My review is up for Hitman Absolution for PS3. Check it out!

http://www.gamespot.com/hitman-absolution/user-reviews/803538/platform/ps3/

*Side note*

Yes, I've been away for a while... but rather than try to explain quickly right before the holidays, I'll explain why in another blog, don't really know when.

But it's good to be back.

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Minecraft... a lot, lot, lot of minecraft to be exact.

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I'm sorry guys, I have a nasty habit of just up and dissapearing from this site whenever I get addicted to a game... but I have a feeling I'm not the only one like that here.

I've been playing so much minecraft, that I'm pretty sure my WASD keys on my keyboard are burnt out lol.

Not to mention, my left mouse button actually broke on my USB mouse, but I have a feeling that was due to age rather than a video game, although minecraft probably didn't help much.

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Anyhow, who wants to see what I've been working on? I think it's impressive, hopefully you guys will like it to.

My imgur account spiked from 200 views to over 20,000 views after I posted my images lol. XD I think that's more views than I've had on, well, anything ever.

Here they are! (There's about 10 pics, so I'll put them in spoiler tags so I don't kill someones computer...)

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I have many, many more pictures, but I'd prefer not to use up all my imgur bandwidth in one go, so those ones are the best.

That took many many hours of painstaking crafting and mining, and got a little bump with creative mode for the lighthouse and the boat sails, but only because I got tired of shearing sheep.

This game is crazy addicting, if you haven't played it, I urge you to keep it that way, or risk winding up like I did these past few weeks. XD

Nah, actually, although it's addicting, it's a lot of fun, and fairly easy to moderate your playing with some willpower.

If you've never played minecraft, try it, it is hands down the best PC game I've played, and currently the only one I still have installed on my system.

I'm using the Sphax PureDBcraft Texturepack btw, in case anyone was wondering.

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Anyhow, on a different note, I go back to the University tommorow, wish me luck! I'll be on gamespot when possible, but don't look for me too hard, I generally tend to just lurk during school.

Later people!

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Thought Id update you all on my relatively recent Anime purchase. I swear, Anime is like crack, once you start watching a show, you just cant stop. So, what can I say, I went out and bought one of my favorite series so I could watch it again.

The show in question is called Pandora Hearts, and I love it to death. Its just as good the second time around. I just wish theyd hurry up and come out with season 2, because season 1 was incredible.

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For those of you that havent watched the series, Ill fill you in on some of the background stuff.

Pandora Hearts follows the story of Oz, who at his coming of age ceremony, is attacked by hooded men. During the attack, he is cast into the Abyss, a dark, evil void, that is inhabited by chains, bloodthirsty creatures that are out to form contracts with humans so that they can escape the Abyss themselves. There is a catch however, when a contract is made, a seal is placed on the contractee. When the seal makes one complete revolution, the contractee is sucked back into the Abyss forever. The only way to stop this is to die.

In his stay in the Abyss, Oz is attacked by a chain, but the attack is halted by a girl named Alice, who also happens to be called B.Rabbit, the most powerful chain in the Abyss. The attacking chain swallows Alice, who is unable to use her powers because she has never made a contract. Oz dives into the creatures mouth, and forms a contract with B.Rabbit, freeing them both from the Abyss.

When Oz and B.Rabbit return to the human world, Oz finds that 10 years have passed since he was sucked into the Abyss, and that Alice has lost her memories. From that point on, Oz works towards finding out the truth behind why he was attacked and thrown into the Abyss, and also to find Alices memories that were scattered through the human world.

This is a fantastic series with an absolutely fantastic soundtrack. The soundtrack is made by Yuki Kajiura, and it is wonderful to listen to, especially the opening theme. Actually everything, now that I think on it.

Heres a sample of two songs from the Anime soundtrack:

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This first one should send chills down anyones spine thats seen this show:

The B.Rabbit Theme!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYkB-DaQ7E

This Second one is the main theme so to speak:

The Contractors Theme!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XPR0aJEjU&feature=relmfu

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This Anime seriously gets a 9/10 for me. If they ever come out with season 2, Im bumping it up to a 10/10, its that good.

If anyones looking for a good show to watch, thisd be it. Im not sure where to find the complete show online, but Im sure its out there, just not on youtube, since they pull it down every time someone posts it.

Anyhow, that's all for now, just wanted to share my thoughts on this show.

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Special thanks to my dog, who always sits faithfully next to me watching these shows. Who knows, maybe he likes them too?

Later Folks!

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So what have I been up to that has been occupying so much of my time?

The simple answer is, School. I just finished up with a summer class that I needed to stay on top of my major, and passed with flying colors, so no worries anymore

I feel so happy to be done with that, it's refreshing, actually not having to study every night on top of work. That being said, I still did spend all day today running a Roller and tractors, but so is the life of living on a farm I guess.

Hope you'll all also forgive me if I don't go back and try to re-read all the blogs I've missed, with all I've got going on, it's easier to just pick back up commenting on the ones in my feed currently.

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Part two deals with the two games I picked up to celebrate getting done with my class.

I picked up:

-Sniper Elite V2 ($20)

-Mirror's Edge ($12)

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Some quick thoughts on both:

To start, Sniper elite V2 is fun in breif bursts. It's a bit too poorly designed to be fun for any time longer than your first few kill shots. But that being said, its a good game to just blow off some steam or kill time before bed. Just don't be expecting it to be awesome.

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Next though is on Mirror's Edge for PS3:

To start with, I suffer from a crippling fear of heights. Like severe, crushing fear of anything not having my feet planted firmly on the ground. I can't even climb a ladder lol. I've been like that since I was a kid.

So, I wasn't sure what to expect from this game, or if I could handle it lol. Just looking at the above image makes me start to sweat.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with this game. It is truly unique, and I've loved every minute of it so far. Every time I have to look over a ledge, or make a leap from staggering heights, my heart jumps into my throat, but thats what this game is about. And I love it, despite myself.

The games enviroment is a starkly contrasting blend of Whites, reds, orange, green, and blue, and it fits perfectly for this game. The game is special to me because it constantly pits you against the lesser of two evils type of decisions. When you're being actively hunted by armed police, running for your life, and you come to the edge of a roof, you either make a leap of faith, or die.

Needless to say, you jump. And every time, it's gut wrenching, and you hope to god your character manages to grasp that ledge with his fingertips and hang on, or somehow manage to land safetly on that landing pad a staggering distance below you. And every time you miss a jump, or slip from a ledge, you have those fleeting seconds of falling before the sickening crunch.

And if you are unfortunate enought to fall facefirst, yes, you watch the ground flying up to meet you, your last vision being your silhouette when you're inches away from the pavement. Those misses are very, very painful.

But this game is amazing, how it captures the panic that comes with being chased, and also the freedom that comes with entire rooftops being your playground. When a SWAT team comes out of an elevator that you were approaching, and you have to slide, scramble to turn around and run for your life through a building as they actively chase you, its incredible. There's legitimate panic that sets in, when you realize you've hit a dead end or missed an exit, and you realize that you'll be surrounded in seconds. In this game, enemies are more powerful than you, so you run, run or die. These are the moments that make me love mirrors edge. This is without a doubt, the best $12 purchase I've ever made.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got another building to jump off

Later folks!

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If you know me, then you know I'm an avid Dark Souls player!

I've gone through over 14 total playthroughs of the game, and over 8 new characters and builds, and during that time I've had a few epic characters, and also quite a few utter "failures" in terms of PvP.

So, to save some of you the pain and humiliation of figuring out that your character cannot drive off invaders, I thought I'd share what didn't work for me, and also share one that works really really well.

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For starters, what doesn't work well:
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Weapons that you should NOT base a PvP build around (like me ):

-Server: This weapon sounds fantastic on paper, a weapon that with each hit drains health from the enemy. However, in practice, in the PvP world, where you often have hundreds, if not thousands of Hit Points, a weapon that takes a measly 2 HP away from your opponent and puts it on you just doesn't cut it. Especially when most weapons will be dealing around 500 damage a hit at minimum to you!

