So with the release of the 3DS in just over a months time, am I excited?

To sum it up yes I am and it is for more than one reason, not only am I excited for the release of a new console and getting it on the day of release but I am also excited for what will mark a change in my gaming habits, with the exception of my gaming PC the next generation I intend to stick with just Nintendo.

It wasn't easy coming to this conclusion, but both time and money have certainly played a large part in it, as it can be very expensive trying to maintain and play several consoles and a gaming PC all at once let alone find time to play the biggest games on each, not to mention the amount of time I spend working and then there is sleep as well, as over rated as I see that it needs to be done apparently, but fitting life in around a gaming schedule I pretty tough so what time I do have I intend to focus it on just one company.

Now I am sure anyone reading this may see this as limiting my options as to the choices of games I will get to play, and I agree but I will ask this is it better to play a game for a very short time and then move onto the next because you run out of time because you have other games you want to try, or to focus on the smaller number of games you can get and play them more thoroughly?

To be fair the decision of what company to go with was never any doubt as my love with Nintendo is an ageless one as it is with many, and to those no I do not blindly follow them and will buy what ever they release, I am hoping for quality games from third parties too, many such titles I have admittedly missed out on for the Wii as I never had enough time or money to get them.

Hopefully I can stick by this as well as I don't want to break this promise to my self as it may get very expensive some where down the line yet again, although that will hopefully be where my gaming PC helps a bit, by allowing me to get my fix of certain sorts of games that may not appear on Nintendo's system, or that's the theory well at least it should give me access to Microsoft’s own exclusive games at some point.

Maybe if I do manage this I will also be able to do some of those things I want to more often too, such as kick into gear what I want to do more online, as there are so many things I am hoping to give a proper shot at creatively.

Only time will really tell.

Okay so this Blog eventually took on a life of its own when I started thinking late and wrote a second part later in the day on a different computer and I was originally going to spread it across two blogs, but since then I have decided to add it onto the end of this one and expand so here it is.

Well I have to say I have never done two blogs at the same time but I have the other one that I have just written saved on my desktop PC and this one I just started typing while I am still awake at sill O'clock .

Why am I still awake? Well there is just so much that I want to do plans are all about in my head and hopefully I can start fitting that jumbled mes all together into something creative, and start to create a buzz about what I have been wanting to do for some time, what is it?

A website, a web blog, which I have been doing for some time just not as often as I would like, a video blog, which hopefully will be starting shortly and my tweeting which I do and will more than likely be sharing with part of my video blog.

Why? Well I guess I have always really wanted to give it a shot and get myself out there, loads of people do it so why not me?

Plus it will all be my own work so it can't all be bad, right?

Anyway I may just have to start using all of this technology I have started to get used to using, and do something with my spare time that may be productive.  

Certainly been an eventful time for me lately, life seems to be going well, at least from a professional stand point that is and I am starting to really get together enough content to know what I want to be doing with certain things so hopefully I will be putting that into action too.

Anyway from a gaming stand point it's been a great start to the year with the 3DS just around the corner, which I have mine pre ordered and an excellent bonus that Europe for once will be getting before North America, and also with the announcement of Sony's new NGP, which look like its predecessor the PSP to push the limits of what a hand held can do both from a graphical point of view and a technology point of view, but much like the PSP will it make the same mistakes? Sure having all that tech inside is nice but if it costs too much it may cripple sales from the start, I just hope in a way that they don’t end up following that same path I'm sure much can be argued in Sony's favour as much as it can be against them, but entering a generation with the most technically advanced system has yet to ever work from a sales stand point as making it the best seller. As with the past though the Sony hype machine has started with claims that it can produce PS3 quality graphics. If it is anything like previous claims of what they have said their consoles can do it may become far wide of that mark, although early evidence certainly support that they may be true in those claims, although what will that do to the eventual price of the system?

Although with all this focus on the 3DS it makes me wonder if many developers will switch their focus from the Wii as has been the case with previous Nintendo consoles with the launch of a new hand held, and as it stands the Wii's line up so far this year outside of Japan doesn't read too well although here is hoping some of those current Japan only games like The Last Story and Xenoblade do make there way to other regions as they seem to be some of the best Wii games made, couple them with Zelda: Skyward Sword and the eventual possibility of Dragon Quest X and it could well be the best year for RPG and adventure fans the Wii has ever had.

That's no to say Nintendo won't be showing off a better line up at some point latter this year, just because that line up is looking a bit slim right now doesn’t mean it will be for the rest of the year, I am just hoping some third party developers still look into releasing some exclusive games designed for the Wii, because other than Conduit 2, which is probably considered the biggest marmite game that's coming out for the Wii as you either love it for what it is or hate it for what it's not, but other than that and potentially The Grinder from High Voltage Software there are very few games designed for the Wii in mind.

Saying that as long as it's an overall good year for games I’ll be very happy as I'm sure ill be two busy with just a handful of games anyway , but still would be nice to have a decent choice, after the last year the Wii has become a real contender for my time with all the quality titles released last year, lets hope it's not just a one good year thing.

As gamers there is always that one game that we will play that will take more time out of our lives than any other and we will play it and play it, as for everyone there is always a game out there that has the depth and length to keep us going.

For me that one game series that has kept me going for many years since it's release is the one Nintendo game series that has more depth and strategy than any other and not just on a Nintendo console, on just about a platform around such is the level of depth of the game mechanics, which is tweaked and improved with every passing generation of the series.

I am of course talking about Pokemon, now I am sure a few people who may read this may just turn their nose up at the mere mention of any Pokemon game, seeing it as a game that is aimed solely at young children and not being complicated in any way at all. But if you can get past the basics there is such a level of strategy and diversity that one trained up super Pokemon may be amazing in one fight but totally useless in the next, and that could be down to a lot of different factors, the Pokemons type, the opponents Pokemon having the right moves, held item or simply being able to absorb anything that can be thrown at it and counter with ease.

