Hey guys and gals!

I have just signed up for a Twitter account, because it's the new big thing and because I am a part of several communities on the web and I though this would be the best place to let some of you know what I have done recently.

Feel free to follow me (and I'll follow you back if you have an account) so you'll get my most recent updates.
I will still post some of my blogs here, but they will be mostly games related.

Have fun and talk to you soon!

Follow me @ deiviuxs.

Hey everyone!

I wanted to let you know (for those who don't know yet) that I have my own YouTube channel. I have uploaded almost

100 videos. Most of them are related to games (GTA, Far Cry 2, etc.) and there are several short movies, After Effects videos and other random stuff. Feel free to look over my YT portfolio and watch some of my videos. Also, if you have YT account, then feel free to add me to friends or maybe even subscribe!

Once again, my YouTube channel is youtube.com/deiviuxs and would appreciate if you took a look at some of my videos. I am planning on uploading a new video soon which will be related to horror movie that I just started to watch (it's a franchise) and I really enjoy it.

Thanks and talk to you soon!

This was my first week back to college week as a sophomore.
It was pretty good actually. I met with my friends again and it was something new and different again.
I worked everyday during summer, so going back to school was a good break from my job.

Here are the following courses I am taking this semester:
- Principles of Accounting I
- College Writing II
- Culture & Civilization I
- Macroeconomics
- Business Informational Systems (Excel/Access)
- Finite Math

I am pretty happy with my schedule. Most of teachers are pretty good and seem pretty cool.
I do get homework and especially reading assignments but not too much (yet).

If I haven't told you yet, then I am going to Lewis University in Romeoville, IL.
My major is Business Administration (if it's not gonna change in the future).

Anyways, this first week was pretty ok. I was happy to be back and see all my friends again and be part of university's students.

What about you? Do you go to high school or college/university?

[PROTOTYPE] (review on PC)

GOOD:
Action! Action! and one more time..ACTION! There's a lot of action in this game and it's so much fun. I have probably never played a game that has more action then [Prototype].
There are also so many upgrades for the main character. So many that it may actually be too many for some, but not for me! You earn Evolution Points (EV) by almost doing anything in the game (missions, destruction, etc.) and you spend EP on upgrades such as new moves, powers, etc. And most of the upgrades are so much fun to use. Some are very useful, others - just for fun.
Animations for Alex Mercer (main character) aro also very well done. He moves like a human (well technically he's not human anymore) and his moves and powers look and feel amazing.
Vehicles..there are only 2: tank and helicopter, but very surprisingly they control and feel very well. Especially helicopter, I was afraid that heli will be useless but it's actually easy to use and very useful. There are also 2 types of tanks and one of them is very powerful that it's rocket blast feels like a small atomic bomb (really sweet!).
The game's missions are also pretty fun as it let's you do the mission almost anyway you want since you can use any powers/moves you want. There are also many mini-games that are actually fun and useful. My favorites are gliding and consuming.
Other great thing is that after you finish the main missions you can continue playing the game just like in GTA with all your unlocks. You can do side missions or just cause destruction.
You can climb and pick almost any object in the game and use it as a weapon. Travelling is also very fun because it's a mixture between Spider-Man, Hulk and Superman. You can glide, jump, run, etc. Travelling almost never gets boring (*cough* FarCry 2).
You can also consume anyone and become the one you consume (excludes infected). Consuming is very important for: it gives health and stealth. Very important factors in the game.
Story is also interesting and told interestingly. Characters are few but interesting. You can consume special people in the city to uncover even more of the story in a very unique cutscenes.
And again..this game is just pure action. You'll fight mutants, soldier, zombies, helicopters, tanks, etc. but most of the time it's gonna be a very fun and enjoyable fight because of all the powers and awesome moves Alex has.

