Another trip to GameStop, and once again I couldn't find any Used 60GB PS3s. I've had to sell my PS2 games and I gave my brother my copy of Ninja Gaiden Sigma because
I can't find any PS3s that still have their backwards compadibility. If anyone knows of a good used Game shop I would be interested

With the launch of the 360's new update yesterday, the resulsts have have ranged from good to full on Fanboy Flaming. While I managed to download the update yesterday, and so far neither me nor my brother have encountered any problem with the update, I've been trying to formulate my review for the update, here's what I came up with.

Over all the update is a vast improvement in terms of orginaztation over the previous dashboard. While Netflix is a nice feature, I'm more interested in the gaming aspect of the Update then the movies. My biggest complaint so far has been MS's scaling down of the Update which was suppose to include an Avatar Store and a Prime Time channel featuring games that would make use of the Avatars, and the fact that many older back ground pictures get hidden behind the various windows. The best features though of NXE are the ability to instal a game directlly to the hard drive, and to host parties with some of your online friends. 

My feelings on the Avatars though are mixed at the moment.

Many compare them to the Miis, often times saying they're blatent copies. However a lot of people who are doing the comparing probably don't even own a Wii. When compared to the Miis, the Avatars are a vast improvement, and look more like something you would find in a Manga or Anime and at least look human, but unlike the Miis, which at a distance look more like two painted blobs moving around, and when you see them upclose, the only Human features are their faces, while their bodies are basically bland, single colored blobs.

My biggest complaint about the Avatars though is the lack of items and games for them. However the Avatars were designed to make the 360 appeal to more casual gamers. 

In the end NXE in it's current form is a mixed bag, but the dashboard to me isn't what matters the most with the 360, what ultimatly defines a Console is it's game library, not it's dashboard, and as long as Microsoft continues to keep a balanced library, and continues to release decent hard core games I will gladly overlook the more casual aspects of the NXE.

I finally solved my NES problems, and no it didn't involve a sludge hammer . I was able to buy a toploading NES 2 off of a friend of mine. All I can say is that it's A VAST IMPROVEMENT over the old NES 1, and it should have been released far earlier then it was, which would have spared many gamers from the headaches caused by the Grey Box's faltly hardware.

Compared to the Grey Box the NES 2 is far more sturdy, and less prone to the malfunctions that have plagued so many NES owners. The console itself actually a normal NES but with a redesigned case, and better quality parts, and best of all NO 10NES Lockout chip, which caused the NES 1's Blinking Red Power Light, so there is little that can be said, it still plays the entire NES library, and is compadible with all of the Grey Box's accessories and controllers.

The only downside that I can find with the NES 2 is it's picture quality, which is somewhat inferior to the picture quality of the Grey Box, and that is owed to the fact the cartridges in the US were designed to be insetered into the NES 1's frontloading mechanism.

As I said before, the NES 2 is a vast improvment over the Grey Box, and is without a doubt the superior verson, and is a must have for Nintendo Fans and collectors.

History was made and a giant barrier was destroyed last night, with the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency. Last night was a time for celebrating, now the real work begins. The whether Obama succeeds or fails, the greatest legacy that will come out of the new Obama Administration is that American politics and society will never be the same again.

I was working on my Sega Master System, testing out the remaining games that came with it, when I found the strangest glitch ever, instead of loading the game on the cartridge the system loaded Alex Kidd in Mircle World, a game I don't even own, at first I thought the cartridge was mislabled, but when it did it with a second cartridge, I figured I'd found some kind of crazy hardware glitch.

Any thoughts?

I was finally able to purchuse my favorite console from back in the day: the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and the guy I bought it off of was nice enough to throw in a forgotten relec of the 8-bit era, the Sega Master System. Sure some people ask why spend good money on an archeic relic like the NES, Master System or Genesis, when you can download the games off of Xbox LIVE Arcade, Playstation Store, or Virtual Console. While I love those services, especally when it comes to hard to find games, I personally believe that the only true way to play a classic video game is on the console that it was originally designed to be played on.

