Back Again? [Update: 01/08/13]

A cold wind has blown over Noodle's Blog for a number of months, now. On the last day of January earlier this year, I promised I'd be rebooting the stream of reviews, features and what have you following another unannounced, lengthy hiatus over the Christmas period. Let's not beat around the bush, here... this didn't really happen. Sure, I got a bunch of Doctor Who reviews in several months later, and was on a roll mid-way through the latest series of the show, but due to a loss of time, interest, and most of all the individual episodes of impending doom that were my GCSE exams, I worked on but couldn't quite keep up with the schedule I originally planned. Despite two drafts of Doctor Who reviews already prepared for touch-ups and publication, GCSE revision took overall prominence and I decided to focus solely on what was undoubtedly the most important thing at the time.

So, I worked my butt off and tried my hardest in the exams. Some went surprisingly well, others didn't. But you don't really need to hear about that sort of stuff. What you may be wondering is what exactly this post is about. If you've been following my blog for a while - if so, thank you, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this here right now because it is sort of important - you may have noticed a trend when it comes to updates with the intention of getting back on track with my personal writing. The trend goes something like this: I post an update detailing a number of articles I plan on publishing sometime in the near future, nothing happens for weeks and eventually said articles are either unfinished or non-existent in my metaphorical pile of virtual sheets of paper. So yeah, I've not exactly been that reliable lately when it comes to writing. Thank goodness I don't have any real deadlines, because I'd be fired by now if I did.

Instead of repeating the same frustrating process detailed in the previous paragraph, I've decided to inform whoever is reading this of where exactly my head is at when it comes to writing at this moment in time. In one word, it's jumbled. In two, it's really jumbled. I want to keep writing, I know I'm capable of doing it - especially now there aren't any GCSE-related scrapes on the horizon, or hopefully ever for that matter - but since I finally finished my secondary education I've been suffering from something of a creative mental block; more commonly referred to as writer's block. This may seem like a cheap excuse for not writing, but until now I've barely been able to conceive a simple update such as the one you're reading right now. I wanted to write this friggin' thing a month ago when my free time officially started.

This doesn't mean I'm stopping altogether, mind. Far from it, in fact. I'll just be changing a few things. First off, the Doctor Who reviews, aside from that of the truly fantastic 'Hide' (which I'm working on to pleasing success at the moment, and should be published before the end of the month) may be postponed for a little while so I can work on other projects to give my blog a little something called variety. I enjoy writing Doctor Who reviews but I feel I'll be able to churn out other stuff faster seeing as I'd have to re-watch and re-adjust to the most recent series in order to finish of my synopses of its episodes. That said, they are broadcasting repeats of series 7 on BBC Three starting today, so in a few months we'll have reached the point where I'm at with the reviews, so many I'll resume writing the rest around that time.

Until then, what else is coming? Some kind of countdown feature, I should think, as I haven't worked on anything like that for quite a while now. I'm thinking something Breaking Bad related. I've not written any posts on Breaking Bad and I really feel that I should do so. Some one-off TV reviews have entered the realms of my consideration, too. A few Sherlock classics, or maybe even some Breaking Bad because, as noted above, I feel it appropriate for me to write about the TV show I enjoy the most (don't expect me to review an entire series, mind!). Something that is definitely likely to pop up soon enough is a review of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's fantastic The World's End, a film so good I saw it at the cinema twice and wouldn't mind going to see again.

Something that most definitely won't be happening any time soon but has been on my mind a fair bit lately is moving the blog to an actual web domain. I currently own a web space under my name and haven't really done anything with it since I received it as a Christmas present last year, but I do want to do something with it at some point and I'm not crossing off 'move blog to its own domain' off my metaphorical list of options just yet. On a very similar note, I've been trying to come up with a new name for the blog as 'Noodle's Blog' hasn't really felt relevant to me for quite a while now (I haven't used the alias of 'Noodle' for about a year). Any ideas on your behalf are more than welcome.

In short: new posts will be up soon, after my review of Hide has been published I won't be working on Doctor Who reviews for a little while and I'm looking for a new name for the blog, so if you have any suggestions drop them in the comments box below. Here's hoping I can get the blog back on track, and I mean that this time. Until next time, have a pleasant day!

Update 31/01/13 - The Return / Finishing Touches / Stream 3

Welcome one and all. If you're the sort of superior human being who checks out this blog on a regular basis (and I know some of you are out there, spambots or no) you may have noticed that not a single bit of coding, let alone writing has been altered since the near-climax of the (questionably) great year that was 2012. Check your calendars, phones or what have you and you may also notice that the date is now somewhere in 2013, unless of course you're reading this in the very distant future. A happy new year is probably in order, but I've got more important matters to discuss in this short update than simple good tidings for what should be another (questionably) stellar twelve months. Regardless, you have my piqued wishes for the 2013, dear reader, just because you mean that much to me.

Now for what you really want to be reading: Information on what's next for Noodle's Blog. Well, it goes without saying that other, more important commitments (GCSEs, homework, personal statements and all that lovely stuff) have got in the way of any personal writing projects, hence the lack of any kind of update this past month, but a number of pieces are currently in progress. I can't promise anything other than this update until February, but when that particular month begins a number of posts are sure to start submerging from their draft stages into full-on publishing (I try my best to make these things sound interesting). Without further ado, allow me to name the articles I currently have in the works, starting with the most obvious and most likely first to be published following this post: My review of last year's Doctor Who Christmas special, The Snowmen. An analytical review of The Doctor's latest escapade has already been mapped out, or drafted, by yours truly. In other words, you can expect it to be published very soon.

Straying away from upcoming posts for a moment, it's worth noting that the gradual redesign will no longer be 'almost finished' very soon. The pages under the header will contain content and include graphics, and finishing touches will be made to tweak the site to the best possible standard. Because let's be honest, the side-bar is a bit of a mess at the moment. In other news, ONM forum-based web-magazine Stream saw its third issue launch earlier this month. It includes a beautiful spread of my first two Doctor Who reviews (Asylum of the Daleks and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship) crafted by TJ HipHop and a (rather dated) interview in which I am verbally probed by fellow ONM member and good buddy Conorr. I don't plan on posting that interview on here so if you want to check it out, alongside a whole heap of other free journalism in a wonderfully crafted virtual magazine shell, have a read of Stream issue 3 right here. If you're interested in contributing to the magazine in any way, sign up to the ONM forums and check out this thread. Act fast and you'll be able to bring Issue 4 even closer...

Back to upcoming posts, we're finally re-exploring the world of gaming with my next game review. The title in question that I'll be writing about is the latest escapade of Level-5's gentlemanly top-hatted Professor. I can't be referring to anything other than Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle on 3DS, which I finally beat to a great amount of satisfaction the other day. Staying on the topic of gaming, I'm currently progressing through Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on my friend's PSP. So yeah, that'll be my first review of a non-Nintendo game. Exciting, no? Anyway, we now traverse once again outside of the realms of gaming, and into TV and music. As a part of my contributions to Issue 4 of Stream, I'll be taking on Radiohead's The King of Limbs. It'll be exclusive to the magazine for an amount of time before I eventually publish it on here. Something less exciting you'll be seeing on the blog soon is my review of 13 by Blur, which I wrote early last year to little success. It was something of a rush-job as I was pushing back a deadline due to certain circumstances, but that's all in the past now. Things are a lot more flexible now so it's safe to say my next album review shall be of a greater quality.

Closing off this update with TV-related articles, I'm currently approximately halfway through an article on why Breaking Bad is one of the best things - if not the best thing - on the box. It'll be published very soon, hopefully this month. Now, unless I've forgotten anything, I'll end this update on a high: I may have been inactive when it comes to writing these past few months, but things are finally back on track. Be sure to look forward to my review of The Snowmen, set to be published in the next week or so, as well as everything else beyond that. Thanks for reading!

