.:join the dark side:.

i’m not an xbox360 fanboy or anything, but geez…really…microsoft has stepped it up pretty hardcore over the last couple of years. despite some hardware issues, i’d venture to say that, for the money, they have the best thing going.

i know there are probably 5000 ‘top xx# of reasons to buy a 360′ out there…but you know you can trust good ol’ uncle andrew’s opinion on this stuff, seeing that i am pretty awesome and all. here are the only reasons you’ll need to go ahead and buy one…

1. games, games and more games: if you went out and bought a 360 right this very second and you wanted to buy 10 absolutely amazing games, you could do that…no problem. that’s impressive. bioshock, gears of war, the orange box (halflife 2), the elder scrolls, forza 2, guitar hero 2/3, viva pinata, halo 3, ghost recon and virtua fighter 5. that doesn’t count the amazing xbox live arcade games that are pretty execeptional. lumines, puzzle quest, geometry wars, bugs, and pacman are some of them that are worth every penny, and range in price from about $6-$12.00.

and coming out: assassin’s creed, call of duty 4, rock band, mass effect, GTA4 (with exclusive episodic content slated for the future…)…the list goes on…

2. xbox live: pay $49.99 for the year, and that gets you access to online play with other live members, downloadable game content updates, HD movies, HD tv series shows, xbox live arcade and chat. microsoft has worked very hard to make an excellent piece of home entertainment equipment and not just a console. sure, nintendo has their own thing, but it’s slow and pretty limited. sure, sony has their own thing, but it’s in it’s fledgling stages, so not a lot of stuff is available.

3. optional HD-DVD player: i view ‘optional’ as a good thing. first off, you’re not forced into having something that may not end up being the standard (read sony’s blue-ray player in the PS3). and while it certainly seems that blue-ray is the direction things are going, microsoft left their options open. for those of you that absolutely must be on the bleeding edge, you can do that by purchasing the external drive. and for those of us that tend to be a little more cautious, we can wait until that battle is fought and finished and then make the right purchase.

4. price: wow, do you EVER get so much more bang for your buck with this thing, especially with the release of the new arcade version of the console. it feels like they have an xbox package that is right for everyone out there. you could go out and buy an xbox 360 for $279 and be just fine. that’s $30.00 more than the wii, and you get a hell of a lot more machine. for $70 more, you’d get a 20 gig hard drive and HDMI outputs. and if you’re really into it, for $449, you can get one with a black finish, 120 gig hard drive, and HDMI outputs. and because of their 2 year head start on the competition, they now have a pretty decent library of ‘value priced’ games, such as ghost recon 2, call of duty 2, viva pinata, kameo, and perfect dark zero to name a few.

5. future IPTV functionality: what this does is turn you 360 into a competitor for cable or satellite. within the next year, you’ll be able to watch regular television programming from you console. and you’ll DVR functionality as well. while pricing hasn’t been rolled out yet, it’ll be offered through your local tv service provider, so you can expect it to be on par…if not a little less than…cable or satellite.

i’ve given sony every opportunity to sell me a conole over the last year, and they’ve screwed it up every time. the price is WAY too high, blue-ray player and cool cell processor or not. hardware is just a hunk of garbage if there isn’t good enough content to make it a compelling enough purchase. and the wii…well, i bought one of those in the winter, and within a couple months i sold it. it was fun and cool to have, but i don’t think i’m really the target audience for it. i like games with a litte more depth. i also don’t play a lot of games with people much. and while the wii certainly encourages the social aspect of gaming as well as involvement from those that wouldn’t necessarily consider themselves gamers (that’s pretty darn admirable, by the way), it’s just not that interesting for me to have around. i love mario, zelda and metroid as much as the next guy…but it’s time to move onward and upward…

so there you have it. if you don’t have one, ask santa for it this holiday. you definitely will not be disappointed…

.:why all the fuss?:.

so like every other xbox360 owner, on tuesday, 9/25, i went out and purchased halo 3. i was pretty excited about it, but i wasn’t taking a day off like some friends did.

previous to this excursion, i had made it one other time. yes, i said that right…ONE other time. that was when the first halo came out. i thought it was a pretty good FPS, and i had a lot of fun playing it. but i didn’t go apeshit when the second one came out. i actually never went out and bought it. i borrowed it from a friend, played about 1/2 way through it, and then never finished it. i guess it was because it really wasn’t anything new. it was just the second part of a series of three games, and it really wasn’t that different from the first one.

