You knew this was coming. Second episode of Cool Hand Comthitnuong -- Yet another Post E3 blog. Not trying to bore you but I had to do it. Still, enjoy.

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See how much I drained my life absorbing all of the E3 coverage, what my surprising GOTS is, how Nintendo aggravated me, how MS delivered a solid lineup of games this fall, and how Sony was able to do decetly this year. Also, find out what happens to those who limit my video blogging capabilities by only providing me a 1gig memory stick, in a post 1984 society.

So while going over all of the blog, I realized that 16 hours going over non live content may have actually been a stretch. I'd be more comfortable saying 12-14 hours. Well that is what I would hope...I don't like thinking that I spent that long of a time on a website. In total though, 388 news/preview articles read, commented on, and tagged. Almost 500 videos viewed and the majority tagged. Over 3K screenshots viewed....

This blog I am introducing some humor. Around the begining when I annouce my GOTS, I attempt at some subliminal humor. Maybe in the future I will try to add more humor so that my blogs don't get too boring. I know 20 minutes of my rambling can get pretty dull. As always constructive feedback is always welcome.

As for the next episode, I don't think I will be doing any one soon. I might do some 4 minute, possibly pointless ones, if I am in a good mood. Anyways I hope you can enjoy the video. And until next time...farewell.

Without further adieu, I present my first real video blog on Gamespot.

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A gaming update plus what I want to see at E3.

Some notes you might want to keep in mind while watching though. First, while on the camera, my grammatical speech as well as my IQ decrease by about 14.667%. Second, my thoughts flow faster than my mouth therefore you may see some incomplete thoughts and sentences. Third, I don't know how I missed it, but I was unaware of the schedule of games that Gamespot will be presenting. So you may see some of the games that I listed by nonexistent at E3. I basically looked down the list of games that Gamespot had and picked out the ones that I have a current interest in. Fourth, my thoughts as to what I expected from MS, Nintendo, and Sony were far from complete. There was much more. Fourth, I forgot to add in thegaming update, Gears section, that there are far too many immature asses on XBL, especially that game(sorry for my language. But that is the only word that bests describes them without going too explicit, language wise).

Constructive feedback is always welcome. I hope to better articulate myself in front of the camera next time. I am trying to cut down on the "um's" but for some reason it is very hard for me. I can't seem to figure out how users like Juradai or Jwallace are able to speak well in their content, but I will make their video content the standard to which I need to meet. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I am sure I missed addressing some certaint things within the video. Enjoy.

The music in the intro is the Cool Hand Luke theme song.

I will not have my videos out as I had planned. 2 factors are affecting this situation. The first is my need for a good opening sequence. I am a man who likes his opening sequences and I want a decent one to go with my videos. So until I make the opening sequences, I will not be able to put out the videos. The other factor is the fact that I bought FFX.

A little thing that you need to know about me is that RPG's can bring out the hardcore gamer inside of me. Naturally I am a guy who plays games casually and can normally control gaming addiction. However this all changes with an RPG. Put this together with the fact that I have not played an RPG since the KOTOR II days, and you have a comthitnuong who, for the last week and a half has been draining his life in Final Fantasy X.

So. FFX. Let's talk about it. I am about 36 hours into the game and so far it has been amazing storywise. I would say the story almost rivals that of the The Longest Journey(if you don't know what that game is shame on you), but not quite. Maybe it is becuase the main characters are so young in FFX(they are 17) that it just doesn't feel as mature or believeable as The Longest Journey. It still is very moving and very easy to get into.

The gameplay is somthing that I have a problem with and something that is holding me back from fully enjoying the game. I like the setup and the random encounters is managable to a degree but after you have gotten your feet wet with the game and begin to really get into it, the battles become repetitive. Basically it is travel a very long road filled with random encounters, reach the end of the road, fight a boss, and have a cutscene. I abhor the boss battles by the way. I kind of wish that it were easier.

But even with these problems(and having known some of the plot spoilers before I even bought the game because people don't know how to use spoiler tags...) I am still enjoying the game very much and it is highly recommendable to JRPG fans. I haven't had an experience as epic as this since KOTOR I...I don't even know why I am typing this much about it. I should be playing right now...It is calling me...Well anyways expect the videos to be up sometime...After I finish the game...*runs to PS2*

This is just a little life update right here. I haven't been as active as I would like to be on GS for the past week. For the entire week I have been draining my life in a lifeguarding course. Nine hours a day for the entire week. Not something I am used to. I passed all of the tests and I just need to do two hours of practical lifeguarding and I'll be set. I will begin working sometime soon at a $16 an hour pay, which isn't bad at all. Hopefully I will be able to buy more than one game every 6 months now.

