Since my life has been busier than normal and I'm in front of a computer a lot more.. I've turned to quick web browser based games and found them to be a lot of fun.

I'm playing a soccer manager at www.hattrick.org and an awesome american football sim at **** and I've been playing a lot of poker at www.pokerrpg.com.

These games don't require a ton of time and they are rewarding if you are intelligent and patient over a long period of time.

I have never been as excited about a gameplay feature as I am about Madden 10 online Franchise Mode. Franchise mode for sports games is notoriously easy. If you really want to you can always end up with a full team of all stars. Now, every trade and draft pick will be coveted. It is going to be a brutal competition. I've been waiting for this feature my entire life.

Watch this video if you're not completely sold.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/maddennfl10/video/6212770/madden-nfl-10-online-franchise-trailer

http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/superchicksisters/index.asp

go to that link to save pamela anderson from the evil KFC colonal Killer bloody chicken dudes. The wierd thing is you won't believe how good the game is.

... came at a perfect time. They just unleashed a new hero class called "bard". You get to wield an electric guitar and play guitarhero style on your keyboard in order to vanquish enemies. The best part was that it had me concerned for about 10 whole seconds. Then I realized what day it was and felt foolish. It's pretty convincing though. I bet this is a big stinker in gaming news. Especially if they don't dispell it. They're going to get a lot of unwanted e-mails from this. I hope it's worth it.

Guys, I just flipantly threw $50 at Full Tilt Poker .net to see if I could win some cash last night. I've been playing with the play money and went from 1k to 600k in a few days so I thought i'd give it a shot. I knew it would be completelty different playing for real money. I mean, think about it.. ppl are going to play really tight and not give up a cent, right?

Wrong, these people seem to think that the more money they put in the pot.. the better their hand gets. They push all in when they feel trapped and make mistakes. maybe I'm playing against drunk grannies .. escape convicts.. or small children, but regardless its like taking candy from a baby. I pushed my $50 up to $140 in a matter of 5 hours. that's 90 bucks.

I'm going to keep messing with it until I get all the "bonus money". Basically, when you sign up .. they promise to match the amount that you put in. The catch is that you have to play a ton before the bonuses start showing up. After 5 hours I only got $5 of the $50 they owe me.

I know it's not a TON of money. I've never been a gambler though.. and I'm just hung up on the fact that I'm getting paid to do what I do online for fun.

Well, after my original 360 broke I took advantage of my warranty and they sent me a referbished one. This referbished one got the blinking light error after only 6 months and now they're telling me my warranty has expired. It's going to cost $160 to renew my warranty and have it repaired. It's hard to justify paying another $160 when I'm not sure it will be around next year. I mean, what if this breaks again next year. Then I'll have to pay another $160?! I mean, I can't pay $160 a year for a 360. That means for the first two years you get to rent your 360 for $400. That's $200 a year. Each year after that you get to rent it for $160.

I think I'm going to wait until Christmas before I start this years rental agreement.

Here is the scenario.  My huge family all travels to my mother's house for Christmas.  I let my 2 nephews and 2 nieces play my Xbox 360 on Christmas eve, and they broke it somehow!  I had just let my brother borrow it for a whole semester and nothing happened.  My nephew broke the thing in 1 night!  I kinda knew it was going to happen.. they're pretty rough on equipment.  They hit the powerbutton on and off and sometimes push the disk tray in and out on their ps2.  So really it's my own fault for leaving it with them.  

The worst part is that I unplugged everything and went home for a minute to see if I could fix it.  Well, my nephew starts crying while I'm gone and wondering how long it's going to take for him to save up the money to fix it... He cried so hard that his mother was pissed at me when I got back!  I walked in the door and she said, "Now is not the time or place!"  I just laughed because I had no idea what she was talking about.  I told her I just needed to send it for repairs, but I still had to appologize to my nephew! lol.  Funny how some tears can turn everything around on you like that.  He breaks my 360 and somehow everybody is mad at me.

I just get a single red flashing light and the screen says E74.  I tried unplugging the hd and cleaning the cables, but nothing works.  Christmas Eve is the worst possible time to break your gaming console!  Now I've got a brand new GoW game that I haven't even taken the wrapper off of.  I've got time out of school.. and I had just rented Splinter Cell Double Agent.  I called Microsoft and they're sending me a box so that I can ship it to them for repairs.  I guess the whole process should take almost 2 weeks!

sheesh

Oh man, there is this guy at LD.  He has lost his mind.  He is sticking Mario's freakin' head on everything!  This manip made me soil myself.

