Happy Gnu Year '07

Time has passed, weeks became months and here we are in 2007.

Out of curiosity, I looked back at my first January 2006 post. My first thought is that I have finally stopped the hobby flipping that I used to do. Video gaming has been my sole past time for over a year now. Nice to buckle down and concentrate on something at the chipper age of 45.

In this first 2006 post I had given my thoughts on Obscure and the new consoles (the then just released 360 and the to be released PS3 and "Revolution"). Aside from the name change, not too much has changed over a years time - stores still carry the old console games along side the new ones. By this time next year that will undoubtedly change. I was more positive on the PS3 back then, but that was before the $600 price tag and lack of good games. As for the 360, not much has really changed in my view of it other than the games I want to play on it and the thought that going first was probably a good idea after all. What I missed altogether was the crushing strength of the DS. Well, back then I didn't even own one.

As 2007 opens, I have to think what it will bring. PS3 (and Sony) will have a tough time of it, I think. The system is just too expensive and it's not like games are pouring out. The 360 will get a refit this year that I believe will make it cheaper and more intergrated, but I still won't buy it til the next Burnout is released. I hope that by next year it will be nearly 100% BC. And Nin doesn't really have to worry about the Wii - even if it flops, they can live off the money DS Lite is making. But I doubt the Wii will fail as it has become the media darling this holiday season. I don't know if I will get one or not yet, but I can't say I'm really that interested. The control scheme just doesn't work for the games I play. Of course, it can always be a Cube replacement.

As for my "game plan" for 2007, I have decided to play one new (to me) game every week. Play starts Monday and finishes Sunday with a review post on the next Monday. During that week I will pick the next week's game. (I had thought about random, triple-A titles only, by release date, etc. but none of them seemed worth the time to work out.) I got off to a slow start this week as I was sick last night, but I have picked Ace Combat 4 as my first game. I haven't played a flight sim in a long time and never (that I can remember) on the PS2. I will play other games during this year, but at least this will help me work through my collection some.

Little notes: I played some of Call of Cthulhu and other than being very dark (as in hard to see) it's a good adventure game so far. A bit slow though...Not too much FFXI going on as Rath was in England and not feeling well to boot... Traded some crap games from the collection into Gameworld, instead of wasting time and money on eBay sales, to get a collector's copy of FFXII...Finally decided to go with the Cube version of Zelda and started playing this weekend. Great, but it's like OoT with better graphics. Not a big step up in design, but enjoyable...Found the Shin Megami Tensei series and am trying to get all the games...Gave up on playing through Fable:TLC. Too much to redo that I just don't want to do again to get to new stuff...Also had to give up on Still Life. Game was like CSI:Myst. Plot was interesting, but I couldn't do the puzzles without a cheat sheet and playing a game like that is no fun.