but the third one i was looking forward to because i wanted to see how much it had changed between the two systems. as it were…again…there isn’t much of a difference. there’s that old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. and while i’m generally one to follow those wise words, this time i kind of like that rule should’ve been broken. halo 3, while it is cool and looks really good and is still fun…it’s more of the same thing.

it is because of this that i’m so confused as to why all of these gaming sites and magazines are treating it like the second coming. gamespot, a site that i frequent for game reviews because they generally tend to be pretty tough and i generally tend to agree with them, gave halo 3 a whopping 9.5. metacritic, a site that takes and averages review scores from multiple sources, gave it a 95.

i’m starting to think that microsoft made some payoffs.

now, granted, i’ve just recently played and completed the game bioshock…and i’m willing to admit that it could be skewing my view a bit. bioshock is, hands down, one of the best FPSs i’ve ever played in my many, many years of gaming. it definitely raised the bar for what things could be like…kind of like the first halflife did when it first came out. but i’m a pretty objective fellow, so i feel like i can safely say that…honestly…halo is a good game, but it is DEFINITELY not the masterpiece that everyone seems to think it is.

i guess i should define what a really great game has in order to give you an idea of what i’m comparing it against. a really great game, in my opinion, has three things going for it:

• innovative/interesting sensory perception presentation: in other words, cool graphics combined with cool audio and a cool story combine for a cool experience. remember the first time you played doom and you were absolutely amazed at how creepy the environment was and how you felt like they had really achieved 3d? kind of like that…
• innovative gameplay elements: there should be a certain gameplay mechanic that makes the game interesting and unique to play. for example, think about the first time you played grand theft auto and you realized how absolutely huge the game was and how you could quite litereally do just about anything you wanted. specifically, remember how fun it was to jack a car for the first time? that was truly innovative.
• replay value: a game that keeps you coming back for more over and over and over again is truly magical. the perfect example here is super mario bros. that came out over 20 years ago…and you still love it. it was so simple and yet there was so much to it…the secret worlds, the different paths. it’s what nintendo has banked on for as long as they’ve been in existence.

one other thing to keep in mind: you should keep in mind the time period in which the game was released. obviously, the first quake isn’t real high on the sensory perception scale anymore. but at the time…wow…it was absolutely amazing.

and, just for kicks, i think you should know what i consider to be some top games (in no particular order)…

1. castle wolfenstein…the original: not the 3d one…the one for the apple IIe. i remember playing this game and thinking that i had died and gone to heaven. i couldn’t stop thinking about it. subtlety, subterfuge, and strategic thinking drew you into the game and wouldn’t let you go. it is my belief that all of the ’silent ops’ type games (metal gear, splinter cell, etc.) are all based off of this game.

2. quake: i remember working at this computer store at the time quake came out, and i remember wanting to build a computer specifically to take advantage of everything cool about quake. i got my extra ram. i got my sweet-ass diamond voodoo add-on card. i got my pentium 166 CPU. i hooked all of this up to my stereo through my original sound blaster card, and i was set to go. this was one of the first games that was was really 3d, really unforgivingly violent, and really creepy all the way through.

3. diablo: i enjoy a good RPG as much as the next guy, but they can be incredibly time consuming. and then along came diablo…the perfect combination of hack-and-slash and RPG elements. and it was simple too. you picked one of three character types…warrior, rogue, or wizard…and you proceeded through many a dungeon killing and pillaging and collecting cool weapons and levelling up your ablilities. and not only could you do it alone, but you could do it with 4 other people too from four completely different locations. when diablo first came out, i swear that i didn’t do so hot in school…

4. halflife: the first FPS to take advantage of film production values. the plot was extremely well thought out, and that was what kept you playing the game. an FPS is an FPS…and i think sierra knew that. so this game took what could have been a quake ripoff and turned it into a franchise that has since eclipsed the popularity of quake.

