No Elites in Halo 3: ODST

In a very, very rare feet, Bungie actually gave away some story explanations for a Halo game prior to that game's launch. In this particular instance, it came via their Weekly Update and consisted of a detailed explanation as to why gamers will not fight a single Elite in Halo 3: ODST.

If you haven't played through Halo 2 and intend to, you'll want to stop reading right here as the below contains spoilers.

Taken straight from the source:

"We realize that the Elites are of a fan-favorite, so it's probably wise to set aside your compassion and steel yourself for what is about to come. There are no Elites to fight in Halo 3: ODST.

Still here? Good. Deep breaths. We wanted to clue you in early so you didn't have a chance to let your expectations wind you into a whipping maelstrom of assumption and conjecture.

...

In the wake of Regret's shameful retreat from New Mombasa, the Prophet of Truth continued his maneuvering - one eye always on his ultimate goal: his rightful and holy ascension. For Truth, his own personal passage was paramount. His Godhood would not be denied. Everything else was secondary.

And though Truth's duplicitous scheming doesn't come to full fruition until the Elite Honor Guard's failure to protect the Prophet of Regret affords him with the final leverage needed to appoint the Brutes to the lofty position, his plans were never made in haste. They were well laid. When the time came to return his attention to Earth, his expendable regiments needed to be led by Jiralhanae, not Sangheili.

Leaving the Elites to scour Earth in search of a Holy Forerunner relic, and ultimately to uncover the most precious and sacrosanct Forerunner artifact in existence - the very portal that opened upon the Ark itself - would have placed all Truth's aspirations upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside, a species splintered by heresy and derision, even amongst their own ranks.

Truth's divisive mandate had been set in motion. The Elites had exhausted their usefulness to him, they would not be allowed to meddle in his affairs any longer, and he would not place his rightful transcendence into the hands of incompetents. His word was law.

So the Prophet of Truth deploys Brutes. And the Brutes were eager to prove that their loyalty and battle prowess had earned them a seat at the side of the Hierarchs, as the honored protectors of the sacred Covenant. Such blind faith and eagerness marked them as near perfect pawns for Truth to sacrifice."


This has me very, very disappointed.

Elites were very well developed in Halo 2 and were key to the game's story, yet that very plot line was all but abandoned in Halo 3, where Elites became a rare site save for the Arbiter, who was demoted to the rank of sidekick. I thought surely that Elites would not be neglected in Halo 3: ODST since the game takes place during the very time as we last saw them shine, but Bungie's shafting them yet again.

So the only place we'll continue to see the noble and zealous Sangheili, aside from going back to the original Xbox, is in Multiplayer. Except instead of hearing an Elite shout at me "A thousand curses Demon!," it's some annoying kid shouting a thousand curses at me through his Headset, at which he gets muted and reported via the lovely Xbox LIVE Complaint system. Somehow, it just doesn't amount to the same experience.

At least we'll have Elites to fight and control in Halo Wars, but even that's not the same thing.

Halo Wars Gold and Demo Details

Last week ended on a solid note with Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Game Studios announcing that Halo Wars has gone gold, and up until launch, they'll be releasing a video documentary series that will highlight the various themes and features that we can expect to experience in the game.

The first episode, available via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace or below, discusses the gameplay style, controls, and strategy, and honestly, it all has me excited. As I've said before, if Ensemble Studios can pull this off, it'll be the first truly successful RTS on a console platform, and it'll all ride on the controls. Feature wise, we're already seeing some great things, such as actual Spartan boarding of enemy vehicles, and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for this one.



Of course, we won't need to wait until launch to try Halo Wars out. On February 5th at 2:00 am PST, Microsoft Game Studios will be uploading a fully playable demo straight to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

The demo will feature the beginner and advanced tutorials, the first two Campaign missions, and a single Multiplayer map in which you can play in Skirmish mode against the AI as the UNSC with Captain Cutter as your hero, or as the Covenant with the Prophet of Regret.

Very exciting indeed!

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Xbox 360) Demo Impressions

I spent an hour experiencing sheer mediocrity and I want it back.

