The best way to lie

So what does this chart say to you? Here are my thoughts:

• Game Cube?
• Wii's sit unused. That is the way it is in my house. The XBox360 and PS3 share the same TV and battle for usage time. The Wii has it's own (yes, smaller) HD TV. But it is rarely used weekly.
• XBox360s are used more than PS3's (percentage wise). Why? Better games? More hardcore gamers?
• Look at the drop in May. Why is that? I decide it was because school was ending and more studying was going on. (Cramming) Since the drop was bigger on XBox360, I would assume it's users are younger. PS3 must have older (richer) gamers who have less free time.

Just some thoughts. If you want the source, check IndustryGamers and USA Today.

Can anything good come out of France?

I've wanted to go to a gaming convention. So I always think about going to E3 or PAX. I found another one - its not on the west coast - held in French speaking Canada. What caught my attention were the speakers:

• Yoichi Wada, Chairman-CEO, Square Enix Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider - could be interesting.
• Paul Holden, Lead Architect, Media Molecule LittleBigPlanet designer - I'm very interested.
• Jason Holtman, Valve I like Valve (Portal!) - and this guy is always causing trouble
• Heather Chaplin, Author I've heard her on NPR
• Chris Hecker, Maxis/EA A writer and contributer to Spore. He will speak on the oft debated "Are games art?"

I'm interested. I'm a little concerned that the default language of the web page is french. Here is the English link.

What do you think? Do you want to meet up in Montreal?

Ironically, I plan to be in California the week before.

What do you think? Meet up in Montreal.

Metcalfe’s Law or Why buy a Xbox360?

Have you heard of Metcalfe’s law? It states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system. In other words, the value of a network is dependent on the users who use it. Most of my friends own an Xbox 360 and play together on-line. I was able to talk to them about games (pub night is Monday), but not experience them together. I offered to give some of them $100 to purchase a PS3 – but in the end, I was the one to buy the other system. “One Xbox 360 please.” “Oh, you want true HD with HDMI output, then you need the Elite.” “I would also like a wireless connection to XBoxLive.” “Then you need this wireless attachment and XBoxLive subscription.” Xbox360............$400 Wireless Adapter...$100 1 Year XBoxLive....$ 50 Total..............$550

I bought my PS3 with ALL the above the less than $400. Now, which is the cheaper system? But I did get two good games. Halo 3 (my dad and brother-in-law play this) and Fable2 (my friends have finished this). For my birthday, I got COD:WaW.

I'll let you know if Metcalfe was right.

What happened to July?

After the wildly successful "What happened to June?" post, I thought I'd try it again for July. Again, this is off the main subject of blog, but it helps explain why I have been missing on-line. Every year I take a week-long motorcycle trip: 2009 was my 10th straight year. I've been to every state from Maine to Louisiana to Florida to Wyoming. This year was Colorado! Great motorcycle roads with great views. Those views became my undoing. That is what is left of my Gray Lady (BMW K1200LTi). Together we went off the road at ~6o MPH about 1.5 hours south fo Gunnison Colorado. Sadly, she was lost; I really miss her. Because of all my safety equipment, I was able to walk away with only bruised ribs. Shall we say 'severely' bruised ribs. It's been 3 weeks since the crash and I still have sharp pains when I breath; I can't cough or sneeze without passing out from the pain; and my ribs click and move. You would think I'd have more time for gaming, but sadly that has not been the case. It is difficult to sit upright in my chair - I get sore and stiff quickly. Enough complaining! I'm happy to still be here and happy to communicate to you through this silly blog.

PoP and H2H

I was able to pick up a used copy of Prince of Persia at GameStop. I paid around $15 using my GameStop Discount card.

I don't know when I will get to this game, but I have heard great things about it.

I have not published the details, yet, but I purchased an Xbox360 in May. I'll explain the reasons in another post (when I get my courage). But I wanted to mention that I found an interesting site: Lens of Truth.

What I like about this site is that they attempt to do side-by-side comparisons of multiplatform games. Their posts get better as the hone their skills, but I will be using this to help choose for which platform I buy/rent/borrow games. Being a PS3 Fanboy, if there is a tie, I will definitely be choosing the PS3.

What happened to June?

June was vacation month. I spent a week in Kitty Hawk, NC (The Outer Banks) with extended family. We were able to rent a LARGE house with its own private pool walking distance from the ocean. It was a fun relaxing time. I was able to bring the PS3.We played a lot of Guitar Hero and Rock Band as a group (El Mico is on the left). I started Overlord and played COD:WaW at night. Then, I went with my parents and my sister's family to Feed the Mouse at Disney World Florida. It was HOT. All 6 Adults and 6 kids had a wonderful time. The Tower of Terror (at Disney Studios) and Expedition Everest (at Animal Kingdom) were the favorites. Disney does it right - they know how to separate you from your money. When I returned, I had the flu. I'm hoping to recover before my motorcycle trip at the end of July.

Taking Lara to the Limit

Good game, but buy it cheap. All-in-all, I was disappointed.

First let me write that I have never completed a Tomb Raider tale. I played pieces on PC or 16-bit systems, but never really got into it. So, I didn’t know all the repeating characters like Natla.

I guess my biggest disappointment was the lack of a climax. One character is killed by Lara’s Doppelganger – but revenge is never given. It was all handled too quickly in a cut scene – poor Alister. It truly is a puzzle game: solve the puzzle and the story is continued in the narrative.

The scenery was beautiful and diverse; the vehicles were fun. The puzzles were not complex (linear), but it did required me to think and explore. I cheated once and looked at a video walk-through. (I didn’t know how to “run” along a moving cable.) Gun play was automatic – with two guns and the Hammer-of-Thor, villains were not a problem.

I’ll probably go back and get the trophies I already earned before the patch came out. At least I was able to prevent the seventh age from beginning.