Hello, all. So December's here, college work is finally winding down, but I managed to squeeze a few games here and there to play before this year will inevitably be all said and done. Personally, I don't really blog that much anymore. Guess it's just isn't my thing anymore. But w/e.

I think I've already set my top 10 for this year already and might write about it. I might also do my top new characters as well, but I haven't really been planning too much about it...for now anyways. Right now I've just been playing games left and right; just got through Kirby's Epic Yarn, also recently with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Gran Turismo 5, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Ultimately, I'm just glad school this semester is almost done. Don't you? College pretty much ate away most of my time, so not much time writing reviews and playing the number of games I originally wanted to play. But surprisingly I managed to finish just enough to make a top 10. Who knew? :roll:

So ya'll set for your GOTY? Would love to see your picks! ;)

So I thought this tagging thing would never stop, but apparently it won't anytime soon. The only excuse I have is that I haven't blogged in a while, and I was extremely bored. Plus, I found it kinda fun anyways. Here are the rules for this:

>Put Your iTunes (or other music player) on Shuffle.

>For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

>You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds.

>Put any comments in brackets after the song name.

1. If someone says, "Is This Okay?" You Say:

• Peaches - The Presidents of the USA [Err, just peachy? O_0)

2. How would you describe yourself?

• Drive - Incubus [Sure...?]

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?

• It Was Faith - Puddle of Mudd [Uhh...close enough.]

4. How do you feel today?

• Aurora - Foo Fighters [Not really. :shock:]

5. What Is Your Life's Purpose?

• Judith - A Perfect Circle [Um, no! Definitely not.]

6. What is your motto?

• What I Got - Sublime [Hell yeah.]

7. What do your friends think of you?

• Tank! - Cowboy Bebop OST (The Seatbelts) [I'm cool. I'm jazzy. Also apparently, I'm such a BAMF. :P]

8. What do you think of your parents?

• Under the Killing Moon - Thrice [WTF!! I don't want to kill my parents! :o]

9. What do you think about very often?

• Electronica in the Velvet Room - Persona 4 OST [Well, not all the time. :P]

10. What is 2+2?

• Caress Me Down - Sublime [Apparently, my math teacher lied to me about math and sex.]

11. What do you think of your best friend?

• Weenie Beenie - Foo Fighters [Not really.]

12. What do you think of the person you like?

• Take it From Here - Justin Timberlake [Oh ye--wait, what is that song doing here!?! :o]

13. What is your life story?

• Tomorrow - Silverchair [My life has been uh...interesting I guess. :roll:]

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?

• Sun King - The Beatles [Yes! Like the Beatles. Great. Sun King ain't bad either.]

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like?

• Rock the Boat - Aaliyah [XXX. I'm a guy. What do you expect? :P]

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?

• Toxic - Local H [Uh...]

17. What will they play at your funeral?

• Abuse Me - Silverchair [WTF...yes, fine. Abuse me even in death.]

18. What is your hobby/interest?

• Blitz Off! - Final Fantasy X OST [Why not? Blitzball is amazing.]

19. What is your biggest fear?

• Fat Lip - Sum 41 [Uh, sure. Apparently I'm afraid of people like Angelina Jolie.]

20. What is your biggest secret?

• Counting Bodies Like Sheep - A Perfect Circle [Everyday of the week, baby.]

21. What do you think of your friends?

• Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant [Pretty much.]

22. What will you put as the title?

• To Hell We Ride - Lostprophets [Yup. Our world's heading into oblivion anyways.]

And I tag nobody! There. Done. Have a great day.

As always, E3 is kicked off by gaming heavyweight, Microsoft. The conference was supposed to start at 10 a.m. PDT, but a few technical difficulties seemed to have delayed it to 10:30. No surprise there.

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Anyway, on to the conference. Microsoft led off with a demo of Treyarch's latest military first person shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops. The demo showed off a level in which the player crawled through suffocating mole tunnels and an enemy-infested tropical jungle. At the end of the demo, the player commandeered a Hind and unleashed a swarm of missiles and rockets towards the enemies below.

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Afterwards, Lionhead studio head Peter Molyneaux showed off his latest project, Fable III. Molyneaux introduced a trailer that portrayed two different rulers and how their decisions (good or evil) will affect the world around them. It was rumored that Fable III will have Kinect support, but Molyneaux was not clear on that topic. Though he did say the game will launch on the Xbox 360 and PC on October 26.

