The End of "Kevin" 07

2007 is just about done with. Time to reflect back on a year that was and make bigger, bolder plans for 2008. It's not going to be hard to name my personal highlight for the year gone by. Buying a townhouse with my wife along with a new car doesn't happen without leaving an impact on your life. My whole outlook on life has been totally changed with this recent event. I no longer even really think to buy new Xbox titles. I no longer think to lounge around the place on my days off. Everything I do now has to contribute in some way, shape or form to the "family". I use quotation marks as I am more use to a family being a mother, father and some brat kids. But I guess our cat, Foo Foo, more than makes up for the void of not having kids.

 

Anyone reading this who is renting should really look into diving into buying an place of their own now before the price hike hits like we think it will now with the change of government. There is a great deal of satisfaction of putting your feet up under a roof in your name!

 

To all my mates and pals who congratulated us on our new place I'd just like to say a big big thank you to you all! The house warming party was a great success. The BBQ was my personal highlight from that day! Yutang and myself hope that 2008 will be full of many more BBQ's and get togethers. We hope that the coming year will bring great news to you all and that you kick all your goals you aim for!

 

Cheers!

Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...

This whole Movember nonsense has been catching on. But it's for a great cause so most of us will let the porno mo's and handlebars slide while the money for prostate cancer and Beyond Blue roll in. Blackout's very own MOn capitain, Rob Spit, has been very enthusiastic and with strange results! We never ever pictured it before but Rob's mo now has transformed him into the hapless, relentless principle from that classic 80's movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ed Rooney was his name (the character that is) and being compared to a DVD freeze frame the vote was anonymous... he's a dead ringer!

 

On a serious note if you would like to contribute to this great cause then click here and sponsor Rob by entering his registration number (105174). It'll help relieve the pain of being victimised by High School students everywhere!

Top 5 Video Gaming Moments

You know it's been a while now. A while of me playing video games. From my earliest memories of snaking free games out of the milk bar owner by simply hanging around the shop long enough. Also accidentally knocking out the power plug when some kids much much older than me were playing. To learning what "tea bagging" a mate online in Halo and getting a visit by a stripper while playing Uno! I got to thinking... what are my best memories of playing games all these (25 odd) years? So... here I go:

 

1) Halo LAN Party - This to me was the pinnacle of gaming. 4 Xbox's, 4 players with headsets in different rooms killing each other and letting the other guys know it! Firsit started out with Halo 1 and we figured "it can't be that hard to connect these babies up can it?". So we strung 2 together and what we started... we still haven't finished to this date!

 

2) Get Ready! - Actual speech in a video game! The year was 1990 and we were all hearing about how big Sega's Mega Drive was going to be. But to actually have the Mega Drive in our house (before the official release) and have Space Harrier's beautiful sound blaring out the speakers was a treat. But hearing that voice ring out "GET READY!" in crisp 6 channel stereo... man. Hard to explain to a kid now how big a deal that was. Guess you just had to be there!

 

3) Tiger Upper Cut! - Super Nintendo killed it when they brought real arcade gaming to the house hold. In fact the whole Street Fighter thing in itself was just so god damn big. Never before and never again did we see one singular title dominate an arcade hall. I'm talking about a whole string of SF2 machines lining the Timezone wall. Spining Bird Kick!

 

4) Play by Play! Sega attempted to pull this off. But they failed miserably. I'm talking about Joe Montana's Sports Talk Football. But years later EA achieved what Sega dreamed of. Commentating in a sports game. I honestly didn't think it could be done so well. Especially in a Hockey game as the game flows so so quickly! But when we bought NHL 98 (PSX) we were in for a surprise! "Wow a truck hit him!" "He shoots he scores". The players names and teams all got commentated on. It was freaking amazing technology and one still in use today. Well done EA!

 

5) Revenge of Shinobi - I include this title for one reason only. Presentation. This was the first title to get it right! The music was from none other than Yuzo Koshiro and it was stinking hot! That guy knew how to milk a 16 bit sound processor for all it was worth! But it wasn't just the music. It was the whole package. When you fired up that game it was no ordinary title sequence. From the moment you saw that ninja pop up and deflect all those ninja stars... you knew that this was going to be a special game! Was one of the big reasons why I wanted a Sega Mega Drive at the time!

 

If you have a list of your own top 5 moments or even just one special moment... leave a comment!

