Ethereal Permenance

I just finished installing Movable Type 4.0!

2007-08-29T01:46:19Z

Welcome to my new blog powered by Movable Type. This is the first post on my blog and was created for me automatically when I finished the installation process. But that is ok, because I will soon be creating posts of my own!

Thus ends the filler text automatically posted by the Movable Type installer. Went mostly plainless, had to fiddle around to get all the templates and styles to work since no one wants to see this site without some nice colors to go along with the text. Was able to import most of the previous entries from a backup, although for some reason it left out the last year or so. Good thing I didn't post too much, right? I should try to post some more, it's been a while.

I was able to look in archives to bring back the almost-lost posts, although any of the comments, like those from Maiko are gone. There's a free link for his blog. He's updated more than I, but seems to also be in a bit of a slump.

I'm coming off another crazy summer that went by too fast, and diving right into getting the computers ready for another school year. Teachers tracking me down, and the emails are flying fast. This would be a good year to get my email filtering senses in order. I suspect dumping all emails that are more than a month old into a folder that will probably never be opened would be a good start. Still have lots of books to finish reading, including (still) Getting Things Done. The irony falls on deaf ears.

It's Electrifying!

2006-11-22T03:11:53Z

Time to break the silence with a funny story from today.

So I was working with someone on the small speakers we have in some of the classrooms, where the teacher can wear a wireless mic and save their voice without having to always yell, and also provides a service to children who may have a hearing impairment. We worked to figure out what was wrong with some of the units, testing the cables, and sometimes swapping in a new 9 volt battery. When we were done, I dropped two of the 9 volts in my pants pocket and headed off to do whatever else was on my plate for the day.

I was working in the art room later that day, and as I was working on a printer, I smelled something funny. As the printer was just warming up, I thought maybe it was just burning off some dust like the printers like to do sometimes. Then I felt a sharp pain on my leg. I begin throwing everything out of my pocket, realizing that I was causing the smell with whatever was burning in my pocket. The ID I clip to my pocket has one of those plain metal ball chains on it if you were wearing it around you neck, but I just tuck that into my pocket. Never bothered to take it off the clip. Well, apparently one of the 9 volt batteries worked its way around to the chain, completing the circuit, and burning a hole through my pocket! Cue odd smell, leg pain, and eventual hilarity. I'll have to patch up the small holes in the pocket, and my leg is fine, but that sure took me by surprise.

Lesson of the day: Pockets are not for batteries. (Good thing it wasn't a Sony battery, or I'd be done for! Oh, the inside jokes.)

Where'd You Go?

2006-09-03T03:16:06Z

Been quite a long break on the blog - but here's some photojournalistic expression on my summer activities:

Fun-filled and action-packed. Been getting things ready for back to the "real" work, and maybe back to a more regular posting schedule.

Long Time No See

2006-05-26T00:16:19Z

Been pretty busy lately with life. Yet the links pile up, news never stops, and don't forget all that fun around E3 week. In a few short weeks, Nintendo took the Revolution, renamed it the Wii to bewildered fanboys and critics everywhere, and then became the media darling. By the end of E3, both Microsoft and Sony proclaim the Wii will be the "second console" to buy after dropping a ton of money on one of the more expensive options. (Of course, Microsoft said it first, and Sony copied the idea, nothing new there.)

Fun with photography - High Dynamic Range (HDR) appears to be one of the many areas that computer graphics are hyping up, but it's also big in real life photography. Even when photographing food. This site talks about another type of camera that hopes to take a picture, and then focus it afterwards. Also a link or two to someone at the forefront of these tricks, Paul Debevec. Here's his page on HDR, but don't miss other stuff on his site like the precursor to "bullet time" and how an associate helped acquire such source material for an impressive demonstration of the bullet time idea. Why couldn't I fly a kite around during college for a class?

