NBA 2K6 '360 Screens

It looks so real, I feel like I can touch it! Now, imagine what NFL 2K6 would have looked like. If only...if only...

(Image from TeamXbox)

Vote Halo 2!

Gphoria, the "award show for Gamers" is currently taking online votes for all categories. You have to registar, but it only takes a few minutes. Be sure to head over and vote for what should be game of the year, Halo 2.

LINK

Also, what do you think of Blogger's new picture uploader? Before, if I wanted to inlclude a pic, I had to use Hello, Google's image transfer thing. Hello works really well, and I loved using it, but when I got a new laptop, I never redownloaded the files.

Wipeout Pure: Gamma Pack 2

Why can't they update their damn site? My PSP can't hold a WiFi connection to save its dead pixeled life. I'm still trying to get that pack...and it would be alot easier if they would just pop up their online download NOW!!

Still Gone...No PSP

I can't publish the PSP review today, as planned, because my WiFi hotspot is iffy at best. The file, which ois on a little USB drive, aka as my PSP, is just too big to upload right now. Plus, I'm a little busy to fuss with it just now.

Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow, June 22. I (should) have the file available by midnight tomorrow. I can't promise it any sooner.

PSP News: Gamma Pack 2

Looks like a new wave of content is ready for download for the hit game Wipeout: Pure on the PSP.

Tomorrow, Gamma Pack 2 will be released, which is supposed to inlucde two new maps, one enitilted "Ubermall", as well as at least one new skin and ship.

The content is free, and will be avialble via direct download on your PSP using a WiFi hotspot, or, by using a PC to download via normal Internet and then by transfering to a PSP with a USB cable.

No BBall...No Hotel

Ah, the joys having no control over you life. Like I posted yesterday, I was supposed to head out to a Padre/Dodger game today. I was also supposed to stay in a hotel in nearby Temecula, CA to aviod the whole midnight drive home thing. Unfortunatly, it turned sour on both accouants.

First, the hotel was easily the worst I have ever stayed in. The price was $169 for a "suite" that consited of basically a bed, s few extra feet of floor space, and two foldable chair beds. Heres where things start to turn to the worst. My first step is to turn on the A/C, which, not surprising, consists of a swamp cooler. The smell was unbearable. After about an hour I realized there was no why I could sleep here. The dead bugs under the chair, a wasp nest, and no free WiFi (even worse, they wanted to charge me) made the desicion all the easier.

I a not a particuly picky person who has to have things just so...but, I do need basic nesscites, and for $169, I expect to get a nice room. The management explained the hotel state as "rustic" and "an antique". The excuss dosn't cut it for me. Luckily, the refunded me $110 and I went to go stay at a nearby Hampton. Much better hotel, with free WiFi (How I am currently blogging this)

To top it off, once I was there, my "party" realized that the tickets were not for today. Haha! Great. So, I am stuck in Temecula, a now at least in a livable hotel room, that charges for eveything. I geuss I just never notcied the hotel charges. $7 for an hour of GameCube (Not even Xbox mind you. An hour of Double Dash or Animal Crossing is not worth $7. I could buy the game for that price.)$12.99 for Internet access, and about $4 to watch anything on TV, which, by the way, now has a Tivo-esque service that allows you to sorta rewind and record. I didn't pay for it, so I can't be sure...but in theory it sounded like a good idea. The TV also had in theater somehwere movies, like Fever Pitch and Geuss Who, but I wasn't impressed with the picture quality.

Ahhhh...what a day.

SAT Results Tomorrow

I'm a tad bit worried about what I'll get. That test was so hard...I'm hoping for a 1900-2000...I know its alot, but hey, with a 4.0 GPA I should score that high, shouldn't I?

What will be interesting is to see what my essay score is...just to see how big a deal length is. I wrote the absolute maxium allowed...so, according to several LA Times Ed/Op writters...I should be OK.

Coming This Week

Ahhh, nothing to actually post right now...but I have a couple of big stories I'm going to be posting throughtout the week. Here's whats coming down the runway this week:

Monday: Padre/Dodger Game, Possible Live Audio

Tuesday: The PSP Review (4 Pages Long!)

Wednesday: PSP Games Review (Wipeout, Twisted Metal, and Lumines)

Thursday: Nintendo's Future (Long....article)

Free Stuff For Going to ROTS?

This weekend, get free stuff for going to see ROTS? Count me in!

It looks like everyone that goes to see Revenge of the Sith this weekend will get a cool, "Who's Your Daddy" poster just for buying a ticket. Sounds good to me. I might not be able to head out to a theather this weekend, as I have to travel tomorrow for Father's Day and it's alreadly late today, but I'll probably look around in ebay for a poster after-the-fact.

Another promotion that dosn't end this weekend is this See It Again Pinball one. Looks like everytime you head out to see ROTS, save the ticket, send it in, and you could win a pretty cool pinball machine valued at over $2000 (That seems like alot to me...are all pinball machines this expensive?)

Looks like Lucas is trying to get ROTS back at the #1 spot in the box office. In recent weeks, it has slipt to number 3 and below, suffering from hits like "Mr. and Mrs." and "Cinderalla Man". Altough I can't frankly see why anyone would want to go see any of those movies. Expect ROTS to fall out of the top five once "War of the Worlds" hits on the 29th...just too many movies out for a May release to stay on top.

That's Me!

I just made the news!

Well, my town anyway.

For starters, I live in a pretty small urban little town, by the name of Yucaipa. That little town was rocked by a 4.9 earthquake that put it on ABC, NBC, FOX and CNN for more than three hours!

As we speak, helicopters are flying over my house capturing the scene. Nothing of my stuff was damaged or even fell down, but I did feel the rather long quake.

I took some pictures of the news cast and of the helicopter scene that I'll upload latter. But, for now heres a Reutors news story! Reutors!

LINK

EB Games Rip Off

Cheek this out...I suppose this is simply a time mess up, but, still, I would be pissed if I paid the full $50 if the game was a Platnium Hit.

LINK

I was shocked to see it as a PH, though. Pretty good value, definatly worth the pick-up. In fact, it's also worth noting that alot of SW games are getting marked down right now...I just got Galexies, a complete collection of all three games for less than 30 bucks.

No HD "Revolution"

Nintendo annouced last week that its next-gen console, the Revolution, will not support HD games because it "costs too much." Okay, that wasn't a real quote. But cost is the reason why HD wont be supported.

IGN now wants everyone to email Nintendo to say, hey, WTF, I want HD. While your at it, I suggest asking them at least one of the following bonus questions:

• Does Nintendo give out free drugs to its employies? If not, how do you guys say the crazy things you do?
• What is Nintendo On? Are you guys simply trying to get rid of old Virtual Boy helmets?
• How do you manage to pay the electric bill?

Go ahead, ask 'em. Heres their email addy nintendo@noa.nintendo.com

Music Wars: M$ to Fight iTunes

Today, the cheif officer of the Xbox/360 project, Robbie Bach, was promoted to work with the MS Music service to "make it compete with iTunes". To do that, Robbie will have to change his job from making a cool thing not so cool, to making a sucky thing cool.

Xbox was already a cool product, and I doubt Rob had any problems trying to get people to see the black box as cool. But, what a change it will be in trying to get the MS music service cool enough to compete with Apple's iTunes.

Halo Movie: What $10 Million SHOULD Buy

All over the web, sites are already making their wishes known for the Halo Movie. Cheek out IGNs here, the best all-around list, and mine below.

Story
The story overall just needs to make sense. It needs to both fit in with the games, but yet be its own as well. I don't want to see it as simply a reiteration of the games, yet, it should not go too far from the orginal source. The best bet for te story would rest on a connection between 2 and 3, but, in the posistion Master Cheif was left in, it might not be for the best. I want to fight that Earth battle, god damn it!

Overall best bet: side story of Halo 2/ gap for 3

Cast
The best bet for a cast would be to have a literal no-name be the Master. No one should realy see his face, just hear a voice. For that, I would love to see the voice-over actor in the game do the same voice for the movie. (Think Vader voice-overs). As far as Cortona and Johnson goes, Cortona is a hands down perfect role for Jenifer Garner (Alias). She has proven to both smart and kinda sexy, in that geek-love way. We all know who has to be Johnson, it's essential that Samual L. Jackson is the hands-down only thought for the Serg.

