Up until recently, I've been amazed by just how many great first- and third party games are coming out/in development for the PS2.

Microsoft seems to have abandoned it's Xbox owners. It makes perfect sense - it is a sinking platform that will never become profitable and Microsoft needs to maximize it's installed base incentives to migrate to the 360, and a big part of that is minimizing incentives to stay put. (Few Xbox owners can be expected to shift to any other platform than the 360 at this exact point in time).

Sony's exploiting it's installed base by rolling out plenty of new titles, and it makes perfect business sense to develop games and collect royalties from a 100 million audience. Moreover, with the PS3 appearing to arrive late, it may be their only course of action.

However, there are some clouds on the horizon for Sony's current generation as well. Current-gen sales have dropped significantly since the launch of the 360. Not because a lot of people have bought it, but because customers and media have seem to have shifted their focus to the upcoming generation.

What are the consequences? Well, first of all - the 10 year life cycle that Sony time and time again claims to work towards seems more likely to end up being 7. The original Playstation lived between 1994 (december) and 2002. If the PS2 needs to survive through 2007 to meet it's predecessor.

With Moore's law still in effect, you may expect console generations to come and go faster - but shorter life cycles require shorter pay back times. Unless the console providers can invent ways to increase spending/customer/cycle, it will invariably affect console subsidies and as a result console prices.

50% of all Playstations ever sold were sold after the console hit 149 bucks. It's going to be interesting to see how long the nex-gen life cycle ends up being. If we're creeping down on five years, I think we'll be seeing the console market plateauing in terms of household penetration. There just might not be enough time to realize economies of scale for a 149 price point.

Long wait's over. Been looking forward to playing Ghost Recon more than any game over the past year. Mostly because a) my 360's been collection dust over the past 6 months and b) because it seems to incorporate the type of gameplay I usually go for:

It's action oriented but not pure run-and-gun. I also tend to prefer third person action over first person. I'm also excited about the ever changing conditions and objectives described in the previews. Back tomorrow for my first impressions.

Bought a HP Media Center Edition yesterday, and at the same time turned my 360 into an Media Center Extender, which felt really nice. The conversion saw my 360 adding the wireless pheriperal and moving from the second bedroom into the lounge. Here's what I found:

Media Center enabled computer = Expensive

360 wireless pheriperal = Oh my god expensive.

Now, Microsoft may be loosing money on the core console, but they sure make up for it on all other fronts. Wasn't too happy with my Gamer tag alias, and opted to change it. Or rather, opted not to change it after I found out that I will actually need to make a  micro payment in order to do it.

Dear Microsoft, please focus your attention on bringing out interesting games first, then exploit my convergence fetish. Not the other way around.

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Best thing with my 360 so far: The ability to play the Xbox versions of Halo and Ninja Gaiden. Something is wrong with this picture, but it certainly evokes some deja vu´.

Remember getting my PS2 on launch date a number of years ago. Bought NBA Live and Timesplitters (missing must have SSX because I thought I didn't like snowboard games). Played them a few times (got bored quickly) and then had to resort to PS1 games to satisfy my need for gaming. Fair enough, this is how I found Metal Gear Solid and it's how I'll probably find Ninja Gaiden this time around, since I never got the original Xbox.

I'm sure there are many happy 360 owners out there. Thing is, if you're not a racing- or a sportsgamer, the launch line up is as disappointing as the infamous PS2 launch portfolio. Perfect Dark Zero received the highest score of any launch game, but it is obvious to me that the game is rushed:

• The story is impossible to follow or even identify.
• The levels are multi player maps that are so open ended that purple arrows had to be integrated into the ground in order to make sure that you fulfill the tightly scripted quests in the right order.

I do hope that they launch a Perfect Dark Zero Substanabilitorize in 6 months time so that we get to play the game the way it was originally intended.

In the mean time, I'll do as I always do - play last gen games on my shiny new console.