Kentucky Geeks Information Blog

Support children charities...support OneBigGame

2009-02-03T10:25:00.001-05:00

Joe:
Basically OneBigGame is asking game developers to make games and browser games for them. They plan to sell these games or maybe subscription to a website with many web games on it and donate (ALL) revenue to children charities. I signed up for the newsletter and you should too if you are a gamer or a browser gamer.

http://www.onebiggame.org/newsletter.aspx

Part of article from GameDaily:

Today, OneBigGame announced the beneficiaries of the profits raised by the non-profit gaming publisher. Save the Children and Starlight Children's Foundation will receive all revenue from the company. Each of the charities will be receiving an even share of OneBigGame's profits.

"Our intention from day one was for the funds to go to several children's charities," stated Martin de Ronde, founder and Chairman of OneBigGame.org. "In Save the Children and Starlight, we've found two highly regarded and reliable partners that for decades have helped children structurally resolve the problems they face, which is completely in line with our mission objective. With these two partners, we are certain that funds are well spent."

http://www.onebiggame.org/

Circuit City is no more... :-(

2009-01-20T12:58:00.002-05:00

Circuit City filed bankruptcy last year and close a large number of their stores. Since then, they have been trying to come back from this by getting another company to bail them out by buying and refinancing their debt. Looks like now they given up hope. Last week, Circuit City announced that they would be closing all the remaining stores (about 567). If you remember, the store Comp USA had to do the same thing but they moved to an online website. Circuit City is not going to do the same but just fade away it seems. They are liquidating their stock with deals to sell everything out of store. I went to browse the first wave of these deals Saturday at the Hamburg shopping center in Lexington, KY and nothing is cheap enough yet to buy up. The worst thing about this, other than Best Buys not having any non-online competition is that there will be an estimated 30,000 jobs lost. In this current economy this is very bad!

Joe Davis

Wii Dominates Christmas...Will PS3 and XBOX Lower prices?

2009-01-13T14:19:00.002-05:00

Ok, looks like the Wii out sold the PS3 and XBOX360 by a very large margin. This is the first time in about 17 years that a Nintendo system was on top in sales. This was back in the NES days. Anywho, they have predicted that the PS3 will drop from $399 to $299 and that Microsoft will follow suit with a price cut for the XBOX360. This was predicted from Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter in his NPD preview report.

I think it would be very wise for Sony to drop the price of a PS3 by $100 because then you have an awsome game system and Blue Ray player for only $299. That's only $100 more than just buying a Blue Ray player.

-GingerJoe

Gears of War 2 Update coming soon!!!

2009-01-08T15:34:00.004-05:00

Mark Rein of Epic posted a blog about an upcoming Gears of War 2 update. Sounds like it fixes exploits and bugs but also adds new achievements. What is interesting to me is added achievements. I thought that a game was only allowed 1000 points of achievements. This got me to Google it up and I found from a Wiki (don't you love Wikis?):

On February 1, 2007, Microsoft announced on their Gamerscore Blog some new policies that developers must follow related to Gamerscore and Achievements in future releases.^[19] All games must have 1,000 Gamerscore points in the base game - the title can ship with fewer than 1,000 points, but anything added later must be free. Game developers also now have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content (for a total of 1,250 points) - this content can be either free or paid. Xbox Live Arcade titles may add up to 50 points via downloadable content (for a total of 250 points). In special cases, Microsoft has allowed games to exceed this Gamerscore limit, with Halo 3 having a total of 1750 achievments points.

Well, I was proved wrong. Anywho, lets get back to the meat of this post. Here is part of Mark Reins' blog:

As I mentioned before the break we’ve been working on a major title update for Gears of War 2. This update will address bugs and exploits as well as add some new achievements related to downloadable content. We don’t have an exact date for it but all indicators are it will go live within January. If that changes we’ll let you know.

Full blog is here.

Joe

Hasbro games coming to XBOX Live Arcade

2009-01-07T12:56:00.002-05:00

EA today announced that they will be bringing various Hasbro properties to Xbox Live Arcade during 2009. Titles such as Scrabble, Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, and Sorry! will all release under the Hasbro Family Game Night banner. All of the games will feature alternative game modes and online play.

My thoughts:
Sounds like more family fun for the Xbox Live Arcade. UNO released around the launch time of the XBOX360 is still one of the top selling Live Arcade title after several years. I am stoked about playing Battleship online with friends.

New PS3 firmware announced...

2008-06-30T14:08:00.001-04:00

The next upgrade to the PlayStation 3 OS is going to be killer. Changes in the Xross Media Bar and Trophy support are nearly here. Here's what you can expect:

XrossMediaBar Changes: The XMB will now be able to be acessed in-game, meaning that you'll be able to hit the PS3 button in the middle of a game, and access messaging, view friends' online status and profiles without interrupting the flow of gameplay. Depending on the game, XMB access will either automatically pause the game or it will continue to run in the background.

You'll also be able to access your music in-game. Once a music file is played, users can access a control panel via the XMB that enables them to pause, stop, or repeat the track; go to a different track; or shuffle.

Google-powered Internet search functionality on the XMB, allowing users to input search terms and be directed to a search results page without having to first open the PS3 Internet browser. PSP(R)(PlayStation(R)Portable) system recently added similar Internet search functionality through a firmware update

Trophies: PS3 users can earn virtual trophies, which will be viewable on the XMB's Game category under a new Trophy Collection icon, and will also be touted through individual profiles. Gamers will be "ranked on a Level-basis depending on the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum trophies they earn across all games. They will also be able to see how much progress they have made toward the next Level, as well as compare their Trophies to friends. "

Super Stardust HD, a PLAYSTATION Network-exclusive released in June 2007, will be the first game to leverage the Trophies system. The following first-party games are also slated to offer Trophy support:

BUZZ!(TM) Quiz TV
LittleBigPlanet(TM)
MotorStorm(TM) Pacific Rift
NBA 09 - PS3
PAIN*
PixelJunk(TM) Eden
Resistance 2(TM)
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
Warhawk(TM)*

Joe: Well, we might actually get to see some online traffic and fun on the PS3 this Fall. Come on Sony! Get on it guys!

Movie Review: We Own the Night

2008-02-27T14:22:00.001-05:00

Movie Review – We Own the Night

By Rexus Maximus, aka Rex OHurlihan, aka the Grand Poobah, aka Anton “don’t talk about my haircut” Chigurh

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498399/

Written and directed by a guy named James Gray, whom really is pretty low-radar but apparently did a great indie flick called Little Odessa back in the 90s. The movie is pretty much what you would expect. Pretty typical Action/Crime Drama. The acting is good, not great, which you would expect with the great cast (Phoenix, Wahlberg, Duvall, Mendez). The storyline is not complex. There are no plot twists. Wahlberg plays his typical role of hard-ass police/ law person. Phoenix plays his typical role of eccentric/disgruntled wish-he-had-done-more-with-his-life type of character. Duvall has very, very little dialogue (which is a shame). There was a scene in the previews last year that really intrigued me about this film; it led me to believe there was something more, something sinister, something unique, something clever. It was a seemingly simple scene of a man wearing some sort of a sac on his head with eyeholes in it walking assassin-style with a pistola. Sorta made you think of the Scarecrow (the Cillian Murphy version). Well, this was an all-to-typical scene that basically was all divulged in the trailer. This was a one-time deal, nothing more about it. Just a killing.

The movie is a decent rental, but I was disappointed purely based upon the cast (Phoenix is tops on my list of actors) and the aforementioned assassin with the bag-head scene.

Rating: 2/5

-rexus

Heartbreak Kid Review

2008-02-11T13:13:00.000-05:00

“Heartbreak Kid” – Farrelly bros., Ben Stiller-

No surprises here – typical Farrelly bros film, ala “Something About Mary” and “Kingpin”. It has the normal slap-stick, gross-out humor, which I personally love, HOWEVER, the movie does disappoint. The side ripping laughs are few-and-far-between and to no fault of the Farrelly bros, IMO, Ben Stiller ruins this film. Newsflash to Ben Stiller – IT’S HIGH TIME YOU PLAY A NEW CHARACTER. Come on fella, the kinda-normal-average-Joe-kinda-guy-put-in-a-bad-situation-that-gets-pushed-to-the-edge-of-insanity is getting very old, can we say “Meet the Fockers”, “Along Came Polly”, “Duplex”, “Meet the Parents”, “The Cable Guy”, etc, etc, ad nauseum. The only other character he plays; the neurotic weirdo (ala Zoolander, Dodge Ball) is far superior.

The movie is good for a laugh, but don’t expect an epic “franks n beans” scene.

Comedy Rating: 3/5
Overall Rating: 2.5/5

-rexux maximus

Game Review: Mass Effect

2008-01-22T14:37:00.001-05:00

Ok, finally gotten myself REALLY involved in MASS EFFECT over this past weekend, and I must say; I’m completely obsessed!!!

This game is so vast and involved that it almost puts the lore of the Star Wars saga to shame (note that I said ‘almost’).

It essentially has the feel of an epic movie, but still gives you a sense of control by playing the role of the main character and having a ‘say’ in the direction of the story. Even though I know the end outcome will be the same, the journey to get there could be different.

However, I do see the major flaw of this game for people like me (completionists): IT’S TOO DAMN BIG!!!

Holy cow, it’s gonna take my lifetime to get through this game…,

I’ve almost put 10 hours into it and I’m JUST NOW getting the Normandy!!!

Not only do I take on ever darn side-quest that I come across, but I find that I spend a lot, if not most, of my time in the CODEX. One minute I’ll be questioning to myself “What are these Protheans everyone keeps talking about, and how to these ships warp travel?”, the next minute I’ll have a new entry in the Codex explaining all this, and more. This itself is not a complaint, actually it’s a praise and plus for me, although it’s the very reason for my lack of advancement in the story thus far.

This is also how I get sucked into side quests. I was very intrigued by the Keepers, and wanted to know more about them. Low and behold, not only could I read about them in the Codex, but I could also take on a side-quest to scan data from them to help scientists research and learn more about them.

