It's an interesting day indeed when the reaction to a game's launch inspires enough disappointment from me that I feel the need to write about it and lay down my words. 

For most of us living in the world wide web, I'm sure most of last week was spent reading and commenting on some piece of news related to the launch of Simcity. Oddly enough, I have found myself spending far too much time talking about this and rather ironically, I have decided to dedicate a bit more of my time on talking a bit more about it. 

On the surface, I appreciate the launch of Simcity was less than ideal. And to be rather frank, I was one of the countless people that had issues getting the game going. It took all of two days before I saw the intro and menu of the game, and all of three before i could complete the tutorial and get on with playing the actually game. I can appreciate the issues people have with this. I appreciate that we paid money to play a game, and due to the servers being crushed under the load of it all, we couldn't do that. I can appreciate that the game "should" have an offline mode and yes, I get why everyone is whining about this. What I don't get is why Gamespot decided to hammer the game in their review over all this. 

I ask this question because I remember a little game being released a few months back called Diablo 3. If I remember correctly, it had worse server issues than Simcity and yet, reading the review for that game a few months later gives off the impression that the game is almost perfect. Flip over to Simcity, the score and review tone honestly gives off the impression that the game is broken at the core and should be ignored for the time being. 

Granted those impressions are fair, afte rall, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but what i fail to understand is how that review is fair to the game, even now, a week after launch. If you want to play simcity at this point, its rather painless. Just launch it and you are off, yet the review doesn't reflect that. It's focus was so narrow and it's angry so pinpoint, I felt Kevin , whom I respect a lot, misrepresents the game, rather allowing the server side technical issues to mask the brilliance of an otherwise fun and addictive game. 

I mentioned this in the comment section below the review and I will mention this again here, kevin should post two scores for the game. One reflecting launch day/week issues and the other a reflection of the overall quality of the game without server issues. It annoys me to no end that Diablo 3 was given a seemingly free pass on the matter and Simcity is being hammer into the ground over what is effectively the exact same issue. 

Just my thoughts on the matter. Hopefully now I can move on and focus on rescuing my sims from the Tornado that leveled my city just moments after a meteor strike set the whole place on fire.

I gotta be honest. I just logged into Gamespot and noticed I was give two new achievements on the site. One was the annual, you voted in the Best of 2010 awards but the other made me actually smile from ear to ear! This is what I got:

Underdogs don't always win. That's why they're underdogs.This user voted on every category, and their choices more often than not were not the Readers' Choice winners. They chose...poorly.

Now, Im not proud of guess most of the wrong winners, but my goodness, it was so funny reading this just out the blue. Gets my vote for one of the best achievements on the site :D

Well, I seem to have forgotten to post a blog for a really long time. It would be stupid of me and try to recap all I have managed to get up to seen the last time I wrote something, but in short, I finished my Masters and moved to Canada to study my PhD. Yes, I know, I'm pretty young to be starting a PhD, but 23 is the new 27 :D

Anyway, back to a far more important topic, games :D

This year has been good to me. 2010 saw a megaton of games get released, of which I played a lot. Come to think of it, I still have a few games to get through before the end of the year! The first game that comes to mind is Heavy Rain. At first I wasn't honestly excited for this game to get released. I felt it was going to be a movie with quick time events for effect, and although some felt the final game was pretty much that, I really enjoyed the deep story and the brilliant way the plot was crafted and how it played out. Was an incredible way to kick off the year if you ask me, but the real stars of my 2010 are effectively:

Mass Effect 2: I played it on PC and I am currently playing it on Xbox. Don't ask me why I am replaying it again on my Xbox but I guess I just want to determine which of the two I prefer playing it on so I can pick up the third on that platform next year when mass effect 2 comes out. Anyway, brilliant seems to be the best word I can use to describe this game. Brilliant story, brilliant characters, brilliant world, brilliant sound and finally brilliant graphics. Bioware have really impressed me with the level of epicness they manage to reach with Mass Effect 2 and also Dragon Age, and both games were truly stunning to play through.

God of War 3: if brilliant is for Mass Effect 2 then awesome is for God of War 3. Everything about this game was badass, and honestly the final section of the game, where the world blacks out and you run through Kratos' memories was a brilliant piece of game play. Slick, fast and brutal in every way, God of War 3 was the best of the series to me and one of the best games this year!

