Some stuff.

Got:
Nintendo Club Platinum Gift - I chose the Mario hat. Very nice quality.

Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition (360) - Yea, I got it...

Assassin's Creed 2 Master Edition (360) - The tin case is even LARGER than AC1's LE. Geez... Nice design though.

Box and contents.

More games and movies.

Star Trek LE (BD) - Statue is very nice. Completely metal and quite heavy.

Box and contents.

And finally...

Diablo III!!!! Well, not really...it's a statue of the Barbarian. Sculpt is detailed and paint job is superb. Awesome quality.

Box and statue with normal head.

The Sideshow Exclusive head. Badass...

Been playing Dragon Age Origins (360) and it's AWESOME. Great story with a TON of dialogue options and great voice acting. The amount of content is pretty incredible. There are a ton of choices to be made, lots of sidequests to complete and a lot of optional stuff to find. I'm really impressed with how much time I spent with this game so far. There is so much to do and some sidequests lead right into another. Soooo addictive! I also found that my party members are fully fleshed out people with a lot of personality and backstory. They're very complex and hard to figure out which adds to the realism to the story. I'm amazed how much info each character reveals as you learn more about them. They all have a quirk or twist that you don't really expect the first time you meet them. Very well written.

Even secondary characters and NPCs have their own stories to tell. I was quite surprised at how much I learned about a NPC in a short amount of time. When you're doing sidequests for some of them, there are some genuine emotional spots that surprised me. I also found a lot of humor in some other characters that were unexpected. All these colorful characters make exploring the world very enjoyable.

Anyways, can't wait to finish it and play a different type of character to see what happens. If you like Bioware RPGs like KoToR or Mass Effect with a high fantasy setting, this is a definite must play. Love love love.

Oh yea, I took a break from Dragon Age to play Modern Warfare 2 (360). I beat the game in Hardened mode in two sittings. I could've finished it in one sitting but I had work the next day so you know. Great game with a ton of shocking moments. It may seem a bit much at times but I liked it. The controversial level that was mentioned was definitely disturbing to me. I didn't enjoy playing it but I didn't find it offensive at all. It was important for the story and it made sense. Infinity Ward definitely took a chance with this one.

Btw, I suggest you play the first Modern Warfare before digging into the campaign for MW2. Why? Because the stories are directly linked with returning characters and some call backs to the first game. If you don't know who Soap is then you should definitely play MW1 NOW. Besides, MW1 was awesome so why deny yourself greatness?

Anyways, Hardened mode in the sequel was way easier than the first game simply because there are no more infinite spawning enemies anymore. I died a lot less but it was still tough and frustrating in spots. The campaign was very satisfying and well worth playing through for the twists and turns. I haven't tried the multi or Spec Ops modes yet but I will try them when I finish Dragon Age. Must play!

New stuff for the second half of October. I already finished some of these games if you check my blog daily.

Got:
Uncharted 2 (PS3) - Such an amazing experience.
Brutal Legend (360) - Great story, okay gameplay.

Uncharted 2 LEs (PS3) - Special thanks to Pete D. for the UK version and my other contact for the Aussie version.

Tekken 6 Wireless Stick Bundles (PS360) - Gamestop.com didn't ship my preorder bonuses. I had to call to get replacements. They're not here yet as of this post. The one pictured was from a local Gamestop. The guy gave me one simply because I asked. Best B&M Gamestop in my area.
Forza Motorsport 3 LE (360) - Great game.
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3) - I need to play the previous two first, lol.

Transformers 2 (BD) - The one with the IMAX scenes. Best cover out of all of them too, imo.

PS3 Charger - Definitely needed one.

Dead Space and Halo ODST figures

Finished Brutal Legend (360) on Normal over the weekend. This may be my least favorite game from Tim Shafer. I've loved every game he's done even with their flaws, but something about Brutal Legend didn't hit that note for me (pun not intended). I'll have to side with people who complained about the gameplay. The whole game felt clunky and wasn't much fun to play. On the other hand, the story and characters were great. I also loved the world it's based in. And even though I'm not a huge fan of metal music, I was enjoying the music in this game quite a lot. Anyways, I'm just gonna list my impressions.

Liked:
-Characters - Very likeable cast with lots of personality.
-Humor - Lots of funny moments.
-Designs - Love the character designs.
-World - Interesting motif and very unique.
-Music - Pretty solid soundtrack.

Disliked:
-Sidequests - Repetitive and boring.
-RTS section - I love RTS games but this was clunky and frustrating. Should've been more streamlined or not included at all. Not fun at all.
-Audio loops - The characters repeat the same lines over an over again in the open world. Also, certain long conversations actually repeat themselves in less than 5 seconds. What the?
-Graphical issues - Some framerate issues here and there and minor popup.

