That last post got me all angry about the Nintendo Wii, it deserves to be brought down a peg or two that whore of a gaming console, how dare it offer entertainment to a casual audience and parade around like a social fitness tool. Nintendo always was a more acceptable face of gaming but now it is down right ridiculous, I demand it sent to Room 101.

Just before last December I switched on my Xbox 360, back then I used it more for movies than I did gaming, that's why it pissed me off even more when I received the dreaded "red ring of death" and nearly missed out on Christmas gaming. It is a pain to send it to Microsoft and get it fixed, home remedies and YouTube finally yielded desperate and I sent it away. It never came back again that console, they sent me a new one, a shiny one, it was actually a good deal, especially since I got a free month of LIVE.

When reading this news story, initially I thought this would be an easy write up. How wrong I was. Turbine has recently re-released it's struggling MMORPG Dungeons and Dragons Online. Adding a heaps of new content and injecting more enthusiasm than you can shake an enthusiastic stick at. Therefore Turbine have gotten understandably upset when Atari has announced plans to develop a rival MMO based on the same franchise.

I recently bought a PlayStation 3 (I promise I will stop going on about it) because they slashed...that seems a bit dramatic, they took away fifty pounds from the asking price, bringing it down to £245. This sent me into a bargain frenzy and I went out to buy one, how many did this remains to be seen, official word will come when the CEO of Sony is seen dancing naked on a roof top.

Well in a case of tit-for-tat retaliation it seems that Microsoft are trying to start a pricing war. Rumours are circulating that the Xbox is to drop around $50 from it's price, for us English folk that is around £25. I don't see how this will attract anymore people to the Xbox however, with the three versions ranging in price from £130 to £220, the only reason the PlayStation 3 was hit with reservation was because of its ridicilous high price, a price drop in 360 will only bring about a shrug surely?

Nintendo must be sitting smugly right now, looking more pleased with itself than a dog sniffing it's own gasses.

id Software junkies among us will already know that Doom 4 has been in the pipeline for some time. Today it seems that fans are left disappointed again, having to wait another year until they can get their grubby mitts on any information on the game.

CEO of id Software Todd Hollenshead told press at Quake Con "when we show it to you, you're gonna love it". This comes as no surprise really, the focus will be directed at the developers up-and-coming title Rage for the best part of the rest of this year and the next. John Carmack however added that the game was going to come with great promise.

I speculate that we won't be seeing this Doom title until at least 2012, or maybe to coincide with the series 20th anniversary. Again gamers will have to wait in anticipation.

Back in the day EverQuest ruled the MMORPG market, it was simply the bee's knee's. Since 2004 however World of Warcraft has stolen those knee's, glued them on to itself and ran away with this title to dizzying new heights and popularity. EverQuest 2 was supposed to take over the reigns however, released at the same time as that Blizzard game, it failed to really inspire its audiences.

The problem being that it split fans in numerous ways. For some it wasn't near enough to the original EverQuest, for others it wasn't different enough. With a sequel your always going to court criticism but for a sequel in this genre, your pretty much dead in the water if you don't get it right.

The creator's of Mortal Kombat, Midway have all but disappeared, selling most of their intellectual property and development team it seems like the lacklustre Wheelman was the troubled developers last tango. To many this spelled the end to a well known and most loved franchise, Mortal Kombat. This appears false as Warner Bros have taken up development of a new title and seeks to create a game that enforces a 'golden standard' amongst fighting games.

The early nineties gamers among us will remember Mortal Kombat for its ultra violent and ultra fun style of fighting genre, since then the franchise has birthed many titles, some good some not so good. Will Warner Bros bring the title back to its former glory? Well this remains to be seen, however, with a publisher being this enthusiastic and ambitious about what it will develop, one can hope for glory.

Warner is still in the market for a developer, a job listing stating "We are looking for someone who wants to push the boundaries of what is possible with online interaction, implement cutting-edge online features to ensure the Mortal Kombat franchise is an industry leader in online functionality." So we can quite safely this new MK title will feature some great online play,

Will this new title beat it's long term rival Street Fighter? This remains to be seen, for now at least we can all cross our fingers and pray to Zeus.

Games are addictive, so when a game like Sid Meier's Civilization comes to mobile devices I simply start to cower in a corner, calculating just how much time I have left to hand over to this demanding vice of mine. Just how much more can I give to this devil bitch we call gaming?

Well as it transpires, a little bit more. 2K Games have crafted another portable version for their power house title, Civilization, now appearing on the App Store for $5 and also a free Lite version, we as gamers have no choice but to bow down to our mobile phones and fight that urge for one more turn.

