I finally picked up GTA IV for my Xbox 360 last Friday and have been playing it all weekend. First impressions are good. The opening cutscenes right away impressed me and lifted my expectations that GTA IV is going to have a better story with better characters than its previous incarnations.

I was browsing through the New Arrivals area of the Xbox Marketplace when I noticed a new arcade game called GripShift. I first heard about this game for the PSP and saw some game play videos on it. It looked to be pretty fun, and I was thinking about getting it for my PSP. But once I saw it on the Marketplace, I immediately purchased it there and didn't think twice about the PSP. Good move!

Ever since I got my Xbox 360 last Christmas, I've been craving some off-road competition. Whether it be a rally racing game, or motor cross game I just wanted to play some type of racing game with dirt and jumps. While I was still on my PlayStation 2 I really enjoyed the rally racing that the Gran Turismo series offered. As for the PC, well I never really liked any of the racing games for it. Probably because I didn't have a racing wheel or gamepad for my computer (a must have for racing games). Then of course I see Motorstorm for the PlayStation 3 and it looks awesome. I don't have a PS3 nor can I afford one, so it looked like my off-road fix would have to wait. That is, until I discovered a game called Dirt.

Ah yes, Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm not afraid to admit that I love the GTA series. Well, at least from GTA III and up. The first two GTA's were ok, but not as memoriable as their children. I am of course talking about Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. They all rock, so all you haters shut up. Those three games have given me more game play time than another other game I can think of.

As most of my Xbox Live friends have realized, I haven't been on my Xbox for the past couple of months. Reason? Well, between buying a new house, moving, and unpacking, I haven't had time to play with it, let alone, even hook it up. During all this activity I didn't miss the 360 mainly because I didn't even have time to think about it. But now that I'm all settled in I really want to play it again, but I can't.

When I first got my Xbox 360 and signed up for Xbox Live, I noticed a free offer for American customers. It was called the Xbox Live Diamond Program. It was 100 percent completely free to Xbox Live subscribers and offered lots of discounts at tons of retailers around the country. So I though why not, and signed up for it right away. A few months go by and I completely forget about it. Heck I haven't even turned on my 360 for the past couple of weeks. But I checked my mail today and saw I got a letter from Xbox Live.

UPDATE: If you are having issues with Media Center freezing while connecting to your Xbox 360 try this fix:

Alternatively, if you are having problems with your Xbox 360 crashing with an error, try to remove the Hard Drive from the 360. If this fixes the problem, then try it again with the hard drive attached. If you get an error again, then there may be an issue with your 360 hardware in which case you'll need to contact Microsoft to get the unit repaired/replaced.

You can read more about this issue here.

I just recently discovered a new PC game in the February issue of PC Gamer magazine. After playing Gears of War non-stop on the Xbox 360, I've been craving some other great multiplayer co-op games. Well, Turtle Rock's newest game called Left 4 Dead looks to fill that void. That's right, the famed development studio behind the hit Counter-Strike is taking their shot at a new IP. Will it be as popular as Counter-Strike? In my opinion I think so.

My wife, Jenny was nice enough to buy me an Xbox 360 for Christmas and I couldn't be happier with her decision to do so. Jenny, like me, is a gamer. A hardcore gamer? No. But a gaming chick non-the-less. And us guy gamers know how hard it can be to find a girl who is smart, attractive, and most importantly, a gamer.

This past weekend I had a few buddies over to play with my new Xbox 360. We spent the majority of the day eating, drinking, and of course playing video games. I have both Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Gears of War, but we hardly played any of those games. Instead we spent most of our time playing the demo of Tony Hawk's Project 8.

Sorry for the lack of updates on this site lately. It's just that I've been busy....playing. I must say I am extremely impressed with the Xbox 360. I know it came out last year, but I didn't get it until this Christmas. Prior to that I never played any games on it, nor messed around with any of its functions, nor ever even been in the same room with one.

So, yeah, I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas thanks to Jenny (love you!). Talk about weird. I've been talking a lot about the 360 lately, and even stated I wouldn't mind getting one someday. So she surprised the shit out of me this Christmas when I opened her present and saw the Xbox 360 package.

I, of course am talking about myself. You didn't actually think that any other PlayStation fanboy would admit that, did you? That's like trying to get an Apple fanboy to admit the iPod is lame. It's just not going to happen. They have their loyalties and will stick by them no matter what. Even if it means their loyalties belong to a mental hick from Texas that somehow got elected President of the USA (twice) and is now running the country (and various other parts of the world) into the ground (hate mail starts.....now).