Yesterday I was playing Lost Planet at my parents' house when I got a message from a couple XBL friends indicating the 1,000 people online was going down NOW. Unfortunately by the time I got NBA Live 07 in the tray and got into an online lobby, the 1,000 people had dwindled to a mere 965. 

Despite an influx of people looking to get the achievement, the numbers remained in the 800-900 range for the better part of an hour. Finally I had to call it quits and drive home. Once there, the numbers had plummetted into the 600-700 range. Considering the dubious quality of the game, I doubt 1,000 people will be online again. I know some people who have taken their games back to retail after getting the achievement, or otherwise disposed of their disks.

One more chance exists though. . . perhaps on the 25th.

Is it just me, or do some of the current alt-rock bands sound like New Wave holdovers?

Back in 2004, I couldn't help but think "Float On" was the best Talking Heads song that Talking Heads never made. Modest Mouse blended Talking Heads funk with hopped-up production values to create a delicious sample of ear candy. The new Modest Mouse song, "Dashboard" is starting to get some airplay on the radio. Almost three years later, Isaac Brock still warbles like Dave Byrne. The funk influence is still everpresent in their new single, and the production values still echo the eclectic sounds of the now severed Heads.

Since Float On sounded nothing like the other songs on their album Good News For People Who Love Bad News, I am willing to guess the new song will sound nothing like the other tracks from the upcoming We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Perhaps Modest Mouse will continue to make a case for one-off downloads from iTunes.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I love Talking Heads. . . and by association, that means I love Float On and Dashboard. Travis ripped off Rush, bands steal one another's best licks all the time. That isn't necessarily bad, and I hope you don't construe my observation as such.

In anticipation of this weekend's attempt at 1,000 players actually using NBA Live 07 at the same time, I rented said game . . . for free. I certainly wouldn't pay legal tender for this game, especially since I have now played it.

EA may have the licenses for ESPN, NBA (though not exclusive), and many other sports-related titles, but the quality of the end products are not determined by the brands on the box.

Once I determined just how the swizzle-sticking SUPERSTAR moves worked, the first 750 points weren't a problem. I messaged a points-farming buddy, challenged him to a doo-el and by the end of the evening went to bed with three quarters of the game's achievements completed. Holding the left bumper down and then rotating the right analog wasn't really an intuitive way of executing a play.

From the various sports games I have played over the last few months--in an effort to harvest their points--I have experienced many different mechanics. EA Sports seems to take pride in making a straightforward sports experience an unintuitive labor. The SUPERSTAR moves in Live 07 were less gregarious than the gaudy spectacles found in the NBA Street series, but they were still unnecessary. The different shots and moves are mapped to face buttons already. The additional moves seem to have been designed simply for the purpose of using inputs that would otherwise have gone untapped.

NBA 2K6 was thankfully a lot more intuitive. I'm not saying that just because I harvested all the achievements in one game, but because I could easily access and execute game-winning moves. Shooting wasn't a chore, I wasn't fighting with the controls, the framerate, or the glitchy players like I was in Live 07. When I was playing against the computer I scored more than 200 points in a standard game. While playing against a non-moving opponent in Live I think I was barely able to break 50.

Before you miscontrue my message as EA bashing, MLB 2K6 was almost unbattable for me. Having gone years without playing a baseball game, the act of returning to the plate was an enormous hurdle. The batting mechanics of the game made the experience even less accessible with the odd thumbstick usage and the cryptic reading of the pitches. It seems both sides are intent on catering to only the most die-hard sports fans.

Given my experiences with current-gen sports games, I am more likely to play 2K games than the infinitely closer and less expensive EA titles. Despite having friends imbedded within EA, getting in their game(s) still seems to be the biggest barrier to me ever owning another sports game. But I doubt I will really attempt another baseball game any time soon, unless it is back to Baseball for the NES.

Watch in horror as I kill trees just to know what kind of money I am being offered. . .

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. . . and I talk about the EA project.

Logistically, getting 1,500 points between February 12 and April 12 doesn't sound tough. Despite being lumped in a competitive segment of points accumulators, I doubt FF2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Crackdown could possibly withhold 1,500 points from me within the space of three days. I'm pretty sure most other players will be racking up 1,500 points within hours.

Who knows what logo will be emblazoned on the T-shirts? Old Spice was my grandfather's coologne/aftershave/allergy-inducing fragrance. I am not excited by the prospect of sporting Old Spice and Microsoft logos together on one black, or mint-green shirt. Besides the shirts, the other prizes are not terribly compelling either:
* A special gamer picture - uh huh.
* Xbox 360 dashboard theme - Rare Theme? got it.
* XBL Arcade game Contra - Already harvested all 200.
* 200 Microsoft Points (worth $2.50) - Not too bad.
* A copy of Fuzion Frenzy 2 - and then it will be taken to Game Crazy for store credit or played by family members.

Seriously, Microsoft has said the prizes will be while supplies last. What is the marginal cost of issuing 200 more Microsoft Points? Where is this finite supply of dashboard themes or gamer pics? Those can be distributed ad nauseam. If everybody who completes the challenge gets all of the prizes, that is more enticing, but I doubt M$ and 0S are springing for that much schwag.

Last night wife and I watched most of M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. Having been an avid comic book collector for many years, much of the movie resonated with me. My wife didn't really identify with it as much. She had seen the movie before, but did a good job of not spoiling the end for me.

What was kind of a spoiler was not my wife mentioning the end at the end, but the events of the movie themselves. The movie was released in 2000. The gruesome tragedies included plane bombings, burning buildings collapsing from internal fires, train derailments, and scores of other disasters not only conceivable to the mind, but which have come to pass since the movie.

