I normally don't do this but given certain circumstances I've felt that this is a must.

2011 was a hell of a year for gaming in general. We had major blockbusters from the likes of Portal 2 and Batman to the long awaited Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The list of great games is much much larger but these are just a few of the ones that really stand out to me. But as much as a year it was for gaming, for me an avid fan of RPG's 2011 was one of the most memorable ones in recent memory. This year developers gave us Deus Ex, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Dragon Age II, and The Witche 2. And as the year comes to an end so comes the Game of the Year awards. Looking at IGN's selection Skyrim was voted hands down across all platforms save for the PS3, RPG of the year. And I don't disagree but at the same time I am torn. Skyrim is by no doubt in my mind one of the single best RPG experiences ever made. On that same token The Witcher 2 gave me something that Skyrim didn't and that is one of the most fleshed out, realistic, and downright captivating stories I've ever experienced in an RPG. This post isn't so much a review nor an argument as to whether Skyrim or TW2 deserved RPG of the year or not but rather bringing some limelight to one of the best RPG's I've ever played.

First things first, The Witcher 2 isn't quite like anything that is the gargantuan Skyrim. Skyrim has a sprawling world, a world that you can actually almost live in. It has towns that feel real, environments that take the breath out of you. I'm being quite literal when I say that you can actually live in Skyrim. The Witcher 2 on the other hand is anything but another world you can escape to but rather it's a world already crafted, designed, and one that has it's ownl politics, issues, and wars. You don't live in the world of The Witcher but instead you experience it. You take control of the main character Geralt and you follow him on an adventure that involves dirty politics, racism, murder, and war. This bleak, and bloody but beautiful world has a story, one that any RPG fan should take the time to play.

I don't want to give a summary or a synopsis of the story as the tiniest detail can ruin everything and in reality thats what The Witcher 2 that sets it apart from any RPG that i've ever played. The little details that CD Projekt paid attention to is really what makes this game worthwhile. In a lot of today's RPG's the newest feature is the power of choice. You can choose to kill a merchant or let him go. You can choose to turn in a convict or you can take his money and not say a word. But while many games give you the power choice, few really carry any weight....except when it comes to The Witcher 2. Like I said earlier the world of TW2 is unlike any game world I've ever seen crafted. It's dark, it's mature, but most of all it's believable. What makes the choices in TW2 feel so powerful is the fact that at times you find yourself confused as to what choice you want to make. It doesn't take the Dragon Age 2 approach giving you little symbols next the options showing which choice is bad, good, or neutral. All the choices that I encountered in The Witcher 2 felt like they all had a bit of evilness to them but at the same time they all felt like the right thing to do. In TW2 there is no good evil or neutral, everything in it exists in the realm of gray. But asides from the types of choices you have more importantly is the impact of those choices. The choices you make have consequences that not only affect the world but affects the way the story is told. One decision can take you in a whole different direction.

But that's enough of it already, like I said this isn't to make a case for TW2 for the RPG of the year award. It's simply an applause, an encore for CD Projekt and the wonderful team that made this game, but most of all it's a thank you, for crafting a story and a game so finely detailed that it remain in my mind as one of the greatest RPG's ever made.

I've been playing games for a decent amount of time, I can't share the memories with others that have played a commodore or an atari 2600, no, my gaming roots started with a NES that I got from my neighbor. Eventually I upgraded and got me a SNES and from that point on I was hooked. Video games have become a major part of my life, not so much in terms of aspirations or goals or anything like that but rather one of my favorite down time activities.

Eventually during the early beginnings of middle school i came across a game known as Half-Life and at that point things changed. I found myself playing my playstation and n64 less and less and playing PC games more and more, with the popularity if the internet slowly picking up I found myself being on a PC more and moreoften(aol era). Of course half life ran choppy for me, I had a P3 processor with no dedicated graphics chip and 256mb of RAM, quite frankly it was a horrid machine and the only game that it truly ran well was Starcraft. So I set out to find out how I can make my PC gaming experience better.

Nowadays PC games aren't necessarily scarce but are lacking compared to consoles, we get ports yes but sometimes those ports just don't work ( yes gears of war we're talking about you ). Steam has an abundance of games yes but a lot of them are a bit dated and plenty of them are made by indie developers (which i have no problem with). When it comes to big name titles we get one every now and then and when we do have one it's usually a sequel or expansion. But nonetheless I find myself still preferring to play games on the PC.

The purpose of this isn't realy to say that the PC is the superior machine in each and every way compared to the console but rather why I still enjoy PC gaming despite the fact that it seems like developers aren't really looking to make games for PCs. When I decided to try and bulk up my system to play half life at maximum graphical settings I found myself completely lost, here I was a young boy with no idea what the hell I was looking at, but I was entranced. I set out determined to learn everything I needed to know to improve my PC and from there my love for PC gaming became what it is today.

