Empire: Total War has been reviewed at IGN.com.  They gave it a 95/100.  5 reviews are currently up on metacritic and none have a score below 9/10.  This wait is going to kill me!

Read the IGN review here.

Well, long time no blog.  I'm no longer going to promise any sort of regular update to this thing.  Sometimes I just get the inspiration to write a blog (mostly in times of boredom such as now), but 95% of the time I view it as a chore and therefore they don't get done haha.

I'm really looking forward to Empire: Total War next week.  I bought it on Steam, so it will be unlocked during my ROTC leadership lab on Wednesday.  That lab is going to be the longest lab of the year for me.  I'm going to be sitting there watching the minutes tick by, praying for the clock to just reach 1700 so I can go play Empire haha. 

Today I bought Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on Steam.  The game always semi-intrigued me, but because of the mostly mediocre reviews I avoided it.  Today, however, I saw it on Steam for $4.99 and couldn't resist.  I'll let you guys know what I think of it in my next blog (whenever that occurs).

Lately I've been playing a lot of Rome: Total War and Medieval 2: Total War to get ready for Empires.  Those games never get old.  In Rome: TW, I was on the verge of installing the Roma Surrectum mod, but when I realized it took away your ability to play vanilla Rome: TW I quit.  I play Medieval 2: TW with the Stainless Steel mod.  It is one of the best mods for any game I've ever played.  Adds a lot more factions and gameplay enhancements.  I highly reccomend it.  I've also been playing a lot of TQ: Immortal Throne lately.  One of my friends from high school recently got it and after talking about it with him I got one of those urges to play a bit.  That urge has lasted for the past week and hasn't quite died yet.  TQ is one of those games like Diablo; you just want to keep going to get that next awesome item.

That's all I got for now.  For other college students on the quarter system, good luck on finals!  They're coming up sooner than we realize....unfortunately.

Ok, so no video blog for this, but just going to share with you guys the present that were given to me for Christmas and what I gave out.

I gave:

• Dad - Stanley 8oz flask, "A Christmas Story" 25th anniversary edition
• Mom - College license plate holder that says UCSB Mom, Western Europe travel guide
• Uncle - Shaving sample kit from "The Art of Shaving," Stanley 8oz flask
• Sister - Sex and the City DVD, some special shower soap thing

• Some "dress" clothing for semi-formal occassions (like a cashmere sweater)
• Tropic Thunder DVD
• Mel Brooks Complete DVD Collection
• PBS Empires DVD Collection
• Spira Genesis running shoes
• Italy 2009 Calendar
• $400 and a $75 gift certificate to the Sports Basement

• NHL 09 (X360)
• Left 4 Dead (PC via Steam)
• Grey sweatpants
• A dozen Krispy Kreme donuts

Merry Christmas everyone.  Hope you all have a safe and happy day (and get everything you wanted!).

So I would most likely be done with Fallout 3 and have my game log posted if not for one reason: my addiction to World of Warcraft.  It is not an addiction in the sense that I spend all my time on it, but rather in the sense that it is the only game I play.  Whenever I go to play games, I feel the need to play WoW.  I got some good progress in on Fallout 3, then WoW drew me back in.

Part of the reasoning behind it is I pay the $15/month subscription fee to play WoW.  If I don't play, I feel like I'm wasting $15.  On the flip-side, I paid $50 for Fallout 3, so I want to finish it as well.  But WoW's community aspect also is a driving force behind me playing.  I am in a guild with some friends from college.  The guild is a "raiding guild," so 90% of the members are already level 80.  They are in need of a hunter for raids, with only 1 in the guild right now who is not always available.  So I'm trying to level my character up so I can play with them essentially.  Christmas break started for me Friday, so I plan to have a lot more free time now to game, which hopefully means more time to play games!

I'll try and finish Fallout 3 by the end of the week and get my game log/review up by next weekend.  If I don't meet those goals, don't crucify me!

Also, I hope all my fellow students have a good break.  And for those of you still taking finals, good luck.

Ok, so maybe Fallout 3 wasn't the best choice as my first game to review.  I've been playing quite a bit and I don't think I'm even 1/2 way through yet!  The game is just so vast, with so many quests and areas to explore. 

I'm also making significant progress on my hunter in WoW.  My hunter is currently level 49.  All my friends have already hit 80, but I rerolled on their server rather than transfering my other characters... so they had a huge advantage from the start.  I'll catch them soon enough.

Basically the point of this blog was to inform people I'm still working with the game log idea, just need more time to finish Fallout 3.  Hopefully I'll be done in a week or two, we'll see.  Good luck to everyone who has finals coming up in the next two weeks as well!

So I've decided to start Game Logging. Some of you may be wondering what Game Logging is.  Game Logging (or what my definition of it is) is playing one game at a time and then giving an in-depth review at the end.  Most people do this on a schedule, playing 1 game/week or something similar.  However, I don't plan on following a schedule as of right now.  I have enough things to do and other deadlines to meet, don't need to make another, self-imposed one!

I plan to make video reviews as I finish each title, hopefully around 7-10min each, with plenty of gameplay footage included.  I'm going to start with either Neverwinter Nights 2 or Fallout 3.  Not sure which yet, if anyone has a preference please comment!

I decided to make a video blog, this time with some edits so I'm not just talking to a camera.  I discuss Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, the new WoW expansion, and a few other things.  Enjoy the video and please comment with suggestions!