Harvest Moon provides all the fun of running a farm without all the manual labor. Who wouldn't love that? For the past 10+ years, the Harvest Moon franchise has been farming its way into the hearts of gamers since its premier on SNES all the way through to present time. 25 games spanning multiple platforms later, with more on the way, it is clear that these little farmers are going to be farming their way around for another decade at least. While its technical claszification is an RPG, Harvest Moon feels more like a farming sim. There is no fighting of monsters, no leveling up system, no sorting through party members. There is item use, but not in the traditional RPG stile. But then again, putting this title in with the sim games might be a bit of a leap as well. I suppose, in short, you could say Harvest Moon is in an experience all its own.

This title is all about, er…well harvesting. Whether you're harvesting from your crops or harvesting eggs and milk from your livestock, the name of this game is selling your goods. The game works on a year cycle. 30 short days a season, four seasons in all. Your days pretty much consist of watering crops, feeding livestock, chopping a few logs, harvesting if you can, and exploring the world around you. The amount of time you get to do the latter is entirely dependent on which season it is. You will find that there really just isn't enough time in the day to get it all done. Therefore, planning and strategy is key in figuring out just how much you can plant and how many animals you can take care off. As the seasons change, what you can do changes with it. Spring opens the year with potatoes and turnips (yum yum!) with summer also boasting crops in the variety of tomatoes and corn (even better!) Throughout both spring and summer you can plant grass as well, which is harvested for livestock feed. Autumn sees the end of harvesting crops, where the only thing you can harvest is the grass you planted for your chickens or cows. Then winter is devoid of harvesting all together, forcing you to rely on provisions that you stocked up on all year.

Livestock offer an even more diverse farming experience where you can care for cows and chickens. Each has its benefits in offering you something to sell, be it egg or milk. Chickens are cheap to buy and yield early and often. Though the eggs aren't worth much, you could choose to keep it and raise a new chicken to either join in the egg harvest or sell for a cool 500. Either way, you rally need a lot in order to make it worth your while. Milk on the other hand is worth at least 3 times as much. Cows have the ability to produce small, medium, or large amount of milk for you to sell depending on how happy they are with you. Drawback is that the cow costs more to buy and takes a long time to develop to the milking age. Plus you have to buy a brush (which you must use on every cow every day to keep them happy) and a milking machine. All that equals up to being quite an investment.

So while your not watering crops or caring for livestock, the game does have sort of a storyline. (If you can call it that) In short, your parents go away for a while and leave you to fix up their old ranch and become a mature adult in the process. This equals out to having little over a two and a half game year time limit. In this time you are saving up to build extensions to your house, find a girl to fall in love with you, and raise a family. Along the way you will discover strange things going on under your ranch, acquire berries that boost your stamina, and upgrade your tools in one way or another. Heck, you even get a horse to use for storing harvested crops or getting from one place to another quickly. Aside from this however, there really isn't too much else to say about the story. Basically it is about keeping a farm. Who doesn't love that?

Harvest Moon ( orig. 1997, VC rel. 2008 ) Developed by Natsume (1990 - Present)

The Good:

*Tons of stuff to keep that farm fresh feeling alive.

*Annual festivals every season help create the atmosphere.

*Crops change depending on season.

*Weather effects are a good addition

*Not having to worry about space for expansion is a plus.

*Easy to jump right in and get started. The starting money amount is right on!

The Bad:

*Though there is plenty to keep you busy, the tasks are mainly the same and can grow a bit repetitive.

*Not enough time in a day creates limitations.

*Seasons are only 30 days long, making it hard to keep a steady crop.

*The time limit to accomplish everything in the game is too short.

*The wife doesn't actually do anything to help around the ranch.

*Not being able to ride your horse around everywhere is kind of a disappointment.

Basically, Harvest Moon is not a bad little game. You can play through it fairly easily, and feel satisfied in doing so. The game must be popular to some target group seeing as it has spanned generations of consoles and is still kicking. I wouldn't say this game is worth a try for everyone, but any aspiring green thumbs that might enjoy the aspect of keeping up with a farm, well this might be right up your alley!

What is the White Box of Magic you may wonder to yourself? Well, part of me feels that if you need to ask that question then you don't belong on this site. Nevertheless those who are a step behind the rest, yes we have acquired our Wii. The time was right and the opportunity was there so nature took its course. So how has our lives changed? Well funny you should ask. The thing to remember here is the control. Going from gaming from the lap, where your control sits idle and there is hardly any movement to speak of, to full on movement control, that ladies and gents is a transition.

