So, you're probably wondering where I've been for the past couple of months. Well, you can blame school for that - it's been keeping me extremely busy. Actually, right now I'm taking a much-needed break from studying to write this. Seems like if I'm not having a test on oxidative phosphorylation in AP Biology, I have a test on differentiation in calculus, or a test on the War of Austrian Succession in AP European history, or a test on les verbes à deux racines in French, or a literary analysis of Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron in composition... I'm pretty sure you get the point - it's crazy.

I guess I should get used to it though, as I got accepted into Michigan State's Honors College, which is pretty prestigious; you needed to be in the top 5% of your graduating cIass, have above a 3.9 GPA, and above a 31 on the ACT. It's good news, but it means I definitely won't be "skating by" in college. So, in the free time that I've had, I've been playing a bit of Modern Warfare 2. Right now I'm level 54 on the first prestige, with slightly over 13,000 kills and a 2.42 kills per death ratio. A couple days ago, I also reached level 42 on the site - I'm now a "Karnov."

Today, I also learned that in early 2010, Gamespot will be entering a partnership with Raptr. I think that's pretty cool, considering I've been a member of the site for awhile, and I like how it can track all the games I play and achievements I earn. What do you guys think?

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Long time no see Gamespot. Hope everyone is having a pretty good fall. Things have been decent here - I just haven't had the motivation to post or otherwise spend much time on the site... you can partially thank Lost and Borderlands for that. For all those who commented and said that Lost was great in my last blog, you were definitely right. Sure, Jericho was good, but Lost is better. I watched all five seasons of the show in less than a couple of weeks thanks to the wonders of Netflix. Needless to say, I can't wait until the show wraps up with season six in 2010.

Other than Lost, I picked up Borderlands on the 20th, and finished it today, the 25th. It was a decent game, but nothing more than filler until Modern Warfare 2 comes out. The gameplay was good, and so was the game's hybrid graphics styIe. The paper-thin story and terrible ending, however, were not. I'll be writing a review soon (hopefully), but my recommendation is to rent this one first.

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Over the weekend, I decided to take up an offer for a free trial of Netflix. I usually don't buy into those kind of "free trial" things, but I've heard a lot of good things about the service, and being able to stream thousands of movies and shows right to my Xbox 360 for only $9 a month is pretty appealing. Well, it's been four days, and I'm extremely happy with Netflix so far. The picture quality is great, and they recommended me a great show to watch - Jericho.

I heard of Jericho a couple years back, but never had the time nor interest to check it out. Over the weekend, I was able to stream all two seasons of the show, which, to put it quickly, might be one of my all-time favorites. The cast is great (including Skeet Ulrich, seen in the above picture), and so is the show's storyline. I'd highly recommend you guys check it out. Other than Jericho, I just started watching season one of Lost. A bunch of my friends are fans of the show, and said I need to watch it. Let's hope it's as good as they led me to believe!

As many of you have seen, my activity on the site has been a bit... lacking, lately. Being my senior year, school has been extremely busy - more-so than I expected. Plus, I just can't seem to find an active place to post right now. Needless to say, I'm still here, and don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

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For the first time in about seven months, I went out and bought a game at full retail. The game? Shift, of course. I've been a Need for Speed fan since Hot Pursuit, and have tended to like recent games in the series contrary to reviewer opinion - it seems that Shift will be no different. I've been playing it for a couple days now, and the game's unique cockpit view really makes Shift stand out from other racers. Between the great sound, the crashes, and the sense of speed, it actually feels like you're racing a car at 150+ miles per hour.

The part that irks me is that Gamespot's review completely omits the cockpit view. Not even a mention. I talked to Justin Calvert via email, and he said it wasn't mentioned because he "preferred the third person view." I don't necessarily agree with his decision, but there's not much I can do. I guess I'm just going to have to write a review of my own... eventually. This is one of the first Gamespot reviews I've ever really had a problem with.

Anyway, I have homework for all of you. Go vote for Snake, and also, visit my UCB. I'm doing an update of the Top 75 Posters list tonight, so check that out later. That should wrap things up - take care everyone.

