After playing Halo 3 practically none stop, all be it the little pause of two weeks it took for my 360 to get back from repair, I have finally got all 1000/1000 achievements from this game, now im no achievement junkie but as im a die hard Halo fan I wanted this for a number of reasons, firstly just as its Halo 3 and I like the game that much and secondly because of this new armor I got. How freakin cool is this, ever since seeing the security armour I have wanted it and finally got it, and without cheating or boosting my achievementsI may add, which I hate when I go into a game and theres always some ten year old kid going "Anyone want the Overkill achievement".

Anyhow I have also purchased COD 4 and I may add that both single player and multi player of this game are amazing, the multiplayer is stunning and the single player is easilly its strongest point, big dramatic fire fights, amazing scrpted sequences, great weapon balancing audio and characters, it is a amazing game, that i highly reccomend.

And finally if you get the time or even get the chance to read this check out myfile shareif you can please download and comment a few of my videos, clips and images and rate please, thats it for now see you all on Halo. Just search me in bungie.net and type in Duality90, I did put a link but Gamespot wouldent allow it to work due to some error.

As some of you guys probably do or dont know depending on whether you read my last blog or not but I purchased The Darkness last week, after missing out on Riddik on the xbox, thankfully a remake is coming out on the 360 but anyway after missing out on Riddik I didnt want to miss out on this game by Starbreeze after hearing great things about it and the fact I have been tracing its progress since I heard about it in E3 05.

My impressions on this game are very simple, to put things straight this is the most imersive, most engadging, and some of the most fun that I have had in an fps and can only compaire as regards storytelling, character building and such to the likes of half life 2, its that good. The game looks absoloutly outstanding, in my opinion in times as good or even better than gears of war, the enviroments are highly detailed with sharp high res textures and with the amazing HDR lighting as well really adds to the realisium. The characters that you experience in the game are amazing fun and each have there own personality and are distinctly different from one another either how they act around you or how they go about life. An example of this would be jacckies gilfriend jenny, you get to her appartment on your 21'st birthday, you sit next to her this still all in game so you still controll it on the coutch, she gets up to close the windo as shes cold, as she sits down she then grabs hold of your hand, then beggins to cuddle up and finally kiss your character, now this is so realistic and such a great scene of emotion that I can only again compaire to the likes of Halo and Half life series, and in most cases a hollywood movie.

I can really see myself playing this game over and over again, and though the multiplayer feels a bit tacke on and if you get a bad connection the lag is the worst I have ever seen but still on the other hand this game in my opinion is one of the best games out at this moment and from a story point perspective is deffinatley one of the best games out there, so as you can tell I highly reccomend this game, if you havent got it yet go out and buy it, it is an absoloute gem of a game.

Well this past week or two weeks well too make simplar on June 18th I turned 17, well this was brought with the usuall cards and money, now usually there is a sumer draught of games, now this would not be the case if I hd not already had purchased Forza Motorsport 2 or Command and Conquer 3, both tremendous games by the way. Thankfully another game is here that of the form of the darkness, I have been following this one for a while and from the reviews, forum topics and one of my mates has borrowed it the opinions that I have from the game are well lets just say I have always kept tabs on this title and with all this exposure since it came out and how much of a great game at action, storytelling and also being a graphical showpiece as it is it is hard to resist, and I said I wasnt gonna buy anymore games :S

Now onto my nintendo wii that I got about3 weeks after launch, to tell the truth I absoloutley love the console I have quite a few games for it, but again to tell you the truth I havent had the time for it, well I do but my 360 has been taking up all my spare time I have at home if im not out doing work listening to music im usually playing my 360 or watching movies on it, its became my central media hub for my room. Now dont get me wrong I love my Wii and sometime later this month im gonna sit down and play it none stop, as I still have Zelda TP, Wario Ware smooth Moves to complete.