The story and background of every entity in this game is incredible. There is such depth to every element, and the story’s past was well thought out. At times it’s hard to wrap my mind around some of the species and their cultures until I finally get the entry to read about them, so the delivery of these Codex could be a little sooner. Although, this may be by design as I’m sure the develops didn’t want to throw too much information at you at once...,

Every aspect of this game has appeal for ever type of gamer. If you like fast paced action, choose a Solider, mow down enemies, stick right to the plot, and don’t do side quests. Or, if you’re like me, take a more strategic approach to battles and talk to everyone as there are side-quests a plenty.

It does take awhile to understand how you should play your character. I chose a sharpshooter (Infiltrator) and was dumfounded when I couldn’t hit a tree with the assault rifle or why I would keep getting killed by running head first into the initial few battles. Once I realized to stay back, strategically place my team, and pick off enemies from afar, I slowly grew to love the combat. This, I realized, was more my style versus a soldier class and the action being too fast paced.

I also like the idea of being able to start a new game after beating it with the same character and stats with an increased experience cap from 50 to 60. This is really appealing especially since the game is molded around your character’s reaction to people. You could literally play through the first time as Paragon (good), which yields certain quests, and then a second time as a Renegade which you can handle similar quest differently as well Renegade only quests. So essentially you can play a totally different game with your already established character the second time through.

All things considered with this game, I give it a solid 9.5 out of 10. I would have given it a ten, minus the occasional rendering issues and sometimes slow dialogue drill-downs just to get to the point. It also almost seems like this game is too fast for the 360 as I’ve also noticed a lot of lags when walking around in the Presidium (which is another fantastic concept. Reminds me of a Dyson’s Sphere)….,

One finally thought: Why is everyone in the future still using elevators? One better, why the hell are they so damn slow??!!!

What, the Protheans can figure out how to travel faster than light and leave all this advanced unknown technology behind, but they couldn’t figure out the advanced quantum-state physics of simple elevator mechanics, and thus de-evolved the technology to be slower?? Come on, the elevator in my office building is faster than these. This may not seem like a big deal, but that climb to the Citadel tower takes freakin forever, and I’m getting tired of the elevator news, casual conversations with my crew, and the occasional awkward silences. Thank goodness for the Instant Transit system…,

Bubz final review:

Mass Effect

9.5/10

Pros: Way too many to list, but the highlights are: A well thought out and involved story and universe / Movie quality in all respects, even more so when played in High Def / very open ended conversations and adaptive to match your characters persona / the ability to mold your character to be good or evil (Paragon vs. Renegade), thus affecting gameplay / leveling and stat boosting meets standards if not improves on an already familiar formula / great combat system even for us that hate shooters (I was skeptical) / Awesome weapon stockpile and upgradability / Balanced character roles (i.e. Infiltrator can’t running into battle and must be strategic) / expansive journal and codex system to compliment the mass scale of the lore / Can be played to accommodate all types of gamers / Promise of replay value…,

Cons: Not enough action (This is a bold statement coming from a person that thought this was going to be turned based, but I find myself longing for battle during my 3 hour marathons of exploring and talking to everyone I meet, which may be my own fault) / Some minor graphically glitches / Some things are too slow (i.e. dialogue, elevators) / Not enough initial tips (needs a tutorial from the ‘start’ screen to explain button layout and explanation, such as squad commands) / Initial Facial customization very basic (I want to see a digital ‘me’ onscreen, guess I’ll stick to Tiger Woods PGA for that.) / Squad members tend to stay right in the damn way allot (would have been nice if ‘selected item’ had a toggle button versus aim right on it) / murder on someone with OCD due to a horde of sidequests…,

-bubz

Movie Review: Sunshine

2008-01-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/

Okay, if you haven’t seen it and you like Sci-Fi at all, its 100% worth a rental. The film is essentially a combination of Event Horizon, Armageddon and Apolo 13, with an emphasis more on the dark and edgy side like Event Horizon moreso then the other more mainstream films. Cillian Murphy is a superb actor, he has the best natural creepy look ever, next to Buscemi (before he went mainstream). The writing is very good and the director (same guy that did 28 days later, the Beach and Trainspotting) does a great job of building tension and having cool, camera cuts. They merge a little bit of artsy/abstract into the “science” of the film. The sounds are great, but if u have a big cinema system at home, I recommend turning your bass down a bit. The sound effects for the ship Icarus II have a VERY low register and grumble, which is great, but it FAR outways the dialog and other sounds.

On an across-the-board scale, I give this a 3.5/5. On a Sci-Fi specific scale, I give this a 4/5.

**********VERY MINOR SPOILER ALERT********************

This movie has GREAT promise and would easily be a 5/5 if the last 10 minutes were better. The “monster” is never really shown and its not explained why. With an alternate ending, this film could be an instant classic.

-rexus maximus

Rush Hour 3 ginger review

2008-01-02T13:59:00.000-05:00

Take Rush Hour 2, change the location from Hong Kong to Paris and you got Rush Hour 3. The biggest difference was that Chris Tucker’s character is more physical in Rush Hour 3. However, there is a reason for this change. In Rush Hour 1 and 2 he did his own stunts (probably to impress Jackie Chan) but in Rush Hour 3 he uses a stunt double. Jackie Chan is getting older but he still throws himself at every stunt like a mad man!

Basically the story takes the pair to Paris to take down the Triad this time by protecting a women who has the knowledge of the Triads’ secret leaders. Lots of funny stuff like a French cab driver who at first hates Americans who ends up caught up in a few of the action scenes and ends up wanting to be an American. There is also a bad ass female enemy that shows up several time during the movie to give Carter and Lee a run for their money and a funny scene where they go up against a giant Kung Fu student that literally picks up and throws the duo around like rag dolls.

If you like the Rush Hour movies then go rent and watch this one, you shouldn’t be disappointed. If you didn’t like Rush Hour 2 then stay away from this one all together. Personally I like the Rush Hour movies when I get in the mood where I want to see crazy, funny, sometimes stupid and over the top action movies.

I give Rush Hour 3: 3 out of 5 ginger stars!

"The Woods Have Eyes" and a hot MILF in it!

2007-12-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

“The Woods Have Eyes”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835384/

So, this is stripped down, not low-budget, but “NO-BUDGET” (don’t let the poster artwork fool you) – campy, horror film in the retro 70’s old school style. This is one of those deals where some dude writes, directs, stars and recruits his local wannabe actor friends to do a flick with him. If you’re into indie films and guerilla style film-making, this is a must-see. If you’re looking for a high-quality, edge-of-your-seat thriller, this is NOT for you. The fact that this film is set in the late 70’s and also exactly stylized from films made during that time, makes it very fun to watch. It’s like a flashback in time. There is even a glory hole scene of senseless nudity (if there is such a thing), ala “Porky’s”.

My biggest complaint is that the most particularly terrible acting (its all bad acting), but the worst acting is by the “monster” – the bad guys are the worst actors which really lets some of the steam out of the sails. You would think, if you’re big and scary looking, how hard is it to be a hack/slash killer redneck in the woods? Well, if you watch this, you will know exactly what I’m talking about.

The best thing about this film, is how the director builds tension from nothing and how he absolutely nails a replication of 70’s horror film.

One major shinning spot, is this mom MILF who has a VERY minor role, but she is SMOKING, her name is Darla Delgado.

For what this movie is, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars – on an across-the-board scale, it would struggle to get 2/5.

-rexus maximus

Mass Effect (XBOX 360) – One geek’s early impression of Bioware’s latest

2007-11-30T11:46:00.000-05:00

Mass Effect (XBOX 360) – One geek’s early impression of Bioware’s latest

I’m about 14 hours into Mass Effect and I gotta say it’s very impressive. The story is immense and I get the feeling that I’m probably less than half way thru the game at this point. I’m not one of these “leave no stone unturned” kind of players either. I’ll take a side quest only if it’s convenient or if I feel like it’s worth my time. There are few things that I really love about this game. One is the way the dialogue system is set up. All the conversations in the game give you choices on how you want to reply. You can pull up a menu of responses while the NPC is still talking and make your choice, then when he is finished, your reply comes out very naturally. It really makes the game seem like a movie that you are a part of. This is the first time I’ve played a game that successfully made me feel this way. The story is pretty good and is better than several of the Star Trek movies to be honest. The characters are extremely well developed. There was a scene last night were I had to decide which of my squad members I wanted to leave behind to die, it was tough to decide and I actually felt kinda sad about it, amazing. The controls and menu system are very well done and it’s easy to give your squad simple commands and switch weapons, etc. All the action is real time. I had heard you could queue up moves somehow? This is not the case. Overall, I’m super impressed with the game and plan on finishing it no matter how long it takes me. I’m guessing that with all the choices you are allowed to make there will be multiple endings to the game. (I never did like that feature too much. Who’s got time to play a game 5 times through just to see which ending is the best?) The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on any system, on par with Gears of War I’d say, and the sound is immersive without being obtrusive. If you are a fan of 3^rd person games and like Sci-Fi stories, you will love it.

Pros:

Great story, acting

Intuitive fighting system/menus

Great dialogue system

Save anywhere (except during battle)

Super fast load times

Awesome graphic/sound

Female squad members in spandex

Cons:

First few hours are almost all story, very little action

Riding in elevators is boring

Selecting an item uses the same button as talking to your team members

so they are in the way a lot.

Final Score: 9/10

Reviewed by El Jbird

Hiro's katana from the show Heros

2007-05-31T09:42:00.000-04:00

Hiro Nakamura’s katana

Por kirai el 29 de May, 2007 en Cinema

Hiro Nakamura is Heroes main character (If you are not watching Heroes, what are you waiting for!), he has a sword that belonged to someone called “Takezo Kensei”. The cool thing is “Takezo Kensei” is not a fiction character, he was a real samurai, in fact he is probably the most “famous” samurai ever. If I tell you that “Miyamoto Musashi” is his usual name you will probably know him, but “Takezo Kensei” is how he is called in Heroes. “Takezo” is an alternative reading of Musashi 武蔵, and “Kensei” is the highest rank a samurai can hold, only legendary samurais are considered “Kensei”. “Kensei” could be translated as “Heroe”.