BAD:
Graphics are not the best..This is definitely no GTA IV and doesn't have unique and relevant to New York building. Most of the building look the same..boring and dull. Draw distance is also bad, when you are high with heli, mostly you'll see fog and it doesn't look too good.
Soundtrack and voice acting are nothing special. I would like the game to have more intense and varied music as well as better voice actors who actually put some emotions while acting.
Cutscenes..they look pretty bad (only few are 'high-res') and most of them are pretty boring. When compared to GTA IV cutscenes, which are very fun to watch and feels like you watching a movie, [Prototype] cutscenes are just short conversations where someone tells Alex to do something and he drops few words before cutscene ends. Story is interesting, but cutscenes should have used much more work.
Difficulty..well the game is not that hard, but you will die a lot of time (at least I did) and some missions can get frustrated.

OVERALL:
I was never too interested in this games, but I am very very happy that I picked it up, because it's a perfect game after a long working or school day.

9/10

Hello..

So, I just went camping with my friends this weekend and I got a huge sunburn.
We started camping Friday and came back home on Sunday.
Friday night was horrible, because we had a huge storm. We were all soaking wet and all the tents were full of water. It was a crazy, but fun night.
The next several days were hot as hell. We spent all Saturday on the sun waiting for our friend to jump with parachute and that's when most of us got burned.
When I came back home, I felt like I was on fire. Funny enough, but somehow half of my legs got burned (one half is red, other is skin color).
Anyways, camping was fun, but painful. I am still feeling pretty bad and my whole body hurts.

Oh well, I am still happy I didn't get sunburn like this..

In this years E3, Ubisoft has introduced Splinter Cell: Conviction after a very long time.
And what everyone saw, was like a brand new game.
All the previous images and videos were just a past.
Ubisoft for some reason decided to change the look for Sam, the look of the game, and even the logo!

However, the demo they showed during E3 was one of the best in the show.
The graphics look amazing and some new cool features look ambitious.

However, for me, Sam from the 'older version' (with long hair) looked better than this new Sam.
Actually, the new Sam Fisher looks almost like a new person.

Still, I can't wait for this game. I played all SC games on PC and they were great.
Some better than others, but still a great and rich franchise.

What do you think about SC: Conviction?
Do you like the 'new look' of this game or do you prefer the previous Conviction look?

And just in general, do you think developers should change their minds so much during game development?
They show a new game, get people hyped and then no news for several years, when they show the game again, with major changes.
Does that help video game development or does it help loose more fans and maybe future game buyers?

As I said, I don't mind the 'new look', I just don't like how Sam looks.
Also, I don't like the new 'auto-aim' ability.
Also, the game seems to be heading towards more action than stealth approach (which I am not a big fan of).

Hey guys and gals!

I was on a trip for the past few weeks.
I and my family drove around west United States and saw some beautiful national parks.
We traveled with our 2003 Toyota Highlander and made more than 5000 miles during the trip.

We started at Arches National Park and Zion National Park in Utah.
Then, we went to Las Vegas (for second time) and also saw Hoover Dam that is only about 20 miles aways from Vegas.
After that, we went to Death Valley National Park in CA (one of the driest places in US - 120F), Sequoia National Forest and our main park - Yosemite National Park.

All of the park were gorgeous and unique. We love to travel and especially seeing the beauty of nature (big cities don't attract us that much).

For those who don't know, Yosemite is one of the most beautiful parks in US (maybe even in the whole world). It has everything: waterfalls (highest in the US), mountains and cliffs (biggest granite rock in the world), and biggest living things in the entire world - Sequoia trees (can live up to 3000 years!).

More info on:
Arches National Park
Zion National Park
Death Valley National Park
Yosemite National Park

We also saw in our previous trips: Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone National Park.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 was announced by Valve during E3 2009..

..and I was not very happy with this announcement.

I have purchased L4D a while ago and I have spent some hours shooting zombies.
I really liked the game, but sometimes it felt really awesome, while others - really boring/frustrating (mostly during Versus mode). I loved the new Survival mode when it came out as a free DLC.
However, I have not played this game in a while..mostly because if I wanna play a multiplayer game then I launch Team Fortress 2 (this game just doesn't get boring) and L4D doesn't have that many levels as TF2 does and it gets a bit boring..

Anyways, I do not regret my purchase of L4D, but I disagree that L4D2 should be released. It feels just too quick, especially from Valve that takes a long time (maybe too long sometime) to release a sequel.
I would like to see more DLC's for L4D because I think it needs more guns, maps, modes, etc. but a new game?

