Hollywood has tried turning numerous video games into movies, and most of them… well… lets be honest, most of them have sucked. Now the savior may be on its way, and its name is…

Guitar Hero: The Movie!

-commences to slamming his head against a wall-

Mind you this is in no way official yet, but according to an interview with MTV, Brett Ratner is keen to do it.  Luckily for the masses of the world, Activision, the makers of the game, don’t seem so keen on the idea.

For those of you unfamiliar with the popular gaming franchise, you play a plastic guitar and hit the corresponding colored buttons on the instrument to what you see on the screen.  The game is enermously popular, but it doesn’t exactly scream “movie plot” to me.  Ratner has an idea in mind, though:

“It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the ‘Guitar Hero’ competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts.”

Didn’t I already see this movie?  Ah, yes, the 1989 “classic”, The Wizard, starring Fred Savage.  Not EXACTLY the same, but close enough.

Anyway, no, this is not a good idea, and thankfully Activision doesn’t want the franchise messed with.  Apparently they think a lackluster movie could possibly damage the name of the game.  Brett Ratner is a big time director though, so I’m not sure how they think the man behind the Rush Hour series and X-Men: The Last Stand could possibly make a bad movie…

Aw crap.  RUN, ACTIVISION!  RUN!

In a move that is sure to leave me scratching my head for days, Microsoft has partnered up the Xbox 360 gaming platform with Rock the Vote.

In a press release put out today, Microsoft revealed that as of today, users of Xbox Live will be able to take polls about the upcoming presidential election, participate in forums and… oh, how this scares me… register to vote.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for people registering to vote, and I actually went and did it the day of my 18th birthday I was so anxious to have the right.  What scares me is, and I know I will catch flames for this, is the goofballs on Xbox Live messing this up.

I’ve written a couple times this year about the intellectual titans I run into playing some of the games online, and it worries me that some of these folks, for laughs, may try to register fake people or some other way gum up the works.  I have not looked at the process yet, but I am hopeful there are multiple safeguards in place.  I asked my mother for her feelings on this since she used to be the president of the local League of Women Voters chapter, responsible for many people being registered to vote, and her reply was simply, “this troubles me.”

Hopefully this will lead to legitimate sign-ups, and hopefully it will also lead to people actually going to the polls come election day, but it still makes me a bit nervous to see it done in this fashion.  Going to the gamers is a great idea, but why not set it up around the release of a major game?  Madden ‘09 just came out with a huge push for midnight releases, wouldn’t it have made sense to set up at some stores and do it there?  Yes, there is a certain convenience factor to doing it at home, but I worry about faked names, hacked accounts and any other number of potential problems.

In my heart, I hope it is successful because I think our freedom to vote is one of the greatest things in this country, it is just the method of registration that is worrisome to me.

According to The NPD Group, Grand Theft Auto IV from Rockstar Games, sold 6 million copies in its first week of release.  At a retail price of $59.99, that puts the gross sales of $359,000,000 in one week.

I decided it would be interesting to take a look at the top grossing domestic films to see where this would be on the list if it was a movie.  According to the list on Box Office Mojo, this would place it just $2 million ahead of 12th place, Jurassic Park.  For all of 2007, the movie industry grossed $9.6 billion, and so far this year, the video game industry has grossed $6.6 billion, on track to top somewhere between $21 and $23 billion.

So, are we looking at the gaming industry doing nothing but growing?  The film industry has been suffering from diminishing ticket sales, and as readers of this blog know, I feel it’s from a severe lack of fresh material.  True, video games do get the bonus of being virtual, so they can create the most fantastical settings they want with no extra cost in “building”, but their stories are also fresher.  I’m not a fan of the GTA series, but from what I know of them, people do enjoy the storylines of building your way to being a top criminal.

You also have to look at a value for money when it comes to what is going on with films.  According to the National Association of Theater Owners, the average price for a movie ticket in the USA in 2007 was $6.88.  A movie averages 90-minutes in length, meaning you spend approximately $.08 a minute for the movie.  GTA IV costs $59.99 for a reported 40-hours of game play, which works out to around $.02 a minute.  I know this is a highly simplistic way to look at it, but you also add in the cost of gas to go to the theater, snacks, wasted time in a theater, popping in a video game starts to look a lot more appealing.

