I just bought and downloaded Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner (yikes, long name). I've played for a little over an hour. It's a surprisingly good game. If you like the internet cartoons, you're going to enjoy this game.

I made my own Teen Girl Squad comic, wandered around and got several locations on my map, sent an SBMail to one of my Wii friends, played a minigame, and collected a few things.

It's well done. I like the graphics too. They're smooth 3D and there's very few loading times.

So far, I give it an 8.5/10.

I know a lot of people who have been turned off of Brawl online. It's clearly not one of the best online systems out there, but when it works properly, it's definitely a blast to play.

I know when Brawl first came out, there were major problems with the online. Error codes, disconnects, and insane amount of lag really ruined the online experience. But with the game being out for a while now, the online traffic has subsided considerably and I want to share the experiences I've had recently.

The main problem with Brawl's online: Basic/Team Brawls. Looking for someone took forever and when you did find someone, it would lag a lot until it finally disconnected. This happens considerably less frequently now. While it still takes a long time to find someone, you can still have a blast playing once you do get others. Lag usually isn't much of a problem anymore. Error codes only come on occasion and disconnects aren't as frequent.

For me, it takes anywhere from about 2-15 minutes to find someone in Basic/Team Brawl. This is a major problem. Once someone is found though, it, overall, works quite well for me. There is the occasional slowdown and there is a bit of button delay, though.

Friend Brawls work as well as they always have. Maybe even better. Connections are generally quite smooth and fluid and, depending on your distance, there is little button delay.
After playing several matches throughout the month, I've also come across another conclusion. If you don't have the greatest internet connection, you're going to have trouble playing Brawl online. If you have a wireless network like me with several people using the network, things like downloads and streaming videos can considerably degrade the quality of your online performance.

If someone is streaming a video on, say, Youtube, your Brawl will be very laggy and choppy and become downright unplayable until the video is completely loaded. If you are downloading something, it may or may not be a problem. It's usually downloads such as bittorrents that truly break up your connection.

So, in conclusion, Brawl online works well, despite some lag. Disconnects and error codes don't come up often, unlike when the game first launched in North America (yikes!), and lag isn't much of a problem anymore unless one persons connection in your match is bad. If the match is choppy and very laggy and it's wireless internet, then check to make sure you are close enough to your router. Also make sure, if you are in a network with other computers, that nobody is downloading anything or streaming videos or running an internet heavy program. I hope those tips help you. If there's even the slightest bit of malfunction on your internet, your Brawl game will be affected more than any other game.

The Good

• Generally lag free friend matches
• Mostly lag free Random matches

The Bad

• Long wait times for Random matches
• Strict internet requirements
• Button delay and lag is annoying

Overall score for Brawl online:

3/5

I'm getting more and more used to this site. I'm trying out new things and such. Like embedding videos and such into forum and blog entries.

  

It works! Pretty neat site.

Anyway, anyone else excited for Sonic Unleashed? =P

Also, I edited my reviews from Gamespot. They're essentially the same, but I just changed some of the wording and made it clearer as to what I meant. Leave some comments if you agree or disagree on them.

So I just got learners permit. It's pretty exciting and, to be honest, I didn't really expect to pass the written test. I was waiting while the lady was correcting it and she called me up. I was all set for a "You fail. Go home" but no. I got a nice "You pass! Take some annoying vision test and wait in line in the other part of the building for a half hour to get your picture taken!". Great, I suppose.

Still, I went out driving today. It went smoothly. Practiced in an empty parking lot. Best place to do so =P.

Other than that, I was playing Battalion Wars 2 for most of the day. It's Summer. I sleep for the entire morning, anyway. I also got a job, which I'm starting at on Monday. It's my first job too which is exciting but it makes me nervous, nonetheless.

Along with that, I set up my new account here at GiantBomb, which is pretty cool. I still don't know how to work some of the stuff but I submitted some stuff and I'm just waiting for the mods to approve it.

I still play Super Smash Bros. Brawl a fair bit. I deleted some people from my friends list who weren't active anymore. I also still play Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 on occasion. Add me on that if you want. My account name is GSH Drizzt.

So yeah, enough of my ramblings. You may proceed with your own lives.