Is it just me or are we starting to get games now that are slowly becoming what we expect from this gen of systems? I am speaking of the ps3 and 360. Even though games are still coming out on the ps2 they are few and far between. Those who have played the new ghost busters game would have seen a drastic improvement in what games can do with all the nice effects put in place. Hawx also has a certain flair about it, that makes it stand out as well. End war for me was an absolute waste of time and money, even though I gave the game a good go, the controls and camera were the worst I have seen, graphically it wasn't so good either. C&C: red alert 3 on the ps3 was also a let down as it was one of the few RTS to come to the console. 360 users got it first and it probably looked better on that. The ps3's version graphic plate was horrendous, but I was willing to put that aside if it weren't for the radar taking up over 3/4 of the screen.

Another game that came out only this year was a real gem for both the 360 and ps3, CoR: Assault on dark athena. This was a welcome treat with all the touches that made it stand out over other fps games. It had a decent storyline and far more interation with people, objects etc that when I finished it, I was waiting for more.

Last year I saw 2 games that really pushed the ps3, they were GTA and mgs4. Both games really showed what next gen games can do. Then as time went on, we were treated to some games that made it and others that you would rather not look at on the shelf. It's funny for all bad games that came to the ps2, they were at least still playable and you could stomach sitting through playing them. Some of the current gen games are worse. Killzone 2 is a good example of this. Yes graphically it's better, but all the game mechanics and story have been stripped away, leaving a sub standard game in its wake. Despite K1's shortfalls it was a great game, the story had the right pace, you could pick up 3 different weapons and all weapons had an alt fire mode. K2 two weapons were fixed and also had unlimited ammo, they were the hand gun and knife. The primary weapon which you start with the assault riffle only had one fire mode and it was the only weapon you could swap out. And when you did pick up other weapons, they too only had one fire mode.

What's more only Rico who returns from K1 is your squad leader and you play a relatively unknown soldier. K2 may have all the graphic touches and the online play, but that is really all it has. If we compare it to haze (which wasn't exactly the best either) you can see the holes in both. Haze's story was a bit far fetched, but the game did try new things and most of the time it wasn't a bad game. The AI wasn't all that smart. It did have split screen multiplay co-op online and a host of other standard FPS online modes.

Resistance: Fall of man 1 wasn't bad, but it was very unforgiving and finding health was a chore unto itself. It was this reason I never played resistance 2.

Brothers in arms: hells highway, is by far the best fps game that I have played. It had lush textures and color, the game also teaches you strategy in regards to how to use the four F's. One of the best levels was in the rain at night. The story was solid and it felt like playing through the Band of brother's series. Those of you who have it will understand. Those who don't or haven't played it on either ps3 or 360, I suggest you do so.

Last year we were also treated to fantasy/rpg hybrid of sorts, overlord (360) and overlord: raising hell (ps3) it was basically the same game for both but the ps3 version had the added expansion on the disc as well. I think for 360 users, they had to download the add on. Despite the very pedestrian nature of the game, it was a heap of fun. There was just something about sending off the minions to do your dirty work for you only to come back wearing a pumpkin for a helmet. Just recently overlord 2 was released and follows the same sort of trend. So codemaster's didn't miss the mark at all. They did another game that was a cross between 3 games. Overlord (in part) god of war and warriors of might and magic. It was rise of argonauts, which I actually enjoyed playing. Fun as it was it was also a bit on the short side. I was and still am hoping for a number 2.

Gran turismo is a bit of a tease, they release the prologue and then sit on the game for a while until they can release it. But it should never take over 2-3 years to come out. Oh that's right it hasn't yet. It should never take this long for a game to be finished.

