JasonXE Blog

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Interview

2009-03-26T06:21:00.002-04:00

XE: How long have you been working on The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai?

James Silva: Two years, give or take maybe. I've had the concept floating around for Five years and even starting coding twice on versions that were thrown out (probably a good thing)

XE: What were some of the concepts before you decided on the final build?

James Silva: I think I originally envisioned it as a third person shooter with an emphasis on acrobatics and stuff, but, ahem, was a bit over my head. I think Torque had just been released and I was thinking that would make all of my dreams come true. Then I wanted to make it as a side scrolling shooter, kind of like ZP2K9. Then a 3D side scrolling brawler, which is the closest to what it is now but still pretty different. I put quite a bit of work into the 3D side scroller.

XE: Did you scrap that or hope to release it in the future?

James Silva: That's 100% scrapped. Kind of a shame, but at some point I realized I was putting tons of work into it to get very little out of it. That's sort of the thing about 2D vs 3D--you can put a fair amount of work into a 2D game and get great results; the same amount of effort won't get you nearly as far with a 3D game.

XE: What was your motivation throughout the process to keep going on with The Dishwasher?

James Silva: it was just an idea that I really liked. It seemed like every time I was bored, I'd mull over another go at The Dishwasher. Eventually it all clicked

It definitely click

XE: Who is this Dishwasher and is there a story behind him?

James Silva: The Dishwasher is a guy who washes dishes and through crazy circumstances and angst he is transformed into a tireless, ruthless samurai. The story has evolved as well although the one where it now is the *real* one. The Dishwasher has his heart removed by cyborgs as part of cyborg in-processing but is mysteriously saved and somewhat alive so he's out to destroy them

XE: What type of multiplayer features was included in the dishwasher?

James Silva: There's a co-op mode called Arcade, 50 levels of arcade challenges.

XE: No story co op?

James Silva: story co-op is interesting. There's no Live story co-op but there's a half-easter-egg-half-feature mode. You can play as the Dishwasher's shadow or as the phantom guitar. The shadow can drop in by pressing A on a free controller. The phantom guitar can drop in by pressing the green fret on a free guitar.

XE: So it works with a rock band or guitar hero guitar?

James Silva: yep, I hope I don't get sued. *laughs*

XE: Are there other people behind creating this title?

James Silva: Well, I did all the coding, art, music, yelling, etc. One of the songs is a remix of a song my roommate made.: The XBLA team at Microsoft provided a lot of support and basically managed the title's progress to XBLA.

XE: Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid has mention that the Xbox live's certification process and requirements causes some unnecessary hurdles that aren't needed. Do you feel the same way?

James Silva: You know, the process is what it is. They've got standards and requirements, and if your title meets the requirements, you pass. If it doesn't, you fail. They don't let any failing titles on the platform. I can see where the frustration comes from, having experienced a bit of it myself. But that's the way things have to work if you want a platform with standards and gamers expect those standards. You know, PC gaming is a viable platform; if you don't like the standards for XBLA, don't develop for it.

XE: I remember reading the gamasutra article where Jonathan Blow said that people become so focus on those standards that the time could be sent on improving the game somehow. Not a direct quote but i believe that was the gist of it.

James Silva: Yeah, I remember that and can sympathize. I mean, I spent tons of time getting Dishwasher in shape for that, and in retrospect I could probably have added a ton of content in that time

XE: Do you feel there could be anything to improve the xbla certification process?

James Silva: With the Dishwasher, I kept getting posts on my blog like "release the game already!" and it was at points where I could've released it. But there were sloppy bits here and there; it would give the wrong error messages in spots, there was some boss you'd be stuck at if you were playing co-op and on and on...so it would've been mostly functional but definitely sloppy. So the question is about what level of tolerance you have for glitches and such? All things considered, I think Microsoft is pretty tolerant but still, the level of polish, The Dishwasher has is greater than anything I've ever created. Also, it's localized in 7 different languages

XE: Have you thought about making new titles or port a previously made game to another console?

James Silva: eh...the thing about XNA is it's all C# and I've gotten really, really efficient at making games with XNA. If I dealt with other platforms (besides PC of course) I'd have to give up not only the good stuff that makes XNA so useful, but also the XNA-specific experience I've gained. iPhone seems tempting now and again but I don't have a Mac or an iPhone. It seems like it would be a question of making crappy games on the iPhone or good games for Xbox 360.

XE: Have you thought about making games for the Zune?

James Silva: Yeah, if they put together an app store and get some momentum going that seems like it could be pretty fun. However, I don't own a Zune or an iPod.

XE: Maybe Microsoft can give you one to work with after this interview. *laugh*

James Silva: One can hope.

XE: Any type of limitations or problems you had while working on the Xbox 360/Xbox Live, or XNA. (Anything that pops up specifically)?

James Silva: We used this special library called e4a to bridge the gap between XNA and XBLA, and, while it was really, really good, there were a couple of bugs and limitations. There were a couple of points where we had to do some back and forth with support to figure out what was going on. But for the most part it was really seamless and still vastly preferable to developing in native code, which is not a particularly developed skill of mine by any measure.

XE: Whats the next new game you're planning to create?

James Silva: I've got a couple of XNA projects in the pipeline but would be a shame if The Dishwasher's universe were never revisited. That's all I'll say there, particularly because I don't know.

XE: Do yo plan to release a sequel, downloadable content or except future patches?

James Silva: XNA on XBLA currently doesn't support DLC, though there will be pic packs and a theme. I plan on getting a pic pack. I've wanted a Dishwasher gamerpic since forever... not sure if anyone else will. In terms of a sequel like I said it would be a shame to not revisit The Dishwasher's universe. But nothing solid in plans

XE: Does the dishwasher story leaves room for one?

James Silva: most definitely

XE: How much is the dishwasher going to cost?

James Silva: I'm not allowed to say that yet but It will not be a controversial amount of money though. I have had people tell me they'd gladly pay 1600 points for it. 1600 points would be a controversial amount of money

XE: Is it coming out as a arcade title or community title?

James Silva: XBLA. Otherwise it would have been out months ago, and would have no achievements, leaderboards, and polish.

XE: What was the most fun you had working on the dishwasher and what positives came from developing it?

James Silva: It was really neat to work on a dev kit to implement the XBLA-only stuff like creating my own achievements, and then, for the first time, earning my own achievements, gamerpics or creating the premium theme, that was pretty neat. I guess just getting the "we're a real developer now!" stuff to work was pretty awesome.

XE: Are you getting any type of funding for this project?

James Silva: my primary investors are my parents They help out with rent while I have no cash flow.

XE: Does Microsoft help in any way in funding?

James Silva: They're publishing the title, so they've obviously invested some resources into that. I can't really get into specifics, though.

XE: Anything you had to leave out of the game due to XBLA size limits?

James Silva: Nope, I think it's around 120 MB now. Everything compresses fairly nicely; I probably could've compressed music a lot more without any noticeable loss in quality.

XE: Anything left out of the game due to time constraints or something you wish you could of put in?

James Silva: I don't think so. I think actually what happened was I ended up with too much time so I put in a lot of stuff that has no business being there (that was half-facetious). But there's a guitar minigame in there; phantom guitar, shadow co-op, 50 arcade levels. That stuff was stuff I put in while I was waiting for Microsoft to do one thing or another I think. I mean, I look at the game from the dream build play build, to the GDC build, to now, and it just kept getting bigger, better and cleaner. It's at a point now that's just great but yeah, I'm pretty proud. It takes a bit of retrospective for me to see how far it's come. I think gamers are gonna love it.

