For those that may be on the fence about gettting Battlefield Bad Company, today I put together a short video of some game play, this is only a very small sample. I also did a speed run on a mission today, you can check in out in my video section if you like... ahhh what the heck, how about I just put it here!

So it's been a while since my last v-blog, figued I would get everybody caught up on a few games. ****** BREAKING NEWS****** We either just had an earthquake here, or Godzilla is coming up from the ground! As I was type this, my monitor started to move side to side...........!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well, it's been 5 minutes now since that little event, I see nothing outside, or hear any weird reports on the radio. No clue what might have happened. Any way, have a safe and fun 4th of July weekend to all GS memembers that may be in the states.

War

I'm not sure how to write this blog, I have about a quadrillion thoughts racing around my mind, smashing into each other and disrupting my train of thought. I am not even sure I can translate what, or how I am feeling, but I will do my best. This is kind of long, so if you don't have time, come back again when you do.

The title of this blog, "Gaming is anti-social? I beg to differ" might not really be the best one I could have picked, but I did not want to scare anybody away with a title like "When a gamer dies" And that is really what this is all about, but let me give you some background first.

Some of you may know, I am about to turn 40, and probably one of the "older" gamers here at GS. Not the oldest, but just getting ready to join that special group Any way, I want to take you back to let's say... 1983. Way back then, on any given weekend, or sunny summer afternoon, I could be found with a group of my neighborhood friends, playing baseball, kick the can, ghost in the grave yard, or even, Dungeons & Dragons! Yes that is right, I was a big D&D fan.

Back then, D&D was all the rage, even some of the more "popular" kids were playing. Even back then, games had their opponents. You could hear it from parents, and on the news, "D&D leads to little Johnny growing up to be a mass murderer" But hardly ever did you hear that, "10 kids got together this weekend and used their imaginations" Or " 200 kinds got together at a local library for a tournament and OMG.... MET NEW PEOPLE!" Nope, you only ever heard peoples miss conceptions about what they thought they new about something. In reality, this game was bringing more kids together, even the ones that maybe would have just stayed by themselves before, I was one of those kids.

So now fast forward to lets say...... 1993 (just to pick a year). People have now, for the most part, moved away from board games, and have dipped their toe into the electronic video game world. Initially, in a way, this was almost a step backwards for the social structure of games due to the simple fact that it was difficult to have a group of people sitting around a PC, and only one person could play at a time. So, people were a little more cut off from each other now, Johnny would sit at his pc in his house, while Timmy would be across the street in his room doing the same thing. BUT! Lucky for us, game developers started to incorporate "in game text chat" that would indirectly bring Timmy and Johnny back together, just via words on a screen.

Now move forward again a few more years, 1998. Now that the two friends were talking again via the keyboard, game devs and software devs decided that text was not good enough, so in-game, and stand alone voice chat programs were introduced. Now, people from all over the globe could communicate while they played games. Again, I was one of those people.

Go forward just one more year to 1999, remember we started in 1983. I found myself in the middle of a good, and bad life event. While living in Chicago at the time, I had been offered a job in Baltimore MD. This was good because I loved the company I was working for, but it was bad because leaving Chicago would not only take me away from family, but some very good close friends would be left behind, I decided to make the move anyway.

(Going to speed up a little here)

Once moved to Baltimore, I had lots of time on my hand so I picked up a little game called HL for the first time, and during a conversation with a co-worker, we realized that we both had interest in the same area, video/pc gaming, and to make a long story short ( I know, to late) two months after this first conversation we started a Gaming Clan. TGP - Techs Gone Postal was born. What stared with the two of us, soon grew to be a small community of people, probably about 30 or 40 at its highest point. About two years later, 2001, some of us that grew to be close friends via this clan of gamers, branched off into a game called Day Of Defeat, Basically about 12 of us started playing, and formed the clan KWI -- Killers with Issues, that to this day can still be found on the DoD battlefield.

Now, on to the real part of the story.

Having been a founding member of two clans, I have met TONS of people over the net while enjoying something we all had in common. And since 2001 when KWI was born, I have gotten to know many of its members on a very personal basis. Even though there are 7 states and 3 countries represented by it's members, I have had a chance to meet almost all of them, something I would not do if gaming was "anti-social" I would even go so far as to say that one or two of those members are as close as friends can be and I am very thankful to have had a chance to spend time with them.

I want to talk about one of our early members; he went by the gamer name of SssnakessS. I will be the first to admit, I was not really close with SssnakessS, and he is one of the only KWI members that I have not met, this is not to say I did not know him, just never met him, for what ever reasons, our paths just never seemed to line up to give us the opportunity to meet.

Any way, SssnakessS to me was always very polite, always willing to listen or help out if people were having issues with something, and ALWAYS had a very funny sense of humor. Well about two years ago, he broke the news to us that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and this is where I really saw the good in how close all of us had become. The troops rallied, helped him research this beast, listened quietly when he was down, and most of all, were there for him when he had the energy to game. One of our members who is a MD even spent private time with him, just to help sort through the overload of information he had been given. Unfortunately, SssnakessS lost the battle last month, and our community has lost a great member. SssnakessS was 58 when he left us.

The reason why I tell you this is because I feel that I never would have had a chance to meet so many great people if it were not for the love of this hobby we all share. People come here to GS to read about games, but I think what it ultimately leads to is making friends. Some people will leave it at making "acquaintances", just here commenting on blogs and talking via the forums, but others will make an effort to reach out and make new friends. I have only been really active here for about a year, but I can already tell there are people, that at some point, I will make an effort to visit.

