I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

I’m finally ready to reveal just what the mysterious “Career changing event” I announced a few days ago is going to be. My travel itinerary is set and tomorrow, I’ll be heading out to California until Saturday to attend a Burnout Paradise Community Event, sponsored by EA, at their Redwood Shores studio on behalf of Talk Xbox. As you would likely expect, I’m extremely excited about this opportunity, as it is not only some random business trip. It’s the opportunity I’ve been dreaming about, one of the more glamorous perks of working in the gaming industry. I’m actually being flown out to California to play video games.

Over the past week or so, I’ve been running around, getting everything ready for my big trip. It’s amazing. Everything seemed to come together just as I needed it to. A few weeks ago, I finally got around to replacing the busted AC adapter for my laptop, which has been out of commission for months now. Unfortunately, I was delivered the incorrect model and took my time setting up the return. Once I found out about this trip, I sped things up a bit, but it was so close to the date of the trip that I was sure it wouldn’t arrive in time. Thankfully, HP unexpectedly opted for overnight shipping, meaning I had my cable within two days of sending it out. Wow. Now that’s what I call good (and convenient) customer service.

Another obstacle presented itself about a week or so ago when I misplaced my Driver’s License. One can only imagine how terrified I was, knowing I wouldn’t be allowed on the plane without it. As I pulled the car out of the garage, ready to set out to Best Buy to pick up the digital voice recorder I figured I’d need for the trip, I decided to look under the front seats for my missing license. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found it there. “Yes!” I exclaimed in joy as I pulled it from under the seat and placed it snugly in my wallet where it belonged. With everything coming together so perfectly, the Cosmos must be on my side and someone or something up there wants me to go on this trip.

This is the first event I’ll be attending as both a member of the gaming press and as a gamer (unless you count the Nintendo Fusion Tour in 2006) and I’m making the most of it. This isn’t just an opportunity to play games in a new location…this is an opportunity to network with my peers and make connections. I may be relatively introverted in my daily life, but you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be shaking hands with practically everyone I see at the event.

As far as the specifics of the trip go…I’ll be departing from Metro Airport around 7:15 pm, and I’m expected to arrive around 9:30 PST. That leaves me just enough time to get to the hotel, check in, unpack and go to sleep in anticipation of the next day. Friday, I’ll be up bright and early to meet everyone in the hotel lobby where we’ll be taken to breakfast, introduced and then make the short walk to EA Redwood Shores. There, we’ll have a Q&A session with lead designer Craig Sullivan, followed by a couple hours of multiplayer gaming sessions, lunch, and an additional Q&A session followed closely by more gaming in the form of single player contests and a multiplayer tournament. Finally, we head out for dinner and drinks (man I wish I was 21) and finally retire to the hotel. Saturday, I head on back home around one, arriving home once again around eight or so.

It’s a bit of a shame I won’t be able to do a bit of sightseeing while I’m there and enjoy the hotel (which is quite nice if I do say so myself) but I’m certainly not about to complain. The trip alone, with the opportunities for networking and gaming that lies therein is more than enough for me. As I’ve already said, I’m enormously excited for this trip. I plan on recording a travelogue in addition to my detailed written account of the event so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Wish me luck guys, I’m excited, but I’m also a bit nervous. I’ve never had an opportunity like this before and of course, I want to do my best to make the most of it. Who knows? If everything goes well here, I might find myself on a plane to California again later this year, en route to E3 2008.

As a side note, I’m finishing up my review of Devil May Cry 4, which I’ll be submitting to my editors later tonight.

2007 Retrospective: Introduction

It's been a long time coming, but here it is, the first installment in my series of 2007 Retrospective blogs. Last year, I did something similar, but I didn't feel I elaborated as much as I needed to so this year, I'm going to do things a bit differently. This is just the introduction, and more posts will follow in the coming days as I finalize my thoughts, culminating with my top ten games of the year.

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Throughout the years, as gaming has matured, longtime gamers have seen the transition from two dimensions to three, numerous new gaming platforms and most importantly, literally hundreds of great games. As the years pass, the years themselves become somewhat of a catalog for these games. When a new year begins to approach, people begin to nominate their personal “Games of the Year”, putting the best games of that particular year in the spotlight and for this reason, some years begin to stand out among the rest,

2007 was one of those standout years. Gamers were practically inundated with quality software, regardless of which platform they owned. From Super Mario Galaxy to The Orange Box and Call of Duty 4 to Halo 3, there was certainly no shortage of great games to be had this year, perhaps even more so than any other year before it.

I must take time here to thank the ones who made all of this possible, the ones who slaved away hours upon hours day after day until their game had that special something that brought everything together. Every year, as we commend these great games for how well crafted, beautifully executed and above all, highly entertaining they are, we seldom thank those people who made that magic happen. The myriad of excellent developers such as Infinity Ward and Bioware made all of this happen, for if they had not sown the seeds, there would have been nothing to harvest.

In his monthly letter to his many readers, Andy McNamara, Editor-in-Chief of GameInformer magazine prefaced the letter by saying, “It is weird when you think about it. The year that was 2007 could arguably be the best year for video game software to date.” Looking back on the previous year, reminiscing on all the fond memories I had in just that year alone; I can easily say he and I share the same opinion. With the Xbox 360 closing the book on its second year and the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii closing out their first, it is indeed weird to think so many quality titles would be released in just one year.

If anyone walked up to you and said 2007 could quite possibly be one of gaming’s best, would you have believed them? Skepticism would have likely been my first response. While I expected such titles as Super Mario Galaxy and Halo 3 to deliver, many titles, such Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Crackdown took me by surprise. But of course, as has been said many times, the best surprises are the ones you don’t see coming.

Over the course of the next few days, I will take the time to break down many of the current platforms one by one, to pinpoint just what made 2007 such a great year for each platform.

So Many Projects...

Well, It’s been a little while since I last blogged, and I figured, since I’m sitting here in front of my PC doing absolutely nothing that I’d write a quick update. So without further ado…

Editorial Minute Episode 2 is still being worked on. I know I posted that I already had the voice work done and all I had left to do was the video. Well, the reason it isn’t finished yet is because I’m lazy. That, and I’ve taken on a number of different projects as of late, things that have taken over most of my time and pushed the Editorial minute further and further down the list of things I need to finish. I imagine I’ll get to work on it tomorrow…that is if I don’t get distracted by yet another project.

One of the many projects I’m currently working on is a revival of an old project I pretty much abandoned months ago. Now, under a new name (“Project Era”) and a renewed focus and shift in direction, I think I’ll be able to see it through to the end. Before, the project got a little too ambitious for those of us working on it and it all spun out of control. Well, we realize now that what we need to focus on is getting the core finished first then worry about the periphery at a later date, once we’ve finished a substantial amount and clearly laid out what we intend to accomplish.

You might have noticed that throughout the entire preceding paragraph, I didn’t reveal what “Project Era” is. Of course, that was intentional. All things will be revealed in time.

Well, another thing that takes up a good portion of my time nowadays is my reviews for Talk Xbox. I’ve written quite a few in the short span of time I’ve been working there. My most recent review, published a few days ago was for Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. Having played Skate (and reviewed that too) it was hard going back to the button based control scheme the Tony Hawk series is known for and due to the series’ lack of change and innovation (especially when compared to Skate) I didn’t really like it as much as I thought I would. It’s not a bad game, but I can’t see myself recommending it over Skate to anyone besides the most hardcore Tony Hawk fans.

Of course, I’ve been working on my writing creatively as well as technically. I find that if I write in one style for too long, it bleeds over into the next. While this is good for my reviews, I don’t want to grow too technical with my creative writing, and thus, I’ll be sitting down to write the second chapter of my “Story in a Blog” very soon.

As the Christmas season approaches, the usual deluge of games is upon us. This is the time of year when the majority of the year’s best games are released and because of that, I can usually find my wallet crying in a corner somewhere as it tries to cope with the fact that it will soon be empty. Well, I may be offering my wallet a little reprieve….at least until the end of the year. Despite the current and impending releases of Super Mario Galaxy (a game I’ve been waiting for since I finished Sunshine) and Mass Effect (a must have RPG) respectively, I told myself that I wouldn’t buy any of them until after Christmas. I have quite a few games to tide me over in the forms of The Orange Box, Bioshock, Halo 3, PGR 4 and many more so I certainly won’t be lacking in great games to play until Christmas when I should have the aforementioned huge releases and possibly Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune to play.

