I have been very public about my achievement adventures. I have blogged about my 10,000th and 20,000th achievement points and even in reviews on this very site I’ve mentioned the ease of getting achievements in games, but never have I thought “why?”

I thought to myself, what do achievements do that regular gaming doesn’t? The most clear answer was experience. The higher the gamerscore, the gamier the gamer. So, in essence, if my score is higher than yours I am better than you. That’s obviously the most neanderthal-like way to look at them but it bears at least a mention. After further self exploration, I found that one of the main reasons I obsess over getting my self proclaimed 50% achievement target, is to give games artificial endings. Some games are too short and some never seem to end, but if I am playing a game and find that I only have 30-40% percent of the achievements I know I’M not done yet. I know its weird, but its a strategy that seems to working pretty well for me. Rarely do I feel that I didn’t get my moneys-worth out of a game.

The most fun thing I use achievements for is side by side comparison with friends. Achievements give a snapshot of not only my progress in a game but also my skill level. When I compare my numbers with those of my friends, I know that if they have earned the “Lord of the Strings” Achievement in Rock Band, they had to complete “Green Grass and High Tides” on expert guitar, a feat I have yet to and will probably never complete. I might want to avoid this player if I bump into them online. If they have the “Master Fortune Hunter” Trophy in Uncharted 2 they either have alot of time on their hands or they know how to find decent walk-throughs. Achievements are proof that you have completed something, almost like a receipt. On older game systems I would always keep my save files to show what games I had beaten. Now, my progress is not only tracked but broadcast on the inter-web for the world to see and judge.

That brings me to my final “why”. Probably the biggest reason Achievements mean so much to me is to hold up my reputation as a gaming enthusiast. My playthrough of any game has the potential to influence another individuals game purchases. As a reviewer my opinion matters but as a consumer my opinion is paramount and I can’t afford to put my reputation on the line giving opinions on games to which I haven’t given due diligence. If I write a review or even bring up a game in conversation and give my opinion, as a person known for playing lot of games, and then it is seen on my PSN account or Gamerscore that I didn’t get past the tutorial, my credibility is shot. With Achievements I can say definitively that a game is crap because I have the proof to show you that I played it to its blood curdling end.

I implore you, next time some one dogs out a game or next time someone says they “mow people down in Halo”, do your homework and see if they are lying. You might be surprised at what you find.

Last night I got to level 10 with my PSN account. That doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as “I got my 20,000th achievement point”, but its a feat none the less. I feel better knowing the reason for my obsession and I feel comfortable knowing that the majority of my achievement scores are respectable. I also hope that, as you read this, my friends are judging my skills. Here, I’ll make it easy on you.

liugeaux

Achievements are here to stay, hell, even Steam and WOW have them now. Whether or not you realize it, people are looking at your gamerscore, and judging your play history. You may not want your friends seeing the 20 points you accidentally got in Disney: Sing It last fall when your niece was visiting you, but you really don’t have much of a choice now. I say embrace the achievement, with it you will find dozens of ways to enjoy gaming all over again.

Then we have Twitter and the notorious ‘@’ symbol. With the @ symbol and the appropriate twitter handle, you can instantly call out any of the numerous companies that have a social face on twitter. Receiving bad service from a company? Put ‘em on blast. Over-charged? Rant about it. Unlike forum posts and article comments, now you have a chance to reach a vast audience in one fowl swoop. Great, we finally have the power. But of course this comes with pros and cons.

Pros. Well, the biggest pro of this scenario is that if you do rant on Twitter, something good may come of it. I’ve heard of countless situations of people having major problems with their service, ranted about it on twitter, and then found themselves getting excellent service from the thousands of company reps who are constantly trolling twitter.

Me Wow, @comcast should really make their self install kits compatible with Windows 7… I’m just saying (what a headache)

Comcast @wudanbal need help?

Me @ComcastBonnie Thanks but I had an old WinXP machine laying around that I finally used. I just know I’m not the only who’s had this problem.

