Alpha99's Blog Posts

November is over and what a month it was. The good thing about November being over is that the flood of games coming out is over. Between September 08 and November 08 I picked up 26 games, that is nearly 10 games a month... Note to: Videogame industry: Stop releasing everything in the fall/holiday season... thanks, my wallet. But enough of that let's first cover the posts of the month, followed by some quick thoughts on my games of November 2008. Let's do this!

November 4, 2008
This one is pretty simple, I wrote my impressions of Fallout 3 after about 30 hours of play. I have since finished the game and I will have my final thoughts in the form of a full review as part of my year-end special.

November 18, 2008
In this post I started by giving my impressions of the New Xbox Experience (NXE) and then followed up with one line impressions of 6 new games.

November 25, 2008
I wrote my finished article for Call of Duty: World at War. I have since played more of the multiplayer, it still has terrible problems with re-spawns, but its not as bad as I made it sound in this article.

November 27, 2008
I posted my finished article for Gears of War 2. It was actually better than I thought and is a definite GotY contender. My 499th post.

November 29, 2008
In the 500th post on the blog, I celebrated by reviewing some of my favorite posts in my old long running series Now Loading Update Weekly (NLU Weekly). We're on our way to 1000 with this post #501.

Month-In-Games: November 2008
Here is a recap with quick impressions of each title that I picked up in the month of November.

Call of Duty: World at War
Activision/Treyarch, 360, 2008
Purchased: 11.13.2008
The single player is pretty sharp rivaling that of the other CoD games... but the multiplayer has to live in the shadow of the amazingly sharp CoD4.

Guitar Hero: World Tour
Activision/Neversoft, 360, 2008
Purchased: 11.13.2008
I wasn't planning on getting GH: World Tour, but after trying out the gutiar controller in a store, I picked up the game+guitar bundle. The game itself is pretty good, its hard to critique because it is so similar to Rock Band 2... but it was worth picking up just for the guitar alone.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Microsoft/Rare, 360, 2008
Purchased: 11.14.2008
My first impressions are a bit shaky, but I'm not sure I have experienced enough of this game to make a decision on if I like it or not, so I am going to hold off saying for the time being.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Namco Bandai, Wii, 2008
Purchased: 11.16.2008
I usually wait until I hit the 10 hour mark in J-RPGs before I give my full impressions, but as for a first impression after about 2 hours... I'm not sure about the direction of the game, doesn't feel right as a sequel to one of my favorites just yet.

Animal Crossing: City Folk
Nintendo, Wii, 2008
Purchased: 11.17.2008
I could just write here: "it's Animal Crossing"... so I will. It's Animal Crossing, not much new here to warrant buying this version, but I am enjoying playing AC on my TV again.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (Ep. 4) - Dangeresque 3
Tell Tale Games, Wii, 2008
Purchased: 11.17.2008
Strong Bad has finally finished Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, but as a game, this short 2.5 hour romp is not really as worth it as the first three SBCG4AP episodes. For serious Strong Bad fans only.

Gears of War 2
Microsoft/Epic Games, 360, 2008
Purchased: 11.18.2008
Gears of War 2 has a great story, great characters, great action, great graphics... that makes it totally great. If you want to no more just read my finished article in the post review.

The Last Remnant
Square-Enix, 360, 2008
Purchased: 11.24.2008
I haven't played The Last Remnant yet, it hasn't fared well critically, but it looks like it could be interesting. I'll get to it sooner or later and when I do I'll tell your about it then.

Chrono Trigger
Square-Enix, DS, 2008
Purchased: 11.28.2008
I haven't got too deep in to Chrono Trigger just yet, but I really happy to be able to finally own a version of this c.lassic RPG and maybe play through it for the first time.