Type
I personal will only see this movie if it is live-action. I still don't think animated movies "qualify" as real movies. Just my opinion, but, I don't like them.

Rating
Must be R. No question about it, an M rated game must transfer as an R-rated movie. Partly for the cool action, and partly to keep the boger-eating 11-year olds out.

More People Hate the Cell, Sony Burns Again

Ah, the harsh world that is the tech industry. Today, comments flew from both sides of the fence in the early rounds of the sure-to-be-firece PS3 V. 360 battle.

On the Sony side, the Kutaragi Sony-smack talker once again laid down some smack on the 360, calling its backwards compatability "flawed":

"As for Xbox, when the new generation comes out this November, the current Xbox will become the old generation. So when that happens, the Xbox will be killing itself. The only way to avoid that is to support 100% [backward] compatibility from the first day. But Microsoft won’t be able to commit to that, it is technically complicated. "

Not committing? This coming from a company that hasn't even finalized hard tech specs for their console?

He then went on to diss some pixel shadder thing in the 360, which is too complicated for me to understand:
"As for ATI’s architecture, the vertex and pixel shader are unified and that looks good at first glance but I think it will have some difficulties. For example, where will the results of vertex processing be placed and how will it be sent [back] for pixel processing? If at one point it gets congested, everything is going to slow down. Reality is different from what is drawn in a picture. If we're taking a realistic look at performance, I think nVIDIA's approach is superior."

Which leads me to my next argument, on the other side of the fence. Today, sources (NY Times) reveled that Steve Jobs was not impressed by "The cell", the driving power behind Sony's next-gen everything. It seemed reasonable to belive back at GDC that a Sony/Apple marriage was coming, but now, it looks like Apple ran away from the alter. Add to Apple to the growing list of people not impressed by the "Cell".

STARD Tourny Details

While I still need, well, EVERYONE, to join the tourny, I have set in stone some of the basic tenets, in the hope that someone will read and want to participate.

Tourny open to all Xbox Live members, with the following games:

• Halo 2
• MechAssult 2
• Whacked!
• NBA 2K5
• Call of Duty: FH

To consit of four daily rounds, and one final showdown.

Monday, August 15, 2005 Round 1

Game: Halo 2 Type: 8-Player FFA Deathmatch. Bottom Three eliminated

Play will end once 50 players are left.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Round 2

Game: Whacked! Type: 4 Player FFA Deathmatch Bottom Two eliminated

Play will end once 16 players remain

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 Round Three

Game: NBA 2K5 Type: One V. One, West Coast V. East Coast Loser eliminated

Play will end once 4 Players remain

Thursday, August 18, 2005 Round Four

Game: Call of Duty Type: One on One deathmath, Best out of seven Overal loser eliminated

Play will end once 2 players remain

Friday, August 19, 2005 Final

Game: Random (Out of above 5) Type: Deathmatch 1V1, best out of seven Overall loser elminated

email me at stardrummer@gmail.com to enter (Free!!)

Winner to Recieve choice of PSP or Xbox 360*

*as long as 100 entrants are recieved.

I Guess There Is No Free Lunch

I just found this interesting quote from some Japanese Nintendo dude:

"There's rumors floating on the Internet that the Virtual Console will be available for play for free, but we have no plans to distribute [the games] without charge.

There goes the only reason why I was excited about the Revolution...oh well, back to the real console show off...

Last Day of School

So, today was the final, last day of school for the year. Ah, the free time I now have! With all this free time, I will once again head back over to Halo 2 and try to improve my puny level 11.

(Play Green Day muisc)
What a year.

2nd to Last Day of School

Think back to August...ahhhh...what closer this brings.

So, today was the second to last day of my junior year. We got yearbooks on Friday and today was finals for History and English, although, since those were AP classes, the finals were not, should I say, hard.

The summer is so close I can taste it. Sure, with it comes my driving test, band camp and college work...but ahhh the nice late mornings will feel nice indeed.

Burn!

Ken Kutaragi just dissed the 360. In a major way.

While most MS employes with direct people contact, namly Major, have been polite when discussing the next-gen consoles differences, Ken, the PS3 father, was bold, crass and just plane wrong. Here's his main quote:

"the messages of the Xbox 360 and PS3 differ clearly. Xbox 360 emphasized it is a game machine which is complete as a platform. PS3 emphasized the possibility of technology."

I love when people make fun of Xbox because it is a game machine. The hard facts are that the onyl reason I'm going to spend $300+ on a console IS TO PLAY GAMES. Sure, DVD is nice. Sure so is music. But I already have a Sony Player and an iPod. Frankly, what I don't have and thus the reason of my purchuse, is the gaming machine itself. When I buy a 360, it will be without a doubt because of the gaming possibilites.

Don't get me wrong, I love that the consoles will be able to do more than just game. But, in my book, all of those features will never change the core of why I buy a gaming console.

And, if you want to talk about the future of technology, Ken, lets look at your console. In todays world, your console seems like one of those old superccomputers. Sure it will have raw power, but in reality it will mean nothing. It will take 3.5 years for the PS3 to start really using its hardware. Mark my words: the launch titles for 360 will look much better than the PS3.

And remeber, X360 is the only console with Halo. 'nough said.

GameStop Morons

So, I head out over to a local GameStop to cheek out GTA:SA, probably to buy it. I was all ready and eveything when this idoit behind the counter informed me that, "Hey, dude, I can't sell the game untill midnight". I tried to convicne him that it came out TODAY, the 7TH, but her wouldn't budge.

Needless to say, I walked out of the store san San Andreas. I did pick up Wipeout Pure for my PSP, which looks pretty good so far. I'm still writting up an in-depth review of the PSP (I'm talking 5 MB .pdf file here), so bear with me.

Maybe this weekend I'll head a few miles over to an EB and see if they will sell me the game. Maybe.

SATs Tomorrow

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Winku Coming Soon

Winku, a creative retureant by the Pong/Chuck E. Cheese creator, Norman Burnshell, will change the way games are looked at. Or at least that's it's goal.

The resturant seems cool enough to work: customers can order food from a TV Table, than play music, games or movies with each other. Norman wants to shift the focus of games from "guys in there underware" to groups of freidns having fun "together".

And it might just work. As all three consoles claim the next-gen will try to incorporate more of the "non-hardcore" fans, the time seems ripe for Winku to succede.

The first one opens latter this year in LA. I plan to go there eventually, and then I'll give a little report.

Metal Gear Creator Loves 360...Newsweek Hates It

In the latest round of console war battles, two "forces" took sides today. One matters more than than the other.

For 360
Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear creator

Aganst 360
Newsweek

SW:ROTS: The VideoGame

I also got a chance to play the videogame of ROTS this weekend at a freind's house. Heres a review:

Graphics
Utterly horrible. Really, it's pretty bad.

Controls
Nice, but tends to lead into button-mashing histaria.

Camera
No control. At all. And it sucks.

Gameplay
Would be awsome on a GMA or PSP, but on Xbox it just gets boring, fast. The movie clips are cool though, and it does feel like your in the movie. Plus, RPG-like leveling up makes the game a tad bit more deep. But it's still just knee level.

Multiplayer
It has a 2 Vs 2 Jedi dual that rocks...but again is plaged by the above (Controls, camera, etc). You can play as a lot of cool Jedi, like Old Obi-wan, Dooku, Vader and Grevious...but wheres Yoda and Palpy?

It also has a 2 player co-op that sucks. I personaly think they made it wayyy to hard even for two people...and the one person dies, game over rule still sucks.

Overall
This game is just not worth the $49.99. Maybe $19, but not full price. It may have been better before the movie was out, but now, just go see the movie. With pocorn, it'll probably cost the same, and be alot better.
About a 6/10

Madagascar Movie

I saw Madagascar this weekend, and I must say I was impressed. Sure, it still has to sink down to the "poo" joke level at times, but there are several parts of the movie that are much more sphisticated. It's no Pixar movie by any means...but it is in the same field as say Shrek. I really would recomend any parent to take any child to go see it....as it was deffinatly worth the 10 bucks in laughs. Not quite ROTS type...but still good.

