There are few things as irritating as a scratched PS2 disc. No, that is not quite correct. There is nothing in the world as infuriating or disappointing as a scratches PS2 disc. In fact I can’t think of anything else that puts quite the cramp in my day as a scratched disc.

What really sucks is that half the time the scratch does not reveal itself until you have put several hours into the game, and you have reached the cut scene everyone has been talking about. Then bam, the machine freezes up. Now as this happens you are thinking, it can’t be a scratch, I am sure that it is just a small bug that will work itself out after I reload from my last save

However as we all know this is a vain hope at best. In fact now the problem isn’t so much figuring out what the problem is. It is figuring out how to fix scratched PS2 games.

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Luckily other people have had problems with scratched discs long before the PS2 and so technology is available to fix a scratched disc. The problem is that not all technology is created equal and there is a chance that any particular scratch repair machine is not going to be able to do the job.

So you have a couple of options. The first, to got to a local electronics store and buy one of the scratch repair machines. The problem you have here is that most of the time the ones that are available are either cheap and worthless, or cost more money than you realistically want to spend. So now that buying your own may or may not be feasible what other option is there?

You can always go to a video game store and see if they offer the service. As a matter of fact most of these stores do offer this service. They even offer it for free. However they in no way guarantee the game. So you can trust that the guy behind the counter knows what he is doing and won’t destroy your disc, or you can fork over some serious cash for your own. Either way a scratched PS2 disc is a serious problem. Go figure.

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A good friend of mine once told me that a way to judge whether or not a new platform was worth buying was a matter of simple math. First, he said, take the cost of the platform. Once that is done, he continued, add up the cost of all the games that are currently out that you would actually bother to play, not want to play, mind you, but actually buy and play. If the amount you would spend on games is equal or greater than the cost of the system you are thinking about purchasing than odds are that it would be worthwhile.

I don’t know why, but this theory made a lot of sense to me and I have used it ever since. I guess that is why I was the last person I knew to buy an Xbox, there were just not enough games to justify the expenditure for a long time.

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It is also why I actually bought the Xbox 360 quicker than some of my friends, there were a lot of games worth buying. This is also the reason I have yet to go out and make the big plunge and buy a PS3, because right now there are just not enough PS3 games to make the system worth getting.

Admitted, I want there to be. In fact I check the new PS3 games section at my local store every week in hopes that a game will come out that I can add to my future pile. However as of right now, well lets just say this week didn’t bring out anything I am looking forward to either.

Maybe part of it is getting older, or maybe it is having a family and different priorities. Whatever the case it looks like it may be a while before I actually invest in the PS3. I hope not, I like playing on my friends PS3, there are also some games that I really want to play out.

I just need to justify the price, and until either the price comes down, or there are more games I want to play, well I guess I will just be a wanna be for a while longer.

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I don’t know about the rest of the world and how it feels, but on occasion I get a strong urge to play a classic video game. The problem with this is that a lot of the time this means getting out an ancient console and hooking it up.

While I don’t mind this too much, there is the fact that my wife gets irritated with me when I make a mess out of the garage when I am trying to find my original Nintendo, or even (when I am really feeling silly) my Atari. I admit, I could just as easily find an emulator for these systems for my computer and download the damn things, but it just isn’t the same.

However there may be hope, as Nintendo has begun to release some of its greatest hits on the virtual console. Admitted there are some gaps, but at least it’s a start. The only real problem I have with it is that you have to be connected to the internet (I swear Nintendo should just by there own satellite) in order to access this service.

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This isn’t the worst thing in the world unless you are like me and already have two computers running pretty much full time on my wireless single. Then we are talking about some long waits on downloading. Yet really this isn’t all that bad until I realize I can go out to the garage, find the old console, and bang I am in business quick as quick can be.

Don’t worry, I know not everyone is lucky enough to have gaming consoles that are thirty years old just hanging around (much less that are in working condition), and really this is a great service that I think the other platforms should follow up on as well.

I mean wouldn’t it be kind of neat to turn on your Playstation 3 and not only have the games you have bought available, but have access to all of the most popular games period? That is what I hope Nintendo does. I hope they actually start to give me access to more than just Nintendo games. I don’t think it will happen, but I can hope.

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I often wonder if anyone besides me has ever played the original Atari cartridge system. The reason I am bringing this up is that back then video games were a bit more simple. You slid in the cartridge, grabbed your controller and you were good to go.

There were not half the accessories and other such junk with those games. In fact the first real game accessories did come out with the Atari, however these more often than not were necessary to run the game. However now it seems like every system has a list of accessories longer than my arm. The worst offender by far, being the Xbox 360.

I get the idea of offering different kinds of controllers (specially when the standard controller sucks!) and of offering remote control controllers. Yet Xbox doesn’t stop there, oh no, they have to keep piling it on. Now you can get special hard drives, different skins and cases.

You can hook up fourteen controllers (god knows why you would ever need too, but you can) and an endless assortment of other items. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me one little bit if next time I step in my local game shop they have an item that will pick my nose for me. My only question is when this madness is going to stop?

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Whatever happened to the game? I mean isn’t that why we bought the platform is so we can play a game on it? If I wanted something other than game playing from my platform, I would buy something else, I promise I really would. Yet there they are, lining the shelves, more things to attach to your Xbox 360 than any reasonable human being could ever find a use for.

The saddest thing of all about this though is how many people actually have all this crap. I mean the other day I visited one of my friends who I will refer to as “hard core”. As I stepped into Hard Core’s house I noticed that an amazing amount of wires were tracing trails along his carpet. I asked him what was up and he proceeded to launch into a dizzying description of all the latest accessories for his Xbox.

I listened politely for a bit than with a deep sigh I sat down on his couch, bowed my head and began to weep. Maybe I am just getting old, but I really miss the days of Atari.

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With the prestige you get from racking up achievements in Xbox 360 games, a commonly asked question from fans is, “is there an easy way, or a secret to getting achievement points?” A quick search online will probably lead you to a few people trying to sell you guides that claim to have some deep, dark secrets on how to get easy achievement points. Are they for real? Yes and no I suppose.

No, they’re not going to detail some magnificent magic button combination that gives you free points, or link you to a bot you can download into your 360 to play the games for you. The truth is, certain games have easier achievements than others (those this may also depend on your skill or lack thereof in certain genres), so if you’re sole motivation is to gain achievement points, then picking the right games will go a long way towards helping you do so quickly.

The other thing to note when hunting down achievements is that using game specific cheat codes while playing the game will often block you from obtaining any achievements for that play-through. Some codes may block you permanently from getting an achievement, such as if an achievement is given for unlocking a character, but you used a code to unlock that character first.

If there truly is a secret, or cheat to unlocking achievements, it comes from multiplayer achievements, which many dislike for this very reason. Say an achievement is awarded for blowing up an opponent with a grenade 10 times in an online match.

You and a buddy mutually stand there and let each other chuck grenades at your feet until you’ve both been blown to smithereens 10 times. Hardly a rewarding way to accomplish an achievement, but to each his own.

Remember, there’s a fine line between everything. Having a good number of points may make you appear to be a skilled and well rounded gamer, but going out of your way to rack up a massive amount may begin to make you look like that cliché nerdy gamer who lives in a basement and spends way too much time gaming, while neglecting hygiene, social encounters, etc. So keep that in mind as you strive onward to achievement point glory. Happy gaming.

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