Gamercard Update, RR6=HELL

Well, I'm currently in the gaming hell that is Ridge Racer 6, one of the worst, most painstakingly-boring and frustrating games I've ever played. Therefore, I've changed my Gamercard pic and motto to reflect the current pain I'm in:


The main reason I hate the game is because it really isn't a racing game:

• You start at the end of the 14-car pack every race


• You have to weave in and out of the surprising slower pack (in the easier races)


• The insanely stupid 'bumper-car' collisions of walls and cars


• The stupid "drifting" which is horribly done; the cars are like "slot cars" going around the track and when drifting the opponents cars are almost sideways making them incredibly hard to get around


• After hitting walls or cars, your speed is dramatically reduced (that's why you have to weave in and out of the pack)


• The enemy cars' rubberband AI which, in the harder levels, always has to be in front of you and has unlimited nitrous to do so


• The enemy cars' reliance on their unlimited nitrous reserve, yet they only start using it if you are in front of them, or have already used your own very limited supply


• The only way to beat the cars in the later stages is to get in front of them, watch both ahead of you and behind you, and block them from getting around you when they inevitably blast off with their nitrous


• Each race HAS to be 3 laps each and makes for a unneccersarily long game

These make the game not racing, but a game of dodgeball with bumper cars. There's no skill in negotiating turns, only when to start "drifting". In the easier levels, the enemy cars are too easy and there's no satisfaction in winning them, then when it gets to the later part of the game, the AI, with its unlimited nitrous, persistance, and unnatural 'driving' skill, the game is too hard. It's so frustrating when you've been working 3 long laps to fend off the cars behind you while paying attention to what's in front of you, to lose at the last second by the cheap AI (that's the only way that you can yourself most of the time). When you do win, it's not satisfying that you've won due to your racing skill, just mostly luck and intense concentration. The only reason I've kept going with this game is I'm so close to completing the game to give up now, so I've pushed myself to continue. Honestly, when a game is a chore, then, it's not a game anymore. :/

The game also has a really bad achievement system. There's a LOT of setup work and you have to play a LONG time before you can get any achievements, the points they award you for don't merit the amount of time and dedication allotted to them. There's also long droughts between each achievement. Just to give you an idea of the insanity behind these achievements, I'll give you an example: there's an achievement for driving 10,000 miles.

Other less annoying points, the default "DJ" voices is one of the most annoying people things to hear (the other unlockable DJs aren't much better, but are tolerable). Most of the game's music is also pretty bad as well, though the ending movie's theme song is pretty catchy (good thing I can replace it with my own). ;)

I've also removed HyperBomberman because I've never played with him (or have ever sent him a message and vice versa). He has Ridge Racer 6, but hadn't played it in a while, but after seeing that I was much further than him, he has started to try and catch up with me (most recently doing the 50 Online Victories). I guess he's trying to compete with me. Well, since I'd never heard from him and the only reason I had him on my list was that he was from the UK and sent me a friend request Aafter only seeing him for a second in a Gaunlet lobby, I decided to remove him. He most likely only sent me a friend request just because I had a higher Gamerscore. I can tell that after having him on my list for months now and have never played with him yet or had any contact, I almost definitely never will, so I don't need him on my list.

Shout-outs to my Xbox Live homies!

A while back I wrote a post called "Strange Live-fellows; well, since then I've gotten a few new acquaintances/friends on Live:

BarebackRex : 14-year-old from Northern Scotland I met while playing Perfect Dark Zero co-op online/ nice kid, though I have a hard time understanding what he's saying because of his strong accent/ What's up, mate! :D

Sovereign Phil : quirky guy from North Carolina I met while playing Dead or Alive 4 about a month ago/ helped me out with getting some achievements/ "Maniacal laugh!" ;)

YummyBooger : nice guy from Detroit I met while playing DOA4 through Sovereign Phil/ now that I think about it, he seems to have dropped off my friends list for some reason; what's up with that?! :-/

Devil Jin27 : Cool guy I met playing DOA4 through Sovereign Phil from Philadelphia, PA/ we have a friendly competition with our Gamerscore (when I first met him, his score was slightly higher than mine, then mine was higher, etc...)/ loves Burnout Revenge! ;)

MarineSaunders : nice guy from Tennessee whom I met while playing Ridge Racer 6 last week/

Sadly, there really isn't many females playing on Live (though I have a few on my friends list), but you really can't be sure about who you meet online (I was talking about this with Devil Jin27 last night). I've met some a lot of cool people online that I will probably never meet in person, but I would probably be good friends with them if we ever did.

Take care, guys and I'll see you online again soon!

