Wait...Looks Like I'm Not Alone

I must have been part of the "mass" that recieved the Diamond Card e-mail. So much for being an individual!

LINK

Far Cry is One Long Game

These last couple of weeks I've been going through Far Cry Instincts, and man, it's a pretty long game. It's good, and mildly entertaining for a FPS, but it has some serious flaws. In fact, out of the current FPSs on the 360, I'd say it has the most. And the biggest.

Cheif of my complaints is the gernade kills. They are impossible to avoid, and just plain suck. You ca be one kill from clearing a tough area, when all of sudden your laying dow on the floor, dead. There is no way to see them and move out of the way. You just die.

Another thing is how so much of the game is just searching for a blue dot. I'm serious, the game is set up so that for hours on end, your only real goal is reaching one place. It just gets boring after awhile.

And don't even get me started on the controls.

From this post, you might gather that I don't like Far Cry, but that's not entirly true. It's just not "as good" as I might have hoped.

Expect a review to come probably around May 1...by than I should be finsihed with both stories.

Late, But I'll Take It

I just got my e-mail confirming my Live card is on the way. It's been alot longer than 6-8 weeks... but I'll still take the thing anyway. Actually, it's been 16 weeks since I signed up for it, wayyyyyy back in December. If this is any indication, expect SF 2 sometime around July.

Here's the e-mail they sent me:
Welcome to the Xbox Live Diamond Card!Congratulations! This email confirms that your Xbox Live DiamondCard registration was accepted and that your card is now beingprinted. You will receive your personalized Xbox Live Diamond Cardin the mail within the next 2 - 3 weeks.Once your Diamond Card arrives, logon to www.xboxlivediamond.comto check out the cool discounts, view the complete list ofparticipating retailers and additional program information. To startenjoying the discounts, all you have to do is present your DiamondCard with the appropriate printable coupon (found onwww.xboxlivediamond.com) when shopping in person, or use the checkoutcode provided on the website when shopping online.LIVE. PLAY. COMPETE. CONNECT.Bring your game online. - The Xbox Live Team

GRAW Review Up

Youd can now read my full final review of GRAW over at TeamXbox, or by clicking here.

Anyone Miss the "Old" Major Nelson?

Recently, I've grown rather boared of Major Nelson's blog. When it first came out, in May 2004, the blog was more than a shopping list of DLC for the Xbox. In fact, it was more than just "insider" MS news. Remember the Vasaline story? That was interesting.

Ever since the site switch, and the release of the 360, Major Nelson.com has become less of a real blog and more of informational site.

Don't get me wrong--I like the Marketplace updates. They definatly are handy, and I don't know where else I would find the info. However, shouldn't the blog be alittle more than just updates to the martketplace.

If you don't see the problem, here some stats for you. In the last 3 weeks, 26 of the 54 posts were about Marketplace contents. 6 of those posts, by the way, we're the weekly Live stats and blogcats. Taking those out of consideation, that means that 54% of the posts have been solely about new content on the martketplace.

On the other side, there were only 3 or 4 rel "non-Xbox insider" news, depending on how you look at it. Thats only 8% of the total posts. As far as I'm concerned, that's too low to be considered a "blog".

Perhaps Major needs to rethink the way his blog works. I'm not saying he should take out the Marketplace updates, but perhaps he should try to post about some more random things. His blog is called Random Thoughts, after all.

Too Bad It Will Suck

EA releases the cover for Superman Returns today. In the words of the now infamous PKG (of teamXbox.com foum fame)... EA + Superman = Suck. And I'd have to say I'd agree. Plus, the recent target images are far from impressive. I suppose there is some hope, becuase as long as the game features the famous Williams soundtrack, the audio will rock.

The movie, on the other hand, looks great. I personally can't wait for this summer to roll around for all of the great movies coming out. As far as games go...the only gem hanging out there pre-E3 is Gears of War.

Final Push

Today begins the final push towards the end of my high school career. Just back from spring break 2K6, there are just 9 weeks left untill Grad Night. I'm really getting pretty excited.

Again, I've been accepted to UC Davis and will probably be going there. A few more weeks left, we're into the final push.

I'm Back

OK, so I'm back from my double San Francisco trip. First off, heres a recap of events in my life. From Thursday to Sunday, I was on "Band" Trip up to the bay area. We stopped off at Paramount's Great America, which has some pretty awsome rides for the size of the park, and Pier 39. Than, the next day (Monday) I turned around and headed right back up there to cheek out Cal and UC Davis. I liked the Davis campus a whole lot more, and I'm probably going to end up going there.

While I was gone, here's some of the news in the tech world:

• Oblivion content goes up, people revoult
• Tomb Raider: Legends demo comes out
• Price of PS3 leaked in Euro land: around $600 USD
• MS buys out "Big Mouth" Stuidios, aka Lionhead Studios
• Battlefield 2 demo comes out
• Kameo Online Co-Op pack released
• Apple OKs new Intel Macs to run Windows XP

Finished GR:AW

I finished the single player mode of GR:AW last night. It rocks! Expect a full review to come, probably latter (today...man it's late).

Not sure how many posts I'll have for the remainder of the week...I'm leaving Thursday for a San Francisco trip and I won't be "home" untill Sunday, only to leave and head back up there untill Wednesday. It's crazy, I know...but I'm actually looking foward to it. Unless the hotels have Wi-Fi, my posting over the next week will be skethcy. That said, I may try to do some uber-rare audio updates from my cell phone, but, I always feel retarded when I do them. So, maybe. Possibly.

In other news, I'm getting Far Cry for the 360 this week, although I, for the reasons above, won't have much time to play it. There were some big PS3 and Revoultion annoucments made last week, but none of them peeked my interest enough to post.

Oh, and I was wrong once again on a demo date, but this time it really wasn;t my fault. EA has gone on record stating it's all MS...so there. I still belive there will be wave of content out this week. There better be, if MS wants to save any face from this horrid Q1. In my entire life of videogames, I have never seen such a dull and lackluster quater. MS better get its head in the game before Novemeber if it wants to bet out Spony before 2010.

Quake IV Review Up

Cheek out my review of Quake IV over at TeamXbox today.

The game scores an 8/10 (OGS 80)

Burnout Revenge Demo Out

There's a new demo for Burnout Revenge out on the martketplace today. I think there's also a new GRAW theme and The Outfit gamerpics as well.

Expect to see the fabled GRAW demo out either this Thursday, or next Friday for the Free Live Weekend Deal. Also, expect Street Fight II and Texas Hold 'Em to come out "around" there.

GR:AW First Thoughts

While the game has been out for awhile, I haven't had a chance yet to get more than a few hours into it, so these really are my opening thoughts.

First off, the single player. This style of gameplay just isn't for me, but I can live with it. The graphics are nice, and the story is interesting. The controls are alittle cluncky, however. I'm just not sure if I'm going to end up liking this SP experiance.

The multiplayer, however, is great. Really great. Best Live experiance for 360 so far, maybe even best Live since Halo 2.No lag, tons of options, and great maps make this a sure-fire win.

Overall, my opening thoughts score is a 3/5. I'm impressed by the multiplayer, but a little put off by the single.

Prethoughts: 4/5
Opening Thoughts: 3/5
Clsoing Thoughts: Coming Soon

Battlefield 2 Demo 3/24

The demo for the EA game "Battlefield 2: Modern Combat" will go live on the Xbox MartketPlace on Friday, March 24, 2005. This has been confirmed by EA. However, the demo may not be release untill the following Monday, as seems to be common practice for MS.

