Last week, I sat among friends and stared up at the stars. A meteor shower provided the "fireworks" for the evening, but simply laying on my back and looking upwards was enough. It harkened back to when I was a child and did the same from time to time, when I would simply look at the twinkling sky and marvel at its beauty. Back then, I wanted to hold the sky in my arms; to hold and breathe in its significance.

Obviously, that isn't going to happen, but it did remind me of the only game that put me back into that kind of frame of mind: Flower. Flower is a love song to the innate, simple beauty of the world that is so easily missed, especially as we continue to progress technologically. We're all consumed by the variety of different things that vie for our time: Bills that must be paid, relationships that must be tended to, education, careers, you name it.

But when I'm playing Flower,all those concerns melt away for a slight moment. No longer is my mind wandering off to the trivialities of the day that bring me unending pressure. It gives me a chance to stop and revert to a simpler time that we probably all remember when we were younger and didn't constantly worry about our appearance, our futures, and weren't so acutely aware of the world as it is. Instead, we're placed inside rolling hills with blades of grass swaying in the wind, with a bouquet of mult-colored flower petals sweeping through the air.

To maintain its credibility as a "video game", Flower does have a linear narrative, insofar as you have to complete certain objectives to progress into the next area. It is an unfortunate nod to video game conventions, one that was unavoidable to put in the game. Yet, Flower is at its best when you throw away the game's bow to video game convention and treat it simply as an open-world game. You're not interested in picking up the different flower petals that push you quickly into the next area, but you're gliding along the blades of grass, evoking that sense of freedom you feel when driving along the road, hand outside the door and feeling the wind brush against your hand.

You're free from your responsibilities and your fears, insulated from both within this virtual world. Perhaps there's a life lesson to take from navigating Flower without purpose: To be grateful that you're still flying, even if you're not progressing.

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

http://www.endsights.com/

And yeah, I'll probably still be lurking around GameSpot.

Here she is. And for those who don't like my ugly, panda-like mug, there's a written review!

Enjoy, kiddos!

Title says it all.

As the end of my video says, my heart goes out to my good friend Talor for his missing dog. Hopefully he comes up soon!

With hopefully my last MGS4 related post, I'm here to announce that me, Talor (thewesker) and Doug (DouglasBuffone) got together over Skype and talked a whole bunch about MGS4.

Warning: If you didn't read the title, there are spoilers a plenty for Metal Gear Solid 4 (and The Darkness!) so if you're not finished with the game, do not listen to this podcast. Do not, again, listen to this podcast if you're worried about spoilers. We go pretty deep into the story and gameplay...had a pretty good discussion about the game, and I hope you folks enjoy!

To listen to the podcast, click here!

Yes, second to last Metal Gear Solid 4 blog. I think I'll probably do a video about Metal Solid 4 exclusively, but I'll see where life leads me.

Anyways, I wrote a review earlier today of Metal Gear Solid 4. I had time to really think about the game. I wrote the review in a different $tyle than you're used to reading. I kind of adapted a way of writing that Shawn Elliot of GFW/1UP by telling more of a narrative about the story, while still getting the main points down. Towards the end, and in certain topics of the game... it's kind of hard to keep that up, so I hope the jerk back isn't too disjointed. Let me know what you think, and let me know if I have any sweet typos. I'm always up for a good laugh.

Here she is.

Yes, I managed to snag a copy at Wal-Mart last night. There was a considerable line, actually. Considerable for midnight, anyway. They sold out of all their MGS4 bundles, while I happily snagged the game itself.

There were definitely some reservations about me picking up MGS4. For one, I hadn't gotten past the first hour or so of previous entries. The original Metal Gear Solid I only played the demo of, and I literally had no idea what to do. My 10 year-old brain was confused and...it was a traumatic experience. MGS2...I got somewhat far into the initial level, but I got sick of the camera and the controls that I gave up. I have never played MGS3. So--why did I get MGS4, exactly? I'm a sucker for the "big" releases, and I had no expectations for the title.

