Windows Vista? I hardly know her!

Yesterday, after a cheap screening of Push, a friend of mine said he's got a problem with his laptop. He asked if I could get my geek on and fix the problem. So I innocently headed over to his apartment to solve the issue.

Here's the deal. He bought a Dell laptop a few months ago and has it wirelessly connected to an AT&T router/cable modem thingy. I took a quick look at the laptop and I couldn't find any icons that helped find his wireless settings. It suddenly dawned on me, "This is Vista". Oh, crap. I've never used Vista, like I've never used acid to clean my eyes. There was a preference window for his network stuck on the desktop that wouldn't go away. I couldn't even click any of the buttons, it just chimed at me. I was a stranger in a strange land.

I recently upgraded my mac at work from Tiger to Leopard, but the transition was a bit more seamless (after a punch in the face during install that I'll post in the future). In the back of my mind I had always hoped Vista was a better tuned version of XP but I was sadly mistaken. I tried shutting the computer off but the stupid icon that looks like an on/off button is just a hibernation switch. Who does that! I eventually stabbed at the correct combination of buttons and icons to get a summary; that he had local access only connection status with his Wi-Fi. Something was up.

A forum search over the next hour unearthed this nugget. These is a bug/flaw/feature in Vista where it randomly stops communicating wirelessly. This has been going on since 2007? You mean there's no service pack or patch in almost 2 years that addresses this issue? WTF!!?! I did find one helpful piece of advice and that was to go into the Wireless Connection properties (which I found by chance/The Force) and disable the IPv6 setting.

Upon a fresh reboot the thing stalled in log-out for more than 10 minutes. In that time I learned why I don't like Nip/Tuck but graciously it ended and my buddy had to pull the battery to stop the laptop. Pull the battery? For real? Is Vista that effed up? Then he got it running again, and I'm beginning to question where he got is info; you shouldn't have to pull the battery. But then, it worked perfectly. Go me. The forum that helped me out is here.

In the end I learned I hate Vista. I'm sure it was built with the best intentions but XP is just fine and I ain't playing with Windows 7 Beta. F*** that. He also has the latest version of Internet Explorer that is so muddled and confusing I couldn't find the Internet Options menu to set his home page for him. Microsoft, here's a message, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Today I needed to clear my mind of PC Windows stuff by trying to figure out how to make an RSS feed out of an XML page for our new Podcasts on the website. I went to an eHow page that steered my wrong but I found my course on the Apple help page. It took some time to learn XML coding for iTunes, because, as it turns out, they have specific tags for coding all the metadata. But, in the end; mission accomplished. Submitting to iTunes caused me grief when the system clock upset the process. I kept geting a session timout error. After following yet another forum I got it working and suddenly it was submitted.

I received an e-mail saying, standby for a confirmation e-mail while we review. Now its out of my hands and up to the Apple Podcast Gods. And, if you are wondering if I liked the movie Push, you'll have to wait for next weeks podcast. BTW, I wish Dakota Fanning would hurry and grow up, because it seems creepy that I like seeing her in movies. She's almost 15 and I think I started seeing her on TV at age 8. See you next broadcast.

Red Ring of WTF!!1!

This is my 50th Blog and this week is about Death and Birth. The Blessed Exchequer signed a Death Note with my Xbox 360’s name (probably its serial number) and it Red Ringed Friday night, right after I bought Call of Duty 5. Unlike a Terminator, the red light stays on in death, mocking me. I believe it died a quiet death. As the GPU slowly melted, it uttered the words “contact Microsoft” and “E74” and “there is another Skywalker”, then finally “Rosebud.” Luckily my Birthday was Saturday and I got a new one. In the Phoenix ashes of my 3+ year white-and-chrome 20GB model a new beast was forged; the black-and-chrome 120GB console of the Gods. I shall name it Mjolnir, for references to both Thor and Halo; and I guess Stargate, Matrix III, Too Human and Tomb Raider Underworld as well.

I was worried about migrating my GamerTag over to the new system, as a friend of mine, whom I will refer to as RW15F, had corruption issues doing the same thing a couple year ago. After watching a progress bar for a while it worked. Now I need to find a way to copy all my save files from my old 20GB HDD to the new hotness. So I turned a Red Ring WTF into a Black Elite FTW! I’ll try to get my older one fixed and bring it to work so I can play in my cubicle, too. Don’t tell no one.

The Army kept me busy this weekend so I didn’t have to much down time to dwell on my broken hardware. But, I did catch up on my reading. Almost done with A Singular Destiny, which, as a Trek geek, is making so much out of old and new peoples and places in the Star Trek universe its beginning to outshine the TV versions. It’s a great political tale on par with the best of Deep Space Nine. Read my last blog for more info. Now, instead of forging ahead with new books, of other franchises (Magic: The Gathering or Star Wars), released this year I’m going to dive into the Destiny Trilogy which set the stage for this book.

