Already we are two months into the New Year, and for me it has been painfully slow. With almost no titles coming out I ended up going back to playing old games such as Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. It has been painfully slow for me.

This week, however, I did get some relief, in the form of 007: Everything or Nothing. While I'm still waiting for the true second coming of Goldeneye (which EA is rumored to be working on), the latest Bond title actually diverts from first person shooting to a third-person Dead to Rights style game. However unlike the previous disaster, you actually can aim at targets that are on screen. From what I've seen so far it has been getting great reviews.

Heck, even the stupid fat hobbit Jeff "I hate everything unless it is Tony Hawk" Gerstmann actually gave it an 8.8 (a far cry from the 6.0 and 7.0 scores he loves to dish out). I can agree with everyone so far, but I will wait until my final review is done. Nonetheless, aside from few high spots such as 007 and watching perhaps the best episode of Angel I have ever seen (Angel as a Bert-like puppet-pure genius!) the rest of my time has been nothing but disappointment.

Case in point, Ninja Gaiden.

Ninja Gaiden has been scheduled for release for Christmas, but it was constantly pushed back. The last planned release date was next Tuesday (the 23rd). Naturally I was looking forward to it as I would get to enjoy a true Xbox exclusive title for the first time since Project Gotham 2. Or so I thought, until I read once again that the game has been delayed, until March 2nd.

I should warn everyone in advance, don't expect it to come out on the 2nd.

I've seen this happen time and time again. Every time there is a game that I am looking forward to so much as I am with Ninja Gaiden, it is constantly pushed back.

Remember Perfect Dark, and how it took nearly two years to come out? What was left in my opinion was a blocky, choppy mess, nowhere near the magnificence that Goldeneye achieved. Daikatana? I admit I was never interested in this title except for the joke factor. But considering John Romero was so proud of this title that he offered to "make you his bitch," it was ironic that in the end, HE was the bitch.

Lest we forget one specific title: Duke Nukem Forever. Maybe we should just call it "Duke Never Finished!" How long has DNF been in development? Five years? Switching from the Quake 2 engine to the Unreal engine and then to nothing at all, DNF proves more than anything else why I hate seeing delays.

I will admit, not all delays are bad. I can forgive a company like Blizzard for their delays with Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 because Blizzard is always a symbol of quality. But when you got a title that has been reviewed such as Ninja Gaiden (GMR magazine gave it a nine back in December), what do you have to hide?

I do wonder what the GM for Ninja Gaiden, Tomonobu Itagaki, is thinking when he keeps delaying his supposed masterpiece. Is he trying to make his game the next Daikatana? Does he know that fans want to game to come out now, not later – or never for that matter? You know, I'm just surprised that Tecmo and Team Ninja have not published an ad saying "Tomonobu Itagaki wants to make you his bitch!"

Even more, I bet it would have a naked HItomi holding a sign saying "suck on this."

Let's just see what happens on March 2nd, to see if I was right all along.