As many of you know I was/have been a smoker for quite a long time as I have written quite a few words on here about my attempts to quit this terrible habit.

Well in a way I now have. I have switched over to “Electronic Cigarettes” and I now “Vape” instead. I wont go into it here that much but at its base level its a battery, a heating device and a liquid. You heat the liquid and it produces a vapor that contains nicotine with no Tar or other harmful chemicals.

It has now been three months since I have smoked and quite a few of my friends have also all now ceased smoking using this method.

In response to this I have launched a forum for Australian users of e-smoking devices so that we may discuss issues in regards to these devices that our relevant to us here and also so that we may discuss and share our hobby/success with other Australian e-cig users. You can follow through to the forum using the link below, I would encourage you to sign up and ask any questions that you may have:

forums.aussievapers.com

If you are interested in seeing how the device actually works or perhaps even are interested in purchasing one and just want some more information I have created an information video that shows me using the device and I give a little mini review on it that you can see below:

Please feel free to leave me any comments you would like and I will do my best to address them!

Happy vaping and happy holidays!

The below was written for a 3rd party website that no longer requires it’s use so I have now decided to post it here instead. Enjoy!

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I get it, everyone is writing about the iPad. Good, bad and indifferent the usual old/new media is busily suckling at the teat of the almighty rivalries that the launch of any new Apple product brings. I normally like to go against the flow and do something a little different however after finally wrapping my head around most of what people have had to say on the device I have decided that it is time to weigh in and announce how yet again the despair and disappointment that is running rampant amongst the community  is brought about by nothing but your  unwavering logic that unless Apple shits solid gold bars containing a cell phone, camcorder, dog walker and multi tasking neckbeard trimmer they have somehow wronged you and wronged the world and should file for bankruptcy because obviously if you wanted exactly 16 USB ports and a can opener then so did the rest of the world.

Whenever Apple launches a new product we always end with this mangled seething pit of nerd rage and desperate cries for attention claiming the downfall and subsequent abandonment of Apple from all the different camps. Some PC users, some mac users, some none of the above they just like to join in with the crowd. This is normally played off simply as the users being passionate about Apple or perhaps even “technology” in general. I however have a much better theory and I dare someone to prove it inaccurate.

A lot of people busily slamming their fingers into their greasy bacon covered keyboards spewing forth nothing but heaping piles of toxic waste on the iPad are the so called Apple fans themselves. This rage and incessant need to point out the device’s failures stem from the fact they spend 11 months of the year allowing themselves to be whipped into a frenzy by any number of untold Apple “rumor” sites who in the chase for the mighty add dollar keep these people in a constant state of awe shock and amazement with headlines such as  “OMG NEW TIP JUST IN! iPAD TO SHIT SOLID GOLD AND PERFORM HOUSEHOLD DUTIES!”, “iPAD TO USE NEW SAMSUNG MILLION INCH PANELS *rumour” and my always favourite “iPhone TO REPLACE SEEING EYE DOGS, GROW LEGS AND LEAD THE BLIND”.

Now most of us are able to take the constant stories and rumours and use logic to sort fact from fiction and allow ourselves to remain somewhat reserved in our judgements or ideas in regards to what is likely to be released. The history of Apple teaches us that usually while we are usually heading in the right direction it’s normally far off what we actually wanted and as such you grow accustomed to not whipping yourself into an uncontrolled hype every time some tiny Chinese news rag releases so called “spy images” of a 50 foot iPhone.

It seems that no matter what Apple does for these people it always ends up being wrong “just because”. You cried and whined for a good 12 months about wanting a slim notebook that was not a netbook and Apple delivered and how did you repay them? By crying about USB ports, LAN interfaces and refusing to buy it. That gamble really paid off for them did not it? You asked, they delivered and you then proceeded to bite the hand that fed you because they did not craft it specifically to your wishes. The same thing is now clearly being repeated for the iPad. I do not know how anyone could not of logically seen this coming any other way, its Apple. “Think Different”.

Take for instance the biggest complaint and this comes not just from the fanboys themselves but from many camps including the PC user side of things:

If it was running a full sized operating system and had some USB ports and was open I would buy this in a heartbeat it would sell millions!

I have news for you, this device already exists. Its called a tablet computer and you can buy one now from most vendors and have been able too for many years now and yet it has the market penetration of Star Wards branded tampons. Why? Because that is what you want, not what consumers want. Most people do not want to be messing with a stylus and a start button, fumbling through file managers and messing with handwriting recognition. They just want to get on their machine, shoot off an email, check the news and then get back to whatever far more important task it is they were doing.

