Reminiscing - a Flash TO the past!?

Okay, yeah, I know, it was only a matter of time before reflections of the past would be the topic for the article. Anybody who has followed me or chatted with me on gaming sites, or even just social sites should be perfectly aware that I often times refer to games of the past, and at times long for the same impressions of modern games as found in those old-school gaming memories of yesteryear. On a side note, modern day games understandably are going to have a much different mechanic than single-player games of the past, however, that's no reason they should lose the personal feeling; as an example, could you imagine being in an MMO and actually running into the pushy clerk from Space Quest III's Monolith Burger?? It's rare to see such personal feel in games, one recently I must give props to is Hellgate: Global... as some of the shop keepers catch you much off guard; there was one that I wasn't expecting what they said and nearly spit coffee all over my LCD monitor while laughing my behind off. But, I digress, gaming is starting to feel somewhat like an assembly line, recycle, polish, and pump it out for the next sales release.

Anywho, apologize for the sideline, now on to what you came to see; the games that I feel truly shaped the gaming industry over the years, whether I liked 'em or didn't, and props to their designers for raising the bar that much further. Since there will be many genres, systems, and generations covered, this will be a multi-page article, so if you get to the end of this, and wonder, "hey wait, where's this system?", be sure to check for more pages.

Alrighty, here we go... since I started on the stick and dot, doot and beep video games in 1983, that would seem the best place to start...

Atari, ColecoVision (Adam), Intellivision, and early PC/Apple/Amiga/C-64 Titles:

(UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

[Due to a crash with Google Chrome the other day, and Blogger not auto-saving for some odd reason... (which it's always done in the past)... nearly and roughly 6 hours of work was lost which is 6 hours of my life I will never get back... just waiting until I have the gumption to give this another attempt...]

Security Alert: MS-XBL - More than meets the eye!?

Okay, I wasn't planning on this being the next entry, but like the Steve Jobs tribute, I feel this is more of a "priority posting". I've been hard at work, tailing leads, getting insider info, and sniffing out the facts, so that I can deliver to YOU the loyal readers, gamers, and users, the information that you really want to know!! For the record, let me first explain, I'm seriously not trying to hate on Microsoft. Admittedly, on the PC software side of things, I'll say straight out, I can't stand Windows whatsoever, nor how they've handled it since the very first Windows. I play on a 360, and I'll admit, it is an impressive system; I will say there are areas that are minor cons or some stuff that's lacking, but that's my own preference. I also play on a PS3 and Wii; I honestly like to have all consoles, so if any exclusive game comes out for any system, and it's one I think I'll like, I can just play it, thus I try not to fall into any fanboy narrow-vision. Yes, I do have my favorite preference for systems, but that doesn't mean I take anything away from the other two. Now with that aside, on to the security alert... I just wanted to clear the air to make it clear that this is not an attempt to hate on Microsoft or make them look bad... this is however what I feel is a needed posting to help protect the end-users/players of 360 and/or XBL (XBox Live) as well as ensure their safety.

From what I've been seeing, reading, and witnessing, there seems to be a really large number that's kind of spiraling out of control, in regards to the number of XBL users that are being hacked. I know, I know, many are going to say, "oh that's the LulSec list of leaked accounts thing", which at first I gave that a fair chance, but upon further investigating and digging, I'm finding that's actually NOT linked, or at least not to the recent account hacks. As you'll see in the posts I plan to link for you, people are being quoted as saying: "This has nothing to do with LulzSec hack of a bunch of random accounts, because I was not on that list, and got broken into anyways", another user says, "This account is only used for Microsoft accounts and services, nothing else, and it got hacked". So there's something definitely amiss on the Microsoft Network. I will say, read this all, let it all sink in, then give it a fair judgement, as you may read one link and think, "oh that's this or that, they're just jumping the gun", actually read thoroughly and actually see the large number of reports coming in, including LockerGnome saying he was told directly by an MS Rep that it'd be "3-6 weeks before his account could be fixed" and when he asked why, he was informed by the same MS Rep, "it's due to a high number of recently hacked XBL accounts".

First link up for grabs, the questioning doubt to the network security:

Has XBox Live Suffered a Data Breach?

This is just a report of somebody else that's been noticing the same thing I have, numerous reports coming in from all over the internet of complaints about hacked XBox Live accounts along with those accounts being used to purchase MS Point Cards which are then redeemed, etc. They also quote what Microsoft reps seems to be telling them about "safe security" as they've told some other people, yet other reps have been quoted in referencing high numbers of hacked accounts, hrmz!

Next article to ponder, these are posts made DIRECTLY on the actual forums of Xbox.com, where multiple users are not only saying they've been hacked, but also where the one person is quoted in saying: "This has nothing to do with LulzSec hack of a bunch of random accounts, because I was not on that list, and got broken into anyways"... Xbox Forums.

Now moving right along, let's take a look at an actual video recorded not so long ago by the infamous LockerGnome, who usually defends Microsoft, DRM, and actually typically only has praise for Microsoft, who was hacked, while pointing out his account is only used for Microsoft services and nothing else... LockerGnome speaks his mind about XBL/Microsoft hacking. Also don't forget to check out his follow-up article about this at: XBox Live Hacked reported by LockerGnome.com!

