We got a new brother Blue on board here at BlueGamer.net: Chad Blue aka Childish. When it comes to gaming, he’s no different than the rest of us. While I’m in Texas and Sean is in Florida, Chad is in South Korea. While that may seem out of the way, many consider it a prime gaming part of the world. After all, their national sport is StarCraft, and flipping through television stations over there give you many gaming tournaments to pick from to watch.

As a graphic artist, we hope to use Chad’s skills to start a webcomic of our own. And this week you should start seeing him post regularly. Stay tuned!

While I’ll be missing the first day (today), I’ll be at QuakeCon for the remainder of the weekend, so expect coverage all over BlueGamer.net.

Also make sure to follow the BlueGamer Twitter, as I will post regular updates live.

If there’s anything specific anyone requests to see, let me know.

We were on a roll, weren’t we? We will always have Bluecasts but they may be irregular. But in place of those missed weeks I’ve been getting the gear together for videocasts. I’ll start recording gaming sessions that may be informative or entertaining. At times I’d like to physically show people what I’m talking about.

Here’s what I’ve been playing:

RA3 Uprising
Wheelman
R-Type Dimensions
Retro Game Challenge
Matt Hazard

Hopefully you’ll be here from me soon…

So I started a new career which will give me the time I need for this site. With this extra time, I’ll explain what I’ve been doing:

Red Alert 3. I’ve spent so much more time with this game in the past week, it is just amazing. At first I wasn’t impressed, but after a little more time I can see what it’s doing. It is also totally a co-op game. Every aspect promotes co-op play.

Dawn of War 2 Beta. I was afraid of the changes that could be made for this sequel, but after playing the Beta, my love was right back where it needed to be. It’s less of a base-builder, which is how I prefer my RTS’s, but it still has the base-building mechanic, so I totally dig it.

My 360 died. Yeah, it RRoD’d. I sent it out on Tuesday and just got the confirmation that repair is complete. Halo Wars and RE5 demo, here I come.

Killzone 2 demo. My post from CoG:

Graphics look great, but very jaggedy. I guess the screenshots and videos we see are with AA turned up. With the graphics smoothed out, it would be the best looking FPS. The controls are ok. I think it’s odd how they give you some options…but leave others out. Very awkward…and speaking of which, the dual analog setup for the DS3 is just annoying. The ‘C’-shape required by my thumb and pointer finger puts too much of an unnatural strain on my hand. Remember, the original pad was designed before analog…they should have done a redesign with analog sticks.

But playing it was fun. Like what has been said, it’s your normal generic run-n-gun FPS. That’s not bad, but it’s not going to stand out. I think the cover system worked well too. A similar system was used in Shadow Ops.

I see no reason to give this a bad score despite controls. It’s not doing anything wrong really, and it seems to be a fun title.

In the past few months my PC gaming time went down. This was due to my Gateway P6860FX overheating and just shutting off. So, after a long time of research I came across a laptop cooler. ZALMAN ZM-NC2000 B Notebook Cooler. Not only does my PC no longer shut down, but my in-game improvement has sky-rocketed. I clearly get more frames in-game, and I can even now use higher AA than I could stomach. So, I was able to improve my laptop’s gaming performance without even upgrading the CPU to the $300 intel I plan on using in the future. This laptop was definitley worth the price.

Bluecast. This should start back up soon. I was hoping to do one last weekend, but PowerGramo won’t work correctly on my system, which I attribute to Vista64. I don’t have an XP system to use, but I’ve been eyeing a netbook lately, and I now have a reason to jump on one.

So because of my job, recent engagement and other plans, BlueGamer.net hasn’t been updated in a while. Not only that, but we haven’t seen a podcast in a while.

I have my PAX badge. I’m even getting the media emails where I could set up interviews for some great content.

But because of other things, I won’t be at PAX this year.

Things will change though, and here’s what’s going down:

By October (most likely), I’ll be in Brazil. My gaming will be limited to my 360, PC Gaming, DS, PSP, and PS3 remote access (and possibly a PS2). I’m not sure how easily I’ll be getting the newer games for each platform, but, TecToy was a huge distributor in Brazil for Sega from the Master System to the Dreamcast. I’m thinking I’ll be able get my hands on these products. Not only do they have a badass portable Genesis, but there were some games produced exclusively in Brazil. Also, word yesterday is that Microsoft is introducing an Asian/Latin America only gamepad with a modified D-pad. So really, I don’t see my gaming habits dwindling too much, but I’m obviously going to try to be out often to enjoy my stay in Brazil. Really. It’s all about Brazil.

