The key features introduced are simple to describe: a tropical island where it's always summer, and the ability to be the town's mayor. However, not only do they go fantastically well with Animal Crossing's relaxing demeanor, but they also provide a whole lot of extra value for a series that is already known for having games that last very long. The ability to be a mayor heavily increases the possibilities for customizing one's town; where before there was the ability to plant tress, flowers and lay down patterns on the ground, now it is possible to have a certain degree of power in choosing the town's layout, and accept villager's suggestions for public works and make them materialize through heavy investment. While there are some annoying limitations to the public works system, such as not being able to place them too close to rivers or rocks; the powers of a mayor turn the town into your own personal canvas, where a lot of creativity can be used to make it a very visually pleasing place to live.

The island is somehow complementary to the construction options. Now, more than ever, money is extremely necessary in Animal Crossing, because aside from a bigger-than-ever mansion that can be expanded multiple times, players will also have to put their money down for the constructions around town to actually happen. Thankfully, the island is packed to the brim with valuable beetles and sharks that be sold for a great price in order to make the game's money-hungry economy spin. In addition to the valuable bugs and fish that can be caught, the island also features a horde of simple but addictive mini-games that vary from fishing challenges to memory match games that can be played either solo or online with random players from around the world in order to collect medals that be used in the island's shop.

In spite of the fact that the island can be somehow taken advantage of in order to make loads of money really fast, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is - more than ever - a day-to-day experience, and the game reinforces that by featuring a never-seen-before amount of unlockable shops, public works, and features; and making projects that have been fully funded only appear on the following day. While some might be naturally annoyed by the restrictions of having to wait a certain amount of days until important aspects of the game show up, it is all part of the series' charm, and that is precisely Animal Crossing's core strength: being a self-sustaining game, a software that renovates itself upon the arrival of each morning, making players feel as if they are about to play a completely new software on every passing day.

For those who are drawn to the concept of waking up everyday only to check which trees have matured, which flowers have produced hybrids, how great-looking the town is after the construction of your latest project; or maybe simply to hear what new silly things the neighbors will come up with, and anticipate the moment where they will finally find that one rare bug that keeps eluding them, then New Leaf is an absolute must-buy, because never has Animal Crossing been so great.

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Then Kane & Lynch happens, and Jeff takes the fall.

Jeff is back.

I now work for SCEA (my interview was in the Ratchet conference room).

Funny how things have a way of working out.

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Its been many years in the making, but now there is a big budget Tintin movie released in the United States (directed by Steven Spielberg no less). Aptly titled The Adventures of Tintin, the movie claims to be based on the book Secret of the Unicorn, but it borrows heavily from The Crab with the Golden Claw as well. The dialogue sticks out as being a bit corny but the story itself is well written as it nicely mixes content from the books with some new scenes for the movie. This helps the movie stand on its own without feeling like a straight retelling of the book.

The Secret of the Unicorn was finished in 1943 and a lot has changed since then. Audiences are jaded so an epic sea battle, flying a plane through a storm, and tracking pirate gold doesn't can't quite carry a film like it did the books. Even if the content of the movie doesn't completely stand out, the animation does.

The Adventures of Tintin is done with a motion capture animation that is nothing short of phenomenal. The characters simultaneously look animated and real and it captures the Herge animation style without being derivate. The animation is the reason to see The Adventures of Tintin. As a side not, I saw the movie in 2D and 3D. 3D does pretty much nothing aside from cost more and make you wear irritating glasses.

For fans of the Tintin brand, the movie satisfies and is pretty much all I could ask for in a Tintin movie. If you like animated movies with some frantic and slapstick action (think Pirates of the Caribbean), the movie fits that bill well. The movie succeeds as a fun, animated film and does justice to Tintin, which is enough for me.

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What I'm looking forward to comes after Christmas day itself, since I'll have a little over 3 weeks to just relax at home, and I'm definitely going to be doing some online gaming since that's one of the things they don't allow here at college. I've already got quite a few games of mine that I've never been able to try online, since I got them pretty much right when I got here. Definitely going to try out Dawn of War II online, and possibly Company of Heroes. I've also got HAWX to try out and Crysis Wars...none of which I've been able to go online with. Plus, I also managed to get WoW for $5 during Blizzard's black friday deal and so I'll have a few weeks to start a new account and maybe get a character semi leveled up, since I'm wanting to get back into that game, probably very casually, so I can try out their new expansion when it comes out later.

Plus, since there's a PS3 at home, I'll probably be playing some CoD4 but probably I'll end up either playing on my computer more, or trying out the Bad Company 2 beta more. BC2 is actually a ton of fun, and while I didn't have a ton of fun starting off - I had to remind myself that it was the same way when I started playing 2142. It's a great beta and while it only has one map, it's still a lot of fun. Definitely a game I'll be getting when it comes out (for the PC)

Well, I think that's about it. If anyone who reads this plays any of those games, who knows maybe I'll see ya online or something

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Boy, that would have been awfully obtuse, wouldn't it?

