I bought a Radeon 5570 and a new power supply. It seems so far like it is all my system needed. It goes along with my AMD X2 5600 perfectly for Mass Effect, Unreal 3 and Section 8 (all FARILY new).

Combined with the offers on Steam, my PS3 is starting to accumulate dust. I missed the PC.

I've got to say Steam gets more attractive by the day. I am using it now. Got the THQ pack for ab out £25 as a deal with EVERYTHING in it.

However, my PC will need an upgrade for this year's games. I'm most interested in Starcraft 2, Dawn of War 2 and C&C4. Its just a graphics card upgrade I need, problem is (and here's the big problem) my power supply isnt good enough.

If I'm going to change my power supply I might as well change the whole PC! I cant be arsed to do that though! Grrrr. Everything is so much more simple with my PS3. The only reason that I go back to the PC now is for strategy, which to be fair PS3 sucks at.

Just found out that Section 8 is no longer coming to PS3, thanks Timegate!!! I'll remember that!

Also Starcraft 2 has been EVEN FURTHER delayed!

Why do I always like the freaky ones? Oh well, at least co-op Resident Evil 5 kicks the proverbial.

I have decided that I am only buying 3 games in the next 2 years. There is so much garbage out there right now I am going to give things a chance to even out. it used to be that i would always stay a year behind release schedule in order to sift out the good titles by games building a reputation amongst friends and on websites. I invested heavily in new tech in the last two years though so I have wanted to capitalize on this by buying newer games. This hasn't worked out well for me.

It seems to me that the studios are panicking. They are trying to keep a constant revenue stream by claiming to have "blockbusters" in constant supply. This is never true. I will tell you why for two reasons;

1) You can not write a blockbuster. A blockbuster is what happens if people latch on to your game and the community adopts it as a cherished title. it works the same with album sales. You don't start with success, you hope for it.

2) You can not get LOTS of people to LOVE a game. Niche titles are loved as they appeal to a narrow band of the population. As soon as you try to make a popular title then you decrease it's niche appeal -> Anyone else tired of the strong girls in tight clothing and the anti-hero. The more studios crowbar marketable features into a game, the greater it annyos the people who would love any original features that were there. Stop being so DESPERATE studios!!!!

No-one expects games to be made out of charity anymore. We are a long way from Homeworld, that was mostly coded above a garage. The sharks own gaming now and they think that it is possible to manipulate game consumers in the same way as film-makers try. This is not going to work for a one-word reason....

STORY.

Great games have a well defined reality that doesn't compromise in order to gain mass appeal.The roots of gaming all stem from adventure driven gaming, escapism and immersion. These make a game feel apart from reality and thus worth visiting. We don't need games that challenge traditional gender roles or explore hip-hop culture. Let movies do that. Gamers don't need to be preached at, they want to be offered an alternative to reality, not reality re-packaged in a space suit. By the way-

I might not be talking about ALL gamers here but certianly the gamers who would part with more than £30 for a title plus buy all the DLC.

Atnyway, this is becoming a rant and is frankly the substance that I should be writing in articles and getting paid for, not giving away for free. I started by saying 3 last games in 2 years and here they are....

FPS- Section 8
RTS - Starcraft 2 or Command and Conquer 4
3rd title - Well.... I'm still waiting to be impressed enough for that one.

I couldn't be more bored with action games if I tried to be. I can barely bring myself to play on my PS3 these days. The latest multiplayer offerings have however no helped. Battlefield 1943 is without a doubt the biggest EXCUSE for a game I have ever come accross. There is barely anything to it at all. It might only cost ten pouds but boy does that show.

I generally give up on multiplayer when I run out of things to unlock. Team play isn't really that satisfying in games. In a combat situation, real fun is gained by challenge, and when you are in a good team, you are never challenged. It becomes more a case of not doing anything stupid. The other side is that if you go "lone wolf", you inevitably run into trouble when you come up against a whole team. In Battlefield 1943 there aren't even any unlocks. In fact there doesn't seem to be ANY motivation to play the game whatsoever.

Perhaps it is just a mood. I am loving my handheld consoles at the moment. The DS is an RPG treasure-trove. The PSP has a few cracking titles too such as both Metal gear acids and War Of the Lions. It seems that real strategy these days only lives on the handheld. It was obviously the domain of the PC, but PC games seem a little stagnant these days. It is almost as if the developers for the major consoles these days dont care about strategy. All that matters is graphics and multiplayer.

PSN name is garotte80 if anyone wants to come find (kill) me.

Several buddies and I are all taking a gaming break. No-one has played or found anything interesting for quite some time so we are going to sit back and let the titles keep flowing and then eventually maybe once there are a few games out that we haven't played, things might feel newer. Besides, its almost a year to the day since I got MGS4 so it s time for a replay next week. My habits have been wantonly increasing my kills/death ratio in Bad Company and more PC Unreal 3. These games are fun and all, but it does get to the point where it almost starts to feel like work! "Why am I still playing?!" kind of thing.

I've seen the trailers for Bad Company 2, Modern Warfare 2 and they have me mildly excited. But it has been the utter failure in my eyes though of the supposedly story led titles of Red Faction 3 and Killzone 2 that have killed things for me. One year on there is still nothing that lives up to metal gear solid 4. I take on board what others have said about "too much cinema", but I'd recommend that these people play MGS1 through MGS4 and then try telling me that. It stands alone. Dead Space was quality original content, also found my self enjoying the setting of Lost Planet- aside from these it has been a year of story wasteland.

So in summary, it has been a year of failed franchises for me, most notably the dismal Resistance 2. I am not against franchise (see MGS and Resident Evil) but developers should be aware that continuing within a franchise is not a garuantee of success. In order to make a franchise work, they need to work on the things that made people love the original and keep the story interesting. Ta ta.

So....

I finally decided wether to upgrade to a new gaming pc or to buy a next gen console. I did both! First up i bought a playstation 3 with assasin's creed for £320. Money well spent I think because I have a blu-ray player, media server, internet unit and next gen console in one fell swoop. HOWEVER..

From my profile it is probably obvious that I love strategy games. As much as I like the look of what next gen games represent, I'm finding them a little shallow. Friends and I are consistently beating games within 8 hours. Multiplayer populations for games are not stable and design seems to be tending more toward interactive movie than true game. For such reasons I upgraded to a new gaming rig. An AMD X2 5600+ Geforce 8600GT based unit, not at all expensive but with plenty of poke.

So here I find myself - ready to spring into a whole new generation of gaming. Having owned a psone, n64, ps2, xbox, gamecube, psp, gameboy, gameboy advance and many generations of pc I know what I like. It looks like I am still going to need multiple platforms however in order to get it.