Leave It To PR Please

It's funny the things people with say when under pressure to look like they know what they are doing, and are in control of a situation. Case in point, Sony exec Michael Ephraim on Screen Play. Where oh, where to start. Firstly, don't attack rivial consoles when you have failed to release yours in the same time frame, and have left PAL territories waiting the longest as usual. Oh but how can I forget "PAL gamers don't mind waiting". Oh no, I fucking love that aspect of always having to wait for every goddamn release the longest. Just because we are always the last, doesn't mean we actually like it.

Secondly, bringing up the price point of rival consoles, especially when yours costs twice the price of one of them, is not a great idea. Trying to use this as leverage in an argument to make your product look better is poor, very poor.

I like how the focus of the Xbox360 is apparently "too narrow". I amazed that this is brought up. The 360, having been out for nearly around a year now has a fairly decent line up of titles across a range of genres. Now just because they choose not to release trash like "Singstar" or some other god awful fad title does not make their vision narrow. I'm sure Sony's launch line up of sequels has a much "broader" vision in mind.

Don't think I'm taking sides here, Sony just need to keep their execs from speaking in public.

Back Into It

So I finally picked up a Xbox360 recently, no I hadn't been holding out, and no it wasn't because of the price. It was thanks to my WoW addiction, and when you play WoW you end up having very little time for anything else. Thank god I'm over that.

The other thing was I didn't own a HD compatible TV at the time, and I didn't want to run a 360 on a SD set. Anyway it's great, I'm using it on a 32" LCD TV and it looks awesome, it's pretty much all I was asking for.

My only complaint thus far is with the backwards compatibility. I was hoping I could put my old Xbox away, but so many of the titles I own don't run on the 360. Though from the titles I tried last night, a weird rang of stuff does work. But I wasn't really expecting something like Jet Set Radio Future to work anyway.

Bringin' It Back

That's right, Geemusentaa is coming back.. After a long long break we will be returning it all the gaming goodness you can handle, well that or as much as I get around to commenting on.

Australian Xbox360 Launch Date and Pricing

After the launch party in Sydney for the Xbox360 here in Australia a few are reporting pricing and dates. From the press release:

Sydney November 22, 2005 - It’s only ninety-nine sleeps until Australians can get their hands on the world’s most powerful games console, the Xbox 360.

Microsoft today announced that two versions of the console will go on sale from 12:01am on March 2nd, 2006. Consumers will be able to choose from the Xbox 360 at RRP*$649.95 and the Xbox 360 Core System at RRP*$499.95.

So $650 for the decent 360 pack, it does seem expensive but when you look at what you get it puts it into perspective.

Xbox 360 is the first console that lets gamers enjoy the freedom of wireless gaming, as standard. The Xbox 360 offer will include the console, 20GB hard drive, media remote, wireless controller, component high-definition cable and Ethernet cable. Xbox 360 Core System delivers the same powerful gaming as Xbox 360, but starts with the basics and lets you expand at your own pace. The Xbox Core system includes the console, composite AV cable and wired controller.

Now I would be willing to drop $500 on just a Xbox360 core pack, so with all the added extras of the Xbox360 (lets say premium pack) that I would probably purchase anyway, it's only and extra $150 and you get some decent gear. Though compared with the US price, it might seem we are being charged a tad more. Though I think its on par with the UK pricing.

So 3 months, start you clocks and let the countdown begin.

The Madness Begins

So after visiting Starbucks on the weekend for a bit of Christmas cheer, in the form of a Peppermint Moca Frappuccino, I headed into the EB that's nearby.

So what's the first thing that catches my eye as I walk in, Xbox360 pre orders. My first reaction was "wow, cool", but then I just thought "hang on, wtf?!". I mean the thing has no release date or price, aren't people just going to ask stupid questions all the time about it.

