The last I'd heard about Xbox One being released without Kinect must have been a few months ago, in an article in which analyst Michael Pachter was saying such a release from Microsoft was pretty much a certainty. I thought it seemed likely that this would eventually happen as well, but it obviously wasn't official news from Microsoft at the time. Today I received an e-mail from EB Games advertising an Xbox One standalone console bundle.

I have to admit I'm surprised to see this so soon. Not having kept up with gaming news lately, this was big news to me, particularly because I didn't like the idea of Kinect from the start. The creep factor. We're surrounded by technology these days, and I wouldn't get rid of my computer for anything, but Kinect, with all its special - and in some cases borderline intrusive - functions, wasn't something I would have wanted to be mandatory for any console. Certainly not one I'd buy, anyway.

As an owner of Xbox and Xbox 360, now I can say that I'll be purchasing an Xbox One standalone console this year, and will be looking forward to playing Halo 5 in 2015.

It's finally happened - Forever has gone gold. Gearbox buying the franchise a while back surprised me, but you really have to wonder what was going through the minds of the top guys at 3D Realms. The employees put a ton of work into it over so many (many, many) years, but still never got to see it to its release.

What didn't surprise me, though, was knowing Forever was actually going to be released, simply because it'd be crazy to let a character with as much popularity (= $$$) as Duke just die.

The gameplay in the trailers looks alright, but the design of the environments is so typically old-school 3D Realms that I can't help but get excited. It's like looking at a graphically superior version of Duke Nukem 3D, particularly the buildings.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Duke back in action!

This one took ages! x.x Late merry Christmas to anyone who might stumble across this. *Tumbleweed.*

1. Van Nguyen - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Van/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893598&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

2. Jody Robinson - http://au.gamespot.com/users/JodyR/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893594&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

3. Guy Cocker - http://au.gamespot.com/users/guy_cocker/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893558&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

4. Matthew Gravish - http://au.gamespot.com/users/mgravish/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893574&tag=all-about%3Bblog1#post_comment

5. Chris Watters - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Chris_Watters/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893547&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

6. Kevin VanOrd - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Kevin-V/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893569&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

7. Aaron Sampson - http://au.gamespot.com/users/AirDog80/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893530&tag=my-friends%3B7

8. Alex Sassoon Coby - http://au.gamespot.com/users/sebFlyte/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893542&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

9. Wernher Goff - http://au.gamespot.com/users/wornstar/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893595&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink3

10. Jan Heir - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Jan_Meja_Heir/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893561&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

11. Randolph Ramsay - http://au.gamespot.com/users/RandolphRam/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893577&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

12. Andrew Park - http://au.gamespot.com/users/AndrewP/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893543

13. Mark Walton - http://au.gamespot.com/users/markypants/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893573&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

14. Justin Calvert - http://au.gamespot.com/users/JusticeCovert/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893566&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

15. Sophia Tong - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Sophia/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893585&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink3

16. Kurtis Seid - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Yarvem/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893570&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

17. Giancarlo Varanini - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Giancarlo/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893556&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

18. Justin Porter - http://au.gamespot.com/users/jporter313/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893567&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

19. Ryan MacDonald - http://au.gamespot.com/users/RyanM/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893611&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink1

20. Tyler Winegarner - http://au.gamespot.com/users/TylerW/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893599&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

21. Maxwell McGee - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Maxwell/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893575&tag=all-about%3Bblog2

22. James Kozanecki - http://au.gamespot.com/users/kozanecki/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893560&tag=my-friends%3B2

23. Frank Adams - http://au.gamespot.com/users/frank7731/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893551&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

24. Sarju Shah - http://au.gamespot.com/users/SarjuS/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893581&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

25. Shaun McInnis - http://au.gamespot.com/users/shaunmc/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893583&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink4

26. Ricardo Torres - http://au.gamespot.com/users/RicardoT/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893579&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink4

27. Tom Magrino - http://au.gamespot.com/users/TomM_GScom/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893588&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

28. Dan Chiappini - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Chippa7/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893548

29. Homer Rabara - http://au.gamespot.com/users/gshomer/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893559&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

30. Takeshi Hiraoka - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Takeshi-GS/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893587&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

31. Tor Thorsen - http://au.gamespot.com/users/thorsen-ink/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893591

32. Jim Maybury - http://au.gamespot.com/users/jmaybury/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893564&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

33. Carolyn Petit - http://au.gamespot.com/users/carolynmichelle/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893546

34. Tom McShea - http://au.gamespot.com/users/TomMcShea/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893589&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink2

35. Dan Mihoerck - http://au.gamespot.com/users/neur0sis/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893549&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

36. Jane Douglas - http://au.gamespot.com/users/janedouglas/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893563&tag=my-friends%3B5

37. Brendan Sinclair - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Polybren/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893544&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

38. Laura Parker - http://au.gamespot.com/users/Lozzica/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893571&tag=all-about%3Bblog1