Regarding my Wii I am going to be purchasing Resi 4 on it indefinatley as I missed out on the Cube version as I didnt own a cube till very recently and that was my sisters so yeah.....

Regarding the Wii again there has been a massive dent in my gaming joys this month after the hearing of the ban of manhunt 2, nw before anyone says anything regarding the fact that oh it should be banned and your only 17 so your underage whether or not it was or wasnt banned, but that is souly the point why are people getting targeted and being in a way branded psycopaths just becasue they have a game that has a high level of violence, now I havent played Manhunt 2 so I dont know what to expect but I have played and completed Manhunt many times over and yes it is controversial, yes it is violent, but thats the point of it, the thing is the media is getting targeted for way too many things now adays, and games are becoming the main target slowley but surely, now take the murdering of the young kid that was linked to the original manhunt game, now I have read up on this topic a number of times as I am studying children and the media in Media studies at college, now the funny thing is that yes one of them had the game but that was the guy that was murdered and the murdered was found to be linked with drug-related robbery, now this kid is linked with drugs and robberies yet a video game that he didnt have made him do it, these people forget to mention all this till the end, People need to chill out in my opinions and need to study the facts more.

Yes I agree games that genrally were to say killing is goo should be banned, but manhunt in my opinion though you have an involvement as you are part of a visuall world is no way near as worse as something as say Saw series or say Hostel, and untill people start revealing the facts on these twisted induviduals that cant tell games from relaity genrally good franchises such as Manhunt, GTA and others are gonna continue to get banned. I just hope Rockstar can get this game out as the first game was a n amazing showpiece, had a great narrative, though slightly cliche'd, amazing action, cast and overall a great game, aside if this controversy over Manhunt 2 haddnt happened I wouldent have a Media Project :D

Hoping to start playing Forza Motorsport this month a lot more as I havent had a chance to have a long sit down with it as still playing Gears, Rainbow six and after recently buying C and C I havent gave it much attention, well I have just not as much as the others, though the 5-8 hours i have played Forza 2 so far I have loved it, though I did have a scare the other day I was playing forza motorsport 2 and I finished a race, my connectiion had been playing me up all day and after finishing the race the game was trying to upload my lap times to the leaderboards, it was taking its time and I thought it may have been just my connection then bam 3 red lights........my face dropped and I just thought not now, I read up the error code and thankfully it was a minor error that once the console rebooted it was gone no red lights no problems at all, so I suppose not all red lights are that bad.....

Yet again still not full fuctional on unions as still yet to have time but 6 weeks holidays are coming soon so I should be more active, anyhow if you feel like a game on gears of war, again I mention this message my gamertag and I will gladley give you a game, anyhow thats it for now.

I had typed a lot more but deleted it by accident after clicking back a few times and im lazy so ill keep as short as possible.....

 Basically I have been absent from gamespot for a while due a number of things mainly because of college work and that I was spending too much time on the P.C, i am going to be making an effort to return posting in all my unions again and hopefully i will see you all there too.

Thirdly I am always seen on Xbox live on a number of games but if you guys have a clan on say Rainbow Six Vegas or gears of war and want a match just message me and i will try to arrange something, m and my mates are rgularry online and will gladley give ouy guys a game. Gears of war is another reason why Im hardley online, I love that damn game :P

Recently brought C & C 3, and will be getting Forza 2 this week, C & C 3 all I can say is amazing, it plays well, hard to get used to at first but once your used to it its a gem to play, and forza 2 in its self looks amazing and i loved the demo so should be a great purchase.

Anyhow said it was gonna be short so thats about it for now.

Since Christmas I have been having the time of my life as regards gaming, not only due to the purchases that I have been able to make due to the money I was given at Christmas but a mixture of sheer luck (which isn't like me) and generous relatives.

At Christmas I brought with my money Gears Of War, Splinter Cell Double Agent and was given as a surprise Viva Pinata Special Edition pack. Now usually 3 games will be all I get for Christmas but I also acquired Xbox Live, now 3 games and Xbox live for me suits me down to the ground, hell just Xbox Live would have been fine, but I still had some money left over and decided maybe one more game wont hurt.

