Well, as I said in my last entry, I did buy Table Tennis today. I'm starting to get a little better at it, but hey, I'm still getting my ass handed to me.

I did get lucky enough to beat the Rookie circuit today, though. No, that's not the Beginner mode! That would be Amateur. Hell, I beat that too! Haha, anyway, it took me a good while to beat the Rookie circuit. I breezed through the first tournament, but had a lot of trouble in the grand finale. Jesper was surprisingly easy in this circuit, but Cassidy was another story. She put up a good fight, and I wasted a lot of minutes losing to her. I finally beat her, though, and was relieved...Until I met Kumi. She was 3 times as bad! But, there is a weakness ready to be exploited for her. You'll notice early on in your match with her, that she loves to use spins. I finally, after a good 10 tries at least, figured out that I could use that against her. So, I started making more than half of my shots backspins, because they can cause returns to come up short or miss the table completely, especially for spins. Once I figured this out, I beat her rather quickly, but still with a little trouble.

After that, I hooked up with Rabid72 for a little online action, and got beat, but it was a lot of fun. Who wants to win anyway? So, anyway that was cool. If you're a player who just likes to have fun, regardless of skill, please let me know, and we'll play sometime!

So, there's my first day with Table Tennis (besides renting it) in a nutshell. I think I'm gonna get some sleep now, so g'night.

-Croocial

I finally got a chance to rent Rockstar Table Tennis, and I'll tell you right now, I'm buying it! The game is great so far. It is a little difficult at first, but going through the training drills really helps out with that. I beat the Amateur tournament, unlocking 2 achievements, and I managed to unlock 2 more; The Noob (for completing my first online match) and The Victor (for winning my first online match). Both the online and offline sides of the game are fun, but overall I'd say that the online play is where it's at. I got counterspinning down pretty good now, and ball placement, which both make the game a lot easier.

Anyway, I'm buying the game, and if you're looking for a new experience or just some great online play, you should consider doing the same.

-Croocial

Last night and this morning kind of ran together as I wasn't the least bit tired and really getting into Fight Night. I unlocked 4 achievements, boosting me up to around 3500 gamerscore.

Then there's Marble Blast Ultra. I downloaded it a few days ago, and have ben pretty bad in multiplayer, but I surprised myself today by coming in a game with only 1 person who had 9 when I came in, and winning! A lot more people came in throughout the game. I was disappointed, though, that the game ended earlier than I'd have liked, cause I was hoping to unlock the achievement for 71 points in a multiplayer game too. Oh well, I'm still happy.

-Croocial

Well, after a little while's break, I decided I wanted to go back to Oblivion. The second day that I started playing again, I finished the main quest, which could have ended no better! I won't tell you what happens, in case you haven't finished it yet, but I suggest you do so! I hated closing the Great Gate, though. I hate Oblivion gates, and I'm glad they're finally gone!  Anyway, I came back pretty near the end of the main quest and figured I'd finish up. Now I need to finish up the Thieves Guild questline, but I'm having some trouble with that. I'm supposed to be waiting for someone to contact me from the Gray Fox, but they never come, after a lot of waiting. I thought I finished the Ancestor Moths quest, but I might not have, so I'll try going there for that. After finishing that, I'll probably just explore and level, eventually making a new character or two, and at some point joining the Fighters and Mages Guilds. By the way, I suggest, if you haven't already, you join the Dark Brotherhood on at least one character. It was definitely my favorite guild so far. It has exciting quests, good rewards, and a few good twists in the storyline.

Now, on to Fight Night. I just got the game today, and so far, it's a lot of fun. There is no HUD to tell you if you or your opponent is about to go down; you just have to "go with the flow", which I really like. It makes the game a lot more realistic. There is also a new punching system introduced in Round 3, by use of the right joystick, instead of buttons. You can, however, use a standard button-punching configuration, but I find the joystick punching system feels more natural. One thing definitely worth mentioning here is the graphics. They are amazing. You can see every cutt, swell, and bruise on your opponent's face. If you keep beating an eye, it will swell shut soon enough. Exposing an injured area gains you a lot of ground, too. But, the singlehandedly best feature of Round 3, graphics and animations-wise, is the "knockout cam" as I've been calling it. When you setup your opponent for a knockdown punch, the game goes into slow motion, allowing you to easily send the guy to the canvas in whatever way you want. They can, however, avoid it. They can clinch you, or avoid your punches to leave the slo-mo state. That feature is extended into the main part of the "knockout cam", where knockdown punches are shown twice in slow motion, showing the ripples sent across the victim's face, the indentation of their head on the slugger's glove, and to top it off, the blood and spit flying from the victim's mouth. That is great stuff! The career mode is great, featuring the usual "Create A Boxer" mode, allowing you to rise up through the ranks, training between fights, and winning prize money for new gear and better trainers. The online play is good, but players can be cheap. Some revert to the button-punching control scheme, and just button mash you to a KO. Others will disconnect just before a loss, taking the win from you, and the loss from them. But, those are players, not the game. After all, you know what they say; "Hate the player, not the game." If anyone gets the game and wants to have a good fight while talking or whatever, feel free to "Hit me up!"

