All right, with that out of the way, let's talk games. On "that site that I write for", we did our Best & Worst of 2009 awards thingy. If you guys are interested, go check it out and tell me what you think. If I had to round out my top 3 games of the year, they would be MLB 09 in third, Batman: Arkham Asylum in second and Assassin's Creed II in first. So I guess that means Assassin's Creed II is my Game of the Year, eh? Deservedly so. Such a wonderful game and a huge step up from its predecessor. Don't get me wrong however, Batman and MLB 09 are both incredible games in their own right, and both are games that I never expected to like, but there can only be one. As for 2010, well the list is quite long of titles I am looking forward to. However, I modeled my GameSpot user page with my top 3 most anticipated of the new year. Can you guess what they are? (Yeah, I know, it's easy.)

Lately, I've been playing Borderlands. I got it right before New Year's and have been enjoying it ever since. Although the story and ambiance can't compare to Fallout 3, which is my favorite RPG of all time, it is quite good at what it does. The shooting mechanic is quite satisfying, as there are literally a bazillion types of guns to choose from, with different statistics and colors. I am currently a level 26 soldier, for those interested in knowing that fact. Also, on Monday, I should receive 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand in the mail (hooray for snail mail during the Holidays!). I decided to get that one after GameSpot named it their Most Surprisingly Good Game of 2009, and also because some of my buddies got it and said it was quite good. We'll see. I completely stopped playing Red Faction: Guerrilla's single player a while back, since I found it to be annoyingly repetitive and bland. Played a chunk of the multiplayer and found it quite fun though.

I guess that's it for now. I'll see you guys when I see you. Take care.

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Moving on to video games now. Just yesterday, I completed Assassin's Creed II. It took me a while to get through it, but it wasn't because I had a hard time with the game. I just took my time and did a lot of stuff on the side, like assassination missions and so on. I really enjoyed the game a whole lot. Everything within Assassin's Creed II is a huge improvement over the first game. The combat flows evenly and elegantly, as does the parkour, and the story and characters are a huge step up from the previous game. As for the ending, it's a lot let disappointing than in the first game. However, I found myself wondering where Ubisoft are going with the series after witnessing this somewhat eye-widening ending. Regardless, Assassin's Creed II is a fantastic game which you should check out, even if you didn't like the first game. It's a very strong contender for my Game of the Year, that's for sure.

The next games I'll be playing might surprise some of you. Actually, these are two games I've downloaded off of Xbox Live. One of them is a classic. The other one came out at the beginning of 2009 and is part of the Games on Demand. I purchased Indigo Prophecy and Red Faction: Guerrilla. Why those two games? I decided to get Indigo Prophecy after watching Giant Bomb's quick look on the game. Actually, I wanted to get that game a long time ago, but never got around to doing so. Also, with Heavy Rain coming in 2010 from the same developers (Quantic Dream), I thought now would be as good a time as any to check it out. As for Red Faction, I saw it on the Games on Demand service and decided to download it. Never got around to playing it in January, and I'd seen that a couple of people had been playing it lately, including GameSpot's own Kevin Van Ord. Should be quite fun destroying everything.

If you guys want to know what my Game of the Year will be, amongst other things, you're going to have to head on over to "that other website I write for" to get the lowdown. We're doing a Best of 2009 special over there, and I hope you guys will come on over and check it out. Also, I've asked for Borderlands for Christmas (hell, I didn't know what to ask for this year), so I might be playing that on Christmas day and afterwards. Add to that the video blog and I'll be a busy bee during the Holidays. Nonetheless, I hope to see you online during that time so we can get some gaming on together.

Have a safe and happy Holiday. See you guys soon.

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I know I said I'd do a video blog. That's still coming. Just need time to actually record it. I'm actually planning a little surprise for the opening... stay tuned.

Video games. I play those. Played a ton of Assassin's Creed II and, although the game is fantastic, I'm kinda burnt out on it. I haven't finished it yet but I'm taking a break from it for a while. I also played a bit of Left 4 Dead 2, which is a whole lot better than the first game. In fact, this is how the first game should have been. I'm up for some co-op if anyone's interested.