In the field of ROTS, I'm planning to go see it for a third time this weekend, in digital. It's playing in Irvine, about 45 minutes fro m my house. I'll blog about how it looked. If anyone else has alreadly seen it, please e-mail me your thoughts.

This Blog's Almost a Year Old

Which reminds me...where are the applicants for the StarD Tourny? I really wanted it to take place for the 1 years benchmark...but so far NO ONE has e-mailed me ANYTHING. I've got some cool prizes lined up...and depending on how many people sign up the better they get. Right now I'm looking at either a PSP or an Xbox 360 for the winner. (Yes, you'll still have to wait till the November Launch date...I'm not that cool).

Email (Stardrummer@gmail.com) to sign up!

School is Almost Over!

I can't belive it's June alreadly. The year is only about 6 days from being over! Yeah! June 9 can't come fast enough.

Remember when I started blogging wayyyyyy back in August? My first couple posts were on the first week of school. Perhaps I should blog the last week in the same way. How's that for the closer.

After All This Time...NO, I'm Not Dead

OK, I'm officaly back. These last two weeks have been, frankly, pure hell in my life. So much to do, so little time.

But, anyway, now I'm back. And as long as my internet dosn't crap out on me again, I'll be here for a long, long time.

It's good to be back. Now, for a rapid amount of small posts... watch out! Take cover!

PS3 V. Xbox 360

The fight has started, and this time Xbox is the under-powered machine. It would be a rather interesting debate, except for these idots trying to change it via unfair means.

WTF is up with those stats MN put up over at his blog? I seriously question both sides data...and better yet, how does MS know Sony's data?

WTF is up with TeamXbox tryin to start something. First they try make waves with "Factor 5" going to PS3...a company you've probably never heard of unless you own a GameCube...beucase before they went over to the NGC because it is clearly the "better machine".

Then they post this PS5 crap.

Stop trying to make waves...let it be a fair fight, and let the better console regin. Just for the record, I predict the PS3 will. But I still LOVE Xbox.

Late Posts

My Internet broke down last week and I just got it fized today. Because I couldn't actully post them to the blog, I just wrote them down in Word first. They are actual...and the time is about the time I did write them...so, take a journey back in time, back to Wednesday and read on...

Reaction to ROTS

(Note: Contains Spoliers)

Best. Star Wars. Ever.

As you can guess, I loved ROTS. By far, it is the best SW movie ever. There was just so much action...every moment was good. Sure the acting sucks. Sure the lines are corny at best, sickening at worst, but man, the fight scenes are cool.

The Dooku scene rocks.

Mace Windo was awsome.

I love Yoda and the Wokkies.

Seeing Anakin kill "Younglings" was great.

Anakin getting his ass kicked was priceless.

And Yoda losing too.

Every fight seemed monumentus...and the saga now blends perfectly. Everything that should have happened, happened. And it happened right.

And for those tuck on the Qui-gon thing at the end, heres what it means. Remeber in V and VI Obi-wan talks to Luke right? How does he do that since he's dead? Qui-gon teaches him on Tatooine. It's the reason Obi-wan gave up fighting so easily in IV. The book makes this more clear, as Qui-gon talks to Yoda several times.

But where were these scenes?
-Mon Momtha? (action figure)
-Padma as an Egyptian (Poster)
-The Ackbar guys?
-Panaka scene w/ Palpy

Just a Few Seconds...

Just about 5 minutes till ROTS!! Can't wait!

And an usher is coming to take my laptop away. Stop! Let me hit publish first! I think I hav g

Waitin' In Line

I just settled in for my 7 hour wait to see SW:ROTS over in a small theather in Redlands. I can't belive how many people are out here. Redlands is a small town, not remotly close to being on a small map, and this theather only has 14 screens, and it's the only one in town, yet there are easily 600+ people in front of me.

As I write this, a few people are getting behind me and looking over my shoulder...

It is one hell of a sight...700 people , half with lightsabers and Vader masks jumping up and down, the other half with either an iPod or a laptop (I have both), and a few people with tents and TVs.

This movie better be good...

On a side note...no E3 Posting for today. :(

Fresh E3 News: Tuesday

Today at E3 a lotta info was released...heres a recap, console by console.

Nintendo Revolution

• Shown
• Will have WiFi support at launch
• No controller details...yet
• DL all Ninetendo games, ever
• Free online
• Very small
• GameCube games will work

Gameboy Micro

• Shown
• No real info on communication
• WiFi

Nintendo DS

• WiFi support: Free and this year
• Several games annouced
• Communicates somehow with the others

Playstation

• FF XII: Crisis Core details
• MGS: Substance info

Xbox 360

• DOA 4 Info
• UT 2007 officalt annouced
• Moutain Dew to give a free 360 away every ten minutes
• More Info Perfect Dark, NBA 2K6, and Gears of War
• Just Cause by Eidos annouced
• Joytech to make 3rd party stuff
• Llamasoft's Neon will (music/colors/dance thing) is on 360

Keynote Roundup

Tonights keynote was alittle underwhelming. Not a whole lot to talk about...most of the stuff is visual. Head over to www.xbox.com to see some the vid, or www.majornelson.com for the MP3.

But, heres what to expect:

• Some big Square News: FF XI is a 360 title
• Some news on backwards compatability: good games will be able to play "somehow"
• All games HD
• Lotta stuff on online connection
• Lotta partner stuff

What I'm wondering about is where is all the hard facts? I want specs!!!

PS3 Official

Right from E3 05...Sony has pulled back the curtain on the PS3. Some of the perks:

• Most hardware rumors true
• Coming 2006 (nothing more released)
• GTA coming "soon"
• Will output 1080p
• Looks nice. Real. F'ing. Nice.

Keynote Notes

Just a reminder: The Xbox keynote starts at about 8 PM. I'll be blogging everything that sounds remotly interesting. Stay here for all the updates.

Xbox 360 Game List So Far

Ahhh! So many games, so little time. Here's my very unoffical list of 360 games.
Ones in italics are rumor stuff

Perfect Dark Zero
Test Drive
Saint's Row
NBA 2K6
NHL 2K6
College Hoops 2K6
Top Spin 2
Amped 3
Quake 4
Gears of Wars
Call of Duty 2
Tony Hawk: American Wasteland
Another Activison Title
Frame City Killer
Condemed: Criminal Orgins
Full Auto
Tom Clancy's GR 3
Halo 2.5
PGR 3

Fresh E3 News: Monday

Final Fantasy XI is coming to Xbox!

This is huge news, FF XI is going to be a very good thing for Xbox. Imagine th possibilites...

Better yet...talk about fresh, TeamXbox got thre story at 4:43, and I wrte this at 4:44. (Time may be shown below as latter due to publication to server time).

The Quiet

It's all quiet before the storm...as thousands head to LA for the biggest week in videogame history...E3 2005.

Major Nelson's alreadly there. He reported on some strange Nintendo locked-box he saw while in-flight to the Smog City. He captured ALL of the details over at his blog.

G4 is preparing for their huge civerage of the event (2 hours a day). Like it or not, it's the best place to get live video from the event.

IGN is teamed up with G4 this year. Expect most of their info to be the same.

TeamXbox continues to deliver the best round-up of current Xbox news, as well as 360 rumors. This just in, UT 2007 is headed full-circle.

Bungie continutes to kill it's diehard fans by delaying the Halo 2 Map Disc untill 7/5/2005

Anti-Booth Babes is gearing up for it's large-scale boycott of Booth Babes, saying they take too much attention away from the actual games they are ment to represent. Their method of protest? Giving away Granie underware.

Time magazine is getting in on the videogame action by having this week's cover story on the new Xbox 360.

And, finaly, Continual Randomnes continues to compile it all up for you in one nice little package. Seriously, stay here this week. I'll do the work for you.