Another piece of the puzzle to ponder over coming in from "Quarter to Three" Forums, more posts of various people being hacked on XBL, again, pointing out that this may not be as related to the LulSec list leak as many had thought, where some are even linking to other posts of people being hacked!... Quarter to Three Forums.

Finally, I throw in this last article, because it actually kind of bothers me. Now, keep in mind, this is a news article from back in March of 2011, but oddly, the article points out hackers exploiting the XBL service to acquire over a million dollars worth of MS points (which oddly, many of the recent hackings seem to be hackers in search

of more free MS points, coincidence!?). The difference here is, the hackers in this article managed to figure out the algorithm used in generating the MS Point code given for redemption, and exploited the bajesus out of it by keygen'ing themselves a buttload of MS points obviously! Now, before I get to the link, the major reason I have a problem with this, is Microsoft has been swearing since back in April or May that they've NEVER been hacked, if that's the case, what the hell is this from March reading... Microsoft Xbox Live Marketplace Hacked for $1.2M!?

UPDATE: Found another one -

http://gotgame.com/2011/10/01/is-xbox-live-being-hacked/

UPDATE: Late entrance to the dance, but was doing some more searching, and decided to expand all the different linked threads found about "xbox live accounts being hacked" on Xbox official forums, here's the search results, brace yourself, there's LOTS:

XBox Forum hits on Google

UPDATE: From what I'm now findings, seems a lot (I won't say all, or even most) of the hacked accounts are being hacked in order to purchase items for Fifa Soccer on the Marketplace (UPDATE: Once the account has been hacked, they can purchase anything they wish, as reports have come in that the hackers have purchases XBL Arcade games, as well as Zune Points with the credit cards attached). Also to point out, as seen in some of the articles I've already posted, you don't have to play Fifa to become targeted; I think a couple of the articles the people said "I don't even play Fifa and my account bought stuff for it!". Microsoft is STILL staying tight-lipped and not saying anything, the only real peep that's been mentioned as far as I know, is as typical, Microsoft is trying to point the finger of blame at EA's servers, claiming they have an instability that allows for an exploit; though, that still leaves the remaining question, if the instability is with EA, why is it compromising the security of the accounts located on the XBL server!? There's more and more articles starting to turn up online about it, and Microsoft is still claiming, "we're just as secure as ever"... RIIIGHT; anywho, here's a listing of matching articles on Google related to hacked accounts used to purchase Fifa Marketplace items.

UPDATE: Here's a couple more articles that have recently poured in, be sure to check out the comments on the first one, and closely read the second one. More and more are coming to the forefront saying they're not happy and want answers... Microsoft can only deny it for so long. Anyways, here's the first article addressing the situation and here's the article pointing out that people want answers!

UPDATE: Another article with quoted blurbs about members posting how their accounts have been hacked on forums at SecurityNewsDaily. And here's another from NeoSeeker pointing out now it's XBox Live, as well as Games For Windows Live, and now even PayPal accounts aren't safe!!

UPDATE: This article from VideoGameWriters is a DEFINITE must read. It's shedding some light on the how and why XBox Live account are so easily being slaughtered by hackers. Seems there's an exploit supposedly within the FIFA coding that allows a person to recover another person's XBL account straight to their console for free access to their account, linked credit cards, and any linked services. Now, it's worth pointing out, the coding for "account recovery" is hard-coded into the console itself (as can be found in the console/account menus); so even though Microsoft is trying to shove the blame off on EA, the exploit actually takes advantage of the coding that MICROSOFT has in place to recover accounts. It would also indicate why Microsoft, as they say, "have no evidence that accounts are compromised"; where this is a standard function, it won't raise a security red flag. Though, one would wonder just how many ongoing recovered accounts they'd need to log before they stopped and thought, "this is unusual activity!".

UPDATE: Here's an article from Giant-Bomb, that focuses on both Microsoft and EA pointing out that FIFA itself is NOT directly responsible for the exploit, and that's it's no one particular game. The article eventually tries to curve to social networking, but at one point it brushes on the topic of "tricking services", which actually couples with some other evidence I had found on this issue recently. The evidence (although theoretical at best at this point) suggest embedding a certain javascript of sorts into an email and sending the email to the network server responsible for account recovery, which in turn the javascript with trigger authorization, tricking the server to believe the sender is the rightful owner of any given gamer-tag/account, thus restoring full authorization rights to said account as the [new] owner. Somewhat reminiscent of an old trick back in the day on some websites that weren't properly secured, where a person could insert the right values on the URL in the form of URL variables, which would in turn trick the server into giving one user access to another user's account/profile where they could fully view/edit any data in that account; even view data not typically seen by others.

UPDATE: Here's an article from Neowin focusing a bit more thoroughly on some hacks, as well as some screenshots of point balances and transactions. What's also interesting to note, is recently it seems many accounts are now also being transferred/migrated to Russian servers in the hack. Could it be the hackers are leaving a paper trail now? What's sad though, from what I've read on the Xbox forums, is there are many users whose accounts got migrated to Russia, that can't be transferred back, at least not yet, as the MS reps seem to inform them that the que for account transfers to the US are full, and there's no "open slots" as they put it.