On Friday I went to my local Comic Book store and picked up some random titles. Of those was a new Star Trek title from IDW named Countdown, an “official prequel” to the new movie this year. I’m not giving up any spoilers but this comic is awesome. I have so many questions from the 2 previews (and 1 teaser), and some get answered, or at least made clearer. Get this! Unless, of course, you are under a Star Trek embargo because I think it is going to ruin a few surprises. I’ve already seen a couple panels that I wish were in the movie. However if this comic blows all the movie surprises, I’m going to be royally pissed. I don’t think I can resist reading this thanks to the last page cliff hanger. Damn comic books. In Japan you get a new story every week. Here I gotta wait a whole month.

I also read some Detective Comics, Thor, and Cable. Just a quick impression of each:

Cable #10: Great artwork, really like the airbrush quality. Bishop is a dick.

Detective Comics #849: Part 5 of a 6-part death of Batman tie in involving Hush. Hard to rate without reading other parts. Okay.

Thor #11: 1 year anniversary of the death of Capt. America. Thor visits his grave. Interesting issue. I like the Thor parts but could care less about any other god. xxSPOILERxx. The fact that Thor can talk to Cpt. A in the afterlife is interesting but begs the question, do all Marvel characters that die still exist for the Gods to commune with?

Thor #12: Loki is a dick in Las Vegas and I just don’t care about a story without Thor. Not even Balder is present.

On the Marvel subject I watched the first episode of the new season of Heroes last week and it kind of reminds me of Marvel’s Civil War from ‘06. I loved the Civil War, please see previous blog, and any reference to it is much appreciated. Since Marvel will probably never do a movie depicting those events, maybe Heroes can do their own version. See you next broadcast.

That New Blog Smell: Blog 2.0

It's been a long time since I last posted here (sorry friends) but I wish to make amends and try a new regular blog schedule. And by that I mean I'll try writing again. In the past year I’ve wrapped myself in my “geekness” and played many video games, read many books, watched many movies, and seen much TV.

Microsoft got its fangs into me when it invented the Gamerscore and Achievement Points system, so I spent 99.9% of my gaming time getting as many points as I could. Labeling me "Achievement Whore" wouldn’t be out of the question. I finished out 2008 with 31,660 GS. The last game I finished up in December was BioShock, which I received for X-Mass last year and I’m thankful I finally played it. If you haven’t you gotta play this, unless you hate original FPS ideas with an Art Deco 50’s flavor, wrapped around genetic experiments and life-or-death choices with Little Sisters and Big Daddies. Your psyche will thank you after this game. PLAY IT. My New Years resolution is break 60,000 GS by the end of the year. I’ve currently pasted 35,000 with Afro Samurai on Sunday, so my pattern is clear.

On TV I was late to the show with Jericho, but at least I saw the last season, which brought me to the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The new Doctor Who has really impressed me of late as did Robin Hood for a brief time. And thank god for South Park, as I’ve been catching up on all the episodes thanks to XBL. I tried Reality TV for a few months but left me feeling cold and shriveled. 2008’s fall season came in like a lion with a show almost every day of the week to watch. So far I’ve been following Terminator: TSCC, Heroes, Fringe, Knight Rider, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. After the Christmas hiatus I added 24, Leverage, CSI: Morpheus and Chuck. Hard to find time for games with these on.

I read through a number of Star Wars books including Darth Bane: Rule of Two and Deathstar. I always have to read Star Trek books so I tracked down some of the novels from the 70s, before ST:TMP was released, and came to the conclusion the Pocket Books era novels (and beyond) are so much better. The books I liked were the Titan series, the Klingon Empire series (especially A Burning House), and the Terok Nor series of prequels to DS9. Star Trek novels have never been canon (like Star Wars) but these novels are fitting a larger Narrative Canvas I find very pleasing since we have no new Star Trek on TV. The futurist Ray Kurzweil wrote a book called The Singularity is Near, which is quite interesting, about the future of tech and humanity. According to him Skynet may be the least of our worries. The Zombie Apocalypse has never been better told than in World War Z. Get it, read it, and be very scared. I also “knocked out” some early Michael Crichton novels from the 60s and 70s that I never read. Then he died and now I have nothing more of his stuff to read. RIP Mr. Crichton.

Movies for the most part were good last year with the likes of The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Iron Man, and Deathrace. However I did see some really bad ones like The Spirit, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and 10,000 BC. I’m still on the fence about Quantum of Solace and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I love Star Wars but Lucas “kid-ified” it again, with likes of Ahsoka Tano, so I’m having issues with it (that also carry over to the TV series). I’m not even going to mention Indy 4. We could have had Star Trek around Christmas but they bumped it to May and I’m still incredibly impatient here.