Devil Jin27

Welcome to my blog! :D

Because of you I stayed up way too late playing DOA4 and chatted for way too long, but I had fun, so I don't find. I need to put up some art here for you (and everyone) to check out, as well as more of my photographs (I like landscapes).

Hopefully, you won't find anything embarrassing and I won't regret being so flippant with my personal info. ;)

Have fun here and I will try to update more often.

My Gamercard motto favorites

Well, when I was into Dead or Alive 4 playing mode (just got back into it again recently), I changed my Gamerpic to one of the free Helena (from DOA4) pics, because they only had female characters and Helena is my favorite of the ones that were offered. I also changed my motto to "AllNudeClonesMustDie!" to display my hatred for the Dead or Alive 4 final boss, who is quasi-nude and a clone of one of the playable characters (players will know why I dislike her so much). :)

Previously, I've had my motto advertising this very blog (might not be such a good idea since anyone , even people who are not on my friends list, though if I wanted to, I can change the options in the Xbox 360's privacy settings to not anyone, or only friends view my profile, motto, etc...). I've also had it proclaim my 'need' for acquiring Gamerscore points in a joking way (along with a reference to a Ministry song ): "Just 1 (G) fix!"; (G) = Gamerscore.

I can't remember any of the other mottos I've had, but currently I've changed my Gamerpic to one of the new (?) free Amped 3 pics I've found offered (J-Dawg) and my favorite quote from the game (which I've blogged about previously): "Colonotronics Arts".

Well, now that I'm playing Perfect Dark Zero (yeah, I thought the game was horrid the first time I played it) and trying for all of the achievements, or at least all of the achieveable achievements, I've decided to change my motto and gamerpic to something more current. Motto: "KILLharmonicOrchestra" (a phrase from PDZ that I just love; the game announces this when you have tallied 25 kills without being done in yourself), Gamerpic: Ms. Dark.

March 02, 2006- Just changed it. Now, it's another picture from Amped 3 and the motto is a referrence to one of my favorite shows, MXC: "Don't Get Eliminated!"

Yeah, real exciting, right? ;p

Death of a pet

Well, yesterday my rat, 3B (or Big-Balled Bastard for long) died. He hadn't been doing too good the last month or more. He lost all use of his back legs and hips and all of his muscles were atrophied and he was losing a lot of body mass everywhere. He was losing hair in places and he had a bad cataract in his left eye (and a lesser one, I think, in his right one).

He was my first rat and several friends were perplexed why I would actually want one as a pet. Well, it really wasn't my idea. Someone at my mother's job had some babies and was asking around the office for anybody who would want one. My mother was interested and I had never had a rat, but have had hamsters and a few guinea pigs when I was younger. I'd heard they were intelligent and you could teach them tricks. I never taught him anything, but sometimes I'd let him sit on my shoulder or run back and forth on the back of the couch. When people were sitting on the couch, he'd check them out and sometimes try to eat their hair. :)

He was cute and I was glad to have had the experience of caring for him. He lived from about September 2003 to January 2006. I will miss him, but I'm glad he doesn't have to suffer anymore.

R.I.P. 3B

Amped 3 is fun...and weird / SLC2002

After receiving Amped 3 in the mail Friday, I finished it tonight (minus the Supreme Snow God achievement , which requires me to a get a gold medal on all challenges and is not something I'm planning on doing ;). I got a gold on the majority of challenges, but just like getting all platinum medals on Project Gotham Racing 3 is something which I might be able to accomplish given the time/practice and patience, but it's not worth it to me. I'm not as good as J. Allard, but I also don't get all the games for free. ;p Yeah, that just my way to say I'm jealous and I 'suck'. :)

I only rented this game and will probably only keep it a couple of days more (long enough to check out the co-op sled crashing games with my brother), but I'm ready to send it back now. I've played all of the Amped series so far and the first game was one of the games I was anticipating before the launch of the original Xbox. Back then, Indie Built/Access Software was a part of Microsoft Games Studios and it was quite a surprise when they were sold (along with several other sports properties) by Microsoft to Take 2. I was a little anxious about what would happen to my favorite "action sports" game series.

While it has changed, mainly in the controls and the fact that there is a 'story' now (which is actually quite funny in a kind of Adult Swim way and is full of old school game references). It's still Amped and is still fun and I enjoy it for everything that I did with the first 2 games, though I wish they could have improved the graphics a little more and kept (and even improved) the online mode.

The mountian resorts are huge (bigger seemingly than the others in the game, though there is a smaller selection). Snowbird is HUGE and really nice but, having been there in real-life, it feels great to actually "ride" it since I didn't get to ride while I was there. I was there enjoying the Red Bull Huck Fest one day in early 2002 during my month-long stay with my brother during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. I never realized how big Snowbird was, but it seemed pretty cool what little I saw of it. I bought some stickers for my friends and I and had to leave shortly after the competition.

