Great things happening over at XboxAddict

The fine folks over at XboxAddict.com have pulled out all the stops and developed a very nice faceplate database. To celebrate this monumental occasion they are having a contest to win a custom Wall*E Xbox 360 console and faceplate. To enter you must register with the site.

Here are the details: http://www.xboxaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84731

Great job guys!

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Midnight Launch Bomb

For the record, I am a videogamer. I play/collect every system that comes out. I'm also not a fan of spending unnecessary money. Which is why I was excited about the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of the Patriots on Playstation 3. Finally, an A+ game to justify my purchase of that system. I sure as Hell don't watch enough Blu-Ray discs and the 4 PS3 games I've picked up were average at best. The online service is weak, although the recent overhaul was a step in the right direction.

Everyone keeps saying this is the year of PS3. I hope it gets some decent releases because right now I play more PS2 games on it. But if tonight's lauch 'party' at my local GameStop is any indication, I'd say they are in a bit of trouble.

I've been to many midnight launches over the years at this same GameStop. Its a great way to see some really freaky people. Seriously. I mean it. Freaky people like yours truly. What kind of person stays up til midnight in a parking lot to buy something that will be there the next day?

Anyway, I've been to midnight events like Halo2, Gears of War, Wii pre-order, PS3 Pre-order and Halo 3 launch at this particular GameStop. Every one of those had a loooooonnnngg line of people wating outside. I had not completely decided if I'd be going to the MGS4 midnight launch or not. Work has been busy and I'm beat. But then I got a call from the store manager telling me that there would be... a MGS4 costume contest! Hell ya I was going!

I changed out the batteries in my camera and cleared out the memory stick. I was pumped and ready for some freaky cosplay action!

They said to arrive around 9:30 - 10pm. I didn't get there until 10:30. I knew something was amiss the second I entered the parking lot. The lights at GameStop were on but no one was outside. I said...NO ONE outside the store. I could see about a dozen people inside watching some dude play the game on the store's demo unit.

I figured I must have misunderstood when or where... but no, this was it. I went in and easily made my way to the counter. Paid my ballance and marveled at the... 18 people in the store for the midnight launch of MGS4. Wow. The worst part - not one of those people was wearing a costume! One of the employees said to another that they should get a box out from the back for someone to use as a costume. Nobody was getting the $25 gift certificate prize tonight. I stayed up late for this???

We all stood in silence watching the store employee play through the game. At one point there was a cut scene that was so long that the demo unit he was playing on auto-reset due to inactivity. Everyone groaned. It was painful. The employee asked who wanted to play next. And I could not believe it - NO ONE volunteered. The employee tried to persuade a young Asian kid to play but he just politely declined. The employees behind the counter offered explainations like, "I don't think most people like to be watched when playing games" and "They probably want to experience it for themselves when they get home.' Double-Wow.

Eventually midnight came and I got my little box and left. I was sad to see such a lack of interest in what is supposed to be the Playstation 3's crown jewel. Maybe this was an anomalie? I guess we'll find out when sales figures emerge.

Palm Springs Air Museum - 1938 Bally Squadron Pinball

Over Memorial Day weekend my family made the annual pilgrimage to Palm Springs. Along with our trek to the desert comes another family tradition of me asking if anyone will go to the air museum. The kids usually follow Mom's queue and roll their eyes, "We just want to hang out at the pool". This time my five year old sprouted up and said she really wanted to go. Very exciting news! So anyway, we checked it out and it was a great time. Some old timers on hand to give first hand accounts of WWII. Wonderful models, medals, rifles and actualy planes. You should really check it out if you go to Palm Springs. http://www.palmspringsairmuseum.org/

In the corner of one of the hangars was an old 1938 pinball machine. Very cool! I took some pix to share:

Microsoft Popfly Beta

Here is an interesting item I made with the MS Popfly beta:



http://www.popfly.com/users/tacohead/XBox%20Faceplate%20Sphere


You should check it out! http://www.popfly.com/

Conflict: Denied Ops texture glitch

When you think about it, finding every single bug in a game prior to launch is nearly impossible. So I always find it interesting when I come across something odd when playing a game. Sort of an insight into the hugh task of bringing a game to the masses. Here are some pix of an interesting graphics glitch in Conflict: Denied Ops.

Nintendo Facts!

This is a fun vid up on YouTube:

Now is your chance! Trace Adkins Autographed Faceplate

$500.00 is a good chunck of change for this country singer themed faceplate:

Air Force Test - Free Game!

