First off, happy new year, even though I had to work. Second, these are games who are celebrating birthdays today! (in chronological order):     Final Fantasy VIII (PC) - (8 years old) - The PC version wasn't as great, but the PS version was definitely my favorite FF of all time.  Resident Evil 2 (PS) - (10 years old) - Can't frickin believe 10 years ago today I was at the store picking up this incredible classic. Again, best in series, imo. Scary as hell, too. Played through it atleast a dozen times, I can even remember playing through while visiting an aunt in about 3 hours.  Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (PC) - (13 years old) - The beginning of a great series, the last of which I'm ass deep in now.  [url=http://www.gamespot.com/genesis/action/mortalkombat3/index.html]Mortal Kombat 3 (GEN) - (13 years old) - Certainly not the best in series, but before MK went downhill, none-the-less.  [url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/7thguest/index.html]The 7th Guest (PC) - (14 years old) - The first PC game to be released on CD, T7G was perhaps the best game of all time for setting a creep atmosphere, challenging you with great puzzles, and jumpstarting PC gaming as we know it.  Alone in the Dark (PC) - (15 years old) - Don't believe Uwe Boll's movie, the game really isn't that bad, in fact, it's incredible. Play it. Nothing more needs be said.  Streets of Rage (GEN) - (17 years old) - I never got into SoR1, but I played 2 a lot, and LOVED the brawling violence!  Wing Commander (PC) - (17 years old) - The beginning of the great space combat sim ever. Provided an unusually great environment for its day, with visuals outside of just active gameplay.  Bionic Commando (NES) - (19 years old) - One of the best NES games ever. Play it.  Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) - (19 years old) - My second least favorite Mario, just behind Super Mario Sunshine. Some people really like it, though. Gotta admit, it did have a great ending.  Kid Icarus (NES) - (20 years old) - A great classic, didn't play it too much, though.  Mike Tyson's Punchout!! (NES) - (20 years old) - If you haven't played Punch Out, then stop reading this and go jump off a bridge. Simple as that.  Mario Bros. (NES) - (22 years old) - One of the first Mario games. Kinda blew, though. Wasn't much to it.     Well, there's the list, hope you saw something you liked.  Current gamerscore stands at: 31,672 Current world gamerscore rank: 12,145 

As if I couldn't lose anymore respect for GS this year, they sneak this one in at the finish line. I mean, come on, SMG beat out Bioshock, CoD4, Forza 2, Halo 3, Rock Band, and the Orange Box?! I was shocked to see that I was in the 7% minority by voting for the Orange Box. It's 5 incredible games in 1. The greatest value in gaming history was topped by a game that I have had for a month and can't manage to play for more than 20 minutes at a time?

I think I'm gonna go emo, cuz cutting myself is the only way I can see to relieve this stress.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,672

Current world gamerscore rank: 12,101

After over 4 years, and endless trashing of it, I've finally been weakened enough to give WoW a shot. Maybe it was the fact that all my friends have been playing for years (and no longer play), maybe it was all the ads they've been putting out lately, or maybe I was just trying to test the game-ability of my Macbook. Ok, it was mostly the latter. Who would have thought that Macs could play games? I've got a bottom of the line Macbook, no video card, just an integrated video chip, and upgraded memory from 512MB to 2GB; and it's shockingly good at playing games.

I've tested out a few games on it so far over the past couple weeks, even though I've had it for over a year. I got to demo KOTOR, and even though it's an old game, it looks great on my little laptop. And WoW is running at a beautiful 60 fps.

I really had no intention of playing WoW for more than just a few minutes. Hell, I never even thought it would run. Spending a day on that 4GB download just to run the game nearly caused me to abandon the whole idea of Mac gaming altogether. But, I finished the d/l, installed and ran it, and loved what I saw. As a Final Fantasy XI player of over 700 hours, I was very used to that MMORPG gameplay. Compared to FFXI, WoW seems much fresher, and more PC-esque gameplay (vs console gameplay), although much less intimate.

The learning curve on FFXI seemed much lower, as I'm level 6 and still have little to no idea what I'm doing in WoW. I was trying to become a healer, but I didn't see anything like that on the character creation. The closest I found was a Priest, but the description didn't sound like a healer. So, I'm playing as a tiny little...thing....can't remember what the race name is, and I appear to be some kind of mage, although I don't have any "white magic" spells. The game seems like a lot of fun so far (which really scares me, as it took months to break the FFXI addiction), but I'm having a tough time surviving on my own, and the server always seems to be empty.

I haven't bought the game yet, I'm still in the demo period, but unless I start seeing more people online, I'm going to assume the ads are a last ditch effort to get new players, and just go back to console gaming.

