I will report to the MTC on August 1, 2007, remain there for three months learning the Russian language, and will spend a period of 24 months there.  How bout them apples?

It's been a lousy couple of weeks for games, I must admit.  XBLA and VC haven't done much to keep my attention and what little the PSN has to offer surely isn't keeping me engaged.  I won't deny I'm pleased I can play some old school PSone on the PS3 finally, but the gesture only lasts for so long.  Seeing as I'm closing in on my 19th b-day, you can say I haven't had much time to really worry about videogames.  In the next few weeks, I'll be receiving my mission call which will outline where I will be serving for the next two years of my life.  So, as it's apparent, I've been a bit focused on more important things than games (I know, blasphemous, right?).  I'll have my call in the next 2-10 days, graduate from high school on June 1, and will be entering the MTC sometime in August.  Between now and then, there's really not much for me to do except work, ponder what it is I want to do for a career when I get back, party, and prepare for the mission.  The industry is slow-going during the summer and so I'm pretty much done with games for awhile and I might end up giving them up all together.  I've always looked into making games as a profession, but seeing as the next time I'll be able to play games is when I'm 21, I think I'll go ahead and mature and start working towards something instead of brainlessly wasting away time (as a lot of games do).  So, sorry to be so pessimistic, but that's just the way things are.  Maybe one day I'll pen a script for a videogame, movie, or compose an entire book you might come across, but for now there's not much outside of this blog you'll see me doing (whomever visits my blog anyway, which might not be anybody but at least it gives me something to do when bored or suffering from WB).  To the times, but I've got to go my way eventually.  Just so happens that eventually happens to be now.  I'll pop around occassionally to toss-in a word or two about games and some meaningless other rants, but I'm sorry to say that this is near the end.  To whom it may concern, au revoir.

With nothing to do the other day, I hopped on to the net and visited Gametrailers.com to check and see if they had any new media.  To my delight, they had a top ten consoles of all time video, which was mildly entertaining at best.  But, as I was watching and when they came to #3 system of all time (NES), I recognized the game Little Nemo, probably the single-most game responsible for my gaming habits.  If you want to check it out, visit the top ten consoles trailer on Gametrailers; it's near the end of the video and shows a boy transform into a frog costume in a forest area with an enemy snail approaching him.  Such memories....

Hopefully Nintendo, MS, or Sony (depending on whoever has the rights to license the game anymore) will put it up as a downloadable game one of these days.  Highly recommended by me, if you ever get the chance to check it out.

One of my top ten favorite games ever made!

Like it always tends to be, I've got problems still with my consoles.  I just got my PS3 back because I had to send it in for maintenance.  The USB ports were malfunctioning and though one of the four worked, I wasn't up for going on living that way.  Still under warranty though, plus I was bustling through GoW2 anyway at the time, so I just whipped out my PS2 and finished it on that.  But my biggest issue is with my 360.  I've been trying to set-up a wired connection in my living room, which means I've had to cut and clip wire and drill holes in my walls in order to run the ethernet cord from the 360 (which has a simple adapter connecting the larger-headed 360 ethernet cable to the smaller-headed cable running through the walls to my router).  But, alas, the 360 won't connect onto XBL.  I don't get it either.  The cables are exactly the same, but just with different sized-heads.  But even more weird is when I plug the exact same 360 ethernet + homemade ethernet series into my PS3, the PS3 detects it easily!  Now, I have a wireless router, so I use wi-fi for my PS3, but there's just no way I'm shelling out $100 bucks for a Wi-fi adapter for the 360.  For now, I'm having to downgrade and play on my Funai 480p tv, but at least I get XBL detected in there.  Doesn't make any sense; all the wires are exactly the same, but the 360 just doesn't like my homemade cord.  I might just cut a new one and start over, but I just don't get why all these issues keep happening to me. 

Not really playing much right now, though I'm considering dusting off my DS with Pokemon later this month, but the next big games for me are Mass Effect, Lair, Heavenly Sword, Bioshock, and Warhawk.  Too bad I won't be around for the fall and winter, plus all of 08 and the majority of 09 (mission), so hopefully I can get a few of those games in before I head out in August.  Signing off....

Firstly, sorry about the Motorstorm review.  Everytime I've got on this past week I've intended to put it up, but I get absorbed in the forums.  My bad.  I'll get that up over Spring Break...