  I think the fact that he is posting them in the most respected imaging union on GS .. and people keep making fun of him and he just keeps pumping them out.  That makes it all even funnier to me.

I don't think he even blinks anymore.. he just takes the first picture he can find and sticks Mario's head on it.  Go to LD and look for Nuclear's Cookout Thread.  He's a rebel man.

Dahui was to be married today.  Alestar was a woman without equal.  He had always felt that a high elf would be the perfect mate.  They were tall, beautiful, and eloquent.

  Alestar was no exception.  She was every bit as tall as Dahui.  Her long torso and slender figure were a sight to behold.

 Dahui had proposed on the docks at sunset 4 months ago, but it seemed like only yesterday.  His family honestly didn't approve of his marriage to a high elf.  The Dunmer always felt that the Altmer were too proud of their appearance and status.  His mother tried to hide her disappointment.  Dahui remembered how she always seemed to have young female dunmer company around whenever he came home to visit.  She would say things like, "Doesn't Sharmain look beautiful?" or "hasn't Drodell grown up to be a fine woman?"

Dahui's father was less subtle. At first he outright opposed the wedding.  He said he wouldn't even attend the event.  However, he quickly changed his approach when he saw the tactic would not work.  Instead he would have long talks with his son encouraging him to explore other options.  He would tell stories of his encounters with Altmer and their snobbish lifestyles.

 All that was over now though.   His father and mother had finally given him their consent to marry Alestar.  "Oh how they must love me to be here today." he thought.

 He pushed the thoughts out of his head and finished dressing himself.  It was time to start the ceremony.  He walked out to the ceremonial grounds in his best robes.  They had chosen yellow to symbolize the new sun.  He couldn't believe how many people had come.  The priests began the Chant of Union and the torches all lit simultaneously.  "Huuummmmmmm..  hhHmmmmm.. mmmmmm"  The chant was intoxicating.  Surprisingly loud for 10 priests with their lips closed.  "hhhHmmmmmmmmm   aaaahhhHmmmmmmmm" 

 On the left side of the grounds was all Dunmer and the right side were all Altmer.  It looked more like two small armies than 2 families.  Dunmer never went anywhere without a weapon.  The Altmer knew this so they were armed to the hilt as well.  Dahui found this humorous and couldn't hold back a smile.

It was time for his bride to appear.  Alestar turned the corner holding her father's hand as was the custom.  Her skin was so brilliant and glowing that it made her yellow dress seem dull.  Her train danced in the torchlight as she floated down the eisle.

 She let go of her father’s hands and held close to Dahui's.  He noticed then that she was crying tears of joy.

 The priest read through the rites and chanted a few more lines before asking the elves to commit their lives to each other.  "Do you bind your soul with this female?" he said.  "Yes, she will be my life." Dahui said without hesitation.  "And do you bind your soul with this male?", the priest mumbled dryly... She paused.  No answer.

The priest cleared his throat and a little louder said, "Fair Alester, do you bind your soul with this male?"  No answer.  One woman quietly gasped, and the crowd began to mumble.  Something was terribly wrong.

  "Her face ... are these not tears of joy." Dahui thought.  She leaned foward and whispered so only Dahui could hear, "My father will kill you if we wed today, my love."  Dahui flushed with agony.  Why hadn't he considered her family!?  Had he been so stupid to think that only his parents would have objections?  The Atlmer were a very proud race.  He should have thought of this.  Then Dahui spoke in a loud voice for all to hear, "I would rather die than to live another day knowing that I could never marry you, fair Alester!"  He turned to her father and said, "Does your pride hinder your desire for your daughter's happiness!?"

 The old Altmer unsheathed his sword.  Dahui said, "I cannot fight the father of my soul mate.  What can be gained from that?"

 "My daughter will not marry a filthy red eyed RAT!"  Alestar's father yelled as he pushed the sword hilt all the way through to Dahui's chest.  As he fell he heard Alicia scream, "YES, HE WILL BE MY LIFE!" 

On a day that these elven races should have taken a step toward peace.. many died, and the wall and rifts between them became immeasurably stronger and deeper than ever imagined.

After lot's of interviewing and research I found that I was the 24th person to line up at Best Buy yesterday (friday).  I came straight from school and arrived at 11am with my camping gear.  22 people at the location had already been there since Thursday.  I was disheartened until I found out that the store had 26 consoles to sell.

It was pretty organized.  Tents everywhere.. we even had police officers on duty.  One of them even kept an unofficial list.  This kept people from breaking in line, and allowed us to walk around inside the store.. and go get food without fear.  At this point I was pretty happy.  "Humans aren't too bad" I though.