He is the historical Miyamoto Musashi, known in Heroes fiction TV series as Takezo Kensei.

Miyamoto Musashi/Takezo Kensei fought at Sekigahara, one of the most important battles in Japanese history, he survived more than 60 duels “one vs one” during his 61 years of life, he created many fighting styles and he finished his days writing books. He is considered the best swordsman ever.

Spoilers warning! Spoilers warning!
Miyamoto Musashi appears many times in Heroes, in the museum when they are trying to steal a katana, when Hiro talks about Takezo Kensei, and we can even see the “real” Takezo Kensei at the second season’s beginning when Hiro travels back in time to 1671. Another interesting detail that future Hiro Nakamura has the same air style as Miyamoto Musashi .
Spoilers finished!

Miyamoto Musashi air style is very similar to future Hiro Nakamura.

The katana in the TV series is an invention, in the real history Miyamoto Musashi never had a favorite sword. In the katana from Heroes TV series there is a symbol (This symbol can be seen many times in many places). As Ando explains in one episode, the symbol can be created combining two Japanese characters: sai 才 (Great talent, genius), and yo 与(One of the meanings of this kanjis is “godsend”). If you put together these two kanji characters you obtain the symbol from Hiro’s katana that belonged to “Takezo Kensei”:

Are Hiro Nakamura and his father descendants from Miyamoto Musashi/Takezo Kensei? Are Heroes main characters Gods? Is Heroes a battle between Gods?

If you wanna learn more about the real Miyamoto Musashi, I recommend you: Musashi Miyamoto by Eiji Yoshikawa; which is the best book around there. Is huge but I’m sure you will enjoy every line if you are a fan of Japanese culture.

WOW Visa cards? They have went too far now!

2007-05-12T13:57:00.000-04:00

From www.mmorpg.com:

The story this week that generated responses across the full spectrum of opinion was the news of the World of Warcraft Visa. More than just a pretty picture on a regular old credit card, the card has a reward program where you can actually earn WoW game time.

http://mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView/news/gameID/15/showArticle/7675

Joe:
Well, this just sickens me people!
I use to play WOW and we all should hate credit card companies!
If Blizzard wasn't making enough money they get into bed with the devil themselves?
I will never go back to WOW if they do this!

Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s comming to XBOX360?

2007-05-12T13:56:00.001-04:00

Alright my fellow guitar hero addicts!
Activision announce a while back that the Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s would be PS2 exclusive. This past week they said that these same 80s songs would be hitting the XBOX live for downloading on your 360 version of Guitar Hero.

"We recently launched the Xbox 360 game, and will continue to offer downloadable content for Xbox 360 users. Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s provides a unique opportunity for our PlayStation2 fans who don't have the same online capabilities to enjoy fresh new content. We're strongly committed to offering the greatest game play experiences possible on all platforms."

Sports going MMO?

2007-04-18T08:53:00.000-04:00

Over the last several months I have noticed that sports games have gone MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online). First I saw golf with Shot-Online then I heard about a few baseball MMO call Ultimate Baseball Online and now I read today that they are releasing a basketball MMO called Freestyle Street Basketball. So what does this mean to fantasy MMO fans? Nothing at all. All this means is that companies are making some MMOs for other people other than RPG fanatics. We have already seen this in the past with Sims Online and Auto Assault which appeal to the Sim and car battle fans. FPS (first person shooter) fans have Huxley coming out this year and they will probably like Tabula Rasa when it comes out also.

This is a great time to look at what is available (mmorpg.com) and try them. Most of them are free to try or in public beta. Not a fantasy MMO fan? You have many choices out there that are not fantasy RPG themed.

Board game lovers! Catan is on the XBOX360

2007-04-07T11:23:00.000-04:00

Ive played The Settlers of Catan at a friends and it was really fun!
I was reading an XBOX magazine this morn and saw a review of Catan on Xbox Live Arcade. The download costs $10 but if I find out that it is also single player and not just online multiplayer then I am sooo getting it. I hope they release more board related games on the 360. Actually, might be something to look at developing myself. Some Munchkin or Cthulu on Xbox Live would rock!

Other news, I will be searching Richmond for Guitar Hero 2 for the XBOX360 today...that is all!

Info on Catan 360:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/catan/index.html?q=catan

XBOX360 Elite is official...

2007-03-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

There have been many rumors and forum posts about a new version of my current favorite console. The new version is going to be called the XBOX360 Elite.

Priced at $479 ($50 cheaper than the low end PS3)
Polished black finish (also black controller and headset)
120 gig hard drive (previous 360s had none or 20 gigs)
HDMI port (previous versions had component)
HDMI cable and component cable
Starts selling on April 29th

Ok, now if you are a current XBOX360 owner don't run out and buy one just yet. You need to consider the rest of the facts:

I want a bigger hard drive!
Shipping around the same time will be a bundled kit to upgrade your current 20 gig drive to 120 gigs. It will come with the drive and a cable that is used to transfer data from your old drive to the new one. NOTE: The XBOX360 Elite will not have this cable bundled in it and no news of it being sold separately. So if you want a bigger hard drive, just buy the bundled kit for $179 (yeah, ouch!).

I want HDMI output!
Ok, how important is this to you....really? If you have the external HD-DVD player (which no news on a black one of these yet) it looks great already using the current connections. If you are a video quality addict then by all means run out and spend $479 just for that! NOTE: The 360 Elite will have the same internals as the old system versions (DVD drive and processor).

What will I do?
Hmmmm....prob wait till I fill up my current drive and go purchase a bundled 120 gig drive when that happens. I'm happy with my current system...it is a part of me now!

Sony...
“We think every PlayStation 3 owner should have an 'elite' experience, which is why we include an internal hard drive and HDMI output in every PS3 we sell, along with the 50 GB of storage capacity on a high definition Blu-ray disc," said Peter Dille, Sony Computer Entertainment's senior vice president of marketing.

New found respect for UK developer Bizarre

2007-03-15T08:18:00.000-04:00

Read this morning about an interview with Ben Ward of Bizarre and have a new found respect for them. UK developer Bizarre is behind the awesome XBOX Live game Geometry Wars. Thats right...that addictive ass game! He was quoted saying that they meant for Geometry Wars to have been released on XBL for free but was forced to charge because of XBL restrictions. This is why it came out at the lowest price bracket of 400 points.

Why post this? Because there are less game developers that deserve kudos for not being greedy bastards today than ever before.

Mad props to you Bizarre!

Square Enix anounced their first downloadable Wii VC game...

2007-02-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Don't get too excited though...like I did when I read the headline from Gamespot, "Square Enix Announces First VC Title". I was sooo certain that it was gonna be a classic Final Fantasy game or at the least Chronotrigger. My hopes and dreams were crushed!

The first Wii VC game from Square Enix will be SNES action title known as Actraiser this March in Japan (no US release date yet). I know...I hear your hearts breaking, mine did too. Below is a list from the same article they gave a list of games comming to Japan in March. I soooo hope some of these make it over here. Some I haven't even heard of so I am doubting they will make it At least you can see what "may" be comming to a US Wii VC channel near you!

FAMICOM

Lode Runner (Hudson)
Yoshi no Tamago (aka Yoshi, Nintendo)
Valkyrie no Bouken (Bandai Namco)
Excite Bike (Nintendo)
Donkey Kong Jr. Sansuu Asobi (aka DKJ Math, Nintendo)

SUPER FAMICOM

Ganbare Goemon Yuki Hime Kyuushutsu Emaki (aka Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Konami)
Hercules no Eikou (Pione)
Actraiser (Square Enix)

MEGA DRIVE

Tant-R (Sega)
Sonic Spinball (Sega)
Dyna Brothers (Sega)
Wonder Boy V Monster World III (Sega)
Virtua Fighter 2 (Genesis Version, Sega)
Alex Kidd (Sega)
Alien Storm (Sega)

PC ENGINE

Double Dungeon (Hudson)
Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag (Spike)
Galaga '88 (Bandai Nmaco)
Kaizou Chounin Shubibinman (aka Shockman, Hudson)

Crackdown is da bomb!

2007-02-23T10:33:00.000-05:00

Alright peeps...it has been awhile since I posted...partying too much but gonna get back to it!

There is this game for the XBOX360 called Crackdown and yes it is a GTA type game (GTA type games are called "sandbox" games a lot) but let me tell ya...it effin rocks! It is waaay better than Saints Row and the previous GTA games in my opinion. Is it perfect? No. Is it fun? Hell Yeah!

Crackdown:
Basically you are a new type of cop trying to clean up the streets. You wear a suit that allows you to have superhero like abilities. You also level up your skills (seven of them I think) by using them or going through timed tests or by collecting orbs hidden throughout the city or even by car races. The city if large enough and the game is open enough that you can waste a lot of time just jumping from building to building like the Hulk (the higher your agility skill the higher you can jump). I like the way the missions are setup too. While exploring you will get a message from headquarters about a minor crime lord near you. They will then show up on your radar and you can go take them out when you are ready. After each minor crime lord you take out you are told your chances to take out the main boss. To finish the game you must take out the multiple main bosses in the city. Each has an area of the city and gang members that attack and respawn all over the place. I wasted a lot of time just running around looking for orbs to upgrade my agility and increasing my firearms skill by shooting the gang members.

I haven't tried the co-op yet because none of my friends have it yet but will soon and might post again if it is worth telling about. Oh, and if you do buy the game you will be able to play the Halo3 online beta when released.

Go get it!!!

Trade ur PS3 for Tacos for life!!!

2006-11-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Stole this from IGN:

Taco Bell is trying to do a good deed. The first person who agrees to give up their PlayStation 3 to Taco Bell will get the equivalent of tacos for life. Your console (should you choose to donate it) won't go to a Taco Bell manager. Instead, the Bell is giving the PS3 to the Boys & Girls Club.