I decided to go out to my local GAME store about 2 weeks after Christmas and brought Rainbow Six Vegas, my aunt had came with me as she had recently brought a Nintendo Wii for herself and her Son, individually and she was buying a few games, she gave me back £10 and so Id only spent £29.99 for Vegas, so I still had about £20.00 left over.

In this time I had been playing for ages down my mates G.R.A.W and had been loving it and decided that I was going to save up for G.R.A.W, I went out 1 weeks later in the January sales and brought it for £15.00. Now before you guys say spoilt, im not this Christmas I have been as I just got money and have used it wisely through bargains and generous relatives, usually I will get brought about 1-2 games and then get money but this year was different for some reason.

Also I intended to just get Pro Evolution Soccer 6 instead of Rainbow and G.R.A.W as Id seen it for £19.99 but as my Aunt had brought her son it for Christmas along with 5 games one being PES 6, he didn't like it, so she sold it me for £19.99 after Id got G.R.A.W and RSV.

Anyhow I then realized that Lost Planet was to be released very soon and decided that I will buy it when I have the money, at my current rate would take about 6 weeks to get, but this is just pure luck, I woke up one morning and found a letter addressed to me which I found weird, I though it was a letter from collage or something, I opened it...

Dear Mr Bates

We are pleased to say that your numbers have been drawn out and that you have won £50.00 on your premium bonds.

This is like a 1 in 1,000 thing to happen, my nan has been doing premium bonds since they started for me and this is the first time I have actually won anything, not just premium bonds but in general, I never really win anything that needs luck like lottery or raffles so this baffled me, you can guess where the money went, Limited Edition Lost Planet.

The luck and good fortune doesn't end there either, my aunt visited before I had got Lost Planet about a week before and handed me and my brother and sister a bag, she said that she has brought it as an early birthday gift for us all, we opened it and it was a Nintendo Wii and 5 games.

So as you guys can probably tell I have had the best luck off my life as regards games this year already, In total I have been brought, purchased myself or been given 12 games and a Nintendo Wii.

Games Purchased Since Christmas 2006

Splinter Cell Double Agent - £29.99 (Brand New in Sale)

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 - £19.99 (Brand New)

Rainbow Six Vegas - £29.99 (Brand New Aunt Paid £10.00)

G.R.A.W - £15.00 (Brand New In Sale)

Lost Planet Limited Edition - £39.99 (Brand New)

Was Given For Christmas

Gears Of War - £37.99 (Brand New)

Viva Pinata Limited Edition - £39.99 (Brand New)

Was Given as Early Birthday Gift For Me, Brother and Sister

Nintendo Wii

3 Wii Motes

Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess

Monster 4x4

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz

Wii Play

Wii Sports

I don't think I will be getting any games for a long long time now. I have never got this many games in this short periods of time ever, granted I did have some damn good fortune and my Aunt has been very generous, but still I would usually be brought 2 games and then go out and buy another, to get this many games is just amazing.

Sorry for all jealous people that read this im jealous of my self, and believe me Im not spoilt this is just luck that I have managed to get this many games like this, and im not usually very lucky.

Thanks for reading.

Yup I am back...with a vengance.

A big sorry goes out to all my unions that I am officer with, thanks for sticking with me and not demoting me on my abcence, I will make it up to your guys.

It turned out that my internet connection was fine but my P.C wasnt wireless enabled so we brought a new P.C and hey presto...the internet is working.

I will be back to full speed tomorow posting on all my unions and stuff and telling you random things that have happened since now and the last time I was properly on this website, well Ill let you into a little secret, I got a WII :D

Anyhow If you have Xbox Live and want to add me simply add Duality90, also essage me and tell me your Gs addy just so I know it aint some random person.