I Won a Fish Tank

My DLand Pics

Anyone who wnats to can cheek out my ride pics from the new Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland. Went on it today and I have to say, it's alotta fun.

Code: BE27431508C6457D013BE5EDF94A2281
LINK

Halo/Xbox 360 Ad

Did you all catch the Xbox 360/Samsung Hi-Def Ads played during the MTV special? Notice the music playing in the background? It's Halo!

What are you trying to say MS? Halo+Xbox 360+Hi-def=Great Seller?

Remember back to Xmas 04...TeamXbox is pretty sure Xbox 360 will INCLUDE Halo 2.5. Should be interesting.

As far as the MTV thing goes...I like what I saw. Heres a recap for ya:

• The Net pics that were leaked were correct
• No camera, headset, DVD remote was shown
• Console startup showed
• Perfect Dark is a 360 game
• TC: GR3 is a 360 game
• All games in HD (duh)
• New site www.xbox360.com
• Controller shown (leak)
• Logo shown (leak)
• Aracde is built in

That's It

All rumors were true...Xbox 360 is just like the pcitures.

It's Starting

Here we go...expect an update soon!

Some Real Info

The June OXM has the scoop on the next batch of maps coming for Halo 2. Although I wouldn't trust a single word written in the magazine... it may be worth it just for some pics. The magazine also comes with a demo of Destroy All Humans!, a game I have been waiting for almost as long as the new maps.

In another Halo 2 note, WTF is up with the "lag outs"? You know, were you go to the blue screen, but then it looks like everyone else quit the game but you? But in reality, you are the only that quit and you come in 8th place? I've gotten 4, YES FOUR, of them in the last week since the reset. Is it just a random stroke of bad luck...or is something up?

You Heard It Here First!

In a brilliant investigation, I, StarDrummer, have unearthed the first details of the next batch of Halo 2 maps.

Well, sorta.

OK, not really.

But I did find Major Nelson's game page, which lists "mysterious" map titles like 1002. Theres no real info to be found...but it's still cool.

LINK

Blogger Downtime

Just got an e-mail saying Blogger, who runs this blog, will be offline tomorrow, 5/10/2005, at 4 PM PST for one hour to do some work on ther servers. I'm not sure if this means the blog will be up or down...but in any case, you have been warned.

What Color is YOUR Xbox 360?

A new OurColony.com image hints at the possibility of color-changing Xbox 360, kinda kile most cell phones do.

Again--is anyone really all that excited about this shit?

It should be interesting to see what Thursday brings about. Granted, we already know the name, logo, design, controller, DVD remote, headphones and camera, but even still there is a whole lot we don't know yet-like what it looks like in motion.

I don't have any special pass to see the thing early (in fact it's already taped), so I'll be watching it just the same as everyone else. I'll probably be doing a post every five minutes of so, so be sure to surf here during the commerical breaks for my commentary.

Never Trust MTV With Your Kids

MTV has yet again spilled the beans.

Today, pics of the new Xbox console were leaked onto the Internet. This time, the pics are more revieling and much more convincing. The pics also included the controller, which looks very similar to the orginal Xbox's Controller-S, save for a cool new raised Logo at the top of the controller.

Also, the first ever sight of a DVD controller was revieled, which includes a Windows logo right in the center. Interesting.

Another pic of a camera was also revieled. It still scares me to think about an Xbox Camera...

I can't belive MTV is leaking all of this stuff out. You'd think they would care about people watching the show too, you know.

First Annual Xbox Live STAR'D Tourny

Today I am pleased to annouced the FIRST ANNUAL STAR"D TOURNY for XBOX LIVE. Details below:

What:A Multi-Game Tourny played over Xbox Live
Who: Any Xbox Live memeber with the games listed below.
No, Really, WTF?:The Tourny will be multi-game, double-elimination and will consit of around 5 or so rounds. Games will include:

• Whacked!
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow (New Maps, purchuse req'd)
• MechAssult 1 and 2
• Unreal Championship
• Halo 2 (New Maps only, purchuse req'd)
• A "Random" Game

It will be an invidual based tourny--NO TEAM GAMES.

Amount of rounds played will be based on amount of players.

The final showdown will be played on a random game.

When: As soon as players sign up. I'll send e-mail notification one week piror...but I'm thinking of around late June to starts.

How: Send an e-mail to StarDrummer@gmail.com with your name, GamerTag, gameslist, and your CURRENT Halo 2 highest level. I will send you both a confirmation e-mail, and a F/R from StarD (You must accept so we can find each other). One week before the start of the tourny I will e-mail you with the ladder, which will include challenge dates and times. Failure to show up within 5 minutes of a challenge will result in YABKO (Your Ass Being Kicked Out).

Prize: TBD. Really going to depend on how many people show up for this thing.

MTV Lets Out a Cat

Just one day after shotting the MTV/Xbox 2 event, MTV has blown some of the buggest surprsies.

First, TeamXbox "found" the next Xbox logo from pics of the event. The logo keeps the "full circle" desgin element, but takes away the wierd text from the orginal Xbox logo, so no no more X80X.

Then, a description of the event has given the world the first, real confirmation that 2005 will indeed see the next Xbox, as the description reads something about see the games of Fall 2005 for Xbox 2.

Next time, maybe MS will go with VH1? Or how about BET?

AP English Test

So, on Monday I took the AP English 11 test. It wasn't too bad, pretty much just waht I expected it to be.

Anyway, one of the essays I had to write about involved the online comic house, the Onion. I still can't talk too much about the test...but I was pleasently surprsied to be working with a funny onion article (circa 1999), over a boring Purtian essay (circa 1660).

(College Board people: I published this way after the 48 hour period...my class has alreadl discussed the essays...please don't burn me alive!)

I'm a Level One!

It's great to start all over again!

The 2V2 playlistt is alot of fun. I'm going to put in some serius hours with a freind this weekenbd, after AP testing is done.

The other things are nice, but they really do change the game around, luckiy mostly for the best.

Again...Bungie rocks.

Heres hoping Valve will be just as freakin' cool with Half Life 2...

The End of a Statistical Era

Stats for Halo 2 will be deleted Tomorrow morning.

The Playlist update will also go out tomorrow morning.

---
IMO, I still think its stupid to reset the stats. I still think that most stats were not gained by cheating, and that they still represent the level of any person playing Halo 2 right now. But apparently Bungie thinks otherwise, so who the hell cares what I think.

As far as the Playlist, I love it. Removing the radar from 1V1 will be nice. 2V2 will also make for some tight games. I'm not a huge fan of the BR, but, I can definatly see how it's neccessary for maps like Coag. The new includsion of vechiles should be nice as well.

Taking the combo out was a great thing, althoguh I don't like how they did it. I still could have used the Plasma Riffle.

All in all, it should make the game more fun. These last few weeks, we really have recived a Halo 2.1 in alot of ways. I have yet to see ANY devloper support ANYTHING the way Bungie is supporting Halo2. You guys rock.

Major...I Smell Fish

Over at the "offical" Xbox forums...Major just got my attention.

Under the XBL forum...at about 2 PM he made a post about the Halo 2 stats being reset TOMORROW. The evidence is still there as other are talking about it.

However, at about 3:30, he locked up that first post, and reposted saying the stats will be reset "this week". The old post now reflects this change.

What happened MN? Jump the gun? Count your chickens before they hatched? (I'm J/K-ing...I actually think MN is the best thing to happen to XBL)

Wheres the Posts?

Sorry about the few posts oer the last week. And I am also sorry for the few posts there will be this week.

This week is AP Testing. Which means, well, I'm dead. Yesterday I took AP English...I can Officaly talk about it tomorrow (weird AP 48 hour rules). Friday I am tacking the AP USH test.

Ahhhh!

Cool Halo 2 Game Links

OK, so I've had a couple days to play with the new maps...I love them. By far better than ANY of the orginals. I still wish HEH was coming, but these are a nice subsitute.

