If so, please add me. Raptr tracks your profiles (such as Xbox LIVE, Xfire, Steam, PSN) and then reports activity from those profiles to your profile. So, if you earn a few achievements on Xbox LIVE, these get tracked and reported to your profile (providing you have privacy settings set to 'Everyone'). It's an interesting development let's say.

Anyway, take a look at my profile to get a better look and if you're a member, be sure to add me.

http://raptr.com/Thorpe

I'm back as a general moderator for GameSpot. I decided for a few months, that I simply wasn't helping out that much and so I went back to being a standard user. Now, whilst I am not as active as I used to be, I will be helping out every so often.

Why did I come back? Well, around E3, I found myself growing to use the site frequently once again, although not as much. Now, I aim to use the forums a few times a week and keep up with GameSpot's features. From here on, I will be moderating but not as heavily as other moderators. Doing a tiny bit of moderating is better than none. You could say that for any project really. A little, a lot - it helps.

So, for the friends that are still here and loyal to my profile, I will proceed to give you an insight on what I've played over the weekend. One game and that one game is Fallout 3. Surprise - not on the Xbox 360 but on my PC. I paid out a good chunk to get a decent rig sorted, so I might as well start playing some fairly recent titles on it. The good thing about Fallout 3 is how it sucks you right in and the many different ways you can do the quests.

There's a lot of walking to do but the world is huge. So many interesting places, secrets to unveil. I haven't had this much fun exploring since San Andreas. At first, with very little on my character, it seemed rather annoying but when you get a good supply of ammo and a few weapons, you feel fine. There's so much dialogue in Fallout 3. The developers must have dedicated a lot to get all this together.

It looks amazing. Using the 'Very High' configuration, although not every single thing is set to its highest. Running smooth - even with that Games for Windows - LIVE overlay. If I get 1000 gamerscore in this and enjoy it to the end, I may just get the expansion packs too. I've got a long way to go...

Nope. No emblems. Only have Nintendo conference one. Why? I was in chat for both Microsoft and Sony. So, surely I was watching them? Emblems really never work anymore on this site. It kinda feels annoying, especially when you go out of your way to watch these events live.

Every year I watch all conferences live. This year is no exception. Is there anyone who actually has all the press conference ones? Why must I suffer? I really shouldn't get too sensitive over them.

As you may notice by glancing over to my emblems, there's not a moderator emblem in sight. That's because last week I decided to 'throw in the towel' and go back to being a standard user (well, I'm at Total Access it seems). Why did I do this? 2009 has already seen two months go by and I've hardly contributed GameSpot. I've not got through and dealt with things, which does seem a bit unfair to the other moderators.

There's no point having a moderator badge if you're not going to use it. That's my reason. Later this year, I may pick up the pace with my contributions. I would like to get a steady flow of reviews sent in. There's many titles I have played but I just haven't had the creativity to go type up a review. Also, if I find myself feeling 'active' here once again, I may one day be a moderator...again.

So, take care. Now, just to get through the last few things on Crash Time II for Xbox 360. It's a cheesy, guilty pleasure.

• On the Spot - GTA: San Andreas (2004)
• E3 2006 live - crazy conferences
• After Hours live
• PlayStation Portable live US launch broadcast
• PlayStation 3 and Wii live US launch broadcasts
• GameSpot UK!
• Top 100 reviewer status
• Moderator in late 2007
• Jeff Gerstmann dismissal in late 2007
• Much more that I probably can't think of right now!

I've been around on video games websites before 2004 - Games Radar in early 2003; I used to use their forums a lot. Other websites (some I still am active on) include HamieNET (MIDI database; joined summer 2002) and IMDb (joined late 2002). So, 5 years on GameSpot and hopefully I'll still be around. 19 now and lots of things sure have changed.

I would like to thank the community who continue to support GameSpot and the staff, who have been very generous with their gifts and patience with me in the live chats (hehe). 2009 and one month through already. I admit, I'm not too active as I was a year or so back but the important thing is, I am still here helping out and staying connected with my online friends.

The same thing like last year is occuring...and no - it's not a good thing. My other cat has got a tumour, so it looks like he won't be around much longer. My other cat died around this time last year. January doesn't like me.

Read more...

Happy new year all. It's been 2009 for over 25 hours now here and I want to move on with my blogging. My reasons are stated in my new entry at my new blog provided by Blogger. I briefly got into blogging back in 2005 on GameSpot and soon picked up the pace in 2006. Back in 2006 and 2007, I used to blog frequently and enjoy reading responses.

Posting about E3, about emblems, about situations and my video games rants - it was a great deal of fun to me. Now, in 2009, I just don't feel that. Ever since the site re-design, things don't seem the same when blogging. I don't have my RSS feeds for each user and I can't rely on it now.

Once upon a time, I used to put out a few video blogs. I haven't done a video blog for nearly two years now. If you scroll down on this page, you'll find some back from early 2007. I am annoyed about having to log in every ten minutes for some reason too. It still is doing this to me after clearing my cache. New year's glitches?

