Roughly $300, two weeks, and several sore and bloody fingertips later, I have succesfully installed: Sony Xplod cd/radio head, some line out converter thing, and a Visonik Amp and Subwoofer package. It sounds great, may the masses rejoice.

I was outside with my brothers last night until 10:30 trying to hook that subwoofer up. I got it working, but I think it killed my radio. It also thumps every time I hit the brakes, I don't know what's up with that.

Almost two months ago President Bush signed a bill claiming dominant rights in space. In clearer terms, this means we are going to try to control what other countries try to do in there, having to do with weapons or otherwise. So like our Nuclear rights policy, we are going to develop weapons and spy satellites and GPS coordinators, but none of you can; and if you do, we will take action against you. We will determine the severity of that action depending on if you are really taking up space....
Here's a good article about it, take notice of pragraphs eight and nine.

My subwoofer came yesterday, I'm hoping to install it tonight. I need to pick up a cable kit on the way home. You'll probably be able to hear me tomorrow, from wherever you are...

Also I found a very entertaining Xbox 360 commercial that is airing in Europe right now. Here it is. Thanks Major Nelson.

I'm headed to Cleveland Georgia this weekend for my Youth group Fall Retreat. The fall retreat is our biggest event of the year, we are big enough now that we can rent an entire center and fit nicely. This year we are headed to Strong Rock Camp and Retreat Center, check here for info and links.

Ensemble announced they are beginning devlopment for a new RTS title for the Halo community. Halo Wars, a Real Time Strategy game using the Halo storyline. First reports look good, the trailer is all CGI and no game engine details have been released, they also have some concept art that looks very nice. It's only supposed to come out for the Xbox 360, but I'm really hoping they port it to the PC after release, or at least release full mouse and keyboard support on the 360. RTS games are played much better that way.

An email scheme was sent out a little while ago prompting people to send in their checking account info to recieve money from a dying man in Bahran. Unbelievable, here's to your confidentiality, Zilio.

Hello Friend,

Its me Zilio from Bahrain i want to donate what I have to the needy.
You Could be surprised why i picked you. But someone has to do it. I am old and living with HIV AIDS. I have been touched to donate from what I have made from this World to charity through you for the good work of humanity, rather than allow my relatives to use my hard earned funds inappropriately after my death.

I hope to be fogiven for all my sins and I believe he has, because He is merciful. I have been living with HIV AIDS for years. and i know that the disease has no cure therefore i will surely die. I have made up my mind to give out ( Eighteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) towards the fight against HIV AIDS, and other human related diseases. I want this to be done through you. Part of the money would also be used to help the motherless, less privileged and also for the assistance of the widows. Presently, i can not answer calls because i have been restricted by my doctor from taking telephone calls because I deserve all the rest I can get.

Presently,I have informed my lawyer about my decision in donating the funds. I wish you all the best, and please use the money well and always extend the good work to others. If you are able to carry out this task,i will inform my legal adviser so that he can arrange the release of the funds to you. I know i have never met you but my mind tells me to do this,and I hope you act sincerely.I will pay you a handsome amount of this money if you will assist me because I am now weak to do things myself because of my HIV AIDS.

NB: I will appreciate your utmost secrecy in this matter until the task is carried out,as I don't want anything that will halter this my last wish Love.I will provide you with further details immediately I hear from you. Please respond through this email address as I might not be checking the email I used in sending this message to you: z_mario777@yahoo.com.hk
Regards.


Zilio Mario
z_mario777@yahoo.com.hk

PLEASE I WILL LIKE YOU TO REPLY ME VIA MY EMAIL ADDRESS FOR CONFIDENTIALITY PURPOSE: z_mario777@yahoo.com.hk

The Blackberry Pearl, a new phone/email and data device rolled out a few weeks ago. I was given the chance to test one out for a few days and let me tell you, this is one cool toy. Phone, MP3 player, camera, web browser, and email, and it looks sexy to boot. Thank you boss.

