I think one of the things I like most about writing reviews for GameSpot is that it forces me to beat games that I otherwise might not make the time for. It's a double-edged sword, though, because some of these games seemingly don't want to be finished. Right now, for example, I'm plowing through Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm on the Xbox 360. I've sunk more hours into it these past few days than I care to remember, but at some point during these past 12 hours I think the game realized what I was up to and set about dashing my hopes of getting through it this side of the weekend.

Last night, as my third crabbing season came to a close, a console-freezing crash cost me around three hours of progress. Yes, you can manually save the game at any point, but up until then I had no reason to believe that mid-season saves were necessary. Then, this morning, my third season was again cut short by a similar problem. The game didn't freeze this time, rather two of my deckhands got into a comical looping animation while attempting to stack pots on deck. Deckhand A was trying to walk into/through one of the pots he'd just pulled up, and deckhand B was trying to get past him without any luck. Both would occasionally fall over owing to the storm that was raging around them, but still neither could break the cycle and refused to stop trying even when I offered them breaks or asked them to remove ice from the ship. I don't think even Captain Sig has ever had to deal with a season as frustrating as my third--hopefully it'll be third time lucky when I try to complete it again this afternoon.

Oh, and the last time one of my deckhands fell overboard, his shipmates were too busy sorting through crabs and manning a crane to help him out of the water. RIP Tico.

Expect a review soon.

Has it really been over two months since I wrote anything here? Wow, it's amazing how time flies when you're both having fun and extremely busy. So, what I have been up to since my last blog? The biggest news is perhaps that I found a superb Indian restaurant that delivers pretty close to my apartment, but since this is GameSpot I guess I'll spare you my tales of chicken tikka masala and talk about some games.

Right now I'm still playing Grand Theft Auto IV whenever I can. I wasn't able to use my own gamertag when I reviewed the game, nor was I able to play at the perhaps overly sedate pace at which I've enjoyed previous entries, so now I'm savoring every minute as I slowly but surely progress through the story again. When presented with them, I've gone out of my way to make different decisions this time than I did on my first play through, and I've been pleasantly surprised by some of the consequences. I've also managed to find a lot more pigeons to exterminate and a few more bonus mission characters to interact with this time. I've been neglecting the multiplayer stuff recently, but I'm sure I'll be taking part in races and Mafiya Work games again soon enough.

Other games I've been playing recently include Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (for review), Arkanoid DS (for upcoming review), Carcassone (I keep going back to it), UEFA Euro 2008 (loving the new Captain your Country mode), and GRID (I was initially unsure about this one, but now I'm really enjoying it). I was hoping to add a couple more games to that list this weekend, but it looks like Metal Gear Solid 4 (my preordered copy shipped yesterday) and Age of Conan (new PC arriving Mon/Tues next week) are gonna have to wait. I guess I could play Age of Conan on my current PC if I really wanted to, but three frames-per-second at the lowest settings available (yes, I tried it) just isn't that much fun. I have an unopened GameFly copy of Lego Indiana Jones sitting at home right now, so maybe I'll give that a try.

These gratuitous GRID shots show one of my favorite features of the game so far--the demolition derby races. Psygnosis' Destruction Derby was the first game I bought for my original PlayStation back in the day, and while GRID lacks that game's bowl arenas, this is the closest any game has come to scratching my Destruction Derby itch.

Until next time.

Just a quick heads-up that earlier today we launched Under Review - an official GameSpot blog where our reviewers, myself included, plan to write about some of the games that we're working on ahead of posting the reviews proper. You won't find any early scores, and right now there's not much in the way of content, but I'm confident that this is one you'll want to bookmark at some point.

In other news, I'm playing far too much WoW at the moment - taking a break from the level 70 rogue that has pretty much become my main character at this point to level up a holy priest. I've also just started playing Crisis Core, which I'm enjoying a lot, though I must admit that the whole DMW thing has me baffled.

Oh, and I finally found a decent (though not great, maybe a 7.5/10) pizza delivery place close to the apartment that I moved into a few months ago - I endured all kinds of tasteless grease-covered crap along the way, but ultimately the journey was worth it.

In case you haven't heard, Mr. T (famous for such works as The A-Team, Rocky III, and that World of Warcraft commercial) was recently (ok, I think it was 2003 actually) voted the fourth "Greatest American" in a global poll organized by the BBC. I can't imagine who the top three were, but I do know that the likes of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't make the cut.

I'm a big fan of Mr. T, so when UK-based Mohawk Media sent me a press release a while back announcing a limited advance edition of the Mr. T graphic novel, I wasted no time ordering one. Honestly, I haven't read it yet, so I can't tell you if it's good or not. Comic writer John Layman certainly approves though, this is what he had to say:

"Don't just buy this book! Don't just read this book! Don't just treasure this book! Take it wherever you go and keep it close to your heart. This graphic novel would take a bullet for you, if it could!"



The story doesn't end there, though, because last Friday I was sent a press release, embargoed until today, announcing a series of Mr. T "Versus" crossovers. The first title to be confirmed is Mr. T Versus Dracula, but the cover mock-ups below suggest that vampires aren't the only ones in trouble.

What does Mr. T think of his opposition in the upcoming Versus series?
"All these suckers with their fancy powers! They need a reality check, and only one guy can do that, and that's me, Mr. T!"

So there you have it. This is either confirmation that potentially the greatest comic crossover series ever is in the works, or the cruelest April Fool gag since the BBC reported a bumper spaghetti harvest back in 1957.

EDIT: Oh, and yes, I'm aware of the "Mr. T versus" Internet phenomenon that spawned such classic works as Mr. Bean, Ali G, the Cybermen, and Half-Life, but I want to believe.

My repaired Xbox 360 arrived back at the office today, which means tonight will (hopefully) be the last time for a while that I have to make my commute with a console on my back. My 360 (I believe it's the same one) looks to have taken a couple of light knocks during the repair process, but it's definitely running quieter than it used to. Its return is a few days later than I would've liked, but it's still quite timely because I plan to be online a lot tonight, checking out both of Dark Sector's multiplayer modes ahead of tomorrow's review.

I finished up the single-player mode this morning and, without wishing to give away too much about the upcoming review, I enjoyed it a lot. The multiplayer modes titled Infection and Epidemic look pretty fun too, and since both are designed for exactly 10 players the game automatically fills empty spots with up to eight bots. There haven't been too many people online today so far, but I'm hoping to get in some bot-free matches this evening. If any of you have the game already, please feel free to join in the fun.