Oh but my netbook can do this, and this, and that and all these other things that people who are going to buy the iPad probably do not want to do in the first place!

That’s amazing. What you are saying here is that the netbook suits a purpose for you and it suits that purpose just fine. Well what if my purpose is to read e-books and I wish to buy the device to do that? Why should I then be attacked because “A NETBOOK CAN DO IT TOO”. Yes it can, poorly. It cant be held in one hand comfortably, has terrible ergonomics for most reading positions and has a battery life equal to that of a pocket projector running off watch batteries. You cant attack the iPad because it can perform functions XYZ and but not ABC and when it was never intended or market for those functions in the first place. Chances are that it will serve its intended purpose just fine and most consumers will take that device over the jack of all trades device any day.

At the end of the day the device may fail or it may exceed beyond even the highest of expectations but it will not rise or fall because Steve Jobs failed to create the device to your exact specifications. Apple does not exist solely to serve your every need and desire and failing to design their product to meet your exact specification does not mean that the product is designed to fail. They make and market devices to serve a market not the individual and if they wish to continue turning a profit they should continue on their current path rather then listening to the rants and raves of cavemen like fanboys.

If it fails it will fail because they were unable to create and market a device that people will want or need in their lives on a day to day basis. Either because it does not meet a users requirements or because it offers nothing new over any existing competition to make it worth a purchase in the long or short term. Not because you stayed awake until midnight clicking refresh on the Apple store hoping for a device to love and treasure you forever that never came.

Where are you, what are you doing, why are you doing it and when. Questions nobody asked but advertisers have you believing you want answered. Millions of prissy prancing users proclaiming the death of old media driven by the upsurge in users of the new. The ability to spread useless unrefined information across the globe in minutes not hours as per the means of the olden days. It is all its cracked up to be though? Is it really the center piece of a revolution pitting old media Vs new, the introduction of a new far more instant form of communication? Or is it just another market for the con men and add revenue “SEO experts” to feed upon?
@thegood

Lets focus on twitter as that appears to be where most of the attention is. For those who are not familiar brush up here:

twitter.com

Think of twitter exactly as it is. A microblogging service/RSS feed for your every whim. You are limited to 140 characters and theoretically you should use them wisely to inform and educate the world. Spread valuable opinion, insight and knowledge to those around and free it to the world. People can choose to follow you and they will then receive your “tweets” (messages) and can then choose even to pass them on to their followers should they feel that your sentiments are worthy of being forwarded on. This system is what allows move to travel so quickly over the network based on the theory that the more informative or entertaining the topic the quicker the spread. This however is rarely how it works in reality and as the site marches ever forward the shit is slowly floating to the surface ruining this once idyllic landscape.
@thebad

Think of every boring, mundane and mind numbingly unintelligent conversation you have ever had. The facts that you have never wanted to hear from people you never wanted to know. Now imagine that these people have an outlet that allows them to reach possibly thousands of other also mind numbingly stupid people to share in the drivel of their unexciting lives 140 characters at a time 30 times day with whatever happens to pop into their frilly little minds!

EmoKid: Just finished making my good charlotte sex doll!

JohnBoyL: Just took this mornings biggest dump, six pound 2 oz!

@theugly

Now to the grunt of my point. The thorn in the side of a true and functional “social media” network if you will. While some of the points above lead to the conclusion that social media can be a platform for the spread of quality information to users at a pace that is almost unheard of even in this age we must first take one crucial factor into account.

The system is controlled and utilized almost exclusively by people that have a vested interest in it succeeding. They need it to push you products you don’t want to buy, spam and bludgeon you with their bullshit all while feeding it to you as if they are you best mate. They hide behind their “fun” facts and “informative blogging” articles but the point is always the same and its to reach you after years of failing to do so through old media. New media is not new at all, its just a shifting of the market to target you in new ways while convincing you that you are in control.

“Social” media is not as large and influential as you would believe it to be, thats just exactly what they want you to think. They need you to believe that this is the next big resolution so they can continue to drive traffic to their useless posts and analytics all in the search of the almighty dollar and an ever increasing revenue from a generation that was fast leaving them behind.