When compared to it's rival, the NES, the Master System is ultimatly the better machine in terms of hardware. The SMS far more sturdy and more reliable then the NES, which suffered from the infamous, Blue Screen of Death due to falty connector pins, and the fact the machine is a top loader lessens the risk of the system suffering from many of the problems that plagued the NES. The controller is fairly well designed, and is very similar to the NES controller, and one of the best features of the SMS is that it's compadible with Genesis controllers.

Dispite it's more reliable hardware, the SMS still suffers from it's fair share of problems. The first thing gamers will notice about the Master System is that all of it's controllers, including the flight stick model my Master System came with, lack any form of a pause button, instead of putting the button on the controller Sega installed the Pause Button on the console itself. Like every cartridge based console, the Master System still runs the risk of dirty cartridges contaminating the system, which will cause the game not to load. However, the SMS's ultimate flaw is it's game library. Due to Nintendo's minopoly on the video game industry, the Master System's library is flooded with inferior third party games that Nintendo ignored, or kiddy games. However there are a few jewels to be found in the Master System's library, such as the Alex Kid Series, Shinobi, Fantasy Zone, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Because of Nintendo's minopoly, and thight control of Third Party Developers, the master system was a dismal failure, relegated to obscurity. However Sega's next console, would ultimatly give Nintendo a run for it's money, and help establish Sega as a house hold name.

When one thinks of Sega, the first console that comes to mind is the legendary Genesis/Mega Drive. Today, my most prized possesson is my Xbox 360 Elite, however back in the day it was the Genesis, which was about as close to perfection as one could get.

Going into the Nintendo-Sega Console War, there was little that seperated the Genesis from it's SNES nemisis, both produced execellent quality graphics, even by today's standards, and like the SNES the Genesis is extremely well built, and holds up well over time. However the one thing that the Genesis had going for it, was it's advertising and it's looks, especally the Genesis Model II. The Genesis's sleek look and midnight black finish made it far more appealing to the eye then the bulky dull grey SNES. But the one thing that set the Genesis appart from it's nemisis was it's game library. When Nintendo's buisness practices were declared illegal, it allowed Sega to gain third party support, and in the process allowed them to introduce the world to many beloved franchises including Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, and Streets of Rage. The library also contained many excellent additions to franchises pioneered by Nintendo, or included ports of SNES games that were superior to the SNES, including Castlevania: Bloodlines and of course Mortal Kombat I

As great as the Genesis was, it still had it's fair share of flaws. The biggest complaint that I have with the Genesis personally, is it's controller, which is extremely uncomfortable to hold, and the three button set up makes playing fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter more challenging then they need. Like all cartridge based systems, the Genesis still suffers from the bane of all cartridge based systems: dirty cartridges. Unlike the SNES, the Genesis can be more prone to dirt, owing to the fact that Genesis cartridges have more exposed connector pins then their SNES counter parts.

Unlike it's predicessor though, the Genesis was ultimatly done in by Sega's own bad buisness decessions, with the prime suspects being the Sega CD and 32X add-ons that were produced for the console in hopes of capitalizing on FMV technology and later 32-bit technology, and as everyone knows, both add-ons failed miserably, with the failure of the Sega CD and 32X, the Genesis was phased out, in favor of the far more powerful Saturn.

Over all the Master System and the Genesis represent Sega at it's best, and are must haves for any Sega Fan or collector.

While at Gamestop I inquired about the 80GB PS3, and to my shock the owners said that Sony had discontinued all backwards compadibity for the PS3, and had said they were not going to include backwards compadibility in the PS4 at all. After hearing that news any chance of me ever buying a PS3 or another Sony console has completely evaporated.

What was sony thinking?

The remains of Hurricane Ike came blowing though my home town of Oxford OH last night, we just got our power back but we've been blacked out since 3:00 Yesterday afternoon, I'm not surprised, I finally pay off my copy of the Force Unleashed, and I can't pick it up till the roads get cleard.

I finally had time to see Batman 89, and after seeing the Dark Knight there is little doubt left in my mind. The winner of the definitive Joker contest is: Heath Ledger.

