Well, I decided to come back tonight for some reason, to see who's still around here. And I began to reminisce. It's not even that I've been a member for long...6 years, but I haven't been active in 2ish or so. When I was an avid member, GameSpot consumed my life. Why? It was a thriving community with nice, helpful people. Today when I browse around, I see a bunch of junk and nonsense. Threads lack a sort of "spark" that they used to have. Looking at the main forums, I see a ton of huge threads, with no discussion within.

It just seems silly to me how or why it has become like this. Oh well. I remember when the first redesign happened...and the backlash that brought. That was intense. It showed the community's "bond". We were interrupted, the website was broken. It's hilarious to think back that a website this big became so ****ty during the transition period. F5 was everyone's favorite key. Oh man... :P

One thing I find disgusting is how unions have been abandoned. It seems that nothing's changed with them...including the page design. WTF! I cannot believe how CNET has let this website become so...stagnant. There seems to be no passion with the staff anymore. It's a lifeless robot cranking out advertisements.

Comment if you agree! Haha

The day after my last post came a new hands-on on both GS and IGN. Blah. Figures, eh? THat whole blog post....shot down the next day. Owned is right! :P

Anyways, my fears have been put to rest. That's just the opening of the game! The rest is amazing!!! Eeeeh!I love it. It's everything I wanted!

That's all I really have to say now. Note the quality difference from my last post and this :P LoL

I'm going to talk about my concerns with Metroid Prime 3 Corruption..= Let's start with a bit of review about me and Metroid, so I don't seem uneducated. My first Metroid game I've ever played was indeed Metroid Prime. But that game intrigued me so much that I needed to play other Metroid games. So I did. I've now played every Metroid game. And overall, Metroid Prime is my favorite game of all time (any console, any generation, any franchise, etc.) There's just something about that game that I can't resist.

Naturally, after MP2E was near release, I reserved my copy and bought it on launch. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a game and the whole experience. It was the audio, music, design, and concept that I had loved oh so much from its predecessor was still here But as everyone now knows, MP2 did not deliver the same experience as Metroid Prime. I'm not going into detail, since everyone basically knows why (light/dark, ammo....)

Obviously with MP3, Nintendo and Retro learned that we as gamers wanted change for the better. I'm really worried that they basically took Halo and slapped Samus into it. I see the trailers on Wii, I see the previews, I hear the "hype", I see the gameplay. But the more I watch/hear these things, I get even more worried. This sure doesn't look like the Metroid I was hoping for. This looks like a Sci-Fi-themed FPS! From what I have seen, I am not looking forward to this game. But I did reserve it, and I will pick it up on August 28. And I will play it. I just hope it pulls a Wii--first impression of controller was bad but now I love it!--and does the same thing to me. I guess what I feared from the start as with everyone else did before MP1 is that it will be a FPS. I want Metroid. I like the old feeling, but am not denying that new concepts and gameplay is good also...

Hunters
Yeah....Hunters.... I remember those things in that game....oh yeah, Metroid Prime Hunters. I have one word: FAIL. Granted, it was cool to see good online w/DS and the graphics and control, but that was not a Metroid game. Now, why is the idea of antagonists from that game coming to this one? I know now they're helping Samus, but still.

The Helping Hand
...another huge concern of mine: help. Samus has never been helped (besides in Fusion....but that was used sparingly). Hunters....helping me complete the mission?! That's absurd. Samus is supposed to lose nearly everything in some random accident, and recover them alone. I feel like that whole area of the game is gone.

People and Their Voices
Ah yes, the GFMC people....Appeared in MP2 dead. The way they should be....creepy, and leaving Samus alone. Now they're an integral part of the story when they're alive. They talk to Samus. They're under attack and need her help. In the game. Not in a quick cutscene or anything...They talk to her, telling her what's going on. Granted, there were monoliths before, but they were mystical and weren't with the Galactic Federation. This leads me to my next point...

Learning What's Going On
In the other 2 Primes, you scanned to learn what the heck was going on with you and your surroundings. Now, apparently, you "hear" what's going on from the Marines (at least part of it, though the whole story seems to be focused on them and their issues). The scanning made you feel cool in your suit (I know it's still there), and it made the world seem cold and empty and lonley.

