Let me preface this by saying I love Bioware...But I never really got into any Baldur's Gates games or anything. I went into this game thinking "medieval KOTOR" and for some aspects that rings true. It's also worth noting that I got the special edition ordered from EA direct, with a coupon, so I paid $55 for the game, which is $20 less than retail. Also, I got the seemingly most inferior Xbox 360 version. On to the impressions...

During boot-up: Oh, I love that blood dragon logo...Every time I see it it's awesome.

While downloading premium extras: Wow, you get a TON of free stuff...Lovin' it. This Blood Dragon armor looks sweet!

While building my character: Okay, lots to choose from...Let's see, I'll pick this...NO! Thissss...And that...

15 minutes later, still buildling character: *crying* I just want this to end!

After picking character, but before starting game: Ahhh, that's good beer *sets glass down*

Starting game up: Holy hell this game is ugly. There are literally next to no textures on so much of the environment that it's PS2-like in quality at times.

While first given control of the character: Okay...No tutorial? What do I do?

After a battle: The blood splatter engine is amazing. The fact that it stays there is pretty rad, too.

After the first hour: The game is still ugly as sin, but I'm hooked.

So there you have it...My first hour (or so) of Dragon Age. If you're on the fence about it, there's a few ways this could go. Some notes:

This is NOT medieval Mass Effect, it's more akin to KOTOR in that battles are not real-time, but they appear to be. There are hidden "dice rolls" for combat, but you do get some control over what you do. So it's an RPG, but not an action RPG despite what it looks like.

The game is not like Oblivion aside from similar settings. It's not free roam, but it's not linear...It's kind of like Mass Effect in that aspect...

$75 would be WAY too much for the collector's edition, despite it coming with a ton of "free" stuff. Unless you're a huge fan of this stuff, get the regular version. Extras include stuff you can buy from the marketplace and stuff not found on the marketplace, and you DO end up paying less for this edition if you want all that stuff, but I'm not even sure I want that stuff yet.

There are several different character types/classes to choose, and while I am playing as a human noble, I can only imagine the others are vastly different, at least from the beginning. There are achievements for playing the origin stories of each, and that took about the full hour for me to complete the one, so that's pretty neat, actually.

Ahhhhh....Satisfying.

I just unlocked an achievement in X-Men Origins: Wolverine to net me 100,005 achievement points. I've been an achievement slut since I got my Xbox on day 1, now I feel like I've achieved something that really only proves my nerdiness, but it's an achievement in and of itself.

Thanks, Wolverine!

So today I got a helluva deal on a MacBook, so I'm the proud owner of one. I originally planned on getting a MacBook Pro, but considering Apple updates their line yearly, I don't think I'll feel too bad about it in the long run. Technically this is "last years" MacBook without the unibody design or anything, which is what I wanted anyway.

What did I pay for it, you're wondering? $699 after a rebate at Micro Center. I've been building Windows 7 laptops and they all ended up being close to $1k after I built it the way I wanted...The Mac might not be as powerful, but I'm a .NET developer and I work on Windows with ALL Microsoft products all day...So it's tiresome. I'm no Mac fanboy, but I think they make great products. I've had nothing but great experiences with my iPhone, iPods and iMac.

So, now my old HP laptop that I'm currently writing on shall now be known as my Crapbook. It's about 4 years old now, it's served me well over the years, but it's getting old and tired. It has no battery life to speak of, and at random times slows to a crawl as the fans sound like it's about to takeoff from the runway. I'll still be using itfrom time to time, but it's no longer my "daily driver" so to speak.

And call it POWER.

Then I can get drunk on POWER.

We just got back from our wedding/honeymoon last night, but since I have tons of catching up to do, I may not be on very much for the next week or so...

Pictures and stuff are coming soon...