So yeah i've just got back from seeing the Dark Knight this morning and wow thats a great film for sure. At first i didn't buy into the hype because i couldn't help feel Heath Ledger's death was a big part of it. But after seeing his performance as the Joker and the fact this is his final full performance in a film i have to say i can see why so many people have been writing amazing reviews for the film. It really felt like a Batman vs the Joke film, dark, brooding, gritty and uncertain. Christian Bale himself made another great performance as the Batman and heres to hoping he will return for a third film in the role as Gotham Cities vigilante hero.

As some of you are aware i work in a pub which also happens to be a small B&B (Bed and Breakfast) and last night we had a man come in pretty late to book a room which he managed to get. After serving him a few drinks i did the usual and made small talk since the place was quiet and it turns out he works for Google, specifically the department for Google Earth. Which was pretty awesome really because where i live its not often you get anyone like that come to stay, its usually tourists or people visiting friends in the area.

So we were chatting about Google for a couple of hours and he was telling me his job involved him visiting every corner of the UK and he'd been on the road for 3 months in the North of Scotland mapping out the West Coast and the Highlands, where i live, which was pretty awesome. He was here to improve the GPS markers for all of the UK to help improve the image quality when people use Google Earth because as he said "some of it just looks to pixelated and rubbish, not up to google standards".

One thing he mentioned which i'm still not sure was he being serious or not, he was on his fifth pint by now, was when i joked about google should create an operating system for PC's since its such a well known brand. He said to look out for that in the future as its being talked about. So yeah you heard it here first, google operating systems :O!

And to end this blog lets talk about Mods or Moderators as their known. I was granted a Moderator or Mod as their better known position on GiantBomb a few days ago not long after its launch. So yeah fear mah powa!....except Caddy, we have an understanding as long as we don't moderate each other on our respective sites we're cool

So yeah i woke up this morning and had an internal conflict, do i click Gamespot or GiantBomb first in my bookmarks folder. I opted for IGN first instead.

GiantBomb is looking great and already has 11,800+ users signed up to it after 3 or 4 days of being live. Thats just an insane number in such a short space of time really. Content on the site is great and i like the Wiki design and feel to it, a wikipedia for gaming is just awesome and thats exactly what GiantBomb is.

Forums are a little messy i have to be honest but they will be getting straightened out to a more easier way to be navigated so thats a good thing. People have been crying out over the lack of Moderators and i admit a few are needed. But some people here on Gamespot saying they dislike GiantBomb because of a lack of moderators are sort of annoying me. The whole design of GiantBomb is to be as opposite to Gamespot, IGN and other gaming sites as possible.

And from what the most recent bombcast explained it seemed like Jeff, Ryan, Brian and Vinny envisioned a community who could regulate themselves well without much interference needed from moderators. And in all honesty this has been working really well so far, just there were a few trouble makers who have since been banned.

Just seems to me as if some people have become to used to the more child friendly Gamespot and are finding it hard to adjust to a more relaxed and open GiantBomb. A site where you can call someone an idiot for well being an idiot without fear of suspension. But i have to admit there have been threads on GB.com with pictures in them that i wish i hadn't seen, the saying what has been seen cannot be unseen has never been so true....

Also noticed this morning i have a new emblem, E3 Electric Sheep, it looks awesome, its description is awesome, its just awesome to have. Would like my Microsoft and Nintendo emblems to hurry up and be added, but i know patience is a virtue etc lol.

As for gaming i finished the Iron Man game, it sucked, i should have had more self control. Started replaying Enemy Territory Quake Wars the other day but soon realised why i stopped, its just not that fun. So i went back to Team Fortress 2 and smiled when after being in a server for 2 minutes i managed to win us the match, Scout runs to control points ftw!

Been relegated to sleeping on the couch after a kickass argument erupted between the girlfriend and myself. A few home truths were said and perhaps the truth was a little too harsh for both of us, hopefully i'll be back to sleeping in our bed or i'm going to have to buy a more comfortable couch.

Thats all from me Gamespotters, i'm going to go cook some dinner and see does it get me off the couch.

Well as everyone will know by now GiantBomb has opened its doors to the gaming public and like many already i've created myself a profile up there. Decided to go by the nickname everyone calls me instead of using my Gamespot username .

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/Hamz

A recent strip from the much loved and highly popular PennyArcade really says it how it is regarding the recent conferences from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony from this years E3. Link!

As for the rest of E3 it opened my eyes that as a single platform gamer, PC in my case, you really do limit yourself to a smaller gaming experience than if you branch out to multiple platforms or consoles. While i'm still of the opinion that PC gaming has the better perks (free DLC, mods, graphics etc) than consoles it really lacks the social aspect that consoles do. Many times during the live shows users in the chat were organising gaming nights and such. This just doesn't happen with PC gaming in general. The only example of a social or community feature available for all PC gamers is STEAM but again you can only play with others using games available on STEAM.

My birthday is towards the end of August and i'm contimplating that perhaps its time i ventured back into console gaming, the last console i owned was an N64 so its been awhile. I'm not saying i'd give up PC gaming but there is no denying that consoles, the 360 being an example, are getting more titles released earlier than the PC is. A good example is Fable 2 and the Force Unleashed which at the moment are console only with no word about a future PC release date. Then there is the fact that console gaming is cheaper too and i can certainly agree with that. As my recent PC shopping experience has shown me you need a small fortune to really get a decent PC for gaming. And its a constantly evolving platform where what was the best one month soon gets replaced with a better version. Plus the fact that PC games are getting more and more system demanding you need a decent PC to make them run well.

