Here is a list of what absolutely needs to be fixed in Gears of War 2 multiplayer:

1) Matchmaking
2) Matchmaking
3) Matchmaking
4) Matchmaking
5) Matchmaking

That's right, the only thing that absolutely needs to be fixed in Gears of War 2 is the slow matchmaking. Waiting three to five minutes to get into a match is ridiculous. When I play a an action game online, that's exactly what I expect: Action. Other than that, there is nothing else that really needs to be fixed. I know what some of you are thinking though: What about the overpowered chainsaw? What about the underpowered shotgun? What about smoke grenades? What about the massive lag? Usually I would answer all of these questions with What about it? But since most people are looking for an in depth answer, I guess I have no choice but to oblige or suffer a barrage of thumbs down (and I can't upset people, not on the internet).

The shotgun:
I've heard way too many complaints about the new shotgun. Many people think it isn't powerful enough, and I was on board with those complaints for a while until I played with the shotgun a bit yesterday and I see what Epic did with it. They made it the perfect weapon for ninjas! In the original Gears of War, it was a weapon that could be used by rushers, duelists, and ninjas. Now in order for the shotgun to be effective, you have to sneak around the enemy so you can get close enough to kill him/her without being spotted. Before, the shotgun was mostly about rushing in and engaging in a practice called the shotgun dance. This is where two people strafe in circles while shooting their shotguns randomly until one of the dancers fall. Now with Gears of War 2's stopping power, you must sneak around the enemy, get close, aim, and fire.

The chainsaw:
Now many people think the chainsaw is overpowered. Really? I think if someone with a chainsaw can get within a foot of you without being downed, you deserve the bloody chainsaw death. If someone does get too close to comfort: dive back and fire. Most people complain about the amount of shots it takes to stop someone from revving their saw; well the dive back and fire strategy is perfect for these situations because it gives you enough room to fire off enough shots to stun the chainsawer. At this point, he/she will be a sitting duck! Make 'em quack...

The smoke grenade/wall tagging:
As you should be aware of, we now have the ability to plant smoke/frag/ink grenades on the walls, which turns them into proximity mines for the poor sap who walks past them. I love this new feature! It adds a new strategic dimension to the Gears universe. Unfortunately, many people disagree. Most people think wall tagging is cheap. To be more specific, most people think smoke tagging the wall is cheap because of the new concussive blast the smoke grenades emit. I think it forces the player to be more observant of his/her surroundings. It teaches players to think before they blindly run around a corner. I guess people aren't aware that you can shoot down grenades on the wall, but not only that! If you throw a grenade anywhere near a walled grenade, the explosion will cause the grenade(s) on the wall to go boom and kill/knock down anyone who planned to trap you.

The smoke grenade's concussive blast can now knock you off your feet. I love that! Now I can use smoke grenades to not only create a temporary smoke screen, but anyone near the blast will be incapacitated. Which is perfect if I want to sneak behind the enemy or if I want to get a power weapon without being shot to the ground within seconds. People now act as though the smoke grenade is the Holy Grail of Gears of War 2, and that nothing can overcome it. Well, this is a team based game and if you run ahead of the team only to be knocked down by a smoke grenade and killed, then you deserve death! But if you stay with the pack and get knocked down, your team can provide cover fire until you get up. Multiplayer is based around teamwork, after all.

Laggy hosts:
I would usually understand this complaint. But I believe most of the lag will (or at least should) be fixed when/if matchmaking is fixed. Matchmaking should select the best host, which is not always the case. Besides, I haven't experienced too much lag online. Personally I think they should make it more like Halo 3's matchmaking where it gives you the option to:

-Play with people of your skill level
-Play in a room with a great connection
-Play where people speak your preferred language

I'm sorry if you disagree, but it's all just my opinion. I know I sounded like a jackass, but I'm sick of people complaining. I think people just need to learn to adapt rather than whine to get their way. I'm not gonna lie, I whined at first but then I adapted to the shotgun, the grenades, and the chainsaw. I just don't understand why it's so hard for everyone else to do the same. Thanks for reading! If you disagree with any of what I had to say, leave a comment telling me what you disagree with. I'd love to hear some responses from the other side of the argument.

I graduated!

My school has officially lost its most hardcore gamer (seriously).

I don't have much else to say... um...

/blog_entry

I've been waiting for Super Smash Bros Brawl for what almost seems like forever now. It's almost here in America and I am mega excited. I have been playing Melee for years and with Brawl right around the corner, I thought of giving Melee a little last hurrah. So I have declared March 8th, 2008 Melee Memorial Day. So if you're reading this and happen to be a fan of Smash Bros: Take a weekend off work, invite some buddies over, and play some Melee before it is completely taken over by Brawl.

If you're like me, you're going to be getting Brawl on launch day. So once the clock strikes midnight, take you and your buddies to a Brawl Midnight sale near you, buy it, then play it until the sun rises and then some. Then when your friends leave... Play online, build some stages, play the Adventure mode, eat some cake, unlock as many characters/stages/trophies/stickers/CDs as possible, then pass out! Once you come to, clean yourself up (you'll look awful)!

Let us all hope Brawl isn't delayed again... 'Cause I'll be mega pissed!

UPDATE: Join the Facebook event! CLICK HERE! Spread the word to other gaming sites. I've gone to Gamefaqs and Gametrailers already, but more is always better!

...I only missed the Dreamcast party by about eight years. I didn't miss that much, right?

