Just got off 2 days of virus symptoms (fever, aches, nausea).  Now my wife is in worse shape.  So to help her through it, I'm doing what I can to work from home again today.  So far, not off to a good start:

 

1.  Data connection for design review crashed within the first 15 minutes.

2.  Daughter used up battery in cordless phone so I'm limping along with a VOIP connection for a conference call

3.  Showed up 30 minutes late for previous call, so I have LESS idea of what's getting talked about

4.  Very tired and have little patience for these early "hiccups".

 

Anyway, the best I can hope for is that my wife starts feeling better today.  She looks better and is sitting up in bed at least.  I might get some Halo 3 play in later this week if all goes well with getting housework caught up.  I'm on a Forza 2 run lately enjoying the Career mode racing and beating my earlier "noob" times on the tracks.

Well I sucessfully survived the first company wide layoff of the year!  Yay!  My wife's workplace is also in the midst of a layoff but she also seems OK.  Huge relief!!

 

Work was rough today as I had people I depend on just not doing what they should.  I ALMOST sent them a nasty email but thought better of it and saved it as draft instead to let it sit and cool off some.

 

My stepdaughter recently BROKE a drum pad clean off my Rock Band 2 drums.  The whole family has really gotten into this game!  It's the first where it wasn't just ME playing the xbox but now everyone, even the 7 year old is getting into it.  So I really need to replace the drum set so we can all play together.  Hope to next week (bonus pay comes in).

 

As for bonus pay..yeah thanks company BUT timing is bad as the car needs $1000 of work on it!  Apparently Mercury Sables are known for the bad rear struts.  Those babies need replacement on top of all four tires (which I got a great deal at Costco on) and the front end alignment.  Bummer!

Ok, I'm back.  Why?  Well, boredom maybe?  Feeling settled into my new place?  Yeah all that.  Good to be back.  I think in general I just got my act together and can actually carve out the time to do something here.  What exactly I'm doing, yeah I don't know.  But it'll come to me.  Like the snow in Vermont, it's bound to show up.  My bet is first snow hits somewhere around November 6.  It's already starting to get cooler and the nights are leaving frost on the ground.  Anyway, here I am and it's good to be here...try the veal.  Oh yeah, got a webcam yay.  Like I know what I'm doing...pheh.

Wow...what the heck happened to me?  Well, more like what happened to my space??  Neglect.  Actually, it's more a fact of me not paying my DSL bill and yeah..some neglect.  Anyhow, I spent half of my time here trying to get my video player working on this space.  It's not happening this morning.  So I think I better leave it alone for now.  Anyway here's one of my favoirite Nine Inch Nails tunes, live: 
Video: right where it belongs by nine inch nails

I've added a WMP gadget to show a video of IBM's 300mm wafer manufacturing facility in NY state.  This may give you some idea how next-gen gaming chips are manufactured every day. 

 

 

Hello BLOG!  Yeah I know...I've been away a LONG time.  No overall excuse...maybe just a few little itty bitty ones:

 

1.  I hit the brick wall emotionally sometime around the holidays...somewhere between work and home I just completely shut down.  I think I took 2-3 days off from work for being completely useless.  Don't worry, I'm ok...I'm on meds and getting counseling.  I've even taken up meditiation at the local Shabhala Meditation Center.  I love meditation.  I always come away from it completely refreshed and renewed. 

 

2.  I took a week off to NYC with my wife who had a conference there.  While she was in class, I spent time walking the cold but busy streets of manhattan taking in all the sites.  Between A Chorus Line (which my aunt starred in as an original cast member) a dinner at Gramercy Tavern and fantastic beers at Heartland Brewery under the Empire State Building...I really loved NY!  We even took the 9 hour train ride to get down there (the weather in mid Jan was HORRIBLE for driving down).   I even finally got myself a cellphone (yes I'm one of the last humans on earth to buy one).  I really do love this helpful but sometimes annoying gadget.  Overall, NY was a good time, I need to do that again!

 

3.  I'm doing great things at work again...but no it's not the next XBOX chip.  Work has been busy but manageable.  Not that I really should use work as an excuse not to visit my blog but it does take up fun time.

