...is exactly like Gamespot WITH Total Access.

Yep, that's my Total Access account ran out for the first time in 4 years. I decided to cancel it during E3 when they decided not to implement a standard chatroom. Instead we had to rely on Jodie to set up one for us which was really cool of her.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that the Gamespot I know is dead in the water. I'd go so far to say that this site hasn't produced anything of decent quality in well over a year. The Hotspot is boring and lifeless, the reviews are professionally written but lack the wit and humour of an Alex Navarro, Jeff Gerstmann or Greg Kasavin review, the absolute lack of any features worthy of anything more than a swift glance is appalling and of coarse the lack of both Tournaments and On The Spot is quite simply insane in my eyes.

I love hearing Gamespot talk smack about games that have been delayed then end up either not coming out at all or disappointing fans completely when they've been stuck in a similar rut for what seems like years now. There is seriously NO POINT in subscribing any more. Come to think of it I should have cancelled when they sacked Don.

I'll still be around though, using this profile to look at and post blogs but I really can't see the point in watching Gamespot for entertainment when Giantbomb has so much more content that's worth watching.

And yes, I do blame Tom McShea.

Is it just me or was the last Fallout expansion a total missed opportunity? Having seen Deliverance, Southern Comfort, The Hills Have Eyes and a number of other hillbilly freak shows I was expecting a much scarier and atmospheric environment.

The environments are dull and lack the mysterious murkiness of the country swamplands in places like Louisiana. All they needed to do was watch Angel Heart for 3 seconds to see an excellently frightening portrayal of Americas southland. The rednecks in the game should have been scary and threatening, but instead they're just mutated freaks that giggle like retards when you shoot at them. They should have made the environment and characters much more unsettling.

Also what happened to the amazing slide guitar music that was in the intro of expansion? I was all excited at the prospect of a country blues inspired soundtrack but was disappointed by its instant disappearance when the boat landed on the harbour.

It was pretty cool though, the spy quest was one of the best quests in whole game in my opinion. The main quest was pretty cool, especially the Mansion raid at the very start.

Anyways that's it. Being that I'm already half mad with it and can't be arsed with eloquence I'm calling it. See you next time folks!

EDIT: Michael Jackson is dead? I have to admit if I was doing a Dead Pool I would have never put him in it. I always imagined him dying much later in life even more obscured from the public than he is now.

RIP Jack-O.

Well, now that the dust has settled I guess I'll talk a bit about E3.

It was a great one this year I thought. Not too many amazing announcements but the gameplay shown from games like Alan Wake and Assassins Creed 2 left me excited. This year's E3 was a little weird, usually there's a plethora of surprising trailers and announcements but this year it seemed to be more about explaining the previous years big surprises. It was great to see actual gameplay from those games but a lack of surprise and woefully bad conferences this year left me uninterested for long stretches of time. Conferences are never really exciting I guess but this year they seemed to drag endlessly, especially during the Ubi conference when James Cameron explained the plot to his stupid fantasy movie that I certainly don't care about.

Biggest disappointment this year wasn't even during E3 it was before it. Whoever made the decision to axe the chat from the live coverage of E3 is either lazy or just plain moronic. This pissed me and many people off, a few of which have canceled their subscriptions, me being one of them. This decision was one in a long line of monumental cock-ups that Gamespot are guilty of; no On The Spot, no tournaments, barely any interaction with the community and an overall lack of respect for us are just a few of the things that justify this decision. Get your act together GS, you're losing all the things that make you worthwhile the stay.

Modern Warfare 2, Alan Wake, Assassins Creed 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 left me most excited in hindsight. I especially can't wait for L4D2 as it's probably the one I'll spend the most time with, the first one is one of the best games out there right now. And please lighten up PC fans, it's not Watergate it's a game. Just because you have to pay for it doesn't mean you have to soil yourself, if you so object to it don't buy it. That's your choice as a consumer, I'm sure it'll be more than worth it.

Anyways that's the E3 season over with now and I have to say I loved it; great live show this year with great guests and hosts. The stream sucked quite a lot but hey, this is the internet, whaddiya expect? And asides from spending way too much money on Whiskey and sweets I've came out of this year unharmed, well asides from the monumental hangovers. I just wanna say thanks to Jody for getting us that chat and also to the people who stuck out the 9+ hours a day marathon that is E3!

