Games

So by the time I finish writing this post, Grad Theft Auto IV will be on sale. This is probably the first time that I have been genuinely jealous of PS3/XBox 360 owners. 

I have never really been one for putting the time and effort into games to complete them - most of the time I play it until I get stuck and then leave it for months with the optimistic idea that I will come back to it. The only games I have completed in the past few years would be New Super Mario Bros (DS), Star Fox Command (DS) and Half Life 2 (PC). Then why am I annoyed about not being able to play GTAIV? Because you don't need to finish a GTA to still enjoy it. Admittedly, the reason I didn't finish San Andreas was because my disk wouldn't load past half way through the last mission but I still had hours of fun flying the planes and '9/11-ing it' (tasteful I know).

This, it would seem, would put me firmly in the newly coined casual gamer category that Nintendo has so successfully captured - but I'm not so sure. I enjoy my DS, I really loved Zelda on it (that one I put down and just never picked it up again. I'm sure I'll find the time on one of my many long haul flights though), and I often lust after the idea of playing Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. The only problem I have found with Nintendo consoles post SNES is that the third party games tend to be really really awful. Anything made by Miyamoto is going to amazing, that's obvious, but what the hell is all this Catz, Hamsterz and bloody Pippa Funnell?! Girls want well designed games too.

So this leaves me with only one option. Buy a Wii for the less challenging games that you can pick up for an hour here and there and fork out a whole £300 for a PS3 for the odd big game that comes out. I know, I know, most people would recommend buying a 360 as they are cheaper and there are more games but to those people I would say 'please go away and die'. Not only is the XBox noisy, unreliable and really, really ugly it also has possibly the worst controller ever created. Any controller that makes me... ME unable to play Street Fighter II is not worth using. I don't care if it's expensive or has no games, give me a Playstation 3 any day. Plus, I am already crying inside about not being able to play Wipeout HD and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. 

I really am a Sony Fanboy at heart.

Mornings...

The only reason I look forward to Monday morning is Charlie Brooker's excellent weekly column on the Guardian website. I could read it in the Sunday paper but I'm high-tech... and I like killing 5 minutes at work whilst pealing crusty chunks out of my sleep deprived eye sockets.

This weeks column got me worried. I have never been good in the mornings.  I do always get up on time for work, but it's not easy or pretty. I have, however, always been under the impression that once I hit my mid to late twenties I will enjoy getting up early.  I will be up and eating an elaborate breakfast at 8am on a Saturday morning whilst planning the days activities.

Well, it seems this will never happen as I believe I see more of my morning thoughts and feelings in our friend Charlie's little rant than is practically healthy. It's not like I don't get enough sleep.  It's just that getting up with 7 hours sleep in a lot more palatable at noon than it is at 8am.

Oh well, at least I have Charlie to greet me good morning on that most terrible of days.

Psystar

I'm sure that anyone who is remotely interested in technology, Apple in particular, will have heard of the small company Psystar who have recently hit the headlines with their Open Mac. For the rest of you, the Open Mac is a regular PC that is (apparently) able to run OS X with no difficult fiddling. You can even order it with Leopard pre-installed. 

Sounds fishy? You'd be right.

Over the last few days several websites have been trying to contact Psystar to get some details. A few have succeeded in getting a phone interview with the Director of the company but nothing new has really been learnt. The most details came about when the Guardian's Charles Arthur did some digging. He couldn't find anything about Psystar from before this week and the company isn't even listed with the Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Hmmm.

The best bit came when Charles did a google map search for the address and found it to be a small residential home. A few minutes later the address had changed to an industrial estate. Gizmodo popped down to this address and found no trace of the company...

I'm loving this little mystery. I hope no one got caught up in the hype and actually ordered one of these things because it's looking more and more likely that they will never see their much anticipated Hackintosh. 

I wonder what surprises tomorrow holds!