Foxtel Installation Delay

Today I was meant to be watching useless TV. Not the free to air kino. The 40 odd channels of shit type! Foxtel that is. But because this place we moved to was built in the early 90's they didn't build them future proof then. The Foxtel dudes couldn't find the installation points so we need to drill one in. Problem is... I need permission to do that or risk having to do it all and pay a fine. DOH!

 

So ESPN and the History channel will have to wait another 3 weeks... till then... life in the fast lane with Ray on 9 will have to suffice.

Sydney's Internet Blackhole

Having just moved to Jannali, a fairly wealthy suburb, a figured internet connection would be nothing of a hassle. So I went about the process of re-negotiating a contract and arranging the re-connection. First thing I did once the connection was up was catch up on all my emails etc. Even playing Uno on Xbox Live was not a big prob. My real problem only was realised tonight. Halo 3. I was in the middle of carrying out a double kill when my connection went pear shaped and I droped out of the match. Once, twice... every flamin' time. So I rished to the net and looked up my area and any known problems. Found out that I am connected to the Como exchange and I  only have ADSL and not ADSL2 connection. ARGH! iinet have no plans to roll out a DSLAM in our area but TPG do... when? TBA is their answer. So I may close my Xbox Live account till this day occurs. I have gone from a blistering connection at Kogarah to a measly 1,635kbps. All I know is that I never had many connection problems with iiNet at Kogarah. Now I don't know how I'm gonna get my Xbox Live fix...

New House and now... NEW CAR... (coming soon)

Just a quck note to brag about our new addition to our house... no not a baby. A baby car! But... more news and photo's to come soon!

Unfreakinbelievable! Halo 3 Goodness…

I've been a bigger nerd than usual this week. With Halo 3 being launched after what seemed like an eon or two I can finally Finish the Fight. Finally I get to check out all the new features this new gem has to offer all on my new Samsung TV. Doesn't get much better than this folks! Fraggin' and getting fragged all in HD glory with surround sound. But I have to squeeze in all that I can with the next few days as next week on… it's packing time! We move to Jannali on the 10^th October, 2007. Home warming party to be announced soon. But back to Halo 3. My highlights so far have been a many. To cap the major ones for me:

• Replays – Being able to capture the last 25 matches, in their entirety, to review and share online is HUGE! So many dumb moments to share. No more "you had to be there"
  
• New ranking system rocks. The military rankings make much more sense than the old basic numbering system.
  
• Man cannons. It's been said many times but man cannons are fun. Fun to say. Fun to use and abuse. Throw a stick grenade on an incoming soldier and watch 'em freak!
  
• A thowsand options! It just seems that there is loads more to do in H3. Being able to review player stats before a match and after is cool. Going online and checking out who has what medals is neat too.
  
• The awesome HD graphics. There are some moments where it looks Xbox 1'ish. But the moments where they have put huge efforts into the detail such as water and vegetation. More than make up for this short coming.
  

I personally know of a couple of guys buying Xbox 360's just for this one. Also some dudes just signed up to Xbox Live after a long absence. Amazing what one game can do if done just right eh?

SirBargeArse Goes Off on Xbox 360

I was on such a roll yesterday on the Xbox that I over achieved! What I mean is that I broke my record for most individual achievements (11) in one day (according to http://www.360voice.com/blog-view.asp?id=29379645)

 

"SirBargeArse seemed really excited to play yesterday. Our current gamerscore is 4,212 . That is a boost of 260 points over last time! We have now entered the 4,000 GS club! He opened up Marvel Ult. Alliance adding 4 achievements, Hexic HD, Rockstar Table Tennis finishing 1 achievement, Bankshot Billiards 2, Hexic 2, Kameo picking up 2 achievements, Full Auto adding 4 achievements, Streets of Rage 2, and did it while drooling over my awesome graphics and sound. "

 

Now the score moves up to 4212. Gristlefat should start to look over his shoulder soon me thinks...

Sad Kitty

Just a warning before getting ideas about doing this to your own cat. The owner of this cat is now missing and that was the last photo in the camera! Don't think Foo Foo would take too kindly to the "Hello Kitty
cat transformation set" or better known as "Hello Kitty Cat Humiliation System"!

Damn Japanese are just plain weird!

