It's so close! This is definitely my most anticipated game of this year. I'm even taking a day off from work this week to play it! (Being an adult has its benefits. ) This series is one of my favorites and I'm eager to wrap up the story. Of course with recent comments made by Hideo Kojima, there may very well be future MGS installments, which makes me that much more eager to see which direction the story goes with MGS4.

Not much else to note except Age of Conan is a blast (especially with some crazy blokes), Okami is one of the most charming games I've ever played, and I will also be nerding out with DragonBall Z: Burst Limit this week.

A while back I made a post about some prerequisite gaming I wanted to accomplish before the latest incarnations of a few different games series come out. One those series was Metal Gear, which I wanted to play through chronologically. Shortly after that post I started, and eventually finished, Metal Gear Solid 3.

This past weekend I finally got around to popping in the bonus Persistence disc to MGS3: Subsistence and experiencing the original MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I love old-school games, but I was really surprised at how well these two games stood the test of time. Before I knew it, I had spent all day Saturday blowing through Metal Gear. Even more evident of their greatness was the fact that after completing it, I immediately started Metal Gear 2! I just couldn't wait to continue the story of our favorite espionage-action hero. I didn't last long after starting it, however, as I had been staring at a TV all day. But as soon as I was up and around Sunday morning, I booted it up again and didn't stop until it was over! I really haven't binge-gamed like that in a long time, which is really saying something for how well these two games stand up to their younger brothers.

I wasn't about to stop at that point. Later Sunday night, I started a game I've played through (and loved every minute of) countless times, Metal Gear Solid. My eyes soon felt heavy and I had to finish it up on Monday, but it was as engrossing as ever. (I believe my good friend jimb0 accomplished the same feat of beating MGS this weekend too. Good job, James! )

So there you have it: 3 games in 3 days. I didn't really want to write this as a review since I'm not a very critical person. I'd just be telling you how awesome they all were, haha! All I can say is that if you haven't experienced the original 2 MSX titles and you're as big a fan of the series as I am, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Subsistence (with the bonus disc!) and giving them an honest chance.

P.S. I opted to skip MGS: Portable Ops for now. I really tried getting through it after finishing MGS3, but I think I just don't like the feel of MGS on a portable system. I'll get around to it sooner or later!

I got it. Grand Theft Auto IV. Finally! I'm really digging this game. Not much to say about it that hasn't already been said, except I'm enjoying it as much as everyone said I would.

I was also getting tired of my big, bulky, and heavy entertainment center, so I bought a new one! I wanted something smaller, simpler, and lighter, and I found one that fit the description at Wal-Mart of all places...for only $20! I forgot to take a picture of the old one to show ya, but here's the new one.

Large pictures don't suit these blogs well, so I took the liberty of labeling it for ya.

And just for grins, here's my cl@ssic console setup. (Not pictured: Nintendo64)

A small, but important, piece of my world, heh.

This entry's title fits the first two bits of news in a good way, but there is also bad news.

*sigh*....about time, indeed...

Here are some pictures of the aforementioned new rig from the previous post.

The "ingredients"

Warm glowing warming glow

Window to the soul

The soul....and guts

The Witcher!

As you may or may not have noticed, my attendance here at Gamespot has been a bit lacking. Such is the fate of a college student at the end of the semester! I've been crazy busy finishing up assignments and papers. But this week is finals week, and I'm not taking classes over the summer, so hopefully I'll let my presence be known more often.

There has been 1 major development in my gaming world, however: I built a new computer! My ever-aging, but always loyal P4 2.4ghz with a nvidia Geforce FX 5200 and 1gb of RAM wasn't going to cut it for much longer. So I did what any responsible adult would do: kicked that scrap to the curb and assembled...

-Intel Core2 Duo 3.0ghz

-4gb RAM (1gb x 4)

-nvidia Geforce 9600GT 512mb

-160gb SATA Hard drive

-SATA DVD burner

-550watt Power supply

-Thermaltake case

Yeeeaaaaahhhh.....

Well, sorry I haven't posted very recently. Work and school are keeping me quite busy. Here's what I've been up to:

-Beat Lost Odyssey.*

*I used my roomate's save file to finish it. Here's the deal: I was fighting the last boss on my file, trucking along just fine, dealing consistent damage. It was taking a while, but I would have finished the job in probably 10 more minutes or so when he/she/it (read: spoiler protection ) cast a spell that attempted to petrifiy the whole party. If you don't play RPGs, in most cases "Whole Party Petrified" = "Game Over" and Lost Odyssey is no exception. All but ONE party member fell victim to the spell. Phew, close call...now I can heal everyone, right? The next turn he/she/it cast the spell AGAIN and my remaining party member was lost to me. I threw aside any sense of honor in completing the game with my mediocre party and used my roomate's uberly powerful characters to blow through the final battle. I know, it's kinda lame, but that "One-Hit K.O." business really irks me when I worked so hard to get as far as I did. I'll complete my file someday!

-Beat God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Very impressive for a handheld game. Blood, violence, and nudity on the go! Rated M for Mature.

-Beat Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

Does anyone else think a remake of Final Fantasy VII is inevitable at this point? That, or at least a PSP port of the original. I mean, it makes so much sense from a business standpoint to me. People go nuts over FFVII, and I just think it'd rake in the dough. What do you think?

-Beat PSP redux of Final Fantasy.

I was on a roll of beating games and already close to the end on this one. Of the versions I've played, this is probably my favorite of this overly-remade RPG (original NES, MSX2, WonderSwan, PSone, mobile phones, GBA, PSP).

And I recently bought the Sega Genesis Collection for PSP in order to play Phantasy Star II, III, and IV. I never owned a Genesis back in the day, and this was the easiest (and cheapest) way of tracking down the series. Well, that's pretty much it! Hopefully after the semester is over I'll be able to post more often.