The first thing that I noticed immediately is that it is hard as crap to keep that pointer steady. This makes the point and click keyboard that is used for inputting names a pain. Especially when you are trying to put the correct WEP password to access your wireless network. Yeah, well after spending far too long trying to figure out why I couldn't get online, I found that there is a sensitivity setting. Well after toning it all the way down, I finally found a bit of a groove to set into. The other main problem with the point and click method is if you go a little too far to a side, boom, you lost your pointer. Where did it go? I don't know, off to the void somewhere. Well it takes a few passes to find it again. Annoying to say the least. But hey, as with every console, it just takes some getting used to. It wouldn't be fair to judge the console before you have given it the customary adjustment period.

So how bout that Wii Sports you ask? Well, that is some kind of fun. As most of the guys have figured out by now, the boxing mini game is the best. Sure there are others, (Golf, Bowling, Baseball, Tennis) but boxing is the one that stands out. The only one that comes close to being worth the while is bowling, and lets face it, at its best, bowling is only semi fun. No, nothing is quite like bobbing and weaving going toe-to-toe with some random Mii. Now there are other titles out that take a crack at being the definitive boxing game for the Wii, but none really do any more justice to the experience then Wii Sports does. As for said experience, well, lets just say a lazy person like myself worked up quite a sizeable sweat jabbin' and punchin'. This equals out to the inability to really play it the next day. Between that and the pitching in Baseball, my arms were shot.

So what to do? Virtual Console, duh! I was finally able to play a game that I thought I would never get to see thanks to the power of said console. Yes of course I speak of the mythical Streets of Rage 3. Being an owner of the first two in the original glory, and pointing out the fact that it was a staple in my very growing up, I was finally able to see what this the final chapter of the Streets trilogy was all about. I couldn't rate it fairly in today's day and age because I don't think I would rate it very high and that's just not fair since it is one of my most cherished franchises. (I did point out at some point in time that they should bring this one back to the big leagues, and I am not alone on this, I mean, Golden Axe??? Why not SoR?) At any rate, it was something to do without worrying about strain in the extremities.

Where does that leave me now you ask? Well if you really must know, someone purchased the smashing VC title, Harvest Moon for the SNES. (No seriously, not me, it was the Mrs.) Have you heard of this game? Apparently there are like a zillion of these around though how I managed to stay oblivious is beyond me. I am not going to go into it too much at the moment because I plan on typing up full thoughts on it a bit later when I have completed it. It won't be a full blown review, I feel funny about doing reviews for titles outside of the Sony regime, call me a fan boy if you must. (I would like to point out that I don't flood the site with anti Microsoft fluff). No, it will be another Kotaku look-alike I really admire their review structure. So look for that soon.

The only other thing on the agenda is buying up some Wii games. I have a bunch of great titles on a list here that I need to get into. Okay, okay, so the list isn't terribly long, but hey, makes it all the easier to get through it. Needless to say that Galaxy is high on that list. Anyways, that's the state of the business here. Check back for the full thought and opinions on Harvest Moon soon. Other then that, just playing some games. Till next time.

I think I shall make this one brief. As most of you know, I don't review PC games. The reason for this is simple: money (and my computer!) Put simply, I am pretty much unwilling to put the money into a true gaming PC capable of running Half Life 2 or Crysis. There was a time when I was going to go that path, but think about it, having to reinvest in the same thing about every year to keep up with the games, not to mention new operating systems. Whatever, waste of money, that's all I'm saying. I am quite contempt console gaming and its steady flow of games without having to upgrade at all save for a bigger hard drive perhaps.

Anyways, I do buy a computer game every once in a while, that is to say that I do have a few. There are games for the computer that I absolutely love and are timeless to me. When you have a game you can play for a while. Hang it up, uninstall, put in a box, then after some time passes look at it and say, "Man, I could go for some of that right about now," that to me says something. Rounding out that list of short games that I play time and time again, Age of Empires (mainly the first one, the wife and I play that networked for some fun times) Starcraft, X Beyond the Frontier (Just recently got the expansion for that looking forward to it) Dungeon Keeper, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. I do have more games, but those are the ones I have played time and time again. Luckily they run on almost anything.

