And now what about video game blogging on the Xanga Network? Is it, pardon the pun, Left 4 Dead? Thankfully, no. Mancouch will very soon be featuring a tab for gaming content, much in the way Lovelyish has its Beauty, Advice and Style Court tabs. The current HardestLevel staff will still be writing for this new tab. For the sake of a video game analogy, it's like pressing the reset button on your console, or perhaps better yet, like playing a game on a newer-gen system that has backwards compatibility. There still will be a haven for video game blogging on Xanga!

I'd like to give my thanks to everyone I've worked with, if you're reading: Alex, Andrew, Jim, Justin, Konrad, Matt, Tanner, Tiffany, Tim and Yuliya. I'd also like to thank the dragon and the knights for being faithful mascots to our little webpage. We really should've given you fellas names, now that I think of it. Finally, and most importantly, all of us at HardestLevel would like to thank all of you readers and contributors who supported our site, our writing, and made it into a community. After all, that is the essence of sites like Xanga: the community.

In all, thanks for the memories and I hope you'll continue to keep writing and supporting all the destination sites, including our new home. May you have a Happy New Year, a Happy New Decade, and may you never stop gaming.

Sincerely,

Joe A.K.A. awinnerisyou

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It's kind of hard to feel bad for someone who gets caught after stealing loads of people's electronics. And yet, my sympathies are with Jeremiah Gilliam, whose desire to play video games is what did him in. I understand all too well the pull of video games on a man. My condolences, Jeremiah!

Here's the scoop from The Escapist: Gilliam was playing Xbox Live on a stolen console. The user from whom his Xbox system was stolen logged onto Xbox Live using another machine and saw that his missing console was logged on. From there, he told his parents, who told the police, who traced the system's unique IP address back to Gilliam's location at his grandmother's house. Upon Gilliam's arrest and investigation at the house, GPS devices, PlayStations, video games, credit cards and other valuables were found, and our online gaming lover was charged with grand larceny.

There was no word in the Escapist report on what game Jeremiah was playing when his whereabouts were given away. For the sake of irony, though, I'm hoping it was Uncharted 2.

• 6:00 PM
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I dropped by my girlfriend's on Sunday when she came home after spending Christmas with family. I planned on bringing over my new PS3 Slim for some Little Big Planet and Tekken 6 before I left to see her but ultimately decided against it. Eventually this turned out to be a great decision.

We ended up playing Scrabble when we got to her house, and it was a long, grueling match that had us cutting each other off at every turn and using up almost all the letter pieces. It was a close game, though my girlfriend ended up winning (yes people, this is why I have a BA in English!) We really enjoyed ourselves. But in my mind, I couldn't help but think about the very nature of games in the process. As a whole, games were originally devised by mankind as a way of passing time when there was little else to do. But they were created with the purpose of stimulating the mind, bringing people closer, and serving as a generally harmless outlet for competitive urges.

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• 3:00 PM
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Get a good paying coop science lab job or something so I can get my hands on a Playstation 3 (I’ve been converted! The Xbox 360 is no longer on my wishlist :D).

With said PS3, try out Dante’s Inferno, God of War III, and Final Fantasy XIII when they get released next year.


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• 4:00 PM
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To me, It's absolutely no secret that PC gaming completely dominates console gaming in almost every genre save a few. Less lag, more (and cheaper) games, better graphics, more downloadable content - both official and player-created; it's generally a better experience. At least in my opinion.


What is the one place where PC gaming falls flat on it's ass?

Online. Multiplayer.

Sure. We PC gamers have the advantage of dedicated and private servers, and even larger matches in general (though I remain firm that 64 player grenade fests are overkill)

Here's my problem though: There is no repercussions for quitting in any game I own save one, Guild Wars, where quitting out of a PvP match gives you "dishonor" which can translate into a five minute no-join penalty. (I'm sure there are others out there though, obviously) However, many players called this too strict. After all, you might have to leave for something legit - you know, your wife having a baby or something. But the way I see it, this is a great system. The penalty is not too harsh, but it discourages you from leaving and entering a new match just cause "we were going to lose anyway" - it forces you to stick to the end unless you're sure you want to leave, and that the five minute penalty is shorter than the five potential minutes left in the match. It also leaves no lasting penalty, in case you had a power outage or something similar (in my case, my PC overheats occasionally). More Here...

• 11:00 AM
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FFXIII, the latest installment in the ever-popular series from Square-Enix, was released in Japan on the 17th to widespread disappointment and criticism from Japanese gamers. Complaints range from incredibly linear and unvaried gameplay, to cliche story, to an overabundance of cutscenes. Ironically, the big Japanese gaming publication Famitsu came close to giving it a perfect score.

I don't know what to think, and I'll personally reserve opinions till after I play the game. Yet there is mounting evidence that these flaws could be true. It isn't just Japanese fans, but American ones too who share these opinions. Moreover, have a look at the in-game maps, and you'll see that FFXIII flows in an almost completely straight line, much like Final Fantasy X before it.

At most, FFXIII is supposedly the worst of Xenosaga and Final Fantasy X in a single game, formulaic in a way that the original Final Fantasy looks innovative by comparison. For those who were planning to, are you still going to buy FFXIII? Or have the mass of skeptics already swayed your opinion?

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Jealous that Sal9000 is the only one that can have some quality time with a Love Plus character? Fret no more, because if you're in Japan right now, you can get in on the "Love Plus Merry Plusmas Campaign" and get a cute little cake from your favorite girl.

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• 8:00 PM
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You've probably heard me reminisce about my time playing Super Nintendo far too much over the course of my days with HardestLevel, but dang it, I'm feeling nostalgic lately. In the weeks leading up to Christmas of '92, I was very forthcoming about my desire for the SNES console. In fact, my passion was so intense I was dreaming about getting my grubby little hands on a controller. Just to touch the paddle with L and R buttons ON THE TOP and to witness the 16-bit graphics...the wait was almost too much to take.

When the day finally arrived, it was if angels were singing songs of praise and triumph. OK, not really, but my brother and I were pretty darn ecstatic. "Santa" had brought us a Super Nintendo with Super Mario World and Street Fighter II, and no sooner did we open the packaging that the system was hooked up and the seeds of our video game addiction were planted. Over the next few years, that wondrous little gaming box would yield us hours of fun and even promoted a sense of camaraderie as my brother, my dad and I tackled Bowser's Castle, M. Bison and other final bosses together. Oh, if only I could go back in time and revisit one of those moments, to see us united in our pursuit of some small shred of video game glory. It would warm the cockles of my heart.

What was your first video game gift? Does thinking about it bring back fond memories? 

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