Blog Herding: Community Edition 10/06/11

This week's edition of Blog Herding demonstrates why the Game Informer community is so spectacular. While the industry is still buzzing from the launch of the Battlefield 3 demo, veteran and rookie bloggers alike continue turning out a collection of blogs on all sorts of different video game topics. This latest series has something for everybody, regardless of your platform or genre preference. 

Blog Herding Stats:
Period Reviewed: September 26 - October 02, 2011
Number of User Blogs: 112
Number of User Bloggers: 65
Number of User Blogs Herded: 17

Upcoming Events:

Need A Good Karma Boost? Help Some Sick Kids And All Will Be Forgiven
It's not too late to join TEAM GIO to support the Extra Life 24 hour gaming marathon. All proceeds will benefit the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

GI BroTrip 2011: Full Schedule Announcement!
An event two years in the making, Dstubbs and Smackey have confirmed the date and schedule for the first ever GI Bro Trip. Check out this blog for all of the details.

Community Blogs:

So I Played Grand Theft Auto IV For The First Time
Better late than never, Apozem finally gets the opportunity to play Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. Needless to say, he was very pleased with the experience.

BF3: Three Reasons To Love, Three Reasons To Hate
It's no surprise the Battlefield 3 beta would be the topic of a few blogs this week. For the Xbox 360 players, alex720 discusses three things he loves and hates about the demo. For a PS3 perspective, check out Gamebeast23456's blog on the beta here.

Custom GI Avatars: Monster Movie Madness
Inspired by the classic black and white horror movie monsters, Game Informer's resident custom avatar creator, Turdfurgy returns with a new lineup just in time for the Halloween season.

30/30 Final Day #30 - Shadow Of The Colossus
Congratulations are in order to BlackHeartedWolf for completing his 30 blogs in 30 days series. No better way to end an epic accomplishment than with a game that is equally as epic.

Halloween Is Coming
October is here and Mray901 provides a list of horrifying video games to scare the Halloween right out of you. No tricks here - all treats.

The Mystery Game Box
Could you guess the title of a video game just by reading a short essay describing the box? Read this blog by Wallrunner and find out.

Cranking Up The Difficulty Setting
Typically the only difference between difficulty settings is the number of adversaries and their skill level. Lancehead discusses options implemented in other games that seem to work well.

PSA: The Diablo Franchise And You!
In response to Game Informer's poll about the delay of Diablo III, eyros2k shares (or uses a Jedi mind trick on us) his perspective of the series and what the future holds.

Games I Still Owe
The sign of a good game is when you feel like you got your money's worth; the sign of a great game is when you're still playing it and feel like you owe money on it. Read Ed_B44's blog to see what games he's still in debt to.

Bring Me An Apocalypse!
Video games have occurred in all manner of space and time, but one popular environment is the post-apocalyptic theme. Vurtax discusses a number of successful games set in the aftermath.

Top Ten Ways To Replenish Your Health
This amusing piece by thegodofwine7 lists a handful of methods incorporated by video games to restore health to our battle-damaged heroes.

Robot In The Corner + Extra Life = Live Stream(?)
Supporting the Extra Life charity initiative being coordinated by mojomonkey12, the hosts of Robot In The Corner are planning on having friends join them for the event while streaming it live.

A Necessary Evil?
As a neutral party to the Bethesda vs. Mojang litigation, EuphoricEnnui admits he's more fired up with the real crime - adopting such an uninspiring video game title.

POKEMONth Post: SUPER SWAG-POKEdition!
A month of Pokémon coverage from one of the community's favorite bloggers, Oni no Tenshi shows off some Pokémon inspired swag. Gotta Collect It All.

The Good Left Undone
Motivated by personal tragedy, Demon Ragnarok mentions a few games in his archives that, if the world ended tomorrow, he would regret having left unfinished.

Mashing Music And Games
Mashing is the fine art of taking two unique elements and combining them to make one product. In this case, Raizan comments on his favorite video game + music mashups.

Video Game Science - Correlation vs. Causation
The Game Store Guy steps away from his traditional news posts and empowers the community with some wisdom that can come in handy when debating the video game violence argument.

Review Of The Week:

X-Men: Destiny - The (Very Few) Choices Are Yours
One of Game Informer's premier reviewers, Samurai Zero provides a thorough assessment of the recently released X-Men Destiny, a game he scored a 7.25. Game Informer associate editor Matt Miller rated the game a 7.00.

Community Podcasts, Vlogs, and More:

The 4th Floor Episode 22: Double Double Winning
More music, movies, and mayhem from TOGNick as he posts the next episode of The 4th Floor. Also worth mentioning is the fact that he's joining TEAM GIO during the Extra Life gaming marathon.

The Indie & Mojo Show Episode 7
You never know what you'll hear indiejones or mojomonkey12 say on their podcast, but chances are it will be funny and you'll enjoy it. It doesn't hurt it will occasionally be about video games.

The Armchair Gamer Episode Two
Gamebeast23456 is back with episode two of his podcast where he talks about Battlefield 3, Arkham City, and the new Sony PS Vita.

Robot In The Corner Podcast: Episode 2-3
Wes, Titus, and Dean talk about Gears of War 3 multiplayer, DC Comics' New 52, and their pick for the Netflix Instant Queue Movie Review of the week - Man in the Iron Mask.

Don't forget to send your feedback, recommendations, and community events in to my personal Game Informer account located here to ensure this feature continues to provide the content you're eager to read.

Happy Blogging!

Your friendly neighborhood blogging community: September 26 - October 02, 2011:
alex720, Apozem (2), benderstrike64 (3), BlackHeartedWolf (6), blaze6106 (2), born4this (3), brainraider1, Bryan M. Stafford, Demon Ragnarok (2), dragonryder (3), DStubbs (2), dude the hedgehog, Ed_B44, Enigma, ESL, EuphoricEnnui (2), freak24 (4), freezeimacop690, Gamebeast23456 (2), indiejones (2), Jack, The Quixotic Gamer (2), jacktheglueman, John Jones, Joshua Weibel, KAGEHOSHI- , Lancehead, Mafia Merc Mike, Master Chief, Matsuda Tohu, Matt-boy (2), Max the young true gamer (2), Mist, Mray901, naM3ucAnThAt3, NoMercy85, Oni no Tenshi (3), opposedcrow88, Ownzoir, PaperandPen, Patriarch eyros2k (2), Rabbid Dungeon Boy (2), RadiantChaos (3), Raizan (4), RatchetGuy, redlitez76, Silvershine08, Still_Insane22_The_New_Cyberking, the forerunner, The Fox, The Game Store Guy (4), The journey man, The Legendary Ewok King (4), The Stranger In Us All, The87thNemesis, thegodofwine7 (2), To Drown, TOGNick, TurdFurgy, Ultim4t3 Ninja, Vurtax, Wallrunner, Wayne Strickland, wayoverdue (3), xl9 (3), and of course yours truly...Saint.

Video Game Quote of the Week:
"Not with my box of bunnies."  - Ben, Full Throttle