Category: Xbox360

In Other News

…not about TFA. LOL Thanks for all the kudos btw. Yeah, I think he is a hottie too. I think several things but that is a topic for another day. hehehe

Work is driving me nuts and a showdown is coming (when I’m back from vacation that is). The new Deputy Director has gone off the deep end w/repeated MOU [1]Memorandum of Understanding. The Union contract w/the City violations. Our last Labor meeting she got called to task by the City’s DHR rep. A small victory but boy did it light up our faces. She got called out of the room and when she came back in it looked like she had been bitch slapped. I’m sad about this turn of events because I kind of liked her when I first met her. And truth be told, she does have some good ideas. But because of the way she has come across, she has ruined any goodwill she could have captured. And I do mean ruined. The outcome is not going to be pretty. One good thing to come it though. She has cause a lot of the complacent employees to get motivated. They are hopping mad and ready to do something. FINALLY some support!

I’ve been a little lazy with my gym time lately. I’m still going but not as consistently. I haven’t lost any new muscle growth so I’m content for the moment. My biggest problem is I get bored. The routines become tedious and my mind wanders. Never a good thing. hehehe. I did have an interesting encounter today though. [2]More on that later

I went to see 30 Days of Night the other day with the roomie. Not bad over all. It gets an A+ for being scary. A throw back to the old days of using flash scenes and loud music to make you jump. Loved it! lol The special affects were ok. The goal wasn’t to wow in that dept so nothing exciting there. Another A+ for all the gore though. Several really gross scenes. Nice! That said, the plot was a tad disappointing. Of course, you don’t really expect much from these types of movies however, they could have made a little more effort to flesh it out (pun intended). You never discover where they came from, how they found the remote village, etc. They allude to it many times with no follow up so you are left completely bewildered in the aspect. Overall, worth a see if you are horror fan. If not or if you get squeamish, you might wait for DVD. The roomie and I amused ourselves by pointing out the hotties in the theatre we would sleep with given the chance. Oh yes, he is a slut too.

Speaking of movies, I watched all three versions of SAW the other day. OMG, those are some sick films! lol I sorta held off because I tend to shy away from movies that could give real world sick fucks ideas however, I couldn’t quell my curiosity. Thankfully, they were so far over the top, I needn’t have worried. Now I’m excited to see the new one coming out. TFA wants to see it too so I’m holding off till he gets back up this way. Thank god he loves scary movies! I haven’t quite converted him to gaming yet though. Give me time. *eg*

I had to chew Microsoft a new ass again today. I called for a status update on my 2nd return of my console. The chick launched into her spiel about 3-6 weeks for repair and I let her have it. I hate being ugly however, I’m really frustrated by the lack of organization. She said she didn’t see any notes about me getting an exchange. I can guarantee you after today there are some notes. She also said I’ll get a confirmation within 3 days. Sometimes being a bitch gets the job done sadly. Thankfully, I’ll have the new Ratchet & Clank for the PS3 soon. That should keep me preoccupied enough to give Micro-hell some time to get their act together.

Ok, I’ve rambled enough. I need to catch up on my blogroll. I’m still way behind. I feel so guilty. I discovered 3 of my regular blogs have stopped blogging. I’m sad but confident they will be back!

References

References
↑1 Memorandum of Understanding. The Union contract w/the City
↑2 More on that later

Micro-Hell!

If you missed my twitter update, my Xbox 360 promptly died again yesterday. Needless to say I was furious. I spent 45 minutes on the phone this morning chewing MS a new asshole. The first rep had the audacity to sound annoyed that I wasn’t willing to wait 3-4 more weeks to ship it back again.

After promptly reminding him how much I spent on the console and the lack of service, I asked for his supervisor. Said person was equally unhelpful. Another 20 minutes later, he tells me they will send me a new one but only after I wait for them to ship me a return box for the old one. I’m leary of that happening however, with no other recourse, I’m stuck waiting. He did say he entered an official complaint to MS at my request. I doubt that will go anywhere.

MS got huge points for their XBL [1]Xbox live service however, their tech support rivals that of Sony. Unproductive, uncaring, and a flat out waste of time. If it weren’t for so many games jumping over to the MS camp, I’d probably give it up after my experience today.

I got unlucky enough to get one of the defective batches. MS has already corrected the error in newer models however, it does nothing to make me a return customer.

References

References
↑1 Xbox live

Geek Unbound II

So desire got the best of me yesterday and I ended up buying the new PS3. It was on sale so only paid a tad more than I paid for the Xbox 360. I have to say so far I’m not overly impressed. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice console. But, to hear Sony talk, it blows the Xbox away. Not so. The graphics are about on par w/the Xbox 360.

I’ve always been a PS fan so I’m happy I managed to squeeze out the coin for a new one. It does play all my old games. [1]So far. I noticed a very odd glitch in that the some of the unused buttons actually repeat the primary button functions. I have the demo of FEAR on Xbox and I bought the full version for PS3. The xbox version looks much better. It may be because FEAR came out too soon to be radically re-written for the new PS3 architecture.

The big reason I made the purchase was for my favorite game, Ratchet & Clank. Adam clued me in a new version only for PS3 is coming out in October. R&C is my all time favorite video console game and I just couldn’t forgo being able to play it. I still play all of the last 4 versions often.

Microsoft gets big points for their online services. The XBL (Xbox Live) is incredibly intuitive and user friendly. Setup was simple and fast. The PS3, not so much. The menus are overly obscure and broken down too far. Some are even redundant. I also had a big problem registering my console so I could buy stuff online. Even though my billing address for my CC is my PO Box, it kept polling for my physical address. I had to call my bank, add it, and then retry it. Very annoying. MS charges for their online services but at $40 bucks a year, not a big deal. PS3 online is free however, another failure on the part of Sony. For such a nice console the online site is lackluster to say the least. The icons and logos are reminiscent of the old sega consoles. A huge disappointment. You can tell they really rushed it. I hope they get their act together and spruce it up.