Red Dead Redemption: I was struggling in my mind to determine what I considered the game of the year. In the end, I felt that Red Dead was by far the best experience I had this 2010. It was a beautiful game, both from a technical stand point and from an artistic stand point. Amazing characters to interact with, a stunning world and just a general feeling of brilliance laced this title from start to finish. The end was unexpected and moved me, and the gameplay was outstanding from start to finish. Possibly one of my favourite games I have ever played, and certainly, the best open world adverture title I have played in my 23 years.

Star Craft 2: To be honest, star craft 2 wasn't a game I was even planning on buying. Sure I am effectively a strategy player at heart and I rather enjoyed the first star craft, my excitement for this game was close to nothing. It was a rather busy time in my life and the last thing I cared for at that point was playing a game. Thank goodness I got over that stupid patch. Star Craft 2 is simply put, is remarkable. Fluid, fast and punishing, its everything you want from a RTS and the online is just fun. Its very hard to get me to play online but of all the games I played this year, star craft 2 was the first I spent more time playing online than off, and believe me, I played the crap out of this game!

MGS:Peace Walker: Now I own a PSP for two reason. One for MGS titles and two, for MGS titles. Peace walker was more an MGS game than I ever thought and when I think that all that was packed into a 1 Gb download, I am flipping impressed. Stunning visuals for the platform, combined with truly masterful gameplay and story telling makes Peace walker my second favourite MGS game, sorry the third is still a rather special game in my heart!

Although these are far from the only games I played this year, they are most certainly the ones I enjoyed the most. I played through Halo 3 (finally) and Halo Reach and loved both. I finally played Gears 2 and honestly, Dom wasn't as annoying as everyone made him out to be. The man just needs some love :D Splinter Cell Conviction was amazing for all of three hours. Then it was over. I have a rather strong opinion on the game. I like the change to a more aggressive sam, but the game kinda lost its main lineage. Having just finished replaying Chaos Theory, possibly the best Splinter Cell game, its clear that Sam is more a Marcus than a snake at this point, but the game is fun for what it offers and hopefully Ubisoft bring Sam back to his ninja like ways in their next attempt.

Finally, you would have noticed I made no mention of Assassins Creed Brotherhood, GT5 and Fallout New Vegas. Thats due to the fact that I am still playing through them. I am about 4 hours into vegas and about 1 hour into Creed. They are both shaping up to be intense affairs and I am really love the games. Hopefully I can get my meat into them and finish them during the christmas break!

Anyway, I go from no blog to a wall of text. I am sure the one person that is going to read this will hate me for wasting their time, to you young man/woman, I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing your opinion on your game of the year and what you enjoyed playing this year. Or even what you are looking forward to playing in the coming months.

Anyway, cheers.

Peter D

Hi all,

I know its been ages since I last posted a blog. Sorry about that, I've just been super busy. Anyway, tonight I finally had a moment to sit down and write some thoughts down and although I do want to talk about the whole Uncharted 2 issue unfolding over at the gametrailers forums, I much rather talk about the games I've been playing!

Looking through my game sitting on my shelf, I have noticed that I have bought 4 games since the last time I blogged, namely: Dirt 2, FIFA 10, Uncharted 2 and Borderlands.

To be honest I haven't really played Dirt 2 that much. I've gone through some of the first races in the game and although it appears to be a great racer, FIFA 10 was release just three days later and FIFA and I are old mates. Didn't stop playing FIFA until Uncharted was released and I honestly finished Uncharted and when straight back to FIFA. Honestly, if you like football, then you have no reason not to buy FIFA! Amazing game! Finally, I arrive at Borderlands. Although I am of the opinion that it has the best cover art ever in the history of cover arts, I haven't really played it for long. One point I will make is that it does look rather fresh and pleasing to the eye. Reminds me a lot of the new Prince of Persia game and I take my hat off to Gear Box software for making a game with such a daring art direction.

Anyway, I must keep this brief. Once I have time, I will sit down and write a proper blog post but for now I wish you all a great day!

Hi all.

I finally have the time to sit down and write a blog after almost a month of being busier than a priest in a all boys school... Wait, I don't think I can say that... Ummm, never mind.