UPDATE: Microsoft can't dodge much longer now... it seems now lists of XBL gamer tags, associated valid passwords, email addresses, and other account information are being leaked around the internet, it what's being dubbed a "test run" to show that it is possible to hack XBL... similarly to what happened not long before Sony got broken into. Microsoft is still attempting to call it a "phishing scheme", however, if it was "just phishing", they would have had no reason to come clean MONTHS ago informing people, "major phishing incidents are going on, beware of this and that"; but no, they keep brushing it under the rug... why? Check out this article on Gadgets + Gizmos that covers some of the details.

UPDATE: Check out this in-depth view of one of the many victims, and fellow friend of the Raptr community... on GameRevolution!

UPDATE: Microsoft is STILL trying to call this a phishing scam; big hole in that theory though, is a phishing scam usually has a detectable similarity between incidents. In all incidents so far, there's not really much of any link, not even the suspected link to an EA compromise, as many that have been hacked haven't had an EA account. I even heard from somebody that works at Microsoft support that one of their fellow co-workers was hacked. I'd really think that if it was a phishing scam that Microsoft Support is helping their users with, they wouldn't actually fall for the same "scam". I know when I worked as a network engineer and desktop support technician, typically when I knew what was hurting/effecting systems, I knew what to be careful of, how to avoid it, and not fall victim to the same issues. (Which on a side note, makes troubleshooting your own errors/issues that much harder, as most times when you can't figure it out, it's something not all that common nor easily fixable... which probably holds true for the MS employee that got hacked!)

UPDATE: Microsoft FINALLY starting to ACTUALLY admit there's a genuine HACKING issue, rather than continuing to deny it and blame it on "user stupidity"; check it out on cNet!

UPDATE: Further look at Microsoft ACTUALLY admitting to many of the XBL users being hacked, while still attempting to beat around the bush a bit, at least they're FINALLY owning up to it... after how long now, almost a year!? Check it out here on ITproPortal!

UPDATE: Turns out hackers are now also using XBox Live to prank the local authorities/police and SWAT teams to targeted homes. As seen here on ABC Action News. Wasn't long before this I recall seeing another article about a hacker that was losing on XBL sending a SWAT team to a gamer's house for "payback" under false pretenses. Seriously!? THAT is what hackers do now and days!? Things sure have changed since back in my day. In the above linked ABC Action News article, its pointed out the hackers are able to grab social security numbers, personal information such as addresses, and credit card numbers. Come on Microsoft... even IF the account gets hacked, the information should be ENCRYPTED... especially for a MINOR!

Another swatting: here in Florida.

And: here on Channel 6 News.

Also found: here on Macon News.

UPDATE: It seems Microsoft security is so weak that not even its own EXECUTIVES are safe, as the accounts of several MS execs are being hacked now too!!!  Source - "Microsoft execs' Xbox Live accounts hacked, investigation still underway".  (March 20, 2013)

UPDATE: Proof that the problem was never fixed as again accounts are being hacked, while hundreds of dollars are being charged on attached credit-cards for the sake of purchasing goods that are transferred off the account and later auctioned.  Source - "11-year-old boy among victims of hacking, mom on hook for game purchases".  (March 25, 2013)

OBSERVATION: I'm truly thinking that Microsoft is somehow trying to cover this up and sweep it under the rug. I can't prove it for certain, but I've noticed something quite oddly STRANGE. Most the stuff I've linked in here, I truly had to SCOUR for. I mean, I had to toss in numerous search strings into "news" on Google to find them; such as "xbl hack", "xbl exploit", "xbl security", "xbox hack", "xbl scam", "xbox breach", etc. Most times when I would, I'd be LUCKY to find a handful of any articles that matched and were actually pertinent to the subject. I used to notice that as I found new references and material, some of the old stuff didn't seem like it was there, or wasn't being found. Now, today on March 10, 2012 (yes over a year since all the XBL issues started), I'm again scouring, but what I find odd is if I type those same strings into Google, only SOME are lucky to get 3-4 matches TOPS, and typically one MIGHT be related. While on other search engines like Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, Altavista, etc, I go under "news" search, and I don't find jack. But oddly, type in any other subject matter, and you'll have matches show up from 3-5 years ago. I truly think that Microsoft or somebody affiliated is going out of their way to have criteria, or subject matter either blocked from being found, scrubbed of meta-link search tags, or something, so that it stays off the radar. Just seems so odd, that after the whole "Playstation Hack" in April or so of 2011, the news was EVERYWHERE. You only had to go to a news site and BOOM there it was, and EVERYBODY was aware of it. But while Xbox Live users have been being hacked for over a year, with an overall stolen money amount having to be in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, you have to be a friggin' private-eye detective just to find a MODERATE lead on anything!? While still yet there's absolutely nothing at all from Microsoft relating to a plan of action, the cause of the issue, any form of found exploits, what their plan is to fix it... absolutely nothing. Something smells rotten and fishy here. I've said it before, the consoles themselves, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are each equally good, each has their pros and cons... but for the love of God, please bare this in mind, Microsoft has been a shady company for ages. Even the original start of Microsoft, what they did to Steve Jobs, and anybody else they could step on while they climbed to the top was crooked. Just keep in mind, if you're not already an Xbox Live user or an owner of an Xbox 360, but are planning to invest in the near future, I can't point out strongly enough: BUYER BEWARE!!! If you are a current Xbox Live user, just to keep yourself safe, remove any and all credit-card information, debit-card information, paypal information, and ANYTHING that could link to anything you have money in. You may hate this article, you may hate me for saying it, you may be a Microsoft fanboy, but is it really worth chancing your bank account being drained dry over? Is that a gamble you're willing to take? At the very least, remove any and all payment and financial information until Microsoft can get their head out of their rear, actually address this issue, actually give some sort of plan of attack (as Sony did with taking down the whole of PSN and fixing it), and then afterwards can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt their network is as bulletproof as they've been preaching it *supposedly* is!!!

