A few weeks ago, I bought a new LCD HDTV. My tv is a Toshiba Regza 37 inch at 1080i resolution. The model tv I have is a brand new model Toshiba put out early this year. With that I have the lastest technology Toshiba have to offer in HDTVs There is a DVI connector in the back if I decide to hook up my computer to it. At the moment, there is no plans to use my new TV as computer monitor. I primarily bought a new TV because here in the US all signal on Feb 17,2009 will be broadcast in HD resolution. Because I have a HDTV that could except the standard HD signal, Im already ready for it.

Below is a screenshot of my new tv. The movie on the screen is called Water Horse, the creature on the right is amazingly done.

Some people might have noticed I havent posted a blog in over three weeks. Ive been pretty busy playing Age of Conan. Trying to gain levels and get enough money to buy a horse in the game. Currently my character is a level 61 and I did succeed in gaining enough money within the game to get a horse.

Age of Conan finally arrived at my house on Saturday. With no surprise, I immeditately installed it on my computer. I was a little taken back on how much hard drive space it requires. The whopping 32 gigs is the largest by far of any game on the market. Its been two years since Ive played a MMO it took a little time to get use the controls and the UI. My character, right now, is on the server called Zug with the character name Perro. I am a level 19 conqueror.

Immediate impressions of Age of Conan is the great idea of controlling the characters swing. It really matters on where you swing you sword to get the most damage possible to the NPC. Unlike EQ2, where you character is on auto fight, you have to push with 1,2 or 3 keys on the swing, and each respresents different direction of the swing.

Death penalty at times really define the game. There are people who dont want to play hours at a time gaining experience and end up losing it with one simple mistake. With Age of Conan there is no experience or weapon lose. When you die a grave marker will temperairly be located where you died. Some of the character stats are slightly lowered, until the player either goes back to the marker or wait 30 minutes to get back to full strength.

I cant give a reliable opinion of Age of Conan just yet. Because MMOs have a very extensive gameplay then all the other games, I need to play a few weeks more and to off the newbie area to be able to fully see the game. Then Ill be able to give an opinion and a reasonable rating and possibly review.

"Sandy Duncan- The former Microsoft CP who unleashed the Xbox on the Europeans, told the website That VideoGame Blog that "Consoles will (die) out in the next five to 10 years. Costs associated with creating new hardware are incredibly high"

Alex St John, CEO of Wildtangent, "They cant afford to burn another eight billion bucks." (quotes from PC Gamer July 08 issue)

My last blog I suggested that consoles, not PC gaming, will come to an end. Sony and Microsoft have sank billions in development costs in their lastest consoles. Billions more have been spent just to make the consoles knowing they would lose money. Microsoft is finally making money off of their Xbox 360 at the time Halo 3 came out, due to the lower hardware costs. Yet, its not enough to pull them out of the hole they sank in. Last year, a single PS3 cost $800 to manfacture. Considering if sony made 3 million units, that would cost $2.4 billion and knowing that sony would sell their consoles to retailers for half the MSRP, which would be around $250. Sony would have only made $750 million, which is still a lose.

My prediction is the console as we know it will fade away. A home gaming and media center pc for entire family would come out. Someone with a LCD HDTV will have a DVI connector on the back, making the PC the more logical sense in placing it in the living room. Just like the console, all the hardware is standard. Everyone and anyone could go down and pick on up and all the hardware will be the same, and all games they pick up at the store would work. Those people who higher end gaming machines, would have the ability to adjust the game settings for higher resolutions and better graphics then the standare computer does. Just like the console every four years, a new home gaming and media center pc would come out with better hardware allowing people to have a better experience with better candy eye.

There have been many many times have I defended PC gaming all over Gamespot when ever I can. The PC is the most power and best platform to game with by far then any console. This may be true on paper, the PC is being left behind time and time again by every single publisher. LucasArts recently decided to totally neglect the PC on their name game for really unknown reasons. Some other publishers including Microsoft have been more focused on the x360 then on its bread and butter, Windows.

For a few months now I have actually considered getting a x360. Mostly to play games on the x360 I could never play on the PC. Like Halo 3, Lost Odyssey, and up coming Ninja Gaiden 2. When will I be getting a console if I decide? I really dont know if this would ever happen. Right now I am in a moment of saddness and a feeling of being left out in the cold because so many publishers, including microsoft, is seemingly neglecting the PC. This coming July I may be getting a LCD HDTV and that month or the month of August would be the time for me to get the x360.

