Don't.

I feel like a kid again, presented with the choice of which "one" do you want being given to me by a parent at the checkout counter of a grocery store regarding the rare treatment to candy, to which I always politely replied, "both," whilst pointing at Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Twix.

Now, of course, I can say BOTH! with my own piece of plastic. Both the solution to being a kid and the problem with being an adult, but I digress into joy. Ace Combat is long overdue for a comeback to Playstation, and with Ubisoft releasing its Tom Clancy title across more platforms, maybe Namco Bandai nearly had to do so.

This is why exclusivity contracts are bad for gaming; both of these franchises are working harder, what with Ace Combat adding quick time events, a real world locale and an in-your face attention to detail that make it a complete reboot for the series (something Project Aces didn't necessarily need to do), and H.A.W.X. 2 adding some of the most complete landings and takeoffs I've seen in an arcade action combat flight title. Even the well-respected F-16 campaign simulator, Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, doesn't have the crew members waving me onto the runway for takeoff. It does have night vision, however, and it's absolutely awesome that H.A.W.X. has that available now and is taking even more advantage of the GeoEye Satellite imagery.

Another thing that H.A.W.X. finally added is a HUD for several view modes. Although minimalist in the executions I've seen so far, it is less distracting and looks to be well-functioning. It's somewhat of a compromise for die-hard fans of the exact "office space" of a fighter jet, but a welcome one so long as they didn't leave out the more realistic HUD from the first installment's first person view from outside of the cockpit. The pitch ladder being on the far left of the screen with the speed displayed on the far right won't be satisfactory for every view, but at least it's there this time.

Hopefully, Ace Combat Assault Horizon will deliver the multiplayer fun of the first H.A.W.X. and the two will compete fiercely in that realm. Having both of these games released on Sony and Microsoft's console, even with H.A.W.X. furthering its reach to the Wii and continuing its initial strategy of creating a PC version, is good news for the business of video games. Whereas exclusivity contracts literally can cut sales numbers in half for a game, multi-platform releases multiply the figures and give the industry a boost.

The only desire I have left (apart from these two games in my possession at once) is that at least one of them offer local co-op. It was done for Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, and although it wasn't very in-depth, the implementation of local co-op for combat flight would more than make up for Namco Bandai flipping on those of us who thought for sure it would continue the series on Sony's console.

When I was in elementary school, my parents gave me an incentive to do well in school: Every time I earned straight A's for the week, we'd go to Blockbuster on Friday evening and I'd get to pick out a game. This was back when Blockbuster was renting out 8-bit titles for the NES. You'll remember this was before the ESRB was formed, so renting The Punisher or The Terminator wasn't hindered by a pesky teen or mature rating as it would be now. It's hard to believe that was before the internet, but it was.

The internet, once it got into the hands of us civilians, was thought to become a threat to such a business as Blockbuster Video. It has taken longer than expected, but it has happened and it's no longer a threat, it's an epidemic for the corporation. Blockbuster has closed a multitude of its stores and recent news is that it's headed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. I miss those trips to Blockbuster, but it's not enough to make up for the poor judgement Blockbuster implemented into policy changes.

As an adult, I began renting from Blockbuster less and less for various grown-up reasons such as college courses and work. Friends had work and school as well, so gaming wasn't the local co-op joy it used to be as there just wasn't time and/or money. Money was the last straw as the reason I stopped renting from Blockbuster. It wasn't the charge amount being raised; gas prices were inflating so rapidly it was hard to notice. My now roommate is a big time Gran Turismo fan, sans a Blockbuster membership card. I rented Prologue for him (I played as well so my money wasn't charitable) and returned it on time. Upon returning it, I decided to browse and picked another game from the shelf and brought it to the counter. As I was checking out, I joked about stretching my rental through to the "No Late Fees" grace period you may remember being advertised at the time. The clerk iterated that when it comes to current-gen games, that grace period is offered, however in a most disturbing way.

