This is my seconds next-gen review, the first one was a few months ago at the beginning of the summer, I just felt like I needed to upgrade it now after a couple lauches and tons of important reviews, so there it is.

DS - after a very strong launch, two years in the market, and an new lite version the DS proved itself to be very profitable for nintendo, despite the lack of great games coming out lately the already released titles more than make up for it and the DS still has lots of room to grow and alot of potential for years to come. Advice: buy a DS lite if you havent already, a great handheld with tons of fun games, and the price tag of $130 and cheaper games makes it very affordable

PSP - the PSP is sony's jewel, but despite being a technological marvel in terms of handheld gaming the PSP doesn't seem to have reached its potential yet, great games like Tekken, Monster Hunter, GTA and Syphon Filter have raised the bar for PSP games to come, but still deveopers insist in not using the PSP's capabilitis to its fullest. Advice: a psp is a big investment, $200-250 on it plus games and a decent memory stick make it a little hard on the pocket of gamers, but its still nonetheless a great buy and worth every penny of it, if you want the best out a handheld and have the silver go pick it up

Wii - I was really curious about the Wii, first I thought it was an updated version of the gamecube with different controlers, then I realized the potential of a $250 with cheaper games (than 360 and ps3) and a brand new technology that could open the door to thousands of good ideas for developers, I still hadn't had the opportunity to play it yet but from what I've been hearing sounds like its launch titles turned out to be underachived and that Zelda is just as enjoyable in the gamecube. Advice: hold off on this one, avaible games are weak compared to other systems (except Zelda) and the future of the console is still uncertain, I would wait for a few more AA titles before getting it

PS3 - The PS3 is kind of a dilemma for me: I love sony and bought every console they lauched at lauch date but the PS3, I just don't see the point right now (yet) on spending $600 on a console that could become very unsuccessful (lets face it, a $500-600 price tag is a HUGE gamble), plus I don't see any major improvement graphic-wise with the PS3 over the 360 that would justify the $200 extra bucks. Advice: hold off on this one also, I'm not saying that its not worth it, I just find it hard to recommend a system that is nothing but promices as of now

Xbox 360 - The 360 has come a long way since lauch over a year ago, and thats obviously the reason why the 360 is clearly superior to ps3 and Wii (as of now), a year worth of time gave the 360 a big advantage as far as game titles are concerned right now, over a hundreds titles, several AA and a few AAA make the 360 easy to recommend to anyone that wants to get into next-gen gaming and wants an established system that already has a huge selection of games and the biggest fan-base. Advice: if you want to play next-gen games now go buy a 360, its great linup clearly blow Wii and Ps3's lauch lineup out of the competition and Microsoft just gave us more reasons not to buy another system by releasing the GOTY on november 7th (yes, Gears of War is the bets next-gen game as of now, truly a must buy game)

PC - not much to be said here, the PC is still my favorite gaming toy, I just can't get enough of the great games coming out pretty much montly and games such as Civ4, Galactic Civilizations 2, and HL2 just keep me coming back to the PC over a while after their releases. Advice: if you can afford to put $1400 on a gaming PC you won't regret it, great games from past, present, and future pretty much assure you will have something to enjoy for a long time

Thats it guys, not as harsh as the previous review, more like my personal feeling about those really, please comment as comments are always welcomed, no matter if its positive ot negative, just keep "flaming" out of it please

Damn it, I don't have anything to write about this time...Sorry if you are actually reading this lol

I'm going on vacation for a couple weeks and then I'll think about somethnig that actually matters to write about, I though about a few topics, which is the best?

- The math behind Handheld Wars

- Next format duel

- Overated/Underated Games

- Gamespot and other big websites reviewing games after the first 30 minutes of play

Ever since the first video-games came out way back in the day there has always been people judging the systems and its games, first it was only small newspaper articles and spoken word between friends, but after the internet boom game reviewers have become an extremly important part of the gaming industry.

Today websites like Gamespot, 1UP and IGN have crews that can reach the hundreds, and all that to inform people about video-games systems, games, and accessories. But the questions remains: How big is the role of major gaming websites in the gaming industry? The answer is simpler than you may think: it depends on the gamer, and therefore it depends in what type of games are coming out, which takes us to what the developers are focusing on. The "harcore" gamers are certanly influenced by what they read on gaming websites and gaming forums boards, so it is safe to say that the major gaming websites play a huge role on serious gamers. On the other hand, casual gamers could care less for game reviews and articles, and therefore and much more influenced by other marketing points such as TV, game cover, and finally their friends (stereotypes play a huge role here).

The sad thing about this is that the gaming industry is always focusing more and more on casual gamers, which is estimated to be around 85% of the market (read that at ign somewhere). If we go by that logic reviewers only influence 15% of the potential buyers, which is not that much if you consider how many people may watch a commercial on TV or how cool the cover looks at the shelves.

I support reviwers, in fact I think they know more about video-games than anybody else, its sad however, that the reviewer's role is decreasing generation after generation, which will obviously decrease the quality of games since developers will focus more on casual gameplay. Lets just hope for more hardcore titles this years (Hellgate: London and Medieval 2:Total War both look amazing at this point), as well as hope that big titles such as Gears of War, Twilight Princess, Halo 3, Neverwinter Nights 2, the new Metal Gear Solid games and many other big titles coming out soon focus on both casual and hardcore gamers.

