Hey guys, I wrote up a little preview for Dragon Age: Origins over on my bog. You can check it out here.

Personally I'm extremely excited for this game, more than any other game coming out this holiday season (2010 excluded). It has so many exciting features: the social networking aspect through the Internet, 6 different beginning story lines, and freakin' Dragons! Nov 3rd is a huge day on my calendar, although I will probably not be able to play it hardcore for a few weeks until winter break starts (how time flies!!).

So this game is most definitely my favorite game for the PS3 thus far. (No surprise, as it usurped Uncharted: Drake's Fortune as my former favorite)...

First of all i must say "HOLY CRAP!" the graphics are drop dead gorgeous. Many of the reviews i read before purchasing the game said similar things about the textures and such, but you don't get the full effect of how great EVERYTHING looks until you actually play the game. The action sequences look virtually the same as the cut scenes, which is great. And by not using CGI to create amazing cut scenes (i.e. FF), the game has extremely little in the realm of load times. The only time you will wait is when you first fire up the story mode from the main menu.

As far as gameplay is concerned there were a few improvements; such as a smaller amount of puzzles and an improved grenade throwing mechanic. I really liked how you could flip through Drake's journal this time around, and the book 'grew' as the game progressed. This was nice because it helped me to avoid inadvertently spoiling the plot (because there is more than just answers to puzzles in the journal, there are also little nuggets of information/story). Platforming is fun, although sometimes frustrating, it is pretty cut and dry as to which route you can take. I'd like to see Naughty Dog take some initiative and create multiple routes, with dead-ends, from which you can get to a point.

The cut scenes, voice acting, character design, and storyline are all just as amazing as the graphics. Twisting and turning, the story will keep you guessing (quite literally) until the end. I love this aspect, as it is my #1 concern with a game. Without a good storyline, I will not play a game's single player missions. It's shocking how many games there are out there that don't take the story seriously enough (i.e. Prince of Persia, seriously that storyline was weak). With this game, the commercial (i.e. 'I'm going to file this under "Not an Issue"') hits the nail on the head. There were more than a few times where it was like I was playing a character in one of the greatest action movies of all time, better than any movie I know of that has been made.

Ratings:

Visuals: 10

Sound/ Voices: 10

Gameplay: 9.5

Overall: 9.8

P.S. The multiplayer is sick too. ;)

So with 2009 creeping towards the holidays, I figured I'd chime in on what I've been up to lately.

1. Earlier this summer I bought a PS3 on a whim, crazy right? Well it has turned out to be one of the more beneficial whims I've followed through on. This is mainly because of some tragic news.
2. About 2 months ago my 360 overheated (RROD, past one year warranty $100 bux to fix). I was PISSED... but at least I had that PS3 sitting there to keep me occupied.
3. Starting my Soph year at school.. Mechanical Polymer Engineering... classes this year are still mostly Gen. Ed. so I still have time to play games, but i can see whats in my future. Not too much room for games there.

So all in all I have been playing games around 1-5 hours a week, compared to my former 15-30. It's nice to have more variety in my daily habits, but I really do miss those days of playing a new game for 10-14 hours in a day. I have been active on Live by using my HDD on my friends 360, but I have yet to get my 360 fixed. This is mainly due to a lack of funds (gotta eat man... I'm in college).

Even with the RROD trauma, I was able to justify purchasing another monitor to use with my laptop. Mainly for use with MATLAB and other engr. programs I use for school. This has also led to more efficiency on the PC, also leading to more internet browsing and multi-tasking. I've always been in and out of the GS community, so we'll see how long this stint lasts. All depending on school....

So I have been missing from the Gamespot scene for some time. Well hopefully that is about to change as I have created a new blog on Blogger, click here to check it out. I have also created a homepage that allows for further discussion on the forums and more links to pages that I use frequently.

I really like the new GUI that Gamespot has come up with while I was away at college. Its very asthetically pleasing and it was a nice surprise. I just finished up my first year at The University of Akron and I have to say that it was fun, but I did get caught up in a few things that led me away from who I really am and what I really enjoy. The past few days have really helped me to realize how I love to spend my time, and that is playing video games and consuming myself in virtual media. I hope to be more active on the site, contributing reviews of the large amount of games I have played over the past year, and maybe I can even figure out how to get some screenshots posts (one of my more ambitious goals).

Keep your eyes and ears open for the updates that will follow. (Fable 2 review?...)

So HP has finally moved on from its distinctve dv6000 series notebooks and made a new chassis design, the dv5. I recently purchased one for my upcoming college career and it is amazing. The silver finish that extends over the keyboard, quicklaunch buttons, and touchpad gives this notebook a nice professional feel. By replacing the wavy imprint finish with one based on a square pattern HP has created a much more sophisticated looking PC rather than the "personal" thing they were going with.

