I always look forward to blogging at the end of the new year or the beginning of the new one, but this year is totally different. Several things happened in my life recently that has me in a glum...

Let me see if I can get the incidents in the order they happened:

1) I was in a car accident. My vehicle was wrecked badly...luckily I walked away without a scratch and the driver of the opposing vehicle got only minor injuries.

2) The one person I loved, left me abruptly without any reason whatsoever...we haven't spoken in weeks so I'm absolutely positive it's over between us. I'm done for now. I'm going to remain single...the heartache isn't worth it.

3) I was hospitalized for a few days for dehydration and lack of eating. I collapsed at work as a result of #2 and had to be put under an acute regime of anti-depressants and counseling

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Now, I usually do a yearly stat update on my profile, luckily I captured the images on the 1st of Jan so all I have to do is post them with a comparison of 2010's stats. I might do that later in the month...

I also usually announce my game of the year, that will come later in the month too...I'll keep the suspense but here's a hint; it will NOT be Red Dead Redemption.

I hope I'm not forgotten...I just don't see the point of blogging these days...

Anyway...my Xbox Live Subscription expired and I'm contemplating if I should renew it or now. I don't play much online games, but I use some of the feature (like Video Kinect) and the point that subscription costs even more now has me very sceptical of renewing. The new reward system is a plus, but I'm still unsure.

I also got my kinect sensor and I have to say the technology is awesome, but the games SUCK!...From what I've played, only Dance Central seems to be a worthy purchase...and Kinect Adventure is cool, but it gets repetitive and cannot hold your attention for long periods of time...the other games are total garbage...I'm really disappointed with the kinect launch lineup...

Vanquish is clearly one of the best games I've played all year. I know there are still a lot of games to be released and I have yet to play them but Vanquish have not only taken the cake, but the entire table too!

Vanquish was not only the best game I've played all year, but maybe one of the best of all time! The last time I had an adrenaline rush from playing an intense and extreme game like this was with Modern Warfare 2!

Seriously I highly recommend this game although you might want to consider it as a rental. The game itself is almost perfect but it is on the short side. Depending on the difficulty you select, you're looking at around 4 to 6 hours, but for that time, it will be an experience like no other! There's also no online whatsoever, no co-op or multiplayer.

People can compare this game to a game like Gears of War but to be quite honest while the cover system might be similar, the gameplay and experience are miles apart. Vanquish is FAR better than Gears of War IMO.

If you have the cash, Vanquish is a MUST buy, if not, a quick rental would do! Seriously this game was awesome!

The holiday rush of games are now upon us.

I managed to get an early start with Halo: Reach

I started Spiderman Shattered Dimensions but didn't get too far into the game because I wasn't feeling it.

I started both Enslaved and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at the same time. I managed to get pretty far in Enslaved but I eventually abandoned the game and focused solely on Castlevania. I managed to complete Castlevania and I was going for more achievements based on the trials but for some odd reason when I loaded up my save file I was getting an error saying it was corrupt and I needed to delete it and restart everything! Of course I'm not going to restart the game. I'm now going to try to focus my attention on Enslaved

Vanquish should arrive soon.

I have yet to start to play Dead Rising 2

I'm not going to get Fallout: New Vegas because of the reviews I've been reading and I may also skip Arcania: Gothic 4, Medal of Honor and a few others I had my eyes on.

Coming soon should be the Kinect sensor with some (if not all) kinect games, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Saw 2, Fable 3, CSI: Fatal Conspiracy, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, The Sims 3, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and any others that get good reviews...I wonder if I'll have the time (of course not :P)

Yes, I am still around. What have I been doing, let's see;

Gaming wise, I started Spiderman: Shattered Dimension, I was kind of enjoying it but it got very repetitive. The stealth base Spiderman was definitely the best gameplay mechanic in the game, but all others just got boring after doing the same thing over and over. The boss battles were really cool though. I still have to complete the game.

Been playing Halo Reach too and I have to say despite all the hype, I'm not impressed with this game. It's basically a rehash of Halo 3 with a few gameplay changes and updates. Now don't get me wrong I do like the game, but it's nothing ground breaking. Halo 3 for me was the pinnacle of the Halo series and everything that came afterwards was just mediocre in comparison.

There aren't many other games I'm looking foward too this year yet, but Dead Space 2 has my attention early next year. I have my eyes on game reviews to make the best purchases. The Nintendo 3DS also has my attention as well as Kinect.

