It is 2010 and Niko Bellic is still breathing

The last half of 2009 was certainly a great period for gaming, so great I did not find the time to blog much! ;)

All those great games that I mentioned in my previous post came and proved themselves worthy and to finish the year in style Sega came out from nowhere and delivered a killer blow to the hack and slash genre, but more about the super slick Bayonetta after its release this weekend.

So what am I playing right now then?

Funnily enough I've recently got back into GTA IV to try and finally put Niko out of his misery. I'm quite enjoying it actually. A recent highlight being the bank job mission, not the second time this game has reminded me of of the movie Heat. Roll on the double expansion which I have yet to acquire.

But you don't want to see Niko's ugly mug, so scattered throughout this post are my own photos taken while playing my Game of the Year 2009 Forza Motorsport 3 using its in-game photo mode.

What a wonderful game that was. The grindiness of the levelling from Forza 2 was not eliminated completely, but the smooth presentation and delicous visuals wrap up that almost perfect handling component very tidily. What a shame then that it is still illegal to shoot idiots that have no concept of racing ettiquette to speak of and think it is perfectly acceptable to slam in the back of you instead of learning where the proper breaking points are.

Operation Flashpoint : Dragon Rising with its ocean deep immersion did not disappoint either, although its ruthlessness from the original was certainly a shock after these modern day 'hold-by-the-hand' and 'you-will-finish-this-game-even-if-you-are-an-imbecile' times. Saying that, the last mission is a right bastard.

LOTRO is still on hold, despite the release of a new expansion Siege of Mirkwood. The weariness still hasn't dissolved yet. Although we all know it's not a proper expansion and that it came out of the blue in an attempt to ease Turbines coffers.

Jumpgate Evo is still vapourware, only kidding. I'm sure it exists really a bit like the long running joke that is Duke Nukem Will Never Die.