Several years ago I went to a conference of video retailers, and I heard something that stuck with me like nothing else I had ever heard at a conference: “We aren’t in just a battle for their entertainment dollar, we’re in a battle for their disposable time.”  If someone is spending 40 hours playing GTA IV, that is 40 hours not watching TV or going to movies.  If anyone in the entertainment field starts to wonder about diminishing funds, I think we’ve found your culprit.

Just the other day I spoke about how a social network, Faceparty, had decided it was best to delete people over 36-years-old because they may be sex offenders.  Well, this made me think of another situation I have been running into a lot more lately: ageism in video games.

I have spoken before about some of the… “stimulating”… conversations I have while playing games like Call of Duty 4 online, but now it is becoming a regular occurrence for me to be slammed on for being 36.  In the past it has been insults of everyone being “gay”, or “you suck” or just general stupidity, but as gamers are trending to be older (the average age of video game players is now 34), the teens are getting more insulting about people in my age range being “losers” for still playing video games.  As I so kindly tell them, if it wasn’t for people like me having played video games since they came around in the 1980’s, they wouldn’t have their games today, so… stuff it.  (I have no patience for these kids… I’m sure you all are shocked since I’m normally Mr. Cuddly)  This is usually all followed up with I have no life… I must be on welfare (… how did I afford the game…)… aendlessly with the same insults over-and-over.

I have to wonder where this animosity is coming from.  What possible difference does it make to some kid if I’m 16 or 36, so long as I’m doing my “job” in the game, what does it really matter?  It doesn’t, but I think it speaks to a common distrust of “older” people I see creeping back into the social consciousness.  Ever heard the saying from the 1960’s of “Don’t trust anyone over 30″?  Well, from what I see, it’s happening again, but this time I think it’s for very different reasons… just plain snottiness.

At least when this saying popped up originally, we were engaged in a highly questionable war, with a country still reeling from an assassination that no one understood.  True, we are engaged in another questionable war, but somehow, I don’t think these kids are even remotely aware of it.  These are “the mellinials” and their only concern is themselves.  You thought Generation X, my generation, was bad?  We have nothing on this group.

Honestly, their actual words don’t phase me in the least, but the general attitude is disturbing.  I’m not sure where it came from, what causes it or if there is even any way to stop it.  Hopefully it will disappear with time, and for now it is just generally annoying, lets just hope it doesn’t get any worse.

Somehow I doubt this will be the last time I touch on the “old people suck” attitude I’m encountering more and more.

Okay, no one pass out… I’m actually going to praise something.

Inifinity Ward, the makers of Call of Duty 4, released four new maps for the online version of the game on Friday.  After some errors with buying them (it was the fault of Xbox Live, not Infinity Ward), all was well and you could purchase the new release.  Now, in the past when I’ve bought maps for other games, you have to hope enough people buy them for them to show up in normal rotation.  Usually this leads to frustration, cursing and wondering why you bothered to buy the maps because not enough people got them for them to show up in the playlists.

Well, in a show of forward thinking, Infinity Ward set up special rooms just for people who bought the maps and, for this weekend only, are offering you double experience points for playing in them.  All I can say is kudos to them for thinking of this very situation and I can say I’ve already gotten my monies worth out of these new arenas.  And, bonus, the new maps are kick-ass.  I never thought I would say, “Wow, this map is TOO big!”, but the map named “Broadcast” really is!

Take note other game makers: this is how you handle an expansion release.

While playing Call of Duty 4 last night, I had a conversation that made me actually question humanity.

Sitting in the lobby, waiting for the next round to start, we got notified the next map we’d be playing on would be “Bloc” - a set of decaying apartment buildings in post-nuclear accident Chernobyl. This isn’t a huge fan-favorite map, but it did generate the following conversation.

Male player: Ugh, I hate this map! Everyone vote to veto it.