For me half of the fun of playing on the PC is building one. The customization insanity that ensues when building a new rig is what keeps me going on this particular platform. Being able to select thecolored fans and lights I want, to the case and motherboard and everything are all things that I find to be one of the best parts of playing on the PC. That isn't to say that I build a new computer every 6 months but there are always upgrades to be made, tweaks to be done, and benchmarks to top. But just picking up the parts and putting it together isn't all that goes into building one, if it was then I'd have more fun with Legos. No, thebest part of it allcomes when I turn on the PC and watch the lights turn on, the fans rev up and the BIOS screen gets posted. From there we begin working on getting everything in working order and begin the wonderful process of overclocking.

Overclocking is tedious, frustrating, and takes quite a while to get the best results but when it works it is glorious. The whole process of increasing voltages and fsb's and core clock speeds and all the minor tweaks just to be sure that it remains stable and that it'll stay on through the night. The truth is that when it comes to customized PC Gaming there is no one PC that is the same. I game on my PC because well when I look at a machine that I built myself there's a sense of pride that goes with it, a feeling that I don't get when with my xbox 360 or my ps3.

PC gaming might not be where it was years ago but the technology behind it is ever evolving at an amazing pace, hell a couple of months ago we saw the release of nvidia's 400 series and just recently they released another beefed up card in the 580 and AMD is slated to respond with their 6900 series cards pretty soon as well.

Consoles will always be a part of my gaming, and thats an absolute certainty, it's where I started gaming to begin with, but PC gaming offers something completely different that the consoles cannot, the option to truly make them my own, down to even the software.

And it is for that reason that I game on the PC

It's been 2 years since the official release of Sony's playstation 3, this blog is to take a look at where the ps3 started, the problems it faced and how it's improved and corrected those problems to get it to where it is today and also to see what the future looks like for the ps3.

Disclaimer: I am not a PS3 fanboy, this blog is being written from the perspective of someone who owns both the 360 and the PS3 with almost equal playing time (the 360 has an edge). I am simply giving my opinion, if you feel like I'm being biased or not objective please leave your comments in my other blog titled "I Don't Give a ****"

P.S: Although I am not a 360 fanboy or a PS3 Fanboy I am an Official Wii hater.

On with the article dammit!

The Birth of the PS3:

We all remember what all the hoopla was like surrounding the playstation 3 and the 360 before they were released. The PS3 flexing his techinical muscles and strength and the Xbox 360 doing the same (the wii apparently did not qualify to flex muscles because well...it didn't have any). Looking at the PS3 on paper it was destined to be great...at least until we saw the price.

This was the biggest roadblock that sony faced during the release of the console. A lot of consumers including gamers were looking at their bank accounts wondering if a console justified $600. Some people stated that it's one hell of a deal as it also acts as a blu-ray player. Still $600 was a lot to cash out and at the time HD really was a luxury thing. Let's face it, the PS3's first year was terrible with only a few games that stood out the future looked bleak for sony's console, developer's had difficulty programming and creating games for the console due to its complex hardware and not so friendly UI in development tools.

It's still somewhat of an issue today seeing as how, in my opinion, developers have yet to fully capture the true and untapped power of the playstation 3. Spiderman 3 was a horrible turnout seeing as it appeared much better graphically on the 360 than it did on the sony's console. Graphics and lack of games wasn't the only issue however, sony's free online feature hte PSN faced some issues of itself. The online gaming community didn't even hold a candle next to the 360's Xbox live, despite PSN being free it had lag issues, connectivity issues and lack of content in the playstation online store. Despite all these problems I did enjoy the few standout titles that the Playstation had to offer in Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, and Uncharted. And as a note, Resistance online was a whole lot of fun to play.

Sony Playstation 3 2008: Fighting Back

Sony indeed started of on the wrong foot and currently stands in 3rd place in terms of console sales. 2008 however has shown that Sony refuses to go down without a fight. With a slow start the playstation came back in 2008 strong and stuck with an awesome combination of video games. With an impressive repetoire of 1st party games like LBP, MGS4, and Resistance 2 followed by best selling multiplatform games like GTAIV, Fallout 3, Prince of Persia, and so many games that graced the gaming community 2008 proved to be one hell of year for not just the ps3 but for gaming overall.

Sony started to show strong support for developers by helping to simplify developer tools and make the UI more developer friendly. It improved it's PSN catalog adding videos and movies and tv shows along with some really fun titles like Echochrome. The catalog grew immensely and I can honestly say that I can go back and forth between my 360 and my ps3 to search for and download some great movies and shows to watch.

Of course the 360 this year decided to up the ante by updating it's xbox live into the "Xbox Live Experience"......not too creative on the title but hey who cares. The update included creating little avatars that looks exactly like nintendo's miis, but better. They updated the menus but the biggest of the news was the inclusion of Netflix added onto the Xbox Live catalog. With the wii and it's miis, and Xbox 360 mii's, the PS3 decided to to take these avatars to a whole new leveled and introduced sony playstation Home.

