So without further ado, let’s roll the list out! I’ve also linked the item’s titles with their respective place on Amazon.

Newton’s Cradle

I’ve always been fascinated with this thing and the small yet awesome set of tricks you can do with it. Ultimately I’d like to use it when I’d tell some serious matters to someone in order to make them nervous or just to show that shit just got real, yo.

DualShock 3 – Deep Red

I don’t know why, but I’m somewhat attracted to the overly plasticky look of the controller. Plus, it would definitely spice the monotone black theme that I’m currently rocking in my home entertainment area.

MacBook Pro – Something Something Model

I consider myself as someone who can appreciate what Apple does in terms of producing overly priced hardware products and software – yet they’re trademarked and valued as premium you won’t find anywhere in our tech world. Which is true in a way and which is why I want a fancy and expensive Apple product. It would be my Ferrari of technology.

Dragon Ball Z Entire Remastered Edition Collection

I really like Dragon Ball Z and probably won’t ever stop liking it. That’s all I have to say.

Sony PlayStation Plus One Year Subscription

This one is just purely for scientific reasons. I really want to just experience this premium experience Sony has to offer in terms of how they handle the free bonus content and what that content exactly is. We’re already lucky that PSN is free in contradiction to Microsoft’s Gold Live model.

American Snacks I Probably Won’t Ever Taste

I was lucky a few days ago to find a few bottles of 7 Up and box of Oreos the other day. And by lucky I mean I was literally in another country searching for other goodies that don’t exist from where I come from. But somehow I doubt I’ll ever find something like Mountain Dew, Cheetos and Twinkies. Also, it’s kind of weird that Amazons actually sells these things online. Apparently they really do have everything.

Moose Mountain 100 Balls In A Mesh Bag

When I was a kid I was not allowed to jump into the ball pits found in various malls, since my parents warned me that the pits were actually some kind of pits of doom and were filled with filth and bacteria from other kids. So now, after 18-something years I say I’ll just fill up my bedroom with these things and roll in my own filth.

Crazy Neon Lights

I’ve always been fascinated with neon lights. Which explains why I enjoyed playing the old Need For Speed games with street racing emphasized aside from the racing part. I don’t actually know how these things work or where exactly I would place them but I know that they would make my pad tight!

Vibram Five Fingers Shoes

Also known as “Those Monkey Feet” by those people who would throw trash at me out of disgust for wearing them. There’s just something  intriguing to the idea of actually wearing these shoes and experiencing some kind of true barefoot experience when walking around in them.

Big Fat Expensive Sound System I Know Nothing About

It’s true, I know nothing about sound system setup, but I’m tired of these new kids on the block constantly comparing the size of their speakers and subwoofers like they’re talking about their dicks. I personally have had enough of it and the only reasonable thing to do is to actually acquire a large and expensive sound system myself so I can brag about it too. Also, why are there like nine speakers? We have one set of ears, I thought everybody was cool with stereo?

Well this wraps up my extravagant Christmas wishlist. I suggest you write one yourself as well, since it can be quite refreshing to dream about absurd items you’ll most likely never poses. And not actually having these things makes them that more attractive to have.

That’s why I decided to take on Ubuntu 10.04 like I was a complete amateur in the world of computing and didn’t have the slightest clue about the difference between Firefox and Chrome for instance. This kind of almost childish approach would me the most valid one. To compare my upcoming experience to something, I decided to use Windows 7′s installation process and adjustment, since I more or less have it memorized and know what the deal is. I placed a ground rule of no outside help from others that do use Linux, since that would diminish the OS’s initial credibility. You can install Windows 7 and OS X with just a few simple clicks so if Ubuntu’s developers want to play with the major leaguers then you should expect a few simple clicks here as well.

So what can I say about the installation process? I broke my first and only rule of no help with a two-hour conversation on Skype with someone who is an official Linux user. It’s not as bad as it seems. There was only an issue when choosing the partition on which Ubuntu would be installed. If you’d be installing it on a brand new computer, you wouldn’t have any issues. But if you already have existing partitions, then you’re screwed more or less, since the guidance that I got was one that there was no way you’d think that crap up by your self. It included making two partitions through a supposedly “advanced” installation wizard instead of the regular one but I won’t go into detail. That was the only unpleasant part of the installation and the part where the installation wizard declared that I live in Croatia. Oh, and perhaps this small thing where the installation process ejected my disk tray and greeted me with a DOS-like screen.

