I got some awesome stuff for my birthday, a few games, two $50 dollar PSN cards, and a watch! All of which are beyond awesome. I'll put up my impressions of each game I played, and I've also had an interesting dream a couple nights ago, plus I remembered some pictures I mean't to talk about in previous blogs, but completely forgot about them.
I picked up Motorstorm Pacific Rift, and I've been enjoying it immensely, even though I've barely played it, but from what I've seen and played, its really fun. The graphics are awesome, and the crashes are fucking brutal, and I do mean BRUTAL, like I had a monster truck run over my poor guy who was on an ATV, it was awesome...

Hey guys, just felt like writing a blog post, namely about something that I've been doing for the past week or so, since there aren't any games I want coming out soon, I'm going to use this "quiet" time before Killzone 2 releases to go back and play some of the games I missed, whether it be games from last generation, or simply games I didn't buy during the holiday rush of games. Since God of War III is coming out in the near future, I decided to go back and play the first two titles, as I have never played them, the only GOW game I have played was the sublimely awesome PSP game. I also got Shadow Of The Colosuss, and ICO, both being games that I never heard of at the time of their release, and I always kept hearing people rave about them(mostly SoTC), so I decided to give them a chance. Luckily my old PS2 still has some life left in it, and I should be able to play these games to completion, before I finally retire my PS2. As of today I've only played a bit of GOW, and defeated about 5 colossi, and played through about 10 minutes of ICO. GOW was just freakin awesome and bloody, SoTC has its charm, but something doesn't quite sit right with me, the controls are unusual, but the colossi are a sight to behold. I haven't played far enough of ICO to have a solid impression, but it has the same kind of charm that is in SoTC.
I also picked up AudioSurf, which I am addicted to, my favourite mode has to be "mono-pro" as it's the least disorientating and maintains a good balance of speed and difficulty, this game is like a drug, you can't not enjoy playing it, and playing a track that moves according to the song's beat is really fun. Tomorrow (21st) is my birthday! I've got plans to celebrate with my family tomorrow, we're going out to dinner. My friend is coming over on thursday, and we're going to go out too, maybe pick up Motorstorm and Saints Row 2, it's shaping up to be a fun weekend, and I can't wait!

Hey guys, sorry for being silent for the past week or so, my exams are finally over, I've gotten a few of the results, but not all of them, I'll get the rest over the next week or so, but so far I got good grades in Maths and Biology, but I failed horribly at Chemistry XD. So this weekend I've been doing nothing but play games, I've been catching up on Valkyria Chronicles, I got past chapter 8, and chapter 9-which was fucking hard, but I managed to get through it without any fatalities. Right now I NEED to get all my classes up to the Elite level, so I need to redo all the skirmishes a million times to get the EXP I need. I've heard people on different forums talk about how they hated snipers. I agree to some extent, they sucked when you haven't got the power and accuracy upgrades, once you get their accuracy high enough, they are really helpful, though I still wish they could have more AP so they move farther. I think this is the only game where I've invested over 21 hours into it and I'm still no where near the end of the game.
I guess thats it for now, next week is my Birthday, and I'm hoping to pick up Motorstorm Pacific Rift, and Saints Row 2 by then.

It's the end of the first week of exams, I've sat through 5 exams this week, Maths, Business Studies, Literature(two exams) and English. Our exam timetable is split into 3 sessions each day. Session 1 is from 7.40 upto 10.10 when we get a break, session 2 starts at 10.45 and lasts until 11.55, session 3 starts at 12.30 and ends at 2.15. Now most of my exams are around 2 hrs long, the toughest so far was definitely Maths, I feel like I failed the last few pages of the exam, some questions didn't even make sense, Literature is by far the longest exam I've ever had, with the first paper clocking in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the second paper lasting 1 hour and 20 minutes. Sitting in the exam hall all day is definitely NOT fun, as we have to sit in silence while we're there. Next week I've got the last few of my exams, luckily most of them are in the 3rd session, so I don't have to be there from the morning.