I'll keep this one short and brief: like F.E.A.R., I won't be getting any further with its sequel than the demo. As some of you may recall, the PC demo for F.E.A.R. pissed me off right in the menus, and the Xbox 360 demo was alright, but nothing spectacular enough to make me want to rush out and rent it, let alone buy the game. From my experience with the recently released demo for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (Xbox 360), it's more of the same.

You start off in the ruins of a city where a mysterious explosion has left a significant amount of chaos in its wake, and you need to link-up with the rest of your squad. You actually start off in a creepy vision related to Alma, the game's spectral protagonist, and it's various sequences like these that are the highlight of the demo. They're creepy and very atmospheric and really help to set the tone. Such sequences, along with a solid audio mix, are about where the good of the demo stops.

Visually, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin looks dated, and there's a horrible film grain effect that you can't turn off. Textures are flat and many random doodads in the environment look blocky. Honestly, it felt like I was playing a last gen title save for the lighting effects, which is a disappointment considering all the beautiful games recently released to compare it to. Character models looked good and moved well, but they weren't anything to write home about. However, we all know a game's top strength comes from its actual gameplay, and not the visuals, but sadly, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin's demo really let me down here as well.

Gameplay wise, your character moves like he's walking through molasses; I can't stress how annoying I found his very movement. There's also the usual console annoyance where you can't re-map your controller (I'll never understand why developer's love restricting one's ability to re-assign some buttons) so I'd always end up Sprinting when I meant to Crouch, which made using cover trickier.

And you'll want to use cover, as the game's enemies, I'm talking specifically about the soldiers you fight in the demo, have some good AI where they take advantage of cover themselves, try to flank you, fall back, etc. It's some good AI, though nothing I haven't seen in other recent games and far less impressive than in the original title. When it comes down to it though, you can take away all the challenge the AI has to offer by using Reflexes.

Like the first game, you can use your Reflexes for a short period of time to go into "bullet time," and basically butcher anyone who comes your way with the standard fair of weapons. Submachine guns, shotguns, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, the usual. Essentially, the gameplay of the F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin demo became a simple sequence of advance forward, once enemies arrive activate Reflexes, gut them all, wash, rinse, repeat. It got old real fast, and I had to stop using Reflexes just try and keep some challenge alive.

You also very briefly get to pilot around a mech, blasting away slowly re-spawning enemies until you get to the demo's conclusion, and while relatively fun, it's nothing I haven't seen or done before years ago.

I suppose when it comes right down to it, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin's demo screamed dated at me, thus the demo felt rather mediocre and certainly didn't inspire me to want to pick up the full version.

I know a lot of people, particularly PC gamers, are looking forward to F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin with a passion, and if this is an example of a top quality PC shooter, I'm glad I switched to Microsoft's console's years ago. At least they can release a decent trailer.

Gears of War 2 Title Update 2 Released

This past Tuesday, Epic Games released the second Title Update for Gears of War 2, which addresses several game exploits, balancing issues, and matchmaking issues.

The Title Update also adds several new Achievements to the game, all related to the current crop of Downloadable Content for a total of 175 additional Gamerpoints.

For full details as to what the Title Update addresses, head on over to the official forum right here.

Halo 3: ODST and the Mythic Map Pack

In this week's Bungie Weekly Update, the boys behind the Halo franchise reveal further details about Halo 3: ODST, including thoughts on the team's first full play-through of the game, the changes to the new SMG, and pimping Brutes.

Prior to this, they discuss the upcoming Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack, pulling together all the facts on how you can get it, and releasing a "concept art" image of the previously never before seen Sandbox map, pictured in all it's glory to the left.

Bungie also goes on to talk about cake, frosting, and dumbasses, 'cause we all know there's a few of those on the interwebz, and they're good at multiplying faster than a Flood outbreak.

Free Your Xbox 360 Avatar

Ever looking to make the New Xbox Experience even more of a social experience, Microsoft has now released the Xbox Toolkit which allows you to create custom images with your Xbox 360 Avatar.

Using this tool, you can import your Avatar as well as the Avatars of your Friends, and great all sorts of images from eCards, to Facebook pictures, to Windows Live Messenger profile pics. There's several presets and backgrounds to play with.