If you return your Wii, PS3 or 360 game(s) late, Blockbuster will automatically take the full MSRP of that game directly from your account and hold those funds hostage until they get their game back. This is justified, but blatantly paints blockbuster in its own negative light. What if I pay in cash you say? You can't, Blockbuster requires a credit card account on file to rent the current generation of games. That's where Blockbuster's own loophole began to chomp at the bit of its own ass. What was once an attraction was now a reason to let that membership card get jumped by the rest of the plastic in my wallet. Mine is black (and of course blue) from not being used for so long, until recently when I bought the movie Sky Fighters. But I digress.

Blockbuster is no longer attractive. It's right down the street and the one aforementioned exception is the only one in a matter of years. Renting is how I kept current on video games. A new game came out, I rented it, I beat it. This isn't as plausible with current generation systems, as I need the $60 that Blockbuster would withhold when I need the extra time to beat a game, which I always took advantage of in order to savor my time in the past. The worst part is that their employees, in my experience, are all great people. No problems, ever. The invisible people at the top of the corporate ladder perpetuated Blockbuster's failure.

Gaming shouldn't feel like a chore, but it will when a rental fee is treated as a security deposit. All eyes on you, suits.

I feel compelled to come clean, Namco Bandai..I've been unfaithful..and I will continue to be until I feel I'm finished with the high altitude experiments. I know it sounds freaky, but it's not that bad. Once you return to Playstation we can be together again.

It took me until it would only cost me $30 dollars to play the only modern combat flight game on the PS3 and the price drop makes me enjoy my decision all the more. Being as it is the only modern combat flight game on Sony's console, it's not hard to find online matches. I had an awesome 1v1 dogfight last night. My opponent ranked much higher than me and I got killed pretty quickly at first. A message came across my screen telling me that I was killed in assistance off mode. I love playing from cockpit view, with one exception (more about that later) but assistance off mode is the way to go in an online match of high altitude warfare. I only won one of the 4 rounds we played. Not sure why the fifth didn't happen, I didn't get a message saying I was disconnected from the server so I'm guessing my opponent quit, but going 4 of 5 in a best of 5 match was enough. It gave me the lesson I was looking for regarding assistance off mode, without having to restart a campaign mission because of it. I received a new rank and a few unlockables after the match. All in all a good dogfighting experience.

Somehow, when the game first came out, I already hated Namco Bandai for abandoning Playstation, but hated H.A.W.X. even more for thinking it could compete with Ace Combat. Now that I've played Tom Clancy's version of modern air combat, I can say that though it lacks the intense radio chatter of Ace Combat, it makes up for it with swarms of action and its presentation. The ERS, where you fly through blue triangles, displayed by your helmet HUD, to intercept bogies, through yellow triangles for high priority ground targets when you have to work for a clear shot, and through red triangles to dodge missiles, adds urgency to every mission. Having played with this feature, it makes Ace Combat's enemy missile locks seem less important.

The only gripes I really have with H.A.W.X., aside from it losing graphically on PS3 to the 360 in a Lens of Truth comparison(lensoftruth.com), are that 1) there is no HUD in cockpit view. I understand the helmets in the near future are supposed to take over that role, but what's the point of having the mirror glass panes in the front of the cockpit only to have them blank, and not displaying the full HUD with a pitch ladder and the rest of the works in cockpit view? It looks like you're flying a window pane with a lazy cockpit design slapped onto it. 2) No takeoffs or landings. I didn't like it when this was done in Ace Combat Zero. Takeoffs and landings are awesome and should be in every flying game, arcade or simulator. I loved Ace Combat 5 for the variety it added with takeoffs and landings. Just a couple of gripes but they're big ones. Hopefully Ubisoft reads this. A small patch could fix the cockpit issue. Takeoffs and landings would have to be additional content or just included in the next version of the game.

So H.A.W.X. is satisfying, but like all mistresses, it not only has its flaws, it also just can't last forever. Not even the awesome GeoEye satellite imagery salvages its shortcomings. I digress from my opening statement. Eventually I'll buy an Xbox 360 now that I see from its version of H.A.W.X. that display options go all the way up to 1080p. When did the 360 gain that capability? Was it with the elite model? That's my best guess. Even if it's just to play Ace Combat 6, I'll eventually get a 360. To me, the series is just that good, especially now that it's just about fully modeled it's cockpits. Sony shouldn't allow ports like H.A.W.X. to be maxed out at 720p on its system and the developers shouldn't be so lazy as to let that happen on Sony's machine. As well, Sony shouldn't allow a series as successful as Ace Combat to become exclusive on its direct competitor's console.

