May 2005 Archives

Tonight I had mundane slow cooked pork and beans for dinner that was a flavor explosion in my mouth thanks to the Siracha Hot Chili Sauce that I splashed on it.

This sort of like if Tabasco sauce and catchup had a romantic sexual tryst on the eastern shores of Thailand and this is new uber condiment is the product of that passion. If you go to a good cheap asian restaurant that actual people from Asia eat at you might see a big round red bottle of Siracha hot sauce with the green squirt cap and the rooster logo and multiple language label. That is the good stuff.

Not only does it spice up a bowl of Pho or ramen it makes hot-dogs and burgers stand up and smack you in the face with flavor and spice. Siracha Hot Chili Sauce is made from sun-ripened chili peppers, sugar, garlic and vinegar and is made in good old US of A based by Huy Fong Foods. I heard the term condiment of the future in the pages of Barracuda Magazine and this stuff will be a staple on my dinner table. It is just enough spice and it is not hot enough to screw with my acid reflex. It is not just asian cooking that is enhanced by this spicy squirtable sauce but it would greatly enhance just about any microwavable or canned food. if I had to eat canned beans for a month I would be a happy man as long as I had a big bottle of Siracha to stimulate the taste buds.

You can find this stuff in the asian food section of most decent supermarkets but you might need to look around to find it but you can order it online. This is the condiment of the future and I can't think of any meat or dish that would not be kicked up several notches with a squirt of my hot red Thai friend. This stuff should be airlifted into humanitarian crisis areas because it could make boiled grass taste good.

I am going to try to stop watching TV that has not been previously recorded by my DVD-Recorder.

What I'll do is just check out the TV Listings for a number of days. Then I'll record up to four hours of shows to a DVD+RW. If I don't want to keep a show I can just delete it off the disk and if I want to keep a show forever I can just copy it on my iBook using Roxio Popcorn. DVDs of recorded TV shows are easy to copy since you don't have any copy DRM to deal with at least before the FCC shoves the Son-of The Broadcast Flag down our throats. This might free up some time and I can just skip past the commercials that I don't want.

Yup with modern digital technology you can make your leisure more efficient. It's spiffy.

You ever wonder why some game that you can't stand get about a dozen sequels but the game that you really want more of never get made? It is a shame.

Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle
Lucas Games created some of the greatest 2D visual adventures ever made. The original Maniac Mansion game created a whole scripting engine and game concept. PC graphical adventures were a highly influential game series in the early 80s and it presented a huge amount of options to the game player. Manic Mansion was a well made spoof of the graphical adventure and the 8-bit Nintendo port was the only game that you could microwave a hamster until Nintendo found out about it. If you made a port of Maniac Mansion to the Gameboy Advance it would rule.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Capcom put together one of the best competitive puzzle game ever made and it is a staple game that I play with my friend every time we get together to kick it Playstation style. Recently there was a very good Gameboy Advance port of the game and I hope that Capcom decides to take another stab at it. A PSP, Nintendo DS or GBA sequel would rule.

Pocket Fighter
Capcom 2d fighting games have become a staple of the 90s and Pocket Fighter was a super deformed cute version of the series with really cute and well done animation. There is a whole bag of fighters that could be added if only they would make a PSP sequel.

Double Dragon
Double Dragon started a whole series of martial art fighting games where you had a super bad ass marital artist that would take out a whole army of chumps with your best pal manning the second controller. There was a recent Gameboy Advance game but this really deserved a new 3d game.

Wall Street Kid
Back in the 80s there was a NES game that combined a fake stock market with a unintentionally sarcastic look at yuppie stock traders. Not only did you buy and sell fake companies but you had a superficial girlfriend that you had to spend lots of time and money on and if you worked too long with out hitting the gym you got sick and croaked.

Bonk's Adventure
Back when NEC was still trying to beat Sega at the 16-bit market Bonk the cave man was video game hero that was on par with Mario and Sonic. There were three really good Bonk games on the NEC Turbo Grafx-16 and a rare Super Nintendo game but I would really like to see a new GBA Bonk game. Update: Hey I just found out there is a new 3d Bonk remake for Gamecube and PS2 that only came out in Japan. I'll have to import the Gamecube version.

Rez
Sega's UGA team created a shooter, music game, interactive music, retro game that has not been rivaled on the PS2. We really need game developers to take a chance on an abstract music action game like Rez. They did make Lumines but I still want more of Rez. Hell they even made an interactive external USB vibrator for this game in Japan.

Vib Ribbon
I have read about and seen video clips of Vib Ribbon for the Japanese PSOne. It is a small interactive music game where you would start off with the game disk and then you would swap out the disk and put in your favorite music CD and the game would be a weird puzzle game where you would dance on the sound wave of the playing CD with a weird black and white rabbit. This would really be cool if you could run the game on the PSP and have it run off MP3 files on the Memory Stick.

I have some freshly grilled pork links for you all and some tofu soy breakfast links for you veggies.

Download of the Day: Ml_iPod
Winamp 5 plugin Ml_iPod bypasses iTunes and lets you sync and manage songs on your iPod. Ml_iPod unlocks iTunes restrictions and lets you copy songs from an iPod to your computer�s hard drive, sync multiple iPods with Winamp and it works on Windows 98
I tried it out and my it did work quite well. I don't know why Apple freaks out about using a single iPod on multiple computers.