What is the point to all this you ask? Well aside from getting totally sidetracked back there I have been playing a game that I can't help but put comments on. Freelancer has been out for quite some time now but more recently you can pick it up at the attractive 10 dollar price point. After reading this review here (gosh who doesn't miss Greg?) for it, I figured it was worth a moment of my time. Since I don't review computer games I will simply use the Kotaku form of reviewing. So pending further sidetracking I give you my impressions of Freelancer.

Freelancer (2003) developed by Digital Anvil (Born 1996, Died 2006)

The Good:

*The systems you fly around in are beautiful for their time and all of this is virtually load free.

*Not much of a mouse and Keyboard person, but even for a lack of game pad support, this game does surprisingly well with overall controls

*The ability to upgrade your ship is a big plus for the title. Upgrading shields, weapons, etc are fine and all, but upgrading a ship, now that where it's at.

*Okay, so the story isn't fantastic, but in games like these, it is important to have an at least interesting story, so there you go.

*The environmental sound is also nice. Not overbearing to the point of annoyance, but there enough to make it feel more lifelike.

The Bad:

*Horrible voice acting. Some people do all right but in the whole package, I just can't stand it.

*This game is pretty much X-Beyond the Frontier (1999) just redone. Now that isn't to say that that's really a bad thing in itself, I just like the way X did it better.

*Game difficulty starts out a bit steep. The enemies just seem to always have a slight advantage.

*Repetitive Gameplay. Sure its great to have a bunch of different stuff to do, but you can only do the, "Go here kill these guys," so many times before its just old

*I know I said the controls are good, and they are, but to not support the use of a game pad all together, I mean why would you do that?

Well there you have it. Those are just some thoughts I had on it while playing through it. There is no rating given here because I can't fairly judge it based on my crummy PC it was running on. Though aside from some choppy-ness from too much action on screen, it ran pretty smooth. I will say this much for it, if you are a true fan of X, then you won't have a problem getting into this game. I also here there is some craziness going on over at this site. Apparently some people love this game and go all insane in mods for it (they're up to 2.7 now!). Hey, anything to bring life back into a game that's a bit used huh? Well I totally support their work and just to show them that, I shall plug their mod again here. Till next time peoples.

UPDATE: Along with spacing issues, it would appear that Microsoft Word doesn't transfer Hyperlinks well. Atleast not ones pertaining to GameSpot content.

Together again eh? March already too. It is hard to believe that February has come and gone so quickly, course it is a tad shorter then most months too. Well I know what your thinking, where are my posts. Answer; there aren't any, not at the moment at least. I know there was crazy talk and my head was full of insane ideas of posting madness (see last post,) but frankly, time has a way of sticking it to you. So, unfortunately for us all, there is no month of posting to be had for March. I did make some progress though, just none that I can speak of at the moment. I want to do justice to this little collection that I am planning so I can't hurry it on out the door. I have 29 good topics to write upon, one shy of my mark, and I have been thinking and pondering them. Along with the mounds of research I will have to do, linking to sites and imputing pictures, it is going to be quite a feat to be held. Anyways I have been busy this month, but have no fear I shall accomplish what I set forth to do. Now perhaps onto other matters.

What have I been playing this past month? Well lets see, I don't remember when I started or finished it, but Rogue Galaxy has been knocked out. That there is a well rounded RPG with everything you would want. For my full thoughts on it, check the link. What else…. Rock Band. Yea. I have played me some Rock Band. That is by far the greatest example of replay value I have come across in my many years. Aside from the fact that you have to shell out bucks to get said replay value, it is so easy to drop 2 bucks on a song, I mean its two dollars! One can barely buy a candy bar with that much money, personally I would rather get the song. Sid Meier's Pirates! on PSP was a great game too. I plowed through that recently, at least since the last time we met. Once again those who click the link will gain the privilege to know my true feelings on that title. I have 24: The Game out to play, I have played through it once before mind you, but I haven't gotten around to that. Scratch that, I put it in to see how long I was going to be in for, played the first level and boom, those bad controls hit me. I thought to myself, "Do I really feel like fighting with bad controls right now?" That was the end of that. I will get through it, don't worry. The significant other here found herself quite a game. Yea, I will just leave it at that save for making the comment that it is not for me and I have not played it, nor will I for it is not my type (Dang, heaven forbid you let me say s.t.y l.e) of game. She likes sim games and she couldn't resist seeing what it was about. There is one other title that I am playing but that rolls over to the next paragraph so I will tend to it in there. That covers the what am I playing segment that is customary in these types of situations. Onto the real meat of the post.

