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. :)

Long time....

Long time since I've posted. Yes, I'm still actively engaged in next-gen gaming hysteria, though there are other things I do in my life, though that's stuff that I won't necessarily shared to the world via this blog, as my life isn't too exciting. :)

Since we've talked, my little brother has come home for the summer, had planned on going back to Wisconsin for another year of DTS'ing, but decided to stay for personal reasons. It's nice to have someone around, but at first it was hard to relinquish my control over my 'place'. I've since gotten used to it as he's been here for around 3 months now.

Hmm, not much else to say right now. :( I think I had more to say than this, but I woke up too early and couldn't go back to sleep, so I'm tired and my memory is shot.

Oh, I had a birthday a little over 2 weeks ago and got my friends to treat me to a Japanese steakhouse meal (think Beni Hana). I had sushi (one of my favs) and, for the first time, tried sashimi, which you wouldn't think would be too different than sushi, but it is. I found it not to be to my liking either. Sashimi takes a little too bland and it was almost making me puke eating a 'sashimi flower' (that's what I'll call it) with fish eggs on top. I ate in one swoop, but it was hard getting it down. I think I'll stick to sushi from now on. ;)

A good article on next-gen consoles

... by an actual developer!? Here's a really objective and realistic comparison between the two (hmm, and I thought there are going to be three; maybe I was wrong ;) upcoming next-gen consoles. This was written by Bizarre Creations technical director, developers of the Dreamcast game Metropolis Street Racer and the Xbox games Project Gotham Racing 1 and 2, as well as games I've never played before. :)

quote: "So in my eyes, this new generation of consoles is extremely exciting, and on an open and even playing field - it's all going to come down to the developers, the games and how it's all marketed!

They are busy working on Project Gotham Racing 3 for the Xbox 360 and it's going to be a launch title (can't wait for this fall; now to save up for it and the HDTV I'll need to buy).

To show you the level of detail they are working at (and the game still has gads of time to be worked on), I've put linked some images from their studio updates:

the road


some buildings you will race by in NYC

Pretty incredible, right?

More great interviews

Here's a great interview of J. Allard (every one that I've read has been great, though).

Q: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 … there have been rumblings about which system is technically superior. How does the hardware compare?

A: I think that basically [Sony] mislead people who were very specific about certain numbers in the press conference on Monday. We're launching a product campaign, they're launching a political campaign.

You can kind of go through it, and guys have completely torn it apart. In the end, it's basically a wash. You can make the case for us; you can make the case for them. We'll publish a whole bunch of details and you guys can speculate, but it's basically a wash.

What I can say is theirs will be harder to program for. And we're going to have better software support. Both of these machines are so sophisticated that theoretical performance doesn't matter. What matters is how much of the performance you can unlock, and the key to unlock performance is hardware/software.

J. Allard is such a down-to-earth guy that it's hard to think of him as being Microsoft's corporate VP. I've played with him on Xbox Live a bunch of times (he's a busy guy, so in the ~2 and a half years he's been on my friends list, he's rarely online). We've talked about things and he's very open and intelligent (this also comes through in all of his interviews). I respect this man very much and am glad that he decided to take on gaming. He is a gamer at heart and he listens to the community. He's a realist and a visionary at the same time. He's also very respectful of his competition and his allies (something one can't say for Sony). ;) He's not your typical exec.

There are MANY other similar excellent interviews I'm thinking of putting into this post (possibly at a later date).

BB IMAX

Well, I'm back from seeing Batman Begins in the only close IMAX theater here in southwest Ohio. I had initially planned with friends to go the 4:25PM showing, and although we didn't make it due to unforseen (and incontrollable circumstances), but we did get a refund for the tickets and bought some for the later showing (7:25).

On the way down there, we stopped in Middletown for some food. We ate at Sonic, which was pretty darn good. Then, while waiting for the movie to start, we waited in the theater's Bar & Grill. We had some drinks. That was one of the nicest theaters I've been to. The atmospere was like a hotel or something. They had a player piano going and live musicians performing. Plus the bar was nice and was cheap, too.

Also, one of my friends (Ben) who was going to go, couldn't because his Dad had fallen and injured his back and was going to be in surgery, so please pray for the best outcome.