Games wise, I've been playing a new save of Burnout Paradise, our internet still hasn't been fixed, fucking internet provider sucks! We might change providers if they don't get it sorted soon. I've also gotten back into playing Valkyria Chrionicles after a few weeks of not playing, right now I'm avoiding playing the 2nd battle in chapter 8 until I've level'd  up my classes sufficiently, so all I've been playing was Skirmish maps.
Other than that there hasn't been much going on, my birthday is coming up soon, and so is my PS3's first birthday ;)

After four weeks of doing nothing but playing games(and a few hours of studying), I'm sad to say that I have school tomorrow, what's worse is that I've got exams for the next two weeks. I've got one exam around noon tomorrow, so i don't have to come in at 7, when it's freezing cold. I might post a quick blog after each exam, just to talk about how it went. I have a feeling this year will be extra tough, so wish me luck!
Our internet still isn't fixed, they still have problems with their servers, but why are we the only ones who get stuck without internet for a month? This is getting beyond ridiculous.
I've been playing a lot of SimCity 4 lately, I've always playing it in short bursts, and after 5 years-I think- it's still one of my favourite games ever. I turned my modest 5000 sim town into a bustling metropolis of over 400000 sims in a matter of days. I've found that if you spammed toll booths on avenues and highways, and then made these highways the only route to/from a high-traffic area, it'll generate thousands in profit, which will allow you to lower taxes, and have zone demand skyrocket.
January seems to be a slow month in terms of game releases, the only noteworthy title I think is Skate 2, which I probably won't buy anyways, since I'm not a fan of skating games. I will try out the demo when it hits though. I've been playing through old games like Battlefeild Bad Company too, one thing that really pissed me off when I put in Deadspace, was that my save file has been corrupted!  7 hours of leveling up, killing monsters, and getting the shit scared out of me! ALL GONE! I was beyond pissed off when it said that the save data was corrupted. There's no way I'm playing through it again anytime soon, It's a shame I can't sell it, since the trade-in values are so shitty right now that I won't even be able to trade it in for another game, or cash. I want to play through Uncharted and Metal Gear again, but I let my friend borrow them, I'll ask him for it next week hopefully, he doesn't even play them I think, he's too caught up in playing GTA4.
Anyways that's all I got on my mind today, I'll be posting about my exams throughout the week and after that it's back to the normal, monotonous school life.

Wow it feels like it was just yesterday I started blogging here, I don't really know what to say. 2008 has been great, though it did end in an unexpected way, but it's been a great year nonetheless. There's not much going on this past week, and school starts in 5 days, and that means EXAMS!  I have a feeling that I'm totally screwed on some subjects, especially chemistry, I can't understand a thing in that subject. I've been trying to study as much as I could, but I still have a lot to do. So why am I not studying right now? Well, I can't be assed to study, because I've studied all morning, and one can only decipher vague notes and scribbles for so long before they get bored and can't concentrate.
My birthday is coming up too, but I have a feeling it'll suck, because my sister is planning it, and right now, since my birthday is so close to my dad's birthday, she wants to have both on the same day. This annoys me because it's my 16th birthday, and I can't even have a proper party. Oh well, at least I'm getting gifts-or cash....
I just finished my second playthrough of PoP, I LOVE this game, this time around I got about 2/3 of the trophies, and I got all 1001 lightseeds, but for some reason the unlockable skins haven't unlocked. Well it doesn't matter since I only want the SoT and Assassin's skins. But our internet provider still hasn't resolved our connection issues, and the problem is not from our router/modem, so I've had to use a wireless   USB device to get internet on my computer, but I can't access PSN at all and they won't fix it until after new years, what a way to treat a long-time customer eh? So if you've sent me a friend request because I've changed my PSN ID, I'm sorry I haven't accepted the request yet.
Next time I go to get games I'll probably pick up MotorStorm 2 and Saints Row 2, I'll probably get them as birthday gifts, I'm still trying to hunt down some PSN cards, though I've had no luck.
I guess that's it for now, seeya next year! :D

Well it was supposed to be fun, as me and my cousins, and their cousins had planned to go out to the local theme part yesterday, I was really exited because I haven't been there in ages, and I was dieing to get on the crazy rides. We still ended up going, but I didn't have as much fun as I would've liked. Mainly because of the very sad news that I got earlier that morning. I got a message early in the morning, saying that a guy I knew in school had died. At first I couldn't believe it, I thought it was some sick joke, but after a while I found out a bit more about what happened. I still can't believe he's gone. He was a great guy, we're not the best of friends, but we used to hang out together afterschool when we were younger, swapping jokes and talking about random things. From what I've gathered from friends, it was a Car accident, I don't really want to go into any details as it's too depressing. They had his funeral today, sadly I couldn't go, but I'll pray for him tonight, may he rest in peace.
I can't really think of anything else to write, I guess that's it for now, until next time.

Its time to announce my Games of The Year, each category will have a list of games that I think belong in that group, and based on my experience with the game, I’ll pick a winner. Note that the games I pick are only the games I’ve played until completion, or for an extended period of time.