So the guy working in there is a friend of mine and we get talking about it as usual. He lets me know that they aren't supposed to be doing it yet, but for some "sales numbers" reason they are. Still with no clue of a release date or price, we kinda figures it might be March with a price of say $600. Though if you do the math on the US price it works out to about $550. That seems like a better price to me, say the Xbox360 is $550, then the core pack is $400, it just seems more sensible.

They also had four games you could pre order, Project Gotham 3, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero and also Oblivion.

So yeah, I put down a pre-order.

I'm quite interested to see the Australian release list now, I guess it will appear sometime early next year.

Being the nosy sod I am, I'm just now looking on The Office of Classification's website and what do I find Ridge Racer 6 is listed . So I would say that it's getting a release. If you do a search a lot of other 360 launch titles are also listed there, which makes sense.

It's interesting to note that all the dates for the classification submissions are dated back in October.

It's Back

Alright I'm back. I think anyone who used to read this site will know that the lack of updates were due to the fact that I started to play WoW. I'm still playing it and now have a lvl 60 Warrior, but I thought I would try and start posting again.

I have to admit there hasn't been a great deal going on in the gaming world that isn't next gen related. I know a few things came out but I've really not been that interested, it's pretty much too little too late for me. The only thing I've ordered recently was Guilty Gear XX #Reloaded for the PSP, so I might post some impressions of that when it gets here.

My main motive is to try and post as much info about the Aussie release of the Xbox360. Currently Microsoft seem to have denied us any information regarding the release date and pricing of the unit, and subsequently seem to have placed us low on the list of release candidates. Current speculation is that we will see the unit sometime in early 2006.

If that wasn't bad enough, the current release list for the US and UK are different. Which isn't a big issues, except the main game that I, and many people are interested in "Ridge Racer 6" is missing from the UK list. Now at the moment I'm not getting too worked up about this because by the time we see the unit I'm hoping that RR6 will be a release title for us, only time will tell though.

I'm also currently trying to decide if I should buy a new TV that supports HD. From what I have read it seems that if you play the Xbox360 on a normal TV it just looks like Xbox quality, so a HDTV is a must. I'm just wondering if I should bite the bullet now and do it, or wait to see when the 360 is getting a release and buy it closer to that time when the price may drop again.

Gutted

It’s sort of becoming a regular thing now, that I only post when the WOW servers are down, but there just hasn’t been anything much going on in the way of gaming. Oh, well besides the announcement of pricing for the Xbox360, but shit they didn’t release a price for Australia so at the moment I don’t really care, anything would just be more speculation, and we don’t need anymore of that.

I would give you a review of my new copy of Sonic Gems Collection for the PS2 that rocked up last week, I say “would” because my goddamn PS2 now doesn’t want to read the main part of the disc! I have no idea what the fuck is up with it, it reads the disc, reads the GameGear games on it but refuses to read any of the other games on there and just stops responding, I think the units fucked. I thought about it, and have a few options at my disposal. Either buy a new JPN PS2 at a cost of over $300, bet my PS2 chipped at around $150 or just buy Sonic Gems Collection in PAL for $50, I’m doing last one. I don’t really have any spare cash at the moment to blow out big time. I might just try and pick up a cheap JPN PS2 at some other time, for the moment it can wait and this one will do most things besides read the goddamn game I most want to play.

Oh yeah, I’m also downloading the new F.E.A.R demo, but I’m not sure I’m really going to care.

New Mouse = Teh Pwn

Ohh, it's an update and guess what it's not about WOW, because I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about it. Though I might mention WOW in this post again, but bear with me it's related.

So yesterday I turn on my PC, start up World of Warcraft, do a few things and then mutherfuckin BAM. I'm at my desktop, looking at a critical battery message for my mouse. All I could think was, WTF are you on about, I just put expensive long life batteries in you a week ago. Thinking it might be a error, I fiddled with the batteries, popped 'em back in, check the battery status and it's still critical. Now spending $8 on 4 Duracell Ultra batteries that last a week is just not on.