Twisted Metal: Head On Extra Twisted Edition. Gosh dang that is a beast of a title. So I don't know if any of you die hard Tuesday fans remember but way back in post No. XIII (somewhat appropriate) I talked about my disappointment that there was no Twisted Metal for the PS3 launch. Some things are just supposed to go together. PlayStation had the original Twisted Metal, PS2 had Twisted Metal Black (my favorite) PSP, well who cares about that, they at least got one eventually, but PS3 is the odd man out. Sad tidings indeed. Well guess what? That post is an example of someone who doesn't do any proper research before they open their opinionated mouth. Turns out that there was a reason the series died with Black. (Not counting Head On of course) and now I know more about it. I may not know everything that is going on, but I do know that David Jaffe is the mastermind behind TM: Black and therefore he is the man I want behind the seat of my next installment. Luckily for myself and "metal heads" (Jaffe's term I think) we will be sinking our "sweet tooth" (pun intended) into another some more fierce, non-stop, car carnage. At least if Jaffe has anything to say about it, and say something about it he did. There is the secret code in the game itself, (TM:HOETE), the short little video on YouTube and the nonchalant off the cuff comments here or there that he makes. It's coming people, better fasten your seatbelts. Okay I am done being corny now. Needless to say I am super excited to see him "blow the f'ing roof off of if" as he put it here. That about wraps that up and that is about all the time I have. I will continue on my work and post up some more reviews (hopefully soon) on the games that I am playing to keep you loyal, faithful fans coming back for more. Until next we meet, take it easy peoples.

NOTE: I am using Microsoft Word to type up my post and then copy/paste onto this window so if the spacing is all crazy thats why.

Calendar years change, video games come and go, and the busy-ness of the holidays has finally come to a close. I realized today that I have neglected my poor blog as well as my GameSpot game collection in general. It has been some time since I have updated all this outdated information once and for all. Therefore I have made the first attempt at reconciling this blunder with a simple and informative blog post to let you know what is and what is yet to be. First the what is.

Put simply, video games are the "what is." I have aquired Rock Band, finally, and I have seen the awesomeness that comes bundled into that 170 dollar package. Of course, my guitar did crap out on me while playing the 6th from the last song, (Green Grass and High something or other) I wonder how many other people have had this problem? Oh thats right, a hell of a lot! So I moved onto the drums. Mother alive that foot pedal is hard to get going. Easy was a breeze. I started having difficulty when the pedal was hit in between notes and just before or after them. My brain goes on with the tempo of my hands but then my foot says, "Hey wait now, I got some spots coming up, you just forget about your precious reds, blues, yellows, and greens becasue the orange is in the house." Yeah, needless to say they don't get along very well, but I am having some counseling sessions with them to work out their differences. Wow that metaphor when on way longer then it should have.

Ahh Orange Box. When did it get this bad? Poor Orange Box got swept to the side like some used candy wrappers or something else unpleasent when come across. The games on that disc are amazing, and for my credit, I did complete the core game, Half-Life 2 along with the tremednous Portal. Then I started the episodes and it just all fell apart. I caught myself doing other things with the infamous, "I will get right back to that soon" attitude that has marked the doom for uncontinued games everywhere. Well one day I shall rectify that misstep towards the dark side but not yet. There are many other games to play.

Unreal Tournament III has made it's blood-bathy, heart-racing, and utter chaotic insanity-y way into my collection.(I am aware most of those aren't real words) Man that game is sweet. Not only does it look just amazing, but it also brings the fast paced, shoot first question later attitude that is the halmark of the game back to the station. No doubt there will be a box version but for now its all PS3 in the console world and people are playing it. Even with it being "just another shooter" it brings action and chaos to a new level and provides a unique experience like no other. Unfortunately if you are looking for the review, it isn't up yet. Why you ask? Well like Orange Box, whiose review is 3/4 done, I was just waiting on the episodes, UT3 has been shuffled out of the mix before it was completed. Yes yes, sad tidings indeed. I promise that I will rectify that as well. But until then, how bout more games?

