After recently getting a new PC my first action was to purchase the full version of the Spore Creature Creator, which is excellent by the way but more about that some other time. Anyway I decided to revive my most fondly remembered PC game, Halo: Combat Evolved. Man alive I loved that game, even if I wasn't all that good at it I'd play for hours and never get bored both online and offline. Soon after turning on the game however I could see that things definately weren't how I remembered them. Now I've no idea whether it is because I have been spoilt by the previous Halo games or whether my expectations have grown over time, but I really coulsn't enjoy playing it. Online was a mess for a start. While it was technically fine the lag was absolutle horrendous and I'm sure it wasn't my end. The campaign was as enjoyable as ever, but after encountering three quite major glitches in the first three chapters I'd had enough. Maybe it was just my PC, but I really doubt it. On a side note though, I played the Xbox version and still thought it was just as excellent as I remembered, so maybe it isn't just to do with the game but also the format. Something sure made the PC version age prematurely.

This disapointing experience got me wondering, how many of the games currently ranked up there with the greats might not appear to have been all that good after all in five or ten years time? It's something that requires some thought, but there are certainly a few that immediately come to mind. Now don't get me wrong, these games I'm about to list are very enjoyable and great in their own rights, it's just that I can't see that either the appeal will last for a considerable length or time or that there are some particuarly disapointing elements which might prove to be a limitation to their long-term popularity. I'm probably wrong about some of these, feel free to disagree if you will, but I'm going to post my opinion anyway.

- Smash Bros Brawl
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Mario Kart: Double Dash
- Lost Planet
- Gears of War
- FIFA and PES in general
- Daxter
- GTA VC / LC Stories
- GTA San Andreas
- Halo: Combat Evolved (PC)
- Halo 2 (PC)
- Pokemon games since Gold and Silver.
- 3D Sonic games (up ro present
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recons (up to present)
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cells (up to present)
- PGR series (up to present)
- Need For Speed series

This isn't anything like a comprehensive list, but due to limited time I'll have to cut it short and leave it at that for now. Adios!

I didn't know where to look first, so I thought I'd ask around here at the same time as breaking my many months of total inactivity. My N64 seems to have suddenly stopped working over the 6 months since I last used it. It hasn't been damaged at all, it's just been sat around in a cupboard doing nothing. Today I connected it up as usual but when I switched on the power it remained dead, no lit red LED at the front or anything. I've tried changing the fuse, using different sockets, moving the power pack around in the socket to try and get a better connection, quickly cleaning the connectors and taking controllers / cartridges in and out but nothing has worked so far. Just wondering if anyone had any idea of what the problem might possibly be, or have had this happen to them.

It's looking more and more like the thing is dead for good though, I checked to see whether the power was actually reaching the console properly and it is, so it does seem to be some kind of internal hardware failure. Although I'm still hoping that it isn't, not given up hope yet!

Other than that I'm glad to be back on Gamespot! Over the past year there have been multiple exams, computer issues, three broken consoles and worries over university. Now with only one hurdle of exams until I can kiss school goodbye for good I'm slowly reappearing on many places I used to be previously active. Here on Gamespot I hope to return to full form soon after my last exam on the 19th and I will begin reviewing and ranking games again like I used to. Come to think of it however, I doubt whether there will be anyone reading this after such a long period of inactivity. Oh well, worth a try!

It's been a long time, but it's good to be back yet again! Had some quite major events with consoles and that since my last post, so I'll describe it all here.

Two weeks ago my Xbox 360 died a premature death, just nine months after purchase. It just cut out in the middle of a game of Guitar Hero, before the three red lights appearered five minutes later. I mean, it's hardly like I abused the thing. I couldn't have even played on it for more than a few hours a week anyway, even then I gave it the utmost care.

Couldn't find the reciept, but decided to ring up the customer support anyway. Needed to clam down first, otherwise the poor guy at the other end was sure going to get an earful of abuse. I rang them up the next night. They just accepted what I was telling them instantly and said to strip the Xbox of all external hardware and wires, I was very glad that I could keep my hard drive after all. Seems suspiciously like they already knew exactly what the problem was, although I was never told specifically. Arranged for UPS to come and pick it up next, I was told that the Xbox will be gone for a month overall. They also extended the warranty to three years, but they have already done that to all Xbox 360's sold worldwide anyway so that was no big deal. My compensation for the trouble? One months free Xbox Live Gold. Wow, that would have cost them absolutely nothing.

My model was definately not a first batch, the serial number comes up with a manufacture date of late September 06. Anyway, at least the problem seems to be on the road to being corrected. Still, it does dent my confidence with the console. Now I'll always be wondering when or whether it could encounter a fatal hardware error again. Just hope it arrives back before Halo 3.

I was going to wait to get a Wii, but this ultimately made me take the plunge a few months earlier. Bought it with Zelda:TP, a HD Component Cable and got a 2000 Point Wii card thrown in for free. So far I'm impressed with the software, although there are a few little problems with the hardware.

Firstly the disks sometimes fail to be read, even if they are spotlessly clean. Only happens once every so often, but it is something which plays on my mind. Could it be the start of a future fault? Also, the channels sometimes take a minute to load. Had no trouble with the Virtual Console or Internet Browser though. Overall, it's a good piece of kit but these little niggles worry me slightly.

Wii Sports is great fun and Zelda was pretty damn fine as well. The VC version of Paper Mario trumps both of them though. XD

I'll be bringing some reviews along shortly, there are some Xbox reviews I want to do along with these Wii games, then I'll begin that feature I mentionned a while back. Be back soon!