Comcast @wudanbal yeah, you’re not i could have pushed the bootfile through for ya from here if you didnt have the other box though

Cons. Consequently, the numerous customer service trolls are also a failing grace. Sometimes you just want to get on a social network and rant without retribution. You know, let your friends know how much you hate a particular company without having someone from that company respond back in efforts to make their company look better. And while these companies are on social networks to help you, it’s more about them keeping their companies from looking bad. They will go to any length to keep their company in good graces with the online community. Yep, that includes bothering you, the ranter.

Me Not like this is a surprise to anyone, but Time Warner Cable customer service is great, UNTIL YOU HAVE TO CALL THEM. FRAK…

Time Warner @wudanbal We are here to help as well. Let us know if there’s anything we can do for you ^BH

Me @TWCableHelp I’ve already wasted an hour of my life trying to get help from you guys. Thanks for the well-placed sentiment though.

Time Warner @wudanbal If you didn’t get the help you needed, I apologize. I’d love the opportunity to assist.Email TWCable.Help@twcable.com with details

Conclusion. Ultimately I truly believe having companies on social networks is a good thing, but their is a fine line that doesn’t need to be crossed between harassing your customer, and providing a value added outlet to continue helping customers. We’ll have to see were this leads.

Recently I have been annoyed by the need of a group of nerds to push their opinions on the casual movie watcher. Yes, I am talking about the plethroa of 1-star reviews of the bluray release of The Lord of the Rings on Amazon.

To be fair, these fanboys have somewhat of a valid argument. Why should I stand for the unknowing public buying this turd of a release?? They have fooled us once,we won’t be fooled again!! After all, the extended editions have been released before, why should I even bother with this inferior release? Or, for that matter, why should anyone else?

Ah, the wonders of marketing, but we’ll get to that later. First some history.

Star Wars (a.k.a. the beginning)

We all remember when George Lucas decided to bless us with enhanced versions of his classic trilogy. These new enhanced versions were the first (to my knowledge, anyway, lol) to be graced with the now ubiquitous Special Edition moniker. Even if they weren’t the first, they certainly popularized the term.

Now you see it slapped on everything released under the sun (which is part of the problem). I for one welcomed the enhanced computer graphics, but the Star Wars faithful decided that they didnt’ want Georgie messing with their baby. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Star Wars, but I could care less who shot first.

To make a long story short, these special editions sold like gangbusters and solidified the position of Special Editions for eternity.

LotR

Another milestone in this area were the Extended Editions brought about by Mr. Jackson. Again, the fanboy rears his ugly head, but in this scenario he declares that you aren’t watching LotR  unless you watch the Extended Cut. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have wanted to punch someone in the face for telling me that. Not only were these movies longer (3  1/2+ hours? Are you serious??) but they were also more expensive.

I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings, but I certainly don’t want to spend more money and time on a series that already has tested the limits of my bladder control. But, alas, for the fanboys, there is only one road.

Dragon Box (yes, I’ll pick on myself for good measure)

I have taken issue with every release of Dragon Ball Z up until this point. The Dragon Boxes are everything I could ever want out of DBZ. This is the definitive version! However, even I will admit that these sets aren’t for everyone, especially if you have already invested money in the series. If you aren’t a DBZ fanboy like me you could probably care less that the series is finally using the original music in the dub, and has the correct colors and aspect ratio. Besides, the previous release of the entire series sold like crazy, and can be had for a lower price. Yes, where it matters (sales), the fanboy loses this one too.

Tying it together

In all of the examples I have listed above, the version that fanboys deemed inferior has sold far more than the “better” version. Why, Obi-wan, WHY?

The truth is that the average movie watcher just doesn’t give a shit. You can dress it up all nice with words, you can load the product listing with 1-star reviews, but the only thing you are doing is wasting your time (and playing into the hands of the studio).

Why do they release two versions of the same movie? Have you ever even thought about this?

1) The average person will buy the first version and never look at anything else.
This is where the bulk of the sales will come from (in more ways than one, but i will get to that).

2) They know that the fanboys will buy the “better” version later
Self explanatory, ne?

