I was stuck for a blog idea today - and that's not a good sign. I mean, 2007 has just started, and I'm already struggling for creativity... so I decided, for no particular reason in particular (?) to eat some noodles.

And then I returned to thinking for blog ideas.

Then I decided to take the easy way out, and do a Top 10 list that will bore you all out of your minds! Yes! Great idea!

So sit back (if you can stand the prospect of Top 10 lists) and see which bands I've listened to most this year, according to last.fm, a quite excellent music scrobbling site that you really should check out if you haven't already.

It's quite a predictable list if you know me well. And if not, then prepare to learn. Feel free to flame me, call me mainstream, call me a musical idiot, call me a crowd follower, call me an illiterate in the field of all things audio, call me any creative snobby name you care to think of - whatever. But here you go - here's DA LIST, BOYZ! (?)

#10: Gorillaz

I really like this band of cartoon misfits. I really like their creativity. I really like them in the way that no matter how hard you try you just can't categorise them properly. I like generally most of their tracks - I like pretty much everything about them. Hell, I just LIKE THEM, okay?

#9: Foo Fighters

For straightforward, no-**** conventional rocking, look no further than Foo Fighters, headed by the quite quite legendary Dave Grohl and his endless screaming about having enough space and hoping that you've never had the misfortune to see him wound up. Yes, he means business. Either way, they're still a kickass band.

#8: Franz Ferdinand

I honestly didn't expect these guys up here, but when I looked closer at the Top Artists list, there they were. It's weird how almost every song they put out either has an awesome riff or a catchy beat - the instrumentation they use in their own little breed of rock (dance + rock + alternative = danockative) is absolutely superb. Awesome band.

#7: The Verve

I found Urban Hymns this year after three years of absence. It was dusty, and it was covered in cobwebs. Am I glad I rediscovered Urban Hymns? Yes I am.

#6: Feeder

OK, when I mentioned straightforward conventional rocking with the Foos? Feeder are kind of the same thing, just with less of an edge and with much less volume at some parts. They're just an average rock band at heart, but they like to make some very very top-class tunes, and that's why I like them.

#5: Stereophonics

Why is it that nobody I find ever listens to these guys any more? Well, at least not on last.fm. The way I see it, they're still as awesome as they were eight years ago. Maybe people have finally fallen prey to the naysayer music critics who say that the Stereophonics are mediocre. They're all wrong.

 #4: Blur

These were one of the turningpoint bands in my music journey. Without Blur, I wouldn't have discovered some/most of the music I listen to nowadays, in the way that I wouldn't have found alternative and rock. They were a stepping stone, if you will. But they are a magnificent band in every sense of the word, they're one of the most influential artists in the world, and they kick the living crap out of every single thing Oasis have ever ever done. Blur are the superior band, and in the crowded Britpop scene, they kept upping the bar and showing them how to make some awesome tunez! And more people listened to the sounds of Liam Gallagher's monotone drone and his cockiness and his feeling that he is on top of the world and whatever. Blur are better. Eeeenough said.

#3: Ash

Well, Ash were the big turningpoint. Without Ash, I wouldn't have started listening to all the bands on this list and the other twenty or thirty that also feature on my top artists list somewhere (honorable mentions to Idlewild, Snow Patrol, Weezer, and The Smashing Pumpkins) and weirdly, I found them through the media that this site is based around - the games. I found Ash from their song 'Clones' that features in Star Wars Republic Commando, which actually turned out to be quite average compared to some of Ash's other material.

 #2: Muse

RADIOHEAD COPYCATS! That's what I hear from every ****ing critic on the face of this earth. Well, most of them anyway. Muse may sound a bit like Radiohead in parts, yes. But Muse are a bit more over-the-top, a bit more ridiculously overblown, a bit more kickass, whereas Radiohead are mellower, more experimental, and like to try new things while simultaneously retaining their awesomely tender formula that they put into the majority of their earlier material. Quite a mouthful. Muse rock, end of story, and they're unique. They are a love-hate scene - you either adore them or you hate them. I'm the former, thank you very much,

 #1: Radiohead

Yup. I started listening to Radiohead a little bit earlier this year, and I liked it - The Bends namely. Then I befriended nodham, who told me to get everything else Radiohead have ever done. I can't thank him enough. For Radiohead, quite simply, are an outstanding band. They bring something new to the table with every passing album. They bring something interesting to the table with every passing album. They have not made a bad record to date, and I don't think they ever will - even the early demos of their new material sound incredible. They never stop pouring effort into their work.