Here is a very fun, free online game.

"This will drive you nuts!! Have fun!

The object of the game is toi move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls.

If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. Its been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes.

Give it a try but be warned... it is addictive!!!"

Air Force Test

I have yet to get to 17 seconds. I keep getting in the 16s. Please post your times if you give this a try.

CES 2008: And The Winner Is...

I might not be a professional photographer, website editor or product reviewer but I am one hell of a consumer. In my opinion, the single biggest splash of the show, the one everyone crowded around and talked about and really blew me away was Microsoft Surface. Hands down winner of the show. Best innovation of our time. This is the future. Say goodbye to your mice and keyboards. Surface coupled with voice recognition is the way of the future. I see so many practical applications for this technology. From industries like Healthcare to retail I think we'll see this everywhere very soon. Can't wait.

CES 2008: Statues and Robots!

Seriously, who doesn't love statues and robots?

CES 2008: Seats and Cockpits

Just sit back and enjoy...




I honestly don't have a clue what was going on here. Some sort of inflatable suit/jacket thing with a little kid in it. Check out the balloon blown pants! Freaked me out.




Onto more conventional items...

CES 2008: Media Related Devices

I love that I'm alive in 2007 with all these new gadgets allowing us to take entertainment to the next level. Here are some great innovations:

The iRiver Wing





Xbox 360 with IPTV Media Room service






Texas Instruments DLP - DualView!
This broadcasts 2 inputs to the screen decoded by special glasses. Worked waaayyyy better than I expected. They just need to integrate 2 audio signals into the glasses next.






Smallest DLP Screen EVER!!!




Samsungs Attempt at 3D TV
(not so impressive) People watching without glasses will go insane I think.




Finally, some HD-DVD and BluRay shots.
Everyone was wondering if this war ends soon...

CES 2008: Gaming

Here are some cool gaming items at CES:


Retro Gaming with DLP!
Nice Mame type cabinet at the DLP booth.






Custom Rock Band Drums with Cymbals!






Some crazy lady telling me I cant take photos of her crap import accessories





That chick that did the "I'm Bringing Xbox Back" parody song (I think?)





Miscellaneous Stuff...

CES: Zune

Zune continues to make great strides with a kick-ass firmware update and new styles. Still some quirky issues, but nice competition in an iPod world.

CES 2008: The Cars!

CES 2008: Booth Babes

There was no shortage of beautiful young ladies on the showroom floor. Particularly in the auto department.

CES 2008: Overview

It's that time of year again. Time to check out all of the cool electronic gadgets thought up over the past year. Some more impressive than others. I took a brief run down to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday and found it to be just as crowded as ever. One common concern seemed to be that the economy could not sustain the levels of consumer spending we have seen over the past several years. Regardless, I had a great time.



I'll break my coverage into a few posts to make things easier to follow. But for now, here are some odds and ends:

A Bionic Japanese Toilet


A very small handheld laptop projector (its in the guys hand. Don't all nominate me for photographer of the year at once)


A cool handheld PC


A Mechanical Bull Exercizer for the Ladies... yeah, uh-huh


Video Displays that are hidden in Mirrors - Very Cool!


More posts/pix to come...

Blacksite: Area 51 Frustrations

I'll be the first to admit it - I don't have the highest standards to enjoy a video game. I'm not one of those snooty folks who turn up their nose at a nicely done game just because it has nothing new or original to offer. If I enjoyed Halflife and someone wants to borrow heavily from it for their own shooter several years later I don't really care as long as its fun. Sometimes it feels nice to curl up with a simple game not trying to show off any new tricks (Soldier of Fortune: Payback anyone?). So when I started seeing negative reviews about Blacksite: Area 51 I thought people were upset because it was just more of the same from the last game. Granted, I hated scaffoldings after the first but I was ready to return anyway. I was willing to look the other way and embrace the repetition. Then I saw the quotes from the old project manager who seemed less than impessed with the final code. I was getting nervous but still held out hope. Then it came in the mail. I was supposed to get a free headset but it was not in the package. The inventory list said it should be there so I called. The guy on the phone said he'd send out a replacement but... it never came. Not too upsetting because I didn't care much about it. Finally I got around to spending some quality time with BS:A51 and the first thing I noticed was that the graphics were no where near as nice looking as in the Xbox Live demo. Maybe it was because the demo takes place at night it looked better but the game looks pretty bad. Its as if the character models have been placed in front of a cheap green screen with jaggy auras around their shiny bald heads. Definitely rough, but that didn't bother me too much. The gameplay is what I expected and frankly I enjoy walking into new areas, triggering an ambush, clearing out the bad guys, rinse and repeat. This was okay until I met up with the requisite Military Shooter hottie Noa. She injected something into my arm and then blocked my only way out of the room. It didn't help that two of my crew just watched with blank stares and my 3rd guy ran up and back in front of Noa. After a few minutes I ended up having to reload my last checkpoint. Really annoying. Anyway, I hope the rest of the game is less buggy. =================