"The PlayStation 3 is on every teen's holiday wish list," said Bob Fulmer, Executive Director, Taco Bell Foundation. "That's why we're offering one lucky individual tacos for life in exchange for giving Boys & Girls Club teens a gift that will keep them in the game."

Should you trade your PS3 for $12,500 in Taco Bell Bucks? Here's a simple questionnaire to help you determine which luxury item (a game system or tacos) better suits your lifestyle:
# You just wanted the thrill of standing in line for 36 hours and find playing PS3 is anticlimactic
# Every time you see a Chihuahua your stomach grumbles.
# You plan on living large (literally)
# You have a kind heart...
# ...and you would like to see it explode with a one-day Taco Bell binge

If you answered in the affirmative to all of the above, you are clearly better off with a lifetime supply of Taco Bell's tasty products. If interested, send your name, email address and phone number to tacobellnews@tacobell.com. The offer expires December 1, 2006. It's first come, first served, so if you want to make the ultimate holiday sacrifice (and get some free tacos in the process), email sooner rather than later.

Week of the gamming systems...

2006-11-14T14:37:00.000-05:00

If you hate video games then you won't like this post.
If you like them or are interested in what is currently going on...read it up!

I am gonna try to get a PS3 and sell it on ebay. It is $600 at the store but since there is gonna be soooo few, it is now going for $1800 on ebay. Im not gonna wait in line no longer than 10 to 12 hours for it though cuz I won't keep it. It is gonna be very hard to get one. GameStop has announced they won't have enough to fill their pre-orders so there will be some pissed off people there. Toys-R-Us is getting just enough to fill the pre-orders and nothiing more. Walmart will have the biggest supply. They get 53% of the released systems from Sony. Ill try to get one at the local Wally World but like I said. Not gonna wait over 12 hours for one....$900 profit or not. Ive done the line thing and it is not fun. I think 13 or 14 hours was the longest for me in the past. I can't handle more than that.

I am for sure getting the Nintendo Wii and will be in line on Sat for it. It costs $250. If I get the PS3 then it will pay for the Wii and some games and maybe some fun at the local Sex Ranch (*laughes*). I will get the Zelda game for it too. It comes with a game (first time Nintendo has done this in forever). The game is Wii Sports and has boxing, tennis, bowling, and more games to show off the motion controller stuff that the Wii is already famous for.

I still luv my XBOX360 though and been playing some Gears of War. Im almost done with the single player. Ed said that the multi-player part of it rocks! From what I hear...he is right. Also if you go looking at the achievements for the game, more than 75% of them are unlocked through multi-player.

Well, since im talking bout games...Ill tell you I am gonna get Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS today. Woohoo! They converted it to full 3d and added lost of story to it. I downloaded and played the Japanese version and luved the way it plays. I just wish I would have finished Contact (DS) before today. Contact for the DS is a very fun RPG and very diff from other RPG games.

Well, im ranting and sucking on one of those damn Fireballs so im gonna go not peeps!

Ginger Joe out!

Guitar Hero comming to the 360????

2006-09-23T06:56:00.000-04:00

Read the following news bit from Gamespot...

That changed today as Activision CEO Robert Kotick dropped the news in a speech at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia XV Conference, confirming that the series would be arriving on new platforms next year.

"[Guitar Hero] was a great IP that was really in need of global distribution and the operating efficiencies that we could bring to what was a relatively small company," Kotick said. "The long-term opportunities here include all sorts of product extensions--music downloads that are very high-margin opportunities--and we'll start with the launch of Guitar Hero 2 for the PlayStation 2 this fall. And you can expect next calendar year launches of Guitar Hero on every significant new format."

I think im getting giddie!

Book Review: Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

2006-08-28T17:49:00.000-04:00

Ok...been trying to read more. I love a good book and use to read a lot in me younger days....did I just say that? Anyways, just finished a book by Robert Asprin called Another Fine Myth. It is (i think) the first book in a series of books by Asprin. The back of the book reads:

Skeeve was a magician's apprentice - until an assassin struck and his master was killed. And just before he died, he had summoned a purple-tongued demon named Aahz as a practical joke. Now, Skeeve and Azhz are on their own.

Aahz had lost his powers. Skeeve had lost his job. So together, they set out through a universe populated by Deveels, Imps, dragons, unicorns, and more, looking for a way to get even...

The Library Journal describes the book as: "Breezy, pun-filled fantasy in the vein of Piers Anthony's Xanth series...A hilarious bit of froth and frolic."

To be honest, that statement explains it all. I read a lot of the Xanth series growing up. Hell, the first book I read besides school related and kiddie stuff was Anthony's Xanth series. I will for sure get more from this Myth series because it is soo very good. I know some of you are thinking Discworld...well, I read the first book of that series recently and even though I enjoyed and finished it, I enjoyed this book better so it wins. What can you do?

Well, go pick this book up or if you know me and actually interact on a personable level with me borrow it from me. I don't think anyone will be dissapointed with it. Plus its only like 200 pages of decent sized text so its not too long to get through.

Layta!

Dead Rising... Romero should be proud!

2006-08-25T00:58:00.000-04:00

Got a chance to play Capcoms' newest zombie themed game, Dead Rising for the XBOX 360, this week. I will first tell you, Resident evil this one isn't, and I mean this in a good way. I was already excited about this game ever since seeing video clips and screen shots back in 2005. However, this game kept getting pushed back and it started to aggrevate me to no ends. Especially since there wasn't a whole lot of games for the XBOX 360 getting released. Got to play it some at E3 this year and it revitalized my excitement for it once again. Was the wait worth it? Read on. Lets see, what else before I get started...hmmmm....oh! Interesting enough and the reason for this posts' title having Romero in it (to those that don't know, Romero is the director/writer of Dawn of the Dead which has zombies and a mall it it too) is the note or warning on the games' case. It actually states: This game was not developed, approved or licensed by the owners or creaters of George A Romero's Dawn of the Dead. I now have to wonder if those so called "owners" of this very famous and cultish zombie flick actually tried to sue Capcom or at the least bitched about it. Well, both this game and Dawn of the Dead has 1) zombies 2) happens at a mall 3) ummm...they both have a cop in it??? Ok, grasping there for a third but that should tell you that this game is NOT a rip off of Dawn of the Dead. Nuff of my ramblings and lets get started:

About the game:
This game pretty much described on the packaging as...
You are Frank West, a hard-edged photojournalist hellbent to investigating the mystery at Wiccamette Mall. Its swarming with zombies. You have 72 hours. Anything and everything is a weapon!
Well, this is the short version of what this game is. When I played the demo (which release a week before its release) all you pretty much did is run around and kill zombies in a decent sized area of the mall. It was fun and I played it for some time before I got tired and wanted to do something constructive. Well, my prayers were answered because in the game you don't worry so much about killing hundreds of zombies as much as moving through them to save people and solving cases. Thats right...no Dynasty Warriors with zombies here...you gotta work for it and defeat some obsticales. You were dropped off here by a helicopter that will be returning in 72 hours. What you gotta do during this time is solve the cases, take some pics to take back for your story, and save some people while your at it. Oh, and don't forget...survive! That is pretty much it in a hand basket. Now lets move on to the good stuff.

Pros:
Zombies! Thats a pro right? You gotta hand it to them. Being able to pick up just about anything from a cash register to a cops' night stick to music cds and kill zombies with them is great! I don't know how many objects you can pick up and use in this game, but it has to be hundreds! Something extra that some will not care about but makes the game funny at time is the fact that not all interactive items in the game is used for killing zombies. Some are for wearing and just having fun with. You can change clothes and wear masks that actually make an appearence in the cut scenes when they happen. Ok...fluff, but fun damnit! Another great thing is that you are always doing something or saving someone. Not a lot of idle hand time here. You only got 72 hours and you gotta make the best of it. Not bashing Dynasty Warriors here but again this is no hack and slash game. You gotta work for it! Graphics are great and cut scenes beautiful! Another pro is that once you beat the 72 hour single player game (there is no multi player) you can unlock other game types. I haven't unlocked these yet but one is Overtime Mode which starts at day 4 and Infinity Mode with I think just allows you to hack and slash it up.

Cons:
Can't have pros with cons can we? I guess one con is the fact you only get one save game. This can really screw you over because if you save at a point that you can't possible finish the game then you are forced to restart from the beginning of the game. That really sucks! Hasn't happened to me but knowing this forces you to replay large parts of the game because you are always afraid to save and eff up the win. Good thing is if you restart from the beginning, you get to save your status this feature helps with the next con... It is pretty effin hard folks. Not a push over game at all! However, its no Ninja Gaiden for the XBOX either. My last con for this game is the lack of multiplayer. This is the XBOX 360 people...the era of XBOX Live! With this game comming out a year after its' original release date there should have been multiplayer and at the least co-op play.

Final thoughts...
Damn this was a long one. Your lucky it is so late and I don't want to type out 3000 words about this game! But, alas, I will give you my final ratings for this one.

Did I enjoy the game? HELL yeah and still playin it!
Would I buy this game before playing it? YEP
Would I buy this game after playing it? YEP
Rating? This bad boy gets a solid 4.5 out of a 5

Now get off your arses and go buy this game!

Layta!
Joe

Dead Rising...comming Aug 8!

2006-08-03T20:08:00.000-04:00

Review of Micro Machines V4

2006-07-31T20:59:00.000-04:00

I got an opportunity to review the new Micro Machines game called Micro Machines V4. Not sure why V4...maybe there were 3 of them before??? I remember there being one on the NES (does that show my age? darn!) but nothing afterwards. Anyways, the game was very entertaining and brought back old school memories of those lil guys but after the nostalgia wore off, I was still left with a good game.

Pros:

First of all and a big plus for this game is that you have 750 micro machines that you can unlock. You can even trade them with other PSP players or move them over to your PS2 and play them there. I didn't get to try the trading because no one else I knew had this game and I didn't have the PS2 version of the game. The one thing I wish they would have done with these 750 unlockable Micro Machines would be to give them more details and paint jobs. They are all very bland and very little detail on them.