FOX issuing takedown notices to Sith downloaders
BayTSP�s claim that they could track BitTorrent file swapping, the recent MPAA threats targeted at Revenge of the Sith downloaders, and an overall increasing presence from the dark side have been a few clues.
I am sure that the next generation of Bit Torrent like P2P tools will be as hard to track as the rebel fleet hiding out on the ice planet Hoth.

Q&A with Sony's Kaz Hirai on the PS3, online gaming and the competition
The Seattle Times sat down this week with Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, to discuss the PlayStation 3 and the state of the video game industry.
He also wanted to talk smack about the Xbox 360 to Microsoft's local paper.

Be A More Productive Blogger
I don't think that this is an oxymoron still it is good advice

Quick Tips For Gamers
Productivity tips for gamers... what is this world coming to. I might have to start scheduling time to play games. Honest.

Nokia Launches Linux Based 770 Net Appliance
This morning Nokia announced the birth of a new product range with the launch of the Debian Linux powered Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.
Freaking sweet I want one for Christmas. Damn it Apple needs to be making crap like this.

OK Computer?
Basically your first computer shapes how you interact with them. I whole heartedly agree

Solar-Powered Web Sites
Sweet it can be enjoyed by both hippies and nerds!

Wil Wheaton is a Flickr Tag

The Swap-O-Matic
The Swap-O-Matic will attempt to promote the recycling of objects through the interface of a vending machine, which features used rather than new products. Participation with the system will allow users to rethink spending patterns, view consumption with a different perspective, and explore issues of material possessions and American consumption through a public installation.

Legend of Zelda DS - NOT a Four Swords title
Freaking Sweet! It is not being made by the same fine folks that made Legend of Zelda : The Minish Capbut by only Nintendo.

Lies Verizon DSL Support Has Told Me Today

Lies I Have Told Verizon DSL Support Today

E3 2005, Day 1: Booze Solves Everything
My Friend Evil Ninja is the Hunter S Thompson of gonzo video game journalism

My Dad has mailed me the Xbox that he won in the charity raffle and I should be extra dope Xbox style by this weekend. The thing is that most of the best selling older Xbox games can be found used for less than the cost of a new music CD. Costco has most of the Xbox Platinum Hits for $15 instead of $20. That is officially whiggity whack!

The "Xbox only" games that I really want to play are

SNK Vs. Capcom SVC Chaos - I just freaking love 2d fighting games and it is a crying shame that this did not come out on the PS2 in the US of A.

Jet Set Radio Future - I will always love Jet Grind Radio

Halo - I heard it was dope

Dead or Alive 3 - one of the better looking pure eye candy 3d fighting games

Crazy Taxi 3 - I know it is super short but I just still love Crazy Taxi. My friend BBQ is still freakishly talented at playing Crazy Taxi.

Shenmue 2 - I have the subtitled European Dreamcast release of this game but it would be pretty cool to play through it again in English. It is weird to play a game that is set in Hong Kong where everyone speaks Japanese instead of Cantonese.

Panzer Dragoon Orta - I love Sega

Project Gotham Racing 2 - Varoom

Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic - The force is strong with this one

Doom 3 - I'll make sure to play it in the dark

Blinx The Timesweeper - I thought this was a better than average 3d platform game that was fun

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge - I loved the PC game

Ninja Gaiden - Ninjas are the real ultimate power and they will totally flip out and kill you without even thinking about it.

This year's E3 expo has come and gone and I have a few predictions for you all. But it is not like I actually made it there.

Backwards compatibility will help keep gamers who are playing the current line of game hardware loyal until the next generation of systems comes out. Since I know that I can play Gamecube games on the Nintendo Revolution is makes me more likely to buy more Gamecube games until Nintendo finishes the Revolution. Same with the PS3.

I would not be surprised if PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution games might be $60 to $70 since as game systems get more powerful they need larger development teams.

PlayStation3
The PS3 will cost 300 bucks since there is no hard drive built in. Sony is hoping that their 100% backwards compatibility will keep the millions of PS2 gamers from getting an Xbox 360. The BluRay drive will really help the adoption of BluRay disc but I am not sure that movie buffs are ready to buy their existing movies on yet another disk format. The BluRay drive will stop piracy of PS3 games since not many people users will have BluRay burners. Another thing is that the faster drive will help compensate for the loading games since there is no hard drive by default. I betcha that Sony will announce some internet gaming network to rival Xbox Live. The PS3 will be the first next generation game systems that I will be getting.

Xbox 360
Microsoft might charge $300 to $400 but if they price it at $300 it would help get a larger user base before the PS3 comes out. There will be great debates about if the PS3 or Xbox 360 will be packing more power under the hood. Xbox Live is going to be super popular since all of the Xbox 360 games will be made post Xbox 360. If they really make it out in 2005 it would really help about against the PS3. I don't think it is a good sign that they are not promising a 100% backwards compatibility with first generation Xbox games. No one has really seen a Xbox game run on an Xbox 360 yet. I don't think the fact that the pre-production Xbox 360 units that were at E3 had Apple G5 Powermacs hooked up was big deal since it has been know for some time that the G5 Powermac was being used in the Xbox Xeon developers tool kit.

