Xbox 360 is thoroughly underwhelming me at the moment and my system is doing a very good job of collecting dust. The joy pad sits on my book shelf like some antiquity and will need some Indiana Smith style dust blowing action before I use it again.
I was interested to see my other (a.k.a. Todd) recently lament the lack of good 360 games. For a wild and crazy moment I thought I'd lost touch and just didn't know about all the good stuff. Thought I'd slipped into a weird reality where I was the only one with a sinking feeling that the 360 wasn't proving to be worth its salt.
The hype is over and the frenzy-induced dust has finally settled (on my machine by the looks of it), but there's not much to show for all the fuss. Kameo still sits unfinished. But with no imminent releases, I have no incentive to finish it before my next box full of fun arrives. I feel like the neglected sister Kalus with no good games to play!
As I've said before, the launch line-up was uninspiring to say the least. Okay, we knew that Halo wasn't going to be on it, but where was DOA 4 and Morrowind 2 aka Oblivion? And even now, DOA has arrived, but I still want something to get my teeth into, something that says next gen has arrived, forget all you have learned.
I want to be blown away, excited and giddy as a school girl. Remember when the snow deformed underfoot in DOA on Dreamcast or how we were baffled by the free-rein given by Shenmue. Remember the power of the Gran Turismo series on PlayStation and the revelation that was Halo on Xbox.
It is early days, I know that my dear play chums, but I want more. Wow me Microsoft and your band of merry developers. Bring me the cel-shading revolution of this generation. I want the next Space Channel 5 and Jet Grind Radio. I want style, I want class and I want original titles.
Yes, that's right, call me demanding, but I don't want X-men (unless you make it really, really good), Spider-man, the latest Tom Cruise movie or Casablanca reduced to a film noir hack and slash adventure game. I want original content. What's the point of next- gen if it's the same as the last-gen but less fuzzy!?
Microsoft should have the upper-hand here, being the first to market, but it looks ludicrously like it's letting the lead slip through its clammy fingers. Although, if the rumours are anything to go by Sony seems to be too busy with its fingers up its butt to be bothered to bring a machine out. In which case, Microsoft just may have a chance – it might not be too late.
Latest reports are that PS3 is going to be a year late; costs of the machine are spiralling out of control and doom, doom and more doom. The news didn't impress the city, as shares dropped by four per cent.
You'd think this news would buoy Microsoft and perhaps galvanise them into action. Do ya think!?
Or there's the alternative, where they feed us a gruel-thin stream of lack lustre titles, raising a next generation of mal-nourished gamers. I'm feeling a bit peaky, I have to admit – I can't go on much longer. Thankfully City of Villains provides enough gaming goodness to see me through.
Xbox used be my favourite great galoot of a console, but it now hardly registers on my radar. I only hope that Oblivion can inject some much needed enthusiasm. The sad fact is that if it wasn't for my vain hope that Halo 3 will rock this world into the next century I'd sell the bloody thing.
Most played: I spy
Most wanted: Oblivion