Hope you guys enjoyed reading the recent happenings in the gaming world of Croocial.

-Croocial

Well, after a long break from my blog, I decided to come back. I also came back to Oblivion today, after probably a month or more of not touching it. I dove right back into the main quest, and am almost done with it. I have a question for you; Fight Night Round 3 or Rockstar Table Tennis? I don't know which to get!

-Croocial

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to inform you that the Call of Duty 2 Xbox Live patch is now available. I downloaded the update yesterday, which took under a minute, and proceeded to try it out. The patch has brought many new additions to the online multiplayer that we've all been waiting for, these including the following:

• The choices of Ranked Match, Player Match, and Private Match
• Ability for host to change game parameters
• Post-game lobbies
• Voice chat in FFA Deathmatch games
• Ability for host to boot unwanted players
• Gamertag appears when your reticle is over someone
• Score indicator that includes current and target score
• (i.e. 45/50)
• And of course, the lag has been addressed. So far, I've had no lag issues since the patch was released.

The multiplayer aspect of the game has been much improved, and it can now be enjoyed the way we wanted it to be in the beginning. The game could use a few more features, such as connection strength when viewing a list (also not added) of games to choose from. Overall, though, the game has been much improved, making it an actual fun experience.

Go download it!

-Croocial

The much-anticipated shooter, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, is near, and the demo is here to prove it! The demo is available via Xbox Live Marketplace, and is around 384 MB in size. I just downloaded it maybe 2 hours ago, and wanted to share my frist impressions.

Graphics: The graphics are good, but not great. Many people have been complaining about them, but I, never being a graphic whore anyway, didn't see anything wrong with them. They look nice, just not top-of-the-line.
8/10

Playability: The control scheme is very easy to catch onto, and a pretty solid one. There really is only one small flaw here, and that is the slight slide your character does when you stop running. It doesn't affect the gameplay once you get used to it, as it is very subtle.
9/10

Sound: The soundtrack is great. When you get into a heated gun-fight, the music changes to match the setting. On the other side of the spectrum, when looking for opponents, the music calms down. The sound effects are also nice. The explosions and gunshots sound great.
10/10

Gameplay: Gameplay always comes first on my list, and BF2:MC really shines here. The game gives you non-stop, fast-paced warfare, and you're always having fun. The demo only offers "Conquest" mode on "BridgeTooFar", but I'm still having just as much fun with it as when I started! If you're a "Run 'N Gun" shooter fan, this is a must buy.
10/10


Overall Impression: BF2:MC is shaping up to be a great addition to the line of 360 games. It's definitely improved when compared to the Xbox version, and it is a lot of fun, every step of the way. After all, "I just wanna have fun."

Thanks for reading!
-Croocial

After days of desperate searching, I've finally got my hands on a Glass Bow. I've been wanting one, and have searched many caves and forts to no avail, until now. I'd been using an Elven Bow prior to the discovering of its elusive Glass "big brother". For some reason, I would find Glass weapons like cows on a farm, but no bows. I must've found 2 of every other type of Glass weapon, while still bow-less. I'd asked many times on the forums for help finding one, and found no significant answers.

I guess that seems a bit dramatized (:P), but yes, I got my Glass Bow from a Vampire Archer in a ruin today. I have to say, it's quite nice. I think I'll enjoy it for a good while. [:)]

I needed something to ramble on about, and I figured this made a good oppurtunity, so thanks for reading about my over-excitement!

-Croocial

Since I haven't blogged in a few days or so, I figured I'd tell you guys about my "life" in Oblivion. So, here goes.

I just recently got to level 12, and found some Elven weapons, including an Elven bow in a fort. Since I just got to level 12, I've started looking for Glass weapons. I also finished the Arena questline, becoming Grand Champion. I've been doing a lot of Thieve's Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests lately, and having a lot of fun with that.

So far, my favorite thing to do though, is explore caves and forts. I love this aspect of the game, from the creatures to kill, to the items to loot.

Well, that's a little of what's been going on in Oblivion lately. Enjoy the game! It's amazing!

