TheSa|nt's Blog

It’s great. I have said this so many times before and probably have posted it here but I was reading the Xbox official forums and ran into someone else requesting the thing once AGAIN. It’s mind boggling that Microsoft hasn’t done anything about it.

I’ve wanted more friends as you can never have enough people you like to play with. The ability to sort them in groups…I’ve brought this up so many times as well. I’d like to create a group and call it Family…so I can remember who everyone is compares to my group of friends who kind of play together like a clan….or friends for a specific website/community that like to play together. I really wish MS would get up and do something about this. They claimed they would years ago…that was one of the reasons why they nixed support for orig xbox games (the orig games didn’t support a change in the friends system which was preventing such from evolving). Come ON Microsoft!! We have all complained so much over the years. You took away support for the original games yet you didn’t give that upgrade in return your promised. Now you make it appear you only did it so that you can *RESALE* us those old games with “newly enhanced” digital download versions or total revisions. It wasn’t so you can upgrade..it was so you can make more money and take from us.

I don’t know how many times I have compared Xbox Live with something like an instant messenger. AOL, Yahoo, whatever…..we can have unlimited friends, grouping options and so many other features….and the service is free. Xbox live you can only have 100 friends and we have to pay every year just to be able to use it, and get no grouping features of any kind of enhancements. Instead of getting what the customers want…all we get is silence with no improvement…course we still have to keep paying.

They keep adding external stuff like TV an everything which is great but lets focus on the foundation of what Xbox Live IS. This is a GAMING SYSTEM and Xbox Live is for ONLINE play. So let’s enhance that before adding all this other crap into it that even our cellphones can already accomplish.

This is actually pretty impressive. The entire marching band for Ohio State University performs a number of classic and current video game themes while marching out various designs and keeping excellent control of their synchronization.

I had to point out how bothering it is when you buy a new Xbox game (or any other console) and the first thing you are greeted with are logos with no option to skip. Not just one or two but sometimes five or six. Now, that is fine if it’s the very first time you have loaded up the game, but they should cache onto the drive that you have loaded it for the first time already so that next time it gives you an option to skip. When I have to sit through what seems like five minutes of logos with no option to bypass, every single time I want to play a game….it gets old fast.

Yes, I get it…this person and that person and this person and that person and this person and that person all had a hand in making the game. That’s great! However, I don’t care anymore…I just want to play the game, and them move on with my life.

It’s bad enough we are dishing out so much money anymore these days for a friggin video game, but then to be force fed advertisements every single time we want to play it, it’s just not right. If you buy an app for your phone vs the trial or ad-supported free version, there is no ads because you paid for the app. If something is legally owned by you, you should ALWAYS have an option of not having to deal with ads. Same thing goes for DVD and Blu-Ray movies that do not allow you to skip the previews (or at least make it obvious on what button to hit for unknowledgeable users).

So a message to all those developers out there. QUIT force-feeding us advertisements and logos within the things we spent our hard-earned money for!

Feedback: What games have you found to be bothering due to lengthy logo introductions?

Like the McDonalds commercials best say…”I’m lovin it”. The new features are great, the Kinect integration feels good, and the voice command options are solid. I am looking forward to what Microsoft comes up with next.

I’m thinking the system still needs a quicker way of reaching a list of online friends as well as a menu system that isn’t so lagged. It can be agrivating at times waiting for the main “x” (button) menu to popup or navigate. The dashboard is amazingly fast and accurate….its just the popup menu seems to never get any attention (outside of a few new options or icons).

I think the new UFC options will be a hit for a lot of MMA fans out there, bringing lots of behind the scene footage and interviews, as well as PPV featuress for live fights.

They have added additional support for the Xbox Companion Devices (i.e., Windows Phone 7 devices) that can interact with the system for reasons such as controlling DVDs or accessing additional information about what you have on the screen.

I got the Kinect in the mail today and hooked the lil guy up to the Xbox. It is actually pretty fun. I played a little of it at CES and got a kick out of it. Did some boxing with a Google exec, hot my rear handed to me and walked away saying….I need to get this.

So for all of you gamers out there with an Xbox, and/or those of you that love to watch Netflix, Zune etc on your Xbox….Go out and buy the Kinect for it! You won’t be disappointed, and there are a lot of nice games coming out. It comes with Kinect Adventures, but you should also grab a copy of Kinect Sports. That game is great with friends.

