Yup. Everyone on SSFIV barely lets me land a punch, much less actually win a round, much less win a game. Least on Starcraft 2 I have a chance against about... maybe a third of the players. So, hello Starcraft 2! I am excited to play you, get stressed out, and then get mad at you as well. At least this way I won't get a blister on my thumb. 
 
That's right. I use a Xbox Controller when I play SSFIV. I guess that $130 investment is what separates me from everyone else online...

Afterburner Climax: Been playing a lot of this recently. I love it. It is chaotic and stupid in all the right ways. The EX Options expand the game in a lot of weird ways. Some make it broken and some make it awesome. I'm excited to hit 200/200 gs in that and then probably keep playing for the frantic action. 
 
Borderlands: I've played most of the Knoxx and Zombie Island expansions. Knoxx is HUGE and I still haven't beaten Crawmerax, because he is level 61 regardless of the playthrough you are on. Zombie Island was short, but still rather entertaining. I'm excited for a Borderlands 2 whenever that happens. It seems like Gearbox has gotten better and better at the humor and content in Borderlands. My only criticism for Knoxx is the lack of fast travel in the DLC. 
 
Final Fight: I bought this and totally haven't played it yet... 
 
Excited for Tecmo Bowl this week. I have hooked up my NES a few times simply to play Tecmo Super Bowl. 
 
AHHH STUFF!

So, my girlfriend hooked me up with a link a couple days ago to an event for Starcraft: The Board Game. At said event, all players had to do was play the game and they were awarded with a SC2 Beta Key. 
 
I was completely pumped. 5 bucks to go somewhere and play a game, all to get a beta key for Starcraft 2? Count me in.  
 
So far, the game is totally sweet. Graphically better than SC1 by a landslide, but the biggest stuff to the game is a ton of UI changes that make me happy when I use them wisely. I'm still learning hot keys and strategies, but thus far, I'm having a good time. Even when I am losing. 
 
I plan to play more and more and more yet, but for initial thoughts. Yes, I can't wait for SC2 to come out and be able to play it for real. 
 
Toodles!

So, having bought a PS3 earlier this week, I am starting to play the lineup of Sony exclusives that have eluded me as an Xbox and Wii owner. I bought a handful of games (more than I should) so I am trying to play them one at a time, rather than start playing Resistance 1 & 2, Uncharted, and Killzone 2 all at the same time. Resistance was first. That game was not so good. It obviously didn't age well. I found my patience wearing thin while I played it, suffering through each level sometimes. Suffering is a strong word, but on some occasions, that is what it felt like. 
 
I just put in Uncharted: Drakes Fortune a little while ago and I totally love it so far. The Trophy support is a nice plus, but this game has STORY. Resistance was a simple, linear, shoot-everything-that-shoots-you game, and I became tired of it fast. I almost snapped and bought Uncharted 2 only based on what the GB guys were saying about it, but I was afraid I wouldn't want to play this one. So far, Uncharted is pretty darn awesome and puts Resistance to shame in every way possible. I'm sincerely excited to play more of this game, and I am now afraid I will buy Uncharted 2 for my own personal thirst for this quality story and character setup. It is just odd, comparing Uncharted to Resistance. I wish Sergeant Hale said more than 3 words in Resistance, but that is Resistance taking from Halo. Hats off to Uncharted for making me super excited to boot up my PS3, when Resistance failed to do so.

So today I finally snapped and bought a PS3. Apparently Sony is putting an end to the 250gb consoles that they brought out during the holiday seasons to combat the bigger 360s (the MW2 bundles). So this morning at Target the 250gb PS3's went on clearance. I paid $245 USD for a system that used to fly for $350 USD. I mistakenly bought the first Transformers game (not so good) for $7 with it also on clearance. I'm thinking tomorrow will involve a gamestop try for Uncharted or something like that. 
 
My Target (where I work) had 3 of these bigger PS3's this morning, and when I left at 1:30 they still had two. Maybe someone here in the GB community can score the same hot deal I did. 
 
