I haven't updated this blog for a long time, so I figured it was about time to write SOMETHING. So I figured to give you a little insight into my exploits as a gamer.

I'm part of the newer generation, after all I'm only 16 years old, but my gaming escapades start in 1995, when I was three years old, when I was lucky enough to have a babysitter with a games console. My first game that I can remember was "The Lion King" on the Sega Genesis. The memories are very vague but I specifically remember a level where you jump across giraffes heads. Clearly giraffes can support the weight of lions using just there face. Oh the wonders of nature.

At the said babysitters house, I would often ask to take naptime in the room with the sega genesis, so when the older boys would play the games, I would pretend to be asleep and just watch, entranced. They were playing some sort of boxing game, I kind of remember it being in first person, but I can't be sure.

This is what sparked my obsession. I immediatlly started begging my parents for a video game console (Or a "nintendo" as my family would call it) until my stepsister gave me her NES. This NES came with a ton of games, the ones I remember are Startropics, Super Mario 3, Punch Out!!!, and for some strange reason... The Flintstones? My favorite by far was Punch Out!!! This was before my family even owned a computer, so I would spend hours upon hours upon hours playing Punch Out!!! with no clue about how to advance. I specifically remember a day, at a family reunion where everybody was playing Punch Out!!! for the first time, and I had yet to play it. Everybody did fine up to the match against the Asian Sensation: Piston Honda. Everybody died against him. When I said I wanted to try, everyone scoffed at me. "A 5 year old thinks he can do better than US!? HA! I SPIT ON YOU!!!"... I may have exaggerated a bit with the comments made, but needless to say, I beat Piston Hondas ASS. It was a great feeling, outdoing people 20 times your age at something. So I took Punch Out!!! home and played it for countless hours.

When I turned 7 I received my SNES. The games I remember on SNES are Super Mario World, Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, Super Punch Out!!!, and Mario Paint.

Yes, Mario Paint.

I would spend great deals of time using the Music Composer in Mario Paint, composing symphonies of cats and dogs and strangely erotic sounding babies. It was the first game I played that let a creative side of my personality manifest itself into an actual Video Game. This was what the SNES defined for me.

At the age of 9, 10 or 11, I can't remember, I received an N64. I was so attached to Nintendo at this point, that I skipped the PS1 completely. Games I remember are Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Starfox 64, Pokemon Snap, and my favorite game of all time, Paper Mario.

Paper Mario is the game that helped define myself. Paper Mario helped me identify myself as an RPG fanatic. I loved the colorful characters, the strategic fighting schemes, the varied environments, the lush towns, everything about that game was PERFECT. It made me loose myself in a world all its own, and it still holds up today. This is where my RPG obsession started. Don't get me wrong, I play EVERYTHING. But RPGs are very close to my heart.

My first console of the 2001 generation was.. well the dreamcast... but we'll skip over that part and go straight to the PS2

My first hardcore RPG was Final Fantasy IX... yes IX. I wanted to become slightly more mature of a gamer, but the look of the characters on the box still attracted me with their cartoony charm. I loved that game, so much that I went back and immediatlly bought VII and VIII. Final Fantasy VIII. You may be wondering why I'm not including PS2 games in the PS2 section. Well... I basically used the PS2 to play all the PS1 games I missed out on during the first year I had it. I soon after bought a Gamecube and a Xbox. Gamecube had more of what I love about Nintendo, while Xbox introduced me to something else I love.

Online gaming was a new frontier for the console generation, and I was on board. Being only 12 years old is weird on xbox live... People can't get past the prepubescent voice, even though I was quite mature for a 12 year old (at least I thought I was). To tell you the truth, the voices of 12 year olds just like me actually bug me nowadays. I played a crapload of Mech Assault when I got my Xbox... but when my online game really got started was when Halo 2 came out. The first day, I made friends with someone named SHADOWSTRIKE1 in a big team battle match. We immediatlly became friends, mainly because we rocked that game so hard. We formed a clan called the Fluffy Puffs, which would later become a trademark of my online friendships. Me and Shadow went on to recruit the likes of about 5 other people into the clan who are still my close friends today.

You may not relate to me on this, but I have met people online that are about as close, if not closer, than any of my real friends. Mainly because you can talk to people online about things that you can't talk to people about in person. It's hard to explain, but you'll understand if you have the same expierience. I've been playing with the same group of people for about 4 years now, and still loving it. But I still have cherished memories of the original Xbox, Halo 2, finding glitches, making gametypes, and the good times I had with my newly found friends.

-Ryan AKA DuskDarkflame AKA Mariofreak1216

Alright, so I just finished watching the movie The Condemned, starring Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones.

I gotta say, this movie looked like it would be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, but in reality it was not that bad. It conveyed a good message and played to exactally what it wanted to be at the time.

On the good side, the movie had a better plot than a mindless action movie should have, 10 prisoners on death row from around the world are given a chance to be set free by competing in a deathmatch put on by a crazy director. They all have bombs strapped to their legs that explode in 40 hours unless there is one left standing.