I would rather see Ace Combat 6 eventually come to Playstation 3, really. It seems it could as long as that took for Bioshock and Oblivion. But, when it comes to consoles, it seems my childhood answer of "both" to all one-or-the-other choices is the most logical solution to the console war and one modern combat flight game is the straw that broke Sony's back.

While waiting with my roommate while his truck was being reinspected at a local Oil Xchange, in large part because he was headed to Fry's Electronics afterward, I thumbed through ESPN The Magazine until I found an article detailing Joshua Clottey, the fighter from Ghana, Africa that was scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium.

I hadn't heard very much about either fighter, however, once I brought it up amongst coworkers, some of them knew exactly who Pacquiao was. They also noted that Joshua Clottey was an existing human.

ESPN The Magazine noted the same level of acknowledgement. Clottey was a humble alternate, unlike Pacquiao's intended opponent, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Boxing promoters liked Clottey because he and Pacquiao had somewhat similar records and stats. One promoter was quoted as saying that Clottey, "wouldn't be a pain in the ass," alluding to the intricacies of discussing a bout with Mayweather. The story went on to inspire the underdog in me to root for Clottey. Initially, after hearing what a big deal this fight was and searching highlight videos of Pacquiao, I thought he was a badass and wanted to root for him. Reading this article began to sway me into Clottey's corner.

Clottey didn't have the clout of Pacquiao, who in the Phillipines is so well liked that he's planning to run for office there soon, likely to win in that arena by a landslide as well. The fact that Clottey didn't have the clout made this a dream. He may be an alternate, but it's a shot. Not just a shot, but an actual spot at the big time. He didn't expect a win out of this, he saw the opportunity. It was my hope as the fight neared that this opportunity would help Clottey to take someone's belt and change his life. It was one of those stories you read and you think, the other guy (Pacquaio) has already made it. Let this guy show us what determination can do.

Just hours ago, the fight came to a head. Clottey had a promising jab that would make Pacquiao back off anytime he deployed it. But he never got aggressive, as his corner so wished he would. In the beginning, I thought that Clottey was utilizing Ali's famous "rope-a-dope" strategy to cause the quicker Pacquiao to tire just in time for a knockout. As the bout progressed, Pacquiao seemed tired, but when the fight continued to persist, so did Pacquiao and his conditioning. Both fighters were scheduled to make a handsome purse from this fight, win, lose or draw. Based on what I saw in that fight, Clottey didn't want a title as badly as I had hoped. At some point, it seemed it entered his mind to just survive and take all 12 rounds into a decision by the cards. Whether or not simple survival is why he employed this strategy, it was the final outcome. He may have made a life-changing amount of money with his share of the purse and the experience is surely priceless in his mind. But the underdog could have done so much more with this opportunity than play it safe. Maybe he's attempting to build on this, but in his position, you can't count on that. You have to let it all hang out, which Pacquiao did and Clottey did not. No fighter should do that much blocking unless we go back to 15 round fights and he's punch drunk before it's over. That's may be the harshest thing that I'm going to say because, at one point, Clottey did show weakness in the knees.

Maybe at that point, his mentality changed from his original intentions to simple survival. That's when he should have taken chances. Outpunched, the dream was lost. Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao didn't destroy or dismember Clottey as many predicted, but he beat him and retained his title. Hopefully Clottey will be even more motivated now. The disappointing part is that people may not want to think of Clottey now that it's over. For some reason I do. I'd like to see him build on this. I'd also like to see Mayweather not duck his next chance at Pacquiao. That fight needs to happen, I just wish Clottey could have done a better job of taking Mayweather's place. I'm just disappointed by the fact that the expected outcome happened. At least a split decision would have been nice to see. At the end of it, I was unfortunately happy that I hadn't bought seats at the stadium for this event. It wasn't the struggle I had hoped it to be. I'm trying to figure out what posessed me to type all of this. I guess it's a message to Clottey. Even if you lost anyway, I would have appreciated more intensity. Maybe I want to call out Mayweather. Prima donna. Maybe the point is that I want to let Clottey know I switched my sympathies back to Pacquiao. He fought. I still have hope for Clottey. Like his effort tonight though, I'm not sure that's enough.

