Well, as you probably know, a little game called Halo 3 has arrived. It took me two days to complete it and I must say it is a great game that was totally worth the wait. I thoroughly prefured it to Halo 2, which I really wasn't too fond of. There were some minor problems such as the terrible second to last campaign mission. It was so boring. Another one was paying another £10 for the collector's edition but not getting the 2 day Xbox Live Gold free trial. I know it doesn't sound much but I'm currently on Silver and I can't afford to pay for another Gold membership (saving for other games) so that free trial would have really come in handy. But, apart from that, I really enjoyed the game. It's the best game on the 360 so far. Unrelated to Halo 3, I played Motorstorm a few days ago and I personally found it to be very disappointing. The handling has terrible and I couldn't bear to play it. And the games keep on rolling in. Zelda on October 19th, Metroid on October 26th, Mario Galaxy on November 16th and Mass Effect on November 23rd. And to finish up this blog, I'm seeing My Chemical Romance on November 15th at the O2. Hell yeah! MCR and then Mario Galaxy the day after! All hail Gerard Way!

I know. Shocking isn't it. A new blog. Many things have happened since my Virtual Console rant. First things first, I got a PSP in mid-July. My opinion of it? It's okay. I find some games on it a bit overrated. Daxter for example. Gamespot gave it a 9.1. A 9.1 for a game in which you exterminate bugs. I was expecting a proper Jak and Daxter game, like the ones on the PS2. Man, those games were brilliant. Especially the first one, before they commercialised the game by giving Jak a gun. But, instead, we get a game about Daxter exterminating metal bugs. The best games that I have on PSP, in my opinion, are Tekken, Metal Gear and Loco Roco. All great games. Sega Mega Drive collection is pretty good but it isn't as good as it could have been. They missed out key games such as Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Streets of Rage trilogy and Dynamite Headdy which were all great games in teh Sega Mega Drive library. My brother got a PS3 and Resistance is actually a pretty good game. The campaign and online are both great. It also is pretty simple and basic and I like that. It's a change. I haven't played MotorStorm yet as my brother says that it is very slow and kinda realistic. I don't like realistic racers at all. I hate Gran Turismo. I really should play MotorStorm but I'm having too much fun with Resistance at the moment. Super Paper Mario for the Wii is also a very good game. How did WarioWare outscore it here? I seriously don't have a clue. In my opinion, it's the 3rd best game on Wii. And, I'm very happy with what Nintendo is currently doing on the Virtual Console. This "Hanabi Festival", in which games that were never released in Europe will be released on the European VC, is a fantastic idea. Super Mario Bros. 2, thats right the REAL one, is available to download only until the end of the month. Needless to say, I got a Wii Points Card as soon as I heard about this. Sin and Punishment, the superb Treasure N64 shooter, is coming out on Friday but I have to stick to my budget so I won't be getting it for a bit. I need to get Halo 3, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. Those are only the main games. Don't get me started on Zack & Wiki, Assassin's Creed etc. Anyway, thats the end of my blog. I hope to post more often.