It's been just over a year since college graduation. Haven't been back since, but I did notice they started putting the college paper online in PDF format, which is nice. I got to read about how strong winds knocked the steeple off the church on campus, and how the drama never stops. About graduation...I'm pretty sure my family ordered DVD's of the event...which I still haven't received. Still trying to contact someone about that, but who knows. I started a real job since graduation, and I'm hoping the other grads are doing just as well in whatever they went off to do, be it back to more schooling or out into the real world.

On computing, if you're looking for some free security tools for your pc, check out this Anandtech thread where people link some of the best around. Anandtech forums are also great for Hot Deals on computer-related gadgetry. As is Slickdeals.

Could probably write more, but I think that's enough for now. Got enough of other stuff to do, like the tons of books and magazines sitting around unread. Including, ironically, Getting Things Done.

April Fools!

2006-04-01T17:19:59Z

The internet community seems to love participating in this day. Even though it's a Saturday, lots of sites have changed for the occasion. Some will just change back, others have posted special announcements. For instance, Slashdot have donned a "Pinkdot" skin for the day with stories such as Linux: OMG!!! OMG OMG!!! LINUS LIKES PINKDOT!!! LOL!!! , OMG WIRELESS EXTENSION CORDS!!! LOL!!!, and CUTEST WEB SITE EVER DISCOVERED!!!.

What else is going on?

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® PRESENTS BURGERCRAFT™ - "At BurgerCraft, players will have a chance to truly taste the flavor of Blizzard's games and savor traditional dishes from all the company's popular game universes."

Pin All Your Romantic Hopes on Google - With Google Romance

ThinkGeek offers the iZilla and the USB Desktop Tanning Center.

Practically everything on Homestar Runner is upside down.

Gamespot, trying to be funny, posts news about "World of Starcraft" and "Cowbell Hero".

GameFAQ's looks to be shut down with this image on their front page. Hardy har.

Wikipedia has a great page with a ton of links to other sites pulling pranks.

Today is also Apple's 30th anniversary. No crazy news from them, real or fake. At least not yet.

No Rest For The Link-Weary

2006-03-26T02:29:09Z

On top of running out of hard drive space on the laptop, there's always the issue of more and more links. This crazy internet just keeps growing!

Here's a 7 page and growing thread on the official Lost forums about their grammar mistake in the most recent episode. The subtitles for the Korean language said "You're husband...", and thousands of grammar police (including myself) cried in agony.

FolderShare - a new "Live" service under the umbrella of Microsoft. Send files between PC's. Allows synchronization of folders between computers.

Available till March 31st, this t-shirt is great for fans of Battlestar Galactica. If you haven't watched it, this won't make any sense.

This VG Cats comic strip cracks me up. (Warning: Contains clowns. But it's hilarious.)

You know what would be a great song for people to put on their blogs? That song that played every time Doogie Howser sat down to type in his DOS-based journal. What a genius...years ahead of the blogging age!

Point/counterpoint:
Why Windows Vista Won't Suck.
Why Windows Vista Will Suck.

I recently picked up a new computer magazine from the local Barnes & Noble. I had to get it as soon as I saw an artist in there by the name of Steve Holt. Fans of Arrested Development will get it.

A Wealth Of Information

2006-03-22T21:48:29Z

The internet is so vast...yet I've heard it referred to as a lake a thousand miles wide, but only 2 inches deep. But it can be one hilarious lake!

Will Ferrell's Apple "Switch" ad, with Parfait

Will Ferrell's Santa "Switch" ad

Will Ferrell's iPod "Switch" ad

Heck, here's just a ton of Will Ferrell antics.

The Daily Show's story soon after VP Cheney shot his friend during a hunting outing.

From Left Field

2006-03-22T03:40:25Z

Sometimes kids at the school say the craziest stuff. Must have been a Kindergartener or a 1st grader in the library the other day, and this is the conversation I hear as I'm working on a computer.

Kid: Who's that guy?
Librarian: He's the computer technician, he keeps the computers running.
Kid: But why does he have a beard?

