Don't You Hate Writer's Block?

On occasion when you sit down to write something, have you ever sat there for a few minutes waiting for words to pour out of your pen onto the page...words that never seem to come? Have you ever sat there racking your brain trying to think of something of something to write on your pre-selected topic...or just the topic itself and then decide to do something else because nothing seems to be coming to you? If you've answered yes to any of these questions then Congratulations! You've just been hit with Writer's Block!

Well maybe Congratulations aren't in order here...

As of late, I've been finding it tough to get my thoughts out there on paper (or on the computer screen, whatever the case may be) in any form. Writer's Block seems to have fallen out of the sky and landed on me like (to use an old cliché) a ton of bricks. Dear God, now I'm digging up cliché’s to further my point. Man I need some help here, and fast.

So, I've decided to sit here and force myself to write this blog post, even though I've been feeling guilty about delaying my 2007 Retrospective so much. I've been putting it off and putting it off, hoping the inspiration I need to finish it would suddenly hit me and I'd be able to put something out there I can be proud of. Unfortunately, no such inspiration has come along. What's worse is, I'm not just blocked from doing this, oh no. The Gods of Writing must be very unhappy with me, because I can't do much of anything as it pertains to writing. Twice this past week I really had to phone it in with two of my assignments for school, one being a review of Ben-Hur, which I just recently saw (yes, I know I'm uncultured) in the film class I'm taking this semester. Well, to put it mildly, Ben-Hur is one of the best films I've ever had the pleasure of viewing and I don't think the review I submitted was anywhere near as good as it could've been. While this is partially due to the fact that I procrastinate like crazy (why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?) but a large part of it is undoubtedly this damn Writer's Block.

Alright, gotta keep the ball rolling, since I've heard that forcing yourself to write is one of the best ways to rid yourself of the shackles that bind your hand. So...umm...what to talk about now...Oh yeah, I picked up a few new games recently.

Ninja Gaiden Black

Great game so far. I now see why people call this one of the most hardcore games ever made. The difficulty is like a wall for players like me who tend to mash buttons and hope for the best. While that may work in a game like Heavenly Sword, it'll earn you an early death in this game. It forces you to change your play style in a good way and once you adjust, the game becomes really fun.

Final Fantasy Chronicles

My main motivation for picking this title up was (obviously) Chrono Trigger. Now, I've never played this game prior to picking this compilation up but I've definitely heard all of the hype surrounding it ranging from folks saying it's a must play to the best Japanese RPG ever. After putting some time into it, I can see why it was hyped as much as it was. While I typically shy away from RPG's of the Japanese persuasion because I dislike random encounters and turn-based battle systems, the battle system in Chrono Trigger is far better than the average battle system and I definitely enjoy not running into a flock of enemies every two steps.

Dead or Alive Ultimate

Now I haven't played this one yet. I've been too busy with Ninja Gaiden and Chrono Trigger but I'm sure I'll give it some time this weekend.

I guess that's enough free writing for now. I don't think I've completely shaken this Writer's Block just yet, but I feel a great deal more comfortable with writing now. And since I've got a review of Burnout Paradise and possibly Rez HD coming up for Talk Xbox, I'm going to need to be as loose as possible to deliver the quality I expect of myself. Alright I’m done for now. If necessary, I’ll pick it up again tomorrow.

Time for some much deserved sleep…

Final Blog Post of the Year

Well, as mentioned in the title, this will be my last blog post of the year. During this time I'll be hanging out with the family, catching up on some old games, finishing up some projects I’m working on (articles, reviews, stories, etc.) For the duration of the break I’ll be on Xbox Live (probably playing Gears of War, my newfound gaming addiction :P) and AIM so if you wish to contact me, you have both of those options…oh and there’s email. As 2006 comes to a close, I think I use my final blog post of 2006 to reflect on the past year of gaming.

