Alright so I haven't posted in a really long time... I'm a Dad, so get the F off my back, OK? :P It just so happens that the "Gamespotcalypse" is upon us, and in the myriad of atrocities I've been comiting today. (a sleep deprived, caffeine induced emotional roller coaster that included my review of Kane and Lynch at dawn and the sudden realization that I had forgotten my own Halo night, sorry OGU) Whilst in the middle of being way too touchy in the "Off Topic Discussion Super Mega Thread" It came to me like a bunch of chicks getting lathered in liquids (Jeff you know what I'm talking about) I said to myself "Gerstmann you son of a **** for it was clear as crystal. Jeff Gerstmann IS gonna get laid. My personal feelings about this are ridiculous, since I really don't know exactly how I feel about the guy, but clearly it seems that for someone who has given so many years to a company, the lack of even a simple, yet awkward good bye party, a party that would have included cake, I guarantee Jeff would have LOVED cake, especially a Portal "german chocolate cake" or whatever, it doesn't matter any cake would have pleased Jeff, HE DESERVED IT! Please excuse me, Im a little touchy. Regardless of how things went down, the magnitude of Jeff's firing can't be denied, just on a whim I found these peppered throught the forums... Its a downright revolution: I guess my message is, anytime you start to feel bad for Jeff, just know that sweet portly man just turned himself into an icon, and believe me I wouldn't worry about his employment status too much. But also know that the dude is going to get laid... a lot. I just hope he hooks up with this guy's daughter...or wife...or mom.

Yes! The Wii60, the console that will blow your living room to pieces, for roughly the same price as the competition you get the absolute most AND best exclusives, the best online service, a revolutionary motion sensitive remote control, aswell as the best traditioal pad around. You also have the ability to download from the largest library of classic games, not to mention the largest library of games period. Chat with your buddy while playing different games, video chat, play to your custom soundtrack, download HD movies, web browsing, the Wii60 has it all, and it is one sexy machine as you can see: So if you are like me, a simple gamer who doesn't have thousands of dollars to blow on all 3 consoles, then make the right decision and opt for a Wii60, the most bang for your buck, period. :D

I've accepted the fact that at 26 years old, I am old enough to utter that overused cliche "Just like the good o'l days". I know, its happened to me, and believe me it will happen to you:P I mention this because I wasted away a large chunk of my childhood in shady establishments known as arcade joints, during the golden years of american arcade gaming, from the 1980's to the middle 1990's. I understand that a lot of our forumites were barely babies back then, or maybe not even born yet, but those days before consoles ruled at homes were awesome in their own ways. Many things come to mind, but one thing that stands out is how driven people were not only to obtain, but to also show off the fact they had the "High Score" Its what legends were made of. High scores would last for years, and for some reason the same kid had all the high scores in most of the arcades, I hated that guy! But I digress. We all know that those days have come and gone, yet today I got a taste of stale cheese pizza, as I reexperienced an awesome arcade moment. These days XBLA does an OK job of recreating that atmosphere, and just like back then, there's a kid that populates my high scores list: Mr. Blackley. Today I was checking out high scores when the disparity in the Assault Heroes leaders list caught my eye. It seems that Mr Blackley had once again destroyed the competition, his high score just obliterated everyone's on my list. So I decided to play that game as I said to myself "Why not, maybe I'll place in the top 10... Long story long, I had the best game of my life, my thumbs hurt, yet my sprits are strong, as I finally get the #1 spot. Its not like it used to be, but its close enough. PS: I know the background wallpaper of my Wii60 owns, but thanks for noticing :D

