So earlier in the month, I'm taking a look at various reviews from sites for their game of the year.

Ok, really I was trolling around a bit to see where Saint's Row: The Third would land on other review lists. You see, for me, I've never been a Saint's Row fan. Heck, I haven't been a GTA fan since GTA 3. But when I first laid my eyes on Saint's Row: The Third, I knew it was going to be fun mayhem and as Giant Bomb was the only site that seemed to mirror that sentiment, I followed their previews the tightest.

Now granted, I don't expect Saint's Row to be on the top of everyone else's list. I get that the game is not the tightest experience of the year. But for sheer fun factor? My friends agree... It's right up there for game of the year.

However, there's one show that just couldn't get into it and completely misses the point. I'm looking at Reviews on the Run http://reviewsontherun.com/all/spotlight/rocket-and-raygun-awards-%E2%80%93-best-actionadventure-game-%E2%80%93-video-2/

Normally, I've been quite laid back about how Reviews on the Run covers their games because they're quite loose with their game ratings and a lot of the reviewers have certain agendas towards their opinions. But Scott C Jones really took the cake for me. I know he means well, but why are we worried about what senators, parents, and such perceive about games like Saint's Row? How come that's the yard stick we're using to measure for a game? I understand how items taken out of Saint's Row, out of context could be used against "the industry" but Saint's Row is a step in the right direction just like films like Porky's or American Pie are as far as humour is concerned.

We can't just continue to be "middle of the road" with "safe" themes and humour without pushing the envelope. Otherwise videogames as a medium won't mature to cover many topics unlike other media out there.

Well, after debating it a bit, I've decided to post my first blog post here at Giant Bomb. Being an older gamer makes me feel well... Old and Cranky :p The game I'm playing most right now is Gundam Extreme Vs, but thanks to my buddy incessantly bugging me to play Nier, I've bought it and started that now. Extreme Vs has a lot of Nostalgia factor for me since it brings back memories of the Gundam vs/Zeta vs/Seed vs series. Since the series went to PSP, I've more or less ignored it but now that it's back on consoles, I'm quite enjoying it. My one issue is that it's become much more of a twitch game and well, I don't know if I have that in me anymore.

Nier though, is another story.

Horrible graphics, a less than conventional story, with an absolutely breathtaking soundtrack, it definitely is a game worth $10. The game seems very PS2 in its graphics, but ignoring all of that, the game has something that a lot of others don't; a protagonist who acts like a tough, grizzled veteran. As I get older, the whiny, emo, young protagonists which seem to invade other games has been played out and now, I'm looking for different narrative streams. While some of Nier's dialogue is pretty campy and stiff, the fact that the main story revolves around a father-daughter relationship really tugs at the heartstrings of us older gamers. It's a neat twist to the general concept.

Anyways, that's about it for now. I wonder if anyone will read this?