Hey guys, it's been a little while since I've posted a blog. So, I thought I'd share some stories about Gaming with animals. Now, animals have been characters in games forever (Banjo Kazooie, R&C, Crash Bandicoot, etc.) , enemies in games forever (Mario, Jak, Kirby, etc.), and even targets (I'm looking at YOU Duck Hunt!). But, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about pets, friends pets, and even zoo animals! Here's a couple stories.

Okay, so, just to let you know, I've had almost every major console and handheld (and a few not so major) at sometime in my life. I've had: Atari 2600, NES, Atari 5200, SNES, Vectrex, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Atari 7800, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Intellivision, Aquarius, NeoGeo, Colecovision, Sega 32X, Magnavox Odyssey 1 and 2, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16, 3DO, Virtual Boy, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 1/2/3, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, Xbox and Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PSP, and Wii. I probably forgot one or two, but, these are the ones I remember. And what's even more amazing is I still have all of them, and all the games I've had for them. I literally have a room stacked to the ceiling with my systems and games. Now, that being said, I've had nearly as many pets as well. I've had: Milton (Office Space is awesome), Jefferson, Junior, Sammy, Sophie, Bailey, Chenka, Mookie, Jasper, Goldilock (the goldfish), and of course Dipstick.

1993:

So right after I got my Sega CD for my Genesis, I put some of my old games in the game room to make a space in my cabinet for all the new games I thought I would be getting. I also just got my dog, Jefferson, who was a german sheperd, lab, mix. Unfortunately, my Sega CD and my games were short lived... When I came home from work about a week later, I went into my living room, to find that my game cabinet (and about 10 Genesis and Sega CD games) was absolutely trashed. Games were falling out, CD pieces were everywhere (I accidently stepped on one), and... Jefferson was chewing on one of my Genesis controllers, completely ignoring me! I quickly put him in the backyard, so I could clean up. It wasn't until I picked up my Genesis, to check underneath for CD shards, that I heard something sloshing around inside of it. He had peed on it! Now, my Genesis wouldn't work, a lot of my games were broken, and I was afraid Jefferson had eaten some plastic or something he wasn't supposed to! Luckily, Jefferson was fine, and I found a Genesis for dirt cheap at the local flea market (I assume most the stuff there was stolen, or "fell off the truck"), of course, I still had to buy new games.

1995:

So I still had Jefferson, but, now I also had Junior, a pomeranian (a monster pomeranian, he weighed 25 lbs., about twice the size of a normal pomeranian), who was a year old and full grown. I also had just gotten a Playstation. I had my Playstation in my game cabinet, but, learning from my incident with Jefferson, it was now locked. So, one day, I was out in my garage working on changing my mower's blade and it's spark plug, when I heard a huge BOOM from inside. I rushed in to find my game cabinet lying on the floor and a huge whole in the drywall. My cabinet had been hooked to the wall with some nails and scrap wood, and I guess when my father had put it up for me (he was a carpenter, and he built me the cabinet about a month before he passed away) he hadn't found the studs in the wall. It was then I saw Junior chewing on the scrap wood that was holding the cabinet up! Luckily, my games weren't damaged, and after a good weekend, I had fixed the drywall. Unfortunately, the Playstation disc cover broke off, and I had to send it in and wait a few weeks for a new one. But, I was most thankful that none of my dogs had been hit by the cabinet when it fell. Then i put the cabinet back up with an inch thick piece of plywood and 64 3 inch screws.

2001:

Here's my last story. I had just gotten a new Gamecube. I still had Jefferson and Junior, but now I had Sophie, a big fluffy cat that was 3 years old. My game cabinet was kinda old, so I reinforced it with some new titanium screws, new hinges, and I even installed a little fan in the back so it wouldn't get too hot. Well, while I was putting on the hinges, I went to get the ones I bought from Home Depot, which were in the kitchen. When I came back, I saw a terrible sight. Jefferson had grabbed my Gamecube and was now chewing on the corner. I yelled at him to stop as I ran over. He bolted past me into the kitchen and I had to chase him around the house at least twice. Finally he dropped it...... INTO HIS WATER DISH! I spent hours drying it out, I even had to open it, to get the water out from the inside. But, it was no use, the whole disc drive was flooded, and so was most everything else. About a week later I got it back from Nintendo (I was surprised my warranty worked since I opened it). Then about a week later I sent it back. Junior had chewed the little thing in the middle that holds the disc and spins it.

Well, hope you enjoyed my stories of misery and woe. Hope you got a good laugh out of my suffering. Just remember, animals are a much bigger part of gaming than you think. See ya!

Lately, a lot of my friends have been asking me which console is best (I'm the only one who has all 3 in my neighborhood) and the fact of the matter is IT'S DIFFERENT FOR EVERYONE. Here's what happened.

My friend Josiah has three kids and he only really plays with his kids and not by himself that often. Which console? I told him to get a Wii. I'm not saying the Wii doesn't have any un-kid-friendly games, it just has the biggest and best selection of games that you can feel alright letting your kids play. Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Punch-Out!!!, WarioWare, SSMB, etc. When my baby cousins come over, I go and get my Wii games out.

My friend Lucas has no kids and plays constantly online on his PC and he has a small apartment and a Blu-Ray player. Which console? I told him to get a Xbox 360 for a number of reasons. He already has a Blu-Ray player, he doesn't need another. His computer is two feet from his TV, so there's no reason for him to need WiFi. And lastly, he has no kids and doesn't plan on having any. He only plays by himself and loves online. Xbox's best games are M, so even though they're great games, no kids allowed. Halo (although I personally like other games much more, Halo's online is un-matched), Gears of War, Mass Effect, etc.