I'm posting this right now as my folks and I are zooming down I-15 towards Las Vegas; pops just got himself a flashy new Cingular broadband card (business expense - he's way too cheap to pay for it himself [I'm saying this outloud as I type so he hears me ]) and he wanted me to give it a test run in his *shock* new laptop.  So, instead of having a dry spell on my blog, I'll be able to keep in touch over the Spring Break weekend.  But, don't expect a whole lot of me around unless I'm crashing for a day or two.  C'mon, it's Spring Break!  Regardless, looks like this card works pretty darn well, IMO...

Now, no blog is complete without an opinion about something, so concerning the 360 Elite and GTAIV:

Microsoft's recent move leaves me puzzled as to really what MS's intentions are.  The 360 was supposed to be about interconnectivity, giving the gamer the complete videogame experience with multitasking features and a well-integrated system, which is what MS did.  However, MS made a mistake, which can only be placed on their lack of foresight.  MS sat on the fence about fully commiting to HD and absorbing all the initial cost of supporting; it was more or less a substantial risk to a division of MS that was already faltering.  Games division has yet to establish any form of profit from the X360 or from any of MS's media (Zune included) and it's obvious to see that's the reason why they probably held back a little bit.  Remember, MS is a software company, not a media content company.  Sony, on the other hand, went all out for the HD era, which may have been premature, but it doesn't seem to be that way any longer.  Why would MS ever introduce a third SKU that only has three changes to the current Premium package: 1) An HDMI port, 2) Black color, and 3) 120GB hard drive.  One of those issues is entirely left to the buyer to have an opinion on (I prefer the white 360), one can be bought separately, and the last is the only thing that can't be altered on the current X360 premium model.  And what's with a $480 price point?  I guess it makes the buyer feel better that he's $20 under the dreaded $500 mark.  I understand what MS is trying to do, since they understand the market the PS3 is shooting for and they don't want that market left in the control of Sony.  But that's where the dilemma, for me, comes in.  MS seems absolutely intent on slaughtering Sony, even if their own philosophy is put on the sacrificial table.  That's what's troubling: MS is the more powerful company, but they seem to lack vision.  Game companies copy each other constantly, always manuevering around one another to try and create the most desired product possible.  But where does the gaming road lead for MS?  Is it just a "wet" market that they can impose themselves upon and suck up every last fund?  What is MS, ultimately, wanting to contribute to the medium and experience that has become videogames?  Xbox Live, I will admit, is the single greatest thing MS has done for videogames, but I don't believe that will carry them on in this industry.  As for the 360 Elite itself, I think the product is great - I really do.  But as an early adopter who would have vastly benefited from MS initially backing the HD Elite package, I feel betrayed, as I will probably feel when Sony puts out its rumble controller for the PS3.  But what concerns me more is the direction MS wants the industry to head towards, which, at least to me, is quite vague in their description of what games should be.

Now that that is out of the way, GTA IV.  Anybody else, regardless of how much you like the franchise, feel that we're all a bit too concerned over a mere trailer?  There were guys in the forums eagerly anticipating the trailer and making statements like, "I won't be satisfied unless the trailer is five minutes long and has a complete run-down about the online experience."  Give me a break.  The trailer was a good one, leaving just enough to pique the audience's interest and not divulging enough to make us feel like we've already played the game.  I think NYC is a great setting for the GTA franchise, but the role of the main character (which I think is brilliant) shows that GTA is moving towards a much different approach to the world of crime.  First, it was the mafia in Liberty City, then Drug Lords in Vice City, and finally Gang Leaders in San Andreas.  Now, it looks like we're going underground into the Arms Dealer trade from a foreign immigrant.  The guy reminds me a bit of Nicolas Cage's character in Lord of War, so I'm interested to see where it goes.  Graphically, the trailer looks close enough to what I thought it would end up being, but far short of what R* was hoping it to look like (Table Tennis engine?  Mmmhmmm...).

Well, that's it for now.  Mind the excessive use of bandwidth, I need it sometimes.  Should probably use a bit more brevity, but I don't got much else to do sitting here in the car.  Ugh, get me out of here.  Bb out.

