Just Finished Packing

So i spent the last few hours packing my suitcase and hang luggage for my trip. I'm really only bringing clothes money and chocolate, not sure what else you need. My hand luggage is full of sweets and my DSs along with their games.

Tomorrow i'm popping out before i set off to buy a collection of Lovecraft's short stories to read, and Ocarina of Time 3D. These should keep me company for the journey

Duke of Edinburgh

Tomorrow and the day after i will be spending all day at my school practicing for my DofE(Duke of Edinburgh) expeditions. For those of you who don't know what this program is, it's something you can do in your spare time and you get awards for it after, many universities accept these awards(in the UK) and can add alto to your reputation.

There are three levels you can do this at, Bronze, Silver and Gold. At this moment i am doing silver which involves me to do 6 months of a skillful activity, which i have done my drum lessons, 3 months of a physical activity where i played badminton and 6 months of charity work which i have yet to find somewhere to do that in. So currently I've done my skills and physical work, but have yet to start charity.

Now another part of DofE is the expeditions, i have a practice and a final. They consist of sleeping 3 nights and 2 days walking. I will pretty much just be camping and then walking and that's it. Each day I'll be walking 16km.

So if any of you have any suggestions for charity work or helpful ideas for my expeditions such as easy meals or anything which would benefit me then i would love to hear about it, or if any of you have done this before.

Burnout Paradise

So as part of the welcome back package for Playstation 3 owners you got a 30 day membership to playstation plus and a choice of 2 games. Well if you check out the playstation plus store then you will find that Burnout Paradise is free to download, so if you want even more free games then go ahead.

I've never really been fond of car games but the only one i ever liked was Burnout Revenge for the PS2. I used to play it all the time, try to get the best scores i could, i never got round to completing it 100% though. And due to this game I've always wanted to get Burnout Paradise but after seeing the style of this game i avoided it. Since you drive around the city doing missions you find a traffic lights, it's too free roamy compared to Revenge which had a set of challenges and levels that you worked your way up. But as the game was free i downloaded it to give it a go, and I've got to say i like it.

My car, 90% of the time

I still dislike the way you find and accept missions, but it's unique and interesting. Just not my cup of tea. Now I've never saw the obsession some people have with cars, and to be frank i still don't. But my class of car in this game is Stunt. For me, speed is too fast and with you constantly boosting you're not really having much fun because you have to stick in the middle of the road and you don't get to do any cool tricks or see the scenery. Then there's Aggressive with isn't too bad, but in racers i don't really like sticking with the competition, i want them so far behind they're not even on my map. So i went with stunt, this gives me a flexible amount of boost to work with, i can drift all i want and most of the time with i tap into a citizen car i don't instantly become Wrecked. Also in races i can go every shortcut i can find and do double barrel rolls until i can practically hear Slippy begging for me to do another.

Games for long trips

So to get to Germany next week i'll be getting a train, and then a plane. So i'll need something to occupy my time with. I'll be bringing my 3DS, DS and PSP so if any of you know any great games i could bring with me then please let me know. I'm already thinking of replaying The World Ends With You, but i haven't touched my DS in ages so haven't got any up to date games on there.

Bioshock

So in preparation for Bioshock Infinite I've been replaying the original Bioshock, well also because it's a brilliant game. The whole atmosphere was broke down in the sequel, don't get me wrong, it was still a really good game. But it just lacked something that the original had. Much like what happened with Dead Space and Dead Space 2. For example in the originals there was a sense that every corner you turned there would be enemies hiding round the corners, waiting to slaughter you and jump out on purpose to scare you. The enemies were there to add to the whole feel of the game. Whereas in the sequels to both the series the enemies were just there to be fought, just there as something to waste your ammo on. If i wanted something to waste my ammo on i would be sitting there shooting walls that look at me funny.

I wish i had this in my bedroom

Enough about those two games, more about the original, so would you kindly read on. I started a new game on survivor mode(the hardest mode) today after previously completely it on normal difficulty. I decided to skip hard mode and go straight onto the worst there was, i needed a challenge to occupy my time with, and i can honestly say this is time well spent. Apart from perhaps having to restart from my most recent save every time i die(which is a lot) since i have Vita Chambers(checkpoints) turned off.