"In fact, if there is a nuclear war and everything falls apart.. I think we'll all be just fine.  It will be organized and everyone will be able to take care of themselves."

Wrong!  Things started to fall apart rather quickly.  People got mad at others for trying to pitch their tent in front of theirs.  Some people parked their cars near tents so that the exhaust blew on them.  Some guys were booming loud rap music early in the morning.  One guy even had a girl come to meet him... he went to her car .. very close to the curb where we were... and she obviously performed for him. 

Some people accused others of allowing their friends to come and join them in the line.  Some people would leave for a long time and come back to find people telling them that they had lost their spot.  Other guys were drinking outside and the police had to step in.

At 6:30am we started to put away tents and line up.  The store planned to give 26 tickets at 7:45am to customers in line so that there would be no pushing once the doors opened.  As we lined up people had to really assert themselves.  A few guys that had arrived after me would just ease their way in front of me over and over when I was distracted talking to other gamers.  Everytime I turned around I would have to step back in front of them, and they would stand so close that they were brushing up against me.

When the "new people" started lining up behind the campers ... the campers jeered at them and told them to just go home.

Guys, my community is even less happy and pleasant than I thought.  We're like coke bottles.. when we're shaken up.. people see what comes out.  I'm telling you.. if this community gets shaken up a bit more than a PS3 launch.. and it comes down to many people standing in line for food and medicine.. I'm afraid the US will not be a shining example to the world.

     Ah, nothing was like a good Breton feast during the holidays.  Alicia had come home to visit her family for the New Life Festival.  It was the only time that the entire family returned home together.  She made sure that she was able to come home even during the strenuous years of her training at the Mages Guild. 

 "Love is an action," she had told her trainers, "I must show love to my family through all things.  I train to protect, and I protect because I love." 

After Alicia's stand, the entire guild began to observe the holiday.  They even encouraged the apprentices to go home and visit any family and friends they might have. 

 As a result, The New Life Festival was often referred to as "Alicia's Gift" amongst the younger generation in the guild.  Time off from studies was especially needed during this wearisome war against Necromancy.

The month of The Evening Star had been a cold one.  The wells were frozen, and the wood piles were low.  But inside her home life was good.  Her uncle played delightful music on his harp.  His playing always started strong, but the quality dropped along with the level of ale in his tankard.  The family huddled together around the fire after gifts had been exchanged.  They were all smiles and the chatter was hysterical.  Her mother had given her knitted socks that she wore proudly.  She knew there would be no place for them when she returned to her duties at the guild.  She noticed that her dog, Phaz, sat at the door impatiently.

  "I'll let Phaz out."  She said.  She strode over to the door and opened it pulling her gown around her.

The cold gust blew in at an alarming rate.  She stepped outside and closed the door to keep the heat in, "Hurry up Phaz, by the Gods, it's freezing out here."  Phaz just stood near the door looking off into the woods.  "Phaz, I know it's cold, but go already."  The dog made a small whimper and turned to go back inside.  Alicia's awareness jumped at the dog's unnatural behavior.

She whispered a life detection spell she had learned from Delphine Jend in Bravil, "halarv tok' masheirr faveir"  Her green eyes glazed over solid white, and she began to look through the village walls.. through the trees.. yes, there was a presence here.  She opened the door, and as Phaz bumped inside she used her little knowledge of telekinesis to pull her sword from the side closet to her hand.

The wind blew right through her gown as if she was wearing nothing at all, and her knitted socks held no warmth.  She marched towards the woods with determination.  Then stopped cold.

A foul smell assaulted her nostrils.  A low groan could be heard and the snapping of fallen twigs in the woods ahead.  A naked man with torn flesh and dark blood stained teeth raced toward her.  “A zombie here?”  Alicia held her hand high as it erupted in a ball of flame to push the darkness of the night away.   The zombie hesitated a moment.  A man in all black garment with red markings emerged from the woods.  "Sharlon!"  She recognized her old master.  She hadn't seen him since he had left the guild.  "Necromancer, you have no place here among the living!"

The necromancer laughed deeply, "I come in peace, my dear.  I do not wish to bring death.  I only need to visit your families graveyard."

"You will raise none of them to …." she gestured toward the zombie, "to be like this abomination in torture!"  She was losing control of her voice.  "Your little holiday took away my honor." he said.  "Don't you see young battlemage.. how your protest made a fool of me among my peers."  Her fear was overwhelming.  The Necromancer only laughed harder,

"Don't you see?  I want to give your dead family Alicia's Gift!  After all, it is the New LIFE FESTIVAL!!  IS IT NOT?!"