XE: Anything to say to the fans who are going to play it when it comes out?

James Silva: There's a cancel-dodge trick where you can cancel any animation by switching weapons, then cancel the weapon switch into a dodge. In fact, the weapon switch cancel is probably one of the most useful techniques for keeping in control. It's a hardcore game... it's not very forgiving, particularly on higher difficulties, but there are some crazy techniques to pull off that will just wreck the enemies and and that's the fun part.

XE: What inspirations you had making the dishwasher?

James Silva: Well, I definitely drew inspiration from all over. Bruce Lee, for instance, was a dishwasher-turned-kung-fu-hero. I like the art styles of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey. I always loved Edward Scissorhands and Versus.

XE:Its weird now that you mention it and how it resembles the dishwasher guy.

James Silva: Edward Scissorhands?

XE:Yeah with his hair and pale look.

James Silva: heh, yeah, it's sort of a gothic fairytale look I suppose. I like macabre beauty I guess and no, I don't rock the trench.

XE: Any reason behind the atmosphere? Seems gloomy and dark or did it all fall together as you went a long?

James Silva: well, sort of like emergent gameplay, the art style is a bit emergent; I basically started creating bits of art in grayscale and then arranging them in maps, then high contrast black and white characters. I played around with shaders and particle effects until it looked right. The gloom of it just fits perfectly. It wasn't the product of crippling depression, though I tend to be a gloomy person at times.

XE: Any information on the exact release date or which game it is following (Days of arcade list)?

James Silva: Nope. we'll know soon...I mean, I know but I can't say.

James Silva- A life

XE: what is your favorite game?

James Silva: hmmmm, good question. I think the one game that had the biggest impact on me could've been Marathon, running on 25Mhz of Macintosh power.

XE: Any game your looking forward to play?

James Silva: COD:MW2, and Bioshock 2. Who said Xbox 360's were all about FPS's? :)

XE: Any plans on a rpg?

James Silva: heh.. ya know, just a few weeks ago I had this idea--I said "I want to make an RPG called ZombieRPG." and that's about it. I was thinking something like Exile meets FF7 minus the Japanese-ness of FF7.

XE: Any advice for future XNA programmers?

James Silva: Don't try to make a JRPG! *laughs* Generally, I'd say start small and slow. Make pong, you need to get comfortable with walking before you can run. Space games are a good point to learn from as well.

XE: Any good tutorials to learn from like your book?

James Silva: My book's actually pretty unique in that it doesn't do things the *right way*. It cuts a lot of corners and does a lot of weird things but it works. It comes from the perspective of someone who isn't a great coder so might be good, might be bad.

XE: I think you have a kitty.. was it the game tester and trying to catch bugs?

James Silva: haha, Neko. Yeah she's on my lap this instant in fact. She's in The New Pornographers, they have a few songs in Rock Band. Oh and one in a University of Phoenix commercial! But yeah, Neko probably does more harm than good. She gets in my way when I'm trying to type.

XE: Is it as good as this cat? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuSzFXe1Irc

James Silva: hehe no, she's possibly the stupidest cat I've had

XE: Thanks for your time in doing this interview.

James Silva: Cool, thanks!

Wii Sports is Dangerous!!

2008-10-09T16:18:00.001-04:00

I was playing wii sports getting into the groove with tennis and baseball. I decided to play wii bowling and it was a bit fun. I was trying to curve the the ball to the left with all my force, and i did...

So happen my arm decided to go all the way to my left and my foot slip on the flloor. Did like a mid air 180 and busted my ass. I'm ok, but im glad no one was there to see that or had a camera to post it on youtube.

Just feel like sharing my story.

TGS 08: Microsoft Keynote Rap-up

2008-10-09T02:01:00.004-04:00

Some kickass stuff from TGS 08

Microsoft showcases Halo 3 Recon
View Trailer: Bungie.net : Halo Recon Trailer

New Xbox Experience - November, 19th

Microsoft just confirmed that New Xbox Experience will launch globally on November 19. The Xbox 360 UI update will be in released in 24 countries and localized in 19 languages

Xbox Live membership hits 14 million

---

Space Invaders Extreme. Arkanoid Live, with coop and versus modes, R-Type, Metal Slug 7 coming to XBLA
(I luv R Type!!)

Microsoft just announced that Metal Slug 7 will be running and gunning onto XBLA. The game will be loaded with “new missions, new weapons, colossal new bosses, new everything

King of Fighters ‘98 confirmed for XBLA

Microsoft has confirmed that The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match will release on XBLA next spring. The game will include new characters and game modes. More soon.

Tekken 6 confirmed for 360

Mega-news from Microsoft's TGS keynote: Tekken 6 will will release on 360 next autumn. The news comes out of Microsoft's TGS keynote, which is ongoing.

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 confirmed for 360

Microsoft just confirmed that Ninety-Nine Nights 2 will release on Xbox 360. No release date was given for the game. The news comes out of Microsoft's TGS keynote, which is ongoing.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope gets date for 2.9.09 for JP and 3.3.09 in N.A

The game looks ****ing awesooooommmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Podcast

2008-10-08T21:52:00.001-04:00

I've been doing a podcast at planet xbox 360 and it's been going great. Check it out here when you get a chance.

TGS coming up so will be doing a pre show on that and more.

Are Reviews Unreible or are people unsensible?

2007-11-17T05:10:00.001-05:00

Current Dilema:

Lately, there has been a shift between the people who write reviews and the people themselves. I don't pay attention to much into reviews so I can't tell you the trend but I remember popular gaming sites have the same consensus in score. The problem is that I don't how to pinpoint the problem. One thing, it started this generation where all this hopla over scores started. Could it be over zealous fanboys, meta-critic, bias review, site need ratings? Whichever it is, it is hurting the industry as a whole.

How do we solve this problem?

Something that I've been thinking about if the game media industry would banish all scoring whatsoever. This would force people to actually read reviews and determine there own opinion about a possible purchase. That would never happen but the though process is intriguing.

Current Pace:

As things are going now, game journalism is going to lose it credibilty. It persecption of linking journalism with games is bad enough but it to lose credibilty from your own base is saddening.

Can this improve?

Probably not, there are so many sites popping up from no where today that there is going to be one with a different opinon about the rest. Whether they were paid off, bias, or just nuetral, everyone sees things differently.

What people should do?

I honestly don't know. It's the internet after all.

Next Xbox Has HD DVD Drive; Battle Far From Over

2007-11-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Every time I go online, I see Blu Ray wins either 3 to 1 or 2 to 1. Then you have fanboy bashing and all that other crap. At this moment, it seems that HD DVD brought a knife to a gun fight. But behind him is a mega ton cannon waiting to fire. (Sorry for the bad analogy). What people fail to realize is that the next gen xbox should have a HD DVD drive considering the process of elimination (or just plain obvious). This should propel the format just like how the PS3 propel Blu-ray.

