As a geek, it is expected that I actively participate in geek activities. One of the most common way to display one's dedication to being a geek is by posting on message boards; usually more than one. Currently I post semi-regularly on three separate forums: the Gaming Age Forums, the IGN boards, and the Advanced Media Network forums. The last of the three is the smallest of the three forums, but there is a strong, tight-knit community there that is steadily growing.

If you have ever posted, or currently do post, on the AMN forums, you know how great they are. The network staff participates actively in just about every discussion and there is a great variety of opinions to be found in each thread.

If you haven't ever tried the AMN forums, sign up now and get posting!

Advanced Media Network Forums: http://forums.advancedmn.com

My wife and I play together on a co-ed indoor soccer team; the Pink Panthers. After finishing first place in three straight seasons we've been bumped up to the upper division where the competition is pretty tough. Currently we are 1-3, but our win did come over last season's 2nd place finisher. We still have enough games left that if we can get on a winning streak we can compete for the first place finish once more. As of right now, there aren't any teams in the league that remain undefeated, so the league is still wide open.

To go along with the team name, our entire team wears pink shirts with an image of the Pink Panther ironed onto the sleeve and the name across the back. So far Tami is the only one that has managed to get pink soccer socks, but hopefully a few more of us will find some as well.

The three most exciting things for a gaming journalist are:

• The announcement of a new gaming console or handheld
  
• Being able to try out a console or handheld at E3 that is yet to release
  
• The launch of a new gaming console or handheld

North America
On November 22nd, 2005 the Xbox 360 was officially launched in North America; the first territory in the worldwide launch. Lines were beginning to form as early as the 20th in front of stores like Best Buy or Circuit City as rumors of a launch shortage were widespread. Unfortunately for many gamers, the rumors were true. Most stores were extremely limited in their shipments with many not even receiving enough to fulfill their preorders. Message boards around the internet were flooded with posts by angry gamers who didn't manage to score a 360 despite having preordered one as early as May. The launch shortages caused a stir on eBay where people were selling their Xbox 360s on auctions that closed as high as $1,000, but the majority of gamers have chosen to wait for additional shipments to become available.


A typical scene outside of a retailer the day before the 360 launch.

The launch software was pretty well-rounded with a few racers, a platformer, some sports titles, a sampling of first-person shooters, and a couple of extreme sports titles thrown into the mix. Most gamers were able to pick up the types of games that they wanted while only the hardcore RPG crowd and fighter fans were left waiting for something that appealed to them. Despite horrible hardware shortages, there was a nice selection of launch titles to choose from. The launch titles sold incredibly well, with most gamers picking up multiple titles along with their 360s.

There were, however, more problems to be found during the launch than just hardware shortages. From day one there were thousands of complaints appearing on popular internet gaming forums regarding hardware defects. People were reporting problems with overheating units, discs that were scratched during gameplay, faulty hard drives, crashing, drives not recognizing discs, and much more. After the problems became more widespread, Microsoft issued a statement claiming that a console as advanced as the Xbox 360 would inevitably have a higher failure rate than previous consoles due to the higher amounts of moving parts in the system. Certain news outlets were estimating that the failure rate of the 360 was as high as 5%-7%; which is still with in the realm of acceptable by many manufacturing standards. However, the 360 has received a reputation of being faulty and many people are either waiting a while to purchase a system to see if all the bugs get ironed out or are buying extended warranties for their system out of caution. Just this week I was asked by three seperate people if it was true that a recall had been ordered for the 360. No, a recall has not been issued, but Microsoft is offering to fix faulty hardware for free for the time being.

Despite a bumpy launch that was characterized by horrible shortages and suspect hardware quality, the Xbox 360 launch has managed to bring a great gaming experience into the homes of nearly 1.5 million gamers worldwide. My personal top ten games of 2005 included two Xbox 360 games (Call of Duty 2, Dead or Alive 4), and there looks to be a pretty solid lineup of software on the way. While the post-holiday buzz that surrounded the 360 has died down a bit, there is still plenty of things that gamers are excited by when talk turns to the Xbox 360.

