I normally don’t plug the hell out of articles I’ve wrote but I’m quite pleased with my Heavy Rain review and I’m pretty tired. It was a tough one to review because I’ve been such an avid follower of QuanticDream and their releases, but Heavy Rain has been the closest they’ve come.

You should probably click the link for more coherent thoughts that weren’t typed at 2 in the morning. Go on… click it.

Bare with me if you’re not interested in computers, it’s about to get incredibly geeky up in here because today I finally decided to pony up the £347 and buy a new computer.

I’ve always been an avid PC gamer but the combination of MacBook and Xbox 360 just outweighed tweaking settings and frame watching. I mean, the 360 would play games much better than my PC could and the MacBook did the rest without the faffing around with Norton or generally bad operating systems. That combination left me with two years of a PC-less existence.

That will soon change though, I’ve finally taken the plunge and spec’d out and bought the computer of my… well not dreams, I don’t dream about that kind of stuff.

The thing I love about consoles is that they’re incredibly small and well designed. I admit the original Playstation 3 isn’t to everyone’s taste but it looks better than gaming PCs with spikes and glowing bits on them. So because of this I’ve always wanted to build a micro ATX – that’s really small for those who don’t speak computer – in the vein of consoles. I bailed out of getting the £100 Lian Li case that would have achieved that but considering I don’t want to overspend, I’ve done alright.

So what will £347 buy you?

• Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 £85
• Intel Core i3 530 2.93Ghz £72
• Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H £56
• Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro CPU Cooler £8
• Western Digital 250Gb 7200RPM Sata Hard Drive £25
• Best Value S001 Micro ATX Desktop with 450W PSU £30
• Sony DVDRW 24x SATA £16
• Postage £xx
  

I’m still missing the most vital piece though, the Graphics Card. I’ve been debating what one to get for a while, anyone got any recommendations? The cheaper the better, I only want to have the option to play recent games.

As much I don’t like explicitly calling it a hobby, until it results in regularly paid work, it kind of is. Sometimes I do wonder why I even write at all, I mean being a Graphic Designer (what I’m actually studying) is just shapes… right?

I’ve started to realise that even if I don’t become a full time journalist, the skills I will have gotten from the whole journey will help to no end. Not only have I had to code umpteenth number of WordPress themes (HTML, CSS & PHP) but I’ve actually learnt how to write properly (English). That’s four vital languages I’ve learnt during the last three years – not including PR-speak.

Again, whether this results in anything I can do for a living remains to be seen. But after all is said and done, I’ve learnt vital skills along with meeting a great collection of friends. That probably excites me more than any job offer ever could*.

*I’m sorry, that sounded straighter in my head.

I know I shouldn’t do this but it’s late and I still haven’t posted anything for today.

Today, or more like last week but it went live today so I won’t spoil the illusion, I wrote my 10 random iPod tracks for Electro-Candy. I know I should be posting something original here but I rarely write for other sites and have a lot of work on.

Work that includes writing about the excellent, Heavy Rain. In the meantime though you should all check it that out. The article not Heavy Rain, although you can do that as well… yeah, do both.

Common sense is prevailing, logical trends are being followed and an outdated association are starting to move with the times. What am I dribbling about? Football of course.

At eight o’clock I started to scour the regular football streaming websites for anything showing the FA Cup replay between Bolton and Spurs. Only after my original stream bites the bullet do I realise that the FA are streaming it for free.

I’m sure I’m not alone in constantly banging on about how the Premier League needs to start streaming all their games. I mean, at the moment the streamers and streaming websites are making money through advertisements, why shouldn’t the actual license holders make some money? After all, you’re not going to stop it happening, so why not go with the flow? That’s what tonight’s test run is all about.

I’d be curious to read the viewing figures and finances around tonight’s broadcast. Are they making money through the advertisements? Will the interest be enough to start regularly streaming games? Hopefully they’re making enough to warrant something more substantial next year.

Regardless of whether you are a sports fan, this is an important day. It could be another milestone in the way content is broadcast, it sure feels like one.