Me: I agree… although I was surprised the other night when I found the pool building! I never even knew it existed!

Male player: The what?

Me: It’s in the back corner, there’s a whole other building with a pool. I never knew it was there.

Female player: pfft It’s not a pool.

Me: Uh, yes it is.

Female player: There’s no water in it, so it’s not a pool.

Me: …

Male player: If it doesn’t have water in it, it’s not a pool?

Female player: Right.

At this point the game started, on a different map as we had vetoed “Bloc”. The girl was on the other team, but the other guy was on my team so we could talk to one another.

Me: Was she serious?

Male player: She sure sounded like it.

Me: What do you do when you call someone and want them to build you a pool, but it’s not a pool until it has water in it?

Male player: Hi! I’d like you to build me a large cement hole in the ground, shaped like a tub, and water proofed in case I want to put water in it someday.

Me: -gets shot by an opponent as I am choking from laughing so hard-

I played a couple of rounds with the girl, and considering her general attitude, yeah, she wasn’t joking, and she had many opinions on a great many subjects… all of them of equal intelligence.

Do you ever wish you could slap a sticker on some people’s foreheads that say “Do Not Breed”?

I can’t believe it, but I think I’ve been swayed from my love of playing nothing but Halo 3 on Xbox Live.

Triston McIntyre, of GAMER.BLORGE.com, told me while we were co-workers that I should give Call of Duty 4 a try. I mumbled and grumbled that I was fairly loyal to Halo, but since he was such an ardent supporter that I decided to trust him and give it a try.

Well, Halo 3 has not returned to my Xbox since.

This is strictly about the online portion of the game, as I found the COD4 off-line portion too short, just like I did with Halo 3.  I think game makers are starting to ignore the single players games a little much, and need to remember that not everyone gets online all the time.

That aside, I’m loving the online version of COD4 far more than Halo 3, like a lot more.  For those unfamiliar with either,both are First Person Shooters (FPS) where you are placed in to the role of someone fighting some form of enemies: in Halo it is either other soldiers or aliens, with COD4, it is alway some form of soldiers.  The perspective is always that of looking from behind the gun, or just slightly behind your character depending on the weapon you’re using.

So why is COD4 winning me over?  I feel like I’m accomplishing something as opposed to just going around shooting people.  Yes, they are both video games, but Halo 3 gives you medals and ranks that earn you nothing but shiny things to look at; COD4 unlocks more weapons, special weapons, and challenges as you increase in rank.  So while you’re going around fighting your enemies, you’re also thinking, “I need to get another headshot to finish off that Marksman achievement.”  It adds another layer of fun to the game and extra value.  What do you do when you max out your rank, and finish all the goals?  Well, when you hit rank 55, you get to start all over if you like, but with new rank badges that indicate this isn’t your first time through the game.

The biggest selling point to me, and one I can’t even begin to guess why it happens, is that there aren’t nearly as many idiot running around shouting how “gay” something is, or how wonderful it would be to be raped.  It’s not that this is some sort of intellectual game, but there certainly does seem to be a higher maturity level in the players and how they act inside the game.  My theory is it has to do with the game being far busier than Halo 3; you almost always have a vulnerable direction you could be shot from, or your thinking about finishing your challenges, you don’t even have time to talk, let alone be annoying.

Overall it is a far more satisfying experience in the multi-player game than Halo 3, and that is something I honestly never saw myself saying.  I have been a die-hard Halo fan for some time now, and now it just seems like a far less satisfying system.

So, if you’re looking for a game, RUDEBOY71 is my handle and you can join in a game and you can promptly kick my behind.

Computer gaming enthusiasts are an interesting lot.

Case in point was a comment I found on this post on Engadget about how people are still flocking to Windows XP, even though time is running out. One commenter mentions how he’s skipped Vista as he prefers a more stable OS to work with. He then received the following reply from another poster that said “Let me know how that works out for you when all games require DX10 in the next year or two.”

The original poster came back and stated that he doesn’t game on his computer, and there was no reply, so I imagine the issue is dead. Still, this is a common attitude I run into all over the web from computer gamers that they simply can’t comprehend how anyone can be satisfied with a computer that is anything below a top end gaming rig.

