Twitter. @ExploreCollins How's it going peoples? What games is everyone playing now?

"CBS Interactive added to its portfolio of gaming and entertainment sites today, picking up Giant Bomb and Comic Vine from Whiskey Media." - Gamespot. I know my presence on this site has been lacking for a long time. However, on this particular occasion something big has happened where a blog post was needed. It appears that the once exiled Jeff Gershmann and Gamespot are embarking on a collaboration. Back in 2007, Jeff's untimely split from Gamespot left much of the community displeased, including myself. The hardest part about it was seeing the people slowly leaving and the content changing (Man, I miss the old On The Spot show) but now that CBS interactive has added Giantbomb to their roster maybe things will start to progress again. Nevertheless, I'm excited about this merger and what the future holds. *Crosses fingers*

Now that I have your undivided attention away from Cyprus Hill's ingenius catch phrase, I''d like to take this time to write a blog about my current dilemma. So I acquired a PS3 5-6 months back, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Titles like Uncharted 2, Infamous, LiittleBigPlanet have devoured my time(PSN ID: TechRisingX). Conversely, my Xbox 360 has slowly lost favor with me ever since purchasing the PS3. The excellence of Xbox Live is the only thing keeping me from doing away with the system entirely. I'm constantly asking myself, "Where are the great exclusives that helped give breath to the Xbox brand?" Halo? Good, but played out. Gears of War? Good, but showing it's age. Mass Effect? Good, but it's multi-platform. At the same time, devices like the Kinect have made their intentions known for the casual audience, and that leaves me wondering if any new "hardcore" "Only on Xbox" IPs will come to light. On the flipside, the PlayStation has some of my most beloved franchises of all-time (God of War and Ratchet and Clank just to name a few), and they've continued to create many great exclusives in the process. Obviously, their are an abundance of AAA third party games, but if their is no significant enhancements with the Xbox versions of those titles in regards to the online space, I have a legitimate option to play on another console. My point is, the Xbox has been my bread and butter for this generation of gaming, however, the loyalty to PlayStation has been in my heart for many years. Now that I have another iteration of Sony's system, things are a bit more complicated. As for the next generation of Xbox, lets hope things get back to the way they were...which I have a feeling they will.

Hello Gamespotters, long time, no see. College is going well, and in a couple of months I'll be finished with my first year. Receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Film Studies would be a hugh accomplishment for me, that's what I'm shooting for in the distant future. Furthermore, taking a nice long break from Gamespot has allowed me to get my priorities straight with, for instance, college and family life. I hope to start coming here a little more often because, to be honest, I miss everybody here.

Anyways, in gaming news, my Xbox Live account has been suspended do to lack of annual $49.99 payment. Don't worry, I'll have it back on soon. For now, I have an alternate 1-month free account named "AlldayDOA", for my love/addiction to DOA4. Also, I recently purchased Ninja Gaiden 2 and NBA 2K9. Both are good, although Ninja Gaiden 2 is a bit easier than I thought so far, maybe it's because I'm only on Chapter 5 and all I'm getting at the end of each level is "Master or Head Ninja". In addition, I've been a DVD buying nut as of late. I've purchased atleast 10 DVDs in the last 3 weeks, that's more than usual. Here's what I've bought: The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Hustle, 300, Dune(The Extended Edition), Dave Chappelle's Block Party, The Abyss(Special Edition), The Incredible Hulk(The newer version), Iron Man, The Bourne Identity and I Am Legend(3-Disc Collector's Editon).

To conclude, I bought a camcorder a while back. It's Sony Handycam with a built in 30GB harddrive, neat huh? It's possible I do some video blogging, preferably on Youtube. We'll see.

New PC setup baby!. Been waiting a long time for this.

Specs...

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor E2180 with 800MHz frontside bus, 1MB shared L2 cache and 2.0GHz processor speed.

3GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM for multitasking power, expandable to 4GB.

SuperMulti DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media; supports DVD-RAM; also supports LightScribe direct-disc labels using compatible LightScribe media.

500GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm); HP Pocket Media Drive expansion bay to easily add a second, removable hard drive (not included).

NVIDIA GeForce 7100 graphics with TurboCache technology and 128MB of dedicated graphics memory; up to 1343MB total available graphics memory as allocated by Windows Vista; high-definition audio (8-speaker support).

Front-panel 15-in-1 media reader supports CompactFlash Type I/II, Secure Digital, mini Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard Mobile, MultiMediaCard Plus and Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC).

Also supports Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card and Microdrive.

2 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interfaces and 6 high-speed USB 2.0 ports, both front and rear accessible, for fast digital data transfer and easy peripheral connectivity.

Built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet networking interface with RJ-45 connector; 56 Kbps high-speed modem.

HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition operating system with Service Pack (SP1) preinstalled; software package included with muvee autoProducer Basic and more; 60-day trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 also included.

I actually got a package deal that came with a color printer/scanner, and a 22'' Samsung LCD monitor with built in speakers for $750 total. Now I can finally get rid of my 6 year old PC(or atleast give it to my mom as a early birthday present).

