So today I went into my local independant games retailer of choice (ie, the one where my mate works) and did a few things. First I checked how much I'd get for trading in my 360 now that after 10 months it has ceased to become useful to me. Secondly I argued with the store staff over the Gamecube and the shit-to-good ratios of the current consoles. Finally I nearly died from hyperventilating after spotting a copy of the Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 Collectors Edition on the preowned shelf for £25. Its currently being held for me until I get paid on Friday. The main point of the trip though was the 360 bit, its going and being traded (with a sizable chunk of my next pay packet) for a PS3. So I got home, opened up the internet and had a look at what had been going on while I'd been at work.

First up was the news about Rock Band 2. Excellent is what I say to that news. No doubt September is around the time Guitar Hero World Tour will be out and if Neversoft are having a party, Harmonix seem determined to crash it. The news that it'll be out in Europe at the same time isn't them being kind to us, its them being terrified of the World Tour full suite of instruments getting an unopposed foothold in Europe, a country where Guitar Hero remains the game of choice for undersized plastic guitars due to an immense delay and massive price hike putting off a lot of the people who'd been excited for it and not exactly enticing other people given its close proximity in the release schedules to another extra peripheral game for a slightly more successful console. While Rock Band is still possible to be bought in any store at any time, Wii Fit remains rarer than a scientist with a sex life. They have the dating right, but if they're going to sell Rock Band 2 to the fans who've been burned by the first game they have to cut the price. £180 will not fly a second time.

Secondly the long awaited 3.40 firmware with achi....sorry, 'Trophies' (that joke'll get old eventually) and the in-game XMB is to be released on Wednesday. So I'm getting my new PS3 with the features (a download later) the less patient have been waiting months for, a new console, new games and yet pretty much no lost fuctionality as far as Dashboard toys goes. Its a good thing, yet it got better as the release date for the Dual Shock 3 was announced for Friday. So overall my shopping list for Friday gives me 6 more controllers (DS3, Failaxis and another 4 Buzz buzzers), 1 new console and 2 new games (Motorstorm is £10 now, jackpot). I feel its not really the best choice to make given my current controller list looks something like this:

Gamecube controller
G-Con 45 Light Gun
G-Con 2 Light Gun
Wii Zapper
Wii Wheel
Wiimote
Wii Nunchuk
Wii Classic Controller (with broken X button)
N64 controller
Dual Shock 2
Dreamcast controller
Dreamcast Light Gun
Buzz buzzers

So adding another 3 entries to that list isn't exactly making the most of my limited space in this bedroom. However having a PS3 hooked up to my shitty tellybox isn't currently striking me as a good idea. What is a good idea though is a mate of mine letting me keep his copy of Brawl as his Wii won't play it.

SCORE!!

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, let's firebomb a Gamestop. (included to please king3vbo)

>NJ