The PS3 did have a variety of new ports this time for storage. Compact flash, SD/Mini SD, and Sony’s proprietary memory stick. [2]which never caught on w/anyone but Sony Sadly, no port for memory cards from the PS2. So you can’t port your saved games to the PS3. Another very annoying feature. [3]I found out from Adam, they do make an adapter. He is loaning me his. Such a sweetie. I have yet to watch any HD DVD’s on the PS3. I hear it is spectacular so I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Over all, I think the consoles are pretty even on graphics rendering. However, Microsoft is the clear winner in mind. Maybe Billy is finally taking a page out of the Steve Jobs book and making his staff focus as much on aesthetics as function.

References

References
↑1 So far. I noticed a very odd glitch in that the some of the unused buttons actually repeat the primary button functions.
↑2 which never caught on w/anyone but Sony
↑3 I found out from Adam, they do make an adapter. He is loaning me his. Such a sweetie.

Shout & Scream

First things first, a big shout out to Adam. Today is his birfday. He hasn’t been feeling so hot so be sure to hop over and wish him a good one!

In less exciting news, I got the “ring of death’ on my xbox 360 console last night. I was just sitting down to play the full version of Bioshock when the box suddenly shut down. On reboot, I got the fated death rings. I hate to but Microsoft gets props for having my info correct and on file. After a quick run down of this and that they had my repair order placed. Of course, it was just too be good to be true, the system was “updating” so I had to wait an hour and call back to finalize the order. Almost Microsoft, almost. lol

Teeth Like a Bulldog

I only got one day off this week due to my change of schedule. I spent it playing Lost Planet. So far, I really like this game. This visuals are good and the levels are pretty diverse. It hasn’t caught on a lot so haven’t had much of a chance to play online yet. I’ve gotten bored w/Gears of War. I’ve beaten it twice in solo mode already. I mostly play it online now. Way more fun.

On a side rant, I’m a little annoyed. I met a gamer online recently and we hit it off as buddies pretty well. Anyway, he discovered I’m not into doing the nasty on cam so now he pretty much ignores me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that men often think with the little head vs the big head1. I so have egg on my face. Apparently, his brother-in-law is in the hospital and he has been helping with that. I feel about 2 inches tall now.

It doesn’t help that I have a fight on my hands at work right now either. I discovered this week a function built into the software we use has been disabled via a recent software update. A function so vital it could create more liability for our department as well as get people hurt. None of the supervisory staff seemed to care at all. Well, they are in for a fight because I ain’t about to drop it. I’m a tenatious bastard to say the least.2 If I have to take it to the media, I will.

There is some good news though. I found out the City is planning on hiring EMTs again soon. Like end of February soon. They are working off of an old list however, this means I can get my name on the new list! Oh, wouldn’t that give me a shit-eatin-grin!

1 I live in SFfor christ’s sake. I’ve gotten laid going to the post office!
2 Once I get my teeth into something, there is no distracting me.

HiDef? OH Yeah Baby!

So the cable guy showed up on Sunday. Two and half hours later, we figured out how to make it work. The cable card installation went off w/o a hitch. However, he was as clueless as I was as to why the cable box wasn’t functioning. Basically, if you get the HD box w/o their DVR1 the top row of output jacks are worthless. A heads up for anyone upgrading to HiDef anytime soon. We finally figured it out. One cable to the cable card in the back of the TV and one cable to the cable box, composite video from the cable box to the TV, and coaxial cable from the cable box to the back of the Tivo.

*

My delay into the world of online gaming was shortlived. Scott from The Magic Geek found me online and we played Uno2 and then Gears of War for a few hours. Scott and his gang made me feel welcome. Some of his group wasn’t much better than me at GOW so it was fun. He also introduced me to gaymer.org. Its a online forum for gay gamers.

1You are much better off with Tivo or any other 3rd party DVR. Comcast puts too many restrictive flags on their broadcasts.

2 The fact that I was playing Uno on brand new HiDef TV was not lost on me. Oh yeah Moby, way to get your moneys worth.

Gamer

*geek post ahead*

It has been a long time since I’ve been considered a ‘noob’ or newbie (new comer or novice player) at anything. However, I feel like a total noob w/my foray into the Xbox 360. Microsoft does gets points for making the website very centric and tightly intergrated into the console itself. Logging on via the console or the internet yields the same results albeit different formats.


My cheesy gamertag.

So far my game list consists of Doom 3, Halo 2, and Gears of War. The latter being the only one released specifically for the new 360 console. Doom was a favorite PC game back in the day when it first hit the scene. V3 has definitely come a long way since then. Halo 2 was a benchmark in graphics when it was released for the original Xbox. Gears of War blows’em all way w/so much detail, it is like controlling an animated movie.

My only beef w/GOW is aiming. Aiming on a standard game controller is a bit dodgy and makes gameplay very slow until you finally get fragged so many times you improve from sheer repetition. You can see from my tag list, I haven’t gotten very far yet. I’m still jumping around the level trying to explore (and getting fragged in the process).

And even though I’m all signed up for online game play, I’ll probably hold off for awhile until I no longer feel like a noob. I like that Microsoft is playing hard ball w/gamers who resort to cheating to get an upper advantage. I’m sure it won’t go away but it makes it more enjoyable for the average gamer like myself. I game for enjoyment not competition. If some no-life lackey cheats and constantly beats everyone, it ruins the experience (and Microsofts bottom line).

For now, I’m very happy w/the the console and have enough games to keep me busy for at least a few months.