After finally exiting the installation wizard I was greeted with pretty much an identical screen that was featured in the Live CD part. Somehow I was urged to download an update patch for drivers. A 104KB large patch after almost a week after its release. I didn’t like that part to be honest. But let’s not nitpick and go on with the more amusing parts. There’s actually a software manager from the Internet and downloading it manually, I was pleased with such a feature. It works similarly like iTunes, there are categories of software and then you search your applications within the application instead of searching with Google. It’s an interesting take on software distribution and one that I’d like to see expanded later on in the future and featured on Microsoft’s and Apple’s operational systems. I mean, if Steam works for games and iTunes works for songs, then why not for overall software? It’s all about direct digital distribution, so I was glad to see such a feature.

Speaking of amusing features, I’ll talk more about the ones that were most hyped for this release. The integration of your IM accounts and other social accounts into the operational system itself, more accurately into the taskbar. No extra applications or anything, it’s all integrated into the OS. Well, that’s a lie. After you insert the main data that you are required applications like Empathy (IM) and Evolution (e-mail) open up. But you can post Tweets and Facebook statuses directly through the taskbar, which is kind of cool, but really primitive. The overall execution with hidden applications in the back and the applications themselves look really poor and kind of unpolished.

This goes for the overall look of the operational system itself. Whilst I was incredibly impressed by the depth of the customization you can do, ranging from custom colors, icons, taskbar customization and overall look of the interface, it still retains that typical open source feeling of unpolished designed. I do believe that with enough effort you can make the overall GUI look more than impressive, hell I’ve seen desktop screenshots that influenced me to customize out my old Windows XP, but the basic setup is simply odd-looking. You’ve got to remind yourself of the fact that these distributions are for free, thus lowering your overall expectation. But that shouldn’t really apply this time, since you have giants like Google that offer their services like Gmail and Picassa for free as well and hit the nail on the head when dealing with the overall look of the graphical interface. Open Office on the other hand looks completely atrocious and horrifying.

These are more or less my initial thoughts on Ubunu that I’ve experienced so far. On a personal note I don’t necessarily feel comfortable on it and the operational system is now in the same position as the overall capabilities of the iPad. If you’re more or less just a consumer of the Internet’s latest features, like social networking (E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Flick’r, Youtube), then you’re set with something like Ubuntu. It provides you with the basics. But anything more advanced and polished is out of it’s way. Of course there are applications that mimic certain other more official productive applications that can found in the Windows and Mac world. I’ll test Ubuntu out for another week or two and fully optimize it on my own, without any external help and then give my final verdict on how it compares to something from Apple or Microsoft.

Lastly, here’s some amusing trivia that I learned during this initial experience. There is no delete in the world of Linux, only kill and destroy. For instance, when I decided to close the Terminal (command prompt for you Windows fanboys out there) I was prompted with this message: “Closing the terminal will kill it.”. After reading that I was like, fuck yeah let’s kill it! The same positive emotion couldn’t be emoted when the warning message that the installation wizard would destroy an existing partition appeared. And when creating partitions the numbers “725″ mean a lot somehow. If you want to create a 30GB large drive, it has to be exactly 30725 MB in size. Finally, here’s an amusing video of me experiencing the advanced capabilities of Ubuntu’s desktop graphical interface. It’s not for the sea-sick, I warn ye!

Early Morning – Home

The first tech item that I pick up after I wake up is my always trusty iPod Touch. Well, that’s not entirely true. The real first device that I touch is my alarm clock, and I don’t necessarily touch it as I actually slam it to shut the fuck up. Yes, I’m really grumpy in the morning. Anyway, there are four major applications that I run right off the bat. My RSS reader, e-mail app, Twitter app (TweetDeck) and my main notepad app (Evernote) that I use for To-Do lists. After I gain all the important information I need, I am a fresh man, eager to go on and do business. After I tidy myself up I snatch my laptop bag, place my Touch in my pocket and listen to some fine podcasts while on my way to campus.

Morning/Noon/Afternoon – College

This is where my laptop gets its share of attention and where most of my work gets done, either for college or my personal matters. After re-syncing with the world again with the help of the Mozilla’s family line of programs – Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird, I re-cheek new tweets on the desktop version of TweetDeck and yet again check my obligations in Evernote. After any work is produced, any significant piece of data is automatically processed by my all favorite application that is Dropbox. If you haven’t heard of it, Dropbox is basically a simple program that acts as synchronizer of all your important files and also stores them on a web cloud. For instance, I create a new image/word file and place it in my Dropbox Folder. The file is then uploaded to the Dropbox cloud servers and when I turn on my desktop PC, the file is automatically downloaded to the Dropbox folder on the PC and voila! Instant synchronization. Dropbox has proved itself extremely useful to someone like me, since I use a large array of devices and I even have a version of it on my iPod Touch.

