Steeps's Rants: Weekend News and Rants (Plus a quick thanks!)

Hey guys I'm back! Sorry if I haven't been updating my blog recently. It's just that I've been moving in and out town a lot recently so I couldn't focus on digesting the latest gaming news and updates, and blogging. Plus I've been playing some games that I've always been wanting to play, Portal 2! Just finished it actually, and that was an awesome game. I'll be writing here a really quick review of it before I go on working on my full review. Plus, after the jump, I'll be listing down some news, and some of the things I've been up to lately. And by the way, thanks for the 2,000+ pageviews in just 3.5 months, and keeping this blog in the top 50 videogames blog of TopBlogs.com.ph. Really appreciate it guys. :)

Really Quick Portal 2 Review:

• When I played the original Portal, I was really astounded by its simplicity in design that despite the lack of complexity in its graphics and effects. Its simple premise is that, you're a test subject in a lab, and your objective is to reach point A to point B of every level by creating portals, but the catch is that obstacles hinder your path, so you use your portal gun, and your environment to to your advantage. In Portal 2, that simplicity is taken further, adding some new unique gameplay features that truly makes Portal 2 a unique and heart warming experience. (Yes, I said that.) In Portal 2, you again play the role of Chell, a test subject who defeated a nasty A.I. named GlaDOS in the original game. New characters will be thrown in the fray, including a really talkative personality core (i.e. robot) named Wheatley; and Atlas and P-Body, the main characters in the new two player co-op mode. Despite having only three characters in the single player and having a mute protagonist, Portal 2 never ceases to tell a really convincing and emotional, character-driven story. It's a short fare however, only clocking at around 8 hours, more or less depending on how fast you could navigate through the puzzles. I still haven't played co-op, I just hope I could convince my brother to play co-op with me. Portal 2's simplicity, witty humor and focus on characters is what sets Portal 2 apart from any other game. Anyway, I'd probably give Portal 2 a 4.0 to 4.5 for now, but do wait for my full review! Really nice ending by the way.

Some News. I'll be writing some blog posts about these later, but I might as well write some headlines about them now.

• LA Noire causing some PS3 units to overheat? And causes freezing on the Xbox 360 too?!  There have been reports that PS3 users have been experiencing PS3 overheating and shut downs while playing LA Noire. And just now, Xbox 360 users have reported game freezing too. Rockstar Games and Sony already issued a statement announcing that the firmware 3.61 and the game are not to blame. As for the Xbox 360, Rockstar advises users to clear the cache in case of freezing. Shucks, hope this doesn't happen to my unit, I've been eagerly wanting to play this game. Haven't got one yet though. [-.-]  [Source: Kotaku, PlayStation Blog]
• Double XP Weekend for COD: Black Ops on the PS3! Need that prestige badly after missing out on PSN? Here's your chance to rack up loads of XP. It's starts May 20, Friday 10 AM US Time (Not sure which zone, but here in the Philippines it may already have started, haven't tested though) and ends on May 24, Tuesday 10 AM (Tuesday evening here). Plus, Nuketown 24/7 playlist will make a comeback! C'mon, who doesn't love Nuketown? And don't forget to add me up on PSN! [Source: PlayStation Blog]
• PSN Store Coming Back May 24! This is great news, plus, this will be our chance to grab the freebies from Sony's Welcome Back Program! [Source: Kotaku]

A Quick List of What I've Been Up To:

• Trying to start a Mortal Kombat review. Already at level 276 of the challenge tower.
• Completed Portal 2. Will try to convince my brother to play co-op for my full review.
• Waiting for my copy of LA Noire. I'm definitely stoked about the game, and my copy would probably arrive at around Sunday. The Asia release was late (Friday), and I was pissed off because I was in Manila (where I can buy the game) last Tuesday. I had to go to the province on the same date. But thanks to Daniman, we'll be getting our copies really soon.
• Playing a bit of MW2, Heavenly Sword and GTA IV (just so I could feel open world driving again. Nah I'm just really excited about LA Noire).
• My Xbox 360's 2nd Birthday and my PS3's first birthday!

Quick Thanks to Readers

• My blog just recently hit 2,000 page views in just four months, and it's now consistently on the top 40 of TopBlogs.com.ph video games blog category. I sincerely thank you for that. I'll consider this as an achievement knowing that I'm not really a blogger type of person, but thanks a lot really. :) Recommend this blog to your friends and hopefully we could get this blog up on the list! And thanks to those who "liked" this blog on Facebook. We like you too. :) 
• And taking the humor from this video, I'd like to end this post with: "If you like this blog post, click the like button below, if you don't, click the like button on the right side of the page, it really helps me out. Give me a comment, and I'd really appreciate it. Like it, comment, subscribe to it, it really helps me out." :)