-Smoughs Hammer: This weapon looks awesome, especially since its a boss weapon, but to weild it you need 58!! strength. I stupidly powered up to 58 strenth, and found that it you are going to keep your character at or under Soul Level 125 (the ideal PvP level), the points were gouging into areas that needed more buffing, like health and stamina. Also, I'd like to point out that it makes you move so slow, you'll just be backstab practice for everyone.

-Greatsword of Astoria: This weapon has a lot of requirements for a weapon that royally sucks. Really, its bad. The attack animation on this weapon takes so long to do, you may as well be shouting to the other player "Hey, I'm going to attack you now! Run away!". I have never, ever landed a hit with this weapon. In my eyes, it is a pathetic waste of one of those precious Boss Souls. You are much better off making the greatshield.

-Dragon King Greataxe: This is another one of those ridiculous strength required weapons. There are a number of things that make this a bad choice, I'll just run through them all. First, its a dragon weapon. This means it has to be upgraded through precious precious dragon scales, and only up to +5. Second, it has no stat scaling, meaning all that high strength is wasted. Third, it's SO SLOW!!! If you want to use a Great Axe, which are somewhat good in PvP, use the regular Great Axe and upgrade it to +15! It will be so much better of a weapon!

Those 4 cover the main mistakes I've made in the past. I repeat, these are NOT good PvP weapons!!

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Now onto the good PvP Build!
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Now I'll move onto a build that I've been working on that is quite good! I started it as a build mainly based off looks, and then realized just how viable of a build it was.

Dark Souls PvP Build: Templar (75% killing power, 25% looks )

This is the PvP build I'm currently using, the Templar:

Equipment:

Elite knight helm
Elite knight Armor
Elite Knight leggings
Elite knight gauntlets
(all upgraded of course)

L Hand: Crest Shield +15 (for stablility)
R Hand: Divine Claymore +10
R Hand 2: Canvas Talisman (Best magic adjustment at 50 faith)

Ring 1: Ring of Favor And Protection
Ring 2: Wolf Ring, or Havels Ring

Stats:
Starting Class: Bandit

Vit: 50 (50 vit, + the ring of favor = 1800 hp)
Att: 19 (for 5 slots)
End: 46 (required to be speedy with all gear equipped, 40 is the maximum stamina bar)
Str: 16 (just enough to wield the claymore)
Dex: 10 (to wield Claymore, no more than that)
Int: 8 (bah, don't need any)
Res: 11 (base of course)
Faith: 50 (gives incredible miracle damage and the ability for high level miracles. also helps divine weapons)

Final SL: 128 (Still within prime PvP range)


Miracles:

Great Heal
Wrath of Gods (cheap yes, but effective)
Tranquil Walk of Peace
Vow of Silence (for those pesky mages)
or:
Karmic Justice and a miracle of your choosing, if not using vow of silence.

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creator notes:
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Strengths: This build is extremely punishing to Backstabbers, and Crystal Homing Soulmass spammers. You can cast Tranquil Walk of Peace to shift the advantage towards yourself in the event of encountering a Backstabber, and if you catch them in the field, spam Wrath of God to crush them.

If you happen to encounter a straight mage build, it will be a guarenteed victory. The miracle Vow of Silence, when cast, prevents any and all spellcasting in a large area around you, for a large amount of time. This kills any method of attack a mage may have, making it an easy win.

If you encounter the cookie-cutter Giants/Havels armor mashup, with a large strength based weapon, this is where your mobility will come into play. You have under 25% equip load, which allows high speed movement, but you also have your claymore, a weapon with incredible range and variety of movement. Use, and abuse these two facts, and you should win easily. If you need an edge, cast Wrath of God to shave off some health.

Weaknesses: No build is without weaknesses, and this builds weakness happens to be other clerics, and parry-happy people. Enemy clerics, with miracles of their own, can make or break you. It's a toss up at that point whether you have better miracles equipped than your opponent, and also if you can use them first. If he/she casts Vow of Silence, then it is simply decided by who has better skill/ less lag with a sword.

Beware people with a parrying dagger, or a light shield. Since the claymore is a greatsword, it is easy to parry for people that rely on it, meaning that you have to pick your strikes carefully. Spamming attack will often wind up with a sword in your gut. Just as in Demon Souls, people that know how to parry are a very dangerous enemy.

Miscellaneous: The shield I have picked is not a great shield, it is simply the one I have chosen based off of looks. This build works with any medium shield of your choosing, although I recommend upgrading it for stability.

The Divine Claymore does extra damage to skeletons, and does over 500 damage to invaders and hosts alike. It is truly an invaluable weapon, and makes the Tomb of Giants a much easier area in the long run, as an added bonus.

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Closing
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If you decide to try my build, I hope it works as well for you as it worked for me! Feel free to leave comments, questions, improvements if you find them!

On a final note, thanks very much to JodyR and Gamespot as a whole for giving me a Battlefield 3 "The Controller" T-shirt! It just arrived today, and it looks very nice! I feel bad that postage cost so much, it didn't need to be sent priority, I would have been just fine recieving it a week later, but thanks!

EDIT:
I apologize, it seems I copied the earlier version of my build, and there were a few errors. The correct one is now shown!

Also, if you would like to know how I planned this out, I can point you to this handy dandy character creation engine. It is quite godly!

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=160830823

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It's been a long time since I've been active on here, but in a few more weeks, after my final exams for the semester are over, I should have considerable more time. So expect me on here more in a few days. (run for your lives!)

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Considering this, I made a few purchases over this weekend that I am delighted with. I didn't want to go for video games this time, because they are starting to bore me, and I think a small break from gaming is in order.

So, I bought a few anime's that I had really been meaning to purchase a long time ago, but never got around to till now. I thought I'd share them and give a quick review.

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1.) Soul Eater, the meister collection (DVD)

-For starters, I loved this anime from the very first time I watched it online (which by the way has an entire site devoted just to it ), and it's one of the few I've watched that really stuck in my head, so I finally went out and bought it, so I could watch it again, with or without online! The basic premise is that the main character Maka is a student at the DWMA (Deaths Weapon Meister Academy). In the academy they train with their weapon (maka's is a scythe) with the hopes to eventually make it a "Death Scythe", by having their weapon eat 99 tainted souls, and then finally 1 witch soul, which turns it into a "Death Scythe". The weapons themselves are actually people as well, that can tranform into a weapon form to help their Meisters. The series is quite enjoyable, with half of it being legitmate fights, and the other half humor, which makes it a welcome watch after a hard day. The characters ae like-able, (or hateable, in a good way), and really top off this fantastic anime. This set contains half of the entire anime, the other half is in another set.

-I'd also like to note that for this series, the English Dubbing is absolutely fantastic. Seriously, it's top notch. It's one of the few shows I can watch dubbed, most I just have subbed.

2.) Soul Eater, the weapon collection:

-As I said, you can't buy Soul Eater without both collections, half the series is no fun. This set contains the last half of the story arc, and is also absolutley fantastic all around. It has some truly amazing moments, and the entire series really just remains on an uphill climb of awesomeness, right up to the end. Maybe thats what I liked most about this show, it doesn't just start good and then fall flat, it just keeps getting better. A very satisfying show, and a good buy.

3.) Black Butler Season 1 (Part 1)

- You know it! XD If I didn't buy this I would never forgive myself. I found it at a bargain too! This anime is... delicious. Simply the best way to put it. It's an incredibly dark, yet incredibly wonderful anime, all at the same time. Basically, Ceil, a boy who's parents were murdered and is now the lone are to the Phantomhive estate (tell me that isn't the best last name ever), makes a contract with a demon, under the conditions that the demon will serve the boy and his every wish, acting as his butler, until the point where Ceil has avenged his parents deaths. After this conditon is met, the Demon, named Sebastion, will devour the boys soul. It's simply one of the most unique, most captivating anime's I've ever seen, ever. Ever My roommate recommended it to me one night, I watched the first episode, and then I was hooked 100%. It also has a very unique cast and setting. It takes place in London, in the old days (think horse and carraige) The cast is also almost entirely male, another odd thing for a lot of Anime.