Between all the things I have going on right now, it’s odd that I found the time to write all of that stuff. Funny thing. I usually don’t believe in horoscopes, but I checked mine a few days ago and it said I would be open to taking on a number of new projects and today it had this to say…

“You may be more interested now in expressing your creativity any way you can…”

Wow. Seems to me that this is right on the money. Maybe there’s some truth to this Astrology stuff after all.

I’m Now the Proud Owner of a Playstation 3

As of yesterday, I am now the proud owner of a 60 GB Playstation 3 computer entertainment system. I've been debating this purchase for quite some time now and I finally decided to take the plunge. GameStop was offering a free game with the purchase of a 60 GB PS3 and since I wanted one of those as opposed to the similarly priced 80 GB version due to its full backwards compatibility I figured now was the best time to get one.

Here's a picture of the free game I received. I had the choice of either this, Resistance, F1 Championship, Folklore and... another game or two I believe and Heavenly Sword was the obvious choice for me. I'm certainly very interested in Resistance, and that was easily a great second choice, but I can easily find Resistance cheaper than Heavenly Sword so i figured I might as well get the more expensive game free. besides, I've been interested in Heavenly Sword for some time now after playing a few minutes of the final game at one of the demo kiosks at work and once I get my HDTV I'm going to need a game such as this to really put it to good use.

Now, if you'll notice, I've only posted pictures of the unopened box so far and I haven't spammed those of you with PS3's friend requestsover the PSN. Well, that's because I haven't opened it yet and I don't plan to do so until this weekend. I have a lot of schoolwork and other projects to handle this week so I figure I don't need another distraction at the current time.

I'm sure someone out there is thinking, "Well, if you didn't want the distraction, why did you buy it in the first place?" That's easy enough to answer. The 60 GB PS3, which I genuinely believe is the best version of the PS3 out there due to its full backwards compatibility and price had been phased out a few months ago so I had to act fast if I wanted to get my hands on one. Now, when the 80 GB PS3's price was slashed to $500, I was skeptical about picking up the 60 GB version because of the obvious differences in hard drive size and especially the free game in the box. But that all changed when I heard there was a free game deal for the 60 GB version as well, so naturally, I figured now was the best time to buy it. I'm also hearing rumors that the 60 GB's price may receive a cut as well to clear them out of stores to make way for the upcoming 40 GB version so, if it happens within the next week or so, I can take it back, get the difference in price and buy it back once more.

I look forward to playing my PS3 this weekend or whenever I finally crack it open. I'll be posting all my PSN info whenever I get around to making my account and I'll probably post impressions of Heavenly Sword after I've played it for a couple of hours. In other news, I'm also working on a new kind of video blog, entitled "The_Game21x's Editorial Minute" where I'll be ranting about a previously chosen topic for about one minute so stay tuned for that.

-Game

A Bit of a Dilemma

At the end of this week, I’ll have enough cash saved up to get my hands on one of two things I’ve wanted to buy as of late, a Playstation 3 or the Halo 3 Zune media player. Notice how I said one of the two back there. Now I have a dilemma. Which one do I choose? They’re both limited in supply and when they’re gone, they’re gone. In the following paragraphs, I’ll try to list the pros and cons of getting one versus the other.

The Halo 3 Edition Zune

The Halo 3 Edition Zune is high on my “things to get” list due to the fact that, since my iPod crapped out on me two years ago, I don’t have a proper media player for listening to my favorite music while I’m away from my PC. To satisfy my need for music on the go, I’ve been using my PSP, PDA and, worst case scenario, my busted iPod (it still works on occasion if I screw with it). These are all decent for playing music and get the job done in a pinch (especially the PSP) but they’re hardly ideal. The PSP does score extra points for being a jack of all trades sort of system and handles music playing far better than my PDA or spastic iPod ever did but I can’t see it competing with the Zune because, despite the fact that I have a 4 GB memory stick in there, it’s being occupied by certain…user made applications and files that utilize the PSP in ways Sony never intended. So it’s pretty much out in terms of being a primary music player.