I've got to say, going through the damp corridors of Rapture knowing that everything is waiting for you, and will in fact kill you very easily adds to the atmosphere. Those Big Daddys that were troublesome to take down before, well lets just say, avoiding them is just as scary this time, knowing that they can actually kill you in one hit if you do as much as breathe in the general direction of their little one. As i foolishly found out earlier.

So if you haven't played this game before then go out and get it, it's a classic and should not be overlooked just because of it's sequel. And if you have played it before and have any tips on surviving Rapture then please, drop me a comment.

Update & Ninja Gaiden 3

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, i was out all night so didn't get round to writing anything. Also from next saturday i will be going away to Germany with my friends for a week, and most likely won't have internet so i won't be able to stay in touch with all of you. Sorry.
However i will try to write some posts and set them to automatically publish themselves, along with removing comment moderation so you can all still read and comment. As soon as i get back i will be sure to make a post telling you all about what the trip was like.
Now onto Ninja Gaiden.

Now i've never really been a fan of Ninja Gaiden, it just hasn't appealed to me, but since it's footage from E3 it kind of caught my attention. All of these very American war and battle games recently have just flooded the game industry, with things like Call of Duty and Battlefield dominating the charts. I don't have anything against these, apart from my little brother in the room next to me screaming down the microphone at people for about 8 hours a day, he tries to reassure me that they all deserve it, but i really don't think they're the ones bringing the team down. As in all honesty, he sucks ass at any game that requires input from a human.

The World Ends With You

This is by far my favourite game for the Nintendo DS. If i could recommend any game that is a must play to you, it's got to be this. The story, music, game play and everything about it is just so spectacular and brilliant, I can't even remember how many times I've played this.

Duke Nukem

So many of you have been asking for this game review, so here it is! And you can bet that everything that you wanted for christmas, is in here. From monster trucks and beer to strip clubs, naked slime chicks hanging from the ceiling while being totured and of course your favourite; walls that have slappable tits on. Really, what else could you want?

Responses to Suggestions

I'm very grateful for all of your feedback about what upcoming games you want to hear about. And some of you even want to hear about retro or indie games. Well i'll see what i can do to try and satisfy all of you.

You all want to hear about the long awaited Duke Nukem, so i'll make sure that my next post is about that, and then after i might talk about Diablo 3.
Now below are all of my responses to the questions i received.

Suggestions

So I'm a bit lacking for inspiration on what upcoming games to review and give me opinion on. So this is where you lot come in.
Simply drop me a commenting suggesting an upcoming game you want me to find information about or you want to know my opinion of and I'll give it to you. I'll try and get through as many comments as i can in my next few posts.

Or alternatively you can just tell me your favourite game(s). I'm always interested in what you have to offer and of what you think, so let me know what games you enjoy playing, and if you want tell me why you like them.
Can't wait for your responses :)

Mass Effect 3

So commander Shepherd warned everyone that the Reapers were coming for Earth, but no-one listened. I bet they feel foolish now. Anyway to fix their slight problem they've sent the exact person they ignored to get the job done, unlucky Shepherd, maybe you can have a break next game, or not. Anyone that has saw played Mass Effect 1 or 2 and saw the trailer for 3 will know that the game play styles are all identical. So then there's the question of what is new?

Well first off the main new feature in this game is Kinect, as Microsoft were throwing this new gadget at every upcoming development for the Xbox 360 it was bound to collide with this huge series. So now that you have a fancy camera and microphone at your disposal what can you do? Well I'll tell you one thing, you can't use the camera in the game, so now we're just left with an overpriced microphone, and what else can you do with that than shout abuse at your team mates and command them around, well you can also shout abuse at any NPC in the game using the same dialogue system as the previous 2 games. Sounds like fun doesn't it, I'm just glad i won't have to flail my arms round trying to dent planet sized Reapers.

Kirby Wii

Yes, another Kirby game! If you think you had enough Kirby in the last post about Kirby Mass Attack then think again because he's back and more classic than ever(apart from in the classics) in this side scrolling, power-stealing adventure!

Kirby Mass Attack

This game was briefly shown at the end of Nintendo's E3 conference, well when i say briefly i mean the logo appeared at the very end, it was hardly noticeable, but still it was there.

