Holy crap! He's back!

Yeah, I know I've been gone a while. It's been a combination of things (mostly work) but I've been around GS and gaming just not active here.

I think a lot of my absence stems from the fact that I haven't had a really good gaming experience since Red Dead Redemption. That was in May! Jeez!

I guess it really boils down to the fact that I'm STILL suffering from Heavy Rain withdrawl. That game was so amazing that everything else just pales in comparison.

So, since the good games are still a few weeks off I've mostly been keeping busy with XBLA games. It seems like the summer is when they really shine. Last year was Shadow Complex and this year was the new Lara Croft game as well as some classic arcade games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game.

Don't have much to say really. Hope everyone is doing well. Be back soon.

Laughlyn

Hey, Gamespot! Long time, no blog. How's everybody been?

The reason why you haven't heard too much from me in the last couple of months are not long. They're not really complicated. It's honestly just two things.

1. Work is killing me. It's not really because the lifestyle that comes with my profession is one part that I love but it still consumes the majority of my time.

2. I've been going through what I call the "gaming doldrums".

Heavy Rain completely took over my world for a few months there. Leading up to its release I did nothing but think about it. I wanted the game to be great. I wanted it to change the way I looked at the medium. I wanted it to live up to the impossibly huge amount of hype that I had created for it in my own head. I wanted it to be more than just a "game" to me.

It was.

The only problem with my completely amazing Heavy Rain experience is what has been left in its wake.

I can't seem to get into anything I play. I've bought a few games since Heavy Rain and while I know none of them will make me feel the way about them that I did about Heavy Rain I would have at least liked to have felt SOMETHING!

No matter the game, genre, or developer I just can't seem to find anything to hold my interest. If I have time to game lately I feel more like I'm forcing myself to play and to try to enjoy something than sitting down and deriving pleasure from the game.

Compounding my problem is that fact that we're about to hit the full on crapola time of the gaming year. With the exception of Splinter Cell: Conviction and the new UFC 2010 title I don't know of anything that I'm really looking forward to. It seemed like the first couple of months of this year were chalk full of great games (Thanks, MW2, no seriously, thank you for scaring everyone into Q1 2010. It has made for an awesome start to the year.)

I guess I'll trade in a lot of the games that I've bought since Heavy Rain and see about Splinter Cell: Conviction in the next couple of days and see how it goes.

Has this ever happened to you? Has a game been so great that everything you play after it seems insignificant? Have you ever just gone through an extended period where your thoughts towards gaming barely even registered as a "meh"?

Take care and happy gaming (to those of you who are still having a blast).

Laughlyn

PS Some tips on possible games to buy to break me out of my slump would also be appreciated, thanks!

I am beating the brakes off my PS3.

After my initial buying splurge of games to kill time until my big fish was released I finally snagged my first trophy fish.

I'll be honest. The whole reason that I got a PS3 was Heavy Rain. This was the game that I had wanted since the death of the old point and click adventures on the PC back in the day. I had made this game out to be the second coming in video games. I looked at it like it was going to revolutionize gaming.

I was completely in the tank for this game. You would think that there was no way any game could live up to the exceedingly lofty expectations that I put on it.

You'd be wrong.

Without going too much into it Heavy Rain is the best video game I've played in the last 15 years or so. After more consideration I might even be willing to call it the best video game I've ever played. That's right. EVER.

This is the game that I would make given the chance. I would make a long winded drama where the story was clearly the star of the game. This game was made for me and I loved it.

I have already played through Heavy Rain twice in 5 days and will probably go back through at least once more.

I love this game.

There will be more on Heavy Rain in a future editorial so stay tuned! (I know you're thrilled.)

With at least the beginning of my Heavy Rain withdrawl having begun lets get on to my next PS3 acquisition... MLB: The Show.

Look, I love baseball. There's something great and classic and majestic about the actual game of baseball. Unfortunately, like religion, baseball is run by men and thus liable to being a screwed up sport.

There's something about baseball that makes it a logical translation to the video game world. You'd be wrong. Unfortunately despite there being no exclusive licensing deal like between EA and the NFL, there is only one place to get a great baseball game and that's on Sony's console.

I haven't played a good baseball game in so long that I don't have the slightest idea of what one would even look like. After playing last year's demo of the '09 edition of the game I have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

MLB: The Show is what a baseball game should be. It is simply amazing and the idea of just getting to play a perfect baseball game just has me thrilled.

If anyone aside from The General (few guarantees in life like him getting a baseball game when it launches) is picking up The Show let me know. I would love to get some online games!

Take care and happy gaming!

Laughlyn

It's three days into my new life as a person who owns all three consoles in one generation. I've really been spending some time thinking about the inevitible comparison that one is bound to ponder for at least a few minutes.

Now, before I get into this I want to get a few things clear. These experiences are going to be mine and apply to me and me alone. These are my personal thoughts about the pros and cons of each console and in should no way be a definitive statement of absolute truth. Just my personal experiences. Got it? Good.

