'This is madness!', said the foreign ambassador before he was shoved and literally kicked down the pit in the movie '300'. I could also can use that quote due to the high quality games in February. Yes, 2010 has come and gone leaving my wallet bruised and begging for mercy, yet I have three games on my MOST wanted listed coming out next week: Dragon Quest VI, Tactics Ogre and RAdiant Historia. Sigh. Sorry wallet!

I was browsing through the weekly Best Buy and Futureshop flyers last week and Ive noticed that the PS3 Move is available.

The good thing about these stores is that they would allow you, for a Limited time, to trade in select games to own the newest games, accessories or dvd for FREE! For this particular product, they require 3 games. So armed with my 3 games I headed to BestBuy hoping to snag the new Move bundle. Unfortunately, the sales people there have no clue what I am talking about and after a talk with their 'supervisor' broke the news to me, that they 'were sold out.'

Off I went to Futureshop and once I got there and not taking any chances, grabbed the remaining bundle off the shelf and proceeded to grab a sales rep. After 20 minutes talking to another 'supervisor' we proceeded to process the trade-in and off I went.

Once home, I unpack and set-up the Move with the camera, recalibrated the Move control and install the demos and proceeded to try out Sports Champion. Playing table tennis is a blast. The only issue I have is that no matter how I tried the games cannot do a forward-highspeed-side spin drive. Hopefully its only the game and not a Move limitation. Also, I the move doesnt have the audio speaker compared to the WiiMote so the added 3D effect is missing. It is also lighter than the WiiMote and it does need a Silicone jacket of some sort since my hands sweat a lot after just 10 minute use.

All in all I am happy of the bundle, it seems it is geared toward Mature gamers and not kids.

E3 2010 has come and gone. This is my opinion based on what I've watched and read:

1. Microsoft:

A. AAA games:

-Halo Reach: will this be a trilogy?

-GOW3: will this be the end of the series?

-Fable 3: what motion control will it provide?

-COD Black Ops: will this game have any backlash from fans since the main developing team jump shipped to EA

B. My Kinect suggestions to MSoft:

-make it reasonable in price

-bundle it with a killer ap: Dance revolution seems to be that ap

-lower the prices for the Kinect games

-market it more as a fitness or dance peripheral: this is how you can convince the casuals to buy into it

C. New Xbox console:

-Kudos for a quiet console, WiFi N, and lots of storage

-Can you guys get rid of the proprietary HDD already!

2. Sony:

-Fix your PSN store since I and thousands of other users still can't use our credit cards on that system

-Add more PSone games on your store especially Vagrant Story, Xenogears

-Something tells me that the new commercial with the school kid is not the solution to solve the PSP sales

-The 3D games are not for the mass market

-When is the PSP2 coming?

-The Sony Move price point is a good step...for people who do not have a Wii

-Where is the LAST GUARDIAN?!!

3. Wii:

A. Core gamers. Check.

-Kirby, Golden Sun 3, Zelda, Donkey Kong, NBA Jam, Metroid, Epic Mickey

B. Casual gamers. Check

-Wii party, Just Dance 2, Mario Sports Mix

C. New Tech. Check

-3Ds: with Gamecube-like graphics, three type of user controls(touch screen, gamepad, analog)

-massive 3rd Party support

-Metal Gear, Super Street Fighter 4, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, blah, blah, blah

-What happened to the Wii vitality sensor?

-Hoping that this device will be reasonable in price as promised by Iwata

I was really skeptical about the 3DS when it was leaked into the 'Net. Actually, I rolled my eyes and said, 'What is Nintendo thinking?!" Even their competitors, namely Sony, was quoted as saying a 3D portable is just 'too much' in the hands of a regular gamer. I was in the same mindset since the Wii is going to be bombarded with the motion controls for the 'Move' and 'Kinect' during the holidays, why don't Nintendo concentrate on their gaming library with the competition knocking on their door.

Well, I am very happy that my assumptions were proven wrong after watching E3 and watching interviews of developers from Konami, Capcom, Ubisoft, EA, Activision, Level 5 and Square Enix. This portable is the next Generation: a console in a portable machine as one developer stated!

Another great thing is that Nintendo FINALLY listened to their core gamers. I remembered the E3 of 2008 and 2009, fans, me included, were begging to have new games for their popular franchises and yet we get were Mario games(which is not bad) and a lot of Wii Musics. People were clamoring for Kirby, Zelda, Starfox, DK, Pikmin and third party titles. Well, I was so happy when I finished watching their E3 presentation that I watched the video 4 more times just to make sure I am not dreaming.

The titles in development for this portable were plenty and are MIND BOGGLING in a sense that they are not shovelware but AAA 1st and AAA 3rd party franchises. Here is a partial list:

Kirby, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear, Star Fox, Super Street Fighter 4, Resident Evil, Assassins Creed, Ridge Racer, Kingdom Hears, Epic Mickey, Mario Kart, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, EA sports franchise, a possible Persona franchise, a possible GTA franchise

The best part is that Iwata announced during his speech that the portable is for the 'mass market', implying that it is REASONABLE in price. WOW!!! Nintendo, you have my money on this one!

