Since wrapping up GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, I've tackled two other DLCs: Red Faction: Guerrila: Demons of the Badlands and Prince of Persia: Epilogue, which I'd bought weeks back when on sale. They were exact opposites, thematically. Badlands is a prequel, while Epilogue takes place immediately after the end of its game. They're both fairly short with no more than about five hours each of gameplay, if that. And they were really both more of the same, with Badlands adding a few new weapons and Epilogue adding a new power plate for the Prince and Eleka to bound off of. And neither was all that challenging.

This weekend I got back to real gaming with (mostly) fresh material. After reading so much good stuff, both on GS and Twitter/Facebook, I had to get Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I've only barely started, and am really only passed the tutorial bits. That said, the opening sequence alone has enough heart-skipping thrills to feel my $60 was well-spent. Next week I should really be able to chip away at it. As for multiplayer, it only suffers from no free-for-all deathmatches and almost no one having mics. I've yet to sample all the modes, but without free-for-alls, I won't really stick with it, especially since there's almost no trophies used as carrots to keep you playing. I hate being dragged down by n00bs in teams modes, and I hate being that n00b even more. I played a lot today and found some maps I like, but it's not enough to keep me from trading this in towards Dragon Age: Origins the second I'm done with it.

I'm also chipping away at Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. As much as I love videogames, I've always loved the silver ball more, and this really is a great sampling of Williams' non-licensed hits. The game has about a dozen tables, and I love that it's spread pretty even among favorites of mine that I know intimately (Taxi, Black Knight), some I have some basic familiarity with (Gorgar, Space Shuttle), and others I know in name only or have never heard of (Sorcerer, Medieval Madness). The sounds are all authentic and true to original, that I can remember, and the gameplay is the best of any video representation of pinball I've played. My favorite of all the ones on the disc, Pin·Bot, I'm hoping to have the willpower to save for last! Honestly, they could probably get away with at least one more disc of Williams' other greats, as well as at least a disc or two of those released under their Bally banner, before being accused of scraping the bottom of the barrel. The only sad thing? No Bill Paxton Pinball!

That's all for today. Have a great weekend, everybody!

With gwactuary's blessing, I've taken over editorship of Phyllis, Cloris Leachman's short-lived mid-70s sitcom. This marks two editorial firsts for me. It's the first time I've edited two spin-offs from the same show, as this was the second (and by far least successful) of the three spin-offs from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Coincidentally, it lists alphabetically in my list of editorships next to the other, Rhoda (with Lou Grant being the odd one out). While Rhoda had been Mary Richards' best friend who moved to New York, Phyllis was her landlady who moved to San Francisco to start anew following her husband's death, taking up work in a photography studio. Speaking of deaths, that's my other editorial first. While I had at least six shows already where main cast members died during the show's run (including two suicides) [bonus points for knowing them or ones I forgot, in 1st comment], this is the first where a main cast member was murdered. Barbara Colby, who played the owner of the studio, was shot and killed before the show ever aired after filming but three episodes. Her episodes still aired, and Liz Torres replaced her. The murder is still unsolved.

Meanwhile, I knocked off GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. Everything about it is better than The Lost and the Damned. It just feels more like GTA, and the challenge is greater. The sheer numbers they throw at you can be quite overwhelming, but it's good for a 100s of hours multiplayer veteran since after that much dealing with the unpredictability of human opponents, I feared there might be little challenge against AI. Like the previous DLC, I'm not a fan of the new deathmatches. The characters move a bit differently and everyone spawns in much smaller areas (ofter inside, a series first) making to tougher to implement a strategy. In the end, I feel it just compromises your skill in the main game's multiplayer deathmatches. The addition of boosting to the online races, however, is quite welcome. The finale was sufficiently epic to leave me wanting more (or better yet, a brand new GTA).

I also have to give a shout out to my buddy Det Ansinn, who retained his borough council seat in the next town over. He couldn't lose; the Republicans didn't bother running anyone against him and he was cross-filed to be on their ballot, too. He games under borocouncilman over both PSN and XBox Live. He and his company also developed the free iNXES app for iPhone and other devices that lets you see who's on XBox Live among your friends without needing to be on your console. He's also know for pwning the phone.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, everybody!

I've gone through all the non-story sidequests of GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, less winning the fighting championship, leaving me just the real missions to tackle. I've noticed an achievement called "Trinity", which undoubtedly will tie in with the main game's "Impossible Trinity" achievement since in both that and The Lost and the Damned you end up at the same museum at the same time for a diamond heist, so I'm sure you find yourself there in this DLC, too. I did get the awkwardly described "Adrenaline Junkie" achievement, which tells you to get the longest possible freefall. It's not quite accurate since the "longest possible" would be to jump from the helicopter and never open your chute and slam into the ground or water (slamming into the water interestingly does no damage), but in reality you need to open your chute at the last instant to have it fully open and you survive.

