This is not a post bashing Borderlands for not having an intricate story with lots of character development nor is it one slamming Gearbox for releasing a product with some bugs or without a robust trading system. I absolutely love the game. I played more in my first two days of ownership than I play most of the games I own ever! I acknowledge that the game is not perfect, and there are aspects of it I would like to see fixed. However, this game is addictive. This could easily be the best value of the fall in terms of the number of hours of elation you will experience killing and collecting loot.
 
The game has a gentle learning curve, but, looking back on my days as a noob, there are a few things I know now that would have made my early time in Pandora a bit more productive.

1. Every enemy has a spot that scores a critical- Granted it doesn't take too long to figure this out. These are the ones you need to know early: Score a crit on Skaggs by shooting into their open mouths. Human characters are critted with a headshot.
2. Enemies respawn- If you've played Fallout 3, you may be accustomed to clearing out an area and never worrying about it again. In Borderlands, your enemies will respawn fairly quickly. Be ready for them.
3. Loot stats don't always tell the tale- You may have just found the rifle with the highest stats you have ever seen, but there are factors that the stats don't say. Equip it and fire off a few rounds before you throw out the rifle that has been treating you well.
4. Your vehicle can kill nearly anything and does it quickly- Soon after you get the vehicle, you will learn that you can easily destroy Skaggs and other enemies that might otherwise take a good bit of fire. They can also kill very quickly which might help you gain some XP bonuses for challenges. Update: Watch the vehicle health meter which will replace your own while you are inside. If you are running over tough enemies, the meter will drain quickly. It does eventually recharge. Be sure to get out before the vehicle explodes or you will most likely be down.
   
5. Speaking of challenges, Borderlands has them- They are like achievements, but you don't get Gamerscore for them. What you do get is experience. Switch to your quest log then look above the quest list. From this screen of the ECHO, you may switch between viewing your quests and your challenges.
6. 
   There are different types of loot stashes- Each one has a tendency to contain different types of items. The stashes on the ground that you "smash" to open usually contain ammo and health although they can contain other items. I got a purple class mod out of one yesterday. You have rectangular crates that usually contain a good bit of ammo. You have toilets, mailboxes, and dumpsters that contain one or two ammo pickups. There are red rounded chests which usually have a couple of weapons (often better than common rarity) along with some ammo. There are long rectangular gray chests which may contain weapons, shields, or class mods. These are usually big money. Oh, yeah. There are also lockers which typically have ammo or money but may also contain weapons or shields.
7. You can use vehicle stations to do something like fast travel- Here's a scenario. You got in a vehicle and drove off to some crazy boss, got out of the vehicle, and got killed sending you way back to the vehicle station or somewhere nearby. As long as the vehicle wasn't destroyed, just walk back to the vehicle terminal and teleport to either seat. This will teleport you into the seat of your last created vehicle!
8. Equip weapons that use different types of ammo- You will ultimately have four equipment slots. Make sure the weapons use different ammo types. This will keep you firing for longer.
9. Don't be afraid to buy ammo- If you're a cheap bastard like me, you may feel silly buying ammo when there are so many pickups around, and I definitely recommend picking ammo up over buying it. That said, if you think the shit is about to hit the fan and you happen to have a shop nearby, buy up the maximum of each type of ammo you use. It's much cheaper than dying.
10. NEW! Holding X to pick up ammo picks up all surrounding ammo and health- I believe this is in one of the tutorial messages, but it's easy to miss. It makes looting much quicker. Conversely...
11. NEW! Holding X to pick up a weapon replaces your currently equipped weapon with that one- If you have room in your pack, your old weapon will simply be moved to the pack. If not, the old weapon will be dropped.
12. NEW! Spend your skill points rather than saving them- Skill points spent make you more powerful. Skill points saved do nothing. Respecs are cheap. If you are having trouble deciding what to do with your skill points, go ahead and spend them now. Then, you can always respec later.
13. NEW! Plan your skill points before you get them- Follow this tip and you don't have to worry with the previous one. Take a look at all the skills in your tree. Based on your options, make a plan for where you would like your character to be. Gearbox has provided skill calculators for each character ( Mordecai, Brick, Lilith, Roland) to help you plan your build. Keep in mind that, initially, you will only have access to the top skills in any of the three divisions. You will need to have 5 points in one division before you reach the second level, 10 points to reach the third level, etcetera. It doesn't matter where those points are. For example, you could spend 5 points on each of the first tier skills to gain access to the third tier.
    
