Today I wrapped up my PC gaming peripheral needs for the foreseeable future. It all began several months ago when I bought the Razer Tarantula:

• Anti-ghosting
• On-board memory
• Interchangeable keys
• 2 USB ports
• Headphone/mic jacks

Soon after I got the Razer Lachesis:

• 4000dpi
• On-board memory
• 9 buttons

As I said, today I wrapped it all up with the Razer Piranha:

• High-quality audio
• Noise-filtering microphone
• Ergonomic and comfortable
• 3 meter non-tangle cable
• Seperate headphone and mic jacks
• USB plugin

Digital Distribution Sales Surge

While NPD reported that US games industry sales suffered a fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in June, Valve saw a 97 per cent increase in download sales year-over-year during the month, and competitor Direct2Drive recorded a sales increase of 56 per cent.

Earlier this month Microsoft also announced that, in the first half, the number of paid downloads via Xbox Live jumped 73 percent year-over-year.

Microsoft "Not Anywhere Close" To Simultaneous Retail, Digital Releases

"We're not anywhere close to that world today. We have great relationships with the retail channel - they're important partners. We sell a lot of hardware and software through retail channels. We have to be smart about how we approach this business."

The question "Just how much out of the loop is Microsoft?" poses itself instantly. It's funny to read these articles literally back-to-back on Edge Online. This actually goes back to the Xbox 360 launch when Microsoft failed to predict the huge importance of HDD's. Few people were actually worried about this back then. Fast forward four years later and Microsoft has a console without a standard HDD. That's why we have a half-assed service with games that have to abhere to arbitrary limitations. That's why Microsoft really isn't anywhere close to a serious digital distribution service.

Live is such a wasted potential that it's painful to watch. Meanwhile, Microsoft is wasting time copying Nintendo with crap like Natal instead of realizing the true future of the medium. Seriously, just how much out of the loop is Microsoft?

This blog entry is sponsored by Telus, the future is friendlyŽ.

As soon as I got back my PC, I started buying games. I ordered these games over Amazon.co.uk in the past few days:

Fallout 3 - I think this is the last 2008 heavyweight release I have left on my "to do" list. I'm pretty excited to finally play this, heard so many good things about it.

Elven Legacy - I played the demo a while ago and loved it. It's a rather unique fantasy turn-based strategy in that you actually lead big armies across a huge hexagon battlefield.

Sid Meier's Railroads! - I actually played the demo way back when this game was released three years ago, but never got around to buying it.

Need for Speed Undercover - I'm a big Need for Speed fan. The series fell by the wayside with subpar releases like Carbon and trash like ProStreet, but I heard that Undercover goes back to the awesomeness that was Most Wanted. It's interesting to add that this is the first Need for Speed that I won't be playing on PC.