Half Year Analysis

Summer is hear and like always gaming news dries up, Game news companies recycle old news putting a new spin on it and I review all those games that I never got round to. For example Civ4. But firstly let me analyze the 1st half of 2006, the next gen year.

The biggest thing as always is E3, with both Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wheeling out big guns. Nintendo and Sony both talked about their upcoming consoles and Microsoft managed to trump them by showing a prerendered movie showing no cool fights, just a battered master chief, some epic sounding music and Halo 3. The world is in unfair. Microsoft only have to publish a picture of their office and some fanatic will say he can see a halo 3 picture and then everyone will make up some rubbish about how from that picture they can figure out that Halo 3 will feature a revolutionary Co-Op mode or something. Nintendo put up the best show, with a highly impressive demonstration of the Wii. Sony's conference was made up a lot of stats that made no sense, the graphics that the PS3 has, were poorly demonstrated on a pixelated screen.

In the hand held market, both Nintendo and Sony have re-released their handhelds, Nintendo's was the only one that changed more than its colour. Microsoft have also said they will be making a handheld console, speculations that it will be massive.

Console Update:
Xbox 360:
Not much news hear, Xbox Live Arcade is taking off, and looks set to continue with more subscribers Evey day.

PS3:
The controller has been reverted to the Dual Shock except with slight modifications, so the controller battle is left wide open. The major difference is that it detects movement but only tilting - this shall be interesting as will still lure in people for a standard game whilst adding interesting interactivity; however it could be considered as neither here nor there, we shall see. PS3 is still pushing ahead with the blu-ray. Their Real HD argument might come crashing down as it is rumored that they will be releasing one on a lower spec for less. This will be hypocritical as they criticized Microsoft for having two launch types.

Wii:
Expected to launch this November at around £130. Legend of Zelda, Mario and a cool tennis game confirmed for launch amongst others.

Game of the Half:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Game to Watch:
Splinter Cell 4: Double Agent

MSN Extras...

...Drive me insane. There are two I am going to go in to detail today.

MSN Plus

Stay away from this software. Ok it has some quite cool feautures like being able to leave a message to someone while they are offline and creating your own states. However, when you appear offline, it changes you to online and so hundereds of people had a go at me for being online but not. Also, it would just not send half my messages so people thought I was ignoring them. Worst of all there is no quick uninstall button and you have to go to Control panel.

MSN online

I tried using MSN online so that I would be able to go on Civ 4 and talk on MSN at the same time on my dads laptop, first I decided I would check it on my computer to see if it worked, first I tried it in firefox, but it didn't work. At first, I thought it was Microsoft being is usual selfish self, but I tried it in IE and I had the same problem. Basically, I went to the website and there was a button to launch MSN online, I clicked on it, it asked me to log in. Fine I thought, clicked log in and it took me back the the first page. I looked at the top right and it said signed in, so I thought maybe it was just stupid a little and went through the process again. Same result.

So in conclusion, the only reason why I am sticking with MSN messenger is because my friends are on it not due to quality.

Forums

Forums, the modern day equivelent of forums in Roman times. Every website has them now. Even nationwide (a bank) has one. Well, nearly. Forums are a place where hundereds of people can come together and produce amazing stuff just for fun. Forums are a place where one can learn new talents. Forums can be a place to make the friends. Sadly, the operative word is can.

In forums there are many different types of people. There are so called N00bs and newbs. There is a major difference between a n00b and a newb.

n00b
A n00b is someone who uses excesive text speak and "l33t" speak. These tend to be idiots.

A newb, however, is someone who is new to the forum/game ect. These are perfectly decent people just haven't been at the forum long.

Also, there are people who think any one who is new to the forum is a complete idiot, and that ansering their questions is a waste of time. Between these people and the genuine n00bs, forums have become a place where huge amounts can be acheived, but, like everything else in the world, a few people spoil it. I posted on a forum that suffers badly from the n00b/anti-n00b take over. You can read it here.

Now, I have always wanted a forum for people who make constructive coments but I don't have the right sort of friends, so if there are any reader who know of a forum where this dream has been acomplished, but where there are still interesting people, or if there are enough, we could make our own.

DON'T SPOIL THE INTERNET