If you take a step back on how MS approach this generation with the Xbox 360, there actually quite smart. If MS would of came out with a HD DVD drive, it would of been delayed possibly a year and cost just as much as the PS3. If so, then the Xbox 360 would most likely be in last place. Now with the Next Generation Xbox, not only would the HD DVD drive be substantially cheaper by then, it wouldn't affect us consumers by jacking the price up by another 200 buxs. It was a smart decision made at MS and resulted in their lead against the ps3 today.

Well, the war shall continue and we are still going to see different formats for a long time. So to those "the war is over people", prepare for a rude awakening in the coming years.

...Presuming HD DVD is still alive by then...

Halo 3 is God? No

2007-11-02T16:31:00.000-04:00

The infinity people have with Halo 3 has to stop. It is not the end all to be all of gaming. The perfect reviews were boaster from hype and it's hard for the media to admit it. The single player was good (co op a plus) and multiplayer is above average. At best it deserves a 9.0 or 9.1 because of all the extra features.

Now I must admit that I bought into the hype, but was left disappointed. I was hoping for a immerse single player, and a diverse multiplayer. All I got was a fun warthog ending with a cliffhanger and shotty snipers. The most fun I had was in Theater because the pics I took were beautiful.. :_)

If the ending wasn't any indicator that a "Halo 4: We Want Money" wasn't coming for the next generation xbox then you're blind. Still, it did present some enjoyable moments with co-op & multiplayer screw ups. It doesn't certifty it as the best game ever but its definitly a must try.

Two things come to mind when verifying Halo 3 Non-Godliness:

After a week, I continued to play Gears of War which is a lot more fun.
I was more satify with Bioshock and a dozen RPGS at the end.

I miss when RPGs were the king of the console. Deep Story, Music, Good Gameplay, those were the days. It came to an end when the Japanese developers couldn't help but make it cheesy as hell. The last thing I needed to see was a CGI Go-Go girls music video taking me out of the world that I've already given up playing.

Oh well, to those who don't have a history playing a multitude of games in the past, this is probably the best of the best. To the rest, it's just another game to delay us from the Game of The Year; Mass Effect. :-)

Hail Western RPGS!! (Mass Effect)

Btw, no one plays Forge and yes, the pic above makes fun of halo 3 graphics.

A Year In Review: 1 Bad Game

2007-11-02T02:37:00.000-04:00

As 2007 comes to an end, I look back on the one of the worst game I've ever come across. That game was Vampire Rain which I had to reviewed for Xbox Evolved. If I can recollect, I couldn't played this game for more than a hour and the fact that I had to review it kept me compel to play it. While I was playing through single player, several thoughts pop into my mind

I wonder if the developers knew this game sucked
Can I get paid to do such a shitty job
I can't wait to sell this on ebay
This can be used as a excellent form of torture to terrorist
(2 hours in) I am now more depress by playing this game

This game and it controls were retarded.. I quoted as saying "It’s like a 120 year old man trying to dodge a train but he already died from a heart attack.". Some other memorable quotes:

"Vampire Rain is a game that comes once in a life time that makes you appreciate the mediocre games available today."

"The only thing scary in Vampire Rain is how bad it is. I feel sorry for the people who actually had to make this horrible game."

This is why we have reviews, to lure you away from these shitty games. Hurray for Critics!!

Unhonorable Mention: Yaris, it was crap!! End of story.

--------
Next Article: Halo 3 is God? No @ 1pm EST Saturday

Death Note Review

2007-10-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

I unexceptionally lurk upon an anime called Death Note. I saw it on toonami and it was quite good for English subbed. I actually ended up clapping on episode 2 because it took me by surprise how deep this anime was. (Enough gloating) Death Note is about a teenager named Light Yagami aka Kira who comes upon a Death Note. A Death Note is a notebook where if you write the name of someone, they will die. Light decides to use this notebook to kill all the criminals in the world. Light is accompanied by a Death God called Ryuk. Ryuk drops his death note on the human world on purpose because of boredom.

After a while, the police investigate the number of deaths and try to solve this mystery. They call on a person name "L" who can unravel any mysterious case. He is known to be the world's best detective and is summoned to solve this case.

All Kira needs to do is write L name on the Death Note but two problems occurs. He needs to write the "real name" of the person on the Death Note and need to see his face. There are other rules to the Death Note but these are the main two. So while L tries to capture Light, Light needs to get close to L to kill him. It’s a game of chess to see who wins first.

There are about 37 episodes and each keeps you on your feet. The animation and songs are well done so you’re never taken out of the story. The story mixes up with new characters, which are pawns in there game of chess. The only problem is that the story seems to repeat itself after the first ark. At the end, you'll probably feel disappointed because of the ultimate victor of this death game.

It's a great anime with tons of plot twists. Sometimes you can get confuse with the conversation but the suspense just kills you. If you're into detective investigation shows (CSI etc...) then this is right up your alley. It’s a definite must see if you're into that kind of stuff.

-----
Next Article: A Year In Review: 1 Bad Game @ 1PM EST Friday

Look-Back: Naruto Shippuden

2007-10-30T10:48:00.001-04:00

The new season of Naruto Shippuden is out where everyone turns into a grown up. It has currently finished it first ark with Ataski and the Sand Village. At the end of the Ark (Episode 32) has some special surprises like a new character named Sai who is going to team up with Team Kakashi. Sakura has yet to tell Naruto about what Sasori told her of where to find Orchirumu. Lastly, Kakashi has to make a mysterious report to the Hokage on a number of things. Ultimately the whole Ark of Naruto Shippuden has been satisfy and leaves you in a cliffhanger.

The biggest problem I have with Naruto Shippuden is with Team Gai and Rock Lee. I was excepting Rock Lee to kick some ass like he did in the regular Naruto. Unfortunately, like everyone else on Team Gai, they only learned a few new tricks. It isn't as impressive like Sakura, who looks like a God. Naruto still has a few tricks up his sleeves but all we saw was his big Rensenga. Everyone else seems to have new tricks but nothing impressive.

Another problem with Naruto Shippuden is the animation & new songs. The animation used in this Ark is utter garbage like the main staff took a break and the interns took over. There were only three good episodes that were animated correctly and look great. The new songs used constantly aren't as good as the first Naruto. Seems cheesy and doesn't represent what you're a post to feel at that moment of time.

The story is still there but some major overhaul is needed in the character development of everyone else. I’ am wondering if they’re focusing all there attention on the Naruto saga in Naruto Shippuden instead of everyone else. What made Naruto great was the plot of other characters like Rock Lee, and other clans. It'll be a disappointment if they move away from that but there still a lot of problems unsolved with Naruto/Sakura story.

It should only get better with more twists and story development. I just hope they concentrate a bit more on other characters and better techniques. The beginning of the second Ark is coming out tomorrow so I hope it’s good.

Big Break P2

2007-10-29T22:32:00.000-04:00

Well, I went to the interview and had about 9 people in the room with me. Felt a bit loss in not knowing where to go or stay. It was finally my turn once they call my name. The interview was really short compared to other interviews I did. Apparently it was the same with others (or I hope so). Everyone there looked about my age which was kind of frightening. We all looked like kids wearing suits and for some reason... I don't feel like a grown up. I'm 20 yet I still resemble a kid in mind and heart. (Really awkward)

I reflected on how I did, and overall I think I did pretty damn good. I was obviously nervous (hand was shaking) but I didn't fumble my words, stutter and did not take my time thinking about an answer to there question. I was just straight forward, direct, and tried my best to smile. (i'm not good at smiling unless its a joke).