In addition, I purchased Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection, as well as Afro Samurai on DVD and Rock Band (X360).

Last night me and a friend were playing our own version of Cops n' Crooks in Free mode which consisted of us escaping from one side of the city to the next while the police were on our asses. But something strange occurred in the process. As I was jacking a potential get a way vehicle from an old man, somehow in seemingly glitch form my character decided to keep the old man in his car. I in the life of me have never seen that before, a pedestrian actually driving the car for me. My ribs were hurting with laughter as the old man was swerving through traffic lanes, he must of been pissing his pants at that moment scared stupid...hey, wouldn't you? After driving me a few blocks he slammed the car into a medal pole and died on impact. Funniest moment I've experienced in GTA IV thus far...if only I'd captured it on video.

Another thing, I'm that much closer to starting college, as of yesterday I registered for c1asses through orientation. The only bad news about it is it was a late registration so I was unable to choose the courses I really wanted. Good news though is the c1asses I picked (4) were still pretty good schedule wise. Anyways, to say I'm excited would be an understatement, I'm friggin/extremely pumped to be finally going to college. 5 years in the making, about damn time. School starts this Monday, wish me luck.

The list of c1asses I'll be taking this semester...

Political Science, Human Geography, Prep. Writing, and most likely to be my favorite... Theater/Intro to Cinema.

Btw, why can't I have c1ass with an L, I thought the site change would of fix that. C'mon Gamespot.

Well, It happened, my 360 did the old Red Ring of Death...again. But again I must say, thank god for warranties. I just brought it into my local Best Buy and replaced it. Unfortunately, all data is lost as they weren't able to transfer my files unless I coughed up $60...In their dreams. Luckily for me, with the recent price drop of the 360 I was given back an extra $100 in store credit. And knowing I'd probably need another warranty just in case, I used part of that credit to purchase one and the rest on Band of Brothers DVD set.

Also snagged Geometry Wars 2 today, and so far it's great and the new modes sure add a lot to mix things up. Question...Why can't I access the multiplayer, Do I have to unlock that too?

The 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremony that is. Although I missed some of the event, a lot of the stuff I did see was amazing. You could just feel the excitement throughout the stadium...which was freaking huge if I might add. I know Olympic ceremonies are usually pretty similar in scope but this one seemed to take it a step further. For example, the artistic portions(Which towards the end included a man being lifted to the ceiling to light the final torch in spectacular fashion) were so vivid and eye popping that at times I felt it was presented to me in 3D. And the one thing I love about the Olympics are the quantity of countries that come together to represent, and compete in front of the big stage. Plus watching all those nations greet and wave their respective flags is always a great site to see. Now Let The Games Begin!

Especially if one of them is the neighborhood security guard.

The Gamespot Beta. Just noticed this today in announcements, and honestly I like it. Reminds me a bit of Giantbomb but a lot more organized. Though only a beta, I think the final product will be pretty satisfying to the masses...I hope.

Here are the new features...

Wider layout. GameSpot's new design takes advantage of the larger PC displays that are now standard. With up to 25% more width to play with, we've found new ways to showcase our content.

Contextual site navigation. Building on the consistent top navigation that's been characteristic of the GameSpot design, we've moved the navigation within specific content areas from the tab design to a more consistent left-column placement. This generally results in content displaying higher on the page for stories, video, and profiles.

HD video. GameSpot has been producing premium HD video for years, but it has been generally reserved for our paying subscribers in the form of sizeable 720p video downloads. We're introducing a new Web-optimized HD experience that delivers much of the quality and resolution of HD downloads in a new quick-loading in-page format. Look for the "Watch in HD 540p" links next to most of the new video content we produce. (Note: The 720p downloads are still reserved for subscribers.)

Streamlined video integration. With the wider pages, we've been able to move our video experience in-line with the standard game page layout. At the same time, we've folded user videos into the standard video mix, so that these diverse contributions are available just a click away from most game pages. We're also opening all video content up for user commenting.

At-a-glance game details. Every game-related page consistently integrates a "more info" button that opens an in-line panel revealing handy game details and statistics.

Dynamic links for related games and related content. We've found new ways to connect games, looking beyond traditional genres to the relationships traced by user traffic. We're also trying out two new ways to connect a diverse variety of content items, based on keyword matching and user traffic. We hope that these produce more interesting connections between our pages and will be monitoring activity closely for further optimization.

Playlist-based video hub. We've completely redesigned our main video page to combine two video sampling experiences: a hand-picked in-page playlist and a highly flexible set of browseable video lists. You can now sit back and watch dozens of videos back to back.

Community hub. Recognizing that there are now many community and user contribution features on GameSpot beyond the traditional forums, we have added a new hub page to showcase special community events, competitions, and user content. This is in addition to the forum hub that has previously been the main entry point to our community pages.

Friend activity feed. We've revamped our tracked updates system to provide a social media "mini-feed" or personalized view of what your friends are doing in our community. This feed shows blog updates, game reviews, image and video uploads and more.