It seems as though this blog has become an annual thing lately, and while you haven't heard much from me, I've been rather busy. I'm posting on the forums again, and the most mystifying thing to me is how my union recruits about 10 new members every day (my inbox is flooded with join notifications) and yet the union has slowed to a crawl.

In any case, I hope to see union activity pick up in the coming weeks, but if not, I suppose I am to blame. I just recently beat GTA4 (SPOILER ALERT), and I have to say, the ending was rather disappointing. Despite the versatility of the story, I found that the game seemed to just end, with no rhyme or reason. I ended up killing Pegerino last, and I have to say, the mission to kill Dmitri on the tanker ship was much more satisfying. I mean, getting revenge for Kate is cool and all, but I feel like I didn't even know her anyway, much less love her. All we would ever do was go out drinking and eating fast food anyway, mainly because I couldn't be bothered with the more time consuming activities. I felt like I was babysitting my friends and dates, rather than getting to know them. The relationship system felt like a chore for me. My friends would always call right before I was about to start a mission, then proceed to give me an hour (in-game time) which equates to about 5 minutes to go all the way across town to pick them up. If I am late, they cancel and hate me. If I say no because I can't possibly make it in time, they pout and still hate me. While the relationship system is deeper than ever before, It needs some serious retooling before GTA5. Anyway, the game as a whole was a great experience, if a little disappointing at the end. But it is immersive and awe inspiring no-doubt, and I am glad I finished it. Take that all of you who think I am an "irresponsible gamer" *ahem* Neo-EGOS *ahem* A review for GTA4 should be upcoming, and hopefully another blog post before 2010!

-barbierian205

While I am still deeply saddened by the systematic disassembly of everything that made Gamespot good, I feel obligated to my fellows at the Xbox 360 Union, so I am back, to run my union with pride and laugh at the horribly amateurish journalism that goes on on this site nowadays. Do I care about reviews? no. It is still a good place for news and forums, but little else. Anyway, it is good to be back, and I will be diligent in serving those of us that are still left. Anyway, stuff has been pretty good recently. Hangin out with my buds, playing a little GTA4, a little Rock Band with my friends, and still too much World of Warcraft. (but it's getting better) (trust me I have my priorities straight). Anyway, that's me right about now. Sorry to those that I have accidentally ignored in my absence. Cheers to a good summer.

-barbierian205

So I was browsing my game collection and I realized that there were some games that I own, but for one reason or another, have not beaten. Whether they be old c1assics or new ones that I have tossed aside, I just neglect to play some games fully.

Forza 2

Current Progress: 43% into career mode

Why I Haven't Beaten It: A similar thing had happened to me in Forza 1 where the races just got too long for my taste and at some points sadistically difficult. I might finish it at some point, but it's going on the back burner for now at least.

F.E.A.R.

Current Progress: Interval 8: The Slums

Why I Haven't Beaten It: Sadly I got into this game just a few days before Bioshock came out, so understandably, I was distracted, never to return. Or at least not yet.

Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30

Current Progress: Chapter 14: Cole's Charge

Why I Haven't Beaten It: Even though I just got this game (it was recently featured in my blog) I still feel that there is no excuse for leaving it unbeaten for this long. One of these weekends.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalpyse

Current Progress: Somewhere annoying in the middle that I got stuck at

Why I Haven't Beaten It: I got stuck in the annoyingly repetitive jungle setting and just never went back. I only played it when my friend was over to play co-op with me anyway.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

Current Progress: Final Mission, General Song

Why I Haven't Beaten It: I really couldn't tell you. This has to be one of my favorite games on Xbox, and for some reason I have not beaten the final mission. I'll get to it some day soon.

Timesplitters 2

Current Progress: One of the Alien levels

Why I Haven't Beaten It: In all seriousness, the game just does not like me. I will get to a certain point in said level I am stuck on, and the game will freeze. No cleaning, toying or coaxing with the disc will elicit a positive outcome. At least I can still play multiplayer on this disc.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Current Progress: Chapter 8: The Thousand Year Door (just before the final boss encounter)

Why I Haven't Beaten It: Another instance of me just getting distracted from some of the best games I have ever played. This is another of my all time favorites, and yet I have not finished it. Becoming a common theme here, I will get to it.

Viewtiful Joe

Current Progress: Some annoying part on Adult difficulty

Why I Haven't Beaten It: I love this game, but it is discouragingly hard. I may go back to it someday, but for right now im not in the mood for this kind of sadistic difficulty. It isn't very often that a game comes a long that begs to be loved and hated so much at the same time.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Current Progress: 12 Hours (Water Temple)

Why I Haven't Beaten It: This game fails to hold my interest. Plus I think the Wii controls are unnecessary and further discourage me from diving back into this one. Sometimes I just find it unnecessarily confusing and difficult because of controls, explanations, and puzzles. Trust me, if I could get through Ocarina, I will get through this some day.

That's about it for this time. I'll try and update you on my progress in these games, If I make any. Do you guys have similar problems in beating games, or am I just an irresponsible gamer? What are your thoughts?

So I got into the CoD4 beta a few days ago and have yet to comment about it. In short, it plays a lot like CoD2, and with the new c1ass and perks system it will be even better than CoD2's legendary mulitplayer. Despite some technical issues in loading the beta, the game is already looking technically sound. I will keep everyone updated on my experience with the beta as I play some more. On a side note, I saw Arctic Monkeys in Providence last night and for my first show, it was great. I look forward to October when Queens of the Stone Age come to Providence and I'll get a chance to see them live.

So I was screwing around with the burger king simpsonizer and I came up with some pretty sweet stuff. See if you can guess who these people are.

Alright, so this isn't a very hard test, but we will see who can get all 3