Ah yes, the illustrious GiantBomb blog. It has indeed been a while.  To avoid boring you with yet another tale about my personal life, I thought that it would be prudent to show you all what I have been up to this summer. I decided to escape the cold and wet of the English summertime, and head across the pond to Jackson, Wyoming. Here are a few photos (all captured with my trusty Fujifilm S5800) of the beautiful scenery that I get to enjoy each and every day;
 
  
 A fine example of the picturesque scenery located in this part of the world.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Only a short walk from my house sits acres of unspoilt countryside. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
This mountain was difficult to climb (took around 2 hours to reach the summit), but the view at the top made it all worth it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I haven't had much opportunity for gaming, but any time that I do have has currently been spent on Final Fantasy IV DS. Expect a review in the near future.

I know that I said that I would be updating this blog regularly, well I guess that I'm a big fat liar, and I apologise for this. However, the Christmas spirit has taken hold of me, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a new entry, and display to the world of Giant Bomb what presents I received on this day of Yuletide joy.

Santa was kind enough to bestow upon me;

• Sin City (DVD)
• The Dark Knight (DVD)
• £100 worth of money and gift vouchers
• Watchmen (Graphic Novel)
• Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger (CD)
• An assortment of clothes
• Simpsons 'Spider Pig' Mug and Coaster set
• Calendar

Along with some other items that I have unfortunately forgotten. I hope that everyone is having a nice Christmas Day (even if you do not celebrate it), and I look forward to making more blog entries in the New Year. In fact, i'll make it one of my resolutions.

You should see a couple of reviews popping up in the next week or so, too.

I've been searching for a strong videogame-orientated community for quite a while, following the demise of GameSpot. I feel that my search is over, and after browsing the site a large amount over the past day or so, I feel that I have made the right decision. This not only means that I now have a new place to make blogs about what is going on in my life, but I have a new place on which to post content such as videogame reviews and articles, which I am eager to do. I made very few blogs during my time on GS, but I shall attempt (and probably fail), to make a regular blog a goal for me to achieve on this site.

I noticed that a number of people had summed up their positive and negative thoughts about the sites in their inaugural blog posts, so I think that I shall do the same;

• Yay - I like the layout of the forums. I noticed a number of people have complained about them, and while I understand their point of view, I do not share it. I think the format lends itself very well to a thriving community, you can gain an overview of what is happening across the whole website through the hub on the main forum page, but should you desire specific discussion about a particular game or character, there is a means of doing so.
  
• Yay - The 'bombcast' and video content that has been produced for this site has been top notch. Every time I have sat down to watch or listen to a piece of content, I haven't regretted it. The E3 coverage in particular was great fun to watch. 
• Yay - The ability to make and edit articles is a clever feature. It rewards the community for producing quality content, while at the same time building up a strong encyclopaedia of everything to do with videogames, which will definitely develop into a useful resource in the future.
  
• Yay - A huge userbase has already been built up, a day and a half since the launch of the site. To have such an large community at such an early stage is almost unheard of, and it is pleasing to see a great deal of activity, both in the forums, and from content that has been produced. I'm sure that in the future this site will develop to become one of the key players in the videogames media industry, and I'll be here to watch it every step of the way.
  
• Nay - There has been, predictably, a large amount of people gaming the site. While it doesn't detract hugely from my own enjoyment, seeing people upload hundreds of images just for the sake of raising more points seems rather pathetic. The same applies to post counts. While I am sure that not all the people with a high post count have set out to gain the highest number of posts they can possibly achieve in the shortest amount of time, there seems to be a great deal of posts that are just made up of a couple of words, usually a murmur of general agreement towards whatever the topic creator is suggesting. These posts achieve nothing, they do not express a point of view, or attempt to argue or discuss anything; they do nothing at all except grant a +1 to an insignificant total.
• Nay - A large amount of GameSpot related threads have emerged. I understand that a great deal of users came from GS, but the notion that we have nothing to talk about aside from the gaming site at which we originated is becoming more and more prominent. If you wish to talk about GameSpot, then perhaps a forum other than GameSpot is not the place for you. However, I expect this to subside as the days wear on, as people begin to settle more into the community.

So, altogether I have enjoyed my time on Giant Bomb so far. Long may it continue.

I hope that this site will become my new 'home' on the internet; the first site I browse when I turn my computer on, the last I glance at before I turn it off. At the moment I wander blindly around the web, hoping to come across something good to occupy my time. I hope that I have found it in Giant Bomb.