Hello, and welcome to the update. :)

Wow, been over a month since I updated. Lots of little stuff going on but nothing that I was willing to get off my arse and post about.

So lets see, we've been looking for a new house (outgrew ours a long time ago, but hadn't really been motivated to do anything about it.). My wife will be starting a new job soon, and it's even farther NE so it would be nice to be a little closer to that side of town. Have some appointments today so I will see how those pan out. We would like to move before school starts so the kids will start the new year at the proper school, but that August 15th starting date is rapidly approaching.

A lot of new 'summer' series on TV now, and a few new surprises to the ones I always watch (Monk, and the Closer). I really have enjoyed the first 3-4 episodes of Kyle XY (on ABC Family, although now it's also being shown on ABC at the end of the week) a show about this teenager waking up in the woods not remembering anything before that point. He gets taken in by a social worker, and her family. Has some "Lost"esqe moments where each episode opens up a little bit more of his past. I'm also enjoying Blade: The Series, and really liking Psych a comedy/cop show about a fake psychic who joins the police department to help them solve cases. I updated the items on the left side of the page to reflect current reality as some of them were a little out of date. :)

I'm really enjoying the Saint's Row demo (yours free when you pre-order Saint's Row at EB Games/GameStop, or it will be on the August issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. Eventually it will show up on the LIVE marketplace also sometime after the 1st.). This is a next gen GTA clone all the way, but looks good and is a lot of fun to play. I found this video that shows off some of the multiplayer aspects of the game. I can't wait to join a gang, and open up a can of whoop-ass. :P I also really liked Prey, although I heard it was short (single player) it has the 'feel' of those older Duke Nukem games.

Took a couple days off last week and went to Denver, CO. Went to my first Dave & Buster's a cross between Applebee's, and an arcade. The food was great (soup du jour was Smoked Turkey Chowder really tasty, and had a kick to it.) and you can play video games (while drinking alcohol if so motivated.) all in the same place. Come to find out they just opened one in KC not too long ago, makes those 2 hour road trips even more appealing now! We also went through the Denver Museum of Nature & Science specifically to see Body Worlds 2 which was coming to an end last week, but spent pretty much a day looking around at everything. We also went through the Downtown Aquarium which was a great exhibit. The restaurant connected to it was a little pricy (it's owned by Landry's the same company that runs Rainforest Cafe) but the food was good and there is a aquarium that runs down one side of the restaurant. We sit right next to the aquarium glass, and my daughter didn't like the sharks coming by the table. One day we went to Golden, CO just outside of Denver, it was a really nice little town nestled among some mountains. This is where the Coors plant is and they offer free tours, so we took them up on it. At the end of the tour you get three free drinks (depending on your age) in the lounge area. My problem with beer is that I don't like the taste of it. No qualms with alcohol consumption just that damn taste. So I was hoping that maybe they would have something to try that would sway my stance, but their suggestion was "Blue Moon Belgian White" which unfortunately still tasted like beer. :( On the positive side I did find that I like Zima XXX Hard Ice which it turns out is an alcoholic slushee. I really liked the black cherry, and the fruit punch was fair didn't try the orange or green apple. I asked the server who sold them in my neck of the woods, she replied "Graham Central Station" (which of course closed down a while back) but she didn't know that. On an ending note I passed Invesco field at Mile High a lot, boo... Broncos suck.

I updated the movie list on the left side too, but I'm way behind seeing stuff. I hope to catch up today, and tomorrow on some of the ones I've missed (Pirate's, Clerks II, etc.). I did see Lady in the Water last night it didn't really seem like a M. Night Shyamalan film, but I enjoyed it anyway. I read something where he described it as a 'bed time story for grown-ups' he was right on.

Lite Brite! Woops we lost the cargo, and podcast.

Well I got my DS Lite the other day, and I must say WOW this thing is sooo bright. I started putting in my old cartridges to "see" the difference new technology makes. It was amazing, I've found that light setting 3 seems to be the best level for me. Setting 2 seems too close to the phat DS, but man 3 makes the colors so vibrant. I can't use setting 4 for any length of time it's way to bright I see spots when I look away (okay maybe not that bad, but you get the idea).


The nice thing about the vibrant colors is it makes all your old games seem new again. I put Animal Crossing Wild World in and it looks great. My animals were nice enough to tell me that I had neglected them for 3 months, but they were happy to see me and a couple new ones had moved in. There are bugs everywhere, although I'm looking for the "finned" fish like the sharks right now.

All of these snazzy DS Lites lead to one thing, theft. :) Play-Gadgets has a story about a cargo container shipped from Hong Kong full of Black DS Lites on there way to a European launch that went missing. $2.32 million worth of Black DS Lites soon to be appearing on eBay.

I'm still listening to DualScreen Radio, and the current episode 6/10/06 is a pretty good one. There is about an hour rant on Gamestop/EB Games, that is entertaining to listen to. They don't really say anything I haven't heard before, but I found it funny. I've also started listening to MajorNelson's podcast. He works at Microsoft and keeps the above blog, and also is the one that announces all the new content that gets placed on the marketplace. His podcast is mostly about the 360, and he usually has one interview each episode with someone within Microsoft. He has a DS (and loves it) so it comes up from time to time in his show.

I really should post about something...

Been a while since my last post, so I decided it was time to get off my ass and do it.

Took a mini vacation (since I didn't go to E3 this year I missed my "spring break" :( I was getting used to spending some time in California every year.) and went to Branson for Memorial Day weekend. Been there, done that but it was nice just to get away for a while.
Went back to Celebration City this trip, as we hadn't been since it opened a couple years ago. Think of it as a really nice/clean up-to-date Joyland, more of the "carnival" type rides, shops, and they do have a couple of shows. They had added the go-carts, and mini golf to your admission (so you no longer had to pay again once you were inside the park) which was cool. Their big ride is the Ozark Wildcat The ultra-compact wooden coaster reaches speeds of 45 miles per hour and has a toe-tingling 8-story drop with a one-of-a-kind 310-degree spiraling double-down drop, a high-speed swoop turn with a rabbit hop midway and a finale that'll leave you screaming for more! It's pretty cool fairly quick ride, that's a little on the rough side (that may just be me, as I get older it seems that wooden coasters rattle me more.). Probably the coolest thing about CC is the show they have at the end of the night called Ignite the night held in their man-made amphitheater with lawn seating. They created a rock wall canyon that serves as the back drop, with a water pool in front of it with all different sorts of fountains. The show includes stills/video (projected onto the canyon background, and mist created by the fountains), fireworks, laser lights, and of course music. It's kinda hard to describe, but it looks really neat in person.

The next day was Silver Dollar City which added a new area this year called Grand Exposition which is aimed at family rides. They consist of 3 (really) little kid rides, 4 older kid rides, and 3 even older kid rides. By far the best was the Electro Spin (pretty poor video representation, but gives the general idea). It's a giant disc with 24-30 outward facing bicycle style seats that rotates, and rolls back and forth like a pendulum on a U shaped track.

Does freakin' awesome do it justice!? My daughter and I rode this at least 8 times I think, highly recommended.
They still have two really good steel frame coasters though, Wildfire!, and Powder Keg. Keg is the newest, opened just last season. Silver Dollar City's blurb The new $10 million roller coaster sends riders into a thrill zone within seconds of climbing aboard, launching riders from 0 to 53 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds. A thrill ride unlike any other in the history of the theme park, PowderKeg combines the shocking speed of the compressed air-launch with spiraling turns, negative gravitational or "G" forces, and "floater" hills at speeds up to 64 miles per hour for a truly wild ride experience.. I really like the "blast off" at the beginning it is amazing, it rivals my favorite coaster Mr. Freeze at Six Flags over Texas.

Okay enough of that, lets see... The Nintendo DS Lite launches June 11th (Sunday) for those of you who forgot. I guess they started arriving in stores about a week ago, and some overzealous clerks put them on the shelf. A couple of message forums I visit were buzzing with stories of people who found them early. I did finally get some "hands on" time with the enamel navy import unit, I like the size and feel of the new unit, but was put off by the casing. It's just like my PSP casing, a finger print magnet. As anal as I am with the PSP I can't imagine how much I would be cleaning the DS Lite. :( The good news is the crappy white doesn't seem to have that particular affliction, so I'm happy with that aspect. The new screens are sooo bright and colorful I can't wait to try some of my older games out on the Lite.

I played through the demo of Titan Quest on the PC (twice!). If you ever played Diablo or Diablo II the game will be instantly familiar to you. The only differences are you deal with more mythology based characters than D&D types. The demo plays really nice, and looks great too. The full game comes out at the end of the month, but if your a Diablo fan at least try out the demo.

As good as Titan Quest looks, it's time to update my PC a little bit. The easiest will be adding a stick of 512MB ram to hit 1GB of memory which is usually the "recommended" quote on all games now. My Nvidia 5900SE is still working okay (I can play Half-Life 2, DOOM 3, and others fine, not at the highest res and settings mind you, but perfectly playable) but its time for some more umph. My video card ***get or "limit" if you will has always been around $150.00 that is my break even line on performance vs. price. I just can't bring myself to pay $300/400 for a video card, so I live a little on the trailing edge of technology. I can also get one more upgrade out of my processor going to 3.06 GHz then that's it my motherboard will have to be put out to pasture. The only game I haven't been able to run lately was F.E.A.R. but since it's coming on the 360 I'll just wait for that, although I'm hoping to get another year out of the upgrades.