Europe
The European launch went a bit smoother than the North American one, but it was in part due to the fact that demand wasn't as quite as high in that region. During the launch window, Microsoft managed to sell nearly 500,000 Xbox 360s; which represented their total allotment to Europe. The same reports of faulty hardware have surfaced in Europe, but on a seemingly smaller scale. Whether this is due to the fact that they received half the systems of the North American gamers or something else remains to be seen. Traditionally, Europe is dominated by the Sony brand, especially in gaming. In order to get a head start on Sony's PlayStation 3 (due out sometime this year), Microsoft is going to try to get as many Xbox 360s into European gamers' hands as possible before Sony launches their console.

Japan
Simply put, the Japanese launch of the Xbox 360 was a disaster. Despite an effort by Microsoft to offer a more "Japanese friendly" launch lineup, most of the planned launch titles were delayed. On launch day there were literally hundreds of thousands of unpurchased Xbox 360 consoles sitting on the shelves in Japanese stores. As North American gamers received the news that the Japanese launch was severely overstocked, many were angry that Microsoft chose to launch in Japan at this time instead of supplying more units to retailers in the US and Canada. By the end of the launch weekend, Microsoft managed to sell only 62,000 systms by most estimates. The original Xbox managed to sell 120,000 in the same span of time.


On launch day, and in the days following, stacks of unsold 360s could be found in Japanese stores.

Japan is going to be an uphill battle for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft knows that. However, while the Xbox was a total failure in the Japanese market, Microsoft is determined to succeed with the Xbox 360. When Microsoft manages to provide software that is more suited to the Japanese market, it will be interesting to see if sales of the 360 pick up. Currently the Xbox 360 is being outsold by the competition quite easily. Below are the Japanese sales numbers for hardware from January 16-22 as provided by Media Create:

Nintendo DS: 64,515
PlayStation Portable: 38,271
PlayStation 2: 26,271
GameBoy Advance SP: 7,912
GameBoy Micro: 4,653
GameCube: 4,490
Xbox 360: 3,616
GameBoy Advance: 236
Xbox: 83

Conclusion
While the next-generation wars are just beginning with the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft is going to have a tough battle when Sony and Nintendo enter the battle with their next-gen consoles. Microsoft is going to have to find a way to get more systems on the shelves in order to get a strong headstart against Nintendo and Sony. The whole reason the Xbox 360 was launched early was to get a big jump on the competition, but if shimpents can't start coming in from Microsoft, their lead could dwindle quickly should Sony produce enough PlayStation 3 systems to meet demands with its launch. Overall the launch was a horrible experience if you didn't manage to get a 360 or if yours was faulty. Mine, however, has worked great up to this point and I've been very happy with the product. With the new features of Xbox Live and the power of the hardware, Microsoft has all the tools they need to build a wonderful software library with the 360.

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of a rasticulate of Mario and Luigi that I put up on the wall in my home. Here is a picture of the second one:



My wife and I are getting ready to put up a Homer Simpson picture and also one of Samus from Metroid. Each one is about 3 feet tall.

The AFC and NFC championship games ended yesterday with Seattle (NFC) and Pittsburgh (AFC) moving on to play in the Superbowl to decide the '05-'06 NFL champion. It's really early to be choosing a winner, but I'm pretty comfortable in my pick already. While Seattle is a great team, I just don't see anybody else in the entire NFL that deserves to be in the Superbowl more than the Steelers right now. The Superbowl has a great tradition of high scores and defenses taking a back seat, but I think that Pittsburgh's defense will be able to come up with enough stops to give their team the win.



My prediction for the final score is Pittsburgh: 31 - Seattle: 24

Have you been looking for a copy of Rez but aren't willing to pay the asking price of $100 (or more) on eBay for a used copy? If you haven't looked lately you can now get a brand new copy for $50 thanks to Game Quest Direct (http://gamequestdirect.com). Game Quest Direct has made available additional copies of some of the harder to find videogames from this generation, including: Rez, Gitaroo-Man, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Persona 2, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.

