Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I posted a blog, but I've managed to squeeze in time to play a lot of games since November--Assassin's Creed, Eternal Sonata, Bioshock, Smash Bros. Brawl, Crysis, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. I also now have a Nintendo Wii so that completes the current console collection. Surprisingly, I've been using my PS3 the most, playing games and watching Blu-Rays and DVDs. I would say I'm playing the 360 the second most, and the Wii the least. One thing that the Wii does that annoys the crap out of me is the blue flashing light when there's an update. Anyways, the latest games I'm playing now are GTA4 and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

GTA4 is superb and really improves on everything you expect out of a GTA game. It feels like we've waited a long time for this, and it certainly delivers. The new online multiplayer is fun, but I've experienced frequent disconnects when you wait to start a game. The lobby system has a lot of room for improvement. I'd like to a sever list where you can enter rooms as you please. Instead it randomly puts players together like Halo 3, except it doesn't work nearly as well.

Apollo Justice is pretty much like the previous Phoenix Wright games expect they added in some really cool looking cut scenes. It's a little disappointing how similar it looks to previous games considering it's a real DS game, not a GBA port. But if you liked the last 3 chapters, I'd still recommend picking up the latest installment. That's raps it up, take care everyone.

Hello GameSpotters,

For the past few weeks I've been playing a lot of Team Fortress 2 and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations.

I must say, not much has changed in the Phoenix Wright series, which is a little disappointing. You still collect evidence, find contradictions, and eventually save the day. I guess what makes the game so good are the likable characters and interesting story plots. It just would have been nice if you could fast-forward all the long-winded text.

I'm on the last Turnabout case and everything feels like it coming to a full circle. I'm looking forward to the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney series because it looks like it's finally going to change things up with more DS features.

The next games I'm on my list are Assassin's Creed and Bioshock. Although I should play my 360 more, I think I'll try renting Assassin's Creed on the PS3. That's all for now, have a good weekend.

Hey all,

I recently picked up The Orange Box for an amazing $40 last Thursday for the PC. And to commemorate this event, I've changed my banner and avatar.

I've been playing it non-stop and it really brings back all the old memories of TFC. The only game I've played so far is Team Fortress 2 and it's familiar, but also a lot different.

It's cool how the all the maps are for the most part the same--2Fort, Well, Dustbowl, etc. And nothing is as fun as playing the Spy and sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies.

It's a shame Valve took away grenades, but I'm sure they had their reasons. Anyways, I would have to agree that this could be one of the best deals in Video Game history.

If anyone wants to play, my online name is Johnny Drama. Cya on the battlefield.

Hey Everyone,

Back in January, I owned a 360 for a month before I returned it. However, with the recent release of Halo 3, I've once again have taken the plunge and bought another Xbox for just one game. I wasn't planning on buying the 360 until it was a lot cheaper, but what the heck. I was able to get the Elite for a good deal, but I personally I like the system in White more.

There's also a few other games I'm looking forward to play--Bioshock and Eternal Sonata. I've only played a few hours online for Halo so far and I'm on the 7th level for the campaign. My Gamertag is TBawesome in case you want to add me to your friends list. That's it for now, cya online.

Hey everyone,

I finished up Spider-Man 3 today and wrote a review. The graphics are great and there's definitely some fun to be had. It does have some flaws, but I still recommend it to anyone who liked the previous games. Any recommendations for my review is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Moving along, I still need to finish Wild Arms 5 so that should keep me busy this week. I also got Heavenly Sword from GameFly which from the review apparently isn't too long. I played the Demo and it looked great although the combat system was a bit difficult to get used to.

Halo 3 is almost here, and I plan on renting it and going to my cousin's house to play it cooperatively on his 360 Elite. I'm still not sure when or if I'll buy a 360, but with the recent price drops it does look appealing. Time for dinner, later all!

Hey All,

The last game I put under my belt was The Darkness on the PS3. I forgot to mention in my review, the game certainly earned its Mature Rating with all the swearing, violence, and adult content. However, it's definitely a game people should check out if they're old enough to handle it. Here's my full review. Recommendations are appreciated.

In other gaming news, I'm about 30 hours into Wild Arms 5 and it's pretty good. It's not the best RPG I've played, but it's still entertaining.

I also started playing Spider-Man 3. First impressions are that it feels longer than previous Spider-Man games, and web slinging is as fun as ever. However, the combat feels a little weak and the camera is almost broken. That's all for tonight, have a good rest of the weekend!

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe my last full review was for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin back in March, but I just completed my review for Ninja Gaiden Sigma. To sum it up, Sigma is a must play for PS3 owners, and it's really one of the best games out for the console right now even though it does have some issues which I mentioned in previous blogs and in the review. In fact, I really wanted to give the game an 8.9 because of those issues, but with the new GameSpot rating system, it certainly is closer to 9.0 than 8.5. As always, I would really appreciate any recommendations.