However, those aren't the games I've been playing lately. Monday night, I stopped by Future Shop to replace my Star Trek BluRay (it didn't contain the movie and had 2 special features disks) and, while there, I decided to grab 2 games: Band Hero and Lips #1 Hits. Those two purchases came out of nowhere. Lips #1 Hits is somewhat of an add-on for the original game, but it can also be played as a stand-alone game. I really enjoy the new visual style and the song list is absolutely amazing. I also downloaded some Christmas songs for the game, including one of my all-time favorites, Blue Christmas by Elvis. As for Band Hero, I really like the visual style and the gameplay, but the song list is a bit lacking. I'm not familiar with 50% of the tracks on there and couldn't give a crap about Taylor Swift (who has 3 songs in the game), but there still are some pretty good songs on there, including Kung Fu Fighting, Mr. Roboto and others. Although Lips is the better title here, both games are quite fun.

Only other game I might be getting before 2009 comes to a close is The Saboteur. Aside from that, nothing really tickles my fancy.

Well, I'll wrap this up here. Video blog coming soon (hopefully)!

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Well, it seems the Modern Warfare 2 storm has passed, leaving behind it shattered records and broken egos. Do any of you realize what happened just a short week ago? The world of video games made its presence felt, while Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7 million copies in one day, with sales of $310 million, which made it the biggest entertainment launch in history. One. Day. And that's just counting sales from Canada, the US and the UK. No matter if you like the game or not, gamers everywhere should be proud of this accomplishment, as it sheds a very bright spotlight on the medium.

Naturally, I was one of the 4.7 million who snagged a copy upon its release. I spent the first 3 days playing online and, to be quite honest, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, the structure of the multiplayer is absolutely incredible, with the multitude of perks and guns you earn while leveling up, and the vast selection of modes to play in. However, I feel that, for someone as horrible as me in online multiplayer games, there is no way I can get better. Now, I won't go throw the blame on snipers or campers or hackers or whatnot. The blame is solely on myself. You guys out there are so good that even if I played for 24 hours non-stop for the next 2 weeks, I would still be unable to compete at your level. Also, I do not have the patience or will to stick around and try to get better. I don't find dying every 3 seconds enjoyable, so I just decided to take my abysmal kill / death ratio and go home.

As for Modern Warfare 2's single player experience, there were some highs and some lows throughout the very short campaign. I played on Normal and finished it just over the 6-hour mark. To sum up the campaign without spoiling anything, let's just say that the story is very confusing and ambiguous, the plot is non-existent and the voice actors are horrible, while some of the scenes are brilliantly executed and breathtaking. I've played some games which had much better storylines and voice actors *coughUncharted2cough*. The other mode in the game, called Special Ops, allows you to replay certain missions from COD 4 and MW 2. The 2-player missions are fun to execute for the most part and add another layer to the online play, although I would've settled for co-op during the campaign over this.

Would I call Modern Warfare 2 a disappointment? Not at all, since I pretty much knew what to expect from the guys at Infinity Ward. However, I did let the hype bug bite me in the butt a little too hard. I'm not disappointed, but I'm not thoroughly satisfied either.

Now, onto Assassin's Creed II and Left 4 Dead 2. Oh, and would you guys be interested in the return of DBoy's Den? Just throwing that out there...

Later!

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Games! I play those! Been playing a lot of those on my week's vacation, which is taking place right now. Forza 3. Pretty good game. In fact, it's pretty awesome. Don't believe me? Well, the proof is in the pudding, as we say, and in this case, the pudding is this fantastic review I concocted. Check it out and let me know what you think. I created and auctioned out an EndSights car, which sold for 1,000 credits. I only got one bid for it, which is one more than I thought I would get. Eh, at least it got me that achievement. I ain't no Picasso, you know.

