Well for all my friends i am happy to inform that yes i have been back for a while but have been too busy to log on. However, i have some really good news...i bought another 360 along with Splinter Cell DA and Just Cause and Project Gotham Racing.  My gamertag is Captain Nunee, look for me.  My other games have not arrive from Kuwait but when they do, just look at what i own and meet me in a game room.  I hope that all of you find yourselves well and in good health as I do.  I cannot wait to Blog about my experiences since i have been back home, I PROMISE they are going to be worth reading about!!!

Well with the death of my Xbox 360 i had alot of time to think.  i couldn't believe that my console died, it was still so young, and there it lay in its pre-pubescent infancy, cold and alone unable to read any software.  My time to leave is also drawing near.  Not to leave this world, but to leave the location in the desert of which i currently occupy.  When you add these two significant emotional events together, one begins to think of what has transpired throughout the year.  There have been many significant changes in my life, but this is a gaming website, therefore i must adhere to the topic that most people are here to write about and read about.  I will focus my attention to gaming in the desert.

I arrived in this stink-hole last November.  I carried with me all of my military issued gear and a foot locker that held some regular clothes and my xbox, along with a slew of games.  My xbox has been with me since 2002.  I didn't get one right away, because frankly at the time i didn't have enough money, plus all my friends had one, on top of all that i worked at an internet cafe that had all that good stuff, plus right before it was released, i was heavy into Counter-Strike...but anyway.  I have enjoyed such games as Dead to Rights (which i enjoyed at the time!), Halo (Of Course!), Jade Dragon, Max Payne, Tenchu, The Warriors, Godfather, etc..The latter of the games obviously played recently.  I had neverhad a problem with the original xbox.  I had alot of music on it, had played countless hours and countless games on it, never an overheating problem or anything!  Well as an avid xbox fanatic, i was just dancing in my pants when the xbox 360 came out, but with the war waging on i knew that i would end up in the desert and that picking up a 360 before i left was going to be next to impossible...so i waited. 

In the desert (I keep calling the desert because I cannot specify where i am...bear with me...i am not talking about the Sahara.) Over here things are hard to come by...i know that i have briefly explained this before.  I will try not to reiterate what i said in my first blog.  My first Blog here is my first blog ever, so i am still trying to figure out the rules to blogging if there are any that need to be followed. Well, we have alot of soldiers where i am, and when i say alot, think about what alot means to you and multiply it by ten...(you will still not be at a high enough count) so when something popular comes out, chances are you are not going to get your hands on it right away.  I believe that only 50 360's were sent over here.  It is like a prison...one must barter and negotiate and sometimes swallow your pride by paying a ridiculous amount for something...depending on how bad you want it.  Regardless, i didn't have to do any of that, i got mine the honest way.

What some people fail to realize is that although we are out here fighting, the soldiers still get down-time, and it is in these critical hours that a great impact befalls the soldier.  Whenever i get some down-time i have a rhythm, a routine, a ritual even! I call home first and foremost, then laundry, then shower, then fold laundry, then sit down in front of the glorious wonder that is the 360 and play until exhaustion. Now that my 360 is dead, i sit pondering existance and what it means.  It sounds shallow, but when one is in a highly stressfull situation and the one thing that bring you unbiased joy is stripped from you due to faulty workmanship, you become angry.  LOL let me tell you gaming withdrawl is not cool when you realize that you dumped 400 into a system, 50 for an extra controller, and games at 60 at piece! WHAT A RIP! I think there is alot to be said for the company that takes it time in developing a system in order to produce one with no bugs than the company that rushes to replace current gen consoles.  I don't know i'm babbling on and on. So i will cut this here.

I think it was Japanese Jade that has been having all her 360 troubles. I have read many articles and blogs and forums with people crying about how their 360 is broke, or faultering in some way, others have the red ring syndrome!!!  I sympathized with everything single one of them, but secretly giggled because my 360 had not a one thing wrong with it! Well wouldn't you know that my 360 has given up reading my games!!! I have a 360 that will not read my disc, as a matter of fact my 360 does not even realize that it IS a 360 because when i put in ANY 360 game it tells me that in order to play this game i must place it in a 360 console!! Well what the hell are you MACHINE!!! I am so furious, because it is the only source of entertainment for me in the desert! Now i have to find something else to do like throw rocks at people, or something. Share your ideas with me i would love to hear them.