3) And the Super Nerds will probably buy both versions
There is a running gag on Daizenshuu EX about how Mike Labrie (Vegetto EX) has like 5 copies of the first Dragon Ball Z movie “The Dead Zone.” Not to discredit him in any way, but I think this goes to show how dumb fanboys are sometimes.

-We can’t wait to watch our favorite movie at home, so we buy the first version that is released.
-We then buy the special edition because we want to have every little piece of information there is about our favorite series.
-Movie studios know this!

My whole point in writing this is to say that if you want movie studios to stop double-dipping, then we need to stop buying every thing that has Gandalf on the front of it. Money talks, which is why I don’t think all those 1-star reviews on Amazon will affect much. They are trying to pull the same crap with Avatar, but it isn’t working.

Okay, let’s be clear, the iPad is nothing more than a big iPod Touch/iPhone. We know this. This is the argument that most people supply when giving counter points as to why the iPad is such a horrible device. To that I say, SO WHAT if it’s just a big iPhone? Is that such a bad thing? What Apple has basically done is made a huge extension to what they have been building with the iPhone OS platform and given us something we are all familiar with, hence instantly creating a wide user base that know how to use their product. In other words, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it, or if the formula is working, don’t change it, just tweak it!

Upon picking up the device, you can feel the superior ascetics that Apple is known for in their devices, sleek feel and design. I only had time to briefly run two apps, Pianist Pro and Real Racing HD.

Again, proving the case that bigger is better is Pianist Pro. The iPad has instantly taken the touch screen apps on their platform from useless to useful. On the iPhone you can do nothing more than peck away at piano keys on these types of apps, but on the iPad, I was actually able to make full cords pretty easily. The keys are not quite full size, but close enough to where it’s enjoyable. On to gaming, with Real Racing HD.

Like I just said, more of the same here, but, bigger is better. I’ve played countless racing games on the iPhone. Some enjoyable, and most just downright unplayable. Using the accelerometer in racing games has not always translated to fun. There is a tedious balance that has to take place between control sensitivity and precision. Since the iPhone is such a small device, almost all movement on these type of games are jerky and abrupt, and most of the time this balance isn’t achieved. To that point, seems that a lot of these issues may be fixed by the iPad. I’m not sure if it’s just superior hardware or the actual size and weight of the device, but Real Racing HD seemed much easier to control on the iPad versus its iPhone racing counterparts. I’d like to test this more when I have the chance, but so far, I love the gaming aspect of the device.

*I had a slight issue with the volume of the device, but I’m going to chalk that one up to the noise Apple Store I was in. I haven’t heard many complaints here, so I’m sure that’s the case.

Here’s a repost from my website of my initial thoughts of what I wanted from the iPad. And though I’ve not actually been able to test it, it seems that my plea for a superior comic book app on the iPad has come in the form of the Marvel application. I have seen a few video demos, and it definitely seems promising. Also I’ve been reading many tweets about this being the ideal in-home media device, which makes they case for another one of my points. I guess the jury is still out as to how this device could be used in-car, but I’m sure in time we’ll see some interesting use cases for this also. The best is yet to come!

Okay, it’s been a while since the Apple iPad announcement and most of the noise has died down awaiting the retail release next month. I have had some time to take-in the hoopla and come to a resounding conclusion. I want the iPad!

Let me be clear, I wasn’t too hyped about this product when first announced because I’m not a huge book or non-tech news reader (shame). Most of the reading I do is either technical jargon or my daily consumption of technology media, which for all intents and purposes, is better suited for viewing on a computer. So yes, I was ready to write off the iPod until I heard a few interesting takes on possible uses for this device.

Best Comic Book Reader Ever. Okay, I pondered this idea when I originally got my iPhone 3G. And to some extent, it works. But as you would guess, the main problem here is screen real estate. Yes, on a iPhone the touch operations are more than great for standard comic book viewing, but the ultimate problem is there is simply not enough screen space for this concept to truly be great.

The iPad would quickly solve this problem and also provide all the great features that we get from the iPhone. And unlike other electronic readers out there, the experience would be in full color and with excellent potential of expansion.