I've also been playing my fair share of DJ Hero. I enjoy the game, but after going through the song list twice (once on Medium, then on Hard), I'm kinda burnt out on it. The peripheral is easy to use, but the cross-fader can get pretty tricky, since it doesn't seem to "click" in the middle and just slides to one side or the other. It can get pretty frustrating when you're doing cross-fader spikes. The mixes are, for the most part, pretty damn good, but there are some exceptions, such as the mix between Third Eye Blind's Semi-Charmed Life and The Jackson 5's I Want You Back. Now, don't get me wrong, I love The Jackson 5, but I couldn't care less about Third Eye Blind, and that mix is just horrible. Also, David Bowie should not be in a game like this, period. Let's hope there's some DLC coming soon, because I'd hate to think I've wasted $130 on this game.

Another game, or expansion to a game, I've been playing is GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. I'm finding this DLC much better than its predecessor, The Lost and Damned. The characters are more interesting and the overall feel reminds me of GTA: San Andreas a whole lot. I'm about half way through the game, and quite enjoying it, except for this helicopter mission I have to do. I hate flying helicopters in this game, especially when it counts and I'm not just fooling around with them. Still, if you like GTA IV, check out Gay Tony.

On a final note, there's this game coming out next week. Heard it's quite popular. Modern something. It's the 2nd one in the series. I'll have to check it out and try to play a couple of games with you guys online, if you're getting it, of course.

Avanti!

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Not long after I finished Brütal Legend, I started up another game, this one on the PlayStation 3. I hadn't played a game on that console since finishing InFamous way back in June. This time around, I played another PS3 exclusive called Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I had no interest whatsoever in this game not too long ago, but after hearing my friends, both online and offline, give it praise and all the fantastic reviews it got, I decided to give it a try. Turns out the game is absolutely fantastic and it literally blew me away with its gorgeous graphics and breathtaking action cutscenes. Now, I haven't played the first installment in the series but I've heard that, even though it was quite good, there were some issues with the shooting mechanics and the amount of bullets an enemy could absorb before dying. Those issues aren't present in Uncharted 2, as mowing down enemies feels very satisfying instead of frustrating. The parkour is a big part of this game as well, as the mechanic feels just right and never really gets frustrating.

But the best parts of Uncharted 2 are its "Oh s***!" moments. There are a good amount of these moments, and many come to mind here. I won't spoil anything for you guys, but I will say that the game starts off with a huge bang and ends pretty much in the same jaw-dropping fashion. The story and voice acting are another great aspect of the game. I found myself chuckling often, especially at the dialog delivered by Nathan Drake, voiced to perfection by Nolan North. Uncharted 2 is another game that came out of nowhere and has become a huge favorite of mine for 2009. In fact, it has become a very, very strong contender for Game of the Year for me. This proves that Sony still have some good exclusives on their side, along with InFamous, Demon's Souls and Ratchet & Clank, amongst others. If you haven't checked it out already, please do so. You won't regret it.

Another game I've started playing is WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. What attracted me to this year's game is the fact that you can create your own storylines, and also the ability to download created superstars, finishers, entrances, storylines and move sets, which has been a long time coming for the series. Although I am highly impressed with the storyline creator and the download service the game provides. I am less than impressed with the outdated graphics engine and the annoying glitches still present here. It boggles the mind to see how ugly some of the superstars, the Divas and the crowd look in today's high-standard consoles. Also, there is still some major problems with clipping and frame rate here, which hinder the overall experience. The gameplay itself, when you're wrestling an opponent, is downright boring. Hell, I'm actually forcing myself to go through the Road to WrestleMania stories just to see how they pan out. If this was a Vince McMahon simulator, where you'd control the WWE, create storylines, manage superstars and shows, as well as merchandise, it would be one hell of a game. Sadly, the wrestling in World Wrestling Entertainment is the problem here... as it is on the real-life shows as well.

DJ Hero and Forza Motorsport 3 are coming next week, and I'll be getting both of them. I honestly can't wait to try both of them out. I'll keep you updated on my impressions.

Have a great week and thank you for reading.

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As I mentioned, the game starts off with a bang. In fact, if you've played the demo, you know exactly how the game starts off. The first couple of missions after that are pretty cool, as you'll go around fighting off General Lionwhyte's army, all the while recruiting headbangers and others to join your own army, known as Ironheade. The story moves along at a brisk and steady pace until you get to fight Lionwhyte himself. Shortly after that, it slows down to a crawl while you partake in strung-out real-time strategy battles against the Drowned Doom and, finally, Doviculus' army. Although the story is quite good, I felt it was sacrificed along the way for the game's shady gameplay, which seems quite uncharacteristic of Tim Schafer.

