One of the strangest things about New Years for me is how damned close the two years are together. I really think we should look into that, maybe get some sort of buffer happening. Maybe have a couple of days where either year is correct, you know, just to help ease into things.

Plus that would help alleviate the jokes. You know the ones. I'll see you next year! Wow, I haven't seen you since last year! Wow, I haven't had sex since 2003! Ok, so that's not really one of those jokes, but it's still funny in a certain light.

This whole "now it's a whole year later than it was" thing is just too sudden and definite. We need some sort of transition period. 01/01/06/07, for example. Just give us like a week or so of not caring, not smiling patronizingly when we have to cross out the year on a form, of not making stupid jokes about how you haven't had a drink since last year, or how you don't have to go to work until next year.

Also can we please have more taxis. There's no joke here,...

One of the strangest things about New Years for me is how damned close the two years are together. I really think we should look into that, maybe get some sort of buffer happening. Maybe have a couple of days where either year is correct, you know, just to help ease into things.

Plus that would help alleviate the jokes. You know the ones. I'll see you next year! Wow, I haven't seen you since last year! Wow, I haven't had sex since 2003! Ok, so that's not really one of those jokes, but it's still funny in a certain light.

This whole "now it's a whole year later than it was" thing is just too sudden and definite. We need some sort of transition period. 01/01/06/07, for example. Just give us like a week or so of not caring, not smiling patronizingly when we have to cross out the year on a form, of not making stupid jokes about how you haven't had a drink since last year, or how you don't have to go to work until next year.

Also can we please have more taxis. There's no joke here, and no connection to the previous. There are just not enough goddamned cabs at New Years and everyone knows it except the taxi companies.

2007 is here, and 2006 has gone away. And about time too. I was really sick of 2006. Some years sort of fly by, but some just kind of drag on. 2006 was the year that brought us the delay of the PS3, the closure of Clover Studios, Red Steel, Britney Spears vagina, and a string of other disappointments.

There HAVE been some good things in 2006, though. The Nintendo Wii launched, and has been a wiisounding success (stick with me, there's more like that). Zelda is being acclaimed by all as loveable (Gamespy Game of the Year), and Rayman Raving Rabbids being one of the better rabbid based games available this year. Gears of War rocked our worlds, and Oblivion proved there is a space in the RPG world for games other than WoW. Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell brought forth shiny next-gen spawn. Okami came out: as beautiful, innovative, and massively unsuccessful as it always promised to be. Bully finally saw light outside a court, and the controversial schoolyard violence storm in a teacup turned into... well... tea. Tasty, inoffensive, and rather British

This year's winner has pretty much been Nintendo. Successfully launching the aptly named Wii (I don't know either) tops off a year that has seen them bounce from win to win like some sort of Winner Bunny. Bear in mind that a genuinely worldwide simultaneous release was something that neither Sony nor Microsoft were able to pull off. Microsoft dumped Australia as a market and deciding not to launch in pretty much the entire of Asia, and Sony ended up cutting out Asia and Europe, and then slashing stock numbers. The PS3's reception has also been relatively lukewarm compared to the glowing ranting its-so-much-fun of the Wii. The mocking ad that was released comparing the PS3 and the Wii is surprisingly apt.

Aside from the Wii, the DS has gone from strength to strength, with the revamped DS Lite unit selling like used schoolgirl panties in Japan, and like hotcakes everywhere else. A solid lineup of innovative and interesting games have kept the DS popular, and given the PSP what can only be defined as a whoopin'. Or a pummeling. Ass kicking. Pounding. You see here I'm with that. The PSP has languished beneath poor software and a multimedia tag it can't support. Sure there aren't any good games, but you can buy STEALTH for $35.

Not fair, actually, Tekken: Dark Resurrection rocked my world, and there is hope in some of the upcoming games, such as MGS: Portable Ops, though the question of why it is getting released 3 months after the US release is one we will be asking more over the next few weeks.

2006, a mixed bag for gaming. The best game of the year was unquestionably Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube. Admittedly it came out in 2004 and the validity of the title is dubious, but I'm standing firm on this.

2007 is coming up. If you look carefully there are some good titles on the way. Halo 3 will update the irritatingly overestimated FPS to a new level. (What? I can't have opinions?) Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars will finally come out, allowing Yug to shut the hell up. Spore will be out, allowing me to shut the hell up, This game seriously makes me feel giddy. I want to marry it and have sex with it and have its babies. I hear that's even possible, the game is that advanced. One of the most amazing titles is also coming soon, Lost Planet. Grand Theft Auto IV should see release, and hopefully the series will catch my interest again. The Wii will get Super Mario Galaxy, a game that probably should have been a launch title, but we'll forgive, and also Metriod Prime 3. Another game that gets me wet is Bioshock, which looks amazing, and will probably mean a trip to the hardware store. PC hardware. Not nails and crap. Assassin's Creed will indubitably rock on the 360 and the PS3, and we say "Yay!" to it being not exclusive. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of an Ill Defined Acronym will (presumably) finally come out and tell us whether it's been worth the wait, and Crysis will also join the list of PC games that make my video card scream and die faster than K-Fed's career.

The most significant gaming event of 2007 in Australia is sure to be the launch of the Playstation 3. Love them or hate them, Sony have a brand awareness so powerful that brand awareness itself is now measured in Microsonies. Riding through the year with Sony will be Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4, Heavenly Sword, Resistance: Fall of Man and a bunch of other games I'm too lazy to look up.

The most exciting thing for me personally for the year is coming real soon: World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. With a total of 8 million current players, it's believed that as many as two million new or inactive accounts could fire up, bringing the total to 10 million players. To say the WoW market is big is an understatement, and the word "cha-ching" would need to be written in letters 6 feet high to really sum up how big a release this is.

Anyway. I have to go level a gnome. Keep on trucking. Or those of you who don't have a truck, and have no interest in automotive freight in general... don't keep on trucking. Keep on doing whatever it is you do. God, I feel like we haven't put up a comic since last year. HA HA HA HA. See what I mean?