-And the song, oh the song! The opening song has been stuck on repeat in my head for days. It's great, especially with the opening visuals. Case in point, if I had to rate this anime, it would be on the top of my list. Nothing even comes close to it at this point. Watch this on youtube now! (and if you like it, keep watching, and watching, and watching...)

4.) Black Butler Season 1 (Part 2)

-Of course, If I bought part 1, part 2 was a no brainer! It brings new characters, new story, and more of Sebastion!! I'm not sure what to say that I haven't already said above, except for the fact that this ties off season 1 in the best way possible, by staying true to it's story all along. The series may be funny at times, but the ending is delightfully dark, and gruesome. It's the icing on the cake to this original, and twisted series. I would have been dissapointed had it ended any other way. There's just something... exciting, in a dark way, about watching the conclusion of a contract with a demon butler.

-I will say that the english dubbing of this series in NO WAY compares to the original japanese voice actors, and certain humorous bits are completly lost in translation, for instance, a character named Grell likes reffering to Sebstian as Sebas-chan, a bit of humor that never gets carried over in the english dub. Not to mention the fake british accents of the side characters are so thick it's choking! Stick with japanese and subs, you won't regret it!

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To end, if I were to recommened one over the other, it would be Black Butler. Although the series is short, it is an wonderful ride through a dark story and the life of a boy and his Demon. It will be a very long time before I find something of its caliber again.

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Cookie to anyone who can complete this phrase from Black Butler:

Sebastion: "I'm simply ___ ____ __ _ Butler."

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If anyone has been keeping tabs on it, it looks absolutly phenomenal! They've released the first 17 minutes of gameplay footage, and after watching it, I immediately decided that this was one of the very few games I would pre-order when I could. I may be a bit biased towards the Hitman series, given that I love them to death, but the game looks incredible.

It takes a bit of a Batman Arkham Asylum feel, and mashes it with the elements of Blood Money and Splinter Cell, but I love the direction it's headed. While the gameplay of Blood Money was top notch at the time, it had a few glaring errors with cover and gunfights, and this game fixes that, while keeping the stealth feel, at least from the looks of it so far.

Below, is the first 17 minutes of gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njMOarAzvc8&feature=relmfu

It looks delicious! This is still taken from Alpha gameplay to boot!

Below is a link with the same video with the added Developers commentary if you want to hear there opinions. It's worth watching, if just to hear there take on it, I enjoyed listening. Subtitles are in German, spoken language English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjVW8mJoznw&feature=relmfu

I would link them, but gamespot is being a *****...

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Hey everyone!

This is my Mass Effect 3 First Impressions/ Review!

To start with, some background information: I had played through ME1 and ME2 over the course of last year again to prepare for this game's release. I had, through much hard work, procured two perfect save files, so all my crew was present for ME3. This is just for the people that were wondering what I started out with. I then received my pre-order a whole two days early and proceeded to waste no time getting started. Now that it's officially after release date, I can write my review!

This review has absolutely zero spoilers, for those that might be worried, it was written purposely that way.

First impressions:

Well, my very first impressions of the game (as in, right after I put in the disk and hit play), left a stale taste in my mouth. The PS3 version of the game had some seriously choppy frame rate in the opening cutscene, and the characters walked very jaggedly. After I finally got to play as shepard, I was met with a hyper-sensitive camera combined with motion blur, and again, some very jagged frame-rate issues. Commands were also not registering well. Hell, the demo didn't have problems in the areas that were showing now. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of polish for $60 dumped into this game. Even with the choppy frame rate, and the poor character modeling though, the game does indeed start off with a bang. It thankfully left me wanting to at least see what was ahead, if only for the story. Thank goodness it did though, or I wouldn't be writing this review.

Review:

If you can forgive the game's lackluster opening half hour, the game becomes incredible afterwards. There is the choppy tutorial and then one mission where you are locked into a set path, and then after that, the game opens up to you. It's about at that point that I fell in love with ME3. For some unexplained reason, the game goes from buggy to polished in a split second. You don't really realize it until you realize two hours later that you aren't growling at the TV for wasting your money, and instead you're actually enjoying the game. Everything you loved about the cast is back, depending on your decisions of course, and there are several new members to meet as well, some like-able, some feel like a waste of space. But hey, that's life right?

The game brings some new concepts for its third title, like weapons mods, and they are a very welcome addition! You can now find attachments for individual weapons that can be applied to your gun for a variety of effects. Need ammo? Attach an extra magazine. Need some more oomph? Attach a barrel extender to make bullets do more damage. Weapons can also be upgraded at a console to carry more ammo, do more damage and weigh less. I can now use my beloved Mantis Sniper Rifle through the whole game! Weight now slows down the time your powers recharge, so while toting around 5 different guns may look badass, a more practical application may be to carry 2 or 3 to secure a solid recharge time. Or, you could forgoe the powers option and simply drag along the entire armory with you, your choice. Such is the beauty of mass effect.

The powers option is more fluid as well, with the upgrade trees better visualized, and the team powers much more effective to use, thanks to an A.I buff that turns the meat shields next to you from previous mass effect titles into people that I can actually count on as teammates. This being said, there are some times, as with any A.I, that they stutter, such as a teammate not being able to jump through a window for some reason, or inexplicably hiding behind cover in an empty room and shouting about an invisible enemy. But these are just minor flukes in an otherwise enjoyable A.I. The same goes for the enemy forces as well, no longer are they braindead bullet sponges, they will now use some tactics and attempt to flank you, or flush you out with grenades. Enemies will also slowly creep up to you behind a shield, and avoid powers like singularity so they don't get sucked in. These were very nice touches to see.

Mass effect 3 also makes steps to improve on its dialog. The options to pick, and the opinions offered by others, are better thought out, and add a new layer of depth to the series. If you make an argument to someone, the counterargument they provide is enough to make you stop and go "hmm…". It's much better than a lot of the lifeless interaction of the second game. I haven't tested thoroughly enough to decide just how much your options effect things in the game, but at least the dialog, when available, doesn't feel so forced at times.

Mass effect 3 made an obvious attempt to fix annoyances of the past, which I'm sure readers will be glad to hear. You no longer have to scan planets for valuable Element Zero and such for upgrades, upgrades are now purchased solely with cold hard cash. Planets now only contain anomalies, and artifacts, which can be found easily enough, without the headache of watching a line graph on the side spike. Scanning is now simply a ping around the ships, which costs no money. Probes also no longer cost money as well, which is most welcome. There is a catch however, scan too much in reaper space, and they will start to notice you, scan more, and you will be forced to retreat until they lose interest in the area, which is generally after completing a mission first. This can be an annoyance as well sometimes, but is much better than scanning planets for hours to find just a trace amount of mineral as in Mass Effect 2!

This game shines when it comes to atmosphere, and the graphics boost it got when compared to its predecessors really comes through. The game simply has some amazing set pieces, whether it be the Citadel, a massive space station, with its artificial sky and its fantastic outer space view, a stormy and violent research facility, or war torn moon shadowed by a burning planet, with a massive space invasion going on just above your heads. Fighting in areas like these is simply breathtaking. I actually stopped going for the objectives at some points, just so I could stop and watch the scenery. The landing and takeoff scenes are just as breathtaking at times, and really add the finishing touch in this fantastic space universe.

Mass Effect 3 draws you in, that much cannot be denied. It's up to you how far you let it. I've played all three game modes (Action, role playing, and story), and I will tell you that it you choose anything but role playing, you will be doing yourself a disservice. Action takes away so much of the story that is loses its "wow" factor, and just becomes a shooter, while story does the exact opposite. While true, it does give you the story, about half way through it I just became bored of sitting there and listening. Role playing mode provides a perfect balance between the two, and is what will draw you into the game the most. You can spend anywhere from 12-40 hours completing this game, dependent on whether or not you are a completionist. I personally spent around 30 hours, half of which was spent just looking at things, or listening to codex entries. While I'm on the subject of the Codex, fans will love it! It's new and improved, and delves much deeper into lore than the others. It also reads the entries out loud for you, so that's a nice touch if you want to sit back and just listen sometimes.