A heaping helping of stuff...

Well it's been a while since my last posting (as someone likes to point out, you know who you are...). So here is an info dump of all sorts of cool little tidbits since my last post.

Major Nelson (an excellent 360 blog if you don't frequent it...) posted this info "Want to help the Vista team make sure that the Media Center Extender experience on the Xbox 360 is great?" Then sign up for their beta program, but only if you can answer yes to all of these questions:

* You have an Xbox 360 connected to the Internet
* You have a PC capable of running Vista Ultimate or Home Premium (Read the minimum hardware requirements here.)
* You are over the age of 18
* You reside in the US


MTV2 is running a special called "Gears of War - the Road to E3" that showcases behind the scenes the time leading up to E3 2006 from the developer's view. It was okay don't expect anything great, but it's worth watching once. I also enjoyed some of the marketplace behind the scenes footage with PMS Tart, and PMS Mary Jane.


Okay, I found that Nintendo-Europe posted that the DS Lite will officially hit the European market on June 23rd (only about 2 weeks after the US), but wait they get 2 colours. Yep you read that right White, and Black will be coming to the Euro shores at launch. What the #!@% is up with that NoA????


Circuit City has some amazing Xbox 360 sales starting next week (May 28th-June 3rd) so if you missed some of these now is your chance...

XBOX 360 GAMES:

Table Tennis >>>> $39.99
Burnout Revenge >>>> $29.99
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter >>>> $59.99
NBA LIVE: 2006 >>>> $29.99
Blazing Angels >>>> $59.99
Full Auto >>>> $39.99
FIFA World Cup 2006 >>>> $59.99
FarCry: Predator >>>> $59.99
X-MEN: The Official Game >>>> $59.99
Hitman: Blood Money >>>> $59.99 (Available 5/30/06 at 5 PM)
Madden: NFL 2006 >>>> $27.99
Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 2006 >>>> $27.99

Burnout for $29.99 is a steal (too bad I already have it), although I think I will pick up Tiger 06 for $27.99.

Pondering the E3 press conferences...

Well they've all wrapped up the pre-show conferences and a lot of info was divulged (except by Nintendo who didn't commit to hardly anything.).

Sony kicked off the week with a delayed conference Monday evening. They let it all hang out so to speak, and street dated & priced their new console (Nov. 17 US, and $499.99 20gb version, $599.99 60gb (bells & whistles) version). WOW! After researching the different versions (which didn't last year they say was a bad idea for Microsoft, because it confused the customer?) I found a .pdf with the info. The "core" 20gb version loses the media reader (Pro Duo/SD/Compact flash), WiFi (802.11 b/g), HDMI output, not to mention 40gb of HD space. I don't see the media reader as a big loss, but the WiFi (no PSP<>PS3 connectivity) and the HDMI port (no Blu-Ray DVD true res output) are huge. You could probably add the WiFi back in via USB dongle, but the HDMI port wouldn't be as simple. I think I'll call them the "crippled" and "premium" sets. I wasn't planning on getting one, and this helped me solidify that thought.

Up next was Nintendo's conference which was streamed live through various sites. Unlike Sony "they felt it was in their best interest to keep the launch specifics a secret for a while longer.". All they stated was 4th qtr 2006 you would be playing with your Wii, (sorry, couldn't resist). Then they went on to show off some of the Wiimote game play, and talked about Wiiconnect24 (the console is always on, even when it's off!? Internet connectivity specifically). He mentioned like you have a town in Animal Crossing your not at home playing (say your at work), a friend could still come by your town and leave you a message. So the next time you turned AC on you would see that you had a visitor. They didn't show a whole lot of DS stuff, but did say that by this Christmas there would be another 100 titles available. I was on the fence about picking up a Wii, but the gameplay they showed looked great. If the price is right I'll definitely pick one up at launch (I've heard $249.99, personally I'd like $199.99).

Microsoft followed shortly after Nintendo's conference. There was a lot of game talk including a Halo 3 trailer, and word about GTA 4 being release simultaneous on the 360/PS3 in October next year although Microsoft has an exclusive deal with Rockstar to get "episodic" add-on content through LIVE. Most of the video's shown at the conference are up in the Marketplace (the Halo 3 one was up before it was shown at the conference!) I've checked out quite a few and found some things I'm really looking forward to. On a side note if you haven't checked out the Lost Planet demo, do so now! I love this game. They were tight lipped on the release date for the HD-DVD add-on, as well as the price.

I got up today to find they have updated the Press site with screenshots, and info about upcoming stuff. They are evidently coming out with a 256MB memory unit (about time), and some interesting wireless items including a LIVE headset, and steering wheel. Although there was no mention of the larger hard drive units.

E3 content Ahoy!

Well they just updated the LIVE marketplace content this morning and put up around 12 E3 2006 game trailers, the POSEIDON movie trailer, and the Test Drive Unlimited demo (480MB). So get online and start downloading, I feel sooo sorry for my 360 hard drive this week.

The game trailers are for Bullet Witch, Rain, Medal of Honor Hell's Highway, Dance Dance Revolution, Stranglehold, Battlestations, Dead Rising, Sonic, LotR Battle for Middle Earth II, and a couple EA Sports titles.

Walk towards the Lite, and my 360 blogs.

Well Nintendo announced today that the DS Lite is coming stateside on June 11th for only $129.99 in White only (okay technically Polar White. :( I guess I should be happy they didn't try to shove another platinum version at us, but come on white? I guess I will be importing one now, unless E3 news hints that some other colors are coming very quickly. Looks like the rumor mill was true the old DS should drop to $99.99, and I'm guessing the bundles (Electric Blue DS and Mario Kart/Animal Crossing) will drop to $129.99.

On the bright side of the DS fence it seems Majesco is going to release Cooking Mama stateside. I had watched videos and read quite a bit about this game before it came out in Japan, unfortunately it had way to much Japanese text to enjoy. This almost makes up for the #@*?! White lite.

In other news my Xbox 360 has decided to write it's own blog. Seems like it's insecure, and pilfers through my mp3's when I'm not around. If you would like your 360 to express itself sign-up on the main site.

Overdue, renamed Revolution, E3 Live, new views, and FFXI.

Wow, didn't realize it had been so long since my last update. I guess not a whole lot of stuff going on. The biggest news since last time was that Nintendo decided to call it's new console Wii (pronounced 'We'). Yeah, okay. I personally will be calling it "the console formerly known as the Revolution".


Microsoft has announced that they will be bringing E3 2006 into your living room this year. They have a lot of stuff planned including special downloads, and videos. If you only have a silver account, gold access will be free all week too. This of course will take the place of my pilgrimage to LA since they #*!$^ up admission requirements this year. :(


Part of the last week was spent rearranging my living room because I bought a new TV. 42" of HD widescreen goodness that of course wouldn't fit where the last one was so I had to move all of the equipment around. I will try and post some pics later on, but since it's a rear projection model I'm supposed to let it 'burn-in' for about 100 hours before I start tweaking the settings. I can state that the 360 looks really good and HD content is beautiful, the only thing I haven't watched is a DVD yet.


Well the expansion for FFXI came out and I picked up the 360 version (full game & all expansions) because I really enjoyed playing in the front room sitting in my recliner and playing in HD. I got around to finishing the Blue Mage quest Monday morning so I'm looking forward to leveling that job soon. The new areas I've seen so far look great and it actually took a bit time to finish the quest to go there. Most of the areas are intended for higher level players (60~75) but so far I've done a few quest without dying (insert knocking on wood sound here).

Chibi Robo, movies, KC and more...

I recently tried out a Chibi Robo (GameCube) demo the other day after work, and I must say it was kinda strange but in a good way. It has a very "Japanese" gameplay vibe to it. I had checked it out before release, but came away thinking that it sounded kinda stupid, and it didn't sell very well so I didn't pay much attention to it. I mean who wants to play a game where you clean the house, and cook? After trying the demo though I think it might kinda fun, I just wish it wasn't priced at $49.99. If it had been released at $19.99 I think a lot more people may have given it a chance. Now I'm on a mission to find a cheaper used one somewhere, because we know Nintendo doesn't drop prices on their first party titles very quick. :(

Didn't post about them, but I did go see a few movies a couple weeks ago. Trying to catch up on some. Not working at the theater anymore I don't keep up on everything coming out, it's not like I see the previews 20~30 times a week anymore. Anyway I caught The Shaggy Dog, She's the Man, and 16 Blocks in my catch up attempt. The Shaggy Dog was great, I'm a big fan of Tim Allen anyway so it was really easy to like.

I didn't think I was going to like She's the Man as much as I did. I know I'm nowhere near the target audience (12-18 female??), and I had even mentioned when I first caught the preview that it looked like a remake of Just One of the Guys (1985). The stories did have a lot in common, seemed like they just changed the setting. This wasn't a bad thing though as I laughed a lot during the movie (as did the other guy in the auditorium (not part of the target demo either)). If you have never seen Just One of the Guys, rent it. It's a cheesy 80's flick, but one of my favorites.

