June 21, 2005

Miscellaneous Update!!!

Wow, I haven’t updated this in a while, so let me just cover some topics:

- Batman Begins is finally out and I’ve heard nothing but good things. Unfortunately, I have not been able to pay a visit to my local multiplex because I’ve been in the process of moving into a new apartment, but you can bet your ass I’m gonna watch it as soon as I can. Now, after the abysmal Batman & Robin (and by abysmal I mean "one of the absolute biggest pieces of craptacular shit ever put on celluloid") it seemed all hope was lost for the Batman franchise and the series was in the gutter. But throw in Christopher Nolan (of Memento fame) and a truly amazing cast, and there just might be hope for a rejuvenated take on the Dark Night.

- Finally saw Episode III. I went in with my expectations 200ft below sea level and I came away pleasantly surprised. Yes, the dialogue is awful at times and the acting is a bit weak (probably just due to the abysmal dialogue. Poor actors can’t work miracles). But the movie delivered where it needed. The special effects were so mind-bogglingly amazing that they actually helped me enjoy the movie this time, instead of distracting me and making me realize just how superficial and shallow the Star Wars movies have become (like they did in the two previous prequels).

Ok, possible spoilers ahead.

I gotta say though, I felt that the scene with Darth Vader breaking out of his restraints and screaming "Noooooo!!!!" was way overdone and came off as comical instead of dramatic. Maybe it was the fact that he looked like Frankenstein.

But the last couple of scenes were a joy to watch, especially for long time Star Wars fans. The two universes (prequels and originals) finally meld together and we see some familiar ships, costumes and musical themes . . . that was pretty damn cool.

- Also, as I mentioned above, I just finished moving into a new apartment and I’m exhausted. Of course, as luck would have it, the elevator of the building is broken, so everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - had to be carried up three flights of stairs. Believe me when I tell you that was not fun.

On a lighter note, I’ve also received my new TV (which also had to be carried up three flights of stairs). Luckily, there were six of us to help out, because that puppy weighs 200lbs. But it’s a beaut!!

June 03, 2005

Beginning of the end for PC Gaming

Now that the consoles have graphically finally caught up with their pc bretheren. With xbox360 and PS3 each having advanced cpu and graphic chips giving them the ability to play those high res first fast person shooters. Why would anyone spend 450.00 for a graphic card when you can get all in one machine for the same price. With PC's you have to deal with hardware issues, patches, and drivers. Consoles now have the ability to create their own maps for mulitplayer and this technology is only going to increase with the new consoles.
Online play via xbox live has already eclipsed PC online play.

I hate to break it you dedicated PC fans, PC gaming is becoming obsolete.. (And believe me I play PC games) its just the logical economical and practical choice) ATI and Nvidia know consumers are going to stop purchasing graphics cards when they realize how far console gaming has truly come.

June 02, 2005

E3 2006 !!!!!

Thats right you read the title correctly. Tanis and I have decided to make our dreams finally come true and we are going to attend the Mecca of gamers, E3. We will be updating our progress as we draw closer to E3 06. After what we have seen for at E3 05, it now appears next year is the expo to attend, think about it, playable PS3 and Nintendo Revolution Games, and playable Gears of War and hopefully Dark Sector, so stay tuned.

E3 2001 XBOX v. E3 2005 XBOX360

I searched and found a site which still had all there news regarding E3
2001 on there servers..

Here is the news after the microsoft press conference in 2001

The Xbox will be released November 8th for $299. 600K to 800K consoles
will be available for launch too, which will hopefully eradicate
shortages.
Microsoft is also stating that about 15 "high quality" games will be
available at launch.
With about 4-5 games available to actually play hands on...

Fast forward to E3 2005
No launch date, there is no pricing, no number of games available for
launch, no games available for hands on play., no number of consoles
available for launch. Not even Madden...
Needlees to say Microsoft did a better job in 2001 and xbox360 at E3 05 is a no show..

Tanis's Take

I think maybe Microsoft saw what the cell processor could do, and how
much more powerful PS3 is going to be, and they panicked. Not enough
time to go back to the drawing board and create a new system, too much
time and money was wasted on 360 already. What to do? Release the damn
thing well before the competition. People will want it because it looks
a whole lot better than the current gen, but once PS3 comes out it won't
be able to hold a candle to it. Lets cut our losses, sell some systems
in the short window we have before PS3 and hope we survive longer than
the Dreamcast did when Sega released a system that couldn't compete with
the real "next gen" technology.