So once the interview was over, the main recruiter who I interview with first told me that they’re making all there decisions today so they'll he'll let me know on Monday if I ll be hired or not. I just hope I did not screw up or leave a bad impression for some unknown reason. I think this is the most work I ever done for an interview before so hopefully it'll pay off. I really need this job so hopefully I can get considered to be hired.

I am kind of worried and I’ll except myself to be vomiting on Monday from nervousness (doubt it). Wish me luck

Update: No call today so after 1pm on Tuesday, I'm going to call to see whats up.

Can Commerce Bank Be My Big Break?

2007-10-23T06:22:00.000-04:00

I've been looking for a job for a hell of a long time. I got a job a week ago but couldn't do full time because of school. So I finally got a call back from a Commerce Recruiter after 5-6 months of applying. Hey, I got a callback which all that matters. So I went to the interview last week and befuddle every stupid word that came out of my mouth. I thought I had a game plan, don't think about the interview or I’ll be nervous. That was the worst strategy I ever came up with. I thought coming out of that interview that I screwed it up even though he said that I'll get a callback on Saturday. Well Saturday passed, and guesses what...no call back. I said to myself, "He'll probably call me back on monday, I never except someone to call me on the weekend". So a good portion of monday passed by and no call. So I decided to take fate into my own hands after my previous experience at interviewing with FedEx.

I called and left a message stating that I'm concern whether or not you’re going to get back to me to be blunt. So a few hours passed by and at 3 30pm, a miracle happened... i got a call. He setup a second interview with a manager at a Commerce Open House at 9 30am. The location is a bit hard to get to but there isn’t a lot of Commerce Banks that are easy to get to by train. The plus is that its close by to my college and working at Commerce would look great on my resume.

I just need to do two things and that is to buy a suit and practice being in an interview. Everything else is standard with smiling etc... It’s a job on the hire interview so if I do well then I would get the job on the spot. I’ am praying that I can get this job because of personal issues in my life right now. So here is good luck to me!!

----

I'm going to post my Zune Review at 3pm EST so its something to check out.

All Pro Football 2K8 Preview

2007-08-10T18:22:00.000-04:00

Football is almost here so I thought I write an All Pro Football 2k8 Preview.

All Pro Football 2k8 Preview

Finally, after 3 years All Pro Football 2k8 has finally arrived, loop poling the EA monopoly license has over football. All Pro Football 2k8 first started out as ESPN Football 2k series back on the departed Dreamcast. It was the only football game that rival the madden series, and arguably by many gamers, surpass it in quality. By 2004, ESPN Football 2k5 equaled Madden 2005 in sales, and cutting into EA's money maker. So something had to be done, and EA took control of the football license. This essentially got rid of the competition, and innovation in the football genre. Now that the history lesson is over with, we can get into what All Pro Football 2k8 is going to be delivering this year...

Blue Dragon Preview

2007-08-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, Here is a preview of what I wrote on Blue Dragon. You can click on the link to check out the full preview I wrote on Xbox Evolved.

Blue Dragon Preview

From the creators of famously known games of Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Dragon Quest comes Blue Dragon. An all star cast of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama, and Nobuo Uematsu comes together to work on one of two titles being release for the Xbox 360. This all star cast of game developers, are taking the Xbox 360 to new heights with the Japanese's role playing game genre. It's undoubted that these game designers are going to bring great success for the Xbox 360 in the RPG department that Microsoft desperately needs to make a comeback in Japan.

Sorry for the Time off

2006-09-26T05:34:00.000-04:00

Been kind of busy with college and mainly a pain in the ass English Class that I started taking. My professor placed so many rules in how to write like a professional that it took all the enthusiasm out of writing....

Arrggh, like right now I'm having a mental block where it wasn't before and can't seem to think on the subject at hand without hesitating either. This is utter bull crap and there is nothing I can do about it. I'm going to try to forget about this matter until Wednesday when I have to go back to that god forsaken class.

What I have been doing since then...

- Caught interest in photography and searching through dpreview.com for which camera I should buy. I'm probably going to buy the Oly E-500 but I'm also considering the Canon 350 as well.

- Reading a book my step dad lend to me called "FileMaker Pro 8". It's basically about making record databases and how to use the program. I'm going to continue reading this book and see how far it takes me.

- I tried out for the baseball team but did not get an invited to the second tryout. It's not an disappointment because I knew coming in that I did not meet the requirements to play in the first place. I did pretty good but my arm was not strong enough to reach from third to first while I was trying out for 2nd base. The worst part is that I got a ton of mosquito bites just from being there which itches like hell.

Speaking about mosquitoes, there is one in my room that only comes out during 4-5am to feast on my blood. The problem is that every time I think I kill the bastard, it comes flying between my face and LCD screen. The bastard is taunting me and if I see it again then I will most certainly killed it with my hands. Even though it's a mosquito, it has weirdly earn my respect for being a bad ass. A thought just occurred to me that it is probably dieing from old age. I just got a mosquito bite on my foot which is unusual because it usually takes a bite on my leg. I'm looking at the bite and it is just a small red dot which could be a sign of weakness. I hope the little dude is alright...

-------
Will work on the two articles as promise from the previous article.

Movie Industry DownFall

2006-09-16T00:22:00.000-04:00

Had you ever seen a commercial for a movie and said to yourself "Man, that this going to be a instant failure." I think I said it more times this year than ever which got me wondering, why do movie companies sign onto an agreement for lousy movies? Now hindsight is only 20/20 but you had to know for example "Hoot" was going to a instant failure. Who the hell was the publisher, i don't know but their retards.

Right now I'm looking for any movies that I remember seeing that went straight to DVD/PPV. One is "The World Fastest Indian" which is about some Native American who lived to go fast like Ricky Bobby. Apparently the movie sunk in the box office that no one bother to care to report that it sunk in the box office. It was probably to low in revenues to consider it an actually movie and more of a documentary. In this case, hindsight is 20/20 but can you blame the people for the undesirable success of movies today?

The movie industry is not as tightly regulated as the gaming industry to where it can stop crappy movies from getting the green light. This is why that this year there are so many crappy ass animated CGI movies that are out this year which killed any buzz for any other worth-seeing animated/CGI movies. I remember when movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles were novelties but now with all the crappy animated/CGI movies they are kind of losing there buzz. This reminds of the 1980's gaming downfall where the gaming industry had a influx of crappy games that almost killed the gaming industry. Not until Nintendo stepped into the picture that the gaming industry turned itself around with Nintendo green lighting/red lighting projects that were allowed to be on there console. This is where the movie industry is probably at today but less severe, because of the new media outlet we have today.

Of course there are bit torrents where you can download the movie but the bootlegs do not cut it. It is until the DVD comes out for a direct feed to the movie is where the bit torrents comes into play. The movie industry can blame whoever they want and give their intro before the movie starts about how bootlegging/downloading the movie(s) is bad. They can also say how your are stealing from the people who are working on the film but that is not our concern. They should blame the movie industry for putting people into this predicament for overcharging to pay for their crappy ass movies.

-----------------

Next Article will be Gaming is wasting your life, and Star Trek vs Star Trek: NG.. It's ON!

Can you pass the Third Grade?