They are building an advertising network which you are freely assisting them to construct because they are able to manipulate you into thinking it was your idea in the first place.
@theconclusion

I am a twitter user. An angry one but a user nonetheless. I can see a future for twitter that is quickly being buried in the obvious commercial takeover by the “bloggers”, “SEO Experts” and “analysts” for the twitter universe. Web 2.0 sprouts that spring endlessly from the ground like the weeds they are. They will clog and connect throughout the system stemming the growth of actually useful contributors and users who feel lost in a world of “Social Media Marketing” feeling that they have no ground or place.
x
Twitter has a chance to do something large here and change the way that we share information online. I firmly believe that with the right decisions they could be the google of the next generation but this will never be if it is to follow its current trends.

As always please remember I’m just a lone blogger, a nobody. This article is nothing but the uninformed and unintelligent ramblings of a man who likes the sound of his own voice. My opinions are all most likely incorrect and should be taken as nothing but the drivel they are.

From the title of this post you may believe that I have some sort of bone to pick with the iPad but you will find that its rather the opposite. It’s simply a little dig at the unintelligent majority who are unable to express their concerns with the device in a legible and well thought out matter.

I am not going to bother to describe the iPad to you or tout its features because if you are reading this then the chances are you already know what it is and have an opinion of your own on the device.

My issue, nay concern is the rampant attacks as per usual against the device which occur whenever Apple launches a new product. The arguments themselves are normally formed by people who allowed themselves to be conned in the first place by the multitude of Apple “rumor” sites who whip them into a frenzy with their “IT WILL SHIT SOLID GOLD” headlines every second day until the product actually launches and they find that instead it really only shits out sterling silver and thus depression and rage set in.

There are a couple of key points that I would like to make during this article and I shall attempt to keep them as brief as I can.

1. Only noobs will buy this, I can buy a 20 cent netbook that can heaps more!

Now first of all yes I am sure that a netbook could do more then an iPad but if that is what I wanted then I would of bought a netbook in the first place. Secondly this argument also suggests that a netbook can do everything the iPad can do just as well.

I dont want another tiny, cheap ass, plinky plonky piece of plastic that is pretending to be a real notebook while being unable to do any of a notebooks task with any comfort, performance or ease of use. Netbooks are nothing but an uncomfortable fad for the cheap and those that honestly believe that this year will be the year of “Linux on the toilet seat”.

What about all the things that the iPad can do that the netbook cant? A superior, well proven and easy to use interface? Battery life that far exceeds that of any netbook on the market? Ease of physical use for mobile applications? You cant lie down in bed and use a netbook with any ease, whereas I could with a tablet/ereader of the iPads size. I could not roll under my car with a netbook and use it for instructional purposes and I certainly cant walk around my house using a netbook with only one hand like you could with a device of this nature. They are two different devices with what is going to be two very clearly different markets to begin with.

2. Its not open, its too locked down WAH WAH WAH.

I will let you in on a secret with this one. CONSUMERS DONT CARE. They really dont, trust me on this. They dont know what open means and they dont want to know. They want to read the news and check yahoo mail and when they are done they do not even want to know at the end of the day how they achieved that they just want to get in the car and go to work. They dont care because they have better things to worry about. Also need I point out some other closed systems?

Think of it like a car. 90% of the population does not care about what is under the hood or how their car works. They just want it to look nice and get them from A to B without hassle and someone else can take care of the rest. The rest in this case being the mechanic, in our case it would be Apple. As much as you or I would love this to be open to do with what we wished this device will sell to millions of people that do not care and do not want to be bothered with such issues in the first place. Not because they are stupid but because in their mind they have better things to do and they will be buying it for a specific purpose not to meet the requirements of 100 other different devices they could also purchase.

I should finish up I guess, I am on the fail netbook and I am sick of using this keyboard to type.

in order to understand why this is going to sell and sell well you must understand who this is being targeted to and what it is being presented as. On its most basic level it is an e-reader that can do so much more then display text. Think of them as an added bonus. It can display video, email and web all things which can serve to enhance the usage of such devices in the real world. E-readers are amazing products but not many people I know are going to dedicate such a large amount of coin to devices that serve only the one purpose. When you have a device that you can use to read the manual for your car but you can also now use to display the video of the procedure you have a winner on your hands and due to its size and physical properties this will extend to many applications that a netbook just can not touch.

Will I buy one you ask? Time will tell, I like to buy gadgets from all walks of life so only time will tell I guess.

In conclusion, you can all bite me.