FPA or FPS
Okay, so maybe Prime 3 has the "best" Wii control so far. Maybe it's great for rrunning and gunning. The other two games controlled perfectly fine for what they were: First-Person Adventures. This one seems like a plain old FPS, especially with its new control. Granted, I don't want them to make the control liek the others when we have the new tech., but it seems like the game is based upon what we can do with the control, not what the control can do with the game.

The Finale
From what I've seen/read around, I feel that none of my concerns have been addressed....anywhere. I'm not bashing the game in any way, shape, or form (liek I said, I'm still going to buy it and probably love it), but I'm expressing my concerns before I can play it.....

Okay, so last night at 3, I completed the [first] trailer for The Ambassador of Inkablinkastan 2: Penetration. You can watch it on YouTube here, or on the official website here.

Lemme know what you think of it! It's short, but makes sense when you know the plot :)

The official logo:

I know about 3 people actually read my blog, but whatever, I might as well post this!

Anyways, I took a course this year in Video Production at a vocational school in the city where I go to school. And I fell in love with it. My friends and I have always made videos...but nothing really serious, and with either no editing or on Movie Maker. Well, I'm really into it, and have a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 (that's fancy stuff, there :P) Anyways, I figuredyou two or three could check out my videos sometime on YouTube (yes, I promise they make more sense than the one I uploaded here). Lemme know what you think. My YouTube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/aubinhick91490. I'm especially proud of the Ambassador of Inkablinkastan. lol. Also, check out the website I made for that too! (http://inky.pinepointpark.com) That site's got background info and such. That movie earned my girlfriend (Hillary...lol she's much more beautiful not dressed up as an arrogant b****) and I an A+ in the clarse (lol @ GS) plus extra credit since it was initially shot in HD. That's basically my only fully-planned movie I've got there.

I really wanna make a movie now, but don't know what to make it on. lol My teacher liked me so much that he let me borrow one of our Canon GL2s (worth $2,000!) and whatever equipment I wanted (so I took a boom pole, shotgun mic, handheld mic, and a tripod). Any ideas? lol That's okay, I'm not really expecting that.

Anyways, I got my first job a while ago...late April. At a CVS :) A brand new one, too! The store opened May 6. I really like it there, mostly because of the people I get to work with. One of my best friends' dad is the District Manager (helped me get the job lol). So I get to wear the sweet baby-blue collared shirt. lol Oh well, I was glad they started me at $7/hr. I dunno about where you are from, but for here for a first-time job, that's definitely decent.

Oh well, I just had an urge to blog about something....so that's what this is! (Also, check out my blog that's now 2 down...about my Wii Overheating)

Hmm more thoughts...do you guys know of a good UCB or Union to hang around in anymore? I'm kinda lost now 0_o

Also, do you remember Eiffel 65? Yeah, the guys who made "Blue (Da Ba Dee)". Well I always loved their music.... All of their albums (3 of them plus 12 special edition English version of the 3rd. Anyways, they broke up last year and the singer and the keyboardist formed another group, known as Bloom 06 (the reason the DJ left is because Maury (keyboardist) and Jeffrey (singer) felt thaty he (Gabry Ponte) should focus on his solo career more.)

Anyways, Bloom 06 is pretty good (see http://myspace.com/bloom06), although I miss the upbeat s-t-I-l-e (lol @ GameSpot) of E65...but in good news, their first album (Crash Test 01) is exactly what itsays....a test. They are releasing another album soon (Crash Test 02...lol) and they say it's like "Part 2" of CT01, but more upbeat and almost E65-ish in s-t-I-l-e (lol @ GameSpot) That makes me happy :) As much as I love CT01, I do miss E65's s-t-I-l-e (lol @ GameSpot)

Give them a listen if you feel like it (on their myspace page). Yeah some of their stuff's in Italian, but music is music... Also, they have a kinda electronica s-t-I-l-e (lol @ GameSpot)...but not at the same time :P They vary.