FYI: If your account has been hijacked, or if it gets hijacked in the future, from what I've read, the best course of action is to contact your credit card company ASAP, and have them reverse the charges, maybe even reissue you a new credit card with a different CC#. Still call Microsoft to have them investigate, but from what I've read, if you only go through Microsoft, it could take over a month to recover the money, and in some cases users have reported having to take a loss on the money and never getting it back, as some MS Reps inform them of something along the lines that they can't verify the authenticity of who made the actual transaction or how it was made. If you haven't been hijacked yet, it'd be best to remove any and all credit card information from your XBL Gold account and for the time being use prepaid point cards and try to use up all the point on stuff you want or might have fun with as there's nothing for the hijackers to take. If you do need to keep a card on your XBL Gold, try to make sure it's NOT a debit card, as I've been finding that it seems near impossible to recover lost money through a debit card. It's sad this is happening, in this current time-frame Christmas is right around the corner, and these funds could be better used to pay bills and/or get Christmas presents and decorations for friends and family, so please, by all means possible, keep yourself as safe as you possibly can!

Now, the follow-up. I've been hearing chatter from some "inside source" that shall remain un-named. But one is a former Microsoft employee who now works for another big-name gaming company, who has actually confirmed and verbally said "Microsoft has been hacked". Another "inside source" from the same company informed me that their friend attempted to call Microsoft to remove their credit card data to remain safe, the MS rep informed them that they couldn't until their subscription was over, so when that friend inquired about whether they'd been hacked or not, the rep actually told them, "our network is secure as ever". Secure as ever? Okay, how do you explain all the number of reported hacked accounts that I just shared with you, as well as what could be tons of others that I still haven't found scouring the interwebz yet!? (BTW, as I find new references I'll be sure to post them here and keep all the users updated!)

Overall, the biggest problem I have with all of this. It seems Microsoft has been being hacked for quite some time now, and at first it was them losing the money over MS Points; okay, that happens, they kind of covered it up and swept it under the rug. But guess what, in doing so, it now shafts the players and end-users, because now YOU the loyal subscribers of XBox Live are now the hackers targets. The hackers can no longer keygen their own MS Points, so now they

target YOU the players, in order to get the MS Points they so seek. Here's where the problem gets even bigger; as Microsoft continues to deny any security issues, it gives YOU the players a false sense of security, as well as leaves you prone to being blind-sided. The other major issue with this, as Microsoft sits back and denies any security issues, they're stocks continue to rise and boom, while other outfits such as Sony and Nintendo who are admitting to their services being hacked, are losing butt-loads of money; so let's re-evaluate this equation. What we primarily have, is Microsoft getting richer and making more money, at the expense of Nintendo, Sony, and YOU their loyal clientele! WTF!?

Honestly, with already accumulated shady incidents in the past with Microsoft, (one of which comes to mind was the infamous blue-screen that occurred on worldwide television while Bill Gates himself was firing up the initial launch of Windows 98), if they keep sweeping this under the rug and covering it up, they're only digging their own hole that much deeper. Can you imagine the fallout this is going to have if and when it every finally surfaces? "Oh yeah, Microsoft has been being hacked for almost a year now, but we just didn't want to tell the users, and felt we'd let them keep being the victims while we hushed it up and cover it over". As much as it pains me to say it, that could ultimately be the hair that breaks the camel's back for me; how many exploited clientele is it going to take, to pad their stocks and profits that much more, before they finally come clean?? A hundred XBL users? A thousand users? A million? Maybe I'm old school, but I believe that every single individual customer, client, guest, or whatever you want to call them is just as valuable as any other, thus every single one are just as important as a million. The other thing, if and when it ever surfaces, that's going to end up plummeting Microsoft's stock value far more than it's being increased now by letting their colleagues take the fall.

Anyways, in closing, it'll be interesting to see what unfolds in the coming days, weeks, even months; perhaps Microsoft will finally come clean with their security issues. Though, if Windows was any example, they kept paving over their numerous network security issues there and wanted to pretend like they were no big deal. So, I'll let you the loyal readers decide what you think, please be safe, and by all means, if you have ANY credit card information or traces of it on your XBox Live accounts, please, please, please remove any and all traces from your console, from your account, etc. If for whatever reason you really do have to get anything on the XBL Marketplace, do as Jeff Dunham has Walter say, "get yer' sh*t and get out!", lol. Until further notice, I know it's a pain in the ^_^ , but if you need MS points, please be safe and purchase them from retailers, don't take a chance of your credit card information tying into your account and then being stolen. w0rd 0ut mah h0m1ez... Peace!¡! \m/,

Epiphany: How Microsoft may more closely resemble... Ma Kettle!? WTF!?

Okay, okay, bare with me. I know it may seem like I'm ragging on Microsoft, but I was seriously thinking games in the shower this morning, and something just like really dawned on me, that's both hilarious yet spooky at the same time. But for starters, to give you a hint, in all fairness, it's actually kind of amazing the X-Box didn't come with a built in 8-track player perhaps, lol. In fact, by the time I'm done with this article, you might start thinking that XBox is a system for your grandparents, since it doesn't want to get with the present!?