Another pro to this game was the tracks you get to play on. Most of the ones I played on were very fun, unique, if not aggravating at times. There are 40+ tracks that can be unlocked. You start with 2 (a pool table and a museum track). One thing about the tracks I did unlock was that they were all very short. This isn't a problem with the PSP because you want short game time on a portable but since this is the same game on the PS2 I think I would have wanted these tracks to be a lot longer.

Weapons are another fun thing about this game. There are 20 or more weapons that you pick up Mario Kart style to use in battle and races. One thing I liked was that the more weapons you pick up the heavier your car is and slower you move. This put a different spin on things.

Cons:

Would have like the cars to be more detailed and better paint jobs.

If playing on the PS2, the tracks would be way to short.

The major con to this game is how hard it is to play. At first you are stuck with a very crappy car and it is a challenge to win and open up more cars. However, once you open up a few more cars the challenge dwindles down. Don't get me wrong here. It still was challenging to me but I suck at car games for the most part and the control on the PSP was hard for me to master. I think this game may have been built to be easy and fun and there is nothing wrong with that. I just think that hard core driving sim players should stay waaaay far away from this game.

Final Thoughts:

Did I enjoy this game? Yes
Would I have bought this game before playing it? No
Would I buy this game now after playing it? No
Rating (1-5): 3.25

E3 is no more?

2006-07-31T03:01:00.000-04:00

Senior industry sources have revealed to Next-Gen.Biz that the E3 industry event, in its present form, has been cancelled for next year and the foreseeable future.

read more | digg story

Mini Games finally for the XBOX360

2006-07-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

Read an article from Gamespy this morn and they had this to say:

Collision Collusion, Turbine Jumper, Super Slam Dunk -- these are just a few of the mini-games that are being included in Hudson's new Xbox 360 game Fuzion Frenzy 2, the sequel to the Xbox party game Fuzion Frenzy. 40 mini-games are included in Fuzion Frenzy 2 along with tournament modes and customizable online modes. All the mini-games take place on seven different planets and feature a unique sci-fi theme. As with all Xbox 360 games, this title features full HD support. Fuzion Frenzy 2 is scheduled to hit store shelves all across the country this holiday season.

This is an awsome move for M$! Mini-games and XBOX Live = marriage made in heaven. I know I will be buying this and taking on my XBOX Live friends!

WOW on the XBOX360?

2006-07-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

GameDaily BIZ: Blizzard May Be Looking at Next-Gen Consoles

Blizzard Entertainment, known for its wildly popular MMO World of Warcraft, is now looking for a Senior Producer with experience on Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. While not an indication that WoW is coming to a next-gen console (yet), it does make it seem likely that Blizzard is targeting next-gen platforms in addition to the PC for future games. Read full article by clicking above link.

Joe:
I think it would be a smart move to put WOW on XBOX360.
Get console peeps hooked on WOW like the rest of us.

Stacked comes out stacked with fun!

2006-06-28T11:40:00.000-04:00

Played several hrs of the XBOX version of the new game out by 5000 ft.
I found out this was the first poker game by 5000 Ft but you can't tell by playing it. First let me warn everyone reading this that I am not a poker player or an online poker player. I have played poker at different times in my life (parties, with parents, etc). I have to say that I really enjoyed this game and how it actually teaches the player how to play better Texas hold 'em. How you may wonder? Tutorials and very good opponent AI.

Graphics are very nice on the XBOX. Of course you wouldn't think this matters with a card game but you have to read you AI opponents and the good graphics help.

Gameplay is where Stacked shines. Very realistic playing and fun as a bonus. I would be willing to bet you could play this game for a few hours and go beat your friends at a comple of hands right away.

All in all this game is very enjoyable and a great break from FPS and RPG games.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in card games and a for sure rent for those who aren't.

Best XBOX games on the XBOX360

2006-06-21T09:01:00.000-04:00

Article - Xbox 360 BC: The Best Ones // Xbox 360 /// Eurogamer

Joe:
Cool article telling which backward compatible XBOX games are best on the XBOX360. Also tells if their graphics are better on the 360.

Marvel Studios Engages All-Star Roster For New Film Slate

2006-06-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

Marvel.com - Marvel Studios Engages All-Star Roster For New Film Slate

Joe:
Info here bout the following super hero movies:

Iron Man
Incredible Hulk
Ant Man
Captain America
Nick Fury
Thor

New Conan Movie in the Works...

2006-06-16T08:57:00.000-04:00

Funcom, the company responsible for the development of the new MMORPG, Age of Conan, has sent out a release letting us all know about a deal that Paradox Entertainment plans to make another Conan movie, adding to the already rich license.

Click below for full read:

MMORPG.COM - Age of Conan : News - Current and Archived News Feeds

Joe:
Bring me on some Conan!

Drink coffe and you may not get liver damage from drinking...

2006-06-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Chicago - Coffee may counteract alcohols poisonous effects on the liver and help prevent cirrhosis, researchers say.

A large study found that one cup of coffee per day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups per day reduced the risk by 80 percent.

In a study of more than 125,000 people, one cup of coffee per day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups per day reduced the risk by 80 percent. The coffee effect held true for women and men of various ethnic backgrounds.

Joe:
Woohoo!
Im a big coffe drinker so I can drink all I want!

Dinosaur species named after Hogwarts

2006-05-24T16:09:00.000-04:00

Boing Boing: Dinosaur species named after Hogwarts

Sony bans reselling PS3 titles...you don't own PS3 titles...you license them!

2006-05-24T15:46:00.000-04:00

Games Radar - PS3 news - - [PS3] Sony makes moves to stamp out lucrative second-hand market

Joe:
This is soooo stupid!
Sony is digging their grave I tell ya!

Wii\'s World Wide Web

2006-05-24T14:27:00.000-04:00

Nintendo and Opera team up to take Wii users to the Internet. Learn how it\'s all going to work in this exclusive interview.\r\n\r\nJoe:\r\nWow! A working web browser on your console system...\r\nWhy didn\'t M$ think of this? Hell, the PSP even has one!

read more | digg story

The Da Vinci Code...

2006-05-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

Looks like the plan to thwart box office sale for The Da Vinci Code failed horribly...I think it is funny as hell. What they actually did was make it such a big deal that their plan actually back fired on them. There was also a group telling everyone to watch "Over The Hedge" and not "The Da Vinci Code" so that another movie would spank it in the box office sales. Well here is what happened:

-------------------------------------
The huge audience keen on unlocking the mystery of "The Da Vinci Code" didn't let critics talk them out of a trip to the cineplex this weekend. The film, which earned an estimated $77 million since opening Friday, bowed at #1 on the box-office top

Based on the bestselling book by Dan Brown, "The Da Vinci Code" also pulled in $224 million worldwide, making it the top earner of the year so far — with the second largest worldwide opening of all time behind "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," according to The Associated Press.
---------------------------------------

Good luck on your next attack on the next fictional mystery that has something to do with religion.

*laughs*

Microsoft pay-as-u-go...WTF are they thinking!

2006-05-22T09:35:00.000-04:00

Basically you pay for half of the PC up front and then you are charged 50 cents or more per hour of use. Once you pay for hundreds of hours...you own the PC and don't have to pay anymore. Microsoft is suppose to introduce this idea as the FlexGo plan.

read more | digg story

Wii Hide You Seek! Announced

2006-05-19T08:42:00.000-04:00

Wii Hide You Seek! Announced [Final] - Wii - Nintendo NSider Forums

Joe:
Read this post from the insider forums.
Sounds like total fun!
Hide n Seek game...who would have thought this up?
Leave it to the big N to think outside the box.
At least the Wii won't cost 600 bucks...haha
This mean I will totally be buyin me one.

Kubuntu is now accepting request for FREE CDs

2006-05-19T08:14:00.000-04:00

Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu is now accepting requests for FREE Kubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) CDs...

Joe:
Signing up now to their site to request my own to take a gander at. I like Ubuntu though so we will see...

read more | digg story

Some after E3 ramblings...

2006-05-17T21:28:00.000-04:00

On the MMORPG side:

Talked with Blizzard guys bout the expansion....no solid date...those bastards! Lost of asian/korean mmorpgs commin out. Most were diablo like. Diablo in the fact that most were click to move and was hack/slash based.

Played LOTR Online and was very impressed by it. They had four stations setup so that four peeps could try to beat a instance in it together. If they did then they got into the beta automatically. Me and Chris were seasoned mmorpg players but the other two guys that played with us were noobs and got us killed. So no auto beta for us. Im still signed up though.

Dungeon Runners: NCSoft mmorpg that is in beta (p.s. I just got accepted into the beta today) and will release this summer. Unlike what the article I read beforehand said about it being a WOW killer, DR isn't the same type of mmorpg at all. It is a Diablo dungeon crawller MMO that looks a WHOLE lot visually like WOW. However looks is where it stops being like WOW. If you want to download and play the game, it won't cost you a dime, but if you want to access every piece of content the game has to offer, you'll have to pay some reportedly small fees. The game uses a content payment system that gives you access to specific, elite items and other currently unspecified content.

Tabula Rasa: Also by NCSoft and by the company Richard Garriott created after he left the Ultima franchise. I saw this MMO last E3 and it was a lil raw but fun. This year it was a lot further and VERY fun. I still believe it isn't releasing until 2007 so don't get ur hopes up. This is a Sci-Fi MMORPG (like Anarchy Online). I loved how the fighting was real time shots and slashing....very cool!

Well, thats all the MMORPGs I can remem right now...

Read about the Crysis engine before I went to E3 and was hoping to see it in action and guess what? I did! It was very impressive and very, very beautiful! I think the guys behind Far Cry has done it again! Of course you will prob have to buy a 600 dollar video card for it to look as sweet as it did at E3...haha

Shadowrun...from M$....hmmm....it looked and played ok but not impressive compared to the other games at E3. The coolest thing bout this game was in the fact that with VISTA (the next M$ operating system) you can play against XBOX 360 people. Vista will have XBOX Live integrated within it. Have to give Kudos on that one M$.

The new Might and Magic game was impressive. Graphics were sweeeet and they game play looked and felt a lot like Oblivion. So guess what? It will do very well and rock when it comes out!

