Harakiri

That's why I enjoyed VIce City. When GTAIV came out and I discovered that basically all the fun was thrown aside I watched an episode of Zero Punctuation and he was really saying how much he enjoyed Saints Row 2. And knowing that he dislikes pretty much everything, I decided I might as well check it out. Next thing I know I figure out it's the complete opposite of GTA IV and is so much fun and allows you to do more than the GTA series ever did.

First of all, please learn how to use paragraphs. Blocks of text make my eyes hurt. Basically grammatical and punctual problems abound. That sentence made absolutely no sense. It sounded like a thing straight from Half Life: Full Life Consequences. And as far as the altogether packages go, they just didn't work for me as short stories. They were more like parts of outlines for much bigger stories or something.

I know a few people like that. But I think every GTA minus Vice City is not good. I can agree that San Andreas was decent, but I just didn't like the main character or any of the other characters minus Samuel L. Jackson's character. I liked how sprawling it was, but otherwise it just did not have the appeal Vice City had. I just couldn't stand 4. Everything about it just didn't work for me. "NIKO! SCREW THE MISSION YOU'RE DOING, LET'S GO BOWLING BROTHER!"

I'm gonna PM the next person Saturday night because I go to camp Sunday. Unless you want to just pick the next person Sunday Nadril. Your call.

Despite the fact that GTA is cleaner and has much better production values, I hated GTAIV and could find no connection with the character, did not enjoy the story, found it to be too realistic. Saints Row 2 was just so much more open. It set out to allow you to have fun and be able to screw around in the sandbox world with a lot more freedoms and a lot more over the top ways to escape cops and such. To me, despite it's graphical flaws and it's glitches, it was the most fun gaming experience I've ever had. Addressing the fact I have tons of shooters, I tend to play a lot more action games than anything else. I've never been a huge RPG gamer or strategy gamer. I have always tended toward the more faced paced world of shooters. Plus I grew up playing Goldeneye with my Dad and with my friends so it was probably pretty easy to foretell that the moment I started gaming a lot I would tend toward the shooters. Though, to tell the truth, I prefer third person shooters more than first, and I prefer games like Devil May Cry with guns and swordplay. And I never played the PS1 Syphon Filters. It was kind of randomly that I stumbled on Dark Mirror and I really enjoyed it. I liked Logan's Shadow just a bit more though because it had a lot more cinematic moments. But both were very good, number two and three for best PSP game I played. And I have played every MGS game, but I played MGS1 a couple months ago on my PS3 and it felt horribly dated. If I had played it ten years ago I might have a different opinion on it, I mean, it was good, it just had some frustrating control issues that take forever to get used to when you have thumbstick controls anymore.

That always perplexed me as well. I assumed they were lit up like that so the player would know Sam was there or something. I assumed that they were actually not glowing green in the actual game world.

I found Arkham to be alright. It was not amazing or anything, it had good combat, good flow, and it was nice to see a decent superhero game, but there were so many terrible parts. Croc's lair was ultra repetitive and slower than it should have been, the final boss was a joke. Scarecrow was the best part of the whole thing. Metal Gear Online is kind of "meh". It's there though. The main story is the part that you should focus on. RDR was a great game from beginning to end. Mexico was the slowest part, but I enjoyed everything about the game.

