I was never a fan of the original Xbox. I hated what MS was doing with their console and despised the idea of a next-gen console coming out a year or 2 before the term 'next-gen console' was properly defined (note: i'm not saying the PS3 is the definition of a next-gen console. However, standardized HDD's and larger disc storage space is are features that I feel is what is needed in the next-gen of system). I have many friends who jumped onto the 360 ship early on, with the promise of higher graphics and better gameplay currently being offered. The now infamous hardware troubles of the 360 started early on and has never stopped. Another thing I never liked about MS going into the gaming industry was that I knew they viewed this as another tech based industry they could monopolize and exploit for profit. My view of this haven't changed, and with some of the moves they are making I doubt they ever will.

However, I almost found myself submitting to the will of the little white box when Halo 3 came out. I'm a sucker for advertisement and we all know the hype surrounding the game. I could never bring myself to do it. I just feel that MS is like a cancer for the console gaming industry and i'll never shake that feeling. However, now I have two reasons. I present to you the story of Speaker Ender. If you go through forums and other gaming site blogs, you may have heard the man's plight. While I won't actually recount his story because it isn't over yet and it is his to tell, I will link the story here.

www.achieve360points.com/articles/my-experience-with-18004MYXBOX/

This is for all purposes appauling. What is worse is this has been posted online and still, nothing has been done. Now the threat of going public does not even work on this customer service imbicles. There is however two things to note from the article. The article links to that site's forums regarding this story and others who have been wronged by Xbox customer service. Shocking is too soft a word to describe this is what people were going through. And then I found 3 little letters that changed everything for me;DRM

For those of you who don't know, Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a system MS has put in place for all of their digital content on offer through Xbox Live. Basically this is to protect them for potential digital piracy or Live User-to-User content sharing. The rules apply to not only the person being, but the people who develop the content as well. In practice, it protects them from having people get free copies of digitally purchased games/movies. What it also does is ensure that they don't have to do squat should you ever have to have digital properpty replaced. The DRM establishes that it is theirs and they will do whatever they please with it, despite how much you may have paid for it.

This is awful for the gaming industry. I understand that you don't want people copying/pirating the games your company has on its Live service. But to completely define the rights you have to the content you purchased even after it has been bought is completely ridiculous. What makes matters worse is that a person actually has to pay to get on XBL in the first place. I hope Speaker Ender has his issues resolved. And if anyone who reads this can actually help the guy out, please do so because no gamer/human being should ever have to go through this.

Hello all! This is actually my first blog type thing ever, so bear with me on this. I'm a life long gamer trying to get into the gaming industry. It is not that difficult if you have the right vision and the people already on the inside. Luckily I have both those things so hopefully i'll be in my dream job in a few years. Most I will be using this blog to vent out about issues I see in the current state of gaming and the consoles in general. I try to be as unbiased as possible, but sometimes can be short sighted on issues. Also i'll be giving you impressions or just reviews on games in general. Speaking of which, there was a game I wanted to give an impression on already, a little demo on the PSN for The Simpson's Game. I won't bore you with anymore details about myself (who cares about me, its the games gamers care about haha ).

Kay, so I have a PS3 and decided I would download The Simpson's Game demo last night. Hmmm where do I begin. Usually demo's are set up as to give a taste of what the full game is like. Hopefully that isn't the case here otherwise I was spoonfed crap in game form. It's a terrible demo, both from a technical and design standpoint. Granted, i'm not expecting genius from the development studios of EA, but hopefully a game with the amount of support this game got from its source material would have to be good. Again, not having played the full game I can't tell you if the entire thing is bad. What I will say is that the level you do play in the demo is probably some of the worst gaming i've played this console generation (been gaming 18 out of 21 years of life btw).

The demo puts you in control of Homer and Bart in a sceanario ripped from a Simpson's Halloween episode where the Lard Lad advertisement statue comes to life and terrorizes Springfield. The game drops you in a fairly big open world environment and basically tells you some quick tutorials on the controls and then expects you to best the walkin advertising behemoth. The first thing you will notice is that these are some great graphics. Easily one of the best uses of Cel-shading used on the PS3, and it comes close to Eternal Sonata on the 360. If only the game played as good as it looks. The designers thought it would be genius if a horde of infinite little Killer Krusty dolls, again ripped from a Halloween episode, would come in and try to impede your way on the ground. If that isn't enough, Lard Lad will make sure your life is hell by shooting eye lasers and stomping the ground in your area. It's alright though, if one of the two dies, he will come back in a few seconds once he rests up. It's like the co-op in Halo games where your buddy respawns in a safezone upon death, except here you can respawn everywhere. It is stupid in that regard however since the game doesn't punish you really for dying your basically free to mess up however you want.

Killing the Lard Lad is one of the most frustrating objectives I have tried to do in gaming in recent memory. You need to hit a switch in his back which opens another switch which you can disable. Doing this process three times results in his death and the end of the demo. You'll wish it was that easy though once you realize that there is gravity in the game and jumping high isn't possible without getting up in buildings. Hell even that is nearly impossible thanks to one of the most retarded camera's i've ever seen. It makes jumping on the fat ad's back that much harder. This isn't hard like Devil May Cry 3 we are talking about, where it is actually fun to rise above the challenge. Really there are so many things wrong with the game I get sick thinking about it. I didn't wanna ramble on like this but thinking about it is raising all sorts of hate for it. If your still with me i'm sorry, just do yourself a favor and stick away from this game like it was made out of razorblades and dead babies okay.