Beware the Ides of March

No, don't take warning becuase of Ceasar's death; take warning because you might jyst be overwhelemed with all of the new info out today. Lucky for you, here's a Best Of Round Up, with nothing to fear:

• The Biggie: PS3 to launch Early November (11/11/06) in a worldwide manner. I wonder were they got that idea from. Blu Ray specs held it back.
• More Talk on the PS3 Online service. Only Talk.
• Viva Pinata Project Revealed: Rare's next crazy project for the 360. Has a TV tie-in. Think: Animal Crossing with pinatas.
• Feeding Frezeny out on Marketplace. Great download.
• Burnout Pics on Marketplace
• Top Spin 2 Trailer

Finished Quake 4

I just managed to finish off Quake 4 last Sunday night. Overall, it was pretty nice game. Some obvious flaws that I think most poeple have alreadly picked up on, but a good, immersive FPS nonetheless.

The odd thing about Quake 4 was the amount of walking invloved in it. Sure, there was plenty of Strogg to kill around most corners, but there was pletny of walking as well. To be fair, I played the game of "Nomal" level, so maybe there is less in the harder levels, but still, I found the amount of empty rooms and hallways a little odd. I'm not complaining, just commenting.

Expect a full review to be posted over at TeamXbox sometime this week.

Posted Before Major Nelson!

There is a new demo of Ridge Racer 6 available for download through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Yeah for beating the insider!

Get GR:AW With a Two/1 Deal

/* Begin GameStop plug

OK, so usually I don't give out free advertising for game companies, but this deal is worth mentioning. Right now, GameStops across the country are offering a Two for 1 Deal with Xbox 360 games. It's simple...trade in two Xbox 360 games for 1 new 360 game. There appear to be some limits on the deal (No Pre-orders), but it's the perfect oppurtunity to get GR:AW, the highest rated Xbox 360 game so far.

Enf Plug */

DOA 4 Patch

A patch has been released for DOA 4 over Xbox Live today. No word yet as to what it fixes.

Look for a demo of The Outfit latter on today.

CR Scoring System Revealed

There seems to be some confusion as to how CR (this blog) scores the games it reviews. Here's how it all works.

• Reviews are spilt into three catergories.
• The first catergory is Pre-Thoughts. This is usually posted along the same time that the game goes gold. Basically, this explains why I am going to purchase the game, or why I am not. These graded on a 5 star scale. A 1 represents no interest at all, a 2 represents possible rent, 3 a possible gift/purchase, 4 a definite purchase, and 5 a pre-order. These scores are converted, as shown below.
• The second category is Opening-Thoughts. This is usually posted the day I buy the game, after playing for around 90-120 minutes, or unlocking 200 GamerScore, whichever is first. These thoughts are often focused on just raw emotion, and what my opinion is while I'm in the game. It too is graded on a 5 star scale. A 1 represents returning right now, a 2 represents a trade-in, 3 a let down, 4 a good game, and 5 a must keep in collection.
• The final step is the Closing Review. All closing reviews are posted on TeamXbox.com, with a link provided here. This is the closest part to a "normal" review, and takes a look at the game once I have completed it. Complettion standards are as follows: complete finish with Single Player on medium level, minium of 2 hours on-line play (if available), minium 200 GS. These part is rated out of 10, however, this score itself is never revealed. Parts of it are, and those parts do make an average score, but it is impossible to determine this actual score.
• The final score shown on the bottom of the TeamXbox review is the final score, taking into accoutant all 3 parts of the review. Star reviews are converted in the following: 5 Star = 100, 4 Star = 85, 3 Star = 75, 2 Star = 55, 1 Star = 15. The final score is a sum of the adjusted Pre-thoughts score, adjusted Opening Thoughts score, and double the Closing thoughts score. Thus, the Pre/Opening thoughts each accoutant for 1/4 of the final score, while the closing score counts for 1/2 the score. This sum, refered to as The Games Score, is than averaged (divided by 4) to get a score out of 100 (known as Games Offical Score). The decimal is moved over to convert to an out of ten score (known as Standard Score), however, this is just to fit on TeamXbox. The offical score is the one out of 100.
• These rules only apply to games released since 11/22/2005. Different scoring systems were used before that, and scores can not be compared between the two eras.

GR:AW Gone Gold

Probably the most anticpated Xbox 360 game to date, Tom Clancy's GR:AW has gone gold today. Expcet the title to arrive in stores 3/8/2006.

The demo for this game, as reported by CR itself, was supposed to go Live on Monday. Theres no offical word yet as to the delay, but it is likely that (once again) MS is holding the demo back.

The title itself looks to live up to the expectations presented to it. So far, I've been impressed by the media releases and the way the game looks. It has managed to score a "Buy" from me in the pre-weeks, earing a respectful 4/5 from me.

Remember, this score does go into my final review. See this post for clarification.

MS Portable Sorta Unvield

An update to a viral wbesite shows a new, year-old viedo of project code-named Origami. This very well could be the Xbox Portable. Sorta. More like Windows Portable, featuring Xbox. Not much is known, yet, but it looks like more may surface on Thursday. Here's the only pic from the video that gamers care about. Yes, thats a Covy shield, and a battle riffle.

The Response

I posted before about my angry email to MS Support. Here's the email I sent:

I have a concern over the Xbox Live Diamond Card program. I signed up on December 22, 2005 and provided complete information needed. The offer stated the card would arrive within 6-8 weeks. It has now been beyond 8 weeks, and I am worried about where my card might be. Please respond as soon as possible. Microsoft should be aware that these frequent delays are rather annyoing and hard on the consumer.

And, heres the response I got back:

Hello -----------,

Thank you for writing Xbox Customer CareWe deeply apologize for the inconvenience. It sounds like this has been a very frustrating experience for you. After careful review of your issue, we have determined that it is best that you call the Xbox Customer Support number for better assistance;United States and Canada : 1-800-4MY-XBOX (1-800-469-9269) International direct dial to US : 1- 425-635-7180Our phone representatives will assist you 7 days a week from 9:00AM -12:00 MN CST (Central Standard Time). Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely,

Rb
Xbox Customer Care Team

If the card dosn't come this week, and others start posting that they gt theirs, than I guess I'll have to call. But talk about poor customer service---what's the phone call going to do that this email can't. Wait a minute, heres a cool idea- call the number, and repeat the email exatly. Than we could see the real difference...

The Death of Next-Gen DVD

Here is the exact reason why next-gen DVD (both Blu ray and HD-DVD) will fail.

No, the HDMI requirments aren't the exact reason why it will fail--it's the movie studios new found protection war that will. This time, they have gone way to far. They need to remember that, in the end, they are trying to please us, the consumer. Without us, they loss their jobs and houses. The movie studios are in a critical point in history right now, and if they continual to pull crap like this, they are done, over. Gone. The music industry faced the same problem about 3-4 years ago, and they managed to get out of it alive, with alittle help from iTunes. If the movie industry can't pull off the same feat...than I expect a new wave of media by 2008.

This is sad news for everyone. HDTV owners now have lost hope for real HD Movies. PS3 fans may just have to worry about Blu-Ray. Movie fans have already lost the war.

At least the world can still take some comfort in the thought that DVD quality, as it is now, aint that bad at all.

8 Weeks and Still No Card

Well, it is now official: MS has let us down, yet again. The diamond card program was supposed to ship within 6-8 weeks from sign up. Geuss what? It was 8 weeks since I signed up last Wednesday. I have yet to recieve my card.

These delays are really, REALLY starting to piss me off. First, it's not like MS is open at all about revieilng any info to begin with. Than, whatever they do state turns out wrong. Take a look at the three phantom XBLA games to come out: Feeding Frezny, AstroPop and Jewl Quest. Each had a date of February 2006, yet each now is pushed back into March. Whats up with that? And, I don't buy the lie that the games are having probelms. garage Games was very open about their game, and showed the world that it was MS who held up the game FOR NO REASON. None of these games have problems, because none of them are really new. The hold up is al MS own idea: to spread out content so it seems like there is more of it. The reality is that right now, the 360 is in a really dead spot. March can't come soon enough for some REAL games (Yes, I'm talking to you COD2. Don't get too high on your great attachment numbers: it's only becuase you were the best of the worst. Once some real games hit, it's all over. GRAW should show Activison how a real multiplayer game is made).

Anyway, I emailed customer support at 6 PM PST 2/24/2006. I'll post back as soon as I get a real answer.

Finished FA Single Player

Last night I managed to get past the final three stages of Full Auto, thus unlocking 70 GamerScore points. The only level that gave me trouble was the "Pure Clutch" one. I even thought that the last one, oddly titles "The End?" was easier than that one.

All in all, no surprises at the end, and overall just more of the same. Now it's time to log on to XBL to get that Level 10 Achievment. Right now, I think I'm at Level 4...I've got some work to do.

Also, I'm pretty close to hitting the 4000 GS point mark. It's not as big as the 1000 moment, but still cool. I predict to be at around 20000 GS points by the end of this year, based on current speed and the fact that more games will be out by than. Imagine what it will be like when we reach the stage we're at now on the Xbox 1 with the Xbox 360....over 800 games, each with 1000 points, thats 800000 possible points, plus the XBLA titles. It will be very intresting to look at people's GamerCards once that starts happening. I can see it now: "It was my sister playing Barbie's Horse Adventure's 2, I swear! (But, hey, I still got 400 points from it!)"

Xbox 360 Camera Info, Date

A new article in the Offical Xbox 360 Hong Kong Magazine has shed some light onto the elusive camera for the 360. the article stats that the camera will support up to 640 x 480 video at a solid 30 fps. The camera will also be able to take 1.3 MegaPixel still images. It has a street date of May 2006.

The ad also included a picture of the fabled "Quick Charge Kit" which is similar to the play and Charge Kit, except that it holds two batteries and can charge without a controler. It too is expected in May.

Full Auto Review

I just posted my Full Auto review over at TeamXbox. Remember, the review system has three steps: pre-thoughts, first thoughts, and than full review. The two opening steps play a role in the final review.

FULL AUTO REVIEWED

Full Auto: First Thoughts

So, I just finished playing FA for about 90 minutes or so, and here are some thoughts.

First, the postivies, and there are a lot of them. The game plays much smoother than the demo, and boosts better graphics all around. There are plenty of cars and tracks to choose from, and some creative weapon choices, The game is challenging, but not hard to play. Xbox Live play runs without a hithc, and is much smoother than some of the other laggy games out there (caugh...COD2...caugh).

On the negative side, the game isn't very deep, and I could see how this could ware out pretty fast. There are some framerate issues (ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!) but overall it dosn't subtract too much from the game.

So far, Full Auto looks like a nice game with some solid potential. My opening thoughts rating is a 4 star rating out of a possible 5.

Stats on Cursing on Halo 2

Heres a link to an interesting study on the frequency of cuss words on Xbox Live's Halo 2. This is good stuff, although it's pretty easy to predict, no surprsies here. The Internet is full of normal people pretending to be morons.

LINK

Full Auto Ships

Full Auto shiped today. Cetris paribus, I'll be picking it up sometime tomorrow. The game recieved a 7.1 or so from both IGN and TeamXbox. However, what I cared about was fixed--the frame rate. I personally liked the way the demo played out, just was disappointed by the horrible frame rate.

Expect a first impression post sometime tomorrow about opening thoughts. I'm still playing through Quake 4 and PDZ, so I can't write a full review yet...however, as a "pre-review" so far PDZ is looking like an 8.5 and Quake about an 8. Both have fun multiplayer and an OK single player, but Quake 4 just misses the graphic boat, and PDZ has really bad level desgin, so much so that little arrows have to guide you through the level.

King Kong Demo Up

Sure, the movie isn't in cinemas anymore, and the Xbox 360 version was bad-mouthed by its own dev team, but we can beat a free demo. It's up now over at the Martketplace.

GW:AW Demo Coming 2/27

A demo of the up and coming Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare is going to hit the marketplace on Monday, February 27, 2006.

In other news, Full Auto hits store shelevs this week. Full Auto is by far the most debated 360 game, as some love it, or others hate it. I personally will (probably) be getting it some time this week. The only that sucks is I have to buy it from Amazon to use my $30 gif card, and Amazon dosn't offer the free faceplate deal, which sucks.

CR Is On, MN.Com is Off

Despite some reports, this blog is still up and running just fine. Any crashes/downtime is mostly on your end, except for a few Blogger downtimes for maintaince, which, as luck would have it, starts tonight at 7 PST.

Majornelson.com is not as lucky, however. After the server seitch last Friday, his site has not been fully operational, and his Blogcast was very hard to download from the main source: his site. Currently, the enite blog is pulled down right now. Eailer, at around 1:30 PM, the site said it was going up in about 15 minutes, but than that message too dissappeared. Now a thrid message is here, with a more vague and less promising "Will return soon" warning.

Just a reminder: While the Major is down, the CR is still up. Cheek here for any news updates, as always.

COD2 Loser Patch Released

Infinity Ward released a patch for COD2 today that, unforunatly, did nothing to fix the online lag problems. Needless to say, millions got pissed off. And I belive they have a strong right to be. IW released a product they KNEW sucked, and they did it with a simile. Than they take more than 2 months to put up dedicated servers and a lobby? Thats just unacceptable.

The Xbox forums have been a haven for anti-IW sentiment lattly, and it's gotten so bad that IW themselves had to post an "apology:"

Hello everyone! Now that our first Title Update for Call of Duty 2 has been certified for release, we want to let you know what to expect. The update that was released today addresses a save game corruption issue that affected player progression for some people within the single player saved campaigns.
In addition, we are pleased to announce that we are testing a number of multiplayer enhancements to the community, including addressing the lag issues. We are working really hard on these updates. Development is a timely process and we appreciate your patience. Infinity Ward is excited about your enthusiasm and support for Call of Duty 2 and we look forward to speaking with you soon.

Just tell us you screwed us over and walk away from it, just as we all have walked away from this game.

Battlefront 2 DLC Out Now

I am downloading the content as we speak. it's up for those in the west. If you don't see it right now... just wait, and it should appear soon.

THAW Review Up

You can cheek out my full review of THAW over here at TeamXbox.com.

I'm truckin' through Quake 4 and Amped 3 right now...I'll be sure to post reviews once I finish them.

No 2006 Release for Halo 3?

This internal memo from GameStop seems to state that Halo 3 will not release this year. Seems fishy to me...but I alreadly suspected that Halo 3 will launch in 2007. But, expect full Halo 3 coverage at this years E3. I think Bungie will probably follow the same release strategy as they did for Halo 2, trailer first, weekly updates, than a release date and demo at the next E3.

Marble Blast Out

Marble Blast Ultra is now able to be purchased and downloaded on the Xbox Live MarketPlace. It costs 800 MS Points ($10) and is freakin' sweet.

Heres a tip: the first Easter Egg in the game is located in Level One. On the jumping part, you have to get to the higher level on the left. Do a RB and Jump combo (when full blue) to get up there, and than just carefully tread along untill the end.

Still no Full Auto demo, might be out latter tonight. I'll keep you posted.

Who Thought This was Cool?

OK...so now both Amped 3 and TAW do this thing where they "interrupt" your gaming session to switch camera views. Let me be clear on this: your going along, having fun, than bam! right out of nowehere the camera angle shifts, usually to a wide-angle zoom. I get the idea: tyrying to show you how cool the trick looks from a distance...but it does NOT work. At all.

Seriously...just leave my camera alone. When your driving in PGR3...the view doesn't just switch from first person to thrid just becuase your getting some air...so why should these games be any different?

Also....another rant on Amped 3....who the hell uses the X button to select things? Hello, thats what the A button is for dumbasses. I just majorly screwed up trying to quit a challenege and start agin by just pressing A instead. After 4 long years of Xbox gaming, Im pretty set on a few butoon comobs: X to reload, Y to grind, A to jump, R Tigger to fire, AND A TO SELECT MENU ITEMS. Seriously, it works just fine the way it is. If you want to go and be all "inventivie" in the controls, than why don't try doing something IN THE GAME (like, I don't know, using the damn Bumper buttons),

Just some grips. Otherwise great games though.

Dashboard Update + Texas Hold 'Em

So, the Internet and forums are abuzz over the rumored upcoming Dashboard Update for the 360. Heres my thoughts.

First off...people are making this much bigger than it will ever be. The update will probably add the camera, and fix some of the most noticable achievment bugs. Also, the update will probably do some behind-the-scenes fixes so that the cheating that took place on the XLA titles comes to an end.

But heres my big thought: MS has gone on record stating that the camera will apear both "sooner than you think" and when the first titles to make use of it become available. If the Dashboard update is a reality...and the camera is a part of it (and I realize these are big ifs) than I expect that the Texas Hold 'Em game is coming along with them. No other game currently in the window right now has any chance of supporting a camera. Maybe the Hopp Challenge game...but thats only becuase I have no clue what the hell that game is about.

So, while your reading the thousands of other rumors and theories out there on the Net...kep mine in mind.

Also...I heard somewhere that on the 25th the Full Auto demo will hit the MarketPlace, lets keep our fingures crossed.

Week In Review--1/20/06

Have not had much time to post throught out the week this week as, well, I was pretty busy. Here's a day-by-day recap.

Monday--Purchased FFXI beta and Quake IV. Finished installing FFXI.

Tuesday--Disneyland Trip--rode the new Monsters Inc ride (its great, BTW)

Wednesday--First day of new term classes. Re-log on to FFXI. Complete Child/Father Quest. Gain 200 XP. Play some Quake IV.

Thursday--Play some DOA4 rounds in time attack mode...still about 15 away from the final character. Finsh night with a breif FFXI time play and few rounds in Quake IV.

Friday--Post a recap of the week on a blog no one reads. Begin my weekend. Sleep.

Latter on tonight I will be uploading my THAW review...and perhaps posting a first impression of Quake IV.

Right now, here are some FFXI thoughts.

• Graphics are simiply unacceptable. Period. They suck. The worst on 360, hands down.
• Long and boaring set p that could and should be alot easier. Will alienate gamers who purchase the retail version of the game.
• Bad user interface...just bad.
• Lots of fun to play...but alot of work as well.
• Super Bunnies? How can I kill three bunnies in four hits and than get killed by one with one hit the next time? WTF?!?
• NO VOICE!?! How did MS let Square shove that up their ass?

Just Finished Installing

Almost two hours since my last post...and I just finished the final DL and am in the world playing. I choose basic classes and characters for my first run just to get the feel of the game, but latter on I want to learn some real magic.

I'll be on this and Quake 4 throughtout the rest of the week. See 'ya online!

Installing FFXI

As you can see at right...Im in the middle of downloading and starting the Final Fantasy XI beta. I'm about an hour into it...I think Ive still got a ways to go.

I'll post my thoughts on the supposdly long and stupid process when and if I finish.

Whats Up With TLM?

So, back in October I told the world that The Lost Man, my Java Halo Project, would be ready for the end of November. That came and went...and so did January 12...the expected release date. Than, in a little PPS update, I said it wasn't coming untill May 2006. Heres the full story.

TLM is still in devlopment. I'm still coding on it everyday. In order to make it the best experiance possible, I need more time to finsih it. Seriously, I get held up in Niovember and Decmber with the holdiays and Xbox 360...and IO have not even finished raw coding for the end.

I expect may will be the final release date for TLM...but nothing is set in stone. If I don't have a good hold on the game by March, I'll push it back again. Sorry, thats just the way it works.

I'll try to update more with WWWU and stuff to keep you posted, but there just really isn't a whole lot to comment on. If all goes well, though, I will have a MAJOR annoucment the begining of February.

Stay tuned...and get ready for The Lost Man to invade your PC this May.

COD2 Review

Just finished and posted my review of COD2 on TeamXbox. Enjoy.

LINK

House of the Dead 4

My secert favorite game series is heading to the Xbox 360...this is the game Ill be playing in secert for years...online support would be AWSOME! Heres a tight new screen. No relase date is currently available, but I think its coming Fall 2006.

Slow News January

I've been active for the last couple of weeks...but theres just nothing at all to report. The biggest news had come in the form of new screen for the March releases of Burnout, Battlefield 2 and others. Oh and the release of DOA 4...which is cool but sooooo hard.

I've manged to finally unlock the Spartan character in DOA 4....but man do I suck. It took me forever to manage to get the Plasma Throw Combo down. All in all....the game is cool, but hard. You can read my full review of the game over at TeamXbox...here.

BTW--heres some news, I am now commited to using TeamXbox's review system to write my reviews. I just finshed THAW and COD2...so I'll be writting up reviews latter on. I'll be sure to post the links here for all to read.

STAR Awards Part 2 (Other)

Here's the new part of he STAR Awards...the Non-Video Gaming Awards. Enjoy!

Best Acting in a Cineamtic Production
Tom Cruse (War of the Worlds)

Best Special Effects in a Production
King Kong

Best Orginal Score
Munich, John Williams

Best Movie, Drama
Rent

Best Movie, Sci-Fi
SW:ROTS

Best Movie, Comedy
The Producers

Best Cineamtic Production
Star Wars Episode III: ROTS

Best Directing
Steven Speilburg, Munich

Best Acting, TV
Charile Sheen, two and a Half Men

Best New Show
How I Met Your Mother

Best TV Show, 2005
Current (DirecTV Ch. 366)

Best Book, 2005 (TIE)
Freakonomics; Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Harry Poter and the Half-Blood Prince

Best Comedy Spoof
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Best News Coverage Channel
Current

Story of th Year
Iraq Death Toll Reaches 2000

Person of the Year
John McCain

HD DVD Add On for Xbox 360

By now I'm sure you've heard about the HD DVD addidtion for the Xbox 360 that Bill Gates just annouced during his CES Keynote. Not much else, incluidng date, price or real specifics, but there is quite a bit of info just from the annoucment.

First--it's an add on, externaly. No internal modification required. This is actualy realy important. On one hand, games won't want to require this drive as not all will have it, yet, some games, like MS ones, may require it just to sell the unit.

More to come latter, rest assured.

2006 STAR Awards

Here they are...the winners of the 2006 STAR Awards for video games. Tomorrow, the winners for all other areas will be listed.

RU Stands For Runner Up

Best Console
Xbox
RU: Xbox 360

Best New Device
PSP
RU: iPod G5

Best Online Game
Perfect Dark Zero
RU: SC:CT

Best Offline Game
Call of Duty 2 (X360)
RU: Half Life 2 (XBX)

Best Graphics (Current Gen)
SC:CT
RU:SOCOM 3

Best Graphics (Next Gen)
Dead or Alive 4
RU: Call of Duty 2 (X360)

Best Gameplay
Call of Duty 2 (X360)
RU: Battlefront 2

Best Controls (Current Gen)
Half Life 2
RU: SC:CT

Best Controls (Next Gen)
Kameo: Elements of Power
RU: Call of Duty 2

Best Star Wars Game
Battlefront II
RU: Republic Commando

Best PS2 Game
SOCOM 3
RU: Soul Calibur 3

Best GameCube game
Mario Party 7
RU: Mario Superstar Baseball

Best PC Game
Battlefield 2
RU: The Movies

Best Xbox Game
SC:CT
RU: Half Life 2

Best Xbox 360 Game
TIE: Perfect Dark Zero
Call of Duty 2

Best PSP Game
GTA: Liberty Stories
RU: Burnout Legends

Best Nintendo DS Game
Mario Kart DS
RU: Nintendogs

Game of the Year
Call of Duty 2
RUS: (In Order) Perfect Dark Zero
SC:CT
SOCOM 3
Half Lfe 2

Best Developer
Bungie

Best Publisher
Microsoft Game Studios

Best DLC
Halo Map Pack
RU: Live Aracade GeoWars 2

--------------------------------------
Worst Online Experiance
Call of Duty 2 (X360)

Worst Graphics
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (X360)

Worst Next-Gen"Ness"
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006

Worst Game of the Year
Amped 3'

Biggest Letdown
MechAssualt 2
SW: Episode III

Worst Devloper
Valve

Away On Leave

There will prbably be fewer posts the next couple of days as I celebrate Christmas with my family. I'll be at home this year, so if I have anything to report I'll go ahead and post, but I doubt it. If I don't post again, Merry Christmas, Happy Kawanza, Happy Hanuka, Happy Festivus and any and all others.

P.S. Don't forget about the STAR awards on 1/3/06 and the Year in Review on New Years Eve. I'min the middle of finishing both of them for their releases.

P.P.S Halo: The Lost Man is still in development, and won't make a public appearance until May 2006. Sorry.

Marble Blast Ultra

This new Marble "sim" game comes out tomorrow over Xbox Live Aracde for 800 MS points. The title looks cool to me, and I'll probably end up buying the full version once I get a 1600 MS Point card from my brother on Christmas.

New Battlefront 2 DL Content

LucasArts annouced Monday that new DLC has gone out and is planned for BattleFront 2. This week, an update has been released to allow you to play Jedi-Free-For-All on Kayashk. A Premium pack is scheduled for January that includes favorite from the orginal, including Rhen Var and Bespin.

The Game That's Making Me Glad I Got a 360

...is Elder Scrolls 4. I've never played any of the orginals, but man this game looks good. So much action, so many different things to choose from. I'll go out on a limb and say this is the first game that will show off the Xbox 360'real potential for normal games. This is the next-generations alright. I might have to go out and preorder this title.

Nominees for STAR Awards Are In

Here are the nominees for the 2005 StarDrummer STAR awards. The winners will be annouced ina special post on January 3, 2005.

Best Console
Xbox
Xbox 360
PS2
GameCube

New Device
iPod nano
iPod, V5
Moto Razor Phone
PSP

Best Online Game
SC:CT
Perfect Dark Zero
SOCOM 3
Mario Kart DS
Battlefront 2

Best Offline Game
SC:CT
Call of Duty 2 (360)
Battlefront 2
Half Life 2 (XBX)

Best Graphics
--caption award

Best Gameplay
Call of Duty 2
Battlefront 2
Perfect dark Zero
Kameo: Elements of Power
Half-Life 2

Best Controls
--caption award

Best Star Wars Game
SW: Episode III (XBX)
SW: Battlefront 2
SW: Republic Commando

Console Bests
--caption awards

GOTY
Call of Duty 2 (360)
Perfect Dark Zero
SOCOM 3
Half-Life 2 (XBX)
SC:CT

Best Developer
Bungie (Halo Map Pack)
Rare (PDZ, Kameo)
Valve (HL 2)
Nintendo (Mario KartDS, others)

Best Publisher
--caption award

Best DLC
Halo Map Pack
Live Aracde: GeoWars 2
Live Aracde: Outpost Kaloki: X
Live Aracde: Smash TV
SC:CT

Movie of the Year
King Kong
March of the Penguins
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Star Wars: Episode III
Rent

TV Show of the Year
How I Met Your Mother
Two and a Half Men
CSI: Miami
Call for Help
Current

Acting: TV/Movie
--caption award

Awards listed as caption awards are individual awards that are looked at regardless of competition, thus NO nominees are ever made. Basically, all games are considered for this category at the same time.

Several awards are not listed here. The decsion has yet to be made about the list of nominees or the inclusion of the award itself. Please note that this is different than an ward stating that it is a caption award.

Robotron 2084 Out

Robotron 2084 has been released on the Martketplace. I'd say try out the demo, but it is REALLY short (less than a minute in length). If you want another top-down 360 degree shoter to join the ranks of Smash TV, GeoWars, Storm and others, than it's your title. If you, like me, think that 3 is enough, than you should probably hold out.

360 Launch Day: Part 2

It's offical: Best Buy's across the US will be releasing a second wave of Xbox 360's this Sunday, December 18. Here are the ad's and the insider memo to prove it:

(Click on Image for Full Size)

I might drive by my local Best Buy, just to laugh and make fun of those who are waiting for one. And yes, I do think you should camp overnight. Most stores are only getting around 24. Heres the list.

My store (#150) is getting 60 systems. On the 22nd, they had 97. You do the math.

Finished THAW Classic Mode

As you can see by my GamerScore, I finished THAW Classic Mode last night. I am almost to Tony Alva...and about half-way or so through the Story Mode.

Have bearly started PDZ yet...I'll save that for the next two weeks I have off.

Wik: Cool New Aracade Game

For those of you with a 360...go and download the new demo of Wik in the Martketplace. The game is pretty fun, in a werid way. It grows on you, and once it does your be hooked. Be prepared to dish out 800 MS Points pretty soon, you'll want this one.

Also, isn't that te coolest GamerPic thing yet?

What to Get: 2005 Edition

Here's an updated Amazon list for this year as I continue my quest to have the best items under the tree each year.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/ref=wlem-si-html_viewall/103-3794184-9385453?id=1T33M25ZJ126N

AWOL Becuase of Xbox 360

I know I've been gone for quite some time now...but it's simply becuase I've been putting in all extra time to the 360, as you can see from my GamerScore.

So far, I've fully completed Madden, beat the SP of COD2 and I am about halfway through THAW (only 2 more Classic Goals!). Today I just got PDZ, and I've got mixed first reactions. The graphics are not that great, and the controls feel funky compared to COD2. The gameplay, hwoever, is pretty fun, and reminds me for some reason of Unreal 2. Odd, I know, but the premise is similar. That may, for me, be a good thing, as I actually liked U2.

I've also been playing around with a few Araca titles, and I've purhcased Geometry Wars 2, Smash TV and Outpost Kaloki X so far. I have trial versions of the others (Pool, and the new weird table games). I have to say that the MartketPlace is my favorite new addition to Xbox. The trailers, demos and content has got me hooked. I literaly have spent hours just going back and forth and seeing whats all their.

I've also manged to get a full 360 set-up between 3 Windows machines and a wireless router, all in under 10 minutes. Thank you MS, their is a God. The picture/song transfer thing is way cool, just wish I could play copy-protected mucis from iTunes.

Perfect GamerScore: Madden '06

Yesterday I finally finished 30 years of Franchise mode in Madden for the 360, and got a 1000 GamerScore for the Game (Don't belive me? Click on my GamerCard to the right!). Now on to Call of Duty 2. That game is freakin' hard!

360: First Thoughts

Putting the shortages and some console failures aside, heres my thoughts on Microsoft's new Xbox 360.

It rocks.

There realy is so much to say about it that by saying anything is limiting its pure power. But I'll try anyway.

The Guide is awsome...being able to access it no matter where you are is totally cool. The way it interacts between you, Live and the Internet is amazing. GamerScore is cool too, and provides a realistic back-up for trash-talking online.

The hardware itself is pretty nice. The controlers are sloids and easy to use for the mowst part. The HDD works fine...although it probably isn't being used as much as it should. The Play and Charge Kit (my current only accessory) works great, and really is a must have for all wireless controlers (it provides a warning as to when the battery will die...on screen!)

The graphics and games of course are the meat of the console...but words will not do either justice. You must play it to see what it is. If you didn't stand in line for 21 hours and wern't lucky enough to get one...than head to a kiosk now and set-up permant residence, or fly to Japan or Europe for their luanches (you still have time). There is no excuse not to be playing the 360.

I'm off to go finish Call of Duty 2 to higher my GamerScore! Have to break 1000 this weekend!

Xbox 360 Is Here

The era of next-gen gaming is here, and I am a part of it. After a long 21 hours outside of my local Best Buy...I managed to score the hottest gaming system in history. And yes, it is everything it is cracked out to be. The graphics are just something tobe hold. Currently, I have three 360 games--Call of Duty 2, Madden '06 and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

I posted my GamerCard here before, and I will try to get it as a permanate feature of this blog via HTML. Stay tuned for more news and info as I get a second to tear myself away from the 360.

My GamerCard

EDIT: My GamerCard may now be seen on the right hand side.

Less than 24 Hours

Less than 24 hours before the US release of the Xbox 360...and I'm about to embark on a quest to find one. No, I did not pre-order one...and now I will seek one out using stealth, charm and smarts.

My first stop is Wal-Mart, who has about 150 available for sale at 12:01 tonight. I plan to head over there in about an hour and wait in line.

If I am not successful there, I shall head to Best Buy, which opens at 9 AM to get one there. If I run out of luck, Costco and Circuit City are next.

Expect audio updates here on the progress of my journey. It's gonna be a long day...

Unpacking Ritual

The guys over at Joystick have just completed most of their unpacking ritual of the Xbox 360. Definatly worth a look.

LINK

(P.S. Whats isnide the metal box????)

Happy 3rd B-day Xbox Live

Today also marks the 3rd Birthday of Xbox Live. The service was born on this day in 2002. Heres another round on me.

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to XBOX LIVE...
Happy Birthday to you...

Happy 4th B-Day Xbox

A Big Happy B-day goes out to Xbox today...it turns 4 years old. It was born on this day in 2001.

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to XBOX
Happy Birthday to you...

Train Releases New Single-"Cab"

Train released a new single from their upcoming album today on iTunes. It's Called "Cab" and I like it.

Today seems like Music Tuesday for some reason...with Bowling For Soup, Train, Green Day, Big and Rich and Harry Potter. Next week, it's DVD Tuseday, with Seinfeld (5 AND 6), Polar Express and others coming out. And a little console called Xbox 360 :)

360 Luanch Titles Revieled

The moment you've all been waiting for: the full and complete lineup for the Xbox 360 on launch day (11/22). The following titles will be available on OR BEFORE the Big Day:

Kameo™: Elements of Power™ (Microsoft Game Studios)Go on a journey full of magnificent exploration and innovative morph-into-monster action.

Perfect Dark Zero™ (Microsoft Game Studios)Plunge into a world of corporate espionage and conspiracy as perfect agent Joanna Dark.

Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios)Life begins at 170 mph with the ultimate roster of the hottest supercars in existence.

Call of Duty 2 (Activision)Experience the cinematic intensity and chaos of epic WWII battles in this Xbox 360 exclusive.

Need for Speed™ Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)Out-race rivals and evade coordinated police pursuits to become the most wanted street racer.

Peter Jackson's King Kong™ (Ubisoft)Battle for survival on Skull Island as Jack Driscoll and even play as the mighty Kong himself.

Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)Get ready for the most incredibly lifelike and best looking football experience ever created.

GUN™ (Activision)Journey through the Wild West in an immersive story of betrayal, greed, and revenge.

Condemned: Criminal Origins™ (SEGA)Pursue serial killers lurking on the periphery of humanity through squalid urban environments.

NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)Create your own player and guide him through all of the facets of an elite NBA career.

Ridge Racer™ 6 (Namco)With more than 130 cars and 30 courses play all-new online modes, plus downloadable content.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision)Enjoy unlimited skating and BMX biking in the vast wasteland of Los Angeles with no load times.

QUAKE™ 4 (Activision)Take the battle to the heart of the Strogg home planet as Earth's only hope for victory.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 06 (Electronic Arts)Battle through five classic periods of golf with Tiger Woods and legends like Palmer and Nicklaus.

Amped 3 (2K Sports)Get ready for a fat helping of boarding culture and huge snowboxes loaded with killer gameplay.

FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup™ (Electronic Arts)With 72 teams and 1700 players, it's a soccer lover's dream as you advance to the World Cup.

NHL 2K6 (2K Sports)Hockey is back, so strap on your skates and take your favorite team to the Stanley Cup finals.

NBA Live 06 (Electronic Arts)Feel the emotion and intensity with freestyle superstars and more physical play

Battlefront 2 Review

TeamXbox: 9.0/10
IGN 7.0/10

Opening Thoughts
First, we all know I'm a huge SW fan, and we all know how much I've been looking foward to this game. I have alot of Star Wars experiance, and thus know a lot about every character. I have also played Battlefront 1 and know the way it works. Keep that in mind during the review.

Single Player
Let's get the boring part out of the way. Let it be known that battlefront 2 isn't meant for single player. Sure it has it, but that isn't going to justify a $50 purchase. There are a couple of game types: Galtic Conquest, Rise of the Empire, and Instant Action (no Historical Campaign this time around). Conquest plays out like a board game, where you take turns moving fleets and buying soilders and bonuses. When you run into an enemy, you fight, whereve that may be. Rise of the Empire plays like a mini-game, in that it has specific objectives and things that need to be accomplished within the battle. Instant Action is just the multiplayer game types versus an AI bot.
Score: 4/5

Controls
For some reason, this time the reload is not X, but down on the D Pad. They are totally customizable though, and the game plays perfectly no matter which way they are set to.
Score: 5/5

Sound
Perfect. But it should be, as this is Star Wars. The new songs from ROTS add a nice touch to the others. Sound effects and 5.1 are all there to boot.
Score: 5/5

Graphics
BF 2 isn't the greatest looking game ever, but it works well with what it's got. Some of the planets (Like Felucia) are not too easy to look at, but most of the characters look pretty good. Visually, not much has changed from the first one.
Score: 3.5/5

Gameplay
To put it simply, Battlefront 2 is fun to play- die hard fan or not. The improvemets only add to the game that was alreadly pretty good. The ability to be a Jedi or to fly in space are really great additions. Space battles, by the way, work like a game of Destruction, where you fly into the enemies base and do as much damage as possible. Heroes selection includes Han, Leia, Luke, Chewbacca, The Emperior, Vader, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Yoda, Mace Window, Boba and Jango Fett, Count Dooku, General Grevious and a few others.

The game works well with what it does. The new maops, which include Tantive IV, Felucia, Death Star, Jabba's Place (sort-of new), Dagobah, Mustafar, Utapa, and others provide great new battles. And the addition of new game modes like Hunt (kill the other species) and CTF (single and double) add even more variety to the game.

The only thing really wrong with BF 2 is that it is too easy, and thus becomes un-fun to play. That's where multiplayer comes in.
Score: 5/5

Multiplayer
BF 2 supports 4-player spiltscreen, 4-person-per-TV System Link and 32 player Live battles (4 players per TV as well). The actual experiance is quite fun, but is lagged with problems. In every type (even spiltscreen) the frame rater suffers as more action is added to the screen. The Live battles are still extra laggy, but are a tad bit better in Dediacted Servers. The new game types, like CTF, add some fun to the Multiplayer, but it's still basic Battlefront.

Don't get me wroung, I have had a great time with freinds on Battlefront 2, but there are sever techinical problems with it that should have been fixed.
Score: 3/5

Overall
Battlefront 2 is a great game, it just has some problems. Perhaps BF 3 will finally fix some of them.
Score: 4/5

Happy B-Day Halo 2!!

A year and 7 million copies latter, we stumble once agin on November 9. Ahh, remember what you were doing at this time last year. I was in the cold, waiting outside EB Games. Now, I'm waiting to wait outside EB Games for the 360 launch.

Bungie also just revield that both Halo and Halo 2 have been upgraded for the 360 to include 720p support and widescreen. They both look pretty nice.

Now, a round for Halo 2, on me...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to Halo 2...
Happy Bithday to you.

Why I Won't Buy Half Life 2

Heres the thing: I have no doubt in my mind that HL2 for the Xbox is going to be amazing. However, three things have happened over the last few months that have really pissed me off, and thus, I will not be purchusing this game next week. Here are my reasons, from least to greatest.

1. Valve suckered up to EA to realse Half Life. Why stoop down to their level!?! WHY!!
2. It's coming out on Xbox 1, when Xbox 360 will be out just a week latter. Hello! Bad marketing decision. I don't have any extra cash to spend this close to such a huge console release.
3. There is no Live. None at all. Not even Live aware. Not even a hint of connectivity. In this stage of gaming, that is, in my book, stupid and unforgivable. The last non-Live game I bought was Mercenaires. I don't want to break my streak.

Plus, I have played it before on PC. For now, I'll stick with Counter Strike on Xbox, one game Valve didn't mess up too much (although you think they'd release a single new DLC as a reward for it's success).

WWWU #2

Heres the update on The Lost Man for this week...

Coding contines, and I'm up to about 1000 lines of Java code so far. I probably will not be making any release this mo nth of anything becuase of this low amount (I thought it would be closer to 1500 by now).

So far, the story is pretty cool. I won't spoil anything, but heres some basics of the plot. Again, it's after New Mombasa and before the Cheif takes off to fight the Covies. You start off knowing nothing, and progrss in knowledge untill your true identity and purpose are revield.

Heres some real news: the Moon is in Halo:TLM. It was rumored to be in Halo 2, and it wasn't, so it seemed perfeclty natural for me to include that level in this game. And yes, it fits with the plot.

Weapon choices no include Plasma Riffle, Rocket Luancher, Sword, Battle Riffle, Fists, Brute Plasmas and a shotgun.

Your code/hint for the week is 1927. Enter it before you start and see what happens.

Tune in next week for some more info, a possible screen shot(s) and more info on when I will release the game.

Head up: You will need a JDK and a Java Program to run any pre-release downloads (anything released before June 11, 2006)

Happy Day Before Star Wars Day '05!!

...and Halloween to!

I'll be sure to post my first thoughts on the DVD and BF2 as soon as I get them and get home, which should be around 4 PM PST (damn school). Expect it to be a very cool day.

Have a fun night, be safe, and p-lay some special Halo-ween games (trick-or-treat is my fav)

Legal Issues My Ass

That's the biggest, lammmest, BS-ist thing I've ever heard. There are no "legal" issues stopping bpeople under 18 from setting up a gamercard!! I know, there aren't! If we could use the forums then, why not now? And why can we everywhere else?

MS you made a horrible, stupid decision. This seriously affectes my wanting of an Xbox 360...you just really DON'T care about who plays your games, do you?

Have fun with the new features and forums...I won't see them untill March (Which, oddly enough, is close to the PS3 launch...)

This Sucks

So, the new forums and MY Xbox are up...and so is another "bug" or idiotic MS idea. Apparently, I'm too young to registar. I have to go now, but I'll be back for sure latter to rant on the stupdidty of this.

Help Bungie "Fight the Flood"

The Bungie Charity auction to benift the victims of hurricane Katrina has started...go cheek it out. Help thousands of people get their lives back while scoring some very cool Halo orginals. Sounds pretty good to me.

LINK
http://nikon.bungie.org/bma/

Weekly Whats What Update #1

I'm going to start a weekly update feature to let you know how progress is going on my Halo RPG Project...here's update the first...

Work on H:TLM (a tentative title, likely to latter be changed) has begun, and I'm alreadly well into Version 1.0.03. The first two versions just didn't work out. They are still playable, and will in fact be included in the final package I release on June 15, 2005, but they are not what I want the game to be.

1.0.02 included a change to the code style basically, and had no outer effect to the user. I switched from using if-else and for loops to switch cases.

1.0.03 included several changes to the end user, including a new weapon system. In all other versions, weapons were added and dropped in the actual code, as in I would have one part for Room 1 with gun, and another for Room 1 without a gun. This just got too complicated when I intoduced other weapons, so I have switched to a code-based entry system that I like alot better.

That's where the cool part is. Each week in every update, I will be giving out a new code for a better use of a weapon. Weapons are not hard to get, but are harded to learn how to use well. I will be handing out a code a week, that will either boast a weapon or give you a special new one. The code will only be included for the week in which the update was included (In other words, next week, I will delete this one).

This week's code is 8841. it will give you better aim with all Human Weapons (Skill Level 2). This will be more clear when the game is released, but for now, write it down and save it for when the game is released. (Also note that these codes may only work with the finhsed version released in early January)

...And We're On

Just to report, Xbox.com and XBL are now up and running. Things have smoothed out since 4 AM when the service first went on. Originally, there were a few hiccups, but all is calm now.

Additionaly, MN just rported that the first Xbox 360 has been seen on Xbox Live. Swing over to his site and cheek out the historic photo.

I like the new layout of Xbox.com...colorful, short and simple, just the way an official site should be. What will be interesting-and what I think we all really waiting for-is how the new forums and My Live sections look.

First Chance to Play the 360

Looks like several retialers have got 360 kiosks up and running. Head on over to Wal-Mart or EB Games and cheek it out. I just wanna know how the controller feels.

LINK

Halo and Halo 2 Will Be Updated for Xbox 360

Yes, you heard it here first...and I must say I'm surprised no body else picked this up as it's pretty big news. Here's a quote from the Bungie WWWU:

"There is a very slight possibility I might play PGR3 or Perfect Dark Zero first. But then, straight onto Halo one. We’re going to have more to tell you about how Halo one and two look on 360, and it’s all good news."

It was currently thought that all games would be stright ports, due to the method MS choose to copy games to the 360. However, this little hint deffinatly says something about the furutre of Halo and Halo 2. Even if it's only better HD support, it's still more than most people were hoping for.

Xbox 360 Online Features Revieled

Today, XZbox.com unveiled the secerts to the upcoming "new" Xbox.com wbesite and Xbox Live.

Xbox Live is being redone to include the famous Gamer Card, the thing that will track your status and stuff across games.

Xbox.com will be changed to include support for this new Gamer Card. In the works is online viewing and editing, and even easy-access HTML so you can drag it as a Sig or to your Blog. (Yes...there will definatly be one here very soon).

The forums are alos being redone. Your forum name will now simply be your gamertag, and it will have easy access to your GamerCard. Sweet.

All in all, it definatly seems worth the 24 hour downtime on 10/24. The only thing that sucks is I think BF 2 comes out around then...hopefully not on the same day. Talk about bad timing.

LINK (Also cheek out MN's Blog for some pics and stuff)

Working on The Lost Man

I've started work on The Lost Man, the current codename/devlopment title of my text-based RPG. It's loosly based on the Halo storyline, but you don't play as the Master. Instead, the game has you as a common Marine solider in battle for Earth.

You start out in the cliche' RPG-way of having no clue who you are (you even have to open your eyes) and than discover what's going on. The Cehif does show up towards the middle of the game, and helps play out some the early battles...but other than that, your on your own.

The real plot of the game involves you searching for the reason behind the Covenant attack on Earth, after the battle of New Mombasa in Halo 2. In your search, you find clues to a hidden relic on Earth...and dsicover your true identity and how it is intrictly linked to the Halo uinverse.

Just so were clear, this is a school-based, non-profit fan-fiction game that is in no endorsed, sponswered or in any way affilated with Bungie, Microsoft, Xbox, or any of the things related to those companies. I belive this dosn't violate any legal issues, as I don't plan on making a penny on this, it's just an AP Computer Science (Java) project.

If I can, I will give the world access to the game by November 22, 2005. I expect to have the final, version 1.03.06, released by January 12, 2006. Don't count on the early version to be completly great or completly finsihed for that matter. But be sure to cheek it out, as so far, after only a week of actual hardcore coding, its coming along pretty nicely.

Also, the program will be open-source based, but I will NOT be able to release the code untill June 11, 2006, after the course is over for school reasons.

Xbox Live Bows Down to the 360

MS just annouced that Xbox.com and the Xbox Live service will be down from 10/24 to 10/25, 2005, in order to prepare for the launch of Xbox 360. Should we expect a new site when it goes Live again? Perhaps not intentially, but very soon. MN hinted doing his Blogcast that a new site is coming very soon, but said he would discuss it next week. So, maybe this will materialize on the 25th...but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Let's all hope for a new forum system....like we've been promised for over a year.

Lets Get the Coutdowns in Order, Please

So many hot things coming out so soon...it's time to get a little organized. Here's my Countdows to the hottests items for the rest of 2005. (For the record, my coutdowns are true style, they don't include today but do include the day of release)

Series of Unfortunate Events Book 12--3 Days

The last book before the last book is finally coming. Can't wait to be more confused about the VFD and life itself. October 18, 2005.

SW: ROTS on DVD and BattleFront II -- 17 Day

Two hot sequals to the best things in the Star Wars Universe? Thats what I call Star wars Day. Novemer 1, 2005.

Xbox 360-38 Days

MS promises the 360 will be awsome...and I belive them. The onyl real question is how long after this do I have to wait?

DVD Day 2005- Seinfeld, War of the Worlds-38 Days

The list of DVDs coming out on November 22 gets longer almost everyday. The Biggies include the Seinfeld Seasons 5 & 6 Collector's Set, with Puffy Shirt, War of the Worlds, The Polar Express, and a few others. Makes the November 22 trip about $80 more expensive.

Thanksgiving 2005--40 Days

This Thanksgiving, theres going to be alot of Xbox playing going on.

UC Applications--46 Days

College applications make me want to scream. Including them in this list of cool things makes them a little less stressful. But I still must scream. AHHHHHH!!!

Christmas 2005--71 Days

This is probably when I'll actually get a 360. Untill than, I will cry myself to sleep every night.

2006--77 Days

Thus begins my last year as a child. Such sweet memeories...

iTunes 6.0-Tunes with Video

I upgraded to the 6.0 version of iTunes yesterday. It supports the new video features for all new iPods, which is cool. No awsome cool or "OMG" cool, but just cool. The service allows you to purchuse and download TV shows (Lost, Desperate Houswives, and some other ABC shows) and a few Pixar short flicks. There are also a very limited amount of video podcasts that are free, and about 2000 music videos that cost $1.99.

I bought the Pixar short "For the Birds" to test it out, and I must say I was impressed. It download in about the samne time as a song does, and it plays pretty well. The resolution holds up well for all modes except full-screen, bu even there it isn't too bad. And, BTW, "For the Birds" is halarois. Unfortunatly, my new nano dosn't support video (of course) so I have no idea about how the iPod video works. But I wouldn't worry to much about the size of the screen. It's probably just big enough to wok with most of the stuff the have out right now. The big news is: wheres the NFL?

Still Alive...For Now

I know its been about a month since my last post...which is wayyy to long. But I've been busy, and now I'm back. Back with a vengence. So, whats been happening in my absence? The world's gone crazy, thats what.

• Sun and Google join together in a third attempt to beat out Microsoft. You just gotta feel sorry for the guys...they've got so much heart.
• Google gives free WiFi to San Franisco...at dial-up speeds.
• Xbox 360 annouces lunch lineup...much to the dissappointment of fans. Can MS do anything right?
• And some other stuff.

Here's whats been happening in my world.

• Took the SAT I yesterday again...and of course it sucked. 4 hours is just too long for any kind test. Even the A.P.'s don't seem that bad.
• My iPod nano came in (by the way, I ordered one). It's pretty cool, and very small. Expect a review to come some time in your life.

Mark Your Calendars

Late-breaking news: The Launch Date of the 360 is here.

(Pulling up sleeve to show tatoo...lol)

November 22, 2005.

This is perhaps the biggest Xbox 360 annoucment yet. Get your HTML hats on...its time to make some counters! Is nano small enough?

Big News Teusday

Two more things...two more BIG things...for today (there was a lot, huh)

First...ESRB MANDATES RATING REVIEW
As part of the continual fallout of the GTA:SA ESRB change, today, the rating board sent out e-mails stating that all games made within the last 12 months (from 9/1/04 on) will have to sumbit to the ESRB a review and/or discloser of any and all hidden content, ment to be played or not, by January 2006 or face punitive penalites. This means that all developers, including Bungie, have some work to do...

Second...NINTENDO REVIELS GAMEBOY MICRO PACKAGING
And it looks like this:
It looks weird, but cool. However, I still can't see me buying this. I don't need another device to play Game Boy Advance titles. Make a better format alreay!

9/11 Remberance Ceramony

Yesterday, my High school held a ceramony, as seen above, to comemorate the tradgedy of September 11, 2001. You can see me if you squint really hard...I'm in the band (front, center) in the Percussion area, first head left of the blue bass drum.That's my dot!

Also, Sunday was a moment of silence in honor of those who died.

ekype?

Today, Ebay annouced that it has purchused the VoIP provider, Skype, for $2.6 billion. Will we now have to bid to talk over the Internet? Of course, we'll have to pay in PayPal...lol

LINK

PS2 Recalled

Thousands of new slim-design PS2s have been recalled, due to an overheating power supply. This, of course, marks the second mass recall for the PS2, and also the second mass recall of a console due to overheating.

LINK

Easy Way to See The Tree's Secerts

Over at OrigenXbox360.com...the tree is holding omse pretty well-hidden secerts. You can easily find out something about them though by viewing the page as "Source" or in HTML.It will tell you what week its in, and the secert or change for the week so at least your know what to look for. What it dosn't say, however, is when Halo 3 is coming out...

Did You Buy a Shirt Yet?

Remember to head over and buy the Flood shirt from Bungie. They've nearly collects $120,000 to donate to the Red Cross...that number should be higher by now. We all need to join together to help fellow Americans. Buy a shirt now. Already bought one? Buy another. Theres still people out there that need help. Heck, buy three, even four or five. BUY!!!!!!!! And tell others to as well!!!

http://www.bungiestore.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=322

Cool Logo Makers

Nothing new...but these are old favorites of mine:

Google Page Creator
Favorite Logo of Mine
A Dream of Mine

Yahoo Logo Creator
Favorite Logo of Mine

Now I'm Interested

I never got into the whole Origen thing (The ILB like viral thing for the Xbox 360)...until now. In fact, I had never visted the site until today.

What changed me? This update from TeamXbox. It seems to me that there is lily some kind of connection between it and Halo 3. Not sure how big...but anything that mentions Halo is worth my time. I'll spend today trying to get up-t0-pace with the Origen thing...but untill then, heres some Latin that may be as famous as I Love Bees:

in hoc spatio arbor noster floruit, fecundus pomies Elysii ignoti, qui in loco ludent electi, ab Originis angelis circumdati.

The New iPod: Nano

Today, Apple annouced the birth of the next big thing in MP3 players: the iPod Nano. As you can see from the picture, its pretty much a bigger version of the Shuffle...with a screen. It's flash based...which means it should be dock-free. It's scdueled to be available sometime this week, for $199 +. It holds 500-1000 songs (I belive there is two versions, geussing 500 and 1000). Apple plans on making the Nano replace the iPod Mini.

Apple also annouced the alreadly-known deal involving the iTunes cell phone deal with Mortorla.

Support Bungie in Helping Fight The Flood

Don't listen to the fools over at the TeamXbox forums...Bungie really is trying to help those hurt by the devestating effects of Katrina. While I am far away from its immediate effects, I too am deeply hurt by this great disaster. Buy a shirt...help save lives. And remember, for every ugly, dirty, rotten no-good scum of-the-Earth lotter, there are 1,000 good people just stuck there, and tens of thousands more trying get to them.

LINK TO SAVE AMERICA
(PLEASE BLOG THIS LINK EVERYWHERE. INLCUDE IT IN ALL FORUM SIGS)
http://www.bungie.net/News/Story.aspx?link=8495D2B1-3505-4EF4-A6DE-A99B109A332B