Medal of Honor: Heroes for the PSP is the first itteration of the now doubled PSP spin-off of EA's famous WWII shooter. I haven't really done much aside from pop it in, play a few moments of it, comment on the adjustment of controls, then take it out again. Sorry MOH heads, but I haven't even beaten the first level let alone thought about the review for it. What can I say, on top of 2007 having a record number of games that I must have at some point, and getting some for X-mas, I just havn't had the means for sit trough an entire story line from any game. But on to more pressing news, um, more games!

Guitar Hero I, II, and Encore have been taking up a good chunck of my time. I recently was able to rope a new player into the games and she loves them. We play coop as well as face off, seeing as it is the only mode in I, and she has a good old time with it. I actually had to lend out my three games, along with the PS2 and Guitar to play them with so she can get as good as me. It does warm my heart to turn people onto new and exciting games. It may even go as far as to get her own copies along with a system and pariphrial to play them with. We shall see. I will take my check now Sony and Neversoft for giving you another drop in the bucket. And now for something completely different: Games

As yoou may have noticed under my now playing list you will find 24: The Game. I own all the seasons and was rewatching them, pretending that I wasn't pissed that it didn't start up in January like originally predicted, and I planned to run through the game between 2 and 3 to get the full effect. Well in theory a good idea, it didn't play out that way. I got to season 3 and had the game all set up and then nothing. Yep, nothing happened. I wasn't able to get started becasue I was so busy with other games. I didn't even start season 3. So I am stuck at that juncture. The bright spot, when I do manage to dig myself out of this game vortex of procrastination, I will have a spankin' new review for a game that is, what 4 years old? Something to look forward to I assure you.

All that leaves is the yet to be. Well along with reviews of Rock Band, UT3, Medal Of Honor Heroes, 24, and Orange Box (Maybe even a Guitar Hero review in there) I plan to finally finish the Ender series of books by Card. This has nothing to do with the announcement of the game coming out, I rahter dislike the idea of a game designed on the little battle game that is in the book and not the story of Ender itslef. I made it through Speaker of the Dead and was moving onto Children of the mind when I just needed a break. Both Ender's Game and Speaker of the Dead are exceptional works of science fiction and highly recommended by myself. Along with reading those, I have plans on aquiring more of the fantastic outcry of games from 2007 and when I do get them and play through you can expect a big ol' fat review right here. Now if there will be anything else, I am going to get some Pizza! Take it easy peoples.

UPDATE: Work has begun on the 30 days of posting that I mentioned back in August(?) I already have the topics down and so work is well underway. Plan is to have all 30 of 'em typed up and ready to go so I can copy/paste them one a day. So I will try to type them all up in Feb and post them in March. Keep checking back, looks like March is the release window for the Month of posting, I will let you know how it turns out! File that on the yet to be catagory up there.

Why is it that no one is drawing attention to the fact that Guitar Hero III's controller is NOT backwards compatable? This is insane, if I may be so bold to say. Why is it so hard for Activision/Red Octane to understand that PS3 owners want to play GH/II/80's on their PS3? Suggestions for why this hasn't happen are mainly either A) They will re-sell you the songs in a Download Pack for 40+ dollars, or B) They will sell you another Guitar later on that is backwards compatable.

First of all though, lets see why exactly the guitar doesn't work in the first place. In my experience, the guitar doesnt work because the Dingle that plugs into the PS3 USB port doesn't power up during the switch over into the PS2 support hardware/software. (For the record, I have the original 60G Emotion Engine support in my PS3) So essencially, the reason we have this problem is becasue they don't support the Bluetooth format like the Sixaxis. Is it really cheaper to make little dingles that stick out of the front of the console then to put the proper wireless technology in it in the first place? The PS2 has the same dungle so maybe its a make one format instead of two thing. Nevertheless, this is completely unacceptable and frankly I am surprised that more people aren't up in arms about this whole thing. It is practically non existant on this particular site, unless I am missing it.

So how will we get our original Guitar Hero on? Via a Download pack for some rediculious amount of money to force gamers to buy the same damn game again? This is most likely what we will see in my opinnion. Why? Because of course, Activision/Red Octane like money. After all, a business is a business and who isn't in the business of making money? The thing that bugs me is that people WILL pay 30, 40, 50+ dollars for it if they do sell it like that. Why don't they realize that buy putting up the money so easily and without a fight, they give any power the consumer might have had so willingly? It is a real shame and unfortunetly it appears that not enough people think that $2.00 is much for a cover of Jukebox Hero no matter how good the band is. If they don't package it up for resale online however, another path maybe the resale of a guitar itself.

