I don't know what brought me back to gamespot. I didn't really have time to keep up with it after I started working my full time job. I've been gaming on a semi-regular basis, although I haven't had the time to do as much playing as I would've liked. I missed the community here, and was somewhat saddened to see that my SSBB friends pages were pretty much dormant now (more on SSBB later).

To get you guys up to date, I've been working mostly; still for a major SEC university where one of my responisibilities, among others, is the management and supervision of the university's student union gameroom. That's right, games is my job. It's interesting to be apart of a gaming community after being active on gamespot for so long. On here, we give our opinions, argue and speculate on what the realities of the gaming universe are. In the gameroom, I've got a very clear picture of what those realities are. The demographic is 18-25 year old people, mostly males, of varying interests in gaming. Some play recreationally, some play occasionally, and some religiously. It's a much more accurate depiction of what the general populus' gaming habits are than arguments between the mostly heavy-duty gaming community here on gamespot.

My responsibilities are to hire & fire workers, pick hardware & software, make purchases, manage a checkout process, and keep things running smoothly in every way possible. Most of my time goes toward making sure the workers are doing their job. For anybody who has to supervise people, you understand how frustrating it can be to have to constantly make sure that people are doing what they're supposed to do. What's frustrating for me is that the job is so simple that not doing the job correctly is just plain...lazy. I'm a nice boss, so we haven't had any firings for lack of performance. We have meetings, talk everything out with the whole staff, and problems usually get corrected. Unfortunately, most people are not inherently law-abiding and likely to follow rules on their own accord. People need supervision. I've got about 10 gameroom workers and 3 of them are outstanding. They enforce rules as it relates to the students, they follow rules dictated to the staff by myself and the other gameroom supervisor, and they do so proactively. The other 7 are interchangeable. I love them as people, but as workers, I could swap them out and have it be exactly the same.

The experience is really fun though. Sometimes I can just pick what the pre-ordained "hits" are going to be, put them on a system, and it's a success. Sometimes we actually have to consider what games would be the biggest draw based on what we know about our existing gameroom crowd. A game like Wii Sports Resort draws the passers-by and girls, but the regulars are affixed on 3 genres: FPS(Halo 3 [ODST]-COD:MW2), Fighting (Tekken 6-MvC2-SFIV-) and Super Smash Bros Brawl. Of course I know that SSBB isn't its own genre, but you wouldn't know it by being in that room when it's being played. The Brawl station is consistently crowded and almost always competitive. As I had had my fun organizing the friend list forum for Brawl here on GS, I of course took a liking to the Brawl station. And much as is the case with any other game, good competition makes you better. I love the competitive spirit, and the mulititude of skillful players that the game draws.

I hope to take some photos and put some details about the gameroom up in time. It's a really fun experience to say the least, especially since I get to play games for a couple of hours a day...and get paid for it. It's good to be back. Is anybody still playing Brawl? Anybody!?!?

Well, I've finally finished Foklore. I'll be posting my review before the end of the week. It was somewhat underwhelming, but the full scoop will be in the review. Besides that, I'm seriously considering buying Soul Caliber IV. I love fighting games, and I need one that keeps me wanting to play it. Dragonball Z: Burst Limit gave me exactly what I thought it would: a great fighting system with subtle adjustments to it, some major differences, and an overall enjoyable experience. However, since most online matches are decent, some are laggy, and a handful are just unplayable, it's not something I look forward to playing. Playing friends locally was fun for a day or so, but I soon became significantly better than them and no competition is just no fun.

So here's my plan: Trading in Folklore and DBZ: Burst Limit toward credit on Soul Caliber IV. I might play DBZ for the next couple of days just to get my fill, and then say my farewells. I won't be too sad though, since it'll be back in a much more feature laden sequel in the next year and a half or so. My only qualms about purchasing a fighter at this point are the heavily anticipated alternatives to Soul Caliber: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV. Same series, but completely different fighting systems to get used to, and I plan to invest a heavy amount of time in both. If I really enjoy Soul Caliber IV, then that's the game I'll want to run constantly and be looking forward to jumping online to play. And if that's the case, I won't want any part in another $60 fighter. I'll most likely settle for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and miss out on Street Fighter IV, at least for a little while. I've never been one to spring for a game just because its new. I've still yet to play Heavenly Sword, DMC4, Grand Theft Auto, or MGS4; all of which I planned to own before I owned a PS3.

