I picked up my pre-order of Strikers Charged today, and also got Transformers for free to review for work.

The Strikers Charged online multiplayer is fun, but it's so hard! It's amazing how good some people already are at it. I won my first two ever online soccer matches, 5-0 and 2-1, then lost two in a row to another opponent who was a master of the Hammer Bros. hammer-toss-and-score. I had no lag problems and the multiplayer seemed to work well. Good job Nintendo!

I messed around with Transformers too. It looks great on the Wii, especially the robots themselves, and it handles OK. But the camera is horrible. You can't see which way you're going and turning the Wiimote like a key doesn't really help, even though it's supposed to. I find myself transforming to a car and back a lot to fix the bad camera angles...

Wow, just, wow. The final Harry Potter book ends with one of the best final 3 chapters of any book I've ever read. (No spoilers, don't worry) I will say that it was so edge-of-your seat, that I had to sit up at a table and to read the last 200 pages... Great stuff! Can't believe it's over, though :(

Now I'm finishing up my review of Rival Swords for the Wii for next week's newspaper, and I'll be getting my pre-order of Strikers Charged on Tuesday. Can't wait to play the first true online multiplayer Nintendo game!

So I pre-ordered the final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows, months ago. But the Borders down the street told me I still had to go in Friday morning and get a wristband to secure my place in line. So I dragged myself over there before 9, when they opened - which was tough for me, since I was up to 2 that morning playing poker with my buddies. ANYway, there were about 20 people in front of me, but I got my wristband:

I was an Orange A, which meant I was in the first group to be allowed to buy the book at midnight. So after I got out of work at 11, I jetted over to the Borders and it was a madhouse! There were hundreds of people there. They held a drawing for who got to buy the first copy, and some mom won. The second group to be allowed to buy it was disabled children and the two who had won king and queen of the Hallows Ball they held. Then I was 7th in the group after that. So I was probably the 15th person to get the book at the store. And here it is, in all its glory:

I got home about 12:45 and after cleaning up marshmallows that my dog had eaten and hidden all around the apartment, I read the first three chapters until 3 a.m.

Don't worry, no spoilers. It's very dark and disturbing, right off the bat. Now I'm off to read more. Needless to say, my gaming is on hold for a few days...

I just flew in from New Orleans, and boy are my arms tired!

But seriously, I was in N'awlins the past 4 days for a wedding, and in Boston (my hometown) the weekend before that for another wedding... I'm sick and tired of traveling. And I missed playing games on the Wii!

I did have a lot of fun with my brothers in Boston and then on Cape Cod. It was great to go to the beach! And N'awlins was cool, too - but too hot. I'm a Northerner through and through, and just can't get used to humidity like that. We ate lots of great food and consumed lots of drinks ;)

So I wrote reviews of the Wii RE4 (awesome) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (disappointing) for my newspaper. And now I'm playing through Prince of Persia Rival Swords for a review.

I'm all excited about E3 and I can't wait to pick up my pre-order for Mario Strikers Charged at the end of July. An online Nintendo game! I hope multiplayer works...

Well, I went out to EB Games this morning when they opened, but they didn't have the Wii Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So I went home, and finished beating RE4 for the Wii in 13:33 - I love that game. Then I went back to EB and got Harry after their shipment came in at 1, and I'm off to play it now.

I usually don't go for movie adaptation games, but this one lets you wave the Wii-mote like a wand to cast spells and roam freely through Hogwarts. Couldn't resist! Gotta get some gaming in before I go to work and on a trip this weekend! :D

OMG, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is unbelievable! I got my Frys.com preorder delivered Friday for $24.99 with free shipping. The best part is that the free-look Wii-mote aiming makes headshots a breeze. Love it!

I just want to thank my GameSpot friends - all 200 of you. I obviously couldn't have reached this milestone without each and every one of you. So thanks, from my first GS friend (pspmad1) to #200 (JaMes4418 ) !!! :D

Wow, the Lord of the Rings emblem I got is stunning. My favorite one so far! Very well done, GS... I'm a big fan of the movies, so this was a must-have for me :D

It completed a fifth row of emblems for me, too 8)

It took me 40 hours, but I enjoyed every moment of it. What a great game. I'm working on my review - it really is only second to Twilight Princess in my eyes.

I've been so engrossed and obsessed with this game. Just ask my little dog, Dudley. He's been staring at me for the last 2 weeks wondering why I was choking the air with a delirious grin...

There were so many outstanding moments, but my favorites were probably seeing the lookalike character I created be named Don Corleone and then Don of New York City with the movie's theme song playing in the backgroud. Fantastic :D

Can't believe this is my 100th blog post! 8)

And the cool thing is that I found out I was at 99 by using the slick new My Profile tabs that give Vitals, About Me and Stats. Mikey likes it.

Most of the numbers look right, but I'm wondering why it says I have 0 comments and only 10 rated games - I've rated hundreds to get all my cool emblems ;)

What do y'all think of the new features?