My 360 Demos, They Don't Exist
April 04, 2008

Just to show that I'm an equal opportunity bitcher I wanted to bring up the fact that the 360 hasn't had any demos released for it in a long time. I actually went back to see if Two Worlds was as bad as I remembered the demo to be, and found out that I was right. I've even contemplated purchasing a few of the Xbox Originals just for some new downloadable content. Alas, I am cheap and won't fork over my money that easily.

Imagine my surprise when I checked Xbox Live last night before going to bed. There it was, a shiny new jewel of a demo. To make matters better, it was a demo for a game that I was actually interested in - Army of Two. Damn right, I started downloading that mofo faster than Babbles sits in James' chair.

I got home today eager to try it out to see if it was as cool as the footage would lead me to believe. I was left with two take-away points; A) EA wants you to create an account and B) it's unfortunately a multiplayer only demo. I was completely baffled by point A since I already have a Live GOLD account and really don't want to sign up for yet another service to play on top of the service that's supposed to let me play play games over it. Point B was simply irritating, because I want my first experience with a game to be at my own pace enjoying and savoring things.

Oh well. There's a busy weekend ahead, what with Code Camp happening on Caturday.

Soliciting Suggestions, How to Play My Xbox
November 01, 2007

I'm sure by now that many of you have noticed that I rather like my shiny new Xbox 360. I love the selection of games, the ability to easily download demos and I am really having a good time with it. The problem is that we only have one good television in our house - the one in the living room. As you can tell by my attempt to get a shot of my beloved 360, the television is typically in use for things other than video games...

In the interest of getting the most out of my shiny new toy, I'm looking around for alternative output means. I'm really not into buying a second TV, since I never use it for anything but an output device anyway, so I'm looking around at computer monitor solutions. I'm thinking of trying to pickup a nice new widescreen display for my main system possibly with two DVI inputs or building a DVI switch. From what I have heard on the Internets it's fairly simple to convert the HDMI signal from my Xbox into DVI for a computer monitor. I can save oddles of money, and avoid having to have yet another piece of equipment hanging around my house.

Right now I'm eyeballing an Acer 22" Widescreen with a single DVI input. Everything with dual DVI inputs (or *Gasp* HDMI) just seems to incredibly expensive. Are there any suggestions from the gallery of legumes?

Update

James has mentioned that his spifftastic monitor is a larger cousin of this attractive thing. I do believe that with it's om nomie HDMI input ports it would make a much more useful buy than the cheaper Acer monitor. I may have a new toy to eyeball for awhile...

In other news, one of my professors said "a hwile" yesterday. I can just picture James at his desk right now... oh the joy I bring to people.

Seriously Considering a 360
September 29, 2007

Much to Emily's dismay, I am now seriously considering picking myself up a tasty little Xbox 360 sometime soon. I managed to snag another contract job which has definitely padded out my "happy Jordan fun-time" savings to the point where I can aaaaalmost afford to get one without using any un-budgeted resources. I'm still a little on the fence though, as I am with any big purchase.

I mean, the $350 for a Pro system is quite a few tasty burgers from Val's. Though on the other hand, being able to bypass all the PC gaming ass-hattery that's going on lately is quite a nice bonus. Coupled with actual online functionality within games and the presence of many great looking titles I'm really tempted. I'm definitely wanting for some Gears of War, Eternal Sonata, Geometry Wars, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Forza and Doom action. Not to mention when Hellgate finally comes out (if it comes out) for the 360.

Of course, I would take Draz's advice and buy it from Best Buy. Why? When the sales-droid begins "Would you like to buy the $20 extended warran"-yes. Why yes, I would like to buy your extended warranty. Although, I am sure that the droids are instructed NOT to offer the warranty for 360s now-a-days.

Then comes the next question... when to buy? I mean, Kotaku has info on a new bundle that might be coming and including the updated-not-sucky SKUs. But, do I really want to wait until around Christmas? I think not. I want to get some Gears of War and Geometry Wars action going now dammit.

So, summary... maybe. I still needs some convincin'.

Update: Looks like I won't be getting any Halo 3 action for awhile.