I'm heading down there and I have some spare time. Does anyone recommend any places to check out that has Gaming involved? Mom & Pop stores, or even repair stores would be cool!

Thanks!

Sadly, I'm not as excited for the game as I used to be. I suppose it will hit me once the game actually is out, but I was tired of waiting and I have other reasons why I'm a little skeptical.

1. I'm still bitter with Final Fantasy 11 Online. I was a hardcore player for over 3 years, but overall gave me a really bitter taste in my mouth regarding SE. That being said, I still bought all of their games and still appreciate everything they did for the game industry. I still miss the amazing musical score they always have for every game they release and I believe that overall, this game will be a great one, I'm just still wary of my previous experience with their MMO. Obviously it's a different game, a different style of game (MMORPG vs. Action based RPG) and the overall online experience won't show up in FF13.

2. Release date. Why? It's a smart thing to do to release it first quarter 2010 when it is slightly quiet. It's weird, but I feel like this year feels like a sleeper year in gaming for me, although there are huge games coming out for both consoles I own. I think it's just because my focus on gaming has changed a little bit.

3. I started to pick up older games and playing through them again. My collection is quite big and I didn't completely appreciate all the games, so I've been going back to play old games that I haven't finished.

After this post, I guess the hype is growing. Just thinking of the game makes me wonder about it more. I hope they don't disappoint me. I'm still looking around for reviews of the game. Let's hope it's a great game and prove me wrong.

I enjoyed both games, but I loved the first game a little more. Obviously there was some issues with the first game, but it was so ambitious and fresh for an IP, that it was completely believable. The universe felt large. Roving around in the Mako wasn't refined, but it made the uncharted universe feel bigger and the game overall had a larger scope.

With Mass Effect 2, everything was streamlined. Some of it was great, some was a little questionable. Overall it made me feel like the universe got smaller. More planets to look at, but when you had to land, the zones and areas were very small and more focused on the certain mission/quest you had to partake in. Everything was closed off and even around the larger "hubs" of the game, it felt confined. That being said, it is an overall better game considering the gameplay was fixed and less glitches.

Story wise, I believe Mass Effect 1 was better than 2 especially the ending. The second of course has a cliffhanger to it, while the first focused on the issue of the rogue spectre Saren. It felt right, it felt larger in ambition and it felt right. Mass Effect 2 was great as well, but it worked more in favor of the mass gaming industry where it was about the action, rather than the story/lore. I felt the mission was quite small in general. I felt like there wasn't an actual enemy. I understand that the collectors were the overall enemy to the human race, but the "Harbinger" was just an faceless antagonist. It would only use a collector's body as a vessel to attack, but really overall in the end, there was no character development in that enemy.

Eventually, We'll see what was planned in the trilogy after the next game, but I really do miss the overall ambition from the first game. These two games are high uptop of my favorite games ever, but the first one slightly stands higher.