Apparently I was wrong. I just bought a Dreamcast off eBay for about $60 including shipping. The package included the Dreamcast, all the hook-ups, three controllers, Sonic Adventure, and Crazy Taxi. I thought it was a steal considering the d-bag at my local Pawn Shop wanted $60 for just the console, its hook-ups, and one controller. I went there earlier today ready to buy it on the spot and he didn't have it in the shop at the time. Then I politely asked him if I could expect it by next week where he responded with,"I got so much s*** to go through, it would be a miracle to find it. I'm not gonna just drop everything and look for it." So much for customer service...

After being somewhat enraged I went to another Pawn Shop and it was closed... then my car wouldn't start. It just died in the Pawn Shop parking lot; it's probably going to be towed tomorrow. I was fed up with all of this so I caught a ride home and I bought a Dreamcast on eBay on the spot. Hopefully, it's going to be worth all of the crap I had to go through.

Luckily with the auction, I got two games I already wanted from the Dreamcast. Now these are the other games I want (The :D smiley means I got it):

• Soul Calibur
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Unreal Tournament :D
• Jet Grind Radio
• Crazy Taxi 2 :D
• Marvel vs Capcom
• Dead or Alive 2
• Rayman 2
• Seaman
• Power Stone
• Power Stone 2
• Virtua Tennis (as suggested by Emiroo) :D
• Virtua Tennis 2 (as suggested by Emiroo)

There are also some accessories I want for the Dreamcast:

• Memory Card :D
• Keyboard :D
• Mouse :D

So if anyone who decides to read this have any suggestions for game or accessories, just leave a comment. Please don't suggest Marvel vs Capcom 2 or Street Fighter 3rd Strike because I already have those on PS2. I'm into pretty much any genre, so suggest any type of game that you liked.

So this is what I want to see out of a sequel:

1. First of all the game was fairly short. More puzzles would have been appreciated because I felt likeI whipped through the puzzles fairly quickly. I am now currently working on the "Advanced" puzzles and where they are somewhat harder, I am still finding them quite easy to play through. So the first thing I would like to see is tougher puzzles and a lot of them. Perhaps make different tiers of puzzles such as an "Easy" tier, "Normal" tier, "Hard" tier, "Mind blowing" tier and an "Impossible" tier. This would make the game accessible foreveryone.

2. I find that there are two things that add to the replay value of a video game: multiplayer and customization. My favorite thing about modern video games is the amounts of customization the play can have control over. A puzzle creator would be perfect for this type of game because I find that dedicated users can be just as creative as the designers themselves. On top of creating puzzles, players should also have the ability to share their maps with their friends by sending them via the internet. What good is having cake if youcan't share it? ;-)

3. What is better than playing a brand new game with a brand new concept? Playing it with a friend, of course. I think "Portal" would be the perfect game for cooperation play. Coop play could be played on more advanced maps that are built and optimized for teamwork. This would be great because the best we can do now is "backseat gaming" in which one player actually plays andeveryone around the player suggests the next move. This would force both the players to organize and execute plans without error. Co-op is fun but sometimes you just want to prove that your better than all of your friends, so why no include competitive multiplayer.

I'm not talking about blazing guns or anything like that, but gametypes such as"race to the finish" in which two to four players race to the end ofalevel; "find the cake" in which two to four players must hunt for pieces of cake on a variety of large maps; "Elimination" in which 8 players go at it in a game of tag, the player who is "it" at the end of the round is eliminated and the game continues without them; "Tag to Frag" in which up to eight players can tag each other to get points;and"Back Attack" in which up to8 players go against one another and must "tag to frag" theotherplayers' backs to get points (only tagging backs gets the points in this gametype). Each of those have their own changeable options, such as amount offrags to win, time limit, turrets on map, etc. On top of that the player should be able to create maps for each gametype (to add even more replay value).

I've been playing a lot of Gears of War lately. So I made a crude gif that will serve as Lesson one in a multiple lesson series: How to Survive in Gears of War. Lesson one will help you master the art of hiding behind cover. Watch for yourself, just click on the link provided and enjoy.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/slothboyadvance/Survive.gif

Why did I make this? There are a few key reasons:

1. I'm sick of people in Gears constantly complaining about being taken out so fast when the answer is right in front of them: A wall, a barricade, a pillar, etc etc.

2. I was bored.

3. I just taught myself how to make gif animations and this is my first.

My brother and I went out to Wal-Mart and had our Christmas early.  We bought an Xbox 360 as well as a couple games.

My brother got DOA 4 and I got Gears of War.

I'm loving the 360.  Downloading stuff off of Xbox Live is the greatest.

I don't really have much time to type so I leave you all with this:

Wii60 ftw

That's right, I got one!  On launch day!  I bought 4 games for it:

Zelda: TP - Everything I expected and then some. 9 / 10

Red Steel - I gave a gamble on buying this one, it had good and bad reviews.  But I like it!  There's room for imporvement though. 7.5 / 10

Rayman: RR - Hilarious, quirky, fun. 8 / 10

Excite Truck - Yet another gamble.  Good, but not as good as it could of been... 7 / 10

Wii Sports - Free, fun, great multiplayer! 8 / 10

I was generous considering these are launch titles.  Next on my buy list, I'm getting some Wii games, then an X-box 360. 

2007 will rule!

I got my first job just recently.  I now am a proud employee of Wendy's food service chain.  I went through orientation today and it all looks fairly easy.

I will be saving up for the Wii and Xbox 360.  Can't wait for that first paycheck! :D

http://www.geocities.com/slothboyadvance/Norris.wps

Click the link to download and view all you need to know about the great Chuck Norris.  File uses Microsoft Works Word Processor.

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