Approximately twelve hours ago, before heading off to work, I completed Ninja Gaiden II.

Karma Score: 17,621,288

Worldwide Rank (Upon Immediate Completion of Game): 17, 206 out of 217,301

Difficulty Completed On: Way of the Warrior

Completion Time (Counting Only Time Spent Playing): 10:54:57

Completion Time (Counting Repeat Sections After Deaths): 15:34:42

Crystal Skulls Found: 27 out of 30

Kills: 2,380

Deaths: 247

Disclaimer: My karma score for my worldwide rank is slightly crippled. I did not get the Rod of Trials. In fact, I was not aware of it until I saw my sister get achievements for completing the Tests of Valor. So I will play through the game again on the Way of the Mentor (I'm gonna cry like a little girl....), the next difficulty up, and try to complete the Tests of Valor to further boost up my score and earn the achievements.

Comments: Wow. Ninja Gaiden II is brutal. Ninja Gaiden II is awesome. Ninja Gaiden II is hard. Ninja Gaiden II is brutally awesome. Ninja Gaiden II is brutally hard.

Ninja Gaiden II is so well-paced that it's hard to fault it in terms of gameplay. Honestly, some people have whined, screaming that an enemy attacked them off-screen when they weren't aware that there were enemies on-screen. But here's the catch: you can HEAR the enemies sneaking up behind you. People have complained about the camera, saying that it's pretty bad, and this has led people to believe that Ninja Gaiden II has one of, if not the worst videogame camera ever, and that's an outright lie. Ninja Gaiden II may not have that great a camera, but it is FUNCTIONAL camera. It is a WORKING camera. It is a camera that FOLLOWS Ryu. It is a camera that DOES IT'S JOB. Is it the best camera? No. Could it have been a better camera? Yes. Is it as bad as people have been claiming? Considering that every time I died in the game I was face to face with my opponent/victim, I'd have to say no, it isn't nearly as bad as some people are led to believe.

The final three levels in Ninja Gaiden II are hard. They're brutal. I felt like I was being a human sacrifice. But they are also the most fun levels in the game. They are the slickest levels in the game. They hit all the right notes in the game. Honestly, I thought Chapter 12 was brutally hard with three, count 'em THREE bosses to fight. Then I played the final chapter. I won't spoil the amount of bosses (let's just say that there are MANY) or what happens, or who you fight, But I will say this, throughout the second half of the final level I only had one healing herb. On my final, victory playthrough, I never used it.

Completing Ninja Gaiden II will make you realize one of two things, and it depends on what kind of person you are. The first is simple, Ninja Gaiden II is hard and you'll hate it for making you scream. But the second is a deeper feeling, the feeling that once you complete a game like Ninja Gaiden II and go through all those hardships, you see what hardcore gaming is like, what it's like to die again and again, but each time you fail, you can see what you did wrong, and you gain a greater sense of appreciation for both yourself and the others who have completed the game especially those who have completed it on the two unlockable difficulties, Way of the Mentor and Way of the Master Ninja.

Every time I succeeded at something in the game that was rather difficult, it's because I stopped for a moment, paused the game, or just left it on the continue screen. I calmed myself and just left my mind blank. The people watching me saw me do it a couple of times on a few occasions and they asked me what I was doing. I jokingly replied that I was "finding my zen status." I only got through the most difficult parts when I calmed myself. I don't scream at games, but I do get mad. I don't shout it, but people can tell. But in Ninja Gaiden II, it took a clean slate and a calm mind to overcome the difficulties. How in the hell do you think I completed the final level with only one, yeah, one healing herb. And this is the weak one that barely heals you... and I didn't use it at all. It's because I wasn't kicking and screaming like a baby that isn't used to not having it's way. Everything you do in Ninja Gaiden II is something you work for. And it's totally worth it.