So it turns out that raising 2 kids can be quite time consuming, Who knew? Little Dominick turned 1 on Father's Day (June 18th) quite a little present huh? Its really hard to describe, in a sense I can't believe its been a year since I posted those first pics, it really does seem like yesterday, on the other hand, it feels like I've known him forever, like he's always been around. I definitely can't imagine my life without him, happy B-day son So for making it 1 year of sleepness nights and dirty diapers, I decided to treat myself with an electronics shopping spree, but before that I had a dream... There I was, that feeling of christmas morning in the air, I was ripping the wrapping off this light box, there it was, A polar white Wii! In an instant I had it hooked up to a sweet LCD in my bedroom, shooting arrows with link using the "wii-mote" Getting ready to play Super Mario Galaxy, it felt like I was 7 again. Suddenly I realized that I don't have a sweet LCD in my bedroom, and I awoke with such disillusion knowing that it was all a dream, desperate to have that experience again. All day it just lingered in my head "Playing Mario again was so awesome, I just can't wait for the Wii to come out!" On and on I kept day dreaming of Nintendo, I guess that's what watching too much E3 coverage can do to you. The next day I rushed to my local Best Buy with bad intentions, there I knocked off the the first item off my "Dream List" a new LCD for my bedroom, a 30" Magnavox with built in DVD player, $700 was quite the bargain. I wanted a TV in my bedroom because using the family TV was getting inpractical, now I could play when I wanted to, I bought a VGA adapter for my 360, so I can move it from room to room without having to unhook a bunch of cables and bam, off to the next item on my list In my last entry I used a "Wii 60" logo basically just to say those are the 2 consoles I will invest in this generation. The PS3 is no doubt going to be a great console with amazing games, but I just cannot bring myself to spend $600 on just a console, no games, no extra controller, which could easily raise the price tag to $1000. As much as it pains me I will have to pass on MGS4, Killzone 2 and FFXIII atleast until the price drops considerably. In the mean time I get to play Halo 3, Zelda, Mario, Gears of War, identical 3rd party games (360) ,have the great experince of playing with the "wii-mote" and of course Xbox Live, all for less than a PS3, to me its just a no brainer. Since the Wii does not come out until sometime this fall, I decided to get a DS Lite, such a sexy piece of electronics, and from Nintendo! Probably one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. I bought it with New Super Mario, which has been my favorite game so far this year (Sorry GRAW, but Mario and I have a history :P ) I beat it last week, and I'm still unlocking all the secrets, but where this game has amazed me is with the mini games. As some of you know, my wife is not too fond of videogames, she played them as a kid, but just hasn't been interested in any games since Yoshi's island. One night I decided to show her some of the minigames, just out of curiosity. She was skeptical at first, but the user friendly aesthetics of the DS drew her in. Using the stylus, blowing into the mic, all these things fascinated her, and in a couple of days she was hooked, after 5 years of trying! She started her own file in single player, and started blowing my minigames high scores out of the water. Our favorite is "Whack-a-Mole" We've been besting eachother's records for over a month now, and she has been dominating, her current high score is 87, which I barely managed to tie once, from non-gamer to owning her so called "hardcore husband" She wanted Brain Age, so yesterday I picked that up along with Animal Crossing and Metroid. So far Animal Crossing rocks! The DS has made me believe in Nintendo's strategy, games have gotten too complicated, Nintendo wants the casual gamer, and they have the ability to draw casuals and hardcore fans better than anyone else. They can even hook babies! Well that's it for today, see you in 3 months :P

As most of you know by now, I'm quite infatuated with my 360, or as I like to call it "My little slice of next-gen heaven" But lately a certain mistress keeps creeping in to my mind, that sweet little Wii. Now a lot of you say she's not the hottest girl in the block, but I have a hot girl and trust me, she cost me a pretty penny, and she still brokedown on me in the begining of our relationship! (3 red lights :( ) Besides, looks aren't everything, and I bet once you get to know her her looks start growing on you: Besides looks, sweet Wii just has that certain "Jeu no se qua" there's something quite familiar about her, I know she'll make me feel like a kid again, especially when in contrast my 360 makes me feel like such a grown up, not that there's anything wrong with that sweetums :P Wii does have some quirky ways about her, and I do wonder if we'll have some "control" issues, in the end I'm sure we'll work things out, besides I rather have her than that super snotty rich girl that's moving here soon, sure PS3 looks very, very hot, but she's only after my money and frankly I just rather spend it on sweet simple Wii, I've fallen for her, and soon she'll be mine! Disclaimer: Zayas is not a polygamist, nor is he crazy, just a guy that has enough love to spread around 2 consoles, but not enough money to own all 3 :P And for those of you who do not believe my consoles love me, here's what my 360 blogged about me today : " zayas81 needed a friend like me yesterday... I could see it in his eyes. I am there for you brother. Remember that. Gamer score is 4715. That is a gain of 45 points over last time! He played Perfect Dark Zero gaining 2 achievements, G.R.A.W. gaining 1 achievement, Geometry Wars Evolved gaining 5 achievements, and after we were done, zayas81 hugged me with his eyes. It was one of those man hugs... you know... " A man hug indeed :D

