I've been on vaction for the begining of this week and wil be back to work on monday. For those of you who I consitantly read your blog and comment on it, I haven't been reading your recent posts but I plan to when I'm back to me regular schedual. Also, the 7th was my birthday. I got myself Guitar Hero III and am playing it in my time off.

For those who don't don't know when you set up your xbox live account you choose a gamer zone that kind of signifies your prefered style of play. There is a recreation zone, where I had put myself up til now, a pro zone, where I've moved myself too, a family friendly zone and an underground zone, which I think might be the opposite of family friendly. I originally put myself in recreational because I didn't play very much and only wanted to play for fun, but that really isn't my personality and now that I'm spending more time on Halo 3 I want to play to win, and only want to play with people who also want to play to win. Supposedly changing my zone should lean me more towards those people, but I've got to do some testing before I can tell for sure. Well have to see how it goes. Anyone else have any perspective on this?

I spent the time I had free this weekend playing Beautiful Katamari on the weekend. Its a good game and I wrote a review of it. You can read it here.

Be sure to give me thumbs up for the review if you think it was good.

I have a Gold Account on Xbox live and I have a brother who I will often share the Xbox 360 with. Since we're approximately the same skill level in most games it works out pretty well playing online. We also work together to unlock achievements on a specific game. However the problem comes in when you consider the social ramifications.

My brother is 15 and he is one of the people that if you met them randomly you might think he's incredibly annoying. We share a friends list and for some reason the people on it can't seem to tell the difference between my wonderfully matured tenor voice and his screechy pubescent ramblings. It also makes for odd conversation between the few friends I have in real life when they are talking about how great that match was on Halo 3 last night and I have no idea what they're talking about. For the most part the people we know are aware of the situation, but sometimes it results in odd happenings. A couple nights ago, one of my brother's friends was trying to figure out who was using the Xbox. It was actually my wife who was using it as a Media Center Extender and she had no idea how to respond to his question. I am considering disabling auto log-on.

The best solution would be to get a second Xbox Live Gold account, but that costs money. I have money, but my 15 year old brother does not. That means of course, I would have to buy this for him so I would not be inconvenienced. I hate that. I would prefer that Microsoft allow purchasing Gold accounts on a per console basis, but this isn't going to happen. It is just a small complaint I have.

So I was going to try to get my Rank up to 10 this weekend so that my character would be promoted to the officer ranks. If you'll check my profile you'll see that I failed at doing so. I have been playing team tactical and was doind really well with a team earlier. I had partied up with them after winning a macth and won the next five matches with that team. I went from rank 4 to rank 8 and felt really confident. Well, my brother came over and I had quit playing with that team so we could play some social matches, I only have on gold account, and by the time we were done it was late so I just turned it off. Well this weekend I tried again and I would like to blame it on the teams I got, since some of the were really bad, but I am sure a lot of it was me.

Part of my problem with Halo is that I've never played any Halo before. Another part of my problem is that I haven't played any 1st person shooter online since Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox, and I didn't even play that one too much. The third problem I have with Halo is I have a life outside of Video Games. Anyway, I've been determined to get better, but I'm feeling a little down about it right now. It seems the the weekends aren't enough to catch up with the dedicated players spending every waking hour on the game. It doesn't help that my little brother who plays usually only when I do, tends to do better than me also. I'm not quite sure what I'm missing.

Another problem might be my perferred way of play. I don't really like fighting people. I actually prefer running away. I like games like oddball because I'm very good at getting the ball, running away, and hiding in a corner and waiting for people to find me. Unfortunatly to play oddball ranked I have to play in lone wolves, which mostly consists of people vetoing anything but slayer matches. The reson I picked team tactical Is because I'm very good at driving the bomb or stealing the flag, but I perfer for someone to kill everyone. Terretories is a different story, because I'm really good at killing people while capturing terretories, and i do a great job defending too, but I need help. You can't win terretories by yourself and this is where I felt the teams I was with really failed yesterday. Oddly enough I'm also really good at one sided VIP. I guess its the hiding that helps me. I might just have to switch to another mode to get my rank to 10.