Nintendo Revolution
I could see the Nintendo revolution selling around $200 or they might keep it at $150 and really try to undercut Sony and Microsoft.

Gameboy Micro
Nintendo will still sell a whole bunch of GBA games due to yet more versions of the Gameboy advance.

Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS is going to get cult status when it gets some really good games but ultimately it will not beat the PSP for overall popularity. Nintendo will get hard at work on a next generation gameboy that can rival the PSP for sheer power.

Sony PSP
Once the games start to come out it will kick off a new round of hardware sales. When Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories comes out the PSP units will fly off the shelves.

The Nokia N-gage
The N-gage will soon embrace the fate of the Atari Lynx and the Sega Gamegear

This weekend I saw Starwars Episode III Revenge of the Sith. It was quite good and it really did what it needed to do to fill in the places in the six Starwars movies and tie the two trilogies together. This was probably the best of the new trilogy and was one of the best of all the Starwars movies.

We get to see all the dark lords of the Sith with the exception of the Emperor and Darth Vader get taken out. There are massive space battles, tons of light saber fights and so much special effects that it is almost is a completely animated movie with a couple actors in front of green screens.

This movie is clearly not intended for little kids. The PG-13 ratings is clearly warranted and a lot of good guys get killed. All the Jedi with the exception of Yoda and Obiwan buy the farm in this movie. I don't want to have any major spoilers in this review except everyone that has seen Starwars know that Anikin Skywalker is seduced by the dark side of the force, becomes Darth Vader and slaughtered the Jedi in a counter coup.

The acting was much better in this movie and it was a very fitting end to the main Starwars movies. I know that there are two TV series in the works but if there is no more Starwars after this point it would be a good end. This is really the second ending to Starwars since I remember seeing Return of the Jedi in the theaters back in 1983. Revenge of the Sith really satisfied and I am probably going to go see it again really soon.

Oh I lied. Here is a spoiler. I can't believe that Jar Jar Binks lived through it. I mean all the Jedi but two get whacked but Jar Jar lives. That is the true dark side of the force.

Here is an article that I wrote last week for the fine folks over at PlayFeed.com

There has been a interesting relationship between video games and movies. There have been throngs of games based on movies and a few movies based on games. Even fewer is games based on movies that are worth playing and movies based on games that are worth watching. Since you can watch DVDs on a PS2, Xbox, Xbox360 and Playstation 3 I thought it would be nice to whip up a list of fifteen recommended movies for gamers. Some of these may require you to call around until you find a l33t video store that stocks said movie but it would be well worth it. Let's begin shall we?

Tron This is the big grandpa of movies for video gamers and it dates back to the Atari era of the early 80's but it hold up due to it's unique art style and imaginative visions. I know that an Xbox could crank out graphics that put these old 3d animations to shame but it all had to start from someplace. Tron was one of the first major depictions of a digital realm.

Hackers is cheesy, exploitive, dated, unrealistic but it does show a diluted Hollywood version of the early 90's Wired magazine reading Pre-Dotcom digital hype. Plus it has a sexy teen age Angelina Jolie and a good techno soundtrack.

Evil Dead 2 Many consider this to be the greatest horror comedy cult movie ever made and it spawned an influence on first person shooters and horror survival games. Plus it is Bruce Campbell for frag's stake. Workshed.

Transformers The Movie American males that grew up in the 80s know that these are some of the first giant robot mythology that we fell for. Back in the day transformers were bigger than Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh combined. Come on when Optimus Prime kicked the bucket you know you almost cried.

Full Time Killer This is a hyper cool Hong Kong action movie that has intense gun battles that seem straight out of any major first person shooters. The part where the bad guy was camping from a roof top with a sniper rifle was pure game action. At the end of the flick they even talk about playing Metal Slug and hidden guns and power-ups.

The Matrix The first Matrix movie was clearly the best and if you had a Playstation in your house the chances were that you went as saw The Matrix and you liked it. The Matrix sort of ripped off John Woo, Masamune Shirow and William Gibson something fierce.

Cool World This is a twisted movie where a deranged artist crosses over into a 2d cartoon world. It also had a pre-stardom Brad Pitt and the only human-cartoon sex scene that I can think of.

Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within was a decent scifi fantasy movie once you got over the fact that it had absolutely nothing to do with the Final Fantasy games. At least it looks really cool and one day home video game systems will be able to pull of graphics and animation like it.

Hard Boiled John Woo and the rest of the Hong Kong action cinema industry invented the whole bullet dance thing. You know when a hero with a long trench coat whips out two guns and goes into slow motion then takes out bad guy after bad guy with an unlimited supply of ammo? This is who it came from.

Red Shadow This is a Japanese live action Ninja movie that has some pretty modern acting Ninjas for the post-MTV post-Playstation generation. It is a live action movie that is influenced by video games and Anime more than other movies.

Shaun of the Dead Not only do the heroes play Time Splitters on Xbox in the movie but their suburban London bachelor pad is over run by zombies and they cope by holing up in their local pub. This is hands down the best zombie movie of the decade.

Returner This is a Japanese gun action movie that has Terminator style time travel and pretty cool time manipulation gun battles with slick CG special effects.

Verses Quite possibly the best Japanese Samurai, gun action, zombie, low budget action movie ever made. It is sort of like if John Woo made Evil Dead. Think Devil May Cry.