I’ve played my fair share of computer games back “in the day”: Master of Orion II, Civilization 1, 2, and 3, several Star Wars games, I loved the Mechwarrior series and so on. What stopped me was a combination of things, but namely my unwillingness to purchase a new video card every time I turned around. The games constantly expect you to be upgrading and upgrading to keep up with them, and, I’m sorry, but I’m not made of money. Mind you, this was several years ago, and from what I know of the current crop of games, it’s only gotten worse.

As I’ve gotten older (ugh), I prefer the simplicity of console gaming. Sure I have to buy a new console every few years, but when I buy a game for a specific system, I know it’s going to work. I’m not going to put it in, fire it up and be told I need a more powerful video card… or more RAM… or a new sound card… you get the picture.  I just prefer the ease of enjoyment that a console gives me over finding out I can’t buy a game because I don’t have the WillyWooly 256X Video Card with the Slushee attachment in my PC.

So, I have nothing against computer gamers, knock yourselves out, have a ball and enjoy it if that’s your hobby, but why is their this attitude that those of us who don’t are somehow lesser? I have had many conversations with one gamer in particular who just can not comprehend how I am satisfied with run-of-the-mill video cards, he can’t understand how I enjoy any games with my current computer. No matter how many times I tell him I don’t do computer games, he still doesn’t get it.

To each their own I say, just remember, now all of us are using our computers for gaming, some of us actually use them for work!… and porn… can’t forget the porn.

While playing a quick game of Halo 3 (you can see my lousy service record here) the other night before bed, I somehow ended up with seven teenagers on my team. Considering the hours I play, that was fairly odd, but no big deal. The problem was 2 of them were female, and that just made it that much more difficult to play.

See, when you stick 5 teenage boys in a “room” with 2 teenage girls, all that gets accomplished is flirting. And let me tell you, there was plenty of that! I tuned out listening to them when one boy kept insisting the girls prove they were really girls by sending him pictures of thmselves, which they refused to do. As the game progressed though, and we were getting our asses kicked, I finally started listening to them again and… they were discussing where they would like to be raped.

Yes… rape.

“I think I’d want to be raped in a hot tub!”

And I thought, “Okay, they just don’t know what the word means. It’s disgusting, but they don’t know what they’re discussing,” but then one of the two girls says, “I think I’d want to be raped in the bathroom… it’s already dirty.”

After I picked myself up off the floor, though my jaw was still down there, I couldn’t help but finally make some comments to them about it.

“DEAR GOD! Do you all know what you’re talking about?!? Rape is not something to be joked about! Wait until you get older and you’ve known people who have been raped and then see how funny you think it it is!”

To which one of the boys said, “… you’ve been raped? What was that like?”

Cue sound of me repeatedly slamming my head against my controller.

I think I have finally reached that point in my life where I have to wonder, “These kids today, what are they thinking?!?” Which, I guess officially makes me ‘old’, but I’m okay with that in this situation because I don’t think I would be mentally right to not wonder this time.

Hopefully none of these kids will ever suffer such a fate, but I certainly wish they get a clue about what it they’re saying, and soon.

I know I said just yesterday that I hadn’t had time to start playing Halo 3 yet, but I ecided shortly after I wrote that to give it a try.

And I’m done.

What the hell? I already played all the way through it. How is that even possible? I remember the first two games taking me days, but this one took maybe 8 - 10 hours. I think the answer is fairly simple: Bungie, the maker of the game, got scared.

Where Halo 2 had actual improvements over the original, this one could only really boast better graphics and lots of new superfluous crap.  And that’s exactly what it was, crap.

The game is awash in new weapons and vehicles, but the gameplay is just nothing new.  Some of the levels were repetitive of past levels (the big escape at the end… won’t say more so as not to spoil), and even inside this game it was repetitive!  Three levels that end in fights with Scarab tanks?  You had to be so unoriginal that you ripped off yourself… in the same game?  Wow.

