There’s usually at least one BIG game coming out any given month (except summertime).

Now that we’ve got six - count ‘em - new or fully functioning systems up and running (all together now - PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, DS), you’d think that there would be a steady stream of quality releases in January and February.

Instead?

*cough*

Nothing of interest.

What the heck?

The very best January release I could come up with is Lost Planet for the 360, with Battlestations: Midway a distant second. Frankly, I am not exactly *amped* for either of ‘em.

Maybe the new Phoenix Wright for the DS? Perhaps.

But jeez, January’s got titles like the long-overdue-and-no-longer-relevant The Shield for PS2, the surely unnecessary Rocky Balboa for PSP, NOTHING for PS3 (blessing in disguise?), and Wario Ware for Wii (OK, that could be decent…maybe).

At least a sports gamer like me could potentially get into March Madness for PS2 and 360, but it’d better be a hell of a lot better than EA’s abysmal NBA Live 07, and closer to the sublime College Hoops NCAA 2K7.

For sure, it will give me time to wrap up my reviews. On the other hand, we’ve got all these systems and nothing new in the near term. That’s just wrong.

…just a little peace and quiet. After all, this is the last Christmas I’ll have for a long time (God willing) without a new member of the family running around, screaming, knocking things over, and doing whatever it is that little kids do these days.

Some might say that last part of the comment would indicate that I am not yet prepared to be a father. You’re probably right.

Anyhow, I’ve gotten precious little time to play anything at all since I AM NEVER HOME ANYMORE, and when I am, well, it’s been spent cleaning out garages and upstairs bedrooms all so that we can prepare a new room for our new arrival next summer.

At least I’ve had my laptop in tow and have been able to pepper Chris with reviews culled from the remnants of pages of notes, smatterings of memory, and the occasional turning on of a PSP here.

Man, the holidays are busy. Too busy if you ask me.

Oh yeah, the one day this week that I would have open to do anything would be this coming Sunday, but I am heading to Philly to watch the Eagles play for the NFC East Division title.

Some things are more important than others!

Today contained one of the surprisingly saddest moments I’ve had in a long time.

My car lease was up at the end of the month, and with a baby on the way, a quick glance at the checkbook made it clear that I simply can’t afford to keep driving my beautiful, sexy, stylish Lexus IS 300.

So, I brought it back to the dealership today where I picked it up for the first time 3 years ago. It’s amazing how time flies.

And as I signed the paperwork and walked over to take a look at it for the last time, I actually got a little emotional. It’s been absolutely perfect, never once giving me a problem while being the smoothest ride I’d ever had.

Alas, at more than $700 a month in lease and insurance payments, it obviously isn’t a car that a brand new dad supporting a wife and newborn on one salary can swing.

So, I bought my brother-in-law’s 1999 Ford Explorer for $5000 and that’s my new (but quite old) ride.

I’ll miss that car so much.

*sniff*

So I had to go from my home base in Jersey off to Columbus, Ohio for the week. Business, of course. No one goes to Columbus for anything except insurance or football………and I wasn’t there for football.

Such is the life of a software designer. Sometimes we need to leave our warm, game-console-filled bunkers and head out into the real world to make sure that the paychecks keep coming in.

Luckily, I had a review copy of Lumines II in tow, which turns out to be every good and addicting as the original…which is to say, it’s freakin’ great. Naturally, I didn’t get to play it as much as I’d like (all-day meetings followed by dinners and drinks with clients kind of get in the way) but I did get plenty of airport and airplane time with it.

I was supposed to come home Thursday, but US Airways decided to cancel my flight as well as the next one out. So they told me I could come back for the 5:30 AM flight on Friday to get home. So the alarm got set for 4 AM, I headed to the airport, and was promptly told that THAT flight was also cancelled.

What the hell!?!?!?!?!?!

I finally made it home (thanks to Southwest Airlines, now my favorite), exhausted and angry, late on Friday night, to a very unhappy pregnant wife and two cats whose litter box was rather, um, in need of attention.

It’s taken me the better part of 2 days to get my wits together. It’s starting to happen. By Monday I may actually be myself again.

We’ll see.

In the meantime, death to US Airways. They will never have my business again. Jerks.

…and I play nothing but my Xbox 360.

Rainbow Six Vegas, Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, and NHL 2K7 trump anything that’s on my Wii and PS3.

And what, you say, do I have for Sony and Nintendo’s next-gen consoles?

Well, not much. I’ve got Resistance for the PS3, which 2 levels in is a very pretty yet terribly derivative shooter that you’ve played about seven million times before.

The Wii is a different story - at Thanksgiving, my family and I had about 45 minutes of fun bowling and playing baseball. But my hectic schedule and review requirements have prevented me from even pretending to think about putting Zelda (the only Wii game I have bought) into the console. Cash (or lack thereof) has prevented my from downloading old school titles, but since I’ve already bought them before, why exactly should I do it again?

I sound like an angry gamer, but I’m not. I’m merely questioning why I spent gobs of money on two consoles that I’m not playing.