Ricki-oh The Legend of Ricky Not only is this where the Daily Show got that exploding head scene but this is a Hong Kong action film based on a surreal violent Japanese comic. This is exactly what the Mortal Kombat movies should have been. Fatality!

And finally..

Appleseed the brand new all 3d graphics Japanese Anime movie is incredible. This is what I want games on the Playstation 5 to look like. I am short of words to describe the eye candy goodness.

These are just my favorite fifteen movies that remind me of playing video games. Your mileage may very, wash rinse repeat as necessary.

My dad participated in an office charity raffle that was raising money for cancer research. One of the prizes was a donated Microsoft Xbox and my dad won it. He has no interest in owning an Xbox and he is giving it to me.

So I guess that fate had just determined that I shall be blessed or cursed with the black and green might of the Xbox. I am not exactly sure where I am going to put it on my coffee table of gaming goodness but I am sure that I will find a place. I have tried to escape from the dopness of Mr. Xbox but he is a sly one.

I guess I can get SNK VS Capcom SVC Chaos on Xbox and Knights of the Old Republic 2.

Well it's that time of year again. Since I don't have a press pass and a week to fly down to LA I am going to be linking to the coverage of E3 rather than actually getting my ass over there. I might have to save up for a HDTV since the PS3 and Xbox360 are going to be HDTV enabled.

Sony
This was the big unveiling of the PlayStation3 and it is looking like it is going to live up the the hype and expectations. It looks like the PS3 is going to be more powerful than the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Revolution. I know that Microsoft is going to have the Xbox 360 out in late 2005 but Sony loyalists might hold off and save their cash for the PS3 that is going to be out in Summer 2006. If you look at the Sega Dreamcast lots of gamers put off the newer system because they knew that the PS2 was coming later. Sony has one hell of a user base and there are going to be millions of gamers that might take a pass on the Xbox 360 but we shall see. It is interesting to see that there is a hard drive bay in the PS3 but it is not going to ship with a hard drive. I am stoked about the wireless support but I am not so thrilled about the boomerang controller design but you can always plug in an older PS2 DuoShock2 controller. The PSOne, PS2, CD, DVD and Blu-Ray Disk ROM support is pretty cool. I am surprised that there is no global online network for PS3 games but then it is still over a year until we can expect to be able to buy a PS3. The PS3 is looking to build on most of the things that made the PlayStation and PlayStation2 the juggernauts of video gaming. I think he Spiderman font logo looks lame but that is ok. I still want one really bad.

Sony's main E3 2005 page

PlayStation3

The PS3 Press junket describes it as

The PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) computer entertainment system combines state-of-the-art technologies featuring Cell, a processor jointly developed by IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba Corporation, graphics processor (RSX) co-developed by NVIDIA Corporation and SCEI, and XDR memory developed by Rambus Inc. It also adopts BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc ROM) with maximum storage capacity of 54 GB (dual layer), enabling delivery of entertainment content in full high-definition (HD) quality, under a secure environment made possible through the most advanced copyright protection technology. To match the accelerating convergence of digital consumer electronics and computer technology, PS3 supports high quality display in resolution of 1080p(*) as standard, which is far superior to 720p/1080i.

Sony's PS3 E3 Page

Playstation 3 Press Release

PS3 price rumours begin to emerge

PlayStation Portable
No word on the rumored Network Disk with a web browser. I need to check out the new games that were announced for the PSP.

PSP: First Guilty Gear Judgment screens

Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories The PSP GTA game is going to be set in good old Liberty City from GTA 3.

PlayStation2
Sony has stated that they plan on supporting PS2 software until 2010 so the existing software lineup on the PS2 should move nicely on the PS3. I just hope they can work out a way so you don't have to switch between memory card when you go from a PSOne to a PS2 to a PS3 game.
Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge for PS2

Hands on with Kingdom Hearts II

Metal Gear has Triplets

Nintendo
Nintendo is showing a mockup of their next generation game console that they are currently calling the Nintendo Revolution. No one knows if that is going to be the final name but it might be. The Xbox was only supposed to be an internal nick name that stuck. Last year people thought that Nintendo might not even come out with a next generation game system or that they would let Sony and Microsoft muscle them out of the market. Nintendo has proven that they are going to be around for years to come. I think that Nintendo is right on when they designed the Revolution to be compatible with the Gamecube. They also have emulators for it so it can play N-64, SNES, NES games on it. Oh yeah. It looks like it will have a larger slot loading optical drive that can handle tiny game cube disks with larger 12 cm Revolution disks. I don't think that is a standard DVD size but I don't care because I don't need another DVD player. It is very cool that Nintendo is planning a worldwide internet gaming network like Xbox Live and wireless networking with the Nintendo DS. Nintendo did not show a lot of info about the graphical capabilities off but I am sure that it will kick ass as a next generation Gamecube. Nintendo also did not show the controller for the Revolution but the system is at least a years off. Betcha 200 Yen that the Nintendo Revolution will have wireless controllers and that it will not be that different than the Gamecube since it will play Gamecube software. I have no doubt in my mind that I will get a Nintendo Revolution on the day that it comes out in mid 2006. I hope they stick with the name "Revolution".

