Man, I'm having a great time with this game! Check out my review here:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/bloodbowl/player_review.html?id=668162

Hello to all in my tiny clan of review followers,

I hope everyone has been having a great year so far. Apologies for the extended absence; I am alive and still playing games.

For some reason, I haven't had a burning desire to put reviews down on paper. I think I was getting to the point mentally where I felt like I had to spend a huge amount of time with a game to review it... not sure why I was at that point, but I'm over it

For your reading pleasure, I've thrown up a short review on the arcade classic, Blazing Lazers. Have fun!

http://www.gamespot.com/tg16/action/gunhed/player_review.html?id=666154

So I planned a quiet evening at home for New Year's Eve, and my 360 decided that it would be an excellent time to kick the bucket... sigh.

The good news is that Microsoft's repair site looks good; they even had my serial number pre-loaded.

I hope to God that I get a new one this time, as the one that just croaked was a refurb replacement.

We all know and love the mega-sized zombie known as "The Tank", but we're not too keen on his ability to run through a hail of bullets and smash us into bloody pieces. I would like to offer you a solution, in the form of the humble propane tank.

Scattered around the L4D levels, we find things like gas cans, pipe bombs, molotovs, etc. Sure, some of these things can be used on the Tank, but the pipe-bomb is a waste of a fantastic horde killer, and the Molotov basically just pisses him off AND lights you on fire as he smashes you into tiny pieces. The gas cans also are not a big help for this reason. Which leaves us with Mr. Propane, your friend and savior.

Sure, it is veeeeery tempting to use the propane tank against mobs of zombie and blow the hell out of them, but you're wasting an invaluable weapon in doing so. The propane tank can be carried practically anywhere, and using the fire button will chuck it across a pretty good distance. Anything standing next to the tank when it explodes will take a tremendous shot, as long as the detonation is right on top of the target.

So the next time you see the tank, chuck the propane tank in front of him, wait for him to run next to it, then blow the hell out of him. He probably will not die (particularly at higher difficulties), but he will take a nice chunk of damage and go down easier. As always, the best thing to do is concentrate fire as much as possible, with all team members lacing the hell out of him. If there are normal infected around, chuck a pipe bomb and get them the hell out of the way and concentrate on the big guy.

As a final tip, be sure to use elevation and small corridors whenever possible against the Tank. While he can smash into places, getting him on the other side of a window or small frame can be a god-send.

Hope this helps you survive yeah another foray through infected territory.

Unless you've been living in a soundproof box for the past 40 years or so, you may have heard of a little thing called "Star Trek." Now, whether or not you just rolled your eyes at the first sentence of this post, bear with me and keep reading for a minute as I extol Star Trek Online.

Ever since the words "Star Trek" and "Massive Multiplayer" were uttered in a sentence together for the first time, my brain has been hooked on the idea of a Trek MMO. No, it is not because I am a huge fan of the show (which I am) or even because I think the setting is cool (which it is) but because I can simply not think of a Intellectual Property that is better suited to this genre.

Trek has innumerable elements going for it that create the perfect MMO world... exploration, pre-built alliances, cooperation, diverse alien races, differing locales, a focus on overcoming obstacles in various methods that don't always (but sometimes) involved blowing things to pieces, and a constantly growing world. Add to this the massive Star Trek fanbase, and you're left with a staggering level of pre-built goodness that can be exploited.

Of course, hopes are only one piece of the pie, as anyone who watched Perpetual's core breach (sorry, couldn't resist) can attest to. A good team is needed, and I for one am ecstatic that Cryptic scooped up the Trek license. Their initial work looks amazing, and their presentation at this year's Star Trek convention in August was awesome.

I know the game is a ways off, but anyone who has even the slightest interest in the science fiction genre should check this game out. Star Trek online could be one of the most immersive and driven game worlds ever created, and I for one will be there to see it happen.

"Energize!"