Hey everyone here i am again.  Not too much longer now before i am back in the states!!!  It has definitely been a year that even if i didn't want to remember it would be impossible to forget.  Nothing much new though, just packing things up and getting ready to hand over the mission to the replacements.

I recently acquired a copy of Saints Row (See Blog 1 to see how this works around here) and have been hooked on it.  I have always been a fan of random violence in games so this game came naturally to the best hands.

I will have my official review out soon, but for now i have to say that just like many reviews obviously compare this to GTA, so do I. However, for me, the enjoyment of this game comes in the form of small details.  Like flying through your windshield after crashing head on with another vehicle, or seeing the driver of the other vehicle fly through his windshield. The many lines of dialogue the NPC's have, or even the difference in activities, like drug trafficking, or Insurance Fraud and Escort.  The graphics of course are an improvement from GTA, but that isn't the greatest part.  It sounds bad, but there is no GREAT part, i think this game is great because of the SUM of all its PARTS.  It is a good game that will keep you entertained. 

Well hopefully i will gain more friends for which to share my stories with.  I guess now i have to log off and get back to work. Take care.

At 0500 hours the sun burst through a crack in the window and forced my eyes to open, only to be blinded by the light.  It was then i knew that the start of the new day was upon me.  Fifty other men moaned and groaned with the same response to the light.  My legs were heavy with lethargy, and only through the will of a god was i able to convince my legs to swing around so that my feet could touch the cold floor.  I slowly wiped the crust out of my eyes. This was, however, no ordinary crust.  This was crust mixed with Kuwaiti sand.  This was like mutant eye-crust, but all part of a regular day for me.  I know what happens next, it has happened for 11 months now, and never is there a change.  You hear the *thump* of those men on the top bunks landing on the floor, and the sounds of flip-flops as they follow the feet that wear them.  I head over with the rest of the zombified union to the bathroom, where we all shower and shave, all the while talking about how this day is no different than the rest....and a reference to Groundhogs Day (THE MOVIE) is always mentioned, and someone always gets a giggle out of the truth of the joke.

My days are different than they used to be, though.  3 years and 5 months ago, i was in the Southern sector of Iraq.  Fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people and getting revenge for the deaths of those in WTC.  My mind sharp with the knowledge that this is what we were trained to do.  To kill without conscious,  to obey orders without question, and carry them out without a pinch of fear.  I never pulled my trigger once...the opportunity never presented itself.  But i know those who did, and i know those that wish they hadn't.  Death changes a man in way that is indescribeable, even from the man himself. I do not mean to get deep or gruesome, but there is a purpose to all this, trust me.  There we were, a group of soldiers who had never met before, all voluteers from different parts of the U.S.  A group of Combat Engineers, set to reconstruct the broken areas of Iraq.  And that we did, with initiative and purpose with pride and the willingness of no one i had ever met in my life.  It was a sight to be seen, soldiers being soldiers; building schools, roads, houses, irrigation systems...etc.  We did so much that when our time was up, I didn't want to leave. I couldn't imagine someone else taking over what we had done, how we had built all this from scratch...it brought tears to my eyes to have to go...now fast forward.

I am no longer in Iraq, i am in Kuwait.  I cannot give details as it would be a vilolation of Operational Security, but know that it isn't anything like my description of Iraq in '03.  I do not have that sense of pride and purpose as i once did.  The mission is different and the setting is different.  I do not get to see immediate results any longer, now the results happen far away, where i can not witness them taking place.  A year away from home is a feat not easily accomplish by any means, however a year without feeling your purpose makes it even harder to face those who consider you a hero when you know the truth is far from it. So here i am now, wiping the crust from my eyes, knowing that today is no different from yesterday, that tomorrow will be no different from today, and that i have to go shower and shave and talk about how today is like Groundhogs Day, all to get that all-too-familiar giggle and off to work i go. 

Nunee 

:o BLOG II *CACKLE* *CACKLE* *COUGH*

Dead Rising....well what to say about this game....hmmm this might actually be the shortest review ever!