There you have it November 2008 in a nut shell. Month-In-Review takes December off, but that doesn't mean there won't be tons to read on the blog in the next four weeks. I still have many games left to complete and cover so I'll have that for you. Plus, my usual 13 post end of year wrap ups special will close out December with my Game of the Year awards. Look for the special to start December 19th. That does it I'm outta here for now, I'll write soon. Here's to a great December! Loading Complete!

500 posts... Damn, I can't believe that I am here. When I first wrote in this blog, September 2, 2004, I just wanted to try out the new "journal" feature over at GameSpot. That test run led to posting nearly every single experience with videogames that I have had since September 2004. Crap, 2004, I have doing this for over 4 years, that in and of itself is pretty amazing. I have had many special features, tons of reviews (finished articles), impression articles and even specific very deep coverage of specific RPGs. It's been quite a ride to number 500, but I think after doing one of these reflective pieces a few times, that it is time to reflect on something different, somthingthat ran for 76 weeks (not in a row). A feature that be came a weekly staple, Now Loading Weekly.

In this feature I am going to take a look at a select few of my very favorite NLU Weekly editions, pick a short list of my favorite NLUW blog titles and then talk about what I am planning for the future of this blog. First it is time to take a look at my top 10 favorite/important NLU Weeklies.

Top 10 Favorite/Important NLU Weekly Editions
10. NLU Weekly #10 (November 2, 2006) - Final Fantasy XII Impressions
I picked this one because my first impressions of the latest FF game (can you believe it was 2 years ago) are one of my most detailed and thorough and are still the reason that I have yet to finish the game. The License Grid is just to hard to use thanks to the hidden nature of the next tiles.

9. NLU Weekly #15 (January 4, 2007) - The Last Remnants of 2006
I really only picked this one because of the little goodbye to Greg Kasavin contained within it. I never did play any of Greg's new games, but that is only because RTS games aren't my thing.

8. NLU Weekly #33 (May 24, 2007) - Achieve This!
The reason behind this one was it was the only time I really got obsessed over achievement points enough to do a Jeff Gerstmann like "Points Report". In hindsight the score you get isn't what I care about, I just love the little plink sound effect when the notification pops-up. ooooo... what'd I unlock?

7. NLU Weekly #75 (June 14, 2008 ) - Just Straight Up Bloggin'
Here I though it would be a good idea to blog like I did back in 2004. Except in 2004 I wasn't quite so verbose; so this became quite difficult to read, but I do like the concept.

6. NLU Weekly #43 (August 4, 2007) - We're Kicking It Old-Skool! (Seriously)
Here's a silly one. True Fact: I wrote that opening paragraph in all seriousness, but quite quickly after I realized that I wasn't in to that old skool approach so I faked you out with that dumb word association gag.

5. NLU Weekly #23 (March 1, 2007) - Up In a Tree or Secret Area #1
The best part of this NLU Weekly is another one of my rants about that crappy RPG Enchanted Arms. I was pissed off by how easy the game was up until the final boss, which kicked my ass to the moon. The game is so lackluster that I couldn't be bothered to spend time leveling up to try the boss another time.

4. NLU Weekly #51 (October, 20, 2007) - The Yearly Disappointment
That being the last three Tony Hawk videogames. After suffering through most of Proving Ground and its ridiculous "take a picture of yourself" feature the game just got me to share my feelings on what is was like to see a series that I am passionate about go down the crapper.

3. NLU Weekly #17 (January 18, 2007) - Ultimate Battle: Twilight Princess VS. Okami
This one of my most odd posts. I guess you could call it an experiment of sorts, but usually comparing games to each other doesn't accomplish anything and honestly I am not sure it did here. Though, I still do like Okami better than Twilight Princess.

2. NLU Weekly #37 (June 21, 2007) - Forza 2: The Monster Update
I like this one because of it's epicness. But it really shows just how much I was in love with Forza Motorsport 2. In fact this is epitome of my posts about that game which pretty much took over all of June 2007.

