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.

I’ve been wanting to build a file server that would centralize all of my media files so that I could play them from anywhere on my home network. In the old days, I would have picked a version of Windows Server as the Operating System for the PC, but I’ve been steadily moving forward with plans to go Windows free and that wouldn’t have fit in the plans.

Since I’ve standardized all of my other servers on Debian Linux, I decided that I would do the same for the new file server as well. During the time that I was buying components for the new PC, I bought an Xbox 360 Elite to go with our new HDTV (Sharp Aquos 46").

Shortly after, I found out that you could stream audio and video to the Xbox using XP or Vista. “Well, damn”, I thought to myself. “I might have to go with Windows after all.” However, one look at the price of Windows Vista or Windows Server changed my mind. I started researching alternatives that would work on Linux.

It turns out that all you need is software that provides UPnP media devices (which the Xbox is) with information on available multimedia files and there are plenty to choose from.

Xboxmediacenter.com has a list of both commercial and free offerings on their site under the entry of UPnP Sharing.

After a bit of research and some trial time, I decided on TwonkyVision’s TwonkyMedia software. While the software is not free, at 29.95 € (euros) it’s something that is palatable to my financial tastes.

The DLNA certified software runs on Mac, Windows, Linux. It also supports a large number of media formats and it’s easy to install on Linux. In addition to that, it comes with a web-based administration console making a snap to add your media.

There are some issues that I’ve experienced. First, it doesn’t seem to work in a routed environment. I think that this might be more of an issue with the UPnP protocol than the software itself though.

I have also encountered some buggyness streaming music to the Xbox. Songs appear to keep playing but no sound comes out and eventually (if left to its own devices) the Xbox will start periodically making a horrible buzzing sound. With that being said, I haven’t ascertained if that’s related to the Xbox itself, my wireless network dropping the stream or the actual TwonkyMedia software.

I did make one modification that seems to have alleviated the issue. In the web-based console, I changed the buffer size from 16384 (the default value) to 96000.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the software and I’d recommend it to anyone that is looking for a low-cost, Linux based UPnP server.

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.