Speaking of synchronization and magical applications, there’s the previously mentioned Evernote. It works on the same concept as Dropbox, but everything occurs inside the application itself. As suggested in the title, it’s all about notes. I’ve grown very fond of Evernote, since I can create simple To-Do lists that I can view on my Touch later on or simply write down notes when I’m at class or studying and then even further organize them with tags or even e-mail them to others within the application itself. Madness! Later on I’m going to experiment with audio and video notes. Truly, this must be the future people spoke of in the 1960s.

Lastly, there’s my iPod’s synchronization with iTunes that I have installed on my laptop. The only bad thing that iTunes does is make me wish I had a Macbook. I don’t use it for music playing though, that spot will always be reserved for Winamp. Classic theme for life!

Late Afternoon/Evening – Home

After returning to my shrine at home, I usually turn on my desktop PC. My PC synchronizes with everything and so do I. I primarily use my PC for the heavy lifting, meaning I edit videos on it (Sony Vegas) and tinker with my photography and graphical work (Photoshop). My PC is also the place where I keep all of my media, like ripped movies, which I stream to my PS3 and much more. Also it’s a gaming machine, since I treat my laptop really nicely and have an almost monk-like rule of no gaming on my laptop to increase its overall performance and lifetime. There are no significant applications on my PC that I haven’t already mentioned. Perhaps Steam is the most important one on the PC, globally and personally. I mean, digital distribution is another thing of the advanced future that is featured in the year 2010, right? Finally, if there’s some serious work to be done I usually use my laptop instead of my PC. For instance,  I’m writing this on it as we speak.

Night/Really Early Morning – Home

If it’s not Friday or Saturday, which equal as party days, then I’m more or less likely to be finishing up on some notes in Evernote or generally doing work for college, which is primarily programing in Eclipse, a really chubby programing editor, that covers a lot of things that needs to be handled if coding in Java. Sometimes I tend to use Notepad++, just for the heck of it. When it’s actually bed time, I tend to dust off my PSP and play whatever needs to be played until I become really sleepy or feel that I accomplished what I intended to do. I’ve been mostly playing GTA: Chinatown Wars, since the missions are short and I can progress through it slowly every night before I fall asleep.

Lately I’ve been thinking of acquiring a Kindle, but those snob bastards at Amazon have yet to recognized my country as a worthy consumer of their magical e-ink device. Until that happens, I guess it’s only RSS feeds for me, since I don’t really like the physical form of books or librarians.

And the online services that I use? Well, besides Twitter I also enjoy using Flickr (losing battle), Twitpic, Instapaper (simple, yet amazing!!), Facebook and YouTube. And everything from Google. Those bastards really know how to hook you in onto their products. Must be some voodoo-shaman crap!

The Conclusion

There isn’t really one. If I spend a lot of time pondering on how technology has rapidly progressed through the course of my existence or our overall existence, I’d be a fool, since in that period of pondering, Steve Jobs or anyone else would whoop out a new and innovative product that would push technology even further. That’s why I only take a brief second, think of all the glorious tech products I’ve experienced, enjoy the ones I have now and look forward to the ones that are coming in the near future. It’s a never ending cycle, really. A cycle that I’ll be part of for the rest of my life most likely, unless I experience some hardcore spiritual conversion that bans all technological products and makes me go live in a cave on a mountain or something.

Also, perhaps you’ve noticed I didn’t mention my phone at all. That’s because I use my phone as a fucking phone. And not as a professional camera, gaming device, mp3 player, microwave, vibrator and much more, like most people do.

There’s a dude all dressed up in serious business clothes (hardcore gamer attire) that doesn’t want to interact with others whilst they’re socializing and chatting. He supposedly has a dastardly evil plan to get to know these people by simply observing them and then stabbing them in the back and claiming the final prize. They also discover that there’s an actual professional gamer among them, which supposedly poses a threat. I also start asking myself why the hell would someone who makes actual money by attending gaming tournaments sign up for this reality show. Finally their first challenge appears and they are introduced to the judges. Where’s David Jaffee? I was promised David Jaffee goddamnit, even if he wouldn’t be swearing and being drunk. The first challenge that these people have to go through is some sort of a weird ocular exam. It’s one of those challenges, where you’re presented with two supposedly equal pictures with slight differences in one of them. Somehow this is gaming related. The suited up dude was sucking at the challenge and that’s all I remember from it.