If you can put up with its albeit rocky start, Mass Effect 3 will enrapture some, entertain others, and suck you in all the way up to its final (if not a wee bit ridiculous in scale) battle. This game is without a doubt the best of the Mass Effect series, and a game I'm sure will be on most people's lists for a long, long time. By the end of the game I would have strapped on an omni-tool/blade and gone to war on the reapers myself, but the real question is, would you?

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So my new years resolution was to play more RPG based games. Needless to say, the first game I picked up was Dark Souls, supposedly one of the most challenging RPG's of 2011. Whew. Well then, I put on my boxing gloves and inserted the game.

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POSSIBLE SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
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Well, as far a beginnings go, it was standard enough I suppose, doom and gloom and all that. It was a surprise for me to find out that my character was dead from the start. Hmmm. That was a bit different.

Now that I mention it though, the atmosphere is incredible, it feels uniquely terrifying just being in a hallway. I guess the game's reputation has me on edge...

After killing a few enemies with my broken sword hilt (Really, a broken sword? Hmph), I proceeded up a ladder and lit my nice cozy bonfire. Which I then realized causes everything to spawn over again. Ah well, price to pay.

I then opened the big double doors and proceeded to get smashed flat by a dinosaur of sorts when I took to long to get away. That would be death number 1 in a very long proceeding. I spawned back at the bonfire, and this time succesfully sprinted by the monster to the big double door on the other side of the hall, only to find it was locked. I looked over to see the actual little door in the wall, just in time to meet the recieving end of the big guys club again. That would be Death number 2.

No matter, it happens I guess. I spawned again, a little more humbled, and booked it to the correct door this time. After it shut, I breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded up the hallway to the glowing items, succesfully dodging [most] arrows fired by a guy at the end of the hall. Finally, I had some weapons! Mwaha, I was ready to take on dark souls in earnest!

My elation was a little premature I guess. I had no sooner walked up a flight of stairs then I got rolled over by a boulder, knocked off the stairs and died when I hit the floor. WTF!!!! Death number 3, and it's still the tutorial. Same drill, respawn, kill enemies, and this time avoid the boulder and run up the stairs to kill the little bastard that pushed it on me! Ha!

After that, I got my estus flasks, yum, and proceeded with my life. (or death rather I suppose)
I followed the path, walked around a corner, and got a good chunk of my precious health removed by two guys and an arrow. Thankfully, I backed up and took out the two soldiers with enough health to muscle my way into the archers postion. After gulping 2 more estus flasks,3 left (yikes), I walked into the next room, and read the cue about parrying. Maybe I should have payed more attention to it, because a skelator in the corner proceeded to slice and dice me until I finally figured out the timing. Son of a gun, I had to use another 2 estus flasks. 1 left now.

I backed up and went through the door, blew right by the note, and looked down to see the dragon/dinsosaur thing from before. Oh hey! Well, I thought, I have time to breath and go get a drink quick right before I hop down? Wrong! I had just set the controller down when it jumped (for a thing it's size, it can get considerable air), and destroyed the ledge I was on, taking most of my health with it. I barely had the controller back in my hands when a club ended my hero. (Who was off to an arguably shameful start). M%@#*%@$&*#er!!!!!! Death number 4 already.

I took advantage of the new break to geta drink and come back. Take 2 Dino!! I zipped throught the section, ran through the door, and blew by the note again, dropping down to the monsters side, and proceeding to hack away. I got a good 4 hits in before it swiped me off my feet, knocking me down. It then proceeded to hit me again, as I was getting back up, knocking me down again. It juggled me again for an easy 5th Death. Sigh*

At this point, I may as well be spending my time throwing my character off a cliff I figured, for as much success as I was having. But, I digress, so I gave it another try, this time figuring I'd try reading the hint on the ground quickly. I got through the door and read it to find I was supposed to do a falling attack. Well, whatya know, reading helps! I pulled it off first try and it took a good half of it's health away like that, so that was a nice early lead. From then on, the battle was actually fairly simple, just roll to its butt and attack its tail like its the end of the world, it went down pretty quick. Whew. Big Pilgrim thing defeated!

I proceeded up the path fairly quickly, and after the cutscene, ended up in the middle of knowhere. This game apparently doesn't like to inform you what to do with your stuff. I had things like humanity and gems that I had never heard of. O_o

Well, as most know, trial and error work pretty well, although the exception to Dark Souls is that trial and error with items proves to be dangerous or downright traumatic. I decided pronto to level up, and gave myself some more health or "vitality" as it's called. I then went up a path and met a fellow that said to keep away.

I figured this must be because I'm undead of course, who wants to talk to a corpse? So, I went back to the bondfire and tried to "Reverse Hollow", and recieved a message that I had no humanity. WTF was it talking about, I had it, right here! I figured out I had to use it first and proceeded to use it on myself, and then reverse hollowfy myself. Hey hey, I'm normal!!!

After going back to the guy, he gave me a copper coin, so I figured I had done something right.
(DO NOT reverse hollow, I learned later, you just have to keep badgering him, undead or not)

(Pictured above: something similar to that Dino/Dragon thing I fought against)

I then walked down a path to a sinister looked graveyard, because it looked like the only way to go. As I headed down the stairs, two ridiculously powerful skeletons proceeded to reassemble themselves in front of my eyes, and kindly handed my my ass. Death number 6, and I had just lost 600 souls, and mother****er, I was back to being undead again, with no humanity this time. (I think I cried a little bit here )

I tried to go this path for almost 4 hours, because I thought it was the way to go. It was the most frustrating thing I've ever experienced. The enemies came two at a time, and the weapons I had did almost nothing to them. Beleive it or not, on the 11 millionth try I actually successfully fought my way to the catacombs with a level 1 weapons, and still had 4 flasks left. Anyone who know what I'm talking about is eitherslightly impressedor thinks I'm lying. I then proceeded into the catacombs and fought of the skelobombs, and the skeleton scimitar people. And then was promptly attacked from behind, so I killed this "new" enemy off, and turned around again and started walking. Only to be attacked AGAIN from behind!! So I killed this "new" guy off as well, and hopped down into the pit, where another enemy attacked me from behind. I swear, I fought waves of two enemies off for at least 10 repititions before it dawned on me that I was fighting the same things, over and over and over and over again. They just kept reviving. I had used up the last of my potions, still valiently fighting what I knew to bea losing battle,and Death number 7 came soon after.

Well, almost 5 total hours of fighting and dying on the same stretch is enough to make a grown man almost break down and give up right there. I thought that something seemed off. There was no way, a game could be THIS HARD!! Not on the second area! So I looked around a bit.

*Facepalm* M********ER!!!!!!!! There was a road off to the far right, leading up to a bridge. And hey, what do you know, those enemies are easy! 5 hours of my life wasted on an area that was clearly for a much higher level character. Do you know how that feels? Do you know the agony???

The one good thing that came out of the whole event was that by 5 hours of fighting skeletons that should have taken my head off at first sight, not to mention succesfully taking out a Duo of Giant skeleton warriors at once, I was so good at rolling and parrying/ riposte that I shredded the following enemies without a scratch. And then next one, and the next. Hmph. So I guess my time in frustration was good for combat skills...

I ended my game back at the original bondfire, I was just burnt out after so much frustration and effort, only to find I had been pushing forwards the wrong way. But really, there was no signs, no indication. Thats like forgetting to tell someone which way they move in monopoly!

But so far my experience with dark souls has been an interesting, and challenging one. I've pushed my limits as a gamer, and even though it was all in vain, it's nice to know that I've gone farther theinsaneway, then a lot have the right/easy one, judging by the number of blood spots on the bridge.

I'll play more tommorow, but for now, not only my character needs to rest, I'm simply burnt out.

