So before the weekend I put up a small piece about my result dive into the devilish world of DOTA. That time sucking game that takes people like Brad, chews them up, ruins their lives and all this happening while being berated over voice chat about how much they suck.

I love this game.

As of writing this, I've played around 15 bot games, now even though I didn't finish them all I got through each hero enough to figure out if I liked playing with them or not.

I've played around 5 online games, all with the GB crew, and each time has been a fun and unique hour of fun, tactics and being amazed by just how much depth this game has.

So at the weekend, I had enough spare time to squeeze in one game. After quicking joining MM with the duders, I was thrust into my first random draft game.

Fuck.

Here was me, figuring out who I was going to play and right there and then my whole world was flipped upside down with three heroes right in front of me that I had never played.

I am a noob; of course I am. However I know fine well at this stage I shouldn't be playing at a Carry or an Initiator. That left me one choice.

Silencer.

Now little did I know that he was a bit of a mashup of a Hero, but in I went with both feet trying to figure out just what this guy was all about. Being the previously mentioned noob, I went forward with all blades blazing and began to rank up as quickly as I could.

Then it happened.

First blood.

What? Here was me, little old Silencer, getting THE first kill of the game against Pudge. Obviously after that, everything else was a bonus, but after finishing was a respectable 3 kills, I was quite happy with my efforts as part of helping the team using my ULT to silence the whole field and let the killers do the damage.

And then when the game finished... a chest!

This n00b has a chest... oh yeah.

Next game? I fancy Tinker.

I consider myself to be a former hardcore gamer.

Why former? Well my gaming history is lush with just about every system and genre of game you can imagine. I used to enjoy hours and hours of gaming on a daily basis and consider myself to be pretty good at games probably due to the excessive amount of hours I have spent on them through my life. I bought a BETA key to WoW before it came out.

I'm sure anyone reading THIS right now is exactly the same.

So why former? Well now I have a family. I have a wife, a daughter and a hyper Labrador waiting for me every day when I get home and that's amazing! But it makes me a former hardcore gamer.

So why the hell have I began to play DOTA? That is a FUCKING good question.

Honestly I have no idea... all I know is that I've played about 10 bot games and around 5 games with the GB crew and I can't stop wanting to play it.

It's similar to how I felt about WoW.

So this blog/thread/post will be about my adventures with the game... small reviews on games I play and maybe thoughts of someone just entering the fray of a social clusterfuck of a game filled with newbie stigma.

So comes the time once again were a new batch of next generation consoles will surprise, amaze and quite possible stump many of us with their wicked features, zany design and steep pricing pillars.

However, for this gamer the simple answer to any of these sales pitches is "no thanks".

If you care enough, I will explain why;

- I want something that will play games, nothing else. My TV has Netflix. My TV can stream from my PC. My game console needs are filled just by anything that will play a game, but as we all know these new fancy machines which are about to pop up are going to do a helluva lot more crazy stuff than play games.

- I hate voice control. I hate the Kinect. I hate the PS Eye. OK, for a couple of hours when you first get them they are good, novelty items. It's cool to say "XBOX..." and have it start doing something; but is it faster than me skipping through using my controller? Not really. Is it suitable in my home with a 4 month old baby to be shouting "XBOX ON!" anytime I walk into the room and fancy playing a game? Not really. Has anyone figured out a decent way to use the Kinect in any game since it came out? Not really.

- Will it really be such a big jump from 360 and PS3? I realise it will be a jump in quality, of course I do. PC games have shown how much better they look than the current generation and that's fine... but I'm just wondering what else can REALLY be done to make the experience more fun when jacking up the graphics is the only real option. Black Ops 5 with sweet as hell graphics? Count me out.

- I have yet to play all the games I want on the current systems. THIS may be the main reason. I take myself as a casual gamer at this point. A wife and a kid will do that to you, but I still get some gaming time in. 2013 I've already finished Dishonoured and about to finish Sleeping Dogs, but there are just SO many games to chose from, I reckon I could easily play those for a good couple of years. So when the new batch on consoles come out, 360 and PS3 prices will drop? Right. I imported a 360 from the US on launch, just to get one. I imported a PS3 from the US on launch, just to get one. This is not usually how I operate, but for once I think I'll be OK with it.

So enjoy your new consoles. Honestly, I mean it. But when you are trying to create your new login password with your face... I'll be playing a discounted Mark of the Ninja!

so for a while I've been thinking about having somewhere to talk to about a large measure of things; including games.

guess I will just use this?