I know the focus groups at EA regarding Battlefield Bad Company 2 have probably been called off for a while now but I can't help hoping they hear my plea of complete despair.

I know EA is in touch with their audience and that is why they keep releasing rad awesome games. If the company is so in touch how could they make the over sight of turning off their servers at midnight on a Friday night. I just went bonkers. How could they do this to me.

I know it wasn't really some sort of passive aggressive attack on my personal happiness and over all mental stability but then why does it sting so much. Midnight on a Friday night seems like the optimal time to go get owned by someone 12 years younger than me. I could have just lied and told you i owned people but in fact the truth is i still constantly get power owned maybe even turbo owned but that doesn't bother me i still like the game. 

Maybe I should be out undertaking irresponsible activities like drinking in da club or trying to have un-protected sex. Yes only trying. Is that what you want EA, really. Should i shuck better judgment and go out into the night since you won't have me. Should I shuck my better judgement and have a sort of life since my man cave is stark and empty without your loving online embrace.

Update: All the Beta keys are gone. Sorry to the people who didn't get in, but I'm sure you can easily find a key by searching the internet a bit.

I've got 3 beta keys for the Xbox 360 Blur multiplayer beta to give away. So, if your one of the few people who haven't been able to get in, here is a very easy way to do it.

The first 3 people to send me a private message on Twitter @ Twitter.com/Onediversekid, will receive  1 of the 3 codes. I'll update the post when all the codes are gone, so send me a message if your at all  interested.

I'm also going to include a video of myself playing the beta, just to give those who haven't seen the game an idea of the kinds of shenanigans that go on.

Check it out below.

Right now 2010 seems to be shaping up to be one major money drain for gamers. The variety of games seem to have something for everyone. For me, Heavy Rain had some flaws but largely lived up to my expectations. Splinter Cell Conviction is looking like Sam Fisher meets Max Payne which, if so, will be awesome. Speaking of Max Payne, Remedy looks prepared to surpass that series with Alan Wake. Valve has announced Portal 2 for release this year. Halo Reach looks to be at least a solid and potentially outstanding entry in the Halo franchise. Crysis 2 should be a solid follow on to that series. There is even some talk of Gears of War 3 and I'm still hoping for Half-Life 2:Episode 3 news at E3.

Then there are some lesser publicized titles on the horizon - Alpha Protocol, The Secret World, and Singularity. All are games I want to play and some could be major time investments.

But maybe, just maybe, the biggest launch for me this year could be Deus Ex: Human Revolution (aka Deus Ex 3). Deus Ex still stands as my favorite game of all time. An action (or stealth) RPG (shooter) where your choices were reflected in the way NPCs treated you and whether or not some of them were around later in the game. Deus Ex: Invisible War (aka Deus Ex 2) was a good game that I enjoyed but there were flaws. It was simplified from Deus Ex and it attempted to incorporate all the endings from the original game. So I'm nervous about Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the following is just a teaser. But I'm starting to get excited (the Icarus imagery doesn't hurt) and this game is the one I most want to learn more about when E3 comes around.

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

Hey just got two beta keys for Blur on the 360.

Just tossing them up here if anyone wants to use them.

MYPE-X7M4-YNXC-9MTC
Y9UV-JEMP-MJZY-7WVE

Just go to http://www.blurgame.com/beta/ and input the code there.

On a recent episode of Talking About Gamers I voiced some of my strong opinions on Mass Effect 2 and proclaimed that I still hold Mass Effect 1 to be the superior game. In this series of blog posts I'm going to go into even more detail and hopefully get more thoughts out than I was able to on the show.

This is part three in my continued analysis. If you missed either previous section you can find them here:

Part 1 - Powers
Part 2 - Squad Members

For this post I'm going to look at how the side missions have changed between both games.

It's very fitting that on Chris "SugarFree" Snider's show (Just Talking) episode 21 that I'm on it. Seeing as though 21 is when a kid "becomes" an adult......well on this episode I shed the curtain down on what makes me tick. The interview was very odd for me simply because I'm a very private person, I LOVE podcasting and my fellow co-hosts. I've always wanted to do this and now you see the man behind the scenes. I would like to see what the community thinks about the show. Leave feedback here or email feedback@justtalkingpodcast.com.

Saw this video on how Transformers Revenge of the Fallen should have ended, laugh out loud funny!

Portal has updated on Steam. According to the press release they "Added Valuable Asset Retrieval." What does this mean? Well, the ending has changed. For those who might be playing Portal/The Orange Box on the 360 and not Steam here's the video.

Can you say Portal 2? I'm sure you can (hopefully packaged with a certain other anticipated Valve title).

UPDATE: After thinking about this, Valuable Asset Retrieval sounds like something from the G-Man (doubt I'm the first that thought of this) though it may be Aperture Science. Opinions?

On a recent episode of Talking About Gamers I voiced some of my strong opinions on Mass Effect 2 and proclaimed that I still hold Mass Effect 1 to be the superior game. In this series of blog posts I'm going to go into even more detail and hopefully get more thoughts out than I was able to on the show.

This is Part Two in my series of who knows how many. If you missed Part One you can check it out here.

This time I'm going to be looking at how your squad characters have changed in Mass Effect 2.

Recently PSN online wasn't allowing users to get on to their online profiles to play games

http://gizmodo.com/5482365/error-8001050f-takes-down-playstation-network

A community leader said they hope to have the problem fixed in the next 24 hours. In the meantime just don't turn on your Playstation fat.

http://gizmodo.com/5482914/sony-warning-dont-turn-on-your-fat-ps3-if-you-have-error-8001050f

In further bad news to owners of the most awesomest best ever radical hyper space age dudeness console is your online service might be pay to play soon.

http://gizmodo.com/5482914/sony-warning-dont-turn-on-your-fat-ps3-if-you-have-error-8001050f