The Christmas Thing

I don't want to just post what I got and sound so commercially minded on Christmas. Instead I will post what I gave to others first and only give a brief overview of my gifts.

I made Robert a desktop background for the laptop with Batman, Joker, and Daredevil. I bought Marya a Dobby Bust. I gave Richie a copy of Caddy Shack. For Jenny I bought a Jack and Zero Bobble Head. For Trey I sold my soul and bought him a copy of EA's Need For Speed Most Wanted. I got my dad a pack of DVD-RWs for his Video Camera. I got some people at church things to, but I won't go over that.

I got a few things and I will just go over a few of them. I got Call of Duty 3, a Puzzle, a Wooden Dragon puzzle/sculpture, and a new watch. Marya got me the Wooden puzzle of the dragon and when I opened it she said "That should keep you busy for a while". Of course I took this as a challenge and began working on it. As you can see on the left I finished it in about 30 minutes. After finishing it I noticed it had a design flaw. If you look at the left side its arm is raised instead of being on the ground, making it lean one way. That is why you can see my Greek cards under its arm to keep it balanced. I also worked on the 750 piece puzzle I got, but I don't have an adequate size area to put it together yet.

That's all for right now.

It Appears to Have Worked

I alluded to an unblemished lamb a few days ago, and it appears to have worked. The 49ers defense held strong last night long enough for the offense to get the running game going, which allowed them to get the passing game going. This is the first 49er game I have been able to watch all year and I enjoyed it so much. There were a few things that worried me, but also some things that were very encouraging, so lets start with the worrying.

1. Lack of discipline. There were a lot of penalties that should not of happened, and one that cost them an early TD because of an unnecessary hold.
2. There were plenty of holes in the secondary in the first half.
3. Alex Smith can't throw in the rain

OK, now the good stuff.

1. It is great to watch two payers from the same draft class working so well on offense.
2. Alex Smith made an incredible pass to the sideline, 50+ yards, flat-footed.
3. Frank Gore was great again.
4. Vernon Davis looked good with a few catches.
5. The Run defense put up a good effort, holding Alexander to 73 yards with only 3.1 yards per carry

Now on to other news

The Xbox 360 back-words compatibility list has been updated. Many people are happy about Psychonauts being in the list, but I am thrilled to see Shenmue II on there. I love that game more then any other. I have a relationship with that game, and I think I may have to kill Yu Suzuki if he doesn't finish the story. If you have not played it, there is no better time. You can get it for 6 dollars from Gamestop. SIX DOLLARS. If you are not willing to take a chance on an experimental game for just SIX DOLLARS I want you to go stick a knife in an electrical socket and let me know how it went. The other reason this is encouraging is the fact that Shenmue did not sell well on Xbox at all. So this, in my opinion, gives hope for other games that people love but are afraid may get over looked.

The last bit I have to share is that this semester is essentially over for me. I just have to write a summary and I am done.

So Much...

So much has happened since last time I posted I am not sure where to begin.

I finally got my licence. I took the test about a week ago and got only two points off. I got points off for touching the solid white line, which I didn't do.

I signed an NDA last week. For those of you that don't know a NDA is an agreement in the business world that basically means I can't say anything, not even what I signed the NDA for. But those of you that are super smart will look through some of my old blog posts and realize something is in there that I may, or may not have signed a NDA for. A good place to look may be in May.

The 49ers have lost their last three games since I started gloating. I have decided it is divine punishment for my pride, especially since the managed to lose to Green Bay and St. Louis. To make atonement for the situation I will be purchasing an unblemished lamb. The 49ers still have a chance to make the playoffs. If they win their last three games against Seattle, Arizona and Denver, and the Seahawks lose their last three games to San Fran, San Diego, and Tampa the 49ers will be tied with Seattle for the division lead and will get to the playoffs because they will have defeated the Seahawks in both of their games.

I am almost finished with school this semester. I have to turn in three research papers that are finished, and one summary of a book that I haven't read yet. The three papers are: Hermeneutics, Speech, and the drafting of the Constitution.