It's funny you know, here on the posts is the bad news that midway is folding and even a take over bid from Warner bros. to try and purchase the company. A bit of waste if you ask me. Midway may have at one stage been a fore runner for arguably the best fighting franchise ever with many different iterations of it. I am speaking of course of mortal kombat. But it is this short sightedness that maybe in part due to Midway's fall. Midway never expanded the franchise unless you count mk vs dc. But even still they never released any other type of fighting game with different characters etc. Yet another developer who got stuck in the mechanics of monotony.

Hey everyone is it just me or has the gaming industry hit a bit of a bottle neck with developers simply going through the motions of making yet another "clone"? Let me eleborate a bit here, we look at the NFS series of games, the best really being underground 1 and 2. After that EA sort of lost touch with itself in regards to what made their games good. Most wanted wasn't bad but it didn't have the full content of customization that U1 and U2 both had. Then pro street was released and I never played it but from what other's told me it wasn't worth getting at all. So I waited until undercover was released. This took the open world of U2 and crossed it with some of most wanted. A great game but very long and I found myself in the rut of having to get enough experience in the tiers to go onto the next part of the story. So here I was driving for hours on end just for that purpose. Mmm......yep EA took the fun out of it fast with that. Despite all of its short comings EA has done well overall and continues to make some great games.

Those of you who have played NFS: porsche 2000 as it was called here in australia, I think overseas it was NFS: porscheunleashed. This was the first sort of gran turismo stye NFS game that really had it all, except for the customising part. U2 this with the URL which was one of the best parts of it. When EA partnered with criterion and I think later they bought them out and made the burnout games, they were onto something good that only got better.

Now onto something that has been bothering me for a while and I think most 360 owners will agree here. (Oh just to make it clear I have a ps3 and have played the original xbox and seen the 360 in action. I have nothing against 360 owners, I just don't like the controllers and the way that microsoft likes to monopolize everything.) Anyway, as we all know halo was released on the xbox with only about 5 other titles at the time of its launch. Sony having had the backing of game developers from its psone already had one up on microsoft and were able to release more games on the ps2 release. At the time of the xbox release halo was a xbox exclusive and yet microsoft don't own the game, bungi does. It also went onto pc as well. (Sure the ps2 owners got killzone which was good in it's own right, killzone 2 was very bad though.) Then metal gear solid 2 is cross platformed and released onto the xbox.......which was a good thing for both xbox users and konami. mgs 3:snake eater is sony exclusive only......the xbox could have easily handled the game.Then only last year msg4 is released again only as a sony exclusive. It annoys me when this happens as the developers in this case konami leave everyone else short. Games that are made in house by sony or microsoft, I can understand them being exclusive to that system as that makes sense. God of war is a good example there. Now I do know that some game developers either prefer to stay with who they are used to working with and won't do multiplatform releases. The 3 franchises that spring to mind here are jak and daxter, ratchet and clank and crash bandicoot.

EA is one of the few that have released there games cross platform, also total games who have released the lego series of titles star wars, indiana jones and batman have all been cross platform releases as well. It makes you wonder when will they learn. The benefits are obvious with cross platform release as they make more money and the consumer is also happy. Can you imagine if hawx was a ps3 exclusive title? There would be a few people annoyed for sure.

Lastly the one company that missed the boat serveral times over. Nintendo.... With the 2 big boys sony and microsoft taking charge nintendo has tried in vain to market to a much younger audience. Both sony and microsoft have marketed the games to all ages. Nintendo's wii is a bit silly in regards to the games being dvd format but the system can't play dvd movies, way to go nintendo. If you look at their history it took them ages to go from cartridge to cd based games. Sony did it from day one. Sure they have made some games for adults, but the system itself is very limited in it's graphic capabilities. The gamecube was very nice to look at when a game was going, but the wii is horrendous. It seems that nintendo takes one step forward then 3 back. Nintendo may sell well in it's native country of japan but overseas it's not doing well. If they are not careful I think nintendo could end up in a very bad place. I know I have left other things out, but I'm just saying what I think is relevant. Who knows I could be way off and nintendo may yet do something unexpected.