I am not kidding, that was the line of questioning. The librarian went on saying something about how that's my choice, and the kid went on to talk about how some people wear fake beards and wigs, and one time he had a fake mustache.

This is the kind of stuff you wouldn't hear at a regular office job.

An Icon Wasteland

2006-03-16T01:09:05Z

You know it's bad when your entire desktop is covered in icons. Entire. Desktop. I can tell they're even going off the screen. Some magical application needs to come out that takes care of this kind of stuff. I end up with all these links for "later", but I never seem to get back to them. I end up with a billion* tabs and countless** icons on my desktop and no way to sort them. So let's take a look at a few. All you need for a "Web 2.0" website! Fileplanet is offering Ground Control for free - a classic RTS. This looks like a cool class that's part of MIT's OpenCourseWare - free classes for everyone with access. You don't get credits, but it's free education (if you can understand it on your own). Got a bunch of spare time and car batteries lying around? Make your own UPS! If you're thinking about switching to VOIP (Voice Over IP), try out this site to check out how well your connection will handle it. Microsoft's repackaged the idea of Tablet PC in a new form factor that they code-named Origami. It's still running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, but it's smaller. Origami just sounds better than "Ultra-Mobile PC". I think this could be the start of a new PC market, but that's just what Microsoft is hoping for. There will have to be a large move forward with battery life in these devices for them to be feasible at all, though. 2-3 hours will not cut it, especially if we're still going to have to wait for these machines to boot like a regular laptop. People are used to carrying around their cell phones all day and having them work - these machines will have to step up to that level of battery life for them to be accepted. I could see them becoming like the core piece of a system though. Imagine, all my links could move with me in one of these core pc's, and follow me to each workstation. Here's a huge Lost - related website, with lots of spoilers, screencaps, and rabid theorizing. Television Without Pity has some pretty hilarious recaps of episodes of 24, along with lots of other shows. Highlights include calling Computer-guy Edgar "Lispy-Skip". Poor Edgar. *Exaggeration. **188 as of this writing.

That's Mr. Computer Guy To You

2006-02-17T23:03:27Z

Kids in elementary school are funny. Being the new guy there means I get quizzical looks from some, having no idea who I am. Others see me in the lab and are calling me over with calls of "Mr. Computer Guy" and "Mr. Computer Expert". Then I help them press Control-Alt-Delete to log on. It's not exactly the easiest key combination out there, especially if you can't read and haven't used a computer before. Sometimes the kid kinda gets it, and has one hand on Control, another on Alt...and searching for a way to reach Delete with their latent telekenetic powers. So, there's still a ways to go with making computers easy to access for all ages. Let's not even get started with using the mouse. Onto some sites littering my Firefox tab bar: Here's Harrison Ford on Conan the other night. He always looks depressed whenever he's on any of these kind of shows, and this time Conan breaks out a classic clip of the "Star Wars Christmas Special". Hilarity in motion. I've been getting into these productivity sites as of late, like Lifehacker and 43 Folders. Even though they have a lot of good advice on how to get things organized and in order, I still fail miserably. But that's not their fault. A few of their stores that have caught my eye as of late: The "30 Boxes" calendar beta has gone live. An interesting calendar you can share with others for networking. Cleaning out that dusty PC. Using Windows Scheduled Tasks. Something I should look into, having windows do those jobs for me so I don't have to. I also came across this site called Listible, which attempts to cluster sites together under similar headings, like this one for "The Best GTD Resources". GTD, or Getting Things Done, are lots of different programs, ideas, and other organization tips that people use to, well, Get Things Done. At times, I like to think that I'll eventually get all of my files in order, on the computer and around the house. A classic post from 43 Folders, Building a Smarter To-Do List, Part I. In an effort to keep up with all the sites out there, news feeds were born. RSS, XML, that weird orange logo - all the same. But how do you get it all in order? I'm still working on that. There are feed-reading applications out there, some free, some pay. Of course, I'd rather get the free one. There's sites that can keep track of them, or dedicated applications. Pluck offers a reader that runs inside your browser. Heck, even Google's Gmail now lets you add in feeds. A service like that sounds like a good idea since then your links are all stored online, and you can access it from any place. But for those who like a program you can install, I came across FeedReader. I sure have typed a lot...that's enough for now. Don't miss the Woot-Off!

