note: I wrote this article back in early 2007, when it was still a toss-up as to how each console would be received. This is probably the only time I have made a forecast that pretty much came true. Nostradamus need not worry…then again, I guess he would’ve seen this coming anyway.

Ok, we all have been here. You purchased your shiny next gen console, maybe even within the first week it was released…and you were happy. You brought it home, hooked it up, bought a few games for it…and now, several months down the road, you find yourself taking a closer look at the ‘competition’. It’s not that you are unhappy with your current console, you just want some variety…and if you are like so many of the other hard-to-medium core gamers, you will end up buying a second console.

Let’s take a look at my experiences with the last gen systems (GameCube, Xbox, and Playstation 2). I was lucky enough to get a PS2 at launch back in the day thanks to my incredibly devoted parents and some connections at Wal-Mart. The fact that it played DVDs was a good selling point. The PS2 was awesome. I’m a huge fan of the Tekken and Final Fantasy series and Sony had both. Technically this was my second console of that gaming generation. I already had a DreamCast, but sadly it didn’t sell very well and it never lived to see its full potential.

However, about year later the GameCube was released. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Zelda series and knew that you can’t go wrong with Nintendo if you are looking for well made first party games. Why did I buy the GameCube? Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and of course…Smash Brothers.

Would I have been happy with one console? Sure, but I would have missed out on some great fun. Sega had Sonic (exclusive to the DC at first), Sony had Final Fantasy (as well as Kingdom Hearts, a classic), and Nintendo had the killer cast we all know and love. I got these consoles for the exclusive games they offered. After a few price drops, I picked up an Xbox as well just for Halo.

That’s my story of the last gen, but what about this generation. None of the consoles of last gen severely undercut each other in terms of price. However, this generation is a bit different. Here is how I think it will go if my gaming intuition is correct…

A good number of gamers out there bought an Xbox360 as their first console of this gen. However, by now those guys are thinking, ‘hmm…well my console is great and everything, but titles for suchandsuch system are looking pretty fun.’ Being the harder core gamers they are, they will end up purchasing a secondary console, and my bet is that it will be the Wii. This is my guess for the PS3 owners as well. Medium-to-hard core gamers who purchased a Wii will decide between a 360 or a PS3, but will probably wait until problems with the 360 are resolved and there is a true price drop for the PS3.

So, a couple of years down the road I see the Wii as the top seller overall followed by the 360 and PS3, who will be closer to each other in sales than either one will be to the Wii’s total sales.

I feel that we are overlooking the fact that several gamers will buy more than one console of this generation. The PS3 and 360 are duking it out for second place overall due to their similarity. The Wii stands out as a quasi-next gen system with some great games coming out for it. The Wii may be weaker than the others, but most gamers don’t buy consoles for what the console can do…they buy it for the games.

What will be your secondary console?

All right, guys. Here are a few more games that can distract you from those boring papers of yours. This is a list some of the games I thought were awesome and are now old enough to have attractive price tags. So without further ado:

#5 Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2)
Price: $0.99-10

This one is for you Illegal Street racing fanatics. That’s right, I’ve seen this game for as low as $0.99. In this one you must master various forms of street racing from drag racing, to drifting, to the ever-irritating Street X racing in order to raise enough bank to upgrade and customize your ride. What I really love about this game is the unique things you can do in between the “official-illegal” races. Including racing to photo shoots to get on magazine covers and taking part in “unofficial-illegal” races with other drivers on the road in which you must lose them in order to unlock new parts for your car. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves racing games and is broke. Plus you can make your car look totally kick-awesome.

#4 Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
Price: $10-15

This game (as most Final Fantasy games are) is epic. It is definitely a personal favorite of mine and has one of the most interesting story lines you could ask for in an RPG. In this adventure you play as Squall (and Laguna in special dream-like sequences), a student at Balamb Garden who ends having to save the world. It includes a very interesting leveling and limit break system, which is very satisfying. Also your Guardian Forces (GF’s) are able to level up in battles and learn new abilities as they get stronger. The world map is massive and offers a huge number of secrets to be found and mini-quests to do. There is no shortage of adventure-awesomeness in this title. To put it simply, if you like RPG’s and you haven’t played this one, you are missing out big time. I don’t want to give too much of the game away so I’m just going to tell you that it is worth more than you can get it for these days.

#3 Starfox 64 (N64)
Price: $5-10

I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys flying around and blowing stuff up. Your ultimate goal is to reach the Planet Venom to defeat Andross (of Starfox fame) once again. By completing certain goals or finding shortcuts, you can follow different routes to get to Venom. This increases the replayability of the game a great deal (there is still a planet or two that I haven’t gotten to yet). Also, there are planets on which you drive a tank across the surface rather than fly overhead, which adds an interesting way to break up the monotony of flying around all the time. The very different planets are all awesome in their own ways and the boss battles are some of the most fun I’ve played. This game is definitely worth the $10 you can get it for.