For example, imaging reading a comic that eludes to some reference that only the die-hard fans would get or even understand. You could easily provide a popup link that explains the reference in detail. Sort of like the enhanced version of Lost! Honestly, the possibilities are endless and ultimately this lends to making comic books more assessable as a whole.

In-Car Device You’ve Been Craving For. One of the most disappointing things that I’ve seen amidst the whole iPhone, smart-phone craze lately is that in-car stereo systems haven’t taken similar leaps and bounds forward. Okay, of course I know that Ford and other companies have made profound updates with their built in stereo/GPS units, but we haven’t seen anything similar in the after-market space. And let me be clear, there have been a slew of manufactures out there that have tried to hit it out the park on this, but most just seem half-hazard, and way off from what you’d expect compared to what we are seeing in the smart-phone space.

That being said, the Apple iPad would be an in-car stereo wet dream. The iPhone or iPod Touch almost hit’s the mark here, but the number one problem is, once again, screen real estate, and using iPhone for GPS is often nerve racking. The huge screen of the iPad easily solves this problem. And with a thirty dollar monthly price tag for 3G coverage, it should give you all the connectivity you need on the go. Also, there is arguably no better mobile music player than Apple’s iPod. These two points alone could easily make this an excellent in-car device when you take into account Apple’s superior user interface. Of course there are devices out there that have these functions, but user experience makes all the difference.

Home Media Device. As many people do with their iPhones or iPod Touch, this device will easily become the device that people use around the house. Why? It removes you from being tethered to the desk for quick tasks that should feel more like relaxation than work. Do a quick check of your email, read a few passages of a book, check out the latest news, update your social networking sites, check the weather for the day, must i go on? And like I said, most people can do these things with their phone now, but once again, user experience is everything. The huge screen of the iPad will make these experiences more enjoyable, and truly make them feel like leisure. More relaxing than having to be at your desk or haul a huge laptop around, and more enjoyable than viewing the tiny screen on your phone.

Conclusion. In conclusion, I’ve pointed out just a few great uses of the iPad and why I’m sold on it. Though I’m not sure I’ll be getting one anytime soon based solely on price, I do feel this device is going to quickly find its niche in many markets. The Wi-Fi models, which start at $499 will be shipping in late March, with the 3G models (the one you want) starting at $649 being released sometime in April. Save your pennies!

While I am not a fan of the 360 and don’t have one of my own I would love to see this franchise brought back to life.  Especially with the idea of using the motion tracking. While I was in Seattle back in 01-02 I got the chance to play a version of Tekken 3 that was set up to use motion tracking as the command inputs. It was a very interesting experience. The controls were not as responsive as you would have wanted for that kind of game, but it did show promise. I’m a king player so trying to do his multi-links was very hard. But with the motion controls on the Wii for Dragonball z Tenkaichi 3 being so responsive and fun I think that we can now play those type of games. Now granted there is a lot of room for some serious problems. With the NATAL supposed to be a “controller free” interface how you would pull of moves could be scary. Having played fighting games with hands free motion control interfaces some inputs are hard to do. Dragonpunch and fireball inputs are especially hard to do. But like I said this was back in 01-02. So there has been plenty of time to refine how you would do these.

Only time will be able to tell. Hopefully if this comes to fruition we will have a great way to play fighting games that will truly pull us into the experience. But my thought is that RULE #1 will be CARDIO, CARDIO, CARDIO.

–Here Goes–

New Moon is a movie that definitely is meant to cater only to young women.  I do not even believe that ‘mature’ women would enjoy this movie.  It is portrayed in such a way that it is immature and frightening at the same time.  I know women say men only like action and explosions but I can assure you that I can pay attention to a story.  Story is supposed to give you some character building so that you can form a sort of bond with the on screen protagonist.  The only thing this movie developed for me was a great hate for the main character, Bella Swan.  She is the epitome of a young woman who just does not understand how ignorant of life she is.  At some points in the movie I felt like the father should have just had her committed to an asylum. (Late night Dream Screaming)  What scared me the most however is that there are many young women out in the world who can identify with this character.  I hope my future female offspring does not turn out like this.

