If you've been following what I say on the internet closely, then you may noticed that every once in a while I've mentioned a "Secret Project" that I've been working on. Well, Stage I of my "Secret Project" is complete, so I feel like it is finally time to reveal to the world what it is that has consumed so much of my free time over the last few months.

So, here it is. My "Secret Project" is to write a novel.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Oh, another jerk who says he's going to write a book, but will never get around to it. What's Stage I? Coming up with a title?"

Nope. Stage I is writing it. That's write (pun), I've already written a novel. I've been working on it in my spare time for months, and I finally finished it tonight. Stage II is editing, and Stage III is publication. This entire process has been fun and exhilarating. And more than anything else, finishing this first full version of it is...hard to explain. I'm one step closer to fulfilling a dream I've had since high school, and failed at doing several times before (when I gave up after writing four or five pages each time).

So, going forward, I need to edit this and keep editing until it's as close to perfect as possible. I have a few friends whom I trust and respect the opinions of, and I'm going to have them read through it, both to find potential mistakes (I may be a good writer, but that doesn't mean my writing is typo free), and to judge the quality of the work. This is a novel after all. It's supposed to be entertaining.

So, some more info about what I've done. It's a science fiction novel, and the targeted audience is, well, people like me. You know, young-ish guys. Not to say other people can't enjoy it (well, maybe they can't, I can't judge it objectively since it came forth from my mind).

In terms of length, with the current formatting it's about 161 pages, but that's with the default page size on my text editor, which I'm pretty sure is not what the eventual formatting will be in the final book (I assume (ie, hope) that with smaller pages the page count will be higher). That doesn't mean that I think a novel has to meet some arbitrary length to be worth reading. If my math is correct, there are over 68,000 words in the novel. For a point of reference, JK Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter 1, has about 77,000 words in it. She was the first author I could think of to compare my work to (not that I think it'll be even a fraction as successful as the Harry Potter books).

So, that's about all I can say for now. I wish I could say more, but I'm super paranoid about people stealing my ideas, even though I'm sure most of the people here on GB are trustworthy. I just don't feel like taking the risk that someone might take my ideas and use them for some stupid fan-fiction or something, and then claim I stole the ideas from them if/when my book gets published.

I'm very excited about this. I can't adequately say in words how excited I really am. This is my chance to make a name for myself! My chance to get my ideas out to the masses in the printed form! I do expect that getting it published won't be easy, partly because I don't know the first thing about getting a book published. If anyone reading this does know something about it, I'd appreciate any advice you can give. And, of course, I will keep you fine men and women at GB up to date on the latest happenings. Hopefully if/when I do get it published I can put out some concrete details here, and maybe even give out a few free copies in some sort of contest or something. I don't know. BUT I'M SO EXCITED!

In other news, Mass Effect 3 is out, but I won't have a chance to play it until spring vacation, which is not next week, it's the week after. Yakuza Dead Souls is out next week, and I'm looking forward to playing that one too. Hopefully I'll have time to play those and edit my book over vacation.

So, comments? Anyone else out there ever publish anything? Any other aspiring authors? I'd love to hear from all of you.

Edit: I know some people are suggesting self publication through ebooks, but I'd rather not go that route because I want there to be printed copies of my book before the eventual day when paper books are no longer a thing. And thanks to everyone for the advice about literary agents.

Edit Part II: I just realized I forgot to put in an image of Nolan North. Please forgive me, Mr. North.

So, this last weekend I went home, and as such, I goofed off and played some video games. I also watched what I think are the two greatest films of the 90s, Jurassic Park and The Matrix. I'd like to see someone try to argue against me on that.

Anyway, I read online that Skyrim patch 1.4 was out, so I put the disc in my PS3, downloaded the patch, and started playing. And, I have to say, it drastically improves the framerate. With my 99 hour game, I was getting into some pretty serious framerate lag before the patch. To the point where, in towns, it could be said that it was "unplayable." I wouldn't say that, because I played it, and the game still ran fine in dungeons.

But, after the patch, those issues were pretty much gone. No, the framerate wasn't still locked at 30, but this is the difference between a few, very small hiccups that don't affect gameplay and something that brings the game to a crawl. It's a night and day difference, and to the point where I would say that if you've been holding out on Skyrim because all you have is a PS3, then if you can update it, buy this game. It took Bethesda far too long to fix it, and the fact that the issues existed in the first place is inexcusable, but they fixed it. Mostly. It still runs better than I remember Fallout 3/New Vegas running on 360, so that's a win in my book.

Once I got passed the new framerate improvements, I remembered that the reason I stopped playing Skyrim was that I had already done all the stuff I wanted to do. That didn't stop me from playing a bunch of it, but I was just going through random dungeons and grinding skills. You can level illusion really quickly by spamming the Muffle spell.

Then I found a spell that lets me turn iron ore into silver ore, and silver ore into gold ore. That was pretty cool.

I also played the Mass Effect 3 demo. I won't go into the specifics of what happens in the single player portions of it, other than to say I think what I've played is fun, and I like the changes they've made to the skill point allocation. It seems deeper, and thus better, than it has been in the past two games.

I think what I've heard of the voice acting and writing is on par with the last two games (which is to say it's pretty good), but the facial animation seemed...well...See, when I played LA Noire, I knew it was going to end up, I don't want to say ruining, but lessening the facial animation of just about everything else. And compared to LA Noire, the facial animation in what I've seen of Mass Effect 3 doesn't look very good. Not that it looks bad, it, okay, after LA Noire I think it looks bad. But maybe that's just me. I dunno. I wish it had LA Noire's facial animation. I wish all games did.

I also feel like there aren't as many dialog options. Maybe it's just in this demo, but I felt like there were far more instances of Shepard saying things without my picking something for him to say. In Mass Effect 1 there were only one or two instances of this, and I feel like the number wasn't much higher in Mass Effect 2. In the demo, it felt like there were as many instances of Shepard just talking without my input as there were with my input. More if anything. And even when I did have a choice, there were only two options.

Again, this is just in the demo, and it's two action-focused sections, so clearly it's not representative of the whole game. But it still seems...odd.

I played a match of the multiplayer, and it was fun. Not fun enough for me to pay for Xbox Live Gold, even if there are Achievements attached to it, which will end my streak of S-Ranking Mass Effect games (and I have no idea what any of the Achievements for ME3 are, I'm just guessing there will be multiplayer ones).

Despite my thoughts on the relative lack of dialog choices, I'm still extremely excited for Mass Effect 3. I think it's fun, and I can't wait to see what happens story wise. Granted, the main story stuff has never been the strongest point of the Mass Effect games (for me that's been the actual writing and voice acting, not the course of the stories), but I can't wait to see what kind of choices are in the game. This is the last in the trilogy, and I'm hoping that allows them to do some crazy stuff. I want choice to really matter in this game. For the most part, it kinda hasn't mattered much throughout the games. There were a couple of choices that had some impact, but not a ton. I'm hopeful though.

That's about everything. I could go on about how I think Jurassic Park is one of the greatest films ever made, but everyone thinks that so you don't need me to say it, and that's more of a Screened thing, but I don't really do much there beyond read those crazy things Alex has been writing about Nic Cage. I could also rant on and on about how I disagree with everything the Oscars do, and how they work, but I didn't watch it, so I won't. Also, more of a Screened thing.

Oh, I beat Saints Row the Third again. I still haven't Platinumed it, much less S-Ranked it. I'll need to play the DLC for that. Gangstas in Space looks silly and fun.

