Playing my way through Bioshock 2's multiplayer at the moment, it's still pretty fun but online multiplayer isn't my forte and i just want to get it done so i can move on to the single player on hard mode, but i'm finding it hard to bring myself to playing the multiplayer, as i am playing Fifa 09's (i know it's old but i'ts still ok) manager mode so i can alternate between playing Fifa and Bioshock so that the levelling up doesn't become a complete slog, but i don't think i've played Bioshock for about a week now so that hasn't really gone to plan.

I was also thinking about getting a copy of Fifa 10 before 11 comes out, so that i just about have the newest copy, and playing Fifa 09 only makes me want it more, however i would much rather finish off the platinum for Bioshcok 2 and then move to something else otherwise it will just bug the crap out of me that i am still yet to platinum a game with a substantial amount of online trophies.

In other news i am very much loving the juicy news that is coming out of Gamescom, chief amongst which for me is the revelation that Mass Effect 2 is coming to the PS3 around a year after it was released onto the Xbox, in the same way that Bioshock made it to the PS3. I am pretty excited because i loved Bioware's work on Dragon Age but have never played Mass Effect, so if the game is anything more than Dragon Age in space i will be thrilled, maybe i should read up on the Gamespot review for the game to get a taste of it.

There is other great news arriving courtesy of the ever reliable Gamespot crew, but i don't want to bore you with it, just look it up for yourself on Gamescom.Gamespot.com and you are bound to find something to peak your interest. Speaking of interest i am very much looking forward to Gamespot's coverage of TGS next month, as i couldn't get enough of their coverage of E3 and Comic-Con, and am wishing for some great live stage demos from Tokyo and hopefully Germany, I mean Gamescom hasn't really begun yet and doesn't finish until Sunday.

I myself am lucky enough to be going to a games event happening in the very happening London, the Eurogamer Expo, that is taking place at the start of October. I will be covering the event for the gaming website i work for, which is called e4g.info, so i shall endeavor to play and preview as many games as humanely possible in the three days of the show, not all of the line up of games has been anounced yet but it is shaping up very well and i am awfully excited even though it is over a month away. I would love to see so many of the great titles and getting to play them is even better, but i would also really like to meet the Gamespot UK team, as i love all their work, but i don't know if they would cover the event given one of their competitors is hosting it, but we will see.

Just thought i would blog to say that i have recently finished playingU ncharted 2 on crushing difficulty (for the platinum, naturally) and my word is this game awesome. It is such an improvement on the first game, yet the first uncharted was really good too, it makes me apprehensive to think how they could possibly top it if Naughty Dog were to do a third game in the series.

I absolutely love Uncharted 2, i mean i knew going in it was going to be good, but i never thought it would be as good as it is, i mean the environments are stunning, the action is exhilerating, and the dialogue is superb from start to finish, it could well be my favourite game on the PS3, or even ever! It's kind of a shame that i'm probably going to leave it alone for a while, but to quote Chloe i'm "gonna miss this ass"

On the plus side i have been playing Bioshock 2 and have just finished the story mode and i regret to say that it kind of underwhelmed me, i felt like the magic of rapture itself was kind of lost in Bioshock 2, for instance going outside and being able to wander about the ocean should have been really amazing but all your trips outside amounted to was a way to get from point a to b, slowly.

It also didn't help that the characters weren't all that interesting, the audio diaries didn't provide as great an insight into Rapture history as the first games did, the graphics hadn't been improved in any meaningful way, the plasmids and weapons hadn't been expanded greatly, neither the types of enemies, don't get me wrong it is still a good game, but given how astounding Bioshock 1 was at the time of it's release, Bioshock2 should have gotten better, more refined and not as rough around the edges, but it is not, and that is a real shame, arguably the best part of Bioshock 2 doesn't involve the story at all because the multiplayer is certainly a worth while addition, despite initial scepticism, and is a lot of fun to play.

I hope if there is to be a third Bioshock they go back in the time line and not further forward, and we as players get to experience Rapture before it fell into decay, and of course be right in the thick of it when it does.

But forget about the future because right now Comic-Con is happening in San Diego, in case you didn't know (the rhyme was not intended), going in i wasn't all that excited for it mainly because it's not that long after E3, and i presumed we would just see more of the same, thankfully this hasn't been completely true and a feast of new info has been revealed about some great upcoming titles. The one game i was crossing all fingers to see more of was the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, whatever it may be called, because i completely loved Arkham Asylum when it came, and for a long time it was my favourite game of 2009, until the big releases at the end of the year came out though.

Hopefully the next big release, in my eyes, Mafia 2 will be as great as the potential of the first game demonstrated and will kick-start some much needed solid titles, lastly i hope that Dead Rising 2 doesn't go the way of Crackdown 2 and fail miserably because it's now on PS3 and i want to play a Dead Rising that addresses the issues with the save system, though annoyingly there is still a 72 hour clock limiting the time you can spend in the games open world, so please BlueCastle don't screw it up!