So yesterday I was in a mood, so just thought I'm buying a new mouse. So I decided to buy the most expensive thing I could. The Logitech MX 1000 is "teh shit". It's their new laser mouse, and goddamn is it smooth. You would think optical is pretty good right, yeah it's not, it's shit. Once you sample one of these things, you are in mouse heaven. Yeah it's expensive, but I didn't pay retail for it, so I don't really care.

Also for gaming this thing absolutely fucking rocks, not lag at all because it uses the new "Fast RF" technology, and because it's laser it's super smooth. Also the main reason I bought it, is that it's cordless however it is rechargeable and has a little bay you drop the mouse into. It's also super comfortable and has many buttons on it, actually I don't want to talk about it anymore. Go now and buy one. If you are still using a corded mouse, shame on you!

I Love A New Addiction

Humble apologies again for the lack of updates. World of Warcraft has just had me in it's grip, and since I don't get a great deal of spare time during the week, I try and squeeze the most I can out of it. I'll try and get back to regular updates from now on though. The only real reason that I'm not playing right now is that I needed to download a few things. The problem with the game is, there is just so much you can do, and you constantly have this "just one more thing" mentality going on, especially when trying to complete a series of quests. I can't believe I thought I might not like WOW.

On a console related note, I ordered Sonic Gems Collection the other day, so hopefully I'll have that next week and can write up some impressions of it. I picked up the PS2 version so I hope it's ok. It's not very expensive, and the PAL version should only be $50 which is a right bargain. Anyways, just hoping that SonicCD has the JPN/EU intro.

WOW

Sorry to anyone who likes to read this site on a regular basis, or even every now and then for the lack of updates. The reason for it is that I recently bit the bullet and bought World Of Warcraft. Don't ask me why as I couldn't tell you, I just had the sudden urge to experience it, even though I used to be fairly opposed to paying an monthly fee to play a game. However now that I have broadband and can afford the fees I didn't see a reason not to try it out.

I'd always wondered what the attraction to these games was, especially WOW, and now I know. The massive size of these games is immense and overwhelming. Though the thing that I enjoy most is the commradre, helping other people out and also having people give me a hand when I need it. That's where I think the attraction lies, as well as the gameplay and levelling up characters and questing, it's being able to meet, chat and play with people who enjoy something you do.

Seeing as there are no Australian servers for WOW, I'm playing on one that I have no idea where it is. The pings aren't bad, and you get some lag ever now and then, but so do most people as well.

If you want to meet up with me in the game, my name is Raveous and I'm on the Draenor server.

Gaming TV

I recently started watching a few of the shows from a cable station in the US called G4TV. I've heard a few people mention that he station is utter tat and that the shows like X-Play are rubbish. Since we can't get the station here in Australia, I decided to torrent a few episodes of X-Play and another show called "Attack Of The Show".

Now I kind of have to agree that X-Play is pretty bad, and there are reasons for this. Morgan Web and Adam Sessler are the hosts of the show. After seeing Morgan Web also host "Attack Of The Show" I think she is pretty cool, and does a decent job. Adam Sessler on the other hand just comes across as a knob and should be associated with anything TV related. The show it's self is a mishmash of gaming news and reviews. They seem to choose really strange game to review at times (Digimon?!), and some of them I have no idea why they bother. If X-Play was on TV it would be something you might watch if it was on, but not really bother to make sure you didn't miss an ep.

However "Attack Of The Show" is a lot more stylish and well done. From the funky intro to the knowledgeable hosts. this show is 40mins of geek news. I try and keep up to date with most things by reading a fair few news sites, but I still pick up decent titbits from the show. The show it's self focuses on pretty much anything geeky or tech. From gaming to internet and the latest cool toys, they have a go at anything. I just wish I could get hold of more episodes because it's a great 40min show, and got some decent humour thrown in thought it.

