I was going to leave a comment at GameCritics for the recent article by Brandon Erickson.  However I got too many errors trying to post it, that I decided I would just write about it here instead...How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential

here's my response to his article: Dialectical Realism:How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential
You absolutely nailed it on the head, the point about the realism of a game brought out by the character's ability to interact at a higher level within the games architecture.  An example where this obvious interaction fails is in FPS games, when you can shoot up crates, blow through tanks with your rocket launcher, and you can't even blow through a wooden wall in a cabin or kick down the closet door.  

Granted Assassin's creed had several short comings, such as the inability to swim, enter any buildings, or explore the scenic cliffs/mountains.

You can accomplish a lot of things over a 4 day Thanksgiving weekend.  As for me, I finished my first (and only) FPS without using any cheat codes!  That says a lot because I grew up playing games like Doom, Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem.  To more recent titles such as:  Half-Life 1 and 2, Unreal Tournament, Halo, Call of Duty...etc.  I never beat any of these games unless I used a cheat code, and most of the time I would get bored and just set them aside.  Bioshock managed to quickly grab my attention and throw it all around the city Rapture with its amazing story and deep customization.

I am in by no means a good First Person Shooter (FPS) gamer when it comes to consoles and their wanky controller/joystick.  Sure my console FPS roots go back to Turok on the N64 (I am looking forward to the new Turok by the way) and span through to the latest Timeshift game, but I tell ya, if you think my skills on an FPS console can be referenced as elite, then my friend, you have no idea what skill really.  I am am a PC FPS purest.  Regardless of how good an FPS game is on a console, if I know it will be released at anytime in the future for PC, I will hold off playing it until can play it on the PC.  I love the wasd and mouse controls, and being inches away from the monitor really make the FPS well, more upfront and personal. 

Will Microsoft's choices to not include HD-DVD or a hard drive, affect the end result or outcome of game development on the PS3.  That is the question that I have. Obviously this is hypothetical and arguable until such time in the future that games start becoming more exclusive because of this fact or that there is a dominant winner  between the 360 and the PS3.  Just for clarity, I consider the Wii in a league of its own.

There was a brief video development diary focusing on the various freedoms that Assassin's Creed offers over on filefront.

I am always impressed when a developer makes the decision to create a sandbox (flowerbox) environment pushes the envelope for creative interaction from the user.  What UBISOFT has done with Assassins Creed is closer to what I would call "The Perfect Game".  It's still pretty far from where it needs to be, but it is clearly a step in the right direction.

Assassin's Creed is a good mix of Grand Theft Auto style sandbox with Shadow of the Colossus.  You have a very detailed city that allows you to "climb/travel" with freedom to go anywhere within the city, that you want to go.  Or at least that is the impression that is given when watching this video.  It's too soon to tell whether there are certain "areas" you can explore or if everything is "explorable".  It helps that the architecture of the in-game city is so beautiful that it urges you to explore the beauty up close.

Today my friend messaged me about an online game called Kart Rider, so I finally decided to try it out.  I used to play Gunbound, so the menu system looked very familiar.  It's definitely no Mario Kart DS, and...well...it was nice to see the familiar banana item.  Anyways, if you decide to try it out my username is demon180.  I've seen a lot of those odd Maple Story commericals, maybe I'll try it out and waste more of my life collecting useless game items.

Oh ya, I signed up to receive free XBLA games for purchasing my 360, and I finally got an email to redeem my games:  Robotron 2084 and Joust.  Ya...not my first picks, but FREE is better than nothing, right? :(  I can't wait to receive my Zelda Quill Stylus for registering Zelda DS.  Too bad I'll be done with the game by the time it arrives.

I woke up this morning and noticed a soft glow coming from my Wii.  At first, I thought it was Nintendo trying to persuade me into purchasing "Yoshi's Story" for the Virtual Console, but I was surprised to read about another free accessory offer!

This time Wii owners can sign up to receive free protective sleeves for their Wiimotes, just in case your 60 year old Grandmother decides she's too old to use the wrist strap while playing Wii Sports, and launches the Wiimote into your nice 50" plasma HDTV.

Just go to Nintendo's website and look for the offer, and remember you'll need the serial number off of your Wii console.

The time to upgrade to a newer, faster PC that is!  If you haven't read my previous article "Why wait longer to build a new system?", read that bugger before moving on to this one.  Just scanning through the usual list of "happenings", I noticed the stars beginning to align themselves in what will be a great era for PC gaming.

Dave Gamble has posted a short sneak peak of SIMBIN's upcoming racing title RACE '07 WTCC over at the Gaming Nexus.  I have been a supporter of the GTR series of racing games that have come from SIMBIN.  With RACE '07 they look to add even more minutia to the already astounding gameplay and mechanics of their existing game. 

I think it's time I grab the demo and see how much different this is from GTR2.  If it's really that much of an improvement, then I will look forward to the October 10, 2007 release date. ;)  If all is as it should, my Logitech DFP steering wheel will still work. ;)

So you have an ancient gaming rig, that's struggling to run flash games from yahoo and you are thinking about upgrading to a nice Core2Duo/Athlon X2 2.4Ghz or something CPU with some fast Corsair/OCZ DDR2 Memory on that nForce 650i/a motherboard and drop in a bombing 8800 series PCI-Express video card....
If you did that you could get a screaming rig for pennies...And it would definitely do justice to the likes of BioShock and maybe even Call of Duty 4.  But that rig won't last more than a few months before it becomes an out-dated gaming rig.  If you are the "late adopter" buyer that gets the best bang for the buck at the end of the life-cycle of a killer product then, don't let me hold you back.  But if you are waiting for the next best thing and once everything is out and you want to pick the winner, now is a bit too soon (or late rather).  Let me tell you why I think it's too soon.