The only thing I couldn't figure out is how to have your Avatar pose in different stances or display any kind of emotion. Aside from just standing there, I couldn't get him to do anything, which admitadely is rather drab.

If anyone figures out how to get your Avatar a little more interactive, let me know!

Video Card Obituary

This past Tuesday, I came home from the usual grind to a family meal, where I stuffed my face with Domino's Pizza. After I was nice and bloated, my old man turns to me and says: "Well, now that you're stuffed and happy, your computer died." So after doing some testing and even an attempted Windows XP Repair, I determined the issue to be hardware related, so I had to take it in.

Turns out my nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB had essentially died on me, and was preventing my system from booting up in all but Safe Mode. Now, since I don't game too much on my PC since I went back to consoles, mainly using my good ol' computer for blogging, forum surfing, and porn, I didn't want to spend a lot of coin on a high end card, so I went for a simple nVidia GeForce 9500 GT 512 MB. Very similar to my previous GPU, so it'll do fine, and it has more vRam, which'll help out a bit in the long run.

And the moral of the story is I can look at boobies again. Yay!

On a side note, I also like how nVidia only mentions their involvement with the PlayStation 3 on their site, and not the original Xbox, which is too bad since the Xbox is still some quality classic hardware.

I've had some great luck with nVidia graphics cards to date. Originally I had a 3dfx Voodoo III, and as you may recall, 3dfx was bought by nVidia once they declined (which was too bad given how instrumental and revolutionary 3dfx was to 3D cards), so transferring loyalties to nVidia made some good sense. My original nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 64 MB, a card everyone said was junk, worked wonders for me and really let me get a lot out of gaming. Honestly, no complaints with that little guy, and it's too bad Valve Software fried my system. Stupid Valve.

The Xbox's custom GPU had some very impressive graphics for it's day, and really outshone the PlayStation 2, and my previous nVidia GeForce 7600 GT 256 MB let me take my gaming to the next level and really experience some great titles from a few years back, well, right up to this year, actually. Not impressed that it died very quickly though, lasting only 2.5 years, so I'll see what happens with my new card.

If it too has a short life span, I'll likely take a good look at the competition for my next graphics card.

Fallout 3 Update Available plus Three New Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage Screenshots

Known for making extremely large and detailed game worlds, Bethesda Softworks has been able to immerse gamers for well over a decade with their "play as you want" mentality. Unfortunately, such a large an open-ended game world also leads to a whole host of bugs with each release.

But of course, bugs can be patched, and that's just what Bethesda Softworks has done for their latest offering, Fallout 3! For owners of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, the update with automatically download and apply the next time you play the game while logged into Xbox LIVE or the PlayStation Network.

For owners of the PC version of the game, you'll automatically receive the update the next time you log into LIVE with the game, or you can download it here.

Full details on all the bugs the update fixes can be found here.

Bethesda has also released three additional screenshots for their upcoming DLC, Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage, which is set to release for the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game later this month.

You can view the screenshots on the official site right here.

StarCraft II - Vote for your Dark Templar and Media Update

With the further development of StarCraft II, Blizzard Entertainment will be expanding the Dark Templar and introducing different tribes to the faction. With the Protoss and the Dark Templar in particular being such a fan favourite, Blizzard Entertainment has thus decided to allow fans to vote on which clan will represent the Dark Templar in StarCraft II Multiplayer games!

The first option is the Lenassa tribe, whom we've come to know from the original game. The second option is the Zer'atai tribe, who have dual scythes instead of Warp Blades and wear heavy armour combined with the bones of fallen Zerg. The third and final option is to have both tribes represented, where the Dark Templar warped in will be randomly generated as a member from either tribe.

Head over here for full details and to cast your vote!

Blizzard Entertainment has also released one new piece of artwork and four new screenshots that can be viewed here and here respectively.

Fable II: Knothole Island Release Date and Media Update

There's big news spreading about the land of Albion, as Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead Studios confirmed the release date of the anticipated DLC for Fable II entitled "Knothole Island."

Revealed in this press release, Fable II: Knothole Island will be released via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on January 13th and will retail for 800 Microsoft Points ($11.60).

