Merry Christmas.

There you go.

-Gregg

P.S: I'm actually really excited. But hey, being excited is no way to stand out, now is it? ...right.

Ugh. So I just wrote a review for Netflix regarding Max Payne the movie. I basically just said the movie sucks, go play the game if you want something good. And now I feel dirty for even giving that movie my time of day.

So I say again; Ugh.

-Gregg

Have a good ol' guffaw, if you'd like.

-Gregg

I'll make this one brief, like most of my blogs not involving a rant. I went down to the local indie game shop and traded in a couple of things, bought a couple of things, and left something there to get fixed.

The two trade-ins in question were Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles. I got about twenty-five dollars worth of store credit for those, with which I bought The Darkness and Bully: Scholarship Edition, for 360. I also bought a new Dual Shock 2, because both of my old ones are on their way out, so to speak. The thing I left to get fixed is my wireless Les Paul guitar controller.

Lastly, I'm still looking forward to Modern Warfare 2, which I will be picking up on Tuesday afternoon. And in case I have not mentioned this before, it is the Hardened Edition.

So, that's it for now. If anyone would like to share in my personal hype for Tuesday's release, feel free to do so.

-Gregg

So, as you may have noticed, I've finally reached level forty, here on Gamespot. It's a good feeling.

I'm getting psyched for The Ballad of Gay Tony, which comes out NEXT WEEK.

I'm also pretty amped for Modern Warfare 2. For a little over a month now, I've had the game fully paid off (I paid it off when I first put money down), and I happen to be getting the Hardened Edition (comes with Call of Duty: Classic ).

And, to top off all of this good news, I will (hopefully) be dating again very soon.

One love, me cousins.

-Gregg

So, I really don't have much to talk about for this blog, other than I'm still reeling from my McDonald's meal from about four hours ago.

Just bought some Rock Band tracks, eleven of them, to be exact. Mixed bag, all really good stuff.

I'd like to give meh boi Deilon a shout-out because his Xbox controller is broken, and that makes me sadface.

Soldier of Fortune II remains awesome, in case anyone had doubts.

I'm attempting to play through The Lost and Damned for the fifth time, just to get myself more hyped for The Ballad of Gay Tony.

-Gregg

It's really good. I'm watching a bunch of TV and specials on instant streaming on my Xbox. One of the best things is that they have the entire Monty Python's Flying Circus series available for instant streaming. I would recommend the service.

-Gregg

Week's Digital Acquisitions:

MDK 1 & 2 (GOG)

Stonekeep (GOG)

Giants - Citizen Kabuto (GOG)

Descent 3 (GOG)

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Steam)

-Gregg

This is our inaugural podcast. It's going to get a lot better when we get our fourth member, next time.

Here you go.

-Gregg

Yesterday I downloaded Shadow Complex. I finished the game last night, and finished it again with 100% item completion today. I'm now on my second playthrough, at level 28 or 29, I can't recall. I just got home from the mall, where I purchased Bioshock, and I'm about to start that. Also, White Rabbit is a lot of fun to sing in Rock Band. One more thing, I just noticed I'm at level 39 here on Gamespot, known as Max Force.

-Gregg

Well, maybe not a lot. I've decided to give Forza 2 another shot, even though I'm terrible at the game. Grand Theft Auto IV is still feeling kind of new to me, despite playing through the story over five times. I haven't been playing many PC games as of late, however I'm about ot play something after I'm done typing up this blog. Not sure what, but something. Also, the new 360 update is alright, but nothing to write home about, really. Oh, and at some point today, my buddy Mike and me are going to do Rock Band 2's Endless Setlist. Wish me luck.

-Gregg

...And I jumped in head-first, let me tell you. Today I traded in my old 360, and with the seventy dollars credit I got for that (plus like seven dollars), I bought the following:

Rock Band

Rock Band 2

Rock Band microphone

1600 Microsoft Points

When all is said and done, I'm going to have bought about 2560 points worth of downloadable songs. I had that much, plus the 400 for ripping the songs from the first game already. So, yeah, by that point I'm going to have a buttload of songs to play.

As for the 1600 card, I'm going to spend that on Shadow Complex at the end of August. Plus I'll have a little left over for...You guessed it! MORE ROCK BAND DLC! Now, if only my arms didn't get tired so easily...

-Gregg

I finished Republic Commando the other day. It was a roughly eight-hour campaign, and I'd say it was pretty good. It's been said that it was too short, however I don't think it was short. I think that the ending was rather abrupt, though, and it makes you feel like crap, considering the context (without spoiling, I'm sure you can surmise why it feels so).

Next up, I'm working on Hexen II. So far it's fairly good. There's a lot of puzzle-y portions, and a lot of back-tracking, and item collecting. It's basically like a first-person action RPG with adventure elements. I should also mention that the engine it's running on was the same that powered Quake, which makes it kind of ugly, but then again I like blocky polygons.