New GameStop Miniature Console Gift Card Tins

Now this is pretty cool. I was waiting for 3D Beowulf to begin over the weekend and ventured into a nearby GameStop. Upon entering I was greeted with a nice display of gift card holders in the shape of consoles and handhelds. Nice tiny replicas if you like to collect that sort of thing like me. It is kind of a pain taking pictures of these glossy items in the wrapper. Well, let's be honest, my pictures are atrocious but I never claimed to be a pro. These will look nice on my desk next to the Big Daddy figurine from BioShock. Enjoy.

Xbox 360 Military appreciation pack

Some of you may remember that I now have 2 Xbox 360's in my house. I created a new gamertag for the 2nd one (Halo 3 Ltd.) that I broke into while my regular went to the red ring clinic. Now that it is back I'm keeping the 2nd gamertag which the kids can use. I didn't want to have to re-buy all of my arcade games so I went on eBay to get one of those Arcade Unplugged discs. I bid on, and won one last week. Today it arrived and had a big, "Xbox 360 Military Appreciation Pack" sticker on the front. Regardless of your position on the war, you have to admit that is a pretty cool way to support out troops.

The weird world of Official Xbox Magazine Advertising

So I just got my new issue of OXBM in the mail. One thing I noticed was the bizarro advertising this time around. First there is a 1970's looking ad for a system to attract women. Then towards the end is a 32 page advertising section for mobile games. I understand that print magazines are suffering and need to get their $ where they can. But where does it end?

TimeShift lost in the shuffle

So many good games coming out right now. Orange Box, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero III, Ratchet and Clank, Drakes Fortune, Virtua Fighter 5, Assassins Creed, etc, etc, etc... Now is the time to release games so that they get snatched up for the holidays. Unfortunately for Time Shift now is not the best time, and FPS is not the best genre to release the game.

I'm having lots of fun with it but it is a shame that it will be overlooked in the sea of hot titles coming out now. This will be that game that everyone picks up and plays in February or March.

Fantastic level design in my opinion. So often you get corridors and crates in a FPS. Sure there is some of that but they threw in a great amount of innovation and unexpected routes in your linear journey. The time gimmick is cool as well. It is not a perfect game but it is quite a bit of fun. Do yourself a favor and pick it up once the holiday dust settles.

God of War PSP Demo Arrives!

I wonder if anyone will be able to see that gold medallion behind the clock?

Xbox 360 Comes Home!

Well, that was fairly quick. On Friday I got my Xbox 360 back and good as new. I was impatient and hooked up the Halo3 edition while it was gone which runs considerably quieter. I went ahead and put this one in the living room. It kind of sucks that you can't have the same gamer profile on 2 boxes. I guess you can move the hard drive over or download your profile each time you go up and back but that sucks. It came back with a free month of Live! So I created a new account for it in the living room. Might be setting my gamer score up for a hit in the future but whatever.

They sent a very nice apology letter with the Live! Credit. Overall, great customer service. I know some folks had nightmare experiences but I am satisfied.

E for All Expo Coverage

Wow, what an event. I went to this show on Sunday, the last day. They say 18,000 people attended - those people must have been there on the other days cause there was room to bust out some cardboard and head spin to your hearts content. Being a public event, there were all kinds of gamers like this nice old lady. But don't let her looks deceive you - she pownd me at Air Sea Battle 2k8. I think the wrist brace is for cheaters... and this joystick sucks!

There was a very nice mural on the ground as you came in. It was actually on some sort of canvas that was laying on the ground. Really huge and protected by 6 security guards. The girl who painted it was standing nearby and told me it took 5 days to paint. Michelangelo with Playstion controller in hand. I wish it was 1978 again - I'd soooo have that pained on the side of my van with a 2600 controller.

The Super Crowded Registration Lines

As far as amenities, eForAll pulled out all the stops! There was a Gamer Lounge! Those were the most excited 4 individuals I've ever seen.