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Of course, what would a Microsoft conference be without Gears of War? Epic head Cliff Bleszinski showed off a demo of the game with three other human players. Marcus Fenix and his band of rag tag soldiers fought their way through a Locust/Lambent-infested wasteland.

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As for the recent naming of Microsoft's motion controller, Kinect was their biggest focus. First off, they introduced Kinect's basic features, from scrolling through menus, voice recognition, etc. ESPN also thought they would join in on the fun, and they're bringing sports onto your Xbox 360 through Kinect. You can watch live streams of the World Cup or even College Football. These features and more will be available to Xbox Live gold members at "no additional cost." The reception of course, was ecstatically received.

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Next up, Kudo Tsunoda came out and presented the first 6 of 15 Kinect launch titles. Kinectimals lets you interact with a virtual pet on screen; the demos showed a young girl interacting with her virtual pet tiger, Skittles. Next was Kinect Sports. The demos shown were that of Soccer and Track & Field. Afterwards, a trailer of the rest of Kinect Sports' activities was shown, from bowling, to table tennis, to boxing. If you didn't get a Wii Sports vibe with that, I don't know what else to tell you.

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Up next was a kart racing game, Joyride that looked similar to ModNation Racers. Kinect Adventures was also shown, with a couple of demonstrators showcasing Reflex Ridge, in which you race or play co-op with a friend to collect pins and avoid obstacles through treacherous levels. Kudo also showed Dance Control (Harmonix), in which you mimic dance moves on screen to rack up as many points as you can. Ubisoft was also there, and a representative showed off a fitness demo of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.

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The final Kinect demos were presented by Forza developer, Turn 10 Studios. They showed off a demo of Forza Motorsport 3 running on Kinect's features; the controls seemed sharp and the graphics look great. They did say that the game still ran at 60 frames for second, which is pretty impressive. Turn 10 also showed off another feature in which you can move around and view a car from different places and angles. There was also a technical demo of a Star Wars game that is set for release in 2011.

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Xbox 360 Slim
Yes, it has been confirmed. Although they're not calling it the slim; they're just calling it 'The New Xbox 360.' Whatever it is, this new 360 version will ship as a 250gb, with a built-in, Wi-Fi version (820.11n) for faster internet connection. It will also retail at $299.99, the same price point as the original Xbox 360. Crazy, I know. But that's not all; the New Xbox 360 is available right now, as we speak.

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Microsoft also had other games in their lineup. A short demo of Halo: Reach was shown, in which a group of Spartans fought off a wave of Covenant soldiers on a smoldering battlefield. Also, Hideo Kojima was there to reveal more footage of Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which was announced exclusively for the Xbox 360 at last year's E3. It won't be an espionage game this time; Rising puts you in the shoes of MGS2 protagonist, Raiden, cutting his way through buildings and people alike.

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Personal thoughts:

Microsoft's intention from the start was for the conference to center around Kinect, and they were successful in pulling that off. Though I found Kinect's facial/voice recognition and other features interesting, the way they presented everything reminded me so much of how Nintendo has been doing in the past couple of E3s. The Kinect presentation was pretty terrible and awkward, and there were many times the crowd was sort of forced to applaud.

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There weren't any more presentations in the press conference that piqued my interest, except for Gears of War 3. Black Ops and Halo: Reach don't exactly appeal to me either. Overall, Microsoft's E3 press conference was disappointing. The Kinect stuff was interesting, but not enough to convince me to buy that product. What audience are they supposedly catering this to?

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Hopefully, Sony and Nintendo won't be a letdown as much as Microsoft has today. I expect better things in the coming days.

Just today. Finally, after going to numerous Gamestops, Wal-Marts, Targets, and Toys-R-Us's, I finally found a PS3 console of my own. Whoo, now I can breathe a sigh of relief...

So I didn't really try to find one today; I just ran into it by chance. I went to the bank to get my account renewed, and I noticed there was a Gamestop right next to the building. After I got that taken care of, I went inside the Gamestop. Thinking they won't really have one in stock, I asked anyway. To my luck, the clerk said they have just one brand new PS3 Slim in stock. Lol I wanted to jump up and down and hug the guy, but I kept all my joyous celebrations in my head. So I went there, got the console, and went on my merry way.

Any of ya'll want to add me, here's my PSN ID: mrxsnappy

Just send me a friend request, and send me yours too by leaving a comment on this blog (if you care enough, that is :P).