That's it for now. I'll post another update at some point next week, at the latest.

-Gregg

Today I ordered a copy of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland for the 360, so I should be getting that sometime next week (I hope). In addition to that, I bought a copy of Star Wars: Republic Commando off of Steam, along with Hexen II. I'd say that was a good way to spend fifteen dollars. And my good buddy Bruce got a birthday gift from me, in the way of Sacred Gold (Steam gift). So, yeah, today was fairly good in terms of gaining new adventures to play through...Alright, that was kind of corny.

-Gregg

For Independence Day, my family and I went up to my uncle's house at Lake George (huge lake in Upstate NY). Almost everyone was there, meaning about thirty people altogether. It was a fun day, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was also the day after my uncle's birthday, so his grandchildren all got together and put on a "show" for him.

There was singing and speeches, and after all of that they said "If anyone else wants to say something, come up here". I did, considering I'm his godson. So, I wished him a happy birthday, along with everyone else (a couple of my uncles and an aunt had birthdays recently, whom were there).

And after that, the crux of my short speech was spoken: "My Uncle Lenny...He's the man. And I wouldn't want anyone else as my godfather. ...And that goes double for my Aunt Caroline, as my godmother". *applause* I should mention that about a year and a half ago, my aunt was diagnosed with leukemia, so at the last second, I added that in my mind and said it, because she deserves a lot of praise.

Anyway, that was my Saturday. Whoever reads this, let me know how your day went in the comments.

-Gregg

Today, my final grade was posted on the class I just finished. I managed an A with 964/1000 points, despite its seemingly daunting format. This bumped my GPA up to a 3.55 from a 3.50. So, already this week is going better than the last one.

Saturday, I spent a couple of hours with my ex-girlfriend, and even though I was kind of clammed up at first, overall the afternoon went fairly well. We picked up lunch at Burger King and brought it back to my house, and watched TV while we ate. The Lost Boys was on G4, so we caught the first hour of that, before she had to leave for work. The cheese-factor of that flick is undeniable, but the fact that you get to see Kiefer Sutherland with feather earrings and frosted, spiky hair hamming it up with "Bill S. Preston, Esquire" makes it worth watching.

After trudging through Return To Castle Wolfenstein on easy, and still getting killed every other minute, I decided to cheat my way through the rest of the game. It's still fun, but a lot less frustrating now. I've still got a ways to go in it.

I haven't played all that much of Morrowind, but that will probably be a game I go back to now and again for a couple of years. Kind of like FF IX.

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope you all have a great week. -Gregg

So, for starters, I bought Morrowind instead of Wolfenstein on Tuesday. But then I realized that Morrowind isn't the type of game I can just come to every day, so on Friday I decided to buy Wolfenstein, anyway. Here's a protip: Both games are F***ING DIFFICULT. Well, Morrowind is, at first, if you're not careful about where you go. Wandering off is a bad idea. Anyway, they're both fun though, despite the difficulty. Also, I bought them each through Steam for $19.99 per purchase. Not a bad deal.

And now for the other half of this blog's topics. As I'm sure all of you know by now, Michael Jackson died yesterday from cardiac arrest. It's a shame, really. I'm not going to get into the politics of his later years, but I will say this: He was one of my favorite artists, despite my affinity for punk rock and *certain* classic rock acts. Maybe it is because his music is just so easy to listen to (not to mention sing along with), but I just dig his stuff.

One more thing: If you don't like Thriller, there's something wrong with you. -Gregg

This Tuesday, I'm finally going to obtain a copy of Return To Castle Wolfenstein, albeit in digital form. I don't know if anyone has been watching the prices of certain older games on sites like Amazon, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein has shot up at least 20-30 dollars in the past few months. I've had it on my wish list for about a year and a half, but as these prices rise at online retailers, I'm quickly finding that Steam is a great option. They sell it for twenty dollars, though they do force you to buy it in a pack with Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny (I own both already). Normally, I prefer a physical copy, but I'm not going to spend twice or more for it. I'm finding that surrounding myself with supportive friends just isn't enough after yesterday's events, so I'm trying to occupy my time with enough gaming to forget all of it. And newer games would definitely help, as I've already beaten most of the games I own. I also don't think it will hurt to treat myself, just a little bit.

-Gregg

My girlfriend broke up with me. But she still wants to be friends. I should be okay, if I give it a little time.

-Gregg

I looked at the trap, Ray! Don't cross the streams. What about the Twinkie? I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. We have the tools, we have the talent! Two in the box, ready to go, we be fast, and THEY BE SLOW! Dogs and cats, living together...MASS HYSTERIA!

Oh, and the game's pretty good, too. -Gregg