Just got back from NYC.  Family friends had a Bat Mitzvah over the weekend and figured it was worth the while to break away and socialize for once.  It was a pretty exquisite thing too; by my count, it had to at least cost sixty grand.  Seriously, when you have enough money to rent out the Samuel Clemens estate in Weschester, you know you're upper-class.  Anyway, I'll get back to gaming (since that's all that I'm good for anyways to you people) and have reviews up for Motorstorm and God of War 2 by weeks end.  Til' then...

Just recently ended up getting a Samsung 1080p widescreen HDTV at 56" for a rather respectable sum of $1,665, all shipping and taxes included.  Not bad, I must say, and the TV is phenomenal.  My PS3 is linked up through HDMI and it looks glorious, while I've still got the component cables for the 360, but they work just fine.  I had to create my own ethernet cord in order to have my 360 in the living room and have had some trouble with it connecting, but I'm near success (for some reason it's the size of the head I used.  The packed in ethernet cable head is larger and is much more secure in the back of the 360, so I might need to buy a Hub of somekind and run my own cord into it and the packed in cable from there).

Eager to hear the news coming out of the GDC, though I'm still more excited for GoW2 and Motorstorm this week.  My PS3 is a little sick of Resistance and VF5.

The Three Rings of Death.  I survived experiencing them once, but now I have incurred the 360's wrath again and it too has decided to commit suicide.  I was innocently playing Gears of War on Live when the screen locked up, the picture became distorted, and was irresponsive.  Tried turning it off to attempt a reboot, but that didnt' work either.  She's done, mates.  Well, now I've got to go undertake the long old phone call to Microsoft to order baby #3.  I'm afraid to say that if my warranty doesn't cover it, there's not a chance MS will be keeping me around.  Sorry, but two faulty units is too much for me to handle.  Here's looking at you, Microsoft.

Since I just got my Wi-fi fixed up, I thought I'd do some reminiscing with some of my old school favorites.  Downloaded Sonic, Super Mario Bros., and Mario64, but now I'm left yearning for those games I truly miss.  A couple of them come to mind that I would love to have again.  Earthworm Jim for the SNES is near the top, but the one I'm dying to play is the old Little Nemo game for the NES.  That was sort of the one game that got me into gaming.  Throw in some DK64, Perfect Dark, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound and I'll be as happy as can be.

Got my router to finally reach my Wii's receiver and have finally hooked up, which was soon followed by a couple of VC downloads as well as the opera browser.  Only wish Sonic had individual game saves (freaking brother keeps playing my Wii! >

Nevertheless, the holiday shellshock is starting to wear off.  I continue to switch back and forth between Gears and Resistance online multiplayer, but that's relatively all.  So, hopefully February and March will roll around relatively quickly (I'm looking at you, Heavenly Sword).  In the meantime, I think I'll get back to contributing to some of my writing files.  They've sat untouched for awhile, so they deserve another entry (and about time).  Toodles.

I may be broke, but I'm set for the next 5-6 years of gaming.  Yes, that's right, I have in my possession all three of the next generation platforms, including the handhelds PSP and DS.  Though I was able to pay for it all by reselling each of the consoles (360, PS3, and Wii grossed nearly $4,000), I'm still in a financial rut.  I am, currently, still in the red, since I bought three wii's and five PS3's, plus all the accessories and games for my 360, Wii, and PS3, put me at around nearly $5,000 spent.  But I've still one more PS3 in the wings and if I can drop it for about a thousand, I'll have made money owning all three next generation platforms.

But, I know you all don't care that I have all three, but you do care which one I prefer.  Well, I'll tell you:

Verdict : Xbox 360, for now

The 360 is by far the best buy this holiday season, but that's not to say that it will end up being the best console.  If 360 and PS3 had been launched simultaneously, my verdict would not nearly be as conclusive.  PS3 suffers from the same symptoms the 360 launch did, but I believe Sony will go through with setting the system straight.  And the games will come.  The only thing holding it back is the hefty price tag.  If that drops, 360 better brace for a collision.  As for the Wii, I still don't see it as a serious competitor against the PS3 and especially against the 360.  However, I'm not going to lie, the thing is dang fun.  But my biggest issue is the lack of hardware horsepower.  I don't how far the Wii can carry its initial shock with the type of games it can produce within itself.  But I must give credit to Nintendo for their virtual console and their design of the Wii.  It looks sleek, cool, and definitely worthy of a spot next to my PS3 and 360.  Actually, I look at my 360 now with a bit of a cringe.  But Nintendo, even if they aren't on top, will have done something MS and Sony might not ever do: turn a profit.  Kudos to Nintendo, MS, and Sony, for making gaming better than it ever has been.  Now, it's up to developers to make the games the best that we've ever known.