More Flickr Madness

My obsession with Flickr has only gotten worse! I'm posting more photos. I'm buying more Moo Mini Cards. I'm commenting left, right and centre and favouring many photos from others I deem worth such an accolade. But it's paying off. My recent journey into the city (first time in about a year I have been into the city) armed with a camera and Mini Disc walkman resulted in some rather good shots of the Opera House. So much so that my photo titled "Postcard Revisited" is now the 12^th photo of mine to hit the Explore page! It's had 91 views, 3 Favourites and 24 comments in only less than a weeks time of being published.

More photos to come as I am always thinking of places to go to get some more photogenic goodness!

Sydney Opera House Pics

After so many years gone by I have let the opportunity to test out my new fancy digital camera on the Opera House. Well today I got that chance. I simply had nothing to do today and figured "heck, what a better way t spend a day off then to head into the city by myself armed with a walkman and my camera". I had a great arvo re-discovering our harbour city and later had a dinner with the wife in a Korean restaraunt. Yet another reminder of how great this city truly is.

 

Anyway... I hope you like the pics and I'll post more later!

Skate On!

My mate Owen and myself have finally decided to get back into skating. Only thing is… it's gotten expensive! But not to worry, it's just something we got to do. You see we use to go on a weekly basis and it was almost like a religion! Hence the hockey jerseys and NHL references for all these years! So we finally decided to get off our collective dates and get new laces, have the skates sharpened and get back into it. If all goes well we might do it on a weekly/ fortnightly basis again. Should be fun. Here's a sneak peak at the invite sent out via Google Calendar:

Guys,

It's been a long long time since we laced the skates up all those years ago on a once a week basis at Canterbury Ice Rink. The skates are all but rusted and the skaters are somewhat... older. But now the skates are being sharpened, the laces renewed and the time to hit the ice has come again!  

This Saturday we'll be meeting up with a bunch of guys from past and present to lap the rink again at Macquarie Centre's Skating Rink.

When: Saturday 2pm to 4pm

Where: Macquarie Ice Rink (http://www.macquarieicerink.com.au/)

Cost: $19 (includes $3 skate hire charge)

What: Chance to re-learn how to skate! Make an ass of yourself and get photographed in the process!

 

So I'll be definitely bringing the camera along and we'll see what spills we get!

Ashes Memorabilia

Yesterday we set out to visit the rocks market. Actually... it was Pancakes on the Rocks we were hoping to visit but the line up was simply outrages! It spanned a good 100m long just to get in the door! So that idea was quickly knocked on the head and we settled on a German style feast instead at the Rocks famous Lowenbrau. After a round of German Hotdogs we headed to the street markets which are located right in the middle of one of the tracks used in Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox).

As soon as we arrived the very first stand you notice a sculptures stand selling spoons, knives and forks bent and sculptures into Australian animals. It's simply amazing and at first we figured we had stumbled upon the find of the weekend. However, after gazing at that my brother dragged me away from that to point out a stand selling stamps. At first I figured I'd skip it. Stamps. Seriously. How exciting could stamps be? Well these were no ordinary stamps. The stand owner explained how these 3D stamps were formed. She painstakingly collects numerous stamps of the same kind and cuts out layers of which she re-lays on top of one another. This then gives the stamps a real third dimensional aspect with the main objects of the picture within the stamps standing out. These are then later re-framed by her husband and sold.

The very first stamp that stood out for me was the Ashes 2006 commemorative stamp featuring three stamps that were issued last year showing the Aussies celebrating on the field after a Shane Warne wicket, the Ashes urn and last a stamp showing the post win photo with the urn. It's fixed in a extremely well produced frame that is in traditional display cabinet colours and looks like something channel 9 would have Ritchie Benaud flogging off during a live broadcast!

Yutang also purchased 2 stamp frames. One of an Australian Tree Frog and the other was of a blue bird. They were not cheap. I would normally not even consider these within my reach. But we figured the Ashes one would perhaps one day increase in value as its limited to just 200. But it's a new addition to the house and will definitely be a conversation starter for years to come!

Shiney & New – PC Not Maddona

After three years running my Dell Dimension 2400 without a reformat the time had finally taken it's toll. Installing, removing, re-booting (sometimes without shutting down) and other register killing activities had slowed the PC down to a crawl. So what inspired me to take the plunge into my first re-format? Buying Norton 360. I know alot of folks see Norton branded items and cringe. But it's easy. Just add water style software that I've come to appreciate from the bigger software houses. Basically I could get to study into how to clean my registry manually. How to maintain the PC and keep it running smooth. But quite simply I can't be arsed! I free up more time by buying these style of programs to do it all for me.