So, here's how my train of thought was going. For some reason I was pondering mobile gaming, how big it's becoming, which is also annoying. Now people can access Farmville on the fly on cell phones, PDAs, iPads, PSP, I think even the DS... oh great, nothing like more push for Zynga. But then I thought, maybe that's not so bad, there's some decent mobile games that can get their pushes too. So then I got to thinking, whoever invented mobile gaming sure had a monopoly in mind, had they invented it just a little bit earlier on the timeline they could have fully gobbled up the portable gaming market. So then I got to thinking, wow, if it wasn't for the PSP, the DS, the mobile phones, the iPads, the PDAs, and... wait a minute... *record scratch/skip*... woah, where's Microsoft in this whole equation!? I mean, I think I always thought about it in the wrong direction before.

Also to throw the bone out there, some of you may say, "well, what about those phones using the Windows Mobile OS"; I have to point out that Windows Mobile OS is the software, whereas typically somebody else manufactures the hardware that it's running on -- as an example, I used to have a Blackberry that had Windows Mobile OS, so the mobility point goes to Blackberry in that equation. I always asked myself, "why doesn't Microsoft have a portable gaming system, since the other two console companies; being Sony and Nintendo, do!?". So it got me to thinking, wow, even though the whole everything mobile, forcing you to have to be glued to a phone every second of the day (yeah right, cause that's exactly what we did in the 80s too... ROFLMBO!), by the looks of it, Microsoft (who are supposed to be like one of the biggest leaders in the world when it comes to the computer/OS/app market) haven't quite gotten with that program yet. Say what!? No way, say it isn't so, how can that be!? I mean, can it be true!? Even NINTENDO, the ultimate gaming dinosaur has mobile gaming in their Gameboy/DS, and have done it for years... they were one of the first to hop on mobile gaming with the original Gameboy... O-M-G! What!?

So then I sort of calmed myself down, and did a mental checklist, "yeah, it's okay, let's think about this rationally... maybe they just didn't want to hop on the band-wagon of the cutting-edge

technology that's common place and would keep them on the map!? WTF!? But I digress, let's check the other stuff on the list here... hrmz...". So I thought, okay, let's look at other areas. What about 3D?? Oh wait, O-M-G... yeah, Sony has 3D, that's no secret, they're F'n awesome at it too, especially now that they're merged with Samsung... but guess what, once again, Microsoft not really rockin' the 3D support, which, understandable, as some say, 3D isn't that big of a deal... but let's stop for a second and think of who does have 3D again... yes, that gaming dinosaur, NINTENDO... LOL!!! "Okay, okay, okay, two out of 3 ain't bad, there's no way they could end up on the receiving end of a no-hitter, let's keep on going down the list, hrm??".

Let's see, what about hi-definition. Well, 360 I believe supports HD-DVDs, though Sony supports Blu-Ray which have more storage space... but since visually you get about the same quality, we won't make this a major comparison; though I will say for the record, I really dig Blu-Ray a bit more, and am loving the 25gb of storage on BR as compared to, from my understanding of what I've read, 15GB on HD-DVD if you really push the envelope for storage compression.

So, up next on the list, let's see here, motion control *FUNCTIONALITY*. Okay, now to make a HUGE notice here... NOTICE, I'm not saying which one is more fun or better, I'm saying which are more functional.

Right out of the gate, I'll say it, you won't want to hear it, but I'm gonna say it anyways... Kinect has very BOLD limitations, that are quite obvious from the start, let me explain. I've used every motion control system made to date, and here's my overview. On the Kinect, you can only do so many arm flails, reaching for the sky, kicking your leg, running in place, hopping like a potato-sack race, and body wiggles before there's not much left except combinations from that actual list; I mean seriously, you access the menu by holding your left hand at a 45 degree angle from your body, pointed towards the floor, with hand extended, and most times if you're anymore or any less than 45 degrees the little timer/counter goes away and you have to start all over again, yeah right, pass. Not to mention this interface majorly fails if you live in a very tiny/small/modest apartment; I understand they have the new sleeve you can put on it that amplifies or wide-angles or whatever, but we're talking straight out of the box as not everybody has a bajillion dollars to dump on the Kinect!

Moving onto the Wii; I'll admit, when the Wii first hit the market, it had a lot of promise, but I'll have the "cojones" to go ahead and spell it out for Nintendo, should anybody from Nintendo actually read this. The lack of Blu-Ray support, fine, not a problem. The lack of over-accelerated

graphics, doable, okay. The fact it doesn't even support DVDs, okay, now that one really friggin' hurts, but I might be able to look past that at the correct price-point. But you know what really baked the cake for the Wii!? You wanna know!? You think you can handle the TRUTH!? It was that little friggin wire that connected the Wii Mote to the Nunchuk. For how much it cost to buy, you couldn't just take that one extra step to make the Nunchuk a wireless controller like the Wii Mote!? Seriously!? Doh, I won't say pass, as its still fun, but wow, talk about "coming down to the wire", LULz.