The AMD puma series processors are in the dv5z series (dv5t is intel), which allows for a new generation of processors to power this beast of a laptop. I have been multi-tasking burning dvds, surfing the web, using iTunes, and installing programs.. and there has yet to be a spot were the computer hung up and made me close a program or something. This series of processors far outperforms the older Turion series, such as the one in my girlfriend's dv6000 series notebook.

The ATI 3450 HD Graphics card is a nice addition, it is reported to be able to run Crysis at low levels. I didn't even attempt that feat, but it does run Fable and a few other recent games at great if not amazing settings. I plugged it into my 50" Samsung DLP via HDMI and it was running my games flawlessly at very high resolutions. And the DVD upconvert to 1080p was great too.

A few nice additons like the Infinity Brightview display and the eSATA port make this laptop a steal. The Infinity display adds a smooth finish to your screen and webcam. The display looks like a sheet of glass when turned off, no more ugly bumps and such at the edges of the screen. The eSATA port is great because it is combined with USB port to allow you to use it even if you don't have a HDD that supports eSATA. I purchased a $110 External HDD that has eSATA and i can tell you from experience that the eSATA cable truly is 6 times faster than the USB when it comes to data transfer.

If your looking for a mid-range priced laptop this one is for you. It allows for all of your basic computer needs, while still giving you room to explore the gaming world and surf the web at the same time.

I began playing video games back when my brother first got an N64 back in the day when it came out. And I have always been drawn to them, but I find myself getting bored with the whole idea of sitting on the couch like a potato. I seem to trade in my favorite game from the previous month to get another one. And then I would proceed to play the new game for a month, and the cycle would continue. After a few months I would want to play the game i traded in, and i would get soo frustrated.

With my Gamecube I had SSX 3 and I loved it until the aformentioned trend hit me with that game. Then I even went so far as to sell my GCN to get an Xbox. I longed for the GCN w/ SSX 3 many days later. I then bagan to play Forza Motorsport and that longing faded away, but not completely. Even now when playing my 360, I have realized on many days that i would love to be playing one of the only good snowboarding games out there....

Final Fantasy X - My second Perfect game

This past summer i sold my Xbox for gas money. I know it sounds pathetic, but sometimes there are more important things that Video Games. And then this past fall I bought a PS2, finally and began to play the Final Fantasy series, which I had been waiting for ever since the N64. Through the series I fell in love with my second Perfect game. Final Fantasy X, I never had a chance to finish this game, and I wish i would have. Every day I wonder what happened to Tidus and that chick? It pulls at me all the time. I was probably only 5 hrs. from the end of the game, when I got hit with the trade bug again.......

Through that trade, and some friends help I now am the proud owner of an Xbox 360 Pro. That was probably the best trade I have ever made, because the options with my 360 are endless. Now with COD4, LO, and GHIII I never have a dull day, not for the past 3 months at least. But yet again I almost got hit with the trade bug again this past week, Forza 2........ Then the day before yesterday i decided to pop this game in and i again realized how stupid it would be to trade this game in. I know that within the next month I would be longing to play this game again. Therefore i have decided to never... NEVER.... trade in a game again.

Forza Motorsport 2 - My third Perfect game

The 'Put It Down' effect I call it. If you love playing a game, and you beat it (SSX3), or you just get bored with it (FFX)... DO NOT trade it in. Put it down and just wait. It may sit there looking like 20 or 30 bucks for a while. But you will thank yourself in a few months when you are longing to play it agian.... Just let your games hibernate.. You'll thank me in a few months......

Ok people here it is....

DON'T call someone ignorant on the forums unless they are truly ignorant. Ignorance is the lack of exposure to a certain fact or piece of knowledge. If someone says that Halo 3 sucks and they have never played it or even seen anything about it, then THAT is ignorant because they have no knowledge of the subject.

I just can't stand when someone is IGNORANT of the definition of IGNORANCE and they use the word as if it were an insult. Please people just learn what a word means before you use it.

And that reminds me, calling a person ignorant is NOT AN INSULT. Yes a person can choose to be ignorant of a subject or fact, but this does not mean they are stupid, idiotic, or 'retarded.' Ignorance can be the result of the person, the person's schooling, upbringing, or even culture, but in any event it is all the same.

When a person calls another ignorant just because they disagree with an opinion, that is an ignorant statement. It has nothing to do with how smart a person is, ignorance is defined by what a person does not know, not what they do know.