As of yesterday i have posted my review of ratchet and clank:a crack in time, and a couple of days before that my god of war 3 review went up after having completed both over the past couple of weeks.

I had a great time playing both and they are truly great flagship games for the ps3, flying underneath the exclusivity banner, both are quite similar in that for the most part they are the same tried and tested formula, the two are definately a graphical step up from previous games in their series, but a little dissapointingly perhaps play it a tad safe.

Next up on my to do list to play and then review are uncharted 2 and bioshock 2, both great sequels, one more so than the other according to most gaming outlets, so i'll see how it goes, i was certainly impressed by the first uncharted and bioshock games to say the least, and would love if both could capture my imagination once again.

In terms of great exclusives i'm still yet to play resistance 2, killzone 2 and heavy rain, so i'll have to wait and see if heavy rain comes down in price, and if i can stop being a wuss and get the other two regardless of time consuming online trophys, but i do want to keep my platinum to game ratio (24 platinums out of 27 games) if i can, and of course red dead redemption excites me as a fan of rockstars gta games (who isn't?).

My parents are away next week on holiday so i should find plenty of time to play games (in between world cup games of course), and enjoy the great podcasts and video shows courtesy of gamespots all-star international crew, and there is a crackdown 2 now playing coming up soon, i may have to watch it tomorow given the time difference but that's fine, and so is gamespot :)

So E3 is over, and what a show it was with the 3DS shown off, Kinect and the inevitable slim Xbox, as well as the Playstation Move, not to mention all the huge titles like Gears of War 3, Halo:Reach, Portal 2, Fallout:New Vegas, Rage, Bulletstorm, Ghost Recon:Future Soldier, Mortal Kombat, Twisted Metal, Zelda:Spirit Sword, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong:Country, and, well i could go on and on and on, it was such a packed show with tons of stuff to look forward to for all the major platforms.

I'm glad Gamespot believe that Microsofts conference sucked the most, and were not swayed by their giving away of slims, what a huge dissapointment kinect turned out to be, i mean at least sony showed off move support with titles like Littlebigplanet 2 and Socom4, microsoft didn't even show off any first party support from the likes of Fable 3 and Gears 3, and they didn't price it, but it was revealed later from retailers it would be around $150.

I have to admit as a skeptic of whether Nintendo could have a good conference given their console is bogged down with so much shovel ware, they did have arguably the best show, between the 3DS, Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Kirby, Epic Mickey, and Donkey Kong, they have kind of won me over, and probably a few other ardant Wii fans over with their line up.

And on to Sony, like Microsoft i felt their motion sensing stuff weighed them down a bit, but thankfully the titles supporting move were of a higher quality than Kinects Wii back catalogue homage, of course the stellar exclusives were all their and present like Killzone 3, LBP 2, Infamous 2, as well as a few curve balls such as Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat that helped keep things interesting.

The only dissapointment for me in terms of games that weren't there was Dragon Age 2, but that's probably because i've only recently finished off the platinum trophy for Origins, but hopefully the game does exist because i absolutely love the original, a lot more than i was expecting which is always nice.

But soon i shall be playing games i know i will like, because let's be honest Gamespot is hardly ever wrong with their reviews, as just recently i have had Bioshock 2, as well as God of War 3, Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time, as well as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves come through the post, and i can't wait to start playing them next week, i kind oif want to save them till Monday so, while my Mum may be at work, i can show my Dad the awesomeness that is God of War 3, because i'm pretty sure if my Mum saw it she would just get caught up on the violence and not be able to get past that, but who caresat the end of the day it along with a whole lot of titles to come out in the future, are all fantastic spectacles in their own right.

Is it just me, or was Microsoft's press conference really underwhelming?

After all those stupid buffering issues, and finally getting a link to the on the spot feed, i was thankfully able to watch it, unfortunately i missed the metal gear and gears of war stuff at the start, and was treated to a halo reach trailer, which looked like a glorified sci-fi call of duty, and the sadeningly dissapointing kinect, or natal, or whatever.

Apart from Skittles the pet tiger, all the rest were really unimpressive mini-game compilation stuff, where "employees" ended up looking like complete idiots, dancing, exercising and the like, do most of the xbox 360 gamers want to be doing that?

I think not, i wonder if people will care/be able to 100% any achievements for this rubbish, and let's be honest it is rubbish, i think most peoples fears have been realised in that kinect/natal is full of a bunch of uninspired mini-games, just like the wii, way to casualise microsoft! (thumbs up, while the hardcore 360 fanboys shake their heads)

I really hope press from Gamespot and the likes don't disregard how bad the microsoft conference was as a whole just because microsoft supposedly gave them all free xbox 360 slims, in order for them to forget the crap that came before.

God i hope sonys conference will be better than that crock.

