When the first shots of Batman: Arkham Asylum started to leak out, I was excited. Then I remembered that it was a licensed video game, one based on a DC property, and that generally doesn't turn out so well. But I remained optimistic, everything about it looked good, and sounded better. Then there was the sudden 2 month bump in the release date that raised my eyebrows. Then the rumors of Eidos trying to buy top notch reviews made me leary. I decided to take a wait and see, or so I thought.

Well, I waited, and I saw, and this is without a doubt the best comic book based video game ever. Not only that, but this is a legitimate game of the year contender.

I plan on doing a full review next week, when they're available for this game, but you owe it to yourself to check this game, whether you're a Batman fan or not. It's not very often that a licensed game manages to actually capture the "escense" of the licensed property, for lack of a better term. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction pretty much nailed it, but it was mostly just mindless destructive fun - which is what a Hulk game SHOULD BE, IMO. Some of the Spider-Man games have come close over the years, but never quite nailed it. The X-Men Legends games, as well as Marvel Ultimate Alliance are FUN dungeon crawlers, but they never really managed to convey the characters and environments in a way that appeals to anyone but hardcore Marvel fanboys.

But Arkham Asylum has nailed the Batman character and all the mythos surrounding him. It's brought the Joker, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and others to life in a way I never thought possible.

I absolutely love this game. Rhino, PLEASE make another one.

I had been very, very skeptical about all the hype and hoopla over Windows 7 that started late last year. Because that's just the way it works with MS operating systems, you hear nothing by good about them when they're in the beta and release candidate stages, then get ready for the cyclone of suck at launch.

I've played around with Windows 7 in both the beta and release candidate stages, but until release I had only loaded it in virtual machines. Last month, the hard drive in my laptop died, and I decided since I was going to have to reinstall Windows on the new one, I might as well load up the Windows 7 release candidate and see how it does on real, modern hardware. If I don't like it, I wipe it out and put XP back on.

Windows 7 installed in around 10 minutes. Upon it's first boot, it had drivers for just about all my stuff, including my wireless adapter. The graphics driver it had loaded was passable at best, so I went and "real" drivers from nVidia. Everything esle was found and usuable, even my fingerprint reader.

But the main reason I'm writing about this blog is to talk about 7's performance, both overall, and on the gaming front. Now, this laptop came with Vista, and I hated it. Performance was horribly sluggish, and I had enough after about 2 months and wiped it and put XP on, and never looked back. XP was better overall, but there were still some things that drove me nuts. From a cold boot to desktop, it was about 1 minute. Launching Firefox for the first time after boot took - no joke - around 30 seconds. Most of that is Firefox's memory hoggish coding, but still, it's something you don't see in the Linux or Mac versions quite as badly.

On Windows 7, I'm at a desktop in around 30 seconds or less. Firefox launches for the first time in 10. Games that have/had initially long loading screens like Spore & Mass Effect load unbelievably quick at this point. One game that surprised me the most was Fallout 3. It was generally very playable on this machine in XP, but the game slowed to a halt in the area around Rivet City with all the water. I had to turn all the details way down if I was going to go to the Jefferson memorial. Now, it's smooth as butter. I've never seen a new Windows operating system actually make an IMPROVEMENT in FPS on a game.

My next test is going to be Grand Theft Auto 4. Again, it was playable on this laptop, but only by sacrificing resolution and details so it looked about the same as the console versions. I'll post my findings when I'm done.

But things are looking good for Windows 7, I say. I've got my upgrade copy ordered. If it's this good in the pre-release states, I can only imagine what it will be like when it's "officially" supported.

I have not bought many games this year. In years past, it wasn't uncommon for me to buy 2 or 3 a month. But, planning a wedding has sapped my entertainment budget, so I've had to make some cuts.

Now, that's not to say I don't buy games anymore at all. Steam has become one of my best friends with their weekend deals. Defense Grid The Awakening was probably the best $5 I've ever spent in my life.

I check Amazon's video game deal of the day every morning when I fire up my computer. Usually, it's crap, like a 2 year old sports game, but every now and then, you'll find a gem. Like, MadWorld's $20 today, and that's probably about what it's worth. And to be honest, it's games like MadWorld that has made me slow down on my gaming purchases. When you're asking for $50-$60 of my money, you better offer more than 5 hours os single player gameplay. For instance, look at some of the games I *have* bought this year.

I bought Burnout: Paradise for PS3 for $20. Yeah, I know it's a year old. But I just discovered in a few months ago. I was looking the other day, and I've logged around 80 hours into it at this point. And I'm STILL working on my Burnout License! Granted, I've augmented the game with around $25 of downloadable content, but it's been one of the most insane bangs for the buck I've ever gotten. I can see myself playing it for years to come.

I got Lego Batman for $17 used at Gamestop and played it obsessively for a month solid. My fiancee commented several times about how much times I was spending playing it. I got to $100 completion a couple weeks ago, and I'll admit, I'm probably done with it, other than maybe firing it up to play with my nieces and nephews. But to get a month of gameplay out of a $17 game? I'll take that.

One of the few games I've paid full price for - Punch-Out. Now, a lot of people are complaining about the content, but I've still got plenty to unlock. And Punch-Out's one of those games that once you've gotten good at it, then you want to MASTER it. Sure, I can beat Sandman. But now I want to see how FAST I can beat him. I don't regret buying it at full price on launch day.

Sure, I'd like to get Protoype, or Infamouse. Hell, maybe even Ghostbusters. But I don't see it happening soon. I've still got a backlong of cheap games I bought around Christmas time to finish (Okami Wii, I'm looking in your direction).