Brighton, a resort that was featured in the first Amped video game, has sadly not made a return to the sequels, and is definitely my favorite winter resort that I've been to. I don't know why I like it so much. I guess because I like the layout of the trails and how private some of the areas are and all the trees. Maybe, also because I became so familiar with it, as I got to spend every Saturday there while I was in Utah. I'm not an excellent snowboarder, by any means, and, living in Ohio, sadly there are not many chances to ride 'real' mountains (there is Mad River Mountain, but that's barely a hill ;).

When I was out in Utah, it was the first time I had ever really been on a real mountain, and before then, I'd never even learned how to carve (I could go down facing one side but, couldn't turn and go the other way, similar to Zoolander's fear of walking down the runway). Before having some friends, who worked at The Canyons, teach some basics, I went from not being able to go down a run without falling every single time to riding down double-blues (and even some single black) trails with confidence. Having been a proficient skateboarder, it definitely helped with my balance. It took me a couple of hours in a single day and from then on, I've been hooked and have taken every opportunity to get some slope time. I love it more than skateboarding now, since it doesn't hurt as much when you fall. :)

I guess I can't really tell you about me being in Utah for the Olympics and not give you a little bit of context as to my purpose for being there (and it wasn't just to snowboard :) as well as share a little tale relating to my time at Brighton and Amped. My little brother (his blog is in my links) had just gotten back from doing his DTS (see my earlier post for a link explaning what these are) in New Zealand (wish I could have gone :( ). Some of his instructors were also doing a related outreach through SFC, a related Christian organization, during the 2002 Winter Olympics and had invited him to come and help out. I went along, as well as one of Dan's (my little brother) friends from church.

I just had gotten my Xbox a few months before and was started to go into withdrawals after a couple of days and my kind mother, sent my Xbox, some games, and some Official Xbox Magazines in the mail. We rented Amped (I had played it before) and I shared it with the rest of the snowboarders there and they just loved it. It really was cool riding Brighton virtually while we were there.

On Saturdays, we went to Brighton to ride and hand out hot chocolate to people waiting in lift lines. On one of these visits, there was a competition at the terrain park and I met one of the developers of Amped (proudly proclaimed on the back of his jacket). I talked to him for a while and even got his autograph (he signed my lift ticket! :). He was there to watch the competition with his wife and kids and seemed amused that I was acting so star-struck. My brother got to talk to another of the Amped developers, who had previously worked at the famed AM2 development team at Sega, while sitting on a lift ride with him.

We had the pleasure of staying most of our time in Park City & Salt Lake City with ~30 people from all around the world. I helped out in the office making security passports/lanyards for people and making flyers/advertisements for competitions we were running in the Park City area. It was such a great experience and I met some great people there. I also took part in an event in Salt Lake City's history (other than the Olympics): the first time the local (Mormon) government had allowed Christian musicians performing on the streets downtown. There was a stipulation which we followed even if the crowd wanted to hear it: we couldn't "witness". That night, the last day of the Olympics, the crowd was overly rowdy and after the Budweiser Garden, which was right next to where we were set up, got shut down, the rowdiness turned into a full-blown riot. I honestly didn't even know there was one until hearing about it the next day.

I leave you with a joke name from Amped 3 for one of Indie Built's competitors, which is the evil mega-corporation in the game: "Colonitronics Arts, Inc." Let's see if you can figure that out. ;) I personally think it should have been "Colonictronic Arts, Inc." (would have been funnier).

Strange "Live"-fellows

In a relational entry to my last post, playing Gauntlet and Dead or Alive 4 last night, I made 4 new friends (2 being far apart geographically from each other and me, though maybe not so much, culturally, 2 very close to me geographically) on Xbox Live.

One from Mexico (this just being one small piece of info gleaned from his Gamercard). He didn't talk much (or at all) when playing and I wasn't sure if he had his mic on and could hear me, but after playing, I got a friend request and through a few voice messages between himself and I, I got to know him (just slightly) better. After, Gauntlet, we played some Smash TV, but he got disconnected. I'm looking forward to finishing the whole game online soon.

Another of my new friends I made last night, while playing Gauntlet, made an impression on me with his sense of humour and him stating that he had played Gauntlet when he was younger. I'd never played Gauntlet until downloading it in the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and was about to write off the game, but after playing online with some fun people, I've started to see a little of the appeal of it.