Now, finally, Sony, and I know I'm gonna sound like a fanboy when I say this, but the PS3 Move just kicks all of their @$$es, sorry, but it does, at least in my opinion it seriously does, and I'll explain to you exactly why it does. Many thought, and may still think, the Move was just some sort of wireless controller like the Wii that would just be a different format of the Dual Shock controller. In minor ways it might be technically, but it's actually something of the perfect hybrid between Wii and Kinect. The Move picks up motion movement, as well as button presses made from the hands, so you have the best of both worlds, coupled with their directional stick, oh yeah, this is about as close to virtual reality as I've seen console systems pull off so far. Don't believe me? Go try Socom 4 or the upcoming BioShock: Infinite with the Sharpshooter and tell me that doesn't make a believer out of you (which FYI, it's rumored that BATTLEFIELD 3 won't only have 3D support, but may also have Move/Sharpshooter support!!); though, I will admit, any chance we could get like actual motion walking in that game? Perhaps not even walking in place, just sort of lifting the back of each foot and putting it down or something? *shrug, still more than you can do

on the Kinect; which I'll also add here, best part about a Move game, as long as it's Move compatible, you can use EITHER the Move interface OR the dual shock gamepad... whereas a Kinect title, you can ONLY use Kinect, what!?* Now, some are probably saying that's not a fair comparison, but wait, I must again point out, the comparison was "functionality". Explain to me this, on Kinect, how are you going to do a weapon toggle? A quick reload? Firing a weapon? Opening your inventory? Bringing up a map? Selecting/toggling between multiple spells? What about swapping from ranged to melee??

Okay, here's an easy one, ready, how about bringing up the system menu while in the middle of an intense action game, like a shooter, so that you can answer a message sent to you from a friend. Oh, nope, that's not possible either, here's why. First of all, unless you want to play cops and robbers using the kiddie-style gun made from your thumb and forefinger to shoot a gun and hope the Kinect can pick it up (weren't they still working on finger detection come to think of it!?), there's no real shooters that I'm even aware of that ever plan to come to Kinect with motion-support... which it's probably a good thing they don't, cause if they do, that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back as far as Kinect is concerned. Now the next reason that scenario doesn't work; if they ever DID make a shooter for Kinect, you'd be standing there like a dork with your left arm out at 45 degrees trying continuously to bring up the pause menu while gyrating all over the place because of the intense action, you'd probably be fragged about 27 times before you ever got that little baby known as a pause menu up for usage... so yeah, that's uber-fail there too.

So guess what, the prototype idea of the Kinect may have been awesome, may have even been revolutionary, but here's the kicker and downside, they never thought out the bridge between

hardcore gaming. If you want serious gaming, you need some sort of controls... heck, even the Atari had a single button! I've even heard people say, "oh, well, one day they'll come out with

peripherals for the Kinect", BZZZT! Wrong, cause guess what... Microsoft actually painted themselves into a corner on this one, LOL. They swore it was the functioning system that required NO controllers/functions whatsoever except for your body; so the day they ever make anything to interact with it outside of using your body, they admit complete and total failure of the Kinect... which hey, I'll be honest, that sucks to say, and is sad to say... I'm really not trying to be a dick about that, but that is the exact truth and fact on that!

So, remember, the moral of this whole story is actually...

So with that, I leave you with this...

Peace out mah Homiez!

How to make the most out of your gaming monies!

Okay, I know I said a couple entries back, that this would be the NEXT article; however it should be understandable that an unscheduled post was made in tribute to the now late Steve Jobs. May he rest in peace and know up in heaven that he's missed and never forgotten.

That aside, moving onto the article that many have been waiting for. How to get the best bang for your buck in the world of gaming. Now, since I already covered Free-to-Play versus Pay-to-Play a couple articles ago, feel free to reference back to it for that information and insight:

Only Two Reasons You'll Need to Consider F2P over P2P. Though, there is one thing I did NOT point out in that article which I do feel needs some mention and clarification, and that is "buy to play" or B2P. Say what!? What's this "buy to play" I speak of? Let me explain what that is really quick. Essentially there's a bold line between the pay-to-play and free-to-play genres, and there are some games *called* "free-to-play" which actually reside in a little gray area within that bold line, and those games are actually and technically "buy to play". What I mean by "buy to play" is, it's a game you only have to buy once, then can play it as much as you want to. The biggest prime example of "buy to play" would be Guild Wars, and hopefully soon Guild Wars 2. Most multiplayer console games can also be considered "buy to play"; now the reason I felt this needed to be pointed out when it comes to making the most of your spending monies, is because you will find guides and reviews online that can leave you disappointed as far as price tags go. You'll see plenty of reviews and guides that will scream from the roof top that Guild Wars if "free to play", but they never tell you, "guess what, you need to buy that chit either from the store or digitally online" in order to play it; which means at some point you will have to reach into your pocket and spend money, making it not completely "free to play". But note, I am NOT trying to take anything at all away from Guild Wars or other "buy to play" games, as Guild Wars is an awesome game; I just really feel it needs to be noted that you do have to spend at least SOME money on it. There's been numerous times I'll think, "oh yeah, this new whatever it's name is game is F2P!? Booyah!", hop over to their website, look for the little download link, and guess what, "sorry, unless you have that extra $40-$60 or whatever to throw down right now, you ain't playing wit' 'dis chit yo!", though, thankfully, most games like this do have a trial. I myself just prefer not to really go the trial route unless I have those extra funds to spend and I'm window-shopping to spend them; why? Because it's teasing yourself to get addicted to the game for a week, two week, a month, or whatever the trial is, then suddenly boom, cold turkey, no more pew-pew for you!