Moving on after that shocking intro, I must apologies for not writing a blog for so long. Master's work has caught up with me and suddenly all those morning with nothing to do have transformed into coffee drinking and report writing. Happily I still have managed to keep up with my gaming and am rather proud to announce that Batman AA has finally been released in South Africa and I finally have my copy of the game. Honestly, it is an amazing game to play. The action is intense, the graphics crisp and the story and pacing excellent. I've only played a few hours but overall I've loved every moment.

I'm also managed to finish Star Wars The Force Unleashed, and once again, I'm surprised to announce that its a pretty good game. It also has the easiest Gold Trophy in the world for those of you who go after trophies, but regardless it was a fun little romp through the Star Wars universe. Not sure if its sold me enough to warrant my buying the DLC but I guess I might just pick it up if its on sale.

Speaking of sale, I also picked up Skate 2 the other week. I rather enjoyed the first game and so far the little I've played of the second has been promising, although your character does controller like a tank when not on a skate board :/ .

Otherwise, I wish you all well, and promise to keep more up to date with my blog.

Have a great one!

Peter D

I am happy to announce that I have a car firmly set on my sights. I mean, I'm almost 23 at this point and it's getting kind of hard juggling a car with the parents. After all, a Kia Sophie can only attract women of so long with your mother sitting in the passenger sit.

So now comes the interesting question, what should I buy? I remember a teacher of mine once telling me that the biggest problem with buying a car is finding the budget to buy it, and now that I'm seriously looking around, I'm amazed by the cost of these machines! I was expecting to drop a few bills over the matter but nothing prepared me for the shock of buying new cars!

I was hoping to buy the dog standard VW Polo 1.6. It's a good looking car and performs well, although it's not going to win me many points on uniquenessI don't really car. To my surprise it would have to sell both my kidneys to afford it so that out. What about a second hand Polo I hear you say... Good point, let's have a look shall we... Ummmm.... No thanks! I was always under the impression that second hand cars were meant to be cheaper than new, but when the new Polo 1.6 petrol costs R145000, and a second hand Polo 1.6 petrol costs a low low R120000, one must ask what's the point of buying second hand.

So I gave up.

Well, not on the whole buying a car business, but rather looking for a new-ish car. So that got me thinking, of current editions of cars are so expensive, how much would the polo from 2000 cost... Checking around, the best I've found is R85000. Ouch indeed when you consider its almost 10 years old already and goodness knows what it's been through, so no thanks.

Fast forward two weeks and that bring me to last week Tuesday. The couriers had made a stuff-up with a package my editor had sent me and delivered it to the wrong address. So instead of me receiving seven PS3 games, I ended up with a box full of.... what's the word.... "Lady Stuff..." which left me head scratching as to why my editor would send me pink, fluffy handcuffs. I finally switched on and checked the name details on the box and noticed my editor had also misspelled my name as "Ms T. Gibson." So I called the contact number on the receipt and made an arrangement for her husband (lucky man) to come by and fetch the box. (If you are asking yourself why all this is relevant to my buying a car, I'm getting to my point, take it easy!)

Her husband pulls up and rings the door bell, and although I'm normally the polite person, my spirit was jumping for joy as my jaw hit the ground and an embarrassing "Is that your car?" stumbled out of my mouth. The man was not only lucky due to his wife's recent purchase but was driving the stunning 1969 MG MGB GT.

After a rather interesting chat with the chap, I discovered that he had just bought the car, fully restored for R50000... That got my heart singing. Now, although the car shown isn't the car he drove, this is a similar car to the one I test drove this past weekend and honestly, I think I'm in love. It's got power when needed, looks the business and absolutely smells like elegance... So, I final have my dream first car... Shall cost me a little over 6200 of your US Dollars but honestly, can anyone fault me for wanting such a beautiful car?

Tell me what you think of my future purchase in my comments, look forward to hearing what you have to say :D

Last weekend was an interesting time for me. I finally made up my mind to buy Guitar Hero World Tour (just the standalone Guitar set is good enough for me!) but I've noticed that I still haven't been able to part with my money just yet. Every time I stand up and say, "Peter, go buy the thing!" I sit straight back down and wonder if I shouldn't wait just a little bit longer. I mean, for someone living in South Africa, it costs around 1200 of our South African Rand which is around 150US$... This is a lot of money... And when you consider that you can buy the Full Bundle off EBay for 130US$, we are getting wholly ripped off!

So I sit in my chair, staring at my TV wondering whether it's worth the pain of throwing away money and it got me thinking, why are game prices so scattered around the world. We aren't talking about a few dollars off here and there, we are talking about a factor of two and honestly, to me, that's an unacceptably high difference.