During the game, there was some unexplainable lag and the three of us made it through without much complaining and just enjoyed our game. Afterwards, I reviewed my recent players list and sent him a friend invite and noticed he resides in Canada (specifically British Columbia) and added a voice message in the invite stating that I had the pleasure of visting there about 2 years ago. He initiated a private chat soon after granting my request (on the Xbox 360, you can chat in up to 4 seperate "private chat" channels, though only 1 at a time, but you can being doing completely unrelated tasks while chatting).

For the next couple of hours (and probably longer than we should have), we chatted about miscellaneous topics and exchanged IM addresses (upon his request). I don't know if it was just me being tired, or my tendency to sometimes be unguarded online (though anyone who knows me personally knows that I am completely opposite in person), but our chat extended beyond just small talk and I directed him to my blog here. I felt a little vulnerable being that I was being this open to a complete stranger whom I had never known before that night and had never seen in person, but I think we got along pretty well and look forward to more gaming sessions with him.

Earlier in the night, also in Gauntlet, one of the persons I was gaming with and I started conversing about ourselves and it came up that he lived in Cincinnati which is very close to where I am. After a bit, he had to leave but not before sending me a friend request.

Even before the Gauntlet and SmashTV, I was hosting some Dead or Alive matches and one of the players I was fighting with (and having a good time losing to) asked where I happened to live and I mentioned Ohio. He then revealed that he lived in Middletown and I asked him if he'd heard of Huber Heights. It was pretty funny on that we lived so close, but what made it fun to play with him was his sense of humor and fighting skill despite the major lag preventing a "real" display of our abilites.

I had a lot of fun just in one night on Xbox Live and it makes me wonder why I sometimes shy away from playing online. I already have quite a large friends list, so I usually just play by myself unless I get an game invite, though with the improvements made to Xbox Live (in particular the "Zones"), it makes finding compatible people even easier.

Xbox Live Voyeurs (and Exhibitionists)

I think the Xbox Live functionality of the original Xbox is great, and has been much improved with the Xbox 360, with its "rich presence" (basically it says what you are up to, similar to any IM program, ie: away, on the phone, etc...).

Now instead of just being able to see what friends on your list are online, and what game they are playing, now it goes deeper. In certain games, the amount of info broadcasted about precisely what you are doing is somewhat surprising (and just a little scary). Not to be alarmed or anything, but it is funny to see exactly where in a level of Condemned someone on my friends list is, or what their score currently is on a particular type of game mode in Hexic.

Last night, I was able to see that J. Allard having only one achievement left to unlock in Madden (see my earlier post for more clarification on what these are), was playing Madden and, using my excellent brain, figured out that he was trying to get that last one (bringing his daunting Gamerscore up close to 8000). I sent him a text message wishing him luck in unlocking it and suggested him to finish Gun for more Gamerpoints to add to his total , and in closing, jokingly calling him a "(G) - whore" [(G)= Gamerscore]. A couple of hours later, after having gotten the achievement, he changed his motto to "30 Long Years-GSW" [GSW=GamerScore Whore]. It was almost like an inside joke reffering to my earlier message.

Now, along with all of the information being sent out in real-time, I can also see what game my friends are playing, how far they are in certain games (and how good they are as well), by checking out their Gamercard. Mine is on this very blog (try clicking on it!).

This brings me to another related topic about Xbox Live and human nature: with this much information being given out, it's easy to become fascinated with what everyone else in your clique is doing, what games they are buying, and how far they've gone in certain ones and in games that we both have, it can un-intentionaly become a competition just by comparing your scores and/or achievements. I think it brings out the human voyeuristic tendencies to 'obsessively observe sordid or sensational subjects'. Some people could take that further though, to the stalking stage. :)

Sometimes I wonder if my intense interest in what others are doing in their games is a little unhealthy (in the same unhealthy way that the media has an infatuation with celebrities' personal lives). I think it brings me closer to my friends (though I sadly am not all that "close" to any of my online friends), even though no direct contact has been made. This information serves a useful purpose, though, in determining which games my friends have and what games I might like to play and being to play online with them, so it is nice that it's there and that I can contact them whenever they are online (or offline through leaving a voice and/or text message) if I so desire. :)

NYE, Christmas, moving and a ham sandwich

I helped my friend, Ben, move out today (good luck with your new place!). I had expected we'd hang out afterwards and celebrate NYE in style, but no such luck. Him being tired and all and being sensitive to his new roommates was the reason and I totally respect that, but now it means another holiday alone and uneventful. :( I'll get by with some live trance streams and some gaming.

I'm going to miss both of his miniature Dachshunds and their unique ways of greeting me (by trying to bite my nose) and I most likely won't be seeing him as much since he now lives about 30 minutes away and has roommates, but I'm glad that's he's got a new place. Change is hard. I'll get used to it, though.

