Rants, gripes, and tech.

Okay, this is my first real post here but I signed up like 4 days ago. All the other crud is imported from another blog of mine.  My name is Tony, I’m 25. I’m not going into details on my looks or anything because none of that matters.  I’m currently … continue reading this entry.

Ubisoft struck a deal with 4Kids Entertainment and The Mirage Group that will grant the software publisher exclusive rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games based on the upcoming CG movie. The tone of the upcoming Turtles game, according to Ubi Soft’s PR sheet, will recall the grittier tone of the original Eastman and Laird comics. I guess this means less pizza jokes and Cory Feldman probably won’t voice Donatello, huh? Damn.

Australian comedy trio Tripod harmonize about what’s really important to gamers. Painfully funny.

Yes, yes, this post is where all the action’s gonna happen for today’s live Stevenote-keynote coverage. Bookmark it, refresh it, do your thing — just be sure and come back some time around 9:00AM Pacific / 12:00PM Eastern.

10:13AM EST – We are currently 27th and 28th in line next to reporters from Kansai Digital Press.

11:41AM – Big surprise, we’re still waiting in line. They’re keeping us in the Media Corral for the moment, but we’ll probably be granted entry in the very near future…

11:53 AM – Ok, we’re moving in, we’ll be taking our seats in a moment.

We love hearing developers talk about the Revolution controller. Fresh from his own hands-on private time with the controller, MTV News’ Stephen Totilo lets us know what some industry types are dreaming about:

• * Don’t worry about developers running out of ideas; THQ’s Jack Sorenson says, ”There’s almost too much that people can think of, which is a sign that it’s inspirational.”

• * Vicarious Visions’ Guha Bala warns some control schemes will ”be like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time,” while allowing “there are a number of things you can imagine that a Revolution controller [could do] that would be quite cool.”

• * Ubisoft spokeman David Hawk said,”We have some wonderful ideas for the console and plan to support Nintendo’s latest offering.”

Unfortunately ideas alone won’t get Nintendo anywhere, and the man with the plan Reggie Fils-Aime knows that: ”What’s important is a very strong first six months out of the gate.” Inspiration aside, developers are going to look to Nintendo’s own first-party titles to lead the way and create a new language of gameplay they can adopt in their own titles; however, if Nintendo hopes to surpass the Gamecube, third-party support must grow. First six months.

Sega’s not flapping their yapper so far as we can tell, but German gaming site Gamefront.de is claiming they’re going to be re-releasing the frickin’ Dreamcast bundled with Radilgy and some limited edition telephone card or something. But our wish come true from the Ghost of Hackable Consoles Past will probably be Japan-only though, distributed through Sega Direct for ¥10,000 (about $83 US) — still, could this be the triumphant return of Sega hardware, even if only just nostalgia-gear? Apparently we’ll find out February 16th (or sooner).

I’m laying here in bed tinkering with my psp & pda & realized the mobile browser support here sucks. This doesn’t work at all on my pda & works poorly on my psp.

Just to make things clear, I’m not trying to diss one race or say another race is better, this is just something I’ve noticed that has also become a pet peeve of mine.

I was watching Carlos Mencia (sp?) on Comedy Central. He was talking about a guy who was making a big stink about being called “black” because he’s Haitian (sp?). As I thought, I realized this happens quite a bit. I’ve noticed people that you would commonly refer to as “Hispanic” will quickly point out that they are Guatemalan or Cuban or something like that. I’ve noticed that “Asians” will quickly point out that they are Japanese or Chinese (but not oriental because that’s a food!). I’ve also noticed this with “black” people. They will say “I’m not black…I’m African American” or Jamaican or some crap like that.
Not once have I noticed someone that’s “white” say “I’m not white, I’m Irish!!!” or German, or British, or Welsh, or Canadian…blah blah blah.

Now I’m not trying to say white people are better than the rest, because everyone has their faults. I just with people would quit being so damn picky!!!

I say that if you are legally American, then you are just plain American. If you came up through Mexico and crossed the border and are here illegally, then you are Mexican or Hispanic. If you can’t deal with that then go back home. Same with anyone else that’s here illegally from another country. I don’t care what exact country you are from, I’m just going to call you by your general region or continent.

A week ago, we ran details of some pretty sleazy business practices that went down at Best Buys around the country. Shoppers showed up looking for advertised $299 and $399 Xbox 360 units and were told by Best Buy staff that the actual price they’d have to pay for an Xbox 360 would be several hundred dollars higher than advertised thanks to a forced bundle. Bait-and-switch much? According to The Mercury News, Best Buy now acknowledges that “some stores acted inappropriately.” In order to make good, the company has promised that they’ll give refunds for “any unwanted Xbox 360-related purchases,” even though they were initially sold as non-refundable. Still, this “apology” falls short. What Best Buy should have offered is an immediate refund of the price premium that some customers were forced to pay. The company goes on to tell the Mercury News that they’ve “taken appropriate measures to ensure this situation will not occur with future Xbox 360 promotions.” How about the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution launches, Best Buy? Remember this, gamers, when it’s time for you to purchase your PS3 and Revolution consoles.

Citing both the PlayStation 2’s ability to be soft-modded to play burnt games, and the Xbox’s ability to just flat-out be modded, an article at Insert 25 stresses what we all know – Sony must stop trying to ostracize PSP hackers. Anytime there is a breakthrough in hacking the PSP a new piece of firmware seems to come out. Sure, the updates offer morsels of utility, but they also keep sending the hack/homebrew community back to square one. Sony is isolating a large group of potential sales by constantly trying to squash the homebrew market. How much longer till they realize that?

Sony Must Embrace PSP Hackers [Insert25]