Well I have finally decided to start listing all of my Commodore 64 games, after deciding to get it out of storage, and realizing it was filthy as anything, it is my third C64 and it was in poor condition when I got it years back, one thing I hate is really filthy and grubby things though. So I have proceeded to clean it by removing each key, and I will tell you they was a sheet of dust on it under the keys, not to mention the amount of crap on the keys themselves. Cleaning the whole thing took me hours and there was some heavy scrubbing involved, I seriously don’t know how people can let things get that dirty, I would go on to assume they washed there hands at some point but judging on the dirt on the keys it wasn’t often, also there is heavy smoke damage to the keys which is beyond cleaning, so they all have yellowish tops at least it’s a huge improvement over how it looked when I got it. I am having trouble removing a lump of white correction fluid from it though, some genius removed the Commodore 64 silver sticker from the bottom right hand corner and decided to white over where it was and write commodore in black marker pen, that’s still a pain to get off, but I want to restore it as much as I can so I will keep trying to get it off.

 

Anyway onto the games, so far I have actually managed to list all the games I was bought as a child, and that work, I’m not listing ones that never worked since I don’t really have them do I? All these games are still in great condition, all in cases and everything, which I am very happy about since they have been stored up in my loft for about 3 years. On top of the games that I had when I was younger I also have a box of loose tapes that I got with this C64, what happened to all the cases and inserts I don’t know, but I never got around to testing all of these games, of any of them if I can remember, so once I have checked they are working, which I am sure will take a while because there has to be about 60+ games in there, I will begin listing them.

 

In all honesty I fell quite good about managing to clean it all up and make sure it is all working, it’s actually quite a rewarding feeling, painful too as my shoulders are hurting from all the cleaning, and I don’t plan on putting it back up in my loft either chances are something is bound to happen to it.

Ok it has been a couple of months now since I have purchased both my Xbox 360 and PSP, and I thought it was about time I posted my thoughts on the two so far.

 

Let’s start with the PSP, well first I have to say just how amazed I am at the quality of the screen, the overall quality of the console is superb too, I also currently have four games on it; Virtua Tennis: World Tour, Lemmings, Tales of Eternia and Breath of Fire 3 (which I believe has yet to be released in North America?) Anyway I have enjoyed Virtua Tennis since it’s easy to just pick up and play, and always good for a quick game, Lemmings is just a classic I have played that the most so far just simply because it is so addictive and it is easy to lose track of time, and I love the look. I think my problem is I have got two RPGs on it that I don’t play at the moment, that’s mainly down to the fact that I have also got an Xbox 360 though, I will get round to them I hope, because I would hate them to go to waste.

 

Onto my Xbox 360, all I can say is I am very impressed, if Sony are aiming for the same type of experience with the PS3 they have a lot to compete with, right from the second you turn it on every just looks very well put together, I have currently have four games for this too, Perfect Dark Zero, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Prey and Hexic HD, I have also restarted my Xbox game collection off again today by getting Halo 2, I got rid of my games when I thought the 360 wasn’t going to be backwards compatible and didn’t want to get another Xbox after the first one broke down, I am regretting that one now. Anyway the games; I am slightly disappointed with Perfect Dark Zero, because I guess I was expecting a bit more from the single player mode as far as the story goes, but it is a very good game, just really should have been better for a game that was in development for as long as it was, Oblivion on the other hand is just unbelievable strait from the opening sequence I was impressed, this game has taken up most of my time lately. I have only just gotten Prey but I have to admit as far as looks go I am very impressed, I can’t see the Xbox 360 losing the crown of the console with the best FPSs. Then there is Hexic I don’t which was free on the Hard Disc anyway, but I have found it quite addictive, for a game so simple. Also I am not currently on Xbox Live although I have actually created a profile for it, to reserve my name if you will, not that I think anyone will steal it but you never know, it has also made me think if I really want to get a PS3 now, since a few of the games that I would have got that for are now multi format like Smackdown or coming on it first like GTA. Plus the price seems like it will be far too high for offering very similar quality and mainly the same games, since most of the current exclusives for the PS3 don’t appeal to me.