5. world of warcraft: if i had to give a #1 spot for any game, then this would occupy it. i know a lot of people would argue with me in that the game is not as accessible to the general populace. however, i have never ever played a game that has engaged me to keep playing as much as this one has. it has been out for almost three years, and i still play it. blizzard is notorious for creating game franchises that are extremely well thought out, easy/fun to learn/play but difficult to master and very high-quality gameplay. this one does all of the above and then some. 8 million people+ pay a monthly subscription to play it. it averages about $12.00 a person. you do the math.

and then there are all of the other ones that i’ll spare you the details on…games like starcraft, tetris, mario, zelda, prince of persia, metroid, final fantasy, gears of war, metal gear, system shock, bioshock, thief, wing commander, the oddworld series, knights of the old republic, fable, black & white, earthworm jim, ratchet & clank, god of war, grand theft auto…i’ve played ‘em all, friends…

…and i can safely tell you that halo is good…not great…but just good.

i was discussing this with some friends the other day, and i have come to the conclusion that the reason why people think the halo series is so awesome is because it’s the very first console game that did a really amazing job with the multiplayer aspect. and not just multiplayer in the sense of everyone huddled around a single console and a single TV divided into 4 tiny parts. we’re talking online multiplayer through xbox live. certainly not a big deal for those who were/are computer gamers. it had been done. but this was revolutionary for the console.

however, i  enjoy the single player campaigns of games quite a bit. and i gotta’ say that the single player campaign for halo 3 kind of sucks overall. i started playing it and wasn’t that impressed. then i reached a point maybe an hour or two in where i thought, ‘wow, ok…this is pretty cool’. then, yesterday, i very abruptly beat the game. i would say that i spent a grand total of 8 hours beating the game…if that. and i must’ve missed something because i feel like the whole website for halo 3 is disconnected from the actual events in the game. on the site, there’s a really huge battle that you can scroll through, and there’s a part where you see master chief being held up by one of the bad guys like he has been captured. he’s holding a grenade, and the caption is something about how they won the war by master chief willingly giving himself up to the enemy. i don’t know about you, but i sure as hell never reached a point where i ‘willingly’ gave myself up. i kicked ass the entire way through to the end. i blew up truth, i smashed spark into a million pieces and i fired off halo to erradicate the flood. i escaped on a ship with the arbiter. and we nodded at each other like, ‘yeah. rock. we just tore some stuff up. let’s go have a beer’.

then, all of a sudden, old guy hood is giving some speech about everybody sacrificing their lives and how it’s hard to believe that the spartan (i.e. you) is dead. and the arbiter AGREES. what?! roll credits. WHAT??!?!?!

to make matters worse, at the end of the credits, you’re floating around in a blown up space ship with cortana and you guys are chatting about how it’s going to take years for you to be rescued. and you step into your stasis bed and say something like, ‘wake me when you need me.’ end of story.

8 hours. 60 bucks. doesn’t seem quite fair to me. sure, i could go through again with my buddies on co-op…and i probably will. sure, i can play some multiplayer PVP stuff. but geez…8 hours for the single player campaign?! 8 hours for more of the SAME from the last two games?!

final verdict for halo 3: 8.0

.:flash game crack for kids:

so here’s what i’m going to do. i’m going to give you a little something that is going to completely ruin your productivity.  anything that you think you want to get done for the day, you can just forget about it if you click on the picture to the left.

i’m going to introduce you to the world of desktop tower defense…one of the stupidest, most mindless, ridiculous and yet completely and utterly addictive to the Nth degree.

don’t say i didn’t warn you.

i bet if you played this and watche ‘lost’ at the same time, your freakin’ head’d explode.

.:you too can be the six-million dollar man…except you really kick a lot of ass:.

system: xbox 360

one sentence description: grand theft auto meets ‘a scanner darkly’ style and gives birth to a genetically enhanced cop you control.

graphics: 9 - sweet, sweet cartoonish rotoscope cartoon style.

sound: 7 - guns, explosions, grunts of pain, cars, city sounds…somewhat annoying music.

challenge: 7 - it ain’t hard, friends. you run/jump/drive around a huge city and blow stuff up. wash. rinse. repeat. for those seeking instant gratification, you’ve hit the jackpot. but it gets a little repetitive.

value: 7 - once you’ve got it figured out, it’s not a big deal. it’s just a matter of starting to trudge through the levels. it’s pretty highly open ended…almost too much so…and there really sin’t much of a story going on. good if you don’t care about that.

bias: 8 - i have a tendency to like these kinds of games. it’s just as good as ’saints row’, if not a little better in some ways. it’s a rush to get your agility way, way up and then jump off of huge buildings.

total 8 - i wouldn’t spend $60.00 on it, but i wouldn’t just want to rent it for a day or too either. it’s really a pretty fun game…it just doesn’t feel like there’s a cohesive story in it. and that’s fine…but that’s one of the things that makes GTA and games that are similar to it pretty cool. while things are open ended, there’s always that story line that is driving you to complete the game. in this, since there is no story line, it has to rely on you building your cop’s abilities up and being able to do cooler things with him.