2006-09-16T00:06:00.000-04:00

I ran into this game a few days ago while I was on the mets forum. It's where you take the name of the state and put them in there corresponding place on the map. I think it took me 10-14 tries to get all the states correctly placed on the map because of the middle less-known states. I knew the east and west coast but the northern middle part of the country was the hardest to get. Right now I can do it in a blink of an eye and it really kept me entertain for quite a while. Hope you enjoy...

Try it out: Can you pass the Third Grade?

C++ Does Not = Me

2006-09-15T01:14:00.000-04:00

Around 2005, I was interested in game programming so I went to a website called Gamedev.net. The community helped a lot and I decided to purchase two books for Christmas called "Beginning C++ Game Programming" and "C++ Primer 4th Edition". I decided to go with "Beginning C++ Game Programming" first because the book was easier to understand in my view (super noobie book). I remember staying up late at night reading/writing the code (on the pc) displayed on the book till I started to get a headache. I wasn't really sure if I was learning anything but I understood the whole idea of it. I was told that the main basis was to just learn the code so you can use it for other types of programming.

Now I have a habit of eagerly wanting to learn stuff but my work ethic is just not there. I'm lazy and I know it which is why this article has been delayed for so long. I don't know why but I just lose interest and hate feeling like this is more a job then having fun. Which is what I felt while learning C++ and eventually stop reading the book. If I take a look at the book now, I can still remember what each code represents and accomplishes. The problem is that I do not have the drive nor patience to go over it but having that mindset would make me a loser.

The game programming industry itself though pays very little which is probably the reason I decided not to go the route in the first place. Another thing is the math and the degree needed to get any type of game programming job which I find slightly retarded. It is freaking hard to get a computer science degree but yet you get little money for it in the game programming field. I remember my friend telling me I should just go for some type of job..i forgot.

I'm just not sure but I don't know whether C++ = for me but who knows. Right now my interest is for baseball but there is a 1 to 1600 chance I think that I will ever become a success. The reason I stood with baseball for so long after the injuries and extensive work out training is because it is fun to play while getting paid or realization of getting paid an enormousness amount of money which everyone really looks for. If you ask any average joe if they'll switch lives with say David Wright for a day, they'll probably would. I also remember thinking about journalism but by reading my blog, my English is horrible.

If anybody with current jobs have any experience in this matter please comment.

Thanks

--------------

Next Article will be "Why do Movie Companies sign onto lousy Movies?". The idea is why do movie companies go a long with crappy movies..? Hard to explain but after seeing commercials of "Hoot" on Directv, you'll figure out the premise of this article.

Naruto Episode 200 Thoughts...

2006-09-14T02:05:00.000-04:00

It was overall a good episode surprisingly but was a bit hard to follow. The Old Man was from a neighboring village who was at war with Kohana and planted bombs for his village which was soon destroyed afterwards. He then gone mad with age and decided to blow up Kohana because he was getting old so he wanted to do it before he died. It seems like the Old Man and Naruto are going to get into a fight as more of the plot unravels.

I found the whole episode to be pretty good considering the crap that been spewing since the fillers started. I still can't wait to see the fillers end and hopefully get back to the main plot but where probably going to have to wait till next month for that to happen.

Next 3 Episodes:

201. Multiple Traps, Countdown to Collapse

202. Today's Announcement! Top 5 Battles with Sweat and Tear (It's also including a special episode)

Starting next episode, broadcasting time for NARUTO will be changed to Thursday!!!

203. NARUTO Time Slot Changing Commemoration! It's as well as in Thursday too! Confrontation between Students and Teachers with Love and Hate, Genin and Jounin All Come Together in this Rampaging 90-minute Special!

This special contains 3 episodes!!!
90 minute special filler commemorating the move to Thursdays, NOT Kakashi Gaiden

New Episodes Source: Anime News Network
-----

Either at 1pm or 11pm EST, I'm going to post "C++ does not = Me".

MMORPG Golf, Now I've Seen Everything

2006-09-13T13:49:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write about this a week ago when my friend John.T told me about that the "Free To Fly" website (blog) had a link to a MMORPG Golf game. At first I thought he was joking but when I actually check the site out, there it was. I looked around the site to find any information but nothing that really came to used except the videos.

I'm trying to think of what else their going to make into a MMORPG... maybe MMORPG Baseball? You live a life as a every day baseball player and you play against tournaments or seasons playing against 9 other players. I don't know but if there is a MMORPG Golf then I can imagine all sorts of MMORPG types of games.

I have not played it yet because I have no interest in golf but if you like to check it out then go to http://www.shot-online.com/

-----

Naruto Thoughts... article is going to posted around 1-2am tomorrow and a new artcle about C++ does not = Me tomorrow around 11pm est.

Bleach Episode 96 Thoughts...

2006-09-13T02:43:00.000-04:00

The whole episode in general was pretty damn good with it wanting me to see the next episode. As the story goes on, it steadily climbs the rank of passing Naruto but everyone who watches Naruto is already a loyal fan.

The episode starts off with Ichigo and Rukia brother fighting with the head boss Bounto. It ended with a stalemate which was probably excepted and meeting the creator of the Bounto, Ran'Tao. They go deeper into the story of the Bounto and would not want to spoil it for anyone who have not saw the episode yet. Anyway it is a good episode and hope you all enjoy it

If you want to watch it then you can go to Dattebayo.

The new Naruto is coming out today at midnight so don't miss it.

-------

I don't have that much time to write a new article because of college but I'm trying to decide between "Gaming is wasting your life, C++ does not = Me, or MMO Golf, Now I've seen everything..." I'll try to have it done by 3pm est but I can't make any promises on this one.

JasonXE Podcast Episode 1

2006-09-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

Click Play to start the audio (pick up the player volume) and remember....i'm not good at this. I'll probably get better with pratice but I was completely nervous while doing this. Another thing is it is ok to go to sleep while hearing this :-).

I mess up in editting once or twice so don't pay attention. Also there is a phone ringing noise at the end so just ignore it b/c it was my brother.

BAFTA Announces The Nominations For The British Academy Video Games Awards

2006-09-12T08:08:00.000-04:00

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts today announced the nominations for The British Academy Video Games Awards in association with Nokia N-Gage and PC World. The nominated games for 2006 show the incredible variety and innovation the industry now offers. The awards ceremony will reward the individuals behind the very best in artistic, creative and technical innovation for video games, and will be held at the historic Roundhouse on 5th October, hosted by Vernon Kay.

Loco Roco, a PlayStation Portable game that features a world where jelly-like creatures sing, roll and bounce, received the joint-highest nominations with eight, alongside the latest offering from the Tom Clancy franchise - Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The snowballing We Love Katamari amassed six nominations, whilst games offering new ways to interact and play also did well, with Guitar Hero receiving five nominations, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training earning three and Singstar Rocks! garnering two.

New instalments of some of the video games industry’s biggest franchises still retained their potency – for example Tomb Raider: Legend which scooped five nominations including one for Lara Croft in the Character category. She was joined by Hitman’s Agent 47, Lego Star Wars’ Han Solo, Rogue Trooper’s Rogue and lastly, LocoRoco. Also re-workings of old themes proved popular, with LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy receiving four nominations.

Paul Jackson, chairman of the BAFTA Games committee commented, “This year’s decision for the Academy to elevate games to an equal status alongside film and television has been praised by the industry, government and media, and the stage is firmly set for The British Academy Video Games Awards to become the industry and consumers’ benchmark of excellence.”