Oh, and I almost forgot the obligatory Nolan North image. So instead, I embed a Nolan North video. It's like a picture, except it moves and has audio.

That guy can do anything. ANYTHING.

Well, "Demo-palooza" is probably over-selling it a little, but when I went home this last weekend, I ended up playing through several demos for games, so I thought I'd write up something on them, because I know one, in particular, is something that most people did not play (well, I think so at least, I might be horribly wrong).

But let me start at the beginning.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Now, this demo has been out for a while, and I played the PS3 demo when that was first put up, mainly because you can't get demos until a week later on Xbox Live if you aren't paying for Gold. But I decided to replay it on 360 now that I could download it in order to get the bonus stuff for Mass Effect 3 (as I've been rocking the Mass Effect on 360 ever since aught seven (ought? Never actually spelled that out in that usage.) when the first one came out).

I know some people are very excited for this game, and it's difficult (or almost impossible) to judge a full game based on a demo, but after playing that one twice, the only thought going through my head was, "I never want to play this game again."

Not that any of it was especially bad (aside from some technical issues that apparently are only in the demo, and not the final game), it's just that nothing in the game seemed appealing to me. The story didn't seem interesting, the world seemed like it's mostly the same old generic fantasy stuff we've all seen time and time again, the voice acting wasn't good enough to be good, or bad enough to be good in a bad way, and the art style of the game was equally unappealing (in that it's kinda stylized, but not really).

However, the real downer for me was the combat. One of the biggest selling points of this game is that it supposedly combines the big openness of something like an Elder Scrolls game (which, from what I've read, sounds like an inaccurate estimation of the game's scope) with the fun combat of something like God of War. But what I played felt more like the openness of Fable combined with the combat of Fable. So basically Fable. Now, I like the Fable games quite a bit, but not the combat so much. But unlike the Fable games, Reckoning doesn't have the British charm as "wit" that the Fable games do, which also ends up being the thing I like most about those games (especially III).

Again, it's difficult to judge these things based on a demo. Maybe later in the game the combat gets way deeper, or maybe there are other weapons that are more fun to use (but my experience with the long swords, hammers, and daggers of the demo yielded similar, unsatisfying results), and maybe the story stuff gets way better. But as it stands, my interest in the game is pretty much gone.

Oh, and I don't like how the "gnomes" in the game don't have hats. Gnomes need hats!

The Darkness II

The first Darkness was a game that I always intended on playing at some point, if only because the demo featured not only a Pop-Eye cartoon, but half an hour of a Flash Gordon "episode," so of course the full game had to be filled with stupid stuff like that (apparently all of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is in there). But, I never did. So, of course I went and downloaded the demo for The Darkness II, which is apparently out tomorrow (something I did not realize until today).

And I liked it. It has a new, cel-shaded-ish look that I think fits the over the top and almost cartoon-ish gore and ridiculousness of the titular Darkness, and there was a snappiness and responsiveness to the controls that I don't remember from the demo for the first Darkness. Not really much else to say, other than that the demo left me wanting more, which is the sign of a good demo (though not necessarily a good game, mind you). Will I buy The Darkness II? Not this week, at least. Maybe someday. It seems like it'll be a good linear FPS with some other stuff thrown on top to differentiate it from other FPSs (and possibly some decent story stuff, I dunno). Plus, it features the ability to cut dudes in half by throwing car doors at them. That's always fun.

Binary Domain.

Now, so far as I know, there is not a demo for this game in a territory that predominantly speaks English. So, I downloaded the Japanese demo on PSN. And I played it in Japanese. Unfortunately, all of the dialog is spoken in Japanese, which I know is easy to suspect, but there are plenty of games with English voice acting across territories (Deadly Premonition and the Resident Evil games come to mind), so you can't blame me for hoping.

Anyway, as a result of the apparent standardization of video game controls, I was able to figure everything out pretty quickly, even though it was all in Japanese. Well, none of the squad command stuff made any sense, but I'll disregard that. Or maybe I shouldn't. That game seems to have a lot of emphasis on dudes talking to each. There was a lot of dialog during that demo. I didn't understand any of it, but they sure were talking a lot. So maybe that'll be a good thing in the final game. No way of knowing for sure.

But what I do know for sure is that the actual game part of it is pretty good. Controls are responsive, the game runs nice, even if it does appear a little bland on the surface. But to make up for that, the enemies (robots) fall apart nicely. There was one moment where I shot the right arm off of a robot, and then it caught its gun in midair with the left arm and kept shooting at me. That seemed like a cool little touch that most games wouldn't have.

And there are a couple bosses in the demo. These were both good and bad. The designs of the bosses were nice, But it was hard to figure out what exactly I had to do to defeat them. Of course, this is mainly because the demo was entirely in Japanese. But the second boss would hit my character, knocking him to the ground, and draining his health to zero. At that point I either had to use a med-kit or wait for a squad-mate to revive him. But the real problem with that boss was that as soon as he stood up, the boss would run over and hit him down again. I think I eventually ended up dying, and then I stopped playing it.

But, regardless of a possibly poorly design boss fight, I am intrigued by that game. At least enough to want to see what it is like in English. I could see the large amount of dialog being a good thing if it's done right (or done comically wrong), and as always, being able to read text is helpful.

By the time I finished playing that demo, I noticed that the Starhawk beta had finished downloading it. So, after the installation process (which, like many things on PlayStation the Third, was lengthy), I played a couple matches. It seemed fun, and like it has some good ideas, like being able to call in walls and vehicle spawn machines. But that was all I played, and I didn't feel like taking the time to download the Twisted Metal demo or the Syndicate demo (both of which I kinda wanted to), because I had an insatiable urge to play Saints Row the Third.

And thus, aside from going to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (a good movie, by the way), I spent the rest of the weekend playing a new game of Saints Row the Third. Why? Partly because I love that game, and partly because I'm trying to get the Trophy for completing all the challenges, but I couldn't on my first game because I did not complete the challenge for taunting 50 gang members, and I had driven all of the gangs out of Steelport, and thus could not taunt any of them (and taunting cops does not count). It's the last Trophy standing between me and the Platinum Trophy. Not the last one I need to S-Rank it, because I have not bought any of the DLC, but I have this strange urge to S-Rank the game, which requires buying the DLC.

But I'm not sure that I want to do that, because I don't actually own this game. I'm still using the copy that I borrowed from a friend of mine. I suppose at some point he will want it back, and I'll have to return it. But that will be a sad day indeed. I guess I'll have to buy my own copy. You know, at this point, I kinda wish I did, because not only do I think this game is well worth the price of submission, but also because I feel bad for not supporting THQ in its time of need. Oh well. I'll buy a copy when I have the money to do so.

A picture of where I think some of THQ's employees may have to live if things keep going poorly.

So, that's about it. With me still being at college, I probably won't be playing any new games until spring break, which happens to coincide with the release of Mass Effect 3 very nicely. If I happen to go home between now and then (and I probably will at least once), you can bet I'll be mostly playing Saints Row the Third. I don't know if I'll ever S-Rank it, but I will at least get the Platinum. And that's something. Right?

I recently put together a couple lists of games that I really like. I'll include a link for the top ten here, and other ones that didn't quite make the cut here. But, if you're lazy, you can read them all here. And, here, I'll put it in reverse order, so you won't instantly know what number 1 is.

So, here are my "11" games that did not make the top ten. There are actually 12 of them. And when I say 12, I mean 13, because I thought of another one.

