My Top 10 RPGs of All Time

1) Baldur's Gate
Need I say more? If you've played this game, you know why. This is one of the only games that I still replay every few years because it doesn't take too long to beat and doesn't get boring. And who doesn't get excited exploring the city of Baldur's Gate when you finally get to it?

2) Elder Scrolls Oblivion
There are few games out there that push the next gen consoles to their limits and this is one of them. The world is so detailed and expansive, players can get lost for hours and hours just exploring and finding new dungeons and towns. I have this on PS3 and the graphics are matched by few games. The only reason this isn't at the top of my list is because once you experience as much of the game as you can and beat it, unless you have another lifetime to spend, there is too much to do over again, and many of the dungeons and caves get repetitive. But it's still worth being in your game library.

3) Final Fantasy VII
Of course this game is on the list; no game has a more convoluted and deep storyline, with characters that have become a household name, like Vincent and Cloud, not to mention having the coolest villain ever: Sephiroth. Turn-based RPGs are becoming a thing of the past but tons of gamers every year revisit this game to experience the story all over again.

4) Final Fantasy IX
This game doesn't get as much praise as it should. One thing I liked about was it leaned more towards a medieval theme than FFVII, so there were a lot castles and flying boats and dragons. The story was not as interesting as FFVII's, but the game was still very fun to play.

5) Chrono Cross
This game was another one that flew under the radar and didn't get as much attention as it should. Interesting characters and innovative game play kept the turn-based battles relatively fresh. It actually makes it fun to play again after you beat it because you carry over your stats and weapons to the beginning.

6) Gothic 3
Luckily I have a pretty good computer to handle this game, but if you don't, forget about it. This game was cool because the area was HUGE, dotted with settlements of both humans and orcs and many places to explore. You could join with the humans, or betray them and work for the orcs or vice versa. The graphics are amazing and it was really fun rummaging through forests hoping to stumble across lost ruins and monsters.

7) Wild Arms 3
I'm a fan of the Wild West genre games and while I don't really care for cell shaded anime inspired characters, this game is as close as it's going to get to a good western themed game. It isn't really set in the West, the planet is just slowly dying, but the game is fun and there are few things as enjoyable as shooting a goblin in the face while on horseback.

8) Breath of Fire II
Whoever came up with the idea to have a protagonist who can turn into a dragon deserves a medal. This is a classic old-school turn based RPG so people without patience and a long attention span should probably forgo playing it. While very similar to the first installment of the Breath of Fire series, this game's story is a little more grownup, with themes that involve sacrifice, religion, and love.

9) Final Fantasy III
If the graphics were better, it would be higher on my list. The game introduces more playable characters than most RPG's but does well to give each character a deep back story and likeable personality, making players able to identify with them. This game really put role playing games on the map so it definitely makes the list.

10) Skies of Arcadia
Everyone has a little part of them that wants to be a pirate, burning and pillaging, sailing the high seas and looking for treasure. This game allows you to do that, to a degree, but in the air instead of in the water. Dreamcast games don't get a lot of attention, but Skies of Arcadia is one of those must have games for the Dreamcast owner.

If you haven't played some of the games mentioned in my list, I highly recommend that you do because each game contains an experience not worth missing.

My name is Brendan and I am a senior at the University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I enjoy writing articles to improve my writing, pad my resume, and give my advice and feedback on different topics. Check out my website to find more of my stuff at http://brendanigan.com

Reuters - Actor Van Johnson, a Hollywood star during the 1940s and 1950s who performed alongside Humphrey Bogart in "The Caine Mutiny," died on Friday aged 92.

Kenny Chesney Just Who I Am - Poets & Pirates - Contemporary Country Music CD Review

The exceptionally talented Contemporary Country artist Kenny Chesney has released him CD entitled Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Kenny Chesney fans, and Contemporary Country fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates Kenny Chesneys artistic excellence is on full display as Chesney has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

It's a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I'm more than happy to announce thats exactly what I must say about this one. There simply is NOT a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all, with each song standing tall on it's own.

Contemporary Country music fans will recognize some of the well known guests that have been assembled to play along with Chesney on several of the tracks. Artists like George Strait and Joe Walsh just to name a couple.

This is a first rate CD, delivering a little something for everyone. I give it two thumbs up. Its quite simply great listening. A must buy for the Contemporary Country fan.

While the entire CD is outstanding some of my favorites are track 1 - Never Wanted Nothing More, track 4 - Just Not Today, and track 8 - Dancin For The Groceries

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 7 - Better As A Memory. Good stuff!

Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates Release Notes:

Kenny Chesney originally released Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates on Sep 11, 2007 on the RCA Records (USA) label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Never Wanted Nothing More

2. Don't Blink

3. Shiftwork - (with George Strait)

4. Just Not Today

5. Wife And Kids

6. Got A Little Crazy

7. Better As A Memory

8. Dancin' For The Groceries

9. Wild Ride - (with Joe Walsh)

10. Scare Me

11. Demons

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AP - With Congress gridlocked and the economy floundering, the Bush administration declared Friday it would step in to prevent the "precipitous collapse" of the U.S. auto industry and the disastrous loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs sure to follow.