So considering that the games are developed in the same place and are pretty much made in the same factory somewhere in Taiwan, I fail to see where the huge increase in cost comes into play. Shipping I hear you say. Well last time I looked at a map, SA/Europe was just as far from Taiwan as the US is, so no, not shipping. Anything else in mind? Maybe I need to look at it for a market point of view. After all, more Americans play more video games than we do, but I doubt it's just a matter of less demand over here and thus games are considered a luxury and thus cost more (I say this because it pretty much fails to follow the law of supply and demand, on which every great economic rescission is built upon.)

So if it isn't extra costs or market size then what is it? Short answer, greed! The supply of games into South Africa is pretty much controlled by three companies, depending on which console your game is on. These three companies aren't in direct competition with each other since they all own their own slice of the gaming landscape and thus can run free unchallenged. I mean, who will stop Ster Kinekor (the company that imports PS3 games to SA) from setting the price for Guitar hero World Tour a full 100% higher than overseas??? Again, short answer, No-one! So we are kind of stuck aren't we? We want to play games, but every time we pay for one we pretty much pay double the rest of the world but yet if we complain, suddenly the supply runs dry and we are stuck with playing two year old games waiting for Bioshock 2 to arrive sometime in 2013!

Why don't we just buy off EBay...? Hmm, what a great idea, shame about our terrible postal service that has been black flagged as a "No Delivery Zone" by Amazon due to a 30% failure to deliver rate! That is right, 30% of all mail that enters the great state of South Africa doesn't make it to its destination. Which leaves us with priority mail, which when you consider the costs, shall run you to about 50% more than just buying the game here in SA...

A phase just popped into my head, and I shall leave you with this little pearl of wisdom: "Screwed much lately?"

Till next time.

So felt bored today on campus, so decided to write a blog to kill some time :D

I've noticed that after what has been a few months of nothing but gaming, I've ran out of games to play. Sure, I still have a few games I still haven't finished but until the big guns get released later this year, what on earth am I supposed to play?

I went through my collection and noticed two things:

1) although I have a lot of games (something like 100 PC games and 25ish PS3 games) I don't replay my games much.... I sat infront of my PC collection yesterday and noticed that once I complete most of my games, they get shelved. I think went about finding games I have finished more than once... I only game up with three PC games! Thats Commandos 2, Bioshock and Oblivion... I mean, I've even stopped playing RTS'and I live for that stuff! On my console side, I've also noticed that I've only replayed one game out of the 25 odd I have... Care to guess which one?? Thats right, MGS4... and that was only to get the Fox hound emblem... This worried me a bit... This year alone I've bought something close to ten games and although I've finished them all, I haven't replayed a single one! Not even Infamous, and that game is built to be replayed! this brings me to my second point.

2) I really need to stop buying games. I think the reason I don't replay games is because I move on to the next big thing far too quickly... As soon as i've finished with Killzone 2, a long came RE5... I think if i slowed buying down it would force me to replay most of my older games... But yet I find myself in a position of wanting something to play and can't even get myself to restart an older game... I can't even motivate myself to replay Fallout 3, and I really want to replay that...

All in all, I have no idea why I can't replay games. Maybe it's because I normally focus on buying singleplayer games that then to have a focused story that once you know it, it really doesn't keep you entertained all that much. i think I might replay Killzone 2 or RE 5... I never really paid attention to their stories, partly because they were terribly simple and nothing too exciting happened and all that kept me going was the action...

Hmm, I think I'm on to something here... What do you guys think?? have any good games that you should think I should look out for, or thing a game in my collection is worth replaying??? Let me know, goodness knows I need something to distracting me for Master's work :D

Well what can I say about this year's E3 other than WOOOOOHOOO... Two weeks ago, I was honestly struggling to find a game to be hyped about but then suddenly in the space of two days, I've been so amped about so many games I have a feeling I'll be poor again by the end of the year. I also managed to catch both the Microsoft and Sony press coferences live this year which, as you will notice by my emblems, is the first time I've do so since 2003! Anyway, I have a few thoughts about some of the things I saw during those conferences and I thought I would share them with you.

