Great episode! Listening to the show definitely made me want to go back and finish Assassin's Creed 1 & 2. Once I do that, I'll pick up Brotherhood. I guess I am one of the few and the proud who are extremely underwhelmed with BLOPs. While I do own every one of the previous COD games, I purchased them mainly for Coop play. Other than that, I only completed the campaign on MW2. I was sad to see that BLOPs does not have a true Coop mode. While the game looks fantastic and has the expected great controls ( I have played it on PS3 and 360) I just find it to be a prettier edition of more of the same. While it tries to get creative with the story and the opening sequence, I was quickly moved to slumber on 4 different occasions (once after sleeping for 10 hours straight!). It's just more of the same run around, hide and shoot, try to kill and not be killed. All the pretty graphics and weapons do little to make the basic game play compelling. I see no reason to buy this game as it offers little in the way of new entertainment value. Of course, if you are a COD lover, then you will love this retread so please ignore my cynicism.
I did buy Kinect and while I am impressed with the tech and the potential, I am hopeful that we'll see some really good software come out, especially considering the 2.5 million units sold already. I am not buying any Kinect software that is currently available unless the price drops to 20 dollars or less.
Anyway, I love the show and I've been listening since episode one, so obviously, you guys are more compelling than Blops! Hell, I'd even drop 50 MS points on an episode. Well, maybe 25? Keep bringing us the latte gaming news we need to mix with all the milk and chocolate we get every day. If you keep pulling these episodes strong and bitter, just the way I like 'em, I'll keep sipping away on my Zune with no added sugar needed.

Sincerely,

Daniel

aka Sanclus

COD4 is a fun movie to play for a few minutes and then I fall asleep. Now, Lego Indiana Jones with player coop, hmmm...that just might keep me awake.

Great show guys. This one was one of the funniest that I have listened to. In case you were curious, here in the Bronx, at a total of 8 different gaming stores including a Gamestop and a ToysRUs, there is a big supply of both Elite and Arcade SKUs of the 360. I have not seen a Premium in any store for at least 5-6 months. Poker Smash is the best puzzle game on XBLA! Dustin, you need to play it now!

Daniel

300 is a visual masterpiece of action and emotion. Seeing it in High def is high on my list of things to do! Having a 300 themed elite is nice enough, but having one signed by Frank Miller is incredible. Great movie, great prize!

But, will it have coop play? The absence of coop play kept this title off of my 07 purchase list. To me and many of my friends, coop play is paramount, more important than live play and certainly more important then having an Ozzy Osborne soundtrack.

Wow, it really is amazing how some people seem so insistent on there not being a major problem with the design of the 360. I make my living as a system engineer\analyst and I build PCs for fun and profit. Trouble-shooting electronic equipment of all kinds is my forte and I am very good at it. The only thing that stopped me from opening up my non-working (no video output) 360 is the fact that I cannot order replacement components such as the GPU or CPUs should those be faulty. While I tend to agree with the theory that many of the failures are related to poorly designed and applied clamps, heatsinks and thermal paste, I have not personally verified this because Microsoft will refuse to repair any 360 that has been opened outside of an official repair center. My 360 has stood on it's own stand since launch, it has plenty of ventilation and it is plugged directly into an outlet.
I have three different video cables and I reset my display settings to default numerous times and tested my 360 on 3 different TVs and two PC monitors. I am extremely careful with all electronic equipment and I have dust covers that I modified to fit over both the console and the power supply when not in use. I work 8-14 hours a day and while I love games and playing on Xbox live, I have probably used my launch console less than most owners due to lack of time. As I trouble-shoot computers, network systems and other electronic computing devices for a living, I am 100% positive that nothing I have done to and with my 360 contributed to its failure.
Despite this, I love what Microsoft has done with the 360 in regards to its software and its live service. I can only hope that Microsoft engineers will be taking a serious look at the system design to insure that future releases of the system are more durable than the previous ones. I did not purchase an extended warranty because I did not think that I would experience any hardware failure. I do not own a single electronic device that has broken down unless it was defective at the time of purchase and I caught it then. I have operated the system within the manufacturers specifications at all times and I am both surprised and displeased at the hardware failure. I make my living through Microsoft products and I have no desire to discredit them in any way.

If the story is good and well told through excellent gameplay that includes strategy, this title could be an interesting diversion.

Excellent news. My 360 should be back from the repair center by 2008. Let's hope the game really takes advantage of the superb xbox live features!

I guess it really is true! A fool and his halo/motorcycle helmet are soon parted. Maybe he could throw in one of the ugly Halo 3 controllers to up the "halo"wness..er, I mean bidding!

My launch console stopped displaying video two weeks ago. It just arrived in McAllen Texas today so I'll see how they do.