I purchased the PSP 2 weeks after its US launch, and have now purchased a DS. I can say for certain that the DS has some advantages, and some disadvantages, and I personally can't say either one is superior to the other in the long-run. Advance Wars: DS is one of the games that does show off how to really take advantage of the touch screen in games that normally are tedious to play with standard controls. My complaint here is that the game's sensitivity isn't fuzzy enough when it comes to the pop-up menus, so if you tap in JUST the wrong spot on the wait command, you get cancelled out of the menu. I have done multiple calibrations with zero effect on the behavior. Super Mario 64 DS is an example of where the DS went wrong in using the touch screen. The analog control could have been PERFECT if it wasn't for one annoying trait: if you go beyond the edge of the 'analog stick' display, the circle moves with you. This is a very annoying trait as your brain automatically returns to a center that isn't a center, and wham... Mario et al eat sky. Not to mention then having to pick up your thumb and place it back down like a mouse, and it creates a rather annoying experience. Since this is a software issue, one can hope it doesn't appear is some of the newer titles, like Metroid Prime: Hunters. Still, I think this game would actually have fared better on the PSP than on the DS, ironically. On the other hand, Guilty Gear XX #Reload (import) is an example of where the PSP fares better. The D-pad, actually having a little more complexity than simply a cover over a series of 4 1-penny button switches, gives better control. It doesn't offer as much control as say the PS2 controller, because the d-pad is a little more 'compressed', but still much more comfortable and responsive than the DS d-pad. Metal Gear Acid, ironically would have been easier to control on the DS than the PSP, although the DS would not have looked nearly as nice as Acid did on the PSP. RPGs are a mixed bag I think. The PSP gets the advantage on action RPGs, while the DS gets the advantage on turn-based RPGs. By splitting your menus and stats onto the touch screen, active systems (similar to Chrono Trigger and FFVII in particular) are much easier to navigate and helps ease some of the rushed feeling when using a d-pad. Tap, tap, spell cast. On the other hand, an analog stick still feels better on the hands when in a full-action environment. In the end, they both have strengths over the other, and as long as Sony can start getting more powerful 3rd party support for the PSP in the US... they will both (eventually) be worthy of owning for those who can afford 400$ of gaming handheld.

Seems there has been a LOT of debate (*cough*hdguy28 stirring up #@$!*cough*) about BluRay, HD-DVD, and apparently the new favorite is HVD. To get the BluRay vs HD-DVD support out of the way... here is a listing of some of the key players and my take on the situation: - Computer Manufacturers Supporting BluRay: Apple, HP, Dell, Sony. - Computer Manufacturers Supporting HD-DVD: Toshiba, NEC, Acer. HP and Dell by themselves own the majority of the marketshare, Apple pretty much ensures that the Mac kool-aid drinkers will be using BluRay, and Linux users are screwed (like they always are). Toshiba and NEC haven't been big names in the computer industry for awhile (NEC and Acer in particular, Toshiba is the strongest of the three in terms of market-share). - Studios Supporting BluRay: Columbia-Tristar, 20th Century Fox, Disney (and by extension ABC), Warner Brothers, Paramount, Buena Vista (whoever the hell actually owns them), and recently: Lions Gate Films. - Studios Supporting HD-DVD: Universal, Warner Brothers, Paramount. 20th Century, Disney, and Buena Vista have not shown any indication of supporting HD-DVD, and Universal has been tight-lipped, although rumors persist that they might support BluRay. My guess is that Universal still wants to wait things out a little longer before deciding to stay backing HD-DVD exclusively. - Media Manufacturers Supporting BluRay: TDK, Memorex, Maxell (Hitachi sits on the board) - Media Manufacturers Supporting HD-DVD: Maxell This really doesn't have much of an impact, IMO, as they will take their advances to the other side if one fails, but it is interesting to note that the major companies all support BluRay, and Maxell is playing both sides simply to hedge bets. - Video Card Manufacturers Supporting BluRay: ATi, Nvidia - Video Card Manufacturers Supporting HD-DVD: *crickets chirping* 'nuff said. This is important for getting hardware assist early on in PCs and Laptops. - STB Manufacturers Supporting BluRay: Panasonic, Phillips, Sony, Pioneer, Daewoo. - STB Manufacturers Supporting HD-DVD: NEC, Toshiba, (Intel + Microsoft). The (Intel + Microsoft) bit is from the announcement that they are jointly making a CE-based HD-DVD player. In reality, that means there will be 3 brands of HD-DVD drive available. Sony has gotten more support from the major 3rd party guys without having to resort to bringing a whole new player into the market. Unless the 'fight' drags out for a really long period of time, then new players will not have a huge impact on adoption. It is also interesting to note that Kenwood, one of the oldest and largest audiophile equipment manufacturers is with BluRay, not HD-DVD. This information is straight from each side's main websites. Total Count: - 147 companies supporting BluRay worldwide. - 114 companies supporting HD-DVD worldwide (I even included all 4 susidiaries of Toshiba, and 2 subsidiaries of NEC who were listed under the same name... so Toshiba is counted 5 times, and NEC counted 3 times... account for the multiples and it drops down to 108 members). These numbers are accurate as of 5 minutes ago. So, if you want the lists themselves... http://www.bluraydisc.com/Section-13469/Index.html BluRay Member List http://www.hddvdprg.com/about/member.html HD-DVD Member List As for HVD... well, that is another story. This is a format that will be hitting sometime in 2007 at very steep pricing (want a blank disc? Pay 100$ for it). Because of the costs, which are still quite good for the storage, it is being marketed as a backup format. Much like Magneto Optical and Tape before it. However, the 1.6TB discs that people have been drooling over won't even be ready until 2010. When they are, a single blank in a jewelcase will still cost more than a box set of Friends Season 1 on BluRay. It has NO support currently to store movies, music, or any other content on it... just prosumer and corporate storage. It is NOT a contender in the current BluRay/HD-DVD spat, nor will it replace either one anytime soon. Manufacturing costs are just too high for mass-produced content (HD-DVD and BluRay are both under a quarter a disc to mass-produce, HVD would be mass-produced at costs over 50$/disc for blanks).