Sorry if that's offensive, but now that I have the attention of you better-at-math-than-me programmers (I'm not bitter, I'm just better at English), I have an idea that only you people can execute.

I've read about the Rock Band Network from Harmonix and it's an awesome idea. Play actual music, record it to your home computer's memory through music software programs and create the chart that gamers will use in the Rock Band game after you've published your work. It's an awesome idea that will do more for unknown musicians than Myspace ever has.

That's their idea, but I want to know how plausible mine is. I'd like the ability to somehow plug my guitar into the game console and have the game read my music and translate it into a chart to be used in conjunction with the guitar controller. Just that quickly. No extra work in between creating the music and publishing the track as downloadable content. Being able to do it this way would be more streamlined, allowing musicians more time to just record their work instead of creating game charts to correspond with the music. I'd also like to see this in reverse, have music or tablature show up on screen and be able to have an actual guitar plugged into the console to play along. This, I think, would create deeper involvement in the learning process for young and aspiring musicians. There's a disconnect when you play along to a CD wearing headphones or while listening to the radio. There has to be a way to program a game that will display notes or tab and have the notes sound when played correctly by an actual musician, experienced or amateur, playing an actual instrument that is directly connected to the console. This way, if the person playing doesn't pick the string properly, the note won't sound in the game. It would make young, aspiring guitarists in particular less prone to use the distortion effect as a crutch, for instance.

I've played my guitar in front of my computer both while listening and without listening to the song while playing along to the tab, but to know in an instant precisely where my rhythm was off or where my finger didn't quite press the string hard enough to the fret would be fantastic. Once I got it right, hearing a virtual crowd would be very rewarding as well.

Electronic Arts' exclusivity license with the NFL was for five years. I'm not sure exactly when that five years started, but I've been researching a few articles tonight and reports of said exclusivity being granted in writing began in 2004. I'm hoping this means that Madden's reign of mediocrity and recent copycatting is over. Their complacency was instant and obvious; RE: Madden '06.

When I first read Game Informer's side-by-side review of 2K5 and Madden '05, I thought that finally I wouldn't have to listen to Madden fanboys that never gave 989 Studios a chance in the GameDay era. (I know that's not who made 2K5 if you were worrying) Madden just never really did it for me. I did bask in the Owner Mode of Madden '04 for a couple of virtual seasons, but even owning the Dallas Cowboys with beer at $1 every game got boring. Attendance was great, but I had to read my attendance numbers.

2K5 went into the stands with the number of seats filled progressively based on team performance, embodying the full production and reality of an NFL presentation, keeping the virtual version of my favorite sport from being boring. I even had SportsCenter broadcasts with my team's stats being analyzed by real ESPN analysts during the season! The depth and function of the passing game was immense, training mode was fun, team preparation seemed to have an actual effect, player animations were the most fluid I'd seen and one very small but important touch was that tackles looked and even sounded real, as if there were a boom mic over the pile. First-person football was a dream come true, I actually had a desk with a computer on it for Franchise mode and much time was spent in The Crib admiring my trophies and decorating my mansion.

Living in an NFL dream world, I thought, "I can't wait until they do this next year, Madden can't win in sales against NFL 2K6."

Then it happened. The pussies at Electronic Arts bought out the competition. The second someone else received a better review, they tucked tail and paid. Rather than make a better game, they added one feature per year to the Madden franchise. That's it. It's taken them all the way until now, until Madden 10, for their work to even be compared to 2K5.

I've contemplated writing a senator a letter about their monopoly, as the NFL in and of itself is a market and having control of any one market is an illegal monopoly. The loophole of "other football games can be made" has been suggested, but holds no water. If only one company can make an NFL title, that's an illegal monopoly. Period. Here's my suggestion, since none of the pansies at EA involved in this deal would ever survive a minimum security, white-collar crime prison, I propose a bet: Release all licenses (ESPN, NFL, etc.) out into the open and let both Visual Concepts and EA Sports produce an NFL title. I guarantee if you propose this bet to JEFF BROWN, he'll reply with an excuse.