I guess what this all comes down to is I don't get enough time to play. If I were still in junior hihg I would totally own all of you! Too bad, I've got a job and a wife and a kid and I'm actually in great physical shape. Dang it! I'm so unfortunate! I still want to be better at Halo though and I will continue to try. In the meantime I'm not that good.

EDIT

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I've discovered something I wasn't aware of! I had been playing the game with the sensitivity turned all the way up thinking this would give me an advantage. Well it turns out that on the lower sensetivites the game will do an aim assist for you, moving your cursor to the correct point for a head-shot. On the highest sensetivity it doesn't seem to do this. I am going to do some more experimenting, but I think this is what is making the difference.

I was recently thinking about video games and which ones had been most influential on my gaming preferences, and I wondered to myself, "How did you ever get started playing video games anyway?" Well, it has been so long it's hard to remember, but in an effort to build conversation and inform my readers I'm going to explain the origins or my love/obsession with video games.

Well, I normally do a good job with dates, but this goes all the way back to Windows 3.1 days. My Dad had a computer he had gotten for work. Of course, just like today, the computer came bundled with some simple games. One was SkiFree. If you have never played this game it consists of skiing down a hill in a variety of different modes. However, once you finished the game did not end and you could continue to ski until eventually being caught and eaten by the snow monster.

The other game that came preinstalled was Chip's Challenge. This game was incredibly hard and involved puzzle solving similar to what you see in most Zelda games, only there are more enemies, you have no sword and you die in one hit. The game was seemingly endless, but my siblings and I had a lot of fun trying to complete all of the stages. I think eventually we were able to, but I can't remember.

There was actually a third game that we played that I believe my Dad actually bought for us. It was based of the Rescue Rangers TV show and it was for MS-DOS. I spent a lot of time rebooting the computer in DOS and using the command prompt to launch the game. I didn't know it then, but this was complex nerdy stuff that helped incline me toward tech products for the rest of my life.

The first console I ever owned was actually a Super Nintendo. I think My Dad bought it to free up his computer for work. We got it for Christmas and it must have been right after the launch in 1991 or 1992 because I remember not being able to read the text in Super Mario World. I actually hadn't asked for a Super Nintendo and wouldn't have known what it was had we not received one. We had never played an original Nintendo so this was all new. Needless to say, we were very excited. The Super Nintendo totally blew away our previous video game experience, but back then it was the simple gameplay that sold me (the graphics helped though I'm sure). My older Brother and I went on to play Super Mario World Pretty extensively. We were even able to complete all the levels and get a star next to our game save.

Odd thing though, after having a lot of fun on Super Mario World, we didn't get very many Super Nintendo games at first. In hindsight this is probably because of the high price of Super Nintendo games, but we didn't know that at the time. Instead, my Mom, a rummage sale addict, managed to find us an old Atari 2600 system. We wouldn't find games often time for less the $1 per cartridge. There was one particular game on the Atari I really liked. It was a two player game where each player was a cowboy and the objective was to be the first to shoot your oponnent. We also played the horrible ET game. I actually never understood what that game was about until I saw a video on the worst video games of all time. They explained that you were trying to get out of holes. That helped a lot because I had no idea what the objective was. We got a lot of other games for the Atari, but for the most part none of them were notable. Eventually we were able to find Super Nintendo games at rummage sales, at that ended our Atari experiences.

Sometime later we went on to get a Sega Genesis. I don't know what compelled my parents to buy that for us, but we were very excited. It wasn't something we got for our birthday or Christmas. In some ways that made it more special; we definitely weren't expecting it. We continued to expand our gaming options too. We even got an original Nintendo some time later. In fact. we got pretty much every major system released, either as a gift, or by saving up money to buy it. We still played computer games, but my Dad continued to only use the computers he got free from work. Needless to say these weren't up to date with the latest games. Consequently, my whole family gravitated more toward console games.