I am no way saying PC gaming is dead. That have been said for a least ten years now and yet the PC still remain. Alienware, Intel, nvidia, HP, and other companies that make PC gaming hardware are making a killing. The PC gaming system is the leader for all consoles to push forward. While in fact, I believe the console is truely dying. Sony have lost billions on their playstation 3, Microsoft lost a boat load of money on their x360 for the first two years. Microsoft right now is finally making profit on the hardware due to drop of cost. While the consoles are becoming more and more like the PC, pretty soon we will see a merge between the two.

Some of you here might have noticed I have been a bit inactive lately over here on gamespot. Two weeks ago I had to go to California for few days due to family matters. Then I went on vacation to Florida for a week. My traveling days finally ended on Friday afternoon where I finally made it home.

Its been 20 years since I last been to Florida. Only thing I remember well was one day it was downpouring rain, never seen anything like it not even all the rain Oregon gets all the time. The flight going and back from Florida was over six hours long. Once arrived in Florida it was pretty hot and humid, not really use to Florida weather yet. I had to travel for another hour toward Florida's eastern coast where I have an uncle there. There I stayed at his house for five days before heading back to Orlando for two days before heading home.

While I was at my uncles house, I got to see the town where he lives and his girlfriend. Both of them were at my sister's wedding a couple of years back. There I spent time at the beach and visited the town of St. Augustine. St Augustine is the oldest town in the United States, so it was a good opporunity to go see it. Also went to a reptile and bird zoo near by. This zoo had lots and lots of alligators, birds and a some monkeys. Wanted to go to Florida to see alligators and so I did.

While at Orlando, I spent a day at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom. Walt Disney World have four other parks besides to the magic kingdom. Animal Kingdom felt exactly like a zoo with a disney twist. There are alot of animals I got to see I never seen before and there was some great rides.

The next day I visited Universal Florida for the entire day. I was lucky enough to get on their brand new ride, The Simpsons. The mummy rollercoaster was great too. All in all, I had a great time with the whole thing.

So my vacation ends there, with my return home on Friday afternoon.

A couple of days before I headed off to Florida, I bought Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The game feels exactly like the first one. Graphics, gameplay and the AI intelligence is all the same. Few of differences between rainbow six vegas and the sequal, is you get a few more guns, you could customize your character, and there is a leveling system. The leveling system is just like treadmill system you would expect in a MMO. You earn experience and you level. When you level you get more gun options, cameo designs, and more clothing and armor options. Is it worth the $50 price tag? Definitely, this game is worth it considering it have coop and multiplayer game play on it. Terrorist hunt mode is great even more hours to increase its valuability. Had a bit of trouble at the very beginning of RBV2. The game's textures was showing up very poorly. It was either completely missing or flashing and a short distance. It made playing the game nearly impossible. I did manage to turn off the anti aliasing which completely fix it. I dont know if this bug is just on me and my hardware or because of the anti aliasing and the game itself. Since my computer is pretty beefy, the game automaticly set it to the highest AA setting it could go, I would have seen the problem rather then someone who have a mid range system.

Its been a week since Ive started playing Assassin's Creed and all I could say is this game is very good. This is the first game in a long time I didnt want to be torn away from. As soon as, I get home from work, Im on my computer playing it. Probably the best thing to this game is the easy fluid motion of climbing buildings as the character automaticly reaches out to a ledge, window frame, or anything kind of hang with little effort. Fighting is also can be somewhat intense and there are gory death scenes that reminds you that this game is a mature rated game.

The negative to Assassins Creed is the repetitive side quests. When you have finally reach chapter 3 or 4, saving a citizen side quest will be another saving a citizen quest. Going up a tower will also feel like you going up just another tower and jumping off the 20th time.

I have rated Assassins Creed a 9.5 and will likely to stay. It would probably be a 9.2 if gamespot allows .1 rating system again. With the amazing gameplay, lots of side quests, and with the main storyline, it makes up for the repetitiveness to the game. The first four hours of the game I was blown away. Is this game worth $50? I think it is worth it. Anyone could rush Assassins Creed by skipping the side quests and only focus on the main quest by finishing the game in five hours, if they could or take their time with all the side quests it could take 30 hours or more.

some screens of Assassin Creed.