I also don't like that there will be new characters. I like old characters and I think they fit well. The new ones don't look so friendly. I don't see what's the problem to keep old characters in place..?

Also, I don't like that most of the maps are set during day time in L4D2. That just doesn't fit in survival-horror-zombie game..daytime? Seriously?...

Lastly, the name itself just sounds weird and funny...Left 4 Dead 2..hmm...NOT!
They could have changed the name, something like 'Left 2 Die' (found this name somewhere in internet).

I just don't know..L4D2 seems too quick and nothing too new from L4D. It just feels that Valve wants to make a quick buck releasing a sequel that is very similar to the frist one.
Currently, from all the demos and pictures I have no desire to buy L4D2 and I still feels L4D needs more DLC's because it might 'die' if they forget about it.
Also, if someone doesn't have neither of the games, then which one he/she will buy? (I believe the choice would be L4D2, leaving L4D alone and thus with fewer players).

What do you think about L4D2? Do you own original L4D?

VS

-my vote goes to L4D crew -

Ok, I have all of your reactions, so I gues it's my time to speak out about E3 2009.

Conferences:
I watched SONY and Microsoft conferences both on IGN, because they had "new" kind of player with no buffering and waiting so I took advantage of that since I did not watch the conferences live.
Both conferences were interesting and I watched them from start to finish.
They both seemed to me equally good/bad (there were good and bard boring parts).
I like SONY opening better since it showed various SONY games in a nice video and Microsoft started right from the Beatles game (which had a nice opening credits).
It was kinda funny that both conferences had similar endgins..in the way that they both showed their "new" motion controller that will change the future of gaming (oh, please...).
It was also funny that most of SONY's annoucements were already known (..PSP GO..) and that they announced new Final Fantasy even though FFXIII is not released yet.
However, I think Microsoft conference was organized better and I liked their stage more (green color).
In general, I was happy to see both presentations and they both were great.

Games:
Many great games, but only few new debuts.
Talking about debuts, I remember new Rockstar game being announced - AGENT, but only the logo was showed (seriously, not even a wallpaper?) and where the heck is L.A. Noire??
Other..already known games..
- Alan Wake is alive and looking really good! (but where's Heavy Rain?)
- Splinter Cell: Conviction comes back with different look..?...still don't know if I like the new look
- God of War III - brutality at it's best!
- Modern Warfare 2 looks pretty good, but I was not impressed with the demo.
- Assassin's Creed II looks stunning and beautiful..hopefully it's not aa repetitive.
- Forza 3 has cars that look better than in real life! Wow...please release this on PC..PLEASE! (this game left better impressions that Gran Turismo 5)
...just a few games, that I saw demos during press conferences and those that I still remmeber...
oh yeah, and Left 4 Dead 2 (I hold my comments 'till my next blog).

I don't remember last year's E3, but I was pretty happy with E3 2009. Hopefully E3 2010 will be even bigger and more badass (I know what you thinking now) next year!

See you next year (or not, I don't really care)

E3 2009 is over...

What did you think of this years E3 show?
Did you watch it?
Was it better/worse than last years E3?
What announcements shocked you the most?
And which ones gave you the reaction of 'wtf'?

Just in general...what did you think of E3 2009?

P.S. I tell my reaction soon in my future blogs.

"We call ourselves runners. We exist on the edge between the gloss and the reality. The mirror's edge."

MIRROR'S EDGE (EA Games, Dice)

Positive:
It's unique! It's fresh! It's something new AND it's from EA... What else can you ask for? The whole parkour thing is great and not as developed in games, but this game takes place in first person view so it's that much more interesting. It was great to see that EA is not afraid to experiment and they did a pretty good job with this game. It was fun to run around rooftops and jump from building to building. The Faith moves and feels like a real human being. You see her legs, arms, you hear her breathing. It's just something different and cool.
Graphics, unique and different too. They are so 'clean' and sharp. The colors are bright - yeallows, reds, blues. It was to see how different the city looks in some places. Some places are almost all green, whereas others are blue. Also, it is really cool when some things in the game are completely red. This is called 'runner's vision' and it basically helps you or gives you the best route. The graphics are really pretty in this game and I think it works very well in this kind of game.
Music is also awesome and goes well with the game. It's mostly techno or remix and it is great to run around the rooftop and hear some upbeat music. I also love the original ME song 'Still Alive' by Lisa Miskovsky. It's a great song, but it's name always reminds me of a different game/song...

