Finally Poker Gets Interesting

Too bad it's not happening in America yet. All we've done is revive this awful waste of time and make it popular to watch on TV. The Irish know what they're doing.

PS I used to enjoy Sudoku, but we're slowly trying to screw that one up too. Beware the oncoming onslaught of Celebrity Sudoku!

Whatever happened to the...

Ngage.

Seriously. Just wondering.

Junk Drawer - #2

Hey gang, we've got a lot to cover today. I'm heading out of town tomorrow for my 10 year high school reunion, so let's do this! Our world is inundated with crap. That's a given. The real issue though is where does one find a place to contain all of this detritus? That's where the "Junk Drawer" comes in.

• A picture is worth a thousand words...or in this case, only four.

• Remember how I was talking about people getting paid to play video games. Well this little 8-year-old apparently has enough put aside for college. I saw him on G4's Attack of the Show a while back and he pretty much schooled Kevin Pereira in Halo 2.

• This is what Half-Life 2 looks like with Portals. Ok, it's not exactly Half-Life 2. It is its own game but it still has that Half-Life 2 look. I'm really impressed with what Valve is doing with that engine. It makes me wish I had a better PC.

• Apple and Nike have teamed up to create a system for runners, that allows them to track their runs in real time. No, seriously. It involves buying a kit that contains a sensor and an iPod receiver and a pair of Nike+ shoes that have a special pocket for the sensor. Here, maybe this will help you visualize it. This isn't really my "thing", but I could see how serious runners would be drooling right about now. That's what you call Applied Science folks!

• Maybe you've heard of Kyle MacDonald. He's the guy that spent a year trying to trade up to a house from a red paperclip. He actually managed to pull it off. Read all about it. Congratulations Kyle, you are officially a member of the "Bad Ass Club".

• If you ever played GoldenEye on the N64, I think you can appreciate this.

• Pluto's New Moons. Well new to us anyway. I'm sure Pluto has been well aware of them for eons now.

I hope you found what you're looking for...because no one knows what they're going to get when they open...the "JUNK DRAWER" (cue crazy loud reverberation).

The Best Games I'm Not Playing

OK so we all know I did some modifications to my 1st gen XBox a while back. I installed a "special" chip, FTP'd an OS and BIOS hack and added a bigger (much bigger) hard drive to umm...easily access games stored directly on the hard drive. Since I've been engulfed with the hi-def splendor of 360 and don't get much play time on the Xbox (or "motherboxx" as I call it...anyone read Mister Miracle?). In hopes of trying to fill the huge hard drive up with games, I signed up for a Gamefly account, which is basically like Netflix for video games. Anyway, I've got tons of 1st gen Xbox games on there now, many of which I haven't played past the tutorials. Here's a quick round-up I like to call:

QUICK REVIEWS OF 1ST GEN XBOX GAMES I'M NOT ACTUALLY PLAYING

- A Bard's Tale -
The game is your standard top-view, RPG style game where you roam around, do quests, kill lots of stuff in dungeons and woods, etc. Pretty basic stuff except you summon your teamates with your lute. The really thing that makes this game stand out is that the voice acting and the humor is outstanding. It's an RPG that know's it's an RPG and the jokes and writing is worth playing through for the giggles. The banter between the smart-ass bard and the Dungeon Master cracks me up. Graphics aren't bad and it plays as good as any other game of this genre.

- Jaws Unleashed -
You play the shark. Imagine Ecco The Dolphin meets Kill All Humans. You get to swim around in some pretty good graphical ocean environments, eating divers, smashing boats and causing mayhem wherever you go. Gameplay is smooth and overall, it's just fun to play.

- Indiana Jones -
Terrible. I hope this foul piece of programming never crosses your retinas.

- Gun -
Well the tutorial to this one was pretty good. The graphics aren't bad. Movement is a little choppy, but the shooting works well. It would have been nice to see some interesting multiplayer elements like Red Dead Revolver, but this is a game I might play through if I was trapped somwhere with only low-def TV and the motherboxx.

- Darkwatch -
Now here's an interesting shooter. Standard 1st person layout, but as the name implies, it's very dark. Everything is supernatural and the graphics are kickass. The gameplay is great and the story isn't bad either. I've played through the first few bosses and really enjoyed it. Then I shut it off and haven't been back since, but not because it sucked like Indiana Jones.

