So a few days ago, we recently got The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 5th Anniversary Edition

Which is pretty much nothing more than this as it has all the story based DLC (Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine):

I remember playing this a few years before on my friend's PS3 and I thought it was fantastic. A lot of the time, all I did was wander around, ignoring even the main story. Now that I'm playing the 360 version, I'm farther in the story than I was before, but even then, I've still been mucking around, this time focusing on other objectives. Currently trying to get all the recommendations I can from the Mages Guilds, already I suffered through Vampirism (got it cured though), among many other goals.

That's it for me! To end on a P.S., thus far the only western Jackie Chan film I can tolerate (and enjoy, though the film could still be better for a few reasons) is The Forbidden Kingdom (his co-op with Jet Li).

My Silver XBL Account

Took a while, but I set up my Silver XBOX Live Account. I can't do much without paying for a Gold Membership (including playing with friends, which is a shame) unfortunately, but my Gamertag is "ACO ZBFAN" (it's even displayed in the lower right side of this account).

Achievements

So, for taking a break on the MAJOR games I'm supposed to be playing (Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, MGS: Peace Walker, and BioShock 1), I've been revisiting not one, but TWO LEGO games. LEGO Star Wars II (which I previously played and beat on the GameCube, and is on my own list on this site, but this time I'm playing the 360 version, which we got during the time I got LEGO LOTR, PDZ, Batman: Arkham City, while others got Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and MGS HD Collection, but I never brought it up) and Lord of the Rings, which are both great games, but out of boredom, I chose to get some achievements, which is what I want to briefly talk about.

Honestly, I never considered them to be an essential reason to pick up said console, nor do I care to get them all for EVERY game and I stand by what I said about me living fine without them, but ever since I got the 360 and got some more achievements for the hell of it when I revisited LEGO LOTR, they can be kind of fun sometimes (Right now, I'm trying to beat the Free Play missions in LEGO Star Wars II without dying as there are several achievements for those, and they can be a challenge to get). Though some achievements can be quite stupid (LEGO Lord of the Rings gives you an achievement for completing a level in co-op. Yay! *sarcasm*), but sometimes clever (LEGO LOTR does poke fun at the Sean Bean "One does not simply" meme). Either way, still nothing big and is there only for the fun of it.

A bad Pokemon design

I admit, as much as I love Pokemon, I've been WAY behind on the games (these days, it's one of my younger brothers playing them), even the remakes of my favorite in the series (HeartGold and SoulSilver are remade versions of Gold/Silver/Crystal). But while I'm looking forward to Pokemon X/Y, there is this new Pokemon design that gets to me. This is what you get when you cross Mewtwo with a Xenomorph from Aliens, a fusion that looks horrible.

That's it for me.

The link to this news (thanks to my favorite radio host). Cause of death being cancer complications at age 70.

I remember first seeing his reviews with Richard Roper (having never seen his stuff with Gene until vids were released on YouTube) as the co-host and like every other critic, I may not have agreed with him on every film (he even wrote a blog on why he didn't think video games can be cIassified as art, and even then I disagree, but that's not what this is about), but I can't deny his respect as a film critic and whenever I did watch that show, I did enjoy it.

RIP. :(

Replacing Zatch and Kiyo (though like Kitana, it looks like they'll be lingering in the comments for a while, hopefully they don't take as long, because Kitana managed to piss off Edward Elric, Lilith, Joanna Dark, among others until Roronoa Zolo/Zolo dethroned her :P) with Ms. Lara Croft (kbaily, I know you probably want my head for this :P). I used GS' defaults though (like I did Sarah Kerrigan and Zeratul from Starcraft).

Another thing to note: Lara is the second archaeologist to be featured as my avatar, first being the animated Jackie Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures.

So anyway, here's what I've been playing.

Recently, I beat Red Dead Redemption's main storyline and MAN was it good. Also started a bit of Undead Nightmare, but I also started a bit of Bioshock. No, not Infinite. The original. Thus far, I've gotten a few Little Sisters saved (can't bare to harvest them, and I know they are game characters, but this game actually makes you feel for the fact that they are just KIDS) and I'm already in Arcadia. I also got MGS: Peace Walker's first ending and am working on getting the true one (remind me to NEVER take Paz on a date EVER AGAIN).

This will be my last blog on the whole ordeal.

From: GamesIndustry.biz

While sales of Wii U games could be better, Poix insists that Ubisoft is pleased, relative to the number of consoles out there, that is. Nintendo simply needs more system-selling titles, and Poix believes Rayman will be one of those. "We don't have any disappointments compared to the installed base. We are just hoping that Nintendo's results for Wii U will be a bit bigger, like Iwata-san said," he commented. "Selling a new way of playing can take some time, and we know the power of the brands from Nintendo and we know from the fans that the majority of what will be the system sellers are not yet available. And on our side, Rayman will be one of them for sure. We really expect Rayman to be a huge system seller on the console."