 

4.  As for funtime Crackdown Demo has had me completely addicted.  They should have just called this "Crack".  Love that thing!

 

Hopefully this will mark an occasion for more frequent blog updates.  And maybe more pics!

Anyone catch good glimpses of this years' CES?  Anyone see anything about IBM?  Anyone EXPECT to?  Probably not.  They were there anyway!  I personally worked on both the Microtune and Dialog parts.  and gee...I didn't get to go

 

Hip Hip Hooray!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Ahhh..those three cheers brought to you from a very happy gamer having FINALLY conquered the DDay invasion chapter achievement on Veteran difficutly in Call of Duty 2!  Ok, yeah, I've had the game just about the whole time I've owned an Xbox (1 year).  But anyone who's tried or accomplished this knows what I'm talking about.  Having had my checkpoints on this mission (capturing 3-4 houses, both floors in a town overrun with Nazis) wiped off my HD because my stepson decided to play using my profile and suffering the torture of gaining those checkpoints back...PLUS, the added aggravation of the FINAL checkpoint in this chapter of having to snipe all of the approaching german mortar teams while waiting 2+ minutes for reinforcements is A KILLER job on Veteran difficulty.  Check this out to see how hard this really is!  Took this guy almost half an hour of continuous tries to finally get it.  The trick here being picking off the teams BEFORE they get set up to launch mortars at you.  Nail biting fun...but it's behind me!  YAY

 

In more geek news, this time from the work-front:  I am lined up to get a new Linux machine tomorrow.  This beast is supposed to be lightning fast compared to the dogged RISC AIX machines I was accessing before.  To make way for the new baby, I was given an additional LCD monitor.  Unfortunately, I can't afford to put a second desk in my office for this second set up (LCD plus keyboard/mouse).  Thinking I needed a KVM switch box to allow me to run both my docked Thinkpad and the Linux machine, I was able to make room on my desk for both of the 17" LCDs but was not able to acquire a spare switching box.  The two LCD's look great on the desk but I'm ALL COMPUTER on the circa 1968 desk!  So as a POSSIBLE solution to my single USB mouse and PS2 keyboard dilemma I'm looking into using VNC as a way to emulate a second screen on my PC that can be accessed via Linux.  We have scripts that will then let me move control of mouse/keyboard as soon as I move my mouse from one screen to the next.  COOL!  Hope it works!  Otherwise, I'm stuck hunching over a Thinkpad keyboard for PC apps.  So while I wait on the Linux machine I've been able to use the awesome capabilities of my T41P video card and Windows XP to use TWO monitors to keep windows on and move freely between them.  Unfortunately this REALLY drives the pc hard and the fan ran all day.  I did suffer a temporary fan issue that was quickly solved with a hard reboot tonight...whew.  I was happy though...far more productive too!  In case you care, I'll keep you posted how my first experience with Linux goes!

 

 

 

 

Here's a tidbit from IBM about how it's helping to develop game hardware and software into something more...umm, grown up?  Best lesson to take from some of the multimedia content and fact tidbits: you don't have to be a "game designer" to be involved in game development.  The jobs that support the game industry are everywhere, just follow your passion!  Enjoy

 

...and went to heaven!!  OK maybe I'm overreacting a bit but wow...I was totally blown away this morning by something I downloaded over XBL Video Marketplace yesterday.  I finally managed to finish downloading and watching the Poseidon rental last night (I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually was in surround and high def).  But that's not what got me this morning.  After finally finishing that slow and arduous download of 4.6 GB I found bandwidth to start downloading some "freebies" off the Video Marketplace...like movie trailers and such.  Well, I found a real gem...

 

 

 

With all these new console launches of the past couple of weeks it's easy to reminisce a bit about last year's 360 launch.  I remember feeling a huge sense of accomplishment bound up in the excitement.  Knowing I had a part in this day and the work going forward (the 65nm 360 cpu coming to a console near you!)really let me see the fruits of all of that weekend/holiday labor of the year before.  Of course, getting a box of my own was a real treat but seeing this thing actually become the genesis of the next generation of home-centered gaming was an awesome thing to behold. 

