So I finally bit the bullet and got a replacement system for my 60GB launch model. It is the base 120GB slim PS3, and man that thing really is small compared to the original fatty. And somehow it really does run quieter, not sure how it manages to do this, but it does. And for those that don't know, my first PS3 got the YLOD, if you look at one of my earlier blogs you'll see a detailed explanation as to why this happened. I got it fixed and then sold it, took that money and some more and went down and picked up a new slim model. So far everything works great, plus it takes up a lot less room, which is always a plus.

Since the CES has come around and all the new gadgets and gizmos have come out, now is the time for me to talk about the one that I think is the most overhyped junk there is: 3D technology. Apparently after we just finished the HD era, we are now ready to move onto the 3D era. I think this is a load of crap. Several things that I know will make this "new" tech not catch on:

1. We have just realized mass market appeal for HD equipment.

It's true, most statistics show that just barely more than 50% of US households have made the switch from SD to HD. What is everyone supposed to do now that HDTVs have finally come to be affordable for the mass market, toss that aside and start again with $5,000+ TVs? No, has anyone else realized that we are in a recession? The only people willing and able to actually buy the new 3D products are the wealthy, which make up about 5-15% of the population, based on your definition of wealthy. Do electronics companies really think normal people can actually afford to get another home entertainment center just after they got the "latest" technology in their home? Don't people realize that SD and VHS ruled for nearly 20 years before HD and DVDs came along? Now apparently we are supposed to replace our electronics on a five year cycle, not the normal ten year cycle that most people follow.

2. The technology only works when you wear goggles or glasses!

True, why would I want to put stuff on my face when I am trying to relax? When I watch a movie at my home, many times it is laying down, or sprawled out in a relaxed position, now I'm going to be forced to sit theater style so I can see through the goggles properly. Sorry, like most people I don't even like 3D at the movies! I usually end up walking out disoriented and confused, with a feeling that I'm about to puke. And I can sit through 2D movies like Cloverfield and Blair Witch style shooting just fine, and I know people that can't even stand that! I agree that virtual reality is coming, and that this is a step in that direction, but until they can achieve this without you having to wear glasses and goggles I think it is a waste. Show me a TV or projector that can display three dimensional objects without the use of sight altering equipment and I will be impressed, until then it all just seems like a fad to me.

Yeah so the National Championship was on last night, and our starting QB got hurt on the first series. We put up a good fight, but did lose a game where the final score did not reflect the competitiveness of the game. I'm proud that my team didn't just lay down and die, but also I was hoping that they could somehow pull off a miracle and win with basically one arm tied behind our back. Well here's looking to next year.

Ok so after some research on the internet I found a DIY way to fix the issue I was having. Apparently what I had is commonly referred to as the YLOD (yellow llight of death). I don't really know why because the light is more amber than yellow and it only flashes for a second before the red light comes on blinking. But basically two things can happen with this, first it could be a power supply failure, which in that case as Rottenwood pointed out, you just have to replace it. Or the soldering underneath the Cell processor and the RSX GPU has melted from overheating and has cooled unevenly, making the CPU and GPU malfunction. Well there is actually a simple way to fix this (and is what Sony does for $150, a huge ripoff) and it involves taking apart your PS3 down to the motherboard and cleaning off the thermal compound on the CPU and GPU and heat sink plates and then using a heat gun to reflow, or resettle the soldering evenly. Sounds complex but actually it was quite simple, there are videos on youtube that show you step by step how to take it apart and do the cleaning and heating process. Apparently this is a common issue with the 60GB model, from other people online I have seen that the avg. lifespan of these is about 2-3 years before this happens. I think because there is just too much stuff packed into the unit, and the chipset is too large and produces too much heat for the fan and heatsink to handle, and that the soldering used might have a lower melting point that anticipated, thus making the 60GBs, much like a 360, a ticking time bomb.

WARNING- IF YOU HAVE A 60GB PS3, MAKE SURE IT IS VERY WELL VENTILATED. IF THE FAN COMES ON, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND TURN IT OFF, THIS IS A SIGN THAT THE SYSTEM IS OVERHEATING AND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO OPERATE, YOU MUST REST IT. FROM WHAT I HAVE READ THIS IS FOR FIRST GEN. PS3'S WITH FIRST GEN. CHIPSETS, NEWER ONES HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO RUN COOLER SO THIS SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM ANYMORE. IF YOU HAVE A LAUNCH PS3, YOU HAVE A VERY LIKELY CHANCE THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN, BE CAREFUL!

