Barquartz

work, work, work, five days, 2 x 5 trips in the Cav. No Cav time on the weekend, need time to heal from the work, work, work.

Weekdays are long trips to work in my car, weekends are short trips on my bicycle. Price of gas, woof!

Monday to Friday, I air up a bad tire and off to work I go.

Ok, we are all agreed, the new Xbox Dash has got to go. Death to the Spambox, bring back the Xbox.

For me, a good controller (PS1,PS2,XBox, & 360) is a key component for any console. A poor controller (Dreamcast) I can tolerate given time. Motion controllers (Kinect, Move, Wii) fall into the category of no controller and I have no interest in them at all for a number of reasons. Fortunately Child of Eden allows me to play with a contoller and it is a blast. Reviews say Eden is just like