PLEASE MAY I RAMBLE ON ABOUT VIDEOGAMES!

Prepare for a somewhat messy blog today folks, now I shall admit to having no talent whatsoever at anything I've ever done in my life. But I am sort of a perfectionist for good or for bad (the bad being the fact that I have no confidence or pride in ANYTHING I create) and it's a pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon here is dear old England so I wasn't exactly concerned with creating a blog directily discussing one subject. So I shall be rambling on about a few different subjects relating to games that have had me rather intrigued lately.  
 

HALO: ODST

To begin with I wanted to chat a little about the latest Halo adventure to make it's way to the Xbox 360. Now I won't lie to you dear readers and say that I absolutely adore the recent Halo games, infact it's been very much the opposite. I've grown a great dislike for Master Chief since Halo 3, don't get me wrong it was a solid game and the multiplayer was a lot of fun. But it simply wasn't worth the hype it received, not to mention my personal frustrations with both the story and overall gameplay. To be fair much of this is my own personal opinion, so please keep that in mind before you Halo fanboys start sending me death letters. But I shall admit that the soon to be released Halo: ODST as me rather excited, but why exactly?  
 
Well for one it features no Master Chief, which in itself is a fabulous thing. The original Halo was one of the best games ever created and still holds a fond place in my robot controlled heart, but I still feel that Bungie and Microsoft have somewhat poorly treated John 117 over the years since it's original release. In ODST we get to be 'The Rookie' (who let's be honest, does feel very Master Chief like) and experience a totally different view of the Halo Universe. That alone excites me, but if it could mean a new beginning for the franchise then that can only be a good thing for all involved. There's a number of new mechanics in place that could be of interest and the fact that the game will come with all currently released Halo 3 Multiplayer maps on a seperate disc is great. Afterall I've been looking to get into some Halo multiplayer for a while.  
 
We'll have to wait and see how the game does sales wise, I think I'd only be speaking the truth by saying that the Halo franchise as lost some of it's popularity of late, but it should do just fine. I gladly ignored the game (or expansion as it once was) upon it's announcement but some recent demonstrations as me checking up on it every so often and I've been pushed enough to pre-order a copy when it hits stores worldwide on September the 22nd. I'm sure there are many eager fans looking forward to it, and I've seen enough 'new' stuff to catch my interest. It's also another sign that the winter game rush is soon to commence.  
 

FIFA 10

Did you know that the FIFA 10 demo hit Xbox Live and PSN this week, of course you did afterall you love Football (Soccer) right? Well if you don't then you might want to skip this little section. But it did indeed become downloadable and I was more then happy to check out this latest entry into a much celebrated sports franchise. Last years FIFA 09 was a brilliant virtual representation of the beautiful game and from the looks (and feel) of it, FIFA 10 will continue that trend. Infact I'm starting to wonder how Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series is going to truly hit back, it's true that most footie fans will buy both versions of the current football game kings. But the recent Konami attempts have been below par, with FIFA continuing to develop new and exciting modes.  
 
As for the demo, well it felt great and there's definatly more responsiveness in the overall controls. FIFA 09 occasionally felt a little slow when you got stuck in those tight spots where quickness is key, but the demo felt like a faster experience throughout. Speaking of which I'm a huge fan of the quick referee actions, this allows for the flow of the game to keep at a nice pace and there's fewer dull little cutscenes to handle. Graphically there seems to be some little touches but nothing huge, the biggest improvements will hopefully come in the new manager mode (of which I spent most of my many hours playing in FIFA 09) and Be a Pro. It's all rather exciting and definatly a day 1 purchase for me.  
  

AND FINALLY

While I intended to talk about a few other games I've been interested in lately, I feel this blog as gone on long enough. Maybe I'll discuss them in at a later date but for now I think that shall do. Now that I've written this I'm wondering where I'm rambling exactly, it all seems rather normal if a little longer then usual. Hopefully it's at least been of some interest to you dear reader, if not then I apologise. I find it hard to right short articles like some folks can and there are some wonderful bloggers here on Giantbomb where one can learn many writing techniques. But for now, I leave you with a simple question and a pleasant goodbye. 
 
If you had the ability of experiencing past events through the touching of a specific object (Halo: ODST style), what would you touch and why?  
((NOTHING DIRTY FOLKS)) 
 
Thanks for Reading! 
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