Well, I'm back to the YouTube days of yore. Here's a link to my latest video. It's a trailer (not a music video!) of Gears of War, featuring "If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback.

Thinking of buying a Gamecube? Buying Gamecube games for your Wii? Can't decide what to get? Well, not a problem. This list rates Gamecube games (not all of them, keep in mind, only the ones I feel I've played enough to rate) from a buyer's standpoint, which means how good the game is coupled with the replay value. Thanks to Panzer_Zwei for the idea.

Animal Crossing- 9.0
Army Men: RTS- 6.0
Battalion Wars- 8.5
Beyond Good and Evil- 7.5
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg- 5.5
Chibi Robo- 7.0
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex- 5.5
Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse- 5.0
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat- 7.5
Donkey Konga- 7.5
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles- 7.5
Finding Nemo- 2.0
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance- 8.5
Freedom Fighters- 8.0
F-Zero GX- 8.5
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy- 4.5
Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde- 6.5
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life- 8.0
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction- 8.0
James Bond: Everything or Nothing- 8.5
Killer7- 8.0
Kirby Air Ride- 7.5
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition- 9.5
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker- 9.0
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- 9.0
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers- 8.0
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King- 8.0
Lost Kingdoms-7.0
Luigi's Mansion- 7.5
Mario Golf: Toastool Tour- 8.0
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!- 9.0
Mario Party 4- 8.0
Mario Party 6- 7.5
Mario Power Tennis- 8.5
Medal of Honor: Frontline- 8.0
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun- 4.0
Mega Man Anniversary Collection- 8.0
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System- 8.5
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes- 8.0
Metroid Prime- 9.5
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes- 9.0
Midway Arcade Treasures- 7.5
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door- 8.5
Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II- 7.5
Pikmin- 8.0
Pikmin 2- 9.5
Pokemon Colosseum- 6.0
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness- 5.5
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones- 9.0
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc- 7.5
Resident Evil- 8.5
Resident Evil 4- 9.5
The Simpsons: Hit and Run- 8.5
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle- 6.0
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut- 4.0
Sonic Mega Collection- 8.0
Soul Calibur II- 9.5
Spiro: Enter the Dragonfly- 3.0
Star Fox Adventures- 8.0
Star Fox Assault- 7.5
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader- 8.0
Super Mario Strikers- 8.0
Super Mario Sunshine- 8.5
Super Monkey Ball 2- 8.5
Super Smash Bros. Melee- 10.0
Tales of Symphonia- 7.5
TimeSplitters 2- 9.0
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect- 9.0
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell- 8.5
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow- 8.0
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory- 7.0
Tony Hawk's Underground- 9.0
Ultimate Spiderman- 7.5
Viewtiful Joe- 9.5
Viewtiful Joe 2- 8.5
Wallace and Gromit: Project Zoo- 6.5
Wario World- 7.5
WarioWare: Mega Party Game$- 3.5

Medal of Honor: Frontline- 8.1
RollerCoaster Tycoon- 8.5

There's the reviews, now here's the rant:

People don't like to be told they're wrong. Videogames are an example of this. When they don't know what to do, they'll ask you for help. But when they're doing something wrong and you simply tell them that, they'll get upset.

If they're not taking cover in Gears of War and dying so many times and you tell them or they're not guarding in Paper Mario and you tell them, they won't take it too well. Why? Because people don't like to be told that they're wrong. Nobody wants to accept that they aren't doing something right.

This is just me, but I absolutely hate it when that happens. I'll tell someone they're doing it wrong, they'll get angry, not follow my advice, and continue to play wrong just to be defiant. My advice to those who have the same problem which I've found works: don't offer help. Not only that, but don't help them when they ask for it. If they're only going to value your input when they feel like taking your advice, they are not worthy of it.

That is all.