Instead of an excuse to celebrate, the holidays this year for me have been uneventful and seriously depressing as I've spent them alone and have not really thought of them as being special days (we didn't even set up a tree for Christmas this year). I got some presents early (though selfish desire is not the reason for Christmas, only the most recognizable tradition), but we didn't really have any family over or have a gift exchange this year. This is the end result of a slowly graduating isolatist trend for me and I don't like the outcome.

That will have to be something I will work in this new year, a time where change is something we can't avoid and we take the time to reflect on ways we can change ourselves (and hopefully improve).

I have some goals for this new year:

eat better

exercise more

lose weight

do a DTS in the Spring (I'm looking at several: one in Colorado, one in Perth, Australia, and some in Japan

get out of debt

my happiness to be independent of exterior factors (most likely the one on my list that will be hardest to come by)

This year has been very challenging for everyone around me. My friends and family have each had hardships that were very trying for them and I'm glad that they've overcome. Life is (or should be) constant improvement and change, leaving me to feel as one who's life hasn't been lived.

Damn, this post is impulsive and bleak. Oh well, I wrote it already so it's too late to turn back now. What's a "personal" journal if one can't bare their soul every one in a while. :p

More 360 'lists'

Falling in line with my post (...and now the bad), one of the writers for Joystiq.com had a list of his own. While there are some of the same items on his list, there were a few that I hadn't really experienced (and therefore didn't know about yet), plus it's pretty well written.

He did get some flak for it and wrote a companion piece with suggestions from other who wrote him.

The good thing about writing these lists, or posting at the official Xbox forums (especially the Wish List and Feedback forum), is that according to Major Nelson and John Porcaro, "the dev team listens to constructive (and occasionally unconstructive) feedback, and prioritize future development accordingly."

Narnia & Call of Duty 2

I saw Narnia yesterday with family (as something of a Christmas tradition), went out to eat at the nearby Penn Station and after returning home, finished up Call of Duty 2.

I thought Narnia was okay: the CGI/compositing was pretty bad in some places, the acting was alright, but I just didn't feel connected to the story or characters. Though reading C.S. Lewis as a child and having family members who loved the series, I just don't find myself caring for the story as much as the Lord of the Rings books.

I'd read the Hobbit as required reading in junior high and liked it, but only when I heard more about the movies did I actually have more interest in reading the rest of Tolkien's books. I read the trilogy months before the first LotR movie came out and I really enjoyed it (as well as the movies themselves). I think Narnia is mainly written for kids and therefore I don't have as much interest in it. I might re-read them as an adult, but if they make any more Narnia movies, they'd better put a lot more effort and money into them.

What I want to see right now is King Kong. Peter Jackson (along with the rest of his Kiwi troup) are extremely talented and I can't wait to see how Weta and Peter Jackson bring the Halo franchise to the big screen.

Oh, Call of Duty 2 has an excellent single player campaign. Challenging on the hardest difficulty but very rewarding because of it. The environments and sound are extremely immersive and a joy to be in. The stages are full of variety and there are some really fun levels to play, like the tanks missions especially. I rented it and have already sent it back in the mail, but what an amazing game. Though, I'm glad to be done with it, as there were some excrutiatingly hard parts to it. :)

Condemned is completed; 'OCD' be damned!

Well, not 100% complete meaning that I've unlocked all of the achievements. There's 3 I've not not gotten: Silver and Gold Mayhem (beat 3 levels/whole game with melee only) and the Melee Freedom (find every melee weapon and firearm in the game). I'm pretty sure I've gotten every weapon in the game and I was considering going through the game again (or at least 3 levels) with only melee weapons, but 90 Gamerpoints is not worth it to me. Once through was enough for me, besides I've got Call of Duty 2 and I'd much rather play through the rest of that game than go through Condemned again. ;)

...and now the bad

While I still think the Xbox 360 is a great game system, I think there could be improvements to it. These are all things that would make usability improved and could be changed just by downloading an update online (or however else they want to do it). MS has improved the UI and added features through Xbox Live on the old Xbox, so it's not much of a stretch. This list runs from small annoyances to minor gripes about how they implemented a certain aspect.