That I am sorry to all my unions that I havent been active in a few weeks its not due to me not wanting to be active or just simply not been online its due to im not been able to access the internet through my P.C at home, I switched internet service providers to sky broadband and can access Xbox Live but at the moment canot access my internet, we have called out a technition but he has yet to come to our house.

Sorry again for the complications this may arrise, I will get on the internet asap when my internet is working properly only I am sending this blog from a mates house.

Add me on Xbox Live here.

My tag is Duality90

I was just this minute reading through peoples blogs that had been posted on Gamespot's Soapbox and then as I got half way down I stopped and realised that my Halo 3 editorial  had been featured, I then clicked on my profile link with a big smile on my face wating in expectation of a new shiney new badge to show of my editorial abilities, then I just stared.

But...but....where is teh Badge :cry: ?

Oh well, if its just me gettoing the wrong impresion here but Im sure if you get featured on Gamespots Soapbox your supposed to get awarded a badge in honor, its sort of like and OBE only better :lol:

If Im getting the wrong side of the picture please tell me, if not I want to know where my badge is Gamespot :evil:

Also just to remind you all that I wont be online between the 18th December till at least the 20th December due to changing internet providers, sorry to all the complications this may arrise but I will be hopefully back up and running posting gallore to make up on the 21st, also I should have Xbox Live by then so I shall be able to play all you guys online as well on Halo 2.

UPDATE: I think my badge is on its way as my Tagger King or whatever the badge was called has dissapeared and now has left a cold and empty space left that should soon be occupied by the new fresh Soapbox badge.

So there we have it, we have less than 10 days left till christmas, well to be exact to this very second of writing we have 9 days, 12 hours and 13 minutes.

Anyhow since my last blog a whole lot has happened actually, to start things off, I have complted Dead Rising and I am in the middle of wiritng the review for it at the moment, I have got to say if you love games for mindless violence, loads of ott characters and just an amazing foray of weapons on offer, Dead Rising is the game for you, its just that good.

Expect the review to be up within the next week to two weeks or so. depending on what I am doing, whether that be playing onlive after christmas or college.

(Heres some good Publicity for my unions)

I have been doing some work to updating the Reviewers Union, basically I am re designing a whole bunch of things in the union to make them not only look better, but to make the union more active and to basically make it more easier to find content, you can view the ammendments here.

Another thing regarding my union's that has happened this month is that I have been appointed officer of not one, but two unions! I know, I was amazed by this too, but I have got to say I am greatly appriative of these two unions for beliving in me and appointing me an officer to help them develop and grow.

The two unions are

The Halo Union - I forgot to mention this clearly in my last blog, though I have been an Officer here well over a month now.

Untitled Union - Was formerly Crimson Designs and then New Media Designs, but Crimson got bored of it been a Design orintated union and made it a discussion board instead, but is still influenced by graphics.

On the subject of graphics, I have completed my first signature in almost one month, its based on Blue Dragon, and I have got to say I love the style of it.

Another point that  would like to add is that my points total has just hit 3665, I will be able to show you guys proof of thsi very soon, and will be seeing you all on live. But before I sign out I have one last question to ask of you guys, as my parents are setting me up a wired connection for Xbox Live now, as we have worked out a way to do it, reading the manual accutually makes sence, anyhow I will have at least £110 pound money come christmas, I am getting Xbox Live and Gears Of War of my parents but dont know what to do with the rest of the money, here are my choices.

• F.E.A.R and Viva Pinata.
• Viva Pinata and G.R.A.W.
• G.R.A.W and Rainbow Six Vegas.
• Rainbow Six Vegas and Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Or wait for Lost Planet and Mass Effect in Q1 2007?

Thats about it for now, hope you all have a wonderfull christmas and all get what you want.

Edit: I brought Splinter Cell today and my next game as I already have a few shooters will be Viva Pinata im sure, I will be checking the squeduled relese dates for Lost Planet and Mass Effect though before I purchase just incase I feel like waiting.

