Wow, been a long time since I actually posted a blog on GameSpot or even partook in the core community features. While many people decided to bail out on GS after the incident with Jeff Gertsmann, I must admit that the quality of GS isn't that bad. Really digging the quality of the reviews and the features that have been pushed out. I don't know, maybe I'll follow things more closely even if I have certain responsibilites at another site for the time being.

I'm going to start posting reviews every now and then. Originally I posted reviews on a regular basis but then stopped and I had to write a new review to keep my GS Top 500 review emblem which is why I wrote the Prince of Persia review last month. I'll probably write reviews for 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Afro Samurai and possibly Matt Hazard: Eat Lead. Obviously 50 Cent and Afro Samurai aren't great games that need further breakdown and analysis but I'm kind of in the mood in rag on something since they're both meh games. I just started Matt Hazard today and while the writing and concept are quite good it doesn't help keep the game enjoyable since the combat is boring and wonky.

Also in the upcoming months a site I'm going to be contributing to is going to launch. A fellow GS member is involved and is working on the site and it's going to be quite cool. I'm hoping people here will check it out and perhaps spend some of their time on the site since GS has been a bit crap. I'll of course post updates when the site is getting closer to launch.

Heroes is officially crap. Thanks for killing off Adam and keeping the trend of sloppy writing up. WTF is with this crap? Damn, everything so far this season has been trash and killing off Adam like a complete punk has left me quite mad.

Being a game collector I like to occasionally browse for Press Kits. Not only are these cool since they often feature additional content and gorgeous packaging but they're rare due to the costs of production and who they're given to. So far I've been lucky to aquire 2 press kits: a God of War 2 kit which comes in a massive box and includes a dvd walkthrough disc of the first level and an extremely nice leather bound Warhawk art book which is my favorite so far. I also own 2 E3 ShowDaily's from E3 2005 and the extremely nice Konami/Kojima Productions spoof Show Maybe which was given out at E3 2006. In my recent browsing for kits I came across one for Tekken 4 which caught my eye for the outrageous price it's going for: $1,800/GBP 1,000. Here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Tekken-4-Promo-Press-Kit-Edt-Brand-New-and-Ultra-Rare_W0QQitemZ220285071375QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220285071375&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

This seller must be hoping that someone buys this who doesn't know better or the seller is just dillusional. I think even a hardcore Tekken fan wouldn't pay that price. Sure it's a nice kit but it doesn't reach the production quality of the Sony kits. But to be honest I would be tempted to pay triple figures for the Wipeout HD kit since that's a prize possession since it feature the game on Blu-ray, although you may not be able to play it on a standard PS3. If I could get my hands on the Uncharted kit that would make me a happy gamer. :)

Got into the LBP beta and I had to do absolutely nothing to get in which was nice. Wipeout HD is one of the slickest games I've ever played and I highly recommend people buy the game if you're a fan of racing games. The online mode is buttery smooth and doesn't feel cheap when playing against people in terms of tactics. I'll be on the PSN a lot this weekend so feel free to message me if you want to meet up in either game or want to chat.

So I opened my PM box this early Friday morning and found this message among my others:

Helo!

i waz browsin' over this site, and i noticed your lil' site. You appear to be a considerably interesting person, but im really new at this sorta thing, and don't really know where to go. Shouldn't they have some sort of chatting program here? Well, i hate sending msgs 2 people, and maybe never getting anything back! Well, if you want to chattin' with me, you can check me over at http://www.date-club.org/?id=3592&mypics , my name over there is hot_hotty.

So, ya, hope to chat with you. I'm always looking to find more ppl.

BACK TO REALITY

Wow, I wasn't expecting to get spam messages on GS. Guess I'm an easy target now. And apologies if this isn't some scam message but I'm not clicking that link at work right now.

My new forum is Neogaf and my user name is Cardon. So if anyone is interested I suggest signing up with Neogaf and hopefully you'll be accepted in the next batch of users. Gaf is a pretty cool site since a lot of developers and journalists post there and it's an extremely harsh site in some respects.

If anyone needs to message me for tech support then you can contact me at fishman912000@yahoo.com.

END OF LINE

So this is probably the end of my Gamespot tenure. To wrap things up I'll probably post a final blog thanking all my GS friends, sharing my thoughts on the game industry and other random crap about how I still have problems getting a girlfriend and how I think Speed Racer is probably going to be the most under appreciated film to be released in the past decade. So just stay tuned in the next few days for my final goodbye.

Who wants to meet up and do a Cops N Crooks match in GTA4 tonight? Send a PSN message to ian86 if you're interested.

So this past weekend I visited New York to attend the New York ComicCon. I arrived on Thursday and left early Sunday. Now this is by far the best vacation I've had so far mostly because I saw GTA4 in action. Seeing GTA4 in action was accomplished by visting this radio show I love called Opie and Anthony. Now O&A actually know Lazlow, the radio DJ in the GTA games and he's actually the co-writer of the games as well. Lazlow was in the studio to show off the game to O&A since they're in the game as voice overs. With me knowing a few days before that Laz would be in studio I decided to wear my Liberty City Swingers shirt which ultimately got me the chance to see the game. When I was in the XM studio Laz noticed my shirt and I said I got it off the site. Now originally Laz wasn't going to show the game to any of the in-studio audience since Rockstar is so tightlipped about the game and was worried about people taking pics or footage but given my dedication to GTA through purchasing shirts on the website Laz let me see the game for about 5 minutes and before he left the studio to leave he hooked me up with a black GTA4 shirt. I of course thanked him for showing me the game and he's a really cool dude. So I basically became the first non-industry person (someone who doesn't work for Rockstar or is a game journalist) and isn't a staff member of O&A, in the world to see GTA4 in action. Now here are my ComicCon highlights:

• The Incredible Hulk movie looks really good based on the two clips and trailer I saw. Crazy action scenes
• New Dark Knight trailer is kick ass.
• The new Angelina Jolie action film "Wanted" looks quite good as well and has a scene with a dude shooting the wings off a fly.
• The Hellboy game is a bit boring
• Hellboy 2 looks to be really sharp. At the panel they had with the actors they had the creature costumes come out which was nice to see in person.
• Eva Mendes is hot, she wore this really cute dress.
• Seeing Reboot co-creator Gavin Blair and having the chance to talk to him was really cool.