I don't think I'm an amazing gamer, the guys who have played online with me, Legolas and zgreenwell come to mind quickly as the guys I had a lot of fun with, can tell you that. I'm pretty good, but not all that amazing. But I am stubborn, and I set goals for myself. Completing Ninja Gaiden II and climbing up those leaderboards was one of those goals. When I was half-way done with the game I was up in the ranks of some of the people who had completed the game, and were already on their second playthroughs. It's amazingly satisfying to climb up to a rank above 25,000, which I hadn't surpassed until completing the game. I'm not a great gamer, but I do like to complete difficult games. Ninja Gaiden II is no exception to that, and I do find it to be one of the best Xbox 360 games I've played, even with it's problems (Expect those to be mentioned and elaborated on in the actual review of the game. They aren't gameplay related problems, for the most part, but they affect the game as a whole.)

Gaming Plans: Ninja Gaiden II is fantastic, and I'll be playing through it again right away, but it won't be the only game I'll be playing. I'm actually going to go a little crazy. Not only am I trying to unlock everything in Dead or Alive 4 again (I don't know how or why, or maybe it was someone who did it) since my costumes are all gone with the wind. I'll also be online with Halo 3, my favorite Live game, but these three have been on my Now Playing list for quite awhile (expect a review for both Dead or Alive 4 and Ninja Gaiden II rather soon). But it's time to mix things up a tad bit. I'll be purchasing Okami for the Wii tomorrow. Yup. I'm busting out the old Wii from the storage cabinet (it sure is spending a lot of time in there... but that's just because I'm too lazy to properly hook it into the TV), but wait... THERE'S MORE! Yeah, the reason why I'm buying Okami first is because my little cousin is going to be around quite a bit, and I figure it'll be good to have a game like Okami for me to play when everyone else is home. Along with the other three games, Okami should keep me occupied for a long while. Two weeks later (I told you there's more), after the purchase of Okami, I'm going to take the leap of destiny....

NeoJedi/Denis/D-Boy might be the only person to know what it is at the moment, but I'll let you in on the secret. It's going to be Grand Theft Auto IV. I get paid in another week and a half or so, and that'll be when I purchase GTA IV. I pull out a set amount of spending money for myself every two weeks (I get paid biweekly) and I use it. I don't try to spend it unless necessary, but I always pull out like $50 to $70 depending on how much I think I'll use that week. If I don't spend it, I'll save it over for the next week. Right now, I've got like $120 spending cash that I've pulled out, the rest goes straight to my savings to help pay for my tuition (it pays it off rather well, I might add ), and while I can technically buy both Okami and GTAIV together, that'd be a waste of money. I want some money left over for when I go out and I can either buy tickets into somewhere, or food, or drinks or anything. So why blow it all on games right away? I'll just pull out a bit more next paycheck to pay for GTA IV and have some spending cash as well.

You can probably imagine why I'm getting Okami first now. I don't want my little cousin watching me play GTA IV. I've made no secret about that to him. He's eleven and I told him, I don't give a crap if he's going to start junior high/middle school, he simply cannot and WILL NOT watch that game. As one of the three main people in our entire family (I'm counting cousins, uncles and other relatives here) that plays games, I know it's my responsibility on what a child can watch me play. The young'uns don't watch me play BioShock, and they won't watch GTA IV either. I played the game for an hour at my cousin's, and here's what I can confirm: I'm totally right about kids not playing or watching that game, keep it away from them, it's strictly a big boy game. Also, the driving kinda sucks. That is all.

So that's the plan. Tomorrow is Okami being added to Ninja Gaiden II, Halo 3 and Dead or Alive 4. Two weeks later it's Grand Theft Auto IV being added to the mix. I've only done one game at a time, but for some reason lately I've been in a genuinely good mood about gaming. If I have freetime and nothing to do, I'm playing games. Not doing something useful like ironing my shirts for work, no, I'm playing games.

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

Diablo was a pretty good game. It wasn't anything particularly amazing, offering only one town and one very long dungeon that seemed almost endless. But despite that, it was still rather fun. Then comes along Diablo II, and it quickly becomes one of the greatest PC games ever made. The reason being is that Diablo II is simply that vast an improvement over the original Diablo.

The first thing most people will notice is that for it's time, Diablo II didn't look too swell. The graphics are rather dated, and while beautiful artistry helps out, Diablo II is no technical beast. If you had a somewhat up to date computer at the time, you could play Diablo II without fully upgrading the system. But aside from those graphics, those sub par graphics, nothing quite matches up to Diablo II.