Update 15/09/12: Explanation for my Hiatus / Progress Updates

It's been exactly a month since I last updated, and not much less since I actually posted any artcles, so I thought now would be a good time to initiate writing a little progress update. Naturally, this post will give a little more insightfulness on my current writing projects (of which there are many quite literally ready to be published) as well as the redesign me and ONM forum member TJ HipHop have been working on. Well, he's doing most of the work but regardless, the redesign is still coming and will hopefully be in public view by the month of September's end. The graphics I've seen thus far, as well as the template I've created with Blogger's admittedly rather fiddly template designer tool are looking a lot more professional than the site does at this moment in time, and I'm just as excited to see the finished product as you might well be. Again, apologies for the delays (I was hoping to get it done and dusted a little earlier, but never mind) but, while I can't promise anything, I am hoping to start publishing posts on the brand-new Noodle's Blog before the month ends.

Speaking of the publishing of posts, I do actually have a few things ready to be unleashed as aforementioned. The thing is, I originally wanted to post all my articles in regards to previously unexplored mediums - TV, film and music - after the redesign was to be launched in order to compliment the freshness of the new-look site. While I'll be sticking by this with my film and music reviews, namely The Dictator and Blur's 13 respectively (apologies in advance for the poor quality of the latter article, it is my first music review after all), I do plan on posting my TV reviews ASAP, along with a new ratings graphic. Speaking of which, I haven't actually mentioned said TV reviews until given the chance right now. So, yeah, the seventh revived series of Doctor Who started a few weeks back and I've already reviewed the first episode. Not to mentioned the fact that my review of episode 2 is in the writing process and will hopefully be completed this weekend. Episode 3 is airing today and I'll also be reviewing that sometime the following week. In other words, I'll be reviewing all five episodes each in a 1000-word shell and publishing them both on here and in Stream, the graphics, arts and writing magazine I've already mentioned numerous times in these updates post (the new design will feature an Affiliates page linking to Stream and a few other things, as if I don't advertise it enough). If you want to read my aforementioned film and music reviews, don't hesitate to check out the free online magazine right here.

Back to the medium I typically cover on this blog and will continue to mainly focus on following my expansion of media coverage, you may remember that I promised my review of the absolutely phenomenal Kid Icarus: Uprising on 3DS would be posted last month. Unfortunately, I also noted that the new design would be up last month, and I was all set to tie in my latest game review with the launch of the new design. Sorry about that, but it's all in the past. I plan on posting this review (which, if you don't mind one blowing his own trumpet, might well be my best yet) before the month ends, hopefully to tie-in with the redesign's launch. On the topic of gaming, I've had a fair few posts in the pipeline over the past few weeks but haven't finished any of them, although I'm close to doing so. Firstly, a synopsis of the gorgeous Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and secondly my thoughts on that fiasco surrounding The World Ends with You that spanned a fortnight a few weeks back. Both will be up this month, redesign or no. Back to reviews, the next one I plan on writing up after all of the above is over and done with is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on both PS2 and 3DS (yes, I'll be analysing each seperately) which should be exciting. Finally, my Top Ten Favourite Games Feature is gradually being worked on and has been for the past few months, but I can promise it is coming and will hopefully be up before the end of next month.

And so, this concludes another update. Apologies for a lack of posts lately but I hope my explanation has sufficed. I haven't even mentioned the fact that I'm in my most important (and stressful) year of school now and revision naturally takes priority over my personal projects, but I will continue to fit these things in. You can expect a few new posts before the end of the month, and maybe even the redesign I'm so pumped to launch. Thank you, and goodnight/afternoon/morning (I think I've covered everything, there).

Update 15/08/12: Noodle's Blog Is Evolving... / Stream Launch / Upcoming Posts

The first thing you'll most definitely notice about this post is its title. Typically I'd title these progressive update posts with a previously standardised format of 'Update: insert whatever I'll be discussing within this post'. Well, while this format hasn't really changed too much with this update I have indeed modified it for a reason, and that's to amplify the key element of this update as well as what's to come in the not too distant future: change. Change is good, especially when it's the kind of modification that will hopefully soon be made to this blog, one I've been independently running with little real change over the past few years. Of course, you only have to compare my posts from back when I started to my latest to tell that my skill in writing and opinionated journalism has improved, but structurally this site hasn't changed a bit since its genesis. In fact, I probably shouldn't  There's not a whole lot that sets this site apart from any other typical collection of articulate thoughts here on Blogger. Sure, I've designed and painstakingly pieced together an original design and developed my skills over the years, but I feel that now would be the perfect time to make an upgrade with a little help from people who are basically better at graphic arts than yours truly. Yes, it's time for another redesign, and not just in the sense of the appearance of this blog.

This evolution links in with the other major topic I'll be detailing in this post, which I might as well discuss now. In the last update post (or was it the one before?) I dictated my involvements in an ONM Forum project, the online magazine titled Stream. Well, in case you're not keeping up with the times in regards to this enthralling project, it has now launched along with the first issue of this free, fantastically designed web-mag. A special mention goes out to all involved, forum members Conorr and TJ HipHop in particular for piecing together what has turned out a gleaming success and then some. And who knows, this success might lead to something big. Anyway, the main thing outside of the magazine's launch that I wanted to discuss is my involvement in the project. I've already contributed my Super Mario 3D Land review from a few months back to the launch issue of Stream, but in the same issue an exclusive article produced by moi is also included. As I detailed in the last update here on the blog while I was still writing the thing, I reviewed Sacha Baron Cohen's latest, The Dictator, to be exclusively featured in the magazine for at least some time. Anyway, I'm waffling, so let's swiftly get into the meat of things, here: Do I plan on posting my first non-game review here on the blog? Certainly. You see, as much as I love video games, I don't really see as much success in writing journalism for this medium as I do for, say, reviewing albums and films. This isn't to say that I'm dropping games journalism, it will definitely still be the main focus of this journalistic abode, just with reviews and opinions in relation to other forms of media as a metaphorical side-dish every now and again. Aside from my first published film review, I've got a critical synopsis of Blur's album 13 on the way, too. This album review will be included in the second issue of Stream and on this site several weeks after. I only plan on publishing these reviews on here following the launch of the new design, however, to mark the occasion with even more change.

Speaking of which, let's get back to the second re-design. I won't be working on the design I have planned in a graphical sense this time around, as I've never been that skilled in graphic design and I don't even own any software to develop something great. I actually used an online service, Fotoflexer, to piece together the design you'll see surrounding this post at the time of writing. I already mentioned TJ Hiphop, whose contribution to Stream excited me and made me think, 'This is the guy for the job' as I was planning this revolution. Thankfully, he's shown interest in helping me out in this regard and I'll be willing to credit him as much as possible if he goes all the way with it. We're probably looking at a September-time launch for the redesign, so look forward to that.

Finally, allow me to close off this update with the usual news I stick into these posts; what exactly is coming up article-wise in the coming months? Well, the next thing you'll see, either before or after the redesign has launched, is my review of 3DS gem Kid Icarus: Uprising. Honestly, as things are progressing at this moment in time, I think this might just be my best review yet, especially after my review of Mario Kart 7, which I was honestly a little disappointed with. Even better is the news that it's almost finished, and you'll see it published on here very soon. Following that, I'm going back to home console game reviews after a fairly lengthy hiatus. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on PS2 is the game in question, and following that, something massive: My review of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I'm currently replaying and still loving to bits. After that, possibly the last review you'll see from me this year will be of the excellent Persona 4,which I'm planning on also replaying after I'm done with the aforementioned projects. In terms of features, I'm currently working on my Top Ten Personal Favourite Games list, which will be up before the end of september, probably. And, for this update at least, that's just about everything. So, for now, look forward to the redesign as well as all these upcoming posts and have a nice day!