The movie was good, though I thought the dialog seemed a little campy in places, and the comedic relief seemed forced. Overall, excellent Batman movie (you just know they are going to go sequel crazy with this, though if they can do for Batman, what's been done for Spiderman, bring it on!).

The IMAX theatre (which seemed like a regular theatre renovated into an IMAX theatre) didn't look too much different, UNTIL they started playing the movie, which was SUPER clear. While getting my refund at the help desk, I glanced over a display where they had some samples of IMAX film. IMAX movies come in 70mm reels, which is twice the size (and therefore twice the picture detail) as standard 35mm. Therefore, since the film itself is bigger, when the projector puts it up on the screen, it doesn't have to stretch it so much. Basically, twice as much picture detail in the same, or even bigger, space. I'd compare it to the difference between Standard Definition TV and HDTV. That's my layman's understanding, anyway. ;)

Next-gen anticipation!

I like this quote : "At any rate, Playstation 3 fanboys shouldn't get all flush over the idea that the Xenon will struggle on non-graphics code (branch-intensive game control, AI, and physics). However bad off Xenon will be in that department, the PS3's Cell will probably be worse. The Cell has only one PPE to the Xenon's three, which means that developers will have to cram all their game control, AI, and physics code into at most two threads that are sharing a very narrow execution core with no instruction window. (Don't bother suggesting that the PS3 can use its SPEs for branch-intensive code, because the SPEs lack branch prediction entirely.) Furthermore, the PS3's L2 is only 512K, which is half the size of the Xenon's L2. So the PS3 doesn't get much help with branches in the cache department. In short, the PS3 may fare a bit worse than the Xenon on non-graphics code, but on the upside it will probably fare a bit better on graphics code because of the seven Spes."

I'm not so sure it will be that much better off in terms of graphics code with the Xenon having multiple VMX-128 vector units, which are nearly identical to what the SPEs do (the GPU and CPU are MUCH more innovative as well with the use of MS patented applications of procedural synthesis and having intelligent RAM on the GPU). These next-gen consoles are similar and very difficult to stack up in terms of comparisons as to what is better. It's not just as as 16 vs. 32 bit, the amount of polygons, pixel-fill rate, etc... They will look very similar in terms of graphics and performance and the devs will do better with better tools (which MS has always been good at providing; ex: XNA).

The initial mis-conception that the ps3 is another league in terms of performance is proven wrong with later technical discussions about the two that show that comparisons aren't so simple. If anybody still believes that those ps3 'demos' shown at E3 were 'actual gameplay representations' is in complete denial and is mostly likely one who jives with sony's cycle of over-hype/under-deliver and use of cute marketing buzz-words that are based on bullshit (the ps2's emotion engine, etc...). I'm also getting increasingly annoyed with Ken Kutaragi's arrogance and ignorant comments berating his competitors (it's almost like a political smear campaign except MS hasn't stooped to his level).

I have confidence in the fact that the Xbox 360 will not be under-powered and be sufficient to compete with the others, quite easily. The Xbox is receiving some strong Japanese support this time around (the one thing that was obviously lacking previously). Along with the fact that the Xbox 360 is actually coming out this holiday season, I have grown very fond of MGS' first-party lineup and am eagerly waiting to play some of these games.

NHRA Finals: SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

This past Sunday, I was able to go to the NHRA Finals near Columbus, Ohio by way of my friend, Ben, who's uncle has extra free tickets (thanks!). I'd never been to a top-fuel drag race before, or any races before for that matter, so it was exciting since I didn't know what to expect.

When we got there, we went back around to Nitro Alley, which was the pit area, and walked past all the crews getting the cars (and motorcycles) ready. After a quick tour of the pit area, we went back to other side of the strip where Ben's uncle usually hangs out, which is ride up against the fence some thirty feet away from the cars.

I had worried about my ears getting damaged and Ben was able to pick up a pair of earplugs for both of us at the one of the many vendors stationed around the track. Those were a life-saver, because once those top-fuel dragsters and funny cars were going, the amount of sound they made would have unbearable without protection.