Anyways I would also like to take this time to announce that I will be putting up some video blogs. This new episodic content that I bring will be about what games I am playing right now, and some issues in the gaming industry. Just a little something to allow me to vent a little bit. I should have the first episode up sometime next week.

Well thanks for reading! 

Well I have just returned from a 2 day suspension. Apparently I quoted an "offensive" image. I wouldn't say that it was offensive at all though I guess if you twist it horribly, something offensive might come out of it. Anyways I though it was funny and I laughed at it and recieved a 2 day suspension because of it. Well that was my first serious moderation since like last summer so I am kind of confused as to why the moderation was so harsh...

Being suspended has prevented me from participating in the Brain Bust tournament as well as commenting on the news and my friend's blogs. Oh well. Moving on now...

So I'm off to get caught up on news, blogs, etc. so until next time...

BTW you all can enjoy a little welcome back party.... YAAAA!

Balloons!

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Food!

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Drinks!(drink responsibly)

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Enjoy...

 

 

I thought everybody could use a small update of what I am doing these days. 

For the majority of my time here at Gamespot, I have been learning about games. I have been learning about them more than I have been playing them...Which is kind of sad. Anyways that is about a year and a half ready to be put to the test. This test is the latest tournament that I am entering, which is the Brain Bust tournament heading towards Gamespot. So this coming Monda, I will see if my time spent at Gamespot has really done anything to increase my knowlege of games. I think I will be able to advance in the first round and hopefully the second round. The first round is FPS, which is really the main genre of games that I have played in the past. The second round is RPG which is the second most played genre in my life. I am not expecting to win this one but I am expecting to live up to my own expectations. Wish me luck!

On a side note...I came across something rather disturbing yesterday. It seems that Jack Thompson is striking again. Now Thompson has done some pretty ridiculous stuff in the past few months *cough*Blaming Virginia Tech on Counter Strike*Wheeze*His stupid letter to Bill Gates. But now he has crossed yet another line and has again amazed me. Now he is attacking the Wendy's fast food chain. But what does Wendy's have to do with innaporopriate games? Good question. Wendy's is promoting the Wii through selling toys in it's kids meals. Some of these games are games like Excite Truck, Mario, and the like. But there is a game that is coming out for the Wii. The game is Manhunt 2, which features the player killing people in pretty gruesome ways. This game will not be featured as a toy though. According to Mr. Thompson, because Wendy's is selling Wii toys to kids, and Manhunt 2 is a game coming out for the Wii, Wendy's must be trying to promote violence in kids!........*slams head on computer desk**repeats 10 times*

Just wanted to update everybody on my gaming life these days. Because its official. Gaming is now back in buisness in my life. Not saying that I am draining my life in games or anything but I am averaging about 7 hours of games a week compared to the previous 30 minutes of games. This is mainly thanks to gaming with friends over XBL. Really without them I wouldn't be playing at all. I am basically playing 3 games these days and they are:

Gears of War - I was really wrong to underestimate the multiplayer on this game. 4v4 doesn't sound to great to me in writing but when I played it with a friend, it became so much better. I can't play it alone though. It is just not the same. I really don't know why it is so great. I have a feeling that since there are only 8 people in the match, it makes the game more personal since you know which player your friends are and are able to communicate to them rather than 16 other unknown teamates thatt you don't know.

UNO - The same "personal" aspect of the game I mentioned earlier applies to this game as well. I only play online with my friends. Every weekend we have what we call an "UNO fest" where we basically play UNO for about 1-2 hours. The multiplayer in this actually rivals Gears of War's multiplayer. When you play a draw four card it can easily be compared to chainsawing a guy in Gears. There's the same amount of trashtalk, except with less 12 year olds playing a game that they are not even old enough to buy. 

Guitar Hero II - This game is so great because it captures the same feeling that you get when you are playing a real instrument. You..or at least I feel that the music and the controller conect in a way that really draws you into the music. I am not a huge fan of Rock but I still enjoy the music and gameplay very much.