They may sound a bit like "they try too hard" for some people. That's mainly because their sound is multilayered and complex. But no, I have never thought that they tried too hard. My friend, the people who try too hard are called My Chemical Romance and they sound ridiculous in a derogatory and horrible way. Radiohead use conventional and unconventional instrumentation, time signatures, vocal work, effects, and pretty much everything else, and they just work. They have one of the most creative and outstanding songwriters and vocalists in the world, Thom Yorke. They have open minds. They're just all around nice guys with a huge talent behind them. They're quite simply magic. They helped me get through the worst time of my life. And now this is getting cheesy, so I'll just say that Radiohead are complete utter genii. I cannot WAIT to see what they bring to the table in their next album. (probably something new and interesting.)

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So that's that. Sorry it ended up a bit longwinded - but there's the first blog of 2007 from me up there. Maybe I'll even do a Top 10 most listened albums list tomorrow... nah, just kidding. I wouldn't want your eyes to get sore from reading.

- oh yeah, thanks for the GHII review recommendations. You rock! as the end-of-song message says. :P

- still playing Starcraft. love it.

- i hate the attitudes of those ignorant people who have never heard of a band I was talking about and say that "good bands get noticed. so *insert band here* can't be good, cos we've never heard of them."

- ciao.

Short update here for your viewing pleasure. Yes, I said short.

I have been playing a lot of Guitar Hero II. Duh. Now the game is starting to offer a whole dish of challenge in Expert with some whipped cream on top and a nice little cherry up there too, I'm having a ton of fun trying to get through the songs. I'm aiming to beat it on Expert before New Year, shouldn't be too hard at the rate I'm playing the game right now (3-6 hours a day... it's a bit crazee. I think it's still "just got this game" enthusiasm, though.)

I need to get some Starcraft in, but I am not in the mood due to Guitar Hero.

And in response to usagi's comment in my last blog, or blog before that, can't remember which, I've just tried the co-operative mode this morning. Unfortunately I gave my sister the guitar and I had to use the DualShock, which nevertheless is still pretty fun. I also had to do the bassline... we failed a lot due to my sister's inexperience, but when I try it with my cousin who at least has some skill with the game, I'm sure I'll have a blast. :)

I also saw Night at the Museum, together with the family, a large bucket of popcorn, and a large Pepsi (I was getting sick of 7up and there was no chocolate milk.) I didn't actually feel like going to the cinema, since the Guitar Hero and the hockey were both at home, but I had to go along anyway and I'm actually quite glad I did. I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't funny, but it still had some good ideas and it had a lot more storyline than I expected.

What was I expecting? A man in a museum full of displays that come alive and chase him around the place with amusing results.

But anyway, that's that for now.

Just dropping by to inform you all how Christmas went here in California for the veray first time. For the most part, it rocked - there was some sentimentality in there too, for reasons I'm not gonna reveal, but yes, we had a great time all around, it was just cool to watch family members open the presents that they wanted and the presents that they waited for, to see their unsure look on their faces spring into a euphoric glee, to see the uncertain expressions leap into a smile of relief... okay, I'm getting too poetic. :P

Must be the Christmas atmosphere.

We all got pretty good hauls in terms of presents, me and my cousins. I got a fair bit of money to add to an already hearty fund, I'm getting close to $150 to spend on wares here and there.