Now, just in case you felt the burning need to purchase some merchandise with the eForAll logo on it, there were several kiosks FULL of deals but few customers. Get 'em while they're hot! Yeah, I need some eForAll Flip Flops NOW!




Before we get carried away with the big booths let's check out some of the smaller, independent vendors:

Two girls who could not articulate to me what the hell they were selling. It had something to do with partying and their water bottle was not for sale.

This nice lady was a Jazz musician who wanted to write video game music. Okay.... She was totally disorganized and was just setting up her booth, er, table at noon. Frazzled. Maybe a little loopy, but very nice.

















Pro-Gamer Magazine Lady afraid to take a picture.




This guy was selling some crazy-ass flight controller setups. No Steel Battalion but still impressive.





My Favorite vendor by far was the guy selling hand painted mimo USB flash drives. Well made, very creative and well worth the price.






Here are some other highlights:

Pac-Man Says "Relax, you don't look like a complete jackass"

I met these "Pro-Gamers" and checked out their tour bus. Nice guys (and a girl). There was a ironic"No Drugs or Firearms Allowed" sign inside the bus. They told me the frag dolls are "just for show". You're breaking my heart guys...

Speaking of Frag Dolls... I asked her if I could take her picture and she turned away. So sad.

There were some other famous people there (Did I really say famous???) that you might recognize.

I'm pretty sure this guy was a contestant on American Idol. He was working the MLG booth, er, table thing. He said times were hard. Could no longer sing for his supper. Ok, I totally made that up - but he looks like that dude.

Ok, and this is the dude who used to have that show on G4 with Tommy T. What was it called? Oh yeah, "Bitching about how much you love Tron". Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the name of it. He told me they are still on in Canada and looking for a US distributor.

Now this was a great picture. "Whip Set? Hellll No Muthafucka!"

Finally, here are the rest -

Terrible picture, but these folks are enjoying the casual gaming phenomenon known as Wii Sports.

These guys were very nice and seemed sincere, but seriously... gamer's rights? Don't you guys have to look at yourselves in the morning? They had like 8 tables surrounding them. NO ONE was interested. After talking with them I think that N64 Superman class action lawsuit just might have wings.

My mom told me to never pick up hitchhikers.

What you are looking at here is the worlds laziest DJ. Seriously, I go upstairs at the Game Trailers booth and ask this guy if he can pose for a super scratchin' Electric Boogaloo, Krush Goove, Gleaming the Cube kind of pic. He's bellyachin' because he had to get up from his chair. C'mon...

Gum Sample Booth Babes

Hey Konami... we know what your fucking game looks like, we know what it looks like when people are playing it, so why all the dramatic bullshit????

I was interested in this item. Giant NES pad. Problem is that I didn't know if you could attach it to any console. I waited for the dude running the booth, er, table to answer my question but he was running his mouth with some other people. I got impatient. I don't have one.

So I put on my green parka with patches of all my fav mediocre yet totally underground indie games sewn all over the arms before I entered the Indiecade section. Flash snobbery at its best. Refreshingly, I met a very nice guy from MIT who was a good sport and gave me some insight into why 2nd Life sucks ass.

Q. How do you know when you are too old to be going to this shit?

A. (see 12 year olds kicking your ass in Halo3 below)

OMG, the Intel Process or so Rad!!!!!! This dude on the right kept showing the crowd his ass crack. Seriously, pull up your pants!

This is where the magic happens...

I am getting tired of the retro re-makes. All I can say is that it better be easier to maneuver that giant scrotum up and down the ladders this generation... Hey King Features - changed Brutus to Bluto and didn't think I'd fuckin' notice!!! Been haunting me since age 6 damnit!!!

Nintendo had some nice looking gals on the floor.

Nintendoville

The GH3 stations had the same demo you can download from XBL. This guy had this sticker on his forehead the entire time I was there. You think Slash can do that???? Well do ya????

"Mom, I got a job in L.A. !!!"

New Sam and Max. Sorry, can't get into it this time round.

So the big thing was 'Virtual Worlds". Everyone and their Mom were making one that won't be out for a zillion years. This one has dinosaurs that you kill for money. There was also one that looked like Axe Body Spray. Oh, and a bunch of guys making, "Avatar" the virtual world. I told them that people might get confused by the cartoon or James Cameron film. They hadn't considered that.

I don't know if these are officially licensed or not...

Someone tell me what this is supposed to be.

So that's it. Would have been better if Sony and Microsoft had attended. Definitely not worth the price of admission. Seeing Super Mario Galaxy was kind of nice though.