With that being said, if anyone could help get me started and teach me the basics, I'd much appreciate it.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,672
Current world gamerscore rank: 11,626

Gamespot has done something despicable. A good friend, Jeff Gerstmann, who you probably know from doing most of the reviews (and all the reliable ones, these days) on Gamespot, has been royally screwed over. You've probably heard by now (but shut up, I've been working a lot!), but Jeff was fired from Gamespot because CNet had the bad sense to take lots of money to run ads for Kane and Lynch, which isn't bad in itself, but what happened afterwards was. Turns out, the game's awful. Really, it sucks, I know. But one man had the stones to say it. Which man, you ask? THE MAN GAMESPOT HIRED TO ******* SAY IT!!!!

Jeff Gerstmann is a Gamespot institution in himself. Without him, we've got Matt Rorie, and not much else. As for full exploring games and giving them complete, fair reviews, we got jack left. So, I urge you: if you enjoyed Jeff Gerstmann, between his telling you the greatest ways to get 360 achievements and his great reviews and videos, as well as various video features, please let your voice be heard. If you have a paid subscription, I urge you to cancel it, as I have mine. That's right, I've been a paying Gamespot member for over 4 years now, but have cancelled my subscription for the first time ever. Also, go to the Kane & Lynch page and give it the score it should get, abysmal: 1.0. You can make a difference. Don't support Gamespot if this is the way they choose to do business. This is a lot more than just power hungry mods and rediculous suspensions, this is a good man's livelihood, who was extremely good at his job.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,672
Current world gamerscore rank: 9,856

[edit] also, a lot of people are putting related images as their avatar. here's one for those interested:
http://ui12.gamespot.com/139/jeff100percentcopy.jpg

I'm having a lot of trouble putting a lot of time in on Mass Effect. One of the majors problems is that it can be REALLY hard. Depending on how you play the game, what skills you focus on, and which route you take through the game, the difficulty can vary hugely. And, unfortunately, I've been getting hit pretty hard. I'm about 11 hours in, and I'm really stretching it out as much as possible, so I think I'll get a good 40+ hours out of the game, but I'm having a lot of trouble advancing. I'm playing on Normal, but have actually changed the difficulty to casual on a couple of battles, but that didn't even help. I'm really hoping this turns around, this seems to be the biggest hurting factor to the game so far, and it'd be awful if I can't finish the game because of this.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,672
Current world gamerscore rank: 9,508

I arrived several hours early last night to my Halo 2/3 waiting spot, the Issaquah, Washington Gamestop. I knew they were doing a midnight release (it was a joint release for Mass Effect and Rock Band, I think I made the right choice), but I was very disappointed at the turnout. For the game that promises to be better than Halo 3 and even game of the year, there was no line. Rather, a few dozen of us just kind of stuck it out in our cars in the parking lot. LAME! Anyway, got it at midnight, played for a few minutes, then passed out. 

I've been really sick over the past week, so it was little issue calling into work today and telling them I needed a personal. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss an important lecture in my astronomy ****today because I didn't do my homework! Anyway, I woke up early today and got to work on the Effect, and here's what I'm gotten out of it so far:

It's KOTOR! lol. Seriously, it's extremely similar to Knights of the Old Republic, which was also a BioWare action/rpg. However, minus the Star Wars elements, Mass Effect seems to be better in every way that was improvable. The fps (well, over the shoulder, anyway) ****gameplay in an rpg it awesome, very enjoyable, since rpg and fps are my two favorite gaming ****. Also, there are a lot more attributes to increase with each level, even different ones for different ****s. And the presentation is incredible: top knotch voice acting, great artistic and technical detailing, and very cinematic camera interactions.

The only negative I've noticed so far is that it seems to be a bit too much for the 360. I would compare it to each time I used to try to play Half-Life 2 with my old GeForce 5200 graphics card and 1.3ghz processor. Unsuccessful. The load times, surprisingly, are not bad, but the cgi scenes can be very choppy, with framerates sometimes hitting down to, or even below 1 fps. Yeah, kinda scary. Other downside: I was pretty close to finishing Twilight Princess (highly recommended, btw), but now I must take a break, and taking breaks is very bad for the future of a game in my history.

Well, you've wasted enough of my time, I'm headed back to space.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,582
Current world gamerscore rank: 9,259

Late in the day for this, I know, but I worked hard today, and just found this upon arriving home. As my loyal blog readers (that's you!) know, I like to point out days when some great games celebrate big birthdays. Hell, I was the one who told you all about Zelda's 20th birthday a few months ago! So, without further ado (that's a funny word, innit?), here's the list of games celebrating their birthdays on November 7th.

Gears of War (Xbox 360) - (1 year old) - Wow, can GoW really be a year old already?! We all know GoW pwns, nothing more need be said.

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2) - (1 year old) - Super rad. Great sequel. If you haven't played yet, it's got Freebird, nothing more need be said ;).