Moving on to what I as a man look for in a movie, THE ACTION.  The movie is about two hours and ten minutes and contains about three to five action scenes, some so short not sure you could count them.  Each scene is specially made to cater to its viewership, which are hormonal young women.  Sure the wolf animations are superb but they do not make up for how short the scenes are and that they really are just scenes of estrous fantasy.

Scene one has a female vampire (big character in series and in the first movie, forgot her name) being chased by the wolf pack.  It is pretty much a girls fantasy to be pursued by a multitude of naked men.  She gives an old man a heart attack and gets away.  Our first display of super speed portrayed in high frames per seconds Super Slow-Mo.

Action scene 2 is a big disappointment, Bella is approached by a Jamaican vampire from movie one who is going to kill her for the female vampire from part one but to the rescue comes the wolf pack.  We get maybe one or two punches and then they begin chase leaving the camera man to follow Bella.  This could have been a good chance to see what the vampires and wolves could do but all we get is Jacob saying yeah we killed that vampire and look how perky my nipples are.

We now get a scene where Bella approaches the wolf pack and slaps one of the guys because she thinks they made Jacob a wolf.  Well the werewolves in this movie are not full moon types, they are the “Don’t Make Me Angry” type.  Well he changes and then Jacob changes and they tussle for about three seconds before we are forced to follow Bella again to the alpha male’s home where you see he lost his temper once and scarred his wife’s face.  Then Jacob and the other wolf guy stroll in as if they just finished playing one on one basketball and all is well.  Another missed opportunity to display some supernatural action.

Now lets go to Italy where you finally get to see Edward take off ‘his’ shirt (although the wolf pack group never had a shirt on to take off) and twinkle twilight with his ‘emo’ expressionless facade amidst a parade of Vatican attired parishioners.  Thankfully this does not last long as they are then escorted to the old vampire group (Vulturi-They eat people) where **SPOILER** (who cares)  Dakota Fanning makes her appearance.  She has the ability to cause you pain just by saying it.  I guess that can be related to women saying words hurt more than actions.  We get a fight scene here cause the old vampires want to kill Bella and Edward protects her by getting his ass handed to him in a Super Slow-Mo fight meant to symbolize super fast movement. (to much Matrix) Well, to the rescue comes Bella willing to sacrifice herself for the boy(though he is over a hundred years old,  what is it with women and older men, that is statutory, her father is the police. </rant>)  she loves.  See this is why I hate this character, she is only eighteen years old and is ready to die for her first love, such ignorance and immaturity.  Please young women do not be this girl.  Live a little, experience life.  You are only eighteen.  I assure you this is “NOT” it.  Sorry M J.

And final scene; it looks like we might get some action.  Edward and Jacob look like they are gonna square off.  All the girls in the theater are squealing, thankfully Jacobs goes wolf so I no longer have to see so much man skin.  But Bella steps in, tells Jacob she would choose Edward over him and he leaves.  No action.  Then the words “Mary Me”, ROLL CREDITS.

The "300" diet works kiddies

Well If you made it this far then you definitely love a good rant.  I did a lot of complaining about this movie but this movie was not made for me.  But if you are gonna make a movie that a large group of people, outside your regular audience, are gonna be dragged to watch then please give throw us a bone.  For me, watching this movie is probably equivalent to a woman who does not like action movies being forced watching “Shoot’em Up” (Great Man movie by the Way, Sex scene with Ninjas, “giggidy”).  To sum this movie up.  It is a cash in.  The writers, producers, and directors know where the money is.  It’s in the pockets of horny, hormonal young women and the guys they drag with them who are hoping for a happy ending of their own.  I still wonder though,  my girlfriend says the last book is chock full of very vivid gratuitous sex scenes.  Hmm, sounds more interesting by the minute, but how are they gonna get a PG-13 rating this time and stay true to the book.  Well they have years to figure it out, and will probably do them like the action scenes in new moon, make them three seconds each.

The Captain suffers a defeat against his biggest villain yet...capitalism.

