First Starcraft II and now Diablo III! It's too much. I should just file the divorce papers now.:twisted:

Saw Jeff on XPLAY last night. Good to see him working and active. He did know he was going to be on camera right?:)

On Monday night, I was shocked to see that my favorite game site had made the news on G4's XPLAY. This is what they had to say:

Gamespot has a new editor-in-chief: Ricardo Torres will take over the position.

So why are we telling you about a personnel change within another website? Because Torres takes his new position on the heels of controversy and intrigue in the GameSpot editorial department. In case you weren't paying attention: About a month ago Gamespot's editorial director Jeff Gerstmann found himself out of a job. The rumor on the internet: Gerstmann was fired from the website after Eidos complained of a bad review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gamespot denies it.

"I'm excited to have the opportunity to help further GameSpot's position at the forefront of the industry," said Torres. "I'm eager to continue the site's tradition of excellence and I'm confident we can move forward into 2008 and set a new industry standard for how video games are covered."

I know that many of us miss Jeff and now Alex too, but we all need to remember that there are still people at Gamespot that are doing their very best every single day. I have no doubt about the integrity or intents of any of the current editors or their abilities to provide us with honest reviews. That being said, there is still an obvious taint to the site caused by the recent hoop-la. I truly feel bad for Mr. Torres because he has to come in the wake of all of this turmoil having absolutely no dog in the fight so to say. I'm sure it's hard enough leading a group of editors with or without this group's baggage. So to you Mr. Torres I say good luck, and to the rest of my peers, let's give him the opportunity to do what needs to be done. For all of us that enjoy and utilize this sites many sources, we can only benefit from the new bloods success. Good Luck to all of you. I'll be watching and keeping the faith.

Time, where does it go? Not just any time, but GAME time. What am I getting at? Well, it's the fact that I just don't seem to have the time I had before to play my games. I can remember a time when I spent what seemed like days engrossed in Starcraft LAN matches, or playing Shadowrun on the genesis. Once, when I was much younger, I played YAR's revenge (ATARI 2600) all day long so that I could send in a picture of the score on the TV screen for some t-shirt or something. Heck, I even remember playing Blades of Steel on the NES for so long that my buddy got a stress fracture in his thumb. He was on the injured reserve for what seemed like months.

Some would call this wasted time, but those are the words of the ignorant. They have never been pulled into another world the way that only a great game can. Much as a novel can become addictive, a game can take over your every waking thought, but to even a larger extent. Games like Fallout, Final Fantasy, Oblivion, and all of Bioware's work can make playing a game feel like you're actually in another world. Then you have the popular RTS games that I enjoy ever so much. Building up my defenses and army to crush the enemy before me. Finally, one of the most immersive forms of game, the FPS, where you find yourself jumping and dodging in real life in the wild fever of a firefight. After a bad day at work, there isn't any better form of stress relief.

Alas. those days are long gone now. Life has become less and less about the passion of gaming and more about the day to day issues of life itself. Sure most of this is my own fault (Married with kids, an important job, a house to keep up), but something has just got to give. That something has consistently been my free time to spend in another universe fighting Geth, or any of hundreds of other experiences. I miss my day trips to other worlds. Not to say that I don't enjoy my life and my family. I love them. I just need some balance.

I have a very understanding wife which is even more surprising when you realize she is not at all a gamer. She will play the occasional party game when we have people over, but that's about it. I love her to death and she tries to give me the space I need when she sees its requirement. She will even feed my need by purchasing the games I have looked at too long in the Bestbuy flyer. The kids are even supportive of my addiction. In fact, my five month old would rather I have a 360 controller in my hands as she sits on my lap, than any of the multitude of toys we have purchased for her. This however, just leads to me wanting more time with my games.

So, what is the fix? I have come to the realization that at least until my kids are old enough to enjoy my pastime with me, I'm going to have to continue to suffer without my fix. So, this is my plea to the game companies out there. Please just stop. If you make it, I will want it and I can't have it. I have too much all ready. I still have to finish Assassin's Creed, COD4, The Orange Box, Bioshock, Psychonauts, the Shivering Isles, The Simpsons, Super Mario Galaxy, and many many more. Please Help Me!!!! :cry:

I recently purchased the brilliant Mass Effect and have subsequently spent way too much time playing it. One of the minor critiques of the game concerns the Thresher Maw and driving around on planets flat surfaces. Occasionally while driving on a wide open plane usually headed for "debris", a Thresher Maw will appear and try to take you and your fearless crewmates out. This often happens very quickly due to a glitch that spawns the beast directly under or in front of your vehicle. I have discovered that a good way to combat this issue is to keep your pedal to the metal. Driving fast in a straight line normally causes the monster to surface to the side or rear of the Mako. Once it surfaces, swivel the turret around and blast it with the cannon being carefull not to drive right into the Thresher Maw. It will then depart quickly. I repeat this technique to take them down. Simple! :) I hope this helps. Now get out there and save the world.

This is my first blog post as you might have guessed from the Topic Line.  I've been a member of Gamespot for about a year now, but am just now getting into the various other areas of the site.  I usually just check reviews before getting my next game fix, but I have recently listed all of my games and made a few trips to the forum.  I feel a bit old for the forums, so my posts are few and far between.  I must say though that it is very interesting to see what the current generation of gamers are thinking.  I like to think of myself as part of the first generation...Atari 2600, pong, space invaders,  scrounging for quarters in the couch to play defender one more time.  Boy, time sure does fly when you're having fun.  Lately I've been playing a mix of games on various platforms.  The PSP is an incredible piece of hardware.  Five hours in coach have never been so enjoyable.  I've spent the last week going back and completing a few xbox titles I started a while back.  Fable while a bit short was very good.  The combat seemed very similar to Jade Empire which I liked also.  MechAssault while fun didn't match up to the PC games.  I'm playing Starwars Battlefront 2 now.  Not to sure about the heros just yet.  My PC is occupied full time by  Battlefield 2 and it's add-on.  I love that game.  First person shooters belong on a PC.  Well, I guess I've rambled long enough for now.