---
First Podcast at 1pm EST.

Mac Commericals Turned Stupid

2006-09-11T14:29:00.000-04:00

I was watching the Mac commerical that came on during the Gaints vs Colts game. They showed the "PC Guy" cough Bill "windows" Gates cough, in a wheel chair with a broken bones on his hand and leg. I thought they were going to make a reference on slow downs or something but it wasn't. It was something so irrevalent that it was a waste of time to view and started to know that the Mac marketers ran out of things to say. The whole premise of the commerical was about the power cord... Aparently the "PC Guy" fell down and the power cord behind him came off. The "PC Guy" was explaining how is life was flashing before his eyes and the "Mac Guy" was explaining how his power cord was magentic so if something happens like that, it pops right out.

Now apparently the genuises who thought of this idea like to make crap up for the hell of it. I want to state my points on how stupid this commericial is but I can't because the whole idea of this commericial is beyond human logic. I kind of like the commericials at first but now it is just retarded. Can't they come up with any more points then "well, you see my does not do that?" Right now I'am waiting for Bill Gates to come out with a commericial just to shut up these freakin' idiots and end this discussion. I'll start:

-----
Big News: JasonXE Podcast will be up tomorrow for .mp3 format. Should be posted around 1pm EST time and hope you all enjoy.

September 11th

2006-09-11T02:23:00.000-04:00

It's been 5 years since September 11th and it's still vivid in everybody memories. I remember being in high school as a freshman when the school PA announced that a plane has hit the World Trade Center. I thought it was just a small aircraft at the time and somehow it would be under control. I then remember one of my teachers talking about it and saying if you need to go out to call a family member you can. I was thinking to myself that this must be something big and went out the room to consoler room to call my mom.

When I got there, you can see the T.V screen that was in the room and everybody looking at it. Maybe 5 mins later they were holding evacuation proceedings with parents coming to pick there kids. I then rush to the gym and saw my brother and sister with my mom. We all went to the car with another person who we were dropping off (something like a car pool) and the words that I'll probably never forget my mom saying was that "We are at War!" like some type of pearl harbor story. She then pointed to the World Trade Center in front of us while driving. It was pretty much covered in smoke from what I can tell and I was in Queens.

I remember getting home with the streets completely empty and waiting for my step dad to come home who work in Manhattan. The T.V station was showing all the people walking over the bridge evacuating from Manhattan which was when everything set in. I then heard about the Pentagon being hit and a plane crash in Pennsylvania. The day after I remember people holding up pictures of their love ones in the building, how everyone banded together to help anyone in need, USA chants, G.W.Bush at ground zero with his mega-phone, and the people going to ground zero to dig out anyone who was alive. After that it's pretty hard to remember...

I was watching the mets game yesterday when Chris Cotter mention about the kids who were asking "Why are they wearing those caps?(FDNY, Police caps etc...)" to their dads. I can't imagine being in their shoes and explaining it to there kids in front of crowded people sitting next to you. That was pretty much my experience with September the 11th and if you have any then please comment by clicking the "comment" link at the bottom of this article.

We shall never forget...

---

Next Article coming around 9pm - 10pm EST called "Mac Commericals Turned Stupid".

Dubbing in Anime Should be an Option

2006-09-09T21:50:00.000-04:00

Watching Naruto on Toonami is so embarrassing to show to my family that it is not even funny. Not only do they crap on all the voices being dubbed into English, they butcher the supposed lines, mess up the animation, and take away the background music. They all sound so idiotic that there is no point in seeing it again in English because it's horrible.

I remember showing my brother who hates all anime Naruto in Japanese with subs and he actually like it a bit. It was cool because I had someone to watch Naruto with late night. I loss a bit of interested with Naruto because of the fillers but I saw that they were coming out with a English version. I started to watch some of the episodes and once Naruto said "Believe It"...I turned off the T.V. Who the F*** are these translators for Naruto so they can get fired for making crap up. He never says that god forsaken phrase that shall be curse to damnation and I think that what solely ruin the show completely in the English Version.

I think these are the same people who ruin One Piece or that what I at least heard. Seriously, whoever is dubbing these episodes or picking the voices for these character should never work again and find a new job before they do more harm.

What networks should do is give us a few episodes in Japanese with subs and the English verison dubbed to see which one we like. Then we (the people) can vote online or text message them and that's how the show will stay from now on.

----

Watch the current episodes of Naruto at Dattebayo

----

Sorry for the delay.

Story- The Rise And Death of Parappa The Rapper

2006-09-09T18:48:00.000-04:00

Parappa who real name was Nicolas Howman was a young pup growing up in the slums of Brooklyn inspiring to be a Rapper like Biggy Bulldog and Two-Paco. With no direction in morals and his father abandoning him at a young age, Parappa turn to the streets. At the age of 2, he was rapping in the clubs for prize money not knowing he was honing his skills for the future.

On Decemeber 3rd 1996, while winning a big battle against Busta Doodles, he caught the attention of Sean P.Doggy who was looking for young talent. Parappa who eagerly agreed to a deal with Sean P.Doggy was set to shine in his new album "Parappa The Rapper" for the Playstation. He was an immediate success with selling 900,000 copies in Japan alone and was a instant hit over here in the States coming November 1997. Paprappa The Rapper instantly kick, and punch his way into our hearts.

During his time of fame, Parappa got into a rough crowd with Snoop Doggy. During this time around the year 2000, it was said he got addicted to kibble and bits. With his life in a ever souring high, it got shot down just as fast. Still Sean P.Doggy had hope for him to get back on track and gave him a shot for "Parappa The Rapper 2". When the album was release in 2002, it was a failure only selling 10,000 copies within 6 months. Parappa was soon later drop from his record label and went bankrupt a year later.

With Parappa addicted to Kibble and Bits, he was found later dead in his 1 room dog house from overdose in 2005. The industry was shaken from his departure and soon later made a foundation on behalf of him called "Nicolas Howman Parappa The Rapper Institute."

We can all learn a lesson from this tragic tail of Parappa The Rapper and hope to stay away from drugs that will lead you down a destructed path.

-----

Next Article will be posted at 8pm called "Dubbing in Anime Should be an Option"

Building a PC is Overrated

2006-09-09T16:36:00.000-04:00

I myself have a custom built PC and I'll recommend going that route if anybody is interested in being a computer technician or something to that extent. Now if you have a choice between the two then just buy a regular PC that you can find at newegg to save yourself the trouble. The most positive thing you'll hear about building a PC is that it will save you money which is a load of crap. If your building a low, run in the mill PC then you'll probably will save money but not if your planning to build a high end machine. If you add up the prices for an regular PC and a custom built, your probably going to get the same price or save a few bucks. Also the probability of you being able to put a PC together, without something going wrong is very low.

There is always something that will go wrong that will be unexpected and will end up costing you more money trying to figure it out. To be honest, I'm unsure how I got this PC built to run without getting a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) for so long. Anyway if your interested in building your own PC then go head but if you had a choice then just buy a pre-made computer.

-----

Next Article Coming at Midnight called "The Rise And Death of Parappa the Rapper". It is already done so no delays...

Can Sonic Ever Come Back?

