Has it really been this long? It seems like only a few months ago that Troy Brownfield and I began talking about me writing game reviews for his new website, shotgunreviews.com. Hell, if you look at it in terms of video game systems (which I plan to do, as it is the entire basis of this article, and if it doesn't work, I deeply apologize) Shotgun Reviews (SGR) started in the era of the original PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, and the Game Boy Color handheld system.
Microsoft still made crappy, bug-filled security risks that they called "operating systems," and had only just begun to envision a ridiculous-sized console with an equally ridiculous-sized controller (seriously, anybody out there remember the original XBox controller, named "The Duke?" It was the size of a small VCR, and felt like you were trying to control the NASA lunar lander in your lap).
Anyway, here we are today on the day of the launch of the newest video game system, the PlayStation Vita. Yes, it is basically a PS3 in the palm of your hand. We've come from arguably the biggest (in size) game system of all time (the original XBox), to the most powerful handheld ever. Ain't technology grand?
I remember those days, back in 1999, playing CD-Rom games on the PlayStation, and writing really crappy reviews. I seemed to like games that other people overlooked, and didn't care much for the games everybody loved. Heck, I didn't even like Tony Hawk Pro Skater until the sequel (and then I was obsessed, like a fat kid in the studio audience of Iron Chef America!)
The SEGA DreamCast was launched in September of 1999, and it was, well, a Dream system. It was the first with the next-gen graphics that would rule gaming for the next six years. In fact, the DreamCast was much more powerful than the biggest selling game system of all time, the venerable PlayStation2. But sadly, even with the jump start, and some really brilliant games, the DreamCast was about to be blown out of the water.