Seriously, have we been all fooled by media? Have magazine reviews completely warped our way of forming our own opinion? Come On!!! I was so amped to get my hands on this game, because of all the reviews i read...because of the gameplay videos. So you would naturally ask, "If you saw the videos, then you should have had a clear indication as to what you were throwing your money into, right?" WRONG...think about it, the videos only showed what you want to see, the reviews...what you want to read or hear (If you are being read to!) So my means that i cannot get into, I managed to get my hands on a copy (See first blog for information regarding my troubles in acquiring games) and at first i was amused. I was hacking, i was slashing, i was beheading and bloodletting, i was gruesome, cruel and unusual all at the same time,  and it was fun.  I fought carlito and that was cool, although it only took a few slashing from the katana to accomplish, but cool nonetheless. And then i hit a realization, or should i say i WAS hit by a realization.......there i was slashing away when suddenly something hit the screen.  I focused my vision, and stared at what it was.  I HAD FAILED THE GAME!!! I RAN OUT OF TIME!!! WTF?!?!?!? I couldn't believe it! It truly was a sight to be seen, i do not think that in the history of this game anyone has failed so quickly! And that pretty much did it for me.  IT all began to make sense.  ONE LOCATION (OK FINE) 250 WEAPONS (Only a few are effective! UGH) BUT THE KICKER......A TIME LIMIT! I KNOW, I KNOW I KNOW, IT WAS IN ALL THE PREVIEWS AND REVIEWS...BUT DAMN....I was just disappointed, but like i said previously, i have to beat it, because where i am at, no one even has that game and holding on to it has made me take drastic measures, it is in a box that is locked. that is in a cage that is locked. CRAZINESS ENSUES IN THE DESERT.

I know that this is a game that you will either love or hate. I have managed to like "LIKE" it.  It is hard, cause there are times that i want to jump in that screen and choke the life out my protaganist, but i have to admit that i have had some fun with it.  I didn't mean for this to be a review of any kind, I just thought that i would write about what i have been pissy about lately.  I now end this quick blog in order to go back to my barracks, grab my keys, unlock the cage, unlock the box, grab my game and hunch over it for another few hours trying once again to save the town from the formidable zombie power.

NUNEE

:D Well this is my first blog on this site and can't say i have some kind of profound knowledge over anyone else here, actually quite the opposite can be said.  I am a member so that i may learn from the real pro's!

For anyone that doesn't know (and many don't yet) i am a soldier who is currently deployed for the second time.  If anyone else here is deployed then you know that games comes to us very late if ever at all.  I recently acquired a copy of Oblivion about a month ago and have clocked in 100+ hours and am still barely breaking the surface.  I also have Dead Rising, but without a HDTV it is hard to read text, but whatever.  Throughout this year that i have spent in the middle east i have had a chance to play various games.  My three favorite so far ar Oblivion, Blood Money, and Dead Rising.  I have G.R.A.W, PDZ, Quake4, Amped3, and Fight Night Rd.3 all acquired through very rough means, out here it's kill or be killed, so having a gnack for negotiation is a must. 

I am so impressed with Oblivion and the many things possible.  I have even enjoyed doing nothing and just walking around looking at everything like a kid in a candy store.  I am 25 years old and have been gaming on and off sice Atari 2600, which to some is a big fat what the !@#$! But that's okay!  Oblivion is the first game since FFVII that has taken me away...from everything, it isn't simple but it isn't overly difficult.  The story although rather short is spot on, and the side quests are never dull, there is always something attractive about them, that compells you to want to do them.  I don't know, maybe this 140 degree heat is getting to me, but i could sit ad chat it up for hours on Oblivion.  The only thing right now is that i am determined to find that damn Unicorn (YES I AM A NUBE) and i can't, i want to find it before i get the quest to find it, don't ask.

I cannot say that much about Blood Money other than it is another typical Hitman game, it is alot of fun, and i do play it, albeit not as much as Oblivion by any means, but there was nothing over the top original.  The fact that another Hitman came out was enough of a reason for me to purchase it, but i had beaten it within a few days, and the only thing that kept me hanging on was getting the SA rank, but even then i wasn't too concerned with that. 

Which brings me to my next point...Achievements and THE INFAMOUS GAMERSCORE!!! TUM TUM TUM!!!!

POINTLESS, i have sat and pondered what satisfaction i have gained from getting an achievement.  I have realize that the answer to this question is "None Whatsoever!"  it was fun at first, knowing that i had these side goals to accomplish, but i quickly realized that it was just for personal satisfaction and not person gain.  Oh well, i am neither here no there with that, i only feel that it doesn't add to the 360 experience but it doesn't take away from it either.

Wel i hope you enjoyed my first blog, i will be busy thinking of my next rant later this week.