I don't have much else to say right now. I hope to start posting more often after school is over.

I Finally Get to Talk About Football

As some of the more intelligent of you may know, the 49ers won yesterday giving them a 5-5 record. I have restrained from talking about football because my beloved 49ers were sub .500 and I didn't feel free to talk about other teams. Now that my team has finally clawed its way to mediocrity I feel the need to gloat over those that are still swimming at the bottom of the cesspool known as the NFC. Before that I need to give credit where credit is due.

First and foremost, the most credit is to be given to Frank Gore. This year Gore is Second in the NFL in Rushing yards by only two yards. He is 23 years old and was drafted by the Niners in the 3rd round because other teams were afraid of his past injuries. In yesterdays game he set a franchise record 212 rushing yards. He is projected to get 1669 rushing yards and 459 receiving yards by the end of this year as long as he stays healthy. After the loss of Barlow, Gore stepped into the role of lead back and is flourishing.


The next person on the list to get credit is the 49ers coaching staff, namely Mike Nolan. I was afraid at first when I heard the Niners were getting an old Baltimore defensive coach not named Marvin Lewis. Thankfully, to my surprise, Nolan has turned out to be a pretty good coach, even sporting a nifty suit and tie made by Adidas seen above.







The last person to get credit, but not the last to deserve it, is Alex Smith. I am always nervous when a QB goes first overall. The position has too much left up to intangibles to make it a sure things when picking a QB. When the Niners drafted Smith first overall I was cautiously optimistic. I knew he had the tools to become a good QB, but so did about a thousand other players before him. After throwing one touchdown and 11 picks in his first season my optimism
changed to terror. This year he is doing much better. His pass percentage is up ten percent. His passing yards have more than doubled along with his QB rating. And he has more touchdowns than interceptions with 10 and 7 respectively. I think I may be able to safely say Smith is on the way to becoming a sturdy QB for the Niners in the future.

Now that I am done gushing it is time for a hearty laugh in the face of those less fortunate than me. First, in the Niners conference I laugh at the Cardinals and Rams. Secondly, I laugh at the others in the NFC, the Buccaneers, the Lions, the Packers, the Vikings, and the Redskins. Thirdly, I laugh at those that lost yesterday that should have won, namely the Broncos, the Seahawks and the Colts.
Ok, now that I have established that, I will probably talk about football in most of my future posts. Now, on to other news.

I switched to the new blogger, yay.

I finished my second major speech, and I am preparing to present it Wednesday.

The E.V.O.C. (Emergency Vehicle Operation Course) singles activity was great. I will try and post video or pictures by the end of the week after I am done editing it together. Just to let you know what it was, it was basically a driving course designed for Police Officers and EMT's to learn what their vehicles can do in an emergency situation. It was put together by the singles teacher, Bro. Sanger, and a police officer in our church, Bro. Johnson. To put it simply, it was a lot of fun.

The PS3 was released... Oh sorry, I was just waiting for the inevitable cries from the people that bought it complaining about flaws that are inevitable in the first run of any electronic device.

The Wii was released... Oh sorry, I was just waiting for the inevitable cries from the people that bought it complaining about the poor graphic capabilities of the system.

Ok I think that is long enough, I will be back with more celebration of mediocrity, slanted video game news, and hopefully a video of E.V.O.C.

I almost forgot, I got Gears of War and it is amazing.

A Friendship Tested

First, yes I broke my promise on posts, oh well. With that out of the way, on to the post.

Yesterday I finally received my long awaited copy of Gears of War (LE). I was extremely happy, with one minor glitch; I can not play it yet. You see, my friend Steven and I made a pact. Since GOW offers the ability to play the entire campaign online with a friend, we decided that neither of us would play without the other. That is were the problem comes in. His GameStop had a shipping error and he will not get his copy until today at around six. I have had the game for one whole day and have yet to play it, or even boot it up. I have been trying to cope with other games, but I hear it calling my name.