14. NEW! Pick up every quest you have access to- There's no need to have only one quest in your log at a time. If the bounty board or NPC has multiple quests available, pick up every one you can.
15. NEW! Perform all quests in an area before turning in- This is especially important before you open up fast travel. You don't want to travel back and forth any more than you have to. Take a look at your quest log. The quests are conveniently divided up by zone. Do every quest you can (take note of the quest's level) in your current zone before you turn them in. This is old hat for MMO players.
16. NEW! Platforming is often rewarded- Sure, this is an FPS, but Gearbox has thrown in little rewards for players who can get to places they shouldn't. Hiding on the tops of buildings and in odd nooks and crannies are weapons chests. Play around by jumping on pieces of the environment to see what new areas you can reach. If you get stuck, I hope you have enough grenades to kill yourself.
17. NEW! The "Item of the Day" is sometimes cool- Each vending machine stocks an "Item of the Day" which changes every 20 minutes. This is a cool item sticking with the theme of the shop stocking it. You can sometimes find nice gear in these. As you are stocking up on health, ammo, or weapons, be sure to take a look at the current item. It might be better than your current equipment.
18. NEW! Hide while healing your buddies- When you're healing your partner, crouch down and put them between you and approaching enemies if they are out in the open. They can't be killed while you are healing so use them as cover. Alternately, if they are near environmental cover, try healing them from just around the corner.
    

Please post your own tips in the comments. Also, check out my guide to playing Mordecai and feel free to contribute to that as well.

In contrast to most of my GB blog entries, this is not about video games. I typically try to keep this blog devoted to that because I think there are other places where the audience will be more receptive to blogging about the plethora of other topics. However, in this case I feel the audience here could possibly benefit from some exposure to board games. Of course, everyone has played Monopoly and Uno at some point, but board games (fortunately) do not stop there. Video gamers are often not receptive to board games in spite of the fact that, if you enjoy good games, it shouldn't really matter whether they are presented on a screen or a piece of cardboard. Here I explore a few recent favorites that have actually stolen some time from my video gaming habit.
  
 
 
I have attempted to provide a quick overview of the games, but I don't think I did such a great job. If you have questions, please post them, and I will do my best to provide you an answer. Also, feel free to comment with any other feedback you may have. Enjoy!

This blog post should be a round-up of a few very cool board games I have been playing recently. Instead, that video was uploaded to YouTube, rejected for length, split into two, and is now being uploaded again. I should be able to get that up tomorrow, and I highly recommend you check it out. Instead, today's video consists of my impressions of DJ Hero which I got to play today at the local Gamestop.
 
 
I would love to hear what you thought of the demo if you had a chance to play. Also, please hit my blog again tomorrow where, barring further disaster, you will find my awkward descriptions of some games I think you may really enjoy--games that do not even require electricity! Well, unless you count lights.
 
Note: It appears the audio and video are not entirely in sync. The lesson: never use YouTube's Flash video recorder no matter how seductively convenient it is. Oh well.

Many of the games journalists getting noticed are those bringing something new and exciting to the table. Co-op brings casual discussion and less focus on timing. Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation brings fast-talking, crude drawings, and surliness. Bitmob brings a focus on community content. Bytejacker covers downloadable games exclusively. Giant Bomb is perfecting the video games wiki. So, what's left?
 
Oh, you thought I had the answer? Actually, I'm asking you. What is the next frontier of games journalism? I have a few ideas, but I don't pretend to have any definitive answers. While we're at it, though, allow me to share some of my takes on what niches have yet to be filled.

1. Games reviews that coincide with deals or sales. Being a regular dude who pays money for all his games, I find the Cheap Ass Gamer forums indispensable. I am constantly lurking there to find the hottest deals, and I have saved quite a bit of money over the course of my gaming career because of it. Often times, a game will come onto my radar simply because of a fantastic deal. It would be great to have an outlet that not only highlights the current deals floating around but also plays them and tells me if they are worth the drastically reduced price. I picture it working something like this: a new deal is born. A person or maybe even multiple people get a copy, play for a few minutes, and write up some quick impressions. This gets posted on a blog along with a link to the deal or, in the case of B&M (that's "brick and mortar" meaning deals that only work inside a store for all you on the outside) deals, all the pertinent information. Then, readers of or subscribers to the site see a deal along with a quick impression of whether or not that deal is really worth the money. It's a one-stop shop for information and the "you have to spend money to save money" philosophy.
2. A Consumer Reports of games. For those of you unfamiliar, Consumer Reports is a monthly magazine which reviews consumer products such as cars, appliances, tools, and the like. The unique thing about this magazine is that they buy every product they review. They also do not accept advertising. Their revenue comes entirely from subscribers. There is nothing like this in the world of gaming. Virtually every games review outlet either does or would accept review copies of games and most accept advertising. For the most part, games journalists act with integrity and honesty, and I do not intend to suggest this is not the case. However, there is something to be said for the peace of mind of knowing that your reviewer has not been given anything by the company who stands to gain or lose from his evaluation of the game. It would also be comforting to know that the bottom line of the outlet cannot be affected by an advertiser who may have received a less-than-favorable score pulling advertising from the media outlet. To summarize, this would be a media outlet focusing on games reviews that would purchase every game being reviewed and would not accept any sort of advertising. The downside to this is that it would force this outlet into some kind of subscription model as their only source of income. Would the interest in this service be high enough among gamers to justify the cost and risk involved?

That's all I have at the moment. Please provide me with your own ideas for the unexplored frontiers of gaming journalism. Also, if you have the time and inclination, give me some feedback on the ideas I proposed.

Thanks to my inspiration from the community.
JonnyAvocado's recent video blog
xero237's recent video blog 
 
 
  
Hope you like it. Tear me a new one in the comments.