It's not just the Zune itself that appeals to me either. The Halo 3 Edition is the only version of the Zune I’ve ever been interested in. Why? Well, I’m extremely excited for Halo 3 and, well, I want to get this so I have a “well rounded Halo 3 experience”. I’m not the obsessive Halo 3 fan who is going to run out and buy the Legendary edition of Halo 3 and two of the new Halo 3 Edition controllers, the Halo 3 wireless headset and the Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360 or anything of the sort, but I like to collect some of the things that correspond with games I’m excited about.
But there are some downsides to buying it now. The thing is $250, and that would take a huge chunk out of my funds, and it would be that much harder to save up for a PS3. The player itself has its share of downsides as well, due to its limited file support. To date, the Zune only supports WMV for video playback, MP3 and WMA for audio and JPEGs for viewing photos. This isn’t a problem for me since most of my music and pictures are in the required format anyway. The videos are the only thing I’d really have to worry about.

Overall, it looks like a really good purchase. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s bought one seems to like it and I’ve seen some pretty favorable reviews. It has its faults, but the same can be said for all media players, including the iPod. Before I make my decision, I still have to consider the PS3, which brings me to my next point...

The Playstation 3

I can’t forget about this one. If I make a move and buy the Zune without considering this first, I’m sure I’ll kick myself later on down the line. I’ve been considering buying one for quite some time now and because of the recent price cut, now is the best time to finally get my hands on one. There are several games coming down the pipe later this year and into the next that make me excited about the system and will validate my purchase and then some. I can’t bring myself to miss out on the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4, Heavenly Sword, Playstation Home and Gran Turismo 5. The PS3’s built in Blu Ray disc player is certainly enticing, as I’ll probably be making use of it in the future.

The problem is, there’s nothing I’m really excited for on the PS3 that’s available now. The only games I really want to get for the system are Resistance: Fall of Man, Motorstorm and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. All the other games I’m interested on the system right now are multiplatform that I’ll probably end up getting on the Xbox 360 anyways. There are a few downloadable games I’m interested in such as the Gran Turismo HD Concept demo, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, and a few of the downloadable Playstation 1 titles. They’re all good reasons to buy a PS3 but not enough to justify the $500 purchase right now. That’s a lot of money. I didn’t even factor in all the other things I’d need such as games and accessories. I could recoup some of it by selling my PS2 on eBay but I doubt that would do much more besides cover the taxes and perhaps a game.

But then again, I have to consider what I’m getting for my money. I’m getting a Blu Ray disc player, a high end gaming system, a media center, and a platform that will undoubtedly grow in functionality and usefulness as the years progress. For what you get in the system, $500 is really a steal. Now if only I could force my wallet to see it that way, I’d be alright.

Okay, I thought writing all that would help me decide one way or another but it hasn’t. I’m still stuck between the two. Perhaps as pay day approaches, my mind will become clear, and I’ll be able to finally choose which of the two to get first.

My First Video Blog

Here's my first attempt at a Video Blog. I was sitting around one day, a bit bored and I just decided to start filming one. It took me a while to edit, but I'm satisfied with the results.

I hope you guys like it. Keep your eyes peeled for more in the future.

Okay, I'm Finally Back (Did you miss me?)

Well, it’s been a while since my last blog post and I’ve finally decided to stop being lazy and write something.

The winter drought, one of the hardest times of the year to be a gamer, is upon us. This is the time right after the steady stream of great games has finally run dry after the holiday season, leaving gamers out in the cold, and wanting more. This time is especially difficult if you have just purchased one of the recently launched consoles (PS3 or Wii). After the launch hysteria wears off, you begin to realize that there’s very few really worthwhile games coming out in the next couple of months

I am personally feeling the chill of the winter drought since I purchased a Wii at launch. After you finish the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, you begin to realize just how shallow the rest of the Wii’s launch lineup really was. I’m not saying the games were bad at all; it’s just that they don’t have much depth. Many games were just minigame collections designed to show off the Wii remote’s many motion based functions. January was met with WarioWare Smooth Moves, which was by far the best of the minigame collections, but it lacks staying power, and loses a bit of its novelty after a few hours and besides Sonic and the Secret Rings (which isn’t faring too well) February looks pretty bleak.