While I loved the single player campaigns in the first two games, this one just felt like it was just phoned in.    I haven’t had time to play the multi-player portion yet, but my gut tells me not to get my hopes too high for it.

Someday I should really learn how to say “no”.

This seemed like such a simple idea when I started: Find some blogging work, earn a couple hundred bucks a month.  Well, it seemed like a good idea, but, apparently I’m good at it.

I got approached by a company to ghost write a corporate blog (hence why I can’t link it) from them following my work on the other blogs I was working on.  I had actually approached this company early on, but we hadn’t been able to find a fit for me.  They had a project come up I seemed suited to, so now I’m blogging there once a day now.  I have also been asked to be a guest blogger on another site about blogging and social media, and since they offered a link to this site (what a concept, actually getting to promote my own site!), I agreed to it.  They have no requirements as to frequency, so I can  just write for that one when it strikes my fancy.

I’ve finally gotten in to a groove with balancing my day job and my “night job”, as I call it, but finding time to do any side projects is at zero.  My plan to start a novel this year?  Totally shelved.  My nearly 3-year long fan fiction project is at a crawl.  I finally popped Halo 3 in my Xbox for the first time today, even though I’ve had it since release day.

So, yes, if I could ever learn the ability to say “no” to a project, it would be nice.  The drawback is, if you do say no, and you need them down the road, they’ll remember you said it.

Oh well… back to blogging.

I’ve always seemed to have very sudden revelations about various aspects of my life. I will be extremely into something for what seems like forever, and the next day, I could care less about it. Well, I had several of them this weekend.

I think I’m done with video games. The games are getting way too long, the systems too expensive, and I simply don’t have the time for them anymore. As much as I would love to play Halo 3, I am not buying an Xbox 360 just to do that. And the PS3? Forget about it. No way I’m dropping the necessary money for that monstrosity.

So all this gets me thinking and… I think I’m done with video games. I simply don’t have the time for them anymore. I’m going to keep most of what I have, sell off some excess, but I have more than enough games in my possession to keep me entertained for years. And heck, if you wait long enough, you can pick up old games on eBay for a couple bucks. Heck, I bought a Super Nintendo game cartridge a few months ago for $.99 (yes, I still have my SNES, and I still play it).

Then I started sorting through my DVDs… why do I have half of these? Like I ever have time to watch them! And if I want to see an episode of Family Guy or The Simpsons, all I have to do is turn on the TV, so… I listed all those on Amazon and sold them off and will be purging more of my DVD collection this week.

I think I’m just realizing I simply don’t have time for the 5,000 ways I have to entertain myself, and especially those that require no human interaction. I’ve made a lot of new friends over the past year, and it is far more interesting talking to them then hacking through a demon in a video game or watching Bart Simpson get in trouble… again.

Engadget is reporting that a new version of the XBox 360, codenamed ‘Zephyr’, is starting to appear in some pictures. Two big differences are an HDMI output, for high-def video, and possibly a 120gb hard drive. Rumor is this will sell for the price they are currently charging. Sounds good to me.

Then out come the idiots in the comments.

they better come out with a new hdmi adapter- i’m not buying a new xbox 360 with add on’s that should have already been there. this is BS, and what happens when you rush to market.
I am not happy.

they should run a discount where its only like $100 when you trade in your old xbox 360

Okay that is complete BULL_ _ _ _!!!!!!!! So what about us Bill…you know the 7 million folks who bought the first 360. You know the true fans and supporters of your console…You know the ones you told 1080p was irrelevant…Seeing as we can’t get HDMI into our boxes without it being taken apart do we all get new boxes for free? How about a free 120 gb hard drive? Somehow I doubt it.

I usually don’t mind product redesigns as long as the early adopters aren’t left out in the cold…right now I’m shivering! This is great for those who haven’t purchased a 360 yet but I think this will anger the current user base more than it excites them.

You know what folks? When the next year’s car models come out, do you scream foul? Do you talk about how they screwed you? Technology changes, get over it, grow up.

Here’s my (somewhat rhetorical) question…is this just because it’s a video game, or is this yet another example of how childish our country has become about the most trivial of matters?

