I think i've become addicted to trophies. I've noticed that recently i've been aiming for trophies in games, out to get as many as i can. My first platinum, Dead Space, took me a few months to get, since i gradually got there. inFamous took me shorter than a month, while BlazBlue took me a fair while (largely due to playing 350 online matches).

I got the Uncharted 2 platinum earlier today, which i enjoyed getting, but once i got it i realised that i've had the game for barely longer than a week. I've breezed through it on Hard and Crushing, then went through and found all the trophies. moving forward at a shockingly fast pace. I realised shortly after just how fast i had done everything, all for the urge to get trophies. I enjoyed everything, of course. There wasn't any moment where i felt like it was becoming a chore. Uncharted 2 is a very entertaining game, but it's also very short, which is why it can be finished in just over four hours once you know what to do. At this point, i've finished the game four times in the space of ten days, and got all the trophies in the process.

Trophies seem to have become an obsession somewhere down the line. I don't know why, but i guess i've started to enjoy fulfilling the random criteria to get the trophies. I think the real problem is that i've always tried to complete my games to 100%, trying to find every secret, every unlockable, every everything. I only ever feel a game is truly completed once i've done everything there is to do. The addition of trophies adds to this, since now i aim to get trophies as well.

It's funny, since i've had my PS3 since before trophies were implemented and i never thought they were anything special, at least at first. I had already done everything in the original Uncharted, but now i've started doing everything again to get the trophies. I've always consideredmyself somewhat of a hardcore gamer, enjoying my JRPGs moreso than my FPSs, and i feel like going for trophies cheapens myself as a gamer somewhat. I haven't gone so far as to renting out horrible games for their easy trophies, but i have become more conscious, scoping out the trophies in games i'm interested in, then thinking about how hard they would be to get.

Strangely, i've had a X360 for a few years, and yet i've never had any real interest in Achievements or Gamerscore. I don't know what allure trophies have over achievements (is it because the bronze, silver, gold system is much more fun than the xbox's massive meaningless number system?)

Anyways, i haven't gone completely over the brink. I only go for trophies that i can get with relative ease, none of those soul destroying ones, like getting 10000 online kills in Resistance 2, or getting into the top 1% of players for the week in Killzone 2. No, i'm not even going to attempt any of those. I like my challenge easy, and attainable with very little strenuous effort.

So far, i've got around 500 trophies, with 4 platinums. That number looks to continue to climb so long as there are trophies available for games i'm interested in. Does enjoying getting trophies make me a trophy whoar?

(Gamespot won't let me spell 'whore' correctly, hence 'whoar')

October is nearing the end, so here's a new blog.

I got my pre-order of Uncharted 2, and have been playing it for the last two weeks or so. (I've finished the campaign on normal, now going through on Hard).The game is completely fantastic. If Uncharted was like playing an awesome action movie, then Uncharted 2 is like playing an awesome action movie sequel. There's more action, more explosions, more of just about everything. Even the characters are like movie characters, such as the thieves Flynn and Chloe, and the crazy Russian soldier Lazarevic. It's completely awesome, to the point where i don't mind that it's rather short (Barely longer than the first one by my reckoning).

I've been playing a fair amount of multiplayer, and i'm really enjoying it. I've played a lot of co-op, and have pretty much memorized each of the three maps. I actually think i like competitive multi a little more, only because of Plunder mode. It's just a variation of capture the flag (with treasure), but i love it, since you can still shoot pistols when you have the treasure, and you can actually throw the treasure (like a grenade). Even deathmatch is cool, although there doesn't seem to be much equality in team balancing (since some teams are filled with experienced players, and others with newbies). My only complaint with multi is that is seems to take a while to get started, around five minutes more or less from my reckoning.

If you're playing Uncharted 2 and you want to play some co-op or something, just message me over the PSN if i'm online. I'm not currently focused on any particular game, so i'm open to whatever.

I got the Platinum trophy in BlazBlue! The only trophy i was having trouble with was the Leonidas trophy, which is gained by beating Score Attack. Score Attack is a game mode where you fight against all twelve characters in order on the hardest difficulty mode. If you lose one match, you have to start from the beginning again. I could do fairly well, getting up to the last few fights usually, but i would always always get beaten by Unlimited Ragna. He's horrifyingly aggressive, his distortion meter fills up on its own, and most of his attacks heal him, turning the fight into a strategic endurance match. If he hits you with his distortion drive 'Carnage Scissors' (which he uses constantly) over half your health is taken off, and he is healed completely. I was so glad to finally beat that bastard.