This list is fairly simplistic and probably contains a lot of games that most people wouldn't even consider putting on their lists. You'll notice I have a lot of newer games because, to tell the truth, I didn't become a video game fanatic until maybe three or four years ago. And I play games a lot more for fun than Wow Factor so that's one of the major things going on in the top couple games I chose. 1. SAINTS ROW 2 Ye who opposes ultra violent video games be warned! Saints Row 2 is very, very violent and has a very dark comedy style. But the thing that I love about this game over every other game out there is the complete freedom to do what you want. Sure, Grand Theft Auto allows you to shoot people on the street, but does it openly want you to do this and encourage it? The minigames of Saints Row 2 is where the game really shines. Everything from Fuzz, in which you act like a cop and have cameras follow you around and you are demanded to take out criminals in overly violent ways (I.E take out the pack of skaters with C4, take out the streaker with a chainsaw). Or the most notorious and exciting minigame of the whole game, Septic Avenger, in which you help realators take out the competition by shooting feces at buildings, people, and everything else in the city. Cops chase you, and spraying their cars with poop until they can't even drive is so much fun and so hilarious, even after twenty or thirty times. The story itself should take you about twelve or fifteen hours depending on how much time you spend doing minigames and running into people and sending them flying into the air with your car that can be upgraded with spikes jabbing from the hubcaps so as to stop cars to your sides in their tracks. The games story mode is so much fun with so many great locales for the battles and so many hilarious deaths and characters. This is one hundred percent better than Grand Theft Auto and in this time when realism is something so many game developers are striving for, this game is a breath of fresh air. Being able to streak through town, throw people ten feet through the air, and buy a hot dog suit and battle rival gangs makes this the kind of game you can't stop playing. Sure the graphics aren't that great and there are quite a few glitches, but this game is otherwise my favorite experience in my years of gaming. Buy this game. It's less than twenty dollars at Gamestop and is a worthy investment, especially if you enjoy co-op and want to terrorize the fictional city of Stillwater with a buddy. 2. Unreal Tournament Unreal Tournament is one of the greatest first person shooter experiences I have ever had. Picking this game up for five dollars at Gamestop, I had remembered my fathers obsession with this game when it originally came out in 1999. Getting into it, you start off slowly rising up the ranks in a tournament of death. You have to get a certain amount of frags per game to win. You combat AI enemies that start at just positively stupid and work their way to so hard you can't get past this level. And that's what happened with me. The game was perfectly balanced until the end when the final four levels, excuse my language, rape you so hard you have to give in. I ended up quitting because I couldn't beat the AI. So single player is very solid with some amazing maps, some of my favorite weapons in any game, and enough bloody action to keep you playing. Who can forget the level in which you can kill people who are going for the rocket launcher in a room that is pressurized? By pressing a button, you can watch your enemy expand and explode. But then you move to the multiplayer aspect and will be amazed to see that this old game has a decent sized community for a game as old as it is. There are clans, there are around 1200 people playing at one time, and it's seriously enjoyable. To add to that, you can make your own maps and it has led to some of the coolest maps I've ever seen. People even invent their own game modes and this adds so much to your enjoyment. While getting into the clans can lead to some problems (the clans are very competitive for the stupidest reasons. I even found myself fighting a clan of twelve year old girls...don't ask), it's a very solid experience that, even after eleven years, provides new content almost daily. 3. Splinter Cell Splinter Cell is a franchise that I fell in love with for quite a few reasons. First of all, its story is great. I loved every minute of its story. Even better were the characters. Lambert was the quintessential boss, but Sam Fisher was the quintessential badass. His gravely voice just made him a complete badass the first time you heard it. One of the best parts of this game is the fact that it wants you to slowly progress. It is not a jump in and shoot everyone in sight sort of game, this is a game where you need to carefully plan your moves. Avoiding detection is a major thing in this game, which means you will have to patiently hide in the dark for most of this game. And while this can be boring for some, to me, it is perfect. Planning every move you make carefully is fun. Trial and error. Beating the game is a very great feeling because it really is a hard game. Some parts may be easy, but others are very hard. Despite the fact it looks like an action game, it is also cleverly disguised as a puzzle game. One really tough level, CIA HQ in Langley, is the major level where slow progression and thinking ahead really proves useful. It's sequel, Pandora Tomorrow, got the formula completely right and to me is superior, but for the sheer fact that this is the first in the series and one of the best games ever made, I say this is number three. Less than five bucks at Gamestop. Grab it. 4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is one of the greatest story telling accomplishments ever. Hideo Kojima wrote one of the most emotional, powerful, historical, and gosh darn perfect stories to ever come to the video game world. It details the Cold War perfectly, creates characters that are so great and diverse, and the gameplay isn't bad to boot. It is a bit more involved than a usual game of its kind because you have to go into a lot of menus to heal poisons and change camo. But it is still so fast paced and exciting. The greatest part of the game is the powerhouse ending. Defeating one boss leads to an amazing motorcycle chase sequence, leads to a battle with a proto-type Metal Gear and ends with an emotional boss fight with Snake's mentor, The Boss. The game is so well put together, and I can't stop raving about it, even three years after I played it. The boss fights are diverse and very fun, and the whole game is so memorable that you won't ever want to stop playing. 