In my most impressionable years I discovered D&D (Basic and Advanced) way back when before the invention of the computer RPG. Since then I have had an almost instinctual desire to collect D&D manuals of any sort, so I immediately descended on my local Comic Book store and consumed any and all books they had. I don’t even play, I just like the books. Last week I bought the Open Graves guide to undead campaigns, with thoughts of running a game about a zombie apocalypse. Sadly, I don’t play anymore but I love collecting the books. If only the web resources we have today were around when I was in High School running games. RIP Mr. Gygax.

The biggest news I can think of from late last year was a decision of me and a few of my friends to start a Podcast. I had just bought an iPhone 3G and Bwane introduced me to podcasts. (GamerTags used to protect the innocent.) Once he had me on board we agreed to do it with a couple other friends, R moe nay and KILLAB, and I started learning HTML and how it works with DreamWeaver and started a website to support it. The Weekend Ronin site in its “under construction” phase. We have recorded 5 podcasts so far but those haven’t been “migrated” to the real internet yet (or iTunes) so please stand by. In fact just today I started a Twitter account to facilitate (I think that’s the right word) our combined efforts but also to be a mini-blog in between regular blog entrees.

For tech news I upgraded my Mac OS from Tiger to Leopard with not a few initial issues but I’ll save that for another Blog as well as trying to integrate Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac into the flow. Stupid “.docx” files. That’s about all I remember in my beer-addled brain. See you next broadcast.

Set Your Phasers On... BluRay?

Some geek out there found a way to combine his love of the BluRay-firing PS3 with his love of Star Trek. Watch the video on this blog page to see how easy it is to field-strip a PS3 and a toy Phaser (vintage 2260s). Pretty. Someone finally found a use for a PS3. Even the Borg didn't have a blue eye laser, all they had were the red ones. Does this mean the Borg found BluRay to be inferior? Hmmmm. And speaking of weird Star Trek mixes, Winona Ryder has been cast as Spock's mother, Amanda Grayson (is this Dick Grayson's great grand daughter?).

It's Friday once again, and after staying late at work, I rushed to my comicbook shop to try to get n a sealed, draft game of Lorwyn, Magic's newest expansion. Sadly, like last week, no one showed up on this rainy, crappy evening. I chatted with the owner and bought some Iron Man comics, boosters of the new 10th Edition Magic Core Set, another pack of Halo figures. Visiting old friend EmpTas this weekend, maybe we can playtest said Halo game. We had a discussion about the Warhammer 40K RPG, since he hadn't heard of it. So for any doubters here's the homepage of the 40K RPG do out in 2008. Also in the near future is the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons guides, which I will be picking up for old times sake. I don't have time to play D&D, but I just love the book design.

Another RPG of the time I used to play was the West End Game's Star Wars RPG. At the time of the late 80's to early 90's it was so important to the Star Wars landscape of storytelling, the expansions sets themselves became the background material for many early Expanded Universe authors, like Timothy Zahn. Since then Wizards Of The Coast (WOTC) has developed their own and a new tech/resource manual for Starships is due out in December. I'm a sucker for books about Starships. WOTC is also releasing a new campaign only available online, called Dawn Of Defieance. Their idea is to give out 10 different adventures for players that create a larger story, set between Episode III and Star Wars, and to progress your characters from Level 1 to 20. I think the resources that the internet brings to paper & dice RPGs is impressive, and I just wish in my youth we had such connections available. And, once again, with a new Star Wars video game on the horizon, figures for the collectible game are being developed, with a release date of November 16 for the Force Unleashed.

Now that I've finished Half-Life 2: Episode 2 I'm cast adrift in the plot. I have no idea when the next one comes out. All I have is the pending rescue of Judith from the Combine. I've come too far in this world not to be caught in the drama of the characters. Even Alyx's pet robot Dog is a great character (see picture above). He reminds me of Bumblebee. The only recourse until the next Episode is the RTS in development. Already a couple boards are available for download, but I'll wait for a console version. I've never been a fan of Real Time Strategy, being a Turn-Based fan from my Final Fantasy days. Starcraft has been the closest PC game to get me interested, but one day I'll take a gander and learn why they are so popular. Hopefully that game will be the Half-Life RTS. BTW, i just couldn't stay away from Halo 3 and I've been itching to beat Legendary. I encountered my Chokepoint pretty early on the 2nd level and it took me an hour (and much swearing) to clear it. I like the fact the AI adapts to strategies, so you need to be on your toes. 2 levels down 7 more to go. Ugh. Still working on Ace Combat 6. See you next broadcast.

A Rant By Any Other Name...