I'm going to do my best to avoid turning this into a massive weep session. I've already started and scrapped writing this message more times than I can count, so instead of putting endless thought into this, I'm just going to say what I feel and leave it at that.

The five years I've spent at GameSpot are arguably the most important years I've spent in my life. Prior to this gig, I'd never had much of a real job. When Jeff and Greg and the rest of the crew back in 03 gave me--some skinny, 21 year old punkass who'd never done anything but freelance for a few scattered sites--a legitimate chance, I'd never envisioned that this would turn to be the job that defined me, that gave me a place and a career. I had no idea that I'd actually make some semblance of a name for myself here. That anyone would actually give a crap about what I did or what I wrote. I still find the notion kind of unbelievable, actually. Reading all the messages people have been sending me since the word got out has been utterly mind-blowing. It's one thing to enjoy what you do, but it's quite another to know that others enjoy what you do. It's gratifying, and I'm thankful for it.

I could probably spend the next several hours giving individual thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way, but most of them know who they are and have been thanked in more personal fashion, so I'll skip the acceptance speech from hell. Instead, a general thank you to the staff (both former and present) for letting me be a part of the dream that is/was GameSpot. Also, thanks to you, the reader. I'd be nothing if you folks didn't come back time and time again to read the junk I put out, and I can't tell you how thankful I am that you did.

Leaving completely sucks, and believe me when I say I'm in no way joyful about my departure. Well, OK, that's not entirely true. There is a certain sense of...freedom that I'm feeling now as I envision an endless string of pantsless weekdays. Still, if I'd had my druthers, I'd have probably rather stayed precisely where I was, doing what I was doing. But circumstances don't always work out the way you'd prefer, and things change, often not for the better. My time here was finished. I was conflicted about that notion going into the holiday break, and that notion turned into fact with startling clarity as soon as I came back from break. It was a frightening and painful experience to let it go, but I had to. If you love something, set it free, and all that junk. I don't think this one's ever coming back, though.

Of course, I'm not going to disappear into obscurity--at least, not without a fight. You'll probably start seeing my name start appearing on bylines relatively soon. I'm not doing anything full time just yet, but we'll see where the wind takes me. In the meantime, if you need to get in contact with me for any reason, my new e-mail address is alexiconofscars@hotmail.com, and if you want to read my assorted ramblings about whatever, I am keeping a personal blog at The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. Stop by sometime if you want to read about what I think of practically everything except games. I'll give you a hint: I hate all of it.

And lastly, let me just make one thing as crystal clear as possible. I hold no ill will, issue no blame, take no umbrage with any of my former co-workers on the edit team. These guys are some of the hardest working, upstanding, straight up cool mother****ers I've ever met in my life, and as long as they're around doing their thing, GS will continue to live and breathe--there will still be a soul there, underneath whatever ridiculousness might be on the surface these days. There is no GS without those guys. The GS content crew is a family, and no one can change that.

Before I duck out, a few stats to chew on from my time here:

Number of reviews written: 733

Number of video reviews produced: Somewhere around 100

Number of video features appeared in: Dozens

Controllers broken: 7

Debug consoles broken: At least two that I can remember (sorry Ricardo!)

Number of console launches experienced: 5 (not including N-Gage and Gizmondo, which absolutely, positively don't count)

Number of weekend birthdays spent at the office: 2 (thanks PlayStation 3, Wii and Rock Band launches!)

Number of E3s covered: 5

Number of hours of sleep lost while covering said E3s: 280

Number of delicious sandwiches consumed during work hours: Too many to count

Pounds gained over the last five years: 45

Favorite review ever written: It's sort of like choosing your children, but I'd have to say that Super Mario Galaxy was probably the piece of writing I was most proud of just for clarity and overall quality. For pure comedy, while Big Rigs is obviously the fan favorite, I think my Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green review was my favorite, mostly for the opening paragraph, but there are some good chuckles elsewhere, too. My only regret with that one was that it was published before I'd learned the skill of brevity.

Favorite video piece: Regarding Robocop. Tim Tracy took my hours of ridiculous footage and turned that thing into something magical.

Worst review ever written: Read any of the first five to ten reviews I did for the site. They're as boring as they are barely informative. I was still learning the craft at that point. I think I've gotten a touch better.

Review that caught me the most flack: Probably Advent Rising. I will still never understand what anyone saw in that game. It was like retarded Star Wars with a broken frame rate. Now there's a box quote for ya!

Biggest editorial regret: Never giving Burning Questions proper closure. What can I say? I snapped.

