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18 Feb 05

Baby David went to the doctor today. It was his four month well baby visit. You go in with a well baby but five shots later it's a different story. I'm not sure what it is with doctor's offices. If you're not the very first appointment of the day, you're going to be delayed an unbelievable amount of time. Combine that lost time with lack of sleep and a sore, fussy baby means that I didn't get much done today.

I wasn't a total slacker though. CDV dumped a bunch of screenshots on us so I put them in the screenshot gallery. You can check them out Here. They gave us shot from three games, Cossacks II, Panzers: Phase 2 and Hidden Stroke II. Perhaps there's a pattern there.

I also got another game story up. Check out Crux's Rome: Total War story now. Have a good weekend and keep checking the Games section. I'll try to get more stories up.

Oh, and there's a Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich demo out. Look for it at the Usual Suspects.

Jason
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17 Feb 05

It's really hard to get anything done with a newborn around. Even simple tasks are constantly interrupted. Then you get a little smile and think it's all worth it until you are trying to figure out why you haven't gotten anything done. Oh well. I did get the winners prizes out in the mail today. That will probably only interest a handful of people, but it's something I got done and I'm proud of it.

I was a little surprised that there were no "passes" in the contest. I figured someone wouldn't want or would already own some of the titles. It was quite pleasant to find every winner was happy with winning and their prize. Perhaps they were just humoring me, but I'm not going to complain.

It was an interesting day on the Microsoft front. First we had the news of a massive power cable recall. That's probably the only time Microsoft was glad they didn't have as many consoles out there as Sony.

Then we hear rumors from Kotaku confirming the name of Xbox 360, promising a sleek silver finish with customizable face plates, wireless controllers (also confirmed Here), multiple flavors (hard drive and without), and perhaps most interesting is that Microsoft is working on backwards compatibility, but they don't have it working yet. Maybe it'll be in the first service pack.

Finally we hear news of impending price drops on the Xbox to $129 or even $99. Of course, that's not too interesting if Microsoft doesn't get some more Xbox consoles back in the pipeline. Note to Microsoft, if you don't get backwards compatibility working, you can't kill off the Xbox product line without hurting yourself.

Jason
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16 Feb 05

Sigh. I keep beating the drum on the Fantasy vs. Reality mantra, but it makes no difference. Lawyers today are suing Walmart, Gamestop, Sony and Take Two over a "Grand Theft Auto" inspired killing spree. Look, some kids shouldn't play violent games, but that responsibility starts and ends with the parents or guardians. I don't care how much anyone enjoys or obsesses over a game. It's their responsibility alone when they decide to move from the realm of harmless play to physical violence against real people.

I'm sure they'll find some experts (LtCol Grossman comes to mind) spouting how these games are "murder simulators" or "killer training programs." The fact is that if you don't understand the nature of reality and consequence and don't have empathy for others, no video game in the world can help or hurt you. You need people who love you to get you to a psychologist immediately. I have yet ot read the study that proves that gamers have a high proportion of antisocial personality disorders than nongamers. If you have it, please send it my way.

Now, I'm going to think about more pleasant things such as getting some of the excellent stories from the contest up on the site.

Jason
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15 Feb 05

Ah, the contest is over. The names have been drawn, so on with the show:

First Place: Barry Stewart (aka Kestrel) chose Rome: Total War
Second Place: Glen Hill (aka Crux) chose Silent Storm Gold
Third Place: David Byron (aka Grundbegriff) chose Ground Control II
Fourth Place: Brian Watson (aka Daehawk) chose Wargamer's Choice Strategy Six Pack
Fifth Place: Ola Hansson (aka Unic) is currently choosing
Sixth Place: D. M. (aka Hiro aka Superhiro) is on deck

Thanks to all the entrants. If we go any lower due to passing, I'll let the next places know. I'm busily working formatting and putting up all the stories. If any of the non winners doesn't want their story up, please let me know by the end of the week. I'll try to have everything up by next Monday. Keep your eyes on the Games Section. They'll show up there as I get them done. Overall, the quality was quite impressive. I'm sure you'll have as much fun reading them as I did.

Jason
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14 Feb 05

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. The contest is winding down. I should have the winners posted tomorrow. Stories and everything else will come later once we've worked out the details. It's been a decent response. I guess I'd always like more, some new stories can't hurt.

I suppose you've seen the news that the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) has a release date in North America. It's coming March 24 only in bundles that cost $249. In an interesting move, the first million units shipped will get a copy of Spiderman 2 on UMD, the PSP's disk format. They really seem to be emphasizing that the PSP is more than 'just' a game machine. They claim to have Apple's Ipod in their sites.

I don't have much to add to this that I haven't said before, but it's interesting to read that Microsoft's Steve Ballmer thinks the Xbox 2 will blow by Sony's PS3. He clarified to explain that he meant that the Xbox 2 would be the market leader. Check it out Here.

Gamespot brings the good news that an expansion to Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War is in the works. They're adding a new race, the Imperial Guard and presumably a new story. Read the scant details Here.

This week's game is another in the Battlezone/Savage line. It's Spoils of War (official site) from East Coast Games. It's a hybrid game where you can play as a FPS warrior, a RTS Commander or a Battlefield Commander that switches between the roles. It's set in 2090 and interstellar war has come from a race called the Ematrants. Can you lead your army and build it at the same time? Look for it later this year?

Jason
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