Well, haven't done this in a long time.  Meh, I think it's time to give it a shot.

Anyways, I just played the Wii for the first time today at my local gamespot retailer and all I have to say is that Nintendo made some serious miscues.  First off, I find the controller fits great in my hand and is very simple to manage.  I particularly like the feel of the buttons.  Great job there.  But the rest goes downhill for me.  The only game I got to play was Excite Truck, which was neither graphically impressive nor was it easy to control.  I continually was run off the map due to controls being irresponsive or constantly overcorrecting.  I was unable to feel when I was going too far or when I wasn't going far enough.  It was just difficult to gauge how far to turn or how what to do.  That wasn't exactly a great demo to showcase the simplicity of the Wii games and the use of the Wii controller, so hopefully they'll get that revised.  Now, I'm not giving up on the Wii, but that really didn't help my decision.

Secondly, and probably the worst part, is that in order for me to play and handle the Wii controllers was to hand over my driver's license.  Now, going by simple logic, the vast majority of Nintendo GC owners were not able to drive cars.  Actually, a lot of the gaming population can't.  Isn't that alienating (again!) your audience from experiencing your console?  To be fair, this was Gamestop, but if this happens at every store with a Wii kiosk, it's not going to go over well.  A lot of people won't get go out of their way if they can't see the Wii controller right there in front of them.  I see this as an issue that needs to resolved quickly for Nintendo in order to be successful.

Now, they need to get some better demos, because Excite Truck just wasn't cutting it.  I give it a D+ for lackluster graphics, simple design, and irresponsive controls.  But, I will say that at some points it felt fun, but not as fun as Nintendo makes it out to be nor is it any more fun than playing with a traditional gamepad.  Actually, it was much less.

Meanwhile, I did manage to get my hands on a SIXAXIS controller for the first time.  I visited target, who had the kiosk set up, but it was missing the PS3 unit.  Well, that didn't make very much sense to me.  They just had a blank television with a controller sticking out of it.  But, I just decided I'd check out the controller for the heck of it.  My impressions were actually pretty good.  It doesn't look very flashy, which is quite a drawback, but it has made some very nice modifications.  The one that impressed me the most was the joysticks.  Their circumference on the mushroom top is much less, which makes them easy to manipulate.  They're longer too, which makes it simpler yet again.  Though I still prefer the X360 aesthetics and comfort level as far as the sticks go, the PS3's are nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

The next most noticeable thing was obviously the shoulder buttons, which have now been turned into shoulder triggers.  Now, I much prefer the button shape of the PS3 triggers than the actual triggers of the 360, but the location of the triggers is much more comfortable on the 360.  I guess you can call it draw in my humble opinion, so give it a go and see what you think.  Again, I didn't get to see any games nor see how the thing reacted to motion sensing, but the controller doesn't seem half as bad as it initially looks.  A little plain, though.  Oh, and very light.  It will take a couple of tries to get familiar with.

That's all for now.  Tata.

E3 has come and gone and we're all still recovering from the shock of the PS3's launch price, the mass unveiling of the Wii, and the whole-lot-of-nothing MS touted for its 360.  Who won?  Who lost?  Who cares?  To sum it all up in one word: us.

I personally thought E3 was a PR disaster for each and every company.  Sony's Playstation 3 eradicated the former price barrier and has caused a ton of negative feedback to pour across the internet.  Conspiracy theories and rationalized reasoning aside, the PS3's price is way too high for the casual gamer and the mainstream crowd.  X360 is going to take a large chunk of Playsation's market share, though how much is dependent on future events.  Meanwhile, the "innovative" Nintendo Wii became the talk of the town, but to what end?  Though my personal opinion does not reflect the collective opinions of other gamers, I must say I was entirely underwhelmed.  Nothing caught my attention except the same old stuff:  Mario, Metroid, and Zelda.  Everything else was either a) Gimmicky as hell b) Visually nauseating or c) Incredibly predictable.  Nintendo has a vision of what gaming should be, but that's doesn't necessarily reflect what we want it to be.