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Wow, it's been quite a long time since I last blogged. I've kind of been putting it off, because up until a few days ago, nothing was new. Just the same old stuff on a different day. Anyway, as you can see, I'm now an Abobo - the big level 40. It's odd, because some five months ago, I told myself I'd like to get to level 40 before school started back up. And what do you know? The day before school starts up, I became an Abobo. Funny how things like that happen.

Speaking of school... yah, that started for me too. For those of you who don't know, I'm going to be a senior this year. My schedule is pretty good - I have a lot of friends in my cIasses, which is a relief because last year was quite the opposite. It should be a good year, and I don't expect to have significantly more work than last year, so you should still see me plenty around the site.

One last thing I need to throw in here: vote for Snake! And I think this song is very relevant to what's happening to the Master Chief...

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I have a lot to mention in this blog, but I'll try to keep things short. Welcome to my 100th blog! I've been here for three and a half years, and I'm finally reaching this milestone - that shows how much I get around to blogging (apparently, not too much). And for my 100th blog, I also finally finished that BioShock review... you know, the one I've been saying I'd get to since early 2008? Well, I finally sat down and started it... it took awhile, but I think it's my best yet. You can click here if you'd like to check it out.

In other news, I pre-ordered that crazy edition of Modern Warfare 2 with the night vision goggles. I know some of you are going to give me flak for that, but I'm a huge fan of the game/series, so I had to splurge. Yesterday, I also became a staff writer over at NoobFeed, where I update the news and post the occasional review or preview. I'll still be here plenty... Gamespot's still my main gaming site, so no need to get worried.

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What better time to blog than when there's a massive thunderstorm pelting your house with rain and hail? I can't think of any... until my power decides to go out. Anyway, if you haven't seen me posting in your blogs lately, I apologize. I went on a trip to Boston with some family for a week... man, that city's awesome. I love the architecture, the parks - pretty much everything except for the fact that I don't fit in with the dominant political view over there. If you guys want to see some of the pictures I took, you can head over to my UCB in the travel thread.

Other than my trip, not much is new on my end. I reached level 39 a couple days ago - pretty soon I'll be at 40 (finally). Unfortunately, the free part of my summer is virtually over. Soccer's starting again and runs nonstop until the last couple weeks of October. School starts in less than a month, and I need to start sending out college applications and doing AP summer cIass work. Plus, I need to pay to get my car repaired because some jerk thought giving me a massive door ding (plus scratch) and then filling it with permanent marker was a good idea. Definitely not fun stuff. Regardless, I'll still be around, albeit a bit less.

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I've had a UCB (User Created Board) for a couple years now, but I've never really done anything with it - it's always just been a storage place for all my old post party threads and the like. Well recently, a lot of my favorite places to post on the site have become moderately inactive, so I thought I'd try to give my UCB some new life, and invite all you guys to come on over and post. The name of my UCB is Lounge 21 - it's meant to be a casual place for off-topic posting. So if you need a new, active place to post, check out my UCB here. I'm also looking for moderators, so show me you're an active poster and I'll consider you.

Also, if you haven't already checked it out (thanks to those who did), I recently finished my review for Battlefield 1943. Battlefield 1943 is a decent game, but it feels kind of "stripped" - limited game modes, maps, etc. Therefore, unless you're a Battlefield devotee, you might want to pass this one up. Anyway, for more about the game, check out my review here, and as always, I appreciate a "thumbs up" if you liked it.

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It's been awhile since I've done a gaming update in my blog, so here it goes: I recently purchased Battlefield 1943 (bringing me up to 83 Xbox 360 games) and rented Resident Evil 5. They're both good games, but I'm not sure either of them have enough features to keep me playing them after I've played the campaign once (RE5) or unlocked a majority of the achievements (1943). Regardless, I'll be playing the new Battlefield for the next couple weeks, so if you have the game and want to link up, send me a friend request. Also, I finally got around to changing my gamertag - I'm now known as "I twenty0ne I" since "twenty0ne" was taken. Update your records accordingly.

Now to the Gamespot side of my update: If you haven't checked my "About Me" section recently, I just passed 10,000 profile views a couple days ago; I've come a long way from this guy here. Thanks to all you guys for visiting my profile and commenting on my blogs! Last night, I also received those old Gamespot DVDs via UPS that Jody was advertising in her blog, so thanks very much for that. It should be fun watching the Gamespot staff of old... once I get around to it.