Also on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, you'll now find Lionhead's 8th Video Diary which details the challenges they faced in finishing off Fable II, and then expanding it with Fable II: Knothold Isle. The Video Diary glimpses some of the added features, shops, and items that players can look forward to in the upcoming DLC.

Lionhead Studios has also released two new screenshots showing a hero all armoured up. You can check these and all other screenshots out right here.

Lastly, a reminder that an additional and more importantly, a _free_ content update will also be arriving for Fable II on January 13th. This free content update will gift players with several new items, and also allow players without Fable II: Knothole Island to play co-op games with those gamers that do purchase the upcoming DLC.

Diablo III Media Update #4

Not one to keep us waiting for too long, well, at least after they've announced a title, Blizzard Entertainment has once again released a Media Update for their upcoming action-RPG, Diablo III.

Head on over to the main site here and here to feast your eyes on four new pieces of artwork and five new screenshots respectively.

Three New Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage Screenshots

Earlier this week, Bethesda Softworks released three new screenshots from their upcoming Fallout 3 DLC entitled "Operation Anchorage."

You can check out the screenshots on the official site here, and at last check, Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage will be available on Xbox 360 and PC this January.

Halo Wars Demo Announced

Earlier this week at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson has reported that a demo for Halo Wars, Ensemble Studios' upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive RTS, will be arriving on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on February 5th.

This is excellent news, as I really want to try the game out before I decide on a purchase or not. I'm very, very particular about my RTS controls, even on a PC, and I want to make quite sure I like the set-up that Ensemble Studios will have implemented prior to deciding whether I want to get the game or not.

Halo Wars will be hitting shelves in North America on March 3rd.

I've Gained Karma

And not just in Fallout 3. Nearly a year ago, I reported that I found a lost credit card and was able to return it to its rightful owner safe and sound. Well, earlier this week, it happened again.

I was walking between office buildings and noticed something buried under the slush in front of me, and it turned out to be an American Express Card. The major difference this time, however, is that I happened to know the owner!

A few minutes later, I walked into his office, wished him a happy New Year, and passed him his card back, commenting that I figured he'd want this back. Needless to say he was quite relieved, as he thought his receptionist had accidentally mailed it out to someone.

It's little moments like these that make me a happy man.

You've gained Karma :D!

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Xbox 360) Demo Available

The latest upcoming game set within The Lord of the Rings franchise, entitled The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, saw the release of the game's demo via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace this past Friday.

Developed by Pandemic Studios, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a game much in the flavour of the Star Wars: Battlefront series, and casts players in epic battles seen in the films and beyond for the forces of good or evil.

The demo is presently an Xbox LIVE Gold member exclusive, and features the Single Player tutorial and Multiplayer. Note to access the Multiplayer features, even via Xbox LIVE, you _must_ have an EA account.

I gave the Single Player tutorial a try, and overall, I can't say that I was very impressed. It features the final battle of the War of the Last Alliance, and you begin with only one class, the Numenorian Swordsman. Graphically I found the game alright, and the audio was pure The Lord of the Rings (save for that really, really annoying tutorial narrator whom I wanted to stop talking more than anything), but the actual combat just seemed so bland and button-mashing basic. Even after you've unlocked additional classes, such as an Elven Archer, or even a Hero class, such as Isildur, the demo was just far too shallow to capture my interest.

Multiplayer wise, I didn't even give it a try. The fact that I needed an EA account was a complete turn off, and even though I have one, I haven't accessed it in years (assuming it hasn't been removed due to inactivity) and couldn't be bothered to dig out my login info.

Granted, I've never been a fan of Pandemic Studios, and if you are, you may really dig The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, but for me, this will be a rental at best.

Protecting your Personal Info from Xbox 360 Theft

One unfortunate aspect of the holiday season is the increase of thefts reported, and unfortunately, this also includes Xbox 360's.

Most people have their Xbox 360's set to Auto Sign-In for their Xbox LIVE accounts as a matter of convenience, however if the console is ever stolen, this will allow the thief to immediately log in with your account, impersonate you via Xbox LIVE and Windows Live Messenger (if you have it set up), and also charge Xbox LIVE memberships and Microsoft Point purchases to your credit card (again, assuming you've used your credit card on your console before).