The game is bigger than the original, spanning four entire acts across huge cities and encampments and the deadly areas around them. This, in contrast to Diablo's single town, makes for a far more refreshing game. Rogue encampments, desert towns, a seaside jungle town, and inexplicably a few people hanging out near the entrance to Hell all await you on your adventure, but this adventure is different for everyone.

In the original Diablo, character classes weren't as well defined as in Diablo II, but in the sequel each of the five characters plays in a unique manner. Technically, all you're doing is clicking the mouse button with your right hand and keeping your potions handy with your left hand with each of the characters, but each of them brings unique skills which you can branch off on. The Barbarian leaps and attacks, often with two weapons, the Sorceress stands back and fires magical attacks, the Necromancer summons the dead to do his bidding, while the Amazon runs faster than all of the characters, and attacks from both a distance and up close, and lastly the Paladin combines melee attacks and magic. All of the characters can be explored in different ways with their extensive skill sets and each character provides a unique playing experience from the other. With my personal experience, I enjoyed playing with the Paladin and the Amazon more than the other three characters.

While the gameplay remains largely unchanged, the outdoor exploration and various side-dungeons with extra loot all help make Diablo II that much more addictive when compared to the original. This time around, there are oftentimes six main quests to do on each Act in the game. They are all loosely connected to help make a more cohesive story leading up to the end of an Act where you'll be allowed to face off against some of the deadliest bosses ever, and then you'll be treated to a well-made cinematic leading up to the next Act. All in all, having a story that matters makes Diablo II stand out in a far bigger way than the original game's lackluster single-player game.

Diablo II also brings to the fray a hefty multiplayer component with everyone running around looking for loot and killing one another, oftentimes, the reward is an ear.... Despite going through the game with a bunch of friends, I didn't enjoy the game online as much as I did alone. Something about just going and killing things without text popping up and people selling their loot on eBay appealed to me quite a bit more. The game was still fun online, but solitary adventurers aren't missing out; in fact, they can have just as much fun alone. Still, for the social butterflies in everyone else, Diablo II still offers one of the best online experiences if you're into this kind of game.

Sound effects in Diablo II are surprisingly better than the graphics. Once you play the game for a while, you'll be listening closely. Not to the stellar soundtrack. Not to the disgusting sounds of the demons. But instead, you'll be listening for one key sound, every time you open a chest, you'll have your ears perked up, listening for a creak to signal whether the chest, or even the area is booby-trapped.

Aside from the overall game being better, other little things have been done to improve the game from the original as well; one key standout element is gold. No longer is gold placed in the inventory taking up space, now it's merely set aside as gold, so you can rack up and save as much as you want of it.

There aren't many games that try to go head to head with Diablo II and that's for a good reason, it may very well be the greatest PC game ever made, and if not that, then it's at least one of the greatest ever made. Addicting gameplay isn't enough to make a standout game, but when everything is improved and added to that addicting gameplay, you're given a genuinely amazing game. Diablo II is that good, and it still holds up today as well.

Score

Since everyone, including myself, is still on the Diablo III hype-train. This makes a PS1 review, five N64 reviews and a PC review. I'll be sure to do the other Saturn, NES, SNES, PS2 and other console reviews as well, intermixed with my current Xbxo 360 and Wii game reviews.

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

I distinctly remember saying many times that the only way I'd ever go back to playing PC games was if Diablo III was announced.

Guess what?

You're probably thinking, so what? Lemme explain so what to you.

She's done the voices of the Rugrats, the Care Bears, she voiced Hello Kitty (you guys think I'm lame by now), did some Beetlejuice (some of you hipsters are thinking, coo', I dig that!) , X-Men (oooh). She was also in some films, one of the National Lampoon's movies for instance. Some anime, like Tekkaman Blade II (I have no idea what the hell that is!).

But enough of the small crap, right? She was Kaya in Princess Mononoke (F YEAH, BOI!!!!!), she was in Sailor Moon (I liked that show more than DBZ growing up... yeah, it was BETTER, now suck it!), she was Boh, in Spirited Away (dude, sweet!), she was in the Animatrix, and yeah, some other anime too.