Alicia planted her back foot raising her burning had and holding her sword in a deffensive position.  Her old master raised his staff horizontal and whispered a command that sent the zombie into a blind charge.

Breton Battle Mage vs. Necromancer

Click on this link to visit this thread.  Here you can cast a vote to determine the outcome of this battle.

you may need to join the Elder Scrolls Elite Union in order to post a vote.

EDIT:  In a best of 7 the union voted 4-2 for the Breton Battle Mage.

cont...

As the zombie came closer Alicia realized who this zombie was!

Her knees buckled and she screamed in absolute terror, "NOOOOooo!"  She lost all concentration, and the fireball in her hand fizzled away.  Everything became blurred by tears.  To see her deceased brother's face again was bewildering.  It was hard enough to say goodbye to him at the funeral.  "oh... my.. my bruh..."

"Oh, do you recognize my friend now?", Sharlon interupted.

 It was obvious that Sharlon had already been to her family's graveyard, but this wasn't her brother.  This was his tortured flesh.  She weakly raised her sword and blocked one of his heavy arms from landing on her.  He continued his persuit as she stumbled backward in the snow.. she couldn't tear her eyes away from that face.

"He has been given a new life!" Sharlong boomed,  "He has been given Alicia's gift.. your sweet brother has come home for the holidays.. AA HA HA HA!!  He only wants to feel your embrace?  Why do you resist him?"

It was too much.. she dropped her sword and through blurred eyes she raised her hands to embrace her brother.  She summoned the most powerful frost spell she knew, and as she touched his back she could feel his skin split apart as it contracted in ice.

She held his frozen body for a moment before letting it drop back into the snow.

"You have done the unthinkable."  Her voice sounded frail.  The frost touch spell had taken so much out of her. 

Sharlon didn't seem interested in talking any more.  His black robes blew around him as he moved toward her with his staff blazing green.  His first shot hit her directly and her mind seemed to go blank for a moment. her majicka had been drained completely.  She grabbed her cold sword from the snow and pulled it up in time to block Sharlon's staff.

"I trained you well, but you are very weak.  This may prove to be boring."  His staff shot around his body in a blur hitting her 3 times.  The last blow sent her face down on the ground.  As she jumped to her feet she saw the bright contrast of her red blood in the snow around her.

Alicia's eyebrows turned down in a focused look.  She drew herself up and pointed her sword toward the attacker.  She spun toward him wielding the weapon in the old style forcing Sharlock on the defensive.  Her mind began to tingle with the sensation of magika again as she attacked again and again and again.. stalling for the right moment.  Sharlock finally took the bait and attempted to counter. 

As he struck her sword with his staff she dropped it purposfully and grabbed his chest digging in with her nails.  She began to absorb all of his majicka.. replenishing her own.. he twisted and turned in his robes as he felt the power leaving him.

When she let go his body dropped down .. fragile and old.  His old body was so weak without magicka to fortify it.  Sharlon coughed out in a whine, "Alicia.. I trained you.. listen to me"  but her ears were like stone.  He would not harm her family again.

"I must show love to my family through all things.  I train to protect, and I protect because I love." 

She took her sword up and removed his head. 

Alicia stood alone.. with her hair and gown blowing away from her body in the cold wind and snow.  She stared off into the distance... tears running down her cheeks... completely unaware of her environment.

--Gamespot has been a place of inspiration for me lately. I came here to find information about games, but I found a community of people instead. This community is made up of many different groups based on their interests.

"These groups of people organize themselves and meet on customizable forums called unions."

--My favorite type of unions are the ones that focus on graphic design. There are some accomplished artists here. They have slowly developed a very distinct style. Artists take renders from games and add new backgrounds to them. Sometimes a dirty grung look is used to make it seem veristic. Sometimes heavenly light falls on or around the characters for a fantasy mood. The artists have a built in community of clients: Gamers that want to be identified by the unions they are a part of and the games/developers they appreciate. 

 "Also, artists are able to get honest feedback on their work instead of relying on biased family and friends."

-- There are political issues that arise from time to time since the unions have self run government structure. It is also interesting to note that modderators are chosen from the community.

"These mods are chosen based on how well they follow the rules and contribute to the community."

-- I look forward to spending more time here... making new friends.. developing my talents.. and oh yeah.. reading about a video game every once in a while!

   Ah yes!  Apparently you level every day that you log in to gamespot!  I am now level 3 in two days!  At this rate I'll be level 30 in a month! 

   I put up a new banner and changed my little picture thingy.  I drew both of them by hand.  The banner is actually a very large abstract painting that has been shrunk down creating a pretty unique effect, and put an extremely subtle animation on the avatar.