Note: If this post feels rushed, so be it. It's only an update and I wanted to get this out ASAP. At least I'm getting the news across, right?

Update: E3 Related Posts and my Contributions to Stream

Some of you may have noticed a surprising lack of posts about subjects and games in regards to E3, the biggest gaming event of the year, the 2012 convention of which had taken place just under two weeks ago. On an annual basis, I post a review of Nintendo's yearly conference that takes place at the event. Before I announce anything else, I can confirm that the 2012 edition of this post is still in the works and it will be bigger than ever before from a quality of writing standpoint. The 2010 edition of the piece was shockingly completed, and it was fairly lengthy at that (although, I most definitely had a lot more free time back then). The problem with my first E3 Impressions post was that the quality of writing, well... sucked. Regardless, skip forward a year from then and my, oh my, you'll see that the second edition of the post wasn't even completed. After a large chunk of it was deleted through some kind of glitch when I attempted to save it (always back your stuff up, kids) I lost most of the post and in turn lost all motivation aimed towards finishing it, so I simply left it as it was and moved on to other things. Hopefully, we won't have any problems like that this year.

I'm sure what you, as an eager reader of this site, want to hear is that the 2012 edition of my Nintendo E3 Conference Impressions is well underway. Well, sort of. I've barely had any free time to even work on said post, alongside a number of other projects I've got planned (more on those in the next paragraph). The reason for this lack of writing over the past two weeks comes in the form of a culprit who doesn't like to hide himself away; exams, and revision for aforementioned exams. Exams are important. Writing about your opinions on a medium isn't quite so. It's a ridiculous world we live in, am I right? The point is that I'm hoping you understand I've had three science exams, two english exams and a single unit worth of maths papers to work through over the past few weeks. I reckon I've done well in the majority of aforementioned exams, so my motivation towards finishing quite possibly the most important post of the year has returned. You'll absolutely, definitely, undeniably (etc.), see the post published here on the blog before the month that is June reaches its climax for another year. Put simply, watch this space.

Staying on the subject of E3, I've got several posts planned that involve speculating and analysing a number of individual games. The first of these you'll see is my views on Platinum Games' upcoming spin-off of one of my favourite series, the game in question being Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Ignoring the ridiculous subtitle of this title, it looks brilliant, but the post I've got ready to go through the writing process is very much an opinionated rant. Before you get sceptical, read the post when it's published. Beyond that, more ranting, and not regarding a game I'm particularly positive towards. If you guessed New Super Mario Bros. 2, you guessed right. While I'm extremely excited about the upcoming Wii U rendition of the NSMB series due to its many innovations and originalities shown in the first 1-minute trailer, my views on the upcoming 3DS release are the absolute opposite. Expanding on my preview following the detail-lacking initial reveal of the title, you'll soon see my views on the upcoming handheld Mario platformer as a whole, and I must say in advance that said views ain't pretty, not to say that the game itself looks bad. Moving onwards to more positive things...


...We now reach the second main topic partially explored through the title of this post: Stream. Allow me to expand on this. Stream is an upcoming, free .pdf based magazine that features posts ranging through most entertainment mediums. Run by my good friend Conorr who has had the guts to grow a tree of staff members (crappy analogy, I know, my brain isn't exactly 100% today) willing to contribute to what's shaping up to be a fantastical word-based explosion of the visage-embedded receptacles. In case you hadn't guessed already, I'll be contributing to the Stream alongside a team of other particularly talented writers. While gaming has always been the core subject matter of my publications here on the blog, I've actually reviewed a film for the first issue of the magazine. While a flashier edition of my recent Super Mario 3D Land review will be featured in the magazine, you'll also spot my thoughts on Sacha Baron Cohen's latest, The Dictator. How does it hold out against the comedy classics that are Ali G Indahouse and Borat? You'll have to read the first issue of Stream to find out. My contributions won't end at this, either. You can expect more magazine-based prints of my game reviews from here on the blog, as well as some other stuff in the future. I'm still on the ropes on whether to post my non-gaming reviews here on the blog, so let me know if you want to see that by commenting below.

Finally, in order to allow this post to reach its wholesome climax of news and other such lumps of text, I'll quickly reveal what you lot will most probably see in the coming weeks. Following on from the impending E3 onslaught that will start with my Nintendo Conference Impressions in a matter of days, I'm planning on reviewing Mario Kart 7 after being distracted from writing about the game since my 3D Land Review was published. Also incoming fairly soon are the other reviews I mentioned in the last update; Metal Gear Solid 3 is one such game set to be reviewed by yours truly, but I'll also be composing a slightly shorter synopsis on the 3DS re-release, detailing how it holds up against the original and whatnot. I'm also writing notes for a game I've already reviewed but am still thoroughly disappointed in myself for messing up said review to this day. I'm talking about No More Heroes 2, Suda51's utter classic of a title that I, being the twonk that I was, analysed in the medium of poor-quality writing. NMH2 is a confusing, deep, detailed game despite its short length, and I want to get the review right this time. Moving onwards, I'd like to end this post by announcing that the blog, as you can see on the counter to the right of this post, has reached 15,000 views. I never quite thought I'd reach these heights, so thanks a lot for reading and all of the support. There's a lot to look forward to; E3, Stream, more game reviews as well as everything beyond that. We're well and truly having it large. Keep reading, and look to the future 'cause more posts are on the horizon!

Update: The Revolution Begins...

If you've got a pair of working eyes engraved into your visage, there's a chance you may have noticed something new here on the blog. If you haven't and incidentally are taking a peek at the sidebar, you'll see what I like to call the Reviews Index which, as described next to the link to the page, is a comprehensive guide to each and every game review I've written and published here on the blog thus far. Please take a look if you're seeking a simpler way of checking out my word-based opinions on several videogames (some of which are sadly a tad outdated, in other words naively and poorly written). I'm given the greatest pleasure to announce that this new function is only leading something of a miniature revolution for this blog that I've spent several years improving. Some of you may remember the big redesign last year, which  transformed this journalistic metaphorical abode from a bland, generic design into a personalised new one faster than you can say Get Your House in Order. Obscure references (and lies about the time it took to finish the redesign) aside, I'm currently working on finding a way of expanding the background of the current design, adding more characters and the like for extra visual flair and ultimately less boring blank space.

Also incoming is my long-unfulfilled promise of new banners, which I've mentioned many a time in past updates. With the help of a handy image randomiser tool, you'll see a different piece of artwork standing tall above my journalism, rather than the standalone Skyward Sword banner I've had as a page header for several months. With these exciting improvements out of the way, we reach the topic of incoming posts. As per usual, the promised reviews as of the last few updates are still on the way, with Super Mario 3D Land leading the charge. There's two things I can promise regarding this review, the first of which is that it's not biased in the slightest (and that isn't sarcasm) and secondly that it will undeniably be published within the next few weeks before the month ends. Also, the climax of Persona 4 is almost in my grasp, so I plan on reviewing that soon after 3D Land and possibly Mario Kart 7 are opinionated in the form of my journalism. As for new reviews, I can only confirm that I'm currently replaying The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and F-Zero GX (which, as you'll see on the review index, has previously been reviewed). I have no plans to review either anytime soon, but Ocarina of Time, being the classic that it is, is a game that one day I will have to tackle in word form. On top of all of this, everything I've promised in the past few updates is still coming in good time.