The game boasts 16 playable factions, twitter integration, a tirade of achievements, free updates, a choice of languages and more. Looking at this I am weighing up what aspects of my life I can loose to accommodate this new game, showering? Shaving? I guess it would be in the hygiene category. You gotta' make sacrifices somewhere.

I am on somewhat of a role when it comes to Sega Megadrive/Genesis games. All night I have been playing old classics, namely Golden Axe II. The console always did Beat-em-up's better than anything before or since, this game is one of the greats which founded the reputation. Another game which I have owned since I can remember, this title holds a very special place in my heart. Playing it again after a ten year hiatus many things strike me.

Any MMORPG fan out there will know that Dungeons and Dragons Online has fallen on hard times. Partly due to its design and partly due to the vast amount of competition in the market right now. Turbine have seen this and taken a very brave and bold step, Dungeons and Dragons will be free to play, micro transactions rule the way here, perfect for the budget gamer.

The game will be relaunched under the title of Eberron Unlimited, not only will the game be free to play but also boasts new content, more classes, more items and much more. My only reservation with this package is that there must a catch somewhere, in the disclaimer small print Turbine will have us signing away our soul or something to that effect, I jest.

Of course fans of the genre will already know when this is to launch, their calenders marked with "Free Game Day" to those however, unknowing to MMORPG's this is the perfect chance to get started in this gloriously addictive and life consuming genre. Come September 9th, head over to Turbine and check this game out. For free, what have you got loose? Well except your social life.

Twelve hours into this game and thirteen jobs later I feel like I am ready to make something that approaches critical opinion. This game is hard, in every sense of the word, it reminds me of playing MMORPG's back in the early days, back at a time when you were dumped at a city gate with nothing but a sword and a flustered smile. It is quite glorious.

Like a slutty single mother, I like it rough, so when Final Fantasy merely sneers and jeers at the notion of a tutorial I start to hump my monitor screaming "It's been so long, so long" whilst crying. Enough of my little tangents however, lets get down to the nitty gritty.

The Curse of Monkey Island was the first game I ever owned for PC, it was so amazingly funny that it has etched itself into my character like a cattle brand. People stare blankly at me as I fire off obscure quotes, friends shuffle with embarrassment as I enthuse loudly about the game. Generally speaking, I am a social embarrassment

On topic however, it is great news to hear that the next episode of Telltale's Monkey Island is coming to PC and Wii August 20th. Entitled the Siege of Spinner Cay, this episode of gaming goodness promises to be as funny as everything we have seen before. For a Monkey Island fan it is a great time, with new installments of the games, special editions and now rumours of a re-release of the second game, Monkey Island 2 Lechuck's Revenge. Things really couldn't be better in this dirty little circle we call Earth.

Telltale's episodic Monkey Island can only be bought as a whole season, don't delay, if you are fan what are you waiting for? If your a new comer what are you waiting for?

It was difficult to get my girlfriend to even play game, I kept beavering away at her, telling her it would be fun, I actually thought it would bring us closer together, bridge that gap in difference of interests, a bit of friendly competition, link two things I love together into a great relationship. How wrong I was, how horrible this has turned out be.

Street Fighter IV is now 'her' game of choice, strolling around the place like some sort of Fighting game guru, tilting her head to the side, shooting a sympathetic look and pronouncing "Shame 'innit" or words to that effect. I can't even smack talk back, I have nothing to back it up, my courage has gone, my skill with it. I am a hollow husk of a man, all because I tried to make things better.

Tremmel is a strange place. When I first came to this land a man on a horse kept chanting to me "Akuma Nastra" and then he dropped a mace. Was this a message? Does he defecate weaponry? Who knows, it is a strange place indeed.

Confusion was starting to set in, where was I? Surprisingly there were a lot of people around me. I spent my first half an hour collecting dropped items, I knew that this bounty would bring me wealth. My first moments of Ultima and I was becoming Alan Sugar of Ultima. I was a winner in this world.

Being quite the 'tech head', I own a portable gaming device or two, my weapon of choice at the moment being the Nintendo DS (When I can wrestle it from my girlfriend) it is quite simply a bundle of fun and the best device since the Sega Game Gear (I am that retro). The magical thing about the DS is a little device that allows you to play older games and so on. I wont mention it's name for fear of promoting a pro 'pirate' view of gaming but it allows for Snes and Megadrive emulators.

With this discovery my childhood memories have all come back, the simple tune of the opening of Sonic floods me with nostalgia, hours spent trying to get past the second level, trying not to stand on spikes and the explanation for my irrational fear of men with ginger moustaches. It is all here. Sonic quite simply is the platforming bomb.