Nintendo's Main E3 2005 Page

Revolution

Nintendo says that the Revolution will have
Sophisticated Design. The new console is approximately the size of three standard DVD cases stacked together, and it was displayed in a variety of prototype colors at E3. The console will come with a sleek silver stand allowing it to be displayed vertically or horizontally.

Backward Compatibility. Revolution will play all of your favorite Nintendo GameCube games. An innovative self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. You can also equip a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.

Huge Historic Library. Revolution will have downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Big Names. Nintendo announced that new franchise properties will be added to current super-star franchises including Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Donkey Kong and Metroid.

Wi-Fi Freedom. A worldwide network of Nintendo players can gather to compete in a comfortable, inviting environment using Nintendo's newly announced wireless gaming service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Nintendo Announces the Revolution

Multicolor Nintendo Revolution

Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Series for the Nintendo Revolution

Gameboy Micro

Nintendo went ahead and designed yet another version of the Gameboy Advance. This is pretty cool but I am a bit jaded because I owned a Gameboy Advance, then a Gameboy Advance SP, then a Gameboy Player and finally a Nintendo DS. I am not so sure that I am going to get a fifth gameboy Advance system but it is cool how tiny they made it. It is unlikely that the Gameboy Micro is the next generation Gameboy system that is going to give the PSP a run for it's money at graphics power. They are probably making a sumo load of cash off Gameboy Advance games and this system is yet another vehicle to promote GBA software sales.

The press junket reads:
The sporty, silver metal Game Boy Micro measures a mere 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 0.7 inches deep, allowing it to sit comfortably alongside today’s hippest technological gadgets. It weighs an astonishing 2.8 ounces, or about the weight of 80 paper clips. Yet Game Boy Micro has the same processing power and plays the same games as Game Boy Advance SP models, complete with standard face controls and gleaming shoulder and Start/Select buttons that literally shine.

Game Boy Micro represents the latest evolution in the image of the Game Boy Advance line, but it is not a successor to any current system. Game Boy Micro will be released this fall. The system comes with a built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion battery and supports standard headphones.

Nintendo's Game Boy Micro Projects Dynamic New Image

E3: Game Boy Micro Hands On

Gamecube
Gamecube software might pick up now that the software publishers know that their games will be playable on the next generation Nintendo hardware. Damn the new Zelda game looks good enough to eat.
New Legend of Zelda Game Makes Fans Howl for Nintendo GameCube

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess : Screen shots and trailer

Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix

Nintendo DS
Nintendo announced a world wide internet gaming network for the DS and a whole slew of games for it. I know that it is not going to overpower the PSP but I am sure that there will be some great games for it and I see the DS developing into a niche market.

Compete Against Nintendo DS Owners Around the World with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

More Than 50 Titles Ready for Nintendo DS

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Age of Empires DS

Microsoft
While technically Microsoft showed the Xbox 360 on MTV last Thursday they were pretty light on the details but now at E3 they bore all. They are claiming that there will be selective compatibility with existing Xbox 1 software and that the major titles will be supported. I would get rid of an existing Xbox if I had a big selection of games. Sony was able to pull off backwards compatibility through emulation but I am not sure about emulating an Xbox. They are including a hard drive in the Xbox 360 but it will be removable and upgradable. I am not excited about the removable face plates and I'll have to see if the micro transaction system is going to be cool or a pain. I mean it would suck if you had to pay to unlock content in the game that you already paid for. The Xbox 360 looks very very good but I might want to see the PS3 until I commit to buying one. I am sure that it will be quite dope.

Xbox 360

Microsoft's Press junket has this to say about the Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is designed with a singular platform vision that fuses high-performance hardware with intelligent software and services, so the player is always in power. Offering the greatest value in entertainment today, Microsoft detailed more key platform experiences that come standard with every Xbox 360 system:

An IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each, packing the most advanced A.I. and physics processing available.
A custom ATI Graphics processor and more than 512 MB of memory for high-definition games and entertainment applications.
All games optimized for 16:9 aspect ratio, HD output (720p and 1080i), multichannel surround sound output, and full-screen anti-aliasing.
Detachable and expandable 20GB hard drive to download demos and trailers along with new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, community-created content, and more to rip music for playback and to listen to custom playlists in every game.
A wireless controller with Microsoft-patented wireless technology.
Xbox Guide Button on every controller to instantly connect gamers to their games, friends, and music and to power on or power off Xbox 360 without their having to leave the couch.
Gamer Profile software that remembers what players have achieved in games.
Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live, including a built-in Ethernet port for connectivity; Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content; a Message Center to receive voice and video messages from friends; functionality that let users talk to friends, even while watching movies or listening to music; and an Xbox Live Headset.
Three USB 2.0 ports for the Xbox Live Camera peripheral and to plug in wired game controllers that are also common for Windows-based PCs.
Ability to stream media from a portable media device, digital camera, and Windows XP-based PC.
Progressive-scan DVD movie playback out of the box; DVD and CD music and photo playback out of the box; support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, Windows Media Audio CD, MP3 CD, and JPEG Photo CD.
Media Center Extender built in to access recorded TV (including high-definition TV) and digital movies (including high-definition film), music, video, and photos stored on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs through any Xbox 360 system.
Support for up to four wireless game controllers and an optional Universal Media Remote with Windows XP Media Center Edition Button for Media Center Edition functionality.
Support for Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter via 802.11b, g, and a.
Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers.
Two memory unit ports to save data on portable memory units, starting at 64 MB.
Detachable "face," so each console can be personalized.
Parental Controls to help restrict the games and movies that are played.
Xbox Live controls to manage Friends List, voice and video communication, and Gamer Profile sharing.