Negative:
The game is short...very short and the story is not the best. There is not much replayablity, because it's almost all the same in single player. It has 'time trials' but I did not find them that much interesting.
Also, even though the graphics look nice, but the streets and everything that happens 'below' looks terrible. The cars are all squarish and don't drive around 'naturally.'
The gun gameplay is not that great either. The hardest part is to steal a gun. You need to time everything so perfectly and if you fail, well then there is 90% chance you die. It gets frustrating when there are lots of enemies. It's hard to steal a gun from one and is also hard to run away from them, especially when you are not sure where you are supposed to go in a first place.

Other thoughts:
This game is great and everyone should at least try it, but it is definitely not worth full price.

7/10

Ok, the first blog after a long break will be Far Cry 2 review for PC.

FAR CRY 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)

Positive:
First of all, the game has amazing graphics! The DUNIA engine that Ubisoft used for this game is fantastic. The map of the game (which represents Africa) is huge, but also very beautiful. The world that you play in is so realistic and it feels like real Africa. There were moments in the game where I just stood still and looked at the sunset, because it was so beautiful. The fire is also one of the best that I have ever seen in games. It looks good and it reacts to the environment like real fire - it spreads and caches other things on fire too! Simply put, the graphics of this game is absolutely fantastic and they not too far away from Crysis.
Next, comes weapons. There are plenty of toys you can play in this game! From pistols to rocket launchers. All the guns are great and different and they are all fun to use. You can carry 3 guns + machete at all times and it is up to you what kind of guns you wanna have. You buy guns using diamonds you earn and if you do enough missions you can buy all the guns in the game (~30 guns total). My favorite was sniper rifle (there are 3 different ones in the game). I always love using sniper rifle in games and in this game I used it a lot! I also for some reason liked uzi. It has high rate of fire for the enemies that come close to me. Also, the weapons degrade and jam after time so you need to change them to new ones.
Lastly, I will mention the immersion of the game and the animations. Ubisoft does really good job with animations (ex. previously with Assassin's Creed) and in this game it shows again. You always are in 1st person no matter what you do. The healing animations are great and kinda sick to watch sometimes. The way weapons jam and you have to unjam them is done very nicely too.

Negative:
Now we come to the dark side.....tediousness. This game can really become boring at times! Mostly because there is a lot of driving in it. The map is huge and the missions are spread far away. You will be driving from one corner of the map to another for minutes until you reach your destination. However, the good part is that the driving itself is good. The cars feel realistic, even though it seems that enemies have faster cars then you because they always catch up with you.
The driving would not be that bad by itself, but the enemies respawn really quickly and there are those annoying enemies checkpoints at almost every intersection where you have to kill same guys over and over again.
The AI is mostly good in this game, but it is also very tough. Some enemies can take the whole clip of uzi and still no die. WTF? o they have superman powers or what?
The story is boring and kinda stupid. You hunt "The Jackal" by doing boring missions for 2 unions at Africa. The worst part is that you can never become friends with any union because they will still shoot you. I wish they made it more like Mercanaries 2, where you work for several factions and you can become 'friends' with them.
Lastly, the ending of the game was stupid as fu... and made no sense at all...

Other thoughts:
If you don't have enough money to go to a nice trip to Africa, Hawaii or other nice place, then buy this game, because it will give pleasure to your eyes, but sometimes it might get frustrating as hell.
[I still have many things to say about this game, but I will stop now. I might write another blog about FC2 in the future]

8/10

Hey guys!

I know I've been gone for long, but I'm back and I have lots of things to share with you.

This will be a short blog, just to make you aware of me again and see how many people will respond to this blog.

Thanks and check back later for my new blog.