Well, here goes:

Media Playback
* When a game takes control back over the game, the music you are playing stops, then restarts at beginning of track, it should pause, then resume exactly where it left off (though at least it saves your playlist and resumes playing at the beginning of that track)
* More Codec Support (streaming from PC, reading off removable media and USB storage)
* APE/FLAC, etc audio support (at least support the GNU/Open Source ones; I don't expect you to support the commercial codecs; you could make the commercial codecs premium content)
* XVID, AVI, etc video support (")
* Better/more controls for movie and DVD playback (fast forward, rewind, skip frame)
* scrolling titles in music and marketplace content in menu
* When playing music that the Xbox 360 has generated as a "playlist", you should be able to see the playlist and switch to tracks you want instead of only being able to skip one track at a time
* Music playing in the Xbox 360 should keep playing or pause like it should when a game takes control back, and resume when you change games in XLA
* Media streaming from SAMBA shares: why with all the talk of wanting to connect to everything, did you not support allow networking to work without using WMC (thereby excriminating against Linux, etc users). I was VERY unhappy when I tried to install it on XP x64 until I found a workaround for it.
* Movie playback without MCE: I think the MCE interface is very appealing and that should be added value when playing back media on your Xbox 360, but it shouldn't be a requirement (I understand about all of the extra stuff like playing back DVR content; that would also be added value for MCE users). $400 dollars for a console is not cheap and for people that don't have MCE, seeing that as being a prerequisite instead of an enhancement for movie playback, just looks like you are purposefully trying to cripple the 360 just to make more MCE sales.

Menu Enhancements
* Remember position in current playlist when exiting out to the menu for trailers, more sorting options (date downloaded, alphabetic, length, etc..)
* When in submenus on blades, there needs to be a way to exit back out to the main menu with one button press (just like the Guide button does when pressing it after hitting it)

Xbox Live Enhancements
* Why does your achievements only give the date when you are signed into Xbox Live?
* Disconnecting from Xbox Live when playing Condemned, for example, makes you return to the menu screen (VERY FRUSTRATING! when you have to play over from the last checkpoint)
* Single listing for trailers (have submenus to download them in 720p and 480p instead)
* Single listing for Xbox Live Arcade games (not one for both the trial and full version
* Single listing for trailers (some trailers are listed both in the "Xbox 360 Dashboard" and "Digital Entertainment" sections)
* Items listed as new in the Marketplace should be based on if you've viewed them (I'm not sure if it does this already or if by how long it has been up there)
* Make downloading content (trailers, games, demos, etc...) a background process (w/ queueing possibly)

General Enhancements
* Online save storage: I took a survey where you mentioned this. Is that going to be the only way to transport saves from your Xbox to the 360? What about the people who don't have Xbox Live? Backwards compatability isn't much fun when you have to start over from scratch. :(
* Having a setting to stop the auto loading of games (both at startup and just closing the tray with a game inside), though I think it should be default to auto-load. There could also be seperate settings to auto-load based on media type: data, DVD-movie, audio CD, game, etc...

Achievement Unlocked

I love when that comes up on my screen when playing on my Xbox 360. I've become somewhat addicted to unlocking achievements which add up to my total Gamerscore (look to my Gamercard on my blog to see mine).

I think they are a really innovative addi(c)tion to games. I like to beat my games as much as I can and this gives me another motivation to complete them, as well as adding new and interesting ways to play and finish the game. If you don't have 1000 points on the game (200 for Xbox Live Arcade games), you haven't 'finished' it yet.

Though there are some flaws to how many points are given for each achievement in some games and the requirements to earn achievements may be easier to comply with than in others, so it cheapens the overall Gamerscore comparison based on how many you have. It is up to the developers how they want to give out achievements, but every person that plays that game has to have done the same things to get them, so it's still fair in that sense.

Achievements are just one of the really cool things that I enjoy about the Xbox 360 that I really didn't think would be that much of a draw, but they really are fun to acquire. There's just so many other things that are really unique and innovative about Microsoft is doing in the video game world, first with the Xbox, Xbox Live and the 360 now.

Happy Days

Well, I'm liking my Xbox 360, PGR3 and (I just bought) Kameo. The graphics are awesome, even on my 24" flat screen CRT SDTV with component inputs, though I've been dreaming of the day I could afford an HDTV. My friend got an HDTV and it's really nice, but they are still too expensive for me.

The media capabilities are a step down from XBMC on the Xbox in the freedom/choice of formats it supports and the way in which one can access their content over a LAN. It is nice that they have connectivity with USB 2.0 devices of different types, but it really is somewhat of a disappointment on the media side. XBMC is super customizable (I just made my own weather icons for it the other day) and does everything one could want in regards to the number of formats it supports, the combatability with different computers, and the fact that it's customizable by the user (this is one of open sources' strong points). There's also scripts that you can download to make it do everything from read your favorite RSS feeds, look at the newest comics, and watch trailers. Plus, because it's open source, it's free and the rate of development is amazingly fast (they keep bringing new features ,tweaking the UI and fixing bugs constantly).