A lot has changed since E3. Two more trade shows have gone by (if you count X05 as a trade show), showing even more of the 360. After getting my own chance to mess around with the 360: I like it. It takes all the things that made me cringe about the XBox and makes it much better, and there are actually 4 launch games that I want. If that isn't a shock, I don't know what is. Yet, a few things haven't changed. We have discovered that MS was only partially honest at E3. The system doesn't have wireless and the HDD 'standard' (unless you live in Japan). The strong launch library is starting to look like the PSP launch library. The price announcement at E3 turned out to be misleading. The global launch is turning out to be an 'oops'-style decision. I still have a 360 on preorder despite this. Why? Well, it shows promise, and the planned games do interest me. For me, the point where I say it is time to buy is when the total cost of the games you want is greater than it would cost to get the console (as long as you can afford any of the pricing, mind you). The 360 has reached that point for me. Now, the Revolution. Nintendo has some promise with taking a departure from normal controllers, both from an economic and a end-user standpoint. They differentiate themselves from the rest of the consoles by allowing more choice in how a game is played, meaning that no matter who wins the overall market, Nintendo will still have a niche market that MS/Sony cannot cater to. They guarantee their survival by doing so as long as there are some compelling games. I still plan on watching the PS3 and the Revolution further, to see what the actual results are. I didn't mention anything about the PS3 because there really isn't much to say yet, other than the obvious MGS4 trailer and a small statement that Sony is working on a different controller design (to be unveiled in January). On a side-note, it is kinda funny to watch people in system wars argue over hype and rumor while calling it fact (with a little fact mixed in for good measure to stir the FUD pot).

Now that the E3 dust has settled (except in the System Wars forum), it is safe to say that pretty much everything there was overhyped. Pause a moment to reflect on this, and then most will quickly realize: every E3 is overhyped. This is the whole point of E3, hype the press into a frenzy to get mindshare months before your product even hits the streets. We definitely saw this with the new generation of consoles this year. I think the next three lines sum up the overhype from this year... kudo points to those who can correctly guess which ones can be attributed to which company (shouldn't be too hard).

- We used hardware which is not going to be like our system to run our demos.
- We pandered to the public, showing them what they wanted to see, not what we could show them.
- See this gadget? Isn't it nifty? Even we can't seem to figure out what it will do yet, exactly!

Ready for the answer? All three apply to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. They /all/ overhyped their systems using all three of these methods above, to varying degrees. In the end, they will all be in the same ballpark, and will appeal to different groups. I think it is safe to say that these are things that will be true for the next gen... and not specifically about the consoles themselves...