I live in North Georgia and use Charter cable for my fast internet. Lately they have been implementing some "new features" that have totally screwed up the connection. The internet will work fine for maybe three hours out of a day for the last two weeks. Before that it would still cut out at random times. The worst part is, I use a VOIP phone line, so when the internet is down, so is my phone. My cell doesn't get service in the valley I live in, so it's really starting to get on my nerves. Charter has been a great connection up until now. What's up??

One small step for the Senate Judiciary Committee, one giant leap towards a totally censored form of freedom.

Tuesday a man walked into a Canadian college and opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing one and wounding many others. Canadian Police dealt with him swiftly and efficiently shooting and killing the man before he was able to continue the "rampage".

Koffi Annan doesn't think the removal of African Union peacekeepers from Darfur is so good. No kidding. If the UN takes over the peacekeeping operation in the country, African Union troops would not be welcome. I don't know much about the AU, but the UN has a hard time doing anything right, so I say it would be horrible Kofi. Keep your people out of it until we can see the AU can no longer do the job.

Bill Selles of Dpad.gotfrag.com has some very intelligent insight on why consoles sontinue to outperform PC sales in gaming circles. I agree with every word.

The Crocodile Hunter is dead, how did he die you say? Whas he viciously torn apart by a 12 foot long reptile? Was he eaten by an Alligator, poisoned by a deadly snake? No, he got stung by a stingray, apparently in the heart, which caused him to go into Cardiac Arrest. Definitely didn't see that coming.

Seriously though, heartfelt condolences go out to the Irwin family. He will be missed by many people.

Sadly, I was not able to make it sown to DragonCon this weekend. I really wanted to, but it didn't work out. Photos of this year's events have not been posted yet, I'll put something up when they are.

The last few days have really emphasized to me the rapid pace of the age we are in. Larry Hyrb calls it the "Era of Hyper Communication," I couldn't put it better. The speed with which the world travels is increasing exponentially each year. The next ten years hold incredible things for the world of technology, I have no doubt. Hold on to your hats.

DragonCon is in Atlanta this weekend! I'm going to try and get downtown to see some of the conference on Saturday, I'll take lots of photos if I get there.

Today I found out that one of my favorite podcasts, the Dreamstation.cc Videogame Show, has disbanded and is under new management. The host, Chris Paladino and I have dialogued a bit during the past few weeks, and he is a great guy. He received an opportunity at Microsoft that was too good to turn down I'm sure. It's really a shame they had to end the show, but hopefully they are all moving on to bigger and better things. Chris, now that you're famous, remember us one day.

New material on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, previously unkown photos of building number 7 which collapsed, even though it was shielded by two other buildings that were smaller but didn't collapse.

I got a myspace, I've definitely got to say I like Blogger better, but check it out. (side link)

Of the two personal web page "genres" that exist, I prefer the stand up blog to the myspace or xanga type page. A Blog is a place that people put their personal opinions about things that exist in their lives and are somewhat important to them. A myspace seems to be more of a place to put content that other people created, when you post that content, you are stating that you like it, but it isn't created by you. I've just gotten a myspace, and I am having fun conversing with friends and viewing their profiles, so I'm in no way opposed to the style of content, but I enjoy reading peoples thoughts and opinions far more. It seems more personal.

I will get back from my absolutely fantastic vacation on Sunday, so I should soon be keeping the blog up to date regularly again.

I love good sound, and this is a very promising idea that could revolutionize the audio world.

Those Mac users out there have to take a bow, for the unshakable Apple computer has been hacked through wireless cards!

Microsoft is copying the Ipod, (more power to them, they're taking over the universe anyway), and Saddam Hussein is going on another food strike and refusing to go to his court hearings. Why is that important? Let him keill himself, if he refuses to have a fair trial, just give him an unfair one.