"E3 Media and Business Summit" Hmm. Sounds professional. Well, that's because it was. As I'm sure everyone's aware, they changed E3 from the "Electronics Entertainment Expo" to the aforementioned. Good? Bad? The GameSpot editors' reactions are mostly pro-2007. Others dislike it. Now I'm going to sound off about it as a gamer. A person who the show is supposed to eventually inform.

Pros: I know that nearly (if not all) editors for every website, magazine, newspaper, etc. enjoyed working at E3 '07 much more than E3 '06.There's no questioning that with 90% less people that it's easier to work. Along these same lines, games could be sampled longer...to some extent.

Cons: My biggest problem with the new E3 is that there's no excitement. E3 was always a fun time. I used to look forward to it; this year I didn't realze when it was until I saw the link here in the navigation bar. Yes, I tuned into the Nintendo press conference live when I found out when it was. But the "aura" of excitement for everyone -- editors, gamers, publishers, etc.-- was gone. We, the gamers, were not represented this year. Others could not play these amazing new games...only the key industry editors could. The "big party" was gone...

Should they bring it back? Personally, I'd love to have the old E3 back. But I doubt they're going to. It's too formal now, and we all know how business people are...:roll:

The other day I was playing re4 on my Wii and noticed a bunch of green pixely dots....

Turns out my Wii overheated at some point and the GPU got damaged... Poor little Hollywood....

Anyways, today I called up Nintendo and the guy said he'd never heard of this problem. He actually put me on hold; he must have asked around about it or something. Anyways, we set up a repair...he gave me the option of the 'Advanced Replacement Program' (where they send me a Wii and hold my parent's credit card # till they get my Wii), but there was no definite guarantee of my nearly $40 worth of VC games to be redownloadable. So I didn't do that...

Anyways, the guy was nice about it, and once again, I'm extremely satisfied with Nintendo's Customer Service. They've always been great. My UPS shipping label's on the way in the mail now.

Here's what I'm seeing (no, I'm not very far along in the game )

Well, I recently found all of my Nintendo DS games (see collection). So I guess I'm into the DS again! It's been about a year since I had last seen them. So I guess I have more to talk abou tnowadays, and I'll try to get back into GameSpot.

I have a Wii for those of you outside the Union, who haven't heard from me in god knows how long, and I have Zelda, Re4, Wii Play, Wii Sports (duh), WarioWare, and Super Monkey ball. I heart the Wii so much, it's so much fun.

I love how Wii is before PS3 on GameSpot! Remember the DS bias in '04? If anyone who was around then is still here.... Haha that was funny, I definitely started the first petition to GameSpot, and they rewrote it and I flipped out. LMAO It's not like they did anything about it anyways....they never do anything for the users here anymore.

Onto my personal life....

I just got my Junior year 4th qtr. report card in the mail and have a 3.92 GPA for the 4th quarter! Yay me! I'm going to be a senior next year, and don't ask what I want to do for college. Probably something with video games or Video. I'm really into video production. Speaking of vid. prod. check out my YouTube Channel here! The video I'm most proud of is the Ambassador of Inkablinkastan. Comment on the videos if you like em, and make sure to mention you're from here :)

I'm still dating Cassie; we've been dating for 15 months as of July 3rd! Wow! Time sure flies! We're still strong. We've had some disagreements and weak times, but we always pull through and we still love each other. I really do love her. :)

Well, that's all for now, I'm off to play re4 now! Talk to you guys later!

I'm still alive and occasionally on GameSpot. I'm intently coding up my FIRST Robotics team's website, http://238.pinepointpark.com/. My girlfriend and I are still together, now up to 9 months. Tonight, we are going to my school's Semi-Formal, and she has the most beautiful dress ever! lol

I have a Wii and love it to death. I'm 44 hours into Zelda and alsmost, but not quite, done. My friend says I have 23 dungeons left :D I never want it to end. I still have not found any of my DS games, except Hunters... :roll: I've pretty much given up on finding them.

So yeah just a small update on my life as of now. See you later!

I plan on blogging about everything since my last blog, since I decided I'll try to come back here a bit more because of the Wii. Speaking of that, check out my first post in a while here.

(PS- me and my girlfriend his 7 months tomorrow! :D)