Yo Yo.

This is yet another blog. I had a few, but now I only have 2 (GUSzilla and webGUS ). But I will probably post some stuff here soon. Or not... STAY TUNED (or connected, or whatever the kids are saying theese days).

GUS

So it's Valentine's Day--if you haven't noticed or had a significant other that wouldn't let you forget--and EA has released a marketing campaign for its Burnout Paradise title.

The campaign includes mock dating service commercials where couples speak to how they fell in love over games of Burnout. Filled with sexually implicit rhetoric, one guy T-bones his mate at over 150 mph...

With their more mature nature, I can definately appreciate the marketing ingenuity--mostly because I distain online/mass dating services. 

 In any case, if you and your significant other are looking for some 'quality time,' EA suggests a few rounds of Burnout Paradise.

http://www.youtube.com/user/EA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3bLZLAp94I

I finally finished ordering all of my PC components today. Well, actually, I ordered my last parts yesterday, but I ordered the OS today. So, because I have nothing better to do and I want to make you feel jealous, I'm going to list all of the different parts that I got. I'll start with the basics.

Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core (the new Penryn dual-core processor)

GPU: EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface

RAM: 2x1 GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel + 2x1 GB of some garbage-looking HP RAM I got from James (hoping it actually works; if not, I'll just pick up two more sticks of the Corsair)

Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

Optical Drive:  SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

I think that's everything. I'll just be putting these parts into my current Alienware Aurora chassis, and I'll take the parts that are currently in my Alienware to build a second machine, which means I need to buy a case for that.

I decided to go with Vista Home Premium 64-bit, mainly because of the fact that 32-bit can only support up to 3.2 GB of RAM.

I'll be sticking with my current sound system, which is some 5.1 Logitech system that came with my Alienware. It's a nice setup for how cheap it was, and then of course I have my 22'' Samsung 226BW monitor which I love. I'm really looking forward to getting this thing set up. I expect the parts will arrive around Thursday, but I probably won't have time to get it built until Friday or even Saturday. I have some gaming to do once I get it built: my graphics card comes with Crysis and I've had Unreal Tournament III sitting around for some time.

Speaking of gaming, I downloaded this Half-Life 2 mod that someone told me about called Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat. It's really cool. Pretty much, it's a hardcore military sim-type game. You play as either the USMC or Iraqi insurgents. There's no crosshair, health, or anything. There's not even really a HUD at all. You basically have to aim with your iron sights or scope, and it's ultra-realistic. It's kind of like Red Orchestra, which is a WWII sim, but in modern-day Iraq. You pretty much die in 1-2 shots. It takes A LOT of teamwork, and thankfully, since the mod's community is pretty small right now, there's a lot of cool people that play it. It hasn't been infested with ass clowns like CS or other mainstream mods. Anyways, I suggest you check it out.

That's all I have for now. 

I saw Cloverfield today. (Note: I'll try to keep out any spoilers, but you have been warned). I went into the movie with slightly low expectations, knowing that it wouldn't meet its hype. Fortunately, because I went in not expecting much, I came out pretty happy. The movie was decent. It wasn't amazing and lacked an original story and character development, but it was entertaining to say the least. Now that I saw the movie, I'm not at all surprised at how Cloverfield's antagonist was kept such a secret: simply because there isn't a secret. It's something that was entirely expected.

I thought the whole use of the hand camera thing might be annoying, but in fact, it wasn't really. It worked out well, and they used the gimmick nicely using flashbacks (because he accidentally recorded over an old tape). This provided some backstory, but nothing significant enough to make the movie good in terms of storyline. The simple fact is is that it's a monster movie--nothing more, nothing less. My suggestion to you (if you haven't seen it yet) is to do what I did and go in with slightly low expectations. A lot of people seemed disappointed with the ending, but honestly, without giving too much away, how else would it end? Giving it a sad ending or a happy ending, people would have been disappointed regardless. I think many people felt there wasn't enough closure, but I figure any more tacked on to the end would be pointless and just detract from the movie. God knows they'll make a prequel and a videogame for this movie.