My intent is not to rant. Many a blog on the interwebs, I've been told, has became a rant-worthy soapbox to shout out opinions in anonymity. And if you don't believe the intent is to be anonymous then my real name is Fox4649. So you may be confused by my complaints, or rants, about GameStop. My desire is really to show an average day for a gaming geek for good or ill. My "ill" just tends to revolve around dealing with GameStop when new games are involved. To be fair, something my mother somewhat successfully instilled in me, I'm willing to give GameStop a chance to rebuke. For, I am not the only one to be spurned or confused or upset by visits. Many a blog has ranted about their owner's experiences. The best for me, and the one that put me on tonight's subject, is today's (November 7) Penny Arcade. And in today's GameStop critique came this little piece of trivia, GameStops aforementioned rebuke. I want them to have equal opportunity to complain about customers. See, I didn't say anything bad about them.

More good news on the Star Trek front. Pike has been cast. The new Pike, to replace Jeffrey Hunter's sixty's version, is Bruce Greenwood. His sci-fi roles have put him in I, Robot and The Core. (Double Jeopardy, as well, if you count it as sci-fi. I do since it is far from fact as you can get.) For Trek trivia fans, this makes the third actor to portray Captain Pike. And speaking of trivia, if you know your Trek (or how to data dive around the internet) play this Trek trivia scavenger hunt game for a free copy of the Remaster TOS Season 1 HD-DVD box set.

For all you Firefox users out there, specifically the one's who have never changed their Browser Themes, I learned today how to update the "skin" of my Browser to the NASA Night Launch Theme. I usually don't play around with these settings because I've encounter instabilities with "third-party" titles or I just didn't know what I was doing. And this Theme change was a piece of cake. If you have Firefox go to Tools in the Menu and pick Add-ons. A new screen will pop up so pick Get Themes in the lower right and a new page should pop up on your Browser. Under the category Popular Themes should be NASA Night Launch, so click it. Pan down to the Install Now button, click it and wait for it to download. Go back to Tools then Add-ons. NASA NL should be right there waiting for you to choose Use Theme. It will tell you to restart, so restart already. That's it you are done.

Somewhere in the body copy explaining the NASA Night Launch Theme is a URL for Subskins. These are little tweaks you can do to the Theme. The only problem is you have to copy and paste lines of code into a special profile folder. Luckily a dude named Mel Reyes made this little addition to Firefox, called MTLI, a tool for manipulating subskins and such. So download this one too, restart Firefox yet again. Go back to Tools and all sorts of new choices pop up. Go to Edit My Config then Chrome Editor (I want a chrome editor for my car). You should have a new window with lines of code in it. Go back to the subskins URL and read where to stick the code (heh heh), then copy and paste the code. Click on Save in the lower right of the "Code Window." Restart Firefox one more time and now the subskins are in place. It couldn't be easier. I have done this both on an Apple (Power Mac G5) and a PC (HP laptop) and the procedure is exactly the same and just as painless.

Now, for a little rant. As everyone who knows me, and understands what a Gamescore is, I am an Achievement Hound. In my internet travels I came across an article describing the easiest release titles to play for Xbox 360 and gain a near instant 6,000 points. Some of these are sports titles I would not normally play, but I took a chance and realized I can get most Madden Achievements by simming every game. I earned over 500 points alone for a couple hours work and didn't even play one actual game. I decided to try NBA 2K6. There are five (5) achievements (totalling the usual 1,000 points) that can be accomplished in one game. Yes I had to actually play Basketball. As soon as I loaded it an Xbox update stalled me, but I was good to go a minute later. Following instructions from the web article I set myself up against the worst team possible. They were going to get served. In three (3) minutes the score was 9 to 2, my lead. Then the game froze. I swore. Pulling the disc out and putting it back (no need for the "Nintendo Blow") I was ready for Take Two of NBA 2K6. Nothing happened. The OS told me the disc was bad. Huh? WTF? I tried three more times. Disc won't work, I move on with my life. Nothing wrong with the disc, MicroSoft is somehow responsible and therefore douchebags for wasting my time. See you next broadcast.

It's ALI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-IVE!

Despite the writers strike, STAT TREK XI begins filming today! J.J. Abrams begins directing and so little is still known about the movie. This is the dude that's bringing us the "Cloverfield" movie about Godzilla/Voltron/Cthullu/???; we still don't know, but it's two (2) months away. All we know are the actors. Leonard Nemoy is apparently the only returning TOS actor, the rest of the cast are all new, though George Takei has shown interest. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it probably isn't an "Academy Movie," since the characters are of all varying ages. The Academy, like college, is a four-year institution and generally you apply around age 17 to be accepted by 18. Both Picard and Wesley Crusher failed their first entrance exams and had to wait another year, so it isn't without precedent to enter at a later date. (I'm not even going to mention Data). On a side note, the last writers strike took place during The Next Generation Season 2, cutting the season early. Luckily Season 3 picked up the fumble and ran with it five (5) more successful years (and four movies).

