Oh Snap!!

During a littler research for an article I was reading I stumbled onto Bram Cohen's Wikipedia entry, only to find out that he was a Stuyvesant High School Graduate! If thinking this is one of the most awesome facts I have learned this week is wrong then I don't want to be right...

Classic

The popular game "Guitar Hero" is under fire once again. Gibson has sued game creator Activision for patent infringement on an idea they apparent had 9 years ago. I don't think they have a case here, also how wack would it be to just have headphone and speakers on a guitar and just be jammin' out to yourself? Guitar Hero is already wack enough with an audience.

Tons of Funs

Lot of juicy and unbelievable articles today, so I will just link and use short comments. Got lots of work to do but I want to share some of this stuff with you.

-This month is the 10 year anniversary of the mp3 player. I definitely remember my buddy and I back in 1996 or '97 (can't remember now) talking about how dope this new "mp3 format" was going to be. I even made a mix tape (yes analogue) from a few mp3's that I had collected. I actually can't believe even at that time I was trying to own my digital media, I guess I have been down with pirating from the start.

-Apparently Apple's new Macbook Air is causing some security trouble at a few airports. Apparently is has already caused one guy to miss his flight. My questions: Do these people have TV's? How have you not seen one commercial about this product? Should we be trusting these dolts who believe "The lack of standard features causes a security concern" with our security?

-Battlebots is making a comeback! Along with futurama this is some very good news.

-Comcast might finally get its comeuppance if the FCC decides to take some undefined action against them. Or maybe they will just get a stern talking to from the governmental regulatory body. I would just like to say if an individual did something like this (stalling or dropping of information over a connection that is supposed to be undisturbed) I think they would already be in jail by now. I love how corporations get all the benefits but none of the drawbacks of being an "individual".

-The IFPI is considering taking the road that is currently being traveled by the RIAA here in the states. I hope they expect to become the target of public scorn and ridicule as well.

Discuss...

Waiting in Line 2...

So to my surprise I bought a Wii on Friday. It took me about 10 minutes of calling and a furious drive to a store about 20 minutes away to get one. For the record, the store had gotten in 3 units but only had one left when I called because two people were waiting at the store for them when they opened, damn you Nintendo and your forced scarcity. I basically bought the game for Super Smash Brothers:Brawl. For those of you who don't know, SSB is a game franchise from Nintendo that started out on the N64 system. If you attended college in the last 10 years and know anyone that was anyone who played video games on a semi-regular basis you know what this game is. If you don't stop reading because your were probably told about it and were just not interested enough to remember. Smash brothers is a 4 person free for all battle that despite its simplicity is regarded as one of the best fighting games ever (I'm not kidding, look it up). It uses Nintendo characters and characters that have been in Nintendo games. It only uses 4 buttons and is relatively easy to learn and hard to master. I bought my gamecube specifically to play SSB:Melee which was the second iteration of the game. This new version allows online play which should get anyone that knows about the game excited. The point is, the game is dope as hell which is why I am surprised I did not see the scene that confronted me at the mall when I went to pick it up...at midnight...on Saturday night/Sunday morning at a Gamestop that was having an actual release event for the game.

It was like 11:45 and I was sitting at home watching TV when I decided I should go. I knew from earlier in the day (when I was at the store reserving my game) that Gamestop would be open at 12am for the release but I never imagined I would show up. Realizing that I really had nothing else better to do I drove over totally expecting to show up, walk in, pick up my game and walk out. That was definitely not the case. As I entered the mall I saw a few heads standing around the Gamestop shop doors, this was of course from afar. As I got closer I realized that the people I saw were actually in front of a store a few shops down from Gamestop AND part of a surprisingly long line. My first thought was "REALLY?!" Come on now, this was ridiculous. This was not a console or anything, but a game on one of the three next-gen consoles currently out, and it had a line of good size waiting for it. I guess I was a bit naive but I still was pretty shocked, which turned to a feeling of uncomfortable boredom as I began hearing the awkward conversations and smelling the noticeable B.O. you usually hear and smell from people who would wait in line for a video game. Yes it's true that some of these people were my closest friends and still could be, but I was definitely in the contingent that took a step back and asked "How did I get here?", even as I shuffled forward in line. I even heard someone say in front of me "I used to make fun of these people and now I am one". Right with you brother, right with you.


P.S. - The Game is AWESOME.

Lies...

And the lying liars that tell them...