We Really Do Love Katamari Damacy

This post was going to be about the new Wipeout Pure Delta Pack 1 that was just released, but since my camera battery is flat and I've just been playing We Love Katamari, it's going to be about the later. More on the Delta Pack in a day or so.

If you played the original Katamari, you know the score. It's an impossibly hard game to explain until you play it, the addiction and fun gained from it are unlike anything else.

Well We Love Katamari, is in all essence just like the original but even more fun, if that's possible. Katamari 2 has many, many more levels this time round, and many or them are themed. The themed levels range from, say rolling a Katamari that is on fire, and keeping it alight by picking up more flammable objects to then light a camp fire. Then there is the one where you have to create the head of a snowman, make a sumo wrestler huge to he smashes his opponent, and even a level where you just collect items and their worth in yen is counted. Some levels don't have a timer on then, while others don't really have a set size for the Katamari. This makes the game a lot more fun and crazy at times, and give is much more diversity than the original. Plus there are so many levels this time, it just seems to have so much variety to it, and they way it's presented and laid out for the player really adds to the experience.

The music is again is light hearted and enjoyable. It's pretty much on par with the music from the original, if not a little more edgy and funky at times. It's suits the game very well and always feels right at home. The graphics also have a very nice clean look to then as well, and the game retains its trademark look. Also all the items are fairly detailed, with most having some strange sound when picked up into the Katamari. I just want to know who decides what a sound a Gnome makes when you pick it up? Crazy.

One nice feature is that if you have a save from the original game, you can import the consolations you created from that save, and then when you use the planet viewer (each Katamari from each level is turned into a planet) you will see your constellations from the original game up in the stars of the background.

When all is said and done, We Love Katamari isn't just "more of the same" it contains a huge amount of content over the original. This is what a sequel should be, it has what made the original so much fun but has added what the fans wanted and expanded the gameplay for a fresh experience.

We Love Katamari with Bonus

My other order from Play-Asia finally turned yesterday. Judging by the rugged condition of the box, it seems that it may have been lodge somewhere for a while, so good going to the postal service on that one.

Though the box was in a fairly worrisome shape, everything was ok and survived unscathed. Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy came with a free mobile phone hanger in the shape of the price, which I am well chuffed about since it was something you normally only get if you pre-order. It's a small little thing that flashes but it looks mint.

I ordered some other bits and pieces as well, managed to get Ibuki from SFIII Gashapon which is great. I also ordered another one of those Virtual-On Coin figures, but managed to get the same one, just in a different colour (just my luck), though it still looks great, I just wish I could get hold of the Tamjin one.

I've only played a little of Katamari since I'm been involved with Killer 7, but the first few levels I did play of it are as charming as the first game, if not more so. The game looks a lot cleaner and the music is still really cool, it also lets you select which BGM you want for the current level, I can't tell what is what since it's all in Japanese but it's still a nice touch. I'll post more after a play it a little more tomorrow.

As for Killer 7. Hmmm. I really like the game, just a couple of the mechanics to it get me at times. The way the game navigates can get in the way of enemies at times and results in the enemy getting far too close to you. The utter lack of help at times when facing a new enemy sucks, the game could at least tell you the weak spot because some of them you just have no idea. Also the back tracking when a character dies it fucking horrendous at times, especially if you miss a save spot, the game just goes all the way back to the first point, ugh. It's not too bad, but fuckdamn if I want to be traipsing through a level again to retrieve a body. The game also does become a lot more challenging when there are more enemies on the screen, one hit kills become critical otherwise you are in the shit.

Bloody Madness

Killer 7 finally turned up today, so with the limited time I had tonight I played through the first chapter of it, which strangely enough took me longer that I thought it would. Killer 7, if you haven't been following it, is a very hard game to explain, and not just the bloody weird story that's just utterly bizarre. They gameplay is a splice between an action game on rails and a FPS. I say on "rails" because you cant just run any where you want, you follow a path, which in all essence most action game force upon you anyway. You can still go back and forth and choose paths and such, its just the you run along a line basically. Anyway it makes the game better, you do get lost or end up in stupid situations that annoy you.