Right now, I'm just downlading free demos to pass the time. I did mention my best friend getting me Red Dead Redemption for my birthday, but he borrowed it. And I cannot find my copy of Valkyria Chronicles, so I'm trying to figure out where I left it. So I won't be able to play it until this weekend, but that's okay. Well, that's all. Hope ya'll have a great day :D

So it's that time of year. Just in that time of your life that you turn 20 years old. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. From this day forth, asian_pride is now 20. I feel so old. :P

Here's a cake. Grab a bite, why don't ya?

So what am I going to do today? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'll probably just lie down on my bed and watch some videos or something. Don't really feel like playing games or whatever. Today is just a chillax day, I guess.

Though we did go out and eat at a buffet earlier, and went to go look for a PS3 Slim. So far, no luck; I'll probably try again this Saturday. I just heard we're going to have a huge party that day as well because I share the month of May with my grandma, cousin, and my little brother. My best friend's already told me he's getting me Red Dead Redemption, so I don't need to worry too much on purchasing games right now. I might get MLB 10: The Show down the road. Time I got back in baseball again. It's been a while.

So far, my summer's going well. I'm just looking forward to this year's E3. Hopefully Persona 5 will get a mention or something. That'll make my day :P

How's everybody's summer coming along? Anything special happen lately?

I'm not going to keep saying, "it has been a while," because I've actually been here this whole time. I'm just your typical lurker lurking around the forums and what not. Maybe college has been keeping me from posting on the forums and commenting on your blogs. Maybe. Just final projects and exams in every direction, etc. etc. But I've been here every single day. Surprising, I know. But now, Summer is here. I'm excited. I'm exuberant.

You might ask, why. Actually, yeah; why? Why am I so happy this time of year? Well, first of all, my birthday's coming up next week, so I'm excited about that. It's not solely because I'm turning 20 that day, but I might just purchase that PS3 I've been wanting as well. I'm just focusing on what games to purchase first once I get it. I also might pick up Pokemon Soulsilver while I'm at it. But I'm really excited to play Red Dead Redemption. Besides a couple games, I think it's a likely candidate for 2010 Game of the Year. But we'll see how the year goes on when we approach its halfway point.

The other reason? E3 2010. I'm always excited for some announcements from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, as well as from other big name publishers expected to show up in the events. Who do you think will win E3 this year? Guess we'll find out this June. See ya'll there :D

That's it for now. I've nothing else to say right now, but just to let people know (who were wondering where the hell I was) I'm still here. Hopefully everyone's having a great summer :)

What's up everyone. So I'm sure most of you already know about my little outburst the last time I blogged. To be honest, I was actually surprised that many people commented on it. I thought you guys and gals would just ignore it and let it slide.

So I really need to explain myself. Basically the day I wrote that blog, I just slipped into an angry mood. I don't know why, I just felt angry and just wanted to let it all out somehow. Eventually I wrote all of my thoughts down, became a blog, and just posted it. To be honest, all the things I wrote in that blog don't even bother me anymore. Now that I've matured from my early years in high school, I don't usually let the little things faze me one bit. But the night I wrote that blog, it was a different story. All these angsty feelings I thought I threw away a long time ago suddenly started coming back to me.

Usually I just play the drums or something if I was in a bad mood, but I felt like doing a different kind of self-therapy for a change. Surprisingly, it worked, and I felt better than I did before. But really, I should be apologizing for showing that side of me. It's one of those instances that should never have been made in the first place, but it's too late to do anything about it now. Hopefully that would be the last time you see that side of me again.

Lol just to clarify some things; if you pull an Asian joke right now, I'd laugh. I won't be offended, I promise. I do know when to say no, but I continue to help others with their work. I guess I'm just usually a nice guy, and I don't think I'll abandon that nature anytime soon. So hopefully ya'll can just forget about that and move on. I know I have. :wink: Oh and jaykho, if you're reading this, dude send me beer! We should get together someday and have a drink :P

So enough about that crap. On to games! Bioshock 2 comes out next week. Have you seen the launch trailer yet? Freakin' awesome. Can't wait, and hopefully I get a chance to play it. But what I don't get is the hate for this game. I'm having a hard time understanding all of that. Why the hate?

White Knight Chronicles isn't doing so hot, from what I've read in some reviews. Still deciding if I should get it or not.