I got two main presents - the first and most expensive of these was the skateboard I wanted. It's pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself - it's of McGill make, it's got a pretty cool underside/deck that I can't really describe but may take a photo of with a nifty little camera I also got, it's got smooth wheels which give off, yes, you guessed it, a smooth ride, and its pretty fast as well going downhill, much more so than my old one was, and my old skateboard was quite good as well. So that's that for the first present. :)

The second present is more game-related and I guess it could be called more relevant as well to the reason that the site is about. Two reasons that are essentially the same damn thing, dude! :roll:

I got Guitar Hero II! And my cousins love it, they won't stop badgering for a turn, they say "will you just lose the song already?", they are impatient for a go of the thing. It gets kinda irritating and I'm not a patient person at all, so it's been quite hard to share it around. :P

nevertheless, spent majority of Christmas Day playing it and I beat it on Medium already, unlocked most of the bonus songs and bought a hella lot of guitars for my favourite virtual metalhead Axel Steel. I'm headway into Expert mode, I'm just tripping up on a few of the more complex guitar solos, which is where the Practice mode comes in... ;) all in all I hate the fact that the difficulties are huge steps up from each other. Easy is crushingly tedious, Medium also gets kinda boring, and then Hard and Expert have their fair share of challenge and annoying infuriating moments that involve "how the **** DO I PULL OFF THIS ****ING SOLO YOU ****ING ******* OF A ****ING GAME?!" and for Guitar Hero II amateurs, there's not really a perfect difficulty setting.

The songlist is pretty good, actually, I'm not sure why there are so many people disappointed in it and in their delivery. Maybe it's because I'm not a classic rock junkie, who knows. I just don't think that there are any big lows in the setlist, and the vocals are done quite well on the whole. :? I actually thought that the cover vocalists did quite well.

The game is quite addictive, yes, but the novelty does wear off quite fast, which is why I'm probably going to be paying more attention to Starcraft now. After like 15 hours already, I guess that I'm actually a little bit disappointed in some areas of GH. But its a freaking awesomely designed game and I would recommend it to anyone with a PS2. I just don't think you should spend $80 or whatever on it if you don't have that cool plastic guitar. ;)

Overall, here's how I would rate it according to GameSpot's 1337 average scoring system...

Gameplay: 9
Graphics : 8
Sound : 9
Value : 8
Tilt : 8
Score : 8.7

Yeah, thats the exact same score that GameSpot gave the game - I expected me to enjoy the game much more than this though... its still criminally addictive and I still see scrolling fretboards everywhere, but I wish there was a bit more on offer here. It's hard to explain, really, maybe I burnt out in that 6-hour run I just did... :P

I hate to punish your poor eyes, so I'm gonna cut it short here. ;)

Well, I guess this is my last blog of the year.

This is my first Christmas holiday and New Year I've ever spent in California with the family, and I intend to make it a great one - that means I'll be playing minimal games (maybe an occasional Starcraft skirmish) and showing minimal activity on GameSpot.

Well, I haven't posted consistently in unions for a few weeks - and I doubt consistent posting will resume until 2007. I guess I better apologise for that to all unions I have responsibilities in, especially All-Around Gaming, in which I've been an All-Around Lazy Leader. :P

Who knows what my next active year on GameSpot will bring? Maybe not a lot. More blogs - certain. More union posts - probably. More blog commenting - hopefully. More videos - I doubt it, but come what may I hope it's another awesome year here on GS.

So to make up for the next week or so of almost complete silence and inactivity, I'll make this blog a great one - lengthy and fulfilling, just like a ridiculously large hot dog. So if you want some major readinz, scroll down and take it all in. But if you want some major readinz elsewhere, or would rather do something more wholesome and productive (such as eating a ridiculously large hot dog) then by all means, leave a "Merry Christmas" comment or whatever and go eat your hot dog.

Here goes nothing.

Have a great Christmas and New Year, people.

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Starcraft Impressions

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Well, yeah - the aforementioned prospect of a few occasional skirmishes on the game basically says that I'm enjoying the game an awful lot. It's definitely, so far, the most enjoyable, fun, and accessible strategy game I have ever played - and that's saying a lot coming from a person who usually steers clear of RTS games.