 

Anyway, we're coming close to the first anniversary of that very day.  Anyone have big plans?  You know you're an over-the top 360 fan when you have plans around Nov22 that don't necessarily involve family, shopping or travel.  Well, my current first-level plan is to actually mark the day by changing my gamerpic.  There are still many choices out there (not quite as much as I'd like...I'm kinda fussy) but I think it's hight time to hang up the Quake 4 fanboy moniker and move to something else to represent my gaming persona.  Anyone want to take bets/guesses?  I'd be curious to know what you think where my interests would turn to pick a new gamerpic. 

 

There are a few other things I have in mind to do but I don't know if they'll happen as planned...I'll let you know.  Meanwhile enjoy the glow of the 360 circle of light and game on peeps!

 

-B 

 

 

Hey folks, more news about where I work...couldn't be more proud   I guess the question I have now is "what's next?"

 

 

In other news, yes I snuck out and bought Gears Of War yesterday.  WOWZA!!!  Awesome game and I have yet to even try the multiplayer!  Lucky find in Wal-Mart for the Collector's Edition.  I did Best Buy first and say millions of regular editions and a bunch of faceplates.  Almost thought I saw the opposite at Wal Mart (not a single Marcus Fenix mug anywhere in the display case!!).  So yeah I asked a blue-vested (How can I help you? print on back) if I could get some help.  Of course, got the "heh you're kidding right?" until I said "Gears Of War Collectors editions".  He asked some dude for the key and sure enough the 5 big boxes with only 'XBOX 360 ' visible on the top spine (hidden by a pile of Saints Row discs) which were actually 5 copies of GOW-CD!!  Yah.  He was like "what's the story with all this Gears Of War?"  I said "It's only the most hyped 360 game in the past year or so!  sheesh....so now have it love it and the DVD has great stuff too.  Thanks Epic!!!  ANd thanks for taking the chance Microsoft!!

 

PS: to anyone who saw the "Race to E3" MTV special, remember the Microsoft marketing guy talking about using "military issue speaker placements in subway tunnels to make sounds from"...uh, did they actually do this anywhere?  If so...WOW!!!

 

 

This past week my father and I went out to see Flags Of Our Fathers.  It's the latest WWII war epic based on a book by the same name.  The story revolves around the 6 US Marines who were photographed and branded in history as "heros of Iwo Jima" for their pose above Mount Surabachi raising the US flag.  While the story is compelling and the film itself is amazingly done, there is one scene in the film where the book's author/film narrarator has a talk with his father who is on his hospital bed.  He asks why he never spoke much about his experiences on Iwo Jima and that all he knew about him was from newspapers and other stories.  The book tries to answer the question as "we never once thought of ourselves as heros, that was created by people back home about us". 

This scene, and this idea hit me strongly as I thought of my grandfather who passed away over 9 years ago.  He also was a veteran of WWII (Europe theater).  He only very occasionally spoke of it, and when he did it was only when prompted by his wife or daughters.  I wasn't old or wise enough to ask those questions that would help me better understand his experiences there.  My grandmother gave me a whole frame full of medals he was awarded during the war (bronze star, purple heart...).  She only knew (on the surface) how he got the purple heart.  She says she doesn't really know about the rest.  I'm sad thinking that those memories, those stories, those brave thoughts and actions would forever go with him into eternity.  I especially thought of it over this past Veterans' Day celebration.  I can't imagine there are many WWII veterans still around today who can discuss what went on.  We are left with other people's stories or historic accounts only.

I do try, when I get the chance, to talk to my father about Vietnam.  He did not see direct combat as a Marine weapons/ordnance support on a flight line.  But he did see people die and knew what that whole conflict meant for him and his nation at that time.  These are thoughts, feelings and experiences that are captured in "personal time" and can best be communicated through generations.  Yes, I'll have my collection of war history books...but these stories, are stories beyond the books. 

They are forever painted on the canvas of human experience, moments drifting in the current of time.