Apart from the action, the game likes to throw a fair few puzzles at you, which you need to solve with different characters or objects. Once you get the hang on it, it's a piece of cake, though when I started all I could think of was "what the fuck do you want from me here". Though it's easy enough, same with the gameplay, once you get the hang of it it's great fun. From what I've played it's not hard, but then it was only the first chapter.

Having the choice to use different characters is great, as some are just more fun to use, or just feel better for a given situation. I can't really see why anyone would want to bitch about the game. It's got such great visual style, and some wicked audio throw about at random times. It's the kind of game which compels you to play it, and you just want to see what strange shit it has in store for you next.

Though I will say I don't know if picking up the PS2 version was such a hot idea, my two reason for getting the PS2 version were, it was $60 and my PS2 is hooked up to my surround sound system, unlike my Gamecube. The problem is with the PS2 version, the loading times seem to be a bit shit. They seem to take longer than they probably should, and I've heard that the GC version does have shorter loads times. When I say load time, I mean when you go from one area to another. Some times its just a fucking annoyance to walk back and forth because of it. The other is the is some bloody awful slow down. I've only seen it a couple of times, but fuck me that's enough. When there are say four enemies on screen, and you hit one in the sweet spot which triggers the bloody explosion effect, that's where the slow down is. I won't say it doesn't effect the gameplay, but it's still there. Still it's great fun, at least check it out for maybe a rental as it might not be to everyone's taste.

Nostalgic Ads

Nothing from Play-Asia turned up on Friday, leaving me to believe it some kind of worldwide conspiracy to stop me from playing the sequel to Katamari Damashi. Or it may just be that customs is now totally paranoid about packages and such, thus keeping my packaged for undetermined amount of time. Either way, nothing has ever taken over 2 week to get to me from Hong Kong, so it's very strange indeed.

I've had a bout of nostalgia for the past few days, and decided to quench it tonight by watching some old video game commercials. If you have never seen the sites that play host to these kind of things, I suggest that you check out, Video Game Ads for a sources of game ads from many countries and for many consoles. If you more of a Sega fan however, you would be best checking out this site for their excellent selection of all ads Sega.

It's great to go back and see some of those ads, one of my favs being this one for NiGHTS on the Saturn, where they proceed to drop an Playstation of the top of a building. It's such great brand assassination, which today I would really doubt you would get away with, but back in the day when Sega was still on top it was great.

After checking out some of the ads for the SegaCD it's no wonder that it didn't sell well, they are just so uninspiring. I actually on ever remember one SegaCD ad that I saw in a cinema once, I don't think it showed any game play, from memory it was one of those teaser ads which left you wanting more. Was really cool at the time, seeing a console advertised in the cinema. Though I will say that the Sonic CD is very cool, I always get a buzz out of seeing it. Though Sega really did focus way too much on the whole FMV thing with the SegaCD, which is a shame because it was probably the most bland area of the console.

It's kind of strange these days though with ads on TV, I rarely see any. Sony used to put out quite a lot back in the PSX days, especially with things like Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo. Recently though I've only seen a few Nintendo ones, and they were from Gameboy games if I recall correctly. Though Sony did show some Gran Turismo 4 ads, though I only saw those during either the WRC or Formula 1 coverage, which is right for demographic, if a little limited to coverage.

Though when I come to think of it, I did see an ad for Tekken 5 recently, and also some for Ratchet and Clank 3 a while ago. So there are a few everyone and then, just not so many as there have been in the past.

Wipeout Pure Wire05 Content

As I was checking out various PSP news sites today, I stumbled upon an even called Wire05, that as things would have is sponsored by Sony's PSP. From what I can work out Wire05 seems to be a large music even, mainly techno, but I'm not entirely sure. So anyway, if you were at the event you were able to download a special Wire05 Wipeout Pure update pack. The update pack, all themed to Wire05 includes a new skin, ship, track and audio track. There are some pics below, so fill your boots. Sorry for the quality.

