That feeling you had when you first held an aircraft control column, felt like you controlled the world in your hand. Recently I've been through a spate of purchasing gaming collectable peripherals, starting with the Steel Battalion set up and now with Ace Combat 6's Ace Edge. This has seriously hurt the wallet and means savings will be hurt, especially with the Royal International Air Tattoo just round the corner; guess I'll have to smooch some extra dough off my dad. After that its time for some major sacrifices so please let there be no more big game releases, there were far too many for me in May & June (didn't help either that my 360 is on the friz, well I guess we are all destined to get the RROD at least once).

Kennedy's famous words during his declaration of the "Space Race" continue to flow through the hearts and minds of all who envision man's journey into the heavens. I have practically lived my whole life by these words as I have taken the many challenges during my education and work.

Although I have only watched the first four episodes of the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon", I have already been captivated by the risks, challenges and sacrfices that NASA had to face in order to accomplish one of mankind's greatest achievements.

Whilst the crew of Apollo XI, not surprisingly, continue to remain the most well known, a lot of my recent interest has laid with Apollo VIII, the first humans ever to leave the confines of Earth orbit and travel into the darkness of Space. What must have been going through their hearts and minds when they witnessed the first "Earth-rise" by a human being? This was something special, many great explorers had witnessed great wonders over the centuries on Earth and this was no different.

One part of the mission that I always recall was the crew's Christmas message during their lunar orbit, where they read the opening extracts from the Book of Genesis, a fitting description of what one of the crew members described as "a green oasis in the desolate vastness of Space". Their transmission remains to this day the most watched transmission in history with approximately a quarter of the human population having watched it. Pope Paul VI, who met Mission Commander Frank Borman afterwards, told him with regards to their reading of Genesis: "I have spent my entire life trying to say to the world what you did on Christmas Eve".

With eight more episodes to go, I look forward to delving deeper into the lives of these brave pioneers, and with the Orion Programme on the horizon, I can only hope that we as a people will return to what our predecessors once began.

For the Dream is alive in all of us, we just have to be willing to make it reality.

 

We all have hobbies, but there are always those that perhaps have too many and in the end we lack one of two things (or both):

1. Time

2. Money

 

Lets admit it, gaming is no cheap hobby. With the newest consoles now on the market and games a plenty in stores or on there way, we are constantly struggling to make available the time necessary to finish them (even tougher when you have to go to work and other committments) and the dinero to make them yours.

I will not deny, with 6 consoles and a PC it definetely hurst the wallet, especially since I'm a flightsim afficionado so hardware costs a bundle (but damn its worth it). But with plenty of other expensive hobbies (reading, model building and aviation photography), its a case of jumbling around what to do each time you have some time off.  I've already noticed a significant backlog of games building up, and with my mech models remaining incomplete in 3 different countries, I have plenty to do but not enough time (even worse when you gotta do the housework). At least its weekends like this that help me do some catching up, though last thing I wanna do is stay indoors (though what else do you expect to do in Luton when you lack a drivers license?).

Well, enough ranting, I should use this time I got now to work on my "to do" list.

Until next time, FX102 signing off.

 p.s. Ace Combat & Nintendo rule!!

We all love games here right? Everytime we obtain anew one, a little part of our body will tingle at the impending excitement until we slot it in, close the disk cover or click the icon. Of course there is always one point where many gamers may feel a bit uneasy or even guilty; when the cash leaves our hand, the signature is made or the enter button is pressed following our PIN.

Monay is unquestionably one of the most important aspects of gaming and with today's next-gen consoles (or at least two of them), it is becoming an even greater concern among many. Companies know that the gaming industry is growing and becoming ever more popular; all the more reason to squeeze out as much from us as possible? The growing costs of some games and their consoles should be a concern for many and one trend I hope will not continue. Then again, after looking some of my old SNES games, I was somewhat shocked to see some price tags ranging from £50 - £60, prices I would refuse to pay these days. Then again, it was my parents dealing with those!

In addition, many veteran gamers will know how there are certain times of the year when a huge fluz of games come out, whilst there are also those where barely any decent titles are released. I can still remember November 2004 when I spent approximately £150 on 4 recently released titles within a week. These days, most of my money goes on older games that were either hard to find or those I was waiting for their prices to drop. Of course, with the Wii out in December, I fear I must prepare myself once again for the impending flow of money out of my bank account.

I know E3 isn't over yet, but I've constantly been returning to Gamespot to keep up to date with all the news, teasers and gameplay movies that have been coming out and so far I am truly impressed with what I'm seeing.

If one company has really reached my "Wow" Factor, it has to be Nintendo. So far, the numerous games I've seen on the Wii including Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Red Steel and Super Mario Galaxy have my hands waving around in preparation for their eventual release. They may not have the best graphics, but they truly seem to be what all games should be, Fun!

As for the other two console giants, Halo 3 looks impressive, but until I see some gameplay I'm afriad I won't be drawn in just yet. As for Sony, well you certainly got my attention, primarily due to the amount of money your asking for the PS3. As for the tilt sensor, I did use such a device 4 years ago on a PC with a flight simulator and I must admit I wasn't too impressed. Show me some truly high quality and partially innovative games before I start coughing up £400.

Being an avid fan of the popular Japanese francise Gundam, I am one of those poor European fans that do not receive any of their games in our stores.

Throughout the now concluding console generation, only one Gundam game was ever released, Federation vs Zeon for the PS2, which introduced me to mobile suit combat on a console. Since then, I have had to rely on purchases during my trips to the States and an expensive modification of my console.

Is it possible that this may change with Mobile Ops: The One Year War, the first purely Gundam game without the word in its title for the 360. Its Battlefield-esque gameplay style has my interests, though after seeing the trailer, I'm a bit concerned about the bleak scenery (a common problem with Gundam games) and the instantaneous turns of the Zaku mobile suits (when they turn to run away from you, they don't actually turn their back just instantaneously takes the place of the front).

If they can fix these querks and try to push for a European release, then I am evern one step closer to being a 360 owner. On a side note, how does this bode for the PS3's Gundam World, a game of which nothing has been heard of since its initial trailer was shown a year ago?

Well, my first ever blog here and I think my first topic should be over gamings newest contender, the XBOX 360.

Just prior to Christmas, my friend got one and over the hols, I got a chance to play it with some Perfect Dark Zero multiplayer action. Whilst definetely fun, it wasn't in my eyes a first-class title and didn't support me buying one.

However, my friend has been bugging me to get one so he could face me on XBOX Live. With the recent release (in the UK) of Ghost Recon 3 and Elder Scrolls IV, I am heavily tempted but with a price-tag of approximately £350 - £400, it is a lot of money we are dealing with.

The outcome still remains to be seen...