The controls and basic interface and can be seen as basic, but by sticking to some sort of bread and butter formula Blizzard have made the game amazingly addictive. This has been said before by hundreds of people, but this game is easy to learn and difficult to master. You click unit, you click on desired destination, they fire at any nearby enemy, etc; you click unit, you tell unit to build bunker at desired destination, they build bunker at expense of resources, etc. This is the mother of all strategy games, and it may as well have popularised its genre, the RTS, all by itself.

I'm about halfway through the Terran campaign at the minute, but I have done a lot of messing around with the campaign editor, although I make standard "blow-every-enemy-base-up" missions for the most part, they actually do come out as quite a challenge when they work properly. Better still the editor is a piece of cake to utilise and you can make the most complex scenarios evar easily.

The StarCraft Battlechest is essential, put it that way. If you're in for some oldschool strategy, want to use your brain in a game for once instead of mindlessly shoot things or beat up zombies, or if you just have some spare cash, you HAVE to buy this game.

At the moment, the game is heading for an 8.8+. I likee this game.

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A Trip Into EBGames, Best Buy, and GameStop

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Not all three stores at once, you understand.

So, yeah - a mall with all three stores in has got to be a winner, right? Right. But unfortunately, I couldn't find a mall like that, so I went to all three stores separately over the course of the last three days, compared bargains, and played some games in the booths. Awesome trips all around!

EBGames: great store here. The PC games had some pretty good offers - I considered getting Warcraft III for $30, but scrapped that idea after much thought, and then thought about purchasing ANOTHER boxset, an Ultimate Quake one (Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena) for $20, despite the fact I already owned Quake. Eventually I didn't buy either, and I scanned the playable game booths instead.

Xbox 360: there were a load of games available on the dashboard, so I immediately went for Gears - to my dismay, it's just a video of the game, which nevertheless looked stunning. Dismayed at the lack of playability, I opt for Viva Pinata - with the same results, just a video. Same went for Oblivion, Project Gotham Racing 3, and NHL 07. I was just about to see what the other booths had to offer when I found a playable demo (teh gasporz!) for Rockstar's Table Tennis - which takes a long time to get used to, but when you do, it has some amazing graphics and some pretty cool gameplay on offer too. I liked it.

PS3: yeah, I had the pleasure of playing a MotorStorm demo. Every single bit of hype about the graphics in this game are all correct - MotorStorm is without a doubt an extremely fine-looking game, with all the dirt effects, amazing motion blur, stunning backdrops and environments, and an awesomely responsive physics engine, it ends up being one hell of a treat for the eyes. Unfortunately the gameplay isn't quite as revolutionary as the technical aspect - it is a great dirt-track based racer, but it just feels average for some reason.

DS: there was Elite Beat Agents in this one, a rhythm game that is quite quirky and charming in its presentation - random comic strips and weirdo storylines, and then there's some hilarious gameplay chucked in there too. I don't really "get" the gameplay mechanics, though, yeah the game is reasonably difficult ... but still, it looks and plays like one of the better DS games to come out in quite some time.

Best Buy: another cool store, obviously. I couldn't find much in the way of cool offers, though, which questions the store's name of Best Buy, so in the end I just roamed around the store with a cousin and eventually found our ways to a PS2 and an Xbox 360, lined up beside two gigantic HDTV's.

Xbox 360: fortunately, nobody occupied the two comfy armchairs in front of the HDTV, so we picked up the quite lovely controllers and found out that we were playing Call of Duty 3. The game is pretty darn awesome, in my opinion - the 360's controller is perfect for first person shooters, as I soon found out, and soon we were blasting the hell out of each other with ease. The game is just, first and foremost, a great World War II shooter.

PS2: it took us a while, a few Oreo cookies, and a lot of persuasion to get a go here - and yes, the game was Guitar Hero II, which I will be receiving for Christmas I think, not too sure though. The two people playing co-op were actually pretty good, or at least the guitar player was, although I think he could have done better on Hard difficulty rather than beating up Medium easily. Some people need a challenge. The punkette who was playing bass was also pretty decent, although again, seriously, some people need Hard difficulty when they're too good for Medium...

