Back due to popular demand! It's Xbox reveal event Bingo.
Join us on GameSpot and Twitch tomorrow morning at 9AM PDT for awesome livestream/bingo action!

Right now I'm sitting in a rented apartment in San Francisco. It's sunny outside, there's baseball on the TV and I'm on a laptop trying my best to sum up what fu7ked up set of events landed me here. I'm also reminding myself of how bad I am at creative writing.

I arrived in San Francisco yesterday where I'm staying for about a month to work alongside the US video team in the run-up to E3. Back in 2005 when I used to stay up until midnight to watch On The Spot, I dreamed of another life where I could work in the GameSpot HQ, and be as good at talking about games as the people inside that 640 x 480 frame. I'm not sure if ever really thought it was a possibility. In fact, I'm sure it was just a pipe dream.

Would you employ this man?

I'm sitting here, thinking about the past five years of work to get here, and the only emotion I have to describe this situation is bafflement. I am fu7king baffled that I am sitting here.

I'm baffled that that super-green, idiot kid managed to get this done. I'm baffled that all those people took a risk with me and gave me opportunities. I'm baffled that my fiancé moved to the UK with me so I could try get a job in the industry, and then allowed me to live in a different country for another two years once I did. I'm baffled that anybody watches my videos at all. That my Irish accent carries, that my opinion of games matters, that my jokes are funny. I'm baffled that my professional heroes, the men and women who inspired me to try this line of work, actually know who the hell I am. And that some of them even like me?!

But the most baffling part is that I'm not even the least bit anxious about tomorrow. I've been waiting years to work with the people inside that building, and sitting here with the baseball on, and the sun outside - it's like some strange version of Christmas Eve. Where on Christmas Day you work like a horse to collaborate with talented people and create amazing videos about video games. I cannot wait.

Before posting this, I just spent a few minutes reading my old blogs and I spotted something. Tomorrow, the first day I walk into that office, is 3 hours shy of being exactly 7 years from my first blog post on GameSpot.

Baffling.

So I spent the past two months chipping away on this idea, and we put it up on the site today.

[video=6407898]

I wanna thanks Clare, Tyler, Lucy, Dave and Alexander for taking the time to talk to me. There are some really good discussions going on over on the video page  if anybody is interested.

I'd love to write a full blog about all this, but frankly this project has been really draining. Perhaps in a few weeks!

This was probably a bad idea.

[video=6406805]

The marketing for Tomb Raider was a disaster from start to finish. To see a great game reduced to cheap exposure tactics and appalling trailers for the entirely of its pre-release window was maddening.

The 'Reborn' trailer was the final straw, so I decided to take a shot across the bow of Square Enix's marketing department with my own take.

[video=6404675]

We shot and edited this in about 4 hours. The lines could have been funnier, but an evening was all I was willing to give to it if I'm honest. I'd love to talk about the game myself, but I'm under embargo here. I will next week, but Carolyn's review is spot-on as far as I'm concerned.

[video=6403895]

Oh man I better start writing this PS3 episode.

I gotta say I'm pretty stoked to be back on this. I miss my little stupidly named show. As ever I'm TAKING SUGGESTIONS! Though it's fair to say you guys are running out. We've almost done the top 15 most requested.

@dannyodwyer on the Twitter if you have any questions but you don't have a GameSpot account.

Hey folks,

Here are the game and event details on this year's Year in the Life of a gamer video. If you don't know what that is, you can watch it here! Main events are noted in Red. GameSpot friends in green.
If you have any questions stick them in the comments.
Thanks for watching, and Happy New Year!

MUSIC USED
Jackin by Gareth Johnson
Shoes by Alex Arcoleo / Alyusha Chagrin
Get Your Thing On by Barrie Gleddon / Tim Reilly / Jason Pedder
Shells by Health (Max Payne 3)
Glitter Sticker by Bradley/Sanchez/Dymond/Wassall
Miami Disco by Perturbator (Hotline Miami)

185 GAMES IN TOTAL

January
NFL Blitz
Dustforce
NeverDead
Soulcalibur V
Final Fantasy XIII-2

February
Rhythm Heaven Fever
Resident Evil: Revelations
Grand Slam Tennis 2
Warp
Microsoft Flight
Asura's Wrath
The Darkness II
Shank 2
Crusader Kings II
Gotham City Impostors
Tekken 3D: Prime Edition
Twisted Metal
Dear Esther
Binary Domain
Nexuiz
Syndicate
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
UFC Undisputed 3
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
38 Studios Closure
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
SSX
PlayStation Vita Launch
Frobisher Says
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Hot Shots Golf: World International
Wipeout 2048
Little Deviants

