So yeah, welcome to the yearly edition of gale's blog, where I, yearly, write something dumb and useless. :D

Well, what a year had it been from me. Since the last blog, I'd moved across continent, back to my home country. No longer will I need to endure myself with all the kebabs and burgers (and pizzas). Now I can eat nasi lemak and roti canai instead! Woohoo! My 2 years stay in Leeds was, in a word, awesome. I never been oversea, or been away from my family for a long period of time prior to that, but at the end it was worth it. I learn a lot bout myself, good and bad, and also that Scousers are from another planets! :P

What have I been doing for the past year? Programming, that's what. I started back my education bout 7 months ago, at a local uni, and are on the verge of finishing a demo for my group's first game. :) It's a side scrolling platformer, and it's quite generic(there I said it). Well, you can't expect Limbo-quality for my first proper game, can't you? I'm making it using XNA with a team of 7 artists, with me as the lone programmer. Maybe I'll post some of the art assets later...

And that's that. Thank you for stopping by.

... she would have dumped me by now. Why? Cause I frigging forgot about the anniversary!! :x

Yeah, it was my 5th year here, to this day, um, a month ago. A lot had happened and changed, to me and to this site, some for the better, others for worse. But I still come here, day and night, week in and week out, not for just the gaming info; but to check all the fellow residents of the Gamespot universe. All thanks to you guys, who added so much life to this place, and make it such a wonderful place to be in.

Guys like hazelnutman, who can build a stick all on his own and N-REAL, who really wants to pilot AirWolf (if you don't get it, shame on you!), I meant a helicopter. tiggerboy, with the famous funeral scene and flameducky who almost got him leaving.

We also have jg4xchamp, who loves his women and carljohnson3456 who loves one woman. Symphonycometh for his views and the infamous banscythe and stanhigareda whom I know from a defunct union (sigh...).Next we have PJ24, who just started university,katamari who forgot who I was (I'll never forgive you!!! :P), BenderUnit22 is apparently a loli-lover (nothing wong with that), and Azure_Valkyrie, a fanboy of Fate stay/night in case you don't know about his avatar.

Then we have the gals. Sandpiper121PP, which seems to have an infinite pile of games to finish, the L4D pwners MissMorphine, and last but not least kellymae, with her maternal instinct to bring her children home from school for... a round of Halo 3: ODST :D

I know some of you are going, "How dare he forget about me?!!". I don't, and here's a video to prove it.

[video=IXUwxjTw5bIEvTbX]

Secondly, not forgetting about the fabulous staffs, past and present, especially Jody Robinson. Without her, there would have been a civil war by now on Gamespot. And she organized one helluva game night :P

So, thank you guys and gals. It has been a real honour and privilege to make your acquaintances.

It's what I am currently seeing from my PS3.

:cry:

You know what I was doing at that time? Watching iPlayer! Not playing some Killzone 2 or Uncharted! Freaking iPlayer broke my PS3! :evil:

Well, crying and anger aside; you guys have any ideas about how to proceed? The PS3 is a 60gb, and out of warranty. Any good repair shops you know of around UK, if not Leeds?

Should have bought a 360! :P

What have I done?!:shock:

Finally, like the other billion or so people on this beautiful Earth, I have a DS. Some people who know me, probably wondering why did I make such a blasphemous move. I'll answer, "Because of these guys!"

The "Ha-Ha" Brothers

I played Rhythm Heaven on my friend's DS a few weeks ago, and this mini game in particular, kicked my arse so hard, that I vowed to conquer them all. Thus, the reason the DS and Rhythm Heaven in my hands right now. Further game purchases down the line includes Elite Beat Agents, Final Fantasy CC: Echoes of Time and Phantasy Star 0. Any games suggestions are welcome. (No need for the Marios and Zeldas BTW, I already knew about them :P )

Next up. Giveaway!

Yes, you read it right. There is a giveaway with this blog :D

I have a beta code for the MMORPG Aion: Tower of Eternity. It is running this weekend, but I have a football match to attend to, hence the giveaway. Just put something inside your comment, that show you want a crack at this game, and I'll randomly pick a winner using this. A warning though, there is a chance that this is the European closed-beta, so the server might be in Europe (duh!), or it even might not work if you are not from around here. So no promises!

I'll announce the winner tomorrow or Friday.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Apparently no one wants it. Fine, Ill go and take it somewhere else!:evil:

I am not going to go on rambling about the press conferences; you can get better,more thoughtful and organized opinions around the sites. I'll just write what I felt about the big 3 conferences.

1- Microsoft

This is by far the best way to present gaming to its community. Cut all the crap and go straight to the games.

Yeah you get the Facebook and Natal announcements, but it's all sideshow compare to the games. Modern Warfare 2 demo was well done, MGS Rising announcement was superb (now it is coming to the PS3 as well, which is better! ) and ODST will do fine I believe.

Some more notable games; Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Crackdown 2.

2- Nintendo

After the kerfuffle that was E308, Nintendo needs to do better. A heck lot better! They did.

Barely.

My God, don't they know the so called "casual" gamers won't give a poop about this press conference?! Cut the time talking about these casual games and focus more on the games that matter to the people who are watching E3. The only good parts that didn't make me felt sleepy were the first ten and the last ten. Super Mario Galaxy 2 looks like more fun, the new Metroid seems to go back to its roots, and the Wii Vitality is the BOMB!:roll:

Other games that were shown; New Super Mario Bros Wii, Mario & Luigi RPG and Golden Sun.

3- Sony

They start like they usually did, throwing away some numbers like they are presenting a corporate meeting ( which is probably what they were thinking ). After a few minutes, I thought that there was no way that it can top MS's conference. I'm glad I was wrong.