- NBA Jam 2004 -
Sometimes you want to play something with your buds that doesn't require a ton of thinking. Especially when the wife takes over the only hi-def TV in the house to do Tae Bo and you have to game upstairs on the ol floor model TV from 1976. NBA Jam is just like the old version (fast movement, big heads and slamming, cartoon-style dunks) but the graphics and players have been updated.

- Prince Of Persia: Two Thrones -
Is it good? I don't know. The tutorial looked nice though. Graphics are about the same as Sands Of Time, which I thought was really fun to play.

VOOM Gets Its Game On

VOOM HD Networks will start airing video game tournaments, including Guild Wars Champions and the World Series of Video Games. Check it out.

Sharing the Stimuli: Thank You Mr. Vander Ark

Many of you might remember a little band called The Verve Pipe. Their hit single "The Freshmen" bought the band a one-way ticket to temporary fame for a little while on MTV. They're still touring and still rocking (although some of their biggest venues these days may be the beer tent at the state fair). Front man, Brian Vander Ark has just released a new CD entitled Angel, Put Your Face On. I've been following this guy around for a while. He's touring with a variety of bands that we don't hear much from anymore (Toad The Wet Sprocket, The Gin Blossoms, Big Head Todd and the Monsters...) and promoting his new CD. I'm hoping you'll give it a listen (the complete CD can be streamed for free using the "store" link on his website or at his My Space site) and maybe even purchase a copy for yourself and a buddy.

"Angel" is filled with both great songwriting and outstanding vocals. Lyrically speaking, Brian has always been a cut above the rest and it has never been more evident than with this new release. Whether you're into the upbeat, poppish melodies or slower ballads, each track is masterfully constructed by a singer/songwriter who has spent most of his life mastering the craft.

Video Games Live: Last Call

FedEx brought me over 800 flyers today, to distribute as I see fit. If you're passing through the Lexington area, don't be surprised if you find them on everything from heart monitors to baby carriages. If anyone's interested in blanketing Louisville with these things, let me know.

I promise that this is my last post on the subject, until I get back and provide you folks with a review. If anyone plans on attending, you have less than a month to grab your tickets. I now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

Video Games Live website.

Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday - CLYDE!

If you're like me and feel that the side scroller will never die, no matter how 3D we get with games, then you should run home, download Cloning Clyde from Xbox Live Arcade and get the full version for a measley 800 pts. Today is the 2nd in a long run of Wednesdays where we can expect new releases on Live Arcade. Yes, I know I already have WAY too many damned games to play and more than I'll ever know what to do with...but I'm also very addicted to Xbox Live Arcade so my thumbs might be rocking to this one tonight if the free demo is decent.

Major Nelson Slams Blue-Ray

In a half-assed effort to keep up with the DVD format wars, I came accross this >> Podcast Interview << in which some experts talk about why Blu-Ray sucks so bad and why HD-DVD is going to pwn it. Although it may be a bit biased, there's some good info here. If you'd like to read what the fanboys are saying, check it out here.

New Track from The Killers

"When You We're Young". In my humble opinion, Hot Fuss is one of the best albums I've ever heard, and I'm super-psyched to see what these guys come up with next. You can listen to the new track for free at their site and judge for yourself. No email addresses needed. No registering whatsoever.

The new layout...

rocks hard. That is all.

Network Config For The XBox 360

This article right here details very precise instructions on how to configure your router and XBox 360 to acheive the most optimal connection with XBox Live. I get dropped from time to time and am hoping this helps.

**UPDATE**
I followed this step by step guide and found that my connection is much smoother and my NAT is completely open with firewall still up. It's probably a good idea to go through these steps just to manually assign the IP to your 360 so that it port forwards correctly to your router/firewall. Good guide! Thumbs up!

Playing Video Games for a Living

It's hard to believe but there are people out there doing it right now. While the rest of us deal with paper jams and using the wrong cover sheets on our TPS reports, there are peeps out there getting PAID to play games. Notice the emphasis on the word, paid. It's enough to bring a tear to your eye. I know it's a hard concept for people to reconcile with, but video games are becoming a sport. These people see themselves as athletes and there will be a day when society doesn't snicker at the idea. Mark my words! I'm willing to bet that within the next 3 years, gaming championships will be televised. ESPN may have to create another channel and it may be shown along with professional Bingo, but it WILL be on TV.