I finally got that second Gamecube controller, a purple, wired one so I could have rumble and becasue it was cheaper than a wireless one. The one I got is a third-party controller from MadCatz, a Gamepad 200. I've decided to review it for lack of anything better to do.

Functionality: A+
The controller plays like any other controller; no problems.

Feel: C
Compared to the first-party ones, the Gamepad 200 feels cheap and plastic. The A button even makes a loudnoise when pressed and the analog sticks feel a little stiff.

Exra Features: D-
It's bigger with grips, and that's about it. But for the lower price, who's complaining?

Price: B
The Gamepad 200 is about 8 or 9 dollars cheaper than a first-party controller.

Final Grade: C
It has no advantages over the original controller besides grips and its slightly bigger size. Compared to the original, it feels cheap and plastic. But hey, at least it's lower priced, right?

Oh, and I started up my images collection, uploading two sigs I've made. More will come shortly. And I'm working on a review of Roller Coaster Tycoon.

People always say videogames aren't educational. They melt your brain, make you stupider, or turn you into a murderer. Well, videogames CAN be educational. Here arefifteen things I've learned from videogames and what videogames I've learned them from:

1.) Guns kill people. (Just about every videogame ever made.)
2.) The Americans fought in World War II. (Just about every WWII videogame ever made.)
3.) Orcs and humans don't like each other. (WarCraft.)
4.) "Time to Split" is not cool to say. (TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.)
5.) Paper people do not burn up when they are touched by fire. (Paper Mario.)
6.) Mushrooms are amazing healing items. (Super Mario Bros.)
7.) People don't move around when they box. (Wii Sports.)
8.) Herbs can heal every single kind of wound within seconds. (Resident Evil 4.)
9.) Blood will fly out of people being shot even when they are wearing armor. (Halo.)
10.) Eyeballs CAN be ripped out with bare hands. (God of War.)
11.) Chainsaws are fun. (Gears of War.)
12.) In addition to hockey, there are no fouls in Soccer, either. (Super Mario Strikers.)
13.) Health magically recovers. (Call of Duty 2.)
14.) Cars don't take damage. (Gran Turismo 5.)
15.) People always go flying out their windshield.(Flatout.)

I'm going to someone's place for a while and I might not be able to get on GameSpot over there as much as I do now, if at all. I'll be back in five weeks, so if you notice not quite as much activity on my part now you know why.

I live in America, and in case you don't know July 4th is Independance Day. On July 3rd our town had fireworks on the Soccer fields, so I went and saw those. On the 4th I attended a friend's cookout, although it was more of a cook-in since we were rained out. Once his family members left we went upstairs and played Armored Core 3 on his PlayStation 2 until I had to leave, which was quite a while.

I beat him several times, but only because he had not played in a very long time. Armored Core really isn't one of those games that sells a lot; it's a giant robot game. The prime reason for its low sales are probably because of the accessibility level. The game is very hard to learn and must be played for hours upon hours until you would know everything. The controls aren't bad (although they don't feel as responsive as some games or as smooth), but making your mech is where the difficulty lies. You have to learn how to build a good mech and what translates into a good mech, which parts are good to use, which ones aren't, etc. It's all rather complicated and I am not that good at it myself; I'm only good at putting on weapons.

Armored Core is a fun game, but its level of complication turns off most people. I recommend the game if you're willing to invest some serious time into it, so otherwise you may not want to bother with it. This is only a game for seriously dedicated gamers.

It feels strange to be level one again. I can't do so many things! I can't have a sig, I can't upload images (which is basically the same thing), I can't write reviews...

I don't know how I stood it the first time. Oh well, I'll just be as active as humanly possible in order to get my level up quickly. And don't forget: comment in my blogs whenever possible, or I may just untrack you. :twisted:

Whew! I'm done moving, for the most part. I finished the About Me, uploaded a blog header and a sig, and updated my collection! All that's left to do is put things in my Now Playing and probably rate the games (maybe.) I'll start a real blog post shortly; this is a placeholder so be patient!