Pixel Theories | a gamer getting older...

Jet City Retro a NWCGE experience.

Jet City Retro was a NWCGE (Northwest Classic Gaming Enthusiasts) expo held this last weekend in Seattle's U District at the Hotel Deca.  This is the first time I've seen the Deca since it's remodel, but like many boutique hotels in the area, Hotel Max, etc., the Deca blends its old world architecture with modern design and lighting.  And while it was a perfect place to hold a small expo, the expo itself was...well...underwhelming.

The problem was a lack of information, while I was interested in the vendors, I had a hard time adjusting to the lack of people who had shown up for the event.  There were three rooms: vendors, free play, and Rock Band.  Had I, or the rest of the individuals showing up known there would be a Rock Band tourney, and NES competitions etc. I imagine the turnout would have been better.  That being said, I did have fun in the freeplay room, the highlight was some quality time on a Mame cabinet playing Rolling Thunder.  In the vendor room I almost bought a Electronic Quarterback game that I remember playing as a child, but it's condition/price was beyond what I was going to pay for it.  The other noteworthy item from the vendor showing was a Classic Game Watch handheld that was overpriced.

Thankfully I live close to the city so this really wasn't a disappointment, but for those who drove from Portland, or parts of E. Washington, Idaho, Montana, Canada, I feel that it may have been not worth their while.  If I go to another NWCGE it'll be larger with more to offer in terms of entertainment and interaction.  Besides this was a two hour stop, I had other plans which included a trip to Pagliacci's, a visit to my old elementary school, now a U District community center, and the Husky Spring Game.

Penny Arcade TV

Looks like Gabe added a TV stream so that people can watch him draw the comic.  It's currently down right now, but he'll post when he'll turn it back on.  FYI there's also chat functionality, so so can BS with other PA readers. 

Let the Community Govern Itself.

I gotta say that the one thing I am not really missing about XBL is the racist, misogynist, and downright immature behavior of some of the users.  In fact, I remember reading an article in OXM (this is the Sept 2007 issue i think) where one of the writers spent a week trying to get kicked banned from the service, and during the week long tirade, he became embarrassed.  Eventually he receives a 24 hour ban towards the end of the experiment.  But if someone can be a complete prick online for a whole week and receive only a 24 hour ban, it's safe to say that XBL is rife with idiots, who have little regard of their moronic remarks.

Though we have the ability to submit player reviews, and file complaints these have less affect towards the community as a whole.  What we need is to let the community govern itself, an opportunity for gamers to take responsibility for their actions even when shelled within anonymity.  Let us say the everyone starts out with a rep of 0, from here you can earn as many as 2000 points, and fall as many as -2000 points.

You earn or lose points based upon your actions within the gaming community, which is to say that your actions count even after you turn your Xbox off.  Players would gain/lose points based upon their contributions to Xbox.com forums, Play and Win weekends, and of course, their actions on Xbox Live.  Players who can be helpful in their forum posts, and help newer players around XBL and during matches online, could receive points via positive player reviews.  Players who can't help but swear and demean others within the community would lose points via player review as well.

As players gain points they could receive bonuses such as exclusive gamerpics, themes, XBL Arcade games and even Xbox Live Ambassadorship (which I will discuss in another post).  As gamers lose points privileges would slowly be stripped away until a permanent ban would be imposed at -2000 points, with a breakdown of removed privileges below:
-100 points / players lose the ability to submit player reviews.
-200 points / players lose the ability to use voice chat/vision cam online & receive a 24 hour ban.
-500 points / players lose the ability to host matches & receive a week long ban.
-1000 points / players lose the ability to play on weekends & receive a month long ban.
-1500 points / XBL Support reviews players rep, and warns gamer of potential permanent ban.
-2000 points / Gamers' Gamertag and Xbox 360 MAC address are permanently banned from XBL.

Granted I focus on the negative here, simply because that is where the problem lyes.  MS has done a great job of providing a great foundation for a gaming community.  Though it's unusual, it is the gamers themselves who are rotting the core of a good service.  What do you think?

John Adams is for the patient.

Today is Tuesday and this Sunday will be the last epi of the mini-series John Adams.  For the first six installments we've seen the impetuous John Adams negotiate the consolidation of the colonies, insult the French, distance himself from his wife and child, and finally become President of these United States.  David McCollough's Pulitzer Prize winning portrait of the founding father is extremely interesting.  But, like most HBO "intellectual" properties, the majority of viewers will have difficulty following the progress of this historical figure without doing some home work.

I often found myself "wiki-ing" founding fathers, aristocrats, and European royalty during, or between, viewings of the show and I have learned quite a bit.  What is more interesting is this depiction of John Adams is that of a lawyer turned hap-hazard politician and ambassador.  Often Paul Giamatti's, facial expressions add humor to the often dry and informative biopic.

With that said I really like this show.  I do like period pieces and though this doesn't have the blood of Rome, or the depravities of Deadwood.  John Adams is a nice piece of work in it's own right.

A Lackluster 30 Days of Night.