Future re-prints are set to begin and gamers can be on the look out for titles such as Growlanser: Generations Deluxe Edition and rare titles from past generations.

The company has angered some eBay profiteers, but gamers that have missed the opportunity to find these games are pretty happy. Right now the company is in talks with many developers and publishers to run releases from PSOne, TurboGrafx 16, Dreamcast, and even Saturn titles.

Game Quest Direct's reprints, which are identical to first-run versions, can be found on their web site, eBay, or even in specialty gaming stores.

Source: Silocenera.com

My wife and I just got the first season of 24 on DVD and started watching them this week. We've watched the first 4 episodes and so far it has been great. The beginning of a tough semester really is the wrong time to get into a show like this, but I'm sure we'll find a way to make time to get through them. Hopefully we can get caught up through season 5 by the time season 6 is ready to start showing.


24 Season One

I was lucky enough to score a free copy of Guitar Hero last night and I've put a bit of time into the game. The soundtrack is great and the gameplay is amazing. I always have liked music/rythm games and this one is perfect for me since I'm a terrible guitar player. The controller that came with the game is probably the coolest I've ever seen as a pack-in accessory.

Guitar Hero (by Harmonix) Pictures:

Well, I spent over $400 on books this semester, here is what I'll be reading:

-Arthur Schnitzler Lieutenant Gustl
-John Belton American Cinema American Culture
-T.S. Eliot The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound
-Oscar Wilde Salome
-Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness
-Aphra Behn Oroonoko
-Sigmund Freud The Interpretation of Dreams
-Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels
-Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography and Other Writings
-William Wordsworth Selected Poems
-Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe
-Aime Cesaire Notebook of a Return to the Native Land
-William Faulkner As I Lay Dying
-Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings
-William Congreve The Way of the World
-Henry James The Turn of the Screw
-Henry James In the Cage
-Gertrude Stein Tender Buttons
-Ezra Pound A Memoir of Gaudier-Brzeska
-Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
-James Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans
-Peter Barry Beginning Theory - An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
-Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan Literary Theory: An Anthology
-Marilyn Stokstad Art: A Brief History

The Advanced Media Network best of awards for 2005 have been posted for the Nintendo DS. Mario Kart took game of the year, a game I was able to review when it released. Here is the link to the full story and other awards: AMN's Best of 2005 - Nintendo DS.

Yesterday I started back into school for the Winter Semester at the University of Utah. I'll be taking 16 credit hours while working, so I'll be pretty busy the next few months. The good news is that this is my last full semester before graduation. In fact, I only need to take one more class in the summer and I'll be completely done. I'll be applying for graduation this month and starting to take care of everything that I need in order to finally get my degree in English.

Whenever I tell anybody that I'm majoring in English, the statement is immediately followed by this question: "So what are you going to do with that...teach?" I don't think it's annoying, but it's strange that people don't realize there is a lot more you can do with an English major besides teaching English to kids that don't want to learn it. When I graduate I'm going to keep my job at i4 Solutions and continue writing at Advanced Media Network. Being a writer is a great job and I don't plan on looking for anything else any time soon. The SEO industry is really strong right now and it's exciting being a part of it.

It's nice having a holiday break, especially being an English major. During the semester I never have time to read the things that I really want to, so I have to squeeze novels into the breaks that I get between semesters. Right now I'm trying to finish Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks so I can get started on the sequel that my wife got me for Christmas.

So far the book as been pretty good and it's starting to pick up the pace considerably. I'm about 1/3 the way through it, and I'm going to have to really push to finish it before the next semester starts Monday. So far there aren't any characters as strong as the last trilogy, but it's still early. The last book I read was The Davinci Code. It took me forever to finally pick it up, but it was worth reading. I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out, and I managed to get through it in about 5 days.

I'm curious to see how the movie handles the issues that are central to the novel's storyline. It's entirely possible that the film ends up being pretty controversial, especially in the Catholic community. It seems that people make more of a fuss over film than novels.

Anyway, here is the cover art to Jarka Ruus:

Advanced Media Network has unveiled their GameCube selections for the best of 2005 awards. The game of the year selection is no surprise, but some of the other picks may intrigue readers. I didn't have a hand in the voting this year, but I do feel like the right choices were made across the board.