Don't worry about my game selection though. I got Trash Panic and the PSN Loco Roco game to hold me off for now. Pixel Junk Shooter might be next. At least on the downloadable front.

With today's video for the games of the year picks, I would like to point out how awesome it is that the Giantbomb guys and the Giantbomb community have not spoiled Assassin's Creed for me yet. Being halfway through the game now, I feel I keep toeing the line on stumbling on spoilers but I have not yet.
 
So thanks, Giantbomb staff, for not spoiling that game for me, no matter how much you may want to. 
 
And, most of all, thanks to the giantbomb community for clearly marking posts with spoilers so I know not to click them.That is all I have to say really. I was just almost expecting something to sneak out and tip off some of this game to me, but nothing has. 
 
Thanks everyone.

God damn. Don't get that game. Please people. I got mine free and don't like it. It is simply depressing to know that Activision thought that they could release a "NEW" Guitar Hero game on an engine and feature set that they stopped using in late June earlier this year.
 
Therefore, Guitar Hero: Van Halen is a game that has been deliberately released over six months after it should have been. If it had even a couple of the GH5 features it would at least be a decent damn game, but it does not. I played the songs I wanted to play, and, unlike Metallica, it is not fun or cool about how it handles itself. Heck GH:Metallica is not a good game anymore because the feature set at that time had so many problems with it.
 
Guitar Hero Van Halen is a disgrace upon a video game company, and I hope that it sells to some lost people in stores on the 21-24 of December. Then I hope that Activision permanently loses those customers for being so damn stupid about how they handled all of this.

  Totally just got my copy of Guitar Hero Van Halen in the mail today. 
 
   
 
 
Yeah, came in a little cardboard sleeve like Wii Sports and stuff like that. Gives you a website for the game manual and such like that. 
 
Now, my true question as to if it has the neat features of GH5 is about to be answered. *pops it in* 
 
It doesn't have the Party Play option that GH5 has, but it has a neat little intro like Guitar Hero Metallica does. Eddie playing Eruption and stuff. No, I don't know why I am not playing it though...  
 
Ok, I just played a song and then immediately played an encore... Yes, this seems to be exactly what Guitar Hero Metallica did a few months ago. This game seems like it should have come out before GH5, simply because Guitar Hero made a lot of great innovations in 5 and now this one is going back on that.  
 
On a note of Achievements, this game is the most relentless GH game since GH3. There are separate achievements for 5 starring every song in career on expert, for each instrument... You can see them for yourself here of course.  http://www.giantbomb.com/guitar-hero-van-halen/61-25536/achievements/ 
 
Lastly, the setlist in this game is at least looking to be awesome, like Guitar Hero Metallica. If you like Van Halen, I think you will like the stuff on here. Some notable side act songs are as follows: Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind, Double Vision by Foreigner, and... Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne... Yeah, that is on here... 
 
Initially quite sad that GH5's innovations are absent from this game, but I guess that is just because Guitar Hero doesn't like me enough to have a good interface / career AND a good setlist at the same time... I guess I'll have to make due.    

So, I have a copy of Supreme Commander from that distant past Best Buy blowout, and I want to try it out and at least give it a chance before I never play it again. However, my Red Elite console refuses to read the disk properly. So, I thought I was getting all wily and went and used my old white Xbox to install the game to the 120gb hard drive from my Elite. Apparently the other box has no difficulty reading the disk. 

I've gotten through a significant portion of RE5 over the past day or so and I totally love the game. It is almost exactly like RE4 for how the progression of craziness blends throughout the game. Every boss fight or random room situation you come across always seems harder or more ridiculous than the last. It is that intense difficulty curve that fit RE4 so well and it is back in RE5.

What else could I have asked for in Resident Evil 5? I'm not sure. I don't need much as I still will say "What are you buyin'" every time the item management screen comes up. So whatever else I am still happy.

I'm also loving the story, but that is all you get there.

Full review will be posted on the site once I get done with the game and get a bit of Mercenaries under my belt.