Shigeru Miyamoto
• Wii Music. If I can get my music on my computer in a usable format, I'm getting it.
• Why did everyone compain about the Mario theme? I thought it was great :).

Sony Press Conference

• LittleBigPlanet destroys Powerpoint
• Oh dear...that Chimera is awfully big, isn't it? Resistance 2 astounded me.
• Stuff I don't care about...
• ...and this goes on...
• MAG? Much Action Game or something like that. But 256 people is mind-boggling.

The Coverage

• I've reach critical mass. But I've got my Mirror's Edge coverage, so I'm set.

The Forums

• Everyone hates Nintendo
• People want emblems

Closing Remarks

• Glad to see the tech issues were taken care of
• I have faith that all emblem issues will be resolved
• Another stellar day. I can't believe all the content in the floor show

E3 doesn't actually start until tomorrow, but there was stuff today, so here's my recap!

(Order will be messed-up due to my mixed-up memory of the day. I also apologize for formatting. I had bullets, but I guess the HTML monster ate them :P)

Microsoft Press Conference

• Server issues (oh no, the sky is falling! :P)
• Switch source of coverage while attempting to get onto GS
• Succeed and watch RE5 gameplay
• Watch games I don't have interest in and get release dates
• Stats I don't care about
• The bold, challenging, iron-strength, unbelievable prediction: the 360 will outsell the PS3 :| *crickets*
• Avatars! Now, I can share my ugly mug with the whole world in a package oddly reminiscent of Mii and Home...
• Media Partners? I don't pay for TV shows or movies on Live...
• Netflix! If they get HD, this will be the highpoint of their conference (interpret that as you please - good or bad)
• A new dashboard that I don't like, but apparently the old one will be the new Guide or something
• Primetime, for your avatars with real prizes! We just don't know what they are :P Fingers crossed for T-shirts or MS Points!
• Rock Band 2 news...and an illegible set list in the background :(
• Guitar Hero: World Tour news...actually, not a lot of content :(
• Yes! Banjo Kazooie! I will gobble this game up!
• DANCE, CHIEF, DANCE!
• In casual gaming, a Scene It? game I won't consider getting...
• ...and an Eye Toy-esque movie game that, if sharing of movies is allowed, will lead to rampant abuse
• Final Fantasy XIII! On 360! Squint to view the trailer! :P

The Coverage

• GameSpot is strong on every count, giving me a plethora of stories...
• ...videos...
• ...pictures...
• ...blog entries...
• ...AAAH! Why am I blogging? I need more!
• The world's greatest snack bar
• An awesome piece by Joe which many people didn't like
• Stellar all around, great job, everyone :)

The Forum

• I believe the last community outcry was either Jeff or the new review system (I forget), which was preceded by Cake/Pie, but today was entertaining. There were many threats to terminate paid accounts (why I find this entertaining is unknown, but I'm probably just a bad person :P)
• Lots of anger about server issues, but everyone's susceptible to that. I have no hard feelings towards GS, because streaming E3 is great :D
• Many people also got upset about their emblems, but we'll have to wait a while to see who gets it and who doesn't, so it's premature in my opinion. Besides, Don said no there would be no appeals, so I guess that unless no one on the entire site got it (what a story that would be! :)) we'll just have to wait and see
• There was also some great discussion going on that was good reading

Closing Remarks:

• Keep up the good work! (No, not sarcastic, I appreciate the amount of effort that goes into this every year)
• Great coverage! Information overload!
• DANCE, CHIEF, DANCE!