Too expensive for a mere student like myself...When the new generation of consoles hit, I was fairly sure that my decision to upgrade would initially swing the way of the PlayStation 3. I wasn't a Sony fanboy, having grown out of that stage at around fourteen, when I finally gave in, bought myself an Xbox and found out what I'd been missing. No, my mind was set on upgrading to Sony's third home console because of the years of fun I'd been provided with by my PlayStation 2, and the PlayStation before that. On top of that, I was a lot more interested in Sony's first-party franchises like God of War and Gran Turismo. I was convinced that the PlayStation 3 would be the best place to invest my money. Needless to say, a few things resulted in that assurance changing. The price, while not unreasonable in my opinion, was way out of my range, and continues to be. The games, particularly the first-party titles I was looking forward to, didn't materialise around the time of the console's launch. These factors ultimately deterred me from buying the PlayStation 3, and I finally entered the current generation of consoles when I purchased an Xbox 360 in April last year.

I cannot wait to play this!I've been happy with the 360 for the most part, despite losing one to an E74 error in February and then having it stolen before I could send it off for repairs. It's served me well - the games are good, the controller is comfortable and Microsoft seem to offer it a lot of support. But in spite of all this, there's still a part of my brain that wants to play the PlayStation 3. The reason for this - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I've been a fan of the franchise for years, having played MGS1, 2 and 3, as well as the two MSX Metal Gear games, the two Ac!d games on PSP, and MGS: Portable Ops on the same. Despite showing all this love for the series, though, I've never had the opportunity to play the most recent instalment in what is surely one of my most favourite franchises in gaming. That is, until now.

My PS3-owning flat mate \and I have been talking about doing a console swap for some time, and we finally got around to it this morning. That means that for the next week, I am the acting guardian of a shiny black PlayStation 3 and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4, while she looks after my 360 and a few games including Dead Space and Forza 2. I cannot even begin to tell you how stoked I am about this. The swap is in effect for one week, so I intend to play the hell out of MGS4 and, depending on timing, maybe check out Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Prince of Persia too. You can expect a full verdict on MGS4 later in the week. Thanks for reading, guys. See you around.


DanK

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Currently playing - Final Fantasy V (PS1)