Since the last entry..

*I got to the bottom of my new-game stack and reached into my old-games-I-need-to-mess-around-with pile. In there I found “Silent Hill 4,” “Rogue Galaxy,” and “Final Fantasy XII” all for the PS2.

I tried them each but don’t plan on finishing any of them unless any reader of this diary can change my mind.

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Heard about the low reviews for the PlayStation 3 first-person-shooter “Haze”? Not sure if the new game’s for you? We’re here to help — a little — with our daily dose of two-minutes of opening-gameplay footage.The first “120 Seconds” of “Haze” are a perfect example of the rules that are in play for our newest video feature.Aside from being the first two minutes, in order to be included in this feature the player actually has to have control of your character. Prior to this in “Haze,” you have camera control, but you are still essentially in a cut-scene initiated by the game. Our two-minute timer starts not when you are dropped into battle, but as soon as you can make choices with your character. For example, if you want to move left, then you can move left.

With these constraints, the first two minutes of character controlled gameplay for the PS3 exclusive title “Haze” actually turns out to be a well orchestrated, glorified cut-scene.

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

Last week I read about an incredible offer for Ubisoft’s upcoming PS3-exclusive first-person shooter “Haze.” According to a flyer published on blog Dark Zero that I saw on Kotaku, the Canadian branch of EB Games (GameStop) was offering gamers what amounted to a one-week rental.

 The flyer reads: “PLAY HAZE FOR A WEEK: Pre-purchase Haze and get full in-store credit back when you trade Haze in within one week of pick-up!”

Was it real? Yes. Is it still being offered?

A Ubisoft representative told me yesterday: no.

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No one would blame you for being confused about when Ubisoft and Free Radical Design were planning to release “Haze” on PlayStation 3.

Not only has the futuristic shooter changed its platform focus a few times — something eerily reminiscent of “Assassin’s Creed“’s early days — but the release date itself has shifted over and over and over and over — you get the point.

Today, Ubisoft announced that “Haze” is coming in May but didn’t attach a specific ship date. That’s probably because they made that mistake last year and completely missed it.

“Haze” was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2006 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for release “sometime” in 2007. For an early reveal, that’s common.

That release date was eventually narrowed down to March 2007 before Ubisoft’s financial calendar indicated “Haze” would be missing that date and arriving before the end of Ubisoft’s next fiscal year, which spans April 2007 to March 2008. Gamers have come to expect delays this generation, so the move was hardly unexpected, but there was already a notable buzz over the game’s unique drug-based mechanics. That buzz would have to hold a little longer.

If you’ve been following “Haze,” however, you know that was only the beginning of the release date shuffling. Read on for the rest of the confusing tale.

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