Oh yeah, there's also the teaser for Fallout: New Vegas. They said they'll be bringing back elements of the original Fallout games, most notably the dark humor. Looking forward to hearing more.

That's all I have right now. Laterz :)

I'm sick of getting ignored. Sick of trying to act all friendly and being Mr. Nice Guy, only to be avoided in the end.

I'm sick of helping people out with certain things. Whenever they ask, I'm nice enough to sacrifice my own time to help those in need. And what do I get? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a word of thanks. Not even a token of gratitude. Oh but then someone else comes along to help them, and they get the thanks I deserved. I'm not asking for money or a kiss or anything. Just saying "thank you" is more than enough. Is that too much to ask?

I'm sick of being paranoid, always thinking and assuming that people avoid my messages because they don't like me. Not one bit. Is it my name? Does it bother you? Is it my choice of words during normal/forum conversations? Or is it you just can't find the explanation and just straight up don't like me? I mean, seriously, what the f*** is wrong with me? What is it that you don't like about me? Speak up, because I don't know. Don't be scared; let me know straight up. I'm sick of not knowing the answer to those questions I constantly have hanging in my head.

I'm sick of hearing all these jokes about my heritage--coming from my best friends no doubt. "It's cuz you're Asian," or "Make me an iPod," or "Asians can't drive, cuz they can't see from left to right." Sick of being ridiculed by them sometimes, even though they really love me and view me as a brother. Sick of actually letting the jokes get to my head. Sick of actually getting pissed off about these jokes, because I usually find them amusing myself. But why am I so pissed off? I'm sick of not knowing the answer to that either.

I'm so sick of people making fun of the victims of Haiti. I'm sick of reading the jokes they made up about the incident, and sick that they don't care at all. I'm sick of those people being so insensitive about the whole thing. Sure, it doesn't affect you, and you can't do anything; I'll give you that. But really, with the sick jokes? Were they really necessary? Sick of actually going to that thread and wasting my time reading them in the first place. Sick of thinking there are millions of dumb***** in the world, and that place is full of them.

I'm sick of being used. People only need me because I'm smart (or so they say), and they're too damn lazy to do the work themselves. They're probably thinking I'm too much of an overachiever and spite me for it behind my back. I'm sick of actually thinking that way. I'm sick of thinking that way because it's probably true.

I'm sick of not being able to say all these words straight out of my mouth, because I know they'll just laugh at me and make the situation worse for myself. Heck, they'll think I'm a f****** lunatic after that.

I'm sick of actually writing all this crap and actually posting it as a blog, and know that probably not a lot of people will read it, because all of this is crap. If you actually read all of this and comment (though you don't have to), good for you. At least I have the feeling that people are actually paying attention.

And I'm sick of worrying that those who read this will probably think they're causing this and a big misunderstanding will ensue from both sides. If you think that way, don't. It's not your fault. Not at all. You can rest easy. I'm just sick of thinking I'm such the immature b****** just letting all my feelings out on this blog. Sick of being scared people might view me different after they read all the contents of this blog.

Most importantly, I'm sick of actually making this blog in the first place, that I could've done something way more productive than this. But maybe I just decided keeping all this s*** bottled up inside me isn't a healthy thing, so I thought of letting off some steam for a change. I'm sick of actually explaining that, but in the end, I kinda had to. Sick of thinking people might rub it the wrong way, and I'm actually hoping they won't. And you know what? I'm sick of the notion that I actually proofread this thing from top to bottom.

But you know what? I'm f****** sick of being pessimistic, and realize that I should just ignore all the bad stuff and always think positive. I'm sick of myself actually forgetting that one important thing. Sick of letting the little things get to me. Sick of letting people I barely even know irritate me to the core, for reasons I can't even explain myself.

Maybe I should just stop ranting, I don't know. Right now, I'm just sick of it. Maybe I'm sounding too much of a capital a****** right now. Maybe I'm just being awfully self-centered just because this is how I feel at the moment. Hopefully next time I blog, all this crap I'm feeling will all go away. I don't know. Hopefully somebody will tell me that the world isn't as terrible as I might otherwise think. Or, I don't know, be creative about it. Maybe just tell me to suck it up because the world is as terrible as it sounds, deal with it. But right now, I just don't know...

2010 is almost here!!! Just a few more hours to go! Are you excited!?! I know I am!

