Finally! 20 Percent

When I hit 10 Percent of level 20, I thought I would post my next entry in the blog when I hit 20. I thought it would be like a week or so at max, but guess what; it took me 1 month and 4 days to just advance 10 percent of Level 20. 1 month and 4 days! I never even imagined that things would be so slow, I mean at this rate, I would hit level 21 well into 2008. Maybe I will hold the record of slowest out of Level 20 then. I know this is supposed be the Dead Level but this is practically extinct. Everyday I only see an increment of .30-.50% with more bias towards the lower limit. I guess I should forget about ever going beyond this level because I think its here to stay for good. Just look at these figures:

• Hit Level 20: July 7^th, 2007.
  
• Reach 10%: July 24^th, 2007. That makes about 17 days. I thought this was too slow, but…
  
• Reach 20%: August 28^th, 2007. This makes 1 month and 4 days. And that makes 1 month and 21 days for level 20 in total.
  

At this rate, I can only predict to hit 30% in about 2 months, and maybe, if I am lucky, I would advance to level 21 by next Christmas. In other news, my vacations would be coming to an end in about 15 days and it would be back to the university and that boring work routine. I really hate this time of the year and ironically, my birthday also comes round about that time. Which reminds me that my Pie is also gone, I hope my turkey didn't come back and stole it? But I will solve that mystery later because Gamespot is causing a lot of problems these days. I think that the site is now unfit for use on dial-up, so I would only look at that case when I am back in the university on high bandwidth servers. Until then I can only hope to get out of this nightmare that people call level 20.

Some took my Turkey; and left me Pie

Hehe, right! Someone took my Turkey emblem and replaced it with a Pie!

I know pies and cakes were being handed over but I didn't know they came at a price of one turkey. If I knew that I would never have traded it in! I mean the turkey was an exclusive emblem handed only to those who used Gamespot on Thanksgiving 2006. I really hope that I get my turkey back and its not gone for good. But do tell me, did anyone else reported the same crime?

Dragon Ball Online!!!

How come I never found out? It turns out that there is an Online MMORPG based on the Dragon Ball franchise being developed by NTL in Japan and Korea. It's going to be published by Namco Bandai, and it would be out on the PC and XBOX 360 in 2008. Since being an MMORPG on the PC and X360, it is speculated that it would benefit from LIVE Anywhere, and allow cross-platform gaming between the two systems. Currently only being developed for Japan and Korea, it is expected to hit the western market too sometime in the future. Akira Toriyama has great deal of control over the creative aspects of the project, both contributing to and supervising the story and art design, including character and location designs, so we can expect a lot of anime like action from the game.

Dragon Ball Online is set in Age 1000, exactly 216 years after Goku left the 28th World Tournament to train Uub in Age 784. The player takes the role of one of the many warriors living in the Dragon Ball World, which are searching for the Dragon Balls, training to compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament, or aspiring to become like the warriors of legend. While training, the player senses a disaster strike the world. The Earth is divided into pieces by a villainous organization known as the Dark Eye, which is lead by a mysterious individual. Receiving guidance from Time Cop Trunks, the player sets out on a journey to defeat the mastermind and save the world, meeting other players along the way, and interacting with the denizens of the Dragon World, including characters from the original series.

Currently, there are three playable races confirmed; Earthling, Nameks and the Saiyans. Players will be able to further customize their avatars with a variety of options, including hairstyles, colors, and clothing. Human and Saiyan players will begin their journey on Earth, recruited by Time Patrol Trunks to help save the world, while Nameks will begin on New Namek, guided by Saichoro to help those on Earth. Players also have the option to start their journey as a child, allowing their character to age and grow into adulthood as they play the game, much like the main characters of the original series. There is a lot of open ended gameplay as the player has the choice to hunt for the dragon balls, train and compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament with other players, or just head out on the quest to become the greatest warrior in the universe.

Expect free roaming environments on both Planet Earth and New Namek and a lot of downloadable add-on content released later. Either released in the English version or not, this is the one to look out for, if you are a Dragon Ball/Z/GT fan. In the mean time I leave you with some screen shots of the game!

