(Drum roll please).....I'm starting a union this autumn about a very niche gaming genre or game company. The former has the advantage because I started creating a website on this topic. Revealing more later...

Shifting gears, the PS2 reminds me of "The Little Engine That Could." After seven plus years the console is still chugging along with some great new releases. Here is my top 5 in 08.

Heavenly Guardian (aka Kiki Kai World) - The spiritual successor to Pocky & Rocky, this top down shooter featuring 2D hand drawn animation stars snow fairy Sayuki as she journey's across ancient Japan battling mythological creatures to save her man. To avoid copyright infringement (Square Enix owns the series), developer Starfish changed the protagonist but kept the enemies and stages from the cancelled arcade game - victory to the underdogs!

Obscure: The Aftermath - The sequel to Hydravision's 2004 survival horror game. The original survivors have graduated from high school and are now attending Fallcreek University. College life is all about sex, drugs and mutants. This cheesy horror romp has always been on my radar even though I never played the first iteration due to limited copies releases.

Samurai Shodown Anthology - The greatest fighting game series on planet earth receives a compilation that includes Samurai Shodown 1-5. Hanzo, we will be reunited very soon.

Silent Hill: Origins - "In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill." Yes, everyone's favorite ghost town is returning for more scares, pain and torment. Trucker Travis Grady is the latest victim to embark through hell as he uncovers the beginnings of the twisted town. Konami is only improving the controls from the PSP conversion

SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 - 2D lives! If you owned a NeoGeo in the early 90's and could afford the $200-300 games, your daddy had a Ferrari park in the garage. SNK is re-releasing 16 classics that cover the gauntlet of my favorite genres: fighters, shooters, beat em' up and platformers - all for 20 smackers.

The list of games continues with Baroque, Innocent Life, Sega Superstars Tennis, Lego Batman, Yakuza 2 and dozens of Japan only releases. Next Gen consoles - who needs them