To show off my suck-ness, heres some links to game viewers of all four new maps. Keep in mind these are my best (sad, I know)

Turk Team Slayer

Sanctuary CTF Classic

Containment CTF

Turf Custom Slayer

The New Maps Have Landed

Four new maps are now available for Halo 2. Here's my lineup of each:

Warlock
-My favorite of the four
-Small
-No Rocks, Snipes or Sword

Turk
-Earth-city
-Cool crashed Scarab
-Tight allies
-Nice for Territories

Containment
-Big
-Snowly
-Think Coagulation, with a trench between bases
-Alot of veicles

Sanctuary
-Like Delta Halo level
-Great for CTF
-Nice weapons

Xbox 360--Leaked?

Looks like someone managed to leak out a picture of Xbox Next on to the good old InterWeb. You can see it at TeamXbox. Here;s my rundown:

• No controller ports=wireless controlers. I like it.
• Memory card slots, possibly no HDD. I hate it.
• Weird button, not sure about
• Nice design, but really small.
• Big Button--Here's my prediction: its a camera.

Think about it: the rumor is that Xbox 2 will have one, and the TeamXbox comment ("other things") definatly makes me think theres a reason behind it's huge size.

Overall, I'm still at the Ehh... stage. I really havn't heard a SINGLE thing that makes me overly excited except for maybe the sheer graphical power.

I hate to say it, but PS3 is looking pretty nice right now...

Ya'll Can STFU Now

Who the hell started this Friend's List rumor? Better yet, why in the world are people buying into it?

I kid you not, to this moment I have gotten 45 messages from friends/clan mates saying something close to the following:

"Hey, don't delete this message becuase on Monday Bungie is going to clear the FL, and only people with messages will stay."

Seriously, stop it. There's no way or reason for Bungie to clear offf any freinds list.

This "Green Scare" is getting annyoing.

Bungie: WWWU Released

Bungie just did there WWWU...and, Frankie is starting to scare me alittle.

Apart from once again explaining the whole map cache thing and the whole concept of cheating, Bungie gave us some links to some Game Viewers for the four new maps.

The maps, once again, should go out on Monday, at around PM PST (Thats 12 in the East). It could take you longer than that, but, as we all know, it will get there eventually.

Bungie also commented on the Playlist update, which will include 2 Vs. 2, and a lot tweaks to others, including starting with BR in Coag, more Spectres, more variation (like Snipers, Rockets), the removal of the Radar in Head2Head, and some other stuff.

The PL will also incorportate the new maps into the mix...the two free ones everywhere, and the two $$ ones into a special, limited-edition playlist just for those two.

Bungie will reset the stats on the same day as the Playlist update.

SW: BattleFront 2 Annouced

LucasArts annouced today that BattleFront II is in development, with a tentitve release date of Fall 2005. The game will be on Xbox 1.

LucasArts commented that the game will include space combat, playable Jedis that can sense the force, new locations from Epiosde III, an actual storyline, more online players, and jack-able ships.

Lets hope that smoother online play is included in that list sometime soon...

Bungie Plays New Maps!

This week in the Weekly Hump Challenge, Bungie played R Vs. B, on the new maps. All four of them. The final report, at Bungie.net, gives a nice lowdown of the maps.

I can't wait for Monday

EB Games Tells Us More of the Future

This EB Games people sure do know alot about what videogames are coming. They also seem to reviel all their info quite often.

Today, an updated listin on EB Games has started the rumor that a Ninja Gaiden 2 (Called "Black") is in the works for Xbox Next.

That's nice. Ninja Gaiden was a cool game...but I never got past the first level boss. It has nice graphics, but I didn't like the control layout. A NG 2 is not all that big for me, but, hey, it's another laucnh title rumor.

The list now kinda includes:

-Halo 2.5-Rember that? (Think XMas)
-PGR3- From OurColony.Net
-Ninja Gaiden 2- From EB Games
-Madden 2006-Only a semi-rumor, from EA
-Banjo Kazzoie Threeie- From a URL purchuse by Rare.

Today's News

Here's some news for today, nothing special:

• EA releases a second shot of Maddan '06. Very well could be a shot from Xbox 2.
• Pysconaughts finally shippped today
• No Revelotuon at E3? Nintendo says it will not be displaying it's next-gen consoles this year.
• Ninetendo picks Broadcom for wireless technology for Revolution. What the hell is going on ocer in Japan?
• Sims 2 annouced for Consoles and Handhelds-Yippee! (moves quickly on)
• Bungie released some screens of new maps. Videos can be found everywhere else.
• Feeding Frezy goes out to Xbox Live Arcade...again, any one care?
• AleinWare to release SW-themes PCs for Epsiode III

ROTS Single On iTunes

That's right, the first song has been released on iTunes! It's called Battle of the Heros, and it's awsome. I would recomend any and all Star Wars fans to GET IT NOW!

Perhaps Today is The Biggest Day Ever

At least as far as videogames is concered. Here's a round up of some news from today:

• Of course, Halo 2 recieved an AU, and the maps are dated for 4/25
• GameStop buys EB Games. I think this sucks.
• Oddworld dies-OOddworld Inhabinit has officaly stopped making games, in order to "continue making good characters"
• Pritates of the Carribean 2 annouced
• "Ring of Light" rumor is born--what's the connection between Ejigh Wood and Xbox Next?

And We Have a Date

Pull out the controlers...the batch of maps for Halo 2 is coming April 25, 2005.

In less then a week, we all will have two new maps...Containment and Warlock, and those of us willing to pay $6.00 will also get Turk and Sanctuary.

Yes, I will be paying the extra six bucks for the two maps.

Yes, I am excited. Now, back to your regualy sechduled programing...

The AU: First Thoughts

So, I just got home and DL the auto-update for Halo 2. Here's my thoughts:

Nothing "Huge" Happened, so don't freak.
The weapons are actually better.
No Ranks were reset. They are still visable.
No changes were made to plalist (at least none were visable)
No new maps, sorry rumor boys!
The loisted cheats seem to be fixed. Sorta.

I still don't know how they fixed the whole stand-by cheat...but I also have yet to see it in action.

That said, there are only 12 possible days for the maps to come out.

Reaction to Halo 2 AU

Here's some funny tidbits from over at TeamXbox:

SUPERIOR
The dual wielding its fcking up the game thats why they think they should down grade some of the weapons. But what if you dont like to dual wield you might be screw if you dont have a battle rifle.

Apr. 17th, 2005 12:03 pm
Mmmtastey
haloalldayloGreat job Bungie, you made the damn pistols even crappier. Keep up the good work.You think so? Solo the pistols are crap but with a SMG, 3 shots your dead. Considering alone either weapon is ****, together they were too powerfull, at both close range and mid range. That had to change.

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:55 am
SUPERIOR
funnygfgfhgghdgh

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:48 am
kopar
Vadcol:For somebody who hates a game/developer so much and so doens't play said developer's game at all, you sure do get worked up about it. If you want to play Halo:CE, GO PLAY HALO:CE AND SHUT UP!!Hiring a lawyer because you don't like a game? You need a life/girlfriend/boyfriend/gerbil or something. I hated KOTOR and thought it sucked ass and could name 1000 things I woulda done different, so you know what I did?That's right, I scoured TXB for every thread talking about KOTOR and posted how bad the game was. I also hired a FREAKIN' LAWYER to sue somebody somewhere for something (can't be specific, it's still in litigation). That's right! i also kicked my cat 3 times (because I was so emotional about being forced to play this game I hated and everybody else loved).Or, I traded to game to my firend for some comics and read them then went to bed.

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:47 am
ConkersHelmet53
I'm sorry, but this game is the worst game ever made! I'd rather play with barbie dolls than this game. Conker is gonna be the best! umm....wait. actually i'd rather play this than with barbie dolls....but i still dislike this game alot!

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:23 am
BlindMaphisto
The do enjoy nerfing the pistols lol. I loved the Plasma/SMG combo but I can live without it. Especially for better melee and grenading.

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:22 am
smokysmokerson
i'm glad Bungie listened to the gamers... it says a lot to their committment... haven't seen too many ps2 online updates fixing the myriad of bugs and glitches with their games yet tho.... i guess this is why xbox live is better than the competition.. good work, guys...