They can't be serious. How can a game that you delayed in order to release it at the same time for a PS3/360 version still be a system seller? There are those who planned on buying a Wii U for this game, but blew that off for the other versions. Not to mention, several Nintendo fans still aren't very happy for how they handled the delay.

Nevermind the fact that the game (no matter what version, but the Wii U version will end up the worst position) is especially going to tank since GTA V releases around the same time...

For the times I've lacked interest in Grand Theft Auto (and still do, but I can honor it for all it did to open-world action-adventure games) and when I called Manhunt 2 for Wii a "meh" game (calling it the worst pre-2012 game I played that year), there is one game I'm playing right now that I think is awesome:

I'm very deep into the main game (I haven't started on Undead Nightmare), but for the most part, I just messed around and did side missions. I have quite high fame, though I spent a lot of my money (this time, I'm saving up for an explosive rifle). I even love the atmosphere the game provides as I was born and raised in the western part of the US (Utah), even though I freaking hate the heat in real life (which makes it weird and maybe hypocritical I'll admit :P).

I should be beating the main game soon, but as usual, I'll still be messing around (currently, I'm trying to find a white stallion).

As I'm in a Metal Gear mood thanks to beating MGS3 and loving the hell out of it, going right to MGS: Peace Walker (with Red Dead Redemption on the side, as well as revisiting games I already beat) on the MGS HD Collection, I decided to playthrough Super Smash Bros. Brawl's CIassic mode as Solid Snake.

Enjoy!

I should get to work on my next project though.

 Playing: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD

Not counting the MSX games featured on MGS3, I'm playing the last game to be featured in the MGS HD Collection on 360. Let me say, this is a very well done handheld (PSP) to console port. The game not only looks better in HD, but the way they re-coded the game to make it work with dual analogs making aiming much better (granted, I never played the PSP version, nor do I own said system, but being an N64 fan, I know what playing with a single stick is like).

In a rather geek-out moment, there is something so badass hearing David Hayter and Steve Blum in the same game, both having very awesome voice talent making their characters sound even more badass.

Replaying: Eternal Darkness and Wind Waker

I thought, why not take another branch with this game? I already beat Ulyaoth's path, so I'll go with Xel'loath's path now. Funny, since I'm still playing a Metal Gear game, quite a few of the voice cast in this game make it feel like a Metal Gear reunion. Jennifer Hale (who did hundreds of roles like the female versions of Jaden Korr and Commander Shepard, but in MG she's Naomi Hunter and Emma Emmerich) as Alex Roivas and Xel'loath, Paul Eiding (again, like Hale has a lot of voice work, like Judicator Aldaris and Max Tennyson, in MG he's Roy Campbell) as Paul Luthor and a corrupt monk, Kim Mai Guest (Mei Ling in Metal Gear Solid) as the Cambodian slave girl Ellia, and David Hayter (everyone knows who he is), while not in big roles, still played as background Roman soldiers. Then again, considering Silicon Knights released MGS: Twin Snakes, I shouldn't be surprised.

I've also been re-playing some glimpses of Wind Waker. Still a good game, left at the part where Link has to go triforce hunting and paying that greedy bastard, Tingle.

Well, that's it for me. On a side note, my dad picked this up:

In Gohan's voice (Stephanie Nadolny's version): Time to FINISH YOU OFF!

Anyway, like how I did MGS2, I'm pretty much almost done with MGS3 and I'll say, I liked it a hell of a lot more than MGS2. The storyline is a bit better as I understood what was going on a bit more, a better save assistant (Para-Medic and her movie talks actually give some helpful advice for Naked Snake/Big Boss, unlike Rosemary who just dragged on with her relationship with Raiden, jeez, let the man do his job, would ya?), funnier codec dialogue (When Para-Medic, Snake, and Major Zero were talking about James Bond: From Russia With Love cracked me up), and since the HD version is based on Subsistence, using more camera options to suit your liking (I chose third person behind the character view the most). It still has it's awkward moments (EVA unzips her suit in front of Snake when they just met and the romance between them felt random, though it's funny as hell when the game let's you take a peak at her). 

From sitting through the cutscene before Snake and The Boss have their final confrontation, I'll admit I do feel sorry for her and see why Snake was so close to her through her discussions and her actions. But, like my DBZ reference states, she's got to be dealt with. The first few fights I had with her were freaking difficult though (blasting her with a shotgun, while she lies on the ground isn't helping me like it did with The End and Volgin), but my brother gave me some advice on how he beat her.

After that, since my time with MGS3 was a lot better than MGS2, I'm not sure if I should start right to Peace Walker or play AC1 and/or AC2.

Well, last blog, I said I beat Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. In the comments, my friend, grunt1096 noted that it was weird that I started AC with said game, also recommended I check out AC2.

Well, I got that and more...

We got them at UK game store, CeX for 11 GBP in total. 6 GBP for the first, 5 GBP for the second.

I haven't played any of them yet, but I'm going to wait probably until I beat MGS3 (speaking of which, I beat the part where Snake sneaks into the base as a Russian Raiden look-alike and even sat through that torture scene).