And now, we're brought to another subject: the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 as the number one gaming conference is better known as. If you're a gamer with at least a slight amount of knowledge, you should know the drill by now, but if not I'll briefly explain. E3 takes place for one week every year, and is home to some of the biggest announcements in gaming from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. It's where we first heard about Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, the Wii and 3DS, as well as many other landmark announcements, and this years conference should prove to be extra-special with the true unveiling of the Wii U, which was shown-off in a rather disappointing fashion last year. The date has been set: E3 will begin on June 5th, with the big N leading the conferences before the show floor floodgates even open, which could mean something exciting. My hopes and expectations of this year's Nintendo conference will once again be expressed in the form of a post; a Feature once again titled my predictions of this year's Nintendo E3 conference, or something along those lines. I also plan on posting my views on what is announced after it's shown-off, albeit in a slightly briefer fashion than last year. I don't want to spend another month waffling on about E3, and I'm sure you lot don't want me to either. While these posts were to be expected after the last two editions here on the blog, I hope you're anticipating reading them as much as I am writing them. And on that bombshell, it's time to end this update. Granted, I haven't announced any posts not to be expected just yet, but we'll leave that for the next update, shall we? This is me, signing off.

Update: The Big 100th Post and Other Incoming Pieces

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. No, the world hasn't come to an end just yet, please continue to write off all that silly speculation as insanity for the time being. Anyway, the purpose of this update post is to divert your attention in the direction of an oncoming storm. A very positive oncoming storm, that is. While every post on this blog is a celebration (apologies for the grating cheesyness of the latter nine words) there's little that could be more important than the big 100. As it stands, this is the 98th published post here on the blog, so in little time you'll be seeing the post-count of this one-man publication reaching triple digits, in turn answering the question: What could possibly be the 100th post here on the blog? I'll let out some clues for now to leave you readers guessing until the piece is finally posted later on in the month, shall I? First off, it'll be a review, as per usual of a game. A very important and rather massive game, to say the least. No, it's not the latest Legend of Zelda epic, Skyward Sword, as that wouldn't really be a surprise considering the fact I've already announced that in a previous update. It's a game that I've referenced many a time in quite a few pieces since I first started up this site, just as the game itself references a lot of other source material. If I've still left you guessing at this point, please take my apologies - I won't be dropping any more clue bombs until the review itself is posted. What I will be revealing is other, less secretive posts I'm working on at the moment, many of which are almost finished. Now that's some good news after the decrease in a post count the past three months...

I'll admit it here and now: Countdowns have taken a long while to finish of late. I promised I'd have my Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2012 posted before January ended, and frustratingly I couldn't find the time to finish it until the latter days of February almost a month later. Not only that, but the piece was so unexpectedly lengthy that it took two posts to be neatly packed up and published. I guess I've just got too good at writing, right guys? Exactly. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that, if I don't want to burn myself out too much, I should take time on longer posts like that and several other countdowns I've promised of late if I want to keep producing shorter, sweeter pieces and a faster pace. The last two months are more than a good excuse to do this, and if you want even more evidence then let's put things into perspective for a moment: the Tekken 3D Prime Edition Preview, posted last month, took under a day to write and proof-read, and that was a pretty high quality piece if I do say so myself. With that in mind, surely you'd like to see a higher rate of posting here on the blog, as would I. So, as of now, the Top Ten Personal Favourite Games list that I promised in the last update I wrote will not have any kind of deadline. Hopefully by doing this, I'll be back to finishing four or five sweet pieces of journalism posted every month, some of which will indeed be bigger than others. Moving onwards, I'll reveal the upcoming posts you probably don't know about that I mentioned earlier before writing about a completely different subject. Thankfully my more important posts aren't this convoluted.

Naked Snake likes to describe his food as 'tasty'. I like to describe his game as more than that: absolutely friggin' incredible. Expect a review sometime in the future

In the last update I wrote up, I mentioned that I've got a number of reviews in the works that haven't yet been posted. Well, those reviews are still very much in the works, or haven't been started yet. Aside from the top secret piece mentioned at the start of this update, I've oddly and surprisingly not got many other reviews planned. You'll still be seeing the likes of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Kingdom Hearts 2 and Persona 4 reviewed in the next set of months, but other than the possibility of a few surprises thrown in for good measure, not a whole lot else. However, before I forget, I have been playing through the fantastic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (the original PS2 version, not the recent 3DS re-hash) and I'll definitely be writing a review of that at some point in the future, albeit not before the aforementioned posts I've got in the works. The main bulk of any new announcements this month enters this update in the form of general gaming-related pieces; Previews, my opinion of some demos, and various other things. Tomorrow, you'll be seeing a preview/rant based around Kid Icarus: Uprising, the re-incarnation of the classic 80's series left long in the shadows, only to be brought back to life by Masahiro Sakurai twice over (the first time in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and second with this stellar-looking 3DS release). So, what could I possibly be ranting about? I think it's quite obvious: the critics' general response to the control system of the game. I'll leave anything about that until the actual post, mind. Moving on, following my 100th post I've also got a journalistic look at the seemingly excellent Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure, a rather fun demo of which was recently released on the 3DS' eShop free of charge. I'm sure everyone else who has tried out the demo will agree that this rhythm action-meets-Professor Layton experience will be a strong 3DS title when it's released. Other than that, you can also expect the usual straight off the top of my head gaming banter, hopefully keeping that dipping post count up for once. Like the last update, I'll also be signing off with a quick list of what's to come for all you lazy people out there. Later, readers!

Upcoming Posts Round-Up (Post-22/03/2012)
Mystery Review (100th Post)
Preview: Kid Icarus: Uprising
Preview: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure
Review: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Update: Noodle's Blog Reaches its Second Year Running!

31st of January 2010. Two years ago today, at the time I post this. It was on that oh-so special day that I kick-started the journalistic legacy I call Noodle's Blog with a very minor bang in the form of two admittedly poor-quality posts. One was an introductory piece, announcing the sort of things I'd be writing and posting on this site. The other was the first game review I ever wrote. Both of these pieces were admittedly rather embarrassing when I look back on them. They quite literally scream poor grammar, pathetic spelling and unbearably bad overall quality. What a way to start was is now a well-received, and apparently well-written place in which I post my journalism, eh? It's become apparent that I've clearly made a significant improvement when it comes to writing over the past two years, and it certainly seems to have paid off in terms of the statistics this blog receives. 34 followers may not seem like a lot in comparison to other sites, but you can trust me in saying that I never expected to get more than quite literally a few when I first started out. This site has also amassed a fairly ridiculous 11,511 views and counting, far more than I would've expected to get in a whole decade, let alone two years! So yeah, it's safe to say that I'm pretty glad I started out this semi-career in non-profit writing and it has definitely been nothing but a success in terms of the praise I receive for doing so, but you ain't seen nothing yet. This party's just getting started...

You'll discover my final verdict on Skyward Sword very soon in the form of a review, but what position will it grab in my Top Ten Favourite Games Feature, if any? I'm not spoiling anything...

What do I mean by this, you ask? Well, good sir-stroke-madam, what I'm implying with this cheesy statement is that you and hopefully many others are going to see some big things posted here on the blog in the gargantuan year that is 2012. Some I've mentioned before, some I haven't and am planning on mentioning within the next few sentences of this oh-so special update. First off, let's talk Features. Obviously, two big ones I have planned are My Top Ten Personal Favourite Games and My Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses, the latter of which is still very much in the works, slowly. Don't let this get you down, though. The piece I've promised for just over a whole year (again, I'm sorry about the delays, but I felt I needed more practice at writing before working on such a massive feature) will be posted in two parts this year, the first of which you'll definitely be able to read within the next few months. Controversial as it is, the topic of my ten favourite games will also be posted within that time-frame, although it's still in the process of planning at this moment in time. Without a doubt, this is the hardest list I could possibly put together, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying! Something I haven't discussed previously in the form of a Feature is yet another countdown, namely my personal list of the Top Ten Best Monsters in Monster Hunter Tri (unless I rename it to something slightly more creative, that is). The title of this Feature pretty much speaks for itself, and again, it will definitely be posted later in the year. Finally, you'll find that My Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2012 will have been posted within the next few days, like some kind of annual tradition here on the blog.