Well! That’s my review and thought of the moment. Enjoy

I have had the question asked so many times….”how do I learn to use news groups”. Well, I can recommend software and the advanced way of finding what you need, but some prefer to keep it simple.

Wikipedia shares: A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on the World Wide Web. Newsreader software is used to read newsgroups.

Despite the advent of file-sharing technologies such as BitTorrent, as well as the increased use of blogs, formal discussion forums, and social networking sites, coupled with a growing number of service providers blocking access to Usenet, newsgroups continue to be widely used.

Easynews has gone out of their way to create a nice video tutorial that will walk you through the usage of the very user-friendly service. Easynews acts as a one-stop-shop for using news groups, where you can login, search and download everything from one spot (without the need of external applications or bouncing between sites).

Click Here to access the video tutorial!

Visit easynews now and start off with a free trial. Take the time to dabble and see if they are a good fit for you:

For a more advanced tutorial explaining further access to Newsgroups via desktop application, click here to view my full tutorial.

Well, at CES there was a lot to see. A lot of great people to meet, a lot of great tech to drool over, and a lot of great information learned. I demoed the MS Xbox Kinect and got TKO’s in boxing by a Google employee heh. It was funny to see a Google employee having so much fun with a competitors product.

Out of the entire day, there wasn’t a person I regret talking to outside of the man showing off the Sony 3d camcorder. His words were kind of rude and insulting…I didn’t care much for that. I had asked him a reasonable question and he responded like I was an idiot. Now if the question was an idiot question…I would take full credit for it, but all I asked was what the highest resolution it shot in. He was a little sarcastic to that point but at that point he got a little aggravated and explained it shot in HD. Ok….there are various levels of “HD”….back down buddy…take a breather.

Anyways, the 3d TV’s look nicer (the LEDs at least). Very little to no flicker at all (LG was good), and clear as day with light glasses that didn’t bother you while on the face. Personally though I will still wait till it looks that nice or better WITHOUT having to wear glasses. Regardless….it was nice.

Viewsonic has a few nice monitors. Their latest series are LED but 2ms response time (2x the 1ms response time of their past LCD version). Made me want to snag one though….27″s of ……mmmmmm.

Hercules has a nice DJ/mixer usb combo that fell into a somewhat decent price, Triton/MadKatz had a nice 5.1 pair of Triton headphones for the Xbox/PS3, Skype’s on all the major TV’s and the AR Drones are back as usual. Audi has some nice cars to show off, pioneer has a new deck for the car coming out (Navi series) that looks fun, Sony has one hell of a widescreen 3d display for everyone to enjoy.

Did I mention the Kinect was fun?

Well that sums up a lot I think. I’d go deeper into detail and cover all sorts of things with images but this isn’t really a tech news blog. Go to CES!! It’s well worth it.

TheSa|nt

A few games are starting to pop up on Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7. Of course the phones haven’t been released yet so none of us can take advantage of them just yet.

I am just hoping that the Windows Phone 7 phones will still have a solid focus on the business and modder communities as well, who have given them their only popularity through the years thus far.  The games and special eye candy that brings it so much closer to being a competitor and crasher to/of the iPhone seem cool, but there has to be a solid foundation for business applications, remote server/desktop features, multi-tasking, file-system, etc.

Later this year Microsoft will be launching the new Project Natal, a device you can connect to your Xbox allowing you to play without a remote. Basically your body becomes the remote, and we have been waiting for a very long time for this to finally release.

Now it’s right around the corner and we will have a chance to try one at home. A disadvantage though is they might be asking for $200 for the device. Originally it was thought that it would be coming in under $100 but it’s already starting to sell via pre-order at Swedish retailers for $200. Is this just a way of trying to make some extra cash by letting people become “one of the first to have one”, or is it a sign that we will be paying a lot more than expected to get one?

Regardless, I know I can’t wait to see how accurate this device really will be. The promotional video that Microsoft released (I believe it was last year) made Natal look pretty nice, so lets hope it lives up to the hype!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HluWsMlfj68

I really hope not, but Bungie announced that although the beta for Halo Reach is running on their own servers, the finished product will be launched in partnership with Activision. Does this mean they are heading down the same road as Infinity Ward?

The beta has been out for a week now, and so far it looks like we have a lot to look forward to (keeping in mind that what they are showing us now is only a taste of things to come). The finished product should prove to be a very interesting game. I just hope That they won’t ruin things like Infinity Ward by jumping over to Activision.

I guess we will find out soon (well, September at least)