Just poppin' in to say I'm not dead. I'm actually just trying to settle into Knoxville. Pretty cool place so far but I have much more exploring to do. I'll have some goods posted soon.

-dryvby

Man, it really seems like this could be the end of so many GameSpot users. Well, I might as well do this now before more leave. A few of you already have, but here it goes. This is where you can find me on numerous websites such as 1UP, DESTRUCTOID, TWB Cult, Xfire, Xbox Live, and GameTrailers. I'll still be on here. I usually double-post my blogs on GameTrailers anyway so you won't miss these terrific, well-written lengthy blogs ever again! I'm also on Facebook and MySpace but it's kinda hard to get accepted through there.

If you're lost on how to find me at the above sites, just click the hyperlinks. They take you to my profile. If you can't click them, just search on any website: DryvBy. Anyway, I hope no one leaves the community, but if ya do, I hope we all stay in touch.

Also, if you'd like, post your profile names and what other online communities you're apart of below.

-dryvby

Shocking news as Jeff and Tim are removed from the staffing force of CNET's GameSpot website. Rumors are circling about the firings being because of the Kayne & Lynch reviews. If so, this is just a very horrible day in online reviews. There's been plenty of times I've said in the past that game companies pay for good reviews. I honestly think that's why games like Halo 3 get amazing reviews when the game isn't as astonishing as they'd want you to believe. Microsoft wouldn't have that. Aside from that, if this news is true, then this will basically prove that game reviews, mainly from the online community such as GameSpot, IGN, 1Up, are paid for advertisements from developers. With that in mind, I could honestly say that the only reason I'd ever come back to this website would be for the blog posting. The community is a major suckfest sometimes, and the reviews were sometimes at least worth reading. But many of you know, I have a big problem with ads in everything. Movies, games, television, magazines. I think advertising is retarded. For the people saying that in-game ads aren't bad, well, this is a sign that they are bad. Because, again, if this is true, this means that the review for the new Command & Conquer is brought to you by EA Games. It's a consistant flow of negative energy and a very, very horrible thing for gaming.

The weird thing is thinking: what if this isn't the reasoning? What if there's something else going on? I sure hope not. I didn't always agree with Jeff, mainly because of some of the reviews from the past (Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 for PS2) and from the present (Halo 3), but that's just my opinion. I've agreed with him on a lot of other things, but that's just how we do things as humans. We agree and disagree, sometimes agreeing to disagree. I really just hope, for the sake of Jeff and Tim, that this is some sort of problem with CNET and not two guys personally. It's going to be very interesting as to how this plays out.

UPDATE: I just read this on Penny-Arcades blog...

"I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his "tone" before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann's savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site." See the rest here.

Claims are also going around Wired that it was because of continuously giving bad reviews. I dunno what to think. I've seen some of his reviews as 360 fanboyism. I've seen some as complete crap. Then again, I've seen some as greatness. What to believe...

-dryvby

Here's a review. Enjoy. Still moving into the hizz-ouse in Knoxville, TN so I'm kinda busy.

-dryvby

Well, it's that time a year again. George Washington declared today to be a national day of prayer and giving thanks to the Almighty for the year. But since it's the 21st century and God has been actually sued this past year, we're not allowed to do anything related to the Big Guy upstairs. I'm thankful for friends and family, but most important that I've had an opportunity to get out of debt and go back to college for my degree. See ya later, Texas. I might be back, depends on how much I like the east coast.

Yesterday, I sold my black video iPod. Silly because I just bought it in March. I just don't need it right now and I hardly use it. Plus, I told my wife I want the newer one this Christmas. I bought Rock Band with the cash. The only problem I had with purchasing is I wanted the game on PS3, but then I'd have to go buy another PS3 guitar controller, so I got mine on 360. I really didn't want it on 360, but whatever. I guess I'll have to deal with the really stupid looking USB dongle kit included in it. It's incredibly generic looking. Aside from that, the game has been a blast. So, here's my impressions of the overall game.

