Being a PC Gamer, this doesn't really concern me, but the ethics behind it is beginning to irritate me.

For years now, Nintendo have been committing the crime of releasing a peice of hardware, and a few months down the line repackaging it and selling to the same people. The same idiotic people. The latest mug to get the treatment is the DS. Hundreds of consumers that already have the DS will still go out in March and pick up the Lite ... for no reason at all. Nintendo have already proven to themselves that this "method" is a cash cow that they intend on milking dry, as they've done it several times in the past.

There is no need to rehash the consoles and release them again. The majority of the technology that the "new versions" contain was widely available when they released the originals, but they choose not to include it. It's a cheap business trick, but one that i can't see stopping anytime soon. Not until people wise up and will be happy with the original machine they bought only a few months ago.

Note to self, hype only leads to disappointment.

Keeping a close eye on GameSpot's coverage of TimeShift, i was pretty excited to hear that a single player demo was becoming available today. From the Hands On, to the Designer Diary's, it looked as if it was shaping up to be a pretty decent shooter. Something i could be doing with.

However, it wasn't to be. I loaded up the demo, blinked, and it ended. It's that short. I couldn't of been playing for more than 5mins before Atari were pitching the details of the game to me and i was thrown back to my desktop.

It's hard to get a good feel, and judge a game when you only get a short time with it. But, from what they give you, TimeShift didn't seem like anything special. Blocky AI movements, generic shooter action, mediocre graphics. The whole "You Control Time" didn't seem to live up to the hype. Putting aside the sections were the developers are forcing you to use the Time abilities, you could easily breeze through the demo without using them.

Again, this is only an extremely small portion of the game so my judgement could be completely off. It could end up being game of the year for all i know - although if it's even a contender then gaming in 2006 is going to be bleek - but unless Atari see fit to release another demo ... i can't see myself shelling out the cash for it.

I was lucky enough to get my grubby hands on a copy of the Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II Beta, thanks to GameSpot's On The Spot.

Only managed to play through the tutorials so far, as i'm not in the state of mind to be slaughtered by someone online ... yet, anyway. From what i've taken in, it's a pretty polished game. Takes on a lot of standard trates that your average RTS has, but there's more than a few unique gameplay features in there that keep the game interesting. And to be to honest, the theme of Lord of the Rings helps it a lot. I did, however, notice a few shameful moments on EA's behalf. On two occasions, i noticed models/sound effects that had been lifted out of C&C:Generals and slapped right into Battle for Middle Earth. Could those games be any different?

Never got round to play the original, so can't compare the two game, but from whay i've played so far I have a strong feeling this'll make it into my collection.

I must be missing something here. GameSpots recent rampage to stop the use of the word "Gamer"? Where did this sprout from? They seem to be dragging it out for some obscure reason. You can't listen to the HotSpot, or watch On The Spot without someone happening to mention it. Is there a particular reason behind it?

I'm failing to understand the any meaning they may have behind it. The term "Gamer" is just plain logic. They're is to many examples to prove it. People who play Football for instance, they're known as Footballers. Building Contractors, another one would you belive it, they're known as Builders. The list is endless. If they're all widely accepted, what the hell is wrong with "Gamers"?

Seems like a pointless cause to me, but hey, who am i to say .... i'm just a Gamer.

Some old news that happened last year was brought to my attention this week, all which made me laugh, so i thought i'd share:

Nintendo To Sue
This is worrying. The Cancer Research Charity, a non funded orginisation, discovered a cell that actually caused a certain type of cancer. Good on them, another step closer to beating the illness. Not in Nintendo's eyes though. The cell had an extremely long, awkard, complicated name which i can't seem to remember but it did begin with the word "Poke". So, naturally, Cancer Research nicknamed the cell "Pokemon". Within hours, Nintendo filed a lawsuit to sue the non profitable, charity organisation that works hard to beat cancer, if they failed to change the nickname of the cell immediatly. Eh?! Understandbly, it's a Nintendo owned brand, but they could of polightly asked Cancer Research to change the name instead of threating to take legal action and remove much needed funds away from their cause. Instead, they opted to sue the Charity. Good ol' Nintendo.

Microsoft Employee Fired
This is Microsoft falling into there typical steriotype that they are always trying to leave behind. An employee was taking break and came across a supply truck depositing several Apple iMacs to the Microsoft offices. The employee apparently took a photo of the situation, and posted it on the internet alongside a witty comment. A few days later, Microsoft apparently fired the employee. Coincidence?

Who knows how much truth is behind either of these stories, but they managed to make me chuckle.

Deciding on the first title to tackle on my ever growing List wasn't as much of a challenge as i first anticiapted. It was actually growing some kahunas that was the difficult part.

