#1 of 5

Damn you Dead Rising. Damn you for looking like so much fun it should be criminal. Wednesday sees the release of an all-zombie all-the-time kill-a-thon for the Xbox 360 and I so want it right now. My long standing philosophy regarding video game consoles has been to wait 18 months after release before I even consider it, and then only if there are five must-own titles available.

It hasn't been 18 months yet, but Must-Own Game #1 hits this week. Four more to go and since numero dos, Mass Effect, is slated to hit sometime this fall, then it looks more and more like Casa de Skim will welcome a new console sometime around May of next year. In theory, the infamous BC list will include more of my games than Halo 2 by then. Also, we should have a house by then but I hestitate to say that with certainty. With the way the real estate is going in our area we should be able to make quite the mint on our place especially with the minor renovations we'll perform over the next three months or so.

I remain both anxious and cautious regarding the 360. Anxious because in the next year there are going to be some absolutely killer games released. Cautious because enough people, more than have been officially reported at least, continue to have their consoles fail. My Xbox and PS2 are the first ones I ever bought and that's how they should stay. If I plunk down $400+ for a console then it damn well better work for the next several years.

But Dead Rising looks absolutely brilliant. You play a photojournalist trapped in a small town mall surrounded by legions of zombies who are all looking to take a bite out of you. The theory is that everything around you is a weapon and the demo saw players whacking zombies with teddy bears while running around in a dress, cooking things in the kitchen only to turn around and smack a zombie in the face with the hot frying pan, and so on.

Basically the game could be the smash hit of the summer, and it's earned the coveted #1 spot.