I noticed it's been about five or six months since I've thrown one of these "blog" posts up; I was poking around on my profile and it kept bothering me that the link to the header image on my newest blog post was nonfunctional. Lately I've been caught up in the swath of infighting following the soon-to-be collapse of my gaming clan, WMD (wmd-clan.com). A lot of upper-echelon members and community awesome-people (I fall into the latter and dabble in the former from time to time) are scrambling to get something new set up before the servers go down December 1, but already certain people disagree with how everything is being done. Needless to say, some people won't be invited to our new home.

As far as gaming goes, I'm up to my eyes with games to play, games I want to play, and games I need to finish. I'll be spending a lot of time on TF2 before the clan falls apart just so I can play one last time with all the old people. (Still a month off, but I mean come on...it's TF2!) My recent purchases/investments into the PC gaming market include:

It was $5 this past weekend on steam. How could I say no? I've been wanting to try this out for some time now, and with such a great deal my credit card was out before I could argue with myself. I've only played through the tutorial, but so far I have high hopes. I can't wait to try the multiplayer!

I got this on a whim, mostly because I enjoy a good gaming world to play around in. I'm three or so hours in, and so far it's enjoyable. I didn't expect it to be so much like GTA though -in fact I didn't really know what to expect- but my only qualms so far are several of the early missions which are strict trial-and-error and one trip up results in instant failure (specifically the mission involving the re-theft of a girl's chemistry notes from a locker in the girl's locker room). Nonetheless, I do enjoy the game's mechanics and the freshness of the world.

Yeah yeah, laugh it up. I've watched the first season and a half and although I came in expecting the king-nerd of all sci-fi shows, I was impressed by the quality and especially the cinematography.It's a shame this is all we get. 45 minutes in, I'm halfway done and stuck at the lamest of all missions: attempting to outscore my wing mates while shooting at drones. I tried for 15 minutes, then when I realized I'd spent a quarter of my entire game experience on this one mission, I quit and played Bully.

This one surprised me. After all the negative publicity and bashing of it on the forums, I expected a crappy Warcraft 3 remake. It is so much more than that. I dug up a copy after a friend got hooked on WAR, and so far I've been more than impressed after six or seven hours of gaming. It does chug a bit on my sub-par system from 2004, but the blood and sheer amazingness of the graphics make me want to play more and more. This one, assuming it doesn't take 50 hours or something absurd, will get conquered.

I just had to try it for myself. Honestly, I don't find all that many faults with it that are as horrendous as the forums make it seem. The lack of any XP system is the real drawback, since it makes exploring any ancillary rooms looking for loot or to slay monsters in the hopes of a level-up all but worthless. In fact, after four or five hours of gameplay, I really feel no compulsion to finish this one out. It's not bad, it's simply that it's not great enough for me to put aside potentially-awesome titles for this one. I mean, the graphics are great and the environments are detailed, but the lack of XP/loot and a really annoying camera make this one that I doubt I'll finish. We shall see.

I've been plodding along in Titan Quest since May. Every now and again I'll pop in the ebay-acquired CDs and hack my way through a few hours of the main quest. I just got to Babylon after maybe 20 hours of swords and magic, and every step of the way has been amazing. I would have beat this one months ago, but I have to be in a certain mindset to play this or I become quickly annoyed. But so far, this one's a 9.0 at least.

Once I get back to my apartment I'll look on my desktop and see five or so other games I meant to put here. Hopefully I'll remember to update this list before another five months roll around... By then I hope to have purchased a new system, or at least a new mobo, CPU, and RAM for this one (I hope my 7600GT can power these new games, but all indications point to me needed a dx10 card...we'll see if my bank account likes that idea). Well so long for now.

Addendum:

I knew there would be more; regardless, these are some more games that I'm in the process of fighting through

I played through this one about five years ago (well, maybe four). I've become re-fascinated with the Third Reich and its evil-doings, including [and mainly] its paranormal activities. I picked up "Stalin's Silver" from Half Price Books, and with the new "Valkyrie" movie looming on the horizon, I figured now would be as good a time as any to re-conquer Himmler and his baddies. I'm only on the second mission, but the Quake III engine isn't quite as mezmerizing as I remember it being. The gameplay is also much less refined when compared to contemporary games, and involves running, shooting, and lots of time spent hunting for the next door. All said, It's still superb.

I've played every Command & Conquer game excluding Retaliation (PSX), Zero Hour, Yuri's Revenge, Sole Survivor, and Kane's Wrath. That sounds like I'm missing out on quite a lot of C&C lore, but when considering the full list, it is only a small helping -Command & Conquer [Tiberian Dawn], Covert Operations, Red Alert, Counterstrike, The Aftermath, Red Alert 2, Firestorm, Renegade, C&C3, Generals, and I believe that sums it up. Not to mention Dune 2, 2000, and Emperor which are made by Westwood and follow the same vein of gameplay. That being said, Red Alert 3 is outstanding; it's almost as if Westwood reanimated, infiltrated the offices of EA, and developed this personally. Everything shines with that special sheen we all came to love before the monsters of Electronic Arts splooged cash and closed down the most hallowed studios of all time (ahead of Bullfrog and others). 

I was hesitant, for sure, to venture into the PC sports market after the disaster that was Madden 08...and that NBA Live 06 was beyond subpar. But now, with 2K9, basketball has come to the PC again with all the glitz of its console counterparts. There isn't much to do, but the graphics are stupendous and the gameplay shines with energy. I'll review this one shortly, after I poke around more of the features.