After a short break, the lady host informed the contestants that it’s elimination time! People started hugging themselves and slowly departed to the next abandoned warehouse/studio where this elimination thing would take place.  The judges start a speech where in the world of testers, being serious is the key and scold a dude for joking during his test round. They also scold the suit dude and in defence he states the exact digit number and placement of a parrot. The judges are weirded out by his exclamation yet intrigued for his seriousness. They eventually eliminate the suit dude and in his final interview he has a speech where he states that he is glad that he’ll be reunited with his family (after being separated for a few hours?) and leaves a message in tears that he hopes his two young daughters would be proud of him when they grow up and see this footage of him trying to win this contest. I honestly thought the dude was going to kill himself or something after the interview.

The end of the show informs the viewers that in the next episode they’re going to place the contestants in huge balls, blindfolded and that communication is going to be the key in succeeding in an obstacle course. This is where I discover that I’m going to have to watch this shit till the end, just to see what kind of idiotic series of “gaming tests” they’re going to place these poor senseless souls in. I also departed from the video with one new thing I never knew and that’s the fact that the video game industry is obviously serious shit.

It was aight, yo.

Before I got deep deep down into the top ten list, I’ll just mention that besides the next-gen consoles, my PS2 was still alive and kicking it, albeit the machine hosted only two games and leaving me behind with the fact that I still have around 20 classic titles to beat on that system. But free time is really hard to find, and when I do discover it, I usually tend to burn through the newer games. A habit I somehow want to change slightly in 2010. Since I personally didn’t allow myself to place an older game on my top ten list for 2009, I’ll go right ahead and say that the game that made me almost lose my sanity on the PlayStation 2 was none other than my dearly beloved Persona 3. The countless moments I had thinking about that game before snoozing off to sleep, really did make an impression on me. That’s all coming from someone who really does not like your standard RPG games and turn based combat. Yet that game managed to completely seduce me into playing it for long and unbearable game sessions. Similarly,  on the PC front, Borderlands completely blew me away. I’ve beaten the game twice and sank around 50 hours into it. And I still crave for more and more quests and loot  to be given to through the means of DLC. I did include Borderlands into my overall top ten list for the year, I’m just mentioning it here right now, since in this paragraph I’m focusing solely on the platform a game is being played on. The PSP received a lot of new and interesting games this year and I did buy most of them, yet somehow the poor thing got neglected enough for me not to write about my personal pick for that system. Lastly, on the PS3 it’s inFAMOUS that scored high for me.

But I’m already slightly spoiling things, so allow me to jump into my personal Top Ten List of Games For 2009:

#10 – Skate 2

I don’t know how to skate, but I do respect people that do know how to skate. Thus the medium of video games is my only resort to actually getting the feeling and sensation of the sport. And man, does the feeling kick you in the groin and kicks you again after you fall down in pain. The game is better than the original that I loved last year and even more realistic, which means it’s much harder. I never really was a fan of Tony Hawk’s button control and the million combos you can do with a press of two buttons, but the stick control in Skate 2 still feels natural and fun. Even if it makes you almost break a controller or two in the process.

#9 – Shatter

This year was a really good year for digital releases of retro-themed games on both PSN and XBLA. After a large number of bad Arcanoid that rampaged through years, Shatter brings a new and innovative game mechanic into the overall gameplay. Sucking and blowing (no sexual innuendo intended). Thanks to trophies, I’ve managed to beat the game three times and I still found myself even today trying to get the last three trophies, after a four month hiatus. The game is fun. What more can I say? Also, buy the soundtrack, it’s really good. Anyone that you’ll speak to about Shatter will mention this, even me.

#8 – Call Of Duty [insert number?]: Modern Warfare 2

I don’t know why, but I feel kind of guilty placing Modern Warfare 2 on the list. I played the hell out of the original Modern Warfare’s multiplayer, but here I didn’t touch it on purpose. I only wanted to see one thing. The story mode. I wanted to see what kind of cinematic and insane crap they placed in four hours of gameplay. A friend of mine lend me the game and I wasn’t impressed. The original story and setting were spectacular, but this time, shit just got too surreal for my taste. I have no doubt that the game is really a high quality game, but I already knew what to expect from the game. So that’s why it didn’t do it for me. But if someone says that Modern Warfare 2 was an amazing experience for him and that the multiplayer is still awesome, I’ll agree with him.

#8 – UFC Undisputed 2009

I like fighting games. A lot. And Undisputed is strategic, fun and filled with enough tension to throw Modern Warfare 2 off the list. It’s like chess. With blood.