While there, I’ll keep this blog updated about my gaming experience in a foreign land. But when I get back, the site will get an over-haul. I’ll be using new software and trying my darndest to make this place look slick. Along with that, we’ll reintroduce the Blucast as well as a Videocast. And my goal is to attend as many gaming cons as possible. My life will be very different at this point, so I should have the time for this – but who knows, things change.

But on to the gaming…

There are an amazing amount of great GBA games I’ve been meaning to play through. The other day I noticed my GBA Micro sitting on the ‘handhelds’ shelf. He’s a cute little guy – I miss using him. So, I set off to Gamestop to see what they had. I picked up Sigma Star Saga, Gunstar Super Heroes, and Blackthorne. All for a total of $15. Sweet, eh? But there are more I’m looking for:

Sonic Advance 2/3
Ninja Five-0
Guardian Heroes
…
Ok, I had a huge list in my head…I guess I need to write this stuff down (or just update it here).

I had Too Human next on my Gamefly queue, but instead got TimeShift. I must have been too late making Too human the only game on my queue… Anyway, Time shift is great. Graphics, Story, Gameplay…great game. But you know what made it underrated? The constant delays and apparently an entire re-design. It turned out great IMO, but you know how game reviewers are with this games. This is one game that I suggest everyone try.

Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Holy crap. I barely remember playing the original, but the game play in this just felt so familiar. So punishingly familiar. TimeShift threw me of course, but I should be back into this one soon enough.

Next gaming plan? Well, my birthday is the 30th. Maybe I can talk my family into getting me Mercenaries 2?

Monday night I will be at the local Gamestop to pick up GTA IV. I’ll be arriving a little late from work, but Sean will be in line for me. We’ll then be heading to our houses, playing a little SP, then going right into multiplayer.

Also, my plan is to have a Bluecast done Wednesday morning. I’ve had people ask when the next one will be, so I know I need to pump one out ASAP. I’ll be off, and have had a whole night of GTA before hand, so we’ll have a lot to talk about. And we’ll have Jose talk some Mario Kart, seeing as neither Sean or I plan on getting it.

Episode 9 was recorded. It was recorded in a lodge high up in the mountains of Colorado. Sean and I were so relaxed and carefree that the show turned out terrible. It was bad. So, we won’t be releasing Episode 9 any time soon, but maybe in the future as a surprise. Until then, be prepared for Episode 10 on Monday.

So I sent EA back the guitar that they sent me. It was just so bad. The strum bar was a little sturdier, which I didn’t like because I prefer using a pick. Also, when my buddy Adam was using it for the while he was, he couldn’t activate the Star Power/Overddrive/whateva. He was convulsing and mimicking seizure victims just by trying to get the guitar to activate its…power-thing. But now my original guitar is working fine, and it’s great. The only thing now is the DLC is either hit or miss. And usually miss.

Episode 9 will (hopefully) be recorded this weekend in Colorado. I’ll be there for my days off from work, and I really have no other time to do it. Plus my bro will be there, and Jose’s in the UK selling merch. I think the show will be great though. Here’s the selling point: We’ll talk about porn stars. And to clarify, ‘female’ porn stars. I apologize to 12% of gamers out there.

Just so you all know, Bluecast Episode 8 will be this Thursday. So get ready. Now after the holidays…and I mean immediately after, not much really happens. And to add to that, my Rock Band Guitar and Drum Set bit the dust. Luckily EA’s on top of that. But the show this week will have a ton of content. Jose has been on top of that.

That’s what she said.

I was listening to the GFW podcast which I believe to be truly amazing, and they keep talking about how great HL Episode 2 is. HL2 and EP1 was such a dud that I didn’t bother with this one. Now, I know a lot of you are currently en route to my house with torches and pitchforks, but hear me out – the game does a lot great. But it gets a bit tedious. It sounds like Episode 2 fixes that. I’ll let you know.

Tuesday. Yes, it hasn’t been too consistent, but at least it’s been only a day later. I’m off that day so I can put more energy into the show.

The post below is a new feature for the site called ‘Game Talk’. Sean and I tend to have some pretty hilarious gaming-related chats over MSN, so I figure it would be fun to display a portion of that for your reading pleasure. It could be weekly, daily, or who knows.