Blimey that looks nice!

It's starting to hit me. The post-Xmas blues are almost over and games that were previously distant on the horizon are now right around the corner. I knew it would eventually sink in but I didn't imagine it would hit me quite so hard.

The realisation of what I'd gotten myself into finally struck me whilst wandering round Next over the weekend. The missus was looking for some clothing and I, caring not for that sort of thing, chose to hang around the gadget section instead. It was there that I saw it. A pristine brand-new PAL C64 DTV for under £10. These things may be scoffed at by the purists but for someone like me it's a very quick, cheap and space-efficient manner of playing some of those 80's classics. But of course I can't, can I? I was simply only able to look at it folornley, powerless to buy.

Following up from that was some video of the new Ghost Recon game (click on the HD version) that, whilst not being in any way true to the series, looks like an amazing online game. There are niggles with the graphics engine and I, for one, reckon that diving's out of place (at least the way it's been incorporated doesn't seem to "fit") in this sort of game but I can't deny that it looks pretty stunning and I'm really going to miss being able to play along with my mates in this. Even if I do get a 360 at the year end, buying GRAW will be futile as the peeps I play with will have moved onto something else and therefore the experience will be somewhat muted.

Lastly, an impressive range of screenshots from the expansion for Guild Wars seem to have hit the net this morning and it's really stirring lustful elf-love feelings in me. The idea of a "casual" MMORPG (one with no subs and no real requirement to be part of any sort of clan) is really appealing to me and the screenshots (see above) make me long to explore the world NSoft have set out here.

But I'll not cave at this stage. Space Rangers is grabbing any spare time I have at the moment (single-handedly resolving my focus issues) and I've not even opened the GTA double pack, Rome, Call of Cthulhu or Brothers in Arms 2 yet.