Neverwinter Nights 2 will for sure steal away many lives when it comes out. Titan Quest was totally fun (demo is out if you wanna try this RPG out). God of War 2 looks like more of the same awsome quality play as the first one.

The Marvel superhero related games were beautiful looking isometric playing games. Think Freedom Force with better graphics and characters you already know. I would give em a 3 out of 5.

Dead Rising for the XBOX 360....two words... CANT WAIT! Very fun...looks great...and you can kill zombies in sooooo many ways that it would take hours just to try out the diff ways. You can pretty much pick up just about anything. You can also change clothes...which makes for some other types of funny.... haha

Crackdown, another XBOX 360 is close to a GTA game but I totally think it rocks waaaaaay better. It was more open ended, had better fight engine, and you can upgrade your character to almost superhuman. On the floor they had the guy already maxed out on abilities so I had a lot of fun jumping from rooftop to rooftop and dropping down to slaughter the wicked!

SplinterCell anyone? They took the graphics to a whole nuther lev with it...believe me! Play? Not sure...didn't play it myself but they did talk about all the stuff they added that players actually requested.

RPG on the XBOX 360? Just when you thought once again (like with the XBOX) that we would never get a decent Japanese style RPG on the 360...BANG! Enchanted Arms happens! This game rocked the party out! And it was sooooooooo FF like that I think I cried a lil bit. Go check it out on Gamespot if you wanna know more.

Whew!
Im tired of typing now....
I will post more if I remember more...

E3 2006....Day 1

2006-05-11T03:59:00.000-04:00

If you didn't know...Im in LA at E3 this week.
How did my first day go?
Read on:

I will give more details bout some of the games I play here on the floor at E3, but this blog is just a review of my first day at the expo. Started the day early. Me and Chris planned to hit a few sessions before the expo floors opened. Got up at 7am...took the metro into LA and to the covention center.

Hit a 9am session about how to get a company started in todays' game industry. They didn't have any good news for new companies with good game ideas. I think the days of the indie game companies are almost dead.

The floor and halls opened at noon and I hit them as soon as the session was over. I hit the South Hall first cause it was the biggest one and well, it was the closest one to me at the time. I hit it hard core folks! Didn't eat or drink a damn thing or sit down once till 5pm when we took the Metro back.

What did I see? TONs!

Played several new MMORPGs that was very fun. One of them, Auto Assalt, was already out. I chatted with one of the developers of the game and he pretty much talked me into trying it. They have a free 14 day trial that anyone can sign up for. What I really like about it was not just that it was fun to play...it certainly was that...but the fact that you can play it for 10 to 40 mins and stop. It is sooo hard to make time for gamming sessions anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I will not stop WOW and after seeing the new WOW stuff in action I was pumped and wanted to go home and get TaRock to 60 before it comes out this summer. The Blizzard WOW booth had like 25 stations that you could play on and this time they didn't close down the new stuff after 30 secs like last year...haha.

Playstation 3 anyone? Yep...played it. Played Resistance: Fall of Man and I have to tell you all....very impressive! Controller felt great, game rocked, graphics overwelming! Didn't get to play any of the other ones they had playable yet...yet.

Very big PSP lineup was there. Tons of very sweet rpgs and platformers that I can't wait to get. DS had some sweet rpgs too. They are starting to get really good with getting one to use and like the stylus now. I guess it just took some time to tweak play with it.

The biggest surprise in the mobile gamming area that I saw and experienced was mobile phone games. They had tons of them there. I had played these cheap arse phone games before...but never like this! I got to play a bunch of classic games on mobile phones like dig dug, pacman, etc. I also got to play two different Final Fantasy games on mobile phones. I totally luved the FF games! They also have come a long way with other games like a very fun pool game and bowling game. I could get addicted to these...damn them!!!

Lets see....what else to ramble bout...

Swag anyone? Plenty there and I got plenty today. Plenty of shirts too. Way more shirts than last year. I think I figured out how to get shirts....talk to the people at the booth about the game. I asked them plenty of questions about the games I played and they would be like, "Want a shirt?"

Got on TV...it should be on G4 where Kevin is on the floor doing a quick note of some sort. I was totally behind em. After they filmed I got a pic of me and the Kever. I know some of you are gonna say im gay for that but who is at E3 and who isn't? Also got on a couple of online or other country shows. Who knows how to find those...some didn't even have a name on the camera. They all had a hot grrl with a mic though. *grin*

Speaking of grrls. Booth babes are not even close to last year. I heard and read bout them crackin down on em but didn't know what to expect. There are still very hot booth babes, but not as many. I didn't wanna do the "take my pic with you?" thing this year so you won't see many of those when I post my pics. I did get my pic with Dexter and a Power Puff Girl....haha.

Well, its late...Im headin to bed...another day at E3 tomorrow....

Nintendo Revolution Renamed Wii - Gizmodo

2006-04-28T13:57:00.000-04:00

Nintendo Revolution Renamed Wii - Gizmodo

Joe:
Just when you thought Nintendo was getting shit right...
They do something a lil stupid like renaming eh Revolution to Wii. WTF! I hope this isn't leading to more bad idea in Nintendo land. Still if they just screw up the name they will be ok...

STOP NOW Nintento!
You are already ahead this time.

Playstation 3 going to be over $600 - Gizmodo

2006-04-10T10:41:00.000-04:00

Playstation 3 going to be over $600 - Gizmodo

Joe:
Yep...thats what I predicted...sux

How to loose lots of weight... BariatricJoe Diet

2006-03-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

Ok...im against crash diets because I was never able to do them myself. I actually think that dieting causes you to gain weight because when you finally stop you gain more than you lost...trust me...been there many times. I wonder if I could get a grant to test my theory on a group of people...hmmm

Anyways, back to the point. I had gastric bypass surgery 12/2005 and I have lost over 130lbs ... don't clap *grin* I learned something important afterwards that may help people who can't get the opp to get gastric bypass surgery. What did I learn? ... you can get by without solid foods for a very long time. Think that sounds crazy? Let me explain...

After gastric bypass surgery you can hardly eat anything and for the first several weeks you can only have liquids. You are pretty much not eating and only getting in what your body needs daily to live and survive. So for almost 2 months I barely ate anything solid and nothing very heavy and boy did the weight fall off. I think that is one of the problems with loosing weight opossed to stopping smoking, you stop smoking but you have to eat.

Here is the deal.
If you want to loose a lot of weight fast, go on the following diet:

What you have to take or get into the body each day:
70 grams of protein through liquid drinks
A multivitamin with iron (actually two if your gonna do Flintstone chewables)
Calcium (1200mg) once a day (couple of Tums Ultra does the job)

What has to be taken once a week:
B1 (Thiamine) once a week

What has to be taken once a month:
B12 (1000mcg) once a month

What to eat?
That is up to you...as little as you can do is my recommendation.
Here is the goals they gave us for when we were out four months:

· Protein: 70 grams per day.

· Carbohydrates: <100 grams per day.

· Fat: <25 grams per day.

· Fluids: 64 ounces per day at a minimum.

I should give this diet a name...like the BariatricJoe Diet...

Excellent Oblivion tweak guide for the PC

2006-03-28T13:46:00.000-05:00

5 pages of outstanding tweaks to maximize performance in one of the most gorgeous PC games ever released. Page 5 has links to some of the early mods out as well.

Joe:
Didn't try these, but blogged this cause I have two friends that are playing the PC version.

read more | digg story

A New DS Game to Please the Brain

2006-03-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

Nintendo is releasing a new game next month called 'Brain Age' for the DS that is aimed at increasing IQ.

Joe: And they tell you that video games rot your brain...haha

read more | digg story

South Park declares war on Scientology

2006-03-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well, you may or may not have heard that South Park pissed off the cult of Scientology with a past episode. Isaac Hayes has already successfully asked out of his contract because he believes they have gone to far. He had no issues until the scientology ep...hmmm interesting. His "official" reason was:

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

Co-creator of South Park Matt Stone responded:

"In 10 years and over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslim, Mormons or Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

Now the situation has escalated:

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have all but declared war on the Church of Scientology following member Tom Cruise's successful move to have episode Trapped in the Closet pulled from US screens.

Comedy Central canned a repeat of the offending programme due to air last Wednesday, provoking the show's creators to declare to Variety: "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies.

"Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

I think it is pretty sad that Tom Cruise used his "muscle" in the industry to do this to South Park. I may not agree with a lot of what they do on their show, but one thing you have to hand it to them is that they pick on everyone. That is why I think they should be left alone about this. Now that there is a crack in their wall more people will try to get certain South Park episodes banned.

That is my two cents...

MMORPG Shadowbane goes FREE!

2006-03-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

Many members of the Shadowbane Community have already noticed that a change has occured to the Billing System today; one that allows players to play for free!

Joe:
MMORPG for free?
Sweeeet!

read more | digg story

XBOX 360 Hacked?!

2006-03-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

Word is out on the street that a flaw in the Xbox 360 DVD firmware may allow a hacker to install his own custom firmware in there unchecked, allowing the drive to boot backups of original game DVD by flashing a self-built firmware in there which ignores the mandatory disc signing.

Joe:
This means that if and when (and if it is worth it) they release this hack me and me ol electronics guru Bilbo will be testing it out. If it isn't worth it then it would be a no go for me. I love XBOX Live now and don't wanna leave it for just any reason.

read more | digg story

NCAA bracket templates - Lifehacker

2006-03-15T13:50:00.000-05:00

Download of the Day: NCAA bracket templates - Lifehacker

For Windows only: Microsoft is offering up free downloadable templates for this year’s NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

The templates are all free, and you can download the tournament brackets for either Excel or Visio. The Excel brackets are especially nice, including a sheet with a cool results tracker. This looks like a good way to track winners or throw together a quick tournament pool.

PSP getting an EyeToy and will play PS1 games...

2006-03-15T10:13:00.000-05:00

Sony President Ken Kutaragi accounced that the PSP will be getting its own EyeToy. The new camera will allow you to play games interactively. I would guess this would also mean that you will take pictures and record video too.