This new guitar path is much less likely in my opinnion. Why would they go back to the drawing board to redisign and repackage a whole different guitar specifically for the PS3? First of all, the PS3 is third in their selling bracket falling far behind X360 and Wii in sales. Another reason against this idea is the simple fact that who is really going to buy another guitar when they already have one? Sure its backwards compatible, but either A) those people already have the PS2 versions with their guitar and will just as well use their PS2 to play them as apposed to shelling out 60 bucks for a whole new guitar or B) they don't own the PS2 games so it wouldn't interrest them to buy one. Think about that last one though if you would. Especially with the resale of the two originals in one package, wouldn't this boost some salaes? At the very least, I am sure that Activision would notice a spike in sales of the original PS2 games after releasing a way to play them on PS3. Wishful thinking it would seem however.

Now what is the ideal fix for this very real problem? Why a simple patch would do it wouldn't it? Activision's official response, "The guitar hero games run on two completely differen't engines. Therefore you wouldn't be able to configure the controller to work with the older games." Thats what they told me in an email session. I asked them point blank why there was no patch to make the games accessible for those with backwards compatibility and that is the response I get. If by different engines they are talking about the slight change in hammer-ons and pull-offs between games, then that frankly is not a good enough answer. Unless someone has knowledge that I don't, there is no reason that I can see why they couldn't make a patch to fix that problem with the dangle not powering up, which is the only reason that I forsee why it isn't compatible in the first place. All in all though, I really don't understand why the recommended amount of people it would take to make something happen aren't out there making a storm on the internet or what not. Remember that we were promised backwards compatibility originally, even though they withdrew that, it really is rediculious in itself and is such a small thing that for a big company like that, you would think they could put the little extra effort it takes to satisfy their customer.

I don't know if any of you people have ever heard of this site but if you haven't allow me to enlighten you. Basically its a simulated stock market based entirley off of video games. You buy shares of a game that you think will do well and the more people who buy into it after you, the higher the value of the shares you buy. I am by no means a stock trading guru, nor do I even understand the technical mumbo jumbo of stock markets. I do however understand that Star Wars Force Unleashed will draw alot of hype. So basically, with a knowledge of games and the ability to tell if a game is going to be good, you could be well on your way to virtual millions. Its real easy to start to, just fill out a quick registration thingy HERE and off you go. They spot you a million to start so you can immediately start making some investments. They do have some joint accounts with other game related websites, GameSpot unfortuantely isn't one of them. One thing that is strange though is this thing called a time trust. This is what makes it highly unrealistic. Basically some money gets deposited into this trust every hour or something and it goes up to 25 thousand. The thing is, it caps at 25,000 so if you don't use it right away, it sits there and you lose money. Anyways, I read about this in a GameSpot news article months ago and was immediately fascinated with the idea of trading stocks on games that I think about anyways. Its all free and everything too so whats to lose? I mean you come to GameSpot to get info on games so you must be a gamer yourself right? Why not make some fake money on the side? It's a win win. I just thought this was so cool that I had to tell people. Try it out, its great! Till next time.

Suprise suprise, congress is targeting video games again. I was watching a movie yesturday and a though came to me, allow me to put it to you. When you are casting people for a movie, and you need to cast a kid in the role os some crazy charactor or a bystandard of some horrific death, how do you describe to this young child who is to participate in this gruesome death scene that its just acting? Even though you tell them that tis not real, they are still there witnissing it. Talk about acting out gruesome executions, how do you justify that? Just a though that I had.

Another thought I would like to put on the table relates to my XIX post. That ofcourse is the great Gerstgate scandel. I recently listened to the podcast on the 4th and I just want to say that I can completely believe the editors when they said they did all they could. I really get the feeling that Ryan McDonald and Ricardo Torres were pissed off about how things went down. Them cioming on and showing us how much they care through the magic of their podcast was the best thing they could have done. Finally I feel like things are going in the right direction. Every step that is taken in the direction of getting this thing behind us is a step in the right direction. Originally, I along with most, were skeptical as to if I would be staying with the site, but I am pleased to say that I will be giving this site the second chance that it deserves and that it completely has my faith that the reviews and previews are uncompromised. Till next time.