Links, Tabs & Such

2006-02-16T03:04:53Z

Once again, I find my desktop inundated with links to various corners of the internet. 24: The Show You Should All Be Watching The Jacktracker Google Maps + 24 = Jacktracker. You can also read the blog that is connected to the Jacktracker, which has some funny "Geographic Reality Reports" showing how impossible it would be to really travel from place to place in the 24 world:

Jack & Derek: Wayne Palmer’s Westwood Condo to Ontario (California) International Airport via stolen car: 56 miles over 17 minutes = 195 mph. Impossible.

http://blogs4bauer.blogspot.com/ - Can't miss that "Jack Bauer Kill Counter"! Humorous: The Ricky Gervais Podcast - It's on iTunes, I've downloaded a few, but haven't listened yet. He was hilariously awkward in The Office though, so it should be good. Except for the British stuff I won't get. Apple 1984 Commercial Parody - Entitled "Whatever", it shows how far Apple has come. Someone with too much time on their hands used Garry's Mod and Half-Life 2 to make an impressive Rube Goldberg contraption. Technology: NAS in a Snap - article from Tom's Hardware about a Snap! Server, a piece of hardware you connect to your network for more storage. Something we could all use more of. I just worry abot my data going kaput if a hard drive ever melts down. You can get the look of Windows Media Center on your plain old XP box with the release of the theme from Microsoft. A crazy deal on a laptop can be had this week at CompUSA. This Acer laptop has it all, along with being one of the first Intel Centrino Duo laptops on the market. It was a great deal last week at $1499, but this week it's a steal at $1299 after rebates. I don't know how they do it. Specs: Intel Core Duo Processor T2300, 1.66GHz, with Centrino Technology, 2GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Home Edition, and a Radeon X1400 video chipset. Impressive. And yet, after pasting a bunch of links in here, it seems like I've barely skimmed the surface.

Into The Fire

2006-02-09T00:45:48Z

After neglecting my posting duties for way too long, I need to get some of these stories down. Having been working at the school district for over a month now and surviving, all is going just fine. We just finished a round of report cards and I'm glad I was able to pull through that and help when needed, nothing stumped me too bad and - for the most part - they all got out on time. Time for a few stories from my first few weeks. It must have been my second or third day at the school, and I'm working on a computer in the back of the computer lab. (This lab also doubles as my office in the one school, I get a desk. But there's also a closet! It still needs cleaning out.) I had a cart set up with a computer set up and a class comes in to use the lab, so I keep working in the back. Little kids crack me up when they're on these computers. Pressing control-alt-delete to get to the login screen? Quite the task for some of them, who try to slam on all 3 keys at the same time, really quick. They turn to me wondering why it didn't work and I try to explain, you can hold them all down in order, you don't have to pounce on it. I go and show them, Control. Alt. Delete. Hopefully this knowledge filters through all of them eventually. So this classroom of kids is getting settled, and one student begins to loudly announce to the teacher, "I ACCIDENTALY PEED!". Having worked in the computer lab in college the last 4 years before this, I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard this recently, but who knows. The kid is given a buddy by the teacher and they leave to go to the nurse. The teacher consoles the student that it's ok, and that these things happen. Once the student is gone, the teacher lets the class know that we're not going to make fun of the student when they get back, since it was just an accident. The greatest part - the other kids in the room start letting the teacher know, indeed, this happens to all of us. "Yeah, sometimes when I go to bed I pee the bed!" "YEAH ME TOO!" They're trading stories of when they also lost bladder control? Hilarity. Another day I was in the lab, and the class was getting started working in Word. For some kids, this is one of the first times they're using a computer, and the whole experience is new to them. You can't expect them to know where the keys are, what buttons to press, and people in the industry should really just sit down with a class of 1st graders to figure out how to design interfaces. The teacher helps walk the students through clicking on the Start button, Programs, Microsoft Office, and Word. Most of them get it eventually, but somewhere along the line one student in particular managed to exit Word or not have it open yet, and asks the teacher for help. The teacher makes some remark about how the student has to "Go back to Office". The next thing I notice, the kid is standing next to the teacher, asking why she has to go to the office, and bewildered as to what she had done to deserve the trip. The teacher quickly lets the student know that she didn't do anything wrong, and that she meant on the computer. Shows that you have to remember who you're talking to when addressing people the first time they're on a computer. The teacher and I got a good laugh out of it, though. I've seen a few kids from camp there, but so far they've all noticed me first. They yell my name in the hall and I end up spinning around going "Heeey...!" and forgetting their name. But I knew it would happen. I just thought there'd be more, it seemed in the summer every time I went out to the bookstore there was one or two I'd run into as well. There's just something about working at an elementary school, too. I got to eat in the faculty room! Because that's what I am, I'm so cool. Walking around those hallways makes you feel like a giant too. Little kids everywhere. Same when you go to use the bathrooms built into the rooms. You turn around, and there's the mirror, where you can see from your shoulders down since it's mounted about 2 feet lower than normal. Along with the sink. At least none of the kids have tried to climb up on me and take me out, Shadow of the Colossus style. There's the video game terminology, woo! Ok, enough for now.