So What’s New

Well, even with all the fuss going around these days, I am still pretty much bored! I can't think of anything to do, even though a lot has happened in the past week. Some important events include that my 4^th semester results were out and there was the trimmed down E3 Media and Business Summit 2007, which quite frankly the name puts me to sleep for a couple of hours. Sure its E3 and a lot of news came around but there was nothing revealed that intrigued me, other than the fact that this may be a boring year for gaming if Grand Theft Auto IV fails to deliver on its promise. Plus it turns out the Resident Evil 5 will also not be available this year so its another bummer to the summer event.

There may be a $100 price cut to the PS3 but there is still no strong reason to go out and buy one, and from all the rumors I have heard, it turns out that Microsoft may unveil the 3^rd Generation XBOX in two years placing the life expectancy of the X360 in question. The increase to a full 3 year after sales warranty tells a different story however that, Microsoft believe the X360 could go on for another 3 to 4 years. What would really bring a revolution now would be a an announcement from Microsoft in one or two months regarding the price of the X360, like a $100 price cut for all the three SKUs. The new Zapper from Mario factory looked good, but I don't quite fancy the Wii Fit idea. I think it would not make a big impact. Who ever would want a video game that would require them to 'work-out'?

In terms of next generation, I think the PC is easily comparable to the consoles now and if equally supported by the developers, would be overtaking them by the end of the year. The Intel Core 2 line is looking more promising with the new chips that would soon join the block. And who knows, maybe AMD do pump out a true Quad-Core solution to challenge Intel's Core 2 line. As for the graphics chips, the GeForce 8 series is far superior to the RSX in the PlayStation 3, with capabilities like Full Screen 16x Anti Aliasing and High Dynamic Range Lighting simultaneously. On top of that we may get triple or quad SLI out of the 8800 chips to really boost the amount of juice we get from them. And Vista backed by DirectX 10, Games For Windows and LIVE Anywhere seem to be the real future, which is pretty much going to dominate the gaming industry in the coming years, so I wouldn't bet on the consoles right now. The only advantage they have left is the fact that they get exclusive game titles, like Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3 for the XBOX 360 and Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2 for the PlayStation 3. And since now, at least for 2007, PlayStation 3 has stole Unreal Tournament 3 from the PC, which was going to be a DirectX 10 title. But we still have a Crysis to prepare for and I think it would be a tough competition between Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3 and Crysis for 2007 Game of the Year.

OMG I Am Level 20!

Yeah, its true. I have just hit level 20 here on Gamespot. Finally a major milestone after all these years, blogging and gaming and stuff; all that hard work finally paid off. It was a tough road on from level 10 to here, it took me over an year to achieve this level. When at level 19, I thought it would never pass, actually as far as I can remember it took me about 1 month and 24 days to complete it where most other people could do it just under 3 weeks. And from what I have heard, level 20 also known as the Dead Level or the Danger Level takes eternity, for the regular speeders, so I am assuming it would take about 3 months for me. I hope the road ahead of level 20 is easier but I have to get over this hurdle first.

Back in 2000 when I first joined Gamespot, I never knew I would make it this far. In fact after loosing my original account, I was going to give up. But then something inside me compelled me to start over, and after an absence of 3 months I rejoined on January 2004. After that it was easy gaining level 12, which I actually got under 2 years compared to about 3 from the previous account. I also got a lot more emblems, probably because my understanding of the site grew too. Now, I have achieved level 20 now, and plan to go a lot further. With this achievement, I'm going to add new blog header for my profile.

And just for a quick review, here is a snapshot of my Gamespot status:

Personal
Profile Views	20,671	Friends	107	Games	245
Community
Forum Posts	580	Blog Posts	52	Union Posts	15
Contributions
Reviews	9	Games Rated	236	Videos	22
Images	12	Digg Referrals	None	Tags	1591
Emblems

Help me choose new Blog Headers

I have created two new blog headers for my blog. They perfectly fit the new Dragon Ball Z theme that you see on each one of my profile on the internet these days. I am rapidly transforming into a saiyan again, and that's why its all you see me do these days. Anyways let me get to the basic reason behind this blog post. Well, I actually created two slightly different versions of the blog header and couldn't decide which one to put up, so I decided that I should ask you guys which is better. After all, it is going to be there for you guys to see. So it would only be fair if you get a say in this. Well without further delay, here they are:

So please tell that which image is the better one. I would put it up as my blog header. And once again, thanks for your feedback people. I really appreciate it.

