Usually I can rely on SE to produce high quality, fun games. However, this generation, their offerings have been anything but high quality. They've released a few remakes that were lackluster, a few new titles with tons of bugsand poor gameplay, and have yet to produce anything that desirable. Maybe they are saving it all up for the next FF title, but it really reflects poorly on them to release so many busts.

Fallout 3, Fable 2, Resistance 2, Little Big Planet, Dead Space, and of course, Gears of War 2. All coming out so close to each other. What's a person to do? I have a feeling my wallet will be a little lighter after all is said and done.

I started off with Fallout 3 - given that I was a huge fan of the past versions. So far so good.

I've made several rants about the moderation system at GS in the past. Basically, I argued that moderators needed to loosen up and give the forumites the beneift of the doubt. For a while, it almost seemed like the forums were turning into some kind of authoritarian arena. Seemingly innocent infractions punished with excessive/over-the-top actions. No warnings, no attempt to reason or understand the poster, just power tripping beat downs.

However, recently I've noticed a change in philosophy. One that is very welcome. The forumites now seem to be getting the benefit of the doubt. I've had a couple of moderations over the last several months for questionable posts. Some probably crossed the line, some probably didn't. However, in none of those cases was my intention to troll the forums or create strife. Most of them were either a joke taken the wrong way or a heated comment during a debate. To their credit, the mods knew that as well. The post was deleted, a warning was given, and the day continued. No beat down. No suspension. No penalty. Simply good moderating.

I've always felt that the mods should be there to keep order. Prevent the forums from falling into chaos and curbing untoward behavior. It's generally pretty easy to spot a disruptive poster as they make their intentions obvious. Spamming the forums with garbage to disrupt and annoy users, spewing forth hate speech or blatantly disturbing images/rhetoric, etc. That's the stuff that moderators were made to clean up and regulate. An unregulated forum can quickly become an unpleasant place to be and I thank the mods for preventing that. Likewise, an overregulated forum can be just as unpleasant. So, I give my thanks to the mods for walking that fine line and showing me that they do respect the forum users. Thanks. It's noticed and appreciated.