I just realized that this is my 101st blog post; when I first registered at GameSpot I didn't realize I would get quite this far, seeing as I came here primarily to find an outlet for writing reviews. So, in this slightly more special blog post, I'm going to bring to you the third edition of the Now Playing series, which has undergone quite an amount of changes when compared to the last one. There's also quite an amount of games for this week, and there's an unexpected revival of a lost gem... read on...

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 Pokemon Leaf Green is my first new game to play. My sister has been playing Pokemon Blue on her brandnew Game Boy Advance SP, and while helping her acquire her third badge, I realized just how much I've missed the Pokemon series the last few months. So its largely due to this gem of a remake that I've completely revived my lost Nintendo DS and it's sparkling new, ready to play some excellent games. Hey, really - who needs a DS Lite?

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 Red Faction is another new addition to my sizeable arsenal, and despite being horribly linear, amazingly straightforward, and - dare I say it - featuring some by-the-book gunplay, this game still has enough interesting elements to keep it up at an above-average state. For example, its got quite a decent GEO-MOD engine, which predictably allows you to blow chunks out of walls, and this is really fun in the glasshouse mode, where you can carve a nice pathway around the walls and up into the roof if you're skilled enough. :D

As for the main singleplayer, its got an out-of-the-ordinary storyline that sets it apart from other standard run-n-gun shooters; you're a miner protesting against the company you work for. Your employers treat you badly, force you to live under horrific conditions, and generally don't supply all the things they mentioned in the brochure. So its your job to serve as one of the leading rebels, and you genuinely kick some ass, grabbing guards' weapons and shooting the hell out of every single Ultor personnel that you encounter. :twisted: Really quite fun if you're looking for something that doesn't require much room for thought. :)

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 Mario Kart DS is next up on my list; face it, though, if you dust off your DS and blow away the cobwebs, its only fitting that you slot in a few casual hours on Mario Kart DS. It's the most colourful, enjoyable racer to be released in the last year, and, seriously, if you own a DS, then you at all costs must buy this game and play this game for hours on end.

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 Fable: Lost Chapters is the fourth game, an excellent port from the Xbox to the PC and an excellent experience in its own right. I'm still in awe of the graphical upgrade I've undergone, as Fable is possibly the game that shows it off the most. I haven't played it too much this week, seeing as its nowhere near as accessible as, say, Unreal Tournament 2004, but I will owe it some hours this weekend.

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 Advance Wars: Dual Strike is still my favourite game for the Nintendo DS, just chipping in ahead of Mario Kart, namely because I love its brand of turnbased strategy mixed with... a stylus, namely. Its possibly the most invigorating handheld strategy game I have ever played, and it never gets old.

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 Halo: Combat Evolved remains in the list, unsurprisingly, mainly because I'm stuck. On Assault On The Control Room. But I'm not the type of person who lets a game crush their soul with defeat; I will go out triumphant, head held high, and I will annihilate the Covenant, whatever they say or no matter how many squads full of invisible Plasma-Sword wielding Elites they throw at me. They're cowards, really. I'll just stick plasma grenades to 'em all.

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 Unreal Tournament 2004 is the final game I'm playing, and its one of the games I'm playing the most. Literally, no other FPS has this much to offer. Hell, we've got servers that we play where you can go around Spongebob's hometown Bikini Bottom! You can snipe from the top of Squidward's house, hide in Patrick's clam, hide behind a sunken ship... honestly, you name me an FPS that lets you go into Spongebob's hometown. Apart from this one. Exactly! You can't! This game's online community is full of creative dudes who want to make innovative maps for players to frag on... but the other half of the community is full of campers who stay on the top of buildings talking to each other via voice chat. Man can't they all meet up in person to chat about everyday life! It makes me so mad that there's such an amount of retarded idiots that only play UT2004 to annoy all the players who actually have some fun and kill all the monsters while they're jabbering away about nothing in particular. You picture six immature teenagers arguing about random stuff, and then layer all six voices on top of each other. It drives you nuts! :evil: Seriously if they want to set up an entire chatroom in a glitch on a map where they can repeatedly telefrag each other, then I'll just leave the server and find some people who actually play by the rules and have a good time while they do so.

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 And that concludes today's absurdly long broadcast... no, man, you didn't have to read all that. I just said I'd inform you. I had fun writing it, but you didn't have to have fun reading it.

 And, on a different note, thanks for the music video recommendations and your comments, whether good, bad or lukewarm! If you want to watch the music video, its the blog beneath this insanely drawn-out one.

 Thanks for reading, (or not)

  - Scott/Psycho

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