I haven’t blogged at all lately. Between summertime weekends and workaholic weekdays, there hasn’t been much time. I’ve been able to crank out the reviews (barely) on time, though, so at least I am keeping up with those. There ain’t much going on, but I’ve got a few ramblings to throw out there.

#1) E3 as we know it is no more - I can’t say I am too surprised by this. I’ve been to a few of them, and let’s just say that it’s become far too out of control, bloated, loud, and obnoxious. In a way, I am almost glad. Hopefully this makes game journalists’ lives better, allowing us to get more time with developers without having blaring music and flashing lights ruining the experience. Also, maybe this will free up more development time since half the year won’t be spent building demos for the conference.

#2) Current Games- I’ve been playing a few games the most lately (reviews not included). These days I continue to find myself playing Field Commander on the PSP, and I am stuck on a level which is really grating me. My 360 is usually on MotoGP ‘06, which is insanely hard but I love it nonetheless. What’s crazy is that I’ve spent at least 6 hours in it and haven’t gotten one achievement yet. I like NCAA Football 07, but the fact that every game takes an hour has limited my willingness to play since my time is so short most days. September can’t come soon enough! I play Brain Age on my DS regularly too. Lastly, my treadmill game at the moment is the old Xbox Splashdown title, but I’ve just about wrapped that up and will likely be heading back to Vice City again after that.

#3) Upcoming Games- There’s hardly anything I am excited about, with the huge exception of Saints Row. I am officially pumped for this one. I love the GTA series, and this one looks to be as close to a next gen GTA as we’ll get for another year. All indications are that this is gonna be great. I just may buy into the hype this time.

#4) Rock and Roll shows- I’ve seen the Black Crowes twice and Ryan Adams & The Cardinals once in July. Great music, great booze, great times. There’s nothing like seeing your favorite musicians live in smallish settings. It’s so much better than arena concerts that there’s no comparison.

#5) Rock and Roll albums- Stadium Arcanium by the Red Hot Chili Peppers continues to impress me. I listen to it all the time and am blown away by the volume of quality tunes on the two CDs. Definitely their best work ever. Another album I am into these days is Trouble by Ray Lamontagne. Amazing voice, great songwriting. Check it out.

That’s it for now - until next time.