I have been trawling youtube recently watching older Nintendo of Japan advertisements from years gone by and was preparing a post in regards to which ones I had found which I found to be the most odd when gamesradar did a write up of purely Japanese commercials from all the major players which can be found here:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-evolution-of-japanese-game-commercials/a-20090903104029668011#20090903104029668011

While not a bad article I think I can safely state that the commercials below come in as being far more bizzare and clearly could only originate from the Japanese.

Starting off at number Five:

Donkey Kong Country 2 – Diddy’s Kong Quest

Released in Australia in 1995 to critical acclaim on the SNES it was the follow up to the hit title Donkey Kong Country. In order to promote the release of the game the following advertisement was run in Japan and I truly cant believe the amount of awesome displayed by this video. SOUP A DAWNKEY KAWWNNNNG TOOOOOOO:

Number four:

Donkey Kong Country: GBA

Another entry from the Donkey Kong Country series this time from the re-release for Nintendo’s GameBoy Advance released in 2003. This one is just plain bizarre and features acts that one should not try at home with another species:

Number 3:

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Produced for the release of the GameBoy title in 1993. It contains a group of puppets which are characters from the game who sing and dance on an island. If you speak Japanese it probably makes sense however it contains very little game footage so what to expect from the game going by the add itself would be difficult but I could only assume it involves the worlds scariest puppets.

Number Two:

Mario Kart DS

This is my personal favorite of the lot to be honest. Its overly bizarre and has strong homosexual overtones which I am sure was NOT the intended point of the ad from Nintendo’s point of view. First of all it contains some odd ideas of what Japan seems to think of the worlds cultures, some rather stereotypical views if you would but its funny as all hell. I’m pretty sure its the same actor in all four and features them playing in a multi player game and ganging up on the Luigi character.

Number 1:

Legend of Zelda: A link to the past

Nintendo? Check. Zelda? Check. Theatrical Dancing? Check. Attitude? Check. Rap? Check. Wait whats that you ask? Rap? Yes its true I don’t know why but Nintendo of Japan thought it was a great idea to announce the release of the title with a rap promoting its release and its relaxing qualities.

Led by link the main charachter the troupe performs a rap about the title with such glorious quotes as:

This adventure is GORGEOUS!

You will have to watch the rest of the video to get the full affect but I can state that it has to be one of the best adverts I have ever seen for a game and you cant blame them for trying to reach the young on their own level eh?

The site was down for quite a few hours today during which period none of the posts were able to be accessed. I did not notice it until a little while ago which really sucks.

Anyhow there was an issue with the permalinks for some reason which has now been resolved and it should continue to work without issue from here on out.

I own an iPhone. Most people I know own an iPhone hell the chances are even you own an iPhone. They are a pretty popular little device and I still regard it as one of the better purchases that I have made in a while. I unlike most people do not feel the need to flash my purchase decision in the face of others. I am happy with the phone, it does what I want and and for what it can not do out of the box I have jailbroken it.

There seems to be an issue with some people that Jailbreak their iPhone however that seem to think they are entitled to do whatever they like with it and if Apple dare to attempt to stop Jailbreaking from working on the iPhone they throw a massive fit and generally spout such statements as the following:

“I paid for the phone, its my hardware I can do what I like!’

“Apple cant stop me from modifing the software, if microsoft did something like this people would be up in arms!”

“I dont see any other vendor acting like this, there is no way they could get away with!”

You people need to wake up, smell the flowers and welcome yourselves to the harsh reality of life. Dont get me wrong I love my Jailbroken phone I do but I am not deluded enough to think that I have a right to modify the firmware/software in such a manner without reprecussion or attempts to block such actions. A lot of these users like to pretend that Apple are the only provider on the planet that places such restrictions and takes such actions with its hardware and software.

How have you people so quickly forgotten the other large company that likes to pull this move and who has been doing so for at least the last four years? Sony has been attempting to crush the homebrew scene now with every update yet somehow you always failure to mention this in your little “social news” website comments. Better still how about you try and modify your Xbox or PS3 and then complain when you cant or complain when your console gets banned from the live service microsoft offers.

You all act as if Apple was the first and last to control their software/hardware intergration and all state that what they do is illegal and unjust compared to others in the market when it is clear they are just one of many in the pond. You should at least be thanking Apple for doing a pretty poor job of preventing such usage as Sony quite often managed lengthy wins against the Homebrew community in it’s time.

