Berserker's 2008 Year in Review

I really should be off doing some more important things at the moment, but I want to take this time to present to you why I am so very satisfied with this year. Usually by the end of the year, I say to myself "Thank God a new year is starting" or "Well, last year could have gone better". For the first time in quite some time, I have to say that this year has been nothing short of fantastic for me. I'm about to get more personal than I usually get, but there's still plenty of gaming related goodness mixed within, for the first few reasons at least.

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Here's my top five list of personal things that have made me happy during 2008:

(5)

I'm still writing for video games! Honestly, I would have thought by now that I would have given up on guide writing and moved on to something else, but no, it simply continues to get stronger. IGN even managed to notice me again, which helped out a lot with motivation. Continuing to write for The Gamers' Temple and Cheat Happens has helped out a bunch as well.

I really look forward to writing next year also. There's a bunch of Capcom titles in the line-up for early next year... so very close in release timing. :o

Also, this is my first full year to dedicate to this site, and I'm still sticking with it!

(4)

I'm normally a complete loner most of the time both in the real world and online but this year I've made several new friends online - both readers and friends from other sites. It's been such a joy to get to know other people with the same interests as me and play a few games with them online.

If you've talked with me over Xbox LIVE, you'll know that I'm a person of few words. Hopefully I didn't annoy any of you with my quiet nature. I have to get to know a friend better before I begin to speak with that person more, regardless of online interaction. I have this same problem with friends/relatives that I haven't seen for a long time until I spend more time with them. It's kind of embarrassing. :\

(3)

Resident Evil 5 got a release date - March 13, 2009, baby, yeah! If you have me on your PSN account then you should know that date all too well each and every time you scroll by my username. Seriously, this partially made my year.

I also got the chance to sneak out of the Japanese marketplace with the region-free demo and play it online with other gamers for a few days. It was enough to hold me back from my highly anticipated Prince of Persia for quite a while. I can't wait to play with some buddies on my friends list early next year once the demo is released outside of Japan! Oh man, that's going to be a blast.

(2)

My weight loss. At the end of last year, I weighed somewhere over 300 pounds and now at the end of this year, I now weigh about 250. It's great, considering I've peaked at 320 before.

All of this weight loss started from an issue I was having with a chest muscle pain (feels like a heart attack at times but it's not [been to the ER about it and everything checked fine]); I had to start exercising more to get rid of the muscle pain. I've been exercising, laying off soft drinks and just generally moving around more and since then the muscle pain has basically ceased for the most part and I've lost a lot of weight in the process - something that was really unintended, but something that I now try to maintain. I feel so much better now than I have in a very long time!

(1)

My grandmother is still doing well. Last year, she was diagnosed with cancer and, by the doctors' words, she is not even supposed to be here with us now. Her cancer has gone into remission and she is now doing great. This Christmas and Thanksgiving, she was just like her old self again compared to last year when she was completely different thanks to the medication that she was on.

My family decided not to tell her of the severity of her condition, which I was kind of against (since we needed her feedback if a decision had to be made based on an unfortunate state), but overall, I think not telling her was the absolute best thing that could have ever happened since that would have only brought her down that much more really. I think even if she knew now, it wouldn't matter as much considering how well she has been doing, but back then, I don't know...

It's hard to sit here and type this part with a straight face out of my happiness dealing with how well this entire situation has gone. This, in and of itself, completely made my year. :)

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Well, there you have it - my own personal reasons for enjoying 2008! There's still one thing that I didn't do in 2008 that I'm most certainly going to do in 2009, but that's sort of personal and I'll mention it later next year once I've finally succeeded in obtaining it.

So, anyone want to chime in and tell me about your experiences for the current year? Or post it up on your own blog, whichever. :p

IGN FAQ Writer of the Month Dec 2008

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all visitors!

Back in 2005, IGN chose me as their FAQ Writer of the Month for July. This was about the time that I really started heavily into writing guides and that particular interview is part of the motivation that kept me writing them for the next few years up until now.

Recently, IGN interviewed me again. The results are as follows:

For this Christmas, IGN talks with our good buddy Berkserker Kev, known for his balls-to-the-wall coverage of games such as Lost Planet, Dead Space, Silent Hill Homecoming, Devil May Cry 4, Siren Blood Curse, and much more (check his FAQ list for the whole kaboodle).

FAQ Writer of the Month Dec 2008: Berserker Kev

Same shallow answers, same giddy attitude, same Spike (samurajack) shoutouts - I guess you could say, I haven't changed a bit. As for "Berserker Kev", it's my username on IGN (taken from my email address). I like to think of it as my superheroe name also.

Donations

I've seen several FAQ authors accept donations in their guides over the years and have never really thought about doing it. I've actually said to myself that I never would since I don't expect any type of payment in return...