Oh man! So I was playing COD MW II yesterday and in the middle of a match it turned itself off and the light was blinking red. I tried to turn it back on and it seemed to work fine, but then it did it again like 5 minutes later. So I tried one more time after waiting an hour or so, and this time it wouldn't turn on at all. Dang it! I'm pissed because I have an original 60GB model and I'm afraid that they won't be able to fix it (cheaply, or at all). I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what i can do, my warranty is out so apparently I will have to pay for the fix, if it can be fixed. I also read online that two things can cause the blinking red light, a corrupted HDD or over-heating, anybody out there have this problem as well? If so, can you please tell me what was wrong and how much it was, I'm just curious. Man, what a time of the year to have this happen, I probably won't get it back until after the new year....

Look, I'm a numbers guy. Give me an excel spread sheet and some data and I can make a rate and rank report to show you whatever you need. I live for sports but trust in the mathematical charts drawn up by the greats like Jeff Sagarin to ascertain a team's chances of winning a close contest. I also am always trying to think up ways to rank things based on number alone. I once created a mathematical formula to rate prospective cars from price class to price class based on several criteria (it is still a work in progress- it is very hard to put an absolute value on luxury vs. performance). I also obsess over sites like metacritic, gamespot and the like for these reasons as well. One of the main reasons that I come to this site continuously is because I trust the game review scores and usually agree with the reviewers point of view.

So the theory that I am proposing is if you are say, a numbers guy like me, do you find it odd that you might buy a game based solely on the review score instead of if you really liked playing it? Or does this just affect me? What I mean is I tend to buy games sometimes based solely on the review score and nine times out of ten I love the game but there is that once every so often that the game is fun but it ends up collecting dust because I just like other games more?

Also I have noticed that if I play a game without even seeing the review that I can now point out the flaws and even be shockingly close to the score it received (I'm usually on the money half the time, within a point the other half).

So I guess what I am saying is does anyone else out there view games (or anything else for that matter) in the same numbers and tangibles way that I do? Or do people tend to just like a game for what it is and to hell with the review score. I find that happens for me in very rare cases, where I felt that parts of the game were not appreciated correctly.

Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill but I just wonder if anyone else puts as much weight into statistics as I do?

Well the BCS rankings are finally out and we have a lock by the SEC on the top two spots by Florida and Alabama. Next is Texas and then we have Boise St. and Cincinnati to round out the top five. I have looked over the conferences so far and my conference power rankings are shaping up with a surprise or two.

1. SEC- this is a no brainer, with Florida and Alabama at the top and the SEC tied for the lead in teams ranked in the top 25, they are the unquestioned kings of college football right now.

2. Big Ten- This is a big surprise since most people have recently put them in the doghouse as far as power conferences go. Some might even say that the Mountain West is even stronger than the Big Ten. I disaggree, the big ten has an out of conference record of 29-10 and overall nine out of the eleven teams have a winning record. None of the teams are elite but they are all solid across the board , for once there are few weak spots in the big ten lineup.

3. Big XII- Texas is #3 in the rankings. The only reason this conference is not #2 is the poor play of Oklahoma so far. And only 8 of the 12 teams are better in the wins column than in the loss column, but 3 are .500 so that means only one team has a losing record so far (Colorado). Again the difference between the Big Ten and Big XII right now is a 3-3 OU team.

4. Big East- Cincinnati looks like the real deal this year, beating South Florida on the road in a normally hostile Raymond James Stadium. Again these guys are actually tied with the Big XII in teams that are in the top 25 in the BCS with rankings of 5, 20 and 23 versus the Big XII's rankings of 3 15 and 25. Very solid conference this year.

5. PAC-10- Powerhouse USC is going through a "rebuilding" year with Freshman Phenom Matt Barkley, and yet they are still 5-1, while being 2-0 on the road in Notre Dame and Ohio St.! These guys are still very powerful and demand respect even with the loss of mark Sanchez to the NFL. Overall the conference has a boost from last year when they ripped off an impressive 5-0 bowl record last year. But some early missteps like Oregon's loss to Boise St. has put these guys back in the middle of the pack as far as prestige goes. And even though USC is #7 in the rankings, they did lose to Washington, a team that lost every single game it played last year.

6. Mountain West Conf.(MWC)- With the upset of Alabama last year in the Sugar Bowl by Utah, the MWC put it's feet firmly on the map of big time "for real" conferences that have a shot every year at the National Title. This year's team to beat is TCU, who have always been upset minded and are known for a ferocious defense that is one of the best in the nation. BYU upsetting OU in the first game of the year showed that this conference is no fluke, and they have three teams in the BCS top 25 to prove that they belong.