I've just finished watching the season of Firefly, the TV show. I don't watch much television, but this is the best stuff I've ever seen. Hands down, rated for content that is compelling, exciting, surprising, and an incredible story, this is the best thing I've ever seen on TV. It's genius, the story can almost compare with the Lord of The Rings trilogy, which are the best fictional stories of all time. Firefly is a close second. Truly the big hats at Fox Entertainment are totally and unquestionably mentally unstable. To cancel a work of art like Firefly, you would have to be out of touch with what makes a great story. A truly compelling saga, that keeps you up at night, and makes you think of yourself in the character's situation. I really can't say enough about this show. I'm going to post permanent links to the closest thing to an official website that I can find.

Today my family and I are traveling to St. Louis to celebrate the 4th of July. I don't like that title as much as Independence Day, and as we think about independence, let's remember two major countries that we are involved in right now, Iraq and Afghanistan. These countries have experienced a change in governments during the past five years, but they are not independent. I truly hope they become so within the next year. I also wish every US soldier over there will come home safe, and soon. Support an independent Iraq and Afghanistan, not two more countries supported and controlled by the United States.

Excellent, airport quick chargers for your every electronic accessory.

You've got to be kidding, Japan wants to pump CO2 into the ground instead of releasing it into the air. In the ground, the chemical will not be filtered or used by plants to create more oxygen, instead, it will await an earthquake or some other major geological transformation, to explode into the atmosohere all at once. I've heard that it's rather hard to breathe Carbon Dioxide. If it all vented into the air at once, it would cover a huge area with unlivable conditions, am I right?

You can expect your automobile costs to go up if this measure gets through our wonderful government. Pave the rainforest.

I'm at the PCA General Assembly this week. PCA stand for Presbyterian Church in America, my denomination. The General Assembly is always a big conference every year, and I am helping with the computer networking. There is a live video feed of the proceedings available here, if you're interested. The Assembly will convene until Friday morning.

Here's a somewhat thought provoking article on Al-Zarqawi and the war in Iraq.

The world's biggest photo? This is pretty cool.

Here's a hilarious video of Will Ferrell impersonating our wonderful President. Honestly this is especially for Jacob Singer. Here you go.

I've just got to pimp Microsoft real fast. Since I got a '360, I've been really amazed at their efforts at Next-gen hardware and software. Honestly, they have blown Sony and Nintendo out of the water for the last six months. They have really put an emphasis to community development and ingenuity with the XBL Marketplace and things like it. So Microsoft, w00t.

Two good friends of mine gave me an Xbox 360 Premium package on Saturday, the gift was for a favor a couple of weeks ago, when I drove one of the guys to the hospital for some stitches. Jacob Singer 45, often posts in the comments as anonymous, and the other guy just reads. I owe you guys big time, many thanks. I seriously can't say thank you enough. I never thought you guys owed me anything for driving you up there. As you might imagine my days have been a blur of Xbox goodness, by the way wireless controllers are the bomb.

Wired news had an exciting article on laser projection instead of LCD or normal bulb projection, as an alternative to small screens in devices like ipods, PSPs, and such. Also as a much easier way to get an excellent picture for your home TV. Think of booting your handheld device and shining a screen onto a wall, in a dark room, the screen could be as big as ten feet. In a brightly lit room it could still achieve great picture with about ten inches of screen. Lasers make smaller projectors, so they could easily fit into a handheld device, they make better a clearer and better picture that doesn't require focusing. Plus they're awesome.

Here's an incredible article about engineered screw-ups. The 10 biggest and most costly mistakes ever built.

A Marine was attacked on his walk home from work this past week, the former Marine, Thomas Autry, saw his assailants approaching with a shotgun, and immediately prepared to defend himself. There were five attackers, one was killed, another seriously wounded, the rest fled. After he kicked the shotgun away, another thug tried to shoot Mr. Autry with a .380 handgun, but it misfired. More about this here.

Wow, flying Aston Martin.

I do not agree with all that this article says, but Tony Long wrote a great piece on the state of America. The complacent, static, self-blinded state of America's people, particularly her youth.

This is an interesting article on the pains of people these days trying to open modern packaging.