I simply can't deny the fact that PS2 RPG Persona 4 has practically taken over my life. You'll see a review of it here on the blog in good time!

Moving on to the subject of reviews. I've gotten a bit ahead of myself when it comes to this category, I won't lie. On top of the review I promised a little while ago, detailing my opinion of the absolutely magical Wii title that goes by the name of none other than The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, you'll be seeing at least a further five reviews from my perspective over the course of the year, all of which I can announce right now. In case you hadn't realised the obvious fact that all of my top ten favourite games won't be exclusive to Nintendo systems, the blog is going multi-platform, and I've got two fantastic Playstation 2 games set to be reviewed very soon. The first of these is Persona 4, a little-known PS2 RPG that has pretty much taken over my life since November of last year (not literally). The quality of this game is extremely high, and I promise with all my heart that I'll begin reviewing it as soon as I've hit the end credits. The other non-Nintendo game I plan on reviewing very soon is one I already finished in the summer holidays of last year: Kingdom Hearts 2. I can say that this one game made my six weeks off last year, and it should be fun to boot it up once more and unleash my opinion of it in the form of a review. Back to Nintendo games, I have some kind of 3DS Mario double-whammy incoming. When you read the words '3DS' and 'Mario', if you didn't think of the games Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land, well, some thing's going on in that brain of yours. Both of these titles are some of the best you can find on Nintendo's latest handheld, as is Resident Evil Revelations, the game I've praised time and time again on this blog. You'll be seeing my final word-based opinion of it soon. I'm saying 'soon' quite a lot, aren't I? Perhaps you'd like more specific times? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but I'm going to have to refuse. And this, my trusted readers, is where I shall take my leave. Before I stop writing and get this update posted, however, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. Well, not you specifically, more the people who didn't bother reading the last two paragraphs. In the 'Incoming Posts Round-Up', you'll find all the things I announced in this update packed into one confined space. Convenient, no? Expect to see it in future updates, too...

Incoming Posts Round-Up

Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses [Parts 1 and 2]

My Top Ten Personal Favourite Games

Top Ten Best Monsters in Monster Hunter Tri

Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Review: Persona 4

Review: Kingdom Hearts 2

Review: Resident Evil Revelations

Review: Super Mario 3D Land

Review: Mario Kart 7

...And that's pretty much everything! My word, that's a lot of reviews, ain't it? I won't have to do another update for quite a while, that's for sure. Anyhow, look forward to all these lovely posts and more, keep reading, and feel free to follow if you haven't already and are interested in my work!

Christmas 2011 Update: The Year in Retrospect, Skyward Sword Review and What's to Come Next Year!

And so, after eleven months of highs and lows, the festive season is finally upon us. December, for those who didn't know for whatever rather odd reason, has been and will continue to be the last month of the year ever since the English calendar system was first introduced, and the last month a new year can only mean one thing: a Christmas-related update on this blog. Today, I'll be informing you of what's to come both before the year ends and when 2012 starts, as well as chucking in some dedications in the process. It's been quite a year for gaming, I must say. And by that I mean not a particularly good one, at least for the first three quarters of the year. The 3DS launch was an absolute shambles, with the best games on the system being either ports or remakes of older games for quite some time. Low sales caused a price drop, and while the 3DS has seen a dramatic increase in units sold since the release of titles including Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 (a 400% increase, to be exact) there's no denying that the amount of truly stellar games on the system before the final quarter of the year was slightly booing. This can be said for other platforms as well. The DS, as I've said previously in my review of Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, has entered it's days of decline this year, with the most recent and possibly last stellar release being the fourth Professor Layton game. The Wii has seen a few brilliant releases earlier in the year, such as the apparently amazing Xenoblade Chronicles, but again the amount of more than decent titles released before November hit has been few and far between in comparison to previous years. As for other platforms, their quantity of stellar releases has been truly lacking also, with the first truly stellar release of the year here in the UK being Batman: Arkham City, which was luckily followed by a number of other great additions to the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms as the fourth quarter begun. It's not just lack of games released that made this such a poor year for games, as this year's E3 was pretty awful too. Poor conferences on all three main publishers' part made for one of the worst E3 shows in years, dare I say it even worse than 2009's failed collection of poorly thought out conferences.

Mario Kart 7 is one of the many stellar titles released following up to Christmas. I'm hoping to get my copy in on a certain special day!

It's slightly annoying then, that publishers have finally decided to release all of their games following up to Christmas this year. There has always been a big gaming rush before the year's end for a long time, but never quite on this scale. Because of this, I've decided to compile a short list of my recommendations  of games released this year on Nintendo platforms, a number of which I've added to my Christmas wish list. Expect the likes of Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, and Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call among a number of other stellar titles released this year. What I'm also hoping to have posted before the 25th of this oh-so joyous month is another review, one of a not-so festive game. While Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a 3DS game based around the core concept of slaughtering baddies in order to build up a combo while fighting off a depleting time limit (totally Christmassy, right?) it's still a title I've hyped up a lot since its announcement last year, and one I haven't really unleashed my opinion of since actually playing through the game. And you can trust me in saying that there's a good reason for this. It'll also be nice to have another 3DS Review posted after a ridiculously long time since my debut one of a certain street fighting launch title, no?

Skyward Sword sure has come a long way since this piece of concept art was first revealed over two years ago, eh? You'll discover my definitive opinion of the finished game very soon!

Also featured in the upcoming reviews machine that I refer to as my brain is what is without a doubt the biggest title I'll ever have the courage to write about thus far. In the event that you're colourblind, you won't be able to read that this review will be of a certain game in the long-running Legend of Zelda series, namely the absolutely incredible Skyward Sword for Wii. You can't expect the review to be up this month, but as a celebratory way to start up another year of writing on this blog I'm hoping for this massive review to become one of the first things I post in the big year that is 2012. Also coming in the new year is my inevitable Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2012 feature, marking the third edition of my ramblings about games I'm looking forward to in the next 12 months. Next year is set to be a much bigger year for gaming than the positively dire 2011, what with the poor first three quarters of the year and the frustratingly low E3 conferences we've seen in the last 12 sets of thirty-or-so days. Finally, the last of the posts I have planned for the coming months is a rather large one. For the first time ever in the history of my blog's many ramblings, I'll be discussing the heavy,  controversial topic of my Top 10 Personal Favourite Games of All Time, which will feature multiplatform titles old and new. I personally reckon this would be a great way to start the blog's third year running with a bang, and hopefully it'll spawn some comments or something. We'll see.

And now to close off this rambly Christmas-related update with a dedication. Many moons ago, soon after the big re-design of my blog that still feels like only yesterday at the time of writing this post, I mentioned a rather cool guy called Conorr and his blog. Very similar to mine, he posted a number of great pieces that unfortunately didn't receive quite as much attention as they should have. Conorr has recently started up a brand-spanking new blog under his name, which you can check out right here. You can trust me in saying that the raw journalistic talent of this guy is well and truly superior to mine, if you take a look at the drivel I came out with during my blog's first year. So, in short, give Conorr's new blog the attention it deserves and maybe it'll take off this time. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where I'm going to have to conclude this post. Have a very merry, particularly festive holiday and here's to a truly mesmerising new year!

Update: My Second Skyward Sword Preview, Zelda 25th Anniversary Goodies and Other Upcoming Posts!

