That's right, I'm sick of it. I own both a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and love both of the systems very much, but Sony, I simply cannot enjoy logging on to the PlayStation Network as much as I can with Xbox LIVE. I would've thought after three years, they would've refined their online service and make it more user friendly, but it appears not.

Why are some of the most basic, online-designed features that were available on my Xbox 360 still not available on my PlayStation 3? You know what I'm talking about:

• Universal voice chat
• Voice messages
  
• Developers actually enabling the option for custom music in-game (Sony forcing it would be nice)
• Party or Clan system
• Further developed profile system
• Reporting system (countless times I've experienced childish behavior online)

Maybe even up the XMB a little bit to an interface based around the PlayStation Network to keep your personal gaming and media along with the online service itself all integrated, so I wouldn't have to go around looking to see what's new, so it's right there in front of me when I turn on my system.

I don't know. I mean I thought the main jist of these things were pretty basic for a company with so many experienced programmers such as the guys at Sony. Maybe I'm wrong. All I know is I'm sick of waiting for these community features that should've been there in the first place.

It's a blog, so don't kill me if you disagree *puts up shield*. Although I'm happy to discuss.

With E3 starting Monday, GameTrailers TV was nice enough to give us a bit of the show before it happens, with Geoff Keighly claiming "E3 starts now", even though he's not really the person who should make that type of claim. I did see a nice bundle of goodies though.

Joker's playable in the PlayStation 3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Yes, we knew this. However, I did not realize just how awesome that would be until the debut of the trailer. Playing as a psychopath definately looks fun, but you'll be playing as more than a psychopath, you'll be playing as Joker.

The first gameplay trailer for Split/Second was shown tonight and I was left speechless. Showing cars that only Bill Gates can afford racing through a destructive and visually cunning world, the trailer had me reimagining what I just saw over and over again after it ended. The choice of color in the game is another thing that got me. It seems to focus on that bright yellow-ish orange color. It could just be the trailer, though. Blackrock is a great developer though, and I played the shit out of PURE, so I'm expecting great things for this game show racer.

Insomniac showed off a small portion of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time. The main spectacle from this show was Ratchet's new gravity boots which will allow him to travel faster since he can use them any place, any time. They really are fast, that's for sure.

New to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is multiplayer. The first game didn't feature this almost required addition to new games these days. Naughty Dog showed off the cooperative mode in the game, called Warzone. You'll be fighting and seeing the game in a different view while trying to keep the enemies away from whatever treasure it is they're after.

Madden NFL 10 is going to feature online co-op. This is supposedly a big announcement for the series, as you can join up and play games on the same team. That means you can be quarterback and your buddy can be a wide receiver. EA says they have another big announcement regarding online play to come during E3, too. To tell the truth, I was never that big of a Madden fan, but this next iteration is starting to sound worth it. I'd really like to know what's going on with Backbreaker though.

One sentence for Modern Warfare 2: "Multiplayer is fuckin' awesome." Yeah, that's a direct quote from Infinity Ward staff at the GT show.

Gameplay form Blur and Lost Planet 2 were both shown. Blur looks pretty good, but it's not really picking up my excitement as much as Split/Second is. Lost Planet 2 looks great without snow all over the game... finally.

Mass Effect 2 was shown in gameplay form, finally. I'm pretty sure most of us knew Shepard was alive, thanks to the latest OXM, but nonetheless I was still excited by this trailer. The gameplay looks magnificent and I'm glad to see the game making a return. Definately keeping an eye or two o nthis one.

Finally, Brink was announced from Bethesda and Splash Damage. I'm not too sure what to say about that one.

When I think of a fighter, the first game that comes to my mind is Marvel vs. Capcom 2, followed by Street Fighter IV. While these may be two of the best fighting games I've played in my day, we're starting to see the likes of role-playing games coming into the fighting world and they seem to be taking in quite a light. Square Enix is doing  it with Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Namco Bandai with Tales of VS. While they're entering the world of fighting, they're not really maintaining the traditional elements of 2D fighting games. They feature more of a Kingdom Hearts-like fighting system. That's not really a problem though; taking any RPG and changing it from a game with a story you'd want to pay attention to into a fighting game where you could have some mindless fun is good enough for me.

So you one PSP game coming where you could fight as your favorite Final Fantasy characters and another where you could play as your favorite Tales characters. However, as RPGs are just beginning to enter this fighting game phase, when will we see 'A New Age of Heroes', or a versus game between two or even three franchises? Who wouldn't want to take Cloud Strife onto the battlefield and fight against the likes of Yuri Lowell? I wouldn't go against it. Or even exapnd to broader titles. Instead of Final Fantasy vs. Tales, why not Square Enix vs. Namco Bandai. You would have Cloud Strife, Edge Maverick, and Chrono on one side and Yuri Lowell, Frederic Chopin, and Haseo on the other.

The point I'm trying to make here is that more companies should get in on these fighting games. It's great to be able to take characters from a game that features no elements at all of a fighting game and just mindlessly battle them against other characters from that series or company. Following that, take it to the next level by going the Capcom and Marvel way and bout against characters from other companies.

I'm really hoping to see a Square Enix vs. Namco Bandai someday, now that I think about it.

E3 is like Christmas to me, that one time of year where big things happen and there are always presents under the tree, except this Christmas isn't about owning those gifts, it's about obtaining knowledge of those gifts and getting them physically another Christmas. What could possibly be wrong in an event almost like Christmas? The lack of Japanese influence during the event.

If there's one game I'm dying for to be announced, it's Kingdom Hearts III. When I post around on message boards and forums that this is what I'm hoping to come out of E3, most gamers would say that if it happens it's most likely to come out of the Tokyo Game Show. If you're waiting for any Japanese game to be announced, you'll hear just the same thing.

However, here's where my criticism ends, because this year's different. One of the most respected men in the gaming industry as well as a legendary Japanese video game developer, Hideo Kojima, is preparing his next game (definitely Metal Gear Solid 5) for a huge reveal during E3, presumably during Konami's press conference in which they've already promised "revolutionary announcements". So what does this do for me? It gives me hope that more Japanese developers, such as Kojima will rise up and attend E3, instead of waiting until the Tokyo Game Show to announce a Japanese game.

At least that way we'd be sure of a US release.