I'd like some recommendations about Soul Caliber IV, so if you've played it, let me know how it feels.

E3 is gone and has left me, a PS3 and Wii owner, with a bitter taste in my mouth. With the PS2's dominance of the market and surplus of RPGs, it was a natural assumption that its predecessor would come with plenty of pull on the Japanese favored genre. Too bad that was an incorrect assumption. Not only has the PS3 seen little to no RPGs whatsoever, but Xbox 360, the FPS paradise, has seen more RPG releases and exclusives, including former PS2 exclusive titles, than its archrival PS3.

Disappointed? Of course I am. I thought it only natural that since SquareEnix had such a great working relationship with PS2 that they would be supplying games out of the wazoo for it's younger brother. Unfortunately, Sony's arrogance may have gotten the best of them and, consequently, the best of us. The biggest blow for me may have been Star Ocean 4's 360 exclusivity. I loved the last installment of the series and felt it was underrated by many. And having invested good money in Sony's flagship product, I have absolutely no plans to pony up for a 360.

FFXIII loses its exclusivity and I start questioning what the hell Sony was thinking. Microsoft proved something that we knew was vital to business, but downplayed the importance of since our little hearts get wrapped up in the product of this industry: Money talks. The Japanese PS3-only news lets me know that the end result won't be a stunted FF installment, so I'm not too shaken up by the announcement. I am a little disappointed, however, that the selection of games I was told were going to be exclusive to my platform of choice has slowly dwindled into...well, MGS4.

Nintendo gave me little to nothing to cheer about either, as their press conference yielded nothing but old news, a respectable attempt to silence critics of Nintendo's lack of voice chat (*tilts hat*), and an array of community titles that scream "give me your money middle aged people". Wii Sports Resort may have been good news if the motion plus peripheral hadn't been added. So basically, if I want to the enjoy the sequel to the Wii's biggest hit via its revolutionary interface, I have to purchase an attachment which makes it as accurate as it should have been to begin with (for multiplayer purposes), and going forward, I have to own this attachment for future games to play as the developer intends? And the resort game includes throwing a frisbee to a dog? How is that a sport!? What made Wii Sports so great was that it featured competitive, familiar sports that were easy to play. The sequel can make no such claim, only featuring easy to play "sports". The sword fighting does look interesting, but I'm not excited about having to buy another nintendo peripheral to do so. And to add insult to injury, they still haven't included, or at least haven't announced, online play. Wii Sports would've have been infinitely more valuable if the simple gameplay and intense competition could've been transfered over Nintendo WFC. Not that the games in the sequel are comparable to the package that was put together in the original, but the effort would've been nice. After showing an excellent effort on Mario Kart's Wi-Fi, there's simply no excuse for a mediocre or missing online component.

Now, let's look at the +.

The PS3 is turning out to be the media module that I expected it would be and more. I've downloaded games onto my PS3 expecting to get a diversion from the disc-based games I had purchesed. What I got instead was a game that I can't stop playing. PixelJunk Monsters, as a $16 game when including the expansion pack (which doubled the game), has been the game I've played the most this gen. I've owned and played Ratchet & Clank and Folklore, two games with limited playability due to their story format. I've owned and played Super Mario Strikers: Charged (which comes in a close second), SSBB, Mario Kart, and a Dr Mario Game that is earning more of my time. PixelJunk Monsters has presented me with the greatest challenge of any game that I've personally owned this gen. And what's more, it was the second least expensive. In the same vain, I've started to look for downloadable games that will give me the most playability.

The PS3 has also impressed me with its movie store. I was never a big proponent of getting up and leaving the house and going to the video store. Why? I just always felt like a rental was a stay at home affair. If I really wanted to leave the house, I'd go see a movie. --- Sidenote: GO SEE BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT --- But with this feature, I decide what I want to watch, purchase and download it without entering any information, and the download starts immediately. All I have to do is wait about 30 mintues for the download to get to about 50% (for the typical standard definition movie...HD takes a LONG time) and I'm watching a movie. I usually use the 30 mintue head start to ready the snacks, take a leak, and grab the blanket (you know...for the lady). The quality is great. You would've never know that it wasn't a DVD. Actually, the SD plays better than an upscaled DVD. The HD video is amazing. This is a very useful feature that I plan on using on a regular basis.

I guess that's all of my gaming thoughts for now. If you wish to test my resolve in Dr Mario online, please send me your FC and I'll give you mine. The same goes for Mario Kart...I'm getting pretty good at that game.