Biggest non-editorial regret: Lack of travelling, specifically to Japan. Would have loved to have gotten one TGS trip in.

Thing I'll miss least about GS: Apart from the current unpleasantness, I'll say the commute. Nothing sucks more than driving an hour through traffic to work every day, especially when you're accustomed to carpooling and then suddenly end up having to do it all by your lonesome. *cough*

Thing I'll miss most about GS: The dozens and dozens of awesome people who have come and fled over the years that helped make GS a terrific place to work during their time. You know who you are.

And with that, I bid you all a fond adieu. It's been real.

--A

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In his time at Sony, he's been an instrumental part of the Playstation development cycle and path (for better or worse). Now that he is gone (for the most part, he has announced that he will stay on in an advisory role), the future of the Playstation rests with Kazuo Hirai who has been with Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. since 1995.

Is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing? I suppose only time will tell.

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Fanboys sort of wear me out. Is that the hip term to use these days? Fanboys? As frequently as these slanderous titles are doled out, I try my damndest not to use them. Video gamers have grown up being an ostracized group of degenerates, as far as the greater public is concerned. I believe that we should ban together, rather than bring one another down. Sure, our industry is boasting billiions now, but it wasn't when I was playing Megaman 2, I'm sure of that. Perhaps some gamers out there, infallible as they believe themselves to be, think that their opinions are so profound that they should be delivered with a little high-school angst. Should be given with an "I'm-smarter-than-you" air, which might earn them the right to be pingeonholed into an unpleasant characterization. I wouldn't want to be labeled so.  Maybe fanboyism should stop. It won't. I certainly won't stop it.  But I think such people promote disillusionment amongst gamers. And that's bad.

And that is exactly what I want to aimlessly dwell upon for this installment of my blathering. Competition. Among our ranks. Originating from the age-old debate (debacle?) borne of Nintendo and Sega, of "Which system is better?", this question has provided a tangible rift among us. Healthy, perhaps. It led to bruises as kids, and now drunken arguments as adults. And hey, you need something to fuel that need for passion. That need for belief in something. Nothing promotes that moreso than a fistfight at the age of 12 over which NHL '95 is better. Genesis or SNES. I'm choosing to remain silent on that one. However, to keep the ancient war alive, here's some screenshots. Have at you!

But it's too far now. I work at a video game depository. I won't specify. A big one. Anyway, I continuously encounter people who are vying for the PS3's demise. "PS3 sucksIt's overSony's already trying to make a PS4I hear Sony's going bankruptThe graphics aren't even that goodThe system freezes all of the timeblahblahblahblah." It is exhausting to listen to. However, it is depressing to listen to, moreover.

Choose a favourite. Fine. You like ingenuity. You like interactivity. You appreciate unprecidented online support, and benchmark next-gen titles. You appreciate cutting edge, so to speak. You appreciate loyal developers (or not-so-loyal?). Fine. Play what you wish. But I would never want to see the failure of a console. Any console. And I'm unsure as to why you would. Why would you? You deem yourself a gamer? Playing since the womb and all of that? Your Troll Hunter is level 70. You know who Commander Keen is. You allowed Sonny to waste the Death Angel. You think you know the industry and support it? I disagree. Wholeheartedly. Because anyone who legitimately backed something they idolized would not want to see facets of it failing. Dropping out. Dying. Let me put that one in there again: dying.

I never owned a Dreamcast. I hardly even played one. But I'm still bummed that it didn't succeed in North America. Because it tried, damnit! Sega tried! And ultimately failed. They can't all make it. Simple as that. However, the more that make it, the better we, the gamer, are for it. This isn't Calculus guys, seriously. The more systems there are to own, the more games there are to play. I like playing games, don't you?! I like eating gravy and meatballs out of a can on a friday night while I'm knee-deep in an rpg's story. Knee-deep in stealth game precision and tenacity. Knee-deep in a First-person shooter bloodlust. I like not having girlfriends. Okay...well, maybe not so much.

Wait...women distracted me. Where was my point?

Halo isn't the best FPS ever. GTA didn't originate open-ended gaming (ever play Fallout?). But they're still both great titles.

Variety is the spice of life. The video game industry is where it is today because of our support. The gaming market started out as a smelly little unappreciated faetus. Our support allowed it to grow and grow and grow into the juggernaut it now is. Videogames are captain of the football team (I wonder which Madden is better...?) because of us. To wish for a console's failure is turning one's back. It's surrendering support. You may wish for as much ruin to rain down as you want. I won't join you. No one should.

*note: sorry if these NHL screens are inaccurate to either the system or the year (they were surprisingly hard to find). I'm taking google's word for it, as it was too long ago to figure it out by my own instinct. Feel free to call me on it.

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