I've been a gaming fiend for ages, ever since my parents gave me an Atari 2600 for good marks I got in second grade. I remember playing Defender for hours, fascinated by the fact that the game never ended, it just kept going. Then I took a break from consoles while at a boarding school where, needless to say, no consoles or tvs were allowed. That meant that I never got to experience the NES, Sega and all the other wonderful gaming devices from the late 80s to early 90s. I celebrated my return to gaming while in college by purchasing a Playstation in 1996 for a small fortune of US$299 and a copy of Resident Evil, which just came out that spring. From that point on, I knew that video games will always be a part of my life.

Since 1996 I bought the Xbox and Playstation 2 along with countless of games (see my games list) for all three systems in addition to all the PC games I've played in the last decade. And although it was not always affordable, I tried to keep up with the times as best I could, knowing that in the end video games are something very special and not a purchase I'd regret later on. However, this year I'm starting to realize that it is progressively harder to feed my obsession with gaming, what with the current crop of expensive consoles and the prerequisite high-end AV equipment that must be used to "take gaming to the limits".

Granted, as a recent grad student on the cusp of re-entering the workforce (next Wednesday), I should be able to afford the current gen after a few paychecks and continue on building my collection by purchasing a 360, then probably a ps3 and who knows, maybe even my first Nintendo console ever. But that means I'd need to upgrade my 19-inch Dell tv monitor to something more beefy like a 32-inch flatscreen in order to fully enjoy the games. And that's just crazy. I guess this is the price I have to pay for going back to school and not having a steady income to gradually stock up on new consoles and related equipment, but seriously... I got bills to pay, a car to buy and work clothes to score. How long is it gonna take me to make my gaming collection complete? Probably as long as the current generation lasts, which apparently no longer goes for even five years. Either way, I'm sure I'm gonna cave in and buy something as soon as I get the cash, so stay tuned for my take on whatever shiny new console (and tv) I'll be getting my hands on.