Time for a Link-stravaganza

2006-01-19T01:48:15Z

Long time, no post. That doesn't mean nothing's been going on - quite the opposite. I started my job on the 2nd, and am well on my way to figuring out all the finer points of my position of Technology Associate. It keeps me busy and gets me up in the morning, so those are good things. No more sleeping in and not getting much done. And yet, I've managed to accumulate just as many links on my desktop. It's unstoppable! So, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year, and let's get on with the linkage. The funny: 10 Things to do With That Xbox 360 Power Brick - From 1UP.com, more making fun of the random piece of the new Xbox's hardware since there's nothing else to make fun of. Chuck Norris Facts - A phenomenon not to be missed. Mock endorsement of Finnish president is no joke - From USAToday.com, this article shows how some Finns aren't happy about Conan O'Brien comparing his likeness to the current president. "Why do I support Tarja Halonen? Because she's got the total package: a dynamic personality, a quick mind, and most importantly — my good looks." Conan rocks. It's amazing how much weight an American carries in a foreign country...I can't think of many shows from other countries that are affecting me...although I could be wrong. Facebook prank on police - From Boing Boing, a nice story where kids used the educated version of Myspace to fool their campus police into crashing an alcohol-free party. (Of course, this was after they were busted once.) Newscaster goes crazy playing Guitar Hero - I guess they can be a little more lax when doing the news for Sacramento...check out the groupies on the floor. Crazyness. Gaming: Digital Press - "Digital Press Online is dedicated to the "Pac-rats" among video gamers... short attention spans, library-sized collections, consoles precariously wired in spider-web fashion... Sound like you? Check around - we cover just about everything "retro" including Atari, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Vectrex, Odyssey, Nintendo, and Sega Master System as well as all of the most recent consoles." NPR's text andventurer revealed! - Apparently someone on NPR dropped an old text-adventure reference, and someone got it. I sure didn't, my first computer was a 486. Computing: Bill Gates Webcasts - Archives of previous Bill Gates keynotes and speeches,including most recently, the 2006 CES keynote, including some goodies about Windows Vista and the announcement that there will be an external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360. Other cool stuff: Top 10 little-known science stories of 2005 - From ZDNet, here's a list of a bunch of interesting stories from controlling the speed of light to how dangerous our pillows really are. Abika.com - Some crazy looking background check website. And after the break...a copy of what was originally on this page, before it was removed for some reason or another. Explains a bit about why the PS3 might not be all it's supposed to be.]]> I’ve spent some time the past year developing for the PS3. Actually it was a cinematic demo to be shown at e3 in 2005 at a closed door viewing. http://media.ps3.ign.com/articles/615/615091/vids_1.html I was one of the few artists selected to work on it for the demo. My job was primarily asset creation. I was creating assets to populate the path where our camera would be flying during the demo. The company I work for is also working on a launch title that I am quite familiar with. In short, I’ve spent some time around the PS3 and or the teams developing for it. I’ve really had to sit here and think for a long time about what my first comment about the PS3 would be. Will I say, its GREAT or will I give it two thumbs down. Well my immediate impression of the PS3 is…where is it? Seriously, where is it? They have a case, a controller and a dev kit. But the system still doesn’t even exist. So what is there to say? We received one of 5 PS3 dev kits in the United States some time ago. Several companies in the US as well as companies over seas were given the daunting task of creating a demo in less than 9 weeks on a first generation dev kit. Now I’ll be honest with you. What most companies do is fake the entire demo. I mean they come up with some great visuals and neat tricks and scripted events. In the end however, its not a real time demo and its not running ON the actual box. We were the only company to my knowledge that showed something that ran it live on the box. Even then it was a scripted event. You could not pause the camera and fly