Hm, probably should have done a background post, so the X1 review didn’t end up so long. Ah well, the blog is partially about me anyway so I think each review or whatever will have a bit of personal stuff for context. After all, we all are made by our experiences and who we are inextricably is linked to what we get out of a game.

Speaking of games, tenuous segue! This post is part excusing the inordinate length of previous post, part news post. And the news is, I am about to obtain many more games to play! I have a giant pile of things I’m currently playing on and off, and another pile of things I will start later. The latter pile is about to get bigger, as I am very close to getting a PS3 in my house.

First, some history. Our family bought a Super Nintendo when I was in about Year 3, I think. Most likely due to pressure from 3 boys who all had friends at school with consoles. I don’t remember pressure or what games captured my imagination at friends’ houses that much, but I do remember the ones we owned very well. Many hours spent in bliss. At that time, even my parents got into it. My dad played a car game and a cricket game with us a little bit, although it was my older brother who was mostly into the sports games. My folks’ big gaming passion was the seminal Tetris & Dr. Mario. Two of the best NES puzzlers (although I didn’t know it at the time) in one package. We got a lot of play out of that one. It wasn’t really my forte, I was more into the platformers, but that game really brought the family as a whole together. My brothers and I would love watching each other play through different things, and take turns, but the only real multiplayer experience we had at the time was Tetris & Dr. Mario. We did the watching and taking turns thing with this as well, but it also had a couple of multiplayer modes. It was also the only thing we could all play, albeit with me and my little brother on a handicap. I have a great memory of being scared of a thunderstorm at night, coming downstairs to find my parents taking turns going over level 20 in Dr. Mario, and watching them for a while. Funny how things stick with you.

Anyway this was originally going somewhere else, but I’ll just say that nowadays some of my favourite games are ones that I can enjoy with others. Others being my wife most of the time. So we have a lot of Lego games, because they have great co-op. And I like playing games that she likes to watch. So she really wanted to try Journey, which looks like a great thing to experience together. Also our Blu-Ray player is becoming more stupid, so we decided that a PS3 could replace it and have cool games, for about the same price we got the player.

Of course, the reason it’s cheap is because it’s pre-owned. The cheapest one is the lowest HD capacity (40G), second generation model. Second because the first had fancy expensive features like PS2 hardware chip and Super Audio CD support that they eliminated to make manufacturing cheaper after the first models. The great thing about PS3 though is the hard drive is user-replaceable, and unlike the Xbox you don’t need a weird proprietary drive, just any SATA drive will do. The thing can become a more expensive model by taking out some screws and replacing the HD with any old one you just happen to have lying around bigger than 40G.

So after two frustrating weeks, I went into the shop to check. My one hadn’t arrived, but someone else’s had that they’d changed their mind about. So I took that one and brought it home. After a lot of setting up, we found that the HDMI output was busted. So now we’re waiting for another one to come in we can trade it for, or even the one I originally ordered. I even borrowed Little Big Planet from my brother’s friend but can’t play it yet.

It seems anticlimactic to make the big decision to buy a PS3 (since I’m mostly a Nintendo fanboy), wait for it for two weeks, then it’s broken. Anticlimactic like this post, as I’ve run out of things to say and you probably ran out of patience long ago. Until next time, then.