- Don't expect Microsoft to make huge inroads into Japan with this one, as they trust a suit and tie to sell them a good product than they do a khaki or jeans wearing dancing man shouting "Developers!" over and over again. MS needs to get over their casual culture (which I am a part of, ironically) and realize that they have to act professional in order to get respect in the Japanese market, which they haven't done. Still, we get a good laugh out of a CEO dancing around on stage acting like a rock-star... don't we?
- Don't expect Sony to stop milking on accessories, although do expect them to sell more bizarre ones, including the Playstation 3 Kitchen Sink(tm)... after all, they didn't include it built-in. Also, make sure you tuck your new PS3 in at night with the dust cover, and always remember to buy lots of expensive flash memory... otherwise you won't have enough room for your pr0n.... err, game saves.
- Expect Nintendo to do ground-breaking things, but only once, and involving hardware you have to buy each time. They play the milking game better than Sony, and they do it with a legion of kids at their disposal, getting the money-holding parents to buckle under "But moooooooooom, I waaaaaaant it!" Who else can sell you a barcode scanner and packs of collectible cards seperately and tell you that this is a good thing for gaming?

Another thing about hype that I have noticed is that it makes people collectively stupid. Claims start being made with zero evidence, because they want their hyped product to be true. Take Coded Arms, for example... an FPS coming out for the PSP rather soon (heh, was 2 weeks, now 1 month, 2 weeks). The rumor got started, like every other game on the hyped PSP since Twisted Metal, that it would be online. Now people hold Konami to this claim, even though it was started by someone on the GS/GF forums! And no matter how many threads on the front page have 'Online' in the title, people will create more saying "gee, I hope it has online, if it doesn't, then I will boycott it since I was promised online by person X". Sorry guys, I hate to burst your bubble, but you have been 'pwnd' by the hype machine.

Next E3... I am gonna build a BS detector and go there.... it will just be a box marked 'BS Detector, rapid beeping means companies are overhyping their products", and it will rapidly beep as long as it is turned on.

Finished Star Ocean 3 months ago... sometime in December to be specific. Despite the fact that I botched the ending so that Fayt would be all alone and that annoyed me, it was a rather satisfying end. Definitely a worthwhile game.

Meanwhile, I got a PSP at the beginning of April, and here is the good/bad/ugly:

Good:
- Crisp Screen, Analog Nub!
- Lumines' assualt on gamers' senses
- Metal Gear Acid, Wipeout Pure

Bad:
- iPod-like smear-magnet of a finish!
- Rengoku's assault on gamers' desire for an action game
- No FPS or Japanese-style RPG in the US yet

Ugly:
- Yellow power port! Pastel brown background screen!
- EA & Activision's assault on gamers' wallets
- DS-quality port of Dynasty Warriors

Woo, Maria. The second 10 hours puts me on the last couple of tasks on the first disc, as far as I know. The war suddenly stops, Maria appears and starts twisting Fayt's world into a big messed up knot. The battles get harder, and you find yourself keeping track of even more in combat in order to keep yourself from getting destroyed like a group of bugs against bosses. BTs become harder to acheive, but the game itself is not any worse than before. Can't say much more without ruining major plot points, but I am looking forward to getting versus mode unlocked so I can get a little practice in.

Having reached the 10 hour mark in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (after nearly waiting that long to get the game), I have found that the commentary made by GameSpot's review does not entirely do it justice in a couple of areas. While the review comments that you must level up in order to progress, as if it was something you had to go out of your way to do. I have found myself simply playing through and higher level than I need to be the first time through the Kirlsa Ruins. I can attribute this to the bonus battle system, where rewards like triple XP for just fighting well for multiple battles in a row get pretty silly and you find yourself 4-5 levels higher than you need to be to defeat a boss. The 'motionless' mouth comment makes me feel that the reviewer wasn't paying attention enough, as the mouth movement does exist, but the game uses an imperfect method of using the audio dialogue to determine mouth movement (of course, I could be wrong), which is great because the movement is always synced, but is bad because sometimes low volume causes weirdness. The stereo downmixing for dialogue isn't the best either, as it feels that characters facing away from the camera are quieter than they need to be. Still, the battle system is rather superb. Quick and deadly, and rarely do battles form the same pattern after the first 1-2 hits. Definitely something I am sinking more time into over the next few weeks.