Counter-Strike Guide

Here are a few general tips on some things you can do to improve your game individually and as a team:

*Watch Demos: One thing that will help you and your team to improve is to watch demos. Before a match, it is always helpful to watch a demo of a top team. By doing this you can see how the pros play the CT position you would be playing and how the pros approach Terrorist side. Also, after the match is over, it is also helpful to watch your own demo to see where you made mistakes and where you can improve.

*Improve Your aim with DeathMatch: Get into and play in deathmatch servers often. I would recommend doing this multiple times a week with all the weapon s you would use in competitive play. I would concentrate on the AK, M4, AWP, deagle, USP, and glock. However, if you have some time, it is not a bad idea to work on your MP5, TMP, SCOUT, and maybe even the Shotgun.

*Scrim often: This is obvious and the best way to improve as a team. Work on your teamwork, communication, and execution of strats.

*Learn the maps: Knowing the maps can give you a huge advantage over the other team. Know the angles and the timing to choke points. Also, try to find creative ways to flash and smoke certain parts of the map. By knowing the maps, you will also know where some good places to hide are and where some the Counter-Terrorist might be hiding as well.

*Learn the money system: Knowing or suspecting when the other team has to save or eco could help your team avoid losing a round in which the other team has only pistols.

*Buy as a team, save as a team: You don't want to have 3 guys on your team with pistols and the other 2 with M4s. Coordinate so you can all buy at the same time, save at the same time, or deagle save at the same time.

*Crush the other teams economy: Their are a few things you can do that can help you win the money battle. Obviously, winning rounds is the best way to do this. However, you can even do some damage to the other teams economy or help your own teams economy with the things you do in a losing round. One thing you can do is to save your weapons when you know you can't win the round. A good example of this is when it is a 2V5 situation and their is no way the 2 alive on your team can win the round. It is better to have them save their guns then to try to win and end up only killing 2 of the Terrorists. If they live, the next round they will have guns, and may also be able to drop a weapon for another one of your team members. Also, to go along with this, these two guys can try to get an easy kill before saving their guns. The key is "easy kill". They don't want to put themselves in a situation in which they good easily die. A good example of this is when the Terrorists plant the bomb with 5 members left and only a few members left on your team. Your remaining players can wait for the Terrorists to try to exit the site and then get an easy kill on one or a few of them. On the other side of this, if you are winning a round, you want to try to win the round with as little deaths as possible. If you have a huge advantage like a 5V2, expect the other team to be saving or trying to get easy kills on your team. Try to exit a site with the bomb planted together to avoid deaths.

Check out more on Counter Strike

You can find more from this author at my Gaming Blog

AP - Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. flatly denies that he and his brother were involved in a scheme to get him a Senate seat in a deal with scandal-tainted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY'-uh-vich).

Test Drive Unlimited Overall Verdict And Insight Into Games Inspired By Test Drive

Well I think Test Drive Unlimited is fantastic and opens the door to a lot of possibilities, and a new direction for driving games to go. Like GTA revolutionized a open world game,I feel test drivedoes this again,though purely for driving games. I think it still has one of the largest environments of any game to date, It's got a great online community and is just the funnest racing game to play online at the moment.

I hope like GTA many developers will copy the concept, and develop it further in other areas. This really is something fresh in a pretty polluted genre. That said being a wildly ambitious concept-it shows in some places, there's numerous glitches and small niggling problems here and there, but when the game runs well, few things feel as solid as it does.

Since I wrote this review, a new Burnout has come out using this open world massively online style of game play, called Burnout Paradise, it's taken it all a step further and it really is an incredible game, Theres objectives and crashes you have to do with your friends, someof the stunts can't be completed unless you do them with a friend. It has a very intuitive map system, much like test drives world map view. It really is a step further.

More recently GTA 4 has come out, again pushing the open world game play to further heights, I have yet to play this online but I've read a fair bit about it. What more can I say? It's GTA, the whole of liberty city online, for you and a group of friends to wreak havoc on, One of the greatest parts of the online system has to be the free mode, your dumped in the city with everyone to do what ever you like, there's going to be some great games derived from this complete freedom in GTA 4.

The upcoming midnight club needs a shout about as well, it's very far in the distance at the moment, but it's a whole recreation of LA to the point you would recognize your local shops, with tons of cars and unimaginable customization, and they are trying to get 16 people on a server at any one time in the city. So unlike burnout and test drive with 8 players, you will see a lot more, this is going to be quite a spectacle with everyone's unique tastes, keep a serious eye out for it.

A lot of this is inspired by test drive showing what this generation of technology can do now, we really have hit a new high, and the gaming worlds can only get better and more immersive.

So what do I think overall? Get Some scores here:

Cars and cool stuff

AP - A judge has denied a defense attorney's motion to inspect a child's remains found near the home of a missing 3-year-old central Florida girl.