I know that the whole world has gone GTA IV crazy, but this weekend I settled down with a copy of Tomb Raider Anniversary that I picked up pre-owned last week (sucked in by the 'buy 2 for £40' ticket). I've never played all the way through a Tomb Raider game before (I know, I know) so I was intrigued to give it a proper go. So far, apart from the fact that I have to do everything about five times, I've been really enjoying it. Now if I could just kill the T-Rex I could move on...

At least this means I have successfully moved on from Puzzle Quest on XBLA. I've got all the achievements, and completed the story, so that feels like a good time to leave it until the expansion pack comes out and sucks me in all over again. I can't wait

Also taking up large chunks of my time is Apollo Justice (which was dated for release on May 9 in the UK, meaning it'll be out before Phoenix Wright 3. What's that all about?!). Without wishing to give too much away, the fourth case is brilliant and involves time travel. I'm going to be gutted when I've finished it. What else is out there for the DS/PSP right now?

And then we were two...how it's been two years already, I'm truly not sure. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that Alex and I spent a very long Sunday watching the London marathon go by outside the office window while trying to update box shots and release dates so they'd be correct when we launched.

It's been a busy few years really. The podcast is now around 18 months old, and Start/Select has been going for three months. Even I have managed to do a review! To celebrate, we had some cake (more accurately, we had two cakes, four packets of sweets and two packets of chocolatey things!) but don't worry, we shared them with our CNET.co.uk and SmartPlanet.com buddies. Otherwise we'd be breaking the Wii Fit board trying to work off all the calories.

We also recorded a podcast, and after some technical wizardry, that should be live pretty soon. Possibly with a new banner, but probably without, as Alex isn't here today and he's the only one who knows how to upload a new one (honestly, who signs off these holidays?!).

There are tons of highlights when I look back over the last couple of years--our Capital Punishment UK tournament was great fun, and I enjoy all the community nights (although they are much better when we play Worms and I win), and Guy and Alex in those ridiculous cosplay costumes will make me laugh just to think about it. I'd love to know your favourite bits since April 2006!

Happy GSUK birthday everyone!

[Update: link to a photo of the cake added!]

...somehow never manages to stay in Vegas. But I digress.

If you're at a loose end this Thursday evening, and fancy taking on not only GSUK staffers but also the UK's very own Frag Dolls, then you should check out this thread to find out more about the upcoming GameSpot UK Community Night featuring Rainbow Six Vegas 2, three Frag Dolls, GameSpot UK staff and a lot of bullets. Probably not being fired by me, as I'm rubbish at shooters and have never played the game before. But hey, how bad can I be?!

Thursday 17th April, 8pm. Bring it on, Vegas players!

How on earth is it Friday already?! Blimey.

This week, an old friend has returned to join me during my commute--yep, Phoenix Wright is back! I've got my copy of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (thanks to the wonders of online ordering and having a US office) and I'm completely hooked on it. It's more of the same in terms of gameplay, but it's gameplay that I really enjoy so that works for me. There are some new aspects that finally make use of the DS in the way that almost all of the other cases didn't, which is great (and goodbye to the magatama-based interrogations, hurrah). It's wierd not playing as Phoenix (he's still around though) but Apollo Justice is pretty similar to Phoenix in the early DS games. In summary, I'm loving it. And I haven't even had to use a GameFAQs walkthrough yet!

I also...drum roll...wrote my first review for the site. Unsurprisingly, it's for a Worms game. I enjoyed the game, but it's a very odd sensation to 'have' to play something. The Wii controls are pretty cool for the limited weapons that are there, but it's truly a shame that online multiplayer wasn't built in. Next time, perhaps.

Spending a fair bit of time with the Wii did make me think seriously about buying one. Luckily it's the easiest console to borrow from work because it's not too hard to carry, but with Wii Fit coming up I'm very tempted to invest in one.

In far more interesting news, there's an expansion coming for Puzzle Quest on XBLA. Personally, I can't wait. According to the release we got sent about Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord (an early contender for the 'longest game name of the year' award), "four brand new Hero Professions: Bard, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock. New area on the Southern Map, more than 25 cquests, 50 new spells and more than 40 new magical items." It's due out in 'spring' 2008, which should give me time to level up to 50 and beat Bane.

Bring on the weekend...

Long weekends are definitely a Good Thing. I'm loving the extra days off so far! Hope you're having a good one. I'm determined to get my Puzzle Quest achievement for levelling up to 50 this weekend, that's my main aim

If you haven't already seen the latest episode of Start/Select, do check it out. Alex and Guy's costumes for the game character cosplay world record are something to behold. It still makes me laugh to think about them.

I FINALLY get it. The cake, the song, the Heartbreaker achievement and 10 very welcome gamerpoints.

No prizes for guessing what I did at the weekend - I finished Portal at last! Firstly a big thanks to GameFAQs user Ayelis, without whose walkthrough I would probably still be stuck in the first room. Much as it's a small achievement in the wider scheme of things, I'm really pleased to have made it through to the end of the game. Will I play it again to see if I can shoot down all the cameras in a base attempt to get more points? Quite possibly

This blog was originally going to be entitled 'How big Phil cost me a tenner' so I might as well tell that story as well. Phil Harrison, as we recently reported, resigned from Sony recently and for a few days no one knew for sure where he was heading (although there was a very well-founded rumour about him going to Atari that proved to be true in the end). On the night before his last day at Sony, there was an event in London to celebrate Sony selling a million PS3s in the UK. Luke and I went along (it's a tough old life sometimes) and at one point started talking about whether Mr Harrison would be at the event.

"No way," I say, showing all my insight into human nature and the gaming industry, "He's probably not even in the UK."

"I bet you he's here," says Luke.

(It's worth bearing in mind at this point that Phil Harrison is about six foot six, with a bald head. That is to say, he's quite distinctive.)

"Bet you a tenner he's not," I say.

"Bet you fifty quid he is," says Luke.

(Seriously, alarm bells should have rung for me at this point.)

"Nah let's keep it at a tenner," I say, finally interjecting some sense from my side of this ill-fated conversation.

"Ok then." Luke smiles at this point. Knowingly.

"Isn't that him over there?" asks Luke, almost managing to sound innocent as he looks over the top of my head at a six-foot-six bald man at the bar behind me.

Bah humbug.

And yes, I did pay up.