But first I’d like to say that this year has been totally awesome in so many ways, 2008 has flown by so fast, and I feel amazed to see how many quality games have been released this year. It’s a shame my wallet took a real beating. I thoroughly enjoyed this year, and it’ll go down as one of the best years in gaming I think. It’s a shame the year has to end with a few studios closing down, and hundreds of workers left jobless. But I guess you can’t really do much about that now, I just hope things get better soon.

Shall we begin?

Best Racing Game:

Nominees: Burnout Paradise & GRiD

Winner: Burnout Paradise

Burnout Paradise is hands-down THE best racing game out so far, I've spent over 80 hours in Paradise City, and I loved every second of it. Multiplayer is robust and really fun, Freeburn challenges are just the icing on the cake. If you haven't picked this up, you're missing out. Big time.

Best Horror Game:

Nominees: Siren, Deadspace, Bioshock

Winner: DeadSpace

To put it lightly, Deadspace scared the shit out of me...

Best Action Game:

Nominees: DMC4, GTAIV, MGS4, DeadSpace

Winner: Metal Gear Solid 4

MGS4 is one hell of a game.

Best Adventure Game:

Nominees: Tomb Raider, Prince Of Persia, FarCry2, Fallout 3

Winner: Prince Of Persia

Best Shooter Game:

Nominees: Battlefeild:BadCompany, Bioshock, R2, Farcry2, F3

Winner: R2

Best Demo:

Nominees: Valkryria Chronicles, Mirror’s Edge

Winner: Mirror’s Edge

Best Strategy Game:

Winner: Valkyria Chronicles

I've only played one strategy game this year, and Valkyria Chronicles is an excellent game.

Best RPG:

Nominees: Valkyria Chronicles, Fallout 3

Winner: Valkyria Chronicles

Best Narrative:

Nominees: MGS4, Battlefield: Bad Company, DeadSpace, Bioshock, Valkyria Chronicles, Tomb Raider, Prince Of Persia

Winner: MGS4

Honourable Mentions: Battlefield-Very funny, Valkyria Chronicles-deep and sucks you in, PoP-great start

Most Epic Cutscenes:

Nominees: MGS4, DMC4

Winner: Both...  I just couldn’t decide, while Metal Gear was truly epic and of a very high quality, Devil May Cry was also really fun to watch, so I guess it’s a tie.

Best AI:

Nominees: GRiD, Resistance 2, Prince Of Perisa

Winner: Prince Of Persia- Elika RULES!

Honourable mention: GRiD- Racer AI is scarily tough and realistic.

Unexpectedly Good Games

Nominees: DeadSpace, Tomb Raider, Prince Of Persia, Battlefield: Bad Company

Winner: Deadspace

Honourable Mention: Battlefield- who knew that the single player was so much fun!

Unexpectedly Bad Games:

Nominees: Mirror’s Edge, GTAIV

Winner: GTAIV-The controls were just horrible.

Most 'Technically' Impressive:

Nominees: GTAIV, Farcry2, MGS4, Battlefield: Bad Company

Winner: GTAIV

Liberty City looks and feels like a living, breathing world.

Most 'Artistically' Impressive

Nominees: Mirror’s Edge, DeadSpace, Bioshock, LittleBigPlanet, Valkyria Chronicles, Prince Of Persia

Winner: Prince Of Persia

Honourable Mentions: Valkyria Chronicles, LittleBigPlanet

Best Graphics Engine

Winner: Dunia- Very scalable and works well on a wide range of machines.

Honourable Mentions: Scimitar, PoP looks like a painting come to life. Same goes for Canvas.

Best Animation:

Nominees: PoP, MGS4, DeadSpace, GTAIV

Winner: DeadSpace-The necromorphs blasted apart so beautifully!

Honourable Mention: PoP- Everything flowed so beautifully.  Metal Gear- Excellent character animation.

Best Guns:

Nominees: MGS4, Battlefield, DeadSpace, Resistance 2, Fallout 3

Winner: Fallout 3- 3 words, Rock-It Launcher...

Best Multiplayer:

Nominees: Burnout Paradise, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2

Winner: Resistance 2

Most Badass:

Nominees: DMC4, MGS4, Battlefield, DeadSpace, Resistance 2, Prince Of Persia

Winner: DeadSpace- Awesome Suit, check. Silent protagonist, check. Awesome weapons, check.