While its an undisputable fact that games on the PC look better than their console counterparts you can atleast live in the knowledge playing it on a console will mean its looking the best it can. Without worrying about whether you can run the game on low, medium, high or a mixture of settings to get a balance between decent performance and visuals. Its a common annoyance with PC games that many now are system demanding but dont make up for it with the gameplay, Bioshock being an example. It looks great with both the setting and atmosphere being awesome but the gameplay was mediocre at best. The same with Crysis for me, it looked good even on a 7900GS and it performed well but the gameplay just didn't amaze me like it has for so many.

Other than E3 i've really not been up to anything at all. As tamsj04 picked up in the chat during the live shows where a few of my comments were full of adult inuendo, sorry for that tams. Things between the girlfriend and me haven't been the best, infact in some areas non existant, which has been annoying. What with it being summer and her taking part in both golf and swimming plus the two of us working we really haven't seen much of each other. And considering i work late hours or split shifts we really are like ships passing through the night at times. Then of course when we do get time together it just turns into bickering or snapping at each other over the smallest of things which sparks big arguments. One such argument involved a Tom and Jerry mug going across the kitchen, i loved that mug. Been like this for months now and its starting to get on my nerves. I've never complained about her busy personal schedule, i understand sports like golf and swimming require constant training or practice.

But it seems at times i'm the only one making the sacrafices to my personal time lol. Gaming is my hobby and my second passion and i gladly pass it up to spend time with her but it just seems if i ask her to do the same its like i'm asking for the world to revolve around me. A balance is needed i think and soon or i think i may just snap her golf clubs....

Hope everyone enjoyed E3, was a pleasure chatting to the Room 0 folks. Hopefully one day i may be able to take part in this sunday driving and late night UNO sessions everyone was talking about!

As the title says i've reduced the number of users i track here on Gamespot so i can keep track of more peoples blogs that i'm genuinely interested in. If you were removed and usually comment on my blogs then i apologise, just let me know and i'll track you again. There really was just so many it became hard to remember who was who lol.

I have to admit that it isn't as easy to stop tracking people as it is to start. I'm still seeing people classed as "watched users" in my contacts tab when i've clicked to stop tracking them, somewhat annoying it hasn't updated yet. So hopefully my profile will update tomorrow and i can keep track of peoples blogs better. But these glitches aside i hope to now be able to actually see more blogs posted, by users i'm interested in tracking, update more often and create a solid little community of blogs for me to browse and comment on.

See you all in Room 0 for the next Live Show!

Soooooo.....

I'm sitting here with a cup of tea and a ciggie in one hand and its 4:58am, can't seem to sleep and its daylight outside. What better excuse than to blog, hopefully by the time i finish this i'll feel the need to head to sleep if for no other reason than some cuddles with the girlfriend.

Suppose i should recap on my last blog about how the PC shopping has gone. Well its gone quite well and i think i've pretty much narrowed down the parts i'll buy all i need to do is figure out which case to get. Popular opinion points to the Antec900 for its great ventiliation however i hear its noisy which is a little annoying if true, but possibly an annoyance i could live with. Probably going to buy all the parts closer to my birthday, August 25th, so i've got some time to save up the extra cash and maybe splash out on a new monitor.

Went to see Wanted starring Angelina Jolie and James McaAvoy and i'll be honest the only good thing about that film was the 1 or 2 seconds you got to see Angelina's bare bum on the big screen. Yes i'm shallow but considering the rest of the film it really was the only memorable scene. Think the next film on the "must see" list is WALL-E which looks as if it'll be quite good, visually i have to say it looks very good even for a Pixar film. Heres to hoping they make some Team Fortress 2 film perhaps?

I haven't really been playing many games other than Age of Conan, level 51 now, and the game still has me hooked. Its got such a great atmosphere to it, the dark and more mature orientated setting really keeps me interested. I just hope FunCom get their thumb out and start fixing some of the more serious bugs that i've begun to notice as i advance further into the game.

Can't say theres many games coming out on the PC soon that i intend to buy either which is a little disheartening. Makes me keep second guessing whether i should buy a new PC or not until i remember just how much of a headache it is to try and play more modern games on this machine.

Been following two console only games quite a bit recently, Too Human and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which i wish were coming out on the PC aswell. They look really good and Too Human especially has me peaked for its more sci-fi and fantasy mix on norse mythology. I guess i have E3 to look forward to and Valve hopefully giving some more information about Left4Dead but still there seems to be a bit of a dull patch in terms of PC releases recently.

I've also got to get reading everyones blogs that i've missed. It seems that some users on Gamespot that i'm tracking and who are tracking me don't seem to have their newest blogs coming up on the "Tracked Blogs" tab. Its become really annoying as when a user posts a new blog i either miss it or take forever to reply because i only stumble upon it by chance as i check their page. It also makes me look rude if someone comments on my blog and i dont comment back on their new blog aswell.

Well i've finished my cup of tea so i'm going to end this bloghere. Probably post a new one in a few days regarding just Age of Conan as i feel it deserves a little blog time from me .