Let's talk about that gameplay aspect for a moment. Brütal Legend implements real-time strategy elements, action elements, sandbox elements, role-playing game elements, racing elements and fighting elements, but never quite succeeds at either one of those. It's good to have ambition, but sometimes it's also good to know your limits. The side missions are a total bore and very repetitive. However, I found myself completing each and every one of them (except for the hunting ones) so I could accumulate enough Fire Tributes to upgrade my stuff. Those upgrades would become useless once the RTS gameplay kicked in, which made the side missions seem like a waste of time in the end.

Thankfully, that's not all Brütal Legend has to offer. The game does a great job in paying its respects to heavy metal, as it features a solid soundtrack with over 100 metal songs, and the metal infused world of Bladehenge, where monuments were erected in tribute to the Gods of Metal. There's also the superb cast of characters, including Jack Black as the main protagonist, a surprisingly fluent Ozzy as the Guardian of Metal, Lemmy Kilmister as the Kill Master, Rob Halford as General Lionwhyte and the marvelous Tim Curry as Doviculus.

In the end, however, I am brutally disappointed in Brütal Legend. For a game designed by a man whom I consider to be one of the greatest of all time, it hits somewhat of a sour note. The world, story and characters are quite awesome, but they are overshadowed by bad and indecisive gameplay. I haven't touched the multiplayer aspect, and I don't think I ever will. I feel like I've played enough of it in the campaign. Oh well, better luck next time, Tim.

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First off, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. I must say, I really enjoyed this one a whole lot, even though I kind of had my doubts about it. In fact, since the game has 2 different paths to choose from, either Iron Man's Pro-Registration side or Captain America's Anti-Registration side, I finished it twice. The story, which borrows heavily from the Civil War storyline from the comics, is actually quite good, although I've been told it strays quite a bit from the original story (which I haven't read). Even though you'll spend your time button-mashing through the game, it never gets old, especially with the new Fusions between Superheroes. However, some of the Fusions tend to repeat themselves, but that's to be expected when you have a roster of 24 Heroes to contend with.

M:UA 2 was only an appetizer for what's coming up in the next few weeks. Brütal Legend hits store shelves tomorrow, and I'll be sure to get my hands on that one. I'm also very interested in Uncharted 2, ever since I saw some videos for the game and the great reviews it's been getting. I haven't played the first game though, so I don't know how that'll affect my enjoyment of this one. Then, there's Forza 3, SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, DJ Hero and Lego Rock Band all coming out before the end of the month or in early November. Oh, and there's that other, lesser-known game coming out in November too... something about a sequel to a game called Modern Warfare... I'm not sure my wallet will withstand my spending spree, so that's why I'm working on Holidays. Worked on Labor Day and, today, for Canadian Thanksgiving. Gotta sacrifice myself for my games!

Last but certainly not least, and if you haven't already, check out EndSights.com and take a look at the redesign and some of the reviews, previews and news we have on there for you. Oh, and we're also selling merchandise now too. Cool, eh?

Catch ya later!

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I've acquired a couple of games this past month. NHL 10 is, without a doubt, my favorite amongst these. Yes, I enjoy it even more than The Beatles: Rock Band. Surprising? Not quite. After I went through the Story mode and played some online with a couple of friends, the game got really old, really fast. I think the very limited track list (only 45 songs, plus All You Need Is Love that I downloaded) is to blame here. Now, I'm not saying the game is horrible, absolutely not. It's just very... limited for now. However, that's soon to change with the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as DLC in October, Rubber Soul in November, and Abbey Road in December. I guess it's a long-term love affair.