The Microsoft presentation

I'm not sure if previous microsoft conferences were this well put together but I found the Microsoft event every well done. They had a great vibe through out and even though they didn't have a FFXIII moment this year when it came to games, it most certainly had that kind of moment when it came to technology. Natal seems like a great concept that, so far, has been implemented very well. That said, I still have some strong feelings as to why I think it won't quite work but I'll talk about that some other time.

As for games, it was such a pleasure seeing that the new Splinter Cell. I've been a fan of the series since I played the first game on PC way back when and have loved every game since (yes, even double agent, which I believe gets way too much flak for no reason). The whole design and style of the game speaks to me in a way that no other games has managed since Chaos theory a few years back. Conviction is most definitely my game of E3. Other games that Microsoft showed that really interested me was HALO ODST. Looked good and should be great when you consider who's making it.

I've been following Alan Wake since the first day I heard about it, and even though it went through a period where we all thought it was lost for good, I must admit I really liked what I saw in the stage demo. looked fluid and intense and Tv series vibe of the demo really excited me since I've always played Horror/survive games in short bursts and that would fall right in line with my play style. Finally, MGS: Rising. Sure, I'm excited by the idea of playing yet another MG game but I am rather worried about the direction of the game. Kojima mentioned that its a completely new MGS experience, which may sound great in theory but when you consider that we have all fallen madly inlove with the current formula of the MGS series, the series might be jumping into waters that it might not manage all that well. My first thought when Kojima said those words was, well there goes the Espionage from the Tactical Espionage Action and I hope to the dear lord I'm wrong about this. MGS was never a good action game. It was much better at being.... well... MGS. Its like a genre all by itself and I hope they don't make it a karting game or something!

Oh, as a side note, the whole Facebook and Twitter thing is not good news. Its pointless news. Don't get me started on this one though since I've already wasted enough of my life using both Twitter and Facebook, I don't need to spend more debating why its not needed on a console.

The Sony presentation
Unlike Microsoft, Sony is in the unfortunate position of having three active consoles on the market at the same time. This meant that even though the conference as a whole was pretty awesome, it lacked the smoothness of the microsoft presentation since it always had to switch gears as the moved from platform to platform. Since I only own a PS3, I'll can only really talk about news related to that platform but just as a side note, Peace walker might be the game to make me buy a PSP... not sure which PSP since Sony hasn't sold me on the Go! just yet.

Four games completely blew me away during the Sony presentation. Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, God of War 3 and GT5. Anyone that watched the stage demos knows why. Uncharted 2 was just a collection of "Oh, Snap!" moments. The gameplay looked action packed and epic while the voice work sounded as grand as the first. graphics look stunning as well but honestly, my jaw was on the floor just from the action that was on the screen. Along with Splinter Cell, Uncharted 2 is by far the best game I saw at E3 so far.

Assassin's creed 2 was stylish and beautiful to watch and I honestly can't wait to continue the story. The flow of the game looks much better than in the first and the transition from gameplay to deathscene looks a lot better than in the first game. GT5 is will, GT5... I've been wanting to buy GT5 prologue, but every time I stand over it I think, "but this is just a demo....". After seeing the trailer of the game I think I might have been wrong about waiting.. And finally God of War 3.. As impressive as the game looks and as awesome as it might be, I still haven't been sold on it. maybe thats because I haven't played GOW1 or 2 but honestly, it looks like god of war 2 with stunning graphics. I'm sure thats a good thing, but I'll have to wait before I buy this one.

Overall, I'm really amped for the future games that have been teased at this years E3. my top five games of E3 though are:

1. Splinter Cell: Conviction

2. Uncharted 2

3. Assassin's Creed 2

4. Crysis 2

5. Alan Wake

My word, it's been a really long time since I last blog, soI guess there is no better time than now to get back into to the groove ofthings.

One the one side, I'm super happy to finally become anEngineering! It's been a long, hard four years of studying but finally Imanaged it, so from now on it's, Peter "The Engineer" Dawoud: D

But on the game side of life, thing have caught on fire. Myeditor heard I finished my exams and degree and has found it in her good heartto dump no less than 8 games on my lap to review. Over the past six weeks I'vehad to review; Saints Row 2, PES09, Ratch& Clank: Quest for Booty, MirrorsEdge, Dead Space, BioShock, Motor Storm PD and finally Little Big Planet.