As a child, I always felt like my parents were frustrated with my siblings and I playing video games, but looking back they really helped push us towards them. That Super Nintendo purchase was probably the biggest push toward gaming and without it I would probably be a very different person. I have really fond memories of gaming as a young child and I wouldn't really want to change any of that. So anyway, thats how I got started playing video games.

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What's Your Story?

Sony is trying to shift potential Next-Gen gamers toward their system with a new PS3 and a price cut on the still new 80GB model. The new version comes in with a 40GB hard drive but no backwards compatability, two less USB ports, and no memory card ports at $399. This model still includes integrated Wi-Fi and of course Blu-Ray playback.

The 80GB model has droped to a price of $499. The big question is, will this be enough to bolster PS3 sales this Christmas? As a current next gen system owner, this doesn't do anything to convince me. I think the PS3 looks great, but I don't really care about Blu-Ray. For the most part, any game I want on the PS3 I can already have on my 360. Warhawk is the only game that has tempted me, but by itself is not enough. For perspective buyers who do not already own a 360, this might be more tempting, but with very few exclusive titles, will it be enough? Xbox 360 has a lot going for it this year. With it biggest exclusive title, Halo 3, out and 2 new games being bundeled in. Of course the Xbox 360 does have a lower price with the most most common model being $349. The downside to the 360 is that it is loud and doesn't play HD movies without an add on. Wi-fi must also be purchased seperatly for people who are looking to go with wireless internet.

Anyway, now the fight is a little more competative. I'm sure there will be several people getting the PS3 and an Xbox 360 this final quarter of 07. It will be interesting to see how the numbers go. I will continue to hope they lean toward the 360, and I think they will, but Sony is continually working to make the PS3 a more attractive console.

Here's a pic of me working on my computer

Just Kidding

This is a picture of my son, Nathaniel. He wants to be just like his Dad. Actually I am a good looking guy and plan to upload my real picture soon. Its just since I am normally the one taking pictures in my house, I am not in them. If you're real curious though, you can add me on Xbox Live. I have my real picture on my gamercard if you're my friend.

For the many many people who have not already jumped into the next generation consoles, Microsoft is giving extra ensentive to pick their Xbox 360 for the holidays. In addition to the recent price drop, making the premium 360 $349, Microsoft is set to include two games in with the console at no additional cost. This does not include the core model however, which is just one more reason not to buy a core. Still, this is a big push for any prospective purchaser this holiday season.

Of course this wouldn't matter if the games were horrible. Thankfully Microsoft picked out two titles that are worth playing, Marvel:Ultimate Alliance and Forza Motorsport 2. The latter of the two is probably the most exciting but the former isn't too bad, especially for people who enjoy local multiplayer.

Marvel:Ultimate Alliance

Forza Motorsport 2

Of course, Microsoft is counting on other games in its line up to push people towards its system as well. Halo 3 is probably the most notable title for this holiday, but there are others. Mass Effect is coming out. Also Rock Band will probably be a big hit. If you add all this to the current collection of 360 games the Xbox 360 looks incredibly compelling this year. Of course we'll have to wait until next year to get a good idea of the actualy sales numbers. How do you think Microsoft will fare?

It has been a week since I got my copy of Halo 3 and I am still devoting a large ammount of my free time to playing it. For me it has largely been a social experience. Not only have I been playing online with some friends, but I've had my brothers over and we've played online. Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I actually had a friend over to my house and we spent several hours on the game trying to complete the campaign. We weren't able to finish it, but we'll be getting together again next week to complete it. Honestly this is the most fun I've had playing a video game that I can remember. It is the most fun I've ever had playing a video game online, ever! Needless to say, this game has been eating up the majority of my free time. I find myself thinking about it constanly, which leaves little room for writing editorials. I have some ideas and when my obsession dies down a bit I'll probably have a lot to post. Meanwhile I don't have much to say.