A lot has happened since I made my last post here and now, as I'm sure anyone who cares to read can see nearly a year later. I'm not going to bore anyone with a giant catch-up post, however I will say that much needed focus on my life took place soon after that last post, and that I'm in a much better state overall.

So back to gaming, which is what this blog is for. I now own a PS3, giving me access to everything that this generation of gaming has to offer. It took longer for me to reach this completion point of sorts than normal, but the PS3 didn't offer me anything big enough convincing me to bite for its price when it came out. Between price drops, my employee discount working on used systems, employee appreciation weekend increasing that discount, and Little Big Planet, I finally had enough reason to pick one up. I've got to say, it's a very solid system. Easily the best that Sony has made thus far. It's kind of ironic how every Sony system prior to the PS3 has had issues on its launch until even a couple years after, has ended up being very successful. PS1 and PS2 were the leaders of their respective generations, but had multiple faulty systems and bugs at launch, where PS2 still had faulty systems a couple years later. The PSP didn't have as many flaws of its console counterparts at launch but still had some hardware issues, and it penetrated a decent chunk of the handheld market. The PS3 is the most solidly built system and it's trailing behind. Sure there was some resolution issues on HDTVs initially with it, but they were solved within days and fixed with firmware, meaning there was no reason to have to replace hardware like had been done with systems past. It was well worth the purchase, and I can't wait to bring it to its full potential with an HDTV hopefully sooner rather than later. The trophy setup seems pretty nifty, but I have to look a bit more into it to get a better understanding of them. One quip I have with Sony in general right now is the fact they stick to the old scratch-off method for pre-paid cards and promos. Thankfully my pre-paid cards haven't had any issues when scratching, but both promo cards I have brought home have. We had a whole bunch of LBP promo cards in my store, and I had to go through three of them before I had gotten one that I could read. I brought home one Killzone 2 demo card and can't make out the middle two letters. I'd have done the same thing as the LBP cards, but with the limited supply of these cards I didn't want to. I've never had problems with these scratch offs in the past, Sony really needs to consider a different approach.

Little Big Planet was the game that made me jump on it after two years, and it has been amazing thus far. I love the platforming genre and am happy to see that a game uses the classic style using the technology today to advance it, rather than throw the genre to the side which has been the norm. LBP and Braid have made me very happy in 2008 with this. I don't think I'll have time to make levels of my own, but I've played some fun levels made by users. I still need to finish up story mode, and I hope I can get some people together for multiplayer at some point.

I picked up Buzz the other day being a sucker for the game show games even though my knowledge can be lacking. I've gotta say I like it so far. It has a broad range of topics, DLC to expand it, and the ability for users to make and upload their own questions. Sadly my connection to PSN was on the fritz so I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted with these quizzes, but I gotta say, the ones I played were pretty good. I must sadly admit I was even stumped and/or tricked on some gaming trivia questions which made my respect for the authors of those quizzes go way up. I'm looking forward to when I can get some friends together for a real fun time.

I ordered a laptop using part of my tax refund which is pretty powerful for it's price, yay for newegg. I plan to build a new PC this year but decided for the laptop first since I like to go out and about rather than be home at the moment. I am definitely reactiviting my Game Tap account when it gets here, and I made an account on Steam in preparation as well. I've been considering reactivating my WoW account between having a bunch of people at work playing and owning a computer system that can play it well once it arrives. We'll see what happens with that, I'm kinda sketchy since I never played it much when I played for a few months four years ago, but with people to play with it might be worth it.

I guess I'll end it there for today. Even though I'm back in school, I actually have some more time for gaming, so hopefully I'll update this place with my thoughts on games as I go and even review some when I feel I have played a game for an adequate amount of time. My next day off is Monday because of the holiday (and I'm not going to tell work so I can keep it off) and right now I'm planning for a Lost Odyssey day. It's been far too long since I played it, I really need to finish up the backyard and side quests and then beat it. A friend of mine told me it was the most satisfying ending he had seen in many years, and I want to enjoy that ending.