5. Resident Evil 4 Allow me to take you to my twelfth year of life. I bought this game due to rave reviews across the board. I grabbed it not thinking it would be too scary, it's a game right? So I got it and played it one night with the lights off. I entered the village the first part of the game, and hid inside a house, barricading myself in there as the zombies came at me. Next thing I know, out of nowhere, a man wearing a potato sack over his head and carrying a chainsaw cuts my head off from behind me, and my neck spurts a fountain of blood. I pretty much crapped myself. First of all, I didn't understand that games could be as bloody as Resident Evil 4 was, and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Three years later I put the disc back in and fired the puppy up, having grown the cahones to try again. I was immediately assaulted by the amazing atmosphere of the game, something very few games have. It's creepy as hell atmosphere emanates out of the television screen and into the room you are playing it at. It was bloody, violent, disgusting, and is ultimately the most amazing survival horror game ever. The graphics are amazing, the bad guys are scary, and the bosses are scary, and the whole package does what it should, scare you. All of the boss fights are very memorable. My favorite moment of the game is when the villages big cheese's body is cut in half and he starts swinging around on a barns rafters without legs, a spine dangling from that giant wound. The ending isn't as intense as the rest of the game, hell, it's actually laughable compared to the horror of the rest of the game, but it is an amazing game. Buy it. 6. Dragon Age Origins My favorite role playing game of all time, this is the story of the fall of the Grey Wardens, and their subsequent return to power. It's a story that is so immense and immersive, that just one playthrough is not going to let you experience the whole game. So many branching paths, hidden quests, and different ways to customize the characters make it one of the most replayable games ever. The whole game is totally dark. There is never a happy moment and you will find yourself laughing when after every battle you are covered with the blood of your enemies. Sure the graphics of this game are nothing to shake a stick at, but graphics are not a way to evaluate a game. As long as you can see what is going on and enjoy the game, then why care about the graphics? It doesn't have a lot of really "WOW!" moments besides some of the boss fights, but the story is something that you can not forget. Immersive, violent, and full of great plot twists and other such things. It is a fantasy based more in Medieval Europe with all characters carrying British, Scottish, and other accents along those lines, making the game all the more charming. It's funny at points, emotional at points, and never has an RPG been as immersive and had so many consequences for your actions. 7. Battlefield 1942 Battlefield 1942 is a very fun game. It allows you to choose a class, and then try to get rid of the opposing army by capturing command points and killing them off. The maps help make this so much more fun, allowing you to use a wide variety of tactics to battle the opposing army. It's one of those games you cannot stop playing because once you start, you get so excited by all the action. This game is full of cool moments if you play like a madman. Kamikaze-style flying into enemy ships, parachuting out at the last second, and standing on the boat as your airplane explodes sure is one of the great moments of the game. Online, the game is wonderful as well. This is one of the few games I can say is constantly fun. 8. Max Payne Max Payne is the story of a cop vs. the world. The story is where it is at in this game, which doesn't have cutscenes but comic book panels instead. The art is beautiful. The game itself has the graphics you would expect from a game almost ten years old. But they are actually pretty good still, and the game is highly detailed, though a lot more rundown looking than most games. It is hard at some points and contains bullet-time, which leads to some kickass moments. One of the best parts of the whole game is toward the end when it breaks the fourth wall hilariously. There are then some very psychological moments that are very hard. Ultimately, this is a game that I couldn't put down. Great fun. 9. Devil May Cry Devil May Cry has the most over the top action of any PS2 era game. It's characters are crazy, the action is crazy, the bosses are crazy, the bad guys are crazy. The game is fairly short, but it totally makes up for it in totally kickass action. From shooting enemies while they are in midair, to the great swordplay, I loved this game. It is not scary at all, and should not be considered scary. Devil May Cry is still a very good game. 10. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Vice City is my favorite Grand Theft Auto game for a reason. First of all, it's totally eighties look is great. It's radio is the best of any Grand Theft Auto game and it's story mode is the least boring and stupid story of the GTA games. Yes I have played San Andreas and I hated it's look, it's feel, the characters were all lame and I really didn't feel for the character, nor could I put myself in his shoes. GTA4 just sucked. But this game was perfect. I could put myself in my characters shoes, though Saints Row 2 was even better in making me feel like I was the character. And that level of immersion is something more game companies should strive for. The story of this game was good, the comedy was funny, and everything about the game worked. 11. Team Fortress 2 Team Fortress 2 is the greatest multiplayer game ever. It's focus on team based action and helping each other makes it all the better. All of its classes are cool and well balanced, it's cartoonish graphics are wonderful, its gameplay is easy to get used to. It's the perfect multiplayer game. Yes, better than Unreal Tournament. But there is no single player and I'm not as much a multiplayer sort of guy. But this is definitely a game all multiplayer kind of people can enjoy. 12. Tales of Symphonia Oh I went and did it. Put a JRPG on my list. I have just caused the apocalypse. Tales of Symphonia is a game I used to play religiously for a couple of reasons. One, its story was very good and well told. Two its characters were all pretty cool in their own ways. Three, the gameplay was perfect. Four, it's graphics were really nice. Five, I wanted to figure out when the hell those anime style cutscenes that are advertised on the back of the box would come into play. I don't know why I was obsessed with this game more than I was with Final Fantasy, but I just felt that this game topped all the 3-D Final Fantasy games. It is one of the most fun JRPG's I have ever played. 13. Sonic The Hedgehog My favorite game of the Sega Genesis, Sonic the Hedgehog is a pretty self-explanatory pick. It's fast paced, fun, has great graphics, and has stood the test of time. I don't feel any more explanations are needed. 