There is really no way to distract me from the itch I desperately want to scratch. This morning I finished up my paper on Biblical Hermeneutics. When that was finished I moved on to Fable. I was already mostly finished with it and that didn't last long. The next distraction I threw myself into was setting up our wireless router. Thanks to the jerks at Linksys the setup process was easy and efficient. The last distraction I have left is the internet. I read Lance's latest blog entry. It was a good overview on the first few verses in James but it could only last so long. Now I am making my own post, but I am afraid I will not make it to six. I can only Hope Steven appreciates my efforts.


In other news I gave one of two major speeches yesterday. I choose James Madison as my topic and spoke for ten minutes. When the dust settled I was given an A. I am now studying for my history mid term, but I know everything already. Another bit of info is Matthew is supposed to get in today but I probably will not see him until tomorrow or Saturday. This Saturday is our church's annual Turkey Bowl. Other than that there is not much going on. Until next time.

Ecstatic

I was watching the old Dune movie on Stars a few days ago and it reminded me about a game I haven't thought of in quite some time, Dune. One of my earliest memory’s of gaming is Dune. I used to spend hours on it and decided to try and pick it up again.

I found a few auctions on Ebay, but most were in the UK or looked suspicious. I finally decided to check an abandonware website to see if they had it. I know what some will say, "Abandonware is not exactly legal", and I concede the point, but here are mine.
1 The game is over ten years old.
2 It is not reasonably available to purchase.
3 I really wanted to play it.

Now that the legality was out of the way I had to get the old Dos game to run on XP.

"Not a Problem" I thought as I triumphantly ran the install.exe file I downloaded. A window opened, installing happened, and I squealed with joy.

But wait, a snag...
The beloved musical notes I remembered as a child were no where to be heard. "Not a Problem, I will play without music" was my battle cry as I continued on my quest.

I went to talk to Leto Atreides and again no sound, this would be a problem.

I scoured the internet high and low looking for the holy grail like program that would allow me to play a game far inferior to those I could easily play no more than five feet away.

I traversed the endless jungles known as Go Ogle only to be attacked by the tribe of Popup over and over again.

Finally as my supply of Mountain Dew had grown dangerously low, and I had abandoned my companions Alife and Hom Ework I found the thing I was looking for The VDMSound Project. I could finally return to my gaming in peace.

That was my story, and now I still have a rough draft and a ten minute speech to do.

Wow, a Month and a Half of Nothing.

I know it has been a long time since I posted and for that I am somewhat sorry. Between school and other projects I am not overly busy, I just don't feel like doing much extra-curricular writing. I do promise to at least post once every two weeks, more for my self then for my readers... ok reader. I will start by trying to update you on the last month and a half.

I finished LOTR around the end of August, roughly two weeks after I predicted it would take me the rest of the year. I thought that since it was the third time I was going through the series it would be more work then enjoyment, but I think I liked it more this time then ever.

Since I finished early I started looking for a new book to read and I couldn't find anything that peaked my interest. Finally while browsing the books at Good Will a few days go I came across a book called To the Last Man. It is a WWI novel by the man that wrote Gods and Generals. Since I didn't have anything else to read at the time, and it was two dollars for a near mint condition hardcover I picked it up. I have only gotten in about fifty pages, but so far it is pretty good. I will post a review/opinion when I finish.

Something else also happened of note during my absence, my pastor asked me to organize his library. He has about 5,000 books so it is now simple task. I have been searching for a program to use that will do all the things he wants and I think I found it. Next I will have to go through the labor intensive task of putting it into the database by hand.

Now onto a gaming note. It is a small one, but a good one. Assassin's Creed has been confirmed for Xbox 360. I was watching this game out of the corner of my eye trying not to get too interested when it was PS3 only, but now that it is headed to 360 I am extremely excited about it. The Game-play looks great along with the graphics. Not much too say about it right now except that you should check out the X06 Video and wait patiently for March.

Literature and Fable 2

The first thing I would like to talk about is the books I have read this year. First I would like to say that I am not a avid read by nature and have always struggled to force myself to read for pleasure. I am extremely happy with my progress this year, even if some are more advanced. So far this year I have read roughly 5,692 pages.

I started with the Harry Potter series simply because there was nothing else to read. I always thought it was, for lack of a better word, stupid. I watched the movies simply because my sister forced me, but I never had a great interest in the story. I still gave the first book a chance with little expectations. I am glad I did because I quickly finished it and the rest of the series in around a month.

I moved on to The Chronicles of Narnia for the same reason, there was nothing else. I enjoyed it as much as I could a children's story but I didn't think it was easy to connect with the character since they changed so fast, especially the ones in Narnia. I also was reading A History of Pirates on and off at the time which is a fairly interesting book.

I am now beginning the end of my reading this year, or what I plan to be the end. I have school coming up in about two weeks and I feel I will not have much time for reading in my spare time. So I decided I would end with an old favorite I have not yet read this year; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I have read the series twice two years in a row, making this the third time. This time I get a special treat, illustrations by Alan Lee. If I have time after I finish that I may pick up another book or two but I suspect that those will keep me busy right up to new years and from there I will have to plan my new reading schedule.

I also have one quick gaming note to add about Fable 2. It appears from the latest community update that they are keeping the fairly limited path system from Fable. The areas though, are apparently going to be much greater in size, which is a good thing. I long for the days when Peter Molyneux would say everything and anything he wanted to the press. Sure, many of people got upset about features that didn't make the cut that he mentioned, but it was so great having an honest and open look into the development of a video game.

That is all I have for now. I hope to get a few more posts in before school because I doubt I will have time to make many posts.

I Told You EA Stood for Evil Alliance

A few days ago EA announced they are closing servers down for older games. I wonder why they would do this? Maybe they want people to buy newer games. If people would wise up and start buying sports games in the 2K series things like this wouldn't matter. I find this funny for two reasons.

The first is that if you bought an EA game you deserve it. I own Fifa but only because it was the only game I could play online with Lance at the time. Anyone that buys an EA game should expect poor support and a sub-par to decent game. That does not mean they don't occasionally put out a good game, but the odds are against you.

The second is that the main reason EA would not support Live! in the beginning was they wanted to use their own servers. Can anyone else see the stupidity in that? I guess that is what all those dense Madden fans out there get.

E3

Sorry for the lack of posts. I don't really have a reason either, which is sad.

As you have probably head, E3 is over as we know it. It is sad in a way. I remember looking forward to E3 all year and then trying to keep up with the sudden flood of information. At first I was outraged, I have never gone to the conference and now all chances of going are obliterated. Now though, everyone benefits but a small group of people.

E3 is now a small trade event by invitation only. What does this mean for the average gamer, absolutely nothing. The only thing it means is a better flow of information with less fluff. It is as if the industry has finally started taking itself seriously and no longer needs the over-the-top show. It doesn't really affect journalists that much either since they will invite a good deal of them to the show. The only gamers it affects are those that went to E3 not as journalists, or programmers or anything esle but gamers. Those lucky few who slipped into the trade event unnoticed with unsurpassed ninja skill to play games early. It will also affect business in the area counting on the 60,000 people that attended the show, but they are in L.A., so who cares?

I will miss E3 for what it was, but I am happy that the industry is moving forward. I also expect to see more public shows popping up soon. I also would not be surprised to see more interest inPAX by the big companies. Plus, it is much cheaper and open to the public, so no ninja skills are required.

No Gaming news today

Just a quick post to brag. I found a Harry Potter Spells test and it is pretty in depth. I am happy to report I scored 91% which I am pleased with considering I have only read the books once and seen the movies a similar amount of times. I also had to brush up a little on HTML to get rid of most of the junk in the quiz code to post here and am equally pleased with those results. I mainly posted this to challenge Lance to see his score which will be, undoubtedly, higher.

Full Wizard Fineto! You scored 91%!

Wow! Impressive. "We can expect great things from you." You must have read the books several times or are just really good at remembering which spell does what. I myself didn't know all the spells until I started writing this test.

Link: The Harry Potter Spells Test

LOTRO, Fable 2, and Argo

Before I get into the other stuff in the post I wanted to talk about the World Cup a little bit. To be honest I have always hated soccer, but this year I decided to watch the final game. I went in not really caring who one, but after hearing about some of the French players I was instantly and Italy fan. I was glued to the TV the entire time, even though no scoring happened after the eighteenth minute or so. The shoot out was great also, and I kind of feel bad for the French guy that missed. I don't know if I will follow soccer closer now or not, but it was a great game to watch.

Now onto the post's title. First there is a nice interview at Computer Games Online for LOTRO Shadow of Angmar. The interview covers things from the area of Middle Earth in the game, to items, to playable classes. It is a fairly decent read, but a lot of old information.


Also there is a bi of Fable 2 news via Lionhead's official web page. The news isn't much, but it is at least something. All it basically says is that the game is set about 500 years after Fable ends. I wish Peter Molyneux would revert to his old ways of talking about his games too much, it is refreshing compared to developers who think they should keep every little thing a secret.

Lastly Argo. You may think I am talking about the ship in which Jason sailed in search of the Golden Fleece, and you would be wrong. I am of course talking about Microsoft's Ipod killer which is code named Argo. The Seattle times made the initial report. The short and sweet break down of Argo as we think we know, MS is yet to make i official, is as follows:
1. J. Allard, co founder of the Xbox is heading up the development
2. It will have WiFi allowing wireless connection for music downloads.
3. It will be out by Christmas if all goes according to plan.
4. People that worked on MSN Music are involved.
5. Microsoft's XNA is involved somehow.

Not much else going on so I will end this post.

Call of Duty 3 and some other things.

Yesterday I went to the Harris' house for Independence Day. I had a great time. I played croquet and won two out of three, always good, and I shot some people with my airsoft gun. Best of all was when Bro. Sanger asked me to help with the fireworks. It was great because between Jeffrey, Bro. Sanger, and Bro. Harris' there was enough fireworks for a twenty minute show. The fireworks weren't the lame kind either. They had some high quality mortars, the kind that you see at a normal show. And that was my Independence Day, now on to more important things.

Two days ago Game Videos put up a gameplay video from Call of Duty Three. Being a big fan of the first and second ones I checked it out. The first thing you will notice is that things look much grittier then the second game. The textures are darker, and the world just feels dirty. The next thing you will notice is that the explosions are insane. And there is a surprise near the end that is great. A QTE type idea that has been missing from every WWII game I have ever played.

Lastly, I know I got on to Sony last time I posted. I kind of did it so I wouldn't have to bring it up again. This time, though, it is all their own fault. If you haven't heard Sony hasn't been very good at marketing recently. First they started off with an ad depicting a person with a crown of thorns that make out PlayStation buttons. The best part about this? They ran it in Italy, the back yard of the Catholic Church, imbeciles. Next they decided to use graffiti to advertise the PSP. How could they not think of the people in the neighborhood that obviously don't want graffiti? Those were bad. But I think this new one may be the worst of them all, so Bad I am going to hotlink it to my blog so you don't have to click on a link to get offended. I was going to think of something witty to introduce it by the time I got to this point but I decided it speaks for itself, badly.

Bad News for Sony is Good News for Me

Recently Sony has been getting some bad news. More specifically Doubts from Japanese Developers on several issues, owing a lot of back taxes, and Microsoft Looking like they won't let go of the console lead anytime soon. There is nothing I want to see more then Sony lose its support of Japanese Developers and end up in third in the console race with MS and Nintendo fighting it out for the lead. Although seeing Lance admit Superman is gay and Wolverine is the superior hero would be good to. I know I sound like a PS3 hater and maybe I am, but let me explain.

To start things off I should say hate is a little strong. I owned a PS1, played a decent amount of PS2, and if there are games I want for PS3 I will probably play them. So lets say I have a general displeasure for it which, at best allows, for an uneasy truce to play stellar titles like God of War. Perhaps I should start at the beginning.

The first system I paid for by my self was the SEGA Dreamcast, which made it sort of special to me. I played it for countless hours, especially in NFL 2K1. So when it went under I blamed Sony and their PS2 for "killing" my beloved Dreamcast. I know it is stupid but I can't help but blame them for it. Ever since I have disliked them and refused to own their systems.