Feeling tired? Buy some oxygen at your local Seven-Eleven! (only available to our readers located in Japan)

I've been dead lately, sorry.


Halo 3 trailer is live!!! That's right, Bungie and Microsoft finally gave us a trailer, at the end of the Microsoft E3 press conference.

Ever wonder if satellites can really see what you are doing to a 4 foot level? Apparently, they can, and are.

The only reason I point out this article is to show that governments do things that they keep secret from their citizens, allies, and even themselves. We now know that England conducted a perfectly serious and totally confidential study to prove or disprove the existence of UFOs. Take a look at this article from Wired.news.

Sorry about the vague post below. I am not totally convinced in the theory that the movie below suggests. The film is very well done, but as a friend told me the other day, "anybody can put a movie together." Honestly, it horrifies me that this theory can be proved so thoroughly, but on the other hand, I'm not ready to accept that our government is that corrupt and brutal. I am open to dicussion, and I'll certainly be more cautious in the future when it comes to blindly trusting in our wonderful democracy.

I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on what happened on sept. 11 2001. I was wrong, this video is excellent for the discerning mind that is open to provable discussion. It's pretty long, but it is excellently done.

Nintendo has named their next-gen installment to the console platform the Wii, (pronounced we). I wonder where they came up with that one?

Need more data storage? A lot? Your answer is here. Fujitsu's 1.36 MILLION Gigabyte storage unit.

Finally, solid, reputable source confirmations on Halo 3's presence at E3. CNNMoney posted this article recently.

There was an excellent article on Infoworld's Nederlands site about free applications available on the web. There is some great stuff in there!

More Oblivion news. This compelling story about a Redgaurd's true love, is brought to you by Gamesfirst.

There was a great article on GamesFirst today on next-gen graphics acceleration. Specifically in Oblivion. I read throught the article and was pretty amazed at some of the effort needed to produce a realistic, responsive image of creation... I totally agree with what they are saying though, the next generation of gaming is located here.

Xinhuanet.com (a chinese news service) had an article on a new find of bones that provide the link between men and apes. The bones are supposed to give us the proof we've been missing for all this time.

"It is fair to say that some species of Ardipithecus gave rise to Australopithecus," Tim White, lead author of the Nature paper and professor at the University of California, Berkley.

We don't need what is fair Tim, fair is a value judgement, determined in our individual minds, we need truth.

I found an awesome site today, merzo.net is a starship dimensions site that is very well put together. Check out the -2000x page for a nice ring we all know and love.

Researchers, a.k.a. hackers, are being hired by some security companies to give up software manipulation points.

Griffin!!

World Magazine had a good article by John Dawson, about the illegal immigrant problem in the U.S. A guest worker program would only increase the amount of illegal immigration because of it's endurance test-like nature. You stay here for three years without getting caught, you get to become legal. I love immigration, I love this country letting people come in and start a legacy with very little religous, economical, or social persecution. I love hard working people trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like the man in this article. The problem occurs when we make it hard for the people to come over, so they come illegally. Then we keep letting them come illegally and make it easier for them. We've got to address the problem so that we encourage hard work, and discourage the drug trafficking circus.

I just installed a program called Windows Blinds, (big w00t to Punisher for pointing it out to me). It's pretty slick, until the free version runs out. I'm running the Dogma x4 skin, I like it a lot. Check it out here.

There was a pretty funny piece of news on wired.com today. You remember those inventors that came up with the "tooth phone"? Turns out, it wasn't so realistic.

Microsoft purchased Lionhead Studios, the maker of Fable. Major Nelson had a succinct statement about it. It's obviously just the next step for a company that is taking over the entire universe.

I saw King Kong last night, I give it two thumbs up. It was a great story, a lot of people said that the dialogue (principally in the first hour of the film) got too long. I didn't think so, the story was just developed well. Skull Island was absolutely spectacular. I am arachnophobic, which is an abnormal fear of spiders, so I was terrified throughout the many scenes that featured giant scorpions, spiders, grasshoppers, centipedes, and many other wonderful species of local fauna. Kong was fabulous.

