Okay, people. I got my assortment of new games for the winter. Assassin's Creed 2 will arguably be the best for last of my winter 2009 lineup, with Bioshock 2, Star Ocean 4: TLH Int'l, and White Knight Chronicles due out late winter, winter 2010...I'll post a review for AC2 when I get it next week and manage to play some of it. Otherwise, these micro-reviews I provided should exemplify the least bias I have for each of my new games, lest some of you want to use them to encourage (or discourage) buying them.

Dragon Age: Origins - 9/10

-This is KOTOR all over again! Is dice rolling present? Maybe...even on the PS3, the graphics are good (enough for me). Not on par with Mass Effect or Gears of War or even Uncharted 2, but still good. Why does it not get a perfect score? Ultimately, it's KOTOR's battle system all over again. Auto-attacking and such, skill charts...oh, wait. There's also the conversing with people that get XP, finding items to get XP...not saying that's a bad thing. I did go into this game expecting either that or a Champions of Norrath/Baldur's Gate theme to it...the game's been a lot offun for me so far. Good for fans who love Bioware's stuff. I know I love their stuff.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 9.5/10

-Let's face it. With me, a 9.5/10 equals a game that is just amazing. A 10/10 is a nonexistent score with me. It defines a game that EVERYONE MUST PLAY...but every game isn't for everyone, right? For a PS3 exclusive, the game looks amazing, plays amazing, sounds amazing...has a lot of replay value, and the multiplayer (which I intend to try out soon) is the only thing that differentiates this game from the first one. What could be better than a great game you can play by yourself? One you can play with others! And there are very few games I get addicted to...this happens to be one of them.

Demon's Souls - 8.75/10

-HAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDD...duh. That's the best way I can put this Atlus RPG. Plays out just like a dungeon crawler, but the intention is you're forced to die a few times to learn. And hurry back to where you died to get the Souls you worked so hard to harvest or you lose them...just like if you die again and have to go back another time. Graphically, it's good. Gameplay's pretty solid. RPG elements are great. And I'm tempted to try the multiplayer out online to see what it can do. Otherwise, this game has been selling out since its release. That's a gimme that people love it. And it is the most challenging rpg I've ever played, up there with Shin Megami Tensei. Oh, wait. It's Atlus. Haha.

Borderlands - 8.75/10

-Cliffy B (of Gears of War) called thisgame the Diablo of this generation. The game's pretty addicting. Fighting wastelandish foes, doing quests, using one of 4 pre-made specialized chars tailored to your playing style...it's cel shaded. Graphically, it's not true 3D, so a lot of people are complaining. But not me. I think the cel shaded graphics make it easier to keep an eye on the game without glimmer blinding me because they had to shine up someone's skin. Initially, I wanted to give this game an 8.75/10, but I figure once the online issues (bugs that keep a player from keeping skill points they earn online, etc) get straightened out, the game will be what it deserved to be. And then I wanted to give the game a 9/10...but there's NO GOLD TROPHIES! On the one hand, it's good since the game won't be too difficult to ace. But come on...even 1 Gold Trophy would have been nice...=( But this game's fun, to sum it up.

Oh, and good news. I was able to get my router reset and configured so only I can access it now. And to make it better, I got my PS3 set up with a wireless signal now. =D So look for me online via Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2, Borderlands, or LittleBIGPlanet soon, folks. My PSN name is XSkittleKrazyX. So, hit me up with a friend invite so we can play sometime! Until next time!

My 2 year old Acer notebook died. The motherboard fried. It would have cost 250-350 bucks to replace (out of warranty). I said '-bleep- that'. I got offered 50 bucks for the parts. Put that toward getting a preowned Gateway computer tower with 3 GB RAM, 200 GB HDD, and such for 300 bucks. And a 2 year service warranty for 50 bucks. Bad buy? Maybe. I hear 'oh, you should have bought a Dell laptop for 400 bucks brand new' coming left and right. Well, Dell is the bargain-bin equivalent of computers and laptops, folks. FYI, if you own an Acer or Hewlett Packard, be very careful. especially with the laptops. Those things are so small.

Red Ring of Death? For Acer, it's the flashing Green Ring of Death.

Anyway, I got internet back, and at least I can access the internet MUCH FASTER than before on the tower versus my laptop (this is through a wire for both cases too, folks). Plus...instead of having a 160 GB HDD split up in two drives, I got one set up for all 190 available gigs. But...I dunno. Dell is so-so. If I didn't hate how poorly their computers were maintained at my college, and therefore hate Dells in general, I might have gotten one.

It's the start of November. My Tuesday morning basically began with a plan. I had preordered Dragon Age: Origins for the PS3 at Gamestop. Except I shelled out the extra 15 bucks for the special edition. What did I get for that extra cash, you might ask? Well, assuming I bought the game outright, I would have gotten three in-game items, a cloth map, a bonus Blu-ray disc with content on it, and a steel case with a plastic sheath for the game. An item exclusive only to the special editions as well was the Blood Dragon Armor download (least I think it was). But all version of the game nabbed you the Stone Prisoner side quest and Shale character download for free (includes extra Trophies). At least for that, it is worth it to buy the game new since the side quest is already available for 14.99 for download on the PSN. And it'd be what, 50, 55 bucks used at Gamestop?

Instead, I preordered the special edition. The ONLY special edition at my local Gamestop. Because I did that, I got two extra items exclusive only for Gamestop preorders. So for 15 bucks, I got a total of 6 in-game items, a side quest, a new character, a cloth map, a bonus Blu-Ray dvd with bonus content on it for the game, and a collectible game case. So I went home, set up my save files. I go onto the game, find out there's another side quest available for download. It's called the Warden's Keep and it cost 6.99. So, since I had money to spend, I bought it. Got another side quest and extra Trophies.

Even though I had to work that afternoon and didn't get home until 10:30 at night, I come home and find out two fun things. First, my copy of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves arrived, so I got that installed. Second, my Best Buy order for Demon's Souls, Borderlands, and inFamous had processed and are on their way. So I'm excited on that end.

What sucks for me on the side of 'issues' is my AVG Free Anti-virus program is updating itself by the end of the year to 9.0. And it's going to conflict with my Norton Internet Security. Now, I'm pondering. On the one hand, Norton works so much better, but I'd have to spend 50 bucks and update it for a 1-year license (and maybe get the anti-viral software for it too). On the other hand, AVG is free. But freeware protection is basic. It doesn't necessarily guarantee that nothing won't get onto your computer... So one thing I would like to ask is what you would do? Would it be safer to nix AVG and go for Norton and spend the 50 bucks, or remove Norton and go with AVG 9.0?

Update: By doing a little research, I've found out that Norton is a mixed-review sort of deal. Among the top protection software, Kaspersky and BitDefender are getting much better reviews from what I read on Toptenreviews. If anyone can validate those claims, it'd be a plus.

Looks like I'm still in the running for potential work at Radioshack. Word on the grapevine is they're gonna wait until their sale volume picks up until they start hiring. I confirmed it with another Radioshack, who admitted that they just finished a hiring fair the monday of this week. For now, I did get hired for a job during the week at my local mall. Handling Day By Day Calenders, a Borders subsidiary. It is such an easy job. Earning 7.25 an hour was easier than I thought. And it isn't so much knowing what to do since you basically ring up and have to know how to open/close. It's finding the ability to kill time. I checked out a book from my school library...I ended up getting halfway through it in 2 days of working. But, I'm making money again. That's what counts.

Secondly, I got my loan check from my school. 500 dollars later, I'm on Best Buy.com, buying Demon's Souls, Borderlands, and InFamous for the PS3 all for 120 bucks and FREE shipping! So if there's anyone who doesn't mind 1-2 weeks of patience (they're backordered, but so hot that they'll get them in stock fast) in getting 3 games for the price of 2 while they still can (offer ends at Best Buy when they close...or when midnight hits online, I think), I'd suggest doing it. As for eStarland, I was able to get my exchange out of the way and now I got Uncharted 2: Among Thieves coming in the mail within the next couple of days. Not only that, my Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition with its wealth of pre-order bonuses is out Nov 3rd (this tuesday!)...so I'm gonna have 5 new games to play...add in the Fallout 3 GOTY I got, and Assassin's Creed 2 due out Nov 17th...

And lastly, this marks the end of week 10, following a grueling two tests, a 20 plus page lab report (WITH GRAPHS/PLOTS!), and Calculus Lab assignments...and I think I got another test coming up Monday. -adjusts necktie-...

Anyway, folks! Happy Halloween! Nab Free Candy! Wear Awesome (Or Sexy) Costumes and Impress Your Friends! And See Ya Soon! =D