The nForce 750 SLI came in almost a week ago, but the case was purchased yesterday. This isn't the exact design, but it's very similar to what I got.

I found it funny that the case says "Crafted Gaming Armor" in the front of it. Just made it feel even more special

Now there's still a fan, heatsink and processor to get, which we may be able to get the coming week. Probably a new internal HDD as well, and maybe another DVD drive.

I haven't been able to post a decent blog in a while becasue of school. To speak on that subject, it's starting to get a little hit and miss. I'm to have a story written for my monday class every week now, and there are other assignments on top of that that still need to be complete from other classes.

In short, it's messy.

On another subject, in a recent blog I stated that I was going to get a DSi about 2 weeks ago. That is no longer the case. I thought to myself: Instead of having another distraction in your life, why not just improve on the distration you're dealing with now? I've just about had the same PC for a little more than two years now, and while it still manages to play all the games I want, it's time for the inevitable overhaul.

So with the help of a Tigerdirect sale, I ordered just a EVGA nForce 750i SLI Mobo for now. Because it's becoming a little tight financially, I still need to get a decent processor and a new PC case to go with the new mobo and the parts I already have. I've stayed with a lousy Pentium D for too long now, and it's starting to show its age with its recent performance in certain games. So right now, this is step one.

Once I get all the parts I'll be happy to know that my PC will actually be decent. It'll go great with Windows 7, which from what I've experienced so far, is everything that Vista should have been.

.

GAMES!!!

Despite my initial disappointment with the demo of this game, I purchased it last week (Steam account getting bigger and bigger) and have been very impressed by it so far. The newly added game mode, The Last Stand, is simply awesome. There is only one map so far, but it's a lot of fun, its challenging, and of course, rewarding. Like every Relic game before it.

For the people who don't know what it is, the concept is simple: You and two others co-op in defeating wave after wave of enemies (i.e. Orks and Eldars) and drive back as many as you can before the inevitable crushing defeat. You level up and obtain new abilities as you go as well.

While I feel that I'm not even close to ready in online matches, I'm starting to get used to the game's un-traditional RTS design, and it truly is something unique in a good way. I can easily understand why people would not like this one though. I was one of them, because I was expecting a true sequel to the original DoW at first. You just learn to appreciate what Relic aimed at, and you'll see that they've succeeded.

.

I'm also playing through GTA 4 again, this being my 4th time go-round. Each time I finished the game, I apply more restrictions to myself when I go through it again, just to see how realistic I can make it out to be. Here's the layout:

1st Playthrough (Murderous edition) - Since it was the first time it was mainly reckless. Pedestrians mowed and killed, stealing a lot of cars, all weapons, completely contradicting Niko and the storyline.

2nd Playthrough (Career criminal edition) - Start to take cabs for easy transport, no picking on pedestrians unless they start it, still mad car theft, all weapons, complete chaos still ensued.

3rd Playthrough (Moral edition) - No killing pedestrians whatsoever, frequent cab ridings, steal only parked cars, all weapons, chaos in a controlled, delicate manner.

This is the one now:

4th Playthrough (Professional edition) -No killing pedestrians, no car theft unless absolutely necessary, mainly cab ridings or driving vehicles used during a previous mission, limit to a pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle, using other weapons only if they're given to you in a mission.

On top of the current playthrough, I also have to do the optional jobs while on the main story. IMO putting yourself in these imaginary restrictions make for an awesome time. It's like pinning yourself into an urban, realistic crime drama. The intensity is just there.

.

Other stuff:

1. Stopped playing Dragon Rising. Reason? Occupied with other games.
2. Playing through Deus Ex again, and the experience is much more different than the original sty1e I played with.
3. Installed Mass Effect again to prep my character for the second. I'm going to make him the biggest A-hole the universe has ever seen.
4. Stopped playing Red Faction G. Reason? The game is just getting repetitive, and it's running very poorly on Win 7, whereas when I had XP installed it ran fine.
5. Stopped playing Plants Vs Zombies. Reason? Save file erased due to formatting.
6. I don't think Arkham Asylum is crashing anymore on my PC. I'm going to try again.

I'm not even a couples of months in my first year of Journalism, yet now we're starting to work on full-fledged stories, having to interview people about a topic we've picked in class. I picked unemployment, becasue my city has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada. This requires me to find employment records over the recent months, as well as conducting a couple of interviews at the places I'm going, which is City Hall, a concession building right behind my school, and a Youth employment agency. It's exciting, but also overwhelming a little.

Then yesterday I was at the superior court for a smaller assignment. It was a long day, but also very interesting, because the one I followed happened to end up on the front page of my local paper today. So I can say "I was there!!".

But that's how it is now. I can only imagine how crazier it's going to be.

Now as for gaming, I just finished the Butcher Bay remake last night. Never played the original. Overall it was a great experience, aside from a couple inconsistencies the game had (mostly in the beginning). The game stands the test of time, and the new engine has some incredible lighting effects. Now I'm playing through Dark Athena, and just kicked it off right after BB. I'm most likely going to write reviews again and this will be the first if so