Over on Amazon today they had 1,000 Xbox 360 Core Systems at an amazing price of $100, normally $299.99. You had to go to a certain page at 11:00 AM PST to login, answer a question, get the gift certificate for it. Well, big surprise, the site was overwhelmed and when I got in at 2 minutes after, the deal was sold out. I shrugged, said “Oh well” and went on with my day.

Well, just for grins, I went back later to see what people were saying on the message boards Amazon had set up. Best.Laughs.EVER! Some of the gems included:

“Link to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.”

“Amazon should drop the price of Xbox 360 due to screw up!”

“Amazon really should have limited these contests to accounts that have been active for over 6 months…”

“Do you think this was a scam?”

“Amazon unfair”

“F*CK AMAZON !!!!!!!!@!@!@!”

Pages and pages of this stuff…it’s HILARIOUS! Everyone knew there would only be 1,000 of the 360s, but yet, they seem to think because they didn’t get one, this was obviously a scam and Amazon should be reported to the Better Business Bureau (note to self:write entry someday about why that is a total waste of time as the BBB is a private organization with no real power) Thankfully this was done online! Can you imagine these same people let loose in the real world in a store? Why, people might get trampled, robbed, shot…oh wait…that was the PS3 launch this week. Silly me. Lots of people claiming they will never shop Amazon again, but yeah, I’m so sure they will live up to that.

By the way…Happy Thanksgiving everyone…doesn’t this sort of mentality from your fellow man just put you in a holiday spirit?

You know I sure was more excited about all the new video game systems like a year ago? So why not now? General lack of funds for all the new systems…over-pricing of systems (sorry, but $600 for a PS3, if I’m lucky, is just flippin’ insane)…too many games for the older systems I still haven’t finished…and any number of small technical aspects that just annoy me.

When I unpack a PS3, why should I have to immediately install an update? Why at launch time is it not fully backward compatiable, and is actually failing on some of the PS2’s most famous titles?

Is it just Sony annoying me? Nope! Nintendo decided it was a good idea before the Wii even launched to tell everyone “Oh hey, there will be an upgraded model next year with DVD playback capabilities, but please go ahead and buy this one because we all know you are silly little fanboys!” Never mind you have to put a stupid sensor in front of your TV, beyond the game system, to make the bizarre Wiimote work. (the device in front of the TV is circled in red below)

Then comes the question of the Xbox 360…a year old and no price drop? Thanks Microsoft!

About 2 weeks ago I did some Super Nintendo shopping on eBay for grins…I spent $.49 on an Animaniacs game and $9.99 on an unopened copy of Super Return of the Jedi. Think I will stick with the systems I have for now, thanks!

A recent study conducted by the Oxygen Network shows women are getting more in to gadgets. According to this study, men owned an average of 6.9 gadgets to women owning 6.6. The same study showed that 77% of women wanted a plasma television instead of a diamond solitaire necklace, but 56% would only make the same choice over a weekend in Florida. (I would still take the plasma TV)

I am thrilled to see women getting more with gadgets and electronics, but would someone explain to me why gadget makers think the way to tap this market is just to make their devices in pink?

The pink PS2 coming out in England.

Pink PSP coming out in all of Europe.

Samsung Q40 coming out in Europe

The pink Razr sold just about everywhere.

I know there are some women who will be thrilled by these (calm down Rachel), but in general, well…I think it’s kind of insulting. Can’t you just imagine these product meetings?

Executive 1 “We need to tap this growing female consumer market for gadgets. How do we do it?”

Executive 2 “Make our existing products pink?”

Executive 1 “BRILLIANT!”

What’s even more insulting is when they not only make the device pink, they think they can UNDER POWER IT! The Samsung Q40 pictured above is a perfect example of that. With the blossoming of the dual-core age, releasing a laptop with a single core only running 1.2GHz is, well, insulting. A 60gb hard drive? But let’s not forget…it’s pink! For the price of $2,460, it’s a rip-off is what it is.