#2 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
Price: $0.99-10

This game employed a unique way of making a sequel of the first Kingdom Hearts game. Rather than a normal battle system, it uses a battle system that utilizes cards that you have collected. I know what you’re thinking: “What!?! A freakin’ card system!?!?” I know, I know. It sounds terrible (and usually is). But this is done a little differently. You use the cards to attack but you have the ability to run around and avoid getting hit by the enemy. Also, you have to be sure that you are near enough to the enemy to hit him. The only difference between this system and a normal battle system is that the amount of damage you do depends on the number of your card (which can be stopped if the enemy plays a card with a higher number at the same time. Also you have the slight ability to create the map yourself. The rooms are in predetermined locations, but when you get to a doorway you have to use a card to create the door (and the room behind it). The kind of card you use has an effect on what room is created. Some rooms have enemies, some have treasure chests, and some have Moogles. Another great aspect of this game is that it bridges the gap between KH and KH2 (both PS2 titles). It is a great addition to the collection and offers a very interesting story line. If you like any of the other KH games, you should definitely pick this one up.

#1 LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Multi)
Price: $5-15

This game is awesome. I don’t care how cartoony and ridiculous some other people think it looks. It is a solid title and should be respected as one. A unique aspect of the game is the humor that is added into the Star Wars situations to make it a very amusing. The game play is dead-on, I unfortunately bought this game just before exam week and I had a very hard time studying (I ended up not studying at all). It is the kind of game that I just wanted to keep playing over and over. The ability to purchase cheats and characters is also really neat. One of the most interesting parts of the game is collecting the minikits that are hidden throughout the levels. It’s rare to find a game where you feel like you absolutely have to find every item, but this is definitely one of them. Seriously, pick this up if you haven’t already.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to comment with some of your suggestions.

When Guitar Hero was released in late 2005, many people shrugged it off as a DDR wannabe and told anyone who played it to buy a real guitar. However, once that plastic guitar is in your hands and the music begins, an interesting transformation occurs. You are no longer holding a small plastic guitar controller in front of your TV, you are holding a true axe of glory and playing in front of a crowd of millions who worship every bending note you pick. An entire culture has developed around this game, and anyone who has played it can speak for its fun and addictiveness. Some people have taken this addiction and become legends in their own right. These virtual virtuosos are the Masters of Guitar Hero.

Who is the best Guitar Hero player? That is like asking whether Slash’s melodic hammer-ons and pull-offs are more red than Paul Gilbert’s insane string-skipping. As of now, Chris Chike holds the highest score in Guitar Hero 3.

High scores are not everything, however. A highly skilled guitar player may be able to play faster, but something is lost in the translation. If you don’t believe me compare the soloes of Jimi Hendrix and Michael Angelo Batio and tell me which is the most pleasing to the ear (not to hate on MAB, I love his fretwork). Style and feeling definitely count for something. Who is the most stylish Guitar Hero player I’ve seen? None other than Mr. Pizza.

Not all guitarists stand alone. Marty Friedman and Jason Becker weaved incredible sonic tapestries of Rock on stage which mesmerized their audiences and inspired other beginning guitar players to adventure into the realm of dual (not duel) guitar soloing. Although they may not shine as brightly separately, these Guitar Heroes are able to feed off of each other’s energy to produce scores high enough to melt the pickups off of my guitar.

The beauty of music and music-based games such as Guitar Hero is that there is always the opportunity for someone to push the genre in a new direction or challenge a high score. It is through this period of evolution and competition that true Guitar Heroes are born.

I released the first comic in a new series called Lazy Thumbs. Lazy Thumbs will act as sort of a sandbox for me to draw pretty much whatever I want without having to stick to a strict set of characters. Let me know what you think. Here’s the link to the first comic.

Super Awesome First Lazy Thumbs comic!!!

Hey guys. I recently bought a virtual private server and have been really excited to move Game Ruckus over to it. So, after many hours of tinkering and frustration I set up a fully functional (and super fast) web server command line style. The amount of control and resources we have now is ridiculous so I’m very excited about that.

Another thing I’m excited about is the realization of our goal of what Game Ruckus should be. Chris and I had spent waytoo long talking about what we planned on doing to the site and never actually did anything. As you can see, we have taken action. While we will still feature our reviews on video games and the like in our conventional write-an-article-with-pretty-pictures manner, we will primarily be focusing on the creation of webcomics and short animations. It’s something that we’ve been itching to do for a few years now, actually.

With that being said, we would love to hear from you guys. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to have any meaningful conversation because we were on a shared host with forums that made you question if you were on dial-up. That’s never fun. I realize we probably alienated quite a few of you because of this, but all I can say is that speed should never be a problem from here on out. Let us know what you’ve been up to by clicking that shiny Forums button at the top of the screen.

That’s it for now. Be looking for new webcomics and short animations. Some of these comics (i.e., Lore) will rely solely on your input in order for them to progress, so let’s have some fun with it.

-Zack (Xalo)