There really was potential here.  30 Days of Night is essentially a translation of the three graphic novel mini-series by writer/artist combo, Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith.  Unfortunately, I have never read the graphic novels, and probably because it was published in '04, busy times for me.  Moving on, the movie's premise is unclear, but what is clear is there are vampires, there are humans, and finally there are 30 Days of Night!

Which is exactly the problem with this film.  Before the blood hits the screen you have no idea of who's who, what's what and why there are vampires in friggin Alaska!?!  Which begs the question, where do Vampires go during the consecutive days of sun?

The highlight of this hack and slash flick is the cinematography.  The DP (that's Director of Photography) did an excellent job of moving and placing the camera to get shots of these monsters that makes the movie easy to watch, but the holes within the plot makes it hard to understand.  There is no explanation of where these vampires came from, where they go, or why they would care about some suck town, pardon the pun, out in BFE Alaska.  So yeah, don't rent this movie!

Verdict: PASS

GBG is really worth watching.

With the free time, I've been on the DS plenty and watching movies as if they were, you've got it, going out of style.  And thus my first blogged FO is Gone Baby Gone a deeply engrossing film about a missing girl within the South Boston Projects.  Honestly I can't remember the names of the main characters and the reason why could be I am still dealing with the overly complex question that the movie poses.  Though I would like to go into a deeper discussion of what's right, what's wrong; I would be giving away the ending.

Casey Affleck stars as the main protagonist with a unique perspective of the Southie Projects where he lives and the abduction takes place, he is hired by the missing girl's aunt to augment the BPD's search for the missing child.  What ensues is a dark and eerie tale of drugs, murder and flat out bad parenting.  With each clue to the missing child's whereabouts Affleck's character falls deeper through the rabbit hole and is eventually confronted with a choice that he, and most likely the audience, will second guess long after the fade to black.

Affleck outshines most of the cast, though Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris do exceptionally well in their small parts.  But above all the older brother Affleck, gets all the pieces in the right spot on his directorial debut, so I could say that I am eager to see his next flick with him behind the camera.  The films' subject matter may make it hard to watch and hurts the films ability to stand up to multiple watchings, but so was 8MM, and that was a good flick too.

Verdict: RENT

The Letter to MS's Legal Dept.

I have come to the conclusion that 360's are like jaguars, which is to say that you have to buy two of them.  Why?  Because one of them will always be in the shop.  Anyway the below is the address to Microsoft's Legal Department which accepts letters of complaint against both their Xbox 360 Customer Service and Repair Center Dept's.  Not even sure if it'll get read, but it helped just to write it.

It should be noted that all letters sent to the following address should include contact info, as well as the Serial No. for your 360, and the ticket number that you got when you filed a repair order through Customer Service.

Attn. Legal Department
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA.
98052-9953

 

To Whom It May Concern:

I am A. Armstrong, a client of Microsoft’s Xbox Live service and an Xbox 360 owner. The following is my formal complaint towards Microsoft’s outsourced Xbox 360 Customer Support Team overseas, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Repair Center in McAllen, Texas. Since the initial purchase of my Xbox 360 on the launch night of November 11, 2005, I have sent three Xbox’s in for repair. This does not include the two units that are on their way to McAllen right now.

Let me first say that I have been an Xbox Live member since the summer of 2003, and have been an advocate for Microsoft's gaming platform for the last five years. While I have found sending my faulty units in for repair frustrating, I understood the process. I even bought a second unit, a Falcon 75nm chip set, while I had one in repair last year. But it has not been until recently that I have lost my patience with your protocol for processing repairs.

  If I had bought a new automobile and that automobile had broken down while under warranty, it would be reasonable to assume that the dealer I bought the car from would give me a loaner car to get around while my car was being repaired. This of course is not the case when a 360 breaks down or fails due to any one of its numerous errors. What I get as a loyal customer who needs help processing a repair order when I dial 1-800-4MY-XBOX, is what could only be described as a trial in frustration and a display of apathy. Quite simply put, I find the personnel within the aforementioned departments seriously lacking.

Back in March, I sent my initial 360 (Serial # XXXXXXXXXXXX) to your repair center for DRE (disc read error prompts). I was promised priority in the procurement of a new console in addition to a quickly turnover, considering it had been the third time I had turned a unit in. To my disappointment the console I got back was not new, and would not power on. So in summary, the unit I sent in came back three weeks later only it had not been repaired, in fact it had been broken in a whole new way. I can only surmise that these two departments, which one would assume should be in sync with one another, have no idea what the other is doing. That is to say that the “right hand has no idea what the left foot is doing.”

My latest unit, the Falcon (Serial # XXXXXXXXXXXX) suffers from some form of video card failure. The screen essentially started to turn pink, where there should have been white and now the unit while powered on cannot send a video/audio signal to the television. Though I expect this unit to get repaired, I can only hope that I do not get an inferior unit (one without HDMI output) in return. My faith in your employees’  due diligence has been shaken, to say the least.

Lastly, I would just like to say that I would appreciate some form of acknowledgment that this time, the unit that needs to be replaced will. And that my second unit will be repaired or replaced with a unit with a similar chip set, and output capabilities. I am not looking for some form of “handout.”  I just want to get back to what I like the most, which is gaming. If this time you cannot deliver on the promises of your Customer Support Team, or the basic functions of your Repair Center, I will be left with no alternative other than to switch platforms and become an owner of your competitions product.