But so far, first impressions nets this a 10/10, but not for the casual gamer

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You can take many paths through playing Skyrim, the most obvious of which is blasting through the quests and story lines, and then putting the game down and calling it a day, after having conquered the land with your mighty war hero. However, this is the route that will net you the least enjoyment out of the game.

The first things you have to consider are that although Skyrim has many added features like the "Wait" and "Fast Travel" options, just because they're there doesn't mean you should use them. I myself have played through three different files already in Skyrim, and here's a quick summary of my experience:

Playthrough 1:

I blasted through the story mode, getting shouts and freely using the wait options and fast travel, because hey, it gets me there quick right? I was the standard ultimate hero, and by what I had deemed the end of the game, where I was maxed level and done with the story, I had a fair bit of land uncovered, with some gaps here and there, and I had thought that it was an interesting game, enough for me to go back and play again, although I wasn't sure how to make it different.

Playthrough 2:

I began this playthrough by giving my character a set of morals in my head, which I thought would make things unique. If any of you are D&D players, he would be the equivelent of Lawful Good. (I just pegged myself as mega-nerd, I know ) So I began my adventure. It is MUCH harder to aquire money this time around, as I cannot steal anything, or kill anyone that doesn't specifically attack me first. I didn't have a house until around level 20, and my character could not join the theives guild to earn infinite easy money like the last time. By the end of this file, I had uncovered a much larger portion of the map, as my travels had brought me farther in search of precious gold... Iended this file very satified with the challenge of the game.

Playthrough 3:

This was the eye opener. I went all out for this one. My character has a back story now, and is a regular citizen of the empire, a hunter who had gotten mixed up in a raid when he was crossing the border tracking game. He makes a living off of hunting and selling what he catches, and has hopes of living in whiterun one day, when he can save up enough money. He won't use potions, they're the stuff of witches, so he sticks to the stuff he knows he can cook, and no dragon hunting or dungeon crawling for him, he prefers to stay above ground and doesn't believe in legends. (There's about three pages of actual backstory for him, but I'll spare you )

This character I banned from a multitude of things. I banned my character from use of fast travel, waiting, using potions, use of magic, stealing, or going out of towns at night. I also banned him from using carraiges to travel between cities he hasn't been to yet. As an added catch, I made him attempt to eat three meals a day.

I thought I knew Skyrim before this, but my appreciation for the world grew ten-fold. I've never spent two real hours sitting by a river, waiting for fish to swim by so I could catch them. (No swimming after them and tapping allowed, they have to swim by me on the bank and I'd tap X to catch them) It was a refreshing change, and a fun experience. I then spent another 4 hours real time hunting down deer with a a bow and taking their hides and antlers for sale. After 4 hours, I journeyed to Riverwood, and sold the fruits of my labors.

Total profit: 234 gold -_-

A house was a long ways off...

But, I continued playing with this style of play, hunting, and fishing, and selling, while traveling farther and farther from my humble little home on the river, a hunters tent that he had graciously allowed me to share, protecting me from the cold rains, and the long nights. You haven't experienced what skyrim has to offer until you find yourself chasing a deer through a dense forest in pouring rain and lighting, losing sight of the deer for gut-wrenching seconds, until it finally gets revealed by a lighting flash taking shelter by a pond, you take aim, unleash your arrow and it goes down. Relief follows, and you arrive to skin the deer, but no soonerdo youtake the pelt, you hear the howl of wolves. And they're coming after me. Ever had to have your character run for his life from a pack of hungry wolves, in the rain, through a forest, and swim across a fast moving river just to be safe?

Because I play on master difficulty, and wolves will mess your day up if they catch you, especially since on this file, my character was not allowed to upgrade his health stats.

And thanks to me not using the wait feature, I've actually had to rent rooms at inns. It was a new experience, but an immersive one. Whiterun is my favorite, followed by solitude. Such an awesome atmosphere, and people. Places to avoid would be Falkreath and winterhold, both inns are really shady...

In that file, I've uncovered so many landmarks that if I wanted to accuratly fast travel, I would have quite a search to do, just to find the icon. My map is literally covered with landmarks. This game does not reward rushing, by playing it like real life, no epic quests or dragons, I have loved the experience it has brought with it. You learn to really love the characters in the game. I'm fairly certain I know everyone in Whiterun, and most of their stories. The same goes with the people in Solitude, and there's still so many more people to talk to, so many more things to hunt and find.

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In conclusion, Skyrim is meant to be role played.

Make up a back story for your character, give him morals, don't allow yourself to use the wait or fast travel feature, and really role play the game, you get so much more for your money.

If that doesn't appeal to you, create something goofy?

I don;t know, maybe make a wood elf character that is a chronic hoarder of cheese wheels? If he sees any cheese products, he MUST pick it up, whether he has the weight capacity or not, regardless of whether he has to steal it or not. And he can NEVER sell his precious cheese.

(That one might backfire unless you have a house, or a chest, but ah well, you get the gist)

Another random idea, a sweetroll fanatic, who has the same restrictions as the wood elf, then maybe those guard comments might be particularly traumatic.

later all!

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Recon, aka: The proud, the brave, the few. This guide is made with the realization that recon is a difficult cla$$ to play properly, and very hard to gain experience in the cla$$ without either guidance or skills from previous battlefield games. This guide will go in depth into the role of recon in battlefield 3 multiplayer, covering its uses, its strengths, its weaknesses, and the tools of the trade. There will also be a tutorial of how to read the mil dots on the sniper scope, a skill that not many people know how to do.

Cla$$ overview:

The recon cla$$ fits the role of designated marksman and spotter for the team. Recon excels at long range kills from behind the main advance, counter sniping, and spotting enemies for the team's benefit. In the marksman role you may decide to play as one of three main types of shooters, ranging from sniper, recon, or designated marksman. The sniper engages key targets at long to extreme ranges, often moving from spot to spot to avoid detection. Recon makes heavy use of the spot feature, lighting up targets with both his scope and the MAV for the benefit of the team, and plays a key role in spotting heavy armor before it becomes a threat. The last role, designated marksman, fights from the back of the main advance at medium range, picking off high value targets and attacking forces, moving up when the army does to continue to cover their advance. This role is most useful for recon, but not the most common.

Cla$$ Quirks:

X8 and x12 ballistic rifle scopes will give of a glint towards any person you happen to be aiming at. Keep this in mind, as enemy snipers like to gravitate towards these light sources. To counteract this, spot movement without looking through the scope, and only aim at an enemy that you plan to shoot. Never remain aiming at an enemy sniper for extended periods of time if you miss your first shot, it only gives you away, and they may have a better aim.

General Notes:

How to find a sniping spot-

The ideal sniping spot should be the last place you would look for a sniper, yet still have a clear view of the battlefield. This means places like hilltops and rock outcroppings are generally NOT good spots, as it is the first place an enemy sniper looks, and you're liable to get a bullet before you know it. Often the best positions are close to the ground, or in brush, as people tend to scan high places for snipers, and not right in front of them. Ideal sniping spots should have a decent hallway of sight in front of them.

How to spot enemies:

Spotting is a tool that is not really covered in multiplayer, so I'd thought I'd touch on the subject. Spotting allows you to place a marker over an enemy or vehicle in your vision, making them able to be seen by all of your team. This tool is extremely important to the reconrole as it makes your targets easier to see, and lets you pinpoint enemies that you need your team to hit. Spotting has a max of 6 targets at a time, and to prevent flooding, there is sometimes a 10 second interval where spotting is disabled.

Controlsfor spotting-

Xbox: Back

PS3: select

PC: Q

How to make shots from extreme range:

Start small; no one starts off able to make 700+ meter shots. Begin by hitting people at 100 meters or so, and when you can reliably hit those, move farther away. Continue this weaning process until you are able to make those impressive headshots from across the map. Practice makes perfect.

Major Weaknesses:

As a sniper, you tend to get tunnel vision, which means that there is a large number of times you will probably be knifed in the back. When it happens, which it will, just accept it, see if you can get revenge quickly, and then move to a different location. While you may be tempted to engage a grudge match with a person, have patience, hold your breath, and concentrate on racking up points. Snipers die frequently as they are high threat targets.