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I guess I was in a writing mood today - I picked up my trusty review notepad and knocked off my review for Left 4 Dead and also edited my F.E.A.R. review; I basically had to start from scratch because it was pretty bad. I still need to edit my Call of Duty 3 and Carbon reviews, but that will come with time. So, if you'd be kind enough, check out my Left 4 Dead review here and my F.E.A.R. review here.

Over the past couple days, I've been playing around a bit with GIMP. The result? My new theme! This is my first new theme since the start of the year, and I think it's pretty aesthetically pleasing. If you just clicked this blog from the tracked list, click here to see my full profile with the new blog header.

Also, today I finally got around to getting to the bookstore, and I picked up Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time." Now that's some interesting stuff - really makes you think about the universe we live in...

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Hey folks, it's update time! I figured I should post something before I'm gone all week for the Fourth of July. Anyway, as you can see, I'm out of level 37 and into level 38. Hopefully this time I'll make it all the way through. If it weren't for those couple point losses, I'd be at level 40 by now. But enough of my ranting.

Besides hitting level 38, I also passed another post milestone - 40,000 posts. It's weird to think that at this time last year, I was barely over 10,000 posts. Thanks again to the Social Cafe - without the activity there, I probably wouldn't even be at 20,000. So, if you're into 1337 virtual parties, check out my 40k party here.

I think that about wraps things up. As I said before, I'll be on vacation for the next week or so. With my Blackberry Storm, I'll be able to check some comments and post a little bit, but I definitely won't be as active.

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Ugh, don't you hate writers block? I've been sitting here, staring at my keyboard for the last half an hour trying to think of something interesting to write about for this blog. Not only that, but I also can't think of a good intro for my BioShock review. Anyway, as you can see, I'm back from the trip I took to Quebec, Canada with some friends. I didn't get around to telling you guys I was gone, but that was the reason for my five day hiatus on the site. I'll admit - Quebec City is an extremely nice place to visit, and I'd highly recommend you visit there if you're vacationing in Eastern Canada.

Since I got home from the trip, I've been fighting a cold, tagging a bunch of pictures on Facebook, and also playing some World at War. The new Nazi Zombies map is fantastic, but I haven't yet tried the new multiplayer maps - I need to get practicing for the release of Modern Warfare 2 later this year. Other than World at War, I haven't been doing too much gaming - I just don't have the motivation to pick up a new game right now, nor can I seem to find any games that interest me. Not only that, but I need to get posting if I want to reach 40,000 posts before I go up north later in the month for the Fourth of July. No sense in having to worry about my post count while I'm cooking burgers and lighting off fireworks!

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Well, another E3 is in the books. This was my third E3 here at Gamespot, and it was definitely one of my favorites. I had some good times in the subscriber chat, not to mention I got this awesome picture when the feed stalled during one of Homer's interviews... I definitely lol'd. Seeing all the conferences, I have to say that I'm really impressed with Microsoft's Natal - the technology behind it is extremely advanced; I'm looking forward to seeing how that technology will be utilized in future games. Speaking of the press conferences, I also got some snazzy new emblems, bringing my total to 49 with Day 3 yet to be handed out. Thanks again to Gamespot for all the great coverage of this year's conference.

Unfortunately, with the end of E3 comes exam time. A time of cramming, stress, and lots and lots of energy drinks - the current favorite is NOS. Luckily, this year I only have a couple that I really need to study for, so my time on the site shouldn't be affected very much. It's hard to think that in three days, I'll be out of school for the summer. The older I get, the faster time seems to pass...

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Two months after I said I'd finish the Fallout 3 review, it's finally up! Take some time and check out my review here. If you like it, I'd appreciate if you gave me a thumbs up! In a nutshell, Fallout 3 is an awesome game that everyone should play, regardless of if you're a fan of role-playing games or first-person shooters.

Coming next is my review of BioShock. If you remember, I gave BioShock my 2007 Game of the Year, so expect a fairly high review score. I'm not going to assign a "due date" for this one, because as you know, I haven't been too punctual with reviews in the past. Plus, I want to go back and edit my reviews of F.E.A.R., Call of Duty 3, and Need for Speed: Carbon. I wrote them awhile back, so they're not quite to my current standards. I'll get all this done... eventually.