Sound like Battle Royale?? If you've ever heard of that movie, thats exactally what I was thinking when I heard this synopsis of the plot. The movie is much more fleshed out though, providing issues of morality throughout. It coveys a disturbing message about where are media is headed (Even though the show in the film was not picked up by T.V networks, and instead was broadcast on the internet.... with over 40 million subscribers)

Some complaints about the movie are the acting. Everybody in the movie was not a very good actor (except vinnie jones, he was very decent) Stone Cold Steve Austin had crappy one-liners all the time that were just cheesy and did not improve the movie. Also, this movie had weird fight scenes where the camera would shake around wildly so you couldn't understand anything that was going on. There are some complaints about the plot I have but I would be giving spoilers if I went into detail, so I won't

All in all The Condemned was a suprisingly good movie, that should have been horrible.

I give it: *** out of 5

I will try to update this blogs with movie reviews from now on, and even if I don't know who you are, please leave a comment, it is my deepest desire that this blog becomes somewhat popular, and I will try to update it as regularly as possible if it picks up.

Alright so ive been making fun of my friends as well as other people who have had their 360s break right before halo 3 comes out. I thought it was funny, just because it was so unlucky. Well guess what, it just happened to me.

I was playing Stranglehold and suddenly the picture got all orange and fuzzy and blurry, then i turned off the 360, and turned it back on, and the picture just sputtered out. Now I get sound, but no picture! I am soooooo furious right now, expecially since all of my friends had aranged to skip school the day halo 3 was released so we could all play together. And I had a 4 player party planned for the campaign on the same day. I have no clue what i'm going to do, I bought two year warranty at the store where I bought the 360, but when I went to replace my microphone they said I didn't need the warranty for the 360 when I brought it in, and said they had it on the computer. Now they say they need it to replace it. Thats funny, real funny. I'm going to go sit in a corner and drown in my misery.

I beat bioshock the second day it was released, and I never wanted to play it again. It had good graphics, good gameplay, and it was an overall good game, but it wasn't GREAT! I've actually just put it up on eBay right now, and I don't see what everyone is freakign out about.

I did not like it as much as everyone says I should. It was nothing phenominal, it's all been done before. And when it boils downs to it, it's just another shooter. I'm going to sound stupid for saying this but multiplayer plays a big part. Before I started using XBOX LIVE multiplayer played a lesser part, but I still preferred games with local-play, Bioshock is lacking both, and in my personal oppinion a game is not worth buying unless you KNOW you are going to play single-player a TON. Or you have multiplayer to keep you coming back.

In conclusion, Bioshock was not that good, everyone will forget about it maybe 2 or 3 months, end of story.

Ok, so as you all probablly know by now the upcoming Xbox360 game Crackdown is coming packaged with a free beta to Halo 3. As you can also tell many people are upset about this, and think its a cheap marketing ploy. While everyone is entitiled to their own oppinion, I have argued with many people over the fact that this is NOT a cheap marketing ploy. Now I was hyped for Crackdown before the Halo 3 beta package was even announced, and for the most part you should be greatful that we are getting a Halo 3 beta at all. Also the Crackdown game is not the only way you can get in, and it's not like you NEED to get in, just be patient, sure it will be a while but there are plenty of great games coming out to satisfy your gaming hunger till Halo 3 comes out.
    Secondly, I have never heard so many complaints about something free and extra being packaged in a game... If Halo 3 beta had been packaged in Gears Of War everybody would have stood up and rejoiced, and gave epic even more love.
    I honestlly do not think anybody should buy Crackdown who is not going to buy it for the actuall game, I think that it was a smart move because its a little-known game that will get more casual gamers to look into it, and see how great of an idea it is. Any way I look at this I think we win, we get a great game, and a beta for a great game in one package, if that's not a good deal I don't know what is. And if you don't think it's a great game then DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT IT AND JUST DON'T BUY IT!
    Thank you.

Wow, Theres a new japenese import game at my pizza join/arcade.

its called zoids infinity. You buy a card, looks like a credit card, then it saves your zoid on it, slip it into the machine and there it is. you can add stuff to it with a touch screen and paint it. Its so awesome, i gots a black and red velocirapter, my friends gotta white ape, and my other friends gotta red cheetah. these are all robots by the way. and the ape kicks ass, but my friend who plays him is the worst of all 3 of us, so its a even match.

Im going to the nintendo fusion tour, gonna see da fall out boys, da motion city soundtracks, da starting lines, and da boys night outs! Im also gonna get a chance to play the new zelda game, so ill be sure to post up with impressions when its done!

I saw Kill Bill for the first time today, saw it in the store in decided to pick it up. I think Tarentino just wanted to make a film where he could spray as much blood as possible when someone died. This was a violent movie, so violent that it seemed...well... less violent because it was so over the top, you became sorta immune to it. however it has some exellently choreographed fight scenes and is worth picking up.