 

Just like my car. I could change the oil myself. I could even change the brakes myself. But I'd rather just give the keys over to someone who does it for a living and free up time for other tasks. Such as gathering up achievement points in 360 games!

 

So how did the reformat go? Sweet! I've backed up all my docs to a portable hard drive. It's only a 40G drive but partitioned into 2 x 20G drives so room was somewhat limited. However I was able to send the photo's to DVD (2 DVD's in fact) and after some stumbling I managed to figure out how to re-install XP. First major challenge was how to re-install the drivers for the video, sound and other primary functions. So I installed the wireless adapter (D-link DWL-6510) driver. The great thing about having a wireless router (D-Link DSL-G604T) is that all the internet ISP settings are saved in the router/ modem itself so no need to dig it all up and enter it all in. Once I got past this hurdle it was just a matter of digging in and installing away. XP SP2 was the first big installation. That took some time to download as I couldn't find the discs I have for that. Then there was Internet Explorer 7 to deal with. Only hassle there was that Norton 360 failed to re-install my Favourites. Damn. All my cool sites gone. I do have the fav's saved via Google Bar but that is such a pain to use I don't bother relying on it.

 

After installing Google Desktop, MS Office 2007 and some other minor stuff it was all a matter of housekeeping the PC. I still have to install a fair bit of software but the main thing that where I once only had 10G left in the tank I now have 50G. Soon I'll add a 2^nd hard drive to the equation to back up files (320G should do the trick!) and I'll be hunky dory! Heck… I may even install MAME again!

New Pics Uploaded...

Just a brief entry (as I am up past my bedtime now with a morning shift on tomorrow) to let y'all know that I have uploaded a sprinkle of photos from our recent trip to QLD (Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Townsville & Cairns) and I'll blow my own trumpet by saying that I think some of the pics are damn great. But... you judge for yourself!

 

 

More Video Blogs to Come

I'm about to start posting more video blogs soon on my Gamespot page. Just struggling to come up with material to blog about. My first three blogs were somewhat satisfactory but now I'm just at a loss as to what to chat on about. Maybe I'll take a camera down to a pinball arcade and do an article on the death of arcades. Any ideas folks?

 

...and no... not an article on arcades in strip joints!

Crickeys! Tilt! Crocodile Hunter Pinball Machine!

I'm itching to buy a pinball machine. So while scrounging around the net I saw this little baby! Seems as though the Crocodile Hunter Pinball machine will be out soon. Shame no one carrys pinny machines anymore. I'd really want a crack at this table!

Click Here --> Steve Irwin Pinball Machine

Pinball FX (360) - Review

Photo grabbed from http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhoran/291278554/ 

 

"Pinball FX fills the gap currently in the 360 lineup with a good solid graphics engine. Live Cam support is a plus!"

 

Well this was a surprise. I dove into the Xbox Live menu and with no previous announcements the word Pinball lit up. Well I just had to give that a try. With a couple of plays I was hooked and just new I had to part with the hard earnt (800pts) to get this!

First off the presentation to the game is pretty standard stuff with all the Arcade releases so far. You get the choice of three tables:

SPEED MACHINE: A full auto themed table with ramps being the main feature. A fast paced table with in game missions such as dB challenge (you have to crank your sub woofers) and Tune Up. The most popular table of the three on offer. You'll spend most of your time here!

EXTREME: I'm a little lost on the exact theme but it seems to be mostly eXtreme sports. The most disappointing of the three tables. The layout is too cramped with it's split level design restricting the action to two half layouts. The music is a real lamo Prodigy wannabe. Not much fun here.

AGENTS: 007 rip off with a perhaps more modern edge feel to it then James himself. But the famous licenced to kill agent need not worry. This is a mediocre table with loads of wide open space allowing a fast paced game. Features some great flash light effects that add to that "I'm playing this at the milkbar" atmosphere!

A couple of interesting non traditional features are included with Pinball FX. Firstly there's the interaction of the Live Cam. Not only do you get to see other players on their cam's in the Multiplayer option (I'll touch on that in a moment) but you can choose to play the game with the camera in a Eye Toy style game of pinball. To be honest I failed to get any real joy out of that style of play as the nature of pinball is sharp reflex reactions to be in the game. The camera (despite much fine tuning with the in game options) failed to deliver. Although there were some scores online that made me wonder just how the heck they managed!