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT EVEN GENERAL MGS4 GAMEPLAY SPOILED FOR YOU. NO SPECIFICS, JUST GOING TO TALK IN GENERAL*

Ok, now that that is out of the way, I finished the first Act last night. It took me about four hours or so, watching all the cut-scenes and what not. Definitely much, much improved. The thing that always prevented me from playing Metal Gear games was the camera, and how you shoot your weapons. This time around, the camera is much improved, being directly behind Snake rather than a top down. The shooting is also much improved this time around, partly due to the camera, I think. It's not quite as jarring to go from a top down perspective to shooting your pistol. Shooting your pistol isn't as finicky either.

The biggest surprise of Act 1 is how varied the gameplay gets. Don't expect to just be sneaking around!

The real reason that anyone who's anyone plays Metal Gear is for the story. It's a little cockamamie and out there, but MGS4 is completely engaging. The introduction to the game is pretty impactful, and as much as I do like the varied gameplay, my singular focus is to get to the checkpoint so I can watch another cut-scene. They were some hilarious moments thrown in there, as well.

*END GENERAL MGS4 SPOILERS*

All in all, I'm loving the game so far--something I didn't think I'd ever be able to say about a Metal Gear game.

Age of Conan. Yeah. That game. Yeah...Not been playing much of that lately at all. (Yes, I'm lying. I've been playing way too much, actually.)

I'm going to pick up Metal Gear Solid 4 hopefully tonight at a local Wal-Mart, or I'll pick it up from GameStop tomorrow afternoon. It's probably against my better judgment. I haven't played a previous entry in the series for more than an hour before getting frustrated at the controls or the camera. I hope they did modernize the controls. I'm not hyped for the game at all, and that's worked for me so far (Age of Conan and Grand Theft Auto IV) so hopefully it works hear. I've always wanted to enjoy the story in MGS4...it's the game part that's always gotten in the way.

Reviewed Toki Tori for WiiWare just now. Go and read it!

I'm sure they'll be some hilariously bad typos, seeing as I only glanced over it once. And as Mike and Talor know, I'm terrible at editing my own writing.

Lastly, I've been beheaded by some jerk.

Tony looks intense. I look surprised.

So what does that mean to you, exactly? The service offers exclusive video previews of upcoming titles, exclusiveaccess to betas, and exclusive additional content. This sounds great, doesn't it? It would be great - if it were free. Yes, this service will cost you $2.99 a month, or you can buy an annual subscription to the service for $24.99.

While writing the news piece that detailed the upcoming service, I had to bite my tongue on my initial impressions. After all, Qore had not launched yet, and I hadn't seen the service for myself at that point.

That's all changed. Qore launched this Thursday, (after some fanfare with technical issues delaying the launch well into the night) and I have had a chance to review the content that you are being offered for your $2.99. Surprisingly, Qore hasn't managed to surpass my already cynical expectations.

Let me detail what you'll be getting:

Video previews of:

• SOCOM: Confrontation
• Soul Calibur IV
• Afro Samurai
• Secret Agent Clank
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

You'll also be receiving an invitation to the SOCOM: Confrontation beta, although, it'll be two-weeks later than if you put $5 down for a copy of SOCOM. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but this is the only reason that any rational being would drop his or her hard earned beer money down on this - and it's two weeks later, so what's the point? If you buy Qore because you want the SOCOM beta invite, you're probably going to be a fan of the series, or at the very least want access two weeks earlier, so why spend three bucks on Qore when you can spend five on the pre-order? (Money that you can get back if you're not pleased, as opposed to lining Sony's pockets forever)

The video preview content is watchable, as expected, but it's marketing material, plain and simple. If I were interested in these games in the first place, there are hundreds of sources on the internet where I can get the same basic material that Qore provides... for free. Hell, I can watch all of these video previews on YouTube already. The only real "exclusive" content is a SOCOM background theme (Which is easily worth $2.99, right?).