23. Saints Row The Third.

STRAP IT ON. In all seriousness, part of me really wanted to put this game on the top ten, but I also feel like not enough time has passed for me to properly judge this game. So I put it here, until enough time has passed that I can fully judge it, at which point it will probably move up this list. Or I forget and it stays here.

22. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega MicroGame$!

Much like many games I love, this one is crazy. The whole concept is that Wario decides to make tons of shovel-ware games to make some cash, and it's a crazy selection of five-ish second games that are pretty fun. And, on top of that, there are some deeper, more complicated games that can be unlocked. Like Dr. Wario. It's like Dr. Mario, except Wario is in it. I literally still bust this game out just to play Dr. Wario. I did it a couple weeks ago. It holds up.

21. Shenmue.

This game was Deadly Premonition before Deadly Premonition was Deadly Premonition. The voice acting is bad, the writing is bad, and it's pretty bad in a lot of ways. At yet, there's something weird and charming about this game in a super compelling way. It's the kind of game that crazy people like, and I'm a crazy person. Plus, not only did I play this game on my own, one time I forced my friend to play through it with me riding shotgun, and he ended up liking it too, despite him not generally liking this kind of game. He's kinda weird like me too though. Anyway, it's a divisive game, and I'm definitely on the "WHERE IS SHENMUE III?!?!" side.

20. Super Mario Sunshine.

Yes, I make two lists of my favorite games, and the only Mario platformer on either is Sunshine. There are a lot of people who like to "hate" on this game (by which I mean they say it's good, but not as good as the others), but I, on the other hand, love this game. I thought it was bigger and better than Mario 64. I loved the new water-pack stuff, I thought the game looked great (though it did have some framerate issues now and then), and you could unlock sunglasses for Mario. Forget space, Mario wore sunglasses. SUNGLASSES.

19. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.

I love Star Wars. I love video games. This is my favorite Star Wars video game. No, it's not that Tie Fighter game that everyone rants and raves about, but you know what? I like fast and loose arcade-y action. And it was still pretty challenging. And production value wise, it was incredible. The game looked amazing (and still looks better than most Wii games), it featured footage from the movies (the first time footage from the classic Star Wars films was officially printed onto a disc), and they got the actor who played Wedge Antilles to record a lot of new dialog for the game.

18. Metroid Prime.

The Citizen Kane of video games. Someone said that once. I dunno, I've never seen Citizen Kane, but Metroid Prime is pretty rad. This is one of those games where I feel like it achieves all of the goals it sets out to accomplish almost perfectly. No, it's not a flawless game (as the Wii one showed, the controls can be better), but it's an all around awesome game.

17. Paper Mario.

This game isn't as crazy or funny as Thousand-Year Door, but it's still a solid RPG in its own right. Also, you can tell I just copied and pasted this from the list because I make reference to a game you don't know is on this list when it's read in this order. Spoilers! I also like that other Paper Mario game.

16. Resident Evil 4.

This game kinda changed the course of video games. Or third person shooters at least. Before this, there weren't really games with the over the shoulder camera angle. But now they pretty much all are. But how this game affected the industry is irrelevant. The pacing is spot on, it's technically amazing, and most importantly, it's fun. It has both the feeling of, "Oh man, these dudes are going to smoke me" and, "Yeah, who's smoking who now?!" If you've played it, you know what I mean.

15. Fallout 3.

This was the first Bethesda Softworks game I ever played, so I was completely blown away by the size and scale of this game. There's just so much content. Yeah, it's buggy, and there are a lot of things that, even if there weren't bugs, wouldn't be that great (like the core combat), but there aren't really many other games like it. And the ones that are like it are made by the same people.

14. Mass Effect 2.

More Mass Effect. Need I say more?

13. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

This game is so weird. It features everything from mobsters to aliens to professional wrestling to a computer that falls in love in Princess Peach. And, unlike the first Paper Mario (which is also on this list), this game makes use of Mario being made out of Paper by letting him transform into things like paper airplanes. The combat is simple, but fun, the story is great (and hilarious), and I love it.

12. Star Fox Adventures.

The last of Rare's new Nintendo products (I guess they ported DKR to DS, but that doesn't count) is also one of my favorite Rare games. Yes, the Star Fox license was slapped onto it, and yes, it's just a Zelda clone, but it's a really good Zelda clone. Probably not "better" than something like Wind Waker (which came out within a year of this), but this isn't a list of "best" games, it's my favorites.

11. Soul Calibur II.

Much like the Smash Bros. games, this was something that my friends and I played ALL THE TIME when we were at each other's houses. It looked amazing (and still holds up, kinda), plays great, and had a ton of single player content. Plus, it had Link, and he was really fun to play as. And those other guys in the other versions, but come on.

So, there are the 11(ish) games that I wanted in my top ten, but they couldn't quite make it. But now, here's the top ten games, which are my favorite games, of all time. Inappropriate comma use? Maybe. But why is that Nolan North picture there? YOU'LL NEVER KNOW! Because it doesn't want to let me caption it. So I wrote this instead.

10. Diddy Kong Racing.

This was the first video game I owned. Not the first I played (not by a long stretch), but the first one I owned. When I got my N64 for Christmas as a young lad, this was the game that I got with it. So many hours spent playing this silly little racing game. A racing game with a story mode! Or an adventure mode, because it was pretty light on plot. Well, assuming you consider an evil space wizard invading light on plot!

9. Metal Gear Solid 4: Gun of the Patriots.

I played this game 12 times. Yes, a bunch of those were speed runs, but still. I have large sections of that game memorized. Photo-memorized. Literally. Even besides my obsession with the game, the climactic finale to the Solid Snake story arc was a game like no other. It had a near perfect blend of action to stealth, fantastic graphics, an insane amount of story, great writing and voice acting, and everything else that one expects out of a Metal Gear Solid game. I hear it had multiplayer too, but I never played that. Too busy trying to figure out the fastest ways through those environments, and then going out of my way to unlock dumb stuff like the Altair costume. Really weird game, but one I could jump right back into and keep on playing.

8. No More Heroes.

This game is so weird. It's about a nerd who buys an off brand lightsaber on the internet (or beam-katana as the game calls them), but because of that he doesn't have enough money to buy video games. So what does he do? He blows his remaining money at a bar, and whilst drunk accepts a job as a hitman. Then he kills the 11th ranked assassin in the world, so of course he decides to be #1. What follows is insanity. It's hilarious, pretty dumb in some amazing ways, and really a pretty unique experience. Or it was until the sequel, which is also pretty good, but didn't make as much of an impact on me.

7. Donkey Kong 64.

This game kinda falls under the same territory as Banjo Tooie, only not quite as much. I still love this game to pieces though. Huge levels, tons of collectibles, and that same classy writing from classic Rare. And, of course, that DK Rap. Lest we forget.

6. Deadly Premonition.

What a strange game. But, how could a game that I not only played three times (one of which with a friend of mine along for the ride), but I also watched the Giant Bomb Crew play through (not once but twice) not make this list? Yes, this game is really bad in a lot of ways. But the amazing story, voice acting that ranges from legitimately good to so bad it's good, and overall insanity add to up a game that is easily one of my favorite games of all time. Now if only SWERY could get the funding for something else in this universe.

5. Super Smash Bros. Melee.

I can't say for sure, but this may be the game that I have played the most. So many countless hours of playing single player content, or playing with friends. This was the game that literally all of my friends and I played when we were at each other's houses. Much like Mass Effect, this is really a case of my thinking the sequel is better in every way (to the point where Brawl is the game I would play today if I wanted some Smash Bros.), but I didn't really have people to play with when Brawl came out, so it didn't consume my life.

4. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

If you want to know how I feel about this game, read this. It's a phenomenal game, and one that has a great story involving many years of my life (even if most of those years involved not actually playing it).

3. Mass Effect.

Much like #1 and #2 on this list, Mass Effect blew me away. It combined all the non-copyrighted things I loved about Star Wars and Star Trek, but it was a video game! I was in control of my own spaceship, I could fly all over the galaxy solving crimes and shooting people. Sure, the game has a ton of technical issues, and I think Mass Effect 2 is a better game is just about every way. But this game had such a large impact on me that it had to be on this list instead of Mass Effect 2.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Yes. The black sheep of the 3D Zeldas is not only my favorite Zelda game, it's #2 on this list. But not that #2. Get your mind out of the gutter. To be clear, this is the first Zelda game I played more than two hours of. Regardless, the scope of this game is, to be frank, epic. I know that word gets thrown around a lot these days, but it fits. The world is huge. The dungeons are huge! Everything in this game is huge! And really well designed too. Some fantastic dungeon design, really good writing (especially for Midna), and a story that was pretty good. No, that isn't a proper English sentence. DEAL WITH IT.

1. Banjo-Tooie.

Everyone has that game that has left a mark so big on him/her that you start to form these almost irrational thoughts about it because of the nostalgia. This is my game that does that. It's been so long since I've played it, and my glasses so rose tinted that I probably can't form a coherent sentence about what is actually so good about this game. The levels were huge, the writing was witty, and the puzzles were great. I love this game more than any other game ever made. And I don't think another game will ever be made that can topple this from my #1 spot.

So, after writing this as a blog, I realized some of the stuff doesn't make as much sense in this order. Oh well! And there are plenty of other games that I feel like should be on these lists, but if I keep going from here, I'll just end up ranking every game I own. And I own a LOT of games.

Also, I'm sorry I've been unable to provide any sort of significant content about current gaming events, or games, because now that I'm back at college, I'm dealing with stuff like school work, and having to have a roommate (which I absolutely hate, just the idea of it, but that's not something I want to go into). So I don't have tons of time for games. I will try to keep some sort of stuff going out though.

You can read it if you want. Or not. I don't care.

Pac-Man

Dot Eater

A living being whose origin and motive are wrapped in mystery. It is an omnivorous life form that consumes anything in its path. No matter what happens, its smile never leaves its face. It is not known what it is thinking or what its motives are, but it is certainly heading towards the box.

Mega Man

Middle Aged Hero!

Known as a Digger, a person who digs up relics from the past for research. He is a hot-tempered man, but has a strong sense of justice and is also very polite. His weak point is that he is easily rattled when backed into a corner. He is always running around in a hurry due to the demands of his partner Roll, and this time he's been asked to travel to Antarctica to retrieve a mysterious box.

TORO

The cat who wants to be human

Lonely but pampered. A cat that is very pure-hearted and simple-minded.Toro awakened the power of the Hadou while attempting to remember as many words as possible in a quest to become human. Toro loves tuna, wrapped fermented beans, shrimp, and is an accomplished sewist.

KURO

Two Dimensional Justice

A cat that has been around the block a couple of times. Kuro possesses knowledge on a wide variety of miscellaneous topics, and loves games, the occasional adult beverage and the company of beautiful women.While staying up late at night playing games, Kuro unexpectedly awakened the Devil Gene within him naturally. Kuro dreams of a future where he can live freely and do whatever he wants at any time.

For the PlayStation©3 version, the star of inFAMOUS, Cole MacGrath, makes an appearance!

Is this man a hero, or a villain?

In a flash, Cole became a man with the power to wield electricity.

Able to fire electric-based attacks from his hands, this hero is shrouded in a tempest of electricity, and can mow down anyone who opposes him.

It's just for me.

http://www.capcom.co.jp/sfxtk_en/playstation.html

Yeah.

As you may or may not know, I have an...appreciation for the Resident Evil series. I started, like many people, with the "fourth" one, Resident Evil 4. I absolutely loved it, and to this day, it's one of my favorite games. Then, my curiosity peaked, I wanted to play some of the older ones. My time with the (then) recently released DS version of RE1 made me realize how bad (ie AMAZING) voice acting could be, and my time with an N64 version of RE2 was underwhelming, so I decided to stop playing older RE games. Fast forward to 2009, and RE5 is out, which I bought, and proceeded to S-Rank. You will, however, notice that I don't have an S-Rank, because Capcom decided to put out a bunch of DLC with Achievements, and I played none of the DLC. But I still have all the on-disc ones, and put well over 50 hours into that game.

So, as you may expect, I was quite excited to see the Resident Evil 6 trailer yesterday. And I was not disappointed. I won't bore you with the details, but what I saw in that trailer has me really excited (specifically stuff like not only moving and shooting, but crazy Vanquish style rolling and shooting). And just generally speaking, it looks over the top and ridiculous, which is exactly what I want. The day of the slow paced "survival horror" game is all but dead, and I don't mind. I like action.

So, I decided that since I've done pretty much everything I can in Saints Row: The Third (at least without buying the DLC, which I am uncomfortable doing since I used my friend's copy of the game, instead of buying my own) I would write something about what I want to be in RE6.

The return of Krauser.

Remember in RE4, when Krauser supposedly dies two or three times? We all know he's not dead. Don't try and pretend Capcom, why else would he be in the Mercenaries mode when Luis (who died) wasn't, and have the image for surviving the mission be Krauser not dead and the island exploding? And with RE6 taking place after RE4, and featuring Leon as one of the three(?) playable protagonists, why not bring him back? Oh, and speaking of Leon...

Leon keeps his super fly jacket this time.

Look at that jacket. Everyone remembers it because it was awesome. But he lost it about half an hour into the game, and never wore it again. Even during new game plus, I don't think he had it on because he was using the extra defense vest or something. However, the trailer for RE6 features him in a new, much shinier jacket. I have yet to decide which jacket I prefer, but I hope he keeps the new one throughout. Unless, of course, the original jacket (or a copy of it, because I doubt he ever got the original back) makes a return. That would be awesome.

Seems like he loses it at one point. Sigh.

Improve the lip-syncing.

Now, this is kinda hard to tell from one trailer, but is it just me, or did the lip-syncing in the trailer look kind of...awful? I know it's a minor thing that doesn't effect game-play at all, but when the engine looks so good, and everything else clearly had a ton of time and effort put into making it look good, seeing mouths flapping about and not matching what's being said is really off-putting. Maybe it's a non-issue and just me, or maybe it's because they didn't sync things right for the video, but some of it looked terrible. Specifically the moment when Chris and some other guy are arguing in a locker room (?). Also, in a series that is traditionally all in English, even in Japan (or at least this is what the internet has told me), it seems even weirder that the lip-syncing would be as bad as that trailer makes it look. If there's only going to be one audio track across all versions, there's really no excuse. Or even if there are multiple languages, everyone knows that you cater to the English speaking audience. Why? AMERICA.

Keep co-op, but don't go overboard with it.

The decision to introduce co-op into RE5 was certainly controversial (at least amongst the crazy people who enjoy the pre-RE4 games for anything other than the AMAZING voice acting), it was undeniably fun (at least if you thought the main game was fun). And I definitely hope that co-op will return in RE6. But, that does not mean I hope it is in the entire story mode. For example, the Chris campaign, which looks like it'll focus heavily on cover based shooting, would be great for co-op. But the Leon campaign, which looks (while action-y) maybe a little more "survival-y" might be better as a solo affair. Of course, Leon does appear with a lady (a new character, I think), which fits the RE-style of having male and female protagonists, so who knows. Also, I don't know how co-op would work with the third protagonist, because he looks melee focused, and that seems crazy in and of itself, let alone two melee focused characters.

