i'm not going to do any game impressions on here, but i just want to update the blog with what gaming things i've been doing.

first off, i haven't been able to put down the game SKATE. its soo addicting. I'm not a skater or anything, but i have a love for skating games (closest thing for me to skating neway). It got to the point i started making highlight video's of what i've been doing. What i love soo much about this game is how i can skate realisticly. The environment is skating heaven...and i'm having fun trying to make my own realistic skate video's. Its challenging given i don't really know whats realistic to pull of or not...i just find a line, grind it...gap it, kick flip to nose manual switch kickflip out etc.... but what i do end up doing which might not be realistic is i keep trying to grind, gap 15 stairs, gap 5 stairs etc..... i think after my next vid i'm going to refrain from doing that. so yea...if you ever get the chance, check out my vid...comment and suggest what i can do better...i want to try to make the most realisitic montage as best i can and i need feedback...can't wait til i pick up skate 2

i picked up sonics ultimate genesis collection because of 2 games -shining force 1 and shining force 2. When i was younger, i loved shining force to death though i couldn't beat the game. i don't know if its cuz of gameplay tweeks, or getting older meant i got smarter, but i breezed through it in 7-10 sessions. i still love the game and its still my 2nd favorite game of all time. i'm going to play shining force 2 next.

speaking of finishing...this brings me to 4 games beat this year (i know pathetic number, but with skate and call of duty 4, i couldn't help it)

• cod:waw
• star wars force unleashed
• shining force
• skate

ok these are all ps3 games i know, and i should end up tapping into my hundred plus game backlog from older systems, and i should...i'm planning to get into god of war 1 soon and mgs 1. i hope to finish killzone 2 soon (i have to restart a level cuz it auto saved when i had a sniper when i needed an smg or A.R. at the end of the level. hopefully i can beat at least 20 games this year (i have the whole summer off)

okay i cut back on my game purchases by a lot. As much as there are soo many great ps3 exclusives coming out....i don't have any income and its really hard to find a job around here so i'm dwindling my list down to a couple of must have games. heres my list

• modern warfare 2
• tekken 6
• fight night round 4
• skate 2

my other list of games that i am going to pick up as soon as i get steady income

• resident evil 5
• street fighter 4
• infamous
• uncharted 1
• uncharted 2
• heavenly sword
• god of war 3
• final fantasy xiii
• ff versus
• mafia 2
• resistance 1
• resistance 2
• assasins creed 2
• gran turismo 5 (full game)
• fallout 3

and when some games get cheaper, i hope to collect (since i am a collector at heart) all AAAe titles from sony....so sony better continue to do a good job in delivering to us some great content

edit: oh incase you are interested in watching my skate montage...here it is

ok so its been awhile since ive done this. been going through more ish in my life, but i have been gaming quite a bit. here are some of the games i've been playing

skate ps3- ok so i should be writing a review since i finished this game in 3 sessions. first things first, it was tons of fun. no other game feels close to the excitement in skating than this game. great animation, the environment feels like a living breathing city and the outdoor spots felt great.

i can talk about how good this game is, but some things were frustrating. For a game that touts that its realistic, they demand multipliers reminiscent of thps series. some of the missions can get frustrating because of the analog control isn't always accurate. my biggest gripe is having to complete vids later in the game. you have to get some ridiculous scores for a 30 second clip and having to grab and do grinds and getting air. also can i get more apparel from nike. fun game, but there are some flaws...7.5 for me

sonics ultimate genesis collection- oh man this is an instant pick up. with soo many classic games you can spend a month completing each game. sonic games are still fun. streets of rage is still decent. the best part of this collection other than nostalgia is that the rpg's still play well. anyone looking for great value in a game, or a retro gamer or want to find a good collection of retro games should pick it up.

fight night round 4- ok so i got the pre-order demo. there are a lot of improvements. one is the physics. being able to fight up close and have glancing blows is awesome. punches are sick and really look like it hurt. commentary got waaaay better. with teddy atlas joining the booth, you get background commentary and analysis and the back and forth banter that brings a whole new level of authenticity.the boxing is intense. you can unleash 8 punch fluries. closing in is easier so in fighters aren't outgunned. also you can bob and weave. the corner is much more interesting because your performance in a round can replenish health, stamina, or reduce facial damage. also they have individual power in individual pants...there is also hand speed rating.

graphically, pacmans face is really accurate. one thing i don't like is the color scheme or pallete that they used. i thought fn3 had better choice of colors....the colors in rd4 are a little bright. i don't know how else to describe it...but its pure opinion. good thing is that there are no clipping issues that i saw so thats a good thing.

some things that i found odd, is that they took out parry's but they replaced it with a block that opens you up to a brief counter which is indicated by animations. its not bad, but its odd that its still there. also its hard Not to get into a slugging match. punches are so quick so that defensive minded players (like me) have an uphil battle. in my 12 3 round matches, hattons connect dipped under 50% 2x...while fn3 i cause 30% connect rate for the opponent frequently. there are still haymakers...its faster...so you still going to have to deal with uppercuts and hooks turn haymakers...haymaker counters are devastating...so watch out.

every gamer has to have a specialty. may it be racing, sports, rpg's, action, fps or fighting games, there is one genre that a gamer is better at than other genre's. i can vividly remember my first game i was ever good at.

i was 17 (yes i know thats kind of old to start being good at a game, but i was a casual gamer before then) and i remember playing tony hawk pro skater 1 demo for ps1. i wasn't a skater or anything, but something about that game just called to me. suffice to say i spent 18 hours practicing on the game (ended up ditching school just to play it). none of my friends could beat me consistently. sure they would beat me once in awhile, but 90% of the time, i dominated. skipped on thps 2, but got back on thps3 because of this guy, who i taught how to play thps1, got the best of me (barely got the game for a week). so once again i put in time...destroyed him, so i was, at least among the circle of my friends, king of the hill.

i dropped the whole skating game genre because they radically changed the physics system and gameplay. no more timers, different challenges...all that ruined my gameplay experience. it was more realisitc, but it lost the magic that i loved. thps4 and thug was boring so i forgot about the whole genre...

fast forward to yesterday. i was looking for demo's to dl, and was browsing around and i came across skate. i heard good things about it...but was hesitant because thug kind of turned me off to the genre. i jumped in anyway. i started playing the demo @ 10:30....i didn't stop playing til 4 in the mornin. i got bit! i enjoyed customizing the skater and tried a lot of different outfits. but what got me was the trick system. it wasn't a bunch of button pressed combo centric game, jeff gerstman was right, it felt organic and natural. the tricks were soo cool and soo rewarding to pull of. i kinda felt like i was skating. the graphics were awesome, almost everything about that game is awesome. so i'm going to add skate 1 and skate 2 to my gaming library soon...

a side note. i don't trust demo's for the most part. star wars force unleashed left a bitter taste in my mouth. i can't believe that a good demo like that turned soo freaking frustrating. with that said, skate was such a great enough demo that i have to be convinced despite my reservations.