Yeah, we got a go, and played co-op Message in a Bottle, me going lead guitar on Medium and he going bass on Easy. We done pretty well, actually - neither of us are very good at the game, but I do have a little bit more experience due to that 6 hours in GAME one time. :P We had fun, we gave the guitars back, we went and done some more roaming, and bought some CD's for our family. Aren't we good?

GameStop: I didn't find much fun here - there were no vacant playable booths and the games on offer on them seemed a bit mediocre. I think that it was Starfox DS on the DS, which intrigued me, but the screen was seriously scratched due to idiotic people who can't even hold a ****ing stylus properly for ****'s sake. Stuff like that makes me angry if its done on purpose, they let you play demos, you wreck them, I mean, who gains anything? Idiots. The 360 was a load of videos again, disappointingly, and there was a tantalizing Guitar Hero II on offer but unfortunately the booth was offline, the TV was ****ed up and the PS2 wasn't even turned on...

I did find some pretty cool DS games, which I kind of need because of all the upcoming travel. Poh-Kay-Mon are still calling to me, whether I'm going to opt for the supposedly crappy Mystery Dungeon or the slightly better Ranger, I'm not sure yet... but I still haven't played NSMB or Yoshi's Island DS, so again I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

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Stuff I Either Hope, or Will, Get For Teh Christmaz0r

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Skateboard: yeah! My old skateboard is seriously wrecked, it really is. aus, due to my lazy idle inconsiderate nature, it's been lying in the back yard for three months and it's probably all rusted and crappy. Not that I care. So yeehaa, I'll be getting a new skateboard and I'll probably go find a skatepark somewhere with my cousin, who knows.

Guitar Hero II: double yeah! The only problemo is, it probably will not be PAL code, so I only get two weeks to beat it and play it as much as I ****ing can... yeah well, who cares, I'll lease out a cousin's PS2 and play play play play play. And also, none of my cousins are good enough at the game to ask for a go, so hahaha, I get it most of teh time... :D

Some new PC game: just hope it will run on the laptop. I want Warcraft III, and I've let people know that I want Warcraft III, so I can hope... I can hope.

Lots of Lays and 7up: self explanatory.

A new CD: let's see... it lies down to two CD's. I've been after Radiohead's I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordinz for a while, so I hope I get that one, otherwise, it will be Feeder's Echo Park, an album I mysteriously missed in my travels.

Dunno what else: seriously, this Christmas is going to be a surprise. I don't really care about what presents I get, and I'm not trying to sound all grown up and noble, but I don't - I just wanna see what christmas in California is like, with three times as much family as I've got at home.

Oh well, that's that.

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My Personal GOTY

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(Haven't seen teh lamez0r nominees? Go look.)

I don't even know why I'm doing this, but I'll do it anyway. I based the nominees on games that I personally have played this year instead of games that have been released this year, but quite frankly I haven't played many games this year and I wanted to contribute something. Me teh no care. Here goes, then...

In 10th place... TOCA Race Driver 3. Great racing game, accurate simulation, much better than Forza and Gran Turismo, in my opinion.

In 9th place ... Battlefield 2142. Awesome tactical shooter, best played online.

In 8th place ... Animal Crossing: Wild World. Wildly innovative, addictive while it does it.

In 7th place ... Burnout Revenge. Crazy stuff, addictive as Lays and 7up, and some of the best graphics on Xbox.

In 6th place ... Metroid Prime Hunters. Who'd a thought it? A good first person shooter on a handheld? Breaks the norm for me.

In 5th place ... Advance Wars Dual Strike. The top strategy game on a portable - recommended to anyone with a DS. anyone without a DS buy it for the GBA. The second one, that is.

In 4th place ... Diablo II/Lord of Destruction. I've had a lot of fun with this RPG, it's awesome on battle.net, can't wait for houtx1836 and andywilliams24 to get the game and join the quests. I've finished the game largely, save for the last act in LoD, and I'm itching for a replay with a different character.