As you all know the new Halo 3 advert was aired yesterday night alongside the Football. I hadn't watched the video till I got home from college today due to me living in England and that it was aired live at 2.45 am in the morning. As soon as I watched it, I was speechless.

The trailer simply knocked me back, not just because its Halo, don't get me wrong Im one of those self confessed Halo Fan boys out there, though I don't go overboard unless I see something that I am truly impressed for the series and getting hold off myself in the final version, and I have got to say this trailer showed loads of promise for sevral points in which I am going to touch up upon now.

The trailer starts of with two children lying in the grass talking about space and the possiblities of alien races thinking about what's on earth, and they are thinking visa vera, now either I will leave this up to you to make your mind up, but I truly believe that we possibly have caught the first glimpse of Master Chief, and either Cortana, Kelly or Linda.

Is this John, Master Chief himself ? I think so.

Now whether all this takes place on earth or takes place on Reach is another point that I cant put my mind too, and I will have to wait till I have read the books or till more information is realised till I can give my view on this. Though from the scene that repeats this I am in even more confusion, Chief's Warthog has been flipped by a Wraith Mortar, the blast and impact, making him stumble, knocking his helmet off.

The next scene hits me at the most important part of the whole trailer, you hear SGT Johnson and even in some parts of this scene hear some mutterings of Cortana.

Sargent Johnson: Any Signs of the Chief?

Marine: Negative Sir I think we lost him....

Master Chief: Not Yet.

Is this close to Chiefs end or has Bungie just simply left this for us to think this, either way this small piece of dialogue is of high importance and shoulden't be overlooked, I could just do a analysis of this dialogue resembling all the theories, but Id rather not guess and just wait for this one.

Has Chief Activated his X button ?

Chief throws down a grenade to the floor and from it a buble like shield appears and saves him from the upcoming Wraith mortar, this for me is one of the most new and most exciting new features that I have seen since Halo Combat Evolved, the balance that is imited into this from Bungie is simply flawless, before on foot you wee practically a sitting duck in front of a wraith, time this right and you can give your self a second life simply blocking the huge plasma discharge with the new shield bubble, I am increadibly intrigued into finding out how this implrments into the gameplay, and how I highly doubt that it is the mysterious X button function and that I belive that it is just a new grenade, that still leaves the whole what does the whole X button do again argument, for this time will tell.

The arguments for what the X button could possibly be now are from the Bubble shield as shown in this trailer, a F.E.A.R style combat kick, though it would be cool, I personally dont belive that it will suit the style of game Halo is, and thirdly a sprint option, and though I can see that Chief appears to be running faster than he has done in previous games here, that could be a number of things from addrenaline to his new suit being lighter, also chief runs fast enough as it is, and sprinting doesn't really sound like a function that you activate, as 1up said in one of there previews, to say that none of the features above except the grenade, seem to be able to activate, can you activate a kick ? Or a grenade ? I doubt it, from my view Bungie still haven't shown anything as regards what the X button is or will be, and I think is best leave it this way till nearer its release.

The last scene of the trailer shows chief wielding his newly modified Assault Rifle and then sprinting at full pace towards the end of a ledge and then jumping of into a croud of Wraiths, Brutes and what appears to be an new Brute Honour Guard, that has not only the Honour Guard armour but the Fist of Rukt Hammer that Tartarus used to wield, possibly a new cheiftan ?

 I also came to this conclusion, due to the size of the squad they are protecting the Chief from getting to somewhere or something, what that is however is anyones guess, im just trying to leave my options open.

So that's about it for my breakdown analysis of the 60 second trailer, I hope you enjoyed the read, and if you havent watched the trailer as yet just watch it here.

[video=IX1gnjH75bgLvTPe]

Please add your detailed responces and comments plus your thoughts into the trailer and my responce.

Thanks for reading.