So I was watching the MSoft E3 conference live via Gametrailers.com and here are my impressions:

1. 1st few minutes were amazing:

- COD, Metal Gear Rising, GOW3

2. Halo Reach eventhough I am not a fan of FPS have added space sim battles ala 'starfox'

3.Kinect UI features: video chat, speech recognition to turn on system(like an advanced 'clapper'), navigating menus, etc.

Then...it goes downhill from there as the audience seems to grow silent...

-its like watching Nintendo's E3 2008 conference all over again with added 'scripted', fake gamer actors/actresses.

-I wonder how many people in the audience made a 'facepalm' motion after being exposed to what 'Kudo' described as a years worth of innovated creative design that would revolutionize gameplay

4. The most redeeming reveal(as if Microsoft already knows about the tepid reaction to Kinect), is to present a redesigned Xbox 360 with(finally) built-in WiFi and 'whisper quiet' system and they are giving, or bribing, all the media presses for free who attended their 'lacklustre' show.

I just hope Nintendo and Sony will have better conferences tomorrow. Making fun of Kinect gameplay would make my day!

Next week, June 15-17 will be the biggest event of the year for video games: E3. Millions of gamers are either attending(lucky folks), video streaming, watching G4TV or reading blogs are anticipating what will Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will offer for the gaming industry.

Will Microsoft lower the price of the Natal hardware to affordable levels? Will Sony announce a new PSP or a new PS2 emulator for the PS3? Will Nintendo wow the audience on their new 3DS portable? How groundbreaking will be Zelda for the Wii? Is FF13 versus playable or coming to the Xbox360? What will be Sony's online price structure? Will there be price drops on any console system? Will there be a WiiHD announced? How good is the 'Last Guardian'? Ahhh so many questions!!!

Speaking of Playstation, I just hope that Sony would remake or release these games on the PSN:

-Xenogears

-Chrono Cross

-Vandal Hearts 1 and 2

-Suikoden 2

-Lunar 2

and last but not the least....VAGRANT STORY!!!!!!!

My avatar is Locke from Final Fantasy VI(FFIII in the US). As you may guess, I love RPGs and eventhough I appreciate FPS games, I really can't get into them. When I was young I just dont understand why my friends love Wolfenstein when it came out for the PC, which requires a 386sx PC back in the day. Me, I was happy with my 286 PC playing Roger Wilco of Space Quest or Text base RPG Zork and Bard's Tale.We were students then and most of North America shunned video games as a quirky, nerdy, 'uncool' hobby.There was always a heated argument between me and my best friend what game to get as we pool our money to get the newest games. Money from part-time work as a student is not much so usually we ended up flipping a coin to decide the matter. Mind you, when I was pushing for Secret of Mana for SNES and my friend wanted instead to get Contra IV and won the 'flip', I was so mad that we were almost came to blows and decided that this is the last time we will be 'pooling' our resources again.

Well, this changed when Street Fighter 2 was released on the SNES console in the 90's. After getting a perfect 10 from EGM, we both decided to pool our resources to get the game for $89.99CDN. I still remember turning on the SNES and hearing the soundtrack and the graphics...it was just UNREAL on how closely resemble it to the arcades. As we played there for hours on end and getting finger cramps and blisters from the horrible SNES pad, we knew that the price that we paid for the game was worth it. We realized thatStreet Fighter 2 was sort of a 'middle ground' between gamers with tastes that are at the end of the spectrum: I like the 'RPG' aspects of the game when choosing my fighter and their 'story' while my friend loves the action and 'twitch' button-joystick combo aspects.

We finally agree that Street Fighter 2 is like a deep RPG game and addictive 'FPS' mechanics rolled into one that every videogamer should experience. Come Tuesday, SSF4 will allow me and my old friend to have a 'reunion' over PSN network and relive the glorious era of gaming goodness. I just hope that I have trained my siblings better than he does his to get bragging rights.

I recently got Final Fantasy XIII for free. Our local Best Buy in Toronto was willing to trade 2 qualifying Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 games for it. It just that I do have games that qualifies for the trade-in and voila! FFXIII ending up on my PS3.

After popping it on my console, my jaw just dropped because of the lifelike graphics on my HDTV. I'll post a review after I finish the game.

As for the PS2, mine is 8 years old today and it is perfectly working. It was the first console that I bought with my first pay cheque after college and it is well worth it. I am just amazed how great this system is and its ability to play PS1 games. Looking at my cabinet where I stored all my games, I have almost 4 Xbox 360 games, 5 PS3 games, 10 Gamecube games, 6 Gameboy games, 13 DS games, 4 PSP games. Compared that to 40 games for the PS2 and PSone and it is hard to argue that the PS2 is the best console of all time. It's hard to say it when I'm a Nintendo fanboy from my days of the NES and the SNES.

One word of advise: if you have a child or a nephew that cannot afford the PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, the PS2 would be highly recommended alternative.