Overall, I found the game alright. It was enjoyable simply because the characters and writing was so good. I kept playing for the story and not the gameplay. I would've liked it if they fleshed out the story more because it goes by pretty fast and made the overall game pretty short. There were some moments that felt like they didn't flow that well. For example, I found the characters talking about something that wasn't mentioned before in the main story later in the game.

This made me think I was missing some important backstory info because I skipped most of the secondary stuff. Which reminds me that they also relegated some very cool backstory for the world to these Legendary statues that you need to find to unlock them. BIG mistake because they added a lot to the story. I wish they made these things easier to find or made them story-related in some way during my first playthrough. I didn't bother finding them until I was near the end of the game cuz I had no clue what they did. Btw, I only found two so far and I'm looking forward to finding the rest soon.

Anyways, recommended for Shafer and Metal fans, but I think everyone else should give it a rental at least.

Also started playing Demon's Souls (PS3) after I finished Brutal Legend. Good news is I managed to beat the infamous 1-1 level on my first try with no problems. I killed Phalanx without too much trouble. I didn't face the issues most people had complained about in various podcasts. BUT, after I passed that, I'm pretty much stuck in level grinding mode right now. The rest of the game ramps up in difficulty quite a bit. For some reason, I'm pretty addicted to trying to get my character up to a point where I can take on more guys without too much trouble.

Great graphics, stellar voice acting and tough enemies definitely make this a dungeon crawl winner. It's very moody and works on many levels. Anyways, I might update again when I make some more progress. But for now, it's been an interesting (and punishing) experience.

I completed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) on Normal mode last night. WOWOWOWOW. What an awesome adventure. Everything you've heard is true. This is one of the best games this year! The production values are through the roof. Uncharted 2 basically takes everything that was good from the first Uncharted and ramps it up ten-fold.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. I found myself staring at the locations and examining everything. The water effects are some of the finest I've ever seen. The lighting and explosion effects are top notch as well. But Naughty Dog really improved the character models substantially. If you thought the first Uncharted was good looking, the sequel does it even better. The faces have much more detailed textures and they animate even more realistically. There are tons of subtle facial animations when you're watching the in-game cutscenes. The motion capture and acting is also incredibly well done. When you're playing the game, Drake and his buddies responds to everything around him which adds to the realism and immersive nature of the game.

The audio is equally impressive. I played with the 7.1 LPCM option and it's FANTASTIC. Very nice surround effects with lots of ambient noise all around me. The voice acting is pure excellence. If you loved the first game's voice performances, the sequel does it even better. Everyone is perfect including all the goons and grunts you face. They should win an award because without such amazing voice work, I don't think I would've enjoyed the story as much. Btw, the music is also amazing. It's a beautiful soundtrack with lots of really nice ambient tracks. It's on par with any movie out there, imo.

The story isn't entirely original and there are some twists that I can see coming from a mile away, but the way the story unfolds is very well paced with some action-packed moments. Naughty Dog faithfully captured the feel and epic nature of those old adventure serials and the Indiana Jones movies perfectly. All the characters are likeable and their interactions are fun to watch. It's a superb script with plenty of well written dialogue. The characters feel real and you really care about them. Uncharted 2 is a true epic that even movie fans will enjoy. It's that damn good! I loved it.

Finally, the gameplay. Everything has been improved over the original. The melee combat is actually fun this time and easy to pull off. There are a TON of various animations depending on the environment and how you approach an enemy. The stealth attacks are also fun to watch and execute too.The gunplay is more fair as well. Enemies no longer soak up a bunch of bullets anymore like in the first game. They actually die with a few shots but I did notice that headshots are a bit wonky with most semi-automatic guns. Anyways, I had so much fun with the combat that I wish Naughty Dog could somehow implement these fixes to the first game so I would want to replay that game with the improvements from the sequel. Oh well. The exploration is just as good as the first one so if you loved it in the first game, you'll enjoy it just as much here.

Btw, I did encounter a few bugs/glitches which isn't a big deal. One time, Drake fell into the middle of a wooden platform which forced me to restart a checkpoint cuz I could not escape. I also encountered a graphical glitch when I was on a train and the rest of the location didn't load out for 5 seconds so the train was running on the water which was funny looking. And the worst was when my game froze so I had to turn off my PS3 to reboot the game. Weird stuff but they didn't dampen my enjoyment. They only happened once each so it's probably just a fluke.

Overall, Uncharted 2 is a must play for anyone who likes a good action-adventure game. The story is great, the characters are excellent and the gameplay is fun. If you loved the first game, this one is even better. It's awesome from start to finish. Great job Naughty Dog! I want a sequel already!