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Weapons:
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Mrk II Mod rating: 1/5

- The mrk II mod is the starting gun for the U.S side of the recon tree. It is less a sniper rifle, and more of a battle rifle, as the bullets lack the power to stop enemies from long range, requiring two headshots to kill an enemy. As far as personal comments go, this is the weakest sniper of them all, and should be thrown away as soon as the first sniper is unlocked. Because the bullets do so little damage, you will find the most success moving with the main force, and hanging back a little, attempting to pick off targets at close to medium range. Its semi automatic capability helps compensate for the poor firepower however. Easiest way to level up the gun: Take the scope off of it, and use it like a semi-auto assault rifle.

SVD rating: 1/5

- This gun is the first gun for the Russian tree of recon. This gun has a different feel than the mrk II, as it has less recoil, and different sights, but it does the same amount of damage as its U.S counterpart. I would also recommend using this gun either up close to back up your team, or with the sight removed, as it simply doesn't have enough stopping power to "snipe" enemies from long distances. Easiest way to power level the gun is to remove the sight and get kills that way, same as the mrk II.

SV98 rating: 3/5

- This gun is the first real sniper rifle you will unlock for the reconcla$$ and it is the gun you will most likely be using for most of the time as recon. This gun has relatively high bullet drop, and low caliber bullet, making it difficult if you are trying to use it at extreme ranges (500+ meters), because to land a hit, you often have to aim 2 to 3 mil dots above a long range target. (more on mil dots later) Because of this, the sniper excels at middle to long range, (100-500 meters) with the bullets doing enough damage to kill targets with 1 headshot, and a body shot dealing around 57 points of damage. With the arrival of this gun, new tactics open up for recon that was not previously available. Experiment with what range you're comfortable with, and adjust your sniping spots accordingly. This is the fastest firing sniper of all the bolt actions.

M40A5 rating: 4/5

- The M40 is the next to last sniper rifle you will unlock, and is quite powerful. The bullet drop for the gun is considerably less than the SV98, which makes landing kills at extreme ranges much more likely. The gun has quite a kick compared to the SV98, and makes a very loud retort, but the added bullet speed and damage make up for the loss in stealth. A body shot from this gun does around 85 points of damage, give or take 5 depending on location. Through experimentation, the maximum effective range of this gun (that is, where the range exceeds two mil markers) appears to be around 900 meters, giving more than enough range for some impressive shots. For this gun, a bipod is a must to deal with the kick though, as it is fairly extreme.

M98B rating: 5/5

- The M98 is the last sniper rifle you unlock, and it is a beast of a rifle, doing a whopping 99 points of damage with a body shot, and an effective range long enough to achieve whatever shot you wish. The bullet speed is the fastest of all snipers, and the bullet drop is consequently much less than any other sniper. The gun increases in effectiveness dramatically once you unlock the bipod, as it eliminate sway from the scope, allowing you to accurately deliver your bullets across the map. This gun has the slowest reload of all snipers though, which can be an issue in a sniper to sniper battle, as timing can sometimes be all the difference in the world. Fun Fact: Warning, this gun is loud, really, really loud, do not put headphones at max when firing this gun, it sounds like thunder .

M39 ERB rating: 4/5

-This gun is exclusively unlocked in multiplayer by playing and maxing out co-op. The gun is semi automatic, and has surprising range, making it bad for long range sniping, but fantastic for marksman roles, and middle range warfare. The gun does around 53 points of damage a shot if it hits the body, which is respectable, as it kills in two hits maximum. This is one of the few snipers that excels if you attach the infrared scope to it, because it has a nice range coverage. Not seen a lot in multiplayer, but a nice addition for the recon cla$$ in general.

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GADGETS
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Gadgets are the recon's tools that provide him with intel, aide his teammates, or help get him back into the battle quicker. The recon's gadgets and effectiveness are listed below.

Radio Beacon

- The radio beacon for the recon acts as a spawn point for your squad, allowing them to spawn into the map wherever you place it, instead of spawning on you yourself. The radio beacon explodes when you spawn back to it after dying, and it can then be replaced if you wish. Please note that it can also be destroyed by the enemy, or camped. Radio beacons also either spawn you on the ground or in the air depending on the map. If it spawns you in the air, you spawn with your parachute open, and may drift down to a landing. This causes complications in situations where you want to respawn somewhere precise, and are forced to attempt to parachute down to it, leading to many missed locations and disappointments. Beacons places indoors will not be parachute beacons. Beacons must be placed on flat surfaces to deploy, and cannot be placed in the enemy spawn.

MAV

- The MAV (Micro air vehicle) is Battlefield 3's version of a UAV, operating with infrared vision, and an equipment jammer, allowing it to avoid missile locks. This vehicle is useless unless the recon is spamming spot while flying. Enemies that are spotted when killed will net you 10 points for the spot and 20 points for a motion assist, making it very easy to rack up points very quickly if you are good at spotting enemies. The MAV is small enough to be flown indoors, and is very hard to hit. It can roadkill enemies, but is very difficult to do as it is unclear where the base of the MAV is when flying. Be warned though, the MAV can jostle around quite a lot and be disorienting, making some people motion sick. The MAV must be deployed on a flat surface, and the users body stays immobile while using the device, so be sure to be hidden.

SOFLAM

-The SOFLAM is a laser designator device that the recon can deploy and operate, allowing any missiles to lock onto the selected object with ease. They are a form of binoculars, and once placed, must be used to keep the target in the visual area until it locks on. Once the beep is heard, it can be left unattended, and will remain locked on target on its own. The turning radius is slow, making jets difficult to capture, but it is valuable when acquiring tanks. After the target is destroyed, it will attempt to find a new target of similar model, example, tank dies, it finds another tank.

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General Tips
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How to read the mil markers:

Mil markers are the dots that you will see along the axis of your sniper scopes. These indicate where to aim at targets from range, yet many people do not know how to read them properly. Here is a quick tutorial. Mil dot distances will vary for each gun. The baseline is the SV98, everything after that = less mil dots. The baseline for the SV98 is about 1/4 mil dot for every 120 meters or so, meaning that if a person is 240 meters away, you will aim to put his head about 1/2 of a mil dot below the center of the scope. The M40A5 has a drop of about 1/5 mil dot for every 120 meters, making it easier to shoot farther. The M98B has a mil drop of 1/6 dot every 140 meter, making it a little over 1 full mil dot below the center for a shot 800+ meters away.

Running targets are more difficult. To apply this to a running target, you use the same vertical scale as above, but you also have to lead your target depending on his lateral speed. A person running full tilt will take about a 1.5 mil dot lead in the direction he is running. Any slower, and you will have to adjust accordingly. While this is brief, I hope it helps people be able to read their sights better!

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Miscellaneous
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-You can climb all the way to the top of the comms tower on the aircraft carrier, during both Kharg Island and Noshar Canals, when laying prone with a bipod, it is possible to get some very impressive marksman headshots this way, and you are impossible to see as the enemy is looking into the sun behind you.

-You can sit up on the mountains near the spawn on either side during operation firestorm, and snipe to your heart's content. These locations are visible, but extremely hard to counter snipe unless the enemy is very proficient.

-There is a crane in the back end of operation firestorm that you can climb as well, although it is very visible from the ground.

-The huge mountain in Kharg Island is climbable, and not off limits, climb as high as you think you can hit people, but be warned, at some point, you will be so far away that the people will no longer render. You can achieve the 1000+ marksman from here though if you are trying for it.

-There is a dumpster at flag A in Grand Bazaar in conquest mode that you can stand in that gives you a view straight down the killzone hallway, use this for some cheap kills.

-The MAV can net you upwards of 7000 points a game if you use it correctly. It is a valuable tool!

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That's all folks! Hope this helps somewhat in your battlefield 3 adventures, I spent a lot of time on this hope it shows!. I will be updating occasionally if I find new areas or info, check back sometime.

Good luck, and Good Hunting!

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I got Battlefield 3 on launch and have been playing it ever since!