Though it may not be older then the GameSpot system for rating games, it is older then the rating redesign that took place a few months ago. I started my GameList Excell document some years ago and thus created a rating system for my games. The Excell document keeps them in nice neat order and gives them rating and a quick review along with some general info like developer publisher and number of players. Eventually I would like to put some time in with a nice VB compiler to put together a real stand alone program to keep track of my collection, but until then, this works for now. I give credit to GameSpot for the overall design of the decals but the scale is all mine. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

There are not alot of games that get this devastating score. Only the most diabolical concotions worked up in a beurracratic office could possible merit such a poor performance in gaming.

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This is given for atleast some sort of basic idea somewhere. I suppose the closest thing to it would be the phrase, "Points for trying."

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You know those games that come out before movies and are entirely based on movies? Yea, most of those would fall into this catagory.

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Also known as Broken. Games that just don't have the critical something that makes them a video game worth playing.

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Now we are getting somewhere. Five puts you at something that is playable. Perhaps nothing that you would play again but atleast it has substance.

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Finally something enjoyable. This rating is awarded to a game that presents an overall fun expirience that you actually enjoy playing.

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Ever see Bill and Ted? Well anyways, more fun then you might have though, perhaps even in the degree of cutting some sleep time to get a few more hours of playtime in.

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Now we are closing in on that almight score. An eight would be granted if you think about the game on the off time, trying to figure out that one way through some impossible situation.

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A top scorer and a must play. These games take a base and expand upon it somehow. Or, they take an idea and implement it in some new and ingenious way.

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Finally the heavy hitters. These games do just as it describes, revolutionize the standard. Games people will be tlaking about for years, they bring something new to offer to the evolving industry.

So there you have it. Four low scores, one middle, four high and one reserved for the best of the best. Thats the way my scale is done. So next time you see a rating or review by me, keep in mind that I work off my own grading scale not GS's. Not that there is anything wrong with theirs, I just like mine better. Till next time.

Well the people have made the rounds. Sure I have read Aaron's diddy, and Rich, and Alex. I have read many of the stories. This particular picture struck me as a bit funny so I thought I would share it with you. Isn't it truly something how fast news travels, that someone would make this up in a flash like that? Well I got a chuckle out of it atleast. Anyways, what do you do when your go to site has been compromised? What do you do when your source for impartial and unbiased reviews has been currupted? Well I don't know details but I do know that things won't be the same at this site. Its not just the black and white either, there is alot of grey area here that will be affected, sooner or later. No one as of this post time has come out with the real story, Jeff's profile still has him as staff, he last logged in today. Then again, reading the other staff messages, I distinctly get the feeling that he no longer works there. That is a shame, no matter how you slice it. Even with the circumstances around his termination being "shady," I read these comments about "Jeff was a plauge on this site," or "Finally we can get back to business," and I think to myself, "My God! These people don't even understand the magnitude of whats at stake." Forget the fact that I am sure a good portion of nay-sayers are under the age of being able to give a valid opinion, but this poor man has lost his job. The job that he has been doing for 5+ years and loves doing it. Even though we don't have the extinguishing answers for these burning questions, he must be thrown for a loop by now. Lets face it, the man did his job and he did it well. Sure we all liked Greg, but he was promoted in a sense (still waiting to see his project) and we were all saddened when Rich left us, but they left on good terms on their own accord. Jeff has been terminated, or so the reports claim. The fact that there was no On the Spot this week only confirms that GameSpot has come to a proverbial screetching hault, or at the very least thrown off the rails. So what can we do? Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I am going to do the same thing that I have been doing. There are still people here who I trust to deliver me the hard news, the true to word reviews, those ever exciting numbers from Thorson Inc. There are still reasons to use this site and it would be childish to boycott the site for the mistakes of one group. You see, they already know what we think. They know the backlash that we are hurling at them. You think they don't know how we feel about the way they handled or failed to handle a situation? Ofcourse they know. Like Aaron said, they are hearing us loud and clear. So we have been successful in delivering our message, now lets try to get back to business as usual. The fact is its still too early for us to do anything anyways, we don't even have an official story to go on yet so wait out the storm and see what the aftermath brings. Evven though I am sure I won't look at the reviews in quite the same unbiased way, I will know that we have a talented group working as hard as they are allowed to to bring us the facts as they see them. That is all I have for the moment. Send me some feedback. FYI, Thanks to all of you who read and recommended my reviews, I enjoy writing them and they may not be GameSpot editor caliber, but they are worth something in my mind and it makes me happy to see others think so as well, and for that one person who is tracking me, I hope I delivered for ya. Till next we meet.