By Zach Walton

As the end of the semester approaches, I find it relevant to bid a fond farewell to the readers of this humble gaming column.

There have been rumors and news, reviews and previews. All these things led to my first year of doing something like this, and I greatly enjoyed myself. I only hope that you, the readers, enjoyed reading it as well.

As we go into a summer that is uncertain, I wish to give a few insights into what summer is going to be like for gamers.

First and foremost, we have the PlayStation Network being hacked and making national headlines.

All of the personal data of those on the PlayStation Network has been compromised. The fate of users’ credit card data is still up in the air.

What does this mean for your summer as a PS3 gamer? Get used to a more secure PSN. Think scaleddown versions of what PC gamers have to go through with DRM and copy protection. If your credit card data is stolen, I’m sure you can write those fraudulent charges for a swimming pool and a jumbo jet off on your taxes as charity to criminals.

While Xbox 360 gamers can laugh to their heart’s content at the problems plaguing their PS3 playing brethren, they are off just as bad.

Think of the release schedule for the 360. There’s nary a drop of new game content hitting this summer.

You better get the most out of that “Gears of War 3” beta 360 gamers.  If you didn’t pre-order “Gears of War 3” to get your beta voucher or obtained it some other way, have fun playing “Call of Duty: Warfare Ops of Modernity” for the 300th time.

For Nintendo gamers, they got it pretty good.

This year’s E3 in June is going to display some hot new software that the Wii has been starving for since the beginning of the year. Oh wait, Nintendo is also revealing the sure-to-be-amazing Project Café. This leaves Wii fans in a fix as they have to tell themselves their system is still relevant, while counting the days to the release of Project Café sometime after April 2012.

Of course PC gamers are just fine this summer.

A steady stream of quality released mostly from indie developers and the decreasing costs of components means they will be set all summer. There’s always that one catch though. PC gamers would be saving their money for that one awesome game this summer, but then a Steam sale comes. If it’s anything like last summer’s sale, PC gamers are going to take that $60 they were saving for one game and buy literally hundreds of games.

Sales are good because they save you money. Steam sales are bad because you spend all your money.

So really, this summer is looking pretty bleak. I even depressed myself while writing this.

For those who want to actually have some fun over summer, why not just play the only games that will never disappoint. Mobile and Facebook games are calling you. Angry Birds will never betray you and

FrontierVille will never sell your personal data to marketing companies.

Enjoy your summer and keep on gaming. I’m sure there’s something out there to play