2006-09-09T00:33:00.001-04:00

Every time you think of Sonic you got to back to the old Sega Genesis days, and the kid who always wanted to play on it. The last time I remember playing a Sonic game was when Sonic Pinball came out which was actually fun. Since then time moved on with other games, and the Dreamcast being a failure. Sonic had a few games coming out during his long extended period of time but all of them were poop.

Anyway I was watching the Sonic trailer 3 on GameTrailers.com and was about to puke my lunch. I was like...Sega killed the clown (simpsons related episode) and crap on it's grave with elephants. I understand that the Japanese people love there RPGs but don't make an obvious rip off of a Final Fantasy 9 cut scene. It is just embarrassing how a beloved character like Sonic has fallen from the face of the earth since the Dreamcast and how low Sega is willing to milk Sonic dry.

Still I continue to watch the trailer and notice a slight glimpse of hope with Sonic and the small sample of gameplay shown. Personally, I think the problem with the Sonic series was that Sega could not transform the old 2-D Sonic and bring it to the 3-D world. I'm not even sure if it is even possible but apparently Sega is still willing to try or not. Sega has recently announced that they will be forking over the project to Kynogon, the leading A.I. middleware developer. To be honest I don't care because I'm sure they will do a better job than Sega did after the Genesis days.

Will Sonic ever be a big hit as he was in the past... most likely not but the new developer can do the world some justice and make a good game for Sonic at least. Hopefully the new Sonic game won't disappoint on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Another thing, don't give Sonic the ability to talk. He is renowned for his face expressions not his dorky lines.

Planning to do Podcast

2006-09-08T20:44:00.000-04:00

I really haven't finalize the details but a Podcast will be up just to get this place popping for any viewers (if any). Expect episodes of this Podcast to start running later this month on a weekly basis.

Golden Joystick Awards Break Voting Record!

2006-09-08T19:37:00.000-04:00

The Golden Joystick Awards are officially the world’s oldest and most respected gaming awards show and have taken place since 1982, when Sony was famous for the Walkman and the Commodore 64 was a mere infant! This year, the awards are announced at a glitzy award ceremony on Friday, 27th October at the Park Lane Hilton, London and for the first time, will be streamed live at www.computerandvideogames.com.

Smashing organisers’ expectations – almost 400,000 votes have already been received across 17 award categories, almost doubling last year’s total. With voting open until Friday, 12th October – there are still no clear winners, with potential receivers of the time-honoured Golden Joysticks changing on an hourly basis.

For the first time in living memory, a handheld game could potentially scoop “Ultimate Game of the Year” with New Super Mario Brothers leading the charge. Axe-fans are backing Red Octane’s Guitar Heroes to win the “Innovation Award”, whilst Halo 3 is out in front in the “One to Watch” category, surprisingly beating both the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3.

Have your say now at www.goldenjoystick.co.uk!

Joystick Awards 2006 - Current Top Five Rankings

Ultimate Game of the Year

New Super Mario Brothers

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Call of Duty 2

Half Life 2

Pro Evolution Soccer 5

One to Watch

Halo 3

Nintendo Wii

Sony PlayStation 3

Spore

Crysis

Innovation Award in association with T3 Magazine

Guitar Hero

Xbox Live Marketplace

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect

Prof Kawashima’s Brain Training

Nintendo DS Lite

Retailer of the Year in association with Vivendi Games

Game

Amazon.co.uk

Play.com

GameStation

Gameplay.com

Publisher of the Year in association with Sonopress

Ubisoft

RockStar

EA Games

Nintendo

Microsoft Game Studios

-----

My friend is going there so I thought it be interesting to report this for his sake. Btw I'm going to post a new article during midnight called "Can Sonic Ever Come Back?"

CGI- TMNT Movie Thoughts.

2006-09-08T01:19:00.000-04:00

I first heard of the movie arrival a month ago from my friend John (XE) who show me the TMNT Trailer(HD). While the movie was loading, I began visualize how it was going to be. I was psych to think of the possibility of it being renew from the old days and the new costume designs. I was also wondering what the storyline will be and if there will be any new voices... was Vanilla Ice going to make an appearance or commit suicide? I wouldn't say I was one of those die hard fans but like to see stuff I grow up with be treated with respect. I was so disappointed on how the new cartoon series has turn the ninja turtles we all knew into slush.

Now the movie started to play, my eyes are glue to the screen with the volume up loud....noooo. Low and behold these bastards made it into a CGI movie that will be a half success if only they made it with real people. I don't care who you are or what you say but you absolutely know that this movie would have been 10x more kick ass if it wasn't CGI. Now I'm not going to judge this new CGI TMNT movie until I see it but as we all watching it ...you'll know what it could of have been.

Every time I think of this movie, I can imagine the commercial if they made a non CGI movie...gosh what a disappointment.

Blog Advisory

2006-09-08T01:03:00.000-04:00

I know no one reads this blog but just to let whoever passes by that I update it every night at 12 AM EST maybe posting more than once per day.

I like writing to myself lol.

Professional Gaming, The New Poker?

2006-09-07T12:53:00.000-04:00

The first time I'd heard of a "Professional Gamer" was in 2004 while playing Rainbow Six: Raven Shield for the Xbox. These kids were going on about being sponsor by a company for playing in tournaments and some other crap. The reason I stated Professional Gaming to be the new Poker is because Poker was stupid enough to be put on T.V and everyone thought "If they put Poker on T.V then what is next?" Well, I believe Professional Gaming is that next step up the plateau. They possibly already tried this on that lame network called g4 but immediately cancel nearly every show except for Aots. Now there are new networks and televise events of this crap. You might think that I'm against gaming but this is turning gaming into a joke.

On September 8th Directv will be showing "Championship Gaming Invitational". What qualifiers these gamers as Championing, I don't know. Anyway here is a quote I find interesting

"We believe that professional video gaming is the next big thing in sports entertainment and we are dedicated to creating and televising the best gaming experience available anywhere," said David Hill, president of DIRECTV Entertainment. "This invitational will prove that commitment as we gather together some of the most talented players, the hottest production team and innovative set designers to create a truly unique video gaming environment and a one-of-a-kind television event."

"The video gaming world has never seen anything like this," added Dale Strang, executive vice president and general manager of IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media. "This two-day invitational will take pro gaming to the next level by treating it like a sport and its players as athletes. It is unprecedented."

Are you kidding me... It's freaking video games, not a sports competition. Sports require you to do physical activities, not sit on your ass and remember combo moves to own your opponent. Yes, there is a level of competitiveness while playing against another person but not something to be glorify as if they achieve a non-attainable feet. Say if this supposed champion wins, are they going to carry him off the floor with graffiti coming out of the roof?? Whatever happen to normal conventions that people come to play against each other. It's a post to be a matter of fun, not a televise event with announcers as if your years of gaming got you where you are.

There is also a series coming out called "Inside the Gamer". Here is a exert from the press release sent out. "Ever seen one of those gamers that just dominate every game they play? Ever wonder just how they do it? Then this show is the one you have been looking for. Inside the Gamer takes an in depth look into what makes a professional gamer just that. From interviews to top match breakdowns, Inside the Gamer makes bringing you the best tips from the best gamers its number one goal." This is [censor] ridiculous but what can you do. My guess is there going to be other shows to come out like this but after a month it is going to be cancel like every other show after it. Nobody cares about these type of shows because they are already playing it or some other game.