The Wii's Virtual Console service, in my opinion, is great. Some classics are already available for download and playing some great retro games on the Wii is sweet. However, there are some things that annoy me about the service which I am pretty disappointed about. First of all, playing VC games on a HD television with component cables. When I first played a Virtual Console game with the compnent cables, the screen turned very strange. I tryed out other games with the component cables and found that it was the NES, SNES and Mega Drive games that turned weird while the Turbografx and N64 games worked just fine. I phoned up Nintendo and asked about the problem. They explained to me that some VC games don't run properly with component cables and are trying to get the matter fixed. So,I had to unplug the component cables and put in the normal cables whenever I wanted to play VC games. Then I realised that some new games had "component cable interlace mode" in the description of the game. I tried out The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (the first game I downloaded with the "interlace mode" in its description) to see if it would run fine on my TV. It didn't and I was very annoyed. I checked the FAQ on the Wii Shop Channel to see if there was any explanation to what this "interlace mode" actually was but I found no help at all. I found out what it was on Wikipedia. It turns out to turn on interlace mode you have to go on the operations guide of one of the VC games, plug in the nunchuck and then press Z and the 1 button at the same time. I checked to see if it had worked and it did. Now, while I was happy that the game was running properly, how the hell was I supposed to know that I had to do that to make interlace mode work? Nintendo didn't explain it at all. So, Nintendo updated some games that were already released to support interlace mode but some all time classic Nintendo games still weren't updated, including the legendary Super Mario World. I thought to myself "Well, it will probably updated within the next few days". It has been one month and a half and STILL there has been no update to Super Mario World and to other classic games. Do I really need to keep on unplugging these cables all the time to play one of the greatest games ever made? This issue shouldn't even exist with this whole "interlace mode". Nintendo should have checked something like this before the Wii even came out. Also, whats with the lack of N64 games? The Wii has been out for half a year and only five N64 games have been released. F-Zero X was released yesterday and was the first N64 game to be released in over two months. Come on Nintendo! The Virtual Console is meant to be a place where people can relive classic games. So, why are companies deciding to release pure rubbish onto the Virtual Console? No one is going to buy it and it is wasting Nintendo's time. Instead of putting great games like Super Metroid on the VC, they have to waste their time putting on crappy games that no one cares about and no one will buy. I think that I've covered all of my niggles about the Virtual Console. Apart from these things, the service is top notch but these downsides are holding the VC down

Well, I haven't really been active on Gamespot for a while now. Been quite busy this month. Anyway, I pre-ordered Mario Strikers Charged Football about two weeks ago from GAME. I chose GAME because, knowing their track record, they always deliver the game that you order one day before it's official release date. So today I walked home to find a package there for me. It was quite obvious what it was. I quickly booted up the Wii and put in the disc. Once the Wii recognises the disc, there is a firmware update, which is quite strange (mind you, it was quite a quick update). I loaded up the game and started playing the single player mode for a bit. Quite good actually and much better than the original. Then I go online. First game I win. Second game I lose (this guy was a very dirty player). Third and fourth game I win. I looked at where I was on the leaderboard and I was surprised. In the 500 range. Then I realised that when the game comes out, I will be way lower. What also surprised me was the fact that this game hadn't even come out yet but some people had already had a total of about 1000 points. Some people need to get lives. Edit: Just posted my review of this game. It should be up on my profile soon. Check it out to see what I think of this game

9 years ago, back when I was a just a small kid, I asked my parents for an N64 for christmas. I didn't get one (probably because me and my brother were still into the Mega Drive at the time and my parents probably wanted us to get the most out of that). The year after, I asked for an N64 again. On Christmas Day, I opened a present and found a console. It wasn't an N64 but was instead a Playstation. I was a bit disappointed but it was still good to have a new console. I grew to love the Playstation playing games like Crash Bandicoot and Tekken 3, which still remain as some of my favourite games. The years past and in 2001 my brother got a PS2 for christmas leaving me to get my first Nintendo home console, the Gamecube. When the announcement came in 2005 that the Wii would be able to download N64 games, I was really happy and I was looking forward to playing games that I missed out on. But then it was revealed that games made by Rare probably won't make it onto the Virtual Console meaning that I still wouldn't have a chance to play these games. I few weeks ago I finally got an N64 with Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie, both of which are great games and I'm really happy that I got them. Anyway, unrelated to the N64, I completed Red Steel two weeks ago. This game, in my opinion, is a very underrated game and definately did not deserve a 5.5 score. On Friday, I downloaded Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64 to the americans) and it is a terrific game. The night that I got it, I played through the default route of the game without stopping. It took me 1 hour 37 minutes to do it. Finally, I heard Linkin Park's new song a few days ago and is now on my regular iTunes playlist along with basically all My Chemical Romance songs. Anyway, I better be off.