Xbox 360 #1 Ser No. XXXXXXXXXXXX; Ticket # XXXXXXXXXX

Xbox 360 #2 Ser No. XXXXXXXXXXXX; Ticket # XXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your time,

A. Armstrong

PES 2008 is Almost a Masterpiece

The Good

+ The AI learns your tendencies through the length of a match and season.
+ More licensed teams and leagues.
+ Edit mode is back in 2008
+ New User Interface, includes supporters reaction to a team's success.

The Bad
- Old kit editing system is out and new scan/vision editing system is in.
- XBL matches suffer from serious latency issues.
- Challenge mode is out.
- No editing options within Master League.

Should be added for next year.
> Licensed Premier League, J League, Bundesliga, and MLS.
> Cloth mechanics.
> Revamped editing system.
> Challenge Mode.

I started playing Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven back in 2001,  before then I had played a number of EA soccer/football games that had some resemblances of reality.  But when I first played PES (which it is now called on both sides of the Atlantic) I realize that to succeed in the game that I would have to think realistically about how to advance the ball, when to sub players, and how to attack with the talent that I had on the field.

This is the reason why so many gamers around the world play PES.  If you get caught in the habit of slide tacking on every offender, or long-balling the pitch you will simply lose every match.  It takes a well balanced attack, as well as a rigid trap defense to win.  In addition, you will have to sign talent to match your play style, if you're aggressive, then you will probably need to sign Mid's and Fwd's capable of attacking from long range and getting creative with the ball.  If you're a little more conservative, you'll need to sign a great Sweeper, and a lot of above average Mid's.  The game is different based upon the reactions and strategy of each player, unfortunately there aren't many games you can say this about.

I am not going to go into much depth of what's in the game every year, i.e. Master League (D1 & D2), Cups, Training, etc.  There are plenty of other review that will cover this BS.  What is missing is one of my favorite modes, the Challenge mode.  This was of great resource for me, because the Challenge mode was a way for decent and average players to get better.  By focusing on the challenges, in a mini-game format you were able to take more free kicks, PK's and crosses in two hours than you would if you played the game for a week.  Thus improving your potential to score in game on the aforementioned.

What's also missing is the old editing system.  Which was similar to the Forza Motorsport system on the original Xbox.  Layers of shapes and colors,  could help gamers edit the generic teams to look like those of the Premier League, Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga.  What replaces the old editing mechanic is a kit editing system that utilizes the 360's vision cam to take pictures and lay them over the the front and only the front of the jersey's.  It's not nearly as flexible as the old system and further more, trying to take pictures of kits on you LCD screen or even printouts leads to the fading of colors and some pixelated final products.

My last negative will focus on the inflexibility of the Master League.  Though I really can't remember if you could back on the PS2, there is no option to edit your players/team within the ML.  So any new transfers will not be able to edited at all, and new players (the generically generated youth of 17 y/o's that will populate the game every year) are also off limits.  So the only way to edit players that you know that you'll trade for is in the Edit mode before you start you Master League.  LAME!

I emphasize the bad, because this was supposed to be the revamped PES of the shell of a game we had to play last year.  That game had no edit mode, a lackluster UI, and a overall graphical resemblance to the game released on inferior platforms.  My overall appreciation of the game is positive, but this is another iteration that has only been made and can be played by true soccer fans. 

The AI is the real highlight of this year's PES and is the only reason I bought a copy this year at all.  Over the last couple of years I would find Strikers that were tall and fast who could head the ball to the back of the net.  In addition, I would sign about three top level Mid's to get them the ball, and lastly sign two experienced defenders to help the Keeper guard the box.  The result was my complete domination of the game, we're talking 5-nil wins on a consistent basis here folks. 

What I have noticed this year is that I need to switch the field, try a few long balls, and organize center and wing attacks just so I can get my strikers the ball. This year's iteration of PES is a truly maddening experience that you could only describe as entertainingly addictive.  Though I can't whole heartedly
recommend the game to first timers because of the learning curve, this years PES is a revelation of future things to come.

A Mass Burial

Agh.  I can't stand this.  Both, I repeat, BOTH of my 360's are dead.  The eldest suffers from some form of power brick failure.  Ironically this is the unit I just got back, which was sent in in February due to disc read errors.  The newest is a failure somewhere in the video card.  Three days ago I was playing PES 2008 and the screen went pink and I knew instantly that I was f*%#ed.

Why two 360's you ask?  Well the first unit I have sent back now for the fifth time.  And in between various postage trips over the last 2.5 years I got a little sick of the 3 week turnover time to get back to gaming again.  I heavy point of which I will make in a letter to Microsoft's legal department (I'll post it when I'm finished, I'm trying to take as much emotion out of the letter as possible).

So for now, I'll have my DS and Wii to keep me busy, don't get me wrong I appreciate both platforms, but it's not like I can take out terrorists, or call in airstrikes with 4-7 friends on a DS or Wii.  Advance Wars Dawn of Sorrow, here I come.