At this moment I'm trying to think about any actual “Gaming” shows that were actually good and came up with two. One is Icons which was rename to Game Makers on g4 which took an in-depth looks at the visionaries who design games. I always use to watch it with my brother until I believe they cancel it. Another was g4tv.com which was a a group of three people discussing video games which reminds me of today podcasts. I really wish there were more shows like these two instead of the crap other networks put on now.

LGC- Lost Planet: EC Wins Best Xbox 360 Game

2006-09-07T08:41:00.000-04:00

I remember playing the Demo on Xbox Live Marketplace...it wasn't that great of a game. I guess it was good enough to impress the people there but I thought another game would have probably won.

Hiroshi Tobisawa, President of Capcom Europe commented: “With more than 180,000 people in attendance, the Leipzig Games Convention provided a great opportunity for gamers to experience Lost Planet’s gripping single player campaign and multiplayer modes. We are extremely pleased to have won the Best Xbox 360 Game award as it is a testament to its unrivalled gameplay experience.”

MMO- Free to Fly

2006-09-06T15:59:00.000-04:00

I was searching around mmorpg.com to find any cool mmorpgs that I might wanted to play. Mainly to just kill time till the fall semester of college starts. I then notice this cute little mmo which is free to play. I've tried it out and now I'm hook like a fish on this game. At first I kind of though it was boring and was another Final Fantasy Online rehash. It is but as you further level, you get to learn special attack combos to beat up your opponent (PVP or Monster) with which makes it special. I'm only up to level 13 and barely scratch the surface of this mmo.

Feel free to try it out at flyff.gpotato.com

Bleach Episode 95

2006-09-06T14:40:00.000-04:00

Well, it was filled with Action, Excitement but yet no progress in the story. Still I'll await next week episode to see if the fight between Ickigo and the two other peeps heats up. Ickie unleash his Bankai with Rukia brother so it should be an interesting episode 96.

Sony is a hot topic

2006-09-06T14:20:00.000-04:00

Seems like fanboys everywhere are going crazy with the Playstation 3 launch going less then desirable. Shipments are being cut in half with only 400,000 units only being ship to the U.S and 100,000 units being ship to Japan during launch. I personally don't find it suprising considering that Sony has just started manufactoring the Playstation 3 a month ago and the Cell reproduction is not an easy task. They should just hold the entire launch till march or may 2007 but I'm guess Sony does not want Microsoft to gain more ground than it already has in the market.

If you want to read more coverage on this then you visit Game Industry.biz. They usually have some good articles covering Sony recent developments.

Heading To Madden Challenge 06

2006-09-06T01:47:00.000-04:00

You think in New York City there would be more gaming events but nooo. Freaking people have to locate themselves in San Francisco, Los Angles or Seattle to do these things. Since this is my only chance this year to cover an event as a press agent, I decided to go to Madden Challenge 06 that is coming to New York City next month. Now as much as I hate EA with them taking away ESPN series with licensing, the experience of reporting as a media press agent, meeting new people in the industry, covering the ground is great. I don't know whether I'll be talking to someone important at the event but should be very interesting.

FYI: I get a cool t-shirt too :-)

Damnit Gaming Media!! Learn how to Source your Articles...

2006-09-06T01:07:00.000-04:00

The first thing they tell you in any English Class before you write an article is to source them correctly. Now I work for Xbox Evolved and mainly concern myself with reporting news. Now the site does not get that many visits per day so if I do a mistake or post something, nobody is really going to care. Maybe like a month ago my boss John told me about news4gamers which can generate good hits. I did not think much of it at first but it'll generate new visitors.

Now during some of my posts on news4gamers, it's gotten Xbox Evolved numerous visitors which is great. One of my articles which I first reported/created surprisingly has caught a buzz around the net called "Huh, Come Again? HDMI Cable For The Xbox 360?". It was my first article that was interesting enough to capture some attention. It was a good feeling and the buzz obviously went around so I did my job. Three days later I notice a post on news4gamers about the news I reported which did not accredited Xbox Evolved for them knowing about it. I Google around the net for the story and it was plaster everywhere and none of them accredited the site for them even knowing about it in the first place. I assume they would of figure it out sooner or later but wouldn't have been news worthy unless they saw the buzz it was getting.

Now I'm not really pissed but just disappointed at the fact that neither me nor the site was mention in reporting this which takes away from us. Maybe I feel this way because it is my first time getting this much visits for an article I wrote but I shouldn't think much of it. By the end of the week it should be old news and I'll probably move on to something else.

How did I end up with a Xbox 360?

2006-09-06T01:02:00.000-04:00

At this very moment I'm looking down on my Xbox 360...how did I end up with you? I don't think it ever had to do with the Xbox 360 as much as it had to do with the Xbox. I just remember while typing why I bought the Xbox and that was because of Xbox Live. I remember the first time I've heard of playing online with a console was with the Tony Hawk game. I did not have a Xbox yet and Sony had not yet release the network adapter. The whole idea of going online with a console consume me because I thought it was a cool idea. Of course there was the dreamcast but did not really appeal to me. Of course there was the PC but my computer was slow at the time and there was no good games except for Duke Nukem.

Now here comes the Xbox and at the instance I heard of Xbox Live...my jaw just drop. At that moment it was a must have console because it was taking console gaming to a new level of enjoyment. Another thing was the graphics were hugely improve from most ps2 titles which was a plus. It had two of the three things I wanted which were Online Play, and Better Graphics but nothing is ever perfect. The RPG Games... Now I thought that games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear were coming along but it wasn't. Around this point, I started to get into game politics and preferences with Japan. There was still some interesting titles for the Xbox like Ghost Recon, Mech Assault, ESPN 2k series, Splinter Cell etc... but down within me I bleed r.p.g. The Xbox turned mainly into crapfest of FPS with Halo and other action games while other good games got canceled like True Fantasy Live Online. Don't get me wrong, I thought Halo was a good game but not a God Of The Gaming Universe as it proclaim to be. If it was then it would not gone up to the shelf to collect dust after I finish playing it.

Still I stood with it and my whole life after that was a crap blur. I guess the reason why I choose the Xbox 360 is because of the Xbox. I should probably change the title of the article but I like it the way it is.

FYI: I'm probably not going to buy the Playstation 3 because of the cost. It was hard enough trying to buy the Xbox 360 with a game but a 600 buck console can kiss my rear behind. I'm doing what everyone else is doing this holiday season...I'm getting a Wii lol.

Naruto and Bleach

2006-09-05T23:38:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many people watch Naruto or Bleach but they are both enteraining anime series. As of this moment I'm waiting for Bleach 95th Episode to pop up on the dattebayo site. The problem with these current anime shows is the fillers (episodes with no meaning) which derail the series from it current storyline. It usually not a problem but it's been going on for a year with Naruto so it is pissing me off. As of this moment the current future episodes are

200. Active on Duty, The Strongest Helper

201. Multiple Traps, Countdown to Collapse

202. Today's Announcement! Top 5 Battles with Sweat and Tear

Bleach fillers are ok so I have no issue with it but Naruto fillers are usually pointless. I try not to bitch about it though because I like the series as a whole and try to avoid the manga comic. I was told to read the comic but I refuse to because it will ruin the suprize of watching it on anime.