These were the national finals, so there were vehicles and drivers all around the country there to compete (there was even the MAC Tools/West Coast Choppers Jesse James dragster). Each round consisted of both cars doing a burnout to warm the tires up and lay down some rubber on the track, then they lined back up at the "Christmas Tree" where they waited for the green light. Once those cars took off and passed by us, they vibration and heat you felt coming off of the engines was incredible. It really was like nothing I'd every experienced before. There were some great matchups, with differences in time coming as close as 1,2 and 3 thousanths of a second. There were some really fast speeds, with the top speed for the day being 334 mph, which was the fourth fastest time in the history of drag racing (which the same man also held 2 of the other fastest times).

After the top-fuel dragsters, there were top-fuel funny cars, then pro-stock cars, pro-stock motorcycles, super-gas cars, stock and modified cars. Only the top-fuel vehicles were really exhilerating to watch, with the pro-stock cars coming in a distant second.

There were elimination rounds for several hours in 65 minute intervals, so we didn't stay for the last round, but we left after either the last, or second to last, semi-final round of top-fuel dragsters and funny cars, and by that time, the weather had finally gotten to where it started raining right as we got to the car.

After we got back to Ben's uncle's house, we travelled home and saw Star Wars: Episode III, which was really cool (definitely the best of the 'new' trilogy).

Drunk Driver!

Well, it's been a while since I last updated but there's been some things that have been going on that seemed more important than blogging and other than that, nothing else much happens here. I still need to flesh out my previous post about Detroit a little, but I've been lazy and preoccupied.

I attented my grandmother's funeral (I can't even remember if it was this week or last; my sleeping schedule's so messed up. That took about a week. My brother came home again for a bit, so that was a plus. Then, we all went up to Newcomerstown, Ohio to attend the funeral. I brought my dog, so I didn't go to the viewing the night before the funeral, but all of my cousins and most of the traveling families were staying in the Hampton Inn (what a coincidence, huh?) not far from my grandmother's homestead.

Then, back home to boring home. Well, I've watched lots of TV, spent a lot of time on the PC. Oh, I applied for a job at the bookstore at Ginghamsburg, but I must not have gotten it. I haven't done any sermons since.

My friend soft-modded his Xbox and installed Xbox Media Center, which is so cool. There's so much you can do with it, besides turning your Xbox into almost a Windows Media Center PC. You can listen to your music, whether it's off your PC, or any other PC on the same network. You can view DVDs (without the DVD remote), watch videos off your PC and look at pictures. You can even read RSS feeds and receive your weather from the Weather Channel's website. Other cool things you can do are change the color of the "Ring of Light" (the colored LED surrounding the eject button on the Xbox). Now, he's copying my games and backing them up for me, and he installed some emulators, along with ROMs supplied by me. If I didn't have Xbox Live, I might do it to mine. I'm a little envious.

Well, as for things this week and tonight especially, I've been keeping up with all the news that has been coming out of E3 so far (through handy RSS feeds in Trillian; I love feeds!). Xbox 360 I'm looking forward to, PS3 (a little, but not much) and am even impressed with the design of the Nintendo Revolution (so small). Now, all Xbox 360 needs is a slot-loading HD-DVD (or Blu-ray) drive (and maybe a few more cores) and it's perfect in my book. To me, it's the overal complete package of "hardware, software and services" (the official tagline) that makes it stand above the rest. Besides, I stopped liking Mario after SNES. :p

Tonight, though, my friend Randy (hmm, he sounds familiar) got me to go to the gym and work out (which I need to do). It was a nice mix of weight and cardio training (I need more cardio). Then, we went back to his place and played some Forza Motorsport on my Xbox on his HDTV (I NEED one bad!).

Then, at 2AM, I left for home taking Dixie and the way home, I was one car behind what, at first, appeared to be someone turning off to the left, as he went into the middle turn lane of the road. Then, he continued on, so I figured that he must have that he had to turn too early, only he kept driving in the middle lane for a while and I thought to myself, "What's this guy doing?"