Currently it's an open beta but after fiddling with it for the past couple of days and messing around and seeing what home has to offer I have to say it truly provides an experience that is not matched by Xbox Live or Nintendo. Often times I find myself playing bowling with some people or a game of billiards or just socializing with other gamers, and with that I've got some new friends to play Resistance 2 with. The home experience is definitely worth trying.

PS3 2009: The Future Doesn't Seem So Bad Anymore

If you're like me and on your downtime you come to gamespot or IGN or gametrailers to check out previews and see what games are coming up next so you can put them on your to buy list then you've probably checked out the future of the ps3 library.

As it looks right now we're looking at Uncharted 2, which seems to retain the same humor that I loved in the first with improved graphics. Heavy Rain looks to redefine how games look on a console, if you haven't checked out the trailers go check it out now, it looks amazing. Infamous seems to be bringing a fresh new hero to the open sandbox genre and it certainly does look to be one hell of a game.

RE5 has been a lot of attention and for good reason, the game looks spectacular and it brings back my favorite character of the Resident Series, Chris Redfield. And we can't forget about God Of War III, The first and second GoW games were huge blockbusters for last generations console war Champion the PS2 and with it's reputation behind it GoW III is expected to be a major hit.

Now at this point I know a lot of you are wondering, where the hell is killzone 2? I saved Killzone 2 because to me it's a bit more special than the cast I listed before. I was a fan of the first Killzone, I loved it I absolutely loved it, the graphics the gameplay it was a whole lot of fun, of course it had some quirks but hell I still had fun with it nad in reality thats the true and absolute worth of a game, it's fun factor.

However Killzone 2 isn't special because I'm a fan of it, it's special because I think it can be a system mover, a lot of people will say MGS4 was a system mover and although the numbers say otherwise I disagree, the MGS4 fan base is comprised a group of individuals that loved the series and were fans of MGS long before, MGS4 didn't change the minds of 360 owners and move them to go buy a ps3 simply because there are people who love MGS and those who Hate it....not too many that's in between.

Killzone 2 however can move systems, Killzone 2 can tap into that 360 user base and make those people get up and go grab a ps3. If you haven't checked out the gameplay videos do so now, the game is graphically impressive and the gameplay looks to be a whole lot of fun and based on what I've heard about the multi-player features, online gameplay is going to be a riot. Some of you may say hey I'm overhyping the game and perhaps I am, but Killzone for me carries a big burden for Sony and if it succeeds it can very well be the savior of the playstation 3 and put Sony back into the console wars.

However given all that I still think the ps3 loses ground in online gaming to the 360 in one department.....communication. Sony's decision to not include a headset of some sort with the ps3 makes online gameplay a bit stale. I enjoy playing Live because I enjoy being able to communicate and meet people that share a common trait with me, and obviously that's video games.

Not all of my personal friends in real life play the same games as I do and don't have the same schedule that I do, so when my friend's aren't on I'd like to find someone to play with, someone I know and someone that i play with on a regular basis, lack of communication makes that very hard, I thought the issue might have been alleviated with the release of Socom and it's free BT headset...but Socom of course didn't too well and I don't plan on picking it up anyways.

So Sony, I ask you a favor a very simple favor....include a headset with KZ2, it doesn't even have to be free, give me a limited edition KZ2 that comes with the game priced at like 8$80 or $85 or something. If sony can somehow get a majority of ps3 owners who play online a headset, then the PSN officially, again in my opinion, beats out Xbox Live, and with that a new age for the PS3 begins.

With all this in mind the PS3 has picked up steam this year and plans to charge into 2009 as a force to be reckoned with. With so many games with so much potential the PS3 seems have been revived and playstation owners now have more reasons to pick up their controllers and play the game. However everyone please keep in mind that games are for fun. It's meant to be played by the player and if that player enjoys said system then it isn't a fault or reason to belittle each other, we are a large and growing community that's expanded from little kids to players of all ages, shapes and sizes.

We all play games for one reason, because it's fun. So if you enjoy playing your 360 or your PS3 the more power to you! And even as a Wii Hater I can say hey it is fun....it just doesn't last very long. But if you can enjoy playing wii sports and wii carnival and wii yoga stuff for hours then again more power to you. We separate ourselves as fanboys but in reality we're all one big clump of gamers and with that in mind I say to all the gamers.....Have Fun.

Thank you for reading, and please post constructive comments, I'd certainly like to post more blogs and what not as long as people are reading them, was this blog too long? Too much information? Too much crap? In other words it's ok to tell me that it sucked but I'd like to know why it sucks. And for those of you who don't know how to do that, again my other blog titled I don't give a ****, you can post your comments there and I will to the best of my ability not give a damn