I am sick of not being able to play other countries great games when they release. I'm not sure how others feel on this subject and sure it might be a bit childish to try and whine and complain about not being able to play import games when they first release or having to play them many years down the line...but damn it I'm going to anyways because I'm sick of it and I know I'm not alone with this feeling either.

Many years ago I may have been like many other people in the United States as I had a blind eye to many things going on around the world especially the world of video gaming, that was until the release of Suikoden 2 state side which was introduce to me by a good friend who was a fan of the series before I...and it was like he opened the gates of heaven to me with what I still call today one of the most perfect rpg I had ever had the honor to play. So minutes after beating the game I sat down in awe at how I could have let such a jewel slip my sweaty fingers and then I began to question what others games could be out there in the world awaiting my full attention!!!

After many years trying to hunt down copies after copies of great titles made else where and finally made it to state side left me with a small satisfaction only to give more life to the hunger building inside of me that demanded more!

And to my dismay there wasn't much else to be had as not every great title makes it over or at lease doesn't make it way over in a timely fashion. For years I waited for the Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3 video game to at lease make a date for its arrival state side as it was only a matter of time that the game would be ship to the US after realizing the popularity it was pulling in (And none too surprised there as it is a great show with a great art style and story). And it took perhaps three years till it finally made its way over by which time I suffered and drove myself nearly bonkers trying to wait it out. Thank god that other great video games and the video game systems were release during that time or I'd be a much sicker man than I am today.

And then there are harsh realities of certain games that will probably never see our beautiful shores like Namco vs Capcom X. Now as crazy as that game might sound or even play is an intriguing concept by itself and i've always wanted a crack at it since i heard about it...but sadly right now in order to play it I would have to mod my ps2, find some way to learn japanese and purchase the games or try to get my hands on a bootleg which either way might involve ebay or someother form of it.

That sucks, or maybe its just me...what do the rest of ya think?

Well its been probably more then a year since I've updated my blog and I really meant to get behind this thing and have a new blog to post every month, but that just haven't been happening for me. Well I plan to change that starting today if I can and I allow anyone to hold me to it. Moving on I figured I start off by going to an old meaningless arguement that was pretty heated in the beginning of the next generation and has gotten less press of late, but hasn't died away...and thats the Console War! Not before some start having a little hissy fit over how I'm going to break it down just a reminder that anything I say is not set in stone, its not going to change peoples mind on what console is going to win or lose, its not going to ruin a console's sale or even what I say isn't going to matter in mere days cause surely a greater mind will read what I say and have a better theory, or better facts to back their idea up and squash what I'm about to say entirely. But for the record I truly believe each console has reach great success, all consoles have set up gaming is one form or another and I wish all developers, producers, companies, and fans of video gamers all around the best in their future endevors and projects to make gaming better than it is today. Thank You all.

Now thats out of the way lets get down to it shall we? Now i should be clear that the biggest console buzz going around or was going around for some solid month has been around Nintendo, and for good reason as they are the handheld kings, the Wii has smashed on the sales charts, and has made headlines with the media like no other. But does that make the Wii a great system? And my answer is hell to the naw! Sorry Wii but it takes more then a little brother called DS, the motion sensor remote, and the media to make you a great system. What really turns heads for a system is its great advancement in not only game play mechanics but also visuals which this system is lacking compare to its counterparts. Now here where some of the drama hits cause people argue that visuals isn't everything...and they are right for the most part as many people would argue they'd rather have solid gameplay then get eye candy and I agree with that. Things is though why not have your cake and eat it too I say as the next generation has shown us through games like soon releasing GTA, or pass games like Gears of War, Call of Duty 4, NBA 2K8 and the list goes on that you can have great visuals and solid game play all in one. Wii doesn't really faulter there for me, but it does when it comes to games releasing in the near future, which so far look pretty bleak. I know that most games come out during the grand old holidays as our past one was a blast...but Wii wasn't so much as it grand daddy release of Smash Bros Brawl was delayed and even with that out now the only other great hit that suppose to be releasing is Mario Kart...sorry but I need more games coming out before I can get behind and support a system. I mean really what else does Wii got up it sleeve that everyone else want to play besides another Zelda, Mario or god forbid another Pokemon game! Outside of those three I don't see much hype. I might be wrong here and I'd be ready to admit in a heartbeat that I am cause like many others I grew up with good old Nintendo and the magically games they'd release that made me the gamer I am today...but I feel of late that I've out grown my good old buddy Nintendo and moved on. Sort of like high school when you think about it...sure you say you'll always be best friends and keep in contact, but as the years, the distance, the responsiblities build up you lose track of one another. And its even harder to come back to it. Sorry Nintendo...we'll always have Goldeneye right?

