So, I finally did it. I moved into a new apartment, which had been a long term goal/dream of mine and now it's finally come to be! I used to live at Hillcrest which was a nice place to live except for a few **** that lived there. Life
is exciting again. Anyway,here's this year's entry.

Along with religious topic threads and a couple other topics who's names escape me for the moment, one that keeps getting batted around is the ever ubiquitous girl advice thread. Now, I'm not REALLY saying all threads like this should just stop and go away, but let's first look at why these topics get started and what it all means to us.

The first question is what kind of people frequent the forums. It might be tempting for me to assume since this website is all about the seemingly nerdy world of hardcore gaming that vast majority of girl advice TCs are well... losers. But what about the undocumented fact that games, movies, comic books and other geek culture milieu have become accepted in a sort of new brand of male masculinity? In short, does Star Wars make you sexy? Not that it makes us all big dumb animals. Keep in mind, I can only speak for myself. I, who am already in my twenties, have never been in a relationship, so my viewpoint is probably going to be different than yours.

The last question is, why am I turned off by these discussions. Is it that I'm so insecure that I couldn't imagine myself being one of these guys that asks about girls in a forum in the first place? Is it ironic that I probably am the one who needs this kind of advice the most?

The solution? None really... just that from now on I'll simply ignore these posts. After all, no one's forcing me to read them. So... see ya next year.

Ever since I got my HD Samsung two Christmas's ago, I been struggling to get used to how my old xbox games look on a higher resolution screen. But after some adjusting the brightness and contrast levels on the tv and game itself, I am now enjoying a crisp, stark and beautiful picture ...especially on games like Panzer Dragoon Orta. And that's going to be the theme of this entry, graphics.

I have to admit it, I play games for the flashy visuals more than anything. Ever since childhood, the main pull of video games has always been their graphics. Before I ever owned a gaming system, I can remember looking through game related magazines drooling over screencaps and layouts. Recently, I find myself still playing games that I have long since finished, only because of their tasty visuals while lesser looking games that I've barely even started sit and collect dust. Cool graphics are also an incentive for me to keep playing a game that I otherwise might lose interest, though it may be no coincidence that games with the best graphics are often better games period.

I want to cover two more things in this entry. First of all is one concerning the notoin of graphics becoming more and more photorealistc. Here is where I take issue. This can work great for reality based games like Call of Duty 4 where photorealism is more warrented, but stuff like skin wrinkles and beads of sweat in games like Virtua Fighter 5 just look plain creepy in my opionion. So, to put simply, sometimes I just want my games to look video game like. That's why aliasing is the least issue I have with game graphics, and that's why older classic games can still look fantastic in my eyes.

Second, and lastly, is concerning framrate in games. My intellect knows better, but my sentiment remains that I simply must have my games running at 60 frames per second or else my eyes bleed. A fast framerate can make already great graphics just really pop out of the screen. Alot of older generation games still look great to this day because of fast framerates.

I've heard people say that 60 fps makes a game look cheap, and I can sort of understand this. I mean if you look at feature films, which run at 24 fps just under the 30 fps standard for games, you get that special threatrical look that we are conditioned to accept as visually pleasing. On the otherhand, there are shows that are filmed on tape, which run at a faster framerate, and thus have a live if not a less than special feel. So yes, especially in the case of fantasy and adventure games, I can see how 60 fps may make a game look cheap.

In closing, everyone will have their own preferences in game graphics. I just hope the future will bring faster and more consistent framerates, and that video games will remain distinguishable as video games.

I'm an Xbox gamer. Yes, I own the GBA, but for the most part I'm a Microsoft fanboy. However, out of the three systems I must admit that the Xbox brand is the most lame. Going onto YouTube and reviewing a clip of the original Xbox launch party confirmed this. That's not to say the 360 is bad,( it's my system of choice for heaven sake) its just that its still a relatively unproven line of systems. And that's precisely the reason why I choose the Xbox and the Xbox 360. At only two generations old, I've have the privelege of supporting the Microsoft brand of gaming since day one. It's much the same way with gamers that say have been gaming since the NES. Or maybe they got into it via the original Playstation.

I have a few friends that own PS2s, one of whom has only recently got his. Both this and the fact that games are still being churned out for the system has changed my mind about Sony's hardware. The PS2 or moreover the Playstation brand is now something I have grown to have a huge amount of respect for. (I'm struggling to know if I feel the same way about Nintendo's systems, though I can say they deserve a lot of credit if not my utmost respect, given that they are five generations old) There are many tantalizing titles for both the PS2 and PS3 that I'm sure I would enjoy thoroughly if given the chance.

So before I get ahead of myself and say I'm going to buy a PS3 (which would go against the whole Wii60 or PSWii combination rule of thumb) worried that games like MGS4 won't go multiplatform, I'm just going to take a "to each his own" aproach toward gaming nirvana. Why? Well the first, and most obvious reason, is that it's cheaper to invest in a single system. The other is a little trickier to explain. Put simply, I delight in that other people get to play exclusives for their system as long as I get to play mine.

Not having a PS3 is not the end of the world. While I'm quite content with just Xbox, I understand that I'm missing out on games like Resistance. Like I said, I'm happy just knowing that the Sony fans get to play and enjoy those amazing games.

It's a shame that the PS3 is lagging behind this generation, as I feel it deserves the number one slot simply on grounds of its predessesor's success alone. I wish them all the best. If anything, I hope maybe my friend's will get around to buying Sony's jugernaught so that we can all share in eachother's system of choice.