Back to NHL 10. The game is just freaking incredible. The one thing that stands out in this year's edition for me, aside from the subtle gameplay tweeks, board play and GM Mode, is the ambiance. The guys at EA Sports have done an incredible job recreating it. You actually feel like you're taking part in a good ol' hockey game, with fans bouncing out of their seats when the home team scores a goal, people banging on the glass when there's a big hit along the boards, the "oohs" and "aahs" when there's a great save or when a player hits the goal post. That's what makes this game so lifelike and spectacular this year. Once again, kudos to EA for another outstanding job.

I've also played some Halo 3: ODST. I completed the game on normal difficulty, by myself. I have to say that Bungie did a great job with this game. Once again, it's all about atmosphere. I loved the parts when I was playing as The Rookie, wandering alone in the dark streets of New Mombasa, trying to avoid (as much as possible) enemy platoons. The music blew my mind as well, such an immersive and profound score by Martin O'Donnell. As for when you get to play as other ODST, I didn't find those situations to be all that great. Yeah, they're fun to go through, but there's not a whole lot of meat on the bone here. I would have rather played as The Rookie the entire way through. Nonetheless, it's still a pretty good game and I'm always up for some Firefight or going through the campaign in co-op on Legendary.

Other games I've been playing include Lips, which is a surprisingly good game. The track list is quite good, and the fact that you can import songs directly from your PC or portable music device (ie iPod) into the game is very clever. There is a lot of potential behind this game, and I hope it gets pushed farther in future iterations. I've also completed Saints Row 2 for a second time, but this time around, I was playing co-op with Mr. Tony Smith. It was good fun, until the game started glitching out like crazy on us. It wasn't uncommon that my character would get stuck in vehicles or in a surface. That kind of took away from the enjoyment of the game. Mr. Smith and myself have now partaken in another co-op adventure. This time around, we're trying to go through Gears of War 2 on Insane (him) and Hardcore (me). We'll see where that leads us.

In conclusion, it looks like October is going to be another big month for video games. The ones I'm most definitely getting are DJ Hero, Brutal Legend, Borderlands and Forza 3. My poor wallet will hate me. Which games are you guys picking up next month?

Until next time, thank you for reading and have a safe, happy October.

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Check out my Beatles: Rock Band review here. Rate, rant, comment, question, so on and so forth.

NHL 10 is awesome. Just plain awesome. Eat your heart out, Madden.

That is all.

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Wednesday, at lunch, I went to the closest video game store, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from my job to there, to purchase The Beatles: Rock Band. That's around 20-30 minutes coming and going, which left me about 10-15 minutes to eat. Anyway, I get there, buy the game with a huge smile on my face and happiness in my heart, and then make my way back to work in time for some Subway. At the end of the day, I make my way home, eat some dinner, and get on the X360 to play some Beatles goodness.

After watching the wonderful intro movie, I plug in my Turtle Beach headset into my controller and, after a few minutes calibrating my audio and video, I'm ready to rock. After selecting the Story mode, the game then informs me that no microphone is connected. I find this kind of weird, since I just connected my headset to my controller. So, I unplug everything and plug it back in. Same message. After a few minutes of swearing at the game and my headset, I decide to go and browse Rock Band's forums on their website to see if there is any information on this type of problem.

I come upon a thread about it and, after reading on, my face drops. The joy I felt during the day turned into frustration and anger. It seems that Harmonix has decided to alienate people who used their headsets to sing in previous games by completely abolishing them. Now, only USB microphones, or the Lips wireless microphones, will work. I would love to meet the person who came up with this brilliant idea and slap the living hell out of him or her. Some might say "Well, you know, people who will buy this type of game will already have USB microphones, so why are you complaining?" After reading some of the other post on forums around the web, including this very site, I can tell you that this is not entirely true. A lot of people still use their headsets to sing in music games, including me, and when Harmonix pulls this type of stunt, they forget about us, about those who don't have the money to purchase the entire boxed set of instruments. That, to me, is unacceptable.

Nonetheless, now I'm going to buy Lips just so I can get those wireless microphones so I can play The Beatles: Rock Band, which means I'll probably have to skip on a title I wanted to get this year because of that. Although I'm tremendously pissed about this entire situation, I still enjoyed my time on the guitar with the game and cannot wait to sing through the story mode. One thing's for sure, this little misstep will affect my final review of The Beatles: Rock Band for sure. Check back soon for that.