Then I finally got around to watching 16 Blocks, it was almost ready to leave the theater so it's probably 2nd run by now. I had caught previews of this one, and probably came to the conclusion most of you had that Bruce Willis is getting kinda old to be an action hero. I was relieved a bit when it started, and behold here is Willis playing an old drunk, dried up police officer (which he does very convincingly!). Turns out that this was really good. I think Willis was great, and this is an above average police drama/thriller. I had wanted to see Firewall when it was out also, but never got around to it. I will probably check it out when it hits DVD, and see which one I like better.

I made a quick trip up to Kansas City Thursday afternoon. Went up to help a friend pick up a rear projection TV he bought on eBay. Didn't really have a lot of time to do too much, ate at Rainforest Cafe because another friend wanted to, (it's a little on the expensive side, especially for lunch) but the food was really good. Stopped in at Isle of Capri casino (I lost $5.00). I don't know what it is about the casinos in KC, but I just don't get that "betting fever" that I feel in Vegas. We had some extra time before we could pick up the set, so we decided to waste some time at the mall. The mall we happened to be close to was Great Mall which it turns out is one of the worst malls I think I've every been to. Stores you've never heard of, and some of the ugliest carpet/decor I've ever seen. I found out the next day that I guess it started as an outlet mall then tried to make the transition to a "real" mall later in life. It failed, pretty badly.

I heard today that Miklotov got an Xbox 360, and he picked up Oblivion. Imagine my surprise when I came home tonight and found a friend invite on LIVE. :P

DS Pr0n stylus... Fox find! and pod this.

Okay just couldn't wait to point out this post at gaming age forums that shows us the following new stylus.



Best DS stylus ever, would I ever use it in public? No.
Japanese only? I'd bet my life on it, no way NoA would produce that...
Best E3 giveaway ever? You bet!


I'm a bad fan. :( Samantha put out a new album (evidently in October 2005) that I didn't know anything about. Angel with an Attitude was released by La Chapelle Records Canada last year. It's a import so I wouldn't have found it locally, but there used to be a time I was on top of everything Fox. :P For those of you who don't know who Samantha Fox is, shame on you!

BTW I got the album last week, I didn't really like the title track but after listening to the tracks (over and over) it's grown on me. I would give it 4 out of 4 stars (because its Sam), really enjoyed over half the tracks. Some of the album almost seems to be trancelike, and I'm so used to Sam tracks being dance/pop that some of the songs I'm still warming up to.


I've added an iPod addition list on the left side that will update the latest things I've sent to my iPod.

GDC tibits aplenty, and onto Oblivion.

The Game Developer's Conference was held this week, so there has been a surge of news (and lack of news on some topics). So here is some of the best...

Joystiq has up a little newsbit about the PS3 being region free (like the PSP) with the only regional coding being on movies. :) Nice.

The following shots are supposedly "real-time" renders from the upcoming Getaway game for the PS3. I will admit they do look sweet.








Check out Playsyde.com to download a CAM video of the PS3 God of War II trailer shown at GDC. Scroll down to the "Direct Download" section and choose a mirror. This looks absolutely awesome, and I didn't even play the first GoW.

Last but not least check out 1up.com article for a video download of the PS3 tech demos shown at the conference. Note: The page seems to have disappeared from 1up, so the link is actually the Google cache of the page. This means the videos may disappear without warning also. So you may just want to try the links below. :)

Windows Media version zipped

QuickTime version zipped


On the Nintendo front there was news, but not exactly what people were expecting. There was no DS Lite US launch date mentioned (if they can't satisfy Japanese demand, I don't see how they could make enough units to launch here). Although I've read they will still make the "old phat" DS dropping its price to $99.99, and selling the Lite for $149.99 alongside the original.

There was also speculation that the Revolution would get a new name, but that didn't happen either. Engadget has a little rumor up about a Japanese slide they got ahold of supposedly naming the system Nintendo Go?

There will be a Zelda game coming out for the DS! Yes indeed big N announced Zelda : Phantom Hourglass. Check out the video.


Finally, Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion came out (even with weather delays... don't ask) for the 360 and PC. I started the game out in the dungeon/sewers where you have to carry a torch to see anything, then I got outside where it was still dark. I thought geez I had seen pictures of this game, it looked a lot better. Well then daylight rolled around, and let me tell you the outdoor environments are beautiful! This has taken over my top spot currently for the best looking 360 game available right now.

Big releases for the 360, more DS Radio, and YADLC...

Well this was a big week for Xbox 360 releases College Hoops 2k6, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and Burnout Revenge all made an appearance this week. I picked up Burnout Revenge, and I decided to try out Full Auto also even though the reviews have been mixed. So far I've played more Full Auto, but since it's only "rented" I don't have as long to play it as I will Burnout. It really is basically Burnout with weapons, and destructable environments. It looks gorgeous though in HD, and is a lot of fun in single player mode. I will post more about Burnout when I get a chance to play it a bit more.

The guys over at Dualscreenradio have put up another show in .mp3 format, that brings us up to episode 4.

The Yet Another DS Lite Comparison is this video that is a nice hands on comparing the DS Lite, and old DS (now referred to as the phat DS).

DS Lite launch a success!

Well with the previous indication early in the week it came as no surprise that the DS Lite launch in Japan went well, and sold out quickly. Pick any of the major news sites and you can read about the launch, and check out pictures. Kotaku has posted a nice round up of all their Japanese launch coverage, and you can also check out some of the entries at DSFanboy.com.

Kotaku also posted a brief news item about a DS Lite kiosk they happened upon and the condition it was in. This was my biggest fear of the white unit. I realize that this is in a public area, and that people would probably not treat it like their own, but still. :(

Finally this Japanese web site put up some comparison pics between the new lite, and other units.

The Race is on! So much DS luvin' its CRAAAZZY!

Well last night my favorite TV show started up again, that's right Amazing Race #9 kicked off last night with 11 groups of 2. In the first 10 minutes I was easily going to root for David & Lori self-proclaimed "nerds' from Manhattan, KS but after about the second "give us a kiss" I was sick. :( I am now rooting for Tyler & BJ the "hippies" from California, I also like the Mother/Daughter team of Wanda & Desiree, but Mother/Son/Daughter teams never do very well.

Okay where to start with the DS info... The DS Lite is now available in Japan/Hong Kong although it seems like there is going to be more demand than product unfortunately. 4colorrebellion has a little article about the Japanese getting in line for a launch system. I hope this doesn't delay my import unit, I'm anxious to see how the launch pans out.

I found the DualScreen Radio site yesterday. They actually put out a DS themed internet radio show, and just recently put out the 3rd episode. I'm still listing to it right now as it clocks in at 3 hours+, but it is interesting and one of the better video game shows I've heard.

The Nintendo rep stated that they are releasing DS Download Stations this month here in the US (mentioned earlier on 2/10), but she didn't know yet where they would be located. I've read that GameStop/EBGames/Best Buy would be the likely candidates (although I can't see all of them getting the stations as some locations have all 3 clumped together). Evidently the Nintendo Store in NY has already set up their station and you can read about this guys hands on report.

On the last note I'm picking up Super Princess Peach for the DS. It has to be the first game I've ever bought that has "Princess Power" printed on the case, and so many pastel colors it's frightening. :) I don't care it looks to be a great platform game, and it will tide me over until New Super Mario Bros. comes out.

I've still been playing quite a bit of Animal Crossing Wild World, and happy to report that the season's have changed and everything is green now. I've noticed some new plants growing in my town clovers, and Jacob's ladder flowers. This should also bring out some new fish, and bugs to catch! I finally finished my dinosaur exhibit at the museum so it's now complete, I'm soooo happy!

DS Lite nudies!

Okay JeuxFrance put up a article about the La Nintendo DS Lite jouable au Japon or the Nintendo DS Lite playable in Japan. :) Evidently they got the heads up from this article at Kotaku. The Kotaku article gives a nice "hands on" review, but check out the photos of the Lite kiosk at JeuxFrance.com. Looks like the screen is going to have the same Wow! factor as comparing the backlit SP, to the old non-backlit SP.

Time for some DS luvin!

Well evidently there was a DS conference yesterday (in Japan I'm assuming...) where they announced a web browser for the DS! Yes, you read that right Opera will be making their browser available for the Nintendo DS. It will come on a DS cart not a firmware upgrade, and you can read more about it here.


Some of the other tidbits gathered were that Tetris DS will be a ***get title in Japan (1,000y=about $9.00) less than a normal Nintendo release. So hopefully when it's released here it may hit around $24.99, which I would definitely pick up. They also announced a May release date of the new Super Mario Bros. in Japan.

Yesterday, of course was Valentine's Day. If you connected to Nintendo WFC in Animal Crossing you got a letter from Nintendo containing a "Lovely Loveseat" part of the Lovely furniture collection. It wasn't anything rare or cool like the Coin we got a while back, but a nice touch. You also received a new bulletin Board entry from Nintendo in your town square.

360 Graphics overload... and #%!@ E3!

Well this has been quite a weekend for Xbox 360 news, first a developer put up a PC<->360 comparison video for Far Cry he said...
Hey Guys,

Want to see how the 360 version looks like ?
Look at this short video : http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=22950

It is suppose to be "internal use only" but I guess it's not a big deal to release it.
We made it to benchmark our version versus the PC one (with all the settings at the maximum).
The link he posted has died already, but you can find the video here or here. Check out the water, simply amazing!