And ultimately guess who gets to pay for it all?  Developers and consumers.  We take the hit and we get drained of every hard dollar we've earned.  Seriously, game prices are on the rise and PS3 games are rumored to reach even $80!!!  This is not fun.  On the upside, PS3 did show the most technically impressive games at the show, which provides some hope to the despondent fanboys who decorate the face of the planet.  Sony has the support, but they don't have the momentum.  Is the videogame market leader nothing more than just an occasional popularity contest?  Only time will tell.  Meanwhile, MS was just leaning back and watching Sony (supposedly) implode all over the LA convention center.  But what did MS really show?  If PS3 had come out and totally stolen the show, MS would be in complete damage control.  They were the ones who pulled a 'Sony' this year.  They showed little more than mere trailers of games that were "supposedly" in real-time.  Though they have some promising titles, all they showed were CG trailers (and some real-time trailers) declaring that they would eventually make an appearance.  How about some gameplay next time, eh?  The only game that stood out in my mind was Mass Effect.  Too Human's gameplay looks incredibly formulated while Gears of War looks like an arcade version of GRAW.  Nothing special there.

Nintendo, on the other hand, held no brightspots for me.  With PS3, I know what I'm getting.  With 360, I know what to expect.  But with the Wii, I have no idea what to expect.  First off, Nintendo is in a bind with their PR.  The Wii will definitely alienate a lot of their demographic, but it's supposed to attract others in.  Will it?  I don't think so and I can only see a continuing slide for Nintendo in the gaming market.  The best thing that they can hopefully do is market the Wii as a contemporary tribute to the gaming years they once provided with the occassional hit using the Wii's new abilities.  But you could walk into any restaurant in America and find an arcade that offers similar gameplay and graphics to that of the Wii.  It's just not going to happen for them.  Expect somewhere between 10-25 million consoles.

We, the gamers, will get what we want.  Some of us want Wii, others want PS3, and others want to keep their money.  This generation has the makings of a market crash, which could very well occur.  In order to avoid that, the lifespan of a console needs to be extended AT LEAST two years and it must be the consensus of all its major roleplayers in order to happen.  Basing my predictions on what I've seen thus far, I expect X360 to take the market lead from PS3 by at least 10 million units.  PS3 will sell around 40-50 million units.  Too many fans and slashed prices will bring in enough to support that much.  Meanwhile, X360 will gain some from both Nintendo and Sony, gathering the lead at 60+ million.  The Wii will not be as lucky.  I highly expect a sub 20 million mark from it.  This could very well be Nintendo's final console and if my predictions are correct, I believe that it will be their last profitable console.

E3 is a gamer's holiday where all of us unite in order to indulge in the spoils that technology and big-business corporations have catered to us in order to swoon every penny possible out of our pockets.  Who wins?  Who loses? Who cares?  We do.  That's why gaming is so popular.  Because we make it so.  Without us, there's no Playstation, no Xbox, no Nintendo.  We decide what happens in this market and if we voice our discontent and unite our visions in a combined declaration, we can mold a gaming system that occompanies our every desire.  And to us, that's what matters.

The time is here.  I'm slowly wasting away while playing Oblivion and KH2 and I'm loving every minute of it.  Well, except I got my wisdom teeth removed a few days ago, which sucks, but it provides me an excuse to keep gaming.  I'm wrapping up both games, however, and I think it's ripe time I returned to doing some writing.  I've been doing some poetry lately, but I think I'm going to try my hand at screenplay, short stories, novellas, or possibly even scripts if I find the right chord.  I might return to work on my novel "Free," but it's hard to return to something you've yet to start.  Oh well, I think I'll go kill Xemnas again and pickpocket Jauffre while I'm at it....

Well, here we are in January, and life sucks when it comes down to videogames.  All the games I'm interested in are either coming out in Spring or have been delayed til late this year.  My 360 broke down and I had to send it in last week for repair, should get back sometime this week, or at least I hope it does.  Not only that, but there's still nothing concerning the PS3 launch or any specifics of Revo games or its launch.  COME ON PEOPLE!!!  Get Kh2, Oblivion, FFXII, Zelda: TP and Okami out here before I freaking blow my brains out.  I can't take this any longer.  Guess I'll go back to my writing for awhile....