Microsoft's official E3 Page

The Engadget & Joystiq Interview: Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS!

Xbox 360 designed to appeal to Japanese and nongamers

Live from E3: Xbox 360 Controller

Xbox360.com

Xbox 360 - The Undiluted Hyperbole

E32005: Quake 4 Pulls a 360

E3: Xbox 360 "backwards compatibility" explained

Overall I see the market being able to support all three game companies and I don't see one company totally dominating. I think the backwards compatibility trend to be a very good thing. I defiantly see the whole art of video-gaming maturing and is gaining the respect it deserves.

Repent and rejoice mere mortals for the PlayStation 3 will be upon us in one years time!

Sony had their big unveiling today where they showed off the PlayStation 3 for the first time and spilled a hell of a lot of the beans on the super-duper-uber video game console that they have been investing millions in the development of. The lucky bastards at Engadget were there.

Feast your eyes on the magnificent specs.

Product name: PlayStation 3

CPU:
Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU:
RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound:
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)

Memory:
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth:
Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance:
2 TFLOPS

Storage:
Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O:
USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication:
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller:
Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output:
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media:
CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

I know that Microsoft sort of showed the Xbox 360 last Thursday but was vauge with technical details like not telling about Xbox1 compatibility and that Nintendo is letting some details about the Nintendo Revolution slip like GAMECUBE COMPATIBILITY!

The PS3 is going to be almost twice as powerful in the CPU than the Xbox 360 but it will be interesting to see how the games are going to be. Microsoft is shooting for Christmas 05 for the Xbox 360 and Sony is not going to bring out the PS3 until summer 2006. The PS3 is going to have wireless controllers and can wirelessly network with the PSP. There will be a optional hard drive and it can play a lot of digital media formats and memory cards. The backwards compatibility with the PSone and PS2 is going to make the PS3 the first of the new batch of game systems that is going to get my cash. I might have to get an HDTV just for this thing.

William Gibson would be rolling in his grave if he were dead. He is not so he is probably going to get a PS3 like the rest of us nerds. Wooha!

One of my my major gripes about my RCA DVD-Recorder is that it will sometimes not start at the right time and not quit recording at the right time. This ends up happening if I have the turned off and it will sometimes cut off the end of a show or not get the beginning. The worst instance of this is when I record the TV show Alias for my girlfriend and the last big episode cliff hangers will get cut off and she is absolutely inconsolable. I end up padding each show with five minutes before and after a show so I end up getting it all. So I thought I would take a look at the various Personal Video Recorder options on the market.

1. Get a new DVD-Recorder. This would be around 200 bucks and I would not prefer it because I just want the one that I have to work right and record at the right damn time.

2. Get a Tivo. This would be $ 200 for the actual unit and then $12 a month to already use the unit that you already paid for. I know that TV listings are good but there is no way in hell that they are worth 170 a year for TV listings. I could hook up the Tivo to my DVD recorder and archive the shows I wanted but there is no way to get the shows onto my Macintosh iBook without having to burn a DVD. It is the monthly fee that is keeping me from getting a Tivo. I know there is a life time pass for a couple hundred bucks but that goes out the window if the Tivo company goes under. Just look at Replay TV and Microsoft Ultimate TV the are about as useful as a Betamax player right about now.

3. Get my PC laptop from my girlfriends place and get an external USB 2.0 Video capture device like the one from ATI. This would suck because my girlfriend could not use the laptop at her place. The laptop also would get hot and noisy. I would not want to leave it on 24 hours a day 7 days a month. However I could use my external USB 2 hard drive to transfer files over to my iBook or i could network the two via Wifi. One thing that is really cool about the ATI TV Wonder USB system is that they provide TV listings for free with some minor banner ads. This would be about $150

4. Get an El Gato TV Wonder for my iBook. This would let me let me record shows my Mac then I could burn the TV shows I wanted with the Superdrive and iDVD. The problem is that I would have to have my iBook in my apartment almost all the time and it is just a shame to keep a laptop cooped up like that. It would be about $150 and the TV scheduling would be about the same as the ATI based system. It is pretty cool that El Gato used ATI's hardware but made a really good Mac OSX software package for it.

5. Get a $2000 Microsoft Media Center PC. Nah this does not seem that cost effective for just wanting to digitally record a TV show. Besides I just smoking the Microsoft pipe cold turkey and I could not feel better.

6. Get a $500 Mac Mini and an El Gato TV Wonder. While it would be cool to use a Mac Mini as a PVR Media PC it would be a little out of my price range. My LCD TV can hook up any standard VGA source and use it as a monitor. If I did not get a notebook I would have gotten a Mac Mini and added a USB video capture device to use it as a PVR.

7. Get a regular PC and install something like Myth TV on it. This would surely be the most nerdly option but I want something that would be cheaper and not that costly on the pocket book. Setting up a custom Linux based PVR system would earn me the most nerd cred but it would not be an out of the box overnight fix. I could be wrong. Are there any Myth TV users out there reading this?