Welcome one and all to this month's Update post. It even surprises me that, bar my post on the launch of the blogs redesign, I haven't written one of these types of posts in quite a while. So, I figured now would be a good time to keep you readers up to date with what's going to be posted on the blog within the next month or so. What's quite possibly most exciting of all though, are the few posts I have planned regarding the much-celebrated 25th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, my favourite video game series of all time, with me publishing the first of these pieces on the site tomorrow. Not the day after, not any time after that, but tomorrow. This is truly one promise you can actually count on in regards to when I end up posting things on here, mainly because in a few paragraphs' time at the time I'm writing this, it'll be done and dusted and eventually posted within the next 24 hours. This post happens to be nothing other than a rather big preview of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Now, you may be thinking that I already wrote a preview of the game last month (which I must admit was one of my best pieces in a while) but that was before the absolutely huge stream of information, gameplay and screenshots emerged from the interwebs, straight into the brain. You won't have to look forward to this huge new preview much longer, because as I said it'll be up in a matter of hours...

My hype for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is on an unimaginable scale at the moment, as you'll find out in a rather large preview of the game written by yours truly, up tomorrow!

A fair bit later down the line are more exciting 25th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda antics, including a Feature I'm planning on starting in a few days titled simply, My Top Five Personal Favourite Legend of Zelda games. As you may or may not have guessed depending on whether you're a complete imbecile or not, this countdown will be a personal list detailing my five favourite games from what is easily my favourite gaming franchise. Not only am I looking forward to sharing my opinions on the subject of my five favourite games in the Zelda series, I'm also looking forward to finally working on another countdown-type post, because the last one I remember doing was back in January. Freaking January! Anyway, I'm hoping to do more posts like this in future, as they allow me to get more creative with my opinions of a number of aspects of gaming, rather than just a single game when it comes to writing Reviews or Previews for the blog. So, you can expect more countdowns from now on, starting with my aforementioned top five personal favourite Zelda games Feature. Moving swiftly on, the third and final Zelda-related post I'm planning on posting in my own good mystical time will be a review. The game in question I'll be reviewing is none other than The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, the free DSiWare release that was made available to DSi, DSi XL and 3DS owners a number of weeks ago. This will be my first proper review of a downloadable game, so that's relatively exciting, I guess! As for anything else Zelda-related, who knows whether I have something else planned up my sleeve? Well, I can tell you right now that I actually don't, but some other posts are incoming regardless...

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is an awesome DS gem that features a humanoid dog riding around on mech, among many other odd spectacles. Check out my review very soon!

Outside of the mystical realm of Legend of Zelda-related posts, I've also got that Professor Layton and the Lost Future Review I promised ages ago incoming. Yes, it's been a while since I said 'it'll be up soon' but I'm genuinely not lying when I say that I'll finally have a review of what I would consider one of the DS's best games up very soon. Speaking of the DS, I'll finally have a review of 3DS title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D written up and posted here quite soon, possibly popping up this month also. If not, that'll be posted next month at the very latest. Also, another Feature I've had promised for a very long time is my Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses list. I know I've said I'll have this posted soon in pretty much every update since I first revealed this piece, but I genuinely have no doubt in my mind that I'll have finished Part 1 and it'll be up here on the blog for all to see before November ends. The final post I have planned is another review of another DS game, and a great one at that. Solatorobo: Red The Hunter, one of the dying handheld's last hurrahs living alongside the likes Okamiden and Professor Layton and the Last Spectre, is well and truly a brilliant handheld RPG that I'll be sharing my thoughts on very soon. Again, this will most probably be posted by the end of November.

Whew, you'd think I'd have been locked in a room with a computer with every single site but Blogger blocked, with nothing to do but write up some glorious games journalism for the rest of my days on this planet with all these upcoming posts, but alas this is not the case. I get all of this stuff written and posted because I'm insane. On that rather odd segway to finishing up this update post, it's time to end (this particular post). Look forward to the upcoming pieces I'll soon be beaming into your eyeholes through the medium of text and keep it as unreal as technically possible! Bye for now...

Update: The New Blog Design is Now Live! Plus Other News...

After just over a month of tedious adjustments, blood, sweat and tears (well, tedious adjustments at least) the redesign of my blog I promised in my last update post is finally live. In what I think is a massive improvement of the websites previous design, you'll have noticed a number of new additions to the blog. Probably the first of these enhancements you'll notice is in the overall design of the page. To the left and right of the main post space and little sidebar you'll see a collection of various game characters, from Travis Touchdown of No More Heroes fame and Neku Sakuraba who starred in my favourite handheld game The World Ends with You, to more popular faces like Mario, Link, Leon Scott Kennedy and Samus Aran - They're all here and they certainly help liven up the page a lot in comparison to the bleak, boring, black background of the former Blog design. Another new improvement on the blogs design is with the new banners you'll find at the top of the page. I say banners as I've actually created a number of images that will randomize every time you refresh or move to another page on the blog. It's definitely an improvement on that Okami one I've had up for ages, no? Aside from the background and the banners there's also a clear change in the colour of fonts and the like, but I guess that stuff speaks for itself.

Check out my preview of upcoming Zelda adventure Skyward Sword in a matter of days!

I also promised a change in the template of my posts, which you'll be seeing very soon in the upcoming pieces I'm working on. Speaking of which, I think now would be the best time to explain why I only managed to post two things on the blog last month. In the main this is because of holidays and the like, but also because I've been working on so many posts recently (not to mention the redesign) that I didn't even manage to stick them up before August ended. Luckily, this now means I've got a bunch of almost finished pieces ready to share this month, which will undeniably mean I'll have more posts than usual up in a single month throughout September. The first of these (which I'm hoping to have up by tomorrow) will be a preview of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, essentially to celebrate the recent reveal of the absolutely gorgeous box artwork. My review of Professor Layton and the Lost Future that I promised a month or so ago will also be posted in a matter of days as well as a second preview; namely of Resident Evil: Revelations. Back to reviews, I've just finally begun writing my review of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D which will most probably be up this month as I've practically finished my Professor Layton 3 review at the time of writing this update. So yeah, a lot of stuff to look forward to this month.

Hopefully you readers won't look as confused as Luke when you read my review of Professor Layton and the Lost Future.

Since I'm running out of things to write about in this update and that this is such a special occasion, I've decided to dedicate this final paragraph to two other Bloggers who clearly have a lot less followers than they should have. First and foremost, I'd like to make a dedication to Conorr, an ONM forum member who recently started an excellent blog consisting of similar stuff to yours truly. Ironically enough, his blog is titled Conorr's Blog and you can do him a favour by checking it out just by clicking the link and maybe even granting him another follower. The second dedication I'd like to make is to another ONM member by the name of BlueSoup who also recently started a blog. What makes his pieces so unique however is that they're actually more of a blog, or a diary even, than any other game-related Blogger page I've seen, mine included. He mainly talks about his adventures in the game I gave my first impressions of last month, Monster Hunter Tri, with a few other snippets thrown in for good measure. He posts on a daily basis unlike myself and you can check his blog out here! Now that's over all I have left to say in this update is to ask you to share your thoughts on the new design and for you to look forward to the upcoming pieces I'm working on. Over and out!

Massive Update: The Big Re-Design and Other New Stuff...

I've been writing this blog for well over a year now, and I must say I've enjoyed doing so quite a lot. Up until now I've written a rather large amount of posts, from reviews to features to updates and news circling around the gaming world. All the way from my first ever post - my review of Disgaea DS - right up to my more recent features and reviews, I've thoroughly enjoyed writing about one of my favourite hobbies over this past year and a half. Well, I recently decided that it's time I stopped publishing my work on this older, boring template and changed a few things. Well, a lot of things. That's right, after using this same layout for well over a year I think it's about time I made the blog look a little more professional with what I'm calling 'Noodle's Blog 2.0'. With the help of Blogger's template designer and other tools, I'll be able to make my blog look infinitely better than the same slightly boring template I've been using since I first started this blog. This new design will include a much wider section for posts so I can fit more stuff on a page, as well as larger banners not only on top of the blog, but running down the sides too. I've already begun work on these banners, and everything will be finished in about a week or two if all goes to plan. I've got everything pretty much planned out already so it shouldn't take long for this massive update to take place. On top of this however, I'll also be rethinking the way I write posts. Read on...