On a lighter note LOTR Online: Shadows of Angmar is not only in the running for longest title ever, there is also a little interview up detailing a few points about the game. So far it looks great and I can't wait for the beta to start. I hope I get in.

Also a small note on the new template. I noticed Lance changed his and since I have no mind of my own I decided to find a new one for myself. It isn't anything special so it fits the Blog perfectly.

Oblivion, Aptly Named.

It turns out I had two good reasons for not posting, one I was working on a camp, and two I acquired Oblivion for Xbox 360 in a game of chance. Lets just say that any time I wasn't working on or attending camp I was strolling the plains of Cyrodiil in search of my next kill and/or great plunder.
Oblivion is a gaming masterpiece so refined it is like mana from heaven for 360 users. I can't believe how much of my free time was taken by this game. I have beaten the game once and I am now on my second character to fill out the guilds I didn't finish. If you own a 360 and don't have a copy of Oblvion you have to fall into one of my four categories.

1. The Oblivious
First notice the pun, I stayed up all night coming up with it. If you don't own a copy of Oblivion you must not know about or else you would own it right?

2. The Poor
You are the person that knows about Oblivion but just can't get the cash to get it. So you don't have the money to buy it yet, that is all right as long as you plan to buy it.

3. The Cheap
So you know about the game, have the money, but are too cheap to make the purchase, that's just stupid. I know some cheap people, and even they could not resist the call of the sweet, sweet joy that is Oblivion.

4. The Feebleminded
Those of you that do not fit into the above categories belong here. You simply won't buy it because you might not like it, or something stupid like that. Or maybe you are afraid you will never be heard from again as you level you Khajiit, with the Shadow birthsign and a custom class. All of these reasons lead me to have no choice but to name the category this way.

I will no longer mention Oblivion as there isn't much to say, so I will move on to topic number two under "reasons you didn't see me post", camp.

Camp was a week long affair that took us from swimming, to skeet shooting, to laser tag. I had a blast as a counselor and all of the kids were great, except one who shall remain nameless. At the end we had a bonfire that was easily 30 feet high, that was lit with a flaming arrow. I can easily say it was so beautiful it could bring a grown man to his knees. After all the work Three kids got saved which made all the work everyone put into it worth it. Our pastor is so excited about it we started planning for next year last night.

Name Change

Just a quick note to explain the name change. When I signed up I didn't realize "rambling" in all its forms was so popular for a Blog title. Because of this I went for a Transliteration of three Koine Greek words. I would explain the meaning but since only one person really reads this Blog right now and they studied Koine it seems useless.

A Good Reason for Few Updates

At least I will soon have a good reason for having few updates. Starting in a couple of weeks I will be living on my Church's property to help build a camp for this summer. Unfortunately this means I have to work under my Pastor, joking, but at least I will have something interesting to do this summer. I probably will only have computer access on the weekends meaning very few updates to my already barren blog.

On a lighter note, I got an Xbox 360 about a week ago and have really enjoyed it. Right now we have Call of Duty 2 and Quake 4 (not my choice); we hope to have Fifa soon. I can't really say I have any complaints with the 360 except the first wireless controller we bought didn't work, but we returned it and now all is well.

In other, somewhat late, gaming news LOTRO is now excepting beta sign ups. Even though I will be gone most of the summer I signed up. I have been following this game through two developers, and two name changes and there is no way I wasn't going to at least try and get in. If I make it, it will put me at 10 closed betas including: WoW, City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Matrix Online.

Also if you haven't heard, Indiana Jones the game is going to be great. There are two main improvements that are driving this game to be a true next-gen experience, the first is Euphoria.

Euphoria is a procedural animation program that uses a bone structure, muscle strength, and AI to figure out how a character should react to punches, throws, a fight on top of a shaking street car, and more. The demo I saw showed Indy on top of a street car with enemies jumping from a car driving along side. Most of the enemies made it onto the street car without too much trouble, but one was not strong enough to pull himself up so he broke the window below him to help himself up.