around the scene. So if you saw the demo once, you saw it again the exact same way the second time. Also this was on a brutally early dev box. You could always tell where the PS3 dev box was because it’s the room that had the f-bomb coming out of it half the day. Lots of time has passed since that demo and the dev box has gone from a totally jimmy rigged computer and box of parts about the size of a small child, to a much more realistic size. Although its still the size of a normal pc. I have been pretty excited about the whole cell processing thing. I am not a very technical person but my understanding of it was pretty clear. (Multiple processors to handle individual events in parallel). Sounds pretty good to me! To hear people talk, you’d thing that a processor revolution was about to happen. So I’ve been pretty excited to say the least. Now in my opinion it doesn’t matter how good the PS3 is. If the XBOX 360 is better, then it doesn’t really matter how the cell processors work or how good they say it is. Realistically one of them will be better over all. Now I’ve spoken with people who are on the technical side of the PS3. I’ve also talked with people on the technical side of the XBOX 360. The consistent comment I am hearing from people on my end is, “The XBOX 360 is better”. They are saying that it is capable of just doing more. (shrugs) Now take that for what its worth. If you watch all the videos on the PS3 they will say how much more powerful it is than the XBOX and vice versa. Im just telling you what I am hearing. They proceeded to go into a lot of technical info that I don’t understand. So I just nod. The game that we are creating for a launch title is a “just get it out” title in my opinion. It doesn’t look next generation. I don’t see how anyone could debate otherwise. It looks good. But it looks good for a game that has come out in the last couple years or so. I mean we are talking about a box that will be with us for the next 5+ years! In 5 years will the games we are making today look good? The only way for that to be possible is if the new games coming out for the PS3 are drastically improved. So good that they can stand the test of time until the next system comes out. We’ve all seen Gears of War for the xbox 360. If that even looks half as good when it comes out then I’ll be floored! The game we are making isn’t even in the same league as Gears of War. In fact there are many current games out that look just as good and are using the exact same specs. So, on our end we are either not pushing the bar or were just trying to “get a title out”. To be fair, this is a business. Sometimes you have to treat it as a business and not make the best title you can. The best title you can make usually costs 20-40million dollars/3 start overs and 4 years of your life. You just cant do that every time out. Its impossible. Our game just keeps getting moved back….and back…..and back…..and back. Again, where is the box? Where is the final system? When is it coming out? No one knows and in the mean time people in the industry are starting to get just a little salty. I mean I was at e3 2005 and PS3 was almost no where to be seen. In closing, I started of VERY excited about the PS3. I was very confident that it was going to just destroy the XBOX 360 just on the name SONY alone. The more time that goes by the more I am becoming doubtful. Everything I’ve developed or seen developed has yet to be “next gen”. The poly counts are not really any higher, im not seeing sub surface scattering, im not seeing much HDR lighting. (or they are faking it and not really doing it), I’m not seeing next gen fluid dynamics or object dynamics. I suspect that you’ll be able to have more dynamic objects in a scene than before. But im not seeing games doing this yet. We dont have a controller, there is no network code and there is no box. Its still the size of a normal PC. Oh well, at least they have normal maps. Although I’m over the normal maps fad ok everyone! I’m confident that the PS3 will have a few “crazy” games that show it off to its potential. But I would expect the full capabilities of the box to not show up until the system has been released PUBLICALLY for over a year. This is the extra time the developers will need with a FINAL system to truly make next gen games. Interesting. What do you have to hide, Sony? You'll just work your gamers into a frenzy with hype and games that are still a year or two away, and don't forget added functionality to your console that could be a technology that won't even catch on. Freakin video games industry.