It really sucks that there is no real commercial competitor for Tivo and Windows Media Center. It would be great if Apple would come out with a set top video PVR system.

Here is a wish list of what I would want from a next generation PVR that is not currently in existence.

1.An easy to use menu based interface that had some serious user testing.

2.A big 100 Gig hard drive with a USB port so you could an an external USB hard drive. To transfer recorded shows and expand recording time.

3.Real time MPEG-4 Recording. These would be DRM free non-proprietary files that could be taken into any video editing program or transferred onto any PC or Mac.

4.30-Second skip with no banner ads. For the pause that refreshes.

5.Ethernet and Wifi Networking. So you could access and view recorded shows from a PC or Mac via a local network.

6. Remote control software from a PC, Mac or Web based interface.

7. Totally free show listings that is paid for by small banner ads or renting anon customer viewing habits.

Giving the options my cheapest option would be to get a DVD-recorder with a better timer function. But the thing is that would be a real pisser. I would consider that if I could sell my existing one on eBay or in the paper. In the mean time I am just going to set it to start recording early and stop recording a bit late. If I get sick of that I'll try to sell my DVD-recorder and get a more reliable one.

I am not sure if I am into TV that much to invest that much time and money into it. But then again Father's day is coming up and if I gave my current DVD-Recorder to my step dad who has a Tivo then I could upgrade mine relativity guilt free. Oh damn you cutting edge. I am sure that things will be much better in a couple years when PVR devices are more cut and dry when everyone has them.

Here is an article that I wrote last week for the fine folks over at PlayFeed.com

The PSP is one heck of a little game system that promises almost Star Trek like wireless multi-player gaming. You can have a Wireless LAN game with friends without having to carry a desktop PC, string Ethernet all over some dank basement and worry about some loser running an aim-bot. But alas one of the problems of many PSP gamers is that not that many of one's friends have invested their two hundred and fifty bucks for a PSP of their very own.

How cool would it be to throw your own public PSP wireless LAN party? With some planning and fliers you could throw the nerd gaming event of the season.

First find a good place to have the LAN party. I would suggest a espresso cafe because they have places to sit with power outlets and they have drinks and restrooms. Also they are all over the freaking place. I bet that there is not one place in the western world with a Starbucks or Coffee Clone more than ten miles away. Just look for a place with parking and is centrally located around town. If you have a cyber-cafe or gaming center than it is a no brainer.

Another idea is to have the LAN party at a local public library. As long as you ask the librarians in advance, bring headphones and keep it calm a library would be a great place for a PSP Lanfest. They are also smoke-free and all-ages.

First of all ask the manager and explain that you would like to have a small get together of nerds who want to play PSP together. Let them know that you plan on ordering drinks and they will most likely not have a problem with it. Give yourself about three weeks to plan before the party to get the word out. Give the manager a call a day before the party so you can remind them in case they forgot.

Next you need to get the word out to potential PSP gamers. Write up a brief flier with the details of what, where, when and why. I would put an email address as a point of contact and point out that this is not an official function of the cafe. Then you might print out a couple copies and ask if you can put it up at your local game store that stocks PSP loot and at the cafe. You then might call the newspaper and ask if you can get a shout out in the community calender or the technology section of the paper. Who knows they might just run it if it is a slow news day.

Then there is this little thing called the Internet. I used to be able to endorse Meetup.com but since they are now charging monthly for meetups it would not be worth it for a PSP party. If you end up making your own page to promote it make sure you submit it to the search engines. A Craig's list post for your town could work.

I would plan on about three hours or so for a party so people could play off one PSP battery charge and I would plan it on a weeknight from 6:00 to 9:00. Make a list of suggested games and you might want to bring an extra battery pack or AC adapter in case some one forgets to charge their PSP. You might bring a white board so if you set up a ornament you will have something to write the brackets on. You spare some old PSOne games or Pocky sticks as a tournament prize. If you have a laptop with a Memory Stick Duo reader bring it so you can trade and transfer PSP save files. A CD full of MP4 videos and MP3s for the PSP would make a pretty cool party favor. If you make a sign up sheet you could collect email addresses for future PSP LAN party announcements.

Since the death of the arcade there has been a void of public community gaming in the same room. I have not tried to throw one of these yet but it could be pretty cool to get together once a month with total strangers in your community to throw the smack down on the PSP.

I just reserved my ticket to see Star Wars Episode III The Revenge of the Sith next week. Soon the circle will be complete. I have one week to watch all five existing Star Wars films on DVD in order to get ready mentally for the final Star Wars movie. I am actually pretty optimistic and I hope that George Lucas goes back to making movies like THX-1138 after this is over. Hopefully he will not make another Howard The Duck.

Star Wars will be like an old Jedi that has become one with the force. It will never really leave us but all things must end.

I think that all these tech pundits that claimed that the Sony Playstation Portable was going to replace the iPod and portable DVD players by being able to playback digital video have never tried to actually get recorded TV shows on a PSP. I have been trying to get TV shows that I recorded to a DVD+R with my DVD-Recorder re-encoded and onto my PSP Memory Stick and I can't believe what a major pain in the ass that it is. I have been using PSPware and the DVD support has been spotty at best.