Change Mercenaries Mode somehow.

Mercenaries Mode was pretty fun in RE4, but I never really played it in RE5 because it felt like more of the same. For all I know they changed it up in the DLC for that game, but for all intents and purposes, let's assume they didn't. As such, I'd like to see some changes in it. What, exactly? Dunno. Maybe make it more mission focused. Something like having a concrete objective, like getting into an area to rescue Leon's Jacket, and then get out with the jacket in one piece. Sure, they'll think of something less crazy (and less awesome) to find, but you get my point. Of course they would also keep the original game type, but I feel like something more structured like this would be a good change of pace for the mode.

Make the "new guy" more than just bald Kanji.

If you've seen the trailer, and know anything about Persona 4, you get the reference. I do not mean the way of writing. Troy Baker is appearing in a Nolan North-esque number of games, and as such, he's probably being type-cast like Mr. North was for a while (where every character he did was a variant of Nathan Drake, though that seems to have ended, to a certain extent). And based on the trailer, the new guy looks like a cocky mercenary who's only in it for the money, and he appears to be melee focused. I know the RE games are not known for great character development, but it'd be nice if they did something different with it. Maybe they will. I don't know.

Keep it crazy.

The Resident Evil series has come a long way since the original, which was about exploring a mansion, solving weird puzzles, and trying to run away from zombies. Now it's about three protagonists, one of which rolls around when fighting zombies, one who is armed to the teeth and has a team of commandos, and one whose strategy is apparently to use melee attacks. Oh, and the president is a zombie, and gets shot. That's all in the trailer. Hopefully they're not over-selling the crazy, because if playing Saints Row: The Third has taught me anything, it's that complete and utter insanity is something I want more games to embrace. This game looks like it's embracing it, so I hope they go all the way. RE5 ended with a boss fight inside a volcano, so they've set a high bar, but I'm confident they can top themselves.

So that's about it. I think. More so than anything else, I just hope the game is fun. Changing up the controls to make the game more run and gun-ish (at least based on what I've seen thus far) is a smart move, because really, not being able to move and shoot at the same time is pretty dumb. I don't care whatever arguments you have, it worked fairly well in RE4 and RE5, but I don't think they can get away with it in such an action heavy game a third time. It's just poor design when I go to aim, realize I need to move half a foot to the side because something is blocking my aiming, but can't until I stop aiming.

So here's hoping the game turns out well. Anyone else have any thoughts as to what they do or do not want to see in the game? Did I make some glaring mistakes fiction wise? I know some people think "new guy" is an existing character, but I think he's a new guy. You know, balance out the series two "biggest" protagonists with a new guy. It's what I would do. Well, not really.

"Major A's Mask, why, what's that, Moosey?" Great question, imaginary person! There's a story behind that!

See, the other day, Nintendo said that until the end of January (2012), Club Nintendo is giving away codes to download the Nintendo "classic" (depending on who you ask) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask from WiiWare (or Virtual Console, or whatever they used to call it). I decided then and there that it was finally time for me to sign up for Club Nintendo, as I had never done that and have a decent number of Wii and DS games. This then led to me becoming very angry when I was able to register my DS Phat, and went through a survey, but got no coins. I had been planning on making a big fuss and trying to complain all the way to Reggie, but then I realized that it didn't really matter, so I stopped. Actually, what really happened was that I woke up the next day and didn't care any more, because I had more than enough coins (despite having lost the PINs for my copies of Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy).

I downloaded it, and was delighted to hear the Wii Shop music (because as an avid follower of the NintenDownload X-Press, I had not used the Wii Shop Channel in years). Then, my friend and I decided to start playing the game, and we played an hour, maybe hour and a half of it. We played enough to get through the first cycle, turn back into human Link, and explore the world a bit. And we determined that the game is really pronounced "Major A's Mask," but no one ever knew because there is no voice acting.

Obviously we are still very early in the game, but my early impressions are positive. The game is weird, and kinda creepy. Playing it reminded me why I never played much of the game as a kid. It freaked me out. It's a dark game, and I still think that moon is the most menacing thing ever put in a video game. Ever. I look forward to going ever forward into that game, but I do not look forward to neither of us remembering what to do or where to go.

Also, Tingle is in it. Tingle is still both one of the best and worst Nintendo characters ever.

I will have a more in depth look at the game once we are further into it. Which will take a while. My friend and I are infamous for saying we are going to play a game together, but then going weeks at a time without getting around to playing it. Happened with both Deadly Premonition and Alpha Protocol (both awesome games, at least story wise), so it'll be happening again now.

But I have also played games that are relatively recent. Like Singularity. If you don't remember singularity, then I will tell you that it's a first person shooter that has a lot of time manipulation stuff, and probably the most original thing to come out of Activision since Guitar Hero I. Raven made a really good and fun game. And Nolan North is in it.

Normally I would do a much longer and better write-up for a game I liked as much as Singularity, but something happened after that. I played a couple hours of Dark Void. That game is all right, but then I played...wait for it...

Saints Row: The Third.

Man, I really should have played that game last year. I'm going to say this up front: SR:TT would have been on my top ten list for games of last year. Upwards of 5th or 4th, I'll say.

I'm not even sure where to begin about this game. I think I'll start with the stuff I didn't like about the game. For example, all the dumb, idiotic attempts at the type of "humor" that only 12 year olds find funny. Like the "penetrater" weapon, which is effectively just a giant floppy dildo baseball bat. The game's filled with stupid stuff like that, and it makes me cringe every time, because there's a lot of actually funny stuff in there (more on that later). Maybe it's just me being me, because I know I don't necessarily represent the greater public, but man, it makes me feel bad if that kind of stuff is what the target audience of video games finds funny.

There's also a lot of less offense stuff that I didn't like, such as Zimos constantly being auto-tuned, or the award winning use of the song "Power" in the game. I'm not going to lie, I set the music volume to ZERO during that part of the game. I've gone thus far never hearing more than about three seconds of that song after the "aah" part in the beginning, and I plan to keep it that way.

And, of course, being an open world game, it has its fair share of technical issues, for example, I had to reload from a checkpoint a couple of times because an AI failed to open a door it was supposed to, and the game crashed on me a couple of times (playing the PS3 version, just so you know). And there are plenty of other instances of minor jankiness, with things like requesting my minions bring my car to me, and it never shows up, or one time when I saw the AI drive it off a cliff and into the ocean. Okay, that one was a little funny, but also disgruntling because I wanted that to drive somewhere, because I was waiting for my deliver helicopter and deliver VTOL powers to recharge.

And that brings me to the things I like about the game. You can call someone on a cell phone, and then a ninja flies a VTOL jet to you. Or a luchador. Or a man in a Johnny Gat costume. Or, you can call Burt Reynolds, and he just drives up and rolls around with you.

BURT REYNOLDS! You can summon Burt Reynolds in this game! Hulk Hogan too, but he doesn't play himself, so that's not as awesome.

Even beyond the awesomeness of that silly stuff, the game is just fun to play. The shooting feels good, the driving feels good, heck, even the flying feels good. It's hard to make helicopters be easy to use in games (or at least they were kinda hard in GTA IV, the only other game that comes to mind), but they control quite well here. But, of course, why would you use a helicopter when you can use a VTOL? It combines the hovering-ness of a helicopter with the regular-ass flying of a jet. Or, as "The Boss" said in the game (paraphrased): "It's like a jet f***ed a helicopter."

