This place has it's ups and down for me like unnecessary site changes and glitches to a great group of friends that treat me with respect and vice-versa. But I don't know, for some reason my interest in Gamespot is diminishing little by little. I first started coming here for the written and video review/interviews without recognizing that their was a thriving community waiting to invite me in. Once I discovered that, I became more and more involved and met people I thought I'd never meet. But lately, I haven't been watching many videos including my live shows, On the Spot like I used to, and I'm not posting in friend's blog as well as in the forums frequently as before.

I know what you may be thinking, "Maybe he should take a break" or "He shouldn't think of Gamespot as a chore". Quite frankly, I do, Why? not sure, I guess because I consider Gamespot as my virtual gaming home and I feel kinda obligated (And somewhat addicted) to this site. And I know I shouldn't feel this way especially for something on the Internet, but it certainly seems like it. At times I think if I fail to post in my friends blogs they might decide to kick me off their friends list, and that's another reasoning behind my obligation. Someday eventually I'll leave Gamespot (Not for a long time though) but until then I probably have nothing to be concerned about, if I come here in moderation things will be alright...for now..Dun Dun DUN!! Does anyone else feel this way too on occasion?

Late yesterday afternoon I finished up Call of Duty 2. It took me longer than I imagined because I would only do one mission at a time instead of doing multiple missions at one time. The game is pretty immersive to say the least. Also played Gears of War and Dead or Alive 4 with some of the crew, I enjoyed sniping the heads off you guys. Hey, why is Ratchet & Clank: UYA being neglected!? Oh nevermind, I'm sure you know the reason. So Gamespot has some major news this weekend, does anyone know what that could be? Well if you haven't heard yet Gamespot is changing the review scoring system starting tomorrow, it's mostly explained in this article. They also brought player review emblems back recently, but instead for a certain quantity of reviews like before, this time your reviews must be well written and recommended by other gamespot users. To be honest, I don't really expect a recommendation since I only have 4 decent reviews and it seems as though you need more then that to get a nod. Overall, it's no big deal, plus I like the fact this can't be abused by a large amount of short, unorganized crappy reviews. It's a badge well deserved and earned to anyone who receives it.

Yes, the soundtrack I've been dreaming to get, but couldn't because of rare availability has finally reached my grasp via a website which I will not disclose for TOS reasons. The soundtrack is from R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (Still my favorite racing game of all time). One of my good friends called me up and asked me of I'd be interested in this website that features well known videogame soundtracks from games like Final Fantasy and God of War. So he sent me a link, and as soon as the page loaded I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Ridge Racer 4. Now if you've never listen to this particular music and you're a fan of Techno/Jazz/Rock and a little bit of Classical, all I can say is...unbelievable. It's some of the best music let alone videogame music I've ever listened to so far which includes 25 songs and intros. I would like to give out what site this is so you all can experience the greatness that is the Ridge Racer 4 soundtrack, but I'd probably get in trouble with Gamespot seeing how it's a form of advertising for a free music download service. This will do I guess, check it out. I'm just happy I have it now, and soon I'll transfer it to a CD or flash drive for use on my 360 and Ridge Racer 6's custom soundtrack.

Early yesterday, I played a bit of the difficult and once popular hit XBL Arcade game called, Geometry Wars...you've probably hear of it. Well I was pleasantly surprised when I finally reached my goal of at least earning 500,000 points and rewarded a long awaited achievement. Not sure what I mean by loves me again? It will be explained here. Anyways, all the minutes and/or hours I've put into this game has certainly paid off for all my efforts, but I don't think I'll go for a million anytime soon. For the people looking for pics of me wearing my new pairs of glasses, sorry to say, won't happen until I either get a digital camera or webcam. Most likely the web cam first, perhaps even the XBLive Vision cam instead since I can use it both for my PC (Video blogs) & 360. Oh no, the thought of everyone knowing what I look like...*Shivers*. But all joking aside, doing video blogs has always been in the back of my mind for a long time. Maybe I should actually make it a reality, someday. Yes, it's 3:30 AM over here...can't sleep.

Why would I say that you might ask? well because last night I spent around 6 hours online playing Crackdown just looking for Agility and Hidden Orbs. I'm now up to 495 agility orbs and 196 hidden orbs. Who knew searching for little magically orbs would be so addicting, and all for an achievement, which leads me into my next question... why is killing 15 gang members with your bare hands in 60 seconds so difficult for me? that's all I need to do in order to get the Rampage achievement. It's one of the more frustrating things that I've tried to accomplish in Crackdown as of late. Made some progress in Ratchet & Clank: UYA as well yesterday, probably should of had it finished by now, but that damn 360 keeps distracting me. An update on my glasses? They just came in a few days ago, and I'll have to go pick them up, hopefully today if I have the time. I'm pretty excited to be honest, to finally be able to see clearly is so refreshing. Glad I have 2 pairs though, just in case one pair gets lost or broken like before, I'll have a back up set to rely on.

Yes, I do wear glasses. Unfortunately, I haven't had my glasses in a year because they somehow vanished out of thin air one day. So a year later (Don't know why I waited that long) I finally went for an eye exam for some new ones at you guessed it, America's Best. They had a deal for 2 pairs of glasses for $69.99 so that's what I got. I spent at least 15 minutes trying on different pairs until I decided which ones I wanted, not to mention some of the employees were helping me choose which glasses looked best on me.

But even before the eye exam proceeded, while in the waiting room, their were these really cool Calvin Klein designer slightly tented glasses that I kept looking at over and over again. Now I wouldn't expect myself to be interested in designer glasses, but these just caught me like a fishermen catching a fish. The problem was, those being a name bland pair, they cost a bit more than I was willing to pay. So I just left with the two I picked after the exam. I definitely need these bad, I constantly squint my eyes to see clearer especially when I'm looking at pictures and text far away, plus this will be good for playing games, watching regular TV and movies at the theatre. Eye Glasses FTW!

On the gaming front, I bought crackdown a few days ago, which ultimately means playing "The Beta". This kinda replaces Gears of War for now, don't get me wrong, Crackdown is a fun and addictive game, but as it stands I still miss my beloved Gears. But wait a minute I could've used the money on a new Gears instead of Crackdown. Speaking of which, I still haven't made a decision wither I'll rent a copy and then replace it with the broken copy...my moral values are getting in the way. Well back to "The Beta" (Why do I keep saying that) Anyways, my impressions of the Halo 3 beta are that it's fun with all the new weapons and I have no problem with the graphics like some people do. But I did find myself not playing it as much as I thought after downloading it. Maybe it's because not enough of my friends are playing at the moment, or maybe I wish it was just a bit more polished like Halo 2. I guess that's why they called it a beta, right?

Also, played some more Aegis Wing with my good friends, Denis (Neojedi) Darren (Darrogamer06) Steph (princesszelda) yesterday. We had a great time, even though it took us a while, we beat it on insane for a 50 point achievement. Thanks Guys! That's pretty much all for now, still need to see pirates 3 soon, possibly next week if I have the time.

Seeing how I adore Gears of War so much, I decide to play for a little bit today like usual. I took it out of the case pretty quickly and inserted it in my 360, and as soon as I did, it wasn't reading the disk. So being curious to find out why it wasn't working, I took the game out to shockingly discover that their was a huge crack in the center. Becoming enraged and sadden by my videogame loss, I let out a giant gasp of disbelief and said...

This means I need to buy a new copy of Gears, right?...WRONG! What I Will do (And please forgive me for doing this) is rent Gears and then replace the broken one with the new one. I know this isn't the right thing to do, but with the financial state I'm in I can't afford to actually go purchase a new copy or any newer games right now. And no need to ask, don't you have a job? because I do, but most of the time I use the money for bills and other utilities, but soon enough I'll have more money for games.

I have an issue in sports that I would like to discuss. Yes, ESPN and The New York Yankees, now I have nothing against the organization or the players themselves so don't jump the gun just yet, but I must admit, they are by far the most overrated team in American sports. I said it, they are. That's all I hear on ESPN, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees. OH NO, Breaking News, according to our sources... Derek Jeter just slipped on a banana! well nothing like that, but you know what I'm saying. This also includes the rivaly between them and the Boston Red Sox, too much air time. ESPN needs to start focusing a little more on low market teams that are actually doing good, instead of constant highlights of Kobe Bryant 24/7. *Sigh*

Nothing much else to report about gaming wise. Pirates 3 coming this week, are y'all excited?

 

Hey folks! I sure had a busy week. For the past 3 days me and a friend were doing yard work for a house that hasn't been lived in yet. We had to mow the lawn, trim the bushes, rake some leaves and bag up a lot of jagged sticks. But it was well worth it for $80 I'm about to receive from the people who hired us (Whenever that will be). It's been a while since I've done this much yard labor, but I got a healthy dose of exercise in the process.

Free XBLA download for a limited time? Well all I have to say is, Thank you Microtransctionsoft! The game is called Aegis Wing, this side-scrolling shooter is hella addicting, and with online co-op it's even more enjoyable playing with friends. Aegis Wing sorta reminds me of Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank which is a 2D shooter with online co-op aswell, but Aegis is much better in my opinion. Personally I think Microtransactionsoft should hand out atleast one free XBL game every 2 months just for the fans. Because we "the consumer" are the ones enduring these 3 red rings of death (Not me though), paying for XBL, and paying for every piece of content under the sun, I mean give us a break please. But in Microtransactionsoft's defense, it is called marketplace, not free marketplace.

So, "The Beta" found it's way into homes this week via Crackdown. Too bad I'm low on cash to buy Crackdown at the moment, meaning I'm flat broke. The only complaint I'm hearing for people is graphically it's unimpressive, pretty much looking like a high-res Halo 2, but I've seen videos and I don't see the big deal. Knowing the graphical design of the Halo series, it's not really meant to be ultra realistic anyways and it seems everyone is expecting it to be like Gears of War...who knows, at the end of the day it's only a beta, right? Bungie will probably enhance the game even farther before release.

Also, I'm about to download skype so Denis, James, Art, CRich and others, be prepared to add me to the list. Phantomtech85 will be my skype name...obviously.

Saw it last night with friends, and it's by far my favorite Spiderman movie in the series. It seemed to have more content that I thought the others were slightly lacking. Not to say the first two films weren't up to par, but I just enjoyed this one more from a story and action standpoint. I was also somewhat surprised at what GS gave Spiderman 3 the game. A 6.6, I wasn't expecting that low of a score to be honest, but then again it's a game based on a movie...well you know the rest. And from the people who've played it, is it really that mediocre? because from all the gameplay footage and commercials I've seen, it had potential to be better than the previous Spidey games... or maybe GS was a little too harsh? I don't know.

Playstation 4 due next year?

Source: A report on the Web site of Australian lifestyle and tech magazine Smarthouse cites a Sony insider as providing information that the company might be planning a PlayStation 4 to release in as little as 18 months. I don't believe this would happen so quickly, but what if it did? What are your thoughts?

One more thing before I end this blog entry. I would like to say thanks to all the people who wished me a happy birthday last week, and a special thanks to dcgames who actually took the time to make a banner for me that you see above. Until next time, peace out.

It happens only once a year and...well what I'm trying to say is, it's my birthday today. And Please! No birthday song...just a simple Happy Birthday and some cash will do. Anyways, I made a bit of progress in Ratchet & Clank:UYA and so far I'm having a fun time as usual with these Ratchet games. The gameplay is a little more combat based and somewhat less on the platforming, but I don't mind though. Hey, I've noticed people are buying the 360 Elite now, *Cough* Mr. Buffone *Cough* and I very much want one. But at the moment it's not really necessary for me right now, unless my existing 360 accidently runs out of harddrive space or gets the three red rings of death. *Knocks on wood*