I’m not regretting my purchase (I’m sure things will heat up again soon) but I am thinking I should’ve waited a bit until a few more worthwhile games were released before buying it. But then again, I do have the Virtual Console to keep me entertained until the next big Wii game comes out.

The Playstation 3 is doing a bit better than the Wii after its rather weak launch lineup in which Resistance was the only game truly worth buying a PS3 for. January was bleak, but the excellent Virtua Fighter 5 has arrived to end the gaming drought for the PS3. In March, PS3 owners will see the release of the highly anticipated MotorStorm, which will likely be one of the first exclusive titles since Resistance really worth buying a PS3 for. Add to that some great multiplatform games (Rainbow Six Vegas, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and NBA Street Homecourt) and PS3 owners are just about finished with their gaming drought.

The Xbox 360 on the other hand has been keeping me very entertained during the winter drought. There have been some really great demos of Crackdown (which convinced me to purchase the final game) and NBA Street Homecourt released on the Xbox Live Marketplace to keep me entertained and I’ve still got the spillover from the holidays (Rainbow Six Vegas and Gears of War in particular) is keeping me very entertained. Lost Planet has kept many 360 gamers happy in January and Crackdown has arrived to save February.

On the subject of Crackdown, this game is great. It’s got an extremely fun single player campaign and the addition of drop in any time co op makes the whole experience so much better. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop as a super-powered agent never gets old even after doing it for hours in the demo, as well as crushing thugs with cars, sending them flying over balconies, blowing them sky high with a well placed grenade and blasting them up close with a shotgun. Oh, and did I mention there’s co op? Well, allow me to mention it again. Doing all of the above activities is twice as fun with a fellow supercop right alongside you. Oh yeah, and there’s the Halo 3 beta just sitting there, waiting to be played when it finally releases.

At the moment, the Xbox 360 is seeing the most of my play time, but that may change once I buy the Wii points needed to purchase Super Mario 64 and a classic controller (must…collect…stars…). But I rest assured that the Wii’s gaming drought will be over soon enough and I’ll have reason to strap my Wii remote onto my wrist and begin flailing my arms around like an idiot (I mean that in the best possible way…seriously) in the near future. And since I finally landed a decent job :D I might have the cash to drop on a PS3 sooner than I expected.

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!

Umm...Yeah

I feel like making another blog post, so here's what's on my mind at 10:19 AM as I sit in the Library to kill time between classes.

Gears of War has lived up to my expectations and in many ways, exceeded them. The game is just awesome on so many levels. The singleplayer game is great but what really takes the cake is the multiplayer. It's so satisfying and fun. Unlike Halo 2, where people just run at each other guns a blazing, Gears of War actually requires teamwork and effective use of cover. You can't just run off and do your own thing. If you do, you'll likely end up overwhelmed by the other team. I love it. It's not the deepest game ever, but its fun and rewarding. Nothing beats sneaking up on someone and taking a chainsaw to them or gibbing an opponent with the Gnasher Shotgun. I could go on and on, but I won't. It would take far too long. Trust me, if you have an Xbox 360, get this game. Odds are, you won't be disappointed.

The Playstation 3 and Wii will be launching soon and I will be in line on launch day for one of them. Can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint. It starts with a "W" and ends with a...well, I think I've made it easy enough. The PS3 is looking better and better the more I hear from it, but it's not five or six hundred dollar worthy yet. I'm waiting until it gets a few more games I'm interested in before I take that plunge. Resistance seems to be getting rave reviews though, and since I love FPS games, that'll likely be my first purchase when I do pick up a PS3.

The Wii on the other hand has me extremely excited. I can't wait to play some more of Wii Sports and Red Steel. Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz seems to be getting some good reviews as well so I might end up picking that up at launch too.

Okay, looks like it's just about time for me to be heading off. I'll be back later with more updates on Gears and the impending launches of the Wii and PS3.