1. NLU Weekly #8 (October 12, 2006) - Auto Battle
This one is #1 on my list just because of the insane rant I went on again against Enchanted Arms. I pretty much predicted the storyline, though like I said in NLU Weekly #23 I gave up on that lame game.

Top 8 NLU Weekly Post Titles
If you notice as you look at my top favorite/important NLUW's they each have a creative title. Before I started structuring my blog titles they all had unique names, but NLU Weekly was my chance to be creative again. Here are my Top 8 favorite NLU Weekly Titles:

8. #23  - Up In a Tree or Secret Area #1
This one isn't the most creative or even funny title... but... it does tie in with the post itself as I took that "OR" thing all the way.

7. #53 - From the Creator of NLU Weekly
On the back of the box for Blue Dragon it says: "From the creator of Final Fantasy..." and I just switched it up for my own advantage. I also used "from the creator of" as a lead in to a few of the paragraphs.

6. #67 - Core Objectives Only / Easier Enemies
This is one of those perfect blog like titles that doesn't describe a damn thing that post is about, so you have just read the post and discover the secret. I took it from the description of the easy setting of 007: Everything or Nothing.

5. #65 - We're In 3-D (So Use It)!
This was riff on Dragon Quest VII which I was in the middle of at the time. I picked the title after being frustrated by the game's lame and unnecessary 3-D element.

4. #39 - Saturday Night is Alright for NLU Weekly!
This was first NLU Weekly on Saturday. For some reason NLU Weekly ended up on a Thursday, but that didn't work out. Kind of a play on Elton John's song titled: "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting".

3. #47 - Nlu EDGE Uniform System
Here's a slightly more clever one. The NHL introduced a new ****of uniforms designed and developed by Reebok, who at the time called them selves "Rbk". The new s.tyle of uniforms was dubbed the: "Rbk Edge Uniform System. Luckily for me NLU has the same amount of letters as Rbk.

2. #24 - Once Upon a Wobbly Control Stick
After playing some N64 with an old wobbly control stick, then telling you the tales about it, it seemed only natural to change once upon a time to fit my needs.

1. #31 - Step Back, It's NLU Weekly!
This my favorite just because the reference is kind of obscure and that it is just plain silly. In the end credits song of R4: Ridge Race Type 4 the vocalist sings: "Step back it's ridge racer!" That song is just ridiculous, it's in English, but the lyrics just scream: "written in Japan!"

Well that does it for my lists, as for the future of the blog, just expect more of my wordy coverage of most of the latest games and even coverage of some older ones from time to time. Also in December I have the huge 2008 Wrap Ups Special which is going to last for 13 posts over 2 weeks. I'm ready for another 500, I hope you'll join me! Loading Complete!

Post Milestones:
1st Post: 09/02/2004: Burnout 3: Takedown
Post 50: 12/22/2004: Gradius V Impressions
Post 100: 05/31/2005: LoD Log 2K5: Disc 2 Start
Post 150: 12/23/2005: 2005 Wrap Ups: Torvus Borg reaches 150 posts!
Post 200: 04/15/2006: Finished: Kirby Canvas Curse and 200th Post
Post 250: 08/28/2006: Now Loading Update (August 28, 2006)
Post 300: 12/29/2006: Now Loading's 300th Retrospective
Post 350: 06/26/2007: Finished: Forza Motorsport 2
Post 400: 12/11/2007: Special: My Top 50 Personal Favorite Games 2008 Edition: Games 40-31
Post 450: 04/25/2008: Finished: Eternal Sonata (450th Post)
Post 500: 11/29/2008: #500 - Now Loading Weekly Retrospective (This Post)

Good:
- Interesting Story
- Great Characters (Delta Squad)
- Great Weapons (old and new)
- Amazing Graphics and epic scope
 - Perfect length
- Just the right amount of refinements
- Excellent Music and sound effects/voice acting

Bad:
- Normal difficulty MUCH easier than Gears 1's "Casual"
- Bosses kinda lack-luster (maybe because of difficulty)
- If you didn't like Gears before, this won't change your mind