It's out! Podtacular episode 56 has been edited and posted. I was given the privelege to help out as a co-host for this show. Huge thanks to Foo Mo Jive for inviting me, and Jonnysan for co-hosting with me. It was a lot of fun.

The Bungie Weekly What's Update was somewhat of a provocation today. Frankie gives us some crap for April fool's. I'll be honest, I'm tired of screwing around with all the different versions of, "we can't say anything on this yet". Then they give us something like this.

Somewhat of an odd article on IGN today. Halo 3 in March? I don't know man, that would kill their community.

Free Gold status to anyone with a Xbox 360 this weekend! Today through Sunday you can log on to Xbox Live and play as a Gold member with Xbox's free Gold weekend event. It's sponsored by Verizon Wireless. This is a good idea, let people experience the Live world and give us some free time. I think this will happen more than once because it's a good advertisement. It's also not as volatile (or nice for the average consumer) as the two month subscriptions that used to come in Xbox games.

Foo Mo Jive invited me to co-host Podtacular last week. We recorded on Thursday and the show should be available for download this coming Thursday or Friday. Jonnysan was also helping out, we had a great time, thanks guys and I hope we can do it again! I'll post a link to the show when it comes out.

Definitely a controversial statement by Frankie in last week's Bungie What's Update. I'm taking this as a fairly stable admission of Halo3 being their next game. It's been very frustrating that Bungie has not admitted to developing the game that should debut sometime late this year.

Microsoft has pushed back their release date for Windows Vista, I can only hope they are taking extra precautions to insure they can meet whatever demand they might have. Hopefully a lesson learned from the 360?

In other news Major Nelson had an interview with a developer from the upcoming game, Viva Pinata. Rare, the same developer that produced Kameo, and Perfect Dark Zero, is coming out with this game for the Xbox this hoiday season. I'll be honest, it looks like the stupidest game I've ever heard of. A mix between Neopets and the Sims, you create a world and try to get Pinatas to live in it. The age group for this is about 3-8, they will co-release with a TV show, (the Pinatas when they are by themselves, talking Pinatas) lunchboxes, and bed sheets. I'm serious.

More promises from Microsoft, I hope they can make it, but I doubt it's realistic.

Interesting article pointed out to me by my good friend, punisher. I agree with it on most points, Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with the horrible supply issues, and expensive hardware costs with the Xbox 360. Nintendo is much more conservative in their business strategy, not ruching "next-gen" material, and sticking with proven stuff in the DS.

Big newsbreak. Sony released specs for the PS3 and a release date. I will believe it when I see it, but check out the official release, a english version, and Major Nelson's take.

CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL

I think this guy should have been promoted, not fired. This is a
True phone call from the Word Perfect Help line which was transcribed from a
recording monitoring the customer care department. Needless to say
the HelpDesk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing
the WordPerfect organization for "Termination without Cause." This
is actual Dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer Support
employee.

"Ridge Hall computer assistance; may I help you?"

"Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect."

"What sort of trouble?"

"Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went
away."

"Went away?"

"They disappeared."

"Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"It's blank, it won't accept anything when I type."

"Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?"

"How do I tell?"

"Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?"

"What's a sea-prompt?"

"Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?"

"There isn't any cursor: I told you, it won't accept anything I type."

"Does your monitor have a power indicator?"

"What's a monitor?"

"It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it
have a little light that tells you when it's on?"

"I don't know."

"Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power
cord goes into it. Can you see that?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged
into the wall."

"Yes, it is."

"When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were
two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?"

"No."

"Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the
other cable."

"Okay, here it is."

"Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the
back of your computer."

"I can't reach."

"Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?"

"No."

"Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?"

"Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle
-- it's because it's dark."

"Dark?"

"Yes, the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming
in from the window."

"Well, turn on the office light then."

"I can't."

"No? Why not?"

"Because there's a power failure."