And there's another great aspect of the game. The character customization. Not only does it give you the freedom of male/female, you get three different voices for them (plus a zombie voice). I, of course, when with a male character with the British voice (courtesy of one of my favorite non-Nolan North voice actors, Robin Atkin-Downes). And I dressed him rather conservatively, with a black suit, white shirt, black tie, black shoes, black gloves, some nice shades, the best beard they have (one major flaw in the game: All the beards are just textures, no actual geometry added), and a black cowboy hat. I tried to see if I could get some sort of image of it from it being uploaded to some SR3 website that I think I've seen people using, but...laziness prevailed. Maybe I will at a later date if I figure out how to do it. I would appreciate any help in how to do this (if it's possible, I know there was an upload thing in the character creator).

Then, when I was selecting my taunt for the main character, I realized that this game meant business when the default taunt is titled "The Marine," and it's John Cena's "You can't see me" hand wave thing. Now, if you're like me, you're not really a huge fan of modern wrestling, or John Cena, but it made me laugh. Then I noticed that there are taunts for classic wrestlers like Rick Flair ("The Nature Boy") and Hulk Hogan ("Angelmania," in reference to the character he plays, Angel Del Muerto, a washed up luchador who had his mask removed by crimelord Killbane (also a luchador)).

Let me say that again: Hulk Hogan plays a washed up luchador who doesn't know what to do with himself because he was shamed upon his mask being removed by another luchador, who also happens to be a criminal mastermind and leader of a giant gang of luchadors. He also makes direct references to that time when Bret "The Hitman" Hart got screwed out of the belt.

Man, I love this game. The mission where "The Boss" and Angel (with his mask back) confront and fight Killbane (in and around the ring at Murder-Brawl XXXI) is definitely my favorite mission in the game (I liked it (and a number of other missions) better than the award winning one, you know which one). I don't want to spoil what happens, but I'll just say that if you like wrestling, or rather, the goofy and silly nature of wrestling, you will love this mission, and wish that wrestling games are like this. But that won't happen, because THQ has the WWE license, and they won't fund a wrestling game without the WWE license, and I don't think something as awesome of crazy as Murder-Brawl XXXI would be allowed with actual wrestlers.

That's what makes SR3 so amazing. It's so crazy. And the main character reflects this perfectly. He's pretty confused and astonished in all the right ways and all the right times. For example, much like anyone who plays games, he is completely un-phased by zombies, but his mind is blown when he realizes not only that the mayor is Burt Reynolds, but that he gets to meet Burt Reynolds. It's brilliant and hilarious.

But, I'm a little worried about the prospects for Saints Row: The Fourth. I'm sure it'll happen, I just don't know if lightning can strike twice. They can't go back now, but I'm not really sure how they can top this game, at least not without losing track and making it a horrible mess, instead of the beautiful mess that is SR3. And I'm a little worried about which of the two endings will be "canon." I feel like the "happy" ending is too goofy and silly (even for me), and I think the other ending has more potential. Let me just put it in a spoiler thing.

Okay, I don't know why, but it seems like the GB editor isn't letting me use the spoiler block thing, so I'm going to section off the spoiler-filled section in the classiest way I can. If you haven't played through both endings, then don't read what's between the spoilers.

Sorry about that. Well, not really. Anyway, the happy ending tries to trick you into thinking it's on Mars (like the fabled Saints Row and Red Faction crossover that we all want), except it's so corny and goofy that it's immediately apparent that it's just the "Gangstas in Space" movie that the game had been hinting at for a while. It felt too corny, at least compared to the rest of the game, which played its crazy "straight."

The other ending, meanwhile, involves STAG attacking Steelport with The Daedalus (which had been hinted at for a long time too). And of course this is crazy because the Daedalus is basically an air based star destroyer. It's crazy, and I feel like a more satisfying final level than fighting through a small canyon on fake Mars.

Oh, and then the Saints declare Steelport an independent nation. That happens.

But, I fear they won't go with that ending. Why? Well, I did not realize this until replaying the game and getting the "happy" ending (yes, I went to kill Killbane my first time through), but I think Burt Reynolds was on that island when it exploded. I'm pretty sure Burt Reynolds dies in that ending.

Now, let me be clear, if the game had presented me with, "Kill Killbane or Rescue Mayor Burt Reynolds," I would have gone and rescued Burt Reynolds. I blame the developers for thinking that Shaundi was more likable and worth saving than Mayor Burt Reynolds.

Anyway, I don't really know if Volition can get away with Burt Reynolds being dead in their games. Hopefully I'm wrong. But if I am, then why did "The Boss" make Pierce Mayor?

Sorry about that. I blame the GB editor, which is great when it works right.

Anyway, Saints Row: The Third is an awesome game. it's funny, and most importantly, fun. I can't wait for Saints Row: The Fourth. Part of me really wants to play the DLC, but I didn't actually buy the game (borrowed my friend's copy), so I don't know about paying for DLC for a game I don't own. I dunno. Maybe if it's really good I'll borrow the game again and pay for the DLC. It's the least I can do for getting over thirty hours out of a game I borrowed.

Nothing else going on. I'll probably try to beat Dark Void soon. Going back to college on Sunday, and I once again have a new roommate (and someone I have never met), so that should be...interesting. Hopefully it works out. He'll be my sixth roommate in as many semesters. There's a story behind that, but I'll tell that when I'm out of college, because who knows how many more I'll have. But man, I really need to just get a single room. I hate that I always get screwed out of that because I'm so low on the list for picking housing. It's almost like a Montreal Screwjob.

You should really play Saints Row: The Third. I love that game.

Video games! I've still been playing them, despite rumors to the contrary. What rumors you say? Well, I did a good job of quelling them. Anyway, I played Bayonetta, start to finish. It's an older game (two years, more or less), so I would go on too long, but I have a few main thoughts.

1. This game is crazy. I'm going to assume that, if at this point, you haven't played Bayonetta yet, then you just don't care, so I'm just going to say something about the ending parts of the game. The "epilogue" of the game involves driving a motorcycle up the side of a giant rocket ship that is launching into space, fighting angels (whilst driving up said rocket), then fighting a giant statue lady inside a giant sphere (in space) that sometimes turns into lava (the sphere, I mean). Then, after beating the boss, Bayonetta and another witch lady have to destroy the remains of the statue lady during reentry to Earth so the pieces will be small enough to burn up. And this is game play. There is a part in this game where you are destroying a giant statue whilst reentering Earth's atmosphere. And, of course, Bayonetta and the other witch lady survive. IT'S CRAZY.

And I'm not even going to try to describe the story. It's just too crazy.

2. The game is fun. I like a wide variety of third person melee combat action games (everything from Ninja Gaiden to God of War to Devil May Cry), but I think Bayonetta's combat may be my favorite. Either that or Batman Arkham City, but that's a debate I don't want to take part it. Bayonetta's combat is fast, fluid, and there's a good variety of weapons. My favorite pairing ended up being a katana in her hands, and ice skates (that had ice powers) on her feet. Yes, ice powered ice skates. And I think the game's difficulty was, for the most part, really well balanced. The game was challenging throughout, but I rarely felt like the game suddenly became cheap, like I have with games like Ninja Gaiden II (stupid boss where you have to block before it explodes or it kills you, and there's no explanation, so I just kept dying (seriously, I had to go online to look that up, it's dumb)).

