Money Kills

So, it's been over two weeks now the dust settled down around E3 and the industry is preparing for the upcoming "cucumbermonths", like we call them in Belgium. It's like there is nothing coming out, nothing left to play and the sun is burning hotter than hell. However the last part has lacked quite a bit the last few days, the first parts or so fucking true. It's a good thing I have to study for my final exams (if I don't fail them of course) this year, or I would be one bored fuck.

It's been quite a while since there was an update but I ain't dead. I just didn't find that much of spare time to write what was happening. The last few weeks were quite hectic indeed. The teachers at university rushed through them last 200 pages like they were as easy to understand as Mao's Red Booklet. Well for your record, they aren't and when I wasn't enjoying some leisure time before my consoles or pc (mainly listening to music since there isn't anything to play, apart from Commandos 2 which I miraculously rediscovered), I was (and still am) struggling with the huge amount of pages. I even cracked some teeth on them! How's that for a piece of dead paper?

In other news, I got my hands on a rusty dusty Nintendo 64 as well. And I didn't even have to pay for it. Who would've guessed that, in these cruel times where everyone gets greedy and cynical before they turn twenty, there are still Samaritans in the world. I gladly accepted the gift with a great smile but I couldn't supress the urge to say he could as well have sold the thing at eBay for 50 euros. And still, he didn't seem to be affected by my quote. Weird, if you consider he's in a position money comes in handy at times. It always does in my opinion and since I failed to get a job this summer, for the first time in my life, I will get really short on money. Pretty soon.

Before I turn the gun to myself, there still are some games I'm really eager to play. First one on my list is Hitman: Blood Money. Everyone is nagging about how stupid the demo is. But people, it's a fucking training mission!! And it explains the basic gameplay of the Hitman-series very well. I agree with the fact the mission is quite easy and you don't get a lot of freedom but hey, the things you can do in the demo are really frickin' cool (throwing a knife through a scientists head for example). The emphasis is more on the environment and in a lot of missions, you will have to take out your target while thousands of people are watching. Planning everything and executing the plan to perfection will be vital for the success of your missions. In the trailer that is shown when you complete the demo, you see a certain set-up where you have to snipe a famous politician during an election march, a bit like the hit on J.F. Kennedy.

The second game I'd like to get my hands on as soon as possible is Rockstar presents Table Tennis, Table Tennis for friends. I love the sport and it's really amazing to see what Rockstar has done with the game. No chainsaw, no flamethrower, no rapable (good going Paul Goossens xD) hookers, just table tennis. A ball and a table. And two players, casue if there was only a ball and a table, it wouldn't be much of a sport. It looks graphically stunning and a lot of early reviews reckon that the gameplay is quite complex as well. The word 'depth' is one that falls often and it isn't hard to believe when you see players of different levels competing to each other. Of course, the official trailers all show amazing rally's like it's nothing but when you attend to an actual ingame session, you'll notice that the game isn't that easy at all and that a lot of training will be required before you can reconstruct those top-notch rally's the official trailers are showing. It all looks very appealing and very fun, and since this is a game that can be played by, in fact, anyone, I think the onlineservices will keep Table Tennis alive and serving for a very very long time.

Since the price is lower than Blood Money, I'm going to buy this one and postpone the purchase of Blood Money. Usually that means I'll never get the chance to buy the game but with a slow summer ahead, maybe I'll pick it up anyway. Table Tennis really will be the last game I'm going to buy full-price before the next-gen consoles make their way to the grand public (I may purchase New Super Mario Bros. as well though). This summer I'll be playing a lot of great games that I haven't finished yet. God of War, Metal Gear Solid 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Perfect Dark: Zero, Kameo: Elements of Power, Tomb Raider: Legend and Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, they are all still standing in the closet, catching a little dust. In July I'll blow the dust away and have fun with these games like never before, not to forget to mention a little Table Tennis match now and then. Untill then, good luck to those who have exams and good luck to those who don't have exams as well! Good Luck!