"A power... A power failure? Aha, Okay, we've got it licked now. Do
you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer
came in?"

"Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."

"Good. Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like
it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it
from."

"Really? Is it that bad?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is."

"Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?"

"Tell them you're too stupid to own a computer."

I'm having some trouble with Xbox.com. First off, I can't figure out where to put my gamercard in the HTML for this page. Second, why isn't there a way to look at someone's gamercard on the Xbox.com site, without them being your friend, or signing in to see your own. If anyone has a solution to either of these problems, please leave a comment.

I played G.R.A.W. for three hours yesterday. I got through several levels and earned a bunch of points. It's the best game I've ever seen. Incredible levels, beautiful graphics, excellent gameplay, it's the first game I've seen that would convince me to buy a 360. It really shows the next-gen capacities of the 360.
I've also heard that 360s are starting to show up in stores, I'm going to stop by a few places this week and see if it's true.

Project Origami turns out to be a Blackberry competitor. Just a pocket PC type PDA. I must confess I was looking for a PSP rival.
Also Ghost Recon, Advanced Warfighter, or G.R.A.W., came out yesterday. It looks excellent.

I found a new author in HBO's fanfiction. His name is Radont, and he's an excellent author. Check out his stuff here.

GamesFirst had an article up today about a guy named Will Wright, and a project he's been working on. He addresses the development of large games requiring large amounts of money, memory, and hardware to run. The article features a link to a video of a presentation he gave at last years Game Developer's Conference. He's a very comfortable speaker, and the video is worth watching.

Microsoft's Project Origami, is surrounded with mystery and suspense. I would love to see a "Xbox like" handheld game device, but too much bait and switch gets old fast. Here's a link to their site. It's nicely put together.

VGN radio had Karate Dog on this week. He's a really funny guy, it was a great show. Last week was one of the best VGN shows I've heard in a long time. Kevin, the main host, totally lost it. Here is the link for their downloads page.

I played the Star Wars, Empire at War demo last week. It really looks like a great game, I'll probably buy it in two years when it cost five bucks.

I've been sick all week, sorry about the inactivity.

I'm getting tired of the lack of 360's, I stopped by two local Wal-Marts on Friday, they didn't know when they would get one, and they haven't gotten any for a while. Microsoft should at least tell us why they're struggling, it's obvious there is a huge problem with their supply, but they've been totally silent. Even Major Nelson, who is generally recognized as a mouthpiece for Microsoft, (not meant negatively, he has a great informative podcast and blog that wouldn't be possible without his position) has had nothing but, "I don't know and I can't answer that".

I've got to eat my words, Bungie released a news article about Podtacular's ep. 50. Quite a milestone.

Podtacular's getting no love from Bungie. They've got over a thousand users, but Frankie didn't include them in the Bungie Valentine's Day, Halo Web List, or the second one.

The rumours are flying thicker than mud, all about Halo 3. I can only hope that this means it will be out by this time next year, but like all other internet rumours, I won't believe anything until I see Bungie or Microsoft confirm it.

I saw the new movie Firewall on Friday. Harrison Ford has still got style. I'd do the same thing if somebody messed with my family like that. It was good, go see it.

A lot of folks have wondering why Microsoft is only releasing Halo2 for Vista, and not XP. I think it's pretty obvious, they're trying to get you to buy a whole new system with Vista. Microsoft has had a hard time in the past convincing people that they need the next step in Windows. They know people love Halo2, so they're doing an exclusive release. Because they're Microsoft and they rule the world.