Guitar Hero (PS2) - (2 years old) - Building onto and improving the concept started with Guitar Freaks, Guitar Hero brough guitar playing fun to those who cannot play the real thing, and many who can.

Kameo: Elements of Power (Xbox 360) - (2 years old) - I only mention Kameo because it was a wayyyy overrated piece of ****. I reallllly hated Kameo, and wish it would just burn in hellfire for all eternity. High up on my worst games of all time list. Also released on the same day was.....

The Matrix: Path of Neo (PS2) - (2 years old) - Very underappreciated. Certainly had issues, and the graphics sucked, but it's an Atari game that focuses on that concept that Atari brought to us before anybody else in the gaming industry: fun. If you haven't had the chance, I really liked this game, and would recommend you give this one a try, especially since you can get it for dirt cheap now.

Shenmue (DC) - (7 years old) - Yes, that's right. THE Shenmue! On my top 10 greatest games of all time list, Shenmue was the highlight of the year 2000 for me. However, Frank Provo disagrees. Seriously, a 7.8?! Thank God he's no longer representing the site! The average user gave the game a 9.1! That guy was such a casual. Anyway, amazing game, if you haven't played it, crawl out from under your rock and get on it!!!

Nice list, eh? Not bad, Shenmue, GoW, and 2 Guitar Heroes, definitely worth mentioning. Well, until next time....

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,557
Current world gamerscore rank: 9,481

So, I log into my 360 today and open up the guide blade to notice the coolest thing in gaming history, know what it is? Here's a hint: it's "elite."

Give up yet? My gamerscore is 31337!!!!!!!! Thanks to the Orange Box, I now have the most coveted nerd number (better than 1337) as my gamerscore!!!!! I may never get another achievement again!

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,337
Current world gamerscore rank: 9,029

This is me bein so f'ing happy! I've wanted a Wii for so long, way more so since PAX, where I finally got some time to play one. Between that and my 360, I'll finally have the ultimate gaming setup! Here's the ad for what I'm getting:

"I have a Nintendo wii which has about nineteen klassik (gs won't allow you to spell it with c's?!)games liek Mario Kart 64, ghould and ghost etc.. It comes with all original equipment plus a klassik controller and an extra wii controller.
Super Mario Bros.
Ristar
Castlevania IV
Street Fighter II
Zelda
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Mario 64
Super Star Soldier
Gunstar Heroes
Dungeon Explorer
Mariokart 64
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario World
Kirby's Adventure
Starfox 64
Ninja Gaiden
Mystical Ninja
Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts
Pac-man"

Sounds rad! So, I had a focus group (which I can't divulge details of, by contract!), and got paid with a copy of Windows Vista Premium. Since Vista sucks and I use a Mac, I decided to get rid of it. So, I put in a cragslist ad, and I'll be trading this dude $200, Bioshock, Test Drive Unlimited, Viva Pinata, and Vista. Since I'm mostly done with Bioshock for now and can buy it again later for much cheaper, I hated Viva Pinata, and I've already completed TDU 3 times, I think this'll be a good deal for both of us. If all goes well, I'll be a proud new Wii owner by 2pm tomorrow!!!!!

dya out!

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,032
Current world gamerscore rank: 8,526

Well, it's that time again, kiddies, and I'm getting my time per 1,000 down again. It'll help when I can finally renew my Gamefly account. Well, as always, here's the rundown:

Days since 30,000: 14 days

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (25 new points) - Haven't been playing it as much as I'd like to, since school has been keeping me pretty busy, but I'm still definitely loving the fact that they read my mind and brought this game to XBLA!

Condemned: Criminal Origins (430 new points) - Finally finished it 100%, making Condemned my 8th 100% completed full retail game. I DEFINITELY recommend this game to any sort of fan of the survival horror genre, or just scary things in general. An outstanding and underrated game that you can easily find for under $20 (awesome value!).

Forza Motorsport 2 (0 new points) - All they had to say was Lamborghini Miura, and I was all psyched up to play again! Seriously, one of my alltime favorite cars. The Miura even made it to Test Drive: Unlmited, which is one of my other favorite racing games. Anyway, the Miura rocks all, and the new concept Miura is absolutely incredible. I want one sooo bad, and it really owns on the track. Very cool to see it in Forza. The Challengers are very cool, too ;).

Halo 3 (555 points) - Booyah. I was the first out of about 500 people in line at my local Gamespot. I waited for 9 hours in the cold, but it was soooo great. We had a power inverter and a tv and xbox, and were playing 8 player Halo 2 against a few other guys who brought similar products further back in the line. Definitely the most fun line I've ever been in, I'll post pics and vids later. As for the game, there was definitely some frustration, and I broke another damn controller while playing :cry:, but Halo 3 definitely uproots Halo 2 as the second best game in the series. Very good use of achievements, as well, really making you want to work for them.

Current gamerscore stands at: 31,032
Current world gamerscore rank: 8,172