Marvel movie properties like Spider-man, X-Men, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk , and Fantastic Four have proven to be very lucrative for Marvel as have Video Game licenses to Activision (Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Spider-man), Sega (Iron Man), and Capcom (Marvel Vs. Capcom).  Once these movie and video game deals are over where do these go?

Can we expect Marvel Vs Disney, or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 developed by the team behind the Hannah Montana games?  Maybe Zach Efron will play Captain America, or will we finally see a Donald Duck/Punisher Crossover. Are they going to move all of the Marvel based cartoons to the Disney Channel and have them air after The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

I don’t see Disney changing the way Marvel publishes its comics, since Marvel is pretty much the expert in that area, but the other media outlets that have been so good to fans in the past decade are where the risk stands.

Space Channel 5 anyone?

In hind sight, maybe Sony was thinking more about the SIXAXIS technology with this mockup, rather than the look and feel that so many fanboys have become accustomed to. After all, SIXAXIS technology was not announced when the boomerang controller was initially unveiled, but was later announced the following year when the controller was redesigned. If you really think about it, the boomerang probably wouldn’t be all that bad for SIXAXIS intensive games. Which begs the question, “are there many SIXAXIS intensive ps3 games?”

Turns out Sony was able to dodge this bullet, but would soon have another headache with the official SIXAXIS controller that was unveiled at e3 2006, the lack of rumble capability. Surely, Sony knew they would have these problems. I know more than a fair share of their own employees would have been pissed off about this one.

Certainly Sony is not the first to have people look at their controller in confusion. Take the Microsoft Xbox “fatboy” for example. If you have never had a chance to grace your hands on this piece of hardware, consider yourself lucky. Microsoft definitely made a huge mistake here. This thing was so huge and so uncomfortable, that there was an immediate outcry. Not to mention the fact that this wasn’t helping the Xbox as a new and upcoming console. I can remember having Halo battles at a friends house. If you got stuck with the fatboy controller, you were the odd man out. Oh, and I won’t even start on the N64 controller.

Bottom line is, great controller design is a must, and being able to listen to your user base is even greater. A company should not be bashful about trying something new, but they should be more than willing to make changes to appease the masses. What are your worst or best controllers of all time? Do you prefer one for sports games versus shooters? Are you a Wiimote fanatic? Let us know!

As many of you may know I recently built a new computer and had a few hiccups.  Most of the hiccups were due to it being my first attempt at building a machine, but one of the problems was a faulty power supply.  I procrastinated past my Newegg 30 day return policy and was left to deal with the manufacturer, which happened to be Sigma Products.

I notified them of my problem and was expecting your everyday run of the mill customer service.  Boy was I wrong.  Here is a copy of the help document they sent me…unedited mind you.  I found it hilarious.

Power supply self-test.

Turn off your power supply.

Unplug all of connectors from your mobo & derives. Find a piece of metal paper clip, straight it up.

You can find a green wire on your 20 pin main power code (see picture), next to the green wire is black wire on each side. Insert your metal paper clip one end to green wire, the other end to either black wire. Then turn on your power supply to check if the power fan is spinning.

If the fan isn’t spinning, please, either return defective unit to where you purchased from or send e mail to  rma@sigmaproduct.com to request RMA #, in order to process return defective power unit.  If the power fan spins which power is good, please, check your rest of parts.

That’s right, they wanted me to jerry rig the power supply to test it. I know that this is a pretty standard self test method, but I couldn’t help but think that if the Sigma legal team saw this email they would blow a gasket. Also, the email reads like a 14 year old wrote it.

The icing on the cake was the return itself. After I shipped it to them they sent me a new one in the exact same shipping box, with the exact same packing bubbles. They even went as far as to rip off the 6 priority mail labels that I put on the box, so they could send it back to me UPS. What can I say though, they got me a new one, quickly, free of charge, but I can’t help but think that their RMA department is a just monkey with a box cutter.