I have just started trying out posting a few videos here on gamespot, and I have to admit it was pretty easy, except for one video that has taken me three days to try and upload, because it kept loosing the final page. I have finally got it posted though and, it's a pretty good one, it is a very old tech demo of a 3D Final Fantasy, which I am sure at one point was heading the the N64 before Square and nintendo had such a big falling out. I actually remember seeing pictures of this about ten years ago in some Nintendo magazines I had, but never thought I would come across the video, it's pretty good and you can see where they got a couple ideas for Final Fantasy 7 from, any for those who haven't seen it enjoy, I'm sure I will have a few people say they have already seen it  message me or comment, but it's still very old and interesting footage, so here it is................

[video=JHY0kzKs5bMEujE]

Well my week has been quite preductive as far as my gaming goes, within the space of a week not only have a got myself a brand new white PSP but also an Xbox360, considering I planned on spending no money what so ever this month on games almost £500, quite a feat if you ask me. My only problem now is it has actually left me broke for the rest of the month, if only the guy who sold me them didnt start making me stupid offers i couldnt say no to, i may not be going anywhere near him for a while because I cant not spend money when he offers me things.

It fair to say now that we have moved into a more technological age everything around us seems to be far more customisable to our own likings. If anything more emphasis seems to be put on making things personal than anything now, and video games are no real exception. From profiles for online gaming accounts, to just about everything in some games including menus, now this really isn’t anything new as far as PC games go but consoles really haven’t had the storage space to be able to do this until Hard Disks became standard, now those options are becoming possible with consoles too. I does work and work well though many people myself included would much rather be greeted by something I chose personally. This also is a great way of getting people to feel like more of a community too, since it does make everyone seem much more unique when it comes to online battling and just communicating. Since consoles are just starting to use these types of customisation it will be interesting to see how popular it becomes over the long term, I have no doubt it will be popular since consoles of this new generation will be a must online, since just about every games at one point is bound to have some sort of downloadable content.

 

On the subject of customisation GameSpot is a perfect example of that, since the redesign and they always seem to be finding new things to add to help make people feel more part of the community which has really made me appreciate the amount of work they are doing on the site lately, as well as having the new GameSpot UK site so people like me get more localised news.

 

On another note a big thank you goes out to Cheesebob57 for designing me a profile banner, something far better than I could have done but I really don’t have the time at the moment to learn how to do it.

This is pretty much a favour I am asking anyone out there to do, and that is make me a decent banner, icon and blog image. Simply I am very bad a trying to do anything like that beyond anything very basic, if anyone is wondering what I am looking for in it just contact me via gamspot. The basics are though I would like it to feature a Metroid Prime, 2, 3 or Hunters style theme.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Well over the past few days I have been keeping a close eye on all the footage of the various Wii games that have been coming out and I have to say I am very impressed with the way they seem to play, I have been quit surprised how easy most seem to be to pick up. The controller seems such a genuine way of changing the way games play that it is almost too simple, having both parts of it feature motion sensors is a fantastic idea in my opinion, the controller itself is just amazing to say the least, even the two peripherals, the gun and the virtual console controller look great.

 

I’ll admit that the games don’t look as visually stunning as either the Xbox360 or the PS3, but in all honesty they look good enough to me, I think in many ways Nintendo really doesn’t mind not making the most graphically powerful console, if they believe that there games are games are good enough. Saying that though some of the games really hold up well to anything around on the Xbox360 at the moment.

 

I also managed to watch the Nintendo press conference live and in all honesty I think it managed to throw up more questions than answers, at times anyway. At least it wasn’t quite as bad as the underwhelming Sony one in my opinion any way.