The Xbox 360 is such a powerful piece of hardware and it's such a shame that Microsoft limits the potential. It would be great to be able to have XBMC as an official program on the Xbox 360 (then it would be able to play WMV-HD videos). I'd pay for it, but it would be even better if it was a download on Xbox Live Marketplace (which is great, btw!). That way they could bring updates to it every week or so. Now, that will probably never happen, but it would be great even if it meant losing the ability to tweak it to your liking.

I really like that Microsoft has tried to make the console more capable out of the box, but I want more (and I also don't want to have to buy a MCE PC just to watch movies from my PC or removable media). I like the 360 interface for gaming, XBL Arcade games, the fact that I can somewhat customize the interface (but I don't want to have to pay for something stupid like GamerPics and themes) and finally being able to get back on Xbox Live with my friends. It really is awesome (and now it's free). I like the achievements (more like addicted :) and I like everything else about it (though there are some slight issues I have with the hardware: the noise mainly). I'm glad to say that I haven't had any problems with mine.

I say give the XBMC devs an XDK and let them make it an official product, bring them on board, or at the very least update the Xbox 360 to have the same basic features as the XBMC: Music (and its selection of free formats like APE, FLAC; hey, you did it with the AAC codec), Movies (I think the MCE interface itself is added value and incentive to buy one, but I don't think it should be a requirement to watch movies off your PC), Pictures (already done), and Weather (I'd like the weather forecast; it'd be easy to do, just use an RSS feed). Give us a MUCH better DVD player, too. ;)

Oh, and I just put up my Last.fm Weekly Top Artists into the sidebar. Pretty cool; I just learned about being able to do that.

HDTV & Xbox 360 Technical Guides

Gamespot, for all their all of their hatin' on Xbox, have some very interesting tech articles that were done very nicely and easily show the differences (just move your mouse over the pictures and wait for the comparison pictures to load) between the Xbox and Xbox 360 versions of games in HD and the differences between the cabling options of the Xbox 360.

There's also somewhat of a helpful guide to buying an HDTV including tips about things to think about including what screen size to buy based on how big your room is, what types of display types are most likely to fit in your budget and explanation about the different display types including pros and cons. It's not like I can go out and buy one, but this should be helpful to at least someone. :)

The Lost: me. (I need GPS!)

Oh, I got REAL lost on the way home from my friend Ben's house last night (I had to give his new HDTV a work out). I was going to go to Wal-Mart to see if they had a Microsoft Points card (they didn’t have it or I didn’t want to wait for someone to ask), then go to either Taco Bell or McDonald’s in Medway before going home.

I found my way to Wal-Mart easily enough, but when I took I-70, I missed my exit and was trying to find an exit to turn around. I knew not to take 675 (maybe I should have); I took the next one, 4, instead. Now, I was thinking it might be a normal exit that I could turn around on, but it was another road like I-70 (only smaller) and was planning on finding an exit to turn around on there, but it was confusing and the other direction was closed.

So, I got off 4 went around looking for a way to go the other direction on 4 (not knowing that it was closed). Finally, after driving around for a bit got back on 4 in the direction I was going and took the next exit, 68, and, knowing that road meets with I-70, took it South, hoping that it was the right direction. It was and I found I-70 West and went back to, what I thought was the exit I was supposed to take, 675 N/Spangler Rd, but missed it (not knowing that the exit for 675 South was the same off-ramp for Spangler, which was the road I thought I was supposed to take). Then, I kept traveling and took 235 N (the next exit) and I finally realized this was the exit I wanted all along.

I went to McDonald’s (open 24-hours) and got some food. Then, knowing the quickest way back home was Palmer Rd. I went south on 235 and found Palmer and then mistaking the next crossroad as being 40, took a left (it was actually Bellefontaine Rd. and was now heading south). I passed under I-70 (without even knowing it) and drove by Taylorville Rd., knowing that by now I took a wrong turn. I took a left on Taylorsville because I thought I was still heading north and I knew that met up with 201. DOH! I was heading the wrong direction.

Taylorsville dead-ended into New Carlisle Pike. I took a right. It took me to 4 (South). I thought I knew where I was (I thought it was Spangler Rd.) and continued heading south. I passed a couple of exits not knowing which one to take until I saw Harshman and knowing that road very well took it. I took it north and took a right on 201.

Now I knew my way home. After driving around for an hour and a half to two hours.

This is another good argument for GPS that I was telling myself I seriously need. Oh, did I mention I suspect I have ADD. ;)

GOT ONE!

Got one! That was the taunt that we (my friend, Ben, I and about 45 other people) heard twice battling the cold outside Best Buy in Beavercreek, OH Monday night through Tuesday morning. 2 cars drove by while we were waiting for the store to open and for the tickets to be handed out. The funny thing is: they were proudly holding Core systems (dumbasses!). I could have gotten a Core system easily hours earlier and wouldn't have been waiting in line for anything other than the Premium package.