The Year 2006 in Retrospect (Abridged version)

The Xbox 360 has really hit its stride this year after its pretty rocky launch in 2005 spilling over into the first few months of 2006. March however saw the releases of several highly anticipated games for the Xbox 360, GRAW, Fight Night Round 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, all worthy of your gaming dollars even today. There was a bit of a lull after that point, as there were no really good titles until the summer. Early summer was met with Chromehounds, a vastly underrated and underappreciated game in my opinion. Late summer saw the releases of two much talked about and surprisingly good games, Dead Rising and Saints Row. These managed to tide 360 gamers over until the fall when some of the best quality Xbox 360 games released. November saw the releases of many great games such as Viva Piñata (which was another shocker) Rainbow Six Vegas and the most hyped game this year, Gears of War. It completely lived up to its massive amounts of hype and as such, has been named GameSpot’s 2006 Game of the Year. In the end, I think it’s safe to say the Xbox 360 has done an incredible amount in its first full year on the market, and I hope it continues to deliver.

The runaway hit Playstation 2 also had another exceptional year, and with the release of its big brother the PS3 looming on the horizon that was no easy feat. But the six year old PS2 showed everyone it still had some legs and stood strong once again with a killer lineup of exclusive games proving that you don’t have to upgrade to the next generation of consoles to have great gaming experiences. Throughout the year there were a ton of stellar releases including the much hyped Okami, Final Fantasy XII, Guitar Hero II, Singstar Rocks! (which I really want to play), and Bully.

The Playstation 3 on the other hand didn’t have such a year leading up to its release this past November 17th. E3 2006 was not too kind to the Playstation 3 (I’m pretty sure everyone remembers the “Giant Enemy Crab” and “Ridge Racer” debacles during the pre-show press conference) and for some time afterwards it had its fair share of bad press in the months that followed. Even after launch, it still had bad press coming from all angles, including Time Magazine and the New York Times. Still though, the launch of the Playstation 3 was pretty smooth, despite missing intended shipment marks (an estimated 200,000 consoles reached North America on launch day instead of the promised 400,000). There were very few of hardware malfunctions that plagued the Xbox 360’s launch (and quite frankly, even now) and despite missing their original shipment targets, they have kept up a steady stream of PS3’s coming to keep retailers relatively well stocked (I recently called a local Best Buy store and they told me they had some PS3’s in stock). The actual launch titles fared about as well as 360 titles did the previous year with a few highlights (Resistance: Fall of Man) and a few flops (Genji: Days of the Blade, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom). All in all, the PS3 was a bit on the disappointing side this year but, to its credit, almost all consoles have a shaky start (as did the PS2, and we all see what happened there) and its first full year on the market and some of its biggest blockbuster titles are coming up in 2007.

The Nintendo Wii on the other hand has seen its share of good press. At E3 2006, members of the gaming press got their chance to play the Nintendo Wii (some for the first time) and see how their new fangled motion sensing controller affected the way games would be played on the system. Since then, very little bad press has come Nintendo’s way, as those who had the chance to play it often left with great first impressions. Nintendo also decided to give gamers across the United States the chance to try the Wii out for themselves before it released at the Nintendo Fusion Tour this past fall. After my first time at the controls, I was very satisfied as were many others who had the chance to experience it. The launch went very smoothly, and although Nintendo didn’t meet their goals of shipping 1 million Wii consoles to North America on launch day, they still managed to get 600,000 units stateside. The launch titles were as expected, with one really huge game (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) and a bunch of other great titles (Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Rayman: Raving Rabbids) to round out the collection. Surprisingly, there was a pretty big flop in the form of Red Steel, but other than that, there wasn’t much to lose sleep over. 2007 looks to be a good year for the Wii with three big name titles (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers Brawl) on the way.

All that said, this was a very good year for gaming. I plan on expanding this short feature in the next week so look for it when it’s finished.

Well, that’ll do it for my last blog post of the year. I’ll be back next year in full force so be on the lookout! :D. I hope everyone here has a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!