- My initial impression of the PS3 is that its a powerful machine. My 360, while impressive, I don't feel this sense of awe towards it. Perhaps its the HDMI cable or just a preconceived notion but even God of War looks amazing and that's just a slightly retextered PS2 game. Drake's Fortune looks beautiful. Not great, but beautiful... like a painting is beautiful. I don't think I've ever real had such a moment with my 360 where I was literally in awe of the graphics. They're great. Don't get me wrong but the visuals on the two PS3 games that I've played have been just awesome.

- Despite a TON of people believing otherwise, I personally favor the 360 controller. It feels more solid. I'm pretty sure that the 360 will remain my primary gaming machine for multi-platform games at least in part to the controller AND...

- Even though I have to pay for what should be free, Xbox Live is hands down the superior online service. I feel comfortable with it. I'm not scared of it. It seems more dependable. After all, I'm freaking PAYING FOR IT. IT BETTER BE! The interface is better. The trophy cards that your friends see, the cards that you upload to forums and all other measures by which your achievements are tracked and displayed is AWFUL! Microsoft's is just better. Period. I know like it seems I'm getting really petty but this one just bugs the hell out of me for some reason. There's a sense of connectedness (not really a word) that I feel with my friends on XBL beacuse of how intuitive their gamercards are. Sony, because of adding trophies to answer MS's success with the gamerscore seems to have rushed their system and it seems broken or even worse... half-assed.

- I feel like a kid in a candy store. This PS3 arrived during a perfect storm of gaming in my life. I recently got promoted. I got put on salary. I get paid whether I go to work or not. I work three days a week and between Christmas, my birthday last week, and my new raise in pay I have bought and played more games in the last few months than at any point in time in my life. Even in college I didn't game this much. With that being said, I am so grateful that I can buy Greatest Hit after Greatest Hit on the cheap and play nothing but quality games that I haven't been able to play because of the absense of the PS3. Let me give you the list of PS3 exclusives that I plan to knock out in the very near future. God of War 1 & 2, Uncharted 1 & 2, MGS4, Little Big Planet, MLB: The Show, Heavy Rain (the whole reason I bought a PS3), Gran Turismo and those are just the beginning. I'm buying games faster than I can play them and I couldn't be happier.

- The Wii has clearly been forgotten. Despite buying games that both my gf and I wanted to play they just gather dust. We were thrilled to get New Super Mario Brothers Wii... we've only played it once. I've personally given up on the Wii. It's not what I thought it would be. I honestly expected it to change the way I felt about gaming. The only games I enjoy are ones where the Wiimote is a DIRECT analog to what's going on on the screen. If I'm not swinging it like a golf club or swinging it back like a bowling ball... I'm not playing it.

Ok... that's enough rambling for now.

Does anyone else feel the same? Agree? Disagree? Let me know some of your impressions of the consoles this generation. I want to know! I promise I'll protect you. :)

And remember kids, caps lock is the gas pedal to awesome.

Laughlyn

After much consideration I finally got my PS3 today. The crappy pic above shows all three of the current gen consoles plus my RetroDuo.

The only game I got was the God of War collection but that will likely change by weeks end. More thoughts later.

Laughlyn

How's everyone doing?

We're doing fine over here in Laughlynland.

Just wanted to drop in today with some thoughts about what's been going on here in the last couple of weeks.

The main change was that a week ago I was given a promotion at work! Along with longer hours and more responsibility the biggest thing that I was given was a raise and salary! The transition from hourly to salary has gone swimmingly and we're now a little more financially healthy here.

The downside is that once tourist season gets going I'm pretty much guaranteed to work every 13 out of 14 days. So, one day off every two weeks might seem like a screw job but its the job that I signed up for so I'm used to it but everyone around me has a hard time grasping my new workload.

So, with my new salary and new work schedule I've decided that my only distraction from work and life is going to be gaming. Have you ever talked to someone about why celebrities have so much stuff at their houses? It's because they want to have as many cool distractions at their disposal so they don't have to deal with the hassle of going out. Now, that's the attitude I've adopted.

I can't go out at nights for a myriad of reasons so I might as well just enjoy my time at home.

In the next few weeks we will be getting a PS3 to finish out the consoles from this generation and I can't wait. The list of PS3 games which once started and ended with Little Big Planet, Uncharted 1&2, MGS4, MLB: The Show, Heavy Rain and the God of War games has begun to grow and I can't wait.

In the meantime I'm playing Mass Effect 2 which so far has way exceeded my expectations and depending on how the ending and the rest of the story goes is easily on its way to a 10.0 from me. The game is simply amazing.

I'm also trying to find time to play Dante's Inferno which while not a bad game isn't exactly game of the year. I've never played the God of War games so I'm not going to go on and on about how its a ripoff but if it is a cheap ripoff of GoW then I have to play them because this game is still a lot of fun.

I'm still plugging away at MW2 which is a testament to how great of a game that it is. I have NEVER stayed interested in a multiplayer shooter for more than a few weeks and here we are, 3 months after its release and I'm still playing.

One final note... today is my birthday! 31 years old... damn, I'm old.

I hope everyone is enjoying what they're playing.

Take care and happy gaming!