While I love Jack Nicholson, and I think he did a fantastic job in the role, and also stayed truer to the comic book in a few ways, such as using the Joker's trade mark weapons such as Joker Venom and Electric Joybuzzers, and preserving his warped sense of humor. His first appearance as the Joker was absolute classic, and for a while I thought this would be the definitive Joker.

Nicholson's preformance was still full of the campyness Ceaser Romaro brought to the character in the 1966 TV Show, and ultimatly clashed with the Gothic Atmosphere Tim Burton tried to establish with Batman 89, in many ways Nicholson tried too hard to imitate Ceaser Romaro's preformance, instead of trying to distance himself from it. The two scenes that really undo Nicholson's preformance are the Museum scene and the climactic parade scene, these two scenes ultimatly drag his Joker back to being little more then the goof ball of the sixties, and the use of music by Prince destroyed any sense of menace the character had when he first appeared.

In terms of Heath Ledger, there's little to say, where as the sense of pure evil you get when you first see Nicholson's Joker is destroyed through out the first film reducing him to little more then an ego driven clown, Ledger's Joker is about as close to pure evil as it gets. In fact, Ledger's Joker is so dark, so menacing that at times you start thinking that they actually went to Gotham City and recruted the Joker himself. What ultimatly sets Ledger and Nicholson's Joker's apart is that Ledger's portrayl preserves the Joker's dark intellect, and in many ways improves it, including convincing others to do his dirty work for him. The one feature that both Nicholson and Ledger's Jokers have in common is the Joker's passon for grand schemes.

While Ledger's preformance is about as close to perfect as it gets, it still had some flaws. The biggest of these is that many of the Joker's trademark weapons, such as Joker Venom, are not present. Another flaw that Ledger's Joker has is that he at times seems too invincible, for example in the scene where Batman is interrogating him, Batman smashes his head into a sheet of glass and he doesn't even get a scratch.

Overall, while Nicholson does have his marits, his preformance could have been a lot better, adding more of the dark tone that was becoming part of the comic book at the time, and seeing as how batman 89 was directed by master of the macabe Tim Burton, I was expecting a far darker tone to the Joker. Wheather it was studio pressure or some other reason, a definitive preformance was destroyed by including the campy attitude the Joker had in sixties. Ledger on the other hand, succeds where Nicholson failed partly due to the change of times, and the attempts to distance Batman from the sixties, and creates a Joker that has some of the Joker's humor, but is also a creature born out of your worst nightmare.

It's been a few weeks since I aquaried an Atari Lynx from a friend of mine. Owing to the fact that it's a Model II Lynx it's a vast improvement over the Model I. Over all it's a pretty good hand held, it's nice a sturdy and despite it's huge size it is actually fairly comfortable to hold. Despite it's status as a failed system, the Lynx does have a spot in Video Game History, being that it was the first full colored Handheld, beating Sega's Game Gear to the Market by two years. One of it's best features is that it produces sound that players can actually hear

However the Lynx has it's fair share of draw backs.

1. It eats batteries like crazy: Both the Lynx I and II take six AA batteries, however the Lynx I only had a battery life of up to four hours, while the Lynx II improved on this, extending the battery life to five or six hours, depending on use.

2. It's size: Both models of the Lynx are huge, and have the look that they could actually be used as weapon. The Lynx is not only bigger then it's rival the Game Gear, but it's also bigger then the Wii, the orginal PSP, the PSP Slim and Lite, and the Xbox 360's Power Brick

3. The Game Library: This was the reason the Lynx ultimatly failed. It was a system that had a lot of potental, but it was never fully realized owing to the weaknes of it's game library, which produced few if any note worthy titles.

Over all the Lynx is actually superior to the Game Boy, in terms of technology, and will appeal to collectors of Classic Consoles, owing to it's historic signifigance as the first colored handheld system. However I would recomend trying to find a Lynx II for two reasons: it's battery life is longer, and it's also far easier to insert and remove the cartridges.