In 3rd place ... Half-Life 2 PC. It pains me to score it at 3rd. It's such an awesome game, it really is, the most versatile and volatile singleplayer FPS evar, must be played to be believed. Its simply THAT GOOD.

In 2nd place ... Unreal Tournament 2004. Yes. Its not 1st. Its actually a bit weird placing a 2004 game in a 2006 GOTY, but I absolutely adore this game. Best online FPS ever, I don't care how much fun anyone is having with Gears, or Counterstrike, or whatever, UT2004 is simply the cream of teh crop in multiplayer. The most complete online game ever, so many options, so many customisations, so accessible, so nearly perfect.

In 1st place ... Civilization IV.

Go ahead, cry foul! Yeah, you do that!

I have reasons, though. Civilization IV, after the dust has settled, is an almost-perfect example of a strategy game. This is strategy done properly. This is strategy without any big flaws, save for a few minor niggles scattered around some of the more complex gameplay mechanics.

Then you think - wait, Scott hasn't played this game on Xfire much! WTF?

Well thats mainly because I bought the game in January with christmas dosh and I didn't get Xfire till June, and those six months with the game were simply awesome - I stayed up long into the night devising strategies as to how to destroy the pesky Aztecs, how to raid their cities methodically and with minimal casualties, how to establish the best trade routes possible. The game is captivating in every sense of the word, addictive in every sense of the word, and definitive in every sense of the word.

There are barely any visible flaws in the gameplay, save for some yes, lacklustre graphics, but they do the job. They depict the battles, the cities, the units, the everything, they are exactly what they say on the tin. They may not be flashy, but for gameplay as unbeatably deep, hard to master, and above all content-brimming, you cannot beat this game.

In Civilization IV, they have perfected the formula of past games and spruced it up for the modern gaming industry. They've thrown it headlong into a rollercoaster ride of titles and games and they have prayed that it will survive and that it would not look like an old formula in new clothes.

They didn't need to pray.

This game, simply, is essential. It should be a part of every collection. This is the pinnacle of all strategy games, this is a benchmark for all strategy games, and this is, quite frankly, strategy at its finest. One of the best games ever, this one, and while it may have been released in 2005... it's still my best candidate for GOTY. I absolutely adore this game, and everyone should too.

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So anyway, that's that from me until 2007 - thanks for reading this largely pointless but nevertheless fun blog, and every other blog I've wrote since January 1st, 2006. Just, thanks. It's been one hell of a year here on GameSpot, and a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs here in my world... so I hope you guys have an awesome Christmas and an amazing New Year, because I'm sure that I will.

May your swords stay sharp.

- stevenscott14

P.S. I originally went over the limit. Maximum blog size is 20,000 characters... I got 20,133. :P So I cut out my rant for Best and Worst '06 (which sucked) and it appears here slightly streamlined. Took me three days to write this. :P

A lot to say today... surprise.

OK, today I caved in again and bought another boxset of games, this time cheaper and, guess what, games that will run well on the laptop were purchased. The boxset I bought is StarCraft Battlechest (Starcraft, its expansion set Brood War, two strategy guides for them, and the obligatory Blizzard catalog etc.) - I've been wanting to give either Warcraft or Starcraft a go ever since I discovered Diablo and I wanted to see what other works the developer had produced without being enslaved by the mother of all evils World of Warcraft.

I'm also happy to say that I seriously like the game a lot - just like Diablo II eventually became my favourite RPG of all time, even at such an early stage I can see Starcraft becoming my favourite RTS of all time. To say it would soon be my favourite strategy game of all time but that of course is Civilization IV, which is also one of my favourite games of all time full stop.

I have a conversation going on Xfire and ezra1 said that it is easy to like RTS's, you just have to play the right ones.

I guess he's right. I mean, to start off an RTS career with something as massively complex as Star Wars Empire At War (okay, massively complex may be a slight overexaggeration, but to me, yes there was a hell of a lot to learn, especially given the fact I'd only played turnbased strategy before that...) was a bad idea. Starcraft is one of those rare games that has a basic interface and is easy to learn, but cripplingly hard to master, and its this balance that for me makes the game pretty damn addictive and it's also quite accessible too. The game seems to have real lasting value, too, with 30 missions in the core game and then another 30 or so added in the expansion, and a Campaign Editor on top? I mean that is going to last me a long time. It doesn't

The only downside is, I shouldn't have bought the game in California. It distracts me from the sunshine.