My newest game is Burnout Paradise. Have been wating for this for a very long time. I played the demo in GameStop a while ago and like it really much and since then was waiting for this game to come to PC.
It's finally here and it looks simply amazing. Graphics are beautiful, sounds are immersive.This is one of the best recent PC ports (*cough* GTA IV).
Really enjoying the game now. Will be a while when I finish it, but that does not bother me, as long as the game is fun to play, I won't even think about it's ending.

I decided to create a list for My Most Anticipated Games of 2009.

I created this list mostly on the games that I am mostly waiting for. However, I'm a PC games and not all of the games on this list will be on PC. I'm not trying to make a list of games I want to play mostly in 2009. I'm just listing games that look most interesting and unique in 2009.

*Some games I have left out, because there is very little known about them (ex.new Call of Duty from Infinity Ward).

----------------

1. Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams

I loved first Bioshock and I can't wait for the sequel. Even though, there is very little known about this game, I know it will be an amazing game and hopefully it will be better and greater than the first one.

2. Resident Evil 5

Even though, this game is not coming for PC, it still looks so cool and amazing. I played RE4 and I liked it. RE5 looks like a big improvement from RE4. Graphics look absolutely amazing and the story intense. Hopefully, this game will come out for PC.

3. Mafia 2

Many people haven't played first Mafia game and they are missing a lot. This game is like GTA IV except in 'old times.' The first game had amazing story. This game looks very promising with improved graphics. I will definitely pick this game up.

4. Killzone 2

5. I Am Alive

6. Splinter Cell: Conviction

7. God of War III

8. Alan Wake

9. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

10. Street Fighter IV

This is my list. There are still many games that have not been included in my list.
As I see, 2009 will be a year of more newer games or sequels of previous games that have been released a long time ago.
It's really hard to know what games will really live up to the hype and how many of them will actually be released in 2009, but it's certain that you won't be bored in 2009.

Hey guys...

Just started playing 2 new games. Prince of Persia and Mirror's Edge.

The games are pretty good. I heard they are both aren't very long, which isn't actually a big dissapointment for me 'cause that means I have more time to play other games (ex. Fallout 3).

Both games have amazing graphics! Both games are simply beautiful eye candies and just a pleasure to look at. POP uses cell shading and water colors which makes the game look like an anime and ME uses very sharp bright colors and Esurance-type cutscnes (which isn't that bad).

Won't say anything else for now and will come back with the review when I finish both of them..

So, the year has ended and the new year has started. The awards for best games of 2008 have been given and now it's time to see which game has won the Ultimate Gold Medal in the year of 2008!

2008 GAME OF THE YEAR (GAME):

GameSpot:
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

IGN:
Fallout 3

GameTrailers:
Grand Theft Auto 4

GamesRadar:
Fallout 3

GiantBomb:
Grand Theft Auto 4

GameSpy:
Fallout 3

GameZone:
LittleBigPlanet

------------------------------

and the Best Game of the Best Games of 2008 is...

FALLOUT 3!
This amazing RPG game from Bethesda Softworks had received the most GOTY 2008 awards from the biggest video game websites.

Fist of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!

I was out for several days to celebrate New Year with my friends and didn't have much time to sit by computer. Since I got back yesterday, I decided to post a quick blog of what has been happenning around me. More specifically, what game I got myself for New Year.

And the game is Left 4 Dead. I bought this game on Tuesday. I always wanted to buy this game, because I liked the demo and I like Valve online games (ex. TF2). However, I was waiting for price to drop and my wished were heard. There was a huge sale on STEAM and I couldn't resist in buying L4D with 15% off it's regular price. So I bought the game from STEAM (my first Steam purchased game!) and downloaded in ~6 hours. Then launched the game and played it for 20 minutes and then left to go to celebrate New Year.
I just played the game yesterday for several hours and so far it's really fun. I finished the first and second campaigns and played a little bit of Versus mode, which is really fun to play as Infected, but really hard to play as Survivors. I had some lag issues on several servers, but generally the game runs smoothly. I earned ~10 achievements and killed hundreds of zombies.
So dar, the game is really fun and I still have 2 other campaigns to finish. Hopefully, Valve will give us some free updates with new guns, maps, bug fixes, etc.
Thus, game is great and would recommend for people who like shooters and co-op multiplayer games..oh and zombies!!

I wish you all Merry Christmas !!!