This game concentrates on not one, but a whole bunch of small Kirbys, the more the merrier right? Well according to Nintendo, yes. So during this game instead of controlling just the one pink bundle you can lead a horde around, pummeling enemies, and
wreaking havoc on any vegetables that are in sight.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

This of course is a sequel to the popular Final Fantasy XIII which was released last year. It carries on from the end of the first game and generally looks the same. The areas, the monsters, the movement and the battle system are all practically identical apart from a few new extras which play a vital part in the story. As a first there is a new main character, Noel. Not much is known about him, apart from his impressive skills with his blades and that he enjoys Serah's company and travels with her by his side, it isn't quite clear whether he has a mission to perform, or if he just wants to get some.

Alice: Madness Returns

So this game comes out on the 16th of June, for pc, ps3 and 360. I've been looking forward to it for quite awhile and intend on buying it on the ps3 on release. But before that i need to play American Mcgee's Alice!

I've seen so many trailers on this, and the insane dark demented vision of Wonderland appeals to me so much. This story of Alice is my kind of story, no soft journey down the rabbit hole, but a mental leap through nightmares.

 

Bioshock Infinite

I honestly can't wait for this game, the first two were just brilliant. I prefer the first's storyline and areas, but the second's controls and weapons. Because on of the best parts of the game was from wandering round the dark and damp corridors of Rapture, with the fear of splicers jumping out at you from every nook and cranny. This was partly lost in the sequel due to it being a bit more fast paced. Similar to Dead Space and Dead Space 2.
Here is the trailer from E3.

Nintendo

So i thought Nintendo's conference was pretty good. I liked all the new games for the 3DS, as really there are no games out for it currently. None worth buying or playing anyway.
During their conference they talked about a new Mario Kart, Mario, Kid Icarus, Luigi's Mansion 2, Star Fox, Zelda OoT and Zelda Four swords. I'm going to need to start saving up for all of these. Especially the new Smash Brothers they quickly spoke about.
And then the newly named Wii U was given a few titles, really the only ones i'm looking forward to are Assassin's Creed and Darksiders 2. But i'm sure many of you out there will be gleaming over Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, Batman, Dirt, Metro, Alien and that Ghost Recon which pretty much snuck into every conference.
And even though it wasn't shown here is the Wii U, however this is not it's confirmed final design.

Sony

Got to say that Sony sure did do a good show, by far the best presented and also a good range of games. The new PSP Vita looks brilliant, and only $299, guess they've finally learnt their lesson and lowered prices!
I'm not sure what was up with that DJ at the end, i really doubt anyone that would go to E3 would be into that. Anyway tomorrow is Nintendo, can't wait to hear about the Wii 2. It's going to be great, but i'm not sure whether they can top Sony. They were very impressive.

EA and Ubisoft

So EA were surprising good for me. Reckoning and Overstrike, with that red head and her trench coat <3 got me. Very surprised and can't wait to hear more Overall i was very impressed and didn't think their games would be that good, i would give them an A.
However Ubisoft, just really, what was going on. Such a terrible lineup, Revelations was good and i was pleased to see that, but the rest were just disappointing. Personally i thought Ea would be bad and Ubisoft good, but boy was i wrong.

E3!

So the microsoft conference has just finished. What did you guys think? Kinect everywhere! Got to say i wasn't so fond of it before due to the lack of control over the character, but Fable and Ghost Recon's demos were very appealing. The magic bolts flying across the screen and those gestures for the guns. I think i might go out and get kinect just for that!
So what would you rate their conference as? I'm going for a B, overall it was alright but nothing that new, Gears of War looked exactly the same and so did Mass Effect. However i will still get both.

Back To Exams Tomorrow

So this is the last day of my one week break from exams, it was good while it lasted i guess.
So i just have a maths exam tomorrow, should be revising for it, but i don't think i will. I'll most likely get an A* in it, definitely an A anyway. So nothing to worry about.
Just going to spend this day relaxing so there's no stress before hand. I finished watching all of House and Desperate Housewives so i'm currently out of things to watch.
So what do you recommend to watch, tv shows, films, anime or anything?

The Start

So this is just going to be a blog mainly about my life. First post, what to put, what to put.
Well currently i'm on half term, got two more days left then i'm back to exams. So i'm hoping these next days will go slowly. Just going to chillout with my friends and relax. Then straight back i'll revise, only got three exams left, 2 maths and 1 RS. Should be a piece of cake though, not too hard.
The new X-men film came out a few days ago, need to go see that sometime, first i think i'll rewatch the previous x-mens to restart my memory.