I believe more then most that hardware and software should be free to do with as you wish which is why I support both Open Software and the pandora project however its time that people realised that when you buy into a closed system you get what you pay for. Turning around after the fact and crying like a child and refuting all reputable eveidence just makes you look like a child.

If you are going to call one out at least call them all out because last I looked I could not legally modify half of everything in my house yet I dont feel the need to bring it up in every second twitter or digg post.

I am attempting to come out of my drunken stupor and actually begin posting again. This is mainly driven by the fact that since I have stopped posting my readership has actually increased over the last six months from an average of 100 unique hits a month to well over 500 a month.

For your interest here are the two top rating articles on snatchbot.net that attract the most attention;

http://snatchbot.net/2009/01/11/game-wars-the-console-wars/

http://snatchbot.net/2008/07/14/asus-eeepc-the-ultraportable-myth/

The interesting thing about the EEEpc article is that it is well over a year old and yet continues to receive the highest ratio of hits on this site, most of them from google or referrals. Another interesting item of note is that traditional publishing organisations are only now beginning to state what I stated well over a year ago. The netbook is dead. The only problem with that is that it was dead on arrival to begin with.

The hype is dead, long live the hype!

You may wonder what I have been doing as of late and I am finally ready to roll out and bring some quick updates to the table.

First of all the forums are currently down due to an issue with the domain name that I am currently attempting to resolve, should be back up within a few days or so.

I have spent much of the last 2-3 years playing the multi player modification SA:MP. It is a modification which allows for multiplayer features for the Rock Star title GTA: San andreas, further information can be found by visiting the site www.sa-mp.com. If you have enjoyed any of the titles in the series I highly recommend you download it and give it a try. There is a large community in both Australia and abroad and the game is continually evolving.

I have launched a server which can be accessed using the following details:

HostName: Snatchworks: GTA SAMP | Old school meets new age
Address:  118.127.5.150:7777
Players:  0 / 16
Ping:     31
Mode:     LV DM~MG+Landgrab 2.
Map:      San Andreas

In conjunction with this I have also launched my own IRC server which can be accessed using IRC.SNATCHBOT.NET, please feel free to use it for any and all discussion that you may see fit.

I will probally get around to updating the site within the next few days so stay tuned for more.

[Setting the scene]

It’s 3am in the morning, you sit in the basement of your mothers house and stare with the fury of a thousand angry fire ants at the screen of your PC as you heat up another burrito in the microwave oven that you keep on a box in the corner of the room. The night has been long and dark, in fact you feel as if you have been awake for days, the battle taking place on your screen has taken a heavy toll on your body.

You take a quick glance at your burrito, it appears to of finished warming. You remove it from the microwave and attempt not to slam it down in one go, hell dominoes Pizza does not open for at least another four hours and you must conserve energy for the coming battle less you pass out due to lack of greasy invaluable nourishment.

You place the burrito down on the table and turn your attention back to the screen, panting as you do from having walked the two metres back to your desk. You can see that the battle on your screen is being lost, your men tired and fatigued from battle. In a last ditch effort to rally your men against the opposing army you raise your hefty man arms high above the keyboard and bring them down like the thunderous hammers of Thor himself and proceed to commence your attack:

“OMG FAGG0TS U GUYZ IS SO FUCKING GAY. EVERON KNOZ THAT PLAYSTATYIN IS THE BEST NUBS!!11ononE XBOX IS GAY AND WEE IS 4 K!dz!”

You lean back in your chair, your thunderous weight shaking the very foundations of the house itself. You wipe the sweat from your brow and smile as you place the last of the burrito into the gaping hole in the middle of your face. You rest easy knowing that for now at least, the battle is at an end.

[Scene Ends]

The above scene while perhaps over generalised is the impression that I am given everytime I read a forum or blog article referencing any of the current generation consoles or even in some cases PC gaming.

The current generation of consoles has divided people in ways which I have not previously seen during such a console war. I wonder if this is simply because of the age and demographic of each console owner or is it simply the fact that more people then ever before have access to the internet to allow the rampant shit that they spill to be heard by the many. These people often result to insults, anger and threats of violence to get their point across and to bash yours should you not have the same opinion when it comes to the right “Choice” of console.

The arguments presented are often ill thought out and some even border on the downright hilarious! It is with the above in mind that I have decided to sink down to their level and finally weigh in on this hotly debated topic for the amusement of you and others.

