First off ... screw Safari, the web browser, for allowing me to get to the period on this blog and then closing randomly so that I have to write this ish over again. Safari = the worst browser out there. Never had a browser quit unexpectedly more than Safari. Thanks for being a giant F! So ... let's see if I can re-capture my thoughts somehow and get this blog back to at least near where it was, if not better! :-p *sigh* Okay ... so ... I guess I'll start out again by saying that I haven't been able to get a hold of a PS3 or a Wii yet, but at the same time, I'm not so disappointed in that. Take a look at the long list of junky launch titles and tell me why I should be excited about buying a Wii so that I can play ... the original Legend of Zelda for NES? Um ... wait ... I must be confused ... I'll just turn to the 360 and get pumped up for ... Contra? or Defender? Wait ... what's going on here? I thought these were next-generation consoles? Hmm ... well that's okay there's always the PS3 which has ... Blast ... Factor ... DOUBLE-U TEE EFF, MATE!?! Why sites are even dedicating reviews to these games is beyond me ... I guess I can understand reviews of new games in to the field ... but a review of Contra? and a review of the NES games? Why? Why why why? Also ... why are these placed on a pedestal like this is what we had hoped for out of these next-generation systems? We should all be stamping our feet in outrage that they expect to hold us over, until a quality game is released, with titles from 10+ years ago on 8 and 16-bit systems? Oh, my bad ... the Wii has some games from 64-bit systems, my bad. Okay, seriously though ... why the lack of a good launch title lineup again? The same went with the 360 a year ago. I was so anxious to get a 360, but when I got it ... I realized ... "hey ... there aren't too many games out for this yet, eh?" This year I haven't bought into the hype of the new consoles. I'm not yet thoroughly impressed with either of the two new systems. I'm not sure why the most exciting game to me on the Wii beyond Twilight Princess is ... Super Monkey Ball (if you don't count Wii Sports). Also a bit confused why I'm not interested in just about ANY of the other games besides Resistance on the PS3. Perhaps because a lot of them are already out on the 360 ... with online support ... like Tony Hawk. Yeah, not too impressed yet. Oh, and it doesn't help that Sony is losing exclusive titles left and right to the 360 ... well ... it helps me ... but not them. I'm also glad the PS3 has built-in Wi-Fi as a perk over the 360 ... oh ... but wait ... their online system is poorly developed and I would compare that feature to ... a HDTV working with an analog cable signal ... a nice idea ... but no meat to it. Here are some titles I am looking forward to: - Alan Wake (360) - Assassin's Creed (360/PS3) - Fuzion Frenzy 2 (360) - Indiana Jones (360) - Resident Evil 5 (360/PS3) - GTA IV (duh) (360/PS3) - Any title developed by Fumito Ueda (Probably the only good PS3 exclusive) - God of War 2 (PS2) I guess another thing that is really getting to me is how so many games are being pushed back or advertised WAY too early. It gets me scared that they're going to be flops. Like Alan Wake or Assassin's Creed, for example, have both been advertised for months now and there's really very little in the way of videos of gameplay on either of them. I really like the concepts of each game, but I'm worried Assassin's Creed will turn out to be too similar to Hitman (not in a good way) and that Alan Wake ... well ... I don't know what the heck to expect with that game. That game has been promoted since the dawn of the 360, but still no sign of it! Also, Microsoft pushes back Fuzion Frenzy 2 to February? What the heck! I thought I just played a nice demo of that game about a month or two ago ... and all the stores had the release dates set for earlier this month along with Tony Hawk and stuff and then *poof* it gets pushed back like a week before it was supposed to be released. Oh, and why is Lost Planet getting so much hype? I tried the demo like a few months ago and it even has a second demo out now ... and it still isn't scheduled for release for another two months! I didn't think it was all that impressive, really. Gears of War did a great job of creating a great game ... hyping it up at an appropriate time pre-release ... and delivering when expected. I didn't see any demos of Gears of War six months ago, hehe. Yes, the holiday season is over for gamers. The release date lists are empty and there's little to look forward to over the next month or so. Just a bunch of TBA 2007 and even TBA 2006 games. Wow, I am looking forward to TBA 2007, what month is that again? There are like hundreds of games scheduled for release then! j/k :-p I am glad I have Gears of War and a few others to keep me company for the time being, but still ... I coulda used a few other pick-me-ups this time of year. Why is it that those lists are so sparsely populated? Well perhaps if some of the $2500 that people spend on a PS3 to buy it from a guy on eBay actually went towards the manufacturer's of the system and the gaming developers ... then perhaps we'd see more titles. But nope ... that's not the American way. The American train of thought is "well if he's doing it, why shouldn't I?" and so ... the lines on each launch day are filled with people just waiting to get their hands on a system so that they can ... play it? nooooo ... so they can turn around and sell it on eBay for 4x+ the price. Honestly, I don't blame them ... I mean ... there's no limitation on turning around and selling these things ... perhaps it's the people that buy them at those prices we should point out? Nah ... I dunno that I could blame them, either. I just think it is really silly that there aren't any re-selling limitations on these consoles. Can you imagine how different the gaming world might be if those thousands of extra dollars per console went into the pockets of the developers that work hard to create games for the gamers? But they have enough money already ... that's what people seem to enjoy thinking. Did I call it in my previous blog or what?! I was kinda hoping I'd be wrong ... but at the same time ... I'm not really so disappointed about not getting one of the new systems after all. Hopefully we'll see some more solid release dates appear in the near future. It would even be cool if a game just all-of-a-sudden was released without much notice ... as long as the game was good, hehe. Peace and happy holidays to all you gamers and non-gamers out there! (I guess that's everyone, hehe) - Brian