Apr. 17th, 2005 11:00 am
haloalldaylo
Great job Bungie, you made the damn pistols even crappier. Keep up the good work.

Apr. 17th, 2005 9:58 am
Last Spartan
SUPERIORDont forget about the different levels of sheilds also. In Halo CE

Apr. 17th, 2005 9:39 am
SUPERIOR
Perhaps the only way to actually balance the game its to make most of the weapons stronger, but by doing that we will need more stronger shields that we will be able to fight against someone that might have better combo or a better weapon. All this unfair balance of the weapons have to do with the shields because in halo 1 we had shields and health bars so even if we lost are shields we still had are health bars to count on. Bungie give us stronger shields or bring back the health bars.

Apr. 17th, 2005 1:33 am
FIG
"SUPERIORFIG wont play halo2 but he will be playing the next madden.what? Thats just crazy talk from you FIG. Fck EA and their crappy games, let it be known i hate EA. I hate EA as much as that vacolis guy hates Bungie. But Bungie is a company that at least is trying to fix the problems, unlike lazy EA their are glitches in their games and bet you will find more bugs on madden than halo2. Keep up your good work Bungie."I never said I would play the next Madden man. I said I played the previous Madden at a friends house and thought ESPNs game destroyed it. That said I am not into deathmatching but I am sure fans of that game mode will NOT be disappointed. I hope Bungies next game, whether it be Halo 3 or not, has coop over LIVE. Thats the best mode ever created in my opinion. I love playing Doom 3 and Splinter Cell : Chaos Theory on cooperative mode over LIVE.

Apr. 16th, 2005 11:47 pm
Judge_Jerk
Things that actually need to be fixed are stupid glithes, sudden death, etc.*Make the shotty a real shotgun.*Reduce the traking range of the PP*Dual mags ARE too strong and too accurate*Make frags stronger*Have BR as starting weapon on the huge levels*Reduce the aim-assist on the sniperBah, Bungie is full of it. I love how they tell us what WE want. Screw you Bungie. What makes me sick is that Bungie has the most butt kissing, easily seduced fanboys I've ever seen, next to Nintendo fanboys.

Apr. 16th, 2005 9:50 pm
Pastor Ramdotti
Vadcol memo: 2241 hoursPt.2The Plasma Pistol and SMG are so weak. Bungie needs to tweak these retard ass weapons with Hitting Power. You shouldn't have to need Dual Welding for these weapons to have any effect. A single SMG and Plasma Pistol should kick ass in short to medium range distance.The shot gun is just down right pathetic compared Halo:CE shot gun. **** it, all their weapons just plain suck.................................................................I'm tried of writing about these idiots at Bungie. They have screwed up Halo 2 so bad it makes me want to cry. I'm pisst and mad as hell, I am so emotional right now.......I'm finding a lawyer on Monday morning. I'm tired of the bull****.

Apr. 16th, 2005 9:40 pm
Pastor Ramdotti
Vadcol memo: 2229 hoursPt. 1Tweak weapons balance? Damn, these new Bungie employees are ****'in retarded. I going to speak my mind and if you don't like it....too damn bad. The main thing that needs to be tweaked is WEAPONS AMMO and Hitting Power. I'm carrying a Battle Rifle and I only have 72 rounds only and no additional rounds to be found. That is complete bull****. Halo:CE you had plently of ammo for your Assault Rifle, like 600 bullets.The Covenant Carbine only has less rounds than the Battle Rifle with a stupid 18 rounds in reserve. Stupid!!!!Now I'm hearing that Bungie is making the weak-ass Magnum less powerful. It is official these guys are on crack cocaine.Melee attacks should be deadly no matter how you hit your opponent. Why? Because you're a badass Spartan and not some weak-ass E-1 Private Marine, good lord Bungie is so STUPID!!!!!! Now you have to jump in the freakin air just to kill the enemy? Bullcrap. Somebody please sue Bungie for being stupid.

Apr. 16th, 2005 9:14 pm
BlindMaphisto
The needler has it's uses. It can kill a completly oversheilded person with only 8 needles.

Apr. 16th, 2005 9:06 pm
Judge_Jerk
I hope the fix the ***** BB that is the shotgun, PP/mag combo.

Apr. 16th, 2005 8:57 pm
SUPERIOR
IF you playing with experts not even the best combos will make you unstopable.

Apr. 16th, 2005 8:55 pm
SUPERIOR
oh yeah the game its unbalance but its still fun.

Saw A Shut-Out Last Night

I was at the Padre/Dodgers game last night, and Derek Lowe was amazing. The game was over in just a little over 2 hours...no runs allowed, and only four hits. Thats what I call a nice game.

I was going to do a MobCast from the game...but I forgot the number and it wasn't saved on mey cell phone.

I also got to see Ruban Studdard (2 yrs ago American Idol winner) sing the national anthem and the tribute to Robinson. It was a nice game.

MS Wants To Spend Developer's Money

Standard TVs are not going to cut it for any Xbox booths at this year's E3.

Apparently, MS has set up a stipulation that all developers must use 720p HD Ready TVs to display any Xbox 2 data.

720p looks nice, in case you've never seen it. And, with the stipulation that the TVs must be Ready, not just compatable. This mean clear, perfect picture that is in no way scaled down.

For MS, the HD Era has officialy begun. But, MS has bette not start telling ME I need a 720p TV to play Xbox Next.

We're Getting Fixed

On Monday, Bungie will release the AutoUpdate that will (hopefully) fix the game for the better.

The update, which was long in coming, and hyped more by Bungie than by anybody else, will change just about everything sbout the game, from the weapons to the flags.

Also, Bungie revieled they will be clearing the leaderboards.

I think thats stupid, crass and just plain idiotic, but, hey, I'm not on their pay roll. I belive that it is going to only make things worse, not better. Not at all. With rankings reset, we all go back to zero. That means for at least a week, you r be playing the same guys that were at the top of the leaderboards. And that's no fun. Not at all.

Now, for the first four maps...

Looking in UBI's Crystal Ball

Or just their E3 lineup. This looks like a solid year for both UbiSoft and Xbox as they finish their relationship together, which probably, besides the MS-Bungie one, is the best in the world right now.

Here's the offical lineup, taken from www.teamxbox.com:
My Comments in Slant

AND 1 Streetball [PlayStation 2]: Experience the jaw-dropping moves of genuine streetball legends or establish your reputation by creating your own unique moves and signature style.
Can it take on EA? Dosn't EA own part of UBI?

Far Cry Instincts [Xbox]: The PC survival shooter and smash hit of 2004 re-imagined for console gamers.
Nothing to say here. This is a serious game of the year contender.

Heroes of Might & Magic V [PC]: The legendary heroic fantasy game returns, based on features and values of the original saga, but with a more mature fantasy universe and unrivaled innovation.

187 Ride or Die [Xbox, PlayStation 2]: Outrageous urban combat racing comes to life as you defend your turf.
Odd. But UBI likes Odd. Like Chessmaster.

Peter Jackson’s King Kong [Xbox, PlayStation 2, next-generation console]: Experience the must-have game based on Universal Pictures’ King Kong film from Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson.
Going to suck. Jackson was a one-time wonder with LOTR. But, Next Gen? Nice Indeed. Only more confirmation Xbox Next is coming soon.

Prince of Persia 3 [Xbox, PlayStation 2]: Blending the winning elements from the first two masterpieces to bring a unique and unexpected twist to the award-winning franchise.
News to me. I'm not in to the whole Ninja game, but the POP series has always been nice.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (working title) [Xbox]: Experience the most gripping and famous battles of World War II through the eyes of a squadron commander and ace fighter pilot.
Xbox-Only! Nice!

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 3 (working title) [next-generation console]: Next-generation console technology meets the soldier of the future to revolutionize the classic squad-based shooter.
Did they really have to annouce this? But, Next Gen is a nice hint!

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lockdown [Xbox, PlayStation 2]: The critically acclaimed multiplayer experience returns with the all new Rivalry Mode and Persistent Elite Creation Mode.