Love it to death, story is ok, but the multiplayer is amazing!

I play support mainly, love using the 100 round clip to supress anything and everything, and the best part is the infinite ammo.

I'm also a bit of a suicide bomber, I run straight up to tanks, drops C4, and then just click the button even if I can't get out of range in time. It's hella fun, and 100 points for the disable +100-200 depending on enemies killed inside, + 50 for double kill sometimes + another 50 for the destroy points, and only -10 for suiciding, so it's a good trade

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RAGE MOMENT
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The recon is ****, they start with a battle rifle and you don't unlock another rifle untill 2 unlocks later, which is bull****. You would probably do more damage throwing rocks than shooting them with your original gun. The only fix is to just run around with the shotgun until you get a half decent rifle... -_-

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On a brighter note, the support ****just kicks some serious butt, you start off with the RPK or similar for america, but you unlock some really cool things, like C4 (which blows EVERYTHING up, giggidy), an 100 round machine gun with a bipod, flak jackets, and The M224 Mortar. Yes, a ****ing mortar. It's insanely good one Grand Bazaar and Seine Crossing maps, just set it up and pound the alleyways to rubble. Kills everywhere

Not to mention you can delpoy ammo packs which means you have infinite ammo for everything, grenades, etc... Yeah!

By the way, play Conquest on operation firestorm, Kharg island, or Caspian Border, and you'll never play another mode again besides it. There are 2 jets for each side, and I'm a killer pilot if I do say so myself. So far my overall standings in a jet is shot down 5 times, crashed 3, splashed 48 jets, roadkilled 3 enemy pilots that bailed, and killed 5 more that went down with the plane.

I've maxed out my jet upgrades already, it was really really fun. Air radar makes things so much easier. Equip Air radar, heat seakers, and ir flares, and you'll never get shot down again if you know how to fly.

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MOST EPIC MOMENT SO FAR
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Hmmm... well there are a lot of cool moments, but the best two so far have been riding on the side of an attack helicopter at nashir canals with and LMG under missile fire, and the pilot having an arial battle with two helicopters while I was attacking flag defenders at the same time. Whooo, that was some cool stuff.

Second one would be the first time you leap off the cliff at damavand peak, what a rush!

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If you have a PS3, add me! PSN: hellfire-gamer

Later!

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I recently got addicted to Minecraft, a ridiculously catchy game that is still in it's beta stages, but set to come out very soon!! Anyhow, I have spent a considerable amount of time building my new house on online, and thought I'd show it off a bit.

*The server I'm on is called obsidiancraft, google it for the address, it's one of the best organized servers around if you're trying to play online.

So, without further ado, here be the house!

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This is my house on my little plot of land. It has a 5 floors, and a giant forest enclosed in a greenhouse on top because I just got tired of people stealing my trees. The trees I have here are zoned, and therefore, usable only by me! XD

Inside the fence I have a glass partial ceiling to provide light to my underground floors, and I have a deep trench filled all the way with water all the way around my property, which made for a really cool effect on the bottom floor as you'll see.

Floor 1 is fairly simple, this is it, if you're wondering what the lapiz block is for, this server has a protection system in place that you can by. Lapiz blocks protect area's 10x10x10 around them, so I'm basically zoning my house.

Floor 2 and three are just basic storage, with windows around the entire level excluding the stair area. It's an awesome view from the third floor however.

this is the mentioned third floor, also storage, but the windows are above all other buildings already, so awesome views!

If you're wondering if I skipped something, nope, this is what the top floor of my house looks like! It's my own private forest in the sky, and so far it's the only one I've found. Woot! The forest is 100% enclosed in glass, and literally built at the top of the world. The top of my greenhouse is built at the top of the buildable area.

That's the view I have from the top of my house. Pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself. 8)

Continuing with the tour, this is down to the basement level, the floor I lit with natural lighting through glass. It's currently empty, simply because I haven't got a clue what to put there.

Finally, the bottom floor is an underground and underwater wheat farm. I'm quite proud of this simply for the asthetics, it's a nice place to look at. It grows with artificial glowstone lighting if anyone's interested.

Lastly, if you remember what I said about the outside of my house being a giant trench with water, it really is possible to swim down and look inside my underground farm from outside in the trench. Don't know why you'd want to, but the options there.

So that's what I've been up to on minecraft! Hopefully a few people think it's cool. Probably not many of you have actually played minecraft though, so it may look a little odd to those that have no idea what is going on. Ah well though.

My minecraft name is Hellfire111, if you see me online any time, give me a shout, I'm normally on obsidiancraft server, happy mining everone!

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what's new? Been a while since I posted anything here huh? Kinda feel bad about that.

But hey, guess what? I've been accepted to the C-Team of Team Infinity for Starcraft 2, I'm still classified as in "bootcamp" rightnow, but it's fun, nice to have people to play against and compete in clan wars. As of yet, I'm not in their tournament A-Team, but who knows, maybe eventually. Even if it never happens, it's great fun.

See you around guys.

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Wow, I'm here at college, been so for about a week, it's more difficultthan expected. My math 140 class is taught by three proffesors, and I got the hardest one. If you even mention his name around campus people cringe...

But my chem labs are neat, thats for sure.

Unfortunatly my workload has skyrocketed as well, so thats a downer. I just simply don't have time to get on here any more. I'm always running to class, buried in books, and the precious little free time I get is spent hanging out with friends.

In the past week, I've been here twice, and no longer than a few minutes.

So, I think gamespot is going to fall by the wayside for me, at least for now. I love you all, but I'm meeting people here that are simply amazing, and I don't want to waste it buried in virtual land.

I'll be popping in still, random small bursts of activity, but for all intensive purposes, I think I must call it quits for the time being.

Adios people.

P.s: the food here is godly, they have a sushi bar!

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Decided that before I head off to college, I should find someone to make me up a new theme!

So, I headed on over to OT and asked the nice designers there to make mean entire theme, meaning the works, banner, blog banner, avi, sig.

Here's the new theme, It's made by the awesome Herdman2402!

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Avi:

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Blog banner:

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Profile Banner:

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Sig:

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I love them all! Thanks a bunch Herdman2402!

So now you all know who I am if you see me roaming.

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Sorry for the long gap between these, I know I haven't been on much, but the time I've been on here, I've spent running down the list trying to read all your new blogs. I'm just getting to comment on some of them now.

As for the reason to this delay? After finally getting funds, and delaying a year, I'm packing for college... starting up on friday, so after this week, I may be absent for a bit until I get settled in.

Well, to get on with the show already, this is part two to my top 30 songs.

Part 1 is here if you missed it.

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11.) Bright Eyes- Watership Down

• This song is special to me, for the fact that it brings back a very poignant memory. Back in high school, when I was just starting 10th grade, a car crash took 4 of the upper clas$men away from us. About a week later, on the day their funeral was set, most of the high school was gone attending. I was still in school however, and I was just coming out of the science wing, and this song was piped over the PA system. It almost seemed surreal at first, because it was coming out of all the speakers in the school and just kind of floating around, but the whole school stopped what they were doing when it came on. It wasa fantastic sendoff.

12.) If I were a rich man - Fiddleron the roof

• This is one of my favorite musicals of all time, it really is. They just don't make movies like this anymore. My grandfather, an awesome individual, used to sing this song at the top of his lungs and do the arm waving dance and everything. Heis an amazing singer. Great song, it really is. Tevye's part is played fantastically, and is an addicting song, even lasting through Gwen Stefani's abomination that she decided to create of this song. *shivers*

13.) (Rip out) The wings of a Butterfly - HIM

• Can never figure out why I like this song so much. It has an awesome musical intro, and Ville's voice is addicting. It's a very unusual song, and the video confuses me, but it's a good song. I can't actually give an in depth review on this because I can't figure out why I like it, sorry guys.

14.) The lonely man - Joe Harnell

• I've never been much for piano pieces, but this is always one I make an exception for. I enjoy this piece a lot, it's played with emotion, and it leaves room for interpretation. While many feel it's a sad song, and it is, I also appreciate it because of it's accoustics. It's highs and lows come together so well, and even if it's sad, it gets a place on the list for me.