How could the Western theme be so under used?  Since the first time I watched movies like Young Guns and Unforgiven, I’ve longed to step into the boots of an 1880′s American Western cowboy.  What could be more thrilling than forming a posse to collect the bounty on a wanted man, or running from a lynch mob, guns blazing, because you are that wanted man?  A few developers have dabbled in the Western genre.  Rockstar with Red Dead Revolver, Neversoft with Gun, and Ubisoft with Call of Juarez being the most notable, but there is still a lack of options.  Now that Western movies are regaining popularity, my desire to play this role is even stronger.  If you feel the same way, good news your way comes.

Rockstar is close to releasing their follow up to Red Dead Revolver with Redemption.  Redemption will be the first open world, sand box style game from Rockstar other than the GTA series.  The screens I have seen look incredible, and I can only imagine the possibilities of a Western-themed game with a GTA style.  Ubisoft is also releasing a sequel to Call of Juarez with Bound In Blood.  I have little details on the game other than it is an FPS with two playable characters.  I can say that the first Call of Juarez is a very good game with some unique mechanics, and a solid story.  Last, but certainly not least, there are rumors of Neversoft working on a sequel to Gun.  If you have never played these games, you owe it to yourself to do so.  I strongly recommend Gun to fans of action games.

Here’s to hoping these Wild West sequels make big enough waves to get more gamers and developers interested in the genre.  I think we could all use a break from WWII shooters.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/163366/hollywoods_victory_over_the_pirate_bay_will_be_shortlived.html

I play many roles in my life.  I am a son, a brother, a manager, even an artist.  My most important role, however, is being a single father.  I have a three year old son named Carter and he is my world.  As a gamer, I have been in many discussions about video games and today’s youth.  Many people blame the gaming industry for rising crime rates and the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation.  I use to just shrug these conversations off and get back to eating cheese curls and busting heads on Godhand.  Now that my son is old enough to play games, my attitude has changed a bit.  I have formed some strong opinions on the matter and wish to share them.  I would also like to hear what you guys think.

Too many times I have heard about lawyers defending young criminals by using violent games as a scape goat.  Sure, I agree that children are very impressionable.  I see it everyday with my son, but lets not forget that the ESRB rates the content in games before the game reaches store shelves.  If you are not familiar with ESRB, check out thier site, www.esrb.org.  Every retailer I have ever been in prohibits the sale of mature games to children based on these ratings.  That means that an adult had to have purchased that copy of GTA for the child before he or she stole a car and slapped a prostitute.  The key to avoiding these situations is to be involved in every aspect of your child’s life.  Go ahead and check out my Gamertag, lpm1, on XBOX LIVE.  You will see some really kiddy stuff on there, as well as some mature games.

My method of playing games with my child is simple; we play his games ( Kung Fu Panda, Cars, etc.) for no more than an hour a day.  We then go outside for no less than an hour.  We also read and write and draw together.  Most importantly, I never let him see my games with mature content.  To summarize, I am his father.  I am responsible for teaching him right and wrong, that responsibility doesn’t fall on Kratos.  I am in charge of his daily activities, and it is my duty to check the content in games before he plays.

So please, lets stop blaming the video game industry for our short comings as parents.  Instead, lets take responsibility for our children and learn to use gaming as a bonding tool.  My son and I are inseparable, and a big part of that is our daily gaming hour.

I would love to hear your comments on this topic, and any stories from fellow gaming parents have to share.  Now if you will excuse me, my son is with his mom today and Bioshock isn’t going to play itself.

I’m not insinuating that CTW should have sold GTA:IV numbers, but to not make the top 10 during the off season is a shock to the DS and gaming community.  With an over 31.93 million player install base the DS is bound to have some hardcore players in there somewhere.  These sales figures (or lack thereof) bring up alot of major industry questions.

Are hardcore gamers not looking for a hardcore DS game?

Are portable gamers looking for something that isn’t too involved?

Does this prove that Nintendo can only sell 1st party titles?

Would a follow up to the the GTA: “Stories” games on the PSP been a better idea?

Is this the end of hardcore 3rd party titles for the DS? (not that their were a lot to begin with)

Is the recession finally getting to the games industry? (17% is pretty big drop)

Does this prove that graphical power sells hardcore games?