Laughlyn

So, as many of the adults here in the US know, its tax time. What this means is that smart people who are disciplined and can budget through out the year and give more to the government each paycheck get that money back... like me.

That's right, I'm rich, b****es!

As a responsible person in a committed relationship I promised my girlfriend that I would use half of my tax refund for us to go on vacation somewhere in the continental US or maybe up to Canada. (The finalists are Vancouver, Montreal, New Orleans and Las Vegas)

With the other half I get to do whatever the hell I want so I've been kicking around a few ideas.

1. New tattoos. It's been 8 years since I last got any ink permanently injected into my body and getting my other sleeve done would be awesome. Kinda selfish but something I've wanted for a really long time.

2. A PS3. This would round out the current gen of consoles in our house and I think would be a nice and relatively cheap addition (at least when compared to the tattoos). My only problem with this is that I don't feel this huge overwhelming need to buy a PS3. Yes, it would be nice to not be excluded from ANY game coming out this generation but with the exception of God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 and MLB: The Show I don't know any other games that I really feel like I'm missing out on.

3. A home theatre. I keep hearing how great gaming is with a badass surround sound system in your house and I can only imagine. The idea of my fillings rattling loose when a grenade goes off in MW2 just seems awesome. Do any of you have a home theatre attached to your gaming TV? If so, is it great? Is it worth it? Do I need a 360 elite for the best effect or can I just use my old one?

4. Audience suggestion. Lets say you were getting a lot of money back on your taxes. What would you get? If you are getting a lot of money back what are you getting with your tax money?

Opinion away!

Take care and happy gaming!

Laughlyn

So, last night I was thrust into a situation that I'm not typically used to. Through the course of events yesterday I was blessed with a night home alone. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with the girlfriend and kids its just that very rarely do I get a night completely to myself so I was excited.

Given this night home alone I was going to spend it playing MW2 online with people from GS and from work. I don't get the opportunity to play with the people that I know very often as our schedules are usually conflicted and the one time when I can play with them is during normal night time hours... 8-10pm or so.

So, I got myself all situated. I took the dogs out. I got my Cokes. I sat down on the couch and got into some MW2.

After nearly an hour of playing and finally getting into some kind of groove what happened?

MY FREAKING INTERNET WENT OUT!

Now, this wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't happened before under very similar circumstances. Five years ago I wrote this blog while I was living in Florida and it was basically the same story.

Now, I know that this happening twice in 5 years is no big deal but it is when these two occassions in five years are the only times when I've actually sat down with the express purpose of playing online with friends only to have it crap out on me.

So, I guess that I'll have to wait until sometime in 2015 for another opportunity like this. Hopefully MW4 will be awesome.

Laughlyn

Ever since my gf got a video camera I've been itching to start doing a weekly video blog "show". While I have most of the chops required for the show I want to make the one skill I'm lacking in is graphic design.

What I'm hoping for is that one of you amazing Gamespotters has some skill with Photoshop and would be willing to do some graphics for the show. Unfortunately, I can't pay because I'm broke but I would be happy to plug the artist in whatever way possible.

If you have some Photoshop skills and would be interested in helping me out please let me know and believe me, your work will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Laughlyn

I know, I know. I hear it every day. I honestly can't even go to the store for cigarettes without someone bringing it up. It haunts me. It keeps me up at night and I can only imagine what its doing to you. If it's this difficult for me I can hardly fathom how hard it is on you guys. Let me just say that I'm sorry my inaction has caused so much grief and strife in your lives. I promise to make it up to you.

So, it's January 20 and I haven't written a year in review/awards blog. I have been derelict in my responsibility as the rational voice of the video game industry in your lives and once again I apologize. Without my guiding light you must all be lost in the fog.

Ok... enough of the ego. If I keep it up I'm sure to get some very courteous comments when this has all been in fun.

Anywho...

The reason why I haven't written about any awards this year is that for the first time I'm actually trying to play as many of the games as possible. In the past I had only picked up games that I KNEW I had to have. Now, I find myself a little more patient and at certain points though out the year I picked up a game that I had no real intention of doing so at a previous time.

Since I've been out of work for two weeks I've spent a lot of time at home hitting the 360 hard. I finished Dragon Age and am about 2/3 of the way through Assassin's Creed 2. Seeing as how both of these games were released towards the end of the year I like having gotten to play them in the proper context of the time they were released.

I bought my GF Brutal Legend the other day and will start on that as soon as I finish AC2. Another game released toward the end of the year so its another game that I could consider for any awards that I give out.

With Brutal Legend I'm pretty sure I've played every single game from 2009 that had appealed to me in any way with the exception of one and that's Borderlands.

Before I get that I was just wondering what everyone's impression of Borderlands was. Did anyone play local co-op? How's the splitscreen work? etc?

Depending on when Borderlands comes through this house a final awards blog will follow... I know you wait on baited breath.

Did everyone really play everything they wanted this year? Was there anything that you missed? I can't think of the last time that an entire year went by where nothing was passed on. I got to everything! Did you?

Take care and happy gaming!

Laughlyn