Well, in a way, it's time to spit that size 13 blue and black Skecher shoe out of your mouth, Kev!

Anyway, I recently made up a Paypal account so I could buy something off eBay in an auction that only accepted payment in Paypal, so, after finally signing up with Paypal, I have decided to accept donations on this blog for anyone that enjoys my work and would be willing to give. You can find the donate link below the guestbook on the column to the right. For some reason, it won't let me post the link up in this topic.

Much like an email for when you've helped someone, the thought is the main aspect that counts, even when dealing with a donation, no matter how great or how small. All donations (if any) will be used to help with this site and with my guide writing.

If you do ever donate anything, then be sure to send me an email so I can thank you personally. If you don't donate anything, then send me an email as well and give me some feedback on the current guide of mine that you're reading!

Just like my feelings in the past, I don't really expect any type of payment in return since I write for enjoyment and the love of the game most of all. The link is sort of a "there if you want to" type of feature.

Thanks for reading and, as always, continue to tear through the game!

Resident Evil 5 updates - Box Covers, etc.

Official Resident Evil 5 Cover Art

The official Resident Evil 5 North American cover art has now been released:

(Click pics for full images)

Full Story at Capcom Blog

The European covers for both releases of Resident Evil 5 can be viewed over at The Horror is Alive.

PlayStation 3 Europe Cover Art
Xbox 360 Europe Cover Art

Demo Release

In other news, the North American demo for the Resident Evil 5 now has a confirmed release date of "early 2009". Full story at Joystiq.com. Actually, there is a second article up now.

Major Spoilers for Resident Evil 5 on the net?

Apparently, someone has extracted information from one of the Biohazard 5 demo releases and there are plenty of potential spoilers on the various message boards of the internet now. If you want to see them then go to either one of the GameFAQs RE5 boards and search for "hack" or "spoilers". From what I have heard, these are possibly major spoilers for the full game of RE5. Just by catching a glimpse of one, I was already unhappy with what I was reading. Whether or not these are true spoilers remains to be seen and we obviously won't know until the game is released, so be on guard with what you read.

I intend to keep all major spoilers off this blog until the game's release, so don't post up these possible spoilers here please. The only reason why I mention these in this post is to give a word of warning to those that might not want the game ruined for them.

Out With the Old and In With the New

For about the past 12+ years I have had the same gaming setup you see below.

Kev's Old TV

The TV you see there was a 27" Sanyo SDTV. It's so old that it only had an RF input, so I had to play all my gaming systems through a VCR. For the past two months, the screen had started to get wavy after a few hours of play and I had to leave it off for a few minutes to make the wavyness stop.

Anyway, I wanted my next TV to be an HDTV, so I could actually make out my games on it without having to squint at times. If you've ever tried to play Infinite Undiscovery on an SDTV or tried to write a game script for Dead Rising while playing on one, then you know how blurry some text can get while playing a High Definition game on an SDTV.

After much asking around from friends and in-store employees, I finally settled on this 42" Panasonic VIERA Plasma 1080p HDTV. A Circuit City employee and a Best Buy employee recommended it to me after I mentioned that I want a TV for gaming, so I went ahead and went with it. Mind you, it was bought for $999 at Best Buy then I found it later at Circuit City for $899 and managed to get a price match.

Here's a few pics:

Kev's New TV 1
Kev's New TV 2

My dad helped me set it up last Saturday. My first game to experience on it was the RE5 demo. I played it the day before on my SDTV then I played it the next night on my new HDTV. In the matter of a day, I had gone from extreme fanboy excitement (playing RE5 on... anything) to pure unadulterated bliss (playing RE5 in 1080i HD). There's no way I could have timed that better!

Dead Space looks fantastic on it too, and I still have yet to try many of my older games. Need to break out Dead Rising soon also. Wii doesn't look that hot, nor do any of the older systems, but at least there's no lag associated with them like I've read about with some HDTV's.

If you look at the pics, I've also got a new 5.1 surround setup (silver speakers in new pics) in place of my old 2.1 surround setup (black speakers in old pic). It's got a lot more bass than my previous speakers... well, that's what my parents have told me anyway, haha.

Dead Space Featured Guide

Same great text, less white background... with some pretty colors, pictures and nice extras tossed in by the talented group at Cheat Happens!

Cheat Happens Dead Space Featured Guide by Berserker

Cheat Happens always does a wonderous job with the layout of their Feature Guides, which is why I continue to write for them from time to time. Big thanks to Chris and Peter from Cheat Happens for making my Dead Space guide seem whole again.

I've still got some Impossible Mode tips to add to the main guide while on my journey through Impossible Mode then I'll lay this guide to rest and get back to more important things... like the RE5 demo - more about this in an upcoming post.