If pink is your thing (again, calm down Rachel…we all know you love pink), more power to you, enjoy. If, however, you are serious about your gadgets at the same time, don’t be lulled in to being jipped in power or performance just because it has a pretty cover.

Random link, check out ShinyShiny for all your female gadget news.

E3, The Electronic Entertainment Expo, is going on in Los Angeles right now. As was expected, the video game console war is stepping up with Sony announcing the pricing of the Playstation 3, Microsoft announcing add-ons to the XBox 360 and Nintendo changing the Revolution in to the Wii.

First up, XBox 360 is adding an external HD-DVD player priced at around $100. If you already have a 360, this is a steal. An HD-DVD player is going to set you back around $800 if you buy a stand alone unit.

They are also making some big changes to XBox Live. Once Windows Vista is released (whenever that will be) they will launch “Live Anywhere and you will be able to play games cross platform, and also see where your friends are. They will also cross over to cell phones, but how that’s going to work, I have NO clue.

Halo 3 has a trailer being shown, but it’s not due until 2007.

Nintendo has changed the name of the Revolution to the Wii…why, I have no idea. They say they want a name that can be used in any language, but still…uck. They are keeping the motion control controller, but it has been modified since last year.

Still not sure how much I like this thing. Your not going to want to play any game for too long because your arms will wear out.

Wii Connect 24 interests me though. The Wii (UGH!) will be connected to the internet all the time, but when you put the system on stand-by, Wii Connect will check with Nintendo to see if any of your games need updating. The next day when you turn on your system, you may discover new levels, weapons, vehicles and so on for games you own. I like this idea.

And Sony…oh Sony. They’ve announced early November for the world wide release of the PS3.

The system will either $500 for the base system, or $600 for the loaded system. Now, with either one you get the Blu-Ray player (a bargain at either price), but if you want WiFi and high-def video output, you will have to go for the $600 model. You will also get a larger hard drive, but who knows if that will be important yet or not.

Do note though, last years stupid controller is GONE! *does a happy dance*. The new controller will be wireless and will feature some motion control, but will not rely on it like Wii’s does.

So, what to do? Well, it would seem you will need to be saving up tons of pay checks to pay for any of these systems. I’m sorry, but I will not be shelling out $500 - $600 this November for a game system. I’m not even sure I’m that in to gaming anymore to be honest. I haven’t had time play a game in months, and frankly, I’m not missing them much. I have so many other things going on, I just don’t see the point. Even if I do feel like playing, I have tons of games built up over the years to entertain me. I am just not sure what these companies are thinking by pricing the systems at these prices.

All info thanks to Engadget.com

So, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo Revolution controller.

Need I really say anything?

I’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth bringing up again…why are online gamers, for the most part, jerks? It’s a game, it’s meant to be fun, it is not a life or death situation.

The occurances of idiots on Halo 2 seems to be getting worse and worse, especially since the recent rank resets. The new tendancy, since everyone is working on new ranks anyway, if you don’t like the map you are on, or the gametype on the map, to just leave the game, deserting your team and possibly leaving them vastly outnumbered.

Last night I ended up in a game of Assault on Headlong in Halo 2 where my team ended up being outnumbered 8-to-3. Ok, fine, Blue team was going to win, but they couldn’t be sporting about it. No, they had to come racing over and started spawn camping us. To me, this is just poor sportsmanship. You know your going to win, just let the players at least try. There is no reason to just constantly pound on them.

Of course, I’m not to happy with the team members who quit either. To me, joining a game is like a social contract. You are agreeing to play this game with this group of people. Leaving by choice is just bad manners in my opinion.

You know, as much as I complain about online gaming, it is amazing I still enjoy it.

Well, someone has snapped a photo of an Xbox next to an Xbox 360.

On the right is the Xbox, on the left the 360. Well…not much smaller is it? And since the hard drive for the newer one attaches to what would be the top of it in this picture, it will be the same size.

So some of you are probably thinking “So? You won’t have the first one to deal with anymore.” WRONG! It seems the 360 is only backwards compatiable with SOME of the games from the Xbox. So to be able to play your entire collection of games, you will still need to keep the first system around. Oh joy. More space taken up!