Since Pike is in the movie this gives me a couple ideas to work with. The most obvious story setting to me is the newly promoted Captain Kirk (youngest Capt. in the fleet) will be handed the keys to Enterprise by Pike, and the ship comes with Spock as an newly appointed XO. That might explain why Kirk's parents will be in the movie, as a ship's launch ceremony. I'm discounting a Pike-era Enterpise story because we haven't heard any talk of any of the other crew being cast. I'm referring to Number One (XO), Dr. Philip Boyce, Lt. Jose Tyler, and Yeoman Colt. No word on these characters so I'm guessing this is Kirk's First Adventure. The problem I see here is Dr. McCoy. The first Kirk episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" had a Dr. Piper as CMO.

Then again this could be a return trip of Enterprise from the Galactic Rim, as seen in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." We might see Dr. Piper and Dr. McCoy trading places. Not as exciting as Kirk's promotion though. Even though Chekov has been recast, we never "saw" him before Season 2. This has be ret-conned with Star Trek II when Kahn "never forgets" Chekov's face even though Kahn encountered the Enterprise in Season 1. This has always been explained (by Ricardo Montalban at conventions) that as Kahn ran around the ship he encountered Chekov on a lower deck and said, "You, I'll never forget your face." So, in fact, Chekov could be in this, at, like, age 16 or 17. That means Chekov, who looks like one of The Monkeys, went through the Academy at an earlier age than Wesley. It must have been the "party Academy" years. Wesley, who helmed Enterprise-D at age 15, failed an entrance exam for lack of experience, or something like that. Who the hell does the Academy accept? In summation, this movie will probably be Kirk's first day in the seat and somehow introduce "Bones" as well. I can't help but think of Enterprise-B's first day and the "Death" of Kirk. Maybe the story will come full circle and we'll find out Harriman's first day was much like Kirk's. That might explain Kirk's reaction in Generations even more than a freshly retired Admiral uncomfortable with the future. I hope Abrams doesn't F this up.

I was going to try my luck again at GameStop to pre-order Crysis because you get this cool tank toy, at least that's what the picture showed. Reading the fineprint for once, the truth was revealed. The tank is an in-game bonus? WTF?? If I pre-order I get an in-game bonus vehicle. That's f-ing lame, dude. I want a toy, not free digital information. Damn them for getting my hopes up. That game still looks cool, though. I watched previews for the Xbox 360 version of Kane & Lynch, due out next week. Every time I read previews it sounds so good, but these previews are for a game less than 160 hours away, and it looks like crap. From framerate to polygons, the only part I like is the music. Oh, well, there's still Blacksite: Area 51, NFS ProStreet, Soldier Of Fortune: Payback, and, most importantly, ASSASSIN'S CREED. The Assassin's Creed website even has a nice interactive movie thing to play. Go check it out, now...

Okay you're back. Nice, hunh? Anyway, I found this other nifty site which predicts the death of your iPod. You plug in your serial number and answer a few simple questions and, blammo, the number of hours left until you need to buy another one is displayed. Accuracy is probably ZERO but, then, so was the amount of money spent on the prediction. See you next broadcast.

WARNING! Difficulty Level May Block Game Play

The Chokepoint. Almost every game I've played has one. It can be at the beginning, like Driver, or at the end, like Metroid Prime. Heck, Viewtiful Joe is one long chokepoint. If a game lacks one I feel cheated. The game was too easy. But when I encounter one, I curse the game's creator to the 12 trials of Hercules (or at least great bodily harm). How dare he/she put me through this crap, I'm just trying to have fun here. The severity of the chokepoint is directly proportional to the amount yelling I do. I try to control myself, but somehow I firmly believe that my anger, my brief journey to the Dark Side, gives me strength to persevere. That, and what prize is on the other side. For, truly, the chokepoint is an obstacle to a greater goal; getting the next super-weapon, saving another princess, collecting a star/coin/triforce/bunny, finishing the game. And by chokepoint (CP), I mean an area or puzzle that just defies difficulty. Suddenly every Nazi on the planet knows you're hiding in that forest and shoot every square pixel of your body, exposed or not. I've seen some puzzles that require a Nobel Prize in physics, not to mention a new kind of calculus, to solve. I then ask myself, when I've calmed down with a beer, is this game worth it? I may blow the next hour trying desperately to memorize every move (ie Dragon's Lair) for a better suit of armor or a guardian fairy. Most of the time you have to beat the CP to continue, so if the game has been fun, most likely I'll continue, but if not, I'll loose interest immediately. Thanks to Achievements and Gamescore, if I get through a CP I'll get more points.