Most Innovative:

Nominees: Resistance 2, DeadSpace, LittleBigPlanet, Mirror’s Edge

Winner: LittleBigPlanet

 GAMES OF THE YEAR:

Honourable Mentions: Prince Of Persia, Resistance 2, Valkyria Chronicles

These games the ones that kept me coming back for more, they all ruled in some way or another. That’s why I don’t have a definite GAME of the year, but these all deserve to be GAMES of the year. As I said at the start of this blog post, I enjoyed 2008, and just thinking about what’s to come in 2009 is enough to make me start drooling and make my wallet ache, I hope you feel the same.

So that’s it for 2008, I can’t believe we’re just a few days away from the new year.

That’s it for today folks, hope you enjoyed my list, and leave your opinion in the comments section, after all that’s what it’s there for. Thanks, and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I picked up Tomb Raider and Mirror’s Edge last week, and I beat both in about 3 days, both were great in different things, and both are flawed. Let’s start with mirror’s edge shall we?

It looked so amazing, in the trailers, nothing could be more fun than jumping across rooftops and finding hidden messenger bags, while uncovering the reason why Faith’s sister was framed for murder. The demo was really a perfect demo, you got to do really cool tricks, run across rooftops, and get chased by cops, cool right? Well, it’s cool for the first few levels, but then you start getting chased by hordes of SWAT teams with machine guns and you’ll have choppers with mounted guns chasing you, then, the “fun” becomes very unfun. I mean, it doesn’t make sense that they’d be sending the equivalent of a small army just to kill one person, Faith isn’t superwoman, I really wanted to play the game without shooting a gun, but when I saw three guys with SHOTGUNS aimed at me, I just kinda snapped and went crazy with the guns. Oh and for a game that is supposed to let you run across roofs and go multiple routes, it’s pretty linear, especially in the later levels, where all you see are tight corridors and vents… many many vents… Kinda contradictory dontcha think?
That’s enough ranting though, because I think the real meat of the game is the time tirals, especially once new map packs start coming out, then I’ll like it even more. Right now all I play is time tirals, I get my rooftop playground, without the annoying enemies, perfect! One other thing is the game’s art design, I love the use of colour, but, sometimes it’s too bright, to the point where my eyes hurt from the blinding white. It’s like viewing giantbomb using the white skin, instead of the black one, it just hurts my eyes. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, I just had to adjust the video settings to avoid getting sick.

I was on the fence about getting Tomb Raider, I really enjoyed Legend and Anniversary, but after watching some footage of Underworld recently, I was appalled at how much clipping there was, in the end I decided to get it, and in some ways, it’s really impressive, in others it just lacks refinement. I was really impressed at how good the game looked, with vast, detailed environments, like the Mexico level, that was just HUGE! But that did come at a price, framerate, while always playable, sometimes it drops a little too much for comfort, like in any level where there’s large vistas, the framerate drops a bit, and the camera gets a little choppy. The animations are also a little stiff sometimes, like when jumping across ledges, it just gives you the impression that the game was rushed. I really did like the puzzles though, they’re the best part of the game, sometimes puzzles are huge, and I’ve found myself wandering around aimlessly for ages, until I suddenly realize what I’m supposed to do. The varied environments are amazing, you go from the Mediterranean sea to Thailand, to Mexico, to somewhere in the Arctic, this is definitely one of the best TR games, that said it could’ve been much better if it wasn’t so rushed.

That’s what I’ve got for today, I’ll be picking my GOTYs tomorrow hopefully, from a list of all the games I’ve played this year, which are:

Burnout Paradise               Battlefield: Bad Company       Valkryira Chroncles
Devil May Cry 4                  Siren: New Tanslation              Resistance 2
Rainbow Six Vegas 2          Soul Calibur IV                           Mirror’s Edge
GTAIV                                    DeadSpace                                Tomb Raider: Underworld
GRiD                                      Bioshock                                     Prince Of Persia
MGS4                                    LittleBigPlanet

Hey all, Sorry about not blogging for the past week or so, I've been having connection issues and just a few days ago, our modem/router-thing crapped out on us, so I've been stuck without internet for the past few days. It should be sorted out soon, just waiting for the repair guy to get here. Anyways, since I'm running out of time and this internet device i got plugged into my laptop is a but iffy, and really slow.
I got Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider, I beat both within 3 days, I'll post my reveiws and rants about both once my internet is sorted, then after that I'll probably be doing my own GOTY blog post. It'll be a list of the best games I've played this year, so any games I've missed or haven't played long enough are not going to be on there.