Now that I finished Sigma, I can start playing Darkness. I'm pretty excited to see what it has to offer. I've read that it's short, but very sweet so it should be good to play this weekend. After that, I'm ready to play Persona 3. That's all for this Saturday, have a good weekend!

Hey everyone,

It's been over a month since I started playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and I am finally reaching the last chapters. I'm clocked in at about 18 hours of total playing time and during this time I've formed some strong opinions about the game.

First I'd like to talk about the Loading Time. I installed the game to the harddrive which takes a little over 3 GBs and it's suppose to shorten the Load times. I haven't played the game without installing the game, but from what I've read about it in forums, the Install shortens beginning chapter loading times, but not in-game load times. One of the annoying things about Ninja Gaiden Sigma is that when you're traveling around you'll come across loading zones. No matter how long you stay in that zone, every time you walk across it the game pauses and takes about 2-3 seconds to load. This sounds like it's not so bad, but considering this is next-gen and very frequent, it's quite disappointing. Some people wrote that if you don't have the game installed, it plays better during in-game; however, chapter load times are longer. Considering how many times you die in Ninja Gaiden, I'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils.

The second thing worth mentioning are the graphics. Many people in the forums agree that the in-game graphics are nice, but Techmo not redoing the Xbox CGI cut-scenes is really disgusting. These scenes are especially distorted. As for frames per seconds, many report that the game is less smooth when installed. After I beat the game, I'm going to uninstall the file and test several save files to see if the game is any less choppy.

And lastly the third thing I'd like to say is that Ninja Gaiden Sigma is an awesome game with some flaws. The combat in Sigma is superb; however, the camera angles can be cumbersome. Often there is just too much action going on that it's hard to find time to control the camera. Along the same lines, the acrobatics in Sigma are so precise that the tiniest mistake will cause a lot of frustration because you will spending a lot of time jumping, wall climbing, and bird flipping over and over again to progress to the next location. The game is also ridiculously difficult in the beginning. Black Spider Ninjas kicked my butt, but later become nothing since as you progress, you get noticeably stronger and eventually die less.

That being said, because Ninja Gaiden Sigma is such a challenging game, it certainly is very satisfying as well. I plan on finishing it up this week and will start playing Persona 3 whenever it's back in stock at GameFly.

I'm also looking forward to playing Wild Arms 5 when it's released at the end of the month. I've been a big fan of the Wild Arms series, playing it all the way back in 1997 on the PS1. The only Wild Arms I didn't beat was 3, and I wasn't too impressed with Alter Code: F. However, I did enjoy WA4 and welcome the new Hexagon battle system so WA5 should be really good. That's all for today, later all!

Hey everybody,

How's everyone's Saturday going? I just woke up from a good night's sleep. About a month ago, I got a full-time job so I'm always tired and ready to go to bed around 11 p.m. The plus about working again is that my cash flow is pretty steady. I already bought a new LCD Monitor for my PC. If you want to know which monitor, click Here. There's quite some debate on how good this monitor really is since it has a few different panel manufacturers; however, it's pretty good--I think I have a C-Panel. I'm also ready to finally buy the Wii, but of course I still need to wait until it's in stock. The rumor is that the New WIi Zapper will come with the console for free, so if that is the case, I'll be picking one up right away. It's been over 6 months since the Wii's launch and I still haven't even touched a Wii Remote. Ironically, a lot of my brother's friends own Wiis and a few of my co-workers too.

A fellow GameSpot member, Adolfobaja, blogged about the new 360s having heat sinks to help with cooling the processor. I thought that was pretty interesting that you can just take a picture with a camera by pressing next to the vent holes. As soon as the 360s finally price drop, I'll probably consider picking one up again. The month that I owned one was pretty fun, Gears of War and Dead Rising were insanely awesome.

As for actual gaming, I'm still playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but I also started God of War. I played GoW 2 years ago when it was first released, but I was too busy with other games to ever finish it. So I'm starting it brand new on the PS3. The game looks really good in Wide-screen with Progressive Scan. Sure, it's showing its age, but the mechanics are top notch. Too bad I don't get rumble feedback on the PS3.

Hey GameSpotters,

I've had a few chances to play Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the last two weeks and it's definitely a great remake of the Xbox classic. The graphics are really sharp and a clear improvement considering its on a next gen platform. It's been awhile since I played Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox, but it's pretty fun to replay it on the PS3 with the addition of the new dual swords, Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang. Although, how Ryu picks up these bad boys is a little out of left field.