-Croocial

Well, it's March 21st, Oblivion's official release date, and I just returned from GameStop with a copy in my hands! I'm eating a BK Tendercrisp Sandwich, and after that I'll be off to play!

-Croocial

Well, I FINALLY got a name for my Oblivion character, thanks to GatheringDust. He told me about this name generating website: www.rinkworks.com/namegen.

The name is...Athetius! I think it's pretty cool and suits my character well.

Thanks GD, for the website!

-Croocial

Well, partly because I need something to hold me off until Oblivion is released, and partly because I heard it's a great game, I am probably going to get GRAW today. I'm going to trade in NBA Live 06 and Kameo for it at GameStop. NBA Live 06 just plain sucks...The camera angles are horrendous. The only good part of the game, in my opinion, is the (AWESOME) graphics. I've beaten Kameo and I have no desire to play it anymore. So, I'll be going in later this afternoon to pick up GRAW. How is it??

-Croocial

EDIT: Well, much to my dismay, the "Trade 2, Get 1" deal ended at GameStop YESTERDAY. Well, now I'll have to sell those games on eBay and get GRAW some other time. Now I don't think I'll be getting it for a while though, because Oblivion will be the only game for me!

Well, I've decided on my character. I made some changes and I'm (finally!) happy with the character I have made out. Oh yeah, I am still thinking of a name, though. :( Here he is:

Name: TBD

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Custom (Thief/Assassin/Archer)
Birthsign: The Thief
Specialty: Stealth
Attributes: Agility & Strength

Skills

• Blade
• Light Armor
• Marksman
• Sneak
• Security
• Illusion
• Alteration

Let me know what you think! If you have any suggestions for names, that'd be great too!

-Croocial

Well, Oblivion is only 5 days away, and I'm still having trouble with deciding on my character.

He so far looks like this:

Name: Seziel
Race: Bosmer (Wood Elf)
Class: Custom (Thief/Assassin/Archer)
Birthsign: The Thief
Specialty: Stealth
Attributes: Agility and Strength

Major Skills

• Blade
• Light Armor
• Sneak
• Security
• Marksman
• Speechcraft
• ? (Illusion, Conjuration, or Alteration??)

That last skill is where I need help. Should I pick Illusion, Conjuration, or Alteration? Illusion will be good for paralyzing my foes, silencing them to keep them from yelling for guards, etc. Conjuration could be great too. I could summom creatures to help me in fights if I needed. Alteration would make a good choice as well. I could use it to shield myself from damage, alter my encumbrance, and more. There are too many to choose from! So, it's up to you.

Please leave a comment, explaining which you think would be the best choice. Maybe I should opt for two of them, and get rid of Speechcraft...But Speechcraft can be very helpful. Help me!!!

-Croocial

Well, I beat Call of Duty 2 on the Normal setting a while back, and have since wanted to try Veteran. I didn't do so until last night, and was instantly hooked all over again. The game really shines in the Veteran difficulty.You can't use the usual "Run-N-Gun" tactics we all used in the Normal difficulty. The great AI forces you to think tactically at parts, and plan attacks. Running into the battlefield, trying to pull off a "Rambo" isn't going to work this time around. I enjoy using tactics and planning my attacks a lot more than easily killing everyone in sight.

All in all, Veteran really shows CoD2's true colors. If you haven't at least attempted the game on Veteran yet, I suggest you do so ASAP.

I'll let you guys know when I finish the game on Vet. :)

-Croocial

Bethesda announced yesterday, March 2, that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has "gone gold" and will arrive in stores March 20. The open-ended gameplay and vast environments will return once again in Oblivion.

Producers are excited for the game's release, and think the public will enjoy it and find it their best game to date. Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda, says, "Oblivion will set the new standard for next generation gaming and change the way role-playing games are viewed forever." (Bethesda Softworks)

Oblivion has earned many rewards already, including "RPG of Show" at the 2005 E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) event. The game has already been highly praised by many sources, such as IGN and Gamespy.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be availabe for both Xbox 360 and PC, available in both the U.S. and Europe during the week of March 20th.

Note: All of this information was found and is credited to Bethesda Softworks (www.elderscrolls.com)

-Croocial

Well, with Oblivion's release well on its way, I'm very excited. Morrowind is a legend of a game, and its successor should only improve on its unique style of gameplay. Every screenshot and trailer I've seen so far has been amazing, and I never doubted the game. As far as I know, the release date is March 21st. I'm going to either pre-order the game soon, or take my chances at the stores. Either way, I can't wait for this sure-to-be great game!

-Croocial