The second innovation is Digital Molecular Matter. Digital Molecular Matter means that the physics engine decides how wood splinters, metal bends, rubber stretches, and concrete crumbles. Instead of the same pre designed way wood breaks into four pieces like most games do, it will, in theory, depend on how the player applies pressure to the object.

If this all comes together in 2007 when the game comes out it could make for the best licensed video game ever.

Microsoft Wants it All

When E3 comes so do many rumors. Not to say this is a new rumor, it just seems there is more force behind it recently. Microsoft is not happy with just the home console market and may want to release a handheld. The reason is simple, there is a lot of money in handhelds.  Some people may be skeptical, but I have been a strong believer in this rumor since it's inception for a two reasons.

We all know Microsoft  loves money and likes to dominate a market, so why wouldn't they want handhelds? It might have been difficult with Nintendo's strangle hold on the market, but now that Sony has gotten a decent amount of the market share I think Microsoft can come in with more features than both of then and steal a decent amount of market share.

There is also a little background to give this rumor significant weight. Microsoft merged it's Windows Mobile team into the Xbox group last year as stated in the above link. Why would Microsoft do this if they weren't going to at least implement some Xbox technology into the next realese, or vise versa.

If Microsoft does make a handheld you can be sure of a few things.

1. It will be superior in power to the other handhelds on the market at release.
2. It will play WAV, WMV, probably MP3, and maybe some other third party file types.
3. It will connect with Windows Media to get music, videos, and pictures.
4. There will be Halo, Fable, and PGR games for it.
5. It will run a version of Windows Mobile.
5. Different configurations will be available.

All Star Wars Fans Rejoice

I am sure you have heard by now, we can finally see Han Solo shoot first. I don't know what it is about them, but the re-mastered versions always bugged me. I don't hate them, they are still enjoyable movies. But it was like someone altered my childhood memory for no other reason except that they could. I want it known though, that I am not a Lucas hater for many reasons.

1. Star Wars is his universe. Without Lucas one of the greatest Sci Fi stories ever told would not exist. Because it is his universe he can do with it like he wants, sure I wish Hayden Christensen hadn't been cast, but it was Lucas' choice for his story.

2. He still made one of the greatest trilogies of all time. Sure, some people think he later ruined it with the re-mastered version, but it was still his doing. I know he only wrote and directed one of the originals, but it was his story, and he was the driving force behind him.

3. THX and ILM. I don't really have to say much more. He helped pioneer visual and audio technological advancements in the movie industry.

I know we all have problems with Episodes 1-3. Most of them are unfounded, but there are legitimate grievances. I don't understand why the fans think they should have so much control over the IP though. I know they love it but it isn't their's, they should just be happy Lucas gave them 3 more good Star Wars stories, even if they aren't perfect.

Introduction and some thoughts on the Wii

As I am interested in video games, I will probably end up using this Blog as an outlet for my thoughts about the industry. Usually they concern the stupidity of "fan-boys" or the entity of evil so foul I shudder when I hear it's name, EA, but they can range to games I find interesting or simply interesting news. That isn't to say this is a video game Blog for their are already far to many of them to count. This is simply a Blog where I post things that interest me and usually those things consist of videogames.


Presently I am concerned with the backlash over Nintendo's choice of name for their next console Wii. While many people have complained that this is a poor choice, I feel that it is irrelevant. I don't mean that the hatred for the name is pointless, I too feel it is a very bad choice. However, my thoughts start and end with the fact that it will play games just as well with the name Wii, or with the name Revolution. Sure, it would be much cooler to talk about playing with the Revolution then with the Wii (I refuse to stoop to the level of everyone else by making the obvious joke). I think Revolution fits the feel of the console better for it is truly a revolution, but does it really matter. Xbox 360 is a name that fits the feel of the console, but who can really say they like the name? PS3 is a name that has absolutely no life, but who cares? In the end the only point that matters is if Nintendo can deliver on the gaming experience they have been promising, and my money is on them for the win.