The game is still challenging, but a little more manageable with more spots to buy items. I still die a whole lot, but the reloading screens are short, albeit often. Currently, I'm on the the 4th chapter with all those dang gates and Black Spider Ninjas. The only other complaints I have is that sometimes the game is choppy and every once and while the game has to do some loading out of nowhere. I don't remember if the Xbox did this too, but it's definitely unexpected.

For awhile now I've been playing Half Life 2 Deathmatch. There's something about being able to pick up file cabinets and toilets with a gravity gun and tossing them at your opponents that never gets old. My online handle is Johnny Drama and I normally play in the Socal or the Old Farts Club Servers.

As for Oblivion, I'm about to close the book on the main game. I got a few more quests to do for the Thieves Guild, but I've done everything else I want to do. I'll be starting the two expansions next, but that probably won't be for awhile. I think after spending 100 hours in the world of Cyrodill, a long break is overdue. Thanks for reading, peace out!

What's up GameSpotters? It's been a few weeks since my last blog so let me fill you in with my gaming news. I returned Twilight Princess today because I wasn't enjoying the whole shadow world/wolf thing and playing it on the GameCube feels so non-interactive without the Wii-mote. I also have noticed I can't stop playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Now that I stopped the Oblivion crisis and saved the world, I'm finishing up on the last of the guild quests which include the Thieves guild and the Dark Brotherhood. The Dark Brotherhood certainly warrants the game's Mature Rating because it can get down right sick.

After that I plan on starting the expansion packs, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isle. Whenever I have time to escape the world of Oblivion, I'll need to finish God of War on the PS2. So as you can see, I have a lot of games to keep me busy.

Another reason to return Twilight Princess was to eventually rent Darkness and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Darkness is currently on low availability, so most likely Ninja Gaiden will be sent out. I never did beat the game on the Xbox, so playing it on the PS3 with some enhancements should be fun. However, I'm definitely going to rent Darkness as soon as I can because I'm hearing very good things about it. That's all for now, I hope everyone is having a good summer, peace out.

Hey everybody,

 

Wow, it's already been more than a month since my last blog. A lot's happened since, I finished school and started playing some new games. I really wanted to wait to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii, but since I still don't own it yet, I took out my Silver GameCube I put into storage a few weeks ago. Twilight is fun, but I'm a little torn with the mechanics. The whole Twilight world and normal world is somewhat a nuisance, and I hope something happens in the game to make it easier to deal with. That being said, I understand why GameSpot only gave it an 8.8. Maybe if it was released several years earlier, it would have gotten a superb rating.

I'm still playing Oblivion, got 40+ hours into now. I don't plan on doing all the side quests, but I am trying to get all the guild quests completed. I played Armored Core 4 and Def Jam Icon on the PS3. Both games are good multiplayers, but require you to play the single player campaign to unlock all the goodies. The last game I want to mention is Naruto: Ninja Council 3 on the DS. This game is broken beyond repair. The controls are horrible for it, and it doesn't do the series service at all. Stick with the Ultimate Ninja series.

Well, that's my video game update for the month of May. I'll try to knock out Zelda in a few weeks and maybe start God of War next. Take it easy GameSpotters!

Hey Everybody,

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been on GameSpot for awhile. Aside from being really busy with group projects, tests and school in general, I've been playing a lot of great games. I finished Marvel Ultimate Alliance on the PS3 a few weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun. You definitely want someone else playing with you because there's nobody online. Luckily I had my cousin to join in on the action. And recently, I have seen the gates of Oblivion and can't get away from the game. For the past days I have been exploring the world of Cyrodill and as dorky as it sounds, I'm a Level 10 Wood Elf. I should also mention I was originally going to play Oblivion on the PS3 or even the 360 when I had one, but since I got a new computer, I'm glad I waited. 

Anyways, I probably won't be checking GameSpot too much until the end of the semester. So don't be taking me off your friend's list (Yea Gunner, I'm talking about you) and I'll try to pop in everyone once and awhile. Take care everyone!

  

Hey fellow GameSpotters, it's another beautify Sunday afternoon here in California. I finished Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin last night and wrote another review . This one is pretty good especially since I compared it to my last year's Dawn of Sorrow review, and I think my writing has improved over time. As usual, any recommendations would be awesome!

I also noticed that GameSpot has updated the Blog formatting layout. It's kind of cool, but will take some getting used to. I received Virtua Fighter 5 a few days ago and I'm not too impressed by it. I was never a big Virtua Fighter nor Tekken fan, so I'm not surprised it's not doing it for me.

I like my fighting games to be a little more wild like Marvel vs Capcom, Smash Bros., Naruto Ultimate Ninja, Dead or Alive, or Soul Calibur. What can I say, I like shooting fireballs. But I must say Virtua Fighter 5 is really good looking. I'm not sure if I will write a review for it since I probably won't be playing it much to give a fair and honest review, but I still have a whole day before I ship it out for something new.