Hot on the heels of that, EA released some in-game footage of Battlefield 360 that is awesome as well.

There is also supposed to be a Nintey Nine Nights demo released on the LIVE Marketplace around March 1st in Japan. Of course you should already have your LIVE Silver accounts set up for Japan, and Europe exclusive content shouldn't you?

On a sad note I just got my admission denial back from E3 2006. :(

They screwed the retail sector this year by distributing "buyer's passes" to each corporation (I'm assuming GameStop, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, etc...) that the home office people are to give out at their discretion. (So... Miklotov if your reading this I really need some help! :) I will try to pursue some other avenues, and hopefully come up with something.

DS goodness aplenty...

Well there's been more details on the DS lite coming in... Nintendo Japan has announced the official launch colors (Crystal White, Ice Blue, and Enamel Navy) that will be available in Japan on 3/2/06. Looks like the preorders are going for ~$169 on most of the import sites, personally I like the looks of that Enamel Navy one. :) I also like how they colored the d-pad, and other buttons to match the console color. The only thing that bothers me is my hands get kinda cramped from playing Animal Crossing for extended periods I wonder if the smaller form factor is going to make that worse? That was my big peeve with the GBA SP too, I preferred the grip on the original GBA so much better.

At the D.I.C.E. conference in Las Vegas big N announced some other juicy upcoming DS goodness. Retailers across the US will get Download Stations in a few weeks, (these will be like the ones currently in Japan, and the one set up last year at E3). The first DS Download Service stations will include free demos of Tetris DS (Yay!), Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Mario Kart DS, Meteos, True Swing Golf and Pokemon Trozei, along with a Metroid Prime Hunters video clip.

The news article goes on to announce that Metroid Prime Hunters will have voice chat built-in so that players can talk to each other before/after wi-fi matches.

More FFXI, new HD channel, and the DS goes on a diet!

Well I'm still playing quite a bit of the FFXI 360 beta, and really enjoying it. Now I'm also paying the fee to play on the PC which I haven't touched for at least a month and a half. :( I will probably end up playing my account on the 360 once the final game is released. Supposedly the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion will be included with the Xbox 360 version on April 18th (the PC/PS2 expansion will be available that same day). I'm guessing they'll release the 360 version for $59.99 with all of the expansions that's not too bad. I figure ToAU will sell for $29.99 by itself (like Chains did when it was released). I've been reading about the special fan festival that Square is throwing, and they've updated the giveaways section with the "gobbie bag" everyone gets, plus everyone attending will get a "Moggle Rod" in game item. I'm sorry but it just looks cool, no one knows what "power" it will have though.

Cox added another HD channel to their digital cable line up last week, Music HD which is High Def music, and specials. It seems to pull content from MTV, VH1, and CMT, but it all looks great. On the other hand, a lot of the content is only Dolby Digital 2.0? What's up with that? With how many DVD concerts and music videos that there are you would think everything would be in 5.1.

Well Nintendo finally came through on the Nintendo DS redesign (albeit about two weeks later than the 16th...). Seems like those of you who just got a DS are about to feel short changed, not much is known about the new unit other than what people can gather from the product shots (which supposedly not final).

Final Fantasy XI, New demos, and touching is bad!

Well I've been playing quite a bit of FFXI, but not on the PC. I've been playing the Beta for the Xbox 360 that was on a dvd in the latest Official Xbox Magazine. I started in San d'Oria again (big surprise!) and I'm currently a lvl 10 WHM. Since everyone is fairly new (the Japanese 360's came with the beta, so the earliest players were middle of December) it was hard at the beginning because there are so many low level players swarming anything that spawned. I've never seen so many people with question marks by their names running around. :) There is a lot to be said for playing in the front room on the HDTV, sitting in my easy chair.

There is a demo for BLACK by EA for the PS2. I got to try it a bit yesterday and it looks really good, I assume the Xbox version will look even better. This game is put out by EA and Criterion Games, the same force behind Burnout Revenge. There was also a demo for Star Wars : Empires at War PC available the other day on-line. I have downloaded it, but haven't got a chance to play it yet.

On a funnier note check out this video from the upcoming Resident Evil DS game. Forget what Nintendo told you, touching is can be bad!

Attack of the 360 faceplates!

Well I had read before the 360 came out that the faceplates (normally $19.99 (Microsoft first party ones)) would probably end up being pre-order bonus items. I didn't figure this would happen too much just because of the value of the item, I mean most of the pre-order bonus items are usually pretty lame (behind the scenes DVD's, Content CD's (wallpapers, videos, etc), and posters. Some times though you get better items like T-Shirts, or soundtrack CD's.

Well it seems I misjudged the companies as this week I've heard of 2 pre-order faceplates, and one free with purchase. EB Games has Sega's Full Auto up for pre-order with bonus faceplate.



GameStop has THQ's The Outfit available for pre-order with a bonus faceplate also.



Lastly Best Buy had one advertised in today's sale ad. Purchase Call of Duty 2, and receive a free CoD2 faceplate.

Xbox 360 luvin, Suikoden ipod's, and more.

I just ran across this post on the XBox 360 forums. Short version someone went to Japan on vacation, and snapped some pictures. He came home and put up some comparison shots between the real areas, and the same area in Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing 3 for the Xbox 360. All I can say is WOW, take a look at the link above for all the shots.



Some other screen luv from EA's Battlefield 2:Modern Combat




Evidently Mad Catz has announced NFL 360 faceplates are coming. I may actually spring for a KC Chiefs one.




In what has to be one of the strangest pre-order cross promotion items ever, KonamiStyle.jp has a white 4GB Ipod Nano to commerate the launch of Genso Suikoden 1 & 2 on the Sony PSP. It comes with special headphones, case, and of course the Ipod itself. On the plus side it would only set you back about $304.00. :)

There are a bunch of "rumors" floating around that Nintendo will announce a redesigned DS on January 16th. Supposedly sleaker/smaller, and with VoIP (Voice over IP) service built-in. Maybe you'll be able to call your friends while your sitting at McDonald's now. Whatever is announced we should know next Monday.

Also supposedly if you log into Nintendo WFC today through Animal Crossing you'll get a New Year's gift/letter from Nintendo's President Saturo Iwata. All you should have to do is go talk to Cooper, and have him open the gates (ie. connect to Nintendo WiFi) and then go back to your house to get the letter.

New Year, new post!

Well it's a brand new year, happy 2006 everyone. Where to start, hmmm. Work was really kinda hectic the last couple weeks, I remembered why Christmas sucked in retail. :) But, it's all good as its over now and we're settling back to normal.


Xbox 360 demos a plenty
I'm really starting to like the LIVE marketplace (I think I mentioned that before) as they just keep adding new downloads. They added a demo for Condemned, then Quake 4, and just today they added one for Fight Night Round 3 (not that I care about the boxing game, but it's still cool). I would like to see one for Dead or Alive 4 soon, to see how it looks. I tried out the Quake 4 demo tonight and it looks really pretty, I've read bad things about the framerate from various sources though. They make take place later in the game, or maybe in multiplayer which I didn't try yet.

More news as Square-Enix announced that the February issue of Official Xbox Magazine will indeed include the Final Fantasy XI 360 beta. I'm looking forward to playing some FFXI on my widescreen TV, and will probably pick up a USB keyboard to see if that works with it. We should know soon as I think the issue is supposed to hit stands on January 17th, and subscribers may get it before that. It would also be cool if it would support voice chat during gameplay, but I've heard conflicting reports on that. Here's a glimpse at what the DVD should look like...




Animal Crossing DS tidbits...
Okay I've been playing for quite a while now and enjoy it a lot. I joined in for the New Year's countdown celebration, which was cool. I enjoyed the fireworks, and the lights on trees in town. There was no Christmas celebration as evidently Christmas is not PC anymore, so it was removed along with some other holidays in the DS version.

I've collected all of the Snowman furniture so I'm not as obsessed with that now. I've been using the snowballs to lure dung beetles out as they sell for 800 bells to Nook, I'm still trying to catch a pill bug though.

I'm getting better at shooting packages down out of the sky, I think I've done 5-6 now. I know I have to get 15 then should get the golden slingshot. I also "caught" my first shooting star the other night. When you hear it whoosh across the screen you have to hit A, then it will kinda brighten up and sparkle. The next day you will get a present in the mail from Star.

Lastly I got my first resident picture the other day (Bella). I guess when you and an animal become "bestest ***dies" they will grace you with a picture of themselves. I hear they raise your HRA score greatly if placed in your house.

Kansas City!
Ok first off a big thank you to the Broncos for smacking the Chargers (sorry Jason) and keeping our playoff hopes alive! Then a big #%$!&* to the Steelers for spanking the Colts (Whoops! my bad.) Lions to kill them off. :( On a happy note I did finally tie for the win on the last regular season week in the football pool I'm in. :)

Week 1st: Edison, K-Statecat 11 Wins

Not great but hey it's the first time this season I've come out on top.

TV Reality endings...

