Fresh from E3:

I’m not sure how I missed this news when it first came out a month or so ago. Mass Effect, one of my favorite Xbox 360 games of all time now had a downloadable expansion pack called Bring Down the Sky. I just found out about it today as I was reading Penny Arcade. It includes about 90 minutes of gameplay and introduces a new race to the Mass Effect universe; the Batarians. All of this for 400 points (or 5 dollars).

According to the Mass Effect website, the plot for this expansion is as follows: “A batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station and set it on a collision course with Terra Nova. Only you can save millions of civilians before the asteroid completes its deadly descent.”

Now there is a catch, as Tycho from Penny Arcade writes: “The trouble with this content is that it can’t really be enjoyed by people who have beaten the game. I could go back, certainly, to some previous save, but unless I wanted to move on from there and beat the game again I’d lose anything I had earned in it.”

That seems a little short-sighted on the part of BioWare, but I’ve been itching to play the game again (and pick the baddest, biggest jerk in the universe this time) and this gives me an excuse to do just that.

The more I see of Star Wars: Force Unleashed, the more excited I get about playing it.

There are some new videos of the gameplay that are up at GameTrailers.com.

I love me some Street Fighter.

Here is the link just in case the embedded player doesn’t work: Street Fighter IV Teaser

<img src=“http://us.media.blizzard.com/starcraft2/images/wallpapers/wall3/wall3-thumb.jpg” alt=“alt=”Starcraft 2 Logo" style=“float:right” />I love Starcraft. My friends and I used to play this game late into the night on countless occasions. I was just about to hit the sack to get some shut eye for the second day of RailsConf 2007 and I decided to pop into the RailsConf Twitter page (I can’t believe that I’m using Twitter) to see if there was any new happenings.

And boy was there! It took nine years, but finally Starcraft 2 is coming out! You can check out a CG announcement trailer on youtube video link or out can check out some screen captures screenshots link.

Update

Here are some more vids:

• Starcraft 2 Units
• War – Nuclear Launch Detected!
• Unit Expansion Video

Of course you can see more at the Starcraft 2 official site.

When the Playstation 2 launched in October of 2000, I didn’t have enough money to pick one up. By the time that Christmas rolled around (and I did have enough money), the console was sold out everywhere (except for Ebay for thousands of dollars) and I blissfully spent my money on something else. To this date, I still don’t own a Playstation 2 (although I borrow my girlfriend’s console from time to time).

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s 2005 and Microsoft has released their Xbox 360 console and guess what? It’s sold out everywhere.

Microsoft has been very ambitious with their launch of the Xbox 360 opting for a worldwide launch in the span of a month (by contrast, the Playstation 2 launched in April in Japan and in October in North America). Unfortunately, this means that demand is far outweighing supply.

Most retailers’ websites say that consoles won’t be in stock until February or March of 2006. Microsoft contends that it’s shipping out new units each week, although few gamers have seen light of the new shipments.

I’m not sure what Microsoft’s goal was for their launch, but in my limited knowledge of marketing and economics, it doesn’t sound like a good idea.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Microsoft is playing a dangerous game with the patience of people wanting to get an Xbox 360 before Christmas. One only has to look at the comments on popular Microsoft blogger sites like Major Nelson’s and John Porcaro to figure this one out. For instance, a small post by Major Nelson about a Madden demo generates (to date) 179 253 comments, the majority of those being negative.

Microsoft’s ambitious worldwide launch might work against their console in the new wave of the console wars. If the retailers are truthful and most orders won’t be fulfilled until February or March 2006, then Microsoft might actually have a hard time selling those units. Why? Well for one, they’ll have pissed off customers on their hands. I don’t know of anyone that loves Microsoft (except for the people that work there), most people tolerate their existence because they have to, but love Microsoft; no way. Making customers angry will just drive them to another product. Secondly, even if you’ve saved your money after the Christmas season waiting for a new console, who says that you’re going to buy an Xbox? If the retailer’s time frame is correct, why not wait for the Nintendo Revolution or just hold out for the Playstation 3 which are literally around the corner from February/March 2006.

One other thing, I commend Major Nelson and John Porcaro on their blog. If it weren’t for them, we’d have no information from Microsoft about the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s supply issues. Unfortunately, this is not enough. Not everyone reads these blogs. As I stood in line at Best Buy on the 22nd, I realized something. Most of the people that were standing in line weren’t hard core gamers; instead they were moms, dads, grandmothers and grandfathers sent on a fools errand to try to get one of these things as a gift. They don’t read blogs (hell, most of them didn’t know the difference between the core system and the premium system) and if they did, they certainly wouldn’t read gamer specific blogs like Major Nelson and John Porcaro. In their case, the information that they get about the Xbox is…nothing. What does this equate to? More pissed of customers.

I’m sure that Nintendo and Sony (especially Sony after their DRM debacle) are viewing this launch with great interest. Hopefully, they are taking notes on how not to piss of their customers.

I was sitting at a stop sign on my way back from lunch and for some reason the video game Kid Chameleon for the Sega Genesis popped into my head. Anyone remember this game? I remember playing this with a friend of mine for hours and hours one summer.

The game was fairly simplistic. It was a side-scroller and you either jumped with a button or hit another button to make your guy go faster. One of the cool things about it was that you could put on several masks and become something else and take on its powers. For example, you could become a ninja that could jump really high, a bug that could walk on walls, or even a tank. Also, there were 100 levels and over 1500 screens. The levels were timed and some had multiple exits. Depending on which one you took, depended on what level you went to next. It was really fun. Ah the good ol’ days when I had way too much time on my hands.