Meanwhile, Dexter's got a Trinity of his own to contend with in the form of the serial killer who makes three kills in three different manners before moving on to another city: slicing a girl's femoral artery in a bathtub; taking a woman up a building—yada, yada, yada—she falls to her death; bludgeoning a man. It's looking like it will be a fantastic run to the finish for the series' fourth season, and John Lithgow is, as always, perfect for playing a character with just the understated creepiness needed to show a man who's clearly horribly conflicted over his compulsion to repeat this gruesome pattern over and over, to the point that he finds ways to subject himself to pain to alleviate the guilt. Dexter also has to deal with his wife, Rita, who has transformed into a nosy, annoying harpy since their marriage. I'm not sure which is worse.

And in a ploy to possibly shore up ratings that are starting to sag, all three CSIs are teaming up for their own trinity with the first case that will cross-over among all three shows in the franchise. It's been a year since I've seen an episode of the original and at least two since I've seen New York, so it'll at least be an excuse to see what those two shows are up to.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, everybody!

I've gotten to spend a few days in Liberty City with GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony and having lots of fun. It's definitely the most over-the-top of the installments, with base jumping figuring in to a few missions as well as jumps littered around the city to do for an achievement. The standard GTA humor is in tact with an early stage seeing you hitting golf balls at a guy's privates. Most of the weapons added are automatic and/or explosive and sticky bombs help get some jobs done in a hurry. Again, new songs were added to some stations, with K109 The Studio's disco line-up getting most of them including The Trammps' "Disco Inferno", Peaches and Herb's "Shake Your Groove Thing", and Chic's "Everybody Dance". Sadly, the new Vice City FM 80s station would be my favorite if it weren't exclusive to buying the Liberty City Stories disc instead of downloading. It has so many great tracks and is even hosted by GTA: Vice City DJ Fernando. It's a little irritating that people who both waited and purchased the old-fashioned way get something special, though at least Hall & Oates' "Maneater" is in a cutscene. I'm also miffed at the acheivements. Half the points are for getting 80% (45 GS) and 100% (80 GS) in their new mission completion stats scheme, where you have to match targets for headshots, damage taken, etc. Apparently, after you finish the game you can replay each mission, which I can't see myself taking the time to do.

Meanwhile, I've been screwed by Red Faction: Guerrilla. I've joined the many stuck on 103 of 104 guerrilla actions who simply never get the radio call-out for that last action. It's some bug apparently. I have done all I'm likely to do in online multiplayer. Last night I reached half of the game's hidden online challenges for the last achievement that wouldn't take endless grinding to get in a system that should be much more fun, but isn't. After I finish with Gay Tony I'll get the Demons of the Badlands expansion and race through that. Honestly, that bug makes me so mad I almost don't want to give them my money, but for some reason the 250 GS it has is part of your potential for the game whether you have it or not, so I want to get those extra points so it doesn't look like I slacked at the game.

In real life on Earth, the ABC station in Washington is 'threatening' the mental health of children. Apparently they are airing a segment on breast self-exams and *gasp* not blurring anything. For women who are ignorant of how to do one and for parents who enjoy having their child learn about anatomy and a potentially lifesaving skill, this is a valuable asset to public health. For parents whose worst fear is about to be realized—that their child might view a fully exposed female breast in a mature clinical setting—they can hop the **** back in their time machine and go back to the 40s where they belong. The Parents Television Council has even expressed some concern. Yes, we're all very afraid that in 2035 someone will be sobbing on a psychiatrist's couch, "if only I hadn't seen a naked breast on the news I would never have turned to a life of drugs and crime!"

That's all for today. Have a great weekend, everybody!

I was finally able to free Mars from EDF control in Red Faction: Guerrilla, mostly ending that game. I've still got some clean-up in terms of 16 of the 104 guerrilla actions left to do, and I'll likely get the Demons of the Badlands DLC, possibly immediately since I'm in the groove. Included in the actions are two more vehicle transport missions which don't open up until you've completed the game. Getting the pro times for all is an achievement, and you do have to work for them by finding (and sometimes making) whatever shotcuts you can. I immediately popped online then to get the "play with another who's completed the campaign" achievement for 50GS. That's really a ton for doing nearly nothing; they should have made that 10 and spread the other 40 among other, tougher achievements.

Of course, I don't want to be on that game too long as Rockstar is giving me a great present by releasing GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony on my 38th birthday. It'll be nice to return to Liberty City again for a few days, and maybe take advantage of the likely uptick in online multiplayer participation. And I still have Prince of Persia: Epilogue sitting on my hard drive from when I took advantage of the 30% off deal. Include not being able to take two steps without hearing plaudits about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (both for the campaign and multiplayer) and the release of the newest Ratchet& Clank today, and it seems like my November is spoken for, gaming-wise.

And I just have to say this about The Amazing Race's latest installment: if you're a grown adult who's so afraid of water that you need to wear child's inflatable arm floaties to a waterslide, you probably should have saved everyone the trouble and just stayed home.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, everybody!