So, if you haven't played Bayonetta, go play it. Since it's old, you can find it cheap. It's worth it. There's definitely some filler stuff (some platformer type stuff between fights that could have been cut), but it's a crazy game.

That's not all I've played though. Been playing Skyrim too. 99 hours worth. Or at least that's what the game says for my time played. But, sadly, I think my time with Skyrim has reached its end. I've reached level 50, finished the main quest, finished most of the guild stuff (more on that in a moment), and just have a general sense of, "I'm done."

There's some really fantastic stuff in the game. There's a great twist in there (that I shan't spoil), and some nice missions that aren't just, "Go into this tomb/fort/cave and fight some bandits/draugrs/falmers" (though there are a couple where you need to enter a tomb/cave and fight some draugrs/falmers). And there's one part where I really wish there was more player choice as to what happened, because, well, spoiler,

Man, the spoiler stuff is so buggy. The highlight thing worked above, but didn't the second time. Oh well. But I never know if the click to reveal thing works. Someone tell me if it doesn't.

Speaking of bugs, man Skyrim. Did I tell you about how I can't finish the Companion's Guild quest line because of a bug? Part of it is my fault for continuing on without stopping to try and reload my save or something, but come on. Major quest lines shouldn't be broken. This isn't some random dungeon, or a flying horse. This is one of the major quest lines in the game, for one of the major guilds, in one of the biggest cities in the game. Come on Bethesda!

Of course, that's nothing compared to the problems with the PS3 version of the game. And let me tell you, they are problems. The laggy framerate was all over the place, sometimes making the game almost unplayable in a city, but then I would enter a dungeon and it would run flawlessly throughout the dungeon. Then the game would crash. And I'd restart the PS3, and the lag problem would be gone for an hour or two.

And now Bethesda's saying the next patch should fix the problems. I'll believe it when I see it. They've already sold all the PS3 copies they're going to sell, and they don't really have any incentive to fix the game, beyond trying to trick people into buying the next one (which they don't really need to do, anyone who really likes this kind of game is going to buy the next one, even if they switch to another platform, or forget about these problems in the mean time). Seriously, a couple years from now when Fallout 4 is out, wait until the, er, fallout over the PS3 version. Or PS4, maybe. But I'd like to hope that a "next gen" game from them would actually be from a new engine, like they claimed Skyrim was (even though it mostly wasn't).

Yeah. My opinion on this game is mixed. I still think it's a fantastic game, and when it works right, it's amazing. I love it. It's just so big! And there's so much stuff!

Okay, now I'm going to reveal the real reason why I feel like stopping playing. You know the Dark Brotherhood? Well, I (early Dark Brotherhood spoilers)

That then opened a quest to destroy the Dark Brotherhood, so I thought, "I'll do this, then reload my save to actually do this." So, I went through the destroy the Dark Brotherhood stuff, which is really quick and easy (or at least easy for a level 50 dude with the Mace of Molag Bol (Legendary), crazy fire magic, and Awesome Armor (seriously, I renamed it all to stuff like "Awesome Armor!" and "Awesome Helmet")), and the only reward is a speech from some Imperial (which is weird, because I just spent hours driving them out of Skyrim to help out Stormcloak) and 3000 gold.

So, then I thought, "Well, I don't really like the idea of the Dragonborn becoming an assassin, because that's really bad, and worse than becoming a thief, which I only just bearly justified on my personal morality meter. So I'll keep two saves, one for this, and one for me joining the Dark Brotherhood, so I can get those Trophies and see that stuff."

And you know what happened? I saved over my last file from before I killed that Dark Brotherhood lady. Accidentally, of course, but that happened. Now I can't see that stuff without starting a new game. I might do that if Bethesda actually does something about the bugs, if only to see that content and finish the Companions stuff, but I dunno. Not any time soon, at least.

I played the Asura's Wrath demo. The Japanese PS3 one, to be precise. It's all in English. And not great. Too many QTEs (that aren't fun), and the actual game part isn't great. Why give the option to invert camera if it doesn't affect the aiming reticle in combat? I know that only effects crazy people like me, but it's a big enough issue that I never want to play that game again if it's not changed. And frankly, even if that was different, the rest isn't fun enough to make up for it.

Which is a shame, because the rest of it is crazy, and I'm kinda/sorta intrigued about the story in that game. I think Capcom should have just made an anime or a movie or something. A robot god jumping off the moon and driving his sword through another robot man and all the way through the Earth (so that it stuck out the other side) is INSANE. I want to like a game that does that IN THE DEMO. Maybe the full game is better. Maybe it'll be worth buying when Capcom puts out "Ultimate Asura's Wrath: Off the Record" where it costs $40 and you play as Wartime Photojournalist Frank West.

Think about it. Both those re-releases feature Wartime Photojournalist Frank West as a new playable character. That's Capcom's new strategy. Re-release games, but with Frank West. Wait until "Street Fight vs. Tekken: Frank West Edition" (because Street Fighter X Tekken is the DUMBEST NAME EVER for any country that isn't Japan, and I think it's INSANE that it's named that outside of Japan, but that's a blog for another day) has Frank West in it. Then "Devil May Cry: We Listened to Your Bitching and Replaced Jabroni Dante with Frank West Edition" will come out. Then they'll start re-releasing older games. RE4: Off the Record. Viewtiful Frank. OFrankmi. Okay, that last one was a stretch, but hey, don't be surprised when it happens.

In other news, my TV broke. Again. This happened over the summer, and my dad and I are pretty sure it's the same issue as last time (bulb related stuff in our 61" DLP), but unlike last time, the TV is no longer under warranty. And if these "fixes" are only going to last 6 months or so, we're just better off buying a new TV. The only problem being that TVs in the size range we want (around 60", because of course we don't want to downsize too much) are fairly expensive. So we're probably just going to wait on it, because I'm going back to college in a couple weeks (I should buy books), so the thing wouldn't even get used much under spring break, at which point I play games all week.

Sigh. It'd still be nice to not have to play games on a 17" TV on a table two and a half feet away from me, but sadly that's what I have to do for the time being. Which means I won't be playing Metroid: Other M any time soon, because that's way to close to be using a Wii game that uses the pointer stuff. It also meant that the textures in Skyrim looked that much worse, because I was all up in them (the TV is HD, which is nice, but I'm fairly confident PS3 Skyrim starts getting texture problems late on too).

I rambled on about a lot of things there. Anyone out there know if LED TVs have any horrible problems? I know most TVs don't last long these days (at least that's what the repairman who came out during the summer said), but I'd still appreciate any input you internet people have. Wikipedia said something about a flickering problem for LED TVs. Didn't seem like a widespread thing, but again, the extent of my "research" was Wikipedia. LCD TVs are not out of the question either. But not DLP or plasma. I don't even know if they still make DLPs. I hope not. Stupid bulb.

I'll probably start playing Singularity tomorrow. I'll have a detailed analysis of Nolan North's performance in it, even though I'm pretty sure his character dies early on (or at least I think he did in the Quick Look of the game). But not in Dark Void. I'll be playing that too. Lots of Nolan North in that.

So I leave you with a picture of the world's greatest living voice actor (not actor though, that's Nic Cage (well, maybe Gary Oldman, but I don't want Alex Navarro yelling at me (who am I kidding, he doesn't read this, Gary Oldman is a MUCH BETTER ACTOR than Nic Cage. Nic Cage is second though))).

Let me spin a yarn for you.