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In other news, I completed Batman: Arkham Asylum. Awesome game, and one of my favorites so far in 2009. Aside from completing the story, I also solved all of the Riddler's riddles and the mystery surrounding the Spirit of Arkham.

That's pretty much it. Have a great week everybody!

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The story is interesting and keeps you hooked in from beginning to end. As for the voice acting, let's just say that Mark Hamill's rendition of the Joker steals the show. I never thought the man had it in him. I had little to no interest in the game at the start of the year but now, it has become one of my favorites. If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend you check it out.

Aside from Batman, I've been trying to finish Shadow Complex, another magnificent game. Yeah, I know, what am I waiting for, right? Well, let's just say that my attention has been mainly focused on the Dark Knight recently, hence why I'm still not done. I'm very close to the end however, so I should be done very shortly. I've also been rummaging through Stilwater once again, playing some co-op on Saints Row 2 with Tony "juradai" Smith as my dastardly counterpart. I realized that co-op was extremely fun in this game, especially when you have a cool dude playing alongside you.

On a totally unrelated side note, I forgot to mention in my last blog that I have been a member of the GameSpot community for 7 years now. Yep, my "birthday" was on August 18. Man, has this site changed in 7 years! Although the community has dwindled down quite a bit since "the good ol' days of yore", there are still a fine bunch of people who blog and contribute regularly to the site. Also, I'm very impressed with some of the new content the staff has been shelling out lately, which keeps me coming back for more each and every day. So, to all of you wonderful people, I say keep up the good work and here's to another 7 years more!

Last but certainly not least, my most anticipated game of 2009 is coming out in one week, and I cannot be more excited than I am right now. If you haven't guessed by now, and if my profile layout isn't tipping you off, that game is The Beatles: Rock Band. Just to crank up the hype machine up to 11, EA and Harmonix released the television commercial earlier this week and it is oh so very exquisite. It features some footage of The Beatles taken from their final photo shoot for the Abbey Road album interspersed with some "present time" footage of people dancing and walking along the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the commercial.

[ Watch Video ]

Have a great week and see you soon!

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- I'm about half way through Shadow Complex. I'm really liking it. Although I was never a fan of Castlevania and Metroid, it really appeals to me. The graphics are gorgeous and the action and exploring are portrayed in a really cool way. If you haven't played this game yet, do so. At $15, it is quite the steal.

- I'm also playing quite a bit of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. I've gotten much better at it since the last time I posted about the game. I usually play around -6 or -7 every round now, which makes the game much more enjoyable than always being at the bottom of the leaderboards. Tiger 10 remains one of my favorites of 2009 so far.

- Downloaded the demo for NHL 10 as well. It showcases the new board play and fighting mechanics, which will add greatly to the overall game. However, the biggest improvement, in my opinion, is the crowd and the atmosphere while you're playing a game. When the home team scores a goal, the fans get up and cheer, they wave towels in the air, they chant the team's name and react to every big hit and so on. It sounds and looks like a real hockey game now, and that's absolutely fantastic. Can't wait for the game's release.

- Speaking of releases, September is shaping up to be a huge month for games as far as I'm concerned. The Beatles: Rock Band on the 9th, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and NHL 10 on the 15th and finally Halo 3: ODST on the 22nd. Seeing as the last retail game I bought was The Bigs 2 about a month ago, it'll be quite a change of pace. I'm going to have to get my wallet ready for this impact.

That is all. See you when I see you.

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There are a couple of games I am looking forward to in 2009. I can't possibly overlook Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Shadow Complex, DJ Hero and NHL 10. However, my most anticipated game of the year has to be, undoubtedly, The Beatles: Rock Band. While some of you out there might find this choice dubious, let me assure you that none of the other titles announced this year, not even NHL 10, have me more excited than the Fab Four's foray into music game territory. So much so that I've already pre-ordered my copy on Amazon, along with the Fender Strattocaster wireless guitar.

