With much of the country reeling from record scorching temperatures and no end in sight, many of you will seek refuge inside where you will play video games and hopefully enjoy some of these cool and refreshing blogs.

Blog Herding Stats:

Period Reviewed: July 02 – July 08, 2012
Number of User Blogs: 114
Number of User Bloggers: 63
Number of User Blogs Herded: 9

Community Events:

Extra Life Gaming Marathon
There's still time to enter the contest to win Ghost Recon Future Solider (PC download code) while supporting the Extra Life charity event scheduled for October 20, 2012.

Community Blogs:

Quit QTEing Me To Death
Chris Mrkvicka vents his frustration with the method some games use to implement Quick Time Events (QTE) and how he would often prefer the scene to just play out without player intervention.

Creating The Next Zelda Experience
The Legend of Zelda series has existed since 1986, has spawned over a dozen games, and has witnessed Link transform in appearance on several occasions. iDreamRunner has a few ideas for the next Zelda game.

My Top Ten Favorite Zelda Songs
There are quite a few gamers who consider themselves diehard Zelda fans, and vannahfox ranks among them as demonstrated with this exceptional first blog about favorite songs from the Zelda games.

Top 10 Rising Studios
Some could argue not all the studios listed in thegodofwine7's top ten list of rising studios should be considered "rising" but it's still an intriguing list of developers contributing to the future of gaming.

Revisiting Portal 2
John Wrek revisits Portal 2 and reminds those who have played the game just how brilliant it truly is as he shares his impressions of the campaign and cooperative mode.

The Double Edged Sword Of Used Gaming
A somewhat surprising ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the sales of digital content has reignited the topic, including this blog by Jon Gregory aka JMan240.                       

The Importance Of An Unimportant Story
An interesting blog by FinalFantasy1026 discussing the significance of the back story and how "people are not content to simply perform a sequence of actions without first receiving a reason why."

Sony And Gaikai: A Gamer's Thoughts And Fears
Now that Sony has acquired the cloud-based gaming service Gaikai, the question many are wondering is what they are going to do with it. Marco Polo has a theory he shares with the community.

3DS For 3DS XL?
The recent announcement from Nintendo concerning the newest model of the 3DS has some gamers like Glasses questioning the merit of a bigger and heavier portable gaming device.

Community Reviews:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dawnguard DLC
Sometimes good user reviews can be hard to find but John Wrek posted several great ones this week, including one for Dawnguard, the newly released DLC for Game Informer's 2011 Game of the Year.

Join The Uprising Against The Underworld Today
Apricot provides a thorough analysis of the latest installment in the Kid Icarus series with this solid review of Kid Icarus: Uprising, before claiming it's a "must-have 3DS title that you do not want to miss."

A World Of Hurt, Booze, And Bullet Time
Another gamer satisfied with their experience playing Max Payne 3. This review by Orochi Assassin LEVON provides a brief snapshot of what to expect and awards the game 9 out of 10.

Alan Wake – Playing A Novel
Alan Wake certainly isn't a new game but it is one that attracted a fair amount of attention. If you've never played it, this review by DesertOcelot may reveal what you missed out on.

Community Podcasts:

The Indie & Mojo Show Episode 39
The latest episode is missing one of the co-hosts, but Indiejones and Mojomonkey12 are still present as they entertain the audience with talk of Half Life 2, Max Payne 3, and the current status of Team GIO.

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 (07/02/12 – 07/08/12):
AshaMan3000 (5); benderstrike64 (7); bjdbuch; Black Rook (2); blaze6106 (2); BRAV0 F1VE; Cameron Koch (3); Chaos is Beauty; CheeseballPwn; Chris Mrkvicka (8); Cody Gilley (3); dadarkheart; Dawson Wyckoff; DeadManWalking; DJH (3); Drym Shyuan; Enigma (2); Ewok King; FinalFantasy1026; Frosty (2); Gesar; Ghost (4); Glasses (3); GoldvsSilver; Hist; Hobo Baggins; iDreamRunner; indiejones; JacktheViolaPlayer; Jeury21; John Wrek (6); Jolt the Cynic; Jon Gregory aka JMan240; jordanthegamer; Joyful Penguin; Just that Awesome; Kid Ica; Kyle Wadsworth; Le Hannibal (7); LGAR (2); Light Gamebeast23456 (2); linkchief13; Marco Polo (2); markus1142; Mike; mikedeas879; OneArmedWonder (2); Oni no Tenshi; Rihz; Romars202129; sorryjzargo (2); Stranger (2); The Zombie-Killing Carson; TheBiasedIrishman; thegodofwine7; TheMichaelJolly; TheSpaniard013; TOGNick; UltiMat3ProDGy07; vannahfox; xking595x; YungDaVinci; and of course yours truly…Saint.

Video Game Quote of the Week:
"He was trying to buy more sand for his hour glass. I wasn't selling any." – Max Payne, Max Payne