14. Red Dead Redemption Red Dead Redemption has the rustic charm of the old west. It's cities and towns are desolate, barren, falling apart and completely cool. It's main character, John Marston, is one of the few Rockstar characters that you can actually feel for and enjoy playing as. He's a bit of a charmer, though he can be a complete badass if he must. The story of Red Dead Redemption may be boring for a lot of people. It is very much a western, and the desolate landscapes may bore a lot of people. Mission-wise it is not as diverse as you may like, but its story is pretty memorable, especially the ending. I can say that this games multiplayer is decent. Be warned that playing it on the PS3 was pretty bad. It took forever to enter games, and it wasn't as fast as it should have been. This is a great game though. 15. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Uncharted 2 is fun. A lot of fun. From beginning to end it is nonstop action and platforming in beautifully detailed environments with a soundtrack that is epic. Drake is a really cool character, though most of the other characters aren't that great, and he does some amazing stuff including escaping a falling building, escaping a falling train, escaping a falling bridge. Wow. A lot of falling. The cinematic perspectives and parts of the game are amazing and the train level literally made my jaw drop. Its multiplayer is a lot of fun and it is probably one of the best reasons to own a PS3. 16. SOCOM U.S Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 2 SOCOM U.S Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 2 is a mouthful.This game is one of the few PSP games I actually sat around and played nonstop for hours. It's story mode is very fun, though the story is weak. But the multiplayer is where this game shines. While map variety is not very great, it still provides the most solid online experience for any portable gaming system I have ever played. This is a very fun game. Pick it up if you own a PSP. 17. Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow Another excellent PSP game. This is a kind of stealthy, kind of run and gun game that I must have played through three times. It is the final Syphon Filter game, and what a game it is. It has some memorable moments and great graphics. Multiplayer, once again, is a staple of your journey through this game and while it is not the best you can find, it is pretty good. The most memorable part of this game has to be tazing someone until they blow up in flames. Another pickup for all PSP owners. 18. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots The final game in the main storyline of the series, it is definitely another home run for Hideo Kojima. The story ties up pretty nicely with this, and all the weirdness of the other games in the series is actually explained. Though there are still some big questions concerning the weird-ass bosses, but let's not worry about that. The only drawback of this game that I can see is that new people to the series will be lost if they wish to play through the story mode. It will make absolutely no sense to a noobie to the series. Otherwise, online action is good, and the story mode is great. 19. Half Life 2 Yes, I have played the first one, and no, I did like it, but this one was far superior in my eyes. Half-Life 2 is so much fun. From its great physics based puzzles to its story, the whole game is just so good. My favorite part has to be the bridge, just because it was pretty breathtaking and completely different from what you would expect from a regular first person shooter. More thinking, less pulling the trigger. A great game. 20. Goldeneye 007 Something about this game just works so well. Maybe it is the many levels, maybe the good shooting, maybe the multiplayer that is still a staple in comic book store and gaming store competitions. I have always enjoyed this game, from the time I played multiplayer with my dad when I was five, to now when I play it with my buddies at their houses where I actually have access to N64's. It truly deserves its status as a classic. 21. Yakuza Yakuza is what I consider one of gamings few cult classics. A small amount of people have heard of it, and less have played it. And it's sad, because it is a very solid action game. Playing as Kazuma Kiryu, you battle yakuza and unravel a plot that has started a war between the various family's of the games version of Tokyo. It has a somewhat RPG style that allows you to level Kazuma up and make him stronger and make his health bar larger, and it also has a wide variety of weapons to procure from battles, including lead pipes, swords, ovens, chairs, and a whole variety of other things. Yakuza has a great story, and that's where the meat is at. The game has an open world kind of setting, though a bit more bogged down. One of the main problems with the game is the repetitiveness of fighting bad guys on the street. Almost every street has a guy who comes at you wanting to fight, meaning a fifteen second load time, a fight that is just like the rest of the ones you have had on the street, rinse and repeat. It also has the most cussing of any game besides House of the Dead: Overkill. The F word is used so much, and every other variation of it and all those other words you don't want your kids to hear, that it almost becomes annoying at points when one sentence contains more cursing than a conversation with a guy with turrets. Ultimately though, this is a very good game despite the flaws. 22.Metroid Fusion Metroid Fusion is really fun. It's my favorite Gameboy Advance title and for good reason. Its graphics are great, its story is great, its controls are great. Everything about it screams Metroid and for me, it's the best game in the franchise. Maybe it's because it was the first Metroid game I played, but I really enjoyed it. 23. Doom Doom kicks butt. I played it on the GBA for the first time a long time ago, and ever since have found it to be so much fun. Drifting around the map and killing evil flame ball shooting Chewbacca's has always been one of my favorite things to do on the GBA. I'll always love this game, and if you can find it in any form I can assume it's good. Minus movie form and book form. I can safely say that you should skip those. 24. The Darkness I bought this because it was cheap. And next thing you know, I fall in love with it. It's story was killer, it's gameplay superb and I couldn't understand why it was overlooked. I really enjoyed this dark gangster story and think you should check it out. 25. X Men Legends Why in the hell would I put X-Men Legends in this list? Well, I personally found its style to be clean, its story pretty good, and its RPG elements superb. Being able to invite some buddies to play with me doesn't hurt either. All together, the best super hero game ever. No, Batman Arkham Asylum is overrated and I thought it was a repetitive, boring game. This on the other hand, is fun and a great game to play with friends.