Please comment on this and let me know your opinion on this matter :)

Cheers

Sometimes reading through Gamespot's boards i feel like I'm the only adult person here, does anyone else feels this way? I mean, some of the young folks have some good posts but most of them just seem to worry about defending or attacking a particular game or system, not caring about making valid points or giving a decent reply to a reasonable topic. The worst one is definitely the "System Wars" board, the kids there scan through that every second of the day looking someone to disrespect, bash or talk thrash about their favorite systems, is like they get offended if someone prefers another machine, and even worse they wanna make sure that everybody knows their opinion on the systems they don't like, so they post the same smack over and over again with no apparent reason just to try to make the "fanboys" on the opposite side feel angry about it. I think they just want to feel good about themselves for potentially buying a system that is not a good or as successful as the others, thats the only reason i can think of, trying to convince people that own some other system that they are miserable because of it and therefore is a complete ignorant and should not talk back to them because they are superior since they supposely bought the superior system.

I guess I will never understand that, and I will also stay away from topics like those as much as possible, they kind of creep me out actually, wondering what those kids will do when they grow up and actually have an opinion that may change something.

Bah now its late, i have to stay up all night today updating a series of World Cup events, its kind of fun makes o.k money, besides i still have a couple weeks till I go on vacation to Key West with my girlfriend and some friends, have anyone been there? Is it as good as they make it sound at the travel agency :P ? Will have have plenty of time until college gets back though, plenty of fun until the hard work starts out again, I really hope this summer gets better from now on.

Cheers

While playing, reading, listening and viewing everything about the 3 major next-gen of consoles i decided to write a small review of what i've seen so far, everything here is my point of view and my opinion. To let you all know before you read i currently own a DS, PSP, and a gaming PC, and tried to be as impartial as i could writing this.

Wii - While being the most affordable of all next-gen systems (besides ds) the wii is still not much improvement from the last gen, in fact the difference is hardly noticeable from gamecube to wii and the truth is that me, as an adult gamer, don't like the idea of swinging a video-game controller around like a fool in the middle of the living room to operate cartoonish human bodies and other weird stuff that wii games have to offer (although i really liked redsteel's E3). If i end up buying a wii it will be for my kid and that will be like 2-3 years from now.

Xbox 360 - Wow I almost bought a xbox360, in fact i would had if there was any avaible when i was hyped up about it, call of duty 2, perfect dark zero, they all seemed great games. But after a couple months i realized that even with the 360's next gen power it could not even top my current PC (pc is my main hobbie so i always have the latest stuff), and  the games coming out for the 360 aren't nearly as appealing as the games coming out for the PC (check out the upcoming pc library or 2006-2007, its amazing). So after all i would just end up with a less powerful machine that played games that were not as good

PS3 - Well, the ps3 system is unquestionably the most powerful of all 3 and sony always seems to manage to build a better library than either microsoft or nintendo so the ps3 would be the best choice for a real gamer, the problem is just the price: $600 is crazy,besides,  by the time it comes out my PC will be just as powerful and i will be a way too busy playing burning crusade, neverwinter nights 2, and medival 2: total war to botter playing a newly released ps3 with a slim library. That eliminates the ps3 for now, although i will probably end up buying one to play madden with the guys down the line

DS - The DS is the cheapest of all 7th generation system, and that is on what it relies on (yeah, i'm sorry ds fans, but the psp is a better machine). Also having old school games like mario and advanced wars (reason why i bought a ds in the first place) makes it an outstanding system to just grab it and play whenever you want. I hate however games like that jury game or that medical game, i wonder who spends their time doing playing that

PSP - The psp is the most powerfull handheld to date period, its technology makes it expensive but it is still worth it if you have a little extra cash to spend. The game library may not be as good as the ds's but the superior technology obviously makes the good psp titles (syphon filter, field commander, daxter, gta, burnout, etc..) stand out against the DS, also the psp library will expend and become better and better the next few years, while the ds games will not have much improvement. finally the psp is a better handheld for more mature gamers that actually enjoy playing more realistic titles (example: you hear cursing, sex terms, nudity, and alot of gore on several psp titles, while the ds tries to support cleaner games)

PC - the pc isn't just a system like the other ones, and as so you could judge it differently from pc to pc, but the truth is that the best pcs will always out-perform the consoles. I started playing with the pc when the first doom came out so history may have influenced me into preffering a keyboard and mouse over a controller, but if you rellay stop to think about it a keyboard and a mouse are a way more precise than any controller, with endless hotkeys and extremly precise aiming. Also pc games will always be bigger and will offer more than any console system (heck look at series like diablo and baldurs gate , alot people still play it after 6 years after its latest release). I also hear alot of stuff about ps1 emulation on psp, playing old nes games on wii and xbox games on 360, well that has always been there for the pc and you can still play anything you own. Finally, the pc library is always better and you have more options to choose from, in fact i doubt that any serious gamer never loved a specific pc series, and this and next years library is looking very promising.

Please feel free to respond to this and give your opinion, just make sure not to post nothing stupid and as kids say these days "fanboyish" as i will not reply to those. Also excuse my spelling because i really didn't think about the english, just the message.

-NWN2

-Titan Quest

-Hellgate: London

What games will leave up to the hype? My money is on hellgate