.:sickssucks:.

can’t win for losing. this weekend, i had a good friend in town to hang out, and what happens? the little annoying cough that i have all week decides that it wants to blow up into a full-on big annoying cough…complete with stuff in the chest and staying awake and night and everything. very fun and exciting for all. the funny thing is that all of this comes on after my ulcerative colitis appears to be going into a steady remission…which is awesome. i’m not complaining, though. i’ll take a cough minus the UC anyday.

what did i do to start putting this into remission? well, i’m not sure. it seems to be a combination of a couple of different things. first of all, i need to thank this random person jess for writing me from a post i had written here awhile back. jess took the time to give me a bunch of great advice on changing my diet up a little bit. we’re talking a MONSTER e-mail here. it was a great! she gave a me a large amount of stuff to think about in the way of what i should and should not be eating, and i’ve taken that and begun to put it into practice. the most dramatic change has come in the sense that i’m not allowing myself soda ever again. i’ve been fooling myself into thinking that i could perhaps get away with one a day. but i can’t do that. i’ve been drinking soda since i was a wee kid, and it’s all or nothing for me. if i take a sip, it turns into a glass. a glass turns into a bottle, and the bottle turns into several…and then it’s over for me. it’s for the best though. drinking soda is like drinking battery acid anyway.

i’ve also stopped eating beans. that kind of sucks because i really like beans. they happen to be a staple for dinner. but no more of them for me.

no more seed type thing (sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, etc.). no more peanuts. no more stuff with skin (potatoes, grapes, etc.). there are a number of other things, but those are the main ones.

i’ve also started taking some aloe pills. i have no clue if they’re working or not, but i’m trying them anyway just for kicks. i’ve tried taking fish-oil in the past, but believe you me, friends…burping up fish oil is not a very pleasant experience. i’ll go no further in my description of that. i think i’m also going to be trying some probiotics along with it. it can’t hurt.

but i think the main thing that i feel fairly certain is doing the job for me is something that i’m a little scared to tell my doctor about. i’m taking something called hyoscyamine. the reason why i’m scared to tell the doctor is because he didn’t prescribe it. my friend who had UC (he had the surgery) used it with a good deal of success. he gave me some to try, and low and behold, it seems to be doing the job! the main thing it’s doing is taking away all of the anxiety i feel associated with having this condition. in other words, i don’t constantly think about how i’m going to get to the restroom. this allows me to focus on other things…like work, for example…and that makes a huge amount of difference for me. it feels like i’m doing a better job. as my friend said when he first described it, ‘it just takes the edge off.’ and it’s true. it also does the following:

“It works by decreasing the motion of the stomach and intestines and the secretion of stomach fluids, including acid. Hyoscyamine is also used in the treatment of bladder spasms, peptic ulcer disease, diverticulitis, colic, irritable bowel syndrome, cystitis, and pancreatitis.” - Medline Plus Drug information

I’m prety excited about it because this is the first time in a long time that i’ve felt pretty normal.

i’m still addicted to the ol’ macbook pro. the thing is awesome. the friend that visited me bought one around the same time i did, and he’s just as infatuated. programs like this along make the macbook a worthy investment……

i’m playing a kickarse game for the xbox 360 called crackdown. any game where you can run through a giant city as basically what equates to a futuristic bionic man on steroids automatically makes it awesome. you can do cool things like jump 30 ft. into the air while blasting bad guys in the skull. you can pick up giant cars and hurl them hundreds of feet. the great thing about the game isn’t necessarily that it’s a free-form grand theft auto style blast fest. it also combines elements of a good platformer into it, and by platformer, i mean mario bros. or ratchet and clank or something like that. it’s really a lot of fun and it gets my stamp of approval recommendation.

i’m pretty addicted to lost right now. locke is a bad man.

also watching prison break, which is very, very intense. i’ve said this several times to friends before, but i’ll say it here for the record. you’d think you could only go so far with the idea of a prison break, but it actually ends up being a very, very clever show.

finally, thanks to my friend brian c. for passing along this nifty little tool: http://www.crazyegg.com/. kind of a cool new spin on ‘web stats’.

othewise, that’s all i gots. i’m extremely tired right now, so you’ll have to pardon my lack of cohesiveness in this post. i’m babbling like a madman. however, next on the agenda we’re going to talk about web widgets. an example of a web widget is my cool little widget off to the left in the nav bars of my site here. more on that later.

for now, i’m going to swallow some green death flavored nyquil and pass out.

until we meet again, friends…

.a.out.