The PC developers seem to be very reluctant to support their games.

It's not that they don't make the necessary patches, although those come very late at times. No, the big problem is, that unless you've bought the games through an online service like Steam, that supplies (and installs) the patches automatically, you'll have to find and install the patches yourself.

It must be almost impossible to make an auto-updater to the game, or the developers have problems serving the files - whatever the problem, we as consumers are left to look fort he patches ourselves - depending on the developer and/or distribution method.

The reason I mention this is because I have a rather large collection of games - many of them in the goodole' DVD (and even CD) format. Those are the games that I've bought at the usual games retailers. Many PC games are flawed at the release, and as such you'll have to find the patches in order to enjoy the games as bug-free as possible. Logic would dictate that these patches should be readily available at the developers website, or even the publishers website. But this is not a logical world, and online services still have a long way to go - because patches are usually very difficult to come by, and when you finally find one, you usually have to register in order to get them - which I refuse to do, as I could've easily be a member of 15+ sites with different policies on privacy. And when you finally do find a place to download the patch (at, let's say, The Patches Scrolls), the DL speed is usually somewhere between 1/10th or 1/100th of your connection speed, making you wait for 30+ minutes, when it could've taken seconds. Hey, and the problem just gets bigger the larger your collection is, and if (and when) you have to reinstall your game collection after, let's say, a harddrive format or OS install, to name a few.

In short, it doesn't work,which in turn just means that in the future, I'll buy my games through Steam and hope that the service will last, and that the games retailers in the city will find something else to sell.

All because the developers and publishers seem unable to support their products on their own.

Looking at the forum posts regarding any console news, the ugly face of the biased comments is to be found just about everywhere. Its a bit funny, actually, because there is absolutely no need for these comments. They serve no purpose whatsoever, except to throw sand in the eyes of other reader and consequently turn the discussion into a kindergarten shouting contest. Or so it seems.

But more importantly, what is the purpose of these comments? Why do people, who has already made up their mind about X console, feel the need to comment or point out the flaws of the competing console at any chance they get?

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I guess you can look at these comments and their impact in both a positive and negative way.

To bias or not to bias

The positive approach would be to say, that the manufacturers are not getting the chance to rest on their laurels. The owners of a given console are constantly being reminded of the strengths of the competition and sometimes they may even find out they've actually bought the wrong console for their particular needs.

The negative approach would be to consider these comments as needless taunt. Pressure, and sometimes outright provocation, from the followers of the competition which makes it all the more difficult to discuss the real pressing matters, or even the subject at hand.

I guess I stand somewhere inbetween. I guess I can understand the need to participate in a discussion in order to make oneself heard, but at the same time I would've liked people to stay more on the subject, instead of killing or turning a discussion towards the usual "fanboy" discussion, in which both sides usually takes turn shouting. Not that I'm a fan of the word fanboy, as it turns out to be used primarily by the fanboys themselves, and the word seems to justify not taking the other side seriously, which in turn just makes any attemptto reason futile.

More importantly, the habit of thinking oneself 'right' and everyone else 'wrong' is the first sign of a near religious look at the consoles. If you're ready to participate in a discussion, the first smart thing to do would be to consider whether or not you have anything important to say about the matter. If 300 people has made the same comment as you are about to make, theres no need spam the thread with yet another one. The next thing to consider is whether or not you've read the article discussed. Some people feel as is the news being discussed is just a starting point for their own agenda - something that will surely lead up to the ever present shouting contest.

The Taunt

To be fair, I've succumbed to the dark depths of the taunt, feeling as if I needed to 'get back' at a ridiculous comment in a thread. But this temptation usually leads to the 'dark side' (this blog needed a reference to Star Wars, so here it is), and be sure, that if a comment is smelling to begin with, the rebuke will not get any better.
I try to discuss with people that at least has the courtesy to actually read what I say, and I tend not to adress my starting comment on a thread to anyone in particular, as I always try to start with a general view, observation, point or information before discussing the specifics. If other people has made a similar starting comment in the area I'm interested in, I usually adress them first. And not the trolls. But sometimes I fail, and address the wrong people first in a thread, and the discussion will suffer.

Some may be wondering now what my point is. The point is simple. Religious rhetorics and onesided views tend to attract opposite views. When two sides fail to communicate with eachother in a constructive way, the thread succumbs into chaos and shouting. And we've seen this happen way too often on Gamespot.

A final thought

One thing I've been thinking about lately, is why the fans of a particular console even bother reading and commenting the news about the competing console. They've already made up their mind, so why bother?

Is it insecurity? Curiousity? The need for confirmation of their choice? I'm not entirely sure,I think its a mixture of the reasons - there is a reason why the most heated "fanboy" discussions is always in the PS3 and Xbox360 forums (in my experience). I simply think its a matter of these two consoles being so close in terms of their primary customers and services, they simply attract the same people. So people have to make up their mind, but whatever they choose, they are never 100% certain they've made the right choice, so they have to put forward their insecurity to others. Which, of course,is absurd, as either side can feel absolutely comfortable with their choice as both consoles are excellent - in different ways.
There can, of course, be a number of other reasons for the need to pick on a console and a consoles crowd aside from this, but the above mentioned reason seem to be the one I think is predominant.

But I'm prepared to listen if you have other reasons. Always. If you're ready to listen as well.

I guess after the almost magical year for computer games, more specifically 2007, the pace and frequency of really great games have slowed down for a bit.

WoW is still huge (although not my favourite, the few MMO tendencies I have is treated with EVE online), Bioshock is arguably still one of the best games in recent years and Forza 2 still hold the crown as the best driving "simulation" game out there. Butwhen the talk comes to new games, 2009 still hasn't showed us truly great games yet.

Is that a bad thing? Not really. It has given me time to look at some of the niche games made in recent years, or big titles I've previously ignored in order to play the next great thing. Even games that had some mixed reviews upon release has been tried, and it has given me some good surprises as well as total letdowns.

Take the Need For Speed series - I've been avoiding the series since Carbon on the PC, mainly due to some horrible technical flaws (and driving mechanics). Well, I gave Carbon and ProStreet a chance on the trusty Xbox360 - my reasoning was, that EA must have ironed out the technical flaws on the console. The short answer is a resounding NO, both Carbon and ProStreet has a really flawed engine, which runs really bad on the consoles as well... Stuttering framerates (with really low dips) is an unforgiveable achievement on consoles, and especially driving games should be silky smooth - anyone who has played Forza Motorsport2 knows what steady 60 fps does for your driving skills.

So, if you really want an Urban themed driving game, look for Midnight Club: LA, which has much more stable framerates than any NFS game in recent years, and at the same time MC has somewhat similar (if notbetter) gameplay than the almost classic NFS: Underground 2 game - which is classic, because IMO its the last great game in the NFS franchise I can remember.

Other games that have surprised me? Well, Blue Dragon is a worthwhile experience if you're into the old-school JRPG games. The art direction might seem a bit bland, but I'm still impressed by the very clean look of the game, which comes from thevivid colors, Depth of Field effects, the character designand liberal use of AA. Gameplay-wise the game has some interesting ideas of how tocombine skills, and the 'shadows' of your main characters (basically magical avatars), has an interesting role in the game. Blue Dragons is not a great game, but neither is it as bad as some reviews would suggest.. Its a matter of personal taste and expectations, really, as sometimes a finely tuned, workable, game with its own distinctive charm, can supply many hours of fun.

So, while we wait for the next wave of great games, I suggest you browse the local gamestore for some of the games you've probably missed in the last hectic years.