7. Atlantic Coast Conf.(ACC)- The ACC are in need of a marquee bowl win this year, considering they have been in a drought in terms of power for a conference that is given an automatic BCS bowl bid every year. Virginia Tech had a statement game against Nebraska but was beaten by Alabama earlier in the year leading many to think the ACC might still be the pretenders in the automatic BCS conferences. Miami proved people wrong though by winning a tough fought game at home vs. OU, but that was done without Sam Bradford, OU's star QB. Still, with only three teams in the BCS rankings with Miami leading the way at #10, they still have a long climb ahead of them to be in the drivers seat as the best college football has to offer.

8. Western Athletic Conf.(WAC)- The home of the BCS buster with Boise St., the ultimate cinderella team. A truly 'wac'ky conference that can put up points with the best of them, but still in need of some more teams that show more consistency in winning the big statement games early in the year. Only Boise St. finds it's way on the top 25, and with all of their tough games behind them, the only way they might be going on the rankings is down, regardless of them potentially going undefeated. To stay in contention they will need another cinderella storybook ending and some dominant play to be a factor come bowl season.

9. Conf. USA(C-USA)- This is a perrenial door mat to the big boys of D-1 football, usually having some of the worst teams to ever don a uni. But with one lone hope in Houston, a team that managed to beat TWO top 25 teams already this year (OK St. and Texas Tech), if they can win out and dominate conference play they could possibly make a statement in a crucial bowl to put this conference on the map as a contender and not a pretender.

10. Mid American Conf. (MAC)- This is a bottom feeder conference that has no real hope this year of being a power in the NCAA. Some bright spots are Central Michigan and Ohio, who are both undefeated in conference play so far this year.

11. 1-A independents- Three teams without a conference (Notre Dame, Navy and Army) are usually looking to make some noise come bowl season but sadly none of these three are in the top 25 as of now. It is going to take a miracle for any of these teams to make a statement come bowl selection time.

12. Sun Belt- Last but certainly least, we have the absolute worst teams that play ball on Saturdays that call themselves D-1 football players. Guys, good luck next year!

Well there was a bit of a loophole in our system at the buster so I was able to get Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising early for free! Well so far my thoughts are positive. First thing I want to mention is the sounds of the game, they are very realistic and let me tell you there is nothing more spine tingling than hearing bullets whiz past your head. Explosions rock the entire screen and so far the combat has been intense. It is hard to explain the intensity, it is not ultra fast paced like COD4 was but just as intense in the fact that one mistake can get a bullet to the brain. In COD4 if you made a mistake you can just find some cover and regenerate your health and jump right back into the fray. In this game you are forced to move at a deliberate pace which can be off putting to some but the satisfaction you feel after executing a mission without taking a bullet is immense. From what I noticed you do have body armor so you can take a fair amount of damage to the torso section and still come away unscathed. If you are shot up enough though it will fail and you will die. You can also die from taking a wound in your arm or leg because you can actually bleed out, so applying a bandage is key to surviving. The only thing I see that is kinda weird is sometimes the enemy A.I. is spotty, like they will stop and try shooting at you in the open before trying to find cover first. It is not bad though because when they do shoot at you watch our because they can hit you and kill you from immense distances. Last night I was headshot from 300 meters away walking through underbrush! I saw the guy but I didn't think he would be able to hit me, well I was proved wrong in an instant. I have not had a chance to play the multiplayer yet so no word on that but when I do I hope to tell you guys if this is going to be a worthwhile purchase for your collection.

So far I give this game an 8.5/10, close but no cigar. Great but not quite to the point where this should be considered a must buy for anyone that owns a PS3. maybe the multiplayer will bump the game up slightly, who knows?

So has anyone been checking out the videos for Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising (OFDR)? The game looks really awesome and very hard at the same time. As a person who played the original on the PC (don't use the XBOX port as a benchmark!) I have to say that this new version is looking very good. To anyone who does not know about OFDR should give it a look, might be a sleeper for best shooter of the year (yes it could be better than MW2!)

Has anyone else heard about this? I'm not sure to believe it but I got a message on the PSN from a friend saying that apparently Modern Warfare 2 will be the last COD based game made for the PS3. Apparently Activision and Sony are not renewing their contract so this will be it. Anyone heard anything on this, doesn't seem likely to me but you never know.