But here's the kicker. She did the voices of Rikku (Final Fantasy games), Rachel (Ninja Gaiden/Black/Sigma) and Seth Balmore from Lost Odyssey as well as many other games like Kingdom Hearts, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, the Jak series and others. Overall, pretty f'ing awesome! I may not have played FFX, but since NG and LO are both epically awesome, I'm super stoked and happy that I met her!

She ain't some hero of mine. If I hadn't met her I wouldn't have cared either way. But hey, at least I met someone, right?

Info on her at Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Strong

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

I've had plans for this blog for so long, to put up "A Rare Day." Here are five Nintendo 64 mini-reviews (yes, mini, as in they're all short) for games developed by Rare! In order or release, yup, we're chronicling these from those released earliest into the console's lifespan to those released towards the end. Let's do this!

Star Fox 64

Super Mario 64 might just be the most significant game of all time. It put 3D gaming on the map as we know it today. So when Miyamoto, the man who was behind Super Mario 64, and of course, every other Mario and Zelda title of the time, decided to work on Star Fox 64, expectations were a little high. But when you're expectations are only a little high, and Miyamoto is working on the game, you know you're underestimating the man's talent.

Star Fox 64 might just be the greatest on-rails shooter ever made, though I'm a firm believer that the Panzer Dragoon Orta surpassed Star Fox 64, there's no denying the genius behind Rare and Miyamoto's animal space opera.

The greatest thing about Star Fox 64 is that based on how you play, each time the game will take you on different paths. There are close to twenty different missions, and there are two outcomes for each one. Based on how you play, the game will change up the missions you take in order to reach the final level of Venom, where Andross awaits you. It's the choices that make Star Fox 64 such a great game, and the skill required to make those choices. In one mission where you're piloting the landmaster after a train, you can either choose to take out the boss, or derail the train. Whatever path you choose, you'll end up at a different level.

Keeping your wingmen alive is key as well. Each one helps in different ways. Falco, the falcon, knows the way to secrets. Peppy, the hare, gives advice on what to do, and Slippy, the toad, gives out the stats for bosses. Keeping all three alive is part of the game, and it isn't a chore at all, if you can't keep any one of them alive, it's your own fault as you'll realize after playing a bit.

The gameplay is mostly on-rails, though for a few levels the game allows "all-range" mode to be activated, where you can fly to your heart's content within the confines of a level and fight in any way you so choose to. Regardless of that, the game is fun, it's top-notch, grade-A, shooting action that simply can't be replicated.

The graphics are stunning, whether it's flying through a destroyed city, going underwater in a submarine and finding new creatures to kill, flying through enemy bases and battered space stations controlled by Andross' army. The game is a joy to watch. The music and sound effects are mix between sci-fi and traditional heroics. Lasers sound like lasers should, and explosions like explosions, while the music is some of the best the N64 has had.

Star Fox 64 is one of the all-time greats on the Nintendo 64. Few games are as well made as this one, and if you missed out on it, then now is still a great time to play this gem. Whether it's the old N64 version which finally utilized a rumble pak, or even the Virtual Console version on the Wii, Star Fox 64 is simply aces and deserves to be played by everyone, especially fans of blowing things up.

Score

Goldeneye 007

Before Halo: Combat Evolved rocked the gaming world, FPS games tried to make a name for themselves on consoles. Whether it was ports of PC games or shoddy controlled original fare, few games stood out. Turok managed to make an early name for itself on the N64, but few games stood out as much as Rare's FPS magnum opus, Goldeneye 007 did. Hot off the heels of Super Mario 64, many Nintendo fans needed a new killer game to play and Rare answered the call with the grandpappy of console FPS.

At the time, Goldeneye's gameplay astounded like no other console FPS. It wasn't simply run and gun, it was about getting a bit more tactical. Stand back, pull out your sniper and start capping your enemies from hundreds of yards away. Prior to that, no console FPS had even had a sniper like that. Turok for instance had you running around with some quad-rocket launcher to fire at Triceratops running straight at you. But Goldeneye had one more ace up its sleeve.