America’s Army: Rise of a Soldier [Xbox, PlayStation 2]: The most authentic military game to date incorporating true-to-life character progression with an all-new Career mode (displayed at the U.S. Army Booth, #1608 in the South Hall).
The AA always seemed to me like propaganda. Weird stuff.

Bungie to Play New Maps!

This week's Humpday provided something a little unusual: a tidbit of info on the new Halo 2 maps. Heres the quote:

"Stay tuned next week for a super special edition of the Humpday Challenge. It will be played here in the studio, face-to-face with our opponents, on new maps!"

The maps are coming. I. Can't. Wait. Any. Longer.

People.Must.Think.Putting.Periods.After.Every.word.is.cool.and.
makes.me.seem.more.excited. becuase. see. all.the. punk.twelve.year.olds.in.the.forums.doing.this.wow.i.am.so.cool.now.

Upload YOUR Video

Heres a link so that you too can upload your very own video files to Google Video.

Be sure that they are CC Licensed or below.

https://upload.video.google.com/

Google Does Video

The guys that first changed web searching, then the web itself, are now aiming to change the world of video content.

Google Video, which opened in early Beta today, will allow people to upload video content, then allow others to search for it, watch clips, or buy the file.

Right now, Google is accepting "applications" for your video file to be included in the Beta, which will release at a YTBD date, probably late summer.

I think this will be really nice. The MPAA keeps complaining about illegal downloads...what it needs is what iTunes did for music, a nice way to look, try, and buy ligitmatly. I heard rumors that Sony was attempting something of the same...but since Sony distributes movies, it would never be the same as iTunes (think a Virgin Records owned version). But, if Google could do the samething, that would be cool.

To be clear, this current project is for Creative Commons only, no Major Motion Pictures allowed. Thats still a dream.

In Xbox 1 News Today...

DLC was reviled for almost every game except for Halo 2. Looks like GR 2 is getting a full new upgrade, which looks really nice (A typical UBI DLC, awsome). Also, looks like Snowblind is alreadly getting some DLC. I still have to buy that game...

It's getting sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo old now with no new DLC. Hurry up!

Xbox Next, This Year and For Less then $300

If the best investment firm out there is to be belived, Xbox Next will release this year and will cost about the same as Xbox 1.

This comes as, well, good news. It's clear the next generation is indeed upon us, and zI'd like to get started on it. And for as little money as possible.

But it is still all rumor untill E3. Remeber, noithing is final and occial until the big MS sings it out loud. Rumors are cool and fun to listen to, but, in the end, they are just rumors, and it's hard to get real excited about anything that could be total BS.

Possible PGR3 Pic?

TeamXbox reported today on a possible pic from PGR3. It looks nice. Real, real really nice. I mean like piss my pants nice.

Whether it's real, fake or total BS, I don't know nor care. It has managed to peak my interest in a profund way. I can now no longer wait the month or so untill E3.

Untill then, let's all hope that it's from in-game.

New ARG

Seems like Microsoft likes the ARGs. And whats not to like about spending a few hundred dollars to do the same thing as a million dollar ad campagin?

The Coloney is a new ARG set up to promote the next Xbox. It should be interesting.

The password you need to get in rhymese with "hay" and is four-letters long. It starts with a P.

Half Life 2 Confirmed (Sorta) For Xbox 1

Looks likes OXM has reveiled that Valve is working on getting an Xbox version of the popular, game-of-the-year FPS over to the Xbox. And, not Xbox Next.

I, personally, don't trust much info that comes from OXM...but IGN apparently does, at least enough to post a story on their main page.

I would love to see it come over to Xbox. It's a great game. The only real problem with the news is that why would Valve choose Xbox 1 over Xbox 2? The game won't release untill at least late summer, and by then, Xbox Next will be around the corner.

I assume the reason is that they started working on it awhile ago. In that case, rock on! I can't wait!

Kiss Your Halo 2 Stats Goodbye

OK, so Bungie hasn't gone on record to offical say they are doing anything to the Halo 2 stats, but what thery havn't said definatly is just as important. In this week's WWWU, the following was asked:
I have heard MANY rumors about you guys resetting our levels on Halo 2 on Xbox live. Is that true? People are saying you guys are resetting the levels because of TOO MANY people using stand by... I hope it isn't true because a lot of people WORK for their levels and do not cheat to get them. Please, PLEASE... reply to this message on the weekly news update. We all want to know what is going on about this, we are scared stiff about it. Thanks Frankie.

And Bungie answered with:

We should have more news about levels, cheats and stuff next week, but you should know that your level is for matchmaking only. It is not a sign of prestige, but rather a way to match you with players of similar skill. If we changed your level to be "Spastic Donkey Sphincter" you'd still get matched against other "Spastic Donkey Sphincters." Even at the highest levels of play, the level number itself is far less relevant than the players sum total of achievements. So really, there's literally nothing to be scared about whether we reset stats or not.

There is no magical prize for being ranked in the number one spot, nor is there any cash to be earned for having a higher level – the reward is an enjoyable game. So people who abuse that system are idiots, with no understanding of what it is they're achieving (nothing). With all that said, we're seriously considering doing just that at some point after the cheats and other ranking problems are fixed.

Heres the most important part: "It is not a sign of prestige". This leads me to belive they are simply going to make the levels invisable. You'll still have the Level, but you will have no clue what the level is.

But Bungie also goes on to say: "We're seriously considering doing just that". Doing what? Restetting the stats? Bungie isn't clear at all on this.

I wouldn't be too pissed if they chose the first way, but I think the second is stupid. Sure alot of people have cheated, but not everyone, not even the majority. By resetting the stats, you blow the entire proportions that the community has set up, and we're forced to start all over again with what were 30's looking like 2's. It would be just like New Years. And it would suck.

So, in summary, I think Bungie is defiantly going to do something with the stats. Exactly what, no one can be entirly sure, but, from a combination of what I like personaly and the facts I see, I thinlk Bungie is going to make the stats invisable. In the end, it might actually make the game more fun.

No Joke, I Mean It

IGN likes to roll out those 9.9's. I know it's near the end and some feel like they need to score a perfect game (cough, OXM, cough), but these 9.9s are just popping our left and right. What I can't figure out is why Halo 2 didn't get one.

Jade Empire just got a 9.9 from IGN. No, the other scores aren't in yet...so it's just one publication, but still, a 9.9?

This comes from a game that flew under the rader for me. I bearly even now what the game is, let alone anything that makes it special. Needless to say, the review has peaked my interest. Enough, at least, to cheek out TeamXbox's score, which I assume will come some time this week. But man, a 9.9. Thats high.

BTW- You did READ the DATE right?

That was just supposed to be a funny joke. Hey, I figure if everyone else does one for April Fools, I should too.

Hahahaha. I know.

But in all seriousness, the other jokes sucked, IMO. TeamXbox did a Lugi in Halo 3. Not funny! IGN... WTF is up with Yaddle? And even Bungie skipped their usual Pimps At Sea joke and instead made a promise for more DLC. That really isn't funny. Don't joke about that Bungie. That's serious stuff right there.

The End of an Era

Today marks the last day I will blog. This is the last entry I shall ever post on this blog.

It has been a great ride, but I feel it is time now to step off. The blog just isn't going anywhere. I've already down everything I can think of. I think it's better to end now, at the top of my game, then to whiddle away.

I wish to thank everyone who has made my blog the success that it is. For that, I thank about two people.

Thanks for the memories.

chris

My B-Day Tomorrow

Feliz Cumplanos a mi!

SC:CT Best Game Ever?

Has the torch passed from Halo 2 to Splinter Cell? It seems like it.

The first sign was the OXM reveiw, giving it a 9.9...almost perfect, and much better then Halo 2's low 9.7 score.

Then Major Nelson did his "Splinter Cell: CT" Spectacular show and made us all drool.

And then, TeamXbox gave it a 9.8...lower than Halo 2.

So, which is better?


They are two entirly differant games...but in the end, are still games. SC:CT offers very specialized gameplay that is not for everyone. Whiule it is a good game, it lacks the "pick up and play" aspect of Halo 2/. It is not a game for everyone, and thus, it creates diverese opinions.

I like CT. It is a great game, just another tick on the list of the great UBI games.

Tivo Tests Ad Scam

Last weekend, Tivo started testing their new ad idea. Most customers, myself included, just record a show, wait till it finishes, and then fast foward through the commericals. But Tivo wants to change that.

Now, when customers fast foward through the commercials, a "pop up" ad will cover the screen, over the TV show going fast. If the customer pushes up on the remote, he/she is then taken to a screen with more information on the product.

Iyt dosn't seem that bad, but, I would rather not have pop ups on my TV. Also, Tivo is having problems getting the ads to only pop up during the commericals. If a pop up comes during my CSI, I'll be pissed.

AOTS Verdict

After watching the rest of AOTS, I have very mixed feelings. Heres my summary

POSITIVES
+ Same Cast
+Like the Couch idea
+The Feed is still there
+ Dark Deals and Gems are still there
+Still chat
+Nice set

NEGITIVES
-Bad title.
-Hate the bands
-It's on G4
-The opening is cheesy
-The constant graphic introducing each new sceene are stupid, boring and annoying
-Will we get any real tech news?
-Since when is a dino a tech news item?

Overall, it is no TSS. But, essentially, there is no real differance between the last TSS epsiode and this one, save for the set. I probably will still watch, dispite how much my heart tells me not to. And yes, I got a season pass.

Sin City: What a Movie

Last night I had the chance to get into a "early" screening of Sin City. It is, by far, the best movie I've seen this year.

What stands out most is the unique visual style. Most of the flim is in black and white, with splashes of color thrown in to add emphasis, like the red of fire or the blue in an eye. It really makes the flim look like the orginal graphic novels.

The cast, story, and music all are incrediable. This is a really good movie to see, but, hey, it is rated R and it is very violent. And bloody. So the 10- and 65+ croud may want to steer clear, but, it's perfect for everyone else. Hey, take the wanna-be tween too, let them puke or pass out!

Video Games Recalled

Two video game "recall" news caught my attention today.

• PS2 was recalled becuase of a pattent issue. I'm not sure if this makes PS2 illegal or what, but it dosn't sound good for Sony. E-mail me if you understand what this really means for the gamer, becuase I don't
• The Xbox recall of power cords was, as VGN calls it "a BS liability scam" VGN says the cords don't neccessary fix the problem, which was do too falty sawdering on the cord, resulting power surges and blow outs, but instead just limits the porblem down to your Xbox. Which, I geuss, is better than nothing for those LCD HD 80" rich Xbox bastards, but only just hurts the rest of us. Would it have been that hard to just fix the problem MS?

Did you watch AOTS Today?

Attack of the shw, the replace-er of TSS, premired today on G4. Did you watch?

I saw the first 15 minutes or so, untill I ran out of Tivo fast-foward power. I'll watch the rest tomorrow. It seems just how I thought it would: a clone of E! or Access Hollywood.

It is sad to bid TSS good-bye. It is even sadder to know that this is what is was replaced by. Maybe I should just move to Canada and watch Leo and Call for Help. And get free medical care. Sounds good to me. I could learn to say "eh" and "aboot".

Star Wars: Republic Commando Review

OK, so I just finished SW:RC and I thought I'd post a little "review" of the game. Older timers will note that I treid this before, but I just couldn't keep up with the new releases. I actually play the games, all the way through, before I publish a review. That takes time.

Singleplayer
The SP experiance was great. I think it's probably the best Star Wars action ever. You really feel like your part of a large-grand scale battle.

Heres an imporant note: RC is a differant kind of SW game. There is no crawl at the begining. There is actual bands playing the soundtrack. You never feel like your fighting the entire batte of Geonosis or something, but instead, that you are a part of a small team, working together to accomplish some task, that, while small, will help the Republic win the battle.

Towards the end, the game gets a little repitive, but the ending is top-notch.

Graphics
There is nothing spectacular here, but they don't hold the game back by any means.I really like the effects they used your helmet, with things like rain, smoke and blood getting stuck there and using a virtual wiper to clear it off.

Multiplayer
The game does ooffer some classic FPS games, like Deathmatch, Team DM, CTF and Assualt (Bring your falg into enemy's base), but it never feels like they really ment it. Sure, it's there, but there nothing special in it. The Live play lags and it's hard to get into a good game. The splitscreen is cool...but becuase there are no sit-out times after you die...it's rather hard to play CTF or Assualt, becuase the enemy just respawns right in front of the flag.

Overall
RC isn't a bad game, there just not a whole lot to justify a purchuse at it's current price of $49.99. I would either rent it over the weekend and just beat the SP, or wait a couple of months and get it when the price goes down. While it is a nice prelude to Epsiode III, only serious, hardcore SW will buy it for that. Others should consider the game as a solid FPS worthy of about $10.
Rent It

Halo 2.5 Not May be, Now Definatly, a Reality

As I said before, Halo 2.5 looks like it will be coming. Today, in a special WWW Update, all was reveiled. In my mind, heres what it means:

• A total of nine maps are being made for Halo 2.
• The first two will be free to XBL people, available in April.
• Two additional maps will come out on the same day, in April, but will cost 4.99
• Then, in June, a disc will be made available, that will include all nine maps, all XBL updates, and some special movie things.
• On that same day, the other five maps will be available to Download, for $11.99, over XBL
• At some point in late summer (think September) all Maps will be free to DL over Xbox Live.

Bungie also said they will deal with the pemium issue, in that not everyone will have the maps and that could potentialy destroy matchmaking, by creating a special playlist for the premium maps.

Another playlis- 2 Vs. 2, was also reveiled as in the making.

For pics, the offical press release, more legal stuff, and ome more issues, visit Bungie.com

In my mind... I think summer is a tad bit late, but April seems fine. This plan actually sounds reasonably smart to me.

Halo 2.5 May Be a Reality

All signs point to a Halo 2.5.

-Bungie has statewd week after week it wants non-Live members to get the maps
-EBgames has it on its listing
-Korea has it listed on www.xbox.com

So, it really looks like this Friday, that's what Bungie is going to announce. The question is: when the hell will it come out? Some are thinking a summer 2005 release...thats wayyyy to far off in my book. I'd like to see an early May at the earliest.

The other question is: will Xbox Live members get something special? I really hope it's not just the maps for free latter on in the year. Because most of us will have alreadly bought them.

So, maybe this is a good thing....but it definatly has the potential to really piss me off.

TSS No More

Here is a perfect example of what coroporate America can do.

Act I
TechTV is created. The world is good. The Screen Savers is at its heyday with both Leo and Pat.

Act II
Leo quits/is fired (still not really sure what happen) TSS gets worse and worse.

Act III
With TechTV at its end, G4 swoops in and buys it out. Looks good at first.

Act IV
Set moved to LA. Pat quites. Show is getting more mainstream. Looks bad.

Act V
By now, TSS and Access Hollywood are the same thing. We've got things like "Band Fridays" and "Sponsered by..." and it's now just G4, not G4techTV

Act VI
TSS is canceled. It's replaced by Attack of the Show!

I thought that G4 would mean a good thing for TechTV. I thought it would mean less reruns. But no. G4 just took the TechTV veiwer audiance, not the network. The only remaining show is now X-Play...and I bet that will go soon to.

What happened to the good shows, like Call for Help, Tech Live and that Martin Sargent show? Even the good G4 shows are gone now, like that Areana. They seem to be replaced by Judgement Day's from 2002 and reruns of "Icons".

I now officaly hate G4. I probably will still watch AOTS, but I canceled my TSS season pass, and did not renew it with AOTS. I just don't think I can handle 5 hours a week of reruned slashdot news a week.

I'm Still Not Dead

I know the posts have been few and far between the last two weeks. There are two, wait, three reasons for this.

Reason One: I had finals last week. Finals=No time at all, with a side of big headache.

Reason Two: I was hooked one Republic Commando.

Reason Three: No one really cares. Except me.

But, now, I',m free and will make up for it. I promise. I really do.