I am not unique in this, and I'm also a hypocrite. I need CPs but I hate them, because I feel cheated without them. They are like the green veggies of video gaming. However, a game needs to balance this. If passing through a CP gets me more of the same, I'm just grinding my enjoyment to a bloody, hatefilled, pulp. Another thing to consider is if there is a save point nearby or did you have to play a marathon before the CP, therefore negating all sorts of play time if you fail. This probably goes for everyone who plays, is this game worth the crap I'm about to go through. Half-Life 2 is definately that game, as are Halo, Call Of Duty, Medal Of Honor (usually) and Gears Of War. Where I have had trouble is with Fighting Games. Once you face the "Boss" in Dead Or Alive I can say I completed it. But there are all sorts of Achievements that require me to defeat the "Boss" with everyone multiple times. That's a CP I have to face 30 times. Not worth it. Fighting games are a different style of play, and I tend to prefer to play against real people, anyway. Chokepoints, you can't live with them, but you can usually shoot the hell out of everything in sight and move on to the next one. I hate Chokepoints. Apparently I'm a virtual masochist.

Digging around on the Internetwebs today I came across some interesting tidbits. Since I've been analyzing the issues of the PS3, I was interested to read about the console sales figures in September. Everyone else is selling almost 4 to 5 times as many units as the PS3 is able to sell. The Nintendo DS totally outsold PS3, not to mention PS2 and the PSP.

I miss Judgment Day on G4TV, and Tommy Tallarico's critical wit as he steered us clear of trivial nonsense and showed us a truer path to gaming goodness. He's no longer on TV but I found the next best thing. Yahtzee/Zero Punctuation game reviews by web video at this site, where he reviews MOH Airborne. He seems to hate everything, and half the time I can't really argue with him. Bloody brilliant.

Halo 3 and I are breaking up for a while, have gained everything I can out of her multiplayer experience. I've gone about as far as I can with her, and I see no reason to waste more time trying to gain rank and not Gamescore. I'm a Gamescore Whore after all and I can't be tied down to one game for too long. Wow, that got weird for a second. Anyway, someone else began to have the similar problems with online play and wrote this article on suicide bombers in Halo. I have a life, too, really.

The SR-71 Blackbird is the proof of concept that engineers are the coolest geeks on the planet, and not just because my grandpa used to work with them. The reason this aircraft's top speed is classified is that it was never found. Everytime the Russians flew something faster, we just stepped on the peddle a little harder. The design was ahead of its time and now its been retired. So, once again the name has surfaced, this time controlled by Voodoo. The Voodoo Blackbird is quite possibly the most advanced gaming computer built to date. And it plays the latest Graphic-Crunching, Physics-Bending, Frame-Frate hogging game, Crysis, with ease. And, of course, being the gamer I am, I want Crysis, but I basically have to buy a $5,500 Voodoo Blackbird console for a $50 game. Or wait five years and home computers will be just as good, with Windows Vista XP 2K10 Pro or some such and 5 TB RAID harddrives to match 60 GB of MagnoNeuroRAM. If you pre-order Crysis before next week, at a Gamestop, you can get a nifty toy tank thing that reminds me of the APC from Aliens. See you next broadcast.

Crouching Human, Hidden Geek

Not since Betamax and VHS have we had to suffer through a format war. If you are a gamer, this makes picking between Xbox 360 and PS3 that much harder. (Let's not even mention the Wii which can't even play DVDs.) Not only are trying to pick a system with better games you are trying to predict the future. If HD-DVD wins MicroSoft can call all the gaming shots and rule from the Death Star they plan to build from the desicated shells of PS3s, and profits from Xboxes. If BluRay can manage to win, backed by Disney and Steven Spielberg, Sony finally gets the glory they lost with Betamax. And, nothing happens to MicroSoft because the Xbox 360 still runs on DVDs, but the add-on HD player just becomes useless, except for the massive library of HD-DVDs people will buy anyway. Luckily I am not a Disney fan and all the movies I like will be on HD-DVD.

Things like the Remastered Star Trek TOS. November 20th, TOS season 1 will go on sale. Aaannnndddd, at the Virgin MegaStore in Times Square, the first 400 people to buy said 10-disc HD-DVD spectacular, for $217.99, will get a free Tribble and a poster. Okay that's not the story. The best part is the first 120 (of the original 400) get a free Toshiba HD-DVD valued at $299. (You also still get a Tribble and a Poster.) I don't see BlueRay doing any such thing. If BluRay fails does this mean the end of PlayStation line? Or will a PS4 still be in the works? Would there even be a point for another Xbox? Maybe as a "worst case scenario" for Sony they could team up with SEGA and have a joint console release, a SEGA reGenesis Station. Just a thought.