Ok it became apparent to me tonight that I have almost zero skill with Burnout Revenge on Xbox Live Multiplayer.  If I'm not crashing a thousand times, I'm not finishing the race and timing out.  Yeah I could probably use a bit more practice with some of the tracks but I did try one or two ranked games just to feel it out.  Once you play a ranked match you immediately get a "ranking".  Well, needless to say I'm starting with a very bad ranking.  What happens next is when you try to join another ranked game with a bad ranking...prepare to be kicked out.  Not fun.  So I go back to "player matches" and what's in there?  A bunch of goofoffs either chatting with each other in the lobby or just goofing around on the tracks...oh well.  Some other night Iguess.  Wasn't impressed.

 

In other news, I found out, via email that a good friend of mine from college in interested in getting a new game console.  Of COURSE I recommend the 360 to him but tell him there's plenty to learn about what PS3 and Wii have to offer.  Another buddy of mine (who owns a gaming software company) caught wind of these email exchanges and is now saying if two of us have 360's he'll have to get one too!  Cool!  You have to understand that the three of us geeks spent hours and $$ in the college campus arcade playing games like SmashTV, Gauntlet and Carnival pinball.  We loved classic video games and would have a blast tearing into next gen online against and alongside each other.   It'll also be a great way for all three of us to stay in touch.  I'm thrilled.  Hopefully this all pans out this holiday or just after the new year.

After seeing The Departed, for the second time this week, last night I have come to understand the magic that is the formula of Scorsese films.  In just about all of the films he directs he make very productive and efficient use of characters in his stories.  Just about all of the lead characters have something useful or engaging to the flow of the film and he directs the actors to portray in a manner that allows for story and action to flow through them.  I know...it's a bit hard to envision if you haven't seen a lot of these movies. 

 

The Departed is a film that seems to lean on this ability heavily.  Each scene and character action seems to feed into the arc of the story he's driving.  You can take all of the leads: Nicholson, Damon, Dicaprio, Wahlberg, Sheen...and work them in scenes so that the acting, dialogue and action all create deep story.  But even the sildeline actors: Winstone (Nicholson's sidekick), Farmiga (Damon's girlfriend), Baldwin all have very poignant scenes and dialogue that support the whole story really really well.  OK, yeah they are all good actors and maybe the script was spot on...and even the original film (Internal Affairs) had an amazing story to offer.  But I think Scorsese-ism is to take each character and add value. 

 

I could go back to Raging Bull, GoodFellas...all of those and pick out scenes, characters and dialogue that just kept adding to the film.  He may also have a very good editor who knows useless dialogue and scenery and cuts it out very well.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is that The Departed is a stand-alone great picture.  If you like gangster/cop flicks, Scorsese, Damon, (The Rolling Stones) or any of those items...you must see this film.  Let me know what you think!

Can you tell I'm a little bit frustrated??  Ok, between Geometry Wars and Hexic, both sessions this evening left me just short of high scores and achievements.  Don't you hate it when you are JUST ABOUT there and you get all excited and feel as if any moment you'll either score or fail miersably?  Well, both counts were the latter.  It was good to play some Fight Night to burn off the anger.  Whew...way way TOO serious tonight!  Anyway, waiting for my replacement for my broken 360 to come back.  Microsoft emailed yesterday saying they recieved the busted one.  Hope it turns out good for my stepson to be the latest 360 victim...I mean addict...I mean player!  whew

 

IBM has basically done all the work needed to ship the triad of gaming cpu's this year.  Wii shipments went out already and the Sony machines are in prototype/production now.  Let's hope we get SOME measure of success from all three.  As a 360 owner (ahem, and fan) I hope the healthy competition becomes lower Gold live subscription rates and maybe...very maybe...cheaper games?  Hmmm doubt it...

Check out these hilarious IBM sales "training" videos on YouTube.  great stuff!

 

 

On the 360 end, I'm waiting on a box to ship my broken 360 back (for free).  Additionally, they told me that the replacement box will be warrantied through August '07!!  Nice!

Way to go Microsoft!  Can anyone confirm if this is the real thing?  If so, my stepson easily has a 360 coming to him this year!

Anyone seen this yet?  Oh man, almost fell out of my office chair!