I did what I said I was going to do and that was to tackle the remainder of Gears of War 2. I was at the beginning of Act 4 when I started playing a couple of days ago and finished the last two parts of Act 5 late last night. Gears of War 2 is miles better than the first game in series, in terms of scope, story, graphically (if you can believe that) and just in overall campaign design. What was really surprised me about Gears 2 was the story and writing. I was already big fans of the four members of the Delta Squad, but this story (and the accompanying dialog)  just makes them seem that much more real and defines each members' character. In fact, during one scene I nearly welled up, because of the sadness of the moment and the musical score that accompanied it. I would have never thought I'd be almost be brought to tears in a game like Gears 2. I even caught myself laughing out loud at Baird and the Cole Train. Sure in the end there are a few nagging questions about the Locust, the imulsion and the last ditch effort the humans made to stop them. But overall, it is many times more interesting than Gears 1's "bullets before brains" style of disjointed storytelling.

Another thing that actually surprised me was the scope and amazing quality of the graphics in the game. When I saw Gears 1 back in 2006 I thought it was the most amazing game I had ever seen, but some how Epic managed to make Gears 2 look multitudes better. The size of some of the open environments like giant caves and huge cities are just jaw dropping. Just to add to that amazing scope is the sound effects and music, the new Lancer sound effect for instance makes that gun just hit harder. The music score is amazing, like I said it makes the game better as in that scene I mentioned above. It is just grand and big in scope just like the game worlds.

I really enjoyed the campaign, it is miles better than Gears 1's . In the first game it was a lot of cat and mouse sort of stuff with the Berserkers and the Krill, but here you'll encounter nothing so frustrating. It's all about the fighting, shooting, exploding and chainsawing of the Locust enemy. The scenarios are also better laid out because the level design is better, there are some parts that can become over whelming, but nothing like the first game's end of Act 4's mansion fight. It also feels about the perfect length for the amount of intense action that happens during it, 5 - 6 hours of intense action and fun.

I haven't spent too much time with the multiplayer yet, except in a few matches against bots, but new modes like Guardian and Wingman are pretty cool additions. Plus I love the new beat downs and sniper rifle executions. Now that I am finished the main story, I will probably play more multiplayer and will have my thoughts on that in the near future.

It's not all good there are a few things that I thought were not perfect. First the "Normal" difficulty is super easy, other than a couple accidental (aka deaths that could have been easily avoided) I probably could have made it through the entire game without dying. On one hand I appreciate that "Normal" is easier than the "casual" difficulty from the first game because that one was just not really "casual", but at least it was challenging if Hardcore was too much for you... I am going to have to say play on "Hardcore" Gears 2 if you want any sort of challenge... I'd hate to see how easy Gears 2's "Casual" mode is. One reason is Normal is easier is because you can go "down, but not out" and one of your AI teammates (usually Dom) can revive you, where as in the first game and on the harder difficulties here if you take too much damage, you just die.

Finally, I'm not sure if this because of difficulty, but the game's boss fights where kind of simplistic... there was nothing like the thrill of FINALLY taking down RAAM in Gears 1's conclusion. Even at a higher difficulty I can't really see how they could be harder if they play out the same way.

But other than the fact, if you didn't like Gears 1 (for what ever reason) you won't like this, though the refinements do make a big difference in some spots. This is a great sequel to a big hit game and I loved every moment of it. I couldn't have asked for more; bigger, better and more badass, indeed.

With Gears 2 completed, it is time to move on to Dead Space, a game that I bought over a month ago, but haven't even got around to playing yet. I'm going to wuss out and put the game on the easy setting at least for the first play through and so that I can finish it fairly quickly so that I can move on the plethora of other titles, namely the 5, 40+ hour RPGs that I haven't got to yet. With that said, that completes my 499th post on this blog, most of which where first published on GameSpot (though they are all archived here, in case you don't want to go there)... in the next couple of days I will have ready my 500th post; a retrospective on my longest running feature NLU Weekly. I'm going to take a look at my favorites, my favorite NLU Weekly blog titles and have a list of each one of them. I'll also reflect on what has become a major part of my videogame hobby. Sorry about the brains! Loading Complete!