Now to branch off of that article, however, the beauty of free to play, is it leaves us gamers more of a budget to sink back into other games, other titles, etc. One of the many reasons I actually enjoy PSN over XBL. Everybody has their own preferences granted, but the way I look at it, is the money I don't have to pay for an online network subscription on PSN is just a little bit more money I can either use on other PS3/PC/Xbox/Wii/PSP/DS games, or that I can use to get stuff either online or for an online service/game, or even use in cash shops, lol.

Moving right along, there's also something I like to do when it comes to purchasing games, I call it "game scouting", which is pretty much just frugal buying. I won't lie, when a game I really, really, really want comes out for the first time, if I have the money I may pre-order it for the bonuses, but those titles are few and far between typically. For most other titles, I've found if you wait typically three to six weeks, the prices drop quite drastically, even more so if you give it about two

months. That's pretty much the way the gaming industry works, they get their first big bang from the initial release, then they lower the price to get further sales from those who may not have been fully interested enough to buy it within the first week. I'm also one who loves to scrounge around in the bargain bins in gaming/electronics departments. I'm a sucker for the classics, and many times if you look right, you can leave with a stack of games for the same price as what you'd pay for a brand new release game.

Of course, on also has to always remember to window shop and browse around. Now with the information superhighway so easily at our disposal, this shouldn't be a problem. Typically most new releases have the same price no matter where you go, but different suppliers tend to have different pre-order bonuses, which I know, tends to be a bit of a pain trying to figure out what you want out of the 5-10 different pre-order selections.

Also, on the PC side, there's always emulators for any that want to emulate the older school games without having to hunt down all the hardware which now sells kind of steep since it's now considered "classic". Anything from MAME, to Nesticle, SNES9x, Dolphin, Project64, ePSXe, PCSX2, Chankast, Satourne, Fusion, Nebula, Kawaks, Stella, Project Tempest, RuMSX, WinUAE, NeoPop, M.E.S.S., Nostalgia, FreeDO, SainT, ColEm, AdamEm, and the list goes on. Just need to know where to look, and all those retro games that certain services charge you to be able to play again, and completely up for grabs and ready for the taking. :)

Finally, I was kind of saving the best for last, and this actually only kind of works out for PC gamers. Which as a PC gamer, I can say, any little bit you can save, means not only more you can dump into other games, but more you can dump into your gaming rig. I know I preach this app everywhere I go, even have a link to it over in the right margin over there, but I cannot even begin to tell you what a blessing the Game Booster app is. Keeping in mind, if you have a latest and greatest system, you're not going to notice much of an improvement with Game Booster, obviously; but it will come in handy even for you when your rig starts to become a bit out-dated.

In this current time frame of technological releases, Game Booster seems to work best for those of us on older dual-core system, or perhaps even very low-end quad-core systems. As an example, the current rig that I'm using is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual-Core 2.4ghz 4600+, with only 2Gb of RAM, and an nVidia GeForce 7950 GT. Now, with those specs in mind, while using Game Booster, I'm able to run at top-notch graphic settings on games such as World of Warcraft (minus sunshafts and any other "DX11" option as it's not a DX11 card), Fallen Earth (which still has some noticeable minor rubber-banding here or there due to their lack of code optimization), HellGate: Global, Face of Mankind, Allods Online, Age of Conan, CrimeCraft, Anarchy Online (not that this one's much of a stretch), Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and a bunch of others. To note, that's running at 1280x1024 resolution, 75hz refresh rate, typically between 30-60 FPS, and in some games like Fallen Earth I even peak up a tiny bit over 100 FPS. Even really overly processor/graphic heavy games like APB I can play and actually stand a chance. Granted, due to the APB application restrictions, I'm forced to run at near lowest graphics, but without Game Booster I can barely move in APB, with Game Booster I at least have somewhat of a fighting chance. The even bigger beauty, Game Booster is completely FREE. They have some sort of option for a premium or something, but I've never gotten it. Game Booster can run perfectly straight out of a default install, or if you're more the in-depth geeky type like myself, you can easily customize your settings on the fly, and with just a couple small optimizations specifically catered for your system, you'll be up and running in no time.

Think that's just about most of it for now, if I think of anything else, will keep this updated...

^ With that said, a SALUTE to pay-to-play gaming from a soon to be free-to-play game. ^

(Once again, how the MIGHTY... have "Fallen"!)

Tribute & Memorial to the man known as Steve Jobs...

Steve Jobs was originally born in San Francisco, California on February 25th, 1955. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California, and named him Steven Paul; and later also adopted a daughter they would name Patti. Steve Jobs biological mother went on to eventually marry and later give birth to Steve Jobs' biological sister, Mona Simpson. At best speculation, Jobs' parents weren't originally married, and the birth of Steve Jobs may not have initially been a planned intention, hence why he was put up for adoption, and yet, look what this genius mind grew up to become.

Steve Jobs would go on to attend Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. Steve Jobs often liked to frequent after-school lectures at the

Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. Later on, Steve Jobs eventually got hired by HP and worked alongside Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. Later on, in the year of 1972, Steve Paul Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled himself in Reed College of Portland, Oregon. After only one semester, however, he dropped out of the college, even though he continued to audit the classes of Reed College, for instance, a class in calligraphy. During this time, he would sleep on the floor in friend's rooms, while returning empty soda bottles in order to procure money for food. He also got weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. Yet, oddly enough, Steve Jobs gives a small homage to the experience in expressing, "If I had never dropped in on that class at Reed, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts".