 

What's up everybody, I've finally wrote a review for Resistance: Fall of Man (I know how much you wanted it Stubby!) It's probably my longest review because there really is a lot of substance to that game. I also finished Xenosaga 3 yesterday, and wrote a review for that as well. I know I had my issues with Xenosaga, but I think the review covers my overall impressions. Please check them both out and I'd appreciation any recommendations.

As for GameFly, it sent me Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin which is as good as I expected it to be. One thing that I did notice is that the dual screen is kind of a must. I remember playing GBA Castlevania games and it was kind of a pain to have to press a button to bring up the map. While on the DS, the map is always displayed on the top screen making it a lot easier to navigate through Dracula's enormous castle. I'm currently at level 11 and completed the first painting.

That'll do it for today, I got a lot of tests to study for. Peace out and have a nice rest of the weekend.

Hey everybody, I know I said I was going to write the Resistance review next, but I couldn't keep my hands off Hotel Dusk. It was perfect for playing every night right before bed and 18 hours later, I finished it. Here's my review, check it out and recommend if you can.


As for Xenosaga 3, I got about 50 hours into that. I'm pretty sure I'm almost at the end, so there will be a review for that in the near future. And after I play Resistance a few more things online, I'll try write that next.


The next games on the horizon will be God of War 1 and 2. I played the first for a bit when it was released, but never finished it. So I'll be replaying that and the sequel next. That's it today, have a good one!

Hey everybody! Since GameSpot increased the avatar size, I created a new avatar. This one shows Peter Parker transforming into the Amazing Spider-Man. I used the artwork from Ultimate Spider-Man which I'm currently reading.

The old avatar


The new bigger avatar

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In gaming news, I've put more hours into Xenosaga 3. It's getting better. These characters definitely grow on you after 2 sequels and the cut scenes are great to watch. But I still feel the battle mechanics are too simplistic. For example, you can't intentially combo enemies. Sometimes it'll automatically happen by chance, but the Boost gauge is usually saved for Special Attacks to finish off foes for extra points. Despite some flaws, it's still a good game and I'm determined to reach the anticipated conclusion.

Hotel Dusk keeps me busy when I'm RPGed out. You meet a lot of interesting people in this hotel out in the middle of nowhere. Some friends, and many foes. A lot of the time I think something is going to pop out to scare you like in Resident Evil, but nothing ever does. I also get the feeling that you can die from attacks, but the game doesn't use any type of health bar. You only get the Game Over screen if you choose the wrong option. All in all, a solid DS title, but probably best for renting.

Time for more Xenosaga 3, later!

Howdy all, I had a free rental coupon for Blockbuster so I came in
there wanting to get either Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the PS3 or
Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube. But to my surprise, none were available. So I decided to rent Xenosaga 3. Click on the spoiler to read more about it. It's not really a spoiler, I just did it to save space.



***SPOILER***


As for GameFly, they sent me Hotel Dusk: Room 215.



***SPOILER***




Well, that's all I've got to say for now. I'll try to write my
Resistance review in a few days. School is keeping me pretty busy.
Later

Hey everybody, how's everyone enjoying President's day? It's raining today, but I got a lot of good resting in and finished a few games. My Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All review is up, so please read and recommend if you can. I also wrote a Dead or Alive 4 review as well

A few days ago I finished playing Resistance: Fall of Man and I liked it a lot. The co-op campaign was fun and it has a lot of cool weapons. I'm having fun playing multiplayer, although it's very hectic. It supports headset and chatting, but it's not very necessary since the gameplay is so fast paced. I don't even bother wearing my headset since it connects via the USB on the console. I'll be working a that review next.

That's all for now, I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Hey everybody, I leveled up from Gitaroo Man to Metal Slime today. Looks like I'll be stuck here for awhile.


As for Phoenix Wright: Justice for All, I just started Case 4. Check out my previous blog to see my thoughts and post a comment if you'd like.

Yesterday GameFly sent me Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3. It has a co-op campaign mode, so I think I'll wait to play it with a friend. But I did get a chance to check out the online multiplayer and it's pretty good. There seems to be a good selection of weapons and the whole WWII/Alien invasion concept is interesting.

Getting into a game is relatively fast and lag isn't too much of an issue. From what I can tell, your stats get recorded if you play ranked games and after so many wins/kills you level up.

One thing I have noticed is it's a bit awkward not having rumble feedback. I guess you don't really notice it's gone until it is because shooting your gun doesn't feel right unless your controller is shaking.

Other than that, I plan on playing Hotel Dusk next after I finish up Phoenix Wright. Cya later!