 In something totally unrelated, I've been playing a ton of Call of Duty 4 on PC, and I must say, it's like 100x better on PC than on Xbox 360. It's better in pretty much every aspect. I've also been playing quite a bit of Team Fortress 2 on PC, which is like 200x better than its 360 counterpart. I've played a bit of Garry's Mod 10 lately too. They just updated it and now it includes a whole bunch of new stuff and it runs on the updated Source engine (from Orange Box).

The only Xbox 360 game that I've been playing on and off recently is Rock Band. With me being a big Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins fan, I'm looking forward to the downloadable content that was recently announced:

Week of Jan. 22: Oasis Pack (440 MS points/ $5.50)

• Don't Look Back in Anger (160 MS points/ $2)


• Live Forever (160 MS points/ $2)


• Wonderwall (160 MS Points / $2)

• Siva - Smashing Pumpkins (160 MS points/ $2)


• Working Man - Rush *Cover* (160 MS points/ $2)


• Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) - Coheed and Cambria *Cover* (160 MS Points / $2)

According to the vice president of MTV Games, over 2.5 million Rock Band DLC tracks have been downloaded, and there are over 200 tracks in the pipeline for 2008.

I have ordered some of the parts for the new PC I will be building. So far, I have 4GB of RAM, a CD/DVD drive/burner and a 700W power supply. I'll probably be ordering the motherboard, video card , processor and hard drive over the course of the next couple weeks. I also will probably need to get another sound card as well, and I'll have to pick up Windows Vista Home Premium. The video card I'm getting comes with Crysis, so I'm looking forward to running that on high settings. Depending on the price difference, I may use EVGA's "step up" program to upgrade to the 9800 once it releases around March.

Anyways, that's all I have for now. 

Okay, I'm going to try to keep this short and work as hard as I can to hold my tongue. I just finished watching 2 hours of "Deal or No Deal" with my parents - no one here actually watched the whole thing (father played Brain Age 2; mother slept; and I surfed the Net). This episode sent me over the edge on what kind of capitalist holiday, filled with corporate gluttony, this season has become.

It all began with my disdain for those oportunists who felt like it okay to take advantage of people in the holiday frenzy. Such individuals listed Wiis on Craigslist for far above retail (i.e. $500), and marketed them as including five (5) games - Wii Sports does not count as five games people. This trend continued even onto today.

Some "spirit of giving." People pawned off the hard-to-find console in the vein trying help others out, but only at the expense of %300 markup. I understand the concept of retail itself operates on markups and standards of Capitalism, but construing outrageous price-gauging as helpful practices is simply despicable.

As Wii-hysteria as a base of frustration, we come to tonight. Normally, I can look past all of the commercialization of the Holidays (Christmas), but the show sent me over the edge. The theme, again, was the "spirit of giving." In a time where people around the world are in need, and during a season that highlights the importance of giving to less-than-privileged, here's NBC handing out gifts to the audience, and money to its contestants.

What about those without any means to have Christmas? Why didn't those advertisers give plane tickets or DSs to welfare families or refugees?

Sure, I know it's a bit unpractical in our capitalist culture, but those advertising dollars could have gone to a bit of a better cause.

Perhaps this is more of a self-serving rant, and altruistic ideals can be extensively debated, but honestly, where's the game show handing out to charities or to the needy? I know I'm not helping the cause by just ranting, but it's some sort of outlet for the frustration that is the commercialization of Christmas.

Feel free to disagree, flame or disregard, but I need some sort of crowd to vent to, sorry.

Ironically, with the conclusion of one of the most commercialized holidays, is the coming of even more potentially great games to blow even more money on. While I may just have condemned Corporate America, I can't help but praise it as well.

Screw you economics, money and fair-market Capitalism! Screw, you.

Happy Holidays all.

So it's December 23rd, meaning tomorrow will be Christmas Eve with Christmas following that the next day, of course. Usually the holidays are a time for relaxation and hanging out with your family, but so far this has not been the case.

Last night, I was up until 3:30 AM getting Game-Spectrum's 2007 awards list up. I'm happy to announce that it is up (if you didn't see already). Check it out here and feel free to voice your opinion by leaving a comment. The Game of the Year category was argued over considerably. The Orange Box, BioShock and Call of Duty 4 were all contenders for the award, but ultimately The Orange Box won out because of its incredible value.