The main pulling feature I've found lies in the multiplayer online play. Here you can either set up a game or join a lobby. The main aim of multiplayer is a "first across the line" style of game where you pick a finish line score and a penalty (either 0%, 10%, 25%, 50% or Take Everything) for a loss of ball. This is where Pinball FX shows it's reason to download. You get to see the players up top with the camera feeds displayed and a line marking out live score progress. It's great to see the opponents marker slide down after a lost ball. But if they trigger off a special feature of the game then it could be Game Over real quick!

A couple things I didn't like were some of the table designs are a bit wonky. One of the ramps in Speed Machine tend to just chuck the ball down the side chute every time. Hardly the reward you'd want to get for making the ramp! Also the multplayer would need a better ranking system.

But for a measly 800pts this is one download that is worth the effort. The overall feel of the game just works. The rumble motions mimic the actions of a real table. A big plus here is the promise of new tables to come. Here's to hoping for a Halo themed table! Give Pinball FX a try!

Lots of Xbox Stuff Coming Soon

I'm very pleased to see MS and Bungie announcing all this stuff over the last week or so. This makes me one very happy game head. For a while there I figured maybe this whole PS3 thing would take over the spot light too much and us Xbox 360 owners were forgotten about. But some real promising announcements have been revealed this week:

 

Xbox Live will now join the Windows Live network.

This means you could be playing a game or watching a DVD and all your Messenger buddies can now see what game your playing and send you a message. If you don't want to be disturbed (as the most common reaction to this has been "I don't wan't people nagging me while I'm watching a movie") you will be able to switch it off or there maybe a DND mode.

A new Joypad keyboard coming soon

The photo's of this puppy make it look like one really smick peice of hardware. It sits neatly in the under part of your controller and is so slick looking it'll have even Apple thinking "that's neat". I also just found out that any USB keyboard works in the 360. Something I previously didn't know. So where's the X360 browser Bill? I'll be picking one of these babies up.

Halo 2 Maps Launched Next Week

Some re-worked Halo 1 maps to be launched via the Extra Contents menu screen (not the Xbox Marketplace) for about the price of a coffee (to quote a stupid TV commercial shown here in Sydney).  My only gripe is that they didn't release the original Ice map. That map went off and is sorely missed. In fact why not just re-work all the original maps? Shame.

Regardless... I'll be downloading this down ASAP and so will my online Xbox mates.

Halo 3 Beta

In May the Beta is sent WIDE OPEN. But for a LIMITED TIME ONLY. So as soon as this is made available you should hop onto it as it's gonna be closed in June sometime and you'll have to wait for the finished product to play anymore. The Halo 3 preview video released this week looks wicked and has us all pumped up waiting to frag once again.

Dashboard Update

Next month also sees a big reworking of the dashboard. Well... little things but nice touches. Such as seeing what game is sitting in your CD tray without having to play it. Seeing how many Achievement Points you just earnt without needing to pause the game and a re-working of the Market Place. It will have it's own blade now. Sweet.

So that's about it. I'll be fanging out for H3 but till then... I've gotta drag out and play all these games I already own. Oh... and that's in between study time and everything else. Sheesh. Wish I was a kid again!

 

I Finally Scored a Threesome...

OK. So I'm only joking. But you know it's every guy's dream but being married means shelving the possibility! LOL But I can still pretend! Plus I've got the graphic to prove it! This 360 Achievement graphic can also be yours if you head on over to:

http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/

Have fun with it!

Talking about 1000 Xbox 360 Achievement Points in 6 hours

Those of you out there who are fortunate to own an Xbox 360 might wanna check this link out. If you're an Achievement hunter like me... you'll be wanting to know how to grab a quick, easy 1000 pts in a 4 hour sitting. Curious? You should be! 

Quote

1000 Xbox 360 Achievement Points in 6 hours

Did I Mention I Like Halo... a-bloody-lot!

At the risk of hearing a collective groan from readers thinking "oh no not another Halo fan boy" I have to state that besides Street Fighter 2 and... maybe Doom I can't think of a game that captivated folks in a genre previously looked over. Halo 1 first captured me in it's detail. First game I played to fully utilise the 5.1 surround system I invested so much time and money into at the time. So diverse in weapons and vehicles that mismatches were not usually a problem. It was the game that encouraged most of my mates to get an Xbox so we could indulge in LAN parties for the first time. But the real clincher was to come in the form of it's sequel. The solo story is pretty lame. To date I am embarrassed to say I am yet to finish it! This is because my same said mates have all now gotten hooked on Xbox Live! I'm talking about guys who use to write video gaming off as nerdy. These same guys are now pre-occupied with headsets and flaming each other verbally in real time online. One guy even got an internet connection JUST for the Xbox (still is yet to invest in a PC!).