My friend Josh has two kids, he likes playing games by himself, but also with his kids, he has a three story house, and he just bought a HDTV, but only has DVDs. Which console? I told him the PS3. It has a great selection of adult games (MGS4, Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance, God of War, etc.), as well as kid friendly games (LBP, Ratchet and Clank, Hot Shots, etc.). His computer is upstairs, his TV is downstairs, WiFi is a must. And lastly, he loves movies and is majoring in Cinematography and he appreciates higher quality video. I think he would really enjoy Blu-Ray.

To close out, I think people need to stop saying one console is better than the other, because the fact of the matter is, everyone has their own personal preferences and needs different capabilities in their game console. For those of you looking to by a next-gen console, hopefully this will help, if you would like my own opinion, send me a message, and I'll help the best I can. See ya!

So I just got a Wii. I got it because I wanted some good games to play just quick and with my family. But, when I actually started playing it, I was happily surprised at how MUCH fun and deep SMG was. It is probably the best platformer I've played in a long time. I plan on getting Zack and Wiki, Warioland, Super Paper Mario, Tales of Monkey Island, World of Goo, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Punch-Out, and more. The graphics aren't HD, but the gameplay and time that went into making these game is what makes them extraordinary. I give the Wii 9.9/10 (-.1 b/c of graphics).

Wouldn't it be great if you had a PS3, and your friend had a Wii, and your cousin had a Xbox 360, and you could all play Call of Duty online together? INstead of PSN, Xbox Live, and Wii online, there was just "online". PC users can already play with Xbox users over Live, and with the upcoming title "The Agency" I'm guessing it will be the same. Why should it be so hard to link the consoles? If you think about it, consoles all have more in common (generally) than they do with a PC. Granted they all have different interfaces, but if your just competing online this shouldn't really be a problem. Obviously exclusive titles can't cross-over, but, this might encourage developers to make more multi-platform games to appeal to a larger online community than that of a single console. I'm not saying exclusives are a bad thing (especially if they're mainly or completely single player) but I think that exclusives are a double bladed sword. Good side: Increases console sales and generally can generate more hype from console makers as well as more funds. Bad side: Doesn't (usually) sell as many copies due to a smaller audience. But, lately exclusive doesn't mean much to some developer's. This is understandable, with the economy how it is, exclusives are risky business unless you can hype the game enough and truly deliver. When you can't, or there simply isn't enough console install base the next option is basically to forget about their title being an exclusive and branch out to other consoles. This has happened to many games (Bioshock, Final Fantasy, etc.). Some games are obviously not going to ever leave their console home. Mario is always going to be exclusive to Nintendo. Halo will always be exclusive to Microsoft. Uncharted (Naughty Dog in general) will always be exclusive to Sony. These companies were given there chance to make a game by these console makers and therefore are loyal to them for bringing them so much money and popularity to there games. If the first Mario had been on let's say the Playstation, Super Mario Galaxy would be on PS3. If Halo was made for the GameCube, Halo 3 would be for Wii. If Uncharted was on the Xbox, Uncharted 2 would be on the Xbox 360. Loyalty is hard to find these days (especially in the costly world of game developers) and now it's kinda like "You scratch my back, I scratch yours." In conclusion, Crossover online = good idea and possible. Exclusives = good for hype and funds, but, may not pay off in the long run.

Lately I've seen a lot of people saying that games are better if they are rated "M". This simply is not true. Some of the greatest games and franchises (Jak, Crash Bandicoot, LittleBigPlanet, inFamous, Ratchet and Clank, Mario, Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie, Burnout, etc.) were not "M", in-fact many weren't even "T". I'm not saying an "M" rating makes a game bad, there are many mature games that were awesome as well (Metal Gear Solid, Fallout, Bioshock, Dead Space, No More Heroes, etc.). What I'm trying to say is that an ESRB rating does nothing to the overall quality of a game. If a developer wants to appeal to a family audience that developer is going to make a game for the "E" crowd. If they want to appeal to the more adult crowd they'll make a more adult oriented game. They don't say "Hey I want to make a good game, I guess we'll have to make it M". So, the next time your in your local game store, don't walk straight past the "E" section back to the "M" section because you don't think there are any good games that you don't blow peoples limbs off and curse so much that it makes Die Hard look like Finding Nemo, stop and take a look at what games you've been ignoring. You'll be surprised what you find.

Lately I've been seeing tons of posts saying how PSP2 is coming out and PSP games are getting canceled. One, I doubt Sony will come out with a brand new PSP2, but maybe rather a PSP 4000. If they were planning to make an all new system I don't think they'd release a big title like Resistance on a system that is going out. Not to mention that Sony has stated that they look at 10 year window for their systems and PSP has only been out for around 4 years. Two, even if they do decide to release a PSP2 they won't immediately stop making PSP games. Look, PS3 was released and they didn't stop making PS2 games, they're still making them and systems. Just like with PS1 didn't stop for a while. The main reason being that many people just want to use what system they have currently for a while before getting a brand new version of it or some other system. Many people haven't even gotten a PSP, how would they feel if they spent $170 on one and then they stopped making games and came out with PSP2:cry:. Sony has to give people some transition time between systems. Eventually yes there will be a PSP2, but for now it just doesn't seem ideal.