Anyway, yes I will make an occasional blog on GameSpot but my primary blog is at Blogger now. Feel free to follow it and comment when new entries are made. All you need is a Google account or OpenID to comment. As mentioned on my first entry, I probably am not going to get many comments but the tools are there for you to track and comment, if you like. The RSS feeds actually work too.

thorpe89.blogspot.com

If you have an external blog, feel free to link it in your comment and I'll be happy to track.

Hey, look! This is the Christmas tree used for 2008. It's not green, it's black!

Hope you all had a great time!

Thank you for the kind words left on my previous entry. It sure sucks getting older but we must grow up and keep up with times. If I ever reach a good, ripe age, I'll look back at what I typed here, if it somehow stays in tact.

So, December is here (well, it's been here for a few weeks now). Christmas is around the corner and the weather is just cold. There's nothing worse waking up with the chills around you. I will use this entry to detail some of the things that have I have been watching. I'll make another entry at some point for video games.

Movies seen in November/December

• August Rush
• Four Brothers
• Good Girl, The
• Hills Have Eyes, The (2006)
• Kite Runner, The
• Meet the Parents
• Renaissance
• Under Siege

August Rush is the most recent movie seen. It's a bit sappy but the music conveyed really seemed to make it enjoyable. I noticed I had seen the Terrence Howard character in Four Brothers, the last movie before this I watched. Not to get confused with Two Brothers that features Freddie Highmore, also in August Rush.

The Good Girl features Jennifer Aniston as a store clerk struggling with the ways of life, which I also enjoyed. The 2006 version of The Hills Have Eyes wasn't too good for me. Horror is not a strong genre for me. Meet the Parents features Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller and had some very funny moments between them. I had seen the sequel at the cinema but never the first, until recently.

Renaissance may appeal to some who like the unique visuals and film noir. It's comparable to A Scanner Darkly but both are going for different visual techniques. I caught Under Siege on television. I've seen this before when I was young. This is probably Steven Segal at his best (I use that last word loosely).

On December 2nd I turned 19. I'm getting older. I look back at my join date in February 2004, here at GameSpot. I think back to that year. School (Year 9), one of my all-time favourite titles on PlayStation 2, the year I went to Orlando for the third time and currently last, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, Spider-Man 2 and the year I was 14 for the most part.

It's good to think back at all the years you can remember. If only at times you wish you could record those moments right from the start, like in The Final Cut. Well, I guess that is kinda creepy in a way but good in some ways. So, yeah, in case you didn't realise by the title, I am now 19.

So, do I get anything? A present or two from the GameSpot community?

It's been a rather long time since I've posted a blog entry. September 11th was when I made my previous entry. That was nearly two months ago. What is the matter? Well, I just haven't really had the need to contribute any new blog entries. GameSpot at times I have become annoyed with - emblems I think I just won't care about anymore. LittleBigPlanet marathon - I did watch you! How dare I don't get a Sackboy emblem. Bah.

Anyway, with that aside, I can now continue. I picked up Prey a little while back for around £5 on Play.com. A good deal if you ask me and I think they were clearing out the remaining stocks. I've had a good time with the single player. Some parts are a little frustrating but I was expecting that. Playing it again to get the last achievement needed for 1000 G. Saints Row 2 was played for an unhealthy amount of hours. I did a lot of the story in co-op, got most co-op achievements but not the activity one. I did them all in co-op and yet no achievement. That annoyed me but we move on over a number.

Tuesday I may be playing WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009. ShopTo seemed to have dispatched it early. They pulled another Crackdown on me (video blog from early 2007). I think if you order from them now you'd probably get it a few days early. Now, Gears of War 2 seemed to have been pirated, which I do not support. So, I sure do hope early players (by this I mean weeks before release) get punished. Got the Limited Edition ordered (from ShopTo again) and I think they don't have any stock right now. They'll probably have the game Wednesday and then dispatch it.

I may also pick up the new soundtrack (released a few weeks after the game) since it's composed by Steve Jablonsky, who I have a lot of love for his contributions to The Island and Transformers soundtrack. New camera on the way too, since it was at a very good price on Play.com. 8 megapixels will do me just fine. I'm not paying £2500 for a 20+ megapixel camera. Later this month, it is likely I'll pick up a Wii for the family to enjoy too.

This part of the year is great so far. Despite some November Rain, I've managed to overcome the weather. Bring on more great times like this...

...I've been making my blog posts over at Giant Bomb. You can check the ones out at this link, although they're pretty much relevent to that website at the moment. I may continue to just use Giant Bomb as my blog, as I have more freedom in editing (no errors) and can embed videos from external websites such as YouTube.

My strongest reason for not commenting in a lot of blogs here at GameSpot (I think comments used to take up like 45% of my post count) is because I cannot rely on the tracking system here. It doesn't show all blogs in my side panel, probably due to the amount of users I am tracking. There's no feeds anymore. Well, there is but they're just no longer working. GameSpot do need to fix RSS feeds for users' blogs as that is the way I track blogs. So, in the meantime, I may not even be able to notice you have posted a new blog.