This can lead to some very serious issues, and I recommend disabling Auto Sign-In and setting up a Pass Code on your account to protect yourself from the "what-if" situation.

1) Go to the Xbox 360 Guide by pressing the Xbox 360 Guide button, and go to the "Settings" Blade
2) Select "Profile"
3) Select "Auto Sign-in"
4) Check "Disabled" for Xbox LIVE and Windows Live Messenger
5) Return to the Xbox 360 Guide and select "Account Management"
6) Select "Xbox LIVE Pass Code"
7) Enter a Pass Code of button presses based on the displayed buttons from the Xbox 360 Controller

Now, when you want to sign in:

1) Turn on your Xbox 360 console
2) Go to the Xbox 360 Guide
3) Press "X" and select your Profile
4) Enter your Pass Code
5) From the Xbox 360 Guide, select "Friends" from the Home Blade (it has your Xbox LIVE account name)
6) Press "Y" to sign in to Windows Live Messenger
7) Enter your Windows Live ID password and do _not_ save it to your console


Also, if your console is ever stolen, immediately contact both the police and Xbox Support (1-800-4MY-XBOX) with the serial number. The serial number can be found on the back of your console.

You'll also want to notify Xbox Support of your console ID. This ID is unique to every Xbox 360 console, like a serial number, but more importantly, it's logged and checked when someone connects to Xbox LIVE. This means that if the thief happens to log into Xbox LIVE, either through your account or one they've created themselves, Microsoft will know, and may be able to trace the whereabouts of the console.

You can also ask Xbox Support to ban this console ID, which would prevent that Xbox 360 from ever accessing Xbox LIVE again via any account. I'm not sure if they can un-ban a console though, so in case it's ever recovered, you may want to use this as a last resort.

To find your console's ID:

1) Go to System Settings via the Xbox 360 Guide or My Xbox Channel
2) Select "Console Settings"
3) Select "System Info"
4) Your console's ID is in the top left

Again, while these tips may be more inconvenient during the short term, taking more time to log in to your Xbox 360, if your console is ever stolen, you can at least be rest assured that your credit card won't be the subject of fraud and you won't need to repair any damaged relations with your friends on Xbox LIVE and Windows Live Messenger when someone impersonates you and acts like a jerk to them.

Safe and happy gaming!

Updated 05/10/09:

Removing Your Credit Card Info from Your Xbox 360

It used to be that once you entered your credit card information into Xbox LIVE, either on the original Xbox or Xbox 360, it was there forever. While rare, this could lead to some very unfortunate security issues if your Xbox/Xbox 360 was ever stolen.

Thankfully, you can now remove any credit card from your Xbox Account.

1) Log in to your Xbox account at the official site.
2) Click in the top right where it says "My Xbox" and select "Manage Profile"
3) Select "Manage Payment Options."
4) You'll now be looking at a list of all credit cards associated with your account, including the option to remove them.

Personally, I recommend you remove all credit cards, and rely on Xbox LIVE Membership cards and Microsoft Point cards purchased from retail, but of course, it's your call.

Gears of War 2 Completed for the 3rd Time

I originally didn't plan on playing through Gears of War 2 for a third time this soon after completing my last play through, but a friend of mine on Xbox LIVE invited me to a Co-Op game, and I popped in as Dom and we battled the Locust Horde on Insane Difficulty. It took us about three days with gaming sessions of various lengths, but we finally completed the game.

Unlike Insane in Gears of War, the sequel's Insane difficulty really is nuts. It was hard! It was certainly fun and satisfying when the tactics and teamwork my friend and I were employing defeated a tough challenge, but it was also equally frustrating when one of us or both of us would die, and the inferior Checkpoint system would toss us a battle or so back.

Replaying the same sequences over, and over, and over again became real tedious and an exercise in frustration, though at least this only happened on several occasions.

It was great fun and an excellent experience this time around to really try out the Co-Op Campaign, to see what Epic Games designed right and what could be improved upon.

The use of team work was essential throughout, and this simply fostered good natured communication between both parties. This was especially true in the vehicle sequences where one person drove and the other operated the turrets. I was also fascinated to see how difficulty levels came into play.