Now most of these games have been out in the States for sometime, but here is South Africa we have rather laggy release dates. For exampleResistance 2 only got released yesterday, December the 5th! Bitcrazy if you ask me, but I guess I can't complain as long as we get the games :)

Anyway, I just thought I would write a little something onmy thought of each of the games I've reviewed or am currently reviewing andwill upload the review to my user review section when I'm allowed to.

• Saints Row 2 (PS3):Honestly this game felt weird for me. One the one side it was much moreentertaining that GTAIV but on the other it felt dated and really didn't bringanything to the table. Sure some of the missions were awesome but some of thegames structures felt way too familiar. The gang war system felt identitical tothat of GTA San Andreas and story, albeit different followed the same arch asSan Andreas.Anyway, the game was a joy to play and felt more GTA thanGTAIV did and to that I take my hat off to the developers, but I feel that theyreally need to try and make their own kind of game rather than rip GTA off verbatim.

• PES09 (PC): thisgame let me down in a big way. I had the pleasure of playing PES08 on a friend'sPS3 last year and I thought it was amazing. Unfortunately, PES09, even though agreat game, had all the issues one has come to relate to PC ports. TerribleControls, if you could call that controls! It also suffered from badperformance and overall lack of polish. It seems that the console version ofthe game was slightly better but the PC version is just substandard from atechnical point of view. Still a great football game though, well as long asyou have a game pad!

• Ratch& Clank:Quest for Booty (PS3): As my review said, I really liked this game with theonly issue being its length. I'm really looking forward to the next full titlein the series, I'm sure it shall meet my expectation!

• Mirrors Edge (PS3):Now Mirrors Edge and I have been having an iffy relationship so far. Its novelidea and its excellent presentation made for a rather enjoyable experience but itsfrustrating gameplay almost had me throwing my console out the window. Half thetime, the game and I worked in perfect unison, Faith would pretty much followmy request and perform some rather kick ass acrobatics but for the other half,she would do a 180 instead of fire the weapon she was holding. She wouldaimlessly jump in place rather than run up the wall and a million otherannoying and extremely frustrating things!When it worked, it was blissful, when it didn't it wasmurder! I think the developers have something here that they should work hardon to perfect. Maybe being a little bit more relaxed about jump angle wouldhelp resolve the endless trials of trying to jump a gap and grab onto a tinypipe... either way, I'm sure to get Mirrors edge 2 if it gets made, or morewhen it gets made, but for now, this current version is being shelved for a dayI feel like banging my head against a wall!

• Dead Space (PS3): Honestly, I'm creeped out!That's all I can really say without my security blank next to me, mind you I'venoticed that as I'm playing through this game, it's turning into an action gamewith scares than an out and out survival game. Things have started getting predictableand the tension gets broken easier as you play it. The first hour of this gamewas the scariest hour I have ever experienced in my gaming life but now I can'thelp but feel that the game is just recycling experiences... maybe it's justme... I'll post more once I've finished the game!

• BioShock (PS3): I'msurprised by how much I'm enjoying playing through Bioshock again. I originallyplayed it on the PC, and even though the PC version is clearly visually betterthan both console versions, I've been impressed by how the mood and atmosphereof the game is still very much alive in the game. Guess it goes to show howimportant art direction is in a game. Honestly, this is still an amazing gameand every gamer should make it a target of theirs to experience the world ofrapture. Sure if FPS' aren't your thing you have no reason to even look at thebox art but for the rest, you have to get your hands on this game!

• Motor Storm PD (PS3):I think Game Trailers summed this game up pretty well in their review. Thisshould have been the Motor Storm that was released first. The game is just aslightly more refined version of the first title, which was pretty polishedalready. Very good racing gaming, but to be honest, it isn't my cup of tea.Burnout and GRID are more what I look for in racing games and since they bothnailed it, I have no need to play Motor Storm. But I guess if you are a offroad nut or looking for races in weird and wonderful places, this is the gamefor you!

• Little Big Planet(PS3): Very cute game. Managed to get my sister to play a little bit withme and she has never played a video game in her life. That in itself shows youa lot. The game is accessible enough to allow casual gamers, and in my sister'scase, non-gamers, to just pick it up andplay, but yet it also manages to keep the hardcore busy as well. A very good game! I know, this is short andsweet but I just noticed it's almost 2 am where I live so it's time to hit myrather hard bed.

Happy reading and happy gaming.

O, also a very happy Christmas to all. :D

Cheers Peter D