Tomorrow I'm off snowboarding in Italy. I can't wait. I missed last years trip because I was in Australia so I am raring to get in the snow. Have even treated myself to a new board.

Quite a lot of people from CNET Towers are going of varying ability, loads of first timers. And if you include friends and friends of friends who are going, we number around 35.

One word...carnage .

We are taking quite a bit of kit with us including Burton iPod jacket, and Samsung helmet cam, as well as digital cameras and a MacBook, that is if Guy can manage to get the stuff in before we go.

Right, I'm off home to pack and play SSX Tricky.

Has it really been two months since I updated this blog??

Well first thing to mention is that I did go without drinking for at least a week (ok, maybe 4 days - thanks for the confidence Justice, you know me too well).

Since then sadly for me I have had little time to play games as I have been working round the clock on another site in the CNET family, www.zdnet.co.uk. ZDNet is a business site for those who don't know it and we have been adding the user engagement functionality you are familiar with on GameSpot and giving it a business twist so you can network etc.  It's been a massive team effort from Ops in the UK to get this done taking over most of this year. If you get a chance to take a look, let me know what you think.

The few games I have been able to play have been restricted to football. Those that know me know how much of a PES fan I am, so when FIFA 07 landed on my desk and Guy started telling me that actually it was pretty good, I thought I better take a look. And I will admit that EA have taken a massive leap forward with this years FIFA. It is much more playable that last years and really does get very very close to PES - my friend Katy at EA will be very pleased to hear that.

Then a couple of weeks later on a Wednesday, PES6 arrived in GameSpot for xbox 360. I was hooked. As is usual with PES6 it takes a while to get used to, so spent the afternoon losing to Guy, Phil and Raj. The next day we were off to the launch party tournament. I needed more training. Especially when i got there and found out that one of the guys I was playing was from Official XBox 360 mag and they had had it for 8 weeks!

Yes I know I'm making excuses. But it matters not because the mighty Guy (can't believe I wrote that) beat them all and won. Well done mate. Jammy git.

Since then we have played it some more and it really is good. We have found out that if you want to win you need to pick a team with Adriano which sucks, and I am still to get fully used to the 360 shoulder buttons.

But yesterday we got PES6 for PS2. Ok it looks very grainy but it plays much faster than the 360 version, and I really preferred it.  Except online games. Just don't bother. It takes about half an hour to set up a game, and then after that people keep dropping out just after half time and since PS2 doesn't have any negative points system there is no incentive to stop them. Let's hope PS3 addresses this.

So if we are playing in the office, we will play PS2. Online games we will stick to xbox live! Justice, fancy a game?

I'm not drinking again! Ever! (wonder how long that will last)

Is the typical British summer over already? The temperature has dropped a little bit so for some reason it means that my liver has been taking a pounding, with, I imagine, worse to come. We went to Kempton Races last night and despite having a nightmare train journey to get there, managed to win a few quid (about 30) and have a few drinks before the marathon train journey home. The night before started as a drink after work and turned into an all nighter. As did the night before. And tomorrow I'm off to Bilbao, then San Sebastian, then Bayonne, then Biarritz for a jam packed stag weekend. Going to be painful. Lots of drinking, surfing and partying. Oh, and what are we going to do to the stag?? Let's just say that it has something to do with a lycra body suit and some viagra, oh, and a cow suit and a crazy bull run in Bayonne. What could possibly go wrong??

It's so very hot here in London, and most of the UK at the moment. Good holiday weather but can get annoying when you have to go to work. Although makes you want to stay in the nice air-conditioned office and play games instead of joining all the commuters on the tube. For some reason I am playing SSX Tricky again. Does playing a snowboarding game make my brain think that it is colder than it actually is?? Like Guy said we have been partying quite hard lately, peaking at the CNET summer party. A nice trip on the London Eye with a glass of Pimms followed by an evening on a boat crusing down the Thames with gambling and lots of beer was cool. Us chilling on the Eye Crazy gang, (Nice shades Guy) Cheers to James for the photos (and for helping to organise the whole event!) PS. Anybody know where the headline quote is from?

GameSpot v GameSpot. Phil v Guy. They have taken on all comers from the CNET office but the guys who spend all day playing games have managed to overcome all obstacles and meet in the final. The result... Italy 2 - 1 Cameroon Yes that's right. Phil triumphed and life imitiated art in the fact that Italy won our mini world cup as well as the real thing. If only we could have played earlier and bet all our money on Italy to win. So, congratulations Phil, and well played to all the other teams involved.

We reached the business end of the GameSpot UK Mini PES5 World Cup on Friday afternoon. And, as in real life, England were left with the bitter taste of a penalty shoot-out defeat, after drawing 1-1 with Italy. It was an exciting game with chances at both ends -- Buffon showing his world class with an amazing reflex double safe, and Totti dragging a sharp shot just wide of the England post. Rooney took the lead early in the second half, losing his marker in the box and shooting past Buffon. After that, though, it was all Italy, and Totti equalised in the 84th minute with a lovely touch that left Ferdinand scrambling. Extra time saw few shots, although Italy had the bulk of the chances, and it went to penalties. England missed two penalties and it was Italy who went through to the final. And it's all overfor me. An undeserved victory to an under par Cameroon has put an end to Portugal's World Cup bid. What can only be described as a scrappy goal won it in the end, probably Guy's only shot of the game! I hit the bar a couple of times and did all the attacking. Portugal (Russ) 0 - 1 Cameroon (Guy) England (Graeme) 1 - 1 Italy (Phil) Italy win in penalties

The quarter finals meant the opposition is getting tougher. I managed a 3-0 win over France, despite having 2 penalties saved by Barthez. Then an un-impressive Guy managed to hold on to a one goal advantage to go through. Graeme managed to take England into the semis with a 2-0 win over spain - something Sven had never managed to do, and Phil's Italy have started scoring goals for fun with a 3-0 win over Mexico. Videos posted Monday. Quarter Finals: Portugal (Russ) 3 - 0 France (Nick) Cameroon (Guy) 1 - 0 Nigeria (Chi) England (Graeme) 2 - 0 Spain (Roshan) Italy (Phil) 3 - 0 Mexico (Chris) Semi Finals: Portugal (Russ) v Cameroon (Guy) England (Graeme) v Italy (Phil)

The group stages are over and now we progress to the knockout stages, with extra time and penalties if needed. The draw for the quarter finals is as follows: Portugal (Russ) v France (Nick) Cameroon (Guy) v Nigeria (Chi) England (Graeme) v Spain (Roshan) Italy (Phil) v Mexico (Chris) Phil and Nick will be hoping to repeat the actual world cup and produce a France v Italy final. Guy is looking to win the world cup with a team that isn't even in it! Can Graeme improve on England's performance and manage to keep Rooney on the pitch? Can I actually manage to let Ronaldo score a goal without feeling dirty? We will see. The games will be played today and tomorrow. Check back for the scores.

Last few matches from the group stages... Portugal (Russ) 4 - 0 USA (Dan) Mexico (Chris) 2 - 2 Holland (Ed) The groups as they stand...