Now, while I cannot say that I'm a die-hard Beatlemaniac, I do love The Beatles' music. Even though the band had broken up a year before I was born (in 1970), I still grew up listening to their music. In fact, the very first cassette I ever got was The Beatles: 1962-1966 (the Red Album). I was crushed when the tape got stuck in the tape deck and broke. Thankfully, my parents got me another copy right away, along with The Beatles: 1967-1970 (the Blue Album). Although I stopped listening to those tapes, I still enjoyed hearing their music on the radio once in a while. Recently, after the announcement of the game, I started downloading and listening to them once again and am enjoying it even more now. It is just remarkable to see how they evolve from album to album, from a pop-oriented boy band on Please Please Me, to rock and roll icons on Rubber Soul right on up to psychedelic masterminds on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although their sound is very distinctive, the evolution the band went through during their very short 8-year career is staggering. On a personal note, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper are my favorites amongst their albums.

After seeing the set list for the game, I got really excited. It seems Harmonix, along with the help of Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and Dhani Harrison, made terrific selections for the initial 40-song game. I say "initial" here because, not long after the game ships, Abbey Road will be made available for download through Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network, and will be followed by my two favorite albums, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper. Aside from the phenomenal set list, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, as you can see for yourself from these videos on the game's official webpage.

Frankly, September 9, 2009 can't come soon enough. Here's a video from my favorite Beatles song, Helter Skelter, which will be in the game.

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Let's start off with games. I play those. I recently bought Guitar Hero World Tour from a friend for $20. I wouldn't have bought the game otherwise, but for that price, I thought I'd give it a go. The song list is passable, as I do not recognize or even know a good majority of the songs, but there are some really fun ones to sing, such as La Bamba, Beat It, Hot For Teacher, Hotel California, Crazy Train, Freak on a Leash and Band on the Run, amongst others. As for the singing mechanic itself, I find it to be much inferior and somewhat harder than Rock Band's, as I haven't gotten 100% on a song so far (closest was 94%) and I'm playing on medium difficulty. In Rock Band, I can easily get 100% on most songs on the expert difficulty. However, from a graphical and technical standpoint, Guitar Hero takes the cake tenfold. The environments are very well designed, the band members have continuous and fluid animations, instead of jerking out of them, and the overall feel is by far superior to Rock Band. So the question is, do I find Guitar Hero World Tour superior than, let's say, Rock Band 2? Not by a long shot. The song list is what's important in music games, and Guitar Hero's doesn't quite cut it compared to Rock Band's. Add to that some very poor DLC, and that pretty much sums it up.

I also downloaded and finished Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta this week. This new quest looked so promising and could have been so good, but sadly, it fell short of my expectations. Your trek through the mothership is very linear. That wouldn't be so bad if the environments weren't so damn boring and ugly. This expansion also focuses a lot on Fallout 3's combat system. That doesn't bother me that much, since I really like using V.A.T.S. and seeing aliens' heads explode in a million pieces, but when you're doing that every 2 minutes or so, it can get annoying. You'll find yourself pushing buttons a whole lot here which, aside from shooting aliens, is the only excitement you'll be getting. Fun, huh? Also, the story could've been so much better, but ends up being underwhelming at most. However, you do get some awesome weaponry here and, if you're at the very start of the retail game, they can help you you a whole lot. That doesn't help the fact that I'm very disappointed in Mothership Zeta, especially since it's supposedly the final episode in the glorious Fallout 3 adventure. I did net myself 1,100 gamerscore from it though, and that's quite awesome.

Onto movies now. Last night, I saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and was thoroughly disappointed. There are so many bad things about this movie, I don't even know where to start. The script is God-awful and, even though Channing Tatum (Duke) and Sienna Miller (Baroness) try their damnedest to pull off a good acting job, they are brought down by the horrible dialogue and other mind-numbing performances by Dennis Quaid (General Hawk), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Heavy Duty) and the always horrible Marlon Wayans (Ripcord). This is a movie where less talk, more action would have been appropriate, but it always seems like some Joe is giving words of advice to another Joe, and it all ends up sounding ridiculous. Speaking of which, isn't G.I. Joe supposed to be "The Real American Hero"? Then, I would like to know why so many people from other countries are a part of the unit. Don't get my wrong, I'm not discriminating anyone here, but it just feels out of place here. All in all, G.I. Joe the movie, with Accelerator Suits and all, is just a big joke and a huge slap in the face to all of the long-time fans of the comics on TV and paper. Thank you Stephen Sommers for pulling a Michael Bay on another one of my favorite series. Good thing I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when I got home, which was an excellent movie and, in my opinion, the best Potter yet.