With the three (3) consoles out (four if you still count the PS2) to choose from each have the own benefits and defects. An astute writer has 27 ideas game companies could do to improve themselves and help the gaming comunity in general. The writer paints an ominous picture of gaming that is overkill in my book, but many good points are raised. I keep coming back to issues with the PS3. The PS2 was released before the Xbox and the Xbox turned out to be a technical marvel for gaming. This time around the PS3 came after the Xbox 360, and it is the technical wonder. You wouldn't recognize it, though, due to the lack of games. In Sony's defense, the PS2 took a little time to come into its own because developers didn't understand the architecture at first. The same thing is happening, now. MicroSoft built an easy system to program for (on DVD's 8.5 GB no less) and the PS3 seems practically inscrutible to all but Sony themselves, but only because it is so advanced developers haven't figured it out yet. Sony could meet them part way and help train them, then some one can come up with a game worthy of BluRay's 50 GB. That would be a game, like Grand Theft Auto IV should be. They have started a new advertising campaign, so maybe they are on their slow turn around, like the Titanic trying to avoid an iceberg.

I went to my local comicbook store, something everyone should do at least once a week. Indulge yourself, with a superhero comic or some cards. The current issues of Iron Man and Submariner as well as a one-shot X-Men title called "Messiah Complex" and a Marvel Mythos title for the Fantastic Four. The Marvel Mythos is interesting, as they take the origin stories of their Superhero titles and give them what looks like an airbrushed overhaul in the retelling. Very nice. I also picked up some Magic cards to see where we are today with series; a pack of Ninth Edition Core (white border), pack of Saviors Of Kamigawa (got a foil), and a starter of the newest series Lorwyn (sounds like a lost land of Middle Earth).

When ever you go to a comicbook store be sure to talk to the proprietor, they tend to be fountains of hidden wisdom, or at least "knows a friend" who "knows a friend" to get you the exact comicbook you need. The pearl of wisdom I gleaned today was, "if you're writing a blog, you're a geek." No doubt a facet of a larger truth. Issue 7 of Geek Monthly (yes, there is a magazine) has an interview with Masi Oka (Hiro of Heroes). In it he says, "A geek is someone who is passionate about something. It can be about anything. It can be about musicals. It can be about computers. It can be about our show. And you can be passionate about more than one thing. I would rather be passionate about something than apathetic about everything. To be Geek is to be human." My passion leads me to share with others the true nature of what makes a geek a geek. I wish to expand on Masi Oka's description to say that geeks are passionate in one or two or more areas of expertise, but that geeks also have some peripheral or tangential knowledge of things outside their realm. You may be obsessed with Musicals, but odds are you also know the names of the people who wrote and acted in the best broadway musicals, as well as a working grasp of Movie Musicals (and those that populate them), books about musicals (and histories of people involved), TV musicals, play an instrument, have a mathematical background, and (if a fan of video games) play musical games, or a music mixing program on a computer. Hypothetical of course.

This one goes out to EmpTass. The PSP will be getting the new Star Wars Force Unleashed game, too, with extra gameplay the console version doesn't have. Sweet. That's all I got tonight, except I heard there is a plan for a Castle Wolfenstein movie. Keep your wireless charged and standby for my next broadcast.

"Alien vs. Predator" or "Fans vs. Brothers Strause"

Alien vs. Predator has no doubt left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans. I applaud (more a golf clap) their attempted continuity between the two (2) franchises, but I thought this was already accomplished in Predator 2 when a shot of the Pred's trophy case included a Xenomorph head. It was nice to see the A's and P's at work again, too bad they didn't do anything entertaining. I still blame this in large part to the PG-13 rating, just to make it appeal to an age group that wasn't alive yet to see any of the prequels, save Resurrection, in theaters. I still hold out hope for another good A or P movie again, so AvP-R looks like my next chance. Since it's rated R that solved one of my issues, and the previews show a number of Predator weapons used to gory effect. I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt for the time being. The above picture comes from IGN's website. Hopeful I will not incur the wrath of the Predalien for borrowing their image.

Speaking of Sci-Fi movies, a surprise entry to theaters November 12. Battlestar Galactica Razor will be seen two (2) weeks before its debut on Sci-Fi channel in select cities FOR FREE, thanks to MicroSoft. I can't remember where I read it, but it's true, if anything is to be believed on the web. And the following day, November 13, is when "The Menagerie" debuts in theaters. And on the Sci-Fi TV front more news of Star Wars On TV. The gist is this: 100 45 minute episodes (about 4 years) with a possible expansion to 400 & Boba Fett will be present. A previous rumor mill produced these gems: The series will happen between Eps III and Star Wars (I refuse to call it Episode IV); Pod Racing is back; Thall Joban (a character from Droids) will be highlighted as a Pod Racer; Rebs & Imps and the war before Luke & Leia get involved; Expanded Universe (EU) tie-ins; Bib Fortuna & Oola; Death Star Plans; the series tone should be like the Holy Trilogy and showing neither good, nor bad guys but people caught up in events. Family Guy's succesful Blue Harvest/Star Wars episode was so popular that a plan is in motion for an Empire Strikes Back episode. For those that missed the FG episode it will be on DVD by December or something. My sources are vague, and I don't really remember.