Well, he stayed in the middle lane, but then he started weaving back and forth and I knew he was drunk. He started vearing into the incoming traffic's lane right in front of some dips, so he could've easily gotten into an accident. Then, his vearing became more violent and he pulled back over onto the proper side of the road. The car in front of me turned left and I continued to watch this pickup as he came very close to the curb. I was back a safe distance and I saw that he almost didn't stop at the red light at National Rd. I was hoping he would get pulled over and not get into an accident, and at that moment, I saw a sheriff pull to the side street to the right before coming to National. I kept watching him as he went through the light (I'm not sure if the light was green or not) and proceeding to run up onto the curb to the right and drive off of it (it felt like something out of Wildest Police Chases!). I pulled into the side street and pulled my window down, and yelled to the sheriff while pointing my hand straight at the truck, "Hey, there's a drunk driver up there, a pickup. I just saw him run up off the curb, so you need to pull him over, man!" Well, he took a right and came up to the red light, and stopped (most likely looking down National to see if he took a right towards I-70. He continued straight (the way the truck went) and sped up looking for him. I followed trying to make sure that he found him, but the truck, most likely knowing that he was being followed (or maybe not), pulled into a parking lot to the right where there was a bar (was this guy ducking from the cop or did he really need to get more drunk?!). The cop slowed up and turned around, then went into the parking lot. That's when I had gone far enough away, so that I could not see what happened after, but I hope that guy was taken off the street and punished. That was the worst display of drunkeness I've ever seen. It was shocking and horrifying at the same time.

Detroit Day 5: HFM, while back at home

Well, I got home from Radio Shack and picked up an adapter to connect a cellphone headset (or Xbox Live Communicator) to a PC soundcard's Mic and Output connections. I also stopped by GameStop to pre-order Forza Motorsport for the Xbox (can't wait for that game).

Here's my record of what I did yesterday in Detroit:

I waited for Randy to come back on his lunch break (which he told me would be around 11-ish). I had set the alarm for 10:30AM, but I couldn't get back to sleep, so I started reading the business section of USA Today, that we got each day, in the nice lounge chair in our room. I took a shower, a cold one, to help wake me up, but I still had that lagging achiness (I couldn't imagine how tired my friend must have been). This trip, and the lack of genuine sleep we hadn't gotten all week, was taking a toll on Randy and I.

I watched some TV and waited for him to show up. He didn't get to the room until almost 12PM, because he was let out late. We used the GPS phone to find out how to get to the Henry Ford Museum, but we knew it was going to take longer than we had anticipated and Randy would most likely be late getting back to his training. On the Oakwood St., about 2 blocks away from the museum, we saw 2 Ford GTs (pretty much the only Ford car I really car about). Anyone who knows me, knows that when I see a nice car like that, which I've never actually seen in person, only in videogames and pictures, I flip out. I yelled, "There's a Ford GT!" The first one was coming out of a parking lot and was red with white stripes. Then, just a little further down the road, a yellow with black stripes GT was just taking off from a red light. It was first in line and took off at an amazing pace, with an audible roar. I was shocked to see not one, but two. It made some sense to see them this close to the factory, though. Still, I was overjoyed just to have seen them. :)

When I got let out in front of the IMAX theatre that was a part of "The Henry Ford" (I still don't know why they call it that), I admired the exterior of the building (which was erected ~1929). I tried to snap off a quick shot, but my stupid camera has trouble with white balance and I had to swap out my old batteries.

After I got inside, I got my ticket. I was upset about the price, which was $14 PLUS $5 parking (even though I didn't even park; what a freakin' rip-off), but on the website was only $13. I only had a $20 bill, barely enough for admission alone.

I started down this 'road' that was painted on the floor and set off into the 100 years of Automobiles exhibit first. I passed by the car where JFK was assassinated, and several presidential automobiles. They had so many old cars all set up as a physical timeline with info and memorabilia in glass cases that you could read and look at. They had even had a Cadillac model from early in the 20th Century that was the first to feature the electric automatic self-starter, which was invented by Charles F. Kettering from Dayton, Ohio, who also started Delco. They had a photo of him testing it out and a copy of the original design sketch.

In fact they had so much to do and see there, that I was a bit overwhelmed and worried that I might run out of time and miss my 3 o’clock meet-up time when Randy was supposed to show up and pick me up.