Ahhh…long are the days of Sony’s console domination. I was thinking, the mighty PS One must be rolling around in its grave seeing what’s become of its legacy. PS 2 was a worthy successor but the latest member of the family really hasn’t risen to the challenge so far. And in my humble opinion if it hasn’t so far…it never will.

Let’s be honest it’s just not possible, Sony’s grasp on the console industry has been weakened to such an extent that game developers only consider it after they’ve secured deals with Xbox and Wii ( not all of them, but give it time ). And I really can’t blame them…who wants to spend money on creating some expensive game for a system that (still) hardly anyone owns. As I was surfing the web the other day, I saw angry gamers who blamed companies for their decisions…HELLO, blame Sony, the money hungry behemoth that’s just never satisfied, who’s always thinking ONLY about squeezing another dollar from our pockets.

And in addition…this “all-powerful” gaming station that was supposed to make our jaws hit the floor with it’s unique features hasn’t really confirmed. Yes it’s a powerful system…but seeing it loose almost every battle to the rival Xbox 360 must really be demoralizing. Let’s face it, games produced for these two systems look better on Microsoft’s machine. So how can Sony expect people to spend a lot more money on their product when they can have a cheaper, better product?

Being launched after a series of frustrating postponements and having an unreasonably high price really hurt the PS3 even before it hit the shelves, but that was only the beginning, Playstation exclusives like Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry became accessible to other systems as sales failed to improve and now developers are turning away to the once unchallenged gaming system. Truly sad…

I’ve always been a fan of the Playstation…I have so many good memories related to it…but for me this is…the end of an era. The only miracle cure at this point would be some amazing (still) Playstation exclusive, like Xbox’s Gears of War, maybe Heavenly Sword or Lair? We’ll see soon enough.

Tired of your real life? Wanna be a hero for once in your life, fighting for the survival of humanity? Wanna wield futuristic weapons, equipped in armor, roaming across the universe?

Have no fear fellow gamer, NC Soft to the rescue. Yes that’s right they’re the guys who brought us Guild Wars, that great, FREE mmorpg, a few years back.

In Tabula Rasa you’ll become a member of the Allied Free Sentients, a human resistance group, fighting against The Bane, a species of aliens bent on conquering the universe. The storyline is just more of the usual: aliens invade earth, take it over in a matter of hours, man forms resistance group to survive. So…I guess it’s up to the rest of the game’s elements to convince us of the games value. Unfortunately we only yet have access to some screen shots and features of the game given by the producers.

Graphics look nice( they always do in screenshots ), some of the aliens have a crab like figure( a weak point in my opinion, it’s been done one time to many ), as for the features the game promises: there’s the “Logos” some…things that allow players to harness the very fabric of the cosmos( what the…?) , the built-in voice chat technology, character development depending on the players actions, …as for the other features, nothing special, just more of the same.

I’m not really a big fan of MMO games, but I’ll admit Guild Wars is one of the best games out there, so even if I’m not (yet) impressed with Tabula Rasa, I’m sure they know what they’re doing.

The game is scheduled to launch Quarter 4 2007.

I don’t know about you, but for me Starcraft was one of just very few games that really rocked my world.

I remember like I just played it yesterday and not almost 10 years ago. All those hours spent hunting down my friends on the battle map with my trusty Protoss zealots…ah those were the days. Everyone smart enough to have played the game even once knows it revolutionized the genre in so many ways.

That’s why I never understood why Blizzard never even announced a sequel…until World of Warcraft came out…then it hit me like a brick in the head, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!

But hey, let’s not get into that, let’s just rejoice that another Blizzard classic is about to be born. There were always rumors running about Starcraft II, but they were all launched by fans like me, who wanted it so much they never stopped believing in it. So when I saw the official announcement you cam imagine my joy.

Seeing the presentation trailer, with that cigar smoking Terran marine, even though it really didn’t show much, made my heart pound a little harder than usual. Then I saw some gameplay screensavers, and I recognized some of the old elements of the game, like familiar buildings and units, but also really new ones which I’m dying to take to battle. It all looks so colorful and appealing drawing you in like a siren’s song. I know I might sound a bit delusional, it’s this damned game. And I just know I’m not going to be able to get over this state until I get my hands on it…And here’s the problem: we’re talking about Blizzard and these guys take their time, I mean really take their time so I’m guessing I’ll be 40 by the time they release it. I’m kidding but it’s sure going to be a while since they declared “it will ship when it’s ready”.

But let’s look on the bright side it will come out eventually and that’s all that matters. Now if you’ll excuse I have to go kick my Terran friend’s ass in Brood War.