Yeah yeah, it’s been a while. I know. Things have been super busy at X3F. Of course, you’d know that if you read it. Chances are, if you’re reading this, then you do read X3F. Anywho, we had over 3,300,000 page views in April. That’s a new record for us, and it makes for the second record-breaking month in a row. Very nice. If only that conferred a pay bonus, I’d really be happy.
I picked up GTAIV on Monday night. I’m really liking it so far. That may seem like a stupid statement, but I’ve never really gotten into a GTA game before. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have, but I never had the desire to pick one up before. So far, the game is great. Multiplayer is surprisingly fun, although I’ve yet to get into an actual game. I keep starting up a party (the lobby where you can just run around the world doing whatever with your buddies) but whenever I try to take us into a proper game of Team Deathmatch, I get disconnected. It’s annoying and I don’t know what’s wrong. My NAT type is open and everything. Still, the single player is excellent, and Niko is a wonderful character. Well, he isn’t wonderful himself, but he’s well-written. I’ll put it that way. Also, Vlad’s a prick.
Anyway, what else? I got my E3 invite a while ago. Things are looking pretty good as far as me attending. It’s not set in stone, but chances are good. At least I know that they won’t turn me away if I do go. I’ve got an invitation.
I’ve returned my copy of COD4, and now I’m waiting for Condemned 2. I’m hopeful that it will scratch that survival horror itch. Condemned was actually one of the games I reviewed on here before I got my gig at X3F. Read the review if you’re so inclined. Or I could just save you the trouble and say that the first Condemned was excellent (despite a so-so ending). I know Alone in the Dark is coming out soon, but I’m just not sure if it will actually be good. The tech that’s there is certainly intriguing, but so far they’ve made a lot more fuss about the technology than the actual story. I’m wary of Silent Hill: Homecoming too. The recent round of screenshots didn’t really impress me. Maybe it looks better in motion…
Finally, I saw someone asking about whether or not I like Smash Bros. I definitely do. Melee got more time than any other game on my Gamecube. I played it for years. Seriously, I don’t know any game that has had more longevity. We’ll see if Brawl can keep up. If anyone is interested in exchanging friend codes, be my guest. If anyone does, I’ll go dig mine up. Though honestly, the set up is so stupid, I doubt I’ll ever organize a match. It’s just so much easier to use Xbox Live that I have trouble even caring about Brawl’s online play. It doesn’t hurt that every game I’ve played has been laggy as hell either.
Oh, one last thing. I’m thinking of picking up a new digital camera and a portable HDD sometime soon (gotta take advantage of Time Machine now that I finally upgraded to Leopard). If you know a decent or cheap item you could suggest, let me know.