Also, he announced that there will be a PS1 emulator for the PSP. Sony will offer PS1 game downloads to your PSP at a low price. Presumably the available titles will be ones that don't contain large amounts of full-motion video, so that they can be stored in the PSP's Memory Stick, although if the rumors are true about a new 8 GB NAND PSP then players could easily store full versions of the PS1's games just as they were originally on CD.

More news you ask?
The PSP is scheduled for a major firmware update this spring, with plans for a videophone and VoIP capability, as well as a Global Positioning System (GPS) add-on module, which will be supported by certain games. The next version of the PSP web browser will feature Flash support.

Layta!
Joe

Full Auto for the 360 gets 3.5 out of 5 stars here...

2006-03-14T10:09:00.000-05:00

Ok...I first want to thank Lauren from M80 for the opportunity to play and review Full Auto from Sega. I was very happy to see that they wanted real people and game player reviews and not just people involved in the game industry. This review will be an honest review with no fluff... I promise!

Ok, to the game at hand...

Full Auto is a car/racing game but not just your usual car/racing game; they have added some very nice touches to the way to worn out genre. Honestly, I play some game of this genre, but never get too deep into them or play them longer than 3 or 4 hours. How is Full Auto different? Your car has weapons and you blow stuff up! That is enough to hook me for longer than 4 hours. Here is the lowdown:

Graphics: Beautiful and just made the next gen level. I only have SVid at home so I took the game to a few friends' homes and played it on HDTV TVs and projectors. Very sweet but the graphics don't make or break this game.

Modes: Good number of modes. You can start a Career and start unlocking stuff (plenty of stuff to unlock); you can choose Pursuit, Arena, Tag, and Rampage. There are plenty of mini games to play too. So mode wise... more than enough to give you reasons to buy.

Gameplay: I’m not a big car/race guy, but have play 75 percent of them at some point be it for one game or for a few hours and I have to say that Full Auto ranks high here. The only marks I have against Full Auto are that after a while this game becomes repetitive... aka: Same ol race, different car and guns. Plenty of modes help this fact but still you’re in a car, racing and shooting other cars. One new feature that has never been done in a car/racing game is the reversing of time or uncrashing ability. Think Prince of Persia. This is a nice feature but doesn't really sell the game for me. Don't get me wrong...I use it, but not that much.

Well, this is my review of Full Auto and if I rated games with 1 to 5 stars, this game gets a 3.5 because it was fun, plenty to unlock and do, and I love to blow up the environment and other cars. My only negative was after a while (for me over a week of playing it every day) it got repetitive.

Layta!
Joe

Microsoft's handheld to be revealed on 3.2.2006

2006-02-28T09:50:00.000-05:00

GameSpot News: The definitive source for video game news, announcements, ship dates, rankings, sales figures, and more.

Joe:

The above link takes you to Gamespots' rumor control article about it but this thing is hot all over the net. Looks like Microsoft is comming out with a handheld and will be revealing details on March 2, 2006 (in two days). Ive scanned the net and read a lot on this but since everyones' take seems to differ, I won't give any details until M$ reveals the facts. All I know is that I am very excited and hope that they don't try to put out some $1000 device. I believe that it will fail if they do. That is why tablet PCs failed (still failing I guess). Most people don't have that kind of cash for a device like that. We techies buy so many devices that we can blow $500 to $600 on a device but $1000 is a little harder to do and if we are going to save up for something, we normally are saving up for a TV of some sort or dual video cards for our computers.

Thats my take...I will post again about this after the revealing.

Layta!

Google releases new Page Creator

2006-02-23T09:05:00.000-05:00

"Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes."

Joe:
Went and made me one using their tool:
http://joe.davis.googlepages.com/home
Very nice...
Would like to have move control over the look though.
They have a ton of pre-made styles and formats but you can't really edit, change or tweak them.
Give it 3 out of 5...

read more | digg story

Nintendo DS to watch TV and surf the web with Opera

2006-02-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

Nintendo DS to watch TV, Opera | Tech News on ZDNet

Joe:
Get all the juicy detail from the above link to the ZDNet article but here is the down low..

Someone has really set a fire under Nintendos' arse these days. First they annouced they were gonna move from an image of being "kiddie" to being "hip and cool". Now they are bringing out (at first just in Japan) a TV card and web browser for their hand held system, the Nintendo DS.

Nintento is declining to release specifics on the TV card for the DS. However they have released info on the web browser which was developed by Opera and will consist of a Wi-Fi card and software allowing the DS user to browse the internet in areas with wireless connectivity.

This all sounds groovy to me and I am very glad I own a DS myself. If you don't own one either go grab one or check out the new thinner and lighter DS Lite version that is soon to be release in Japan and then US (Nintendo DS Lite).

Oh...and if you get a DS make sure you check out Animal Crossing. It sounds and looks soooo kiddie but damn it is addictive!!!

Google Desktop 3 extreme launched

2006-02-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

Hot Features:
- Share information with your friends right from the Sidebar
- Floating panels on your desktop
- Play multi-user games (Tic Tac Toe)
- View personalized news, photos, and more on your desktop
- Find your emails, files, photos, web history, Gmail, and more
- Security: Lock Search
- Advanced Search

Joe:
Just downloaded this and will be installing and trying it.
I used the older version of the desktop but removed it because I didn't really need to search all my shit from a central location. Looks like the new version adds some cool stuff that I may like to have. Maybe I can use it and stop using netvibes for rss feeds. BTW: netvibes rock!!!

read more | digg story

PowerGlove Mouse

2006-02-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

Powerglove Mouse. With this hack I can strap on the Powerglove and have total control over the mouse cursor on my computer. I can control the cursor position with a wave of my hand and activate the mouse clicks by simply bending my fingers - a beautiful integration of old and new.

Joe:
If I had a power glove... I would totally do this mod.
*Start Dream*
Imagine if you had a "wireless" power glove mouse and use a media PC connected to your TV...
*End Dream*

read more | digg story

Hack up your MySpace profile

2006-02-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

Let's face it, the profiles on MySpace are UGGGLY. I came across this nice tutorial for getting your profile to look exactly the way that you want it to.

AUTHOR'S WARNING:
This post contains information that exploits MySpace and is against their terms of use.

Joe:
Gonna try it...hope I don't get into trouble.

read more | digg story

The Lego Suicides

2006-02-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Lego Suicides - a photoset on Flickr

Joe:
Like ur mommas always told ya...
LEGOS KILL!!!!

1GB iPod Nano Released Today!

2006-02-07T23:24:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that a 1GB Nano is upod us. This explains why the US Apple store was down at the time of this being written. It seems that the Australian store jumped the gun and uploaded the specifications sheet early.

Joe:
mmmmm
Time to ebay off my one gig shuffle and get me a one gig nano!

read more | digg story

USB Data Transfer Device

2006-02-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

ThinkGeek :: USB Data Transfer Device

Joe:
If you are one of those friends that everyone calls for computer related help then this would be the device to have on hand. I couldn't tell you how much time this device and my notebook would have saved for me in the past. I am seriously thinking about buying this.

Perplex city... A new type of CCG

2006-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

Boing Boing: Perplex city

Joe:
OMG! I sooooo hope these catch on in USA.
This card game is an awsome idea!!!!

We've all paid for 45Mbps to our homes, now demand it!

2006-02-01T18:33:00.000-05:00

U.S. Telcos have ripped us off. They've promised the people of the U.S. fiber to the curb and because of that they've gotten all kinds of rate increases approved and breaks from the government. It's time we demand our broadband!

read more | digg story

Firmware completely hacked for Xbox1

2006-01-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

The next step is teh hacking of teh 360. The system will be unable to distinguish regular disks and backed up one. Making it hard to block xbox live. The firmwares are similar in the 360 and xbox1. Since there is multiple drives out there (core and premium have slightly different drives) changing the firmware will be hard.

Joe:
Sweet! Im sure M$ will change Live so that it will block this firmware hack, but this would rock for anyone that doens't care bout Live. He aslo says that he is gonna make it harder to detect so maybe Live for hacked XBOX1s will be possible with this hack.

read more | digg story

Full length Vampire movie, 9200 dollars

2006-01-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

For 9200 dollars (including Powerbook G4 and Panisonic DV cam), you can make a feature length film. I'd go see it. Its amazing what kind of power technology is putting in our hands, the big boys better look out! first podcasting, now this!!

Joe:
This would be my dream...

read more | digg story

Cameron returns to Avatar?

2006-01-19T10:26:00.000-05:00

Moviehole.net - Cameron returns to Avatar?

Joe:
This movies sound sweet!

Cory's Anda's Game podcast

2006-01-09T23:17:00.000-05:00

Boing Boing: Cory's Anda's Game podcast concludes

A peek into movie theater economics

2006-01-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

So how do the theaters make their money?

Joe:
I knew it....effin SOBs should be arrested.
This is why people download movies and watch them.
Fix this issue and maybe video games won't make more money than the film/movie industry.

read more | digg story

BBC's Inside Nintendo: A Nintendo documentary

2006-01-08T10:08:00.000-05:00

Nintendo fans who missed last year's BBC3 documentary about the company will be pleased to hear that it's now available for watching over the Internet.

read more | digg story

New QuickChat extension lets you chat with website visitors in Real-Time!

2006-01-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

This is a great new Firefox extension that will let you chat directly within Firefox with other people who are visiting the same website you are. Chat with other digg.com users while you are busy digging stories! Great use of an AJAX extension to let you chat with people who like the same sites you do.

Joe:
OMG...I tried this while on digg.com and it worked. It connects you to MIRC chat channels labeled for the site ur on. ex: #digg.com. If this catches on, WOW....totally rocks!

read more | digg story

Get around firewalls and blocked websites at school and work

2006-01-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

Get around firewalls and blocked websites at school and work

Joe:
This sounds cool. I don't need it, but you could use it to be anon at work. Tried to go to their website and check it out but I think since this was on Digg their website is getting hammered.

