Microsoft being a good company and updating the hardware when technology enhances has received some very bad vibes from the overall tech community.  The idea of enhancing console hardware early has made users very angry.  Although these user don't want change, it is necessary to go further with technology.  Microsoft is not abandoning the original 360 owners at all but are allowing those users to join the new ones.  The HDMI addition is the only thing that will note be available for original users.  

I am happy I did not wait for Zepher.  I am glad to own an 360 because of the games I have been able to play.  If I knew it was to be released I still would have bought my Xbox 360 back in March.  I am happy that Xbox 360 has done all these things to enhance the experience and the 120 GB hard drive is something that solves a lot of problems.  Also Vista is really getting me excited.  I may just upgrade my PC a few months early.

Now I don't have to deal with retarded EB Store Clerks, (Excluding campouts for H3) Infact, I don't have to deal with any game clerks.  People are obsolete.  Right now I have Ultimate Spider-man Shipping to me and I can buy it cheaper than EB.  YES!!!  I know that USM is extremely short but when I tried it earlier I didn't find everything but this time Gamefaqs is on my side.  I have entered the whole Final Fantasy Series (excluding the PS1 games) and can't wait to play some classic games.  I also have some future Release games such as Lost Planet in my Q.  Its great to know that I have a constant stream of games to raise my gamerscore as well, such as Fight Night 3.  I have also had a good time looking around the whole site Qing everything thing I have seen.  Its great to have all this control at my devious little fingertips.  Gamefly also has a referral offer to get a free DS hence the little thing at the bottom of the post.  Why do I want a DS lite when I have a DS Phat.... Because its cool.

Sign up for Gamefly and I get a DS!

I got Bully yesterday and played it until 6:30 am.  I love this game and I think I need to slow down.  I beat the first act and decided that if I want to really have fun with this title I should level up by going to classes a lot and then do one story mission a day...  But that wont work.  This game is extremely enjoyable and I has tons of things to do.  I see now why 1up gave it a 10.  I haven't bought a game by Rockstar except Table Tennis, and I now understand the gta hype.  It guess what would make me more happy was a Bullworth Academy Stories.  I would have to buy a psp for but who cares the idea of semi episodic content in Bully gives me chills.

I have informed my friends about the joys that I have found in  this game and they are plopping it on their Christmas lists.  I guess word of mouth is a very useful end to a means.  Telling my friends of games has persuaded them to purchase more games than usual.  My friend Kyle hasn't bought a PS2 game in months and now Rockstar has another customer.  The same thing with Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Avid fans can really influence the group to do new things.

Back to Bully I had a fun making my 4 girlfriends fight over me then falling back in love with them.  In one instance I was slapped and another girl slapped later on, then the two girls ran into the blue yelling and screaming at each other trying to remove each others heads.  I also hired Russels the largest hareless ape on campus to assist me in liberating others of their future children (that was a joke).  We went to the auto shop and were attacked by greasers, at least he was.  I watched and right when he was about to know them out I punched them in the head.  Russell is a good brawler if you every get in a bad situation you should hire him.

But my time in Bullworth is only beginning and I have to go to play some more.  If you every have 40 bucks you should pick this.   PS: Rockstar make Bullworth Academy Stories :)

I haven't read much other than Spider-man titles recently but I think I have found a new fave' for me.  Yet the foursome are not taking the place of good old Pete, They have found a new place in my heart.  I enjoyed drilling through Ultimate Fantastic Four TBD and hope that when I pick up the new USM this week I will have enough money to pick up Ultimate Fantastic Four 32.  I really like the story and I think its mainly because of House of M, Civil War, and Wolverine Enemy of State.  At the library I picked up all these tales and have become more of a fan of mainstream comics than usual.  Bendis, Miller,  and David (from Friendly Neighborhood Spidey), craft their stories very well and it gives me the feeling I got when I started read the Essential Spider-man.

The Fantastic Four are very interesting because of the aspect of family/friendship which I bet is being tested during the Civil War.  I have never laughed reading comic books until I read this title.  I like the strange friendship between Johnny and Ben.  Its like a sort of toleration but they work together well which is odd.  I read also at the library The Fantastic Four 530 something and Johnny was in the hospital, It was interesting to see Ben there in a sort of dumb founded confusion.  He is one of the most powerful heroes in the world yet he can't do anything to help his friend.  All he can do is sit there and talk hiding his own insecurity about the situation.  But switching back to Ultimate Fantastic Four, The new Doctor Doom is really really cool.  Sorta weird but the goat legs and founding of Latveria in the slums are some pretty original things to throw in the ball park.  I know I am late to the party but I am enjoying this stuff a whole lot more than  New X-Men.

Yesterday was my 16th Birthday and to celebrate my parents gave me 250 dollars.  To be frugal and smart I decided to blow it all on a Playstation 2 and Guitar Hero 2.  I also picked up a memory card and later that night my dad bought my brother a wireless guitar.  I have never had so much fun with anything involving a musical instrument.  My favorite song so far is Woman by Wolfmother.  I haven't played much into the story, I have been killing time in versus with my little brother.  I know that it will soon be available on 360 this spring but I couldn't wait that long.  I also have been waiting to buy a few good PS2 games, like Final Fantasy XII, Socom, Bully, Kingdom Hearts, and Okami.  I hope that I can replenish my low amount of cash soon because right now its extremely low.  