Just finally finished and posted my review for Resident evil 5, after much debate with myself on the final score, and finally went for the 8.5 gamespot originally gave it, i did think about giving it .5 points more or less, but in the end Gamespots score was right again, unlike another publication i could mention, lets just call them lamemaster magazine shall we?

One particular game i cant resist playing at the moment is Dragon Age:Origins, i dont think theres many games other than Dragon Age that i would want to put so much time into, i just recently finished experiencing all the origin stories and honestly they're all great starts, apart from the Dalish Elf, which you would think would be kind of cool being an elf that lives in a forest, but it was by far the most underwhelming origin story, and the City Elf was so much better, maybe even the best origin, its certainly between City Elf, Human Noble, and Dwarf Noble in my opinion.

I have currently played through Dragon Age twice, and will soon do it for the third, and maybe even a fourth because i have to admit, being a dwarf and hitting on Morrigan and Lelianna who are easily double a dwarfs height would be pretty fun, but maybe thats just me.

To be honest i think i have a virtual in-game crush on Lelianna, dont get me wrong Morrigan is good fun, but Lelianna is so much more caring, and that beautiful song she sings when you romance her, and your affection is high enough had me agasp, stunning!

Wow it's been hot in the u.k recently! Almost so hot that i don't wan't to play games with a console running in an enclosed space such as my bedroom, almost, but not quite.

I don't know how gamers who live in Australia, and certain states in the U.S cope with the heat, because i don't think i would want to play in hot conditions, not that i'm one for lying about in the sun anyway.

I guess the laptop sitting next to me at all times when my console is running, in case i need a guide for anything, doesn't particularly help matters, but hey that's just my preference, and if it wasn't there i wouldn't be typing this message right now, well maybe i would but in another room perhaps.

Additionally i really need to post my review for resident evil 5, as it's been ages since i last played it, and if i leave it for too long i may not remember what i like and dislike about it, with any luck i'll do it early tommorow, when it's not so hot.

Just killed my first dragon in Dragon Age, i wont spoil who the dragon used to be, but suffice to say i came nowhere near beating it the first time, went away and leveled up a bit, came back and kicked its butt, granted it was on easy but still that beast had it coming.

After the fight i feel alot more confident about killing the high dragon near the urn of sacred ashes for the silver trophy.

I'm surprised that i've resisted the urge to post something about Dragon Age before now because it is one seriously enthralling game, it's full of rich detail, and character that oozes from every orrofice, and has captivated me for the past week or so in it's stunningly realised world, and yet more weeks to come because it is literally the game that keeps on giving.

One last thing i managed to pick up my collectors eddition copy of Dragon Age for £20, which includes a peice of dlc worth £11 on the playstation store, suffice to say bargain :)

That title doesn't refer to me unfortunately, but to the first in the God of War series of games, and my is it awesome.

I almost forgot how much of a great experience it is playing a God of War game, there as epic as they ever were even 4+ years after release, which is no small feat given how much video games can improve over the years.

Even amongst action games it can still stand proudly alongside Devil May Cry 4, Bayonetta and the likes.

I'm playing the God of War Collection now, and it's actually hard to believe that these games were originally on the ps2, how that little console could cope with such games is just staggering, granted the in-game cutscenes look naff on the ps3, but apart from that they have stood the test of time very well.

I think there was a now playing, or a crosshairs or something where one of the guys who had been a part of the god of war trilogy said the scope of the first two games was largely faked, but god of war 3 wasn't, and playing through god of war i can see where he was coming from because most of the time your sense of scale is largely due to what's happening in the background.

For instance, often you can see Ares in the background smashing up Athens and it's greek armies, because this is in the background you know Ares is very tall up close from cutscenes, but since you are often far away from him, it creates the illusion he is very tall.

The camera certainly does a clever job of conveying scale too, as if you are crossing a wooden bridge the camera will zoom out so that Kratos is smaller and his surroundings seem bigger/longer then they actually are, very clever indeed Sony Santa Monica, i applaude your ingenewety.

And soon i'm going to move onto God of War 2, i cannot wait for this!

Yay!

Earlier today i finished playing through Resident Evil 5s professional difficulty mode, it wasn't too bad a difficult difficulty, i mean the fully upgraded/infinite ammo weapons help immesurably, it seems a very long time ago i was struggling through normal mode, barely scraping enough ammo to get by, and cursing at the sight of a chainsaw weilding maniac.

And with finishing professional mode comes my gold trophy, and by extension my 19th platinum of 22 games (i know it's a bit lame but i'm quite proud of my game to platinum ratio).

In the next couple of days i should hopefully get round to rating and reviewing Resident Evil for you fine folks at Gamespot to (hopefully) read.

Also i'm pretty excited to get on and play God of War Collection (1 and 2), i did play them on ps2 but i'm interested to see how much, graphically, they have been improved for the ps3, they weren't exactly bad looking on the ps2 to say the least, and were great fun.

I don't know how much i can recall of them, which would be helpful for the puzzles, but of course i remember a lot of the memorable boss encounters, of which there were many.