All that time playing games has paid off and I have completed a couple of games in the last few days, one I am going to talk about in detail and one that will have to wait a while before I share my thoughts about it. I also have a few other things to talk about before post #500 happens pretty damn soon. The game I am going to talk about today is Call of Duty: World at War, so here is the skinny on the latest in CoD series.

Finished: Call of Duty: World at War
Living in a shadow... that is the fate of Treyarch... the shadow of a juggernaut, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the most played game on Xbox Live, 2007's winner of multiple GotY awards, a game that I gave my own 2007 GotY to after only owning the game for about 5 days and a game that managed to keep me hooked for nearly a year straight. This shadow is inescapable, but with that said, the question remains is: is CoD: WaW worth your time? Short answer: yes, mostly... the long one, we're getting to that.

There are two aspects that are featured in CoD games and that is Single Player and Multiplayer. The single player aspect in WaW rivals that of the other CoD games, it is intense, full of amazing (and in WaW shocking moments) and will have your heart pumping as you fight to stay alive in the games endless fire fights. The first thing you will notice right off the bat is that WaW isn't your typical rated "T" for Teen World War II shooter, this game isn't afraid to show you the HORRORS of war. High caliber machine gun bullets will sever limbs (even decapitate), you get to watch as a soldier holds his chest as the blood drains out after stabbing him with a bayonet, witness the close quarters self defense neck stabbing of a Japanese banzai soldiers, or watch a poor soul with his legs blown off crawl with his last remaining energy. It is hard to stomach sometimes; it's a different kind of violence from say Gears of War 2, which is so over the top its almost funny, here it is almost too real for it's own good.

This campaign switches from you playing as a US Marine in Japan and a member of the Russian Red Army pushing the German Nazi's out of Moscow all the way back to Berlin crushing them on their own soil. The two campaigns play similarly but in Japan you will have to deal with ambushes and banzai attacks, where as in the Russian side it's more typical CoD type stuff. The normal difficulty will be a pretty decent challenge for most and masochists will probably want to attempt the ludicrous Veteran difficulty. The single player still suffers from all the problems CoD games have in the past. The enemies are insane at placing grenades and you will die from them more than you would ever care to. It forces you to move around, but their accuracy is just stupid good. Also that useless Grenade danger indicator returns to warn you that a grenade is near you, but is actually on the other side of a wall or to pop up as you run towards a grenade. It is a semi-transparent white indicator that is easy to miss when in a heavy battle.

Also returning are the heavily scripted battles where you must reach a specific trigger in an area to push forward and stop the enemies from spawning. The problem with WaW is a lot of the time when you reach these triggers the enemies behind you do not disappear so you might have a enemy soldier shooting you in the ass even though you made it to the next checkpoint. YOU must push forward your teammates are content to just shoot at the respawning Nazis/Japanese all day long. Sometimes you will find yourself putting your ass on the line just to move forward a tiny bit because your friends sure as hell won't.  Plus, I still find it funny that your characters are still incapable of opening doors. Overall though it is a fun campaign and you will be in for 5 or so hours of gruesome and intense fights, which you can also enjoyed with up to four friends. Yup, co-op is pretty fun, though it doesn't really make a lot of sense in context of the story to watch two characters get dragged off by the same guy.