Yesterday also marked the wrap up of the Three for Free Giveaway. The winner was Scott Curfman, and he'll receive three free games of his choice from www.sprocketidea.com.

Other than what's going on around GS, nothing very interesting is going on in my life at the moment. Whether or not that's a good thing, I don't know. So, to not bore you any further, I'll keep this post short. Anyways, I hope you all have a merry Christmas or just simply a happy holidays, whatever you're into.

It's been a long time since my last blog entry. We've been hard at work tweaking the new GS and adding new features. The latest of which (and probably the coolest) is the brand new video section. Check it out by clicking here or just click the "Videos" link above in the menu.

Also, I got that Samsung LCD display I was talking about a while ago (the 226BW). All I have to say is that it's great. If you're looking for a good monitor, look no further. It has amazing picture, resolution and not to mention it's 22''. I hooked up my old monitor as well, so now I have a dual-monitor setup, which is really nice. I still want to try hooking up my Xbox 360 to the new monitor just for kicks.

I've been playing Mass Effect quite a bit lately (actually on-and-off since I don't have a lot of time to even play) . I'm getting pretty close to beating it. I'm on the last level I think. The game was good, but to be honest, I was expecting a little more.

I downloaded the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack today and I'm somewhat disappointed. Not only were the maps a little on the expensive side (800 MS Points to be exact), but they were kind of mediocre. Standoff was the only one that really stood out to me. It's a great map. Foundry is okay, but I guess it will only show its true value once people start getting creative with it in the Forge. Rats Nest, on the other hand, pretty much sucks, and it's quickly becoming apparent throughout the Halo 3 community. If you don't feel like shelling out the 800 Points, you can wait until this Spring to download them for free. Bungie also made clear that this is around the time that the next map pack would release.

I'm also planning on upgrading my PC pretty soon. I made a list of my current specs and of the stuff that I plan on upgrading to in the forum. Check it out here. I'm planning on getting the new 8800GTS that NVIDIA just dropped. I might even SLI a couple down the road. I'll also be picking up a quad core to go along with that. Crysis, here I come!

Ineffective, in the sense that the game hasn't really grabbed me.

So, the quarter is winding down and I find myself with some time and a little 'extra' cash - meaning I was bored and wanted to buy something. What else to do than check my favorite online garage sale that is Craigslist. After thinking about what I could possibly want, I of course looked up games that I'm currently back-logged to play.

With The Orange Box and Assassin's Creed being atop my list I started my search. Alas, no copies of Orange Box, and AC was much too far away to consider it a deal. Next on the list is Guitar Hero 3, but I didn't even bother. Finally, Mass Effect. I had seen some deals on it before, but I was always just too slow; this time, however, I got lucky.

After a frustrating drive to find an ATM, a round-about drive and $40 later, I finally procured a used copy of said game. Prior to my purchase the seller tacked on a disclaimer: "So yeah, the game froze on me twice, but I've read a few reviews and they say it's pretty common. If you have any problems just get in touch."

Meh. So far I've been pretty lucky with my Microsoft + CL purchases. My 360 hasn't RROD and I picked up Gears for only $45, new.

All of that is beside the point, however. I've had a little less than six collective hours with the action/RPG, and I can't say I'm that impressed. I feel like all of the reviews have really down-played technical issues which are all too common and pervasive. Loading times, texture-popping, lag/frame rate problems all destroy a completely entertaining story.

I loved Knights of the Old Republic; this on the other hand, isn't shaping up too well. Aside from the technical issues, it seems like there must have been an indecision to go either completely RPG or 3rd-person shooter. Thus far, the action seems bland and uninspired. I, think, I would have been okay with turn-based action, similar to KOTOR.

AI issues seem to plague your team as they just stand around and get shot, to only contribute once-in-awhile. Problems with AI aren't only with your teammates however, as the enemy is either completely stupid or outright kamikaze. For the most part, enemies simply round around aimlessly - yet, still hit you quite accurately - or run right towards you, guns blazing. While the cover system is pretty effective, it's not very useful when your foe runs right up and around to kill you (after your buddy just sat there and got killed).

The saving grace - and only thing that's keeping me with it - is the story/dialogue. I love the writing and the options of what to say/do. I also feel that I may be going through it just for the sake of it - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

All of this, remember, is only based on a few hours and not very much exploration. I've only recently left the Citadel, and just started my first mission. I guess I can't be too critical just yet as there's more to explore, but for the most part, my biggest issues with the game don't seem to be affected by where one is.

