Frank Stipes

What would be interesting to look into is how the age-time paradox affects -- if at all -- buying habits. I work full-time (and then some), have a wife and baby, and if I'm able to squeeze an hour a night for myself it's a miracle (and I'll spend at least 50 minutes of that hour debating whether I want to read a book, watch TV, play a videogame, or eat something). Yet I buy more videogame gear than ever, in the hope that well, maybe I'll have time someday to play with it all. That's looking doubtful, yet I continue to buy. I really have no answer as to why, when logically, I know all I'm doing is collecting a lot of unused stuff for my child to oneday inherit (and no doubt eBay). Maybe it's the 'hope' of having time to play it oneday that is enough. I'd be curious if other people experience the same. Plus, I think I simply enjoyed playing more when I was a kid with little money. I can still remember mowing laws half a summer to afford a copy of Atari 2600 Asteriods (that'll give you an idea of just how ancient I am). Played it the whole fall. That's never going to happen again.

Major Nelson provides a textbook example of how NOT to do a Podcast. He is a whiny, condescending presence who -- when not holding his audience in contempt -- is forever scolding them ("managing your expectations" a case in point). It's ironic how the whole point of his job -- and I know, he has SO much more to do than simply blog and podcast -- is to attract and interact with XBoxers and he just can't help but scare them away. Memo to senior Xbox management: Get someone who actually LIKES people.

p.s. -- is it me, or is this guy way more a Dr. Bellows than a Major Nelson?