But the thing that kept me playing CoD4 for this whole time was the brilliant multiplayer with perks, MMORPG style XP grinding, challenges and unlockable attachments for guns. All that is here in WaW... EXCEPT one thing... Map Design. The maps are terrible in WaW, IMO. They have terrible spawn points, are too wide open limiting style of play to "run and gun" and include giant maps for tanks. The WaW maps just don't have that level of meticulous detail that was featured in the CoD4 maps, where each cover point was carefully designed to give you only one clear shot (protecting your blindside) and each map was littered with a few safe havens where you can catch your breath. Each path is clearly laid out, cover placed in the proper spots, the spawn system is among this most intelligent in the genre... screw it, Call of Duty 4 is just a better multiplayer experience, besides who the heck wants to fight with WWII guns after experiencing the M16, G36c, MP5, M203 rifle mounted grenade launcher, red dot reflex sight, ACOG scopes and the Barrett .50 cal? Not me that's who, I mean, the M1 Garand might be a famous classic gun, but with only 8 bullets in a clip, it was not designed for FPS multiplayer and who in their right mind would want to use a bolt action rifle? (at least for something other than a sniper rifle, but for many of that type of gun you have to unlock the scope)

I enjoyed the single player and playing co-op with my brother, but I knew that when I played the WaW multiplayer beta/demo that I probably wasn't going to enjoy the multiplayer as much as I did CoD4. In that regard I am disappointed with WaW, I was at least hoping to play the mulitplayer until I at least got to level 65, but I can't stand getting spawned out the open or have my team-mates die and spawn on the other side of the map leaving me all alone, having no spot on the map that I am able to defend with out having about 47 ways for the enemy players to get to me, or just the fact most of the guns are terribly useless for FPS multiplayer. As soon as I get the chance I am going back to CoD4 until Infinity Ward's next CoD game comes out.

Closing Out
On the future games subject I am a single game away from completing my must have list for 2008, that game is Chrono Trigger (DS). I also picked up The Last Remnant, sort of against my better judgment, but I think as a fairly hardcore RPG fan I think I can get something from it. I mean, it's not like I still have FF12, Lost Odyssey, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery and Tales of Symphonia 2  to complete or anything. It's going to be a busy December.

The game that I finished and am saving is Fallout 3, I am going to write a review of the game for my 2008 Wrap-Ups special at the end of December. The game that I am currently working on is Gears of War 2, I'd write impressions, but everyone pretty much knows how that game turned out. I plan to finish it next and then move on to Dead Space (which I haven't even played a second of yet). It's been one hell of a year for games and I can't wait to write about all the experiences that I have had with the near 70 games that I picked up this year.

This is the 498th post that I have made in my blog and for post 500, I am going to play tribute to NLU Weekly. You'll see what I mean when I post the article in the next little while. Talk to you in #499 soon! Loading Complete!

Holy crap, long time no write, huh? Games, man, games... can't blog about 'em if you're playing 'em and can't play 'em if you blog about 'em... so I stopped playing them for a little bit here to write about them games.  Since the last time I wrote I have picked up 6 new games and have one still on the way... I will admit that I got carried away with the releases, I mean 6 games in 4 days might be a bit nuts... but you can thank the videogame industry and its insane "holiday" obsessed release schedule. Anyway, first I am going to cover the New Xbox Experience and then that will be fallowed by quick thoughts on the games I haven't talked about since the last time I wrote. Let's get it ON!!

The New Xbox Experience
So I got in to the 3rd wave of the NXE previews, which means I got to try the NXE for about 5 days before the Nov 19 full release. So what do I think... ummmmm... how do I put this: MEH! That's right I don't think it is all that special, at least at this point, we don't have Netflix in Canada, the Mi-I mean-avatars don't do a whole hell of a lot except stand around and installing to hard-drive hasn't been as much of a god-send as I hoped it would be for my tired DVD drive. You are probably wondering what I mean by that, well, it means that I haven't had much luck getting games to work playing off the hard drive. That DVD drive is so wonky that I believe that it doesn't correctly install the data from the DVDs on to the HDD causing - "Disc is unreadable" messages even when playing from the HDD.