Well two of my favorite shows finished last week The Amazing Race, and Survivor. I was pleased with the outcome on TAR as I was rooting for the Linz family. It would have been okay if the Bransen's had won too, but since they all 4 have free gasoline for life how much will they save over the course of their lives? I will state frankly that if the Weaver's had won I would have boycotted the show! Not likely, but I'm sooo happy they came in 3rd. :) Plus we got teasers for the next season which starts up again in February!

Survivor on the other hand I was a little bit disappointed. I would have liked to seen Rafe win the million, but glad it did turned out that Danni won (she's from KC what's not to like) over Stephanie. I realize that the 'stunt casting' is to draw in viewers, and I do like Stephanie but you had your shot (and a worthless tribe the first go around) but move on.

Animal Crossing pt. 2, and Xbox 360 demos...

Well I finally got the hang of building a correctly proportioned snowman (it seems the trick is to make one snowball as big as possible, then the second one so it comes up to your characters chin). I have gotten two snowman furniture items so far the couch, and wardrobe. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the third one is. I did screw up the other day putting the big snowball on top so he was upside down, and just a little peeved. :) I did win the fishing tournament Sunday with a 45.1" Sea Bass, and have a nice trophy now in my house to commemorate it.

The January issue of the Official Xbox Magazine is out and includes a hybrid XBox/360 disc, on the 360 side demos include King Kong, Kameo, and Full Auto. While I appreciate the approach the King Kong, and Kameo demos are readily available to play on the demo kiosk not to mention the Kameo demo is available through the XBox Live Marketplace. In the magazine there is a FFXI article that says the U.S. OXM will also have the FFXI Beta in an upcoming issue. There has been some new stuff added to the Marketplace (it's been a while since I checked) a Mission Impossible 3 trailer, Lost Continent 360 game trailer, and a FIFA playable demo.

KONG! and more Nintendo Animal wildness...

Well I used my day off to go see KING KONG today. The visual effects were awesome, a couple shots had that fake look, but overall it was stunning. On the other hand with a running time of ~3 1/2 hours I thought it ran a little long. Of course it didn't make a dent in the back log of movies I need to see. :(

I've had 4 new animals move into my town, bringing my total up to 8. I still haven't built a snowman right he's always not "proportioned" correctly. At first I though my town would be full of them because they were still there a day later, but they seem to melt away after 2~3 days. Redd was in town today, and he sold me a counterfeit painting, hopefully my insurance will pay for it.

I called Nintendo Sunday evening about my daughter's NDS, and they offered to fix it free even though it was out of warranty (Yay!). They sent out a pre-paid UPS label, and said it would take 5-7 days to be repaired.

Animal Crossing ramblings...

Well I've had some time to play around with AC:WW DS, and I can say it's pretty close to the Gamecube version. It has that same 'feel' which is a good thing, and they made some minor improvements here & there.

I had another animal move into my town, Snake (although she looks like a rabbit). Anyhoo friend info is below if you want to add me to your list, and don't forget to post yours.

Name=Edison
Town=Rockhill
Code=2405-7903-1237
Native Fruit=Peaches

Here is my current population...

My daughter also got a copy but unfortunately the wi-fi doesn't seem to be working on her DS so she can't do DS<>DS, or a Nintendo Wi-fi Connection. I checked Nintendo's web site and wouldn't you know the 1 year warranty ran out on 11/30/05 (this would be about right because it was my original launch unit). I'm still going to give them a call and see what they'll do about it, as I've heard really good things about their service/support.

Holy news bites Batman, and other ramblings...

Well it seems as if issue 4 of the UK magazine OXM360 is going to have a second cover DVD, that will include a full beta of Final Fantasy XI. No word on if the US version of OXM will include the same, or if the UK one will be region free and playable on a US 360?

According to this Japanese site there was a launch line in Japan for the Xbox 360. Reading through the babel fish translation the first guy in line got there 20 hours ahead of launch (7am 12/10/05) to snag himself a shiny new 360!

It seems as though all of the Tom Clancy Xbox games are now on the backwards compatibility list, this includes the Splinter Cell's, Ghost Recon's, and Rainbow Six games.

Well I finally picked up Animal Crossing : Wild World today for my NDS, and I have finished all the odd jobs for Nook. I've done a little fishing, and tried to raise some bells to pay off my house. My battery must have not had too much of a charge left as AC:WW warned me that it was low and I should save my game soon. I guess they didn't think I would notice the blinking lights, then the solid red one on the DS. :)
My town only has 3 animals right now, Egbert (Chicken), Butch (Dog), and Friga (Penguin). I thought in the GC version your town started with 4, but its been a while so that may be incorrect.

...

My grandma passed away last night at the age of 99. She had been in declining health for the last 3 months, but now I can take comfort that she's in a better place. I'll miss you.

Hazel Belle H.
Born: August 12, 1906
Died: December 5, 2005

360 launched again, and other tidbits.

Friday marked the European launch of the Xbox 360 which was marked with high eBay.co.uk prices, and more pre-orders than units available. Hmmm. Are we noticing a trend? bbc.co.uk has a launch article up which pretty much mirrors our own. It was reported that the European launch got 300,000 units I don't remember how this compared to ours, but that's not a lot of 360's. :( Next week Japan will see it's launch, but I wonder how many systems they'll get. Surely they know that it won't sell as well in Japan, but I predict pictures of units sitting on the shelf there.

The Mercury News blog reports that apparently some Best Buy's had overzealous managers that forced bundles on consumers during the US launch here.

I've been playing a little Mario Kart DS, and although I'm not too good in multiplayer its kinda fun. My friend code is 244873-130950 for those that want to add me to their list (post yours here in a reply so I can add you to mine). Oh, and if Miklotov happens to read this, Michelle wants your friend code if you ever get wireless hooked up. :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Just a note to say Happy Thanksgiving!

Best 360 commercial ever... Rare/HTF/Sold Out!

I was watching some of the Xbox 360 commercials the other day that Doogie had links too. I really didn't like the "jump rope" one (the only one I caught on TV), and although the "water balloon" was better it still didn't do the 360 justice. I had read a couple days ago about one that was shot, but wouldn't air because they decided it was inappropriate. I knew it was supposed to be shown at the Zero Hour launch event, and it has made its way onto the net. Check out this article for a link to the video (try the mirror link under Update #2 it worked for me).

If you've been checking eBay for 360 items you'll see that the systems are not the only thing in short supply. Hard drives were going for ~$300 this morning (although they seemed to have steadied out tonight ~$200). I realize they released the core system so they could say that the console launched at a $299.99 price point, but I think they would have been better off just producing the value pack. Judging from the some of the prices on eBay people would have been willing to pay more.

Oh yeah baby...

Well I got my hands on my very own Xbox 360 tonight. I have transferred my Live account over, and looked through some of the music and video that came on the HD. The dashboard blade system is pretty cool, doesn't matter what your into notification bubbles will "pop-up" on your screen letting you know a friend wants to chat, or has sent you a message. I haven't even gotten around to playing a game yet. :) I really need to go to bed so I can get up in the morning, 7am is going to be here really quick. On a side note there looked to be about 25-30 people in line at Best Buy when I left work about 1am, man I don't envy them it's going to be cold out there tonight.

Check out this link Doogie sent me tonight. Really cool Christmas holiday music video.

Tonight's the night...

Well it's here T-minus 14 hours 21 minutes until the launch of the XBox 360! I am really excited even though I still have to figure out a way to pay the rest off (in that same time span). I may be digging around for trade-ins today, although more likely is trying to generate some birthday cash early. :) If you have a system pre-ordered I really hope you didn't get this phone call, or if your one of those brave people going out to wait in line Good Luck! Everyone is talking about Wal-Mart's, Best Buy, and Target I recommend some of the less traveled retailers like K-Mart, and Alco.

Because I had a request for it, here is the link for the Mario Kart DS decal maker. I thought I had posted it earlier, but evidently not.

Alone time with the 360...

Well I finally got some 'alone' time with an Xbox 360 demo unit, it finally showed up this afternoon at work. First off the 360 itself is hefty, it weighs more than I anticipated. It's hooked up to a Samsung 19" HD Widescreen LCD monitor and looks simply gorgeous! I really like the feel of the controller, although it seemed a little light, maybe the batteries in the wireless model will add some weight.

I finally played all the way through the Call of Duty 2 demo, and really enjoyed it. Firmly sticking to my plan that CoD2 will be my launch title. I did play around with the dashboard without the demo disc to look around at the different options. Most of the settings must have been set before Microsoft shipped the units out, as everything seemed to be set correctly. I looked around on the Hard Drive, but didn't find anything on it. It showed there was only 13GB available so the operating system must use about ~7GB like the original Xbox. It does not seem that the demo units have backwards compatibility installed because both Halo, and Halo 2 greeted me with "The disc is not from a compatible region, or the disc is dirty or damaged" error.

Here is an interesting mini-review from someone in Canada that won a system through their PEPSI promotion.

Xbox 360 backwards compatibility...

Well Microsoft has finally announced the backwards compatibility list for the 360. The list contains more than 200 games (a lot more than I expected), and they say more may be added before the 360's November 22nd launch.

According to the Q & A with Todd Holmdahl it also points out this very interesting fact.

One of the great things about gaming on Xbox 360 is the satisfaction of knowing that every game will be playable in high definition. We are now proud to reveal that this extends to the original Xbox games as well. Every original Xbox game will be upscaled to 720p and 1080i, and will take advantage of Xbox 360Â’s anti-aliasing capabilities, delivering a picture that is clearer and crisper than anything available on Xbox.

Nintendo WiFi, and flunking Drivers Ed.

Well the Nintendo WiFi site is now live at NintendoWiFi.com, and it shows the compatible games (Mario Kart DS, Tony Hawk American Sk8land, Animal Crossing : Wild World, and Metroid Prime Hunters). The site also includes a how to connect faq (Home, or HotSpot), a HotSpot locator, and a list of compatible home WiFi routers. Wichita shows one partner HotSpot the McDonald's I mentioned a while back at 2615 W 13th St. N, and 5 non-partner that may not be compatible. The 5 non-partner locations are the "Free Wi-Fi" spots in town Bean Scene, Java Villa Cafe, Vagabond, Watermark Books, and Wichita Mid-Contintent Airport. I must say I'm impressed with Nintendo's commitment to get wireless gaming into the hands of the masses, at least it doesn't look like the GameCube attempt.

Okay here's someone who is probably not passing Driver's Ed...

I spotted the wreck on Saturday morning, as messed up as the cars were I'm guessing someone ran a red light at the intersection.

Another Xbox 360 sighting... Finding one a challenge?

Well it seems Best Buy got their Xbox 360 demo unit in, and set it up yesterday (Sat) at some point. Well per my other post Wal-mart employees evidently don't know how to set up an HD tv, because the one at Best Buy looked soooo much better! I was still disappointed in the jaggies, but the text was all crisp and clear. I read on the net that evidently the demo code (Call of Duty 2 specifically) does not have anti-aliasing enabled so there is still a chance that the retail version could look even better.

I've been reading all over the net that a lot of retailers are only getting 10-50 units at launch, and most of the specialty retailers (Gamestop, EB, etc.) are only getting around 20 at launch. It looks like if you want a launch unit your going to be waiting in line at Wal-mart, Target, or the like unless you pre-ordered real early.

More Wal-Mart 360 luv, and Nintendo WiFi looms...

Well I finally got around to going back to Wal-Mart (Pawnee & Broadway) to check out the 360. A couple of the other local stores had the units hooked up, but both had the controllers disconnected so the machines were just running the video loops.

I figured that 8am would be a good time because all the little kiddies would be going to school, and sure enough there was no one around at all. I went through the blades or menu system first where you could choose Live, Games, Media, or System pages. Most of the items under Live, Media, and System were just advertisements for 360 accessories, with the exception of the Xbox Live Arcade title Hexic HD.

I played it for a bit and it's a pretty cool little puzzle game, it plays sort of like Zoo Tycoon/BeJeweled. The play field is already set with different colored hexagons and you choose a clump of 3 then you can rotate them from the center axis clockwise/counter clockwise with the object being to match up at least 3 hexagons of the same color. It comes pre-installed on all of the 360 hard drives so if you don't buy any games at launch at least you'll have something to play.

The games blade had all the demos/videos you've heard about, playable versions of Kameo, Call of Duty 2, and King Kong although the last one froze on the loading screen and took a reset to get out. I played Kameo for a bit, not a bad game (3D platformer) but not something I'll be getting at launch. The visuals were bright and colorful, and it's one of those games where you can morph into other characters each with their own abilities. I don't believe it's Rare's killer app though, as I got kinda bored after 10-15 minutes.

Then there were videos for Ghost Recon, PGR 3, Full Auto, and some others, which brings me to the bad. The video's I watched were all squished, I mean they looked like watching a 2.35:1 movie on a 4:3 tv with giant black bars on the top/bottom, and all of the text from the blades, or demo start up screens wasn't sharp. I'm more convinced that either the 360, or LCD didn't get set up correctly when they installed the system. I just can't believe that 720p looks that bad on the King Kong menu screen there were so many jaggies that it looked like the days back when I first started using a 3dfx card. I hope we get the demo units in soon at work so I'll know its set-up correctly, and you wont have to crane your neck at an 80 degree angle to see the screen.

So after much deliberation I have come to the conclusion that I think the only game I'm grabbing at launch will be Call of Duty 2 although I want to see Gun also. A note for you penny pinchers there is an ad in the new Official Xbox Magazine (December 05 issue) EB Games has a $10 voucher rebate on the purchase of Call of Duty, Gun, Quake 4, or Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. I've also heard a rumor that EB will be running a trade-in 2 get 1 free special on 360 software through December, but take that with a grain of salt.

On a totally unrelated note 4 color rebellion is stating that NintendoWiFi.com site is supposed to go live on November 7th. It will give us the basics on how the DS will work online, locations of wireless hotspots, and general online game information.

I said goodbye.

Well yesterday was my last day at the Theater, I went out with a bang putting together Doom, Stay, and North Country. So for a recap my full time job is gone, but my part-time job is now going to be my full time job. :) Of course this means I only have 1 job right now which hasn't been the case for at least 2 years so I'm wondering what to do with all my extra time. Miklotov called the other day, and he would like me to start playing FFXI again I guess he's up to level 63 or something.

Wal-mart gets 360 love...

Went to Wal-mart last night for some ice cream (Peppermint is back in season!) and wondered by the electronics dept. I couldn't figure out why there was a whole group of people down the videogame aisle looking at the display case. Come to find they were all watching a kid play Call of Duty on a Xbox 360 display, that was sitting on a shelf just behind the glass. They are using what looks to be a 20" HD widescreen lcd for the monitor, so I'm assuming it was running in at least 720p. Call of Duty looked really good, but definitely had some clipping issues as the soldier on a balcony kept having the gun or parts of his body show through. I was relieved a bit when I seen the static image on the screen that stated "Call of Duty - Prerelease version" so maybe there is a chance they will polish it some more. The clerk behind the photo center adjacent to the aisle said that there were only two stores in Wichita that had the units set up so far (Pawnee & Broadway, and 21st & Maize I believe). I came home to find that evidently this is widespread and Kotaku has some pictures, and videos up, evidently there is also a demo of Kameo on the unit. I would have taken some pictures last night but my phone was at home charging.

Nintendo Wi-Fi, would you like fries with that shake?

Nintendo has announced a partnership with WayPort who provides Wi-fi service in McDonald's (select locations only), and fyi the only location in Wichita that currently has Wi-Fi is the Micky D's located in Sims Park (2615 W 13th St). IGN has the original announcement, and a follow up interview with some more information. This interview also includes the info that in the beginning the USB Wi-fi dongle will only be available via the Nintendo.com website.

IGN also has the first look at Metroid Prime Pinball rumble pack add-on. The Nintendo rep recently put this game in the DS demo unit at EB Games minus the rumble pack unfortunately. :(

And it begins... and XBox 360 gets touched...

Since the GameStop/EB Games merger is complete today saw the first round of downsizing. Gamasutra is reporting here that GameStop will be closing the West Chester HQ, and related Warehouses laying off over 700 workers. :(


Microsoft is throwing a XBox 360 "hands on" junket for journalist in San Francisco, and New York. There are some "first impressions" hitting the net here, and here. Sounds like Perfect Dark Zero may be worth picking up after all, although Call of Duty 2 seems to garner mixed feelings. The footage I had seen before looked really good but one of the impressions said the textures weren't great. On another front Kotaku is also reporting that there may be demo 360 units in stores by October 24th, which would be a month before the 11/22 release.

Gamestop cometh... Xbox 360 news and DS luv.

I was out driving around the 'hood, and seen that the building where GameStop was going in was up. Imagine my surprise when I went around the corner and the GameStop sign was already up! I especially like the "And Movies Too" part. I wonder if that's new or if some of the other more recent stores are like that?


edit: I was informed that is the same as the store in El Dorado (never been there so that explains my lack of knowledge). I guess the "And Movies Too" is based on a larger floor plan than the regular GameStop's.

There is a Microsoft Conference going on called X05 in Europe (Amsterdam to be specific) and some tidbits have emerged... There will be a playable Halo character in Dead or Alive 4, Peter Jackson (King Kong) will produce the Halo movie, and there may only be 3 first party titles available in the launch window (read probably before Christmas). Evidently we will only see Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero (both by Rare), and Project Gotham Racing 3 (from Bizarre Creations) released by Microsoft Games. There were some other new titles announced that you can read about at GameFaction in this article.

Two new games came out today for the Nintendo DS the latest Castlevania, and one I'm looking forward to Trauma Center - Under the Knife. :)

Nintendo is Colorific... Movies, and more.

Well if you didn't know Nintendo just released the GBA Micro (look at the archives for my feelings on the subject), and quietly released updated versions of the GBA SP also. These new versions are backlit (instead of frontlit like the older units) like the new Micro. Below is a shot from an article at IGN showing the differences between all the units (original GBA SP left, New backlit SP right, and Micro bottom).


Anyhow big N released the newer SP's in graphite, and pearl blue, and to my surprise today there is also a Spongebob yellow one. :P Seems Toys'R'Us got an exclusive version of the new SP. I tried to get my wife to spring for one saying that the 15th anniversary gift was supposed to be portable electronics, but she didn't buy that. :(

I heard today also that big N plans on releasing a Red/Silver version of the DS system packaged with Mario Kart DS this holiday season, but I forgot to see if he had any pictures of it.

I forgot to mention the other day that I watched two movies again. History of Violence (which is, yep you guessed it very violent), and Into the Blue. While I liked History it seemed to run a little short, and I would have liked a little more 'story'. Into the Blue surprised me. I figured it would be a cheesy action flick with nice scenery (Jessica Alba :P) which it was, but it had some great Bahamas scenery as well. The story wasn't bad, and there was some gore (shark bite) that I felt was pushing PG-13. Like last time they were both worth watching, but I felt that I enjoyed Blue more.

PSP HaX0r! More fall TV, and missing MMORPG...

Well it was bound to happen. About 4 days ago them pesky HaX0r's found a way to exploit the v2.0 PSP firmware. Yesterday someone released the files necessary to "downgrade" a v2.0 unit back to v1.5, re-opening access to the wealth of homebrew games/utilities that is available. It's important to note that the exploit only works on a v2.0 PSP, so if for some reason you updated to v1.51, or v1.52 (Why???) or had that originally you will have to update to v2.0 before you can "downgrade". :)

The fall TV season is in full swing with new shows, and new episodes for the returning shows. My poor DVR's are working overtime. I'm glad that the Cox DVR allows me to record 2 shows at the same time, there are certain time slots where I record 3 different channels. I've seen the new sci-fi LOST style clones (2 episodes of each as a matter of fact.) and so far I like Threshold the most, followed by Invasion. I really didn't care much for the pilot of Surface, but the second episode this week was much better, although not enough to knock off the other two. I got a kick out of My Name is Earl, even though my wife thought it was stupid. :) I'm also really enjoying How I Met Your Mother, and Supernatural (which I think I mentioned earlier).


It dawned on me the other day that I'm kinda missing FFXI. I've been seeing pictures of the Xbox 360 version, and found out there is a new expansion coming (announced at the Tokyo Game Show). Not to mention that there is supposed to be an update in October that is going to add even more new stuff. I don't think I would like playing on the 360, because I wasn't fond of the control scheme on the PS2. The PC controls are so much easier to use, and since I already own FFXI, and Chains of Promithia on the PC I would only have to buy the new expansion. Of course there is no word on what will be included with the Xbox 360 version of the game, and since it should support HD will the graphics be greatly improved?

More Nintendogs... and I saw The Man.

Well I knew that there was talk of another Nintendogs (the Holiday Edition), but today I found this on DS Advanced...


Nintendo of America has announced today that starting October 24th, they will release a special "Best Friends" edition of their popular title, Nintendogs.

This new version of the game will be bundled in with the two new colors of the Nintendo DS arriving on the same day.

On the 24th, Nintendo is set to release both Pearl Pink and a Teal color portable system. The special bundle is set to retail for a price of $149.99.

The "Best Friends" iteration of the series is set to offer starting puppies such as a Labrador retriever, a golden retriever, a German shepherd, a beagle, a Yorkshire terrier or a miniature dachshund.

Nintendo has also announced that the special promotional bundle will come packed with a Nintendogs themed screen cleaner as well as Nintendo DS skin based off the popular puppies.



I watched The Man today, and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be from the trailer. Not the greatest "***dy comedy" I've ever seen although it had some pretty funny parts.

Nintendogs... The phenomenon.

Well I finally bought my daughter a copy of Nintendogs. She has played mine a couple times, but since there can only be one save per cartridge it doesn't lend itself easily to multiple players. I told her that we would try to find a pre-owned copy at some point and pick it up. She even traded some games in for credit about 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately they haven't had a used copy come in yet. I've also been waiting for one at work, but that copy never came in (they decided to keep it, or give it away).

While it's not impossible to find a new one most of the ones on the shelf are the Chihuahua & Friends version. I think if more people were informed that all the breads are available on each version (the different cartridges only limit your initial 6 bread choices) there probably wouldn't be any in stock. Anyway imagine my surprise today at SEARS of all places to have all 3 versions, it boggles the mind. This threw her into overdrive pouting because she couldn't get one. I made her a deal that we would go to Best Buy since it was advertised this week, and came with a free "training guide". I figured they would be out of both (games & guides) but they were not. So she is now the proud owner of a Chihuahua & Friends brown & white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named "Max".

I was commenting the other day that Nintendo didn't have any system sellers coming out this holiday season (since they pushed Zelda back till next year). These dogs may have enough umph to carry through Christmas. I could have sold 3 of these Friday night at work had they been available, but unfortunately we've been sold out for a while. Two of the three still bought DS systems anyway, even though we didn't have the game. It seems to be one of those games that crosses gender, because for every 9-14 year old girl that comes in and ask for a copy, I'll have a boy the same age range ask also.

Okay for all of you that already have a copy I found this site where you can make your own Nintendogs map. It will recreate your in-game map, and show you where all of the "hidden" items can randomly be located on your walks. This is what my in-game map looks like, this is where Flash takes all of his walks. :)

Video games the weird, and ugly...

More from the Tokyo Game Show, the first is called Portable Resort where your stranded on a tropical island with little to do. Here is what IGN has to say about it...

The concept of Portable Resort, an "entertainment tool" for PSP, involves the player freely spending time on a beautiful tropical island. You'll be able to go anywhere on the island, with the in-game world experiencing progression through time and a full day/night cycle. The in-game world is synched up with the current time, so when it's dark out in the real world, the game world will reflect that. Perform all kinds of little fun tasks as you stroll around -- pick up a ukulele from the beach, and you can use your PSP as an instrument, with the analog thumb pad is used to strum, with the face buttons used to form chords. Although interaction is limited, the title is meant to be a part of your playing life often. A stand for your PSP is part of the release (sold separately), so you can keep the system next to your bed or on your table, with the game running non-stop. The game includes alarm functions, so you can use it as a replacement for your alarm clock.


Check out this video from Namco's Japanese site. My PSP can now be a portable ukulele what will they think of next?

But then we progress the new Metal Gear Ac!d 2 will come with a special viewer that attaches to your PSP, so that some parts of the game will display in 3-D. I can't wait to see someone walk into a wall using this contraption! :P No word yet if this will come to American gamers, but I believe chances are slim.

It's time for a Revolution... and feel-good movies.

Well another nugget from the Tokyo Game Show was the unveiling of the Nintendo Revolution controller. Gyro-scope movement, mouse like, and revolutionary maybe, weird definitely. :)




I got around to watching two movies today Just Like Heaven, and The Greatest Game Every Played. Just Like Heaven was a excellent romantic comedy, I really enjoyed it. Greatest Game Ever Played fit the Disney "feel-good sports mold" just like the previous pictures it notes in the trailer such as Remember the Titans, The Rookie, and Miracle. While it achieved it's goal (I felt good, and emotionally drained after it was all over) I would recommend Just Like Heaven over The Greatest Game, although they are both good movies and worth seeing. I beginning to think Disney has some guy on payroll just to go through old sports almanacs, and come up with heart warming stories of triumph.

Xbox 360 is coming... NFL, PSP, and Fall TV

Well they finally announced the launch date! Earlier this morning Microsoft held a press conference before the Tokyo Game Show opened, and stated the official launch date for the U.S. will be November 22nd (my birthday, hint, hint). It launches here first then the European launch follows on December 2nd, and the Japanese launch on December 10th. Now personally, I don't know who's bright idea it was to launch 2 days before Thanksgiving, and 3 days before Black Friday (the busiest retail day of the year). I guess Micro$oft is hoping that if people are going to spend their cash it might as well be on a 360. Although, I foresee a lot of disappointed people getting Xbox 360's only to have them sit under the tree for a month.

I'm still trying to win one from Mt. Dew's Every 10 minutes sweepstakes. I have drank more Pepsi products in the last 2 weeks than I care to remember. I don't think I'll get better odds to win a system than there so I'll keep playing. It would also be extremely cool to win as I hear they will ship out your "prize pack" at the end of October so you could have a 360 2-3 weeks before the rest of the U.S. (-9,000 Mt. Dew winners). Hmmm... I wonder what they would sell for on eBay 2 weeks early? :)

A little late but, how about them KC Chiefs? Just goes to show you that pre-season doesn't prove anything. I'm in about 3 different NFL pools, and let me tell you my 1st week picks sucked. :P Some of the games Sunday were so far off the odds it wasn't funny, I'll try and do better this week.

The white PSP went on sale today in Japan (no word of a US release), and some of the forums have pictures up. It looks pretty sweet, and I hear it "hides" fingerprints way better than the black one. It does come with version 2.0 of the operating system installed which wasn't much of a surprise.

As I mentioned last time the Fall TV season is revving up, I caught Bones, and Supernatural the other night. I enjoyed Supernatural a little more but will watch more episodes of Bones to decide. Bones will have a hard time if they have to dig up a new set of bones every week, I mean exactly how many skeletons can you dig up in year? Tonight CBS starts the new season of Survivor : Guatemala, and tomorrow is the 2 hour premiere of Threshold.

One step closer to Gamestopdum, Fall TV, and I cut the cord.

Well it seems that I'm one step closer to working for GameStop, Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the merger of GameStop & EB. Here is part of the story...