#7 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

As with Modern Warfare 2, this was also a game that everyone waited for and held their breaths until they were released, consequentially climaxing at their cinematic value and fun multiplayer. But not me. I do appreciate setpieces, but when I saw that Uncharted 2 was built all around them, constantly placing me in cool moments, it just didn’t do for me. You could say that Uncharted 2 is played like a movie, which is totally fine. But a movie is a movie. For me a very good game gives me the tools to create my own awesome and unforgettable moments, which is what counts. Similarly as with Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2 is a popcorn kind of game, one that you enjoy while it lasts, but it’s easy forgettable and doesn’t really stand the test of time.

#6 – Left 4 Dead 2

I’m a huge Left 4 Dead fan. The structure of the game was perfect. There were zombies and you and three other people had to survive. No plot, just survive through this campaign and experience awesome moments of horror and agony. So when they announced a sequel after a mere eight or so months, I was sceptical. And I still am. Even after beating the game. Sure, they added more contents, one more campaign and new modes. And chainsaws. Out of some unknown reason, I keep coming back to the original Left 4 Dead, with a crew I’m far more familiar. Because of the fact that I would rather play more of the original L4D, L4d2 just didn’t score higher on this list.

#5 – Resident Evil 4: Africa Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 4 was awesome and we all knew it. The new gameplay format was beyond godlike had a very special feeling to it. So when they announced a new Resident Evil 5, we we’re stoked and in high expectations. And it didn’t disappoint me, with one little exception. In RE4, you we’re alone in an unknown location in Spain at night, where creepy stuff happened. In RE5 you’re stuck 24/7 with a woman that is essentially you’re mule, which you use to carry around weapons and ammo you don’t need, in daylight Africa. And there’s more action. A lot more action. But you still felt the core of RE4′s gameplay and fighting your way from one area to another was never more exciting. Which is what makes me wonder why most people behave like RE5 never came out this year and don’t speak about it.

#4 – Assassin’s Creed II

I was one of those few people who adored the original Assassin’s Creed, even though it had the typical repeated gameplay elements, you can usually find in Ubisoft’s games. The game had this weird movie-like holy feel and setting to it, and was really a gem. Assassin’s Creed II fixes all the issues that the original game had and expands on the concept of you being an assassin. You go through the actual process of becoming a killing machine in the, oh so beautiful renaissance Italy in the 15th century. I originally placed Assassin’s Creed II on the #2 spot on my list, but after a closer consideration, it was not worthy that high of a spot out of one main reasons. The game lost its holy setting in the Holy Land, which impressed me in the first game. There aren’t any explicit religious reasons, it’s just that the story had more meaning. Altair was on a quest to redeem himself and protect the Holy Land from the Knight’s  Templars and Ezio just wanted to get some payback for the death of his father.

#3- Borderlands

The game was mentioned before as my personal game of the year pick for the PC, but in the overall picture, it deserves to be third on the list. This is mostly because of its lack of an actual story to drive the game forward. Sure, the FPS gameplay is fantastic, the loot system is fantastic, the gun system is fantastic, but it lacks that small piece of a meaningful story, that would give some sense to why you’re doing the stuff you’re doing, to actually place it higher on the list. But still, number three is still pretty good. Looking forward to some more DLC in the future and hoping that Borderlands will become next year’s Fallout 3 in the sense of DLC support. For me, Borderlands is how Fallout 3 should have been, without the VATS system that I absolutely loathed.

#2 – inFAMOUS

This was the year where developers did the superhero video game genre justice, by making those games right. inFAMOUS places you in the position of a regular dude that gets electric superpowers. And then he does whatever shit he wants to. As in our deepest dreams, the developers made a successful superhero game that has a more than solid and fun gameplay, an amazing story which leaves you wanting for more. The fact that the game has a morality system, gives you the chance to play the game through two different perspectives, with two different superpower mechanics, once as an evil dude and once as a good dude (the morality system itself is actually dumb of course, but it does the job). The game is simply awesome in its execution and does the job more than right.

#1 – Batman: Arkham Asylum

When I talked about setpieces and how they should be used, this game is a perfect example of how the game offers you the tools of execution awesome Batman-like moves with determined objectives. You find yourself in an area with thugs that you have to silently take out one by one in order to reach the next area. Batman’s ninja hidding skills? Check. There’s an area of thugs and you have to beat the shit of out them? The game gives you the moves and a fighting system that is easy to learn and has a deep value of execution. Batman ninja fighting skills? Check. You are Batman of course, which means you are the greatest detective that ever lived and you find yourself being able to solve all of these little puzzles placed by the Riddler. Batman detective skills? Check. All of these systems with its main story that drives the game forward make an excellent package that everyone should experience, even if you never read any Batman related comics or just watched at least one Batman movie. The game could be described in one sentence. Batman: Arkham Asylum makes you feel like you really are Batman. And a video game that can simulate that kind of a feeling and execute it spectacularly, is a video game worth placing highly in the annals of video game history.