Anyway, set aside blogs - that does not mean I am against GameSpot. I am still happy to contribute here (reviews, forums etc) and help keep things organised and appropiate in line with the Terms of Use. I shall continue to be a moderator here and help out along with the rest of the moderators and staff here. Just, if you're wondering why I am not blogging frequently, then it is because I am using Giant Bomb as my blog platform. GameSpot I am still using for various other reasons, as I have stated.

L is my newest profile to the Internetz and it was born today at GiantBomb (it exploded!). Why L? Well, I wanted to be different, lazy and didn't want to use the same username again. So, why not be original and use L? As you may know Luke is my first name.

Unfortunately, Luke was unavailable so I just took a few letters off. I wonder how many more single letters are available? It's a bit slow at the moment, so it may take a little longer to register. Thankfully, the registration form only has a few fields.

So, there you go - I am the guy called L at GiantBomb. You can access my profile at this address:

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

Be sure to add me there and mention who you are!

EDIT: OK, it's taking a while to accept those requests. Bare with me!

Wow, what a trailer that was. Earlier, the first trailer for Watchmen debuted before The Dark Knight in theaters and later on where we pretty much love to be, the Internet. There's me thinking this is just another trailer that's supposedly amazing. I didn't watch right away but did in the end. The editing and placement of the music (The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning by The Smashing Pumpkins) are probably what made this spread across the hills of the web.

Watchmen, a gritty adaptation of Alan Moore's comic-book series, from director Zack Snyder (300), is to be released in 2009 by Warner Bros. The track played is absolutely fantastic - I have got it downloaded from 7digital. I'll let the trailer do the explaining...

WARNING: LINK TO PAGE CONTAINING EPIC TRAILER

Wow, I just watched Sony's E3 press conference and what an impressive show it was. From the opening right round to the finish - I was very happy with some of the announcements. They seemed to focus on the core players a lot, whilst not drifting too heavily into the casual market.

Going to have my full impressions up (along with the other conferences) in a later blog. Just wanted to express my super impressed brief thoughts on it. Now, I am going to make sure to watch GameSpot's own live coverage and then probably get away from my computer. So many hours on the website this evening I've been on.

E3 continues...

I'll give my thoughts on E3 another time. There were too many annoyances regarding today's conference. My thoughts on that will be revealed another time. Today, I wanted to tell you about how I got in contact with PEGI, a European ratings board that allows publishers to assign age ratings to their titles. Games that are rated below 12+ don't necessarily get checked right away by PEGI and are put on store shelves. These age ratings are determined by the publisher - not the board. Anything higher, usually would have to get checked by them before it hits shelves or passed onto another board (such as BBFC).

What this means is a video game rated by PEGI can go straight to the retail shelves without necessarily getting checked over other than the developer team. In rare cases, as outlined in my e-mail, the publisher can get the rating wrong. For my comparison, I am using GRID and Need for Speed ProStreet.

Now, the age ratings, in my opinion might as well be combined into one rating. I see very little difference between what sort of game should get a 3+ and 7+ here in Europe. It's not that I am worried about but the fact about how ProStreet is rated at a lower age rating than GRID. Both are racing titles, both contain crashes. Fair enough.

However, if you've ever played ProStreet, you would probably notice the sexual themes that are associated with it. A good example of this is when the camera, at the beginning of an event zooms in to certain areas of the female. I'm sure you know what I mean here. Yet, perfectly acceptable as a 3+. Sure, parents are the ones that should have the control but it doesn't help with titles have faulty ratings like this. Furthermore, the parental controls feel weak on a console because of the rating.

The e-mail reply from PEGI stated that they will be getting someone to test out ProStreet to see if it is suitable for re-rating and they said it was likely because some previous titles in the series have been rated higher due to similar content. Apparently, they'll keep me posted on what happens but it will be interesting to know if this goes any further.

E3 is here next week and GameSpot should have a lot of good coverage, I hope. I could have gone along to be apart of the audience for their shows but unfortunately I cannot make the necessary arrangements on getting there all the way from the United Kingdom. It would have been great to be there, though in person.

Instead, I'll be there virtually and try to catch the three main conferences from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. I love E3 but last year was kinda disappointing with the way it was changed. Hopefully, this year, I'll enjoy it a bit better. e3.gamespot.com is the place you'll need to be constantly at next week.

Wanted to mention something about the GameSpot statistics... I like the GameSpot website but it's really disappointing to see some of the statistics lately. Right now, it's a Friday night and there are only around 2,000 users signed in recently. This time around a year ago, there would probably be about 10,000 users signed in. Now, the figure seems to be at around 2,000 constantly.You can check the statistics on the main forums page.

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to mention is about a movie I have seen recently. Babel, a movie that only contains about one-third of the English language focuses on different families and how unlucky they can be. Somehow, things seem to connect together between the families. We learn how societies can be so different and how some would probably think "that is wrong." My favourite story was the one about the deaf and lonely Japanese girl. I really did feel the emotion from her performance. I also thought this was one of Brad Pitt's best performances; now one of my favourite movies.