When I heard the news on this new feature I decided I wouldn't write anything about this until I had actually tried it.  Well today (or last night) I gave it a whirl and it has been good experience so far. 

My adventure started last night as I tried to select a video that was worthy of my $4 or 320 Microsoft points.  My mother told me she would fund the excursion if she could choose the movie.  So 'V for Vendetta' was thrown out for 'Failure to Launch'.  It wasn't all bad though, yet FtL is a chick flick it gives the stereotypical guy-who-lives-in-his-parents-house, a comical feel.  Although I am not here to review a movie but a feature.  We started the download at 9pm hoping it would be done downloading at 9:30.  We were very wrong.  Because of the massive amounts of downloads and how new the service was, Microsoft's servers were knocked off their feet rendering us a 10 hour download of 1.6 gigs.  MS has responded and say they are working on a fix for the long downloads.  Hopefully in the future this experience will be more user friendly.

After going to sleep and waking the next morning the movie was done downloading and I got to view it.  The movie quality was great and Xbox live sends HD and SD videos in widescreen for the whole picture.  The playback is like that of any video on 360.  It used the recently updated playback features we have used in the past but it has one quirks.  Instead of like a DVD when you push ahead a chapter it jumps 30seconds not into a new scene.  This is one of the best features of a DVD and not having this is annoying.  Microsoft presents it just like an old VHS tape without any features of a DVD.  This is ok for 'Failure to Launch' but if I bought 'V for Vendetta' I would like some commentaries or maybe behind the scenes.

After I finished the movie I felt satisfied that I didn't have to make a trip to a theater or blockbuster but I felt cheated with the long download times.  If you want to use this feature buy the movie and download it the night before.  Planing ahead shouldn't be crucial to purchasing a movie. 

Another problem that has plagued this is the hard drive size.   For movies this is a minor annoyance because you have 14 days to watch or 24 hours after you hit play.  This isn't that long term.  Although TV shows fill up in no time.  If Microsoft wants to continue with a service like this they NEED bigger drives for storage or must go streaming.

As I write this there is a middle aged turkey decomposing in my belly.  Thanksgiving has been great and thanks to Xbox live its been a blast.  I decided to try out the Multiplayer demo for Lost Planet and am very impressed so far.  It has been improved from when I played the E3 Demo.  The graphics and gameplay have been tweaked and the overall feel has been updated. 

The graphics are amazing, giving you that feeling of 'wow' when you blow something up.  Characters feel the effect of an explosion when something blows up so grenades are thrown freely.  I found myself using the Dummy grenade quite frequently.  When I noticed an enemy following me I would shoot at him, then turn a corner throwing the dummy behind me.  The enemy would think it was me and melee close up causing it to explode with him. 

The controls have been made easier to use and the grappling hook is a joy to use.  It catches you when you are close to falling off a cliff or building.  It also helps you ascend and gives you lots of options in a long range fire fight.  The shoot outs themselves are exciting too.  I was in a dual with a guy with a shot gun and he caught me by surprise.  I jumped up, did a 180, and pointed my machine gun his way,  It caught him off guard and he fell down allowing me to throw a grenade making the match more even.  As he arose from the snow I pummeled him with the remainder of my clip and he went down for good.  Situations like this happen a lot in this game, which causes many people to give up prematurely.  The maps are huge which will help while maneuvering Mech(AKA Vital Suits) during battles.  

If you didn't play the single player demo you have missed out.  Though the multiplayer demo is a whole new spectrum of fun.  Give it a download and try out what will be the best selling game of the spring. 

Wow what an anniversary Microsft has had.  Can you believe that one year ago next gen started?  Today the little white box has been having all sorts of good press.    Gears' selling 1 Million amazing copies (and to think I though it was another brute force).  And at the same time lighting a flame of anger because of its messed up matchmaking system.  But then again lets look at the bright side HD Movie rentals (for 6 dollars and only one play >.<).  Maybe I will get some Star Trek eps later on and relive a childhood my dad had.  And then there is the Astonishing Halo matchmaking that trumps GOW(Gears of War N00b) being announced.  I haven't hugged old green, white, and green yet but all this news does give cause for some sort of remembering.

I have come back to reading comic books and am enjoying it greatly.  Ultimate Spider-man is the my favorite so far.  I like Civil War and Friendly Neighborhood Spidy but Ultimate Spider-man's form of addressing Peters teenage life makes it the best of the bunch.  My favorite Scene so far is when Peter and Spider-woman are complaining about all the craziness that is surrounding their lives during the "Clone Saga" and how it is unfair.  It is something I can relate to being 15.  If I had suddenly noticed their were 5 versions of myself I would spaz out and act the same way.  I would subscribe but I think supporting a comic book store gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.  Except when I have to buy back issues 5 bucks for #98 is absurd. 

I have so far collected issues #99 to #102 I need 2 more to have the whole stock for the "Clone Saga".  I just hope I can find a job to pay for all this comics can get expensive really quick when you are dealing with back issues.  If you haven't checked out Spidy for a while there is a wild ride of expenses like "The Other",  "Mr. Parker goes to Washington", and the whole New Avengers deal.  I thinks that's why Ultimate is so great the entrance fee is simpler with issue #100 and the recaps.