I've seen it with my own eyes, Major Nelson's (Microsoft) 360 blogs, and soon mine will too. Seriously its 360 VoiceCom, you register for it and your 360 starts blogging about you, about your gaming habits, it describes its feelings, it talks about how it misses you or how awesome you are, all in all very creepy, very geeky, and I can't wait until my sweetums wakes up :P I wonder what will it say about me, all kidding aside, I've often imagined that my consoles are somehow friends of mine, I treat them as such, I go between spending lots of time with them to barely seeing them, just like real life friends, and now that this feature has been added, its only going to get weirder. I'm short on time, so just copy and paste this: http://www.360voice.com/ Check it out and let me know what you guys think, I'm going to spend some quality time with my baby, the last thing I need is my 360 blogging to the world about how lonely it is, and how crappy an owner zayas_81 is :lol:

A couple of entries back I mentioned I had gotten this new job, a job which provided a significant increase in pay, a huge office, and weekends and holidays off ( As a cardiac / neuro nurse I worked every other weekend and holidays) and what attracted me most to it, being able to escape the hardships of a medical profession: the sickness, hopelessness, death, and all the thankless sacrifices thousands of medical professionals perform everyday. I quickly adapted to my new position, within weeks I was heading many projects, and doing them well, in no time I was rubbing elbows with suits that go by titles such as CFO, COO and the likes. Within a month or so I was feeling like I owned the world. But with every success and recognition came more dislike from peers, aswell a many more responsibilities. My usual day would consist of waking up at 4:30AM and not getting home until 6:00 or 7:00 at night. I was becoming something I was familiar with at work: The absent parent. I kept telling myself that it would all be worth it in the end, that my family would appreciate my hardwork and the nice things that were beggining to sorround them would make up for my absence, but that wasn't me. In this workplace it wasn't uncommon for guys to have a couple of marriages under their belt, one time a coworker said she suspected her daughter loved her nanny more than her, and she was OK with that, because her daughter was only a baby and would learn to love her in the future... Sudenly this wasn't as perfect a job as I had once thought. Below you can see a pic my wife took of me one night while playing playing my 360, I didn't look too happy... One morning in the middle of all the office politics BS and gossip I decided to call my wife who is also a nurse. I was complaining about all the madness at work, how around every corner someone was waiting to stab anyone in the back, she interrupted me because she was busy with her patients and needed to attend to them...and out of nowhere it hit me like a rock. Before, my old job did not pay as much, and lord knows it wasn't as glamourous, but what I did meant something. I was making a difference in people's lives, someone's father or mother, the person someone in the world cared most for, I was there for them when their loved ones weren't able to. In an instant I realized all those thankless sacrifices I had left my job for were actually blessings, I knew exactly what I had to do. I submitted my resignation effective immediately, it was one of those screw you guys, Im going home type of resignation, and today I couldn't be happier. Within a week or two I'll be back to my old stumping grounds, in the mean time I'm enjoying my new found unemployment, Im spending tons of time with my kids and my games will be played without mercy, the bills are taken care of thanks to all the extra loot I made, and today I can say that I know myself better than I ever have, and I'm better for it. Above is a screen from Viva Pinata. I left my job last week, and with the extra time I've been browsing the forums at my leisure. There isn't a whole lot of excitement outthere for this Pokemon / Animal Crossing hybrid, but for some strange reason I'm geeked for it. Those of you that know me well know that I'm far from the cutesy, quirky, Nintendogs type of guy, my soon to be acquired 30 completed seasons in Madden Achievement should attest to that, but something about this game has struck a cord with me, Is it the fact that Rare may be coming back as an elite developer? Or maybe its because all the trading I can do with my OGU friends? Or the fact that my kids would love watching me play this, regardless, its cutesy, colorful and it even comes with its own Saturday morning cartoon., Im getting it and there's nothing you can do to stop me :P

Sorry for the lame title people, its a sad thing when the BEPs are in your head on a Sunday morning, almost sacrilegious. Another form of sacrilege is what's happened to GRAW. One minute the gaming community is hailing it as the hands down best title on the 360, and the next week its been abandoned, usurped by Oblivion, being used in a cheesy BEP song, its wrong. This whole situation has made me think about how trendy gaming has become, and I don't mean trendy as in "Wow gaming is so cool" I mean trendy as in people are more and more driven to buy games based on how "trendy" the games are rather than going with their hearts. I don't have a problem with that, since people can do whatever the hell they want with their money. The problem I have is when great games get completely ignored, not because of a vastly superior game, but because said game is "it" right now. I cannot say that I am not completely free of guilt, I like half of the world population, went ahead and ran to the store when Oblivion came out. The game is amazing and I can't wait to be immersed in beautiful Tamriel, but from my gaming experience, I've learned that epic RPG's demand my complete attention, if I'm not completely submerged in the story the experience tends to turn sour on me. I believe the fast pace of my life plays a role. I game in 20 to 40 minute intervals most of the time, with the occasional 2-3 hour marathon session. A game like Oblivion would take me months to finish when combined with all the other titles I want to experience, and with games like GRAW, Far Cry and a little game I will get to later, I've decided to put Oblivion on hold. I need to show GRAW the love it deserves, once I've had my fill, I'll give Oblivion my undivided attention, like it deserves. The little game I was refering to earlier is that sweet thing you see above. Street Fighter is the game that defined my childhood. Yes Mario was the man when I was a young boy, but when I became a brat (you know that age when you're not really a little kid but you're not a teenager either) this game ruled my life. 10 to 15 neighborhood kids would show up at our house to challenge my 3 brothers and I, the social lessons I learned from all the fighting, gloating, anger, jealosy and frustrations we experienced over the years have made me a better person today. I just can't wait until this game is released on XBL , the rush of emotions when I completely obliterate a fellow OGUer with Ken is why I play games, somehow they always stay with you. Well people that's it for me, hopefully I'll run into you at beautiful Rocky Cove, where I will procede to swiftly mow you down with my sleek MR-C, until then, PEACE!

