Sorry I didn't mention this to everyone at the leader council, but I will be at tennis camp for a week. I may be able to post once or twice, likely not though. Sorry I will not be on...

Well, I've decided that I haven't reviewed too many gamespot games, and I don't think I did a bad job with my review for Shivering Isles(not great with my Oblivion review though). I was thinking of releasing a two-year perspective review on Oblivion PC, so that won't be out until March next year. But, otherwise, until the end of this year, I plan on reviewing Madden, Halo 3, NBA 2k8(very much a maybe), Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, Medieval II: Kingdoms, and if out this year, Rock Band. Any PC games, 360 games, and Wii games you think I should review besides those?

Well, even though I finished the book nearly a week ago, I thought it was proper to write a blog about it, because this book has made me absolutely obsessed with Harry Potter like I never was before. Sure, I loved the books before, but after reading the seventh book I am trying to gobble every single ounce of info, and I actually find myself reading several emotional sections of the book over and over again. So what did it for me? Well, I suppose it could be that Deathly Hallows is a much maturer book in the first place, no need for quidditch and school, instead, they are fighting a war out there. I also got to see character's that I read as kids while I was a young kid myself, mature and become young adults in this final book. And, perhaps it was the final ending, but now I can't get enough, and I'm deeply in grief that the story is actually over. Please J.K. Rowling, your encyclopedia can't come soon enough!

Wow, I can't believe a game can be so changed because of mods, but I bought Oblivion PC exclusively for mods, and so far that's all I've played in 12 hours, just mods. I don't think I'll let up soon either. The really cool thing about mods is that they are like game releases, and can add tons of hours of gameplay. I'm currently playing a multi-part questline with a companion mod, called Ruined-Tail's Tale, and the writing dare I say it is better than anything made for vanilla(original) Oblivion. Oblivion feels like an entirely different game with these mods, and I feel it's a lot better too.

If you lead a gamespot union, you may be wondering where a good place is to talk about them, get help, or nominate for union awards. If that's so, apply for the union leader council and send me a PM that you lead a union. Here is the link to the union, hopefully you guys will join!

I'm going to keep it short here, I'm back on gamespot from Italy, which was a wonderful wonderful trip.

Well, toomorrow at 3 o'clock is the first day of a two week vacation to Italy. It's going to be awesome, and due to the gamespot addict I am, I will bring a laptop(although I'll be posting sparingly). It's definitley going to be a fun trip, but if you see my activity drop, do not be alarmed, it's just that I'm away.

Now, before I get into this blog post, let me state that many of you will share pretty much the same feelings as I do, but right now, I'm too ticked off at Gamespot to care. This review system is exactly the reason why I stopped subscribing to other magazines and when with Gamespot reviews, now the only reason I'm here basically is for the unions. Anyway, there are some ok things to point out when all of this is said and done, but the main problem is the .5 incremental system.

Ever heard of the saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it Gamespot? This 99 point review system was great, and it made system wars fun to watch(even with plenty of those moronic fanboys). It also is a much more accurate way to tell from reviews, look, does gamespot think us users are stupid and that we can't tell the difference from an 8.3 and 8.5 flat? Now, we'll be seeing a lot more 9.5's that wouldn't be, and even a 10 may not be all that uncommon. This is the exact reason why I stopped subscribing to OXM, (besides that the mag sucks in the first place) I hated that they changed to this simplified review system. In fact, many of you guys(at least on system wars and the site enhancements boards) share my opinion. For example, a stickied poll on system wars shows that 52 percent of gamespot users do not like this review system at all, and 26 percent find it not good, but they'll get used to it. That's 78 percent of your userbase gamespot, doesn't that tell you something? Also, there is currently a threadon the site enhancements board in which many are expressing there concerns. In fact, much of that board has locked topics about the review system.

Anyway, there are a few good things about the review system, the medal system is interesting enough, and I like the new treatment they are giving to gamespaces, but overall, it's almost like why gamespot? Couldn't gamespot have well, informed us and asked us whether we would have liked this?

I know a few from my union, and I've seen so many wonderful modders out at the Bethsoft forums that this gets me curious. Do you know any great modders for any games out there, or are you one yourself? Us at my union plan on having a pretty good mod system going, but we only have two-three dedicated modders out there, so I'm just curious if you guys know any good TES modders, or modders in general for any series.

Ah, when I joined Gamespot, I had absolutely no idea what unions were, but now my Elder Scrolls Fan Union has surpassed 1000 members, and has become a lot different than it originally was. Anyway, I'm glad for all the members who have helped put in such a great effort, and I can see green pastures in the future.