Next is 360 which who at one point was my enemy above all systems at one point as I considered myself a huge Sony fan and I made a prediction that Xbox would one day have to turn in its controller and Microsoft would have to give up the idea of a console. Could I have been more wrong!!! Sure Xbox had its problems as it had some of the worst releases some have ever seen, with few saviors to list like Halo, Jade empire, Star Wars, Fable, Psyconuats, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, and few other hits I won't take time to mention here. But compare to its biggest rivals the playstation and playstation 2 the Xbox had no chance (Not to mention being outnumbered 2 to 1 factor) with the huge number of releases made by Sony which good plenty of its games was sleepers too, but with way more releases the hit factor was higher and pay off more too (And its crazy that the playstation 2 is still rolling on. You go Playstation 2). Eventually the Xbox was forced to retire to give life to a much more effectciant system...dun dun DUN! The Xbox 360. This system was released first for the next generation of gaming and left quite the impression with games like Perfect Dark, Need for Speed, and Call of Duty 2. Some games didn't impress as much as others did, but with see how much graphics and some game mechanic had improved not only offline but also online...people grew esstatic on how well things would look once the new engines ablities was hone and pushed to its limits which was clear that they weren't as people saw later games improve more and more as Xbox 360 first year passed with no resistance made by the two rival companies. Xbox 360 made a clean sweep of the market as everyone wanted a taste of the next gen and all its glory. But things would slow down as Nintendo and Sony made announcement to release their system soon afterwards. People was ready to see the other two systems with only high hopes that things would be better. Still Xbox 360 went on with business as usual, but also made such meida and hype announcements like Halo 3 in works...One of Microsofts breads and butters. And with the release of Halo 3 the Xbox gain another jolt of energy after such media bashings of the Wii sale success and Xbox 360 poor sales in Japan. So what is the thoughts on Xbox 360 now? Well its clear to some that Xbox 360 has far surpassed its ancestor the Xbox and is going to be greeted with even more success in the future as great titles like GTA, Fable 2 and many more are coming up, but its not without it flaws as well. First the HD player was a total failure as its now considered a dead unit and saling at the price of 50 dollars as its trying to get a few more pennies out of people before blu ray just dominant sales completly. Many people still would like to see Xbox Live become free in the future as people compare it with playstation free online and find that free is a lot more appealing, but also in Xbox Live defense its interface is way better. And last is the 3 rings of death which many people have suffered its evil as the the 3 rings of death flash and then your system is dead from that point on. Some people have escaped this tradgy by the luck of god when they recieved the rings only to shutdown their box and turn it back on again to see everything is hunky dorey. Other have not been so lucky and had to make that call and send their box is for a long check up. Now Microsoft has made up for this by taking the costly blow to repair for up to three years free of charge, but some argue why this shouldn't have happened in the first place if they took that early year release to make sure the problem doesn't happen in the first place. Either way I argue in the defense of Microsoft on this as releasing a year early was a great move as it allowed their product to reach the people without much any comp, and let developers get their hands on the system to develop engines and test out what they could do with it. Overall the Xbox 360 has a bright future ahead if it keeps up the good work, get more games on their roster, and keep those red rings from flashing.