Here's an interview with Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel that I think is really interesting. He's like the Michael Jordan of the gaming world and the guy talks like an athlete. What impresses me the most is to see him acknowledge the fact that he's getting older and there will be a day when his reflexes aren't what they used to be. Which is why the guy has taken a business approach to it all by starting his own company and basically doing endorsements. It's really quite brilliant when you think about it.

Personally, I think I would get tired of playing the same damn game 8 hours a day. I love playing games but as soon as it becomes work for me, forget about it. That pretty much sums up why I left WoW. The competitive aspect of it doesn't really thrill me either. Don't get me wrong, I like playing competitively and look forward to the day when I can actually be in a tournament. I just don't like the idea of that being my primary source of income. I don't want my inability to get that crucial frag dictate whether or not my family starves. Maybe that makes me old-fashioned. (shrugs)

More proof God hates you...

I saw this article and laughed my ass off. If there is a God his sense of humor is just dirty. Sounds like my kind of guy. If he existed of course (which he doesnt in all likelyhood).

Player To End Format Wars

Ricoh has made a DVD player that can read and write to both HD-DVD and Blu ray, and also standard CD and DVD. Many believe that if the device works as good as it says it does, it could be the first steps in resolving the DVD "Format Wars". Read how this thing works here.

ABC Hates Your DVR

The folks at ABC are working hard to disable the fast forward button on your DVR so that commercials can be seen in all their glory. Left Mouse Button Here

It's bad enough that they're still showing Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor...now they're trying to take away our only defense against their cruddy programming.

Book Review: We Can Build You

This was the 2nd Phillip Dick book I've tried to read and although better than Valis, this book was still terrible. This is the guy who wrote the books that spawned the movies Bladerunner, Minority Report, Total Recall and the upcoming A Scanner Darkly, so naturally I figured I'd love his books. This book was ok in the beginning, got good at the mid-point and blew up in a fecal explosion at the end. Most of you know I have a "Halfway Test" with every book I read. If I'm not into a book by the halfway point, I read something else. There's just too much to read out there to suffer through something I don't enjoy. Well this one pulled a fast one on me and I'm still mad about it. Here's the rundown of the book, complete with spoiler ending.

The book is about a guy who owns an organ company named Louis. His partner decides to build a robot, or simulacrum as they call them in the future. They build an exact replica of Edwin M. Stanton, Abe Lincoln's Secretary Of State. Their big plan is to recreate the Civil War using robots. They call Sam Burrows, a famous billionaire, in hopes of selling the idea to him. Meanwhile, they build an Abe Lincoln, whom the reader really gets to know and like. Louis is slowly falling in love with his partners daughter, who happens to be the brains behind the bots. She's a recovering schitzo and entirely unappealing. The billionaire shows up and likes what he sees, so he makes an offer, only he hates the Civil War idea. Instead, he wants to build simulacrum families and put them on the moon (he owns all the moon colonies, but no one wants to go to the moon because it's desolate, cold and lonely). He figures with nice robot families next door, people will feel better about living on the moon.

This all sounds like a great book doesn't it? Yea, I was fooled too...

The ending drops off and leaves you angry, incomplete and pissed that the author is already dead because you want to dig him up and strangle him. Basically the companies disagree, Priss deserts and joins the billionaire and Louis decides he's gonna go kill him. He ends up flipping out, going schitzo over his obsession with Pris and that's it. The end. No wrap-ups of anything with the bots, the colonies, anything. Nothing that the book builds up gets resolved at all. The whole thing felt like the author got bored right at the climax and just quit.

Don't read this one. It's awful.

Superman Returns: The Verdict

Let's do this! I saw "Superman Returns" on Friday along with several friends. The theater was very toasty but my Superman bracelet kept me cool. Haha....that's a joke! Anyway, it's taken me several days to process it all, and after watching the original "Superman" movie last night, I feel like I'm ready to drop a review.