Starz Introduces A Movie Download Service

2006-01-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

Starz looks to expand to PCs, video players | CNET News.com

Well, sounds pretty cool.
Haven't went to check out what movies are up yet, but the deal announced costs $9.95 a month and you can download movies from the internet (better have broadband) and watch them either on your computer or (supported) portable video players and TV sets.

My take?
This is all good news. Imagine not having to subscribe to cable or Dish or Direct anymore...
"Dreams Can Come True"

layta
Joe

Learning Debian GNU/Linux entire book online...

2005-12-23T12:26:00.000-05:00

An O'Reilly book I found when googling. Its a nice book about Debian (my fav distro). The entire book is in HTML format for easy browsing and you can get to it anytime :). Good reference material as well.

read more | digg story

This is funny....

2005-12-07T09:10:00.000-05:00

George W Bush goes to a primary school to talk about the war. After his talk he invites questions. One little boy puts up his hand, and the President asks him his name. "Billy!" "And what is your question, Billy?"

"I have three questions," says the boy. "First - why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second - why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? and Third - whatever happened to Osama bin Laden?"

Just then the bell rings for recess. George W Bush informs the children that they will continue after recess. When they resume, the President says: "Okay where were we? Oh that's right, question time. Who has a question?" A different little boy puts his hand, George points him out and asks his name. "Steve!" "And what is your question, Steve?"

"I have five questions: First - why did the USA invade Iraq without the support of the UN? Second - why are you President when Al Gore got more votes? Third - whatever happened to Osama bin Laden? Fourth - why did the recess bell go 20 minutes early? and Fifth - what happened to Billy?"

BrickQuest: Fantasy Boardgaming with legos!

2005-11-29T14:20:00.000-05:00

BrickQuest: Fantasy Boardgaming in an ABS Universe

Joe:
OMG!
Wonder how much to actually buy the shit to do this with?
The site has pics and a downloadable rules pdf.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Down with Best Buy!

2005-11-26T18:53:00.000-05:00

KOIN.com: Local News, Weather, Sports, Entertainment and Health

Joe:
This is the kinda shit that really pisses me off! F*ck Best Buy! Taking advantage of the XBOX 360 shortages is so wrong! Reminds me of what EBGames did with the World of Warcraft game shortage.

[H]ard|OCP - Microsoft Xbox 360 Review

2005-11-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

[H]ard|OCP - Microsoft Xbox 360

Teaching Computers the Stuff We All know

2005-11-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

An awesome AI project that allows everyone to take part in teaching the computer common sense. Log-in and it starts asking you questions, you just answer the questions and it learns. Creating a huge database of general knowledge to fuel future AI engines. Fascinating and addicting way to speed us on toward the Singularity! :)

read more | digg story

How far is the moon from the Earth...really?

2005-11-26T17:56:00.000-05:00

Earth and Moon

Joe:
Check this image out! It gives you a realistic look as to how far the moon really is from the Earth. We see the moon depicted way closer than it actually is.

Violent video games and Hillary Clinton...

2005-11-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

Read this in a CGW (Computer Gamming World) mag. It was an interview with American McGee. He was the man behind the hit game "American Mcgees' Alice" and he is comming out with a sweet game called "Bad Day LA American McGee". He was asked here about his new game being violent and how violent video games are taking a hit right now...

Start of article clip
******************************

CGW: But don't you think that you're just giving ammunition to the Hillary Clintons and the Jack Thompsons' of the world? They'll wind up attacking you.

AM: You know what? I hope they do. This game was born out of my fustrations. This game deals with the political nature of fear, of the war, of race issues, of all these things today. I would like nothing more than to go on television with Hillary Clinton and look her in the eye and go, "Wait a second. You want to tell me that you want to ban my videogame - or you don't accept the fact that its' available for people who are 18 and over - and yet you go on record saying you want to send more kids to Iraq? And they start enlisting before they're 17 years old - befoe they can even buy a videogame where we simulate violence, you want to send them off to war?"

**************************
End of article clip

OMG!
I now have a true luv for American McGee! His comments hit true to the ol' ticker here. I am totally gonna support his games from here out...well, except Scrapland....it sucked.

Comment and let me know what you think!

Thank you lower court judges!

2005-11-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Federal law enforcement attempts to use cell phones as tracking devices were rebuked twice this month by lower court judges, who say the government cannot get real time tracking information on citizens without showing probable cause.

This summer, Department of Justice officials separately asked judges from Texas and Long Island, New York to sign off on orders to cellular phone service providers compelling them to turn over phone records and location information -- in real time -- on two different individuals.

Joe:
Good...bastards don't need to do this! Im telling you all! Watch a sci-fi movie about the future and how the government is controling everything people do (Big Brother) and this is where we are heading.

And to those of you who voted W in...
I don't want to ever hear u fuckers bitch about what is going on (gas, war, etc.) because you helped this to happen!

Full article below:

Wired News: U.S. Cell-Phone Tracking Clipped

Send voice messages through Outlook emails as MP3s... WaxMail is here!

2005-10-27T16:22:00.000-04:00

.: UNEASYsilence :. » Blog Archive » Lazy typers rejoice, WaxMail to the rescue

Free WaxMail lets you talk instead of type! Your voice messages are attached to Outlook emails (as MP3’s) ready to send to any email address. Recipients do not need WaxMail in order to hear your message.

Joe:
Installin and gonna try this one right now!

Religion and ur iPod Shuffle

2005-10-26T13:31:00.000-04:00

Joe:
These are cool little lanyard replacements for ur iPod Shuffle.
They turn your Shuffle into a cross necklace.
I just bought one of these for my Shuffle.
I know it is sad...but I like it so bite me!

Super Mario World level-editor

2005-10-21T17:27:00.000-04:00

"Lunar Magic is a level editor I created for Super Mario World (SNES). It's the first and, as far as I know, the only level editor available for this game. I began looking into making an editor for it shortly after releasing the SoM VWF patch, mostly on a whim to see how hard it would be."

read more | digg story

Windows Services That Can Be Disabled

2005-10-21T16:34:00.000-04:00

One of the most effective ways to secure a Windows XP workstation is to turn off unnecessary services. This reference sheet lists each Windows XP SP 2 service, describes each service's function, specifies whether you can safely disable the service, and outlines the ramifications of doing so.

read more | digg story

Hacking sleep - hack a day

2005-10-20T00:54:00.000-04:00

Hacking sleep - hack a day - www.hackaday.com _

Star Wars Battlefront 2 has gone gold!

2005-10-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

LucasArts announced last week that Star Wars Battlefront II had gone gold and was on schedule to ship October 31.

With a retooled single-player experience, more than 16 new battlefronts and the ability to board capital ships and attack from within, Battlefront II takes the popular gameplay of the original to the next level. At certain points in the game, players can even tune in to the Force, wield a lightsaber and use special Force powers as a Jedi.

Ships at the end of this month, for Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and PC.

How to get by on only 4.5 hours of sleep!

2005-10-15T12:17:00.000-04:00

The author states the the overall quantity of sleep doesn't matter as long as it is in 90 minute multiples. He functions on 3 hours of sleep at night and one 90 minute nap in the evening and feels completely alert and refreshed.

Joe:
I am going to try this people.
Anyone that knows me knows that I hate sleeping.

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Nintendo tells retailers to name their price for Gamecubes

2005-10-15T11:57:00.000-04:00

Following some rather disappointing sales, Nintendo has decided to remove all pricing restrictions for their Gamecube. The console, normally priced at $99 will now be able to be competitively priced as stores see fit. Get ready for some deals

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Google To Make IM Clent Similar To Trillan?

2005-10-14T16:05:00.000-04:00

Google just hired the lead developer of GAIM. GAIM is an IM client for Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux that is compatible with the following IM Servises: AIM, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo!, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Zephyr networks, and GroupWise Messenger. Could Google be making an IM client similar to Trillian. If they did I would sure use it.

Joe:
Bout time. Trillian is cool, but I always start by using it and then end up back using 3 different IM apps again. In case you didn't know, Trillian if a popular IM client that will connect to multiple IM accounts (yahoo, aol, msn, icq, etc). I hope google does it right!

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21 Xbox Live Arcade games at launch, 35 games by summer 2006

2005-10-14T13:47:00.000-04:00

21 Xbox Live Arcade games at launch, 35 games by summer 2006 - Joystiq - www.joystiq.com

Joe:
Last week if you asked me it would be NO.
Now the answer it a firm YES that I will get a 360 at launch.
I almost forgot about the new XBOX live arcade having classic and web games available to play. Yes, I will still get the Revolution, but it won't be out till 2007...can't wait that long to play my classic and web games online against friends.

Disco Joe

2005-10-14T00:52:00.000-04:00

Disco+Joe - Muglets - Custom e-cards, mobile phone screensavers & more

Joe:
Didn't know I had these moves did ya?

The evolution of gaming: computers, consoles, and arcade

2005-10-14T00:19:00.000-04:00

The evolution of gaming: computers, consoles, and arcade : Page 1

Joe:
This is cool. My boss Ed would be all over this. He is super into classic consoles. Currently he is all about the Atari 5200. I have to admit... it was kinda cool to play it. I never had one myself. I only had the 2600 from Atari. If you are too young to know the old school consoles then read this to be hip to the new trend in video games which is classic consoles and video games.

How to recalibrate your laptop battery

2005-10-13T23:48:00.000-04:00

How to recalibrate your laptop battery - Lifehacker

Joe:
Trying this right now...

Logitech's G15 Gaming Keyboard

2005-10-13T14:08:00.000-04:00

Logitech's G15 Gaming Keyboard--Review by ExtremeTech

Joe:
Read this review. I totally want one of these. It is the best gamming keyboard I have seen so far. There are others... and yes I have tried a few. Gonna try to see if the G15 is at Comp USA or Circuit City so I can take a gander at it. The backlite keys, 54+ macros, and the high resolution LCD screen that can be made to do stuff is what game me wood. I just know that the gamming community will take the included SDK for the LCD stuff and run with it. The article also states that it is about $75 to buy. Not bad considering that the Z-Board cost my friend $99 bucks to buy and it was ok at best.