I'm willing to plug through it however; I am just really hoping for a reason to hold on to it for more than just one play-through. I really, really want to like this game, but it just feels rushed. Hopefully the sequel will be more polished and fix all of these minor bugs! 

In any case, there will be plenty of time to explore the galaxies following noon, Monday. At that point I will have completed 1/3 of my last year at college, and start a month's worth of vegetation and relaxation.  

Well, the keenest and most eagle eyes of readers may have noticed that the first of my actual reviews have gone up on the site.

Here's to hopefully the first of many! My position as the only (I believe?) UK writer means I also get an interesting aspect in addition to the writing duties I fulfil. I get to attempt to liase via email with PR for various games companies, which I wasn't expecting to do but I'm finding interesting and intriguing all the same. There's an odd sense of... Excitement, I guess, when I go to check my staff email account that I'm really rather enjoying.

There's been a lot of stuff in the press lately about advertiser pressure influencing reviews and reviewers. This sort of thing has ramifications for videogame publications worldwide and internetwide, not just the supposedly offending sites, and I think for a lot of people it's going to be difficult to trust review sites that have ads.

I can't speak for everyone here, but personally, at least, I don't wish to be someone who has their opinions skewed or changed for the sake of a few quid (Great British Pounds) from some faceless company... Here's hoping I never get put into that kind of position, and good luck to the remaining Gamespot staff, who must be feeling pretty down in the dumps right now.

- Adam

Let there be no mistake, my parents have never been very receptive of video games in general. They fall into that category of people who feel that it can be a waste of time. However, I must stress that they are not completely against the games.

Long ago - well not that long ago - games were used as a mediating tool for me and my brother. He being the elder of 11 years, and me the younger, we didn't always get along, especially in the early years. Our first thing we could actually get along with was the SNES. I can still remember my first win in SSF2, the disbelief on my brother's face and his bruised hand from punching me in the knee.

My parents understood the necessity of the system: it was a bonding mechanism, and the best times were hiding Mortal Kombat games when my mother would get home from work. Yet, they belonged to the camp of parents who believed kids need to get out and play.

Flash forward a few years, the SNES has been sold of and I now own a Playstation. It took a good while to get that thing, and I cherished it. It was during a hockey tournament in Aspen, Colorado, my dad was my coach and we were in-between games. While we were hanging out in the hotel room my dad picked up the controller and asked to play some NHL '99 with me.

A couple of years later the PS2 is about to debut. After catching the hype-bug I plead with my mother to get up with me to go get it - without a job I couldn't afford it. She agrees, as long as I wake her up. Well, I didn't get much sleep that night and woke her up around 3 a.m. to go wait outside the local Circuit City. Since then she'll randomly bust that story out exclaiming how much fun she had.

All of this background leads up present day. Between the years my mother hasn't picked up a controller, my father has had a stroke and his brain is still working to rewire itself. I picked him up a DS for his birthday last year with Brain Age to give him a little psychological exercise - he has always valued his intellect and the stroke really disrupted parts of all our lives. Other than that my parents have gradually accepted what the industry is about and will sometimes engage in discussions with me about games/gaming.

All of this has changed since my father picked up the X-plorer Guitar for my GH2. When I was a kid I remember listening to the Allman Brothers Band a lot during road trips. After firing up "Jessica," and some instruction, he's hooked. Whenever I head home he asks me to bring the 360 and GH2, joking that I should leave it there.

As of this Saturday my family came over to watch the 100^th Apple Cup football game, the annual rivalry game between the University of Washington (Huskies) and Washington State University (Cougars). The party started long before the game ever did. My dad actually started to understand how the game works, found some timing/rhythm and completed a couple of songs. After a few tries my mom got tired of watching and asked to give it a try! Well, she wasn't too successful but basically the two of them are addicted.

Judging from this last weekend it might be time for them to cash-in their tube T.V. for an HDTV and 360; probably not, but at least we can all finally agree on video games!     

Oh, yeah, and WSU barely beat out my Huskies. At least they didn't piss on the field this year, fucking Cougs.