Many devoted trainers will breed for hours at a time to get the desired Pokemon they are after having the certain move they want that can only be obtained through breeding too, with the nature they desire so the Pokemons stats cant be trained how they want so they can execute the strategy they need with that particular Pokemon, with every passing generation it is also getting easier to breed for that desired nature and even pass on the best possible stat in one area for that Pokemon. Even training up those stats can be done in next to no time with the right item and status condition.

That is just one part of the game that keeps me completely hooked, the other being that “Gotta catch 'em all” tag line, not only can it be a challenge to get all the in game Pokemon as standard, but getting those one that are unattainable in the game you are playing involves trading or transferring from older games, in newer games trading can also be done anonymously online, but only if you have at least seen that Pokemon and it is in your Pokedex or you cant try and trade for it. Then there is collecting after the game is pretty much complete and you have them all, some people will trade for certain event only Pokemon given away around the world as special gifts, as there rarity is seen as valuable and often come with exclusive moves or ribbons attached and can be identified with their trained id name and numbers. Then there are shiny Pokemon with are very rare to come across and to randomly come across one takes a lot of luck, I have only came across five or six myself, but the lure is there for me to catch more or trade for more, in more recent games though there have been slightly easier ways of coming across them, through wild encounters and breeding, but they are still seen in my eyes at least as trophies and collectable, just adding to the collectablity in the game.

So there is my one big obsession and I plan on continuing it regardless of how old I get as I know the games will just keep getting better and better such is the way they improve and tweak the games with every passing generation, and before the question is asked I am 28 and that does not effect my love of the games, and after over a decade of playing the games I know it will take a lot to stop me loving them.

So E3 has pretty much left me thinking that the next generation of consoles will rely on both motion control and 3D to get their points across, as seems to be the way at the moment, although it's kind of worrying to see all three seem to be coming to the same conclusion, but that's just how it seems to be working out right now. Out of all three I would defiantly say Nintendo impressed me the most, more because, of the 3DS, and the new games they shown off all old school with a new twist which these days is how I like it, just hoping Goldeneye doesn't turn out bad or my teenage memories of the game maybe forever tarnished. It's nice to see recently too that side scrolling games seem to be coming back big time, both being rendered in 3D and with pixels, can't remember a time when so many platform games started coming out that were just the same old thing now everyone is starting to really express themselves again, things like Sonic and Rayman look like good investments too outside the Nintendo camp, and lets no forget Mortal Kombat going back to it's roots, hopefully like Goldeneye I hope it doesn't tarnish my memories.

Overall though other than the Nintendo line up can't say I was too impressed with the others, although they did keep coming out with al the nostalgia filled games you could wish for, and of course the 3DS was far more powerful than I think most were expecting, and Kid Icarus could have easily passed as a Wii game visually, so I would say they are really on to a winner there and I am highly doubting anything Sony tries to match it with will dent Nintendo's market share, and lets face it the PSP has all but disappeared from most peoples minds as an alternative system as the games just aren't coming out that often any more, maybe they should try the approach of something new and original rather than just the same old thing?

Don't get me started on the lack of originality with controllers either, and the claim that it's different and better than anything else on the market, at least Microsoft went the original route and totally removed the controller. Either way I will stick with the controllers each system was designed for originally, since you know most games on that system will be using it.

Is gaming becoming a victim of the fast paced technological world we live in, or is it just simply natural progress?

There was once a time when, a console came out and that was how it remained pretty much through it entire life cycle, no changes to the hardware either internal or external, or internal to an extent of maybe making it run better overall but nothing that made it work any different to the original model that came out.

These days it seems to be the motto if it ain't broke fix it anyway, as a console can go through many number of internal and external changes in its own life span, from as simple tweak in it overall appearance to completely removing half the features from the very first models, and then including different ones in later models, the PS3 is probably the first console to go through so many major changes both internal and external in such a short space of time, and I am sure many would agree that the very first model had far more functionality than any of the later ones with pretty much full PSone and PS2 backward compatibility and even built in card reader.

Of course changes these days no longer just include simple hardware alteration but ever evolving software updates to the systems firmware, just looking at the X-Box 360's original navigation screen it has now been completely replaced by a much newer version and with new features making it a completely new experience, thus changing the system not only in hardware from it original model but the basic software of how it runs too.

Even handheld systems are not safe from hardware updates both the newest DS and PSP models offering far more features than their original models, the latest PSP even requiring no form of external media to play games on just an Wi-Fi connection, and much like the home counterparts the PSP is also evolving on the internal software front with regular updates to the firmware too.

So is this just the simple evolution of games consoles or just a part of the ever expanding fast moving technological world we are living in now?

Well personally from the updating of new firm ware to add new and better functionality to the system I am certainly all for that as I believe that is just a progression of making things better in most electronic devices, but as for the continual hardware changes, well all I will say is I want to be able to purchase something early on and it to have all the hardware features that any later models are going to have, not suddenly add a new HDMI output all of a sudden giving it better video output and better picture quality or a bigger hard disc because they suddenly realised the one they put in the model I got wasn't big enough to actually hold enough data to do more than a few things. I don't want to have to consider buying a second console just so it has better hardware than the one I brought to begin with because it may not be able to play game X how it was meant to be played. From that point I think they really need to take a look at it from the consumers point of view, updating the firmware is one thing but completely changing the hardware every year can be very frustrating and make you wonder if it just not worth waiting for the next model, incase it just that little bit better.

I can't imagine this changing now though as I am sure it will continue with the next generation of consoles as manufacturers keep trying to stay ahead of the competition.