Well, like the title says, today marks the one year anniversary of me roaming around here, time sure goes by quick. Granted, the first six months I did diddlysquat and if there was an emblem for doing nothing but lurking, I would've gotten one, but all that's behind me. One thing I've grown to like about GameSpot is the nifty little community here, and I vow to try to make myself more useful around here by...doing stuff and posting stuff, I guess. Yes! I know! I'll blog more! I've managed to post a paltry number of a total of three updates in a whole year, so I'm going for a for more ambitious number. I'm shooting for five!

Well, I finally did it. No, I'm not talking about actually updating this thing, but entering myself in a tournament. I've been a subscriber for quite a while, so I guess I should of done one sooner, but either something came up, I didn't have the game, or I was just plain old lazy. However, a new year brings new resolutions, one of which includes getting my money's worth by actually doing these events that I'm technically paying for. And maybe doing more than 3 posts a year. Maybe. Anyways, I'll be in the Bombs Away tourney getting my game on and hoping I don't lose all too horribly. I might even post a follow-up on how I did (depending on how I did).

Earlier tonight I finally got to experience the GameSpot Game Night for myself, and I tell you, it was a blast! I'm normally not into online multiplayer all that much, preferring to be on the story-driven gameplay side of the gaming spectrum, but ever since I upgraded my account, I made a decision to try to get the most out of my GameSpot experience; including Game Night. Plus actually having the featured game, Perfect Dark Zero, helped.

The first thing I did before anything (besides signing up) was digging up the game I haven't played since launch and try to get some practice. I didn't really know what to expect so I spent half the day just experimenting with the different options. After getting a crash course ( a few achievements) I felt I was finally ready to not make a fool of myself, I waited for the event.

The two hours of the event were filled with a variety of matches, all on the whim of Kevin-V, the hosting editor in charge of this shindig. There was classic free-for-all deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture-the-flag-like matches, and some matches that had a more tactical flair.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was that I actually didn't suck. Honestly. There were some matches where I didn't do so well, and others where I was in the top 5. I even came in second in one of them. So all in all I didn't do too bad, but nothing emblem-worthy of course. The highlight for me was actually taking down Kevin-V, but that was probably due to luck rather than skill.

Tonight's Game Night (#12) was very fun, and it seemed everyone had a good time. All the participants were fellow GameSpotters, so there was no worries of anyone who would ruin the fun. If you have the free time, and just happen to have the right game, you should check it out next time, you won't be disappointed!

Alright, I need to confess something; I'm not much of a blogger. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is my first one. I read blogs, track blogs, but for some reason or another I never got into making my own. Now, I'm sure your probably thinking 'well, what are you doing here then?' Well, you see, since I put in all that effort following this year's E3 and that everyone and their mother made a blog about, now is the best time as any to jump on the bandwagon (a couple of days late, but oh well). First I'll go over the big three conferences first of course, then on to the E3 itself. Now I think that's enough preamble ramble, and on to the commentary!

Microsoft- My first impression of Microsoft's conference was that it was very by-the-numbers and somewhat generic. It started with a bunch of statistics, showed off some new trailers and demos, debuted the new Halo special edition 360, and that's about it. In fact, if I didn't know any better (and to be honest, I don't), it seems to me that Microsoft is keeping their cards close to their chest. Think about it; all the games displayed (besides Resident Evil 5) are coming out this year, leaving '08 as one giant question mark. X07 and the Tokyo Game Show are just a couple of months away, and how much you wanna bet that Microsoft is using E3 as a prologue of sorts for some really stuff in the upcoming tradeshows? Or maybe I'm just looking at this too hard. As for the games, I think Microsoft really does have a strong lineup for the holiday season (a little to strong, I'll be broke by New Year's) with Halo 3, GTA IV, Mass Effect, Madden, and a whole lot of others that look good. The live action Halo short was pretty neat, and the new trailers looked amazing, but they're pretty much games I already knew about; I'm really looking forward to see if Microsoft has anything up its sleeve for X07.

Nintendo- Ah, yes, Nintendo. I guess a lot of people didn't like Nintendo's conference, but that's not surprising. The Wii has made a mini phenomenon I suppose, so it's to no surprise that Nintendo would mention that. A lot. And as for all of this casual gaming thing? Well, since it was casual games that kinda fueled that phenomenon, then it would only make sense that those kinds of games would take center stage. I for one have nothing against casual games, and I don't understand it when some gamers scoff them saying that they are too 'hardcore' to play such simple games. Well, call me naive if you want, but arn't hardcore gamers supposed to be people who enjoy playing games no matter what they are, as long as they're fun? Take Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for example; it looked like a very fun game to me, but when people heard about using only the stylus, that somehow translated into simple controls, which somehow meant simple game, and before long people everywhere were saying that Phantom Hourglass was a dumbed down Zelda, without even playing the thing. Now, if you play it and it sucks, then that's a different story. But writing it off just because the controls look simple? Bad gamers, bad. Anyways, Phantom Hourglass and Mario Kart looks fun, and Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid looks amazing, and we finally get a release date for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Those new peripherals look...interesting. The Wii Fit and its pad seem to have come out of nowhere, but it makes sense if you consider Nintendo's drive for nongamers. I'm more interested in the Zapper, and anyone who thinks it's ugly hasn't seen Namco Bandai's GunCon. I certainly think it has potential. That's pretty much what Nintendo had to offer, and since most of these games will come out this year, I can only speculate that Nintendo has something up their sleeves as well for the TGS.

Sony- Sony's conference is perhaps the most popular, and its not hard to see why. It was well put together, plenty of new stuff, and flashy presentations. Home looks interesting, if they can pull it off, but I'm more impressed with some of the PSP lineup. God of War: Chains of Olympus and echochrome are just the kind of games the PSP needs, so I'm happy Sony is actually giving the PSP some love. As for the redesign of the PSP, the new improvements help, but it's not going to get me to buy a new one. The PS3 also has an impressive lineup, and since I have a soft spot for platformers, Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune are at the top of the list. Other games that are looking to be really good are Metal Gear Solid (of course), Haze, Killzone 2 and LittleBigPlanet. All in all, a very impressive show.

E3- Alright, now for the million dollar question- How was E3? Well, that all depends on what you were expecting. If you were to compare it to the past E3's and the Tokyo Game Show, then yeah, it was kinda disappointing. But since the ESA changed the name to the E3 Media and Business Summit and pretty much said that it would be an invite only conference type event, it would be more fair to compare it to the Game Developer Conference. In fact, if you replace the developers with publishers, you would get this year's E3. So if you saw it like that, then it was alright. The execution could've been better, and they really need to make it cheaper and easier for exhibitors, but it really could've been a heck of a lot worse. The thing is though, does the gaming industry really need the new E3? Most major publishers now host their own tradeshows, developers have the GDC, even the indie studios are banding together to have their own event. And lets not forget the giant Tokyo Game Show. Maybe this year's E3 wouldn't feel so redundant if the ESA had it in May like usual, and not just two months before a giant consumer convention. If you were one of the big three and you had a huge announcement to make, which tradeshow would you reveal it; the experimental E3 or wait two months for the predictable TGS? It looks like most are doing the later, or so it seems. Since I'm not an industry insider, I don't really know how well E3 really went, or how the ESA is going to react, or if there's going to be an E3 next year at all. I guess we can just wait and see.

Well, I guess that's that. My impressions of the E3 Media and Business Summit in a nutshell. Just a bunch of ramblings about some stuff I saw on the internet, I know, but since most blogs are ramblings about something, I guess I didn't do too bad. Or not. Oh well. Well, umm...see ya later.