Time to do my New Year's Resolution. Here's basically my list:

-Write better reviews (I'll try to get the Top 100 emblem)
-Lose more weight
-Get my schedule organized (getting things done)
-Earn $300 (For a PS3)
-Play more games than before

I'd say it's a pretty good resolution list. Hopefully I can earn that much money :P So what do you guys and gals have for your New Year's Resolution?

Lastly, I just want to say it's been a fun year. Not just in games or this site, also with my friends and family. I don't really need to write too much, so I'll just keep it short. Anyways, to everyone on Gamespot: Happy New Year and here's to looking forward to a very kickass 2010! :D

So you've read (hopefully you did) my top 10 games of 2009, but that's not to say I've actually played every single game that came out all year. I did miss a bunch of great titles here and there, and it's really a shame I never got a chance to get my hands on them. Hence, the title. You're probably wondering why I'm even posting a blog like this. Maybe it's because I like sharing my thoughts here (that is the point of blogs). Or maybe it's the fact that I got nothing else better to do and decided to just write about this. In any case, here's some of the games-that-could've-been of 2009.

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*Dragon Age Origins

Seeing gameplay footage of it reminded me of the original Baldur's Gate, as well as Dark Alliance on the Playstation 2. The last WRPG game I played was Diablo II on the PC about 9-10 years ago, and in recent years all I've been into are JRPGs (that's not a bad thing though). So I decided to change it up and go back to WRPGs, but I didn't convince my friend enough to get it. Next year, maybe?

*Demon's Souls

Introducing the sleeper hit of the year, as well as Gamespot's GOTY of 2009. Known for its integrated help/hint system, and of course, relentless difficulty From Software made a role-playing game that will punish players everywhere they go. From big boulders to gargantuan boss fights, Demon's Souls shows no mercy at all. That intrigued me to at least try it out, but I hope I do have a chance to die again and again on New Year's Eve. Hopefully.

*Blazblue: Calamity Trigger

I stopped playing fighting games a long time ago, because I realized then and there, I sucked at them. Blazblue's beautiful hand-drawn characters, flashy, over-the-top, anime-style action sequences—not to mention the sexy Noel Vermillion intrigued me to give fighting games a try one last time. Too bad nobody in my neighborhood has seen or even heard of it. Bummer…

*New Super Mario Bros. Wii

My first impression was like, "Yeah whatever, another Mario game." But I soon learned that it's not really a co-op experience. You can be a total jerk and abandon your teammates, grabbing all the glory for yourself while they sit there and give you evil stares. And you know what? That's a fun Mario game for me in a twisted kind of way. But alas, not this year.

*Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

I have not yet gotten old of Insomniac's quirky, vibrant, and oh-so-quarktastic platformer series. With stellar graphics, mind-bending time puzzles, new, inventive, and addictive weapons to choose from, and the ever-appealing cast of characters, A Crack in Time could've potentially been my Game of the Year. If only I have gotten a chance to play it…

*Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Ok, I actually did play a little bit of Chinatown Wars. But with the very limited time I spent with it, I was so addicted that I couldn't put my friend's PSP down. Should have gotten one when I had the chance, but no! That ship has sailed, my friend.

*Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2

This is probably one of the few games proving that the underdog Playstation 2 can still compete with the big boys. Why I didn't purchase this when I totally have all the chance in the world is beyond me.

*Madworld

So you probably already know that I don't really take the Wii that seriously. Not that I hate the system; it's just the fact that there're only a handful of mature games that stand out from the console's majority, unadulterated game library (Not that I don't like Mario or anything – in fact I love that mustachioed plumber). Madworld is one of those unique mature games. 'Tis a shame I never paid attention to it until recently, but it's too late now.

*Resident Evil 5

Surprising, isn't it? No? Ah, whatever. Having enjoyed playing Resident Evil 4 all the way through, I was positive its sequel would provide the same entertainment. I had infinite chances to play the game all year. All year! Curse Modern Warfare 2 for keeping my attention away from this game. Ugh!

*Wet

I've only played the demo version, so it doesn't really count. Wet has that Tarantino/Grindhouse feel, and that made the game fairly intriguing. The gun/sword play looks repetitive when the game is played long enough, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing entirely. Too bad I didn't play the full version. Oh well…

Other games that I never got a chance to play consisted of this list:

Tales of Monkey Island
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble
Brutal Legend
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Prototype
Gears of War 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
A Boy and His Blob

So, it's a real shame I never got a chance to play these great games. Hopefully your year was a bit better than mine. :P