Investors will get the chance to vote on the merger at the annual stockholders meetings, scheduled for October 6. The boards of directors for both EB and GameStop have already advised investors to vote in favor of the merger.

If it's approved, the merger will be concluded soon after the meetings. Operating under the name of GameStop, the company will own more than 3200 stores in the US, with about USD 3.8 billion in annual revenue.

The Fall TV season is coming full steam. FOX seems to be getting an early jump with some series already started (see my Now Watching sidebar) like Prison Break. There seems to be a flood of "good looking" thriller/suspense/supernatural series this season. I thank LOST for opening the floodgate. I don't know if any of these will be as good, but the teasers running for shows like Threshold, Invasion, and Surface peaked my interest. I just got my Fall Preview TV Guide so I will look to see what else catches my eye. My DVR units will be working hard for the next month or so.


I've been looking for a wireless router for a while now (around the time I got my PSP, hmmmm). The price point seemed to be about the same through all the stores, but unfortunately most of them required 2 freaking rebates to hit that ~$45 range. Now these were all "G" units, although I did occasionally find a deal on a "B" unit I just held out. Well Sunday I found that Target had hit the 50% clearance mark on the Motorola WR850G units. I just couldn't pass up a "G" unit for $25, and no rebates to deal with. Set-up was extremely easy (the only stumbling block was a reboot of the cable modem) and fast. I even updated the units firmware from the Motorola website, and I was good to go. I can now say I've surfed the web on my PSP in the living room which was pretty cool. :)

Swedish PSP lovin...

Okay when we get new hardware launches in the US why don't we get chicks with painted on shirts? I think they would go over big at Best Buy. :) They would probably dig those funky yellow PSP cases.

Man them Swedish people are crazy, I mean that in a good way. I gather it was some sort of a PSP launch party, unfortunately alta-vista doesn't offer Swedish translation. Anyway if you want to you can check it out here.

TV & Movies... and looting.

A week or so of feeling like crap, and I really hadn't gotten out much. Anyway the kids are back in school so it's early to rise, unfortunately that means getting up 5 hours before I have to be to work. Been putting my DVR through its paces, just to make sure its ready for the upcoming fall season. Cox finally got off thier arse and added KWCH to my HD line-up (yay!), and I hear that UPN might be up in HD sometime this year (soon?). Doesn't mean Cox will ad them to the line-up, but I believe there is more chance in seeing them before NBC on the DVR. Speaking of HD, I have found that I will watch (linger if you will) a channel in HD regardless of whats on. Bugs (yeah the creepy crawly kind)look really cool, as does anything with a lot of scenic shots (travel shows, and bridge construction). I have even watched some of the US Open which looks awsome on Universal HD (my current favorite HD channel) even though I don't really care anything about tennis.

I actually watched two new movies today! I think thats the first 1st run movies I've seen since Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo (see the feeling like crap part above). Okay I went into Underclassman with low expectations especially seeing as I've only seen the trailer a couple of times on tv. I'll admit I really enjoyed it. There I said it, flog me at will. It was funny, and there were a lot of recognizable people in it (Cheech Marin, Kelly Hu, and Roselyn Sanchez).

Then I went into Transporter 2 being a big fan of the orginal movie. Sorry to say I was a little dissapointed. :( The action was top notch, but it just felt (mainly the action scenes) like deja vu. Its a short movie running just around 88 minutes. This makes all the action bump together, and it never really slows down to you know... tell a story. I figured Luc Besson probably only produced the sequel not having much control, but he also shared in writting the script. If you liked the first one you will probably like this, but I think I would have been more entertained re-watching the first one. On a side note the credits indicated there was a French film unit, but I couldn't tell you what scenes were shot there it all looked like South Beach to me. (I'm guessing but I assume it was some of the interiors).

Last but not least here is how they shop at Wal-mart in Lousiana.

Okay if that wasn't enough check out this video from MSNBC, if you can't stop the cops who are supposed to stop the looters, who can you stop??

Even more PSP's infiltrate the world...

Well today (Sept. 1st) was the European launch of the PSP unit. They ship with v1.52 firmware installed, but include the v2.00 update on the demo UMD that comes with the package. There is a notice in the package that states "Important! Before using your PSP (PlayStation Potable) system for the first time, insert the Demo Disc included in this pack and switch on your PSP for the latest system for the latest system software update. It is only necessary to insert the disc once.", trying to intimidate you into upgrading? Currently there is no way to downgrade from firmware v2.00 back to the hacker friendly v1.50. Someone posted last week that they have found a way to downgrade from v1.51/v1.52, and that information is supposed to be released today.

If you want to check out some screenshots of the French Virgin Megastore launch click on the Jeux-france website.

A long time ago...

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. :( Kinda got caught up in other things, and there wasn't a lot going on.

The releases on the PSP had been very poor. I checked at work before the first of August and noted that we were getting 16 UMD movies, but only 2 games were scheduled for release during the month. You can say Sony had a tremendous launch effort, and within the 'launch-window' seen more games than the DS had out (maybe even up until this day). Alas they were hit with the same software shortage that plagued the DS, but Sony thought they could make up for it by selling movies. I personally have bought 3 UMD movies, and only then because they were cheap (used, on sale, etc..). I had intentions of watching them on the way to E3 back in May but that didn't happen. Since then I have found that with the base unit watching a movie isn't really an easy task, you have to have earphones or you can't get the unit loud enough in an environment with *any* extra noise. Some of this could be solved by using one of the many third party "docks" that have speakers built-in, but only in a office/room area, you could not use this on an airplane or in a car. I found this week on vacation that it is also uncomfortable to hold the PSP while watching a 2 hour movie in a car.

Speaking of vacation, I'm back and can easily say I really miss not having internet access during the week. I'm so used to surfing 5-6 days a week and keeping up on all the news that I felt left out this week, thank heaven for public libraries with internet access. At least I was able to get about an hour *fix* one afternoon.

Of course on the day I surfed I evidently didn't hit the big news of the week, that Micro$oft had announced pricing for the Xbox 360. I'm sure you've heard it by now but a "Core" system with a $299.99 price tag, and the "Value Pack" for $399.99. I see now that I'm back all the fallout from these announcements as some people are livid about this pricing scheme. Personally I feel it's pretty close to the $299/$360 prices that were floating around a month or so ago. After looking at the included items in the "Value pack" I don't really see as there is much to debate, if you want a Xbox 360 that's whats its going to cost you. The "Core" system seems to have been thrown out there just so they could say enter the next gen starting at $299! I will agree that some of the first party accessory pricing seems to be on the steep side ($50 for a wireless controller, or $40 for a memory card?). I guess that means I have about 3 months to come up with $350 (I already have a pre-order down).

The forum post I get a kick out of though are those that say they'll wait for the PS3 because the Xbox 360 is overpriced. Man if that $500 price tag that's floating around now comes true I can safely say I won't have one of those on launch day.

On the DS front you may or may not have heard there is a price drop coming. It's been verified by everyone except Nintendo (I think). The units will drop to $129.99 when Nintendogs is released this month, saving you $30 bucks, or you could look at it like your getting Nintendogs free. I don't know which one will have more impact although I think both will drive DS sales, something that hasn't happened lately. If you can find a Wal-mart that still has DS in stock with the bundled Super Mario 64, and the price drop that could be pretty sweet.

Last but not least I updated the side panel to reflect the last few movies I've seen. The last one being Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo. I had high hopes for this movie (as I loved the first one), but it wasn't too be. It had some funny parts, but mostly I got the feeling they were trying waaaayyy to hard to recapture the charm of the first one.

Movies, XM, and more...

Well I finally got around to seeing Star Wars : Episode III and it didn't dissapoint. I really liked all the little details to tie it into Episode IV, plus it had quite a bit of action which doesn't hurt. By no means the best of the series, but far better than Episodes I, and II.

I also watched War of the Worlds Tuesday night, and it wasn't bad either. The special effects were excellent, and it did not seem to drag along. I don't recall seeing the original version in full, but I recall bits and pieces of it. I know its playing in town Saturday night, and it might be on my to do list.

I finally got my free XM Roady 2 Radio (from a JCPenny promotion about 2 1/2 months ago). I've had it since Wednesday and so far it's awesome. I haven't spent long enough periods in the truck to try out all the stations, but have found a couple of favorites. I won't say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread although it could be close.

The DVR was the last piece of equipment I got that truely blew me away. Does not matter if you buy a Replay, TiVo, or whatever. That little box changed the way I watch TV period. I just commented yesterday to a friend who had joined the DVR ranks to say goodbye to his VCR, and he said he had already unhooked it. I don't see the XM radio in this light yet, but it's really growing on me. I haven't had the car stereo tuned in since I got it. There are just so many options, and truthfully I haven't listened to 85% of the channels yet. Now probably 10% of those I will *never* listen too, but you get the idea.

There has been more hacking on the PSP front. Last week they got homebrew (emulators) to run on v1.50 models (which is the default release here in the states, unless you upgraded wirelessly...). Now they have written a boot loader that allows Lumines to run off a memory stick. Right now there is no sound, but originally it required any UMD to be in the drive. They have already released an update which doesn't require a UMD so the sound can't be far off. It was enough of an insentive I got off my ass and bought a 512 MB stick. :)