Did all of the GTA fans spend their money on Pokemon instead? (805K units moved in March)

While none of these questions can be answered definitively, the fact remains that CTW underperformed.  Pokemon and GTA’s numbers should have been close if not identical.  Initial week sales are usually an indicator of a games overall performance, but many DS games are very slow burners (see New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS).  Maybe gamers are skeptical and will only buy this game if they see it in person.  Maybe the sales will stay steady and the success will come out in the wash.

If the DS is truly dying to core gamers (which right now is still a huge assumption), and the Wii fast becoming your grandmother’s system, are 3P developers going to limit their Nintendo releases to Cooking Mama and Imagine games?  The only real hardcore market that thrives on the DS is the RPG genre.  I would feel comfortable that the RPG gamer is not the same gamer as the GTA gamer.  So, its safe to bet, that even though Nintendo pulled several strings to GTA on the DS, all 3P companies will be watching the sales of CTW in the coming months before making development decisions.  OK Sony, go ahead and announce the PSP2 and feed off this press, you know you want to.

UPDATE: It gets worse, much worse!  The NPD released specific numbers for CTW and they are reporting that it sold “just under 90,000 units“.  Ouch!

1.  What is the cheapest Tactic a human has ever used against you?

2. What is the cheapest Tactic a game(AI) has ever used against you?

3. What is the cheapest Tactic “you” have used against another human or AI?

This does not have to be a fighting game.  Any game type, any scenario, that made you want to tear your hair out.  What was done to you can either be a game glitch, purpose programming, or physics exploit.

Here are my 3:

1. This title goes to Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance.  Bo Rai Cho player.  Character weapon(staff) was glitched where it would hit you from impossible distance with a nearly unstoppable and if you were able to block you would then be unable to stop the grab which would set you up for a punishing juggle.  Online kombatants would rinse and repeat this.  They were impossible to beat.  This was a PS2 game so no patching was possible.

2.   I played and beat Super Mario RPG by square on the SNES.  That is right, Ceezsa played a Square RPG and to completion none the less.  There is a bonus hidden battle you can fight that doesnt have to be fought to win the game.  The character was the master.  All his attacks had insane damage but that wasn’t the problem.  He had an attack called “Silver Bullet” I think.  This attack was instant death to one of your team mates.  There was nothing you could do about it.  It was completely random who he picked.  Your armor and hit points meant nothing.  He would dash across the screen and appear behind one character and then they would die and be un-revivable.  Oh it gets worse.  He would use it again and again.  One time he did the attack to all three of my team mates on each of his turns.  I said screw it and did not waste my time fighting him anymore.  I am not a grinder so my level was not super high but high enough to beat Smithy at the end of the game.  He can be beat but probably by a super high lvl team that does unrealistic damage.

3. This one is short and sweet.  I farted on my friend after eating some Tyson Spicy Buffalo Chicken Balls(real title) they look like popcorn chicken dipped in buffalo wing sauce.  Fumes were so rank my opponent(friend) eyes were watering.  He stuck in there and tried to finish the battle but was no match for my combo of excellent Blitz 2000(Testaverde) skills and chemical warfare.  Be careful using this one though.  My eyes were watering too.  From Crying Laughing.  But seriously that was a powerful poot.  I will never eat them buffalo balls again.  Burn on the way in and the way out.  Sry for that one.  >:-D

progress update of my home theater project

Onlive…it’s thinking (apparently really freaking hard)

If Onlive does become a new standard, with all of the computing being done of external servers, hardware upgrades would become irrelevant.  Is this the answer to rising next-gen console prices?  How long will it take to catch on (if ever) and what will the price point be?  OnLive’s CEO, Steve Perlman, has officially stated that the plan is for the launch price to be significantly lower than that of the Wii.  He ‘s even billing it as the the cheapest and most powerful console in the world.  Its true that if this catches on and becomes the norm I will miss collecting all my game’s and building a physical library of discs to line my book shelves (in lieu of actual books), but that didn’t stop me from appling to participate in the open beta this summer.  Thoughts?

-Wudanbal