If that weren't enough, Sony thought that these offenses to our intelligence weren't enough. Qore offers an interactive menu, so you can choose the content that you want to watch, in the order that you want to watch it. That concept itself is fine. However, as you flip from say, the SOCOM interviews to the Soul Calibur IV/Afro Samurai segment, (or switch between any of the segments, for that matter) you have to watch an advertisement as you switch between them. Yes, you have to watch them - you can't skip them!

In what bizarre world does Sony actually believe that we need to pay them to market to us? The video previews are glorified marketing materials, but to then add another additional layer of marketing into the marketing we paid for? Next time we're offered to take a customer survey, are we going to have to pay them for the privilege of giving their marketing department information?

American Comedian Lewis Black, when talking about how corporations think we're idiots, sums up my thoughts about this service best: "How dumb do they think we are? It's as if they believe that we fell asleep on a nuclear reactor and our brains had melted...and we are now nothing more than meat with eyes."

Qore is, without a doubt, the biggest waste of $3 ever envisioned. Itis an offense against our intelligence and our common senseas human beings. Sony may rectify their service but from what hasbeen provided so far, little more can be taken from the experience. It is up to you, the consumer, to not accept this.

Reposted from ConsoleMonster.com

As the title suggests: Age of Conan and Wii Fit are on the slate today.

Enjoy.

I'd like to personally thank all of you who watched my last video blog and answered the call to start doing them again. I have been completely floored by the response--not by comments or anything--but by all of your actions.

I won't list off the people who answered the call to start video blogging again, because I don't want to make the same mistake as last time and forget someone...but either way...you know who you are and I salute you.

Look for a video blog tomorrow, potentially.

Sorry for going a bit crazy with the videos, but oh well.

Hopefully you'll heed the call!

Another video blog? This is insanity.

Enjoy.

Here's the ol' video blog. I think I'm ready to hop back into the saddle and do these things again.

I miss 'em. Enjoy!

P.S. Let me know about the quality...more lighter, shoot at a higher resolution? Seems a little dark and a little grainy. Oh well.

I played a couple of WiiWare games, Lost Winds and Pop. I reviewed 'em, too!

Lost Winds Review

Pop Review

They're both extremely worthwhile titles, and if you don't want to read, Lost Winds scored higher. Pop, while a good game, was damn hard to review. It's hard to sell that "hey, this game is good," when it can be stripped down to "you pop bubbles dude, how fun can it be." Well it is, and it's $7 so get off my back!

I think I can get into this Wii Ware thing. I've got a 2000 Wii Point card coming (got it for half price because I had a $10 gift card) so I'll wait to see what next week brings. I might get FFCC: MLK, because I've heard some good things, but I'm not quite sure. Might sit on the points.

I am worried, however, that I'll run out of storage for all these Wii Ware games that come out. I've still got a reasonable amount of blocks to go, and I can shift some stuff around...but I wonder if Nintendo will come out with some sort of solution for this at E3 or something beyond. It'd be a shame that I'd have to delete content I paid for just because I want to get new content,..

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the reviews!

Will you read 'em?

GTAIV review.

I was skeptical going into GTAIV. I wasn't a big fan of previous entries in the series, and all my experience with them was strictly to fool around, kill civilians and police officers, use the cheats, get a big star rating, and see how long I could last.

GTAIV had me diving head first into the missions and digging my teeth into the story. And I've been completely blown away. I noted all the perfect scores and I glared at them with cynicism and doubt, even after I was about half-way done with the game.

No, GTAIV isn't perfect. But Jeff Gerstmann said it best:

"The story is what I came to see. And I'm having trouble putting my feelings for this game's story into words right now. I'll spare you the fumbling and just say that it's probably the greatest game story of all time, both in content and how it's integrated into the rest of the game.

All those early reviews, where everyone tossed out the highest score they could give, left me scratching my head a bit in the game's early hours. But I get it now. I understand."

I'm honored to have played and beaten this game. The best $60 spent in my life.

Okami...we've found a new champion.

Yeah, figured that last blog was going to get deleted.

Clean version of last blog: GTAIV is cool.

So is LOTRO. Someone should join in the LOTRO madness!

Last day of classes tomorrow! Summer is here, baby!