From now on, you're probably only getting these weekly updates, as I'm always ****ing tired when I get home from school, due to my downright satanic transportation times (2 hours each way). I hope you guys can live with these sorts of updates. I'll only post something in the middle of the week if something noteworthy happens, but other than that I'm going to keep the updates weekly.

I downloaded the Mirror's Edge demo the other day (which didn't actually take so long), and when I had played through the demo, I only had one thing on my mind: Mirror's Edge. Buy. Now. **** me, this game is awesome! I have to give the biggest props to DICE for actually going against the flow by creating something that isn't a shooter, RPG or sports game and instead creating something as original as this.

In case you don't know, Mirror's Edge is a Parkour game played in the first-person perspective. You play as a woman named Faith (who bears a striking resemblance to Bjork) who is a so-called Runner. Runners are a way to get classified information to each other without alarming the cops. The reason why people use Runners is because the city has become so sterilized and clean that everything and everybody is watched, so if the people has some illegal stuff they want transported to somebody else, they have to go to someone like Faith.

Mirror's Edge uses a fairly unique control scheme that can be slightly confusing at first. L1 is for jumping, L2 is for ducking or sliding under obstacles. In combat you use R2 for punches and kicks, and these can be combined with a jump for a jumping kick or a slide for a sliding kick. You can also disarm your opponent by pressing Triangle at the right time. It's a fairly simple combat system, but it is immensely satisfying to smack your opponent with a perfectly-timed flying kick to the kisser.

Graphically, Mirror's Edge is a treat. DICE has effectively created that clinical and clean city-look that they were obviously going for, with sharp colors and an overall "cleanliness." If I have to say something bad about the graphics, it has to be the environments. They don't look bad or anything, but they're just way too simple, and it's very easy to just spot the best direction to get to your objective. But that's pretty much the only thing I can knock the game for. There isn't a lot of music in the game, but the music that is there kicks in at the right times to add some tension to the section where you're being chased by the cops.

Overall, Mirror's Edge is another must-buy for me, but it'll probably have to get pushed back a bit until I get some money, because, y'know, Guitar Hero: World Tour and all that.

Speaking of Guitar Hero: World Tour, I preordered it 2 days ago. The reason why I preordered it (other than to be sure I get it on the first day) is because Gamestop is having an amazing sale: I preorder it, trade in four games, pay $110 bucks and I get the entire pack. The beauty of the sale is that I can trade in whatever game I want, besides Resistance. So I'm definitely trading in Motorstorm, which is a game I would normally only get 3 bucks for. Hooray! I'm finally getting my money's worth for that game.

Another game that I'm trading in is Grand Theft Auto IV. Before you get all pissy with me, just know that I haven't touched it in three months until now, so I ought to sell it. But I am trying to complete it before I trade it in, mainly because of the added trophy support the game got. Right now I'm just rushing through the game to get the "complete the game in under 30 hours achievement," which shouldn't be too hard, since I completed the game for my first time in 25 hours. But still, I don't want to risk completing the game in 31 hours, so I'm just rushing through the game right now, and once I've completed the game, I'll try to get the other trophies. I am still enjoying myself, though, which is something I never thought I would do, since this is my third playthrough of the game. I love the single-player campaign of the game, but everything else? Not so much.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Right now I have just completed the mission where Elisabeta has killed Manny and the camera guy and you have to get them to the doctor, and I'm about 5-6 hours in, so I'm making some good progress. I'm hoping to have completed the game within two weeks.

END SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!

Phew, this turned out to be a pretty long blog after all, so I think I'm just going to end it here.

Peace,

Casper

Trade 4 PS3 games (excluding Resistance), pay 110 bucks, and you've got yourself Guitar Hero: World Tour -- the full kit, no-less. And it's coming out on November 21st! Two days after my birthday! Can you say good timing?

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!

(Sorry about this; I'm ****ing tired and I just haven't had the motivation to blog)

God, I hate it when things download slowly. Ever since I moved to my Dad's place it takes forever for me to actually download something from the Playstation Store, and I have no idea why it does that. If I'm downloading something on the computer, it's quick and easy, but once I download something from the Playstation Store, it takes over 3 hours for a mother****ing demo. But thankfully, the PS3 decided to be nice to me today. The Motorstorm: Pacific Rift demo only took about 45 minutes, and the Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway demo took about an hour. That is quite a long time for 2 demos, but I can live with it. And now that I've played through both of the demos, I'll give you some impressions of them.

The Motorstorm: Pacific Rift demo features one track and 3 vehicles (a bike, a racing truck and a monster truck), and you have the option of playing by yourself or playing against a friend. The track you're given is a great track to play on, but it doesn't really show off the new things the developers have added to the game, aside from the split-screen mode, such as breaking the environment to slow down your opponents, cooling off your car by driving into water – you know, the small details. To be honest, those small details are the only things the developers added to the gameplay, unless you count the ability to bunny hop on bikes and pressing R1 to ram into your opponents as major change to the game. But whatever. The only thing that matters is that Motorstorm: Pacific Rift plays like Motorstorm, meaning lots of crashes, great graphics, awesome tracks and awesome vehicles, and that's the only thing you should worry about. The demo isn't going to convince anyone who hated the first game to buy this one, but for the people who loved the first game – me – it's great.

I know I'm pretty much alone when I say this, but I don't hate World War II-themed games. I still find it enjoyable to murder Nazis with a Thompson, and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is not going to change my mind because it is a fantastic shooter. For those of you who don't know, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway's main gameplay hook is its squad commands, and the way you perform them is very simple: hold in L2 to bring up a little cursor, point it an object of interest, release L2 and your squad members will do your bidding. This whole thing is context-sensitive, so if you point it at some Germans they will unleash suppressing fire on them, allowing you flank them; or if you point it at a place where they can get in to cover they'll get in to cover. It's very, very simple and it works very, very well.

Graphics-wise, the game rarely disappoints. A murky texture here and there pops up, but you totally forget about that when the game zooms in on a German and shows you his head exploding in a shower of blood because of the perfect head shot you made, or when you watch a group of them go flying in the air while you see them lose their limbs in slowmotion. Sure, it might be a bit gruesome, but you'll too be busy going "OH SNAP" to care.

I guess that's it.

I really don't want to get up at 5:20AM to go to school on Monday. I hate it when your holiday's about to end. Ugh.