First off the bat I think that we will take a look at the following argument:

1. “I bought a xbox360 cause im a hardcore gamer and I need hardcore games so I can be like you know hardcore”

This has be the funniest of the so called arguments for buying one console over another. Whenever this argument is presented I proceed to expel whatever liquid I should be drinking at the time over my keyboard like some crazed pervert with a fetish for the nets darker side.

What exactly makes a hardcore gamer you might wonder? And what makes them hardcore exactly?

While actual photos are hard to come by given the low chance of these people ever leaving their basement to join the living, limited snaps have been taken. The following is an image presenting the average hardcore gamer in their natural habitat:

If these “Hardcore” gamers are to believed they bench 300+ the gym, sleep with thousands of women, eat nought but steel and are thunderous men of wonder. Woman swoon at their feet in anticipation of what game these Hardcore fellows will load up next on thier xboxes.

On a more serious note what the hell is hardcore about gaming in the first place regardless of what you are playing? Does choosing Gears of war over say something like that Katamari or Super Smash Brothers really make you harder and more awesome then the average man? Who exactly makes this distinction? What do they get for being so hardcore? Is there some sort of awards ceremony where we give these people the key to the city for being just so awesome? These people present playing an FPS as the ticket to bitches and good times when in reality it does not make their choice of activity any more appealing to the general public then the ability to rattle off a listing and history of every season of Star Trek.

The very arrogance of these people striking off countless genres and game series which helped to build this industry is amusing enough but to actually claim that the very fact they do so is what makes them so awesome in the first place is a little hard to swallow. I feel sorry for these sort of people due to the amount of great games that they miss out on as they refuse to drop the jelly donut and their copy of Halo and perhaps try something that has a little more variety to it rather then shoot, jump and strafe.

2. The xbox and wii are both failures because I am an awesome sony guy and I have Blu Ray and all this other awesome home media shit so suck it. You have to buy all these add on for your xbox before shit even comes close to touching me! eat it!

This is the other argument that you will primarily see during the current generation. This argument is normally put forward by owners of the PlayStation3. The crux of their argument is that the higher price of the PS3 is warranted because in order to get the same experience from the cheaper xbox you must actually add extra items to the xbox which come at a hefty price.

The point that these people always seem to miss is that you dont NEED the the extra purchases for your xbox to actually you know, play games. Out of the box both the PS3 and xbox can both do what they are primarily intended to do. You can however if you wish add on to the core xbox however it is not needed to simply play games, you know the point of these things in the first place. Despite what these people would like to believe the Add Ons are NOT required to enjoy the system.

I actually like the choice rather then being forced to pay the premium for something that I may or may not ever actually use in the first place.

The point above brings to mind however an issue that has confused me in regards to the current arguements about both the xbox and the PS3. Througout the years I have been primarily a PC gamer and during the last few generations of consoles my primary point in defence of my PC being my primary gaming machine was always that it could do other things rather then just gaming which made me feel that the cost of maintaining and keeping a gaming PC was justified. This was always heavily refuted to me by the console people who would inform me that they dont care about the ability to watch movies, go on the net, check mail, play music or anything else. They just wanted to game and consoles gave them awesome graphics for a very low cost and they could see no reason to choose a PC over a console.

Why the hell now then is the primary argument for the high cost of the PS3 and to a lesser extent the xbox the fact that they can do many other things apart from just gaming? I mean hello welcome to the last ten years of PC gaming I am glad to see that you guys have caught up. You are acting as if somehow online play and downloadable content was created by Microsoft and Sony. It’s rather funny to watch as those who paid the PS3 premium justify their purchase by spouting technology that the rest of us have had free access to for years.

The primary reason I can see for the current sales figures between the xbox and the PS3 is the simple fact that while the vendors themselves may of decided to target a different market with their consoles the actual market for these devices has remained the same as it did two, five or even ten years ago. People just want to play games, thats it. They want to spend as little as possible, configure it with a minimum of fuss and just start playing. You know, the whole reason these people did not simply buy a PC in the first place.

If you are in the market for a console to play games and just too play games you are not going to choose the console which is vastly more expensive compared to the other just because it includes a specific media format over the other, I am sorry but it just does not happen. If you are in the market for both sure but I just really dont see it swaying the average console purchase especially in the current economic conditions.

This rant has gone on way to long and I have drifted far off track because I am too tired to continue. Let me just point out before I go that you may feel free to flame me as should you feel the need to do so because you take offense at my article.

This article is opinion and should be taken as such, I am not going to tell you which console you should or should not buy and nor do I care.