My Life in Illinois

Just wanted everyone to know I will most likely not be posting anything good here in the next few days, but maybe a few "How I'm Doing" posts. It is hard to use Internet Explorer, more so than I remember. Some news on digg.com, so go check it out. Apparently, Systm 3 is out, and tells how to build your own high-end A/V cables. I guess they don't think the Xbox 360 will include them either! Also, looking at stocks (thats my job) and Apple goes up while Microsoft goes down. Hmmm......

Gone Again....

Just wanted everyone to know that this week is going to be a weird one. I will be on a trip for about a week. I might be able to update this blog, I might not. No telling how it will all work, but this is just a bye if I can't post. I think I might be able to do something this week, but not as many, or normal posts.

So, in tradition, I leave a cool link. Now you can report your broken Windows XP. Wait, aren't everyone's copies?

P.S. Now the Evil Empire is after me. (That link is no joke.)

Battles of Prince of Persia - Taking a New Direction?

I was looking forward to the Nintendo DS version of Prince of Persia 3. It was going to be a game to compete with Castlevania. Now, it will be a game to compete with...Yu-gi-oh? Ubisoft has taken the worst turn on the road to make Battles of Prince of Persia....a card battle game. You collect cards for play in the single player, which can then be used and traded in the wireless multiplayer. Why can't anyone just make a game without 1) cards 2) any form of collecting unless it is used in a good way and 3) cards! Take it from games like Metal Gear Ac!d. This will not get the kiddies to buy the game! You are really confusing us Prince. You are all cool in the first game, then all punk and dark in the next, then for the third handheld game, you are going for the people who couldn't play your last game! I guess they will learn what failure is. Not getting stocks taken by EA. Not losing a little bit of sales. No, making a game that won't be on the top 10 lists. Unless I hear good reviews for this game this Winter, I aint playing.

Microsoft and Area 51

What is Microsoft hiding? We all know Area 51 is prone to certain conspiracies, aliens and whatnot. But are Bill Gates and Co. using alien technology to build the ultimate Operating System!?!?! Probably not, but they still are hiding the area on their Virtual Earth application. Over the are some blank gray block. Google Earth, on the other hand, shows it very clear, so the government isn't behind this. What do you think? I have a comments thing under this ya know.

Link to Microsoft Virtual Earth picture.
Link to Google Earth picture.

Free Games!!!

How many of you remember playing Elder Scrolls: Arena? Or Marathon? What about Hexen, or the original Grand Theft Auto? Liberated Games has a list of different games that were once available in stores, and cost money, that are now free! They are mostly older games, but a few newer ones are there also. You can get Doom, Tribes, Alien Vs. Predator, Homeworld, and even TV Sports games!!! This is a must see site for the people low on cash and nice computer parts. So go check out all the Liberated Games.

Officially Gone Today

We all know of the PSP and DS having a war. But what was happening underground during the battle? The Tapwave Zodiac was a Palm powered gaming system, with a lot of cool media and gaming features. It was rather expensive, and with Sony and Nintendo competing against them, they had no chance. Read this notice from the Tapwave site.

"We are sorry to inform you that the Zodiac business was discontinued and service and support are no longer available as of July 25th 2005.

Resources that may still be helpful to you can be found at http://www.tapwave.com/resources and http://www.tapwave.com/support. This includes links to websites where you can find a variety of useful tips and information as well as purchase e-books, Audible books and magazines, Palm OS applications, Zodiac skins, and third party Tapwave Certified games.

Additional products, accessories, and game cards may still be available from COMPUSA, Fry's, and J&R while supplies last.

We thank you for your past interest and support and apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. If you have an outstanding claim with the company, Ueker and Associates will be contacting you shortly.

Sincerely,
The Tapwave Team"

I didn't own a Zodiac, nor did I plan on buying one, but I kind of feel sorry for the company. Think of all the hard work that went into it. A shame. Sometime, you like the underdog, but now it's too late.

Star Wars Republic Commando Mini-Review

As I stated in a previous post, I finished Republic Commando, and will give a small review of sorts. I didn't lie, so here is the mini-review!

Republic Commando is set in between Star Wars Episodes II and III, and tells parts of the Clone Wars in the eyes of clone troopers. These aren't just any clones though, these are the 1337, the Delta Squad. You are the leader of Delta Squad, ordering 3 other squad mates around with ease. You first mission leaves you on Geonosis, which then goes to a deserted Republic ship, and finally the Battle of Kashyyyk.

The graphics are top notch in my opinion. It is a look that the Star Wars saga has never been given, a grittier feel to it all. Production values were completely high, and you can tell from this game. The cinematics take a Half-Life approach, where you watch them in first person and can move your head. The HUD is the inside of your helmet, like Metroid Prime, and can be splattered with oil from droids, or have droplets of rain fall on it.

The sound is especially great, and the first Star Wars game that has new music alongside the John Williams tracks. It is different, yet keeps the orchestral style of John Williams, and amps it up a little bit.