So that’s my top ten list for the year. It’s a personal list of course, so hopefully with that disclaimer I won’t feel the wrath of random fanboys. The only thing I do want to say is that there were enough unique and high tier games in 2009, which makes me kind of sad seeing so many people shouting out madly either “Modern Warfare 2 best game evah, dudes!” or “Uncharted 2 cinematic shit baby, best yeah!”. And about next year’s releases I can say only one thing, holy shit, look at all of those games! Will it top 2008′s mad releases? We can only hope. I’ll end by saying something that a writer in a local gaming magazine said. It’s a damn good time to be playing video games.

Also, on a side note, the only real reasons why this blog hasn’t been updated since the summer, is the fact that something like Twitter and micro-blogging offer a quicker and more effective way of writing about games. Which is something that my account totally agrees with and abuses on a daily basis.

The supposed future is digital distribution, and only digital distribution as a form of media. Future consoles such as OnLive are silent horsemen of the apocalypse that announce such a major shift, but Apple has been doing it pretty well in the past with iTunes and similar applications and services from other companies that deal with digital media. To be honest, even for a young fellow like myself, such a rapid development in technology has been spectacular and slightly frustrating to watch. It was as if yesterday I spent 4 hours searching through our families collection of VHS tapes or manically using up six or seven floppy discs in order to copy a simple DOS program. I remain somewhat old fashioned by still calling DVD discs as CDs, simply because of the same shape, yet I haven’t purchased an empty CD to burn stuff on in over two years. And now there are small hints of getting physical forms of media completely out of the way, relying solely on a digitalized form of storage and delivery.

Once I started noticing that they could really start using this form of distribution through known console networks, such as XBL and PSN, I immediately started disliking the entire idea. My reasons are rather subjective on the matter, but that matters, because I firmly know that I’m not the only one with such a point of view. One of the most obvious reason is the simple gesture of receiving your purchased game and adding it to your collection of video games. I found myself as an avid collector of video games, and I’m not really that into it, that I’m going to buy the entire Playstation 2′s library or strive on buying only collectors editions of games, but I like the feel of actually physically touching a game case and placing it into my existing library. It is a somewhat primitive gesture of displaying little trophies that are the games that you’ve collected, proudly displaying them and watching your library grow. The fact that it’s physically viewable adds to the magic. Looking at a list of downloaded list of PSN games however does not give you that feeling. It’s just a list, and lists don’t necessary impress, ‘ya know.

Another reason, which may be completely subjective is the means of getting this future digital distribution. I myself am not fortunate enough to be located in a highly developed and known European country, or wait, screw that. I myself am not fortunate enough to be located in the bloody United States, where this digital distribution is being developed and handed out. More specifically, I am referring to the means of purchasing this magical future form of distribution. Credit cards and similar don’t really like the fact that there is an ocean between our continents and having two PSN accounts doesn’t help as well. Even the one I use for gaming doesn’t list my correct native country, simply because my country doesn’t have the Playstation Store support. Crazy, huh? Not all is magically handed out to you, and simple frustrations like this occur on a daily basis. But that’s not the point, the point is that therecould potentially be a large barrier of actually buying products from the web and not, because of cultural financial differences.

Yet I find myself selfish on the given matter. I discovered this when I noticed that I preferred buying certain PSP games from the Playstation Store, rather than looking them up on eBay or in our local electronics shop. Adding the fact that the price of the glorious US dollar is incredibly cheap to our euro, I liked the idea of having all of my games on my PSP’s memory card and avoiding disc swapping. Once I discovered my obvious hypocrisy influenced by simple practicality, I found myself baffled with what I really desire. If you look at it from a purely logical and objective viewpoint, digital distribution is one of the most ingenious things ever thought up and it really is the future. Yet companies like Sony obviously understand the situation as well and when the PSP Go! was announced, they decided to keep the 3000 series in production along side with the newer model, that solely supports digital distribution. A financial move that may cost them and bite them in the ass alter on, but at least they’re trying to shift the video game industry in this direction as well.