Sure, great gameplay in the single-player mode is great, but a console with four controller ports and a genre that begs to be played competitively meant that Goldeneye had easily the best FPS action on the N64 for competing against your friends. Nothing's more fun than sitting with three friends and killing one another while trash talking and pushing one another, and Goldeneye was the first console FPS to truly capture that.

The graphics are rather stunning for an N64 game as well. You'll be taken across a wide variety of locales from snowy bases to underground waterways. The characters themselves resemble blocky versions of the film's characters. The music in the game is very 007, playing on the catchy tunes of the film series and the sound effects are rather powerful for an N64 game.

Most people will often complain that film-based games are never really that good, but if Goldeneye has taught gamers anything, it's that the game is better then the forgettable film it's based on. With exciting and fun gameplay, Goldeneye was indeed one of the best N64 games, coming after Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64, it marked one of the high points for the N64 and one of the high points for console FPS in general. If you love shooters then play this game, you owe it to yourself.

Score

Diddy Kong Racing

Diddy Kong Racing is a blatant Mario Kart 64 rip-off. It's quite a shame that this game was developed by Rare, especially considering that in 1997, the same year Diddy Kong Racing was released, Rare had put out the likes of Star Fox 64 and Goldeneye 007. Diddy Kong Racing isn't a bad game, but when compared to the other games Rare had put out, it just wasn't of the same quality.

The gameplay itself is very competent and actually quite fun, but it becomes overly repetitive far too quickly. The game offers variety by letting players choose to race in levels designed for cars, hovercrafts or airplanes. All of them are good fun to race with and the levels aren't poorly designed either, they're quite fun to race in actually. But here's the thing, after you earn a mandatory first place in each level, you're introduced to that level's boss, and the bosses are extremely cheap. This is a racing game, and the bosses simply shouldn't be there, especially when they push you around and surpass you, and then it's over right then and there.

But there's more, once you beat the cheap boss of a certain set of stages, you have to go back and replay the courses you just beat. But now, you have to collect eight coins that are scattered around the course, while getting first place, all to go back to that cheap boss and a race an even cheaper version of him.

Sorry, but that's not really my idea of fun. In Mario Kart 64, you simply race on the levels. And based on the set you chose, the levels will be harder than the previous ones and progress in difficulty as you move down them. No cheap bosses, no coin collecting, nothing to get in the way of actually racing, and it's a shame that Diddy Kong Racing simply didn't follow that same formula.

The graphics on the other hand are genuinely beautiful. Rare created a magnificent game brimming to the top with imagination and heart. The music is lighthearted when it needs to be and dramatically dark when it needs to be for some of the villains. But that's the problem. Creating this vivid world and turning it into a racing game instead of an action game was their key flaw. Ultimately, Diddy Kong Racing simply isn't that good a game. But it did manage to do one thing, introduce the world to Banjo, and six months after the release of Diddy Kong Racing, Rare's best N64 game would follow.

Score

Banjo Kazooie

After Super Mario 64 blew everyone's minds upon the launch of the Nintendo 64, everyone waited for the next big platformer on the console. Yes, Star Fox 64, Goldeneye 007 and Mario Kart 64 were all excellent games following Miyamoto's gem, but there were no other platforming game of any significance. That is, until Rare stepped in with Banjo Kazooie, quite possibly the greatest game that the studio has ever made.

For one, the imagination and heart shown throughout Rare's previous games are all present in Banjo, but it's as if they have been magnified to gargantuan proportions. A level based on a giant anthill, a treasure trove level, and of course, one of the greatest levels of all time was developed in Click Clock Wood. Banjo Kazooie was not only the most beautiful N64 game developed at the time, it was simply the most beautiful game developed at the time regardless of platform or genre. It single-handedly captures the wondrous feelings of youth and awe and makes them all seem tangible.