This 10K gamerscore actually took me about 6 months to gather mainly because I've been gaming a lot less because of time constraints and other commitments. Before I used to gather 10K gamerscores almost monthly but I doubt that would ever happen again. Anyway here's my usual breakdown of the game that pushed me into the new 10K

• 120K - Death Smiles
• 110K - Dark Void
• 100K - Left 4 Dead 2
• 90K - NBA 2K10
• 80K - Comix Zone (XBLA)
• 70K - Madden NFL 10
• 60K - Monopoly
• 50K - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 40K - Sega Genesis Collection
• 30K - Dead Space
• 20K - Soul Calibur IV
• 10K - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

Looking back at my last gamerscore entry I see it took me 2 months to gather that 10K and 6 months to gather this one. I hope the next 10K doesn't take me an entire year :|

Death Smiles was the game that pushed me over 120K and I have to say, even though I don't think the game is worth the full price tag and should have been an XBLA game, it was actually a really great and intense side scrolling, rail-like shooter. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a 2D shooter like this one.

I don't even know what to play next. I tried Red Dead Redemption, but oddly enough I'm not feeling the game :|, I don't know why. Guess I'll wait on Mafia 2 or Halo Reach.

I managed to get in some much overdue gaming the past few days. I completed Singularity and it's clearly on the list of one of the best games I've played for the year. I highly recommend that game! I also started up Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands and finished it up too. The Prince of Persia wasn't a bad game and it did introduce some new things to the series, but overall it wasn't an entirely new experience. The game was still a lot of fun despite it being on the short side.

I still have to decide what game to play next, hopefully I can start Red Dead Redemption now or probably play something short so that I can complete it in a few hours... I'm not sure yet.

I also went today and saw Predators. The movie was garbage! I was expecting it to be good, but it was a huge disappointment. Lame, cliche, predictable storyline, lame cast and crappy acting. Don't even waste your money to look at this, don't even rent it! I should have looked at Inception again...

I went yesterday and saw Inception and I must say:

THAT WAS ONE ****ING AWESOME MOVIE!

Seriously, it was one of the best movies I've seen in loooooooog time. It's rare some across a movie with incredible special effects that also manages to maintain a solid and excellent storyline. I don't think the movie was a confusing as some claimed. You just need to look at it from the very beginning and not miss a beat. If you can understand Matrix, Inception is a breeze. Some of the friends I went with were pissed at the ending, but I liked it! If you haven't seen it yet. I highly recommend this movie. Don't look at anything else, go see Inception!

I have some time this weekend (well tomorrow) so I can finally dive back into Singularity. I also have Lego Harry Potter and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands on my waiting list. Don't know where I'll get the time to squeeze in those two games in my gaming queue yet because I still need to start Red Dead Redemption :|

I encountered my first writer's block yesterday. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get anything done. The day before I went on a date and we ended up looking at "Get him to the Greek." It was a great movie I enjoyed it a lot. If you like adult-like comedies with a decent storyline, you'll enjoy that movie.

Since I couldn't get any writing done yesterday, I decided to play a game. I didn't know what to play, but I wanted something short so I can complete it in a few days and not just abandon it later on. I started Singularity and I have to say I'm very impressed. The mixes all kind of FPS genres together and it all works out very well. One minute you feel like you're playing Call of Duty next you feel like Bioshock and next Resistance or Halo, there's even some Portal and Half-Life thrown in. The transitions also work in really good. One of the major flaws in the game is the bland visuals. And sometimes you'll encounter the graphical glitches. I sat down and played it for about 5 straight hours and enjoyed ever second of it. I cannot wait to continue playing it this week.

Another plan I have next week is movies, movies and more movies. I might be forced to look at Eclipse again...ugh, and I'm hoping Despicable Me or Inception opens here sometime soon because I want to see both.

This weekend I sucked in my pride and went a few friends to see the Eclipse. I thought the movie was crap, as usual, but it was better than the previous two. I cannot believe I actually paid to look at it and I don't understand what all the hype and craze is about. Meh...I want to see Predators!

I haven't been doing a lot of gaming. Last game I played and completed was Alan Wake, that was a few weeks ago and I haven't even touched my Xbox 360 since. Alan Wake was a surprisingly good game. I enjoyed it a lot and it ranks as one of the best I've played for the year so far.

Most of my free time is being taken up with my novel and I have surpassed my goal of 50,000 words. Currently I'm around 55,000 and I'm not slowing down anytime soon. My new goal is 70,000 words. If I stay focused an continue on the course I'm going, I should complete it by the end of next month and then I'll need an additional month to polish and edit the story.

I've also purchased a netbook solely to work on the novel from work because depending on the shift I'm working, I have little or nothing to do. I can at least use some of the time to work on my project instead of constantly playing the DSi. :wink: