And It's Already Off To A Weird Start

"Does Flannel Ever Die?"
I don't think it does. It's very comfortable on cold October mornings when you have to blog about ridiculous shit. It's like a bullshit shield of sorts. Maybe not so much... anyways, this is the real reason why you are here. Happy Halloween.

--------------------------------------------------------

File-no. 7243-089F
Status: Closed
Clearance: Tango Zulu

FBI Confidential - 10/31/07
Incident Report 651: Freeway Free-Bird

When you wake up and hear a rustling in the back yard, you usually prepare for the worst case scenario. Serial Killers, Rapists, Rabid Dogs, and Cobras are among the potential obstacles awaiting your gaze as you peek through the blinds. However that was not the case the morning of 10-30-07. A small disturbance was reported by a Mrs. Glinkman who was out back watering her flower-pots. A rustling in the bushes frightened Mrs. Glinkman, when she saw a large "white and grey" shape vanish into the thick ivy hanging on the fig tree.

Mrs. Glinkman alerted authorities at HRS:1342 on 10-30-07. When tactical units arrived on scene, investigators found no evidence of a prowler, but suspect that a light footed thief could have been canvasing the property. Moments later as the final tests were being packed up, one of the crime scene techs reported seeing reflections of light, similar to dogs eyes, emanating from the ivy. When briefed that her stalker was in the back yard, Mrs. Glinkman got angry and fled out side to meet her would-be attacker.

Her yelling startled the beast as she stepped through the threshold. In a sudden explosion of chaos, a chicken FLEW from the ivy, claws drawn in attack formation. Aiming only for the eyes, police shot and detained the monster before it could wreak havoc upon the Interstate5 freeway that was neighboring Mrs. Glinkman's house. Animal Control agents collected the animal and placed it into quarantine where it awaits trial.

A Wonder What A Little CPU Can Do!

Alright. It's been a few days since I installed the new skynet protocols. Holy shiz is it doing the trick. TF2, perfect. Thank goodness for Chef Boyardee. Smooth as a button. I have now successfully tested 1280x1024 2xaa high shaders, low shadows, high textures, Looks pretty sweet...Multi core!

Release Round-Up

Here are a list of some Highly Anticipated Games...coming to a Wal-Mart near you.

Crysis Nov 16, 2007
Call of Duty 4 Nov 9, 2007
Hellgate:London November 2, 2007
Gears of War November 9, 2007
Spore (PC and Wii) TBA 2008

From the Most Popular Titles on Gamespot UK.

I was excited to see Gears of War for the PC. Lets hope it isnt another vista bullshit

Sony should stick to TVs and DVD players

Well first it was Gabe Newell dissing the PS3. Then Will Wright, creator of the SimCity franchise came down against it. Now an ex-developer for Harmonix is speaking out against the console. Jason Booth points out some pretty good stuff about the PS3. I think the PS3's problem is more along the lines of complexity. Let's face it, the Xbox and the 360 are basically PCs. They use ATI/AMD/Intel shit, running x86 architecture. Something developers have been using for the past decade. That makes PC - 360 ports easier and more cost effective. As far as the PS3 exclusives continuing to suck? I don't think so. I think we will see that the PS3 will get better support as time progresses. The Catch 22 is that by the time developers are good at coding for the PS3, the 360/PC/Wii will have outsold, surpassed and doubled their game library, while the PS3ers are still playing Metal Gear Solid that came out 2 years prior.

All I can say is that if I was to play a console FPS and was to get chop, I would be pissed. There is no way to turn your graphics down or squeeze more frames out of your rig. So I whole-heartedly agree that developers should do anything in their power to make sure that the games run at a perfect frame rate all the time, not just at the loading screen.

Even with all this said, the Orange Box will still be coming out for the PS3, maybe not till the end of 2007 (2 months after PC/360 release), but it will be out.

Morning Madness/Demo Round-up

Just some minor briefs. Wanted to keep everyone on top of some cool new releases in the next few months. Jack Black has a project on its way called "Brutal Legend." Taking place in an alternate universe where daemons have enslaved humanity, now the King of Norse Rock must bring his axe down on the deadites to save the Earth. If you saw Pick of Destiny, or anything at all of Tenacious D, you know that this is right up their alley. "Finally a game with Dio in it!" 360 and PS3 only I'm guessing from their official website.

Take it away Holy Diver!