I am playing a few other games on the side like GTA: Vice City and TMNT 1989 Arcade. But I am not really into playing them as the others. The only thing holding me back from fully enjoying Vice City is the frustrating mission design. It has become more of a trial and error type deal in this game and it makes me frustrated. Not even the cheats can help me. O yea if anybody knows...Where can I get a helicopter?

Thanks for reading!(Wow it has been a month since my last blog!) 

So since I have recieved my new (actually used) PS2, I have been researching games and have been compiling them on to a large list. What pleases me is that most of these games are cheap and I can go on a spending spree one day and get a bunch of them. I have been particularary interested in its wide library of RPGs. Actually I am a sucker for a good story, which many RPGs have. Here is the list so far:

 

Games to Get

GTA: San Andreas

Okami

Bully

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

Final Fantasy VII (I know its a PS game)

Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy XII

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven

Xenosaga

Xenosaga II

Xenosaga III

Games to look into

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

Gran Turismo 4

God of War

God of War II

Ratchet & Clank

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Dark Cloud

Dark Cloud 2

Kingdom Hearts II

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Star Ocean

Wild Arms 4

Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

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Is there anything I missed? Anything need to be taken off? If so please tell me. I have compiled this list based off of mostly Gamespot's highest rated games and from suggestions given to me by people in my last blog. If there are any other suggestions that you have for me please do not hesitate to suggest them. Again, I love a great story.

Now I am going to ask a favor of all of you. I know only a few of you will do it but that is OK. As you know my goal is to buy all of the Ps2 games that I have never had without destroying my wallet too much. What I am trying to do is to get a free $300 gift card from a referal site. In this site I refer people and when I get enough, I get a prize. I recently saw another member of Gamespot, EarthKing get a free Ps3 and 360 from these sites so I decided to do it myself. So if you would help me, would be most grateful. All you have to do is to go here: ps3.f4e1.com/index.php?referral=115 and create an account. You may want to try to get the stuff yourself or you can do nothing with it. Once you create your account, I will get my referal. I have two already, I just need 5 more to get my gift card. Read their terms and conditions if you want to know if you can trust them. Thanks.

 

In some gaming news, I have reached my 1000 achievement point mark. A very exciting day for me. I got it through playing GRAW, CoD3, Uno, Gears, Geometry Wars, Oblivion, and maybe one or two others.

In other news I have won myself a free CoD3 shirt from an OTS trivia question. However I do not know which episode it was from or which question I answered. The shirt is also an XXL...I am a medium. That creates kind of a problem there doesn't it.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Yeah so my PS2 just game into the mail. It was supposed to be for Christmas from my cousin who stopped playing games but it was decided that it would be held until now.


To go with this, I got GTA: Vice City and Secret Weapons Over Normandy...Or something like that. I've always wanted to play GTA so this will be great. I've started playing it and it is pretty fun so far. It is like an Oblivion with guns sort of. I'll probably sell the other game because it didn't score too well at Gamespot.

Well thats it for now. I need to see what my next Ps2 game is going to be because there were so many great Ps2 games.

Right now I am starting to get back into games and Gamespot is taking a slightly lesser role in my life. Thanks to Medieval II: Total War, I have been reintroduced in to the wonders of gaming.


I got this game from a friend and have been playing the single player on it. It is amazing. At first I was really skeptical about this game because I have played many other strategy games after Starcraft and none of them have really impressed me leading me to believe that the RTS genre was dead. But now I tried it out and I have been wasting my life in it during the weekends. It is just so addicting...

Another reason why I am getting more into games is because of my 360. I just got XBL Gold and I am starting to play online. I have also gotten Gears of War which makes for a fun online experience.


In addition to Gears, I have been playing Call of Duty 3 and GRAW. I just plan to play these two until I get all of the achievements though.

Other games that I have gotten are Final Fantasy VII for the PC. I got it for a penny and I hear that it is supposed to be a "revolutionary" experience.

Syberia is a game that I have mentioned before that I got but because of some serious glitches I couldn't play it. I found out recently that there were patches to it so I should get started on that pretty soon.

I don't know if I will be getting into hardcore gaming anytime soon but I will be moving out of the "playing games casually" era that I have been in ever since I discovered the wonders of Gamespot.

Well, thanks for listening to my blog! :) Hope to see you again!