Remember when a couple Canadian Doctors quit the practice and made a game company, in 1995, that eventually spawned one of the greatest Star Wars RPGs? If you said BioWare, and their wunderkindt Knights Of The Old Republic (KOTOR), then your geek memory is fully functional. Well, recently MicroSoft (boo) sold BioWare off and they were absorbed by the forces of Sauron known as EA. BioWare (prior to the sale) has joined forces with LucasArts for a new MMO. Who cares, right? We're talking BioWare here, people. I don't think they've made a bad game yet: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire. Rumor has it that the new MMORPG will be a KOTOR setting. The original KOTOR was so good it even spawned a comic by Dark Horse.

Tomorrow is supposed to start a writers strike, as if TV can't get bad enough. When things do get bad enough just watch Halo Landfall and imagine what the cancelled movie would look like with Peter Jackson at the helm. Once you stop drooling over the pretty weapons, look at the European Wii crossbow thingy. I want. I don't Even have a Wii and I want it. While watching CSI last night, one of the episodes with the lovely and talented Lady Heather, a reference was made to a fictitious website called ladyheather.com. I, of course, immediately checked it out and it took me straight to the CSI site on CBS. Way to go CBS for finding a way to count all the CSI fans who are perverts. I'm not a pervert, I was just curious, is all, yeah, see, yeah.

Sony keeps trying to come up with new ways to sell PS3s and a new game this month tries a daring experiment. Eye Of Judgment (in conjunction with Hasbro & WOTC) is a CCG and a Video Game, with its own included EyeToy to scan cards you have and play out a game with the 5 or 6 other people in the world who bought it. It sounds interesting in theory and I do like crossover concepts, but this thing sounds complicated. I've read some gameplay reviews and such and there seems to be a decent amount of strategy involved, but there's a lot of prep work to play this game. Booster packs are supposed to be sold separately for the CCG side of Eye Of Judgment and I may collect those as soon as I figure out who sells them. I'm really not knocking this game it just sounds ambitious and crazy. I miss playing CCGs and every once in a while I buy a pack of Magic cards to get that new card smell on me again. For those that still follow the Pokemon CCG a new set is due out soon called "Secret Wonders". I remember playing this when the game first came out and it was a little confusing, but seemed okay, nothing like the rich potential of the Star Wars CCG. A couple years back, I tried Yu-Gi-Oh, but I was not impressed and it just made me flashback to good card games I've played. I have tried Yu-Gi-Oh in several flavors (US TV and manga) and the only version I liked was the manga. It was dark, and Yugi messed with people. He got beat up at school every day and would then play a game with them to enact a sort of revenge. One dude he poured Vodka on and lit him on fire. Great stuff. I want to see that episode.

Some days I'm no good at gaming and tonight was my night. The brilliant puzzle-shooter Portal vexes me with its advanced puzzle mode. After swearing at my lack of brain power I gave up gaming in lieu of a six part Mars program narrated by Captain Kirk. Excellent show. Before I go to bed tonight I'm going to try one mission of Ace Combat 6. This franchise was meant for anyone who watched Top Gun and thought, I could do that. The "Need For Speed" of my generation was not "The Fast And The Furious", it was "Top Gun", and we needed only one, not three movies to drive home the kind of speed I need. Lets see, a Grumman F-14 or a Mitsubushi Eclipse. And don't tell me I also have Stealth 'cause I barely call that a movie. Guitar Hero III just came out and I need to bite the bullet and get it. I have nothing against the series, yet I'm reticent to drop $100 on a game I might not like. Parappa The Rapper, Space Channel 5, and Frequency all used the controller, and I wonder if I have the skill to use a fake guitar to play real music. If I can't face my Guitar Hero fear than I might as well get Naruto, which is actually getting good reviews, a surprise for a Manga-turned-Anime series. Once again, I've seen the show and read the Manga and I prefer the Manga over the watered down American version. And if I had an up-to-date PC tower (I write this on a laptop) I would definately get Crysis. It's one of those games that begs for a top end machine. Nothing like spending $5,000 to play a game. That's dedication. Maybe I'll risk a demo download.

And lastly I came across the most un-useless invention of our modern lives. For all the none of us that have an iPhone (the "i" is pronounced "Jesus") because we are too afraid to scratch, mar, or dirty the hypnotyzing beauty of the screen; that and the $10,000 price tag. Well never fear, some people with too much latex in their possession, have invented iPhone Fingers. I'm sure this is one of the signs of the apocalypse. That's all for now. I'm going to absorb some gaming knowledge from G4. See you next broadcast.