Skelter Helter features alongside 24 other assassins in the No More Heroes franchise. Check out my opinion on 'em all in my upcoming Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses Feature!

What with me overhauling the blogs design, I reckon now would be a good time to make some minor improvements to how I write my posts too. In the past I've considered writing Features involving music tracks and the like, such as a piece on my Top Ten Favourite Boss Themes (just an example, mind). Well, now I can do something like this thanks to the ability to post YouTube videos here on Blogger. It's just an idea I have spinning around my head at the moment, but I'll most definitely do something like this soon after I've finished the blog re-design. This would be a good excuse to get some views on my YouTube account anyway. It won't stop at video game music either, as I might just post videos involving cut-scenes and the like from games to accompany posts. I'm thinking of implementing these ideas into my upcoming Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses list, the first part of which will definitely be up not too long after the re-design is finished. On top of this, I'm also considering a new system for writing my reviews. In the past I've simply put the title of the game, its platform and developer at the top of the post, with a percentage at the bottom determining what score I think the game deserves, and of course the actual review sandwiched . I think that it's also time for me to re-work this system and think up something new and unique, but I haven't really got any ideas yet. None of this stuff is 100% confirmed, but you never know. Until I think of something nice, I'll still be sticking with my current system in my next few Reviews, already in progress.

Master of stealth Naked Snake stars in Metal Gear Solid 3, one of the best games of all time heading to 3DS. Check out my preview when it's up!

Speaking of upcoming posts, we reach the part in this update where I talk about... Well, upcoming posts. I've already mentioned that part 1 of my Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses Feature will be up some time after the re-design has taken place, which will tackle 25-11 before I move on to the top 10 in part 2. I recently decided on my final top 25, and I'm undeniably going to begin writing my biggest Feature ever within the next few days. Before that though, I've got a rather large amount of reviews planned, most of which I've mentioned in past updates. The next review I'll be posting is of Donkey Kong Country Returns, an excellent Retro Studios-developed platformer that is without a doubt one of 2010's best games. After that, I'll hopefully get around to working on that Professor Layton 3 Review I mentioned in a previous Update post. On top of this in terms of reviews, I'll also be posting a Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Review soon after my Donkey Kong Country Returns Review is finished in a few days time. Continuing the Resident Evil theme, I'll also have a preview of the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations up soon enough. Alongside that, I'll be posting a preview of Metal Gear Solid 3 for 3DS too. You can expect loads of other stuff up over the Summer, but for now enjoy what's up next!

The huge re-design will almost certainly be up in a few weeks time. Until then, it's another goodbye from me! Don't forget to keep it real.

Update: Some Very Exciting Upcoming Posts and an Update on my E3 Review Situation

As you readers may or may not know, I had a bit of trouble with Blogger last week. I was nearing the end of writing my Nintendo E3 Conference Review when suddenly Firefox crashed. Usually when this happens everything I've written stays in-tact, but this time, what is quite possibly one of the most important posts of the year got deleted. Well, half of it anyway. If you're aware of this you'll probably know that I've posted what remains of the review and am planning on finishing it off bit by bit while I work on some new pieces. Speaking of which, welcome to yet another update post, where I'll be doing the usual and revealing what's coming up on my blog as well as discussing what you already know is coming up, namely my Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses List. First though, it's time to reveal the fate of my E3 Review. Suspenseful, I know.

I originally intended to post a two part E3 Review this year, just as I did back in 2010. One of these posts would focus solely on Nintendo's big conference, while I would have shown and discussed my highlights of 3rd Party announcements in the second half. I say 'would have', because I'm unfortunately going to have to cancel part two of the review due to a loss of time thanks to Blogger deleting half of part one. Don't get too down in the dumps though, because as I mentioned I am going to rewrite the rest of my thoughts on Nintendo's big show eventually. Also, just because I've cancelled part two that doesn't mean I won't be posting my opinions on the likes of Resident Evil: Revelations and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D, not to mention several other 3rd party titles that were announced at this year's big show in the form of standalone posts over the next few weeks. Still something to look forward to then! You can expect my Nintendo Conference Review completely finished early next month, but for now the remains of Bloggers nuke are still intact for you guys and gals to read like some kind of E3 crash site.


Stepping away from E3 and into the future, I bet you're wondering what my upcoming posts are going to involve. Well, I can tell you that my Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses feature is still in the planning stages (I'm currently replaying the original game to refresh my memory a bit) and I haven't begun writing it yet, but that will definitely be up in the coming months. You can expect an exact date in my next update post. Speaking of No More Heroes, developer Suda51 has just released Shadows of the Damned for PS3 and Xbox 360, so a quick shout out for that because it looks excellent. Not that Suda's first next-gen non-Nintendo game is better than No More Heroes! Anyway, moving swiftly onwards. Review-wise, I've got a couple of things planned as well as one post that's already in progress at the time of writing this update. What review could this be? Well, it's none other than one of 2010's best games that we all know as Donkey Kong Country Returns. I beat this brilliant platformer the other day and have already commenced writing my review, so you can definitely expect that up early next month at the latest, or maybe even before June ends. On the other end of the spectrum, I actually have a DS review planned for once. Yes, you heard right. So, what could this game be? Professor Layton and the Lost Future, that's what. While it seems a bit odd to review the third game in a series without actually writing about the first two, I honestly don't care because Professor Layton's time travelling adventure is one of my favourite DS games of all time. That review will definitely be up next month without a doubt.

I honestly can't mention reviews without talking about Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll probably be aware that I'm extremely hyped for this game, and I'll be getting it as soon as it hits the shelves here in the UK. Japan have had the game for a few weeks now, and America will see it hit their shelves in just three days, with us here in the UK finally getting it on July 1st. I honestly can't wait for this game, but unfortunately I and many other fans of Resident Evil will have to. Until then, why not have a little appetiser and read my preview of the game that I posted earlier this month? Anyway, I'll undeniably be reviewing that soon after buying it, so we might just be looking at a double or even triple whammy of review in July. Finally, I conclude the upcoming reviews I have planned with Mario Kart Wii. I received the game recently as a present from my parents, and I'm proper chuffed with it. You can expect a review of that sometime in August probably.

Well, that's about it for this Update post! You can expect more stuff up over the next few days, so be sure to check that out. Until next time folks...

Update: My Biggest Feature Yet and Other Exciting New Posts!

What's that on the horizon? Why, it's another Update post. Today, I'll be revealing my plans for this month and beyond, including a double whammy of reviews and my biggest Feature post to date. A Feature so big that it'll have to be spread across two posts and I'll have to delve as deep as possible into two of my favourite games of all time in order to write. What is this almost mythical project, you ask?
Read on and find out...

Planned Posts for this Month and Beyond, and New Banners!
I've given my new feature a hell of a lot of build-up (well, a few sentences) in the last paragraph, so I think it's fair that I reveal what it is now. Well, I'm gonna keep you doods and doodettes waiting even further. Before I discuss the two new reviews I have planned, I'd like to reveal that I'm working on a number of banners for the blog in a similar style to the Okami one I have up at the moment. On top of this, I'll be mixing them all up in a random image milkshake machine so you'll be seeing a different image every time you look at the blog. I'll be adding more and more images and taking away old ones until I ditch my blog (which I don't have plans to do anytime soon!)

Now, I have two reviews in the works at the moment which will both be posted this month. One of these will be of another of my favourite games, Resident Evil 4. I've played through the game on both PS2 and Wii and I've decided that it's time to review it. My other planned review this month is another Capcom game, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition. Not only will this mark my first 3DS review, but my modern handheld review since Disgaea DS. Speaking of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, I have a feature planned on my top five favourite and five least favourite characters in the game that you can expect up this month. Not only that, but you can also expect the usual gaming news and discussion in the regular random blog posts too over the coming months.