The new skin, as you can see if you have been to the Wire05 website it's all in the same theme.


This just shows the new "Exclusive" section the update creates, just below the Gamma section.


Picture of the track selection, simply named Wire05. However when you start the track it sounds like it has another name, but it's hard to make out.


Simply a picture of the new Wire05 ship, it kind of looks like the Aurocom ship.

An image of the track, quite colourful and full of nice effects also full of Wire05 posters and images.


The Wire05 ship isn't too bad it's pretty much like some of the others, and very similar to the Aurocom ship. The new Wire05 track is great, lots of nice long curve sections with plenty of speed boots pads and some nice straight sections, overall a nice fast track. Also it looks really great, there are some wicked effects built into the track itself that look wicked. It's all themed to the Wire05 event so it's all coloured blue and grey. It would be great to seem more content like this for the PSP for any games, but works especially well with Wipeout. As for the new music track, I'll have to figure out which is the new one, I'm not sure if it was playing when I started the new track.

Something, Finally!

It seems the biggest buzz around the net at the moment is about the Xbox360, and some kid who managed to supposedly get hold of one. I really don't know what to make of this, I can't really seem Microsoft letting something like an Xbox360 into the wild, even to one of their employees. I don't care who they are either. If it's a viral marketing scheme, it's been done quite well, and makes sense. Creates hype while providing a minimal amount of new information. Shit I'm talking about it right now, this is what they want. If this wasn't planned by Microsoft, well hey free publicity, it's all good. If it is viral, I just feel sorry for the poor bastard who had to write the kids original "post".

I'm not sure if it's to do with the Xbox360 launching in the coming months or not, but there seems to be a distinct lack of Xbox software being released soon. Sure there are titles coming out, but most of them you just know are going to be the usual shite. It would make sense that Xbox software will dwindle as the Xbox360 nears, but I haven't really picked up anything for my Box in ages.

I finally got some good news about Killer 7. I was really pissed at CD-Wow in the last few days because it hadn't shipped, though when I checked my order list about 20mins ago it had the wonderful "sent" status next to it. 3 days late so I'm still kind of dark on it, but I guess it was worth saving a little on it. Though I'll have to wait until next week to check it out now. *sigh*

Also I'm still waiting on my order from Play-Asia that shipped on the 9th. I've never had an order take more than say 4-5 days before, so taking this long is a little strange. I just want We Love Katamari. I need a fix, I HAVE to roll up something strange, I just need to!

Disappointed Groan

I'm going to stand by said groan for a couple of reasons. The first being that nothing form Play-Asia turned up on Friday, and I was gutted. After a really busy week I was hoping for a chance to chill out and play a bit of We Love Katamari. But alas it was not to be, so knowing my luck it will turn up on Monday. The other instance that prompted my moaning, was an email that I received from CD-Wow this morning. I was wondering why my copy of Killer 7 hadn't shipped Friday as that was the release date. Well the email soon confirmed my inclining, that it has been delayed till Monday. It's only one day, but I always worry when things start to get "delayed"

Oh and trust Play-Asia to have three new flavours of those Shigekikkusu sour candy things. So now I've got to find something else I want from Play-Asia, as it's kinda pointless just ordering 3 packets of sour candy.

Articles Of Gaming

You might have noticed the new online magazine called "The Escapist" that launched a few days ago, since it was mentioned on Slashdot and all. I found it to be quite an interesting read, though what caught my attention the most was that Tycho from Penny-Arcade had contributed an article to the line up. The magazine is more focused towards articles that cover attitudes towards gaming, and discussion of gaming in general, as opposed to news or reviews. I found it to be a nice change of pace, though I do have a "craving" for decent articles about gaming, and this hit the spot.