What's the rule if a list doesn't show up by half-way through the week or so?

Yeah, I was kinda hoping a new list would pop up by today.

I don't know if this counts but I just watched a subbed version of Tokyo Gore Police. It was the most disgusting, horrible, nasty, weird movie I have ever seen in my life. If you have an aversion to almost two hours of straight blood and gore, then don't watch it. I saw every type of mutilation, decapitation, and everything in that two hour movie. Though it was pretty entertaining nontheless.

People who write well are almost always voracious readers. I write a ton and I tend to read most of the time more than I watch TV or do anything else with electronics. Reading the newest Vampire Hunter D book and more than likely going to be picking up a bundle of books from B and N for my birthday.

Having a small family birthday party for me. Going to be chicken wings involved and presents. So that's pretty much all that's taking place today.

Went to Six Flags St. Louis and burned my face off. It was terrible. The line to get into the water park was an hour long so I decided to just run for all the coasters while everyone else stood in line for the pool. Mr. Freeze ride is awesome, it takes you forward and then up ninety degrees on a tower, and then it goes backwards from the top of the tower and you do the whole coaster backwards. I love thrill rides. Not because they are exactly thrilling, but because they allow you to feel weird sensations like your stomach flying into your mouth, the air pressure being so bad you can't even turn your head. That kind of thing. Disney World is still way better though, just because it is much nicer, much better kept, and has that magic that only a Disney theme park can have.

I had just bought it a month ago and wasn't all that excited by it. The controls were crap. And that just brought the whole game down.

I've tried to read the series and I got through the first book and that was it. It's the same with Thomas Covenant. Same with LoTR. Same with Sword of Truth. Me and epic-y LoTR type fantasy don't mix. I love dark fantasy though. I bought The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Haven't read it yet and with my birthday coming up and more books on the way it more than likely will collect dust for a couple months before I start reading it.

I still own Stadium Arcadium. Dani California, Give It Away, Snow, and Stadium Arcadium are all of their songs that I really love. Stadium Arcadium is a great album altogether though.

Last time I watched porn I thought I was seeing a orgy circus. Good God, the things those people did. If you are gonna do it, is it really better upside down? And with people more flexible than Mr Fantastic? It was pretty disgusting.

Well, they are as skinny as I've ever gone. It took a while to get used to having no crotch-area room.

I enjoyed it. I found the part at the lighthouse to be a bit too long but I found the ending to be very suspenseful. The "Don't trust anyone" moral of the story really played amazingly into the suspense of the final pages. Reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. It's kind of funny. I like the dialogues between the characters, those are very good.

Black Hawk Down?

This year for school I decided to go with the skater look, skinny jeans and all.

Thanks for that article. It is very interesting. I want to know more about this religion though. Were they monotheists or polytheists? This is a really neat find though.

Yakuza 2. Much better than the original. I bought Dragon Age Awakening but I'm not gonna play that until I get back from camp so I am not as sad when I am in the middle of it, engrossed in the adventure, and have to live in the great outdoors for a week with no electronics. Last week I beat Dragon Age Origins, Yakuza, and MW2. I also tried to play Transformers: War for Cybertron but it apparently has a universal problem with saving. The saved data is corrupt and the game stops and you can try to play again, but you won't be able to progress further than where the game crashed before. Delete the save data and try again and the same thing happens. I officially will say not to buy it.