The gameplay is super intense. The most intense part I can remember was when you are in a ship about to explode. You have roughly 4 minutes to escape, and have to fight off all the droids, while gaining the access codes to open the door for your escape. After many failed attempts, I finally made it through the door, and with 10 seconds left, I ran down the corridor. With my seconds still ticking, I got to the point to beat it. Then I saw my escort ship coming in. I couldn't do anything to make it go faster, just wait. Then, I heard "5...4...3...2..." and then I hit the loading screen. That's intense. Your squad is a vital part to your success, which is a big reason I hated the solo missions. They do break up and give variety, but I hated getting overwhelmed by 3 or 4 Super Battle Droids at once. With your squad, you don't die a lot. You get incapacitated, then your squadmates can heal your or continue with their current orders. This means a lot of spawn killing in a way. They get shot at while healing you, and when you fully heal, you get shot and die again, so you just got 2 clones dead. The game is a mix of Halo, Rainbow Six, and Star Wars. They did it great, and the ending sets up for a future "Imperial Commando" game, and I sure would play it. I give Star Wars Republic Commando a 4 out of 5.

Xbox Summit 360 Wrap-Up

The other day the Xbox Summit occurred, where a ton of different Xbox 360 details were revealed. Many rumors have been either confirmed or denied, and a ton of new ones have taken their places.

Let's start with the box. It is white a green, like the console, and isn't that shocking. No pictures of it though, since Microsoft didn't let anyone take them. The only cool thing about it was that it listed the contents. They include a hard drive, which is great, even though it will most likely be around 20GB (still double the Xbox) they will allow for upgrades down the line. It will also come with an Xbox Live headset, a wireless controller, and Ethernet cables. There were not any cables for hooking up to a TV listed (more on this later.) Overall, it is a good package, and with the stuff, I expect a $300-$360 price range is expectable. I do hope that there are options with different items, maybe if I don't need a headset or Ethernet cables, or when I want two wireless controllers, a bigger hard drive, and a ton of accessories.

The packagings for the games were just like the Xbox version, except for the paper slip insert. The controller was also there, and reports of it being easy to grip, like the Gamecube, and as comfortable as the Sega Saturn were stated.

The thing I was most excited about are the accessories. Everything you could've imagined is here. The will have wireless controllers of course, but also wired ones, since they might interfere with different things (WiFi and cell phones for instance) Were will they put the wired controllers? I hope that they use slots like the original Xbox, so I don't have to buy new controllers for all of my games. There will also be Memory Units, which really have no use with the hard drive in the package. There are a few options for charging. There is the Rechargeable Battery Pack for your controller. The Play and Charge Unit which allows you to charge your controller while playing. The Quick Charge Unit, which allows you to charge you controller quickly. There is a Wireless Network Adapter, which allows you to pick up WiFi signals. This means that it won't be built in, which also means that I will end up paying tons of money for either Microsoft’s Wireless Router, or this adapter. Either way, I lose. Of course, there will be additional hard drives, with more memory. A remote control for the different features. Faceplates will be for sale that let you have a customized look. Then there are the VGA HD, Component AV, and Standard AV cables to hook it up to your TV.

Finally, rumors have been spreading (mainly by 1up) that the Xbox 360 will not come with any form of cable to hook it up to your TV. This is stretching it really far. Just because they didn't put it on the box, doesn't mean that it won't come with the system. They were showing off some of the stuff that will come with the console. That isn't the final design, just one to show people what is coming. These cables are something you should know will come with the system. The things like wireless controllers (could've been wired) and hard drive and headset, nobody could confirm were coming with the console. Please, just take it that it will come, because no console maker wants to discourage casual buyers, because they don't know how to hook it up!

Well, that’s my Xbox Summit wrap-up, some great games have been announced, and more details on some, so be prepared for some awesome game coverage.

WinAmp Fueling IPTV

I recently downloaded a program called WinAmp to watch Kevin Pereira's live videocast, "Kenneth's Hour of Power". It easily allows you integrate online streams into the program, so you can watch things like Kevin's shows. I was playing around with it, and it has an option for Internet TV. It finds different live streams that you can watch. There were a plethora of different shows. A live puppy webcam, a stream from online Socom 2, different self-productions, fan films, I even saw Kevin Rose and Dan Huard on the broken! Some things on there weren't exactly legal. Movies like I, Robot, and TV shows like (you guessed it) Family Guy and The Simpsons, were all fully watchable. I knew that IPTV was really coming, but I was looking in the direction of things like Systm, Open Alpha, Command-N, and This Week in Tech. I guess this streaming is helping them make it.

P.S. I'm back, if you couldn't tell.

E-mail Icon Generator

I am leaving for a few days, so I am going to try and get as many posts as possible within the time I have left here! I know it has been a slow week, but a little birdy tells me the new site might be up soon! Enough about that, check out the e-mail icon generator! With this, you can make your e-mail address look official, and cool. Check out mine!



Cool, huh? So go make your own (or just play around with it) to make your mail-to links a little bit cooler! It supports a lot of e-mail providers, like Gmail, Hotmail, ATT, AOL, Comcast, but of course website ones (like you@yoursite.com) won't be supported.