And last but not least is the PS3, the new underdog if I may say. This system had hell taking off, but boy does it have some competition! This was the last system to take off as it released shortly after the Wii did with little success in the beginning except in Japan. This baby had some great history as the ps1 and ps2 were great hits for laying the ground work and creating loyality among its many fans with great hits as the Final Fantasy Series, GTA, Gran Turismo, Marvel vs Capcom, and this list could go on for days, week even. But now that the PS3 is out their isn't much to say other then...well that people are waiting. The PS3 has tons of promise through its free online, it multiformating interface and much more, but the problem lies in that great exclusive game that will make the PS3 a must buy like Halo 3 did for Xbox 360. Painfully that could have been GTA but with it coming out for both 360 and PS3 it makes GTA a Playstation 3 buy for those that either doesn't own a 360 or a fanboy who couldn't imagine playing GTA on anything other then a PS3 which actualy is a fair motivation for some. And this leads me to my first issue with Playstation 3 as its losing its exclusive powers. With titles like Devil May Cry, GTA and others that usually would only be released for playstation is now being port to other systems, which could be a good thing for some that hate having to buy systems just to play that one cool game they love. But even this idea is lopsided right now as Xbox 360 seems to be the only one recieving the uphand in this exchange as 360 has more exclusives like Fable, Gears of War, Halo 3, Extra Content for GTA and other games compare to the fewer exclusives for Playstation 3. But this is only a minor problem I think as this is always up for change and knowing the history of Playstation it bound to. But back to the issue of waiting for a strong title it seems the next big game for PS3 lies in Metal Gear Solid 4 and it alone. Now I know there is other titles that look interesting for this system like Final Fantasy 13 and stuff but not many titles are going to be exclusive for the PS3 like Metal Gear Solid 4 appears to be (hell there are rumors saying that MGS4 won't be exclusive either...but I'll only buy that when I see it). Now this could be because the late release like the Wii had and it'll take time for develops to learn and fully utillize the abilities of the systems before we can see the bandwagon of games come rolling out. I only hope if this is the cause that the developers get those gears a turning so neither system have to suffer further. Another problem with the PS3 is the missing rumble in controllers which has been fix for the most part as the rumble mechanic has return despite the past lawsuit Sony suffer around it, and it was a surprise when the Six axis was annonced for the controller in the beginning...overall thought the axis was just a nice bonus as I still fail to see this idea used to perfection. Overall I believe the PS3 had a foul start with its competition getting a earlier start on it has caused some headaches, but moving beyond that and with more developers getting behind it and creating games we're going to see some great promise! Oh! almost forgot the Blu Ray player...really nuff said for that as this is the winner of the hd player and when you buy a PS3 it comes install in it unlike Xbox 360 who didn't release a hd dvd player install in the system and is now in talks of getting a blu ray player for their system. It must burn...rest in piss HD DVD PLAYER!!! HAHA

So to end this rant or whatever you want to call it...hopefully your still reading and haven't emailed me a load of hate mail...that I feel each system has done its part and now it's left to the games and developers to create the winner of this so called Console War! It will probably take million if not billions of dollars, it'll take years and surely drama will hit at some point (my money is on GTA getting bashed by the media again! Damn MEDIA!!!), but in the end the world of gaming wins yet again and a console will be favored for that push. Regardless of which one it is.

PS...

To me this is how it stacks up when it comes to the consoles so far.

Nintendo DS, reason- I've seen tons of people with this device and sure enough the developers are behind it, great games are coming out for it and I've seen some of the craziest game idea made for it so it's number 1 right now and the best handheld out there.

Xbox 360, reason- As much as I hate to admit it the 360 is getting the support, its released it success the Halo 3 to much gamers delight and as far as games releasing for it and the list of line up for it shows that things are going good for it.

Playstation 3, pick for winning the Console war, reason- Had a slow start and it came out last, but the Playstation 3 has so many redeeming qualities and pretty soon we'll see a **** load of games to support and change the face of gaming.

PC, reason- not many people consider the pc being in this war but there is no doubt that pc has a lock on the gaming world and is growing over the years with games like world of warcraft, sims, guild wars and the list goes on. Hopefully we'll see more games on mac too.

Wii, reason- very close to the bottom for what I think is good reason cause its recent releases have been pretty poor outside of Brawl, Wii sports, MArio Galaxy and few others. The future doesn't look like its going to have a incredible release either except for mario kart and what else people are hype for. To me the future is looking grim unless something turns things around. (Know I'll get so much hate mail for this)lol

PSP, reason- not the best handheld, but with its multi media interface like the PS3, and the recent release of great games like ff tactics, crisis core, Jeane D' Arc and the list goes on it can easily be seen that the psp is steping its game up.