Final Fantasy XIV! I was thrilled! Then come the subtitle "ONLINE".:| Less thrilled but still, I was shell shocked. The demo of GoW III was what I expected, and then some. It was gory, moreso then GoW II. Santa Monica really harnessed the power of the PS3.

Some more games that caught my attention; MAG ( 256 FTW ), ModNation Racers, Assassin's Creed 2 and last but not least, The Last Guardian.

Oh, one more. Hannah Montana dude!:P

The Motion Controls

I am more interested with Natal, than MotionPlus or Sony's motion controller. The possiblity of great gaming experience is higher with Natal, if Milo turns out as what the trailer led me to believe. I am still not a big fan of motion control, maybe Natal will change that.

So, which conference is the best? I gotta go with Sony's, bare in mind that I have a bit of bias with Sony. Second place goes to Microsoft, and last place for Nintendo.

Now back to E3!

Fuwah! Having no connection to the net at home blows big time! 3-freaking-weeks! No more "!" ! I said no more!:x

So, what did I do during the time what I have no internet connection? Play a heck lot of games, and watched a lot of terrestial TV and animes.

Some animes that I can recommend:

1. Bamboo Blade - Story of Muroe High's kendo club. Quite funny

   

2. Rental Magica - Killer OP, here. About a wizard rental operation. Typical anime stuff, but ok.

Managed to finish 2 games, Far Cry 2 and Killzone 2. Guess which one I enjoyed the most?Help myself to this as well

My first platinum:D It is only right to get it from the first game that offered it, Uncharted, and I can't wait to get my hands on the 2nd game.

Owww.... I hate this weather, fluctuating between spring's warmth and winter's cold. Might as well sleep it off.

Till next time :D

p.s. : Is anime a legit word now? No red lines :o

p.p.s. : Sorry about the mess that is this blog. Still not good at using Gamespot blog editor.

p.p.p.s: Swear this is the last one. What is wrong with On the Spot?! It's been a while and still nothing coming out.

A tad too dramatic eh?:P

I mean this type of moving on:

So, like any other things that associated themselves with moving, I won't be able to access the internet from my home, probably for a few days or weeks. I apologize in advance if I don't post comments on any of your blogs.

And somehow I still ain't finish with Killzone 2. I'm stuck with fighting Radek's minions on Veteran difficulty:? The guy that tag along with you for that battle might as well be this cat, at least it bites!

Be seeing you guys in the near future :D

I've been waiting for this! Now it is here, and I can't play multiplayer...:(

Ah, well! Beggars can't be choosers.

Update: Just play a couple of rounds of MP, and it was sweet!

From my short experience with the game, I can tell you it is quite great. The set-pieces are reminiscents of CoD4 ( which is not bad ), but the shooting mechanic is more akin to the Brothers in Arms games. Your gun recoils badly, and to get a headshot is hard, even if you think that you lined up your rifle perfectly. I already knew some people who are skipping KZ2 because of it.

Whoever said co-op is not necessary is quite right, and wrong at the same time. Let me explain. You do not need another player running and gunning with you to enjoy the game. BUT, there is this nagging feeling in my head, " Wish there are my friends right here, playing with me ". I am crossing everything I can, that there will be coop in the future.

So, see you guys later!

Man, this blog had been on my head for a while now. I just did not have the necessary,what is the word... Oh, I was just freaking lazy!:roll:

But, my goodness, what a year it had been. So many great games, with GTA4 at the beginning, MGS4 in the middle, and Resistance 2 at the end. Here is my thought on some of them.

MGS4

Pros

-Great story.

-Improved controls over previous MGS.

-MGO was great fun, until the jerks started filling up the servers.

Cons

- The cutscenes. It is long.

Resistance 2

Pros

-Great overall story

-The bosses are massive!

-Improve weaponry

-Online co-op is fun

Cons

-Firing a weapon is not satisfying

-Single player story left a lot to be desired.

The Netgems

OK... Here is something that I found on the net. It is a flash cartoon call "There she is!!". Good animation, funny story.

LINK

Select English as the menu language then click on amalloc to see the episodes, which there are 5 of them.

Next is DragonBall Abridged, a parody of, yea you guessed it DragonBall. It is created by TeamFourStar. Watch it if you like the "It is over 9000!!".

LINK

Finally, I leave you guys with this. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Quick note: This blog has nothing to do with the beverage with the same name,the law is just some boring physics I learnt during class. Interesting blog post name tho.

Now that is out of the window, it's been a full year since I got my PS3, and I have not regretted one single day of owning it! It has all I need, the games, the streaming from your PC thingie, and most importantly, FREE online play! I don't know why, but I can't bring myself to pay for LIVE, and that was the main reason for me rejecting the 360.

Got myself three new games at ridiculous price. Granted, two of them, is old story (Assassin's Creed and Condemned 2, 13 quid and 15 quid respectively), but the third one FIFA09, £25 from Morrison.

Condemned 2 is as good,if not better, as the first one(played it on a PC), melee combat is strong, investigation is quite nice and the firearms combat blows. Yep, it is still bad, which is weird, considering Monolith also makes F.E.A.R. Is it so hard to walk across the room from one dev team to the other asking for help?

I don't know what to say about Assassin's Creed. On one hand, it is repetitive beyond comparison. On the other hand, doing the repetitive jobs were fun for me. I just do not see myself playing it again after finishing it.

Fifa 09 is good. Nothing else to say, if you like football (soccer) games, get it. If you don't...then it won't change your mind

And I so want my Resistance 2. Curse the gaming industry needs to delay releasing games in the UK!!

Oh, by the way, congratulations (or condolences, depending on who you are) USA, on your new president elect. Hope he will lead you back on track once again.

Level 30 FTW!