March
GameSpot "Guy Cocker Lol" Sticker
Lone Survivor
Vessel
Journey
Mass Effect 3
FIFA Street
I Am Alive
Tales of Graces
Shoot Many Robots
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Silent Hill: Downpour
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13
Ridge Racer Unbounded
MotorStorm: RC
Ninja Gaiden 3
Street Fighter X Tekken
Angry Birds Space
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Armored Core V
Major League Baseball 2K12
MLB 12: The Show
Sine Mora
Giant Bomb Joins CBSi

April
The Walking Dead
Risen 2: Dark Waters
Skullgirls
Tribes: Ascend
Fez
Blacklight: Retribution
Prototype 2
Legend of Grimrock
The Splatters
Trials Evolution
Kinect Star Wars
UEFA Euro 2012

May
Sergio Aguero's thrilling Premier League winner
Diablo III
Dragon's Dogma
Dirt: Showdown
Resistance: Burning Skies
Sorcery
Minecraft XBLA
Starhawk
PixelJunk 4am
Fable Heroes
Sniper Elite V2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Awesomenauts
Max Payne 3

June
Lollipop Chainsaw
Inversion
Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
Quantum Conundrum
Thomas Was Alone
The Amazing Spider-Man
Day Z
Spec Ops: The Line
Revolution / War / Protest - Footage from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Greece & Spain
Civilization V: Gods & Kings
London 2012: The Official Video Game
London 2012 Olympics

July
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
The Secret World
Wreckateer
Orcs Must Die! 2
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Spelunky
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

August
Curiosity Rover Landing on Mars
Waking Mars (Launched on iOS earlier in the year. Greenlight success story)
Steam Greenlight Launches
Sound Shapes
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Persona 4 Arena
Deadlight
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Madden NFL 13
Hybrid
The Last Story
Darksiders II
Sleeping Dogs
Rock Band Blitz
Papo & Yo
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Guild Wars 2

September
Joe Danger 2: The Movie
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
FTL: Faster Than Light
Mark of the Ninja
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Borderlands 2
F1 2012
Tokyo Jungle
Torchlight II
FIFA 13
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
Bad Piggies
NHL 13
The NHL Lockout
Black Mesa
Dead or Alive 5
Fart Cat (Featuring GameSpot LIVE Hall of Famer Rich Gallup)

October
Felix Baumgartner Space Jump
Hotline Miami
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
Resident Evil 6
Dishonored
Retro City Rampage
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Dance Central 3
Painkiller: Hell & Damnation
Just Dance 4
Gangnam Style
Doom 3: BFG Edition
Dragon Ball Z For Kinect
Assassin's Creed III
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game
Of Orcs and Men
WWE '13
Natural Selection 2
Forza Horizon (Featuring GameSpot Hall of Famer Brian Ekberg)
NBA 2K13
007 Legends
Skylanders: Giants
Fable: The Journey
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Tropical Storm Sandy
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Sports Champions 2
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
The Unfinished Swan
Pid
Games Journalism

November
Super Hexagon
Halo 4
F1 Race Stars
LittleBigPlanet Karting
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Wonderbook
Hitman: Absolution
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Football Manager 2013
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Football Manager 2013
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
US Election
Wii U Launch
ZombiU
Nintendo Land
New Super Mario Bros. U
Scribblenauts Unlimited
PlanetSide 2

December
Far Cry 3
EvE Online: Retribution
Guardians of Middle-earth
December 21st - End of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar
Hawken
Mega Man X Street Fighter
Christmas & New Years

Last year I made this video in our video team's December lull. It's basically a musical montage of the year's releases along with notable events as seen through the eyes of a gamer.

Well, another year, another lazy December so I decided to do it all over again. This years video is a bit longer (12 minutes) and has a few more games (185 in total) but hopefully it works as well.

It will be live on the site on New Years Eve (December 31st). But ff you fancy a sneak peak, the homepage graphic I made for it showcases a few of the highlights.

I'm gonna write a blog about the madness of this year in the coming days, but if you're signing off the site for the break - I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. Looking forward to 2013 already.

Oh, and here's a little preview I stuck on YouTube last week. (Thanks finalcross!)

5 - Cheat codes for FIFA 13

4 - Theme Hospital 2

3 - Fable 4 Mountain Dew

2 - The cure for cancer

1 - Unreal Tournament 2013

What do you want in the cube?

[video=6398410]

What? 24 Gaming marathon. 24 games from 24 years in 24 hours.
When? This Saturday, 6PM GMT, 10am PDT, 1PM EDT, 4AM Australia!
Why? As part of Extra Life - an annual gaming charity event. And because, you know. I'd be doing it anyway.

DONATE HERE NOW WOOOHOOO!