For years I have considered getting an N64 and a Sega Saturn, two older consoles which I never got. Well, today, I have decided to go for it. I am going to bid on eBay for an N64 and a Saturn. The bidding time for the N64 is two hours from now and it has the console, two controllers, leads and four games (Goldeneye,Perfect Dark,Killer Instinct Gold and Majoras Mask) all for just £20.50 which is an amazing deal (but the price will probably increase during the closing stages of the bidding) . The reason I want an N64 is to play all of the old games made by Rare which will probably not be made available on the Virtual Console. The Saturn I am trying to get will have the system, one controller, the leads and four games (the only standout one being Panzer Dragoon). The reason I am going to get a Saturn is to play a few really good games like Panzer Dragoon and NiGHTS. The bidding time left for the Saturn will finish in 2 days so I still have a while. I will post updates to tell you if I have got what I wanted. Update: Some person beat me on my N64 bid. He bid one pound more than me with 15 seconds to go. I didn't have enough time to make another. Lucky git. However, I still got an N64. I payed £40 for the Goldeneye package with Banjo Kazooie. Unfortunately, I no longer have any money for the Sega Saturn. Ah well, another time

Even though it is February, let me start off this blog by saying Happy New Year to everyone on Gamespot. Hope you celebrated it in a good way and had a great 2006. Obviously, the Wii has had the most play time recently. I now have 9 games for it, each one brilliant. I even bought Madden. That's right an Englishman bought Madden. It was recommended by a friend and the reviews were good so i thought I should buy it. It turned out to be a great game and the rules aren't as hard to get passed as I expected. My Wii is now online also. My friend code is: 0160-4581-4625-4764. If you want to add me, PM me so I can add you too. Considering 2007 has just rolled in, I'm going to count down the top 5 games that I want most in these coming months: 5. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) Previews for Sonic's Wii encounter have been promising. We could be in for a treat 4. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) My only 360 game in this list is sure to be a cracker. Can it live up to the hype? Yes, probably. 3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) The fighter series continues on the Wii. For the first time, a third party character is among the list. Will we see Sonic added next? I hope so 2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) Samus's epic trilogy is coming to the end and the last edition is sure to be just as amazing as the previous two. 1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) The infamous plumber returns and has found his way into outer space. This game looks amazing and is sure to be brilliant.

Yes, Christmas is over for another year and we are almost starting a brand new year. Christmas ,for me, was one of the best I have ever experienced. The Wii, Zelda, Wii Sports = Brilliance. The Wii is truly better than anything I could have ever imagined and my 360 will be gathering dust for a long time now (probably until Halo 3). What a great year of gaming it has been. The 360 has truly thrived with a wave of great second generation titles for it and so has the DS. And, to top it off, a brand new Nintendo console has made a great impact on the world thanks to its innovation. Considering the year is over, I am listing the handheld game and console game I have enjoyed the most this year: Console Game of 2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess A truly brilliant game. Finally, a Zelda game to challenge Ocarina. Handheld Game of 2006: New Super Mario Bros. Mario returning to his roots in the first 2D Mario game in 14 years. Yes, 2006 was a great year for gaming. With a great line-up for the Wii and Xbox 360, roll on 2007.

My last blog post was when I was in Palm Springs. And that was a LONG time ago. I went to Disneyland and NYC and had a great time too. Then school started again which is a drag. The Wii info got released and I've got mine pre-ordered. Score! However, I'm not allowed to play it until Christmas Day :( In October, we went to Orlando, Florida. Had a great time at Disney World and all. Got some great new DS games too, which ain't even out in the UK yet. Score! Not too much else to say really. I envy all of the americans that have their Wii's already. DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

It's been a long time since my last blog entry. So much has happened. On june 23rd I got the DS lite with Pokemon Link and Final Fantsay IV. The Ds lite is amazing. It is so much better than the original. I am glad I bought it. Pokemon Link is okay but not as good as Tetris DS. I completed Phoenix Wright while watching the Poland vs Ecuador World Cup game and it is a fantastic game. Italy won the world cup which was brilliant since I was cheering for them to win against France. School broke up on July 21st and we flew out to here (Palm Springs) the day after. It's 122 degrees fahrenheight out here. After this we are going to Anaheim ( Disneyland Yay!) and finally New York City. I'm hoping to get a few games out here. See Ya!