Games are beginning to become more and more violent, which has raised much controversy over the years. Nobody can deny that games like Condemned 2, Dead Space, GTA4, Call of Duty: World at War, Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising are very violent; EXTREMELY violent. I personally have no problem with extreme violence in video games but many other people do, seeing as how it is the most important factor the ESRB takes into consideration. Even children's games like Crash Bandicoot and littlebigplanet have warnings for "Animated Violence" on their ESRB labels. Now "Mature" games like the ones listed at the start of this paragraph are the ones that raise some flags. In Condemned 2 we see someone getting a knife straight through their skull, blood included. We even get to see someone's head thrown into a grinder, all in High Definition. In Dead Space, the objective of the game is to dismember every limb you see, also in High Definition. (1080p, for PS3 users.) Resident Evil 5 contains many gruesome head shots. Call of Duty: World at War allows you to shoot off the limbs of soldiers. Once again, this is all in High Definition Next-Gen graphics. Now you may be wondering why I keep mentioning the HD of these games, and I will now explain this.

I find the ESRB to be extremely biased towards certain games. They allow violence of the above caliber or worse into some video games, mainly the ones that are going to sell well. However, they censor some games for violence far more trivial. Let's use Rockstar's Manhunt 2 as an example. This game was released on the PS2 and PSP about two years ago. Up until it's release, it received some harsh criticism and controversy involving the ESRB. It kept receiving the rating of "Adults Only" for graphic violence. Now I'm sure everyone has heard of the AO rating, and I'm also sure that everyone knows that these games aren't published on leading consoles. For the most parts, no games with this rating even exist these days. Now, Manhunt 2 was finally released as a dulled-down "Mature" game. Rockstar finally earned this rating by hiding all the deaths in this game by using the most horrible blur censor in the history of video games. So this game resulted in being pretty damn crappy. It was still a great game, but the cheap censoring took away from the experience. It took away the reward of carefully planning your attack by lurking in the shadows and stalking your enemies. For some reason, the ESRB finds it necessary to censor a criminally insane guy throwing a bag over someone's head and watching them fall down, in PS2 Graphics. Really? With games like Condemned 2 getting away with everything that was censored in Manhunt 2, this really frustrates me as a fan of the Survival-Horror genre.

Now, aside from the obvious company name it came from, I see no reason why this game should have received its original AO rating. Various users modded the game to remove the censorship, and these videos can be found all over the web. I've seen these uncensored executions, and it's nowhere close to the level of head decapitations via chainsaw in Resident Evil 4 or being eaten alive in Code Veronica X, two very popular PS2 titles at the time. I'm only led to believe that Manhunt 2's censorship was just a flat out attack on Rockstar Games after the whole GTA: San Andreas "hot coffee" surfaced. The ESRB decided to go apes*** over the inferior graphics of Manhunt 2 in it's sequel. The ESRB is completely ridiculous. Manhunt 2 certainly isn't the first game to be destroyed by the ESRB, and it's certainly not the last. The threat of the AO rating is interfering with the gaming community. The ESRB was once a guideline for parents to find games suitable for their children, but now they just seem to use their powers for censorship. I think major console businesses like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo should lift this ban of AO titles. Let us, the gamers, play the games they were intended for us to play. Let us get our money's worth.

You do NOT need to reformat the hard drive!

I previously had a few "Corrupted Data" icons on my PS3 for many months. I got an error message every time I attempted to delete these files, but I finally found the solution. There is no need to back-up any files, but you can if it'll help you feel better. I've shared this trick with many people, and there were no problems. Don't hold me responsible if you lose anything, though. Just follow these steps...

1. Turn off Playstation 3.
2. Hold the power button down; the system will turn on and turn off once again.
3. Once the System has been shutdown, re-press you finger until you hear 2 consecutive beeps
4. When you hear the 2 beeps take finger off power button.
5. You will be prompted to plug in your controller via USB and then hit the PS button.
6. The Recovery menu will pop up.
7. Select "Restore File System" from the Recovery menu.
8. Agree to restoring the file system.

