oh, this is a good day. i got a wii man. here's how it happened. i was just quietely eating my dinner when my brother comes in with this massive bag from GAME. i was like, 'is it a wii?', then he said, 'aye'. its wellll wierd, i wasn't expecting the thing at all. it isn't my birthday until july too. i guess he's just a really cool brother.

and with the system itself.... it's very good. the wiimote is brilliant. wii sports was also very fun. monkey ball was also a fun game. but wii play, it's just pretty crappy. glad it wasn't a game i had bought... but guess what else my brother got? tony hawks man. if it was normal tony i would be happy, but its that crappy race version. oh well, i haven't played it yet, so i cant really judge it. could've got warioware man....

but i'm still ecstatic

wow. it has one preety big week. well not here in scotland, but elswhere in the gaming world, hell yeah! i cant help but thinking that more consoles would have equalled an even bigger frenzy in the us and japan, since people would've thought they would have a realistic chance of getting one. its got a few bugs, but my opinion of the sysytem is overall very high. im not one that needs radically new gameplay, just a ramped up experience from last gen. if i had the money, i would buy the wii, but i am going to concentrate my efforts on getting a ps3 in march. i would have to try out the wii to come to a decision, with the ps3, i know what i'm getting but with wii, we dont know what we bii getting! but their launch went (more) swimmingly than sony's. plenty consoles + low price + one killer game = happy customers. sony should really learn. resisitance looks good, but not that good. i.e. not worth an 8.8.. or a 9.5.. whatever....

The 4th ODI between England and Pakistan was today. And guess what, Pakistan, my team..... lost. I was gutted when i saw Pietersen hit that last 4..... i was very disappointed. but there are some positives to take from it, razzaq and inzy batted pretty well. Asif bowled brilliantly as always. but we really have to sort out our fielding, it cost us at least 30 runs today. on sunday, we can take out those low points and really flourish in our batting, thats what really let us down today. three words, watch out england.

over these past few weeks, the world cup has pretty much been my life. watched the final (of course), was good, headbutt really made it though! As i live in Scotland, i have been pumelld with 'England are definitely gonna win' and phrases of the sort, and i am glad they didn't even get a sniff of the World Cup trophy, because if they did, i would be hearing about it for the rest of my life! It's funny how in every match commentated by an englishman, it somehow leads to the 'wonders of '66' and if they might be able to do it again. I say NO. 'Mon Barry, we're gonna win it in 2010. Seriously.

Games-wise, June was a pretty good month. Got a black Nintendo DS Lite with Advance Wars and the New Super Mario Bros.. Got Mario Kart too on the way to my holiday, a bit annoyed that i cant get NiWiFi to work yet though, cos they say it makes the game......

wow, all i've seen comig out of japan is this big rush for DS's, i mean how can the japanese be THAT crazy about the thing?

Theres no doubt that the DS is agreat piece of hardware, and it does have some interesting games up its sleeve, mario kart, animal crossing, what the hell is this, brain training?! Our Japanese cousins really like that brain training series, and that is one of the tell-tale sign that the average Japanese consumer has a totally different taste in games than us, i mean, how many people in london or san francisco would put what is esentially an educational game on thier christmas list? Huh?

Mabye this is why the DS is pummelling the PSP in Japan, with the PSP gaining a slight majority elsewhere on the globe. The Japanese know good games from bad ones, which most of the people from the Uk and US probably dont, and also, these games are more Western-centric than most other games, dont get me wrong, the PSP does have a batch of good and original games, its just that hardly anyone takes advantage of them. And going on from that, this is precisely the reason for the Xbox 360's terrible performance in Japan. The Japanese dont like an American console, with American-macho FPS's. No, the Japanese like the educational genre better than the FPS one. End of story

With the arrival of Electroplankton to the US, it hasn't recieved favourable reviews. This raises the question, should gaming really be considered as an artform or simply something for the 'kids' to enjoy?

This whole query stems back a hell of a long time ago, well at least a few years ago. Games such as GTAIII really transformed the whole franchise, with its slick new graphics and never-before-seen features in a game. Then the politicians got thier hands on it, and butchered it to pieces. Many hundreds of man-hours were spent on making this near-perfect game, but as it isn't art, it is considered to a negative influence on said children.

Other games like God of War, Resident Evil are all beautifully presented, but too have been condemned for their violent tendancies during gameplay. Our game reviewers too have been contradicting their criticisms, when commenting on games and the actual reviews. While most of the premier reviewers (like our Gamespot,eh) have learnt appreciate these games for what these games are really like. These violent games usually recieve a good reception from the large majority of game reviewers. But equall excellent games like Q's Lumines and Meteos, along with a host of other games have been getting poor reviews from some reviewers, especially some in my United Kingdom. Dazzling visual, sound and lighting effects make an already addictive game all the more brilliant.

So my point is, if our gaming industry are criticising those who look the cast it down to the catacombs, they should really sort themselves out and see what they are giving to their own profession.  

wow, already this year has been a great one, even though we've only gotten through half of January.

Post-CES, everything seems to be in place for Blu-Ray and its place in the console wars. Personally i think that this format will emerge as the natural successor to DVD, BD is a huge leap up. Compared to HD-DVD, this is going to offer a massive upgrade, compared to HD-DVD's relatively mediocre one, focusing on what the industry wants, not the the consumer, who will decide on the outcome of this war.

PS3 is going to sell millions, even if no-one cared for games, people are going to buy it to use it as a cheap Blu-Ray player. The stand-alone players are going up near $2000, meanwhile you could just be paying $400 for this fully-fledged media centre. And the X360's Hd-DVD external drive, well who will really want the thing if it costs more than $400, which it will most likely be at. An internal one will offer the most penetration to the market, but Microsoft want to be secure and play it safe, which could be the best thing if Blu-Ray emerges as our next optical format

By the way, if you didn't notice. i am a big Sony Fanboy.

GO PLAYSTATION!!

i cant wait to get one from the us, games for me, wipeout pure, lumines and possibly twisted metal. I really cant see how anyone cant like this hardware except for the ninty fanboys. I'm sorry to anyone who thinks otherwise, but the ds just cant compare to the psp. Having played both (sparkling smile) the touch screean is just very gimmicky OH LOOK, THERES A NEW WAY TO PLAY OUR GAMES, i think not. Just think at the psp screen for a second and stare at the graphics for a second ( ormabye a bit longer) and make the logical choice. PSP!