I love my PSP and I love some multimedia content on it but until there is some major usability changes with formatting video content for it it no way a "Video iPod"

Recently I have been playing Untold Legends : Brotherhood of the Blade on my Sony PSP. This is an overhead D&D-style action RPG that is obviously heavily influenced by the PC game Diablo. From a glance it looks a hell of a lot like Diablo but since you control your character directly rather than a mouse it plays a bit like the old game Gauntlet but the combat consists of mostly hitting the buttons repeatedly with not much strategy.

You start the game off and pick a type of class then you are asked to go on various quests by the townsfolk that you are protecting from the monsters but almost all the quest have to do with going to a place, killing all the monsters in your path, killing some monster and going back with some magic trinket. The landscapes and dungeons are dynamically generated and are never exactly the same again much like Diablo. The game can be played multi-player with other PSP nerds helping your on a quest but not over the internet.

As you fight you earn experience points, upgrade your fighter and get new gear. The 3d graphics and animation are really good and you can take out small armies of graphically slick monsters by pounding some buttons. The music is mostly non existent.

The quests tend to blend in together and can get monotonous. This is not the most in depth game out there but it is fun to play. There is a PS2 game called Champions of Norrath that this game is based on but I have not played it. It is a well done Diablo clone and is one of the better PSP games on the market that does not involve driving or sports.

This week I got a damn cool show on DVD. Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law is a somewhat surreal show on Cartoon Network Adult Swim lineup. It is a take off on old Hanna-Barbera cartoon shows from the 60's and 70's where the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon stars get in legal trouble and need the services of Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law. This started off as a running gag on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast show and it is brilliant.

Much like how Space Ghost is now a talk show host Harvey Birdman's new legal career has him helping Scooby and Shaggie when they get busted for possession of a controlled substance, when Johnny Quest's dad has a custody hearing with his "life partner" Race Benton, when Speed Buggy gets in a slow speed chase with the LAPD, and when mob boss Fred Flintstone gets busted by the Feds for violations of the Rico act.

My only complaint is that there is not enough episodes on the dual disk pack. While it made up of colorful classic cartoon characters it is not really aimed at kids. I am not sure that little kids would follow the humor but it is right aimed at twenty something nerds or stoned college students. When I stuck in the disk for the first time and a song by the legendary surreal psychotic singer Wesley Willis I knew it was going to dish out a damn good time.

Today I picked up a Pelican Power Brick for my PSP.

This is an external rechargeable battery back about 2.5 inches square with .5 an inch thick. It is small enough to have in your pocket but you will know it is there. This can store twice the charge of the standard PSP battery and when it is fully charged it can triple the battery life of your PSP. You just plug your PSP AC adapter into this battery pack and then into the PSP via another power cord. Then about four hours later you have charged both the PSP and the the external pack.

This is only $20 bucks so it is cheaper than a normal PSP battery and delivers twice the power. It also extends the length of your PSP power cord by about two feet. This would be great if you were going to fly cross country or was going sit down to nine hours or so of Wifi PSP multiplayer game action with your friends. This is not like some lame Gameboy advance light it really works and it delivers a good time for hours all night long. Oh yeah!

There were two remarkable digital media events that happened to me this weekend that I thought I would share with you peeps.

First of all when Kymberly and I were at Best Buy they had some movies on UMD for the Sony PSP. They had Kill Bill Vol.1, XXX ( that crap Vin Diesel flick, not P0rn ), Hellboy and The House of Flying Daggers. I was freaking shocked to see that Sony really had the gall of asking people to pay $30 for a movie on UMD. This is nuts considering all of these flicks are all on DVD for twenty bucks or lower. I saw that The House of Flying Daggers was labeled at $20 so I took it to the check out counter. It was mislabeled and was supposed to be $30 but the clerk gave it to me for $20 since it was mislabeled. The entire pricing policy is not going to work unless they get it down to the same price as a equivalent DVD version.

Now the movie looks just like a PSP game but with a different label. The UMD movie plays almost the same as the on screen menu on the PS2. I was a bit dismayed that there were a commentary track with the director and star on the DVD version but rather than including it they included a French language track. The UMD did have two subtitle tracks, three audio tracks but it did not have a scene selection screen. There are chapter stops so you can jump to a scene via the L and R buttons.

The video quality was phenomenal and the MPEG-4 video looked crisp and clear. The Audio sounded like crap in the tiny PSP speakers but it came to life when I used my headphones. It is pretty slick being able to watch an entire movie on the PSP but you do have to balance it on the side so you can get a good angle viewing angle but you can do it with one hand since you are not pressing any buttons. The House of Flying Daggers really shows off the PSP screen.

I don't see myself buying many movies on UMD but I would not mind a favorite movie or two for the times that I am stuck on the hour long ferry with my PSP.

I was a bit ticked by the fact that there is absolutely no place in Washington State's Kitsap County where you can walk into a store and buy Apple Macintosh software. I just wanted to get Mac OSX Tiger but I had to go all the way to the University District of Seattle to get a copy any avoid getting it shipped via snail mail. I know of three dedicated porn stores and about half a dozen shops where I could walk in and buy a firearm but a Kitsap County Mac User has to make a pilgrimage in order to get your hands on the fabled OS in the flesh. Oh I ran into Chris Pirillo at the UW Village Apple Store. He was getting a Airport Extreme Wireless card for his G5 Power mac. OSX Tiger is very good and I will write a review soon.