Just few days ago, GS was down for a few hours, there was no access to the forums or anything, I nearly panicked, I felt like I was cut off from people that I really wanted to stay in touch with.

I guess what I am really trying to say here, is don't be afraid to go out and meet your fellow gamers, get to know their REAL names, this is a great social tool we have here and it should be used to it's fullest! Never pass up the opportunity to meet new people, and make new friends, you never know when that chance will pass you up.

Gaming is not anti-social, people are.

So as I mentioned in my last blog, I really had no big plans for the weekend, other then spending some quality time with some games. BTW, I did pick up Battle Field Bad Company, I will get to that more soon, but first I will tell you how my weekend was partially ruined

Friday afternoon, shortly after I said I had no plans, things were set into motion that would end up with a few friends coming over for a impromptu Margarita Party. No big deal, pick up a few things to eat at the store, stop and get some beverages, not a lot to do.

By the time I got home from work, the players were all there, already enjoying a few cold frosty adult beverages, so I jumped right in and started getting the food ready. As you probably all know, I just recently returned from a vacation where I had a chance to visit Germany, because of this, I figured I would treat our guest to some authentic German bratwurst served just the way we had it while on vacation.

I had the brats, and some chicken for those that knew they did not want the German goodness that I was going to cook on the grill, all ready to go. I headed downstairs and out into the back yard to where my shiny monster of a grill lives it's usual happy, un-disturbed life. I set down the plate, and preceded to prep the grill, this is where things went south.

During my attempt to start the grill, (yes, it's gas) I failed to see the flickering orange flames that normally roar out from underneath the brickets. I pushed the igniter button a few more times, still, no luck.. There could be only one reason for this, my propane tank must be empty...... but it was new tank, only used 3 times. I opened the doors to the storage area where the tank is kept, and to my SHOCK and utter surprise, the tank was GONE!!!! Someone stole my gas tank

This normally would irritate me, as it should, but would not have been as big of a deal if I found it missing BEFORE I went to use it, but now standing there with a plate full of food, and hungry people upstairs, now I was PISSED OFF! Some poor sap did not have the $20 to either get his refilled, or did not have a tank at all and did not want to spend the $60 it cost for a new one, so they decided to ruin my Friday evening. God, I really hate people some times.

Any way, I quickly recovered from this little derailment by running out the next morning to pick up BF Bad Company. To me, it looks like they are finally on the right path to bringing the full glory of the BF series to the console market. This game is light years above the last attempt, and brings an explosive goodness that is UNMATCHED by any other game. Plus, it has a great single player campaign that was missing from all previous releases. With awesome online fights, on HUGE maps, I can see this being on my most played list for a very, very long time. Will do a full review in a few days when I finish the single player stuff.

So the weekend is upon us, the weather looks like it will be perfect here this weekend so I plan on staying inside and spending some quality time getting to know my PS3 better, screw the golf course, that place is over rated!

Honestly, I feel like I am coming down from a "gaming high" after finishing MGS4, like there is nothing left to play, my gaming life is complete now. Really, I dusted off my 360 last night, and put in RainBow Six Vegas: 2, I had set it down a few months ago, not knowing how close to finishing it I was. So last night, after about 30 minutes of game play, RB6V2 came to a screeching halt, it might have been the most sudden ending to a game I have ever played. Over all , I enjoyed that game, I completed it on Realistic which made it pretty challenging. The good news is, I got 100 achievement points for finishing! After that I put in GTAIV and got another 30 pts for the ROLL OVER achievement, took me about 20 minutes. After that........ no more 360 games unless I pick up Bad Company this weekend, which I might do because that punk kid NeoJedi needs to get it handed to him on line

So back to the PS3. About 3 weeks ago my girlfriend surprised me with a small gift of Resistance Fall Of Man, I had heard so many great things about this game I figured at some point I would have to give it a shot. So last night, after finishing RB6V2 I put it in. My first impressions are....... It seems good, but kinda boring at the same time. The graphics are good, but IMO cartoony, and the story seems so so. Will have a full review after I finish it. I tired online too, very smooth, but seemed like not a whole lot of players were online.

Speaking online, I did a little experiment the other day. I downloaded the demo for NASCAR 09 simultaneously on my 360 and PS3 to see the difference in their download speeds. Let me just say, the 360 took about 15 minutes for a 620Mg file. I think I could have read War and Peace from front to back during the time it took the PS3 to complete the same process. Guess I know where I will always try my demos now.

That's it, have a great weekend, GAME ON!!!!!

Wulp, I guess it was bound to happen at some point, I got tagged. However, in my effort to kill this nasty bug that is going around GS, I will not tag anybody else

So, 10 things you might not know about me.....

1) I was 5hrs away from finishing up my private pilots license when I decided I had no interest in flying any more.

2) My girl friend is "famous". If you watch any amount of the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel or The History Channel you have probably seen her. Funny thing is, out of respect for her I will not tell you who she is

3) I have been to 10 other countries besides the U.S.A

4) I believe in alien life forms, and that they have visited our planet.

5) I actually enjoy my job, about 98% of the time.

6) I got to be on the movie set for the new Batman movie The Dark Knight for two scenes.

7) I once left my office at 1pm, flew from Baltimore to Chicago to watch a baseball game that evening, stayed up the entire night, flew back to Baltimore, was back in my office by 8:00am...... no sleep!

8 ) We have a cat named Monster. He is a Toyger (Tabby mixed wit Bengal Tiger)

9) If I could sit down to dinner with just one person from the past (besides my dad ) it would be Albert Einstein.

10) I have no time for people who are jealous, stupid, needy, fake, mean, racist, sexist, lazy or 9/11 conspiracy theorists.