Alright, I've bugged you long enough. Stay well and see you soon.

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I actually don't have a whole lot to say. I haven't bought a new game, except for Gears of War 2's DLC Road to Ruin, which is alright, but way too pricey at 1,200 MS Points, and Saints Row 2's two DLC packs, which are also alright, but way too hard, even when you play them on casual (like me). The friggin' helicopter mission, where you need to escort some toxic waste dump trucks and shoot down enemies, is driving me mad. Way too complicated for nothing. I'll be getting Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta tomorrow. Cannot wait for that one, as all of the DLC for that game has been modestly good.

The reason I'm blogging today, however, is because I wanted you guys to read this editorial I wrote on EndSights regarding all of the music video games who have been and are being released. The title is Digital Rock: An Analysis of the Music Genre. Took me a while to write it, and I'd appreciate any feedback or comments and, of course, your own personal feelings on the subject.

Hope you guys have a great week. I'll see you soon.

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Have a great weekend!

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During my vacation, I played around with my new toy, the Nintendo DSi. However, the game I played the most of is not New Super Mario Bros. I spent most of my time playing Brain Age 2. In fact, I would sit down on the porch next to my motel room and play that every morning. Although Brain Age 2 is a bit repetitious, it's still a pretty good game. As for Mario, I played a grand total of 15 minutes and shut it off, remembering why I wasn't too keen on platformers in the first place. I don't even know the reason why I bothered buying it in the first place. Ah well.

I purchased two games since my return home. The first one was Worms 2: Armageddon. Not a whole lot to say here except that it's a Worms game with a single player campaign added in the mix. But no worries, the fun is still there. The second game I bought is The BIGS 2. I was rather hesitant to buy that one, but after seeing the decent reviews it got, I jumped in. Let me tell you, it is leaps and bounds ahead of the first game. There is a Become A Legend mode, where you need to perform certain tasks for your created player to advance so he can one day become a Legend. This mode is very well done and surprisingly extremely addicting.

I also picked up 3 movies on Blu-Ray. The first one is Watchmen Director's Cut, which comes in a metal case and is 20-something minutes longer than the theatrical release. The second one is 300 Ultimate Edition, which comes with a great booklet. Finally, the last one is Grease Singalong Edition, which comes with a booklet containing all of the lyrics to the songs. I now have 3 versions of Grease: one on VHS, one on DVD and now, one on Blu-Ray. I think that makes me a fan.

Last but certainly not least, I invite you to check out this article I posted on EndSights. I talk about casual and hardcore gamers, and why I think those two terms are now irrelevant. Tell me what you think and give me your own opinion on the subject.

I'll try to do a video blog before I go back to work, but no promises. You guys stay cool.

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Today, I went to Future Shop and got myself a Nintendo DSi. Yes folks, you read that right. A Nintendo console has entered this household. The last time that happened was when I bought my friends' Nintendo 64 two years ago, and was only the second Nintendo console to make it's way into my collection, after the NES. Along with the portable console, I got New Super Mario Brothers and Brain Age 2. I tried out the latter tonight and I quite enjoyed it, but I can see it becoming old after a while. I also fiddled around with the DSi's other functionalities, such as the camera and the sound mixer, which was a complete riot when I got my nephew to say something and then modify his voice so it was very grave and low.

Sadly, I didn't get my hands on GTA Chinatown Wars. They were out at Future Shop, and I didn't feel like going around town to find a copy, so I'll just order it online when I come back from vacation. I also got the 22-in-1 pack, and am now the proud owner of 5 styluses. Go me!

I'll give you my impressions on New Super Mario Bros. when I return, but for now, I bid thee farewell... for now.

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