The train crash that precipitates the change for Bruce Willis' character was not unlike the Waterfall train disaster in 2003. My wife and I watched a documentary on the Waterfall disaster when we were in New Zealand. The dramatization shown in the documentary was eerily similar to Shyamalan's portrayal of the Philadelphia train crash. While train derailments aren't really out of the ordinary, the portayal was just too similar for comfort.

Plane disasters, buildings collapsing from internal fires, and many deaths were all boldly realized almost a year later. Regardless of who you may believe is behind the September 11 attacks, the unfolding of events in Unbreakable seemed to be very familiar. Almost too familiar.

I am certainly not suggesting M. Night Shyamalan is behind any of the events, but the movie has many events in it that came to pass in the following years. That coincidence may come off as prescient, but it was probably the most haunting aspect of the film. That and the fact that Shyamalan has a knack for revealing just how inhumane humans can be toward one another.

Shyamalan gets credit for weaving a compelling story with fantastic underlying premises. The characters are appealing, interesting, and smartly motivated. The use of color, symbolism, flashbacks, and foreshadowing are hallmarks of a Shyamalan movie, and this one is no exception.

I hope to see the movie again. The copy we got from the library was so damaged, we missed four scenes. As far as I can tell, they were important scenes.

Today's big announcement for me was Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP. I always wanted to import Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, but never really had the hardware to make it happen. Now Konami has heard my wishes and will be localizing it for the PSP. Yeah!


After salivating over georgeous redesigns, I realized one thing: it also comes with Symphony of the Night. That is all well and good for anybody who does not own SotN, but I already own it for the original PlayStation. Years ago (before I got married) I dedicated time to beating the game, collecting most of the weapons, equipment, and items. I also unlocked 199-ish% of the castle. Dude, that was a lot of castle.

Though I was initially not impressed back in 1998 when I saw the game, I fell in love with it after I got my own copy a few years later at the behest of a friend. Now I want to get Dracula X for the PSP, but it just isn't as valuable of a title.

I haven't really purchased a PSP game since Lumines. I have a few, but they were given to me by Sony's pushers in an attempt to get me to effuse about the marvels of PSP games. Now I have found one worthy of getting, but I am not as interested because I'd rather have it on the 360. Though I have been saving my purchasing points for either Symphony or Castle Crashers, the decision I made--whichever is released first is the one I am going to buy--is more suspect. Sure I can play Symphony again in HD for points, or I could also get Dracula X Chronicles with it. I'm honestly torn.

I'm expecting Dracula X to be $40 or more. I may have to do my own price analysis, but my gut pegs it no lower than $39.99; especially since it is going for $40 on ebay. How much is Castlevania: Rondo of Blood? ~$60. Yeah, put those price tags together and $40 sounds like a steal. If Konami went to $49.99, they would still tap the dedicated Castlevania fans who may have lost ebay bids, but I doubt they would really capture those of us who have one but not the other.

Then we face the problem of XBLA's pricing of Symphony. I seriously doubt Microsoft or Konami will allow that title to be downloaded for anything short of 1,000 marketplace points ($12.50). It is already going to be the largest downloadable game on the Live marketplace, but it just might be the most expensive. . . Yeah, you heard me Lumines.



I don't pretend to know what I will do, but I have it on good authority that those prices are entirely possible. That authority is not some secret mole within Konami, Microsoft, or Sony (though I have those contacts), it is the MBA talking, and a history of prognostication. You can't blame me . . . it is still Groundhog Day.

Today is the last day to buy discount-rate tickets for GDC. This year isn't the first year I have legitimately considered attending. Given the exciting opportunities available for networking, pimping games in production, and generally building many new bridges into somewhat distant worlds, it is an enticing opportunity.

The big problem is this show goes down the week before finals. . . and it is the week I am tentatively scheduling to start at that new place. Looks like the $1,000 tickets will go unpurchased, unless I find a wealthy benefactor.

Today is also the last day of January and it appears I have surpassed my initial goal of 20,000 points. Yay me!

. . . Now back to pricing wars.

This quarter I have a class on Organizational Structure and Strategy. We are looking at how an organization's goals, strategies, and competitive advantages all come together to provide direction and strong financial returns.

I persuaded my group to analyze EA for our final project. That means talking to employees of the organization, sampling individuals from competing organizations, and plumbing the depths of consumer base preferences. I am already scheduling some interviews internally, but when we get our questionnaire together, I will post it here to gather responses. . . assuming I am permitted to do so.

Some of you work for EA, its competitors, or its partners. If you would be interested in participating as an informational resource let me know. Otherwise, I will be contacting you directly with an invitation. That's just how I roll.


. . . and in other news, the job hunt is progressing. A high-tech organization within the Fortune 100 has extended an offer. Judging on how other interested parties counter, that just might be my next employment location.

I am finishing the Keynote address from Mac World. I knew better than to watch this thing. I am one of the +50% new additions to the Apple "family"and as far as keynotes go, Jobs did a great job.

In the demonstration of Apple TV, Jobs showed off HEROES. For those of you who may have forgotten, tonight HEROES returns to TV (in the US). We don't have cable, so we probably won't be watching. However, I am hoping NBC will be uploading the show to the web, as they have with the rest of the season.

Tonight also provides the return of Button Mashing. I am hoping this year will be the year I get to make an appearance on Button Mashing. Either way, it is stil the best gaming game show on the Internet.

No, I refuse to give in to the power of the iPhone. Cisco already had that, but Apple did make it sexy.