I've become somewhat overhwelmed with the incoming onslaught of games at the moment. Tekken 6 is on the way, which i'll most likely get around release, while games like COD MW2 and several others are sure to be good, although my interest in them is somewhat diluted. Even games that have already been released seem to call to me. I wouldn't mind getting Borderlands, but i would want online functionality, which ruins me since i've heard the PS3 version is inferior, while my X360 isn't online. I wouldn't mind getting Prototype, which is on sale (i'd probably get it on 360) but nobody i know has played it. I'm also strangely interested in Darkside Chronicles on Wii, just for the Resident Evil nostalgia, so i'll probably rent that.

All in all, i'm feeling a little overwhelmed with gaming goodness. There are still PSP and PS2 games that i haven't finished yet, which all demand my attention, while online gaming has got me somewhat addicted as well. I just don't have the time to enjoy everything else in my life, and my games.

It's been about a month since i last posted a blog, so here's the catching up (although i haven't done much)

I pre-ordered the Uncharted 2 limited edition the other day. I usually don't pre-order games, but i was going to get Uncharted 2 anyway, and pre-ordering is the only way to get the special edition. From what i've read, it comes in a special case with some free stuff and exclusive DLC, so that's cool considering its the same price as the normal edition. It comes out this Thursday in Australia, so only another four days then i'm hunting for treasure again! I haven't played the beta yet, but the online has me interested, in that none of the reviews seem to have complained about it. I didn't really think multiplayer would suit a game like Uncharted, but from the movie clips and info thats around, it sounds fun, so that's cool.

I've started a new character in Demon's Souls. I originally was playing a New Game + with my soldier character (with a Dragon Long Sword +5 and a Viscious Compoung Long Bow +5 that made the game rather breezy at times the first play through) but the new game + makes things twice as hard. Even with all my equipment and stats, enemies kill me quicker than in the first play through, and it takes me longer to kill enemies (even the standard zombies in the first world take a few hits). I decided that i'd rather try a new character, with different stats, so i made a thief. I'm doing really well, and i'm so much faster that i can usually avoid attacks rather than defend against them. I've also started using magic a lot more, and it's made things so much easier. The skeletons in the Shadowmen area take only two fireballs to go down (the big yellow ones only take three) so it's easy to get through.

I've finished the Umbrella Chronicles on Wii, and i like it (perhaps because i payed only $20 AUD for it). I managed to get all the secret levels, and S ranks for the first two chapters of the game (RE 0 and 1). I've mastered critical headshots (yay!) which are easy enough to get by aiming for the very top of a zombie's head, so that made things easier. I think that in the entire game, my favourite levels were the first and last story missions for the RE3 chapter. They were filled with more zombies than any other part of the game.

I've also been playing Undying on my laptop (even though it is still a diseased wreck). I was surprised that it worked on my laptop, since barely anything other than Doom works on my laptop (even Duke Nuken has occasional troubles) but, barring a few occasional freezes, the game works great. It's a FPS based on a story and characters written by Clive Barker (my current obsession) but unlike the rubbishy 'Jericho', Undying is really good. You play as Patrick, a Scottish occult detective, who goes to his friend'sisland estate to help him solve a mystery. His dead family has returned from the dead, and are trying to kill him. Thus, you need to hunt them down and kill them...again. It's really good, and can get really freaky at times.

The game uses a two hand system, in that the left hand is for conventional weapons (such as a pistol, shotgun, speargun and a kickass scythe) while the right hand uses magic (like lightning bolts and exploding skulls). It's actually really good, although some spells and weapons make things a little too easy (the scythe is completely awesome, killing most enemies in two-three hits, while it's secondary function restores health; whereas the shield spell prevents damage altogether)

It's fairly long compared to recent FPS games like Killzone 2, COD4/5 and Halo 3, but it never feels drawn out.The best parts are probably towards the beginning of the game, where you have barely any weapons andammo and you are wandering through a mansion filled with werewolves (who attack in packs), while the most disappointing part of the game is towars the end, where you end up in an alternate universe that seems to be filled with cavemen (still good though). The dead family members are completely awesome though, such as the werewolf girl who presents bountiful cleavage, and the crazed axe man (with fire powers it seems). My favourite, though, is the zombie/ghost Aaron, who runs around as a naked, skinless corpse covered in hooks. As a ghost he chases after you for a good portion of the game trying to kill you, appearing and disapperaring at will, until you find his corpse andre-kill it.

And that's about all of gaming-related things i've done this last while. I also have been playing RE5 on veteran and havebeen playing through Dissidia on PSP.