FEAR must be on more hard drives than Paris Hilton is these days, and i was beginning to feel slightly left out not having experienced this so called "revolutionary" shooter. Having installed it a good few months ago, there was really no more excuses left to avoid it. So i gathered my resources, a bucket, twenty five pairs of underwear, a roll of loo roll and a small bottle of holy water, and i was ready to get going. With the nature of the game, i thought i'd take a good few weeks to work my way through. But it really was such an enthrolling experience, and i found myself finishing it over a weekend. I'll post my impressions of the game over the next few days, so keep an eye out.

With such a rapid start to The List, it's time to pick the next few titles out to get working on. With all the hype around at the moment with Empire at War, the decision to install Jedi Knights II was a more than obvious one. I've also decided to finish the latest Need for Speed game. The reason i stopped playing, like with most races, is that it got repetitive and tedious to play after a while. But having had a break from it, i'm sure i can work my way through it once again.

Speaking of Empire at War, the demo is released later on in the day. I've been keeping a close eye on the game since its coverage at E3, with good reason. The development team, a large majority of them being ex Westwood employees, was more than enough reason to pre-order. I'll try and post my first impressions of the game later on tonight, if i can grab a few minutes between taking over the galaxy and taking part in a few street races.

When i looked ahead into the year and picked out the few titles that looked as though they might interested me, i thought i'd seen everything. But it's amazing what a spare few minutes around GameSpot and an open mind can produce. In steps SiN: Emergence.

Never having played the original SiN, nor really taking any immediate interest in Emergence, always turning a blind eye to all the press about it, i didn't see fit to place it on my "ones to watch" list. But investing sometime in reading the latest preview made it grab my attention.

From the get go, it has some pretty positive attributes going for it. Fast paced action, good variety of missions, its automated difficulty setting and of course being created on the Source Engine. But it's neither of these that made my head turn.
It seems to be the little details that are included that have me so intrigued about SiN. Abilities such as ripping unused or unfinished health canisters off the wall, dispencing them on the ground allowing your team mates to walk through the haze and regain health. Minor solutions like this in the game, which is a rare sight in FPS's these days, make it stand out from the crowd.

The most interesting aspect of SiN, undoubtably, is its attempt at being an episodic game. It's seeing how well the game is going to keep an atmosphere, suspense and curiosity when there is a significant period of time between episodes that is grabbing my attention. On the other hand, this whole episodic element may be the curse of the game. Can the game manage to carry an ingrossing storyline with such an immense gap between episdoes? With the word being 6 to 8 months between episodes, will people have the patience to wait that long just for 4 hours of gameplay?

Only time will tell ...

Only a few days into the new year, and yet i believe i've found my "moment of 2006".

The Independant on Sunday, a very high thought after UK broadsheet, recently printed an article that caught my eye. The article attempts to link drug usage to "gaming sessions". This whole case of "gaming corrupting our youth" is growing old these days, with journalists and politicians trying to exploit it at every opportunity they have, but it doesn't seem to be leaving our media anytime soon.

It's not the article though that i'm dedicating a post to, but an obsurd qoute made by an eratic parent.

"I'd rather my son take a more proactive, less habitual drug like cocaine, than lock himself away and play video games. It's so lazy. At least with pills and coke you're out and about doing something."

When i read this, i let out a laugh. Not because i was humoured by the qoute - even though i was - but of the concern and discomfort it brought me. Do people really think that low of video games, and most likely the community that play them? Granted, we don't know what sort of person this mother is, and if she is in any position to judge us in that manner, but it's discomforting to know that people would rather see someone close to them destroy their life in order to avoid playing video games.

It's a worrying thought.

Writing my previous blog post got me looking at my current collection of games. Glancing over at them, it came to my attention there are quite a few that i've neglected over the years. So i thought i'd do something about it.

In steps "The List".

The List will comprise of every uncompleted game i have in my collection, and i will make it my goal to work my way through them and see those end credits. Fair enough, this may not be a hard challenge ... but i have been very neglectful over the years. There must be near twenty titles that haven't been finished. Including Desperados, Jedi Kinghts 2, Black & White 2, Raven Shield ... the list goes on.

Over the next few days i'll decide which few i'll get started on, although with a busy year ahead i can see this List taking a good while to get done. Looks like i'll be putting some of the titles below on hold.

On a side note, i'm looking at starting making a daily blog post. Call it my New Years Resolution, if you will. So keep a look out.

With 2005 behind us now, i thought it was about time to prepare my CD Drive for the coming year. With that mind, i put time aside to see what titles are supposdly hitting store shelves in the coming year.

Star War Empire at War
Rainbow Six 4 Lockdown
Gothic 3
Scarface
Battle for Middle Earth 2
TimeShift
Oblivion
Prey
Unreal Tournament 2007
Company of Heroes
Titan Quest
Supreme Commander
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare
Commandos Strike Force
Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers
Splinter Cell Double Agent
Rush for Berlin

My jaw dropped at the mass of good looking titles that seem to be gracing us around March-April time. For my wallets sake, i hope a few get delayed ...