It's not to say that Bungie haven't got faults with the games. Heck there's a ton of stuff wrong with Halo 1 & 2. It's just that the games in their current form are so damn painfully fun to play that you just are forced to forgive Bungie on the lame complaints we have on the titles!

Can't wait for H3 and hope that:

a) The achievements are decent enough to not simply walk through

b) That the Live Camera is used to wreak havoc in the after game wrap ups!

WRX Wet Pan Madness

Last Wednesday was awesome. My work place is not exactly famous for being kind to it's workers. So when the news came in that we were to be attending a Subaru driving session at Eastern Creek I took to it with open arms.

 

Had the honour of being driven around the wet pan at Eastern Creek Raceway in a Subaru WRX with one of Australia's premier rally drivers. This was the same guy that freaked big Chief Harrigan on the Footy Show in the Dare Devils segment in Canberra. I can see why he got scared. This guy is awesome... I mean nuts!

 

Got some photo's up on Flickr at the moment and click here to see the video of my ride with the WRX on You Tube.

 

 

Everyone... EVERYONE! Meet Jedda

Yutang has long wanted to meet up with the new puppy at my parents place. Since our long time family dog, Snoopy, died, Patch has been a bit lonely. It took a lot of convincing but my dad finally decided to get a new puppy for the "change of guards" so to speak. So introducing "Jedda"!

Jedda is a great cross breed. Part Kelpie and part Blue Cattle Dog. Perfect dog for the country and extremely smart breed. Perhaps one of the smartest dogs you could hope to find.

Kinda funny how my mum would go about calling the new puppy Jedda. I had just finished explaining to my wife that Jedda would make a good name for a dog. Jedda comes from the first Australian movie to be shot in colour. The movie was a cultural hit. A sad love story about a half aboriginal/ white girl who ends up in a love triangle that leads to trouble.

Yutang loved the story behind the name and named one of her Nintendog puppies, Jedda.

Forward on 2 months later and we get news that a new puppy was entering the family and my mum had called the pup... Jedda! How this coincidence came about I simply don't know but the name is a great one and suits this great little girl!

Hooters Makes Rashid Happy

Long term rivals at our indoor cricket centre, "Grumpy Old Men", have gone and upstaged everyone by getting the ultimate in sponsorship deals. Grumpy Old Men have now grabbed an exclusive deal with Hooters Restaraunt (Parramatta), famous for their great looking staff and food!

 

Very hard to focus when two fine looking models are staring down the barrel. Not sure how the fulltime photographers do it!

Oops... Been a While

Well it's been yonks since I last dropped a blog into the Gamespot community. I'll be picking up on that hopefully soon. Need to get myself a laptop to render that. But in the meantime a quick re-cap on what's been keeping this little gamer happy since my last video blog entry.

In a word, Achievement Points. I knew that they sounded like a pretty neat idea but I had NO IDEA how addictive it would be to build up points, compare yours to your online buddies and taunt the heck out of them when they drop their game.

I've gone and made ammends with my NHL 07 Xbox purchase and bought the 360 one instead. Despite the graphics being oh so brilliant on it... I have to say that it's somewhat repetetive. Shame that EA always fail to acknowledge the Dynasty mode players and their need to have the season change with big events throughout the season. Shock news items to affect star players or something to track more individual stats as the season wears on.

Also just yesterday I picked up Advance Wars: Duel Strike for the DS. Just getting into it now and I gotta say... it was cool on the GBA but the extra effects and sound just add so much more to the experience. But more importantly from a gameplay point of view. The STYLUS just rocks! Being able to point to everything on the screen simply speeds up the game and makes it less of a chore to do what you need to get your moves out. The best news was that I picked it up for only $25! Bargain! Toys R Us has always been a good hunting ground for clearance titles that are way underpriced.

So to finish up. Sorry for the lapse. Too much... other stuff getting in the way and gaming itself has been a distraction as well. But I'll be adding more stuff soon. I may even get the urge to finish off those old reviews that I was suppose to carry out over a year ago!

Obivion. A real pain in the Ass

Just had to put this on the site. Hunting around for a screen shot for Oblivion and just had to save this one!