...is exactly like Gamespot WITH Total Access.

Yep, that's my Total Access account ran out for the first time in 4 years. I decided to cancel it during E3 when they decided not to implement a standard chatroom. Instead we had to rely on Jodie to set up one for us which was really cool of her.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that the Gamespot I know is dead in the water. I'd go so far to say that this site hasn't produced anything of decent quality in well over a year. The Hotspot is boring and lifeless, the reviews are professionally written but lack the wit and humour of an Alex Navarro, Jeff Gerstmann or Greg Kasavin review, the absolute lack of any features worthy of anything more than a swift glance is appalling and of coarse the lack of both Tournaments and On The Spot is quite simply insane in my eyes.

I love hearing Gamespot talk smack about games that have been delayed then end up either not coming out at all or disappointing fans completely when they've been stuck in a similar rut for what seems like years now. There is seriously NO POINT in subscribing any more. Come to think of it I should have cancelled when they sacked Don.

I'll still be around though, using this profile to look at and post blogs but I really can't see the point in watching Gamespot for entertainment when Giantbomb has so much more content that's worth watching.

And yes, I do blame Tom McShea.

Is it just me or was the last Fallout expansion a total missed opportunity? Having seen Deliverance, Southern Comfort, The Hills Have Eyes and a number of other hillbilly freak shows I was expecting a much scarier and atmospheric environment.

The environments are dull and lack the mysterious murkiness of the country swamplands in places like Louisiana. All they needed to do was watch Angel Heart for 3 seconds to see an excellently frightening portrayal of Americas southland. The rednecks in the game should have been scary and threatening, but instead they're just mutated freaks that giggle like retards when you shoot at them. They should have made the environment and characters much more unsettling.

Also what happened to the amazing slide guitar music that was in the intro of expansion? I was all excited at the prospect of a country blues inspired soundtrack but was disappointed by its instant disappearance when the boat landed on the harbour.

It was pretty cool though, the spy quest was one of the best quests in whole game in my opinion. The main quest was pretty cool, especially the Mansion raid at the very start.

Anyways that's it. Being that I'm already half mad with it and can't be arsed with eloquence I'm calling it. See you next time folks!

EDIT: Michael Jackson is dead? I have to admit if I was doing a Dead Pool I would have never put him in it. I always imagined him dying much later in life even more obscured from the public than he is now.

RIP Jack-O.

Well, now that the dust has settled I guess I'll talk a bit about E3.

It was a great one this year I thought. Not too many amazing announcements but the gameplay shown from games like Alan Wake and Assassins Creed 2 left me excited. This year's E3 was a little weird, usually there's a plethora of surprising trailers and announcements but this year it seemed to be more about explaining the previous years big surprises. It was great to see actual gameplay from those games but a lack of surprise and woefully bad conferences this year left me uninterested for long stretches of time. Conferences are never really exciting I guess but this year they seemed to drag endlessly, especially during the Ubi conference when James Cameron explained the plot to his stupid fantasy movie that I certainly don't care about.

Biggest disappointment this year wasn't even during E3 it was before it. Whoever made the decision to axe the chat from the live coverage of E3 is either lazy or just plain moronic. This pissed me and many people off, a few of which have canceled their subscriptions, me being one of them. This decision was one in a long line of monumental cock-ups that Gamespot are guilty of; no On The Spot, no tournaments, barely any interaction with the community and an overall lack of respect for us are just a few of the things that justify this decision. Get your act together GS, you're losing all the things that make you worthwhile the stay.

Modern Warfare 2, Alan Wake, Assassins Creed 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 left me most excited in hindsight. I especially can't wait for L4D2 as it's probably the one I'll spend the most time with, the first one is one of the best games out there right now. And please lighten up PC fans, it's not Watergate it's a game. Just because you have to pay for it doesn't mean you have to soil yourself, if you so object to it don't buy it. That's your choice as a consumer, I'm sure it'll be more than worth it.

Anyways that's the E3 season over with now and I have to say I loved it; great live show this year with great guests and hosts. The stream sucked quite a lot but hey, this is the internet, whaddiya expect? And asides from spending way too much money on Whiskey and sweets I've came out of this year unharmed, well asides from the monumental hangovers. I just wanna say thanks to Jody for getting us that chat and also to the people who stuck out the 9+ hours a day marathon that is E3!

In other news Yasmina won the Apprentice this year. I thought Kate did a better job with the final task but I guess old Sugar thought she didn't kick ass enough through the whole series. It was a good one this year, first series of any reality TV show I've watched from the first to last episode. I don't know why but I find myself more and more attracted to Debra "The Ball Breaker" Barr every time I see her. Why do I find evil woman so sexy....