well friends this counts as my 100th post. i consider that to be somewhat of a milestone given how often i've doubted whether i should even bother to post updates. i've had this going since october '03, back when i was a senior computer science major at texas a&m and had much more interesting things to rant about. that comes out to about 25 months, and this being the 100th post, i'd say i stick to once a week on average pretty well. hopefully i can hash out 100 more before i lose complete inclination to maintain an online presence. ;)

the xbox 360's release yesterday has got me thinking about gaming. apparently from now on console releases are gonna be this ridiculous. people camping out for hours, and plenty of them going home empty-handed. one wonders if there was truth to the rumors of microsoft implementing an artificial shortage of 360 consoles to drive up demand. so far demand looks pretty high, and should get even higher closer to the holidays. microsoft had better hope demand is high, given the BusinessWeek report that they could be losing up to $126 on each console sold.

as far as my personal thoughts on the 360 itself, i think i'm less opposed to it than i remember being with the original xbox. i vaguely remember being pretty against the idea of microsoft getting into the console business. it wasn't until years later (probably 2003) that i had played a few games for it and thought it wasn't as bad as i had feared. what i don't like about the xbox realm in general is that they seem to have the least originality of the big 3 console companies, with nintendo leading the way and sony having established several solid franchises since bringing the PS1 stateside in '95. the first xbox system seemed to have garnered most of its success through halo and halo 2, and i'm not sure how far an everyday first-person shooter can get you, even if they're great FPSs.

although i haven't used it myself, it does seem to me like microsoft executes online gaming very well. i can see how putting on the headset and getting online and chatting to your friends while fragging each other or racing or whatever can be fun, although i can't really see myself getting into it all that hardcore. i think sony and nintendo could learn something from this type of online model, which i'm sure we'll see in full effect in the coming console generation.

the 360 console doesn't really turn me off, the round white theme they've got going on is much better than the darth vader vibe the original put out. being the owner of a purple gamecube i can hardly judge a console on its appearance though. i think the 360 could fit in my living room well, and i like the idea of the controllers being entirely wireless, it's about time. i was also impressed by the idea of being able to turn the console on and off through the controller, something i've always wanted.

it's microsoft's interest in pushing HDTV gaming that really makes me even consider the thought of purchasing their console. i'm willing to bet their 720p games would look terrific on my 720p native HDTV, far better than the 480p signals the cube feeds it. while i can't say the masses are entirely ready for high-def gaming to be the standard, i am. i see no shame in placing higher priority on 5.1 soundtracks and gorgeous graphics if you've got the means to fully enjoy it.

the truth is, in moving from being a child to a teenager to a young adult, i think i place less importance on having allegiance to any one console manufacturer. i went from being an NES player (it was all anybody in my neighborhood really knew) to an SNES player (and thus automatically hating all things genesis) to a PS1 player (which i barely chose over the sega saturn, luckily; but since i was all about sony i snubbed all things N64) to a gamecube player (chosen for nostalgic franchises and a general boredom with playstation) to buying a PS2 once they got cheap and playing multiple consoles. a long-winded way of explaining it, but the point is as of today i'm of the impression that i have the means to buy multiple consoles if i want, it's a relatively low cost compared to the games themselves.

the good thing is i'm not really in much of a hurry to start the next generation. i actually remember feeling the same way back in 2001 when all the new consoles had come out. hell i was still enjoying playing my PS1 in my dorm room the first 2 years of college. so i kinda say so what if the PS3 and revolution are 9 months away from launching. i'm willing to bet i can still enjoy my cube and PS2 for that long. god knows i don't have a shortage of games to keep me busy.

to blow off my $100 best buy gift certificate, i did pick up an electric blue nintendo DS. it wasn't really one of those things where i always felt like i wanted one, just where the gift certificate could kinda offset the cost of the system so it became more attractive. mario kart DS was just released last week, and nintendo has reported that half of those that have bought it have played it online over wi-fi already. so i picked up the DS, super mario 64 DS (heard it was great), mario kart DS and a carrying case.

i'm quite impressed with the system. i've toyed around with a couple wandering around best buy before, but admittedly i never really know what i'm doing. i'll have to get used to the weird thumb-strap stylus setup, but the graphics and sound are awesome. i was able to set up the wi-fi to play mario kart online at 3am last night, against somebody with japanese characters for a name, heh. in a weird way it's actually kind of a dream if i stop and think about it. i've been playing mario kart since like 1992ish, and here ~13 years later i can play someone clear across the world. i'll have you realize that i could technically play a game against someone in another country while sitting on the toilet. that's just fucking cool. i fully expect lauren to try it out and immediately get one, after which she'll be kicking my ass in mario kart online in no time, heh.

well sorry for the ridiculous length, but nothing else to do up at work the day before thanksgiving. ;)

--j