Come the autumn of 1974, Steve Jobs returned to California, where he began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari, with the sole intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India.

When he finally had the money, Steve Jobs took his trip to India, looking to visit the Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram with a friend from Reed College who was also the first employee of Apple Computers, Daniel Kottke. In search of spiritual enlightenment, Steve Jobs returned an official Buddhist, with head shaved while wearing traditional Indian clothing. It was also during this time that Steve Paul Jobs began experimenting with psychedelic narcotics such as LSD, which he later credited as "one of the two or three most important things he had done in life". He always claimed that his associated who didn't share in the counter-cultural roots with him couldn't fully understand, or relate to, his thinking.

Jobs returned to his position with Atari, and found himself being given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell claims that Atari offered one-hundred dollars for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Steve Jobs had very little interest, nor knowledge, in circuit board design, so he made "The Woz" a deal to split the bonus evenly between them, if Steve Wozniak minimized the number of chips for him. When Wozniak managed to reduce the number of chips by 50, Atari found themselves amazed. So amazed in fact, they had found the design was so tight, it was actually impossible to replicate the same exact design via an assembly line. Sadly, Steve Jobs had claimed to Steve Wozniak that Apple had only given them seven-hundred dollars, and then gave "half" to Wozniak in the amount of three-hundred and fifty, when Atari had actually given Steve Jobs five-thousand dollars for this feat.

As time went on, and 1976 blossomed upon the horizon, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne (with later funding from a semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer:

A.C. "Mike" Markkula Jr.) founded the Apple corporation. Prior to co-founding Apple, Steve Wozniak was an electronics hacker. Jobs and Wozniak had by this point culminated five years of friendship, at which point Steve Jobs managed to convince Steve Wozniak in assembling a computer and selling it. Apple continued to expand, and as they did so, the company began looking for an experienced executive to help manage its expansion.

Come 1978, Apple Corp recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO for what turned out to be quite a few rough years. In 1983, Steve Jobs recruited John Sculley from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking him a ground-breaking question, "do you want to sell sugar-water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?". The next year, during the Super Bowl, Apple would air a television commercial entitled "1984". Then at the annual shareholders meeting on the 24th of January, 1984, a quite emotional Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience. The scene was described, by Andy Hertzfeld, as "pandemonium". The Macintosh became the first commercially small computer with a graphical user interface (thanks to former technology "borrowed" from Xerox). The development of the Mac was originally started by Jef Raskin, and eventually taken over by Steve Jobs.

Even though Steve Jobs was a persuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of his associates, employees, and colleagues from that time would describe him as an erratic and quite temperamental manager. Following an industry-wide sales slump near the end of 1984, the working relationship between Jobs and Sculley ultimately deteriorated. Come the end of May 1985, following a rather large internal power struggle resulting in an announcement of significant layoffs, Sculley relieved Steve Jobs of his duties as the head of the Macintosh division. Which later on, Steve Jobs would admit, being fired from Apple was the best thing that could happen to him; "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

Steve Jobs would continue to go on to make several noteworthy footholds in history, all the way from the Apple Lisa, to the NeXT Computer. Steve Jobs also later on would purchase, from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division, what is now known as Pixar, for the price of ten-million dollars.

Finally, in 1996, Apple purchases the rights to NeXT Computers for a whopping sum of $429 million, bringing Steve Jobs back into the company he had originally co-founded, making him de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July.

(Credit for the information goes to www.wikipedia.com)

From then on, most of us know the history of Apple/Macintosh, especially it's continuous history with Bill Gates. Not everybody knew where Steve Jobs came from, or what made the man that helped to make the Apple, hence the long layout of history.

Now, for what it's worth, I'd like to take this moment to say a special thanks to Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and everybody else along the way that helped to not only make Apple what it is today, but aided hands in building, shaping, and molding the technology industry as we know it now. As I've said before, I grew up in the boom of technology, and was there to see many of the original innovations that now are so easily taken for granted. I got to witness first-hand the blossoming of computers and computer systems, as well as the role that Apple played on all of it. Admittedly, I didn't have as much exposure to Mac computers as I would have liked, especially since I feel the Macintosh is quite a superior system, but I was aware of its presence, and what Apple was strongly bringing to the table. I can't help but feel that had history not had a handful of young, enthusiastic, and brilliant minds, of which Steve Jobs was one within that handful, computers today might not be even half as far as they've come. So for what it's worth, Steve Paul Jobs... thank you. Even though you may have been wild and quirky at times, and who doesn't have those moments, you were a respected pioneer who helped to lay the foundation of an industry that many of us either presently or in the past have made a living in, and so often have taken its roots for granted. May you rest in peace and finally be within the peaceful rest and nirvana you so long searched for in life, you will be missed by many. Amen.

If anybody else would like to say a few words or any thoughts on your reaction to Steve Jobs' passing, feel free to throw in your two cents in the comments section below, thank you.

In Memory of Steve Jobs:

Feb. 24, 1955 - Oct. 05, 2011

CNN Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/us/obit-steve-jobs/index.html?iref=BN1&hpt=hp_t1