The story can be found here: GameCube best of 2005 awards

The top ten from each of the three DS Advanced editors is online now. Here is a link to the article: http://ds.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=3108

Choices range from GameCube, PlayStation 2, PSP, DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, and GameBoy Advance games.

A couple of nights ago the University of Texas Longhorns won the Rose Bowl over the favored University of Southern California Trojans. The game was easily one of the best football games I have ever seen in my entire life. Vince Young really proved that he should have been given a bit more respect and consideration in the Heisman race with a huge performance that night.

Whether Vince Young stays for another season or not will most likely determine if Texas comes into the preseason ranked #1. If Vince leaves, I would expect that Ohio State would be ranked first; if Vince stays, the Longhorns are the logical number one pick.

A lot has been said about the BCS in college football and whether it works or not. In my mind it is one of the most unjust and corrupt organizations in all of America. How can the NCAA support an organization that is biased and elitist in its design? Doesn't the NCAA stand for equality, equal opportunity, educational opportunity, and fairness?

The colleges that are part of these "BCS Conferences" are promoting elitism and biased behavior. There is no real support for claiming that these conferences are so good that they deserve automatic bowl bids each and every year. Last year the Mountain West Conference (yes, the lowly MWC) actually had the highest win percentage in bowl games. It wasn't the mighty SEC, the speedy ACC, the Big East, the powerful Big Ten, nor the Pac-10; it was the Mountain West Conference. In fact, the University of Utah was the first school to ever break into the BCS from a "mid-major conference" last season. What happened? The Utes absolutely destroyed the Pittsburgh Panthers, a team that didn't deserve to be there; but thanks to their automatic bid they were in the game. This year the Utes blew out another team from the ACC (Georgia Tech) that had wins over Miami and Auburn, supposedly great teams. BYU (from the MWC), with an injury decimated team, barely lost to a Cal team out of the Pac-10.

To make things worse, most of these ACC or SEC teams won't play anybody but cupcakes outside of their own conference, so it's easy to say that their conference is a powerhouse...they don't have to prove it throughout the season. Sure, they'll take go play a team from Conference USA once in a while, but usually they're picking on teams like Troy St. or Eastern Carolina for their non-conference schedule. It'd be easy to tout the WAC as the most dominate conference if they only played Big Sky opponents in the non-conference schedule. WAC schools could just claim that their losses came from very tough WAC opponents and that the conference has a tendency to beat itself up.

The BCS is a sad joke with an anger-inducing punchline. Instead of teaching equality, opportunity, and fairness, the BCS is giving out lessons in elitism and arrogance. This is a perfect illustration of the rich getting richer and the poor being brushed aside. Of all places, I would expect that the educational institutions of America would be the last place to find this sort of an example.

I posted a few days ago about a program called The Rasterbator. Here is what I managed to pull of on my first try. It's about 3 feet tall.



Give it a try, it's not too hard and a lot of cool things can be done with it. I'll be trying my movie, videogame, and TV characters soon. I'll post pics as I get them.

Here is my list for the top ten games of 2005. It was really hard trimming the selection to only 10, but that was just because it was a pretty good year for gaming. For a fully featured writeup of these ten titles, you can see them over at Advanced Media Network on the DS channel.

Resident Evil 4


Mario Kart DS


Advance Wars Dual Strike


Burnout Revenge


Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time


Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance


Call of Duty 2


Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap


Lumines


Dead or Alive 4

This is a fun little program that can go a log way towards helping you create a killer game room or home theatre room. The program is called The Rasterbator and it makes it easy to print out huge prints of regular sized images.

The web site where you can find The Rasterbator is here: The Rasterbator

The gallery has some amazing pictures that have been uploaded by people using the program. I'm planning on throwing up a few popular videogame and movie characters on the walls of my game/movie room. This is also a great program for decorating a kid's room.


NOTE: You will need to have the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 on your computer to run the program. You can download it at Microsoft's web site here: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1