While 2009 seemed like a somewhat dry year for me (in terms of games, that is), looking into the latter part of the year has me very excited. Since I only have an Xbox 360, I guess the monetary burden is slightly eased ... but not much. Here are my confirmed purchases in the upcoming months:

» Forza Motorsport 3
» Lost Planet 2
» Modern Warfare 2
» Assassins Creed 2

Although a seemingly small list, it's much more than I usually buy (hey, textbooks are expensive!) in that timeframe. Plus games like Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell:Conviction are likely purchases as well. That should keep my busy for quite some time!

What games are you planning on purchasing soon/in the upcoming months?

What I want in the next Microsoft console:

♦ 16-Core CPU (or two parallel 8-core CPUs)
♦ 4-Core GPU (4 GB dedicated VRAM)
♦ 8 GB DDR3 RAM
♦ 250 GB SSD (Solid State Drive)
♦ Option to download any game to HDD, with standard hard copy also available
♦ Seamless backwards compatibility with all Xbox 360 games, including those from XBLA
♦ 1080p standard output via HDMI 1.4 (the future HDMI...), although SD also available
♦ < $30/year online service with dedicated servers for all games (or optimized P2P architecture)
♦ Blu-Ray Disc Drive
♦ Built-in Wifi (N) + Bluetooth
♦ Super quiet fans
♦ 99.7% reliability rate
♦ Only 1 SKU option
♦ $600 launch price
♦ Identically designed controllers to Xbox 360, but built-in rechargeable batteries with ~75 hour life and 10 year life span (under normal usage)
♦ Upto 8 controllers connected at once
♦ Ability to have different colour LEDs for each controller (selected in preference menu)
♦ Standard wireless Bluetooth microphone with console
♦ Jet black and chrome finish for console
♦ Ability to record gameplay video straight to the HDD, or take screenshots (dedicated controller button)
♦ Use external flash drives as memory unit
♦ External media can be connected to stream content (music, video, and pictures)
♦ ♦ ...and a bunch of other awesome things


The ultimate console, agreed? Although a "little" farfeteched, I'd love nothing more than to see this available in the Fall of 2011. Comment what you want, or are expecting in Microsoft's next console.

I had a few moments to spare over the week, so I thought it'd be a good time to update my sig and banner (with similar styling). Hope everyone likes it (I know there's flaws, but I don't have that much time...). Notice the subtle glow changing colour? Comments welcome.

` Aaron89

PS - Because of the 50K restriction, the image is [sadly] a little blurry due to compression.