Remember when I said a lot of waiting? (check 2 posts down) Well, I wasn't thinking 15 hours! Our original plan was to wait in nice warm Wal-Mart (which opened at midnight). We showed up around 3:30PM, which was 1 hour too late to get the Premium system (the only option IMO).

After the initial despair of being 1 hour too late (damn punks showed up as early as 8AM Monday, WTH!), we decided to check out Target, my next planned stop if the Wal-Mart fell through. Well, as usual the Target knew shit and were opening at 8AM, which was different from I read on the internet (supposedly they were going to open at midnight, too).

Well, we could have waited at Target, but if we did, we'd need to get some nourishment (which meant a quick stop to my local Buffalo Wild Wings; yummy!). I figured we should stop by Best Buy first because I knew they'd be getting more units in stock than Target and if they were opening at the same time, we'd have a better chance of picking one up.

Ben was going to go to the Springfield one, but I knew that the Fairfield Commons location was getting more units (stock was divvied up between retail chains and individual stores based on previous sales numbers). So, we headed over there after eating some boneless wings and were shocked to see that a line was already formed in front of Best Buy.

We hurried inside to take a leak and checked out the stock of the games and get some info: namely how many units they were getting and what time they were opening. Ben bought a Play & Charge kit (for his wireless controller) and Condemned. I bought Project Gotham Racing 3.

We headed outside to grab our spot, though we were absolutely unprepared to wait outside in the cold (and it was very cold: Low 27° + Wind Chill). We called my little brother, Dan, who without his help (a heavy blanket, a pair of wool socks, my beanie, 2 chairs [Ben's broke on him :)], my gloves coming hours later) in addition to his monetary donation, I would not have gotten one.

Another essential benefit to surviving that night was that I had my friend with me. I even made some new friends, who without them (Sean, you are absolutely hilarious!), I would have been bored to death. Thanks everyone for the help and support!

I don't have pics, but there were other people in line that were taking some (I'm probably floating around the net somewhere). There are also many reports on the web involved personal struggles and celebrations during the Xbox 360 launch (links from IGN):

• This is a rather strange story about a wait in front of Target (poor guys).
  
• A survey of the situation in Colma, CA by IGN.
  
• Did You Feel Lucky, Punk?: More tales from Xbox 360 launch day.
• Flickr database of Xbox 360 launch photos

Lastly, this link makes me feel better about spending $400 on a video game system. ;)
Top 10 Reasons to Buy an Xbox 360: Here's why you should jump in now.

More updates, Audioscrobbler/Last.fm

I've created images (I love transparent PNGs! :D ) and edited the code for my links.

Oh, and I've finally found a way (other than XBMC) is compatible with my music format (APE and/or FLAC) and supports Audiosrobbler/Last.fm: foobar2k. I've used it a while ago, but was turned off by the really barebones UI, and after trying it out for a bit, went back to my favorite player: XMPlay.

Well, now that I've been trying to fill up my Last.fm profile, the only way I could do that was with XBMC, but I don't always want to turn my Xbox on just to play music, or my TV/Entertainment Center's already being used. I'd been looking for a compatible plugin for the myriad of players Last.fm supports, but I'd had trouble with Winamp, foobar (previoulsy using the 0.9 beta mainly to add ReplayGain tags to my files); I even used Windows Media Player (which I actually sorta like as a movie player).

I finally got foobar (the current official build) to work with the Last.fm plugin (the 0.9 beta doesn't support it :-/ ) and I'm finding out I kinda like it. The audio quality is just as good (if not a little cleaner and sharper) than XMPlay w/ the Izotope Ozone Winamp DSP plugin), and with a few UI plugins, foobar is pretty usable.

I still like XMPlay, but I've been using foobar2000 exclusively to play my music lately (now if only XMPlay had a Last.fm plugin ;)

Update to my site template

I just updated my site template and added my Xbox Live Gamercard to the sidebar in my pre-release excitement buildup for the Xbox 360 (just one more week, and a lot of waiting in line :( ).

Since I didn't pre-order one (not that a pre-order is even a guarantee to getting one), I'm going to have to wait in line at a couple of places with my friends in the hope of snagging one for me and one for my friend, Ben. We're planning our night out, but a couple of weeks ago, I didn't even think I'd have enough money to even buy one, so I wasn't really excited. Now, thanks to my surprisingly generous donation by my brother, I should have enough with my next paycheck.

Currently, my brother and I are looking for jobs right now, so pray for us. :)