For those of you who have been messaging me and asking what I'm up to nowadays, I've taken up the editor's post at www.gamesindustry.biz, which is a trade-focused news site.

But I'll of course still be hanging around here, checking out what the UK team are up to!

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to you all, as today is my last day at GameSpot UK.

The past 14 months or so has seen a remarkable change in the way that the UK team has integrated into the overall GameSpot offering, and there's still plenty to come. From taking part in Xbox Live matches against the US and Australian teams, to covering local console and software launches, working on "soccer" games in a British accent, looking after studio visits in the UK and Europe, putting together video features, chatting to you fine people on the UK forum, and my personal favourite, the setting up of the GameSpot UK podcast.

It's been great fun for me, and a pleasure to work with the rest of the UK team, and of course I'm immensely proud to be able to have counted myself alongside the exceptionally talented team in the US who we've all known and loved for so long.

I leave you in the more than capable hands of LozzaGS--I'll still be around here writing the odd blog post, and I can't wait to see some of the team's plans for the future come to fruition!

In the meantime, take care y'all, fly safe, happy gaming, etc, etc.

Cheers

Phil

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I splashed out on a new TV for the study

I spent most of Monday thoroughly engrossed in various HD incarnations of my Xbox 360 games, and pretty soon I'll sort out digital TV in there too.

Which means I may never have to leave the room again, except to eat, sleep and visit the loo.

Well, I have to say, that was pretty good fun. For those that missed it, we decided to set up a few games against site users earlier in the week, in order to celebrate GameSpot UK's 1st birthday.

Admittedly, it was a fairly low-key event, but it was the first event of its kind that we've tried, so we wanted to keep it manageable. We posted in the GSUK forum for anybody interested, and pretty soon we had seven others signed up for some decent Xbox Live multiplayer action on Gears of War.

Now, if I'm honest, FPS games aren't necessarily my primary choice of games, although CoD2 was my only 1,000 pointer. Still, I haven't actually played that much GoW, due to frustrations with the control system (for getting in cover) and I've played it online very little.

Anyway, enough of the excuses. We played three matches--two teams of four, randomly selected, in a 1st-to-15 round target. Guy was to GSUK staffer playing in the first round, and he actually came top on points. I was second, and came last. And I have no idea how Alex fared, as I had to go grab a train home.

Point being though, that it was great, and everybody taking part got prizes and emblems. Due to the fact that it turned out so well, we're currently looking to do more in future, so keep looking out for opportunities in the GSUK forum, and we'll try and give you plenty of warning

Please note that ideally, while we'd like to mix up the platform and game genre as much as possible, we'll make the final decision on what we play based on practicality, and what we think would produce a good event.

Finally, I managed to vanquish the final boss on about my tenth attempt, and that ends what's been a most enjoyable month with my head firmly in puzzle-RPG land.

I've been playing the game on every train journey to and from London, as well as a fair few hours at other times too, and it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. If you're into puzzle games like Tetris or Bejeweled, and enjoy RPG tales with a sense of humour, then you should definitely check Puzzle Quest out. Where's the sequel already?!

Next up I'll be playing through Innocent Life: A Future Harvest Moon. It's billed as a mystery-cum-farming adventure. Or something. I started it today, and so far I've learned how to cultivate and harvest virtual potatoes. I kid you not. But don't worry, I'll let you know how my agricultural travails proceed in due course...I know you'll be dying to hear...

Ok, job done. Picked up a GeForce 8800 with 320MB DDR3 RAM this evening. Runs pretty smooth, temperatures pretty stable, although one of the cores did peak at 75 degrees, which was a bit of a surprise...but no crashes or glitching.

Fingers crossed.

Well, that's it then. In the past 4-5 months I've been having horrible issues playing anything 3D, with regular crashes which--over time--I've diagnosed as general overheating. Last night I swapped out my ATI Radeon X800XT card and put in a borrowed Nvidia 7800, opened up multiple 3D apps on the desktop, and let rip.

The result was perfect, smooth running--no glitching, no crashes. The GPU temp never exceeded 52 degrees, the dual cores peaked briefly at a relatively high, but safe, 66 degrees.

Which means only one thing. I need to put my hand in my pocket (again) if I want to keep playing games on my PC...

D'OH!

Another patch download later (clearly these guys are working hard....) I've made up a character. I decided to opt for a Sorceror, as I prefer the high damage role, as opposed to healer or tank, and it looks like these guys are pure offensive magic. I'm starting out on the Kojan continent, one of three, and I'm a half elf.

There are lots of character customisation options, but I decided to play it safe, going for the dark-haired, thin-faced, mysterious type. And I frown a lot, as I expect that that's what serious magic-users do a lot, with all that concentration.

I started out in a place called Shang Village, and there was some kind of conflict going on between Imperial troops (my side, it seemed) and the villagers. Basically there was a bunch of people fighting continually, and several of the buldings were on fire. I picked up my first quest--chivying up the soldiers--and before long I was flinging Taqmir's Bolts (a ranged spell) left, right and centre.

It was only a matter of minutes before I'd completed the opening trio of quests, and was sent off to find the next quest-giver slightly further along the starting area, but already I was getting an impression of the power struggle going on around me. I had the funny feeling that all was not as it seemed...

Anyway, that's where I left it, and I'll pick up with more from Vanguard when I next get some decent time in Telon.

Well, some nice weather, anyhow. I haven't quite managed to stay away from games during my little break. Most notably I'm still ploughing through Puzzle Quest, determined to complete it so that I can read some books I want to get to.

I'm also in the middle of installing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It's an MMOG that I first saw in action back in December, and wrote up a preview of while it was in the beta test phases. Briefly, it's an ambitious, sprawling game with some nice ideas about adding variety into the increasingly stagnant set of genre tropes we seem to get nowadays.