I Ran Out Of Room

2005-12-31T22:34:55Z

...on my desktop for icons. Quite the sign of having too many icons on your desktop. And it's not like I'm running at 640*480 resolution, either. Ahh, compy 486. However, that's another story for another time. How about some links? This site helps you see what you're gaining (and losing) when you switch to a widescreen 16:9 TV in comparison to your old 4:3 TV. If you think that 30" LCD HDTV you just picked up is awesome, this site will help you remember that if you're watching older content on it, it's more ike a 24.5" regular TV. Whoops. Sure, there's stretching options and stuff, but that's still distorting the picture in some way or another. I still have yet to experience real HD in the home. I have a Over The Air HD tuner for the free broadcast channels, and they look great, but I'm still watching it on a plain old standard-def TV. The 10 worst Macs ever built. Proof that all of them weren't that great! The internet says so! Jack Thompson buys some Take Two stock, annoyance ensues. Gaining inevitable media attention, our old pal has purchased stock of his archrival in order to be more annoying in stockholder meetings. However, does this mean it's ok to buy GTA3 since JT - upstanding, fight-for-our-rights citizen that he is - bought some stock? I know I bought the Xbox GTA pack the other day since it was part of the Toys R Us sale where a ton of games were $10. I also see it as me saving a copy from roaming the streets, battering the innocent. Nintendo DS outsells PSP 3 to 1 in 2nd half of 2005. BOLOLO indeed! With more Wi-Fi titles like Animal Crossing: Wild World and Mario Kart DS, this gap could grow. Whoops, I left this open overnight. Well, that should do it for now, hope everyone is safe tonight and has a great new year! Don't miss the leap second at 7pm EST!

Nintend O Rly?

2005-12-27T00:05:14Z

Rumor has it, the new Nintendo console, unofficially named "Revolution", has "Gone Gold" - meaning it's ready to be mass produced. Of course, look at how this info is being passed. I saw it on Joystiq.com, who links to Playfuls.com, who links gamemag.nu (in Russian?), who apparently cites Inside Gamer. But it's in Russian. But anyway, back on topic: this theoretically gives Nintendo 5 months to produce a boatload of consoles for a May launch. However, Nintendo hasn't confirmed anything - no Launch date, no Name, no Price. Either way, here's a nice rumor. Some people think the console will be $150. And if it launches in May...there's about 5 months. I did some remedial math, and January to the end of May = 151 days. So, if you saved one dollar every day from January 1st to May 30th, you have $150, and then...the console can be released on May 31st? (Yeah yeah, tax, other games, accessories...but give me a break.) But, you may get some free games out of the box! Especially if they have an online plan with a bunch of classic titles. If they don't want to do that and launch in May, there's always June 6th, which would be 6.6.6, but that may send the wrong signal. Either way, this hopefully means they will have a good supply of consoles whenever they do decide to launch, which, after the Xbox 360 launch, people may like actually being able to purchase a console without camping out or preordering. Could also mean a worldwide simultaneous launch. Hopefully the games will be ready.