Well another year another E3, and this year we have the big unvieling of the games the PS3 and the Rev............ sorry Wii. Both of which we hardly know anything about since the two companies have kept things so quiet, well it's going to be one of the two that steals the show it just depends which one. Not only that but we should see some games that really test the Xbox 360, PSP and DS because all three have yet to be tested as to what they can do. Thankfully this is also my Birthday week  so I'm hoping for some big surprises, I'm just hoping there is not too much I want this time around or i will never afford it all................. and since that is not going to happen I just hope I win the lottery then.

It’s been a long while since I wrote a new blog, but I thought it was about time I did.

 

First of all I would like to say I really like this new look the GameSpot website, it took a little while to get used to but it is a far nicer layout and far more user friendly in my own opinion.

 

The main thing I wanted to write about was 2D games, but then I kept debating with myself to do it or not, and that has really taken me about two months to get this far and start writing it. I think my biggest concern recently is most developers completely pass up the thought of a 2D game on home consoles simply through fear that it won’t sell, unless it’s a retro or budget title, which is sadly true.

 

I think it’s fair to say that as technology has advanced so quickly what people always want is the best looking 3D games they can get, and I’m not going to say anything against that because in many ways that would make me a huge hypocrite, but I would say that the majority of gamers today would pass up a well made 2D game just because it doesn’t look as good as a substandard 3D game. Even with the current handheld consoles 2D games are slowly going to dwindle in numbers on them as both the PSP and to a lesser extent the DS can produce better 3D games than 2D, of course Nintendo does seem intent on giving a mix of both 2D and 3D games on its handheld depending on the game.

 

There is also the option that developers could make games that play like a 2D one but look like a 3D one, games like Viewtiful Joe are fantastic examples of this, and also manage to capture a good sense of creativity in the look of the game, something often lacking in many 3D games as they all start too look the same.

 

With the new generation of consoles coming out I had started to think it may well have been the end of 2D games altogether, but Microsoft seems to have shown that it’s not, they have used an idea that Nintendo also plan to use and that is bring classic games to people but with upgraded visuals, and so far this has proved quite successful so it doesn’t look quite as bad as I originally thought which is why it has taken so long for me to write this blog. Of course I could just be feeling nostalgic about what I liked when I was younger, and being one of those anti-progress type of people in all honesty my view has changed a bit recently, because it does seem that 2D games will always be around just maybe not quite on the grand scale that most of the biggest releases are now, which is in a way a bit of a shame, unless someone comes along and proves me wrong.

There are many like myself who have been gaming for close to twenty years, some longer of course. One thing that often hits be about it is sometimes we can be adicted more to the tought of games than actually playing them, I could list a lot of games I have went to buy just because I like the tought of having it, but never really get around to playing it that much. Maybe I am just getting older and less interested in what has been my pasion for the better part of my life, or maybe the fact that I have far more income I did when I was young has only fueled my addiction?

I would have to say money has became one of the reasons why I have been buying more recent releases than I did when I was younger, and why not it's my hard earned money. Also I have been buying many games knowing even if I don't get to them the first time around they will be in my collection for the future and will be there if I ever want to go back and finish what I never started, if I ever find the time that is. I said the same thing about the last generation of games, more than half I never seen through to completion.

It's not like I am losing my pasion for them either because there are always certain games that I manage to play right the way through when I get them, or keep going back to, then there are the ones that never seem to appeal to me at the time. Those tend to be the ones I buy because I like the tought of them or just to have them in my collection. I guess having more money has made me less picky in what I buy, so I just buy everything that I am remotley interested in.

Owning multiple consoles doesn't help at times either I owned all three at one point plus a GBA and of course my PC, in a way I was glad when my Xbox brokedown, so I could get rid of it and the games, this was before it was confirmed the Xbo360 was backwards compatible with the top games so now I'm a bit angry............. getting back on track. I honestly don't know how I managed to afford games for five systems to be honest.

Sadly with this new generation of consoles coming and now two hanshelds, my addiction doesn't seem to want to go away, if anything it will get worse with the ability to download all those old games on the Revolution I missed the first time around. Sometimes it's not the gaming it's self that's the addiction, but the thought of it can be just addictive, just ask my wallet.