OK, on to other subjects.

Today I saw Eragon. Being someone who has read the book three times and its successor Eldest twice, I had seriously high expectations for the movie. I didn't even read any reviews for it before I left to see it, so my expectations weren't changed.

Fortunately, in my opinion, it is a pretty good movie. It is without doubt the finest Lord of the Rings clone novel I've ever read (despite the fact that it weirdly seems to borrow from Star Wars Episode IV's plot... and maybe in the final novel it will borrow from Return of the Jedi, but I sure as hell hope that they don't build another Death Star) , and the movie... well, it is quite different from the book. First, there are a lot of details changed from the book in translation to the movie, i.e. some of the cities in the book and some of the events that occur in those cities aren't in the movie, whether they were cut out at last minute due to length reasons or whatever, they just aren't there. A few crucial turning points in the book are also depicted differently in the movie. All in all, yes, this is loosely based on the book's storyline, but it does tend to change a few factors in it... which is a shame, I guess.

Thankfully, this is still an enjoyable movie. There is actually a fair amount of emotion in the movie that I didn't quite expect as they weren't as dramatic in the book. The special effects are simply brilliant, especially at the end; I guess that the movie has quite a good final epic to finish things off, but then so did the book so there is no surprises.

OK, I suck at reviewing movies ...

All in all, my closing words are, if you read the book, see the movie, it's up to you whether you like it a lot or are let down. If you didn't read the book, but are looking for a decent movie to see (or an excuse to eat large quantities of popcorn) then I would recommend it. If you didn't read the book and aren't looking for a movie, then why the HELL are you reading this?!

I would give Eragon a final verdict of 6.5/10. It's a good movie, but not nearly as good as it could have been.

So, I guess that's that... your eyes hurt? :P

Another short(ish) blog today - it's sunny as hell here and you know, I'll get flamed if I stay inside too often. And I'm already getting flamed for all the 7up and the Lays ... I mean FFS I'm on holiday!

So I've been playing gratuitous amounts of Battlefront - I had to take advantage of a cousins' computer to do it though, my laptop has no 3D hardware apparently, so I was a bit dismayed that I have to wait till I get home to play all five games properly.

All my playing, well 90% of it, has been offline in Galactic Conquest, and offline Xfire too, so I have been playing a lot more of Battlefront than my evil profile would have you believe. I seriously love this game. I'm not sure why but the game just feels so much more natural on a PC than the Xbox I play Battlefront II on, and it also makes the game a lot more enjoyable because of that. Controls aren't fiddly or anything like that - it's just a pure war game first and foremost, with an incredible Star Wars theme layered over the top of it.

It's also quite ironic that I started playing Battlefield 2142 before I left home, and I'm noticing obvious similarities between the games. That's to be expected, they are both based around the same thing, single-battlefield based war, just one has Darth Vader on your ass and the other one, well, has a gigantic walker firing lasers at the soles of your feet. Either way, both games are pretty damn awesome in their own way, but so far Battlefront is more accessible, less intimidating to beginners, and it isn't as methodical as Battlefield is, which is a good thing in the way that you don't have to duck and cover, peek around corners to check for enemy fire or whatever, but it is a bad thing in the fact that it makes the battles a lot more flimsy and it is yes a lot easier than Battlefield as well. All in all though, I have to say I prefer Battlefront, I like its cinematic action and of course the Star Wars overlay. You can't beat shooting the **** out of Vader from the confines of an X-Wing.

I've also been playing a lot of my cousins' GameCube in multiplayer games. Probably the most played game on the GameCube is Super Monkey Ball - we've been playing 3 player games usually because half of the family just can't be bothered to join in, they just sit there and watch sport. :P Now sport isn't bad if its hockey or basketball, but seriously, everything else is a bit boring.