In other news Yasmina won the Apprentice this year. I thought Kate did a better job with the final task but I guess old Sugar thought she didn't kick ass enough through the whole series. It was a good one this year, first series of any reality TV show I've watched from the first to last episode. I don't know why but I find myself more and more attracted to Debra "The Ball Breaker" Barr every time I see her. Why do I find evil woman so sexy....

Love it.

Hello bored blog wanderers, it's been a while since we've spoken, hasn't it? I'm kind bored myself tonight so I figured I'd scribble some thoughts down on here for you all to read.

I've been playing the guitar now for about 5 years (not including the year I decided I was a bassist, EUGH) and I've amassed a nice collection of instruments. The style of guitars I own can play a variety of styles of music but the one I'm most interested is blues. When I first started playing the guitar I decided that I was going to be a mix between Joe Satriani and Tom Morello; that was until I first heard the haunting tones of Robert Johnson and Son House in a documentary. From then on I dedicated my guitar playing time to figuring out this amazing style of music, a tough job for a Scottish kid, after all the Blues was invented by tortured men of the Mississippi Delta, who used it as a release for all their woes.

I'd love to say I've mastered it but I have not, despite my best efforts I'm going to need a lot more time and a lot more Whisky to play like the real guys, but I guess that's the fun part of being a guitar player- you're always learning.

Anyways here's a slightly self indulgent tour of my guitars and what I think of them, starting off with my first six string guitar and my biggest mistake.

Ibanez RG370 DX

This guitar just is not for me. The super thin neck, the Edge Pro tremolo system, the tinny stock pickups all make this a woeful instrument to own and play. To use a car analogy this guitar is like a Porsche 911, only built using parts from a Nissan Micra. I bought it because it was an Ibanez and because it was a shredders guitar, I wanted to play blistering, high gain solos only this guitar wasn't capable of any kind of tone without a seriously good amp and some new pickups, neither of which I could afford.

Ibanez AEG10

After I fell in love with Delta blues I figured I'd buy myself an acoustic guitar and ditch the horrible Wanker guitar I bought the year before. Sticking with Ibanez for some reason I bought this, a fantastic guitar. I didn't know anything about acoustic guitars back then but apparently my instincts were good enough because this guitar is a wonderful box, capable of playing pretty much every kind of music imaginable. The electro acoustic pick up inside aint worth much but I never had any intention of plugging it in much anyways, piezos sound too "perfect" when they're plugged in, I like hearing the wood rattle.

Epiphone Dot.

I bought this guitar this February after a long break from playing any electric guitar. I bought it because it's a well priced, semi hollow guitar that's pretty much highly recommended by every person I see writing about it. I'm inclined to agree with these reviews myself. I've played electric guitars up into the thousands and this guitar is one of most versatile, and nicest sounding I've ever played. Stick a set of 12 Gauge strings on it and you've got an INSANE tone. Lovely guitar, wont be replacing it any time soon.

Ozark Deluxe Brass Resonator.

The resonator is probably one of the most iconic acoustic guitars , especially to blues fans. Son House and Bukka White famously used these amazing guitars and I've wanted one ever since I seen Son House playing Death Letter Blues on his old beat up 1920s National Single cone. The resonator works in the same way a regular acoustic does, but instead of the notes going from the strings into the body of the guitar and out again, they pass into an aluminum cone through a wooden "Biscuit" bridge that holds the strings in place under that bar you see in the picture. This created a clear, almost banjo like sound that makes every note sustain for seemingly endless seconds. It's a ****of guitar that was invented for Hawaiian ****players in the late 20s, basically to increase the volume a guitar was capable of punching out before the electric guitar was invented.

By far my favourite guitar, and the best guitar I've ever played. It even comes with a furry hard case... mmmmm.... furrrry. I only bought it two weeks ago though, so I'm still getting used to it but when I do man, this guitar will sing.

Anyways, that's them all. Nearly 2000 pounds worth of kit that I bought with my own, saved up scratch, and that's not including all the weird effects pedals and that bass that will never be mentioned.

I'm sure this hasn't been an interesting read to anyone who doesn't play guitar or dislikes music, but if you do play get some pics of your instruments out and write a little about them too. And no, by instruments I don't mean your co...

... never mind.