In Gears of War 2, one player can be playing on one difficulty, while another plays on a different difficulty. When I first joined my friend about half-way through Act I, he was on Insane and I was on Hardcore, which helped make things a little easier for him. On our next play session, we both were playing on Insane for the duration of the Campaign, and then we went back to the beginning where I played on Insane and he on Casual simply so I could collect the Achievement.

This difficulty mixing is an excellent feature and kudos to Epic Games for implementing it, as it really allows two players of different skill levels to play the exact same game with one another and to have a great time.

Unfortunately, during this Co-Op experience, I also got to see what Epic Games did poorly. There were a lot of online glitches, including odd enemy placement, clipping issues, sync issues, and an annoying bug in the Act III vehicle sequence where every time we'd die, I'd often have to keep jamming on Right Trigger to rejoin the game after play resumed.

I also found individual death really annoying, and a great pacing killer. If I died, for example, but my friend was fine, we'd still be stuck loading the last Checkpoint. I personally found this ridiculous as it forced a tedious exercise upon us, and I believe Gears of War 2 would have greatly benefited from a re-spawning system; especially on those sections where you're forced to split up and can't properly help one another.

Still, overall, it was a great experience and loads of fun, and the banter my friend and I had over the plot's many conveniences (or lack-thereof) and plot holes made it all the more enjoyable. I highly recommend playing through Gears of War 2's Co-Op campaign with a good buddy. It's an excellent shooter and the teamwork certainly brings a great new dimension to the game play.

Now if only Epic Games could implement a real save system...

WALL-E (DVD) Review

WALL-E took our Movie of the Year for 2008 due to its touching nature and excellent animation. Such a simple and entertaining film the likes of which I haven't seen nor been entertained by in a long time, and of course, like all Hollywood films, it's now available to own on DVD.

I purchased the single disc DVD edition, and while the film is the same and thus I won't review it again (original WALL-E review found here), there are a few Bonus Features tossed in.

The first of which is Presto, the animated short that was shown before WALL-E's theatrical release and, in my opinion, it's the best of the Bonus Features. Presto features a magician who actually has in his possession two magic hats, putting your hand in one hat will cause it to come out the other. Thus, the magician can literally pull a rabbit out of an empty hat, but what happens when that rabbit is starving and won't cooperate until he's fed?

Presto features the same high quality animation we've come to expect from Pixar, but with much more of a traditional animated look as the whole short feels more like a classic cartoon, which I class as a good thing. There's loads of animated slapstick humour to be found, and Presto is simply an excellent short all around.

The next Bonus Feature is another animated short, BURN-E, whom we actually briefly glimpsed outside the Axiom during WALL-E. BURN-E is a repair bot, who's purpose is to perform maintenance on the outside of the Axiom's hull. In this instance, a running light is damaged and needs to be replaced, but thanks to the events involving WALL-E and EVE, this proves much more challenging than a routine maintenance detail.

I was overall less impressed with BURN-E than I was with Presto. While the animation was still top-notch, I just didn't find it hugely entertaining and thought it rather redundant and more of a marketing stint for the DVD. It's a short that's alright to watch, but if you miss it, you're not missing much.

Perhaps that's because it somewhat parallels the larger story of WALL-E and is lost in it's shadow, or perhaps I'm just being too picky, but BURN-E is not a short I can see myself watching again and again.

Lastly, we have two deleted scenes, complete with director intro and extro. They're interesting simply because both scenes are largely complete, and the first one was completely re-designed for the final version of the film, with a little role reversal happening.

Since Presto can be found for free online, the DVD's Bonus Features aren't enough to warrant a purchase, but the film itself certainly is. WALL-E is an exceptional film, and worthy of a place in anyone's DVD collection.

Happy New Year!

We here at Arbiter's Judgement would like to take a moment to wish you all a very safe and prosperous 2009!

2008 saw some great times. We had some excellent games, films, novels, and other crap. A lot of new friends were made and experiences had, and here's hoping to an even more exciting year ahead.

Thank you all for your increasing support during 2008, and we look forward to providing the same quality blogging in '09 for you, or wonderful readers.

Cheers!