Hellgate: London demo is now available for download. From the ex-Blizzard/Diablo dudes, comes this action-rpg-fps blend based on the Knights Templar and all that jazz. End of the world is coming, only the protectors of the Holy Grail can save the Earth!

The Unreal Tournament 3 beta demo is out. You can get it here.

If you haven't already, get your hands on a copy of the Orange Box. Its getting rave reviews from everywhere. Pretty much the best game out for more than platform. I haven't had a chance to test drive Halo3 yet, but I can imagine that the OB is going to kick its ass.

I've been in a funk ever since I traded my PC Gamer subscription for Maxim.

More Sony Woes

It's pretty widely know around the gameing community that Sony's Next Gen console is not doing so hot. The NDP numbers are continuing to show the PS3 on the bottom of the sales charts, coming in a dismal third. Price cuts have been announced to try and move units this holiday season. Rumors are circulating around the net of Sony Execs begging developers to make games. As Gabe Newell of Valve consistently rags about, the Playstation is hard to make games for. It has way more complicated architecture, thus multiplying the complexity of game design.

Now, evidence has surfaced on how a Sony Europe employee leaked a copy of Take-Two Interactive's controversial game, "Manhunt2". The leak sprang in the middle of a heated lawsuit between an activist Lawyer and the game developer.

GamePolitics.com has the full story.

Just what Sony needs now, Eh? I'm excited to see the outcome of what' taking place. Maybe developers will stop trusting Sony, and stop making game's for their overpriced game machine. Who knows. Only time will tell. Are the rats already starting to jump ship? Yikes!

A list if people ruining Halo...er TF2

I saw this on 1P start. Another blog-master from the land of the internet. He has a list of "people" or should I say stereotypes that are ruining Halo3. I hate to tell this dude, but these "people" ruin every online multiplayer game. My favorite? Look to your right. Yes child-wankers. Remember than obnoxious Commander from Battlefield 2? Remember that punk ass glitcher who kept hiding in the walls? What about the douche bag who tries to defend a flag as a sniper?

The fun starts here.

Hot ticket Items

I have some juicy tidbits from around the net today. Nothing really exciting happening on the weekends or even this week for that matter. The demo for Unreal Tournament 3 is out now, and available for download.

Some other big news from around the industry. EA foresees gaming's future as an open platform with one console or set top box. Hmm..that sounds an awful lot like the PC platform. And man, the backwards compatibility is amazing on the PC.

Anyways, just thought I might let you know what's been happening around the net. Expect a full digestion of EA's latest acquisitions and moves next week. I'm working on something special for you.

News Flash

Just in case you didn't know, E for All, the new and improved E3 is this weekend at the LA convention center. You can check out the website here. I would tell you how much it costs, but I would have had to sign up for the damn registration. What a bunch of shit.

We will see what happens this year. E3 has lost its edge, no more booth babes, glitz, or booze. I don't think you could call it a "hardcore gamer" event. It is now a family friendly, so friendly in fact, 2 big developers won't even show up. Most of the regulars are going to be there, however, it seems Microsoft and Sony are absent from the list of Vendors. Nintendo will be there peddling the Wii, but not the "Console War-riors." Very interesting indeed.

AEIOU

You know what that is. TF2 is freakin amazing. Its even better when you can play with friends. I must say that every time I use steam, I like it more. Its so cool. I almost don't need another IM. But that's beside the point.

I added a list of the games that I am currently playing. I will try to update that once a week. The top 2 games will probably be static for some time. I like to make sure that my investment has paid itself off. Amortize my video game as quick as possible to absorb the cost. Thank goodness I don't have to pay for Xbox live to play my games on the internet.

Flash Portal

Here is a cool game if you can't get enough of portal. Same rules apply, but its in 2D. Have Fun
Check It Out!

Beer Sports Beef Jerky, Miss November

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm back in my office at home, doing officely stuff. It's nice to have my LCD back. Anyways, 3meg service is awesome. I'm enjoying my preload of Portal, and I'm planning on playing at midnight. The Orange Box Officially launches tonight at midnight, Steam Rocks! So many things going on today that I'm just super excited. Im very glad I'm back home. The city really spoils people. Conveniences are very...well...convenient.

Adventures in Babysitting

Well, I found out the hard way, never underestimate the power of a 2-year old. I got smashed in the face by my little nephew Mikie. Slammed the pantry door right on the bridge of my nose as I was bent down looking for some grubbage. It hurt like a bitch, no blood, but some minor swelling. No worse for the wear, though.