15.) To Life, To life, Lechaim - Fiddler on the roof

• Yes, another one. This also getsa place because it's so happy. It's a wonderful combined music piece, and it just makes you want to sing along, or at least tap your foot. While the singing is good, it also showcases multiple music cultures, and that's also unique for something like this. It's one of the hardest pieces to pull off in a play without looking like chaos, the hardest one however is the bottle dance, if you've never seen it, feel free to youtube it, they do it on set without anything attatching the bottle to the hat, and it's really cool!

16.) Baba Yetu - Christopher Tin

• This is actually a song that was also on Rheinmetal's list, but it's on mine as well, sorry man. This song is on here not for the choir, even though they are incredible as well, but it's actually on my list because of the horn part in it. For those that didn't know, I play the French Horn in a community orchestra, and played it in school for 6 years, along with the mellophone in the marching band. It's a wonderful horn solo, and even thought the notes aren't that difficult, trying to get that type of volume from one without sounding "blatty" is hard, and I appreciate that.

17.) Pirates of the Carribean theme (piano) - Jarrod Radnich

• As I said, not normally one for piano stuff, but this guy can play! I mean really really play! The piano is the one instrument that I tried and gave up on. It's so darn hard to get both your hands to do seperate things! This guy has some mad skills on the piano, and it's pirates of the carribean, so that equals instant win for me. Can he please wash his hair though?

18.) Timestretch - Bassnectar

• Welcome to the world of dubstep. It's not the most technically difficult genre ever, but it's fun, plain and simple. It's the type of music that's meant to be listened to loud, or not at all. If you have some serious subs, and don't mind annoying a few people, crank up the volume with this song to get the full effect. If not, listen to it lower but be warned you're getting the watered down version. Wubwubwub!

19.) Pure Minua - Ruoska

• This song was the song that got me started into Ruoska, so it gets a priority seat. It's got a driving guitar and synth line, and a catchy tune. What more can you ask? They're Finnish by the way, fair warning. Finnish is a pain in the *** to try to learn though, just so you know. I'm not sure I'm going to manage it, it's so different to english. It stresses oo's and ah's over consonants, and they roll their rr's slightly harder than german. Time will tell I guess.

20.) Inside the Fire - Disturbed

• This makes my list for the purely demented laugh he does in the beginning. I have tried and tried to replicate it, and I just can't. *sigh* But it's an awesome song, people confuse it for a conversation with the devil, but I don't believe it is. I think it's actually refrencing his thought process with himself, and the comment "take your place inside the fire with her" is actually because suicide is viewed I believe in the catholic religion as a ticket to hell? Correct me if I'm wrong though. She commited suicide and went to hell (the fire), and so he is contemplating the same. That's my take on it. But all the same, great song.

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Well there you have part 2!

On a completely different note, these two people have to be my favorite people in the whole wide world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoxGv0o6S-U

I don't know how it's possible not to love them, I watched the whole thing with a sort of goofy happy grin on my face. They're wonderful and inspirational. And I say that about very few people.

Until next time, whenever that may be! Give me a week or two to get settled in, and then I'm sure I'll be back full force.

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Inspired by Rheinmetal a bit after his video game music awards which were well chosen, (check them out, they're here) , I decided to make a list of my top 30 songs.

These songs are what I deem the best I've heard. The numbers mean nothing, simply a way for me to keep count. To try to order these in some form of better and worse would be impossible. Links will be provided to all of them that I am able, try to listen to them all when you get the chance, it may give you something new to listen to.

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1. Requiem For a Dream- Clint Mansell

• This piece of music is one of my favorite orchestral/choral combined pieces out there. It is overplayed unfortunatly, which causes people to tune it out, and it really is a shame. It's such a sad, powerful piece of music, and is a phenomenal work of composing. Take the time to listen to it without some type of music video attatched, and maybe you'll be able to appreciate it better, ears are for music, eyes are a distraction.

2. Ein Augenblick- blutengel

• This is one of Chris Pohl's best songs in my opinion. His voice matches the instumental perfectly, and it's a deeply moving song in the lyrical sense as well. It's really a song you have to feel rather then describe.

3. Lichtgestalt- Lacrimosa

• This song is special because it is written in minor, giving it an awesome dark feel. His raspy voice is could not have been a better fit, and is a really strange, yet wonderful piece of music when it comes together. One of the few songs I know of that use competely minor chords.

4. Harder, better, faster, stronger- Daft Punk

• Need I write more? Synth music at it's best, I can remember listening to these guys forever, and it just never gets old... all the remix's pale in comparison to their original one.

5. Das weisse licht- "oomph!"

• I firmly believe that no one else can sing this song with the same effect. Some music makes artists, Dero Goi is what makes this one music. From the beginning early whisper, to his deep voice singing the sweeping chorus, this song is truly special! Dero's voice ends up trapping you in the chorus, I actually listen to the little bit, rewind, listen again, and repeat, but it never gets old.

6. Unintended- MUSE

• This song is one of thosethat just shoots right through your chest and gives you that little stab of pain you know? It's so, so sad, and yet so beautiful at once. From the first chorus of "I'll be there as soon as I can", you really feel the pain, so much emotion stuffed into one song, it's almost unbearable to listen to more than once. If you listen to this, truly listen to the words, and still feel nothing, you have to be a robot or something... it just stabs right into your heart.

7. Speeding Cars- Imogen Heap

• Another one of those heart wrenching songs, yet this one is uplifting, no matter how sad it sounds. Her voice is a wonderful compliment to the lyrics, and it speaks volumes that a song can just make me sit there for a little while after it's done. You really start thinking. Who knows, maybe it's just resonating with my life experiences, but it really is a fantastic song, it makes me glad to be here.

8. Wizards in Winter- Trans Siberian Orchestra

• This is one of those unique christmas songs that can be played year round just for sheer awesomness sake. Fantastic orchestra and guitar song that sounds more like something at a metal concert than an orchestra.

9. Haifisch (orchestral version) a must listen!

• Originally done by Rammstein, I had the fortune to see a traveling orchestra perform this piece when I was in New York a little while ago, and I've never forgotten it. The music was amazing, more so by the fact that their tuba section was so large that you could quite literally feel the music through your body. Who says you need subwoofers for that, just get about 20 men armed with tuba's andsome serious lungs. It was incredible, I got goosebumps from it.

10. Veriura- Ruoska reminder, song starts around 0:43, please listen till 2:00 at least...

• This is a very odd piece of music as it doesn't reveal it's amazing potential till 2 minutes in. I am begging you if you listen to this, don't let yourself shut it off until 2:00 mark, because that is where it makes an impression. It starts at :43 seconds by the way, and it completey changes at 2:00 so keep listening if you don't like the beginning. I've had this song on repeat for the last 2 hours or so.

A lot of these probably aren't what you expected from me, but I really do listen to every type of music under the sun... I'm a music fanatic, and I don't discriminate 8)

11-20 coming next, that will be the hard rock, metal section, just a warning

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later!

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So give me a question to answer, start up a discussion, I don't really care, just want something to reply to.

I figure questions should at least give me something to do for the next day or so...

Yup, that really is the entire blog, exciting huh?

"Speak to me!!!" -Boris from Goldeneye, (it only works if you envision me shaking the computer as well)

The entire world, and all my friends are out of state or in college already, my girlfriend isn't exactly speaking to me, and I have no one to talk to. How sad is that? O_o

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I need to find a CD, an actual hard copy you know? I can find an mp3 download which I'll use if I really have to, but I like having the physical music copy as well. I'm a wee bit of a collector like that...

I need to find a CD by the Finnish artist Ruoska, the album name is Amortem.

It's these guys here, but the album picture looks different:

I found this:

http://www.recordshopx.com/artist/ruoska/amortem/#cd

They said they ship worldwide, but I don't know what that money is, or how it converts, or even how to work the website... It seems European, has anyone used this before?

Need a bit of help deciphering what this costs.

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