Tycho's article is one that discusses the transition of gaming, from basically a geeky pastime to a full fledge mainstream multi-million dollar business. I completely agree with the points that are made though out the article. It's a very hard topic to try and discuss because there are a fair few positive and negative marks against "mainstream gaming". You only have to read a few dedicated gaming forums, to see that many people these days think that a majority of game companies have given up their creative soul in search of the dollar. Constant IP resurfacing, and brand/franchise raping really is enough after awhile, especially when it the same old game just redressed at the end of the day. In reality, what it is, is fucking boring. Sometimes you just think that creativity is dead, and no one wants to take a gamble with a new product. This is one of the worst points of mainstream gaming.

Though on the opposite side of the fence, you have to also allow for mainstream gaming bringing in revenue and help fund some of the better games that are around. There are many great, creative titles that have been made, and possibly with thanks to game studios and publishes having the money to do so. Though these days there does seem to be a lot less "Original" titles, and so many more sequels and re-hashes.

The other article that I found intriguing was "Gamer Like Me" by Jennifer Buckendorff. The article basically discusses and asks, what constitutes someone being a "gamer". Now in my mind it's pretty easy to decide if someone is a gamer or not, it's just hard to explain it.

If you own a console, maybe a few games and occasionally play them, I wouldn't consider that person a gamer, as you wouldn't consider someone who owns a few DVD's a movie buff. Also someone who just plays a single game for hours on end, for instance The Sims, I also wouldn't call a gamer. Now this is where it gets more difficult, where do you draw the line between someone who is a gamer, someone who isn't and someone who is hardcore. Which is also this article tends to go a bit awry. I would say someone is a gamer who is passionate about gaming, spends a fair bit of time playing games, buys games that interest them in a variety of genre's and spends sometime talking about games and checking out the latest news. In the article Jennifer makes a point of someone, who would rather play games and refuse to watch a DVD, that's more of a hardcore trait if anything.

Now someone who is a hardcore gamer, would be very passionate and knowable about gaming. They would also own multiple consoles, and probably import games. Being up to date on everything in the gaming scene is a priority, and experimenting and taking a risk with a new or unknown game is a thrill. I would go as far to say that someone who is a hardcore gamer always want's to know more, is always willing to learn and read about something they may not possibly know about. It's becomes your main interest, and you develop a true passion for gaming.

Though at the end of the day, being a gamer isn't about how much money you have to spend on games, or even what you own. It's about being passionate about it, and enjoying it.

Next Gen Rubbish

You might have noticed a few changes to the right side of the page, mainly the re-addition of Archives. I removed Archives a while ago because of formatting but not it's back and better. So feel free to look though and of the previous gubbins you missed, tis what they are there for.

You might have noticed that I mentioned that I'd started watching a web TV show called "The.Scene" in my last post. We'll I watched all ten episodes of it, and got right into it. I know people who are really in the scene probably think it's an utter load of wank, but I actually just like the originality of it, they way that it's composed is great, plus the drama is just interesting. Grab episode one if your unsure, there are plenty of torrents and such for it.

There is currently a few next gen articles flying about. One I noticed was regarding the PS3 loosing a built in router, I didn't even know the PS3 was going to have one! This isn't really an issue, routers cost piss all, I mean they gave me one for nothing when I signed up for ADSL, and it's sitting here on my desk unused. So no big deal there.

I also just noticed this regarding the Xbox360 not being on many gamers must have list in Japan. Can't say they it surprises me at all. Microsoft is trying to compete with Sony in their own country, in a market that they have dominated for a fair few years now. It will be near impossible for Microsoft to ever make a significant dent in the Japanese market, especially without support from someone like SquareEnix, who's software makes consoles a must have. I just find it kind of funny that these articles like this make is seem like such a surprise that Japanese gamers would rather a PS3 than Xbox360. I could go on about this for quite a while, but I won't because it would probably be just the same old tat that you already know.