For instance I couldn't even get passed the initial loading screen of NHL 09, through maybe one or two matches in Call of Duty: WaW, Oblivion (which was the game I'd hoped this feature would help me with) would "disc is unreadable" within 5 minutes and Guitar Hero World Tour "disc is unreadabled" at Michel Jackson's "Beat It" every time. I did some research and didn't read about any one else having these problems so I assume that you need to have a properly working DVD drive to use this feature to its fullest; though all those games worked off the DVDs (except for Oblivion, which I didn't try). Out of the 8 games that I tried installing, I haven't tried 2, 2 haven't had "disc is unreadable" messages (yet) and 4 have "disc is unreadabled" constantly. Disappointing to say the least as the install feature was the one thing that is appealing about the NXE. I hope if I ever get a new 360 or get my current one repaired that the installs will work with a good DVD drive.

There are a couple of cool new things that I like: game info screens all have unique a background themed to that game, you can turn off the auto-playing of games inserted into the drive, it looks more appealing compared to blades, the little guide that is triggered by the "guide" button is much more fully featured and when the Install to Hard Drive feature is used the system does load games faster and is much more quiet (which is why it is the best feature and why I am so disappointed that it doesn't work for me). It's definitely a New Xbox Experience, just not the one I wanted, but your mileage may vary.

Games, Games, Games
Just so it doesn't take me 3 hours to write this, I'm going to try to summarize my thoughts on each game into A SINGLE LINE. Challenging = very yes.

Call of Duty: World at War:
- Still intense, multiplayer just like CoD4 if the maps/spawns sucked and it had WWII weapons.

Guitar Hero World Tour:
- GHWT guitar controller is the bomb, the game is actually pretty fun was kind of surprised, some cool songs.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts:
- Part of me wishes it was a regular BK game, part of me loves the building aspect (I love LEGOs) and another isn't a fan of mission like challenges.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World:
- Played for about 2 hours, kind of confused as the direction of the game, don't like the main character Emil, whiny little punk... well except when he gets possessed by his other personality.

Animal Crossing City Folk:
- It's Animal Crossing... yup, it's Animal Crossing... not totally a bad thing, AC is really great, but I don't I already own this game twice already Nintendo?

Strong Bad's, blah, blah, Episode 4: Dangeresque 3:
- Finally, Dangeresque 3, kind of funny, nearly worth it for the constant "Looks like I'm Goooing to haaaaave to juh-uuump!", but it only lasted 2.5 hours compared to nearly 5 of the last 3 games.

There you have it one line about each game, some of them could be stretches as sentences but that's okay, this is the internet and a blog. I hope to have more detailed coverage of some of these games soon as I get the time to take them all on.

Closing Out
I have Gears of War 2 STILL on the way, because it released on Friday (Nov 7th), then because of the holiday (Nov 11th) and because I was too cheap to pay 13 dollars for air (3-day shipping) I have had to wait for over 10 days for it show up. Honestly its fine, I don't have time for it right now, but it should be here today (Nov 18th).

Nextly (not a real word), I am announcing that my usual list of my personal favorite Top 50 games will not be hitting until next year (2009). Last year (2007) the I only had one game left to grab and that was Mass Effect, this year I am in the middle of at least 6 games, haven't played 1 and have another on the way and I know at least 3 of those will probably end up new additions to the list, but I gotta play them enough first and I can't do that if I have to work on the list for its early December release time.

Don't worry, I will make up for it with the upcoming 500th Now Loading post which is just three posts away and with the giant year ending Now Loading 2008 Wrap Ups special which usually spans 13 or 14 days. Plus there is sure to be a few finished articles in the time between those, so there is a lot coming, just got to find the time to do it all. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my first post in 2 weeks.  (X) Disc is Unreadable - Disc may be dirty or damaged -  Clean disc with soft cloth. - restart system. Um, cleaning an HDD with a soft cloth probably would be a bad idea. Loading Complete!