In the end, it’s more or less obvious that in the future we will have a console with over 600 GB of storage, and have all our games installed on it, and every other form of media, such as music and movies. And that this also poses a question for the publishers, which could potentially break down the market, so it’s actually slightly scary to think about it. A key question that appears is how fast the transition will be made and how painful will it be. Will Microsoft or Sony completely ditch disc based distribution in one move or will they gradually allow dual support and similar. I mean, you have to accept the fact that we’ve been using physical media since stone tablets were introduced or in the modern world, something simple as VHS tapes were used, yet they’ve been completely destroyed by digital media. I’m not really thinking about Nintendo in this situation, because they’re rather traditional in this sense, which I respect. Still using cartridges for the N64 was a bold move, but that doesn’t mean that Nintendo doesn’t know how to nudge the future (motion control).

Time and experiences will tell and this is a cautious tale to be observed in the distant or near future. When they’ll announce implementation of digital media into our brains, that’s when the digital crap will really hit the fan. Other than that, I’ve got some other topics to dwell upon and since it’s the slow season in video gaming right now, I’ll most likely use up the time for writing more and playing some older titles. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go on some Persona 3/JRPG rehab, like playing manly man games and listening to manly songs and walking around the house with my shirt off. Basically anything to shift my attention from the spectacle that was my forever dearest Persona 3.

Persona!

Basically, Big Surf Island is an entirely new chunk of land that is positioned as an island, right from the main area of Paradise City. The bridge on which you crossover already slightly hints of the madness you’ll experience there. You’ll find more billboards, more gates to smash and new versions of Super Jumps, called Mega Jumps. And that’s a pretty accurate description. You’ll find yourself jumping through a lighthouse or across an entire bridge. There are added cars as well, two buggies and a handful of other cars, like certain toy versions of already released Legendary Cars. But that’s not what makes Big Surf Island so fun. By connecting all of these small features into a whole, you find yourself in a fast-paced, almost out of control mad cruise all around the island, which would seem to last forever.

You eventually find yourself in a flow, where you drive continuously through all around the island, and only a crash brakes that flow. But now worries, the usual crashes are caused by misplaced jumps and similar whilst driving on dirt terrain and steep hill roads. Because the overall island is structured differently and more wildly than Paradise City, the gameplay is more exciting. There are around 15 added events, two of which are completely new and actually very exciting and useful. Island Tour, and as the name suggests, the game takes you on a tour around the island, with a given time limit. It’s actually very useful, because you already see an even bigger glimpse of the content and secrets you can search for. The overall time you spend unlocking and reaching full 100% of your new Island license is about 5 – 6 hours. Because of the smaller scale of the island, you’ll also have a better sense in control of finding out the various routes on how to smash billboards and etc., which also gives you motivation on actually completing everything.

Overall, the added experience is fantastic. How Criterion deals with DLC for a game that has been released well over a year ago is really marvelous and I’m glad to see that there is more interest with Criterion in DLC for Burnout Paradise, rather than working on a sequel. Because the game itself offers an amazing and lengthful experience that everyone with a small need for a digital adrenalin fix should check out. I originally wanted to talk about the future of digital distribution, but this should serve enough as an intro. The paradox is, that I don’t really have a positive opinion in overall digital distribution.

A game like Prototype (PC) on the other hand, does contain walking. But it’s a completely different game from inFamous. I honestly didn’t know about the game’s existence, until a few weeks ago, when I started noticing random forum topics, where morons decided to duke out, whether Prototype or inFamous was a better game. What I saw from the videos and numerous trailers was interesting, so I decided to pick it up. I was query whether me playing inFamous before would have any impact on playing Prototype and it sure hell did. In simple terms, the overall gameplay and feel of inFamous is very polished and gentleman-like, where Prototype’s is mad and barbaric.

Which is a good thing, if you’re in that kind of a blood shedding mood. For me it was extremely difficult to switch to a blood lust superhuman, since in inFamous I had adapted to playing an anti-hero, one who is troubled yet ready to help out with his amazing and focused superpowers. You really have to abandon any kind of good emotions while playing Prototype. The game is violent, fast paced and keen to destroying a New York City taxi, by just touching it. I also had slight issues fulling capturing and controlling the immense power that Alex wields, but I got the hang of it. The mayhem that you can cause in the city reminds me of the early days when we first played titles like GTA 3 and GTA: San Andreas. How the game will actually turn out after I beat it, is a story to its own.

I’ve always been fascinated why characters like Alex and Wolverine were pissed off after discovering they had superpowers. And the rage that was followed afterwards. If I woke up in a morgue and discovered I could leap over buildings and morph into anyone I’d like to, I’d make a master plan on getting something I wanted really bad and played it out cool. It’ll be interesting to see what exactly happened to Alex, although I have to admit, that the story presentation is rather awkward, but it’s sufficient. This is also a minor reason why I haven’t really gotten into doing story missions yet and ignoring them by causing mayhem in NYC.

