Just a quick heads-up that earlier today we launched Under Review - an official GameSpot blog where our reviewers, myself included, plan to write about some of the games that we're working on ahead of posting the reviews proper. You won't find any early scores, and right now there's not much in the way of content, but I'm confident that this is one you'll want to bookmark at some point.

In other news, I'm playing far too much WoW at the moment - taking a break from the level 70 rogue that has pretty much become my main character at this point to level up a holy priest. I've also just started playing Crisis Core, which I'm enjoying a lot, though I must admit that the whole DMW thing has me baffled.

Oh, and I finally found a decent (though not great, maybe a 7.5/10) pizza delivery place close to the apartment that I moved into a few months ago - I endured all kinds of tasteless grease-covered crap along the way, but ultimately the journey was worth it.

In case you haven't heard, Mr. T (famous for such works as The A-Team, Rocky III, and that World of Warcraft commercial) was recently (ok, I think it was 2003 actually) voted the fourth "Greatest American" in a global poll organized by the BBC. I can't imagine who the top three were, but I do know that the likes of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't make the cut.

I'm a big fan of Mr. T, so when UK-based Mohawk Media sent me a press release a while back announcing a limited advance edition of the Mr. T graphic novel, I wasted no time ordering one. Honestly, I haven't read it yet, so I can't tell you if it's good or not. Comic writer John Layman certainly approves though, this is what he had to say:

"Don't just buy this book! Don't just read this book! Don't just treasure this book! Take it wherever you go and keep it close to your heart. This graphic novel would take a bullet for you, if it could!"



The story doesn't end there, though, because last Friday I was sent a press release, embargoed until today, announcing a series of Mr. T "Versus" crossovers. The first title to be confirmed is Mr. T Versus Dracula, but the cover mock-ups below suggest that vampires aren't the only ones in trouble.

What does Mr. T think of his opposition in the upcoming Versus series?
"All these suckers with their fancy powers! They need a reality check, and only one guy can do that, and that's me, Mr. T!"

So there you have it. This is either confirmation that potentially the greatest comic crossover series ever is in the works, or the cruelest April Fool gag since the BBC reported a bumper spaghetti harvest back in 1957.

EDIT: Oh, and yes, I'm aware of the "Mr. T versus" Internet phenomenon that spawned such classic works as Mr. Bean, Ali G, the Cybermen, and Half-Life, but I want to believe.

My repaired Xbox 360 arrived back at the office today, which means tonight will (hopefully) be the last time for a while that I have to make my commute with a console on my back. My 360 (I believe it's the same one) looks to have taken a couple of light knocks during the repair process, but it's definitely running quieter than it used to. Its return is a few days later than I would've liked, but it's still quite timely because I plan to be online a lot tonight, checking out both of Dark Sector's multiplayer modes ahead of tomorrow's review.

I finished up the single-player mode this morning and, without wishing to give away too much about the upcoming review, I enjoyed it a lot. The multiplayer modes titled Infection and Epidemic look pretty fun too, and since both are designed for exactly 10 players the game automatically fills empty spots with up to eight bots. There haven't been too many people online today so far, but I'm hoping to get in some bot-free matches this evening. If any of you have the game already, please feel free to join in the fun.

This was news over a week ago, so apologies for bringing it up again. I borrowed an office 360 this weekend (mine is still away being repaired) because I've been really looking forward to Bully: Scholarship Edition ever since it was announced. I was going to play the original PS2 version of Bully last year, but by the time I was done with the other games I was playing at the time the Xbox 360 game had already been announced. I figured the achievement points, the additional content and the improved visuals would be worth the wait.

And they might be. I'll let you know when the wait is over, because right now the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition has been little more than an exercise in frustration for me and I'm not going anywhere near it again until the promised patch (sorry, "title update") is released. Twice this weekend I sat down to spend some time with the game, and twice my session was cut short by a console-freezing crash that cost me at least 30 minutes of progress. Yes, I know you can save anytime you visit your bedroom, but I resent having to go there to sleep every night as it is. And don't even get me started on the loading screens...

I don't want to hate on Bully too much, because I hear it's a good game. I can't help but wonder if a game would ever have been allowed to ship in this broken state if it weren't for the fact that companies now have the ability to fix console games after release, though. I like downloadable content as much as anyone, but I'd gladly go without that functionality in return for games that always work as intended right out of the box.

I won't bore you with the details, but my Xbox 360 fell victim to the red ring of death this weekend. I've had the console since launch so I guess it had a pretty good run. I'm still bummed, though, not least because I was supposed to be playing something for work last night. Oh well, hopefully Microsoft won't take too long replacing/repairing it - I'd rather not have to carry office machines to and from my place anytime I need to play something.

In other news I'm playing World of Warcraft again. I was pleased to find that my preferred hunter and rogue classes haven't changed too much since I quit, but surprised to find that certain parts of the game have been made much easier. Not only do you require less experience to move up from level to level now, but you get more experience for completing quests. Furthermore, a lot of the quests themselves are now easier because relevant NPCs are highlighted on the minimap and quest items that you have to "find" (such as plants or piles of dirt) now sparkle very obviously where they mostly used to blend in with their surroundings. I'm mostly running battlegrounds with my 70 rogue right now, but when losing to the horde or playing alongside honor-farming AFKers gets too much, I'm leveling up another hunter. And yes, he already has three supposedly "rare" pets - Star Wars Galaxies started my obsession with those, and I don't see it going away anytime soon.

Last but not least, my PSP is seeing a lot of action right now, courtesy of Patapon. More about that soon.

If you head on over to glennpfc's profile page you'll notice that he's appealing for help with a survey as part of his university studies. Glenn's tutor is a former GameSpot UK legend named Asher, who more or less single-handedly built the original GSUK site that yours truly used to write for.

You'd really be helping him out if you would take a few minutes to fill out his survey related to user-generated content in games. And hey, maybe after you do that and see just how painless the process is you'll decide to spread the word like I just did.

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and... $20 Bargain coming soon!