I Am Back: 50th Blog Post

Well people, I am finally back from my exams. It was a real tough week and I am not expecting anything good right now. Most of my grades will be down and the worst part is that this was the final exams for the semester and I would not get a chance to make up for it. But it is still my fault, as I got too lazy to do anything and missed out on a lot of assignments and Quizzes. Now what ever comes up wouldn't be good and definitely could have been better. Heck by mid-term I was guaranteed at least 5 out of 6 A-Grades in the semester but now it has come down to this that I may even end up getting an F in one course.

But hey, what's done is done, and I would move on and attack the next semester head on. I got 2 months of summer vacation and I still haven't figures out what to do. Should I go for an internship or spend my time doing what I do best, Game On. Only time would tell that, but one thing is for sure that for now, one thing is for sure; I would be going all out on my favorite sites gaining new levels and achieving the unexpected. My primary targets would by Gamespot, YouTube and CelebDAQ. I would also be doing a lot of blogging and thanks to Microsoft Word 2007, posting these simultaneous blog entries has never been easier.

Since on the topic of blogging, I would like to reveal that this is my 50^th Blog Post for Gamespot, my number one blog. I would like to acknowledge the participation of all my friends and contacts there who actually read it and give me feedback on it. I am also pretty close to hitting level 20, the Danger Level so I would try my best to keep my participation up and clear it right out. On the other statistics, my YouTube site has finally started to grow; I have now received 15400 Video Views and have 270 channel views. I only have 10 friends but soon plan to change that and add a lot more people. If you want to add me as a friend on YouTube then please visit http://www.YouTube.com/uzeeinc and click 'Add as a Friend'. If you are reading this post elsewhere that you can also add me on Gamespot by visiting http://www.Gamspot.com/Users/UzEE/ and then click 'Track this Person'.

Well, so long people, until next time, and it will be real soon. Believe me!

Final Exams Up

Just a post to notify everyone that my final exams are coming up from Monday, 18^th June 2007, so my activity will decrease a lot during the next couple of weeks. Its gonna be real tough cuz I didn't get that much marks in the mid term and also am suffering from low internal grades. This is going to have a real bad impact on my CGPA, but in the end of it all. I would finally be free for two months before the next semester, and I also would be a half Computer Engineer too. Wish me luck people. Oh and to make up for my absentee, I have uploaded over a dozen new videos (Music, Trailers, and other stuff) on YouTube for you guys to enjoy. Here is the link to my Channel: http://www.youtube.com/UzEEInc, you can also visit my profile on Gamespot for more cool stuff by me at http://www.gamespot.com/users/UzEE. In the end of it all, if you are also a Bahrian or like Bahria University, go to http://www.youtube.com/group/bahria for some great videos from the university.

Well so long people, until next time, probably after 25^th June, you will hear from me again, when I will post my 50^th Blog entry on Gamespot.com.

Greatest Games of All Time: Grand Theft Auto III

Gamespot inducted GTA III into its greatest games of all time. It's the ultimate Hall of Fame of the industry, and well it's the first ever induction of a Grand Theft Auto, into the Hall. And surprising enough, it was GTA III and not San Andreas that pulled out the shot. I was actually expecting it to get the first inductance, but anyways; I guess Liberty was just plain better. I had a flash of memories from 2001, when I first played this beautifully engineered master piece from Rockstar North. Enough said, here is a preview of what Gamespot had to say:

Taken from: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6171873/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;story;6

Grand Theft Auto III is easily one of the greatest games of all time. It was quietly released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2 and after widespread critical acclaim and positive word of mouth, quickly became a cultural phenomenon that forever changed the world of video games. It may seem crude now, but when it was released, GTAIII offered an unprecedented level of freedom and detail, giving rise to terms like "sandbox" and "open world" to describe the entire genre of games that this one inspired. Yes, GTAIII was also violent and controversial, but it isn't the defining game of the PlayStation 2 era because of its success. Rather, it epitomizes its generation because it's an undeniably fun, well-designed, immersive, and hilarious game that broke new ground for future games to follow.