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It's about time I got to that update I promised in my last blog. Things are going great here - school's winding down and soccer's winding down. There's less than a month left of school, and as usual, I'm sure it will go by fast. With all this extra time, I've been watching a ton of the TV show House that my friend let me borrow, and I've also been playing some Killzone 2 singleplayer. Last week, I also downloaded and played some of the new Fallout 3 downloadable content, Broken Steel. I haven't played too much, but so far just raising the level cap and the new perks make the DLC worth it.

As with most of you, I received the People's Choice emblem along with the After the Fact emblem for updating the Fallout review with new patch and DLC info. It doesn't show up in my "top eight" emblems, but it's in there somewhere. Also, I spent some time and cleaned out my friend's list this morning - don't worry, if you've been active on the site within the last couple months, I didn't remove you. I just had to get rid of those users who haven't used the site in the past couple years. Maybe now I won't get that annoying blog update glitch that prevents me from checking out everyone's blogs.

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Time for a quick blog - the real update's coming tomorrow. All I want from you now is to vote for Gamespot in the Webby Awards. As of 8:53 PM ET, things are tied 40% for The Escapist and 40% for Gamespot, though the website's counter is listing us in second place. Things are really close, but time's running out. We were down by over 14% a couple days ago. Now that we've come this far, don't let the site down; if anything, show some appreciation for the awesome staff. Click here to get the details - it only takes a couple minutes. And plus, you can even get an emblem.

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After hours of researching, updating, and HTML errors after HTML errors, the Gamespot Top 75 Posters list is finally finished. Since October when the list was last updated, six new users have joined the ranks of Gamespot's top posters, myself included. Props to F for making the original list, off of which I made this one. So without further ado, Gamespot's Top 75 Posters.

Other than the updating the list, I've have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks, as I correctly predicted in my last blog. Since the school year is almost over, I guess my teachers feel the need to pile on the homework, projects, and tests - wonderful. Not only that, but spring soccer is starting, so I had a full week of practices and games. Luckily, things are already settling down, so I should be here plenty.

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The last few days have been a bit depressing: spring break is over and it's time to go back to school for another (long) couple months. Though summer break is in sight, there's still a hell of a lot to do before then. Exams are going to exhausting and I have three tests next week alone. But, I guess that's life - I'll manage.

And now to the main point of this blog - an addicting little Flash game called My Brute. I'm usually not one for fighting games, nor am I one for Flash games, but this game has kept me busy all break - it's that addicting. Basically, you go to the site, create a little fighter, or "brute," and level him up by fighting other brutes, gaining abilities and weapons in the process. The catch: all the fighting is done by the computer. Therefore, doing well in the game isn't based on your own abilities - it's based on your "brutes" abilities. You can also enter tournaments, join clans, and recieve "pupils" to level up faster. With that said, you can also battle me through the link below, and can create your own fighter through that same link. It's a fun little time-waster, and I encourage you all to check it out. Hopefully I'll see you there.

here.

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No, the review's not done yet. Things have been really busy with school and what not. Plus, I've been too busy posting to get out my pen and paper to start writing - today I passed 30,000 posts! Only four months ago, I passed 20k. One year ago, I held my 10k post party. I've been here since 2006, but I didn't even know Gamespot had forums until early 2007. If you have time, you can check out my 30,000 post party here at the SCU. And with 30,000 in the books, I met my challenge of getting 3k posts in two weeks. Horray for carpal tunnel!

As you can tell by the blog image, I'm a Michigan State fan. I went to the Final Four game at Ford Field and the atmosphere was amazing - it was pretty much a home game. I'd say that 75% of the stadium was decked out in green and white. With that said, I also have tickets to the National Championship on Monday. North Carolina is a good team, but if State plays their game, they definitely have a chance. Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson are great players, but Tom Izzo and the deep State bench will no doubt have a plan for shutting them down. I just don't appreciate how no one is giving State a chance. Of course it's going to be a tough game, but hasn't winning the Big Ten, beating Kansas, Louisville, and UConn shown the press anything?

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