The gameplay is no slouch, either. Clearly the greatest influence for the game is Super Mario 64, but even today, what modern game hasn't been influenced by Super Mario 64? But it takes the core concepts and refines them and makes a game that's more polished and, dare I say it, more fun than Super Mario 64. It's partially because of Banjo's feathered partner in crime, Kazooie. Having both characters in use at the same time provides for awesome moves to be learned. Banjo can run, jump and claw, but Kazooie can fire eggs, fly and even make the oafish bear invincible.

Another key gameplay difference between Banjo and Mario is that for Mario, you would select from a menu which star you would like to try and go after. Sure, some were available at all times throughout the game, but after getting one star, you would leave the level and then have to return to it to get another star. In Banjo Kazooie, you merely enter a level and if you're so inclined, you can actually get all ten jigsaw pieces in the level right then and there, assuming you know all of the moves to get certain pieces. But it's that mentality which gave Banjo Kazooie a greater sense of scale, wonder and exploration than Super Mario 64.

Combine the beautiful graphics and the exciting gameplay with some of the best sound heard on the Nintendo 64 and you have Banjo Kazooie. It's the greatest game ever made by Rare, a true gem that fans of platformers must play. If you even remotely enjoyed a Mario game, or other platformers of the past, such as Crash Bandicoot, then you will absolutely adore Banjo Kazooie.

Score

Banjo Tooie

After Banjo Kazooie surprised everyone that wrote it off as a mere Super Mario 64 copycat, by providing one of the greatest platforming experiences of all time, mixed with one of the best finales of all time, a sequel seemed inevitable. And thus, Banjo Tooie arrived, taking place right after the original Banjo Kazooie to provide one of the best games to close out the life of the N64 (though admittedly it would get games for one more year with Paper Mario and Conker's Bad Fur Day).

Banjo Kazooie introduced more and more moves to the bear and bird duo, allowing the gameplay to be changed up even more from the previous game, while still retaining that Banjo feel to it. The moves are all great fun to use, and in one portion of the game, Banjo goes into first-person mode using Kazooie as a gun to fire eggs, in easily one of the coolest portions of any platformer.

Tooie is a fantastic game with beautiful graphics to help make this new Banjo world as beautiful as it can be. Admittedly, though, the game seems far too familiar with the original Banjo. That isn't a bad thing at all, but by the year 2000, platformers were becoming a bit stale. Banjo Tooie of course still felt fresh and fun, but it just wasn't different enough to stand out. It was more Banjo and it was quite polished, but some framerate slowdown hampered it a bit. Part of that is due to the beauty of the graphics. They were quite good, but that affected the framerate in some parts of the game. A problem that wasn't present in the original.

The sound still is great and on par with that of the original, if not better, though the differences seemed small, seeing as how the Nintendo 64 had basically been pushed to its limits already. The music though is still quite wonderful, though I still prefer the original Banjo's great tracks.

In the end, Banjo Tooie is an excellent game and one of the best to help close out the lifespan of the N64, along with Conker's Bad Fur Day and Paper Mario to follow in the coming months. But with the PlayStation 2 already out and the Xbox and GameCube getting ready to follow suit, the time for the Nintendo 64 was drawing to a close fast. Thank goodness though that Banjo Tooie was good enough to make a lasting impression, even as thoughts of "next-gen" entered everyone's minds.

Score

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

Seriously, it's June. Get over it. GTAIV got a 10 here and everyone is like, "Oooh, GotY for sure! A 10 is unprecedented!" And then MGS4 goes and does it too. Oooh, unprecedented! It's like everyone is on a one-track mind about something as meaningless as what one site awards a game. Hello! Just enjoy the game, sheesh. Everyone is going on and on about it, enough already. I'd understand getting excited about Game of the Year awards in like December or something, but, and I'll say it again, IT'S JUNE.

...

Also, since GameSpot, the corporate sellouts that they are now, put up their freaking most anticipated of E3 list (it was so bland I thought I was eating oatmeal... but dry and straight out of the packet, not the yummy cinnamon flavor kinds). So to give you some razzle-dazzle and pizazz I'll give you my most anticipated games of E3.