Anyways, I got around to making a header for the site now. Now it is starting to look like a real blog. Hope you like. I have 3 days left on my stint here in LM. Gotta find something fun to do while the wife is at work. The monster truck rally is a no-go. Every beer-swilling hillbilly and his brother are there. Tickets are sold out, and parking is a bitch. Who would have guessed?

Catch ya on the flipside.

Master Chief's Wild Ride

The year is 2000. PC gamers everywhere rejoice in the fact that the minds behind the Myth franchise are now bringing a totally new I.P to the he PC. Halo, slated as the game above all games. Everyone was very excited, that is until Bill Gates and his fleet of gray-suits marched on the independent developer. What could have been the single most influential game on the PC was now gobbled up and spit back out as an Xbox title, possibly never to see light on the PC....EVER.

We all know what happened after that. Seven years later, we have seen numerous books, magazines, and other licensed products. Now, the final chapter in the Halo trilogy is out, selling over $170 million in the first 24 hours of release. Let's face it, Halo 3 is a BEAST! A beast that could have been on the PC. However, now it seems after these long years that Bungie Studio's is now free. They are no longer part of Microsoft Game Studios. Bungie now goes back to being an independent game developer but MS Game Studios are still going to publish their future games.
What started as rumor last week, has now become a reality. I'm glad to see that Bungie wants to spread their wings a bit after being locked in a kennel for the better part of a decade. What is evident to me after all of this is the fact that Microsoft cannot sustain 2 gaming platforms simultaneously.

Microsoft has two business models, one for the Xbox, and one for everything else. By dissecting the target markets of both models we can see who MS is trying to sell games to and how they do it. Earlier this year, we heard lots of mumblings about the Games for Windows initiative, and Games for Windows Live!, the PC version of Xbox live. Six months later where is the "continued support" where is the cross compatibility, the cohesive branding? Its doesn't exist! Thats the point. All of it was a ploy to push Vista to the hard-core early adopters of the tech world. Mostly hardcore gamers like myself. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the push backfired in their faces. Vista's harsh requirements allow for only the heaviest of duty rigs to run it correctly. For most people including gamers, we don't need an OS that has tons of pretty frilly bullshit floating around the desktop. We want something that does what it should without requiring a $10,000 hardware upgrade to play a game at decent frame rate. This is where my conspiracy theorist comes out. All this is leading me to one conclusion. Microsoft doesn't want you to play games on the computer anymore. They want you locked into their Xbox 360 or whatever next gen shit that comes out. Here is a list of why MS might try this.

1. Hardware - Locking you into playing games on the 360 will only move more units, padding their pocket book. They own the platform, they make the hardware, so you can't build your own or buy it more cheaply from other suppliers. You buy it at their price, or you don't play. Period. Pretty much a text book vertical monopoly.
   
2. Software - As most companies learned from the demise of the Atari 2600, that product licensing means big bucks. Not just anyone can make an Xbox game. You have to go to Microsoft and ask their permission, usually meaning pay a sum of money to get their blessing and a set of development tools. This being in contrast to the PC, a truly open platform, where anyone can design a game. This limits the ability mod makers, indie developers, and other small time game designers to get their games out to the public.
3. Piracy and Profitability - The single factor that pushes PC developers to port games to every console is the fact that piracy is rampant on the PC. Illegal copies are floating around the net just waiting for you to leech the torrent. So if a developer plans to make a game for the PC, they are expecting a certain percent of their profits to be destroyed by game pirates. The fact that Xbox requires heavy copy protection on their software gives game developers a false sense of security. Developers are lured away from the PC because of their fears of pirates stealing their money. As big business devours the gaming industry, the bottom line will become more of a tipping point. "If you can't make money selling it, why sell it at all?"

Lets face it. It all boils down to money, and lets face it, Microsoft is good at making it. They have the majority of the market share for operating systems, what makes you think they can't do the same thing with gaming. I see the warning signs everywhere, but is there really anything we can do?

Down on the Farm

I promised I wouldn't give personal stories, but oh well. Just as my DSL is upgraded to maximum strength, I have been beckoned to watch the family farm while my sibling and sibling-in-law head to Korea for a week. So a new experience for me; feeding chickens, horses, dogs, cats, and goats. But its a well deserved week of vacation. I'm out of the house for a week, which will give me ample time to appreciate how the other half of the world works. By the time I get home, I will have a great appreciation for everything that the internet has to offer. Don't take your 12 megabit cable connection for granted. There are still people who have to use dial-up...