An organization called Focus on the Family sends out a daily news update by email. I subscribe to it and today there was an..... interesting article mentioned. The article is about violent video games, it's written by a guy named Jeff Hooten, and it mentions several games by name; Doom, Resident Evil, Half-Life, Quake, GTA (of course), and the Halo games. It's a compelling article, but I'm afraid I disagree on several points. I would say that Doom, Quake, and even Half Life are too gross for me to play anyway. I don't have fun with those games because frankly, there's just too much blood and gore. Halo is a totally seperate story. I'm a huge Halo fan, as most who read this blog know; and I think that Halo is totally different from the former games. Halo and Halo 2 center around the Master Chief, a super soldier who has one purpose, save humanity as a race. He is about the only thing preventing total extermination of humans by aliens known as the Covenant. He use lots of guns, vehicles, and brute strength to accomplish his missions, but he is always focused on saving Earth. This is very important; throughout history, characters that ride out of nowhere and save others have struck a key with us who enjoy stories. People who are willing to risk it all to save others, people who kill to save others. Characters like John Wayne, Aragorn in the LOTR, Sean Connery in the James Bond movies and The Hunt for Red October. This is why the Halo games are some of the top five games of all time in sales and popularity. The Master Chief kills a lot of aliens, those aliens bleed, so there is purple and blue blood around in-game; but he fights for a purpose, and the gore is not overdone. Read it here.

Clan Hollywood Halo has just created a nice webring for all of us Halo fans, that spend a lot of time surfing. They feature all the major Halo websites, and a sweet statistics page. Check it out.

I found this on HIH. Thanks Ducain.

I stopped by my local Wal-mart and Rhino Videogames this Saturday, just to see if: they had any 360s, or if they knew when they would get any. The answer to both questions was a big fat no. So much for Microsoft bringing in more console producers.

So what's up with Microsoft? It's been two months since the launch of the Xbox 360, and you still can't find them in stores. Gamestop hasn't even filled all their preorders yet. In my opinion, Microsoft gave Sony and Nintendo a huge oppurtunity to "jump in" and take some marketshare. If they can get their own act together with their own respective consoles quickly enough, they could pounce on the huge advantage that Microsoft held, with the '05 launch of a next-gen system.

I've been appointed as one of the Moderators at Podtacular. I really appreciate the trust from CapnKrunk, Foo Mo Jive, and all the web staff there. Make sure you take a look at the site!

Dreamstation, VGN Radio, and Podtacular have all debuted with more shows. VGN Radio had an excellent show with guest, Karate Dog. I'm gonna check out his podcast because he was pretty funny. As always, Podtacular just keeps getting better.

Big news!! Podtacular's new site is finally up and running!! Check it out here. I've been having a great time exploring it. Big w00t to Foo Mo Jive, Capn Krunk, and all the guys that have been working on this. Great job fellas!

Had an excellent game this afternoon. Team Snipers on Relic, I was first, and also at least four levels beneath everyone else. It was great.

HBO Fan Fiction has been updated! Chuckles has brought his excellent series to a spectacular end, and LordsFire has returned! He's been gone for a long time.

Also the Bungie Weekly What's Update has been posted, I have no idea what they're talking about, but there you go.....

My new baby brother was born on Sunday, about three. Isaac John Lloyd, 7lbs. 15 oz., 20 inches long.
I've been gone all week, result, I'm really behind. Podtacular released ep. 46, the tips show. Dreamstation released ep. 40. Gamertag radio released ep. 36. Major Nelson posted ep. 159. VGN radio released the show for this week. Also, High Impact Halo released this week's movie roundup.

Disclaimer: I haven't listened to any of these shows or seen the movies yet. I'm still catching up.


Ju Blaine

I also found this article on Games First. It's about Lord of the Rings, Battle for Middle Earth 2! The first BME was absolutely AWESOME. The second will release for PC (like the first) in February; and later this year, the Xbox 360! BME is a RTS (real-time-strategy) game, RTS has never been brought to a console because of obvious control problems. Leave it to Microsoft.

Ju Blaine

In other news, Games First released an article about the rumours surrounding the Xbox 360 games having room without using HD-DVDs. It's an excellent article.


Ju Blaine

Big news, I've outsmarted my computer. That's right, I can now log on with no problem, without safe mode. This makes it a lot easier to fix any remaining problems. It ended up being a problem with my antivirus software. I've still got some spyware things to fix, but I can actually startup now. w00t, and again, w00t!