Shirokishi Monogatari/White Knight Story (PS3)- The only PS3 game that has my panties in a bunch is Level 5's newest gem. The game nails that beautiful fantasy vibe so well from what I've seen in the trailers, that I can't help but fall in love with it. But the prospect of turning into some 100 ft. tall creature (from what I can tell this is called the White Knight) has me in a tizzy for the gameplay. I may not have a PS3, and this game alone may not be reason enough to buy a PS3 at the moment, but a few key price cuts and some generally excellent reviews for Shirokishi Monogatari and I may just purchase a PS3 sometime in 2009 or 2010. Right now is too soon, though, but if anything, this game is the reason.

Project Origin (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)- You don't need to know anything about this game other than this: F.E.A.R. 2. Except now, it's Project Origin! If you're wondering about the name change, apparently Monolith doesn't own the name, just the rights to the characters and story and such. So, y'know, this is them making a (hopefully) kickass FPS. And you know what? F.E.A.R. was awesome so this game should be great, especially with the developers realizing that fighting in "another office building" simply isn't that exciting the sixth time. So with more varied environments, spooks and action, Project Origin should be awesome as all hell@

Prince of Persia (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)- After Warrior Within and The Two Thrones literally butchered the name of The Sands of Time, it's very, very refreshing to see a game filled with so much charm and artistic beauty. Prince of Persia looks absolutely amazing, with crazy acrobatics and one on one fights. Yup, one on one. Every single fight is a struggle to survive. It sound so exciting, I'm getting giddy just typing this.

Peter Jackson's Halo Project (Xbox 360)- Seriously, it's Halo. But this is supposed to be a different kind of game. I'm so excited for some more Halo, especially since we haven't seen or heard a thing about this game/trilogy!

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)- The sequel to GS's 2006 Game of the Year (y'know, the year before they started to hire a staff without any personality). Of course, I'm stoked to play it. Afterall, Gears of War was my favorite game of 2006 as well, ringing in the true era of the current-generation of consoles.

Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PC, PS3)- Did you play Oblivion? If so, then you're a good man. Did you love Oblivion? If you did, then you're a true gamers. Ditching the fantasy world of Cyrodiil, in favor of a post-apocalyptic game world, Fallout 3 presents a darker adventure than Oblivion, with an upgraded engine and more dialogue, it should be an exciting, and timeconsimin Plus, you get a dog! His name is DogMeat!

Fable 2 (Xbox 360)- Fable 2 has recently just shot up to be my most anticipated game of 2008. So what got me? An interview with IGN where someone said, if you choose to help this guy, there are rewards, and you learn more about his past. If you choose to kill him, you cannot buy his land later since ruins take over. Cool, right? But dig this. You might find something (or someone) in those ruins, later in the game. When I read that, I started thinking, "oh dear lord, this is going to be the best game of the year!

Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360, PS3)- Seriously, we finally get to see the sequel to the greatest survival-horror game ever made. With some crazy combat and sick storytelling, you'll see that this is poised to be one of the greatest, if it makes this year. But at the very least, a new trailer would be very neat!

SoulCalibur IV (Xbox 360, PS3)- It's like they listened to what gamers want! Ubernerds get to have thier lightsaber battles and cool cats like me get to sleep soundly knowing that the boys at namco gave ALL of the girls boob jobs! IT'S LIKE DEAD OR ALIVE BUT WITH SWORDS!!!!! That's sexy!

Alan Wake (Xbox 360, PC)- We know next to nothing about Remedy's crazy horror-thriller game. But when a character is going insane and can't tell if the monsters are from his dreams or actually around him. In other words, this game is going to own!

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (Xbox 360)- Finally, a new Banjo game! Took them long enough! But it's Banjo and it's got a creative edge to it that's got Innovating to Compete written all over it! Let's see some more of this baby in action please!

A new game from Bungie- They've gone indy, but there's nothing new announced. I wouldn't be surprised if a new game was shown, and I hope it becomes as iconic as Halo has!

A new game from Itagaki- He's left his company, and the change just happened, but there's always hope! The man makes great games and I want to see what he has up his sleeve. Preferably something with big boobs. Those are awesome.

I could keep posting more I suppose, but I'm kind of exhausted from swimming at a pool party. In other words, I'd type more, but I'm hitting the sack.

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut