'Tis May! I know no one's been blogging very much lately, and I've sorta caught the disease as well. I got Xbox LIVE last Friday (after 3 years of single player gaming) and I'm kinda thinking about getting Street Fighter 4. Dunno why I've neglected Microsoft's gaming service for so long; it feels different than PC gaming.

It's almost June (SUMMER!!) and I haven't been playing many games lately. The last 360 game I bought was Soul Calibur 4, which came out around July of last year...yeah. It's been long. My PC games collection is growing evermore, however. But since I have LIVE now, I think I'll pick up a few more 360 titles.

So how's everybody doing? Any games you guys are playing currently? Bleh, gotta go study...

So around lask week or so (I don't really remember), it was announced at GDC that "OnLive" would be entering "the game" as a whole new console that would compete against the Big Three.

Severalcomments from the gaming community have been made regarding the new system's feasibility,one being that it takesa fast Internet connection to stream content to an HD TV, which not everyone has access to. Another point, made by one "MrCHUP0N" (http://www.gamespot.com/users/MrCHUP0N/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25645600&om_act=convert&om_clk=soapbox&tag=soapbox;subject;3) explained that OnLive may take away players' control over their hard drives and systems and handle all of the players' problems without having to let customers think and act for themselves. In other words, we'll become a little TOO reliant on tech.

So , fellow Gamespotters, what do you think? What's your two cents on this? I personally love te idea, but I don't like the idea of people losing lots of control over their systems and relying solely on OnLive. OnLive consists of only about 2 pieces of hardware, so that eliminates building an expensive PC. That's great, but what about excercising your mind and doing things yourself?

I took some time playing the FEAR demo last week and I've just finished with the Dawn of War 2 beta. I'd like to share some of my impressions of the games with you.

FEAR 2:

I actually never played the first FEAR game before, only FEAR Combat, so I expected myself to be scared to death. Problem was, I found myself saying "Uh, what?" more than being scared. The scares are, in all honesty, cheap, though for many like myself, they do nothing to scare us.

Take, for example, the encounter with the malevolent spirits in the hospital. They do physically hurt you, and they come from all sides. I think the makers should have stuck to ghosts that wouldn't hurt you as often, because all it does is confuse you and force you to move a little faster. In short, those "scary" and "creepy" moments are a little more on the annoying side than they are on the exciting side.

The combat is satisfying at most. The features are pretty standard; you can pop out, activate slow-mo, aim down your sights, and watch as your bullets tear seamlessly through your opponents. However, it gets a little repetitive, because it lacks variety in the way you kill your enemies.

The enemies are pretty average, and they'll speak over their radios often. What the developers succeeded in was making everything a bit slow and quiet (excluding the "creepy" moments). A lot of times, you'll hear nothing but the occasional falling object and some radio chatter.The sound is quite nice, and it's the single thing that saves this demo from being lame.

Overall, it's not as impressive as I had thought it would be. But, it still isn't as unimpressive as the DoW 2 beta.

DoW 2 Beta:

The first thing I noticed about the multiplayer beta was that there was a complete lack of a tutorial. And, the matchmaking system (which supposedly finds players of your skill level) was quite inaccurate in terms of finding players of the same rank. At rank 1, I was fighting against rank 4 and rank 5 players. Couple that with a complete lack of a tutorial and complete lack of campaign missions and you'll have what I like to call "beginner's hell."

...But, judging from all of the game's features (or, at least, the ones I could understand without having to go through a tutorial) I'll say that it is worth checking out once it's fully released. It has the basic features of an RTS, and theres not much of a focus on base building and micromanagement, so the battles are longer and more intense, to say the least.

Overall, if you do get the hang of things without a tutorial, you'll have quite a bit of fun on your hands. All I can say is that I hope the beta is misleading and that is it outright wrong about the fully released game. I have confidence in it :)

So yeah, I know I'm being a little more critical about these games than I normally am about others. But to me, the first impression is ALWAYS the most important.

I know, I know--it's waaaaay too late to be wishing you guys a happy new year. Then again, it's a week from Chinese New Year, so I might as well wish you guys a happy new year anyway.

Happy new years, fellow citizens of Gamespot! 2009 is a year of change and resolutions, the first change being Obama's inauguration.

I've kept my mouth shut for a while now, because I've been playing this wonderful little MMO by the title of:

I've been playing this since late December, and I'm enjoying it very much, much to my surprise. I don't stick with many MMO's for too long because I am very critical of them them when it comes to rating and reviewing. Something about it has be hooked. Could it be the simplicity of the game? Could it be the beautiful ingame landscapes and the interesting player ****s?

Anyway, I've also been busy with finals and other tests last week. I have three more days of testing this week, but I think Im prepared for them.

Last but not least, I have my new year's resolution. Or, rather, I'll have it when I think of one. :?

Happy holidays, pplz. I went to a Christmas party yesterday, and I am proud to announce that I have successfully collected $232 from my relatives.

Hope you all are having an awesome Christmahanukwanzaa!

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Man, it's a little over two weeks 'til Christmas, and I still don't know what I want as a gift.

One part of me is telling me to ask my relatives for money to save up for a computer upgrade. I want to run my games faster and more efficiently...Iw ant to run games like Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and other games to come in the futuremore efficiently.

Another part of me is telling me to forget about asking them for money, and instead, ask for one game like I always do. After all, at the '05 Christmas party, my six aunties and uncles whom I had asked for ten dollars each only gave my less than $40 total. I couldn't complain, but I was disappointed. I wanted my xbox 360 :(

But then I thought to myself: why ask for a game like I always do when I can ask for it when ever I want? Hell, I can ask for a game even if it's not Christmas! Why waste such a special opportunity to own something bigger and badder?

That's why I've sort of blended two of these ideas together to form one idea...

I will ask for money for Christmas and my birthday (which is in February, yay me!), and I will add that with my Chinese New Year money. If my relatives decide to give me at least (at the very least) $100 total for Christmas and my birthday, I will have $200 or more, including Chinese New Year money.

I will continue to save money (maybe even 'til next year's Christmas party) until I have around $300 - $400. Then I could either upgrade or buy something like a Wii or a PS3 OR buy a game. Because even if I ask for money this Christmas, I won't have enough for something big. Therefore, I shall wait.

I went looking for games on Friday and Saturday, and from what I've seen, many of the ads for Game Stop and Best Buy are lies. I was very disappointed and dissatisfied by the stores that I went to (:(). I didn't buy anything on those two days, so I'll try again at other stores today.

Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving? Did you stuff yourself and gain twenty pounds? More importantly, how is your gaming coming along? We're all aware of World at War and other big-name titles that were released already, so are you guys having fun with them?

I've personally been playing L4D non stop. It's fun but I'm concerned about it's replayability. After all, there are only two game modes, including single player. Versus mode is quite frantic for both teams, and I feel it ends too quickly most of the time. 

Well, that's all I have to say before school starts again. Today marks the last day of my Thanksgiving vacation. It is officially time to look for ward to Christmas!

I played the L4D demo for a bit today, and I have to say that I'm very impressed. The audio, the weapons, and the enemies all make up quite an atmosphere.

There were times where we'd be completely swarmed, and things would be very chaotic. One guy's being dragged away by a huge tongue, one guy is down, and my friend and I have half of our original health remaining. On top of that, they were counting on us to save them, even though we were separated by a wall of ravenous infected.

The infected are a real terror, and I have to admit, it was very different from fighting everyday human players in CS or TF2. I'd never faced anything like those zombies in a game before, so initially, I was shocked. 

The only problem I have with the game is how sometimes the servers can be really laggy. But hey, I've only been to three servers that are like that.

Also, I suggest not playing by yourself with a group of AI. When in single player mode, you are basically the leader, and the AI only follow you. That doesn't provide you with much choice on how to approach enemies and buildings or if you want to strategize in some other way.If you're playing with people from RL, well...you know what I mean. They'll make their own choices and contribute to the team even more. 

So basically, I have no doubt that the game will be great. I'm expecting at least an 8.0 or higher. Can't wait to get it on the 18th! :D

I've lost some sleep these few days from playing Fallout 3. It's amazing how expansive the environments are, and there are just too many side quests for me to finish. I've made moral decisions and unethical decisions, and I've blown heads off non-stop.

It is the game I've been dreaming about all of my life. It's a long, deep FPS with RPG elements. I'm pretty sure I had thought about a game like it in a previous life, too.

My plans have changed! I will finish Fallout before Dead Space, no question. All I think about when I come home is homework, studying, Fallout, dinner, shower, and sleep. It's actually pretty organized, when you think about it.

Happy Fall-outing, everyone :D

Hey, people! I just wanted to say that I'm pretty much set for this year in terms of gaming. I have a digitally purchased copy of Dead Space, and I'm currently waiting for my copy of Fallout 3 (also digitally purchased).

And as far as I am concerned, Dead Space is turning out to be one of this year's sleeper hits. The atmosphere, the combat, and the graphics are all amazing. I'll have a review up once I'm done with it.