In my last blog (which I deleted), I said I was thinking about buying a multimedia HP computer, and just upgrading the video card in it. After contacting HP's customer support, though, I learned that the computer could only support power supplies up to 460W, which isn't enough to support high-end video cards. So, I decided to look for a different computer.

I found a nice gaming PC on Best Buy's website, and was thinking about buying it. When I first saw it, the website said it was in stock at my local Best Buy, but a few days later it said they were out of stock. I decided to wait to see if they were going to get more, but the computer was removed from the website a couple days later. I went to my local Best Buy store to see if they had any more in stock, but they didn't, and they said they wouldn't get any more of them ever, and probably wouldn't be getting any other gaming PCs for a long time. He said the only thing he could do is sell me the display model. I decided to take it, and, since it was the display model, they knocked about $300 off the price (from $1100 down to $820)!

It's still in really good condition, though, and they restored the PC, which deleted everything that was put on it for display purposes. Here are the specs:

• Model: Gateway FX6800-01e
• Processor: Intel i7-920 @ 2.67 GHz X4
• RAM: 3 GB (DDR3)
• Video card: ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB)
• Hard drive: 750 GB @ 7200 rpm

For the moniter, I have it hooked up to my new 37" 1080p LCD HDTV. I've only played two games so far (RuneScape and The Sims 3), but I was able to max out the settings on both, and play them in 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is awesome! I'm going to try some more graphic-intensive games tomorrow.

I'm going to upgrade the video card, and put in two high-end cards, but I'm not sure what cards I'm going to get yet. I'm probably going to get two NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 cards (with 1 GB of VRAM each), but I'm going to talk to a local computer store first to see how much two NVIDIA GeForce 260 cards would cost. I'd also like to upgrade the RAM, and add another 4 GB, but it's hard to find DDR3 RAM right now. I'll have to ask the local computer store about that, though, because they could probably order some for me.

The only bad thing about this computer, so far, is that it won't let me install Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (GOTY Edition). They're both made by Bethesda, so it's probably a problem with their games, not my PC. I think it's because my computer is running on Windows Vista 64-bit, but that's really stupid if that is the reason. What PC gamer isn't running Vista 64-bit?! It's the only way to use more than 3 GB of RAM (32-bit operating systems can only use about 3 GB of RAM, but 64-bit operating systems can use up to 16 GB).

I'm gonna have to contact Bethesda about it tomorrow, and see if there's any way to fix it. If not, then that's a nice waste of $80, because Best Buy won't take them back after they've been opened.

But, other than that, it's an amazing PC. Microsoft's Windows Experience gave my computer a perfect 5.9 score (that obviously needs to be updated, and go past 5.9. My PC is good, but it's far from being the best it could be, and would probably choke trying to run Fallout 3 or Crysis on max settings).

I recieved an invitation to join the PlayStation Home Beta the day before Thanksgiving. I've played around with it a little, and I have to say, I'm very disappointed.

First of all, there is absolutely no purpose for the Beta version. When a Beta version of something is released, it means it's not a finished version, and is only open for the purpose of testing. However, the problem with the PlayStation Home Beta is that there's nothing to test. There's about 10 pieces of clothing to put on our characters (can't even change the color of them or anything), and about 5 pieces of furniture to customize our homes with (can also change the wallpapar - about 10 different generic designs to choose from).

So, after realising niether of those things were customizable during the Beta, I assumed we'd be testing the different locations and features available in Home. Well, there's only a few places open during the Beta (you have to download each of them, and you're stuck roaming around your tiny apartment, with nothing to do, until they're done downloading):

Movie theater: In the movie theater, there is a big movie screen in the front, with a bunch of seats in front of it - just like a normal movie theater, except a lot less seats, and only one movie room. While in the movie theater, you can walk around freely, and chat with other users. I'm not sure what the "movie" is about, since it took nearly an hour just to load around 10% of the video (everything in Home loads extremely slowly!), so I just decided to move on to another area.

The mall: This is a very pointless thing to include in the Beta! None of the stores have anything available for purchase, and if you try to enter any of them, that's what it will tell you. So, really, all you can do here is walk around and chat with people.

Bowling: You've probably seen this place in some of the demo videos from Sony (I think they showed it at E3). There's about 7-10 lanes for bowling, in the center, and about 5 arcade machines on either side of them. Around the back wall, near the entrance, there's also a few TVs on the walls, but, again, they took way too long to load even a small part of the video, so I have no idea what plays on them. I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the arcade machines to load after entering this place, then I decided to try a game. I selected the option to play one, and it brought up a loading screen. After waiting a few minutes, I decided to just move on once again (by the way, the games avaiable were: Ice Breaker and Echochrome).

Central Plaza: This area isn't too special. It's really just an area that connects all of the other palces together (if you don't want to wait for this are to load, then walk to another area, and wait for that to load, you can save some time by just pausing the game, selecting 'locations', and choosing where you want to go). It's a medium-sized open area, surrounded, on one side, by all the buildings you can enter, and, on the other side, a bunch of scenerey. I'm guessing this area will change after the Beat, to allow you to go to more places. There's also a machine that plays music, and some users like to dance around it (you can choose from a small list of emotes, gestures, and dances by tapping the R1 button, or say a small list of common phrases by tapping L1).

Your home: It's a tiny apartment, with a few pieces of furniture already in it. There's only about 4-5 different pieces of furniture in your house to begin with (chairs, sofas, table, and lights), and there's only like 2 other things you can add (I think they were a cabinet and a footrest, which can't even be used).

So, to recap:

- There's really nothing to test here. All you can do, really, is go bowling, walk around, and chat with other people.

- Everything (objects, pictures, videos, etc.) takes an extremely long time to load, and is very annoying.

- There's very little customization, and it's very hard to make a character that looks half-way decent.

- There is absolutely no point in this Beta! If they're really so close to having Home finished, why can't they give us something to test? If they aren't going to give us something to test, then why have the Beta at all?!

So far, my opinion is: 2/10 - horrible service, not worth the wait.

Today, I completed my collection of the current-generation consoles with the addition of a PlayStation 3! I got a brand new, backwards-compatible PlayStation 3, with an 80 GB hard drive, a DUALSHOCK 3/SIXAXIS controller, a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4, and a free download for a game called PAIN, all for only $400!

According to my collection, here on GameSpot, Metal Gear Solid 4 was also my 500th video game! That's a pretty cool milestone to reach.

So far, I only have Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance: Fall of Man for PS3, but I'm planning on getting more games soon. If anyone is interested in playing online, I'm going to set that up right now, and I'll have my PlayStation ID up soon (you'll find it on the right column of my profile, with my Xbox Live name and Wii number).