Well what can I say about Oblivion that hasn't been said, the game is epic, the world is vibrant, the musical score is amazing, and the game is drop dead gorgeous. I must tell you, I have to quickly get back to my game. you see in the process of making this post (it takes a little bit of production :P) I was suddenly startled, the game had been idle for a moment, and this friendly voice was asking for my help... but I couldn't see him...it...whatever. It turns out I was being asked for help by this poor soul who has been made invisible by some wizard, in fact the whole town has been made invisible. I was on my way to follow the story line, but I must help these poor people. In fact, I feel guilty typing away here while I should be helping those poor souls...tsk tsk tsk. EDIT: When I got back to my game I was pleasantly surprised to find out night had come, There sat my Imperial Knight on his horse, fireflies flying around him, the camera circled around, showing a sky with a million stars, and a redish moon that was quite the site. Oh yes Bethesda, Im a sucka for your masterpiece.

Hey guys, long time no see! I have been especially busy this last month. On the home front a couple of things ...kids.... keep my hands full. Little Dominick is not so little anymore, and in typical boy fashion, he has presented a whole new set of problems that Alexis never did, mainly trying to use the 360 as a standing device, trouble indeed. The problem is he is so incredibly adorable, I can't help but spend all my time with him, here's a pic of the future lady killer: Another slightly significant problem is that my 360 broke down. Again. I should have sent it in when it gave me problems the first week I had it, but I was too in love with the thing, that and I had frozen my behind off for the priviledge to be amongst the first to play the hell out of it. So after it just kept freezing and the 3 red lights came on again, I just ripped it off my TV and will be sending it for repairs next week, luckily still under warranty. I really miss my fellows back at the OGU, the fact that I had no 360 has kept me away from the forums, but also alot of other things. I come back today to find out JonathanL has a 360, now I don't know under what circumstances this momentous event has occurred, but I like to believe that I had a small role in it, even if I didn't. Can't wait until I whoop you on DoA4 Jon...some time in the next couple of weeks! Professionally, I have been blessed with a great opportunity. For those of you who don't know, I am a nurse, I was cardiac nurse taking care of patients in a critical cardiac/stroke unit. I was in the frontlines, and although the position was very rewarding, it also took its toll on me, as it does with everyone. Last week I became Nurse Auditor for St. Petersburg General Hospital, a huge change. Now I have my own office, I've given up the ease and comfort of wearing scrubs in exchange for a suit and tie. I used to work 12 hours shifts, everyother weekend and holidays (The critically ill do not take holidays off) Now I work pretty much my own hours, Im salary, weekends off, but it is a huge change from what I was doing before, so no forums for me while I'm learning this position. Lastly, in the time I was transitioning between my old and new jobs, my awesome little bro came to visit on leave from Iraq. So of course no forums. He is such an inspiration, unfaced and unchanged from it all, for that Im thankful, and for all our boys, this is our generation fighting, and regardless of government policy, they are conducting themselves like every other great generation of American warriors have, we should all be proud. He stayed for a week, I couldn't beat his ass on DoA4, but we played plenty of old school SFIII on the PS2, we also drove to Miami to visit our parents and engage in some well deserved partying, the whole week was awesome. Check out some more cool pics! And that's pretty much been the reason for my absentia. I miss being an active forum member, but honestly I just don't have the time right now, and I'm OK with that because a great thing I've come to find out about the forums is that they're always there, great friends waiting to engage in great gaming, great conversations, and some smalk talk. It maybe a while before I join you guys in some PDZ killing, but once I get my 360 back its on!