The controllers are all well done. The new guitar looks much like my real guitar and has a new feature on it. You can change the pitch and sound of your guitar while you play. I really like that, even though I've used it once (I'll explain...). The drums were easy to assemble and easy to adjust. Lastly, the mic, which I didn't even care about at all was the easiest to assemble. Just plug it in! The USB dongle kit was probably the most annoying. I hate extra crap laying around my house, especially something with wires everywhere. When we were done ripping up the box and slapping our dongles around the place (in a electronic manner only), we had a complete mess. I looked at Jman and told him, "I already feel like a rock star. Look at these wires everywhere and the cardboard trash all over the place.". We cleaned up the boxes a little bit. I threw my coffee table outside, out of the way, which broke one of the legs off. Who cares? That's one less thing I have to pack since I bought Rock Band right before I'm moving. Finally, it was time to play. But first I had to test something. Would the new guitar work on Guitar Hero 3? A quick "no" was called for as the game said, "Idiot, plug in your old cheap Guitar Hero II controller to rockith.". I hope they patch that. I'd like to shred electronically on the solo buttons on the bottom of the new guitar. We started up Rock Band. Alright, awesome intro movie. We're officially pumped. I'm spinning my drum sticks like a moron. Jman is adjusting the new guitar strap. We go straight for the options. I'm glad I do this in every game. I turned on the Dolby Digital audio. We laughed because out of the hundreds of games we've played, this was the first one on a console that's made a difference in the options. We headed towards multiplayer and started a quick game, just to get used to the new instruments. Oh joy, some Weezer! Say It Ain't So was picked first. After a suckfest of horrible drumming and shabby guitar playing (Jman is still new at this type of game), we tried out Nirvana's In Bloom. Ok, we did a little better. I let Jman on the drums so he could have at it. I mean, c'mon, I'm sure that's why most people bought the game. Drum Hero. I decided I'd try out the mic. This was the first of my problems. The mic doesn't have a switch so I had no idea how to select stuff. Like a caveman discovering the wheel, I started banging on the top of the mic. That's not working. Well, time to find some instructions. My first instinct was "Well, I guess we're going back to Wal-Mart and exchange (even though it says don't do that when you first open the box)." I mean, I just bought the game. If it's broken, eef those terms. I'm taking it back. I didn't spend $184 with tax on a half-broken game. There were no instructions anywhere. Maybe I threw them away, but I doubt it. Everything I picked up was in the bulky box it came in. I opened the manual, another viable source of help. I have no idea if it says how to turn on the mic in the book because there's not that much stuff on the mic in the book. We just guessed to turn on the 360's main controller. That worked. I could now select the mic and play with it. This time we wanted to try the band tour mode. We got to create our characters, sporting them out in punk garbs and rock trash. We named our band "The Cuzzies" as that's what we are: cousins. The first song we picked was Weezer. Again. I know the words to the song so I could at least sing a long. So we played. We played hard. Jman sucked at the drums, really bad, enough where he wanted to just quit playing and go back to guitar. I was having a blast on the mic. It's really neat how it does the pick-ups and tells you how to adjust your voice. Also, a shout to LiK who was saying something about cowbell to Jeff, the mic is literally a cowbell in songs too. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw my character banging a cowbell (not in this song, but in others). Jman was telling me how bad I sucked at singing. Oh well. The game said I was Top Performer. Oh, let me explain that. You remember playing Goldeneye multiplayer? Well, for those too young or too real-life friendless to remember, I'll explain. After a round, they'd have the basic stats of the round. Next to your name would be a list of awards you received for that match. Some would be most lemming, which meant you walked around hopelessly into danger and died. Most kills, Best Accuracy, etc.. Rock Band features this also. There's Serious Skills, Top Performer, well, some others but I can't remember right now. They don't really do anything other than show awards of what your bandmates did. The game is a blast.

Do I have any complaints? Yes, of course. Not a ton of them, but there are some. For one, the lack of multiplayer band tour really does suck. That should have been in the game and in the developers minds a while back. No idea why it was left out. I didn't care before but since I had to buy it on 360, I thought I might as well be able to play with friends across the net, especially since my friends can't just come over. By the time I move back (if I do), Rock Band 2 will be out. Plus, Jman is going to get his own 360 soon, along with my friend Josh Black. You can still jam online with friends but a co-op career for us all to play would have been nice. What else sucks is the band tour mode. I think we played the same songs about 30 times each last night. I'm going through solo mode so we can get some new songs to play tonight but boy, that's a lot of work. Especially as a drummer. I guess they did that though so it would feel more like a band. I know how the Chili Peppers feel when people encore for Under the Bridge. That must be getting tiring! The song list is also weak in some areas. I've seen a few people complaining about the songs I liked in the game, but I think my overall biggest complaint is the lack of songs (50ish total) and the Guitar Hero 3 recycled songs. I don't mind playing Paranoid again, but it just feels like that should have been a downloadable song (like Metallica's One) instead of other amazing downloadable songs right now. I'd also much rather have had Buddy Holly instead of Say It Ain't So by Weezer, although that's going to be downloadable as well. The prices on the songs aren't bad, but still I hope they do what Guitar Hero 3 is doing and giving us some free songs. Especially since on this glorious day, they released Halo's theme song for free download on 360 today. FREE! So go get it now. Aside from a few minor complaints, this was a shockingly good value. The mic isn't cheap, like some morons are saying. It doesn't pick up anything. It works perfect for me. The drums are fun, but a lot harder than I thought. The guitar portion sorta sucks, as my wife can play it on hard now, and she can't do the hards on Guitar Hero 3 or 2. Overall, I think it's going to be a good buy for everyone. After I finish the game, I'll write a review like I normally do when I finish something.

-dryvby

Video coming shortly...