Anyone got a map?

Um... how can I put this... I'm lost!

Yup, it's true, my gaming mojo is current dazed and confused (or is that confused and dazed).

Loads of games at my disposal and I just can't find one that I REALLY want to play.

That doesn't mean that I'm not playing anything of course... just that I'm trying to play EVERYTHING (and it gets a bit confusing, especially when I've got two games going at the same time).

Thinking about it, I started when I started playing the Vanguard beta. They promised so much but it all felt so dated and, ultimately, pointless. It's drained the hope from me... the promise of the future of gaming... and, at the moment, there just doesn't seem to be anything to restore that. Don't get me wrong, there are loads of titles claiming the 'future of gaming' crown. Even Duke Nukem (please don't joke about it) Forever has raised his weary, wise-cracking, head to stir-up yet more rumours (a new, tiny, in-game screenshot of Duke was used in a recent job advert) but this doesn't escape the fact that nothing is actually HERE, right now.

Ubisoft have gone right up their own backsides with Rainbow Six Vegas and Splinter Cell Double Agent with the whole 'let's not bother supporting the largest gaming community on the planet' thing, attempting to directly port the XBox 360 versions across (not as badly as some, admittedly, but still pretty crap). EA are flexing their financial might with the in-game advertising in BF2142. Valve are attempting to upset as many people as possible by trying to do the same with CS1.6. Even Microsoft, despite their (alleged) big push on 'Games for Windows' seem to have forgotten that it might help if you stop trying to get exclusives for the XBox 360 or convincing the software houses that it is a good idea to make your game DirectX 10 only (just to sell your console/new OS). Nobody seems to be trying to do the one thing guaranteed to bring the cash rolling in... release a decent game!!!!

Oh, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of AAA titles 'on their way' with the likes of Spore, Bioshock, Quake Wars, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Assassin's Creed and the numerous sequels (UT2007 and Crysis spring immediately to mind) but with the current trend of constant delays (both genuine, development delays, and pointless marketing ones) we might not see these titles for months!

As things currently stand, there is nothing to look forward to until the end of March, at which point there will be a flood of releases attempting to drain your bank account of cash (just check out this page - Gameplay). April, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing, because the 'money men' don't like April. Fools.

One, rather odd thing, that strikes me about the Vista release this month (changing the subject ever-so-slightly) is that there is no actual reason for buying it. Only nVidia have released a DirectX 10 based graphics card (if you've got £300+ just lying around) and none of the Vista-only games are anywhere near release. Hardly the sort of support you'd expect for the 'next gen' operating system. ATi don't even look like they will be ready to release their DX10 range of cards till CeBIT (in March, no less) at the earliest! Just a thought...

Anyway, I'm off to find a pack of cards... who needs electronic gaming huh?

Would you like fries with that?

Ok... so resisting my urge to buy more Wii games turned out to be a little fruitless as Gameplay decided (in their infinite wisdom) to ignore my requests to cancel the Wii pre-order I originally had in place and sent me out a second Wii and a copy of Zelda!

Can't really complain as I had a friend that had been looking to get a Wii but I held on to the (rather fantastic) Zelda for myself. Probably THE best game currently available for the Wii (though Wii sports is a definate contender... if only because it's fun and free!!!).

Other than the Wii news, it's been a busy time for band emails...

It's been probably two years since my band, Stolen Goods, have had any real dialogue going. There aren't any problems (that I'm aware of), we've all just gone in our seperate directions and taken an impromtu break from it all. Now, it seems, we're all interested in getting back together again!

I think, if I'm honest, we all lost interest in playing as a band when it started to get a bit too serious... too much like hard work. We all work for a living and have lives outside of the band (shocking I know) so, for me at least, the band was a good way to relax and enjoy myself playing good music with a few close friends. Don't get me wrong, I love playing live gigs, but I play for fun... not profit. If I can walk (stumble?) away from a gig with a smile on my face, beer in my belly and enough loose change for the ferry home then it was a good night!

Other than Mike, the lead guitarist, we've all tried our hand in other bands without much success so it'll be interesting to get us all back together again. At the moment, this looks like it's most likely to happen when Mike is playing with his other band Dropzone at the Admiral Drake in Portsmouth on the 9th of February. I've not heard them play before so it could be a laugh (or very painful...).

No doubt I'll give you all an update on that shortly after...

As if by magic...

...the shop keeper appeared. And what do you imagine he might be carrying? Surely that's not a brand new Nintendo Wii?!?

Why yes, it is... and now it's MINE! Bwahahahahahaha


Sorry about that. It is, however, all true. I am now the very proud owner of a Nintendo Wii without any sort of pre-ordering nonsense. I feel a bit sorry for the people that are still waiting for their pre-orders to be filled... it seems a bit stupid that while some companies are waiting on stock to complete orders placed before the launch, I was able to walk into my local Game store this weekend and pick one off the shelf (not strictly true, I did phone them first to check they'd got their delivery... but you get the idea).

I've managed to resist the urge to buy all the games currently available and restricted myself to Wii Play (with the additional remote) and Red Steel. Mind you, if I hadn't resisted, what would all my friends and family have to buy me for my birthday at the end of the month ;-)

Of course, it wasn't all happiness and light this weekend... ignoring the Wii-ache in my right shoulder from playing Wii sports waaaaay too much, I was the unfortunately victim of a dead router on Saturday night. Normally not a major headache but it would happen while I was trying to get online to take part in an upcoming MMO beta stress test. Fortuantely they extended the test to cover Sunday as well so a quick trip to the nearest shop got me back online in time to grab my place. Until the NDA is lifted there isn't much I can say... except that I'd underestimated this particular entry in the new MMO race, something I won't be doing again!

The ex-router is a bit of a pain. It's a fairly new NetGear MIMO RangeMax but it's been playing up for a couple of weeks now. First the wireless would only intemittenly let traffic through and then it started blocking internet traffic out completely. Tried updating the firmware as it was still running the orginal stuff... and at that point, despite claiming a successful update, the unit stop working completely!

Ah well... here's to modern technology eh!

Nai

New year... new house... new addition!

Happy New Year!

Taken me a few days to get myself back in gear after a great New Year so this is a slightly belated New Year message I'm afraid. Another year is here and we're already almost half-way through January (Scary).

Fortunately I'm not one for making New Year resolutions so I won't bore you with tales of things I plan to do this year (and follow it up a few weeks later on how I've already broken them :-P). That said, I'm pleased to say that the single resolution I made last year to have bought a new house and moved in by the end of the year, I did manage to stick to... just. Perhaps there is something to be said for making one resolution... I shall have to give it some thought.

Anyway, please excuse the pointless rambling, there was actually a reason for making this post... a new addition to the new house. No... not THAT sort of addition (sorry Mum, it'll be some time before you see any gran-children) but a new pussy cat. Strickly speaking, as he is only 6 months old, a kitten; though you wouldn't know it to look at him because he is HUGE. He joined us yesterday from the nice people at Cats Protection and has already started to settle nicely into his new home. Unfortunately his arrival was given a less than friendly welcome by my existing cat, Cleo. Obviously not happy at having to now share everything she was being extremely stroppy yesterday and it may take some time before they get along.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to upload yet, but I'll post some as soon as I can.

Oh... and his name? Morpheus (how's that for a cool name for a cat).

Enjoy!