Both games are have it’s own thing. Whilst I wouldn’t really call Prototype a superhero game, it really is awesome to see that designers are finally getting the hang of making superb superhero themed games. Summer is kicking off in a real nice fashion. Also, you can clearly see from my added screen shots, that in Prototype I have a passion for abducting people, hanging them over roofs and later on absorbing their identity. It somehow makes me feel like the T-1000 from T2: Judgement Day.

Let me remind you, that it hasn’t even been a full year since Valve released the first L4D game and it usually takes approximately 20 – 30 years for Valve to make a really good game. So it was most likely shocking for everyone that owns L4D to find out that a sequel would be released this fall, neglecting the promised downloadable content for the original game. After watching an interview with one of the developers, their statement why this isn’t just DLC, like it should be is, that they had all new crazy ideas pouring in and they couldn’t just make it DLC.

Apparently they made so many changes and added so many additions to the formula on the drawing board, they realized that this should rather be a sequel. Now, I believe them, because I firmly believe that with Valve money is not something to motivate them that much. Considering all their services with Steam, the DLC for Team Fortress 2 and all the care they take when they make games, they really aren’t making this a sequel just to get some more green. Which makes me wonder, how much are they going to price L4D2? A full 60$/60€ price tag? Maybe L4D2 actually is DLC and there will be a chance for L4D owners to get it for free or for a lower cost? Most likely… not. But it would be cool if it was just one huge 1GB DLC pack.

To be fair, the future content they described was not all that special. More weapons, melee weapons, 5 scenarios – proudly presented as already being functional in Versus mode, something that L4D should have already had, and a new game mode, which they haven’t announced yet. To be fair, I really hope that the game is going to be superbly awesome even more than L4D was. Although, this places the passionate owners of L4D in a tricky position, since L4D itself is already an amazing game. And the fact that some sort of an invisible ticker appeared, that slowly counts towards the release of L4D2, does make it very uncomfortable for the owners. I know, I feel some sort of pressure to play the hell out of L4D myself.

What irritates me is the fact that I most likely haven’t played the half-hell out of that game just yet. I still have some achievements to unlock and I have to spend some more good quality time with it. Sadly, my summer vacation is in the way and TF2 as well. Which is why this post is filled with some Engineer screenshots of madness, which I captured last night while playing on 2Fort. It was rather spontaneous, but suddenly we noticed that we had 3 sentries in front of our spawn. One thing led to another and there were 8 – 10 Engineers. After a nasty Demoman destroyed our initial love nest, we moved down to the Intel room and set up our base there. In the end, we all got into a circle and danced a ritual dedicated to our sentries, like some savages. It was magnificent.

In the end… All your base are belong to us.

I was filled with joy and rejoiced Valve once again. Pumped with adrenaline and anticipation of testing out my new weapons right away, I chose the Spy class and his new addition, the Cloak and Dagger. The thing is extremely useful and offers a deeper level of tactical espionage action. It introduces a more stalk-like gameplay, something which I will surely explore further on. Standing still and just observing your prey is something you’ll enjoy very much if you’re already fond of the Spy class. I haven’t tested out the other watch yet, but I think I’ll give it a go, since there’s an achievement connected to it.

And finally I had the chance to play with the Huntsman. The weapon is rather interesting. It indeed does place you in a more offensive role, making you try to pin down enemies on the front-lines with your deadly arrows that can even be ignited by the Pyros flamethrower. I’ve always been more of an aggressive sniper, always in front picking off oblivious players and those that posed a major threat to the entire team. I still have to really examine the Huntsman and the way it fires etc. so I think it’s a marvelous toy I can play as that can refresh my sniping experience. Of course there are some achievements connected to it and I’ll surely capitalize on that.

All I can say is that Valve has done its job again. Sure, everybody can screw up sometimes, but I think that Valve sort of patched its evil deeds. After quitting the game, I went and checked the update log, to see exactly how the new system was changed. I found this: “Added Sniper/Spy milestone achievements as an additional way players can get the new unlockables”. So the random weapon gaining system is there and I’m completely fine with that, as long as there’s the old fashioned system with the achievements. Now I just wonder if there was an enough of a cry from the community that made Valve modify the unlock system or did they notice it themselves.

Even though there was a major discomfort with the new unlock system, the funny thing is that Valve made me play TF2 for over 25 hours this week. I give credit to Valve for that.