Been over ten days since my last blog. Time really does fly, especially as you get older. I've been busier than usual, working, reading, playing video games whenever I have time. Trying to get some good runs in here and there. All in all, it's been good. But I don't really care about me or my well being because so much is going on in gaming right now. I finally found time to log on and play the Halo: Reach beta and...was actually a surprisingly pleasant experience. I'm not going to write a whole review of it. That's already been done by countless people, but I will give a few thoughts on it. 
 
First off, the new look and feel to the guns is pretty good. It's fresh. Maybe I only like it because I've played Halo 3 for so long and I'm tired of the same weapons, but to me it felt like they took a step up when it came to the weapons this time. Next, are the classes. The different classes you can choose add an entire other dimension to the multi-player. I think they either could have backfired badly, or been a huge success. I think they're mostly a success and they'll probably be a bit refined when the actual game comes out. Stalker seemed a little cheap to me but all in all they balanced them well enough. Haven't played enough to learn how to use Guard yet, but the other three (Stalker, Airborne, and Scout) I'm familiar with. Lastly, the game seems more team oriented this time around. It was harder for me to go solo and just try to kill everything and much easier when I worked with my teammates. I think that's a big bonus, something that Halo 3 didn't execute quite as well. 
 
With the Reach beta out of the way, onto Gears of War 3. I recently got the latest GameInformer with the scoop on Gears of War 3 and finished reading the feature piece on it. Well written and informative, I liked the article but I liked the sound of the game even more. I'm always a sucker for final chapters in a trilogy or gaming series. Not really to see what the developers have changed in terms of gameplay (though different weapons or techniques may intrigue me) but just how the story itself wraps up. Obviously, humanity is in a state of disarray and the Lambent are now trying to take everything over. They've apparently given Dom a grizzled, wizened look which totally fits with the ordeal he just went through. It's hard to believe that Marcus and company have much fight left in him, but when I read that Anya was suiting up to fight, that sealed the deal for me. I totally did not expect that and it will be interesting to see how she fits in with the rest of the Gears. 
  
I also thought the whole village-on-a-boat opening was pretty cool, with the attack soon following, to open the game. Needless to say, I'll probably be getting Gears 3. Even if the game turns out mediocre, I could probably burn through hours on the multiplayer (and Horde mode) and be able to say that I own the entire trilogy. Me and a buddy of mine tend to try to fit in gaming marathons and attempting to play through the entire trilogy in one weekend would be an experience I wouldn't soon forget. 
 
That's really all I wanted to say. I'm pretty excited to get my hands on Reach, or Gears 3, or maybe even both. That said, there are a few games I've been wanting to purchase for awhile. I've set aside a lot of my money for savings and I'm trying to spend as little as possible, just in case I need some of it in the future. Chances are that I'll show my PS3 some love. I've been neglecting it lately because I got back into Fallout for about a week and I've been playing the Reach beta. I might go out and get Heavy Rain, something I've been considering for awhile. 
 
One last thing before I close this out. I'm rereading my favorite book series of all time, the Wheel of Time series. Please give a shout out in a comment if you've heard of it or if you've read it.The series is truly massive, spanning 12 books so far, each of them around 600-800 pages, one of them reaching up to 1000! I've read nearly the entire series, except for the book 10, 11, and 12 and I haven't read it in such a long time that I forgot where I was. Figured I'd start up again and try to read them all before reading the series finale, which just came out recently. Nearly done with book 1 (which is nearly 800 pages) and eager to move on to book 2. 
 
I'll keep you updated. Until next time ;)