Finally, I'll end this short update with a big reveal of the biggest feature ever composed for my blog. Coming soon: My Top 25 No More Heroes Bosses! That's right, I'll be counting down every single boss from both No More Heroes games and revealing my favourite, least favourite and everything inbetween. This gargantuan feature will most definitely be up at the earliest in June, maybe even July. Sure, it's a long wait for a post, but E3's coming up and I'll be concentrating on writing about that next month. Be sure to look forward to that too! Until next time, this is Noodle out!

Update: Upcoming Posts and the Nintendo 3DS Launch!

Well whaddya know, it's another update. Haven't done one of these in a few months. Anyway, this is once again basically just another post to keep you up to date with what's coming up post-wise. I've got multiple exciting reviews and features coming up, and even more excitingly several things on the 3DS. Yup, I've got my pre-order in, along with a copy of SSFIV3DE (which is apparently a limited edition one with a lenticular cover!). So, without further time wasting let's begin with what I'll be writing about over these next few months...

Upcoming Posts
So, now that my No More Heroes 2 review is over you're probably wondering what I've got in the works reviews-wise. Well, I'm going to try and stray away from Wii games for a little while and concentrate on GBA and GameCube titles, before moving on to a review of Capcom's legendary thrillride that is Resident Evil 4. Before all that though, I'll be doing a review of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the GBA this month, and a review of the extremely difficult but equally awesome F-Zero GX for the GameCube next month. Definitely something to look forward to. On top of that, I'll try to get in another review next month too. Namely, SSFIV3DE - The game I'm getting along with my shiny new 3DS. In the features department I have one or two posts planned, and something rather large. However, that won't be coming for a few months so I'll leave you to guess what it is. All I'm saying for now is that it's No More Heroes-related. Now, moving on to the 3DS-related posts I'll be working on...


Nintendo 3DS Launch! 
Like I've already mentioned several times in this review, I've finally pre-ordered a 3DS along with my number one pick of the launch titles - Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition. As we all know, the console's out here in the UK on the 25th of March, which happens to be the month we're ploughing through at the time of writing. So, I'll undeniably have a first impressions post up on both the console and Street Fighter up a few days after I've played around with them. Later on down the line, I'll be doing a full review of the console which should be pretty damn exciting as it's my very first console review. Finally, I'll be working on a 3DS feature next month, but once again I'm not giving away the details for that just yet...

I hope you're looking forward to these awesome posts I've got coming up, happy reading! 

Update: One Year of Noodle's Blog - Looking Back on the Highs and Lows and Other Stuff!

Well, it's definitely been quite a year. Today marks the post date of my very first piece of writing on Noodle's Blog, so I've decided to do a 'looking back' thingy to celebrate this special occasion. It's been a roller-coaster of highs and lows over the past year, but all I can really say is thanks for all the positive feedback and comments and stuff. I'd like to give a special mention to Jess (ZeroSuitSamus2) who seems to be the only person who ever reads any of my posts! Anyway, this post is basically a mishmash of stuff, such as what's coming up in 2011 and other things. First though, let's take a look at my blog's highs and lows.

One Year of Noodle's Blog!
When I first started the blog I intended to make it a place to write about a wide variety of things. However, many ideas were scrapped and I decided to make it a gaming-only blog, which in my eyes was a good decision. You honestly don't want to hear me ramble on about crap on fifty different posts each month. Anyway, video games are the hobby I hold most dear, so why not concentrate on that? The main reason I started all this was to get some practice for (hopefully) a job in games journalism in the future. You could essentially call my writing works practice, but I still write them for people to enjoy and stuff like that. That's the whole point, right? Anyway, thanks to everyone who reads all this rubbish, don't think I could have done it without the motivation I've received.

I must admit, I'm very proud of my more recent stuff, particularly the reviews and features I've been posting. Those two types of posts are the ones I work my hardest on to make awesome, and I think the majority of them have turned out as good as I wanted them to. It's become quite clear that I've improved my writing skills since I started up the blog, because my older stuff makes my mouth taste like throw-up! I'll be suplying pieces of writing of a much higher standard this year, hopefully. Speaking of posts, shall we see what's coming up?

Future Posts
I've got quite a few post ideas swirling around my mind, one in particular being a post I promised several months back but failed to deliver: My review of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for Wii. I reviewed the original No More Heroes title last year and gave it top marks, and the sequel is somehow infinitely better. It'll be up sometime in February, so look forward to that! It's clearly been a long time coming. On top of this, I'll be reviewing GoldenEye 007 for the Wii next month, meaning a double-whammy of reviews (it makes up for the lack of one this month, I guess). I'm also planning on reviewing the excellent Resident Evil 4 sometime this year, but at the moment I'm not so sure when I'll be working on that. In terms of reviews, that's pretty much it except for one last this. That'd be Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance. I've been playing through it recently and I haven't reviewed any GBA games for a while now so I reckoned it'd be a good idea to review that. In terms of features and other posts, I'll definitely be doing a First Impressions post on the 3DS when it comes out on March 25th. Speaking of the 25th of a month (worst seg-way ever) it's my birthday next month, on the 25th on February. I did an update on that last year so expect to see one this year. Happy Birthday to me etc etc. There's also the expected stuff over the course of the year, such as an E3 2011 Review, plenty of gaming-related posts and everything in-between. It's gonna be a great year...

That's all for now doods. I hope you keep reading and hopefully we'll have an even better year in 2011. For now, peace out!

Update: The New Year, A Change of Plans and Other Stuff!

Hey doods and doodettes. Welcome to yet another Update post, this time on what I've got planned for the rest of December and the new year. As you may know, I posted an update last month about what's happening this Christmas on the blog and I promised a review of No More Heroes 2, but unfortunately that won't be happening this month. The reason? I lent it to a mate last month and he forgot to give it me back before the holidays. Woopsie! Anyway, I'll still definitely be doing the review at some point (hopefully in January). So, now that's out of the way I'll start with my announcements for 2011.

The New Year!
So, it's only a few days until this year ends and the new year begins. Of course, that means I'll have another year added to my blog after it started back in December 2009. However, I didn't post anything back then so I actually have no idea when I started it. Because of this, the post I had planned about looking back on the highs and lows of my blog will be cut back the January 31st, the exact same date where I posted my very first piece of writing on the blog; My Disgaea DS review. That should be fun. But what else do I have planned for 2011? Well, in terms of reviews I'll be doing one of Resident Evil 4, one of the greatest games of all time. I've been playing through it recently and am approaching the end at the time of writing, so I reckon it'd be a good time to review the game in January. In terms of features I'll be bringing you something extra-special! At the beginning of the year I posted my very first feature entitled 'My Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2010'. Well, next month I'll be doing 'My Top Ten Most Anticipated Games of 2011'! Finally, there's a 3DS event happening next month where the console's price and exact release date will finally be revealed, as well as new information and footage of the 3DS games we're all looking forward to. I'll certainly be doing a post on that. Surely something to look forward to. Now, let's return to the present and I'll tell you what's coming before all this.


The Rest of December
Oh crap! I forgot to mention, Merry Christmas! Right, glad I could shoehorn that in. Okay, so what's coming before the end of December? Well, I'll be posting another Christmas-related Feature in the form of what gaming-related stuff I got for Christmas. I've still got more presents incoming but so far I've got my hands on Professor Layton and the Lost Future, which I unfortunately won't be able to play until March because I sold my DSi and now have nothing to play it on! In terms of other stuff, erm... Nothing. That's all I'll be posting until next year, but I'll be sure to go as in depth as possible with it!

I think I've got everything covered there. Good stuff. Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Noodle's Blog!

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