So it goes without saying that if you scroll to the bottom, or near the bottom, of my profile, you'll see a review for Super Monkey Ball, although unfortunately the paragraph problem is there again, not quite as drastic this time, but its still there, and no I didn't use word processor this time. Also the review isn't as concise or to the point as I would have liked. Let's just say I don't think its up to the standard of my earlier reviews, but still, I'd appreciate it if you chekkit out and maybe drop a recommendation/de-recommendation. Whatever, something that shows that people have read the review.

Also, Gamespot is glitching up on me.

I don't know if it's only me, either. Some blogs I can't even see, they've just vanished. Some blogs I can read, but when I try and comment, it says that I do not have access to view entries in this blog. And some blogs are fine - I can read and comment as usual. Plus, there was another glitch I forgot about - yeah, I had trouble posting in unions.

I mean, wtf.

Anyway, you guys have a nice week. I will.

I'm going to keep this one short - I'm pretty tired and sleep is calling.

So I played some Guitar Hero II again today, this time in Walmart - tomorrow it will probably be somewhere else random. I only played the one song because another guy wanted a go of the game but he said I was pretty good, I was like thanks. Heh, my first compliment. That said, it was a decent performance by my standards, I usually mess up pretty bad but I got 97% of the notes on Monkey Wrench on Medium difficulty. Not bad.

Not much else happened, I guess. I showed my cousin around the laptop and its many programs that I have installed, he seemed to like Unreal Tournament 2004 a lot and he was at least interested in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. Unfortunately, those five Star Wars games don't work too well at all, its not recognising the 3D hardware and I can't get it to do so either. I'll have to wait till I get home.

Otherwise, it's been Lays, 7up, and TV... and the odd game of basketball with my cousins. But today it rained, so y'know, the former option. Lays, 7Up and TV... I watched Back to the Future III and then I just retreated from watching the hockey game. Ducks vs. San Jose. I'm not even sure if it's finished or not, I need to go check... or sleep. Wonderful sleep.

zzZzzZzzzzZZZzZZzzZZZZZzzzzz...

Okay, here's a random blog for you all... I would like to talk about something more sensible, but this will have to do. You know, the 7up awaits... and so does the TV... and the Lays... dayum I love California. :P

Went shopping today OMFG. Went to a few stores of interest, namely Target, where I browsed the games and eventually bought a Star Wars game boxset. The boxset is awesome, and it was only 40 dollars. It contains Star Wars: Republic Commando, the first KOTOR, the first Battlefront, Jedi Knight Jedi Outcast, Empire at War, and a 14 day trial of Star Wars Galaxies. w00tsome, really.

And also, I got a funny story about what happened in Best Buy - this guy was playing Guitar Hero II in teh store and I was waiting patiently for my turn, and towards the end of Psychobilly Freakout (Easy difficulty, and this guy seriously sucked) the PS2 froze up and nothing happened. With regret the dude put the guitar down and in dismay I walked away with the knowledge that I wouldn't get to play the game. You know, the PS2 is encased in like a clear box in most stores so that the console doesn't get damaged, right? Well the reset button was just out of my reach and I didn't dare get my hand in further into the box in case it got stuck and things got embarrassing.

Luckily after a hasty dinner I found a discarded pen lying on the sidewalk.

I triumphantly returned to Best Buy, strolled down the PS2 game aisle and just about managed to slot the pen into the frame and push reset. I got questioned by a store employee, but when I told them the PS2 froze they realised I just wanted to reset the thing so I could play some Guitar Hero - then they returned to their work.

I would have liked to say that their heads turn when they saw me rocking out, but no they didn't. I played a few songs, not too many. Shout at the Devil I just about secured on Hard difficulty, YYZ on Medium difficulty, and Strutter on Hard too. I still don't have the game, I'm waiting till Christmas. I just hope that whoever buys me it has got the PAL version so I can play it when I get home. Almost definitely not, so I have to make the most of the game while I'm here.

Ah well, at least I get to do some shreddin'.

Later!