Ju Blaine

I'm sorry there hasn't been much news or content posted lately, what has been posted has been late. I'm still struggling through some computer problems, so stick with me. Tomorrow or the day after I'm hoping to reinstall some Windows components, that might fix it. I'm trying to avoid a full system rebuild, but that's the trump card.


Ju Blaine

Podtacular's posted ep. 44, it's the custom's and call-ins show. I'm the last call in segment. yay.


Ju Blaine

Gamertag Radio posted a new episode yesterday. There's some great stuff about the MLK Jr. holiday, and the relations of gaming and hip-hop.

I'm struggling with my primary computer, through some junk that won't let me startup, which makes it very hard to fix.

Podtacular and VGN radio have posted new episodes. Podtacular covers tips for lockout, VGN radio has a guest from another podcast I've never heard of.

I'm running some stuff to get rid of a really malicious spyware program on my primary computer. It totally hosed my system. Read about it here. It's pretty nasty, do all you can to avoid it.

Ju Blaine

Bungie's Weekly What's Update has been posted, there's stuff on the soundtrack, a job opportunity, and more teasers for the next project, (big surprise).

You know what I hate, people who delight in making computer's crash. Like mine did, this morning. I hate 'em.

Ju Blaine

Today's One One Se7en, (a web comic by stuntmutt) is quite hilarious. Check it out.

Gamertag radio's new episode is very good, some reviews, and a great interview with facetags.com. A incredible site for console skins. The interview is a little hard to hear, there was a problem with someone's mike.

Podtacular's first episode of the year is up! There is great content, but some bad audio issues with overlap and lag. If you can stand it, it's definitely worth your time.

VGN radio had a new episode come out late last week. There's not a whole lot of content to it, but the soundtrack was from Bungie.

Podtacular and Gamertag radio just released episodes today, I'll post links after I've listened to them so I can give you an overview.

Those of you who read this blog, please post in the comment threads to say what you liked or disliked about headlines. Agree? Disagree? When you post comments I am able to further trim the blog for your interests. Thanks.

Ju Blaine

Major Nelson was able to get a copy of the Consumer Electronic Show keynote speech, by Bill Gates, and posted the file on his blog. There is some great info about what Microsoft is going to be doing this coming year, including '360 news addressing demand issues and the HD-DVD drive controversy. They totally dominated the event.

This wasn't mentioned on the Bungie homepage as of 1/7/06, but Bungie just had their 7th birthday! Big w00t and shoutout to the talented team there. (Incidentaly, I didn't just know this, Louis WU of HBO pointed it out this evening.)

Bungie's Weekly What's Update hit just this morning. There's some interesting info on the new soundtrack, and a "handicap feature" that sounds really useful; but I have no idea how to turn it on.

Sorry I've been offline for a couple of days. We've been having some router problems at home that has effectively crippled our internet, right now I'm piggybacking off a neighbor's wireless network. With almost no signal. Anyway I hope to be back by tomorrow or the next day.

EDIT: The weekly Dreamstation.cc podcast came out yesterday evening, usually I'd listen to it before posting a link, but I don't know if I'll be able to access the internet for awhile, so here you go.

EDIT#2: Big shoutout to the guys at Dreamstation, the above show got me through my sisters ballet recital, I actually had to listen to the show twice. It's a great one, the highlight is the State of the Game Address; a yearly award segment. I agree with it all except their opinions on Halo, they are definitely the minority there.

Ju Blaine

A guy named sir_brilliant posted a very long story in the HBO fanfic section. It's quite literally a book, but it's also very good. Worth saving as a file and reading in chunks when you have time. Check out the comment thread too.

Well, this was actually kind of a disappointing holiday season. Most of the family was traveling, the ones that stayed, (including me) got sick on Christmas eve or Christmas day. I was sick through my birthday too. Most of my friends were either traveling or sick. The one highlight was my good friend Jacob Singer 45, he lives across the street from me and is always kind enough to let me come over and play the '360. Send him a friend invite, but be sure to tell him why!