The year is 2008. Fallout 3 is coming out, and I'm very excited for it. Now, I tend to favor the PS3 (for various reasons, one of which is that I like the controller better), so I was saddened to see that it was the inferior version. But no problem, I bought the 360 version, and had hundreds of hours with the game.

Then, in 2010, New Vegas was about to be released. I was, of course, very excited once again. I once again opted to get the 360 version, which turned out to be advantageous because my PS3 was about to stop reading Blu-ray discs, which left me PS3-less for a while. And I got many hours out of New Vegas.

Fast forward to 2011. Skyrim is out, and my excitement is growing. Bethesda claims it's running on a new engine, an early word in the week of release (including from certain websites (that shall not be named)) was that not only was the PS3 version on par with 360, it was better because it didn't have the texture bug. So, I decided to ignore the fact that Bethesda chose not to send any PS3 copies out prior to release (as that is standard practice for a lot of publishers), and decided to get the PS3 version.

And now here I am, almost 50 hours into Skyrim, and the game's technical issues have gotten to the point where I don't even want to play it. I can put up with minor framerate issues, or a few lock ups here and there. I dealt with those issues throughout all of my time with both Fallout games. But it wasn't as bad as it is in Skyrim.

And it's not just the PS3 specific issues, I'm running into bugs that I'm pretty sure affect all platforms. I'm pretty sure that I can't complete the companions guild quests because the game messed something up, and nothing will move forward. And of course I didn't stop and try and solve it when the issue first arose, so I guess that part is my fault, but really, it shouldn't happen in the first place, right?

The worst part is that there's not really anything I can do aside from hoping that the next patch(es) will help. Spamming the Bethesda forums will only make me look like a jerk, and the old "boycott them" strategy doesn't work too well when it'll be two or three years before their next game comes out. By then this will be like tears in the rain, and I'll just buy Fallout 4, because as angry as I am at Bethesda for shipping a game that self destructs this badly over time, I still think that when they work right, they're like nothing else out there, and no one does it as well. Except Obsidian, who made New Vegas, which, aside from its own lengthy list of technical problems, is maybe better than Fallout 3 and Skyrim, at least story wise.

But now I'm getting off topic. Let me talk about something that made me happy. Bastion.

So, after seeing all the glowing reviews, all the awards, and even a top ten list in a newspaper with Bastion in it, I finally decided that it was a game that I should play, so I used some of the 1600 MS Point ($20) card I got from my aunt for Christmas on the game. And, shocker, Bastion is really good.

I won't elaborate on what Bastion is, because if you visit Giant Bomb and don't know what Bastion is, then too bad. There are plenty of videos and other things to inform you.

What I will elaborate on are how I felt about the game. Again, I liked the game a lot. There is a tightness to the controls that is often missing from a lot of full priced disc based game, and it's always great to see such a high level of polish from a game made by so few people (SuperGiant Games is comprised of only six people, after all). The narration, which I feel is probably less "dynamic" than I had been led to believe by people on the internet, is really good, and my fears that I would just think he sounded like Ron Perlman all through the game were unfounded. As the game progressed, I thought he sounded less Perlman-ish. Don't get me wrong, he could still pass for Ron Perlman's brother, but regardless, it was some top notch voice acting and writing.

But the game wasn't all lollipops and rainbows. While I think the game looks "good," and the art style definitely had a lot of time and care put into it, I still didn't like it a lot. But that's just me. And I was a little weirded out by The Kid's arms. They're kinda long from someone of his height.

And the same goes for the music. I think the straight music tracks are good, but not as good as a lot of internet people made it out to be. And I didn't like the couple of songs with vocals at all. There's one near the end, and when it started playing, all I could think was, "Great, they made some lame-a** song to try and be emotional or something."

The story stuff was all right, and I liked that the game handles topics that most games never would, but there was one thing that...Well, I'll put it in spoiler thing.

But again, I really enjoyed the actual act of playing the game. So much that within two days, I beat it twice and S-Ranked it. Which brings up my biggest complaint: It's too short! But definitely worth your money if you haven't played it yet, if only to support Greg Kasavin so when Elder Scrolls VI comes out he can live stream 12 hours of it online.

In other news, I started playing Bayonetta today, but I'll wait until I've beaten it to say anything other than, "This game is crazy," and "I like what I've played thus far."

So, as you may or may not remember, I set a bunch of goals for myself last year to accomplish in the realm of gaming. And, since the year ended, I can report on whether I succeeded or not.

100% LA Noire and 5 star every case.

Progress: Completed! This one was fairly challenging. 5 Starring each case wasn't hard, but some of the other Trophies were. There was one for one of the DLC cases where I had to shoot four dudes whilst they were driving cars. And finding all those film reels was a long process. Now, if only GB would allow connecting to PSN accounts for cheap-o members like me. I understand having things that are only for paying members, but come on!

Upload at least one good LittleBigPlanet 2 level.

Progress: I did upload a level last summer, and it's certainly playable, and goofy. Whether that makes it good is questionable, but I'm counting it!

Become skilled at Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Progress: One time a guy rage quit on me, and another time someone sent me a profane/racist message after a match. I think that counts.

Acquire a copy of ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman

Progress: I did this pretty early last year. ZHP is a pretty neat game, at least if you like things that are very Japanese and very crazy. Definitely worth playing if you have a PSP.

S-Rank Deadly Premonition

Progress: Go check my Achievements. You will see that it has been done. It's not very hard, just time intensive.

Finish Alpha Protocol (with my friend).

Progress: We did it! A while ago, of course, but we did it nonetheless. I would even say that game was my favorite non-2011 game of 2011.

Beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution with zero kills.

Progress: Not only zero kills, but zero kills AND zero alerts, on hard no less! And I S-Ranked it! (Not counting DLC.) Again, if only I could connect my PSN account to GB!

Try once again to beat Dead Rising (and probably not succeed).

Progress: Did not beat it, but I tried. This was the one I knew I couldn't do, so I built a fail-safe in.

Don't buy this year's Call of Duty.

Progress: I didn't buy it! Too bad 25 million other people did.

Don't buy anything at GameStop.

Progress: I did not buy a single thing there!

Buy at least one Wii game.

Progress: I bought three! Three! Of course, two of them were from previous years (Red Steel 2 and Metroid Other M), but Skyward Sword was pretty rad.

Beat Yakuza 3, then buy/beat Yakuza 4.

Progress: Not only did I beat both of them, I thought they were both great. Can't wait for Yakuza: Dead Souls.

Buy the new Mortal Kombat game, and memorize some fatalities.

Progress: Do you know what back foward back forward square does? It's one of Smoke's fatalities.

Resist buying Portal 2 (or any other Valve product) until Valve gives some solid details on the next Half-Life game.

Progress: Did not buy it. I went to ridiculous lengths to play it without Valve finding out, but I didn't buy it.

Never Give up on the other long rumored games I've been waiting for.

Progress: The DREAM has not died!

Get back my S-Rank in ME2.

Progress: Did that AGES ago. Though I fear for my S-Ranking streak in ME games, because I just know there's going to be some multiplayer ones in ME3, and I refuse to pay for Xbox Live, and I can't just abandon my 360 saves.

See every hidden Calendar Man conversation in Batman Arkham City

Progress: It took me a good 40-45 minutes to exit out to the main menu and change the time setting a bunch of times, but I did it.

So, as you can see, I accomplished all of my goals! I'll try and think of some goals for this year and post them soon. Hopefully, unlike last year, events beyond my control won't stop me from completing any (like ME3 being pushed back, making any ME3 goals that I had set earlier last year impossible).