Sadly, even right at the end of the beta test, just before the game was set to go live, it was still beset by numerous technical issues, so I decided to wait a little while before venturing in, and now seems like a good enough time. I'll try and make the most of the 30 free days of play time included with the game, and see how it's coming along.

So that's it for me for a few days, I'm taking a little bit of holiday to relax, recharge the batteries, and spend some time with my sister and family, who've come over from Canada.

Of course, I also have a few games on the agenda too, but I've already managed to unblock the sink, mend a fuse and finish off one of the colours of paint left over from last weekend. And I've only been up two hours!

So it's actually been a pretty busy hoiday weekend so far. My wife and I have been working hard to redecorate the hall and landing (which involves ladders, something I'm never keen on) and we're almost done now. It's meant that I haven't had much time to play games, athough I have found a new Corporation in Eve, which seems to be working out pretty well.

Certainly not enough time to really wade into LOTRO, and my poor WoW hunter is still languishing at level 43, despite my desire to get back to Outland.

I have a few days off soon, so maybe I'll catch up with myself then. On the plus side, a nice shiny new Xbox 360 now sits in my living room, awaiting Forza 2...

So I spent the first couple of days of this week in Italy, which was nice. I was there to visit Milestone, the developer behind forthcoming superbikes racer SBK'07. It was a pretty nice trip, good weather, fabulous food, and I think I'm going to learn Italian now as well. Look out for a video feature on the trip going live in the next couple of weeks.

At first read I was a little surprised to see that Puzzle Quest, a game which combines the usual tropes of turn-based combat and levelling up with a symbol-connecting puzzle game, reviewed so well. Having noticed a trade demo of the game land on my desk a week or two ago, I decided to try it out on the train home last night...

...and I nearly missed my stop. First thing in the office this morning I phoned D3 to get sent a full copy. If you like RPGs, and aren't averse to a touch of Bejeweled-esque turn-based head-scratching, you should definitely check it out.

As I was settling down to finally playing Lost Planet this evening, something happened that I've been expecting for a while.

The three red lights of doom appeared, and now my Xbox 360 works no more. To be fair, it was one of the very first models shipped, a couple of weeks before the console launched in the UK, and there have been well-documented issues regarding those early batches.

Hopefully Uncle Bill will see himself clear to sorting me out with a new one sharpish, or I'll have to hang up my Xbox 360 controller and see about getting a PS3 after all...

My principal thoughts at about 9pm last night revolved around whether or not I should just go ahead a get a PS3 and be done with it. I had a funny feeling--suddenly I just wanted one, for no particularly good reason.

But reason itself prevailed, and I decided not to.

As a result I missed out on a free 46" Bravia plasma HDTV. I didn't sleep so well last night.

'And before them appeared a great light, and from the light stepped a prophet. The prophet said, "Behold, my people, your time of waiting nears its end. Our gift to you, the people, is nigh." And he stepped aside, and the people looked into the light and beheld the gift*. And it was a PlayStation 3.' (3rd Book of Sony, Chapter 7, verses 14-18.

So tonight's the night then. I'll be there at Virgin on Oxford Street, along with Guy and Drew, to soak up the atmosphere and bring you some details of what exactly goes down.

Look out for a video feature on the launch in the coming days, as well as a round up of the two other breakfast events at HMV and Game. Enjoy!

*Translation of the ancient script for this word is sketchy, and debate rages over the implication of the English word "gift" as misrepresenting the real cost of the item.

You may have guessed from the title that I'm a Spurs fan. I have been all of my life, and it's been a generally uneventful road to travel. Flirting with relegation, flirting with European places, but usually comfortably navigating the safe channels of mid-table.

In the past two Premiership seasons The Ambramovich Cash (TM) has won Chelsea two titles. Now the ever-present financial might of Manchester United (loans, while massive, represent little impact on the club's spending power) is fighting back. They are trailed by the (new stadium-laden) Arsenal and the (soon to be new stadium-laden) chaps from Liverpool.

What do those four teams have in common? Cash. Champions' League cash. Well, that's something that you at least have a chance of tasting if you can somehow break into the top four. What really annoys me is the free-spending chaos that a certain  billionaires* has been allowed to bring to the proceedings.

Clearly I have a very biased point of view, but one thing worries me. I found out a couple of days ago that it costs £10 to go see my local Conference League South team play a home game. It shocked me, until I thought more on the matter. The club is in financial difficulties, living in the red, like countless other small English clubs.

Contrast that with the Premiership's new TV deal, the increase in 'parachute payments' to relegated Premiership teams, and you see the ever-increasing spiral that clubs at the top are in. They can't afford to lose, literally.

In truth I don't really hate Chelsea, I don't even despise Abramovich. Actually, to tell you a secret I don't even hate Arsenal, but that's a different story. There are the clubs that were in the right place at the right time (ie the top of the league when the real money started rolling in) and there are clubs that have become playthings for a new breed of the super-rich. The rest are doomed to be also-rans.

As for me, I'll be cheering on my team against Seville in a couple of weeks in the poor man's European competition, and in the meantime I'll try and donate a little cash to my local endangered specimen.

*Of course I look on in glee as the money wasted on West Ham looks more and more doomed--not because I have anything against the Hammers, but because it's nice to see that even megabucks can be misspent.

My commute in the past couple of weeks has been brightened considerably by the PSP edition of Sid Meier's Pirates remake.

The game is based on the PC title from a couple of years back, which updated the iconic original, and the PSP port loses none of the charm.

That said, it's pretty easy to play, and there are a couple of glitches it seems with the main quest, but nothing that can't be worked around.

Overall, I've been enjoying it immensely, and if you've got a PSP, and a penchant for the classics, you should definitely check it out. Our official review is here.