First and foremost, this IS a Superman movie. Don't let anyone convince you that this is a movie about Lois Lane or someone other than The Man of Steel himself. Lois does plays a major role in the film, but she's supposed to. She's freaking Lois Lane folks. Superman loves her. You can't have a movie about him, without her. If there's any "angst" to be dealt with, it has a lot to do with the fact that Superman leaves for 5 years without telling anyone "why". Even the woman he loves is left in the dark. That, coupled with the fact that Lois has moved on and has this 5 year old kid, creates a lot of tension between the former lovebirds. Like I was saying, this IS a Superman movie. You will see Superman in all his glory, even if the cape is too dark. You will see him fly faster than a speeding bullet and use his strength to carry impossible loads. All of the secondary powers are in there, like X-ray vision, heat vision, super hearing, and super breath. You will see a bullet bounce off Superman's eye and watch as a needle refuses to enter his skin and bends under the pressure. Everything that makes Superman super, is in this movie. Each of his powers are executed beautifully and the effects team did an astounding job bringing him back to the silver screen.

You may be asking yourself, "How does this movie fit in with the rest?" From what I have heard, the movie essentially takes place after the events in "Superman 2". Just pretend that the third and fourth movies were never made. Trust me, it's better that way. As I mentioned earlier, the new movie picks up with Superman coming back to Earth after being gone for 5 years. Lex Luthor is a free man with plans for world domination and everything is as it should be in Metropolis. The only oddities are the fact that Lois Lane is with another man and has a kid now. If you can, I highly recommend watching the original film either shortly before or after watching "Superman Returns". The new movie is as much a homage to the original as it is a new film in the series. Some of the dialogue between the two films is verbatim. I'm kind of on the fence about some of it. I definitely think that the Jor-El scenes are meant to reiterate Superman's purpose and bring the father/son dynamic into the foreground. There are other scenes though where I can't tell if they were simply being lazy with the dialogue or if they wanted to insure that everyone knew this was a Superman movie utilizing the "same" characters as the original films. And when I say "same" characters, I mean their mannerisms, their speech patterns, everything. Think of the Superman movies as being a polar opposite to the Batman movies, where every Bruce Wayne is a different embodiment of that character. Each time a new actor takes the role, the character changes. Not true with the Superman films. I honestly believe that the actors and actresses in "Superman Returns" were trying to maintain the "same" characters established in the original films. So with that being said, my guess is that the dialogue is meant to reinforce that concept.

I know for a fact that Brandon Routh purposefully plays Clark Kent and Superman using Christopher Reeve's nuances. It shows too. There are times when Brandon opens his mouth and you swear it's Christopher talking. It's pretty amazing to see. I definitely think Christopher's Superman was more tongue-in-cheek but I love what Brandon has done with the role. He definitely seems to have the confidence to play the role and what I'm impressed by the most is how different he looks in the roles of Clark Kent and Superman. Despite the big goofy glasses, Christopher always looked like Superman and Clark at the same time. Brandon really pulls off the dual identities though. When he's Clark, he doesn't look like Superman and vice versa. A lot of the credit for this should probably go to hair and makeup or costume design. I may be throwing myself on the stake for this, but I REALLY liked Brandon's portrayal of Superman. It's obvious that he's playing a younger Superman and this definitely isn't the mature Superman you'll see in the funny pages. Despite all that, I think the guy has it where it counts. He's got a Superman chin and the costume really works for him. He also has that Mid-West, "momma's boy" vibe that is crucial to pulling off a good Superman.

So what did I think about the movie? It was a bit on the long side, but I enjoyed it. I didn't fall head over heels in love with it, but I think it's a great Superman movie that fits nicely into the series. I don't know if the movie works outside the context of the other films though. I really think you have to watch "Superman Returns" and the original film fairly close together to get the full effect. I'll probably pick up "Superman 2" within the next couple of weeks to see how it relates. I also think it's important that you ask yourself a fairly serious question before you see "Superman Returns". Do you truly like Superman and what he stands for? If not, then I don't think this movie will convert you.

There are other things I could say about the movie but I really need to wrap this up. I like how Luthor had a slightly darker side to him in this film. He's still the mad genius he was in the original films, but it's almost as if prison has changed him. The movie has its moments but thankfully none of them involve Earth's rotation and time manipulation. I think we can all agree that's for the best. So, if you like Superman in the least, go see the film. You don't have to see it in IMAX but you should definitely see it. Once you have, we can sit around in some coffee shop and discuss the blatant Christian imagery.

Table Tennis Tournament

The first Table Tennis tournament over Xbox Live is about to kick off and yours truly is registered and ready to kick some ass!

Bring on the first opponent!