In what might be the most significant leap forward for any video game franchise, GTAIII took the series from a somewhat obscure top-down game of cops and robbers to a fully realized action adventure set in an expansive 3D world. Playing GTAIII for the first time, it's easy to feel intimidated by the sheer scope of the game. You play as a nameless hero who happened to catch a lucky break and avoid going to prison. After a short intro, you're thrust into the streets of Liberty City, where you can do just about anything you want.

You can steal a car and simply cruise through town to check out the sights. Or, you can hop in an ambulance and try your hand at being a paramedic. If that doesn't suit your fancy, you can get behind the wheel of a police car and hunt down criminals to deliver your own brand of vigilante justice. And of course, you can always visit any of the dozens of intriguing story characters to take on special missions and earn some serious loot.

The size of the game's world and the freedom it gave you to explore are the most immediate and striking aspects of GTAIII, but it's more than just a huge maze of streets for you to run around in. Liberty City was so well designed and detailed that it felt remarkably lifelike. Pedestrians strolled down the street muttering to one another; newspapers blew in the wind; gangsters patrolled and protected their territories; hookers propositioned johns on street corners; and through it all, the sun continued to rise and set on the comfortable chaos of life in the big city.

Subsequent GTA games would expand the scope of the playable world to encompass multiple cities and miles of virtual space between, but Liberty City from GTAIII felt just right. It was by no means small; the game had three huge districts and hundreds of miles of roads to explore. The different districts were perfectly distinct--for instance, the hilly suburbs of Shoreside Vale offered a completely different experience from the seedy red-light district on Portland Island.

In addition to the superbly crafted world and top-notch gameplay, Grand Theft Auto III had a fantastic sense of humor. Everything from the dialogue and characters to the radio stations and billboards was infused with a satirical wit that was funny without feeling overplayed--a remarkable feat for a game that easily lasted 100 hours or more. Whether you were laughing out loud at the ridiculous Smokey and the Bandit-like antics of angry police officers or chuckling at the goofy Lazlow as he rambled on about nothing in particular on his talk radio show, there was always humor to be found among the mayhem in Grand Theft Auto III.

Of course, GTAIII generated plenty of controversy when it was first released. After all, a game that lets you pick up a hooker, have sex with her, and then rob and murder her is going to raise a few eyebrows. What you have to understand about the game is that it's not the senseless violence and mature themes that made it fun--violent games have existed for years. What made Grand Theft Auto III fun was the way it was so cleverly designed to keep you entertained despite a relative lack of structure. Essentially, GTAIII gave you the freedom to entertain yourself, which in this case proved much more effective than holding your hand and dragging you through a rigidly organized series of challenges. Grand Theft Auto III defied all expectations of what a video game must be and delivered a gameplay experience unlike any other. And for that, it's without a doubt one of the greatest games of all time.

You can get even more info about the article by visiting the link. It has A lot more to offer then just this, so be sure to visit it. You can also comment your own views on it here and also on Gamespot if you want too. Well its time for me to sign off, but keep in touch for more from the World of UzEE.

The Saiyan Saga Concludes

The Saiyan Saga concluded here last week. Toonami rebroadcasted all the episodes. Even though I had seen it all before, the experience was thrilling. It was like watching a new series all over. Its great that Dragon Ball Z airs every day from Monday to Saturday here, so we can really get into the story. Well now it's the race to Namek and Feriza's number is almost up. It would be great seeing the original Super Saiyan transformation again. Those were one of my favorite episodes. Akira Toriyama really created magic in this series.

I still wonder why he thought that the time was up for Dragon Ball Z. I never really swallowed GT. I mean I didn't like the idea of dropping original and main characters like Gohan, Goten, and Piccolo etc in favor of newer ones. They were that core of the series and maybe that's why DBGT wasn't as successful as its two prequels. And then at the end, killing almost everyone, meaning the showing that time has passed on and the only survivor is Pan, and two knew kids Goku Jr. and Vegita Jr., who didn't even know what a Super Saiyan is. I sometimes really wish we could see another sequel to Dragon Ball Z, not GT because, to me, it wasn't a fair story. This concludes my 48^th post here on Gamespot, and I am really close to my 50. Don't forget to comment.