You'll see a progress bar detailing the restoration, and once it is finished your system will restart. Your "Corrupted Data" icons will still be there, but you will now be able to delete them. :)

Debating which system to get? Well here are the facts:

Backwards Compatibility
360: Most Xbox games
PS3: All PS2 & PSX games

Graphics Processor
360: 500 MHz
PS3: 550 MHz

System Performance
360: 1 TeraFlops
PS3: 2 TeraFlops

Controllers
360: Wireless. 4 Controllers
PS3: Wireless, Bluetooth. 7 Controllers

Game Media
360: Dual-Layer DVD-ROM. 17 GB
PS3: Blu-ray BD-ROM. 54 GB

Video Output Resolution
360: 480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i
PS3: 480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p

Wireless Connectivity
360: 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi-ready (Needs extra adapter)
PS3: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0

I/O Ports
360: 3 USB 2.0, Ethernet
PS3: 6 USB 2.0, Ethernet, CF Slot, SD Slot, Memory Stick), Optical Audio

Digital Media Formats
360: CR-ROM, CDR+W, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R
PS3: CD, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

Online Gameplay
360: Yes, with paid subscription
PS3: Yes, free online access

GPU
360: 500MHz ATi
PS3: 550MHz NVIDIA

Tomb Raider Underworld was released last week; and being the long-time Tomb Raider fan I am, I bought it without question. I've been a fan of Tomb Raider ever since the first game was released on PC back in 96. I still play the hell out of that game every day. Now, I'm not going to say that I am a Core fanboy, and only Core can possibly make a good Tomb Raider game. Of course that isn't true, but Tomb Raider was much better before Crystal Dynamics took over. But now, quite frankly, Tomb Raider sucks. It's gone down the drain. But who is to blame for that? Certainly not Core Design. I place all the blame on Eidos. Tomb Raider was supposed to have ended in 1999 with The Last Revelation. Now, let's begin.

The collapse of Tomb Raider began in 2000, while Angel of Darkness was in production. Eidos, being the money-hungry punks they are, wanted to release another Tomb Raider game before Angel of Darkness. So instead of doing the logical things which would be putting Angel of Darkness on hold, they placed the burden of Tomb Raider Chronicles on the design team. So Core, forced to make two games at the same time, had to put a half-ass job into both of the games due to deadlines created by Eidos. So Chronicles was quickly put together, but was still an okay game. But Chronicles held back Angel of Darkness so greatly, that Core ran out of time to assemble Angel of Darkness. Eidos placed hasty deadlines on the project, allowing very little time to properly finish the game. So in the end Angel of Darkness was released unfinished. Crippled with glitches, missing levels and cutscenes, and more. It received terrible reviews, and Eidos placed all the blame on Core. Thus, Core Design was removed from Tomb Raider. It was assumed that Lara had been laid to rest, finally.

 Three years after the release of Angel of Darkness Lara made an unexpected return in Tomb Raider Legend, by Crystal Dynamics. The game received mixed reviews. It was praised by children and new fans to the series, but hated by the long-time fans. I am a long time fan, and I hated Legend. It was linear and the puzzles could be solved by my eight-year-old sister. And for a lack of better words, Lara was a p****. The whole game revolves around her mother who went missing during Lara's childhood. Lara wants to find her mother, whilst b****ing and crying along the way. Both of her parents are supposedly dead, according to Crystal Dynamics. But this is completely backwards. According to Core Design, Lara is dead and her parents are alive. As a matter of fact, in Tomb Raider Chronicles her parents are in a cutscene at Lara's funeral. Oh man; what a plot hole, right? There's no getting around that. So Crystal Dynamics officially destroyed the story of Lara Croft's life. But just when you think they ruined the Tomb Raider series, guess again.

A year later Lara returned once more in Tomb Raider Anniversary, a "tribute" to the original game. Well some tribute it was. Anniversary was garbage, haunted by the same problems of Legend. Just when you think Lara couldn't be any more of a wuss, Crystal found a way to make it happen. In the original, Lara had no remorse towards killing her enemies. But Crystal wanted to give her "feelings." So instead of killing her enemies like she should do, she tells them how much she doesn't want to kill them. Complete trash. Anniversary was a disgrace to the Tomb Raider series. And to further piss off fans, Eidos trashed the entire remake made by Core Design and threatened to sue Core for using Lara Croft's name.

By now, I'm not even in the mood to discuss what is wrong with Tomb Raider Underworld. Sure, the graphics are fantastic. That is all it has going for it. It is filled with the same problems in Legend and Anniversary. Fans have given Crystal Dynamics an unbelievable amount of feedback on the games. What they liked, what they disliked. What to add, what to remove. Etc, etc. It seems like Crystal Dynamics paid no attention to what the fans had to say. Instead they simply created a fast-paced and unrealistic action game. It was ridiculously short, only a handful of levels. My only praise towards the game is the puzzles. They were easy, but at least Crystal made an effort to add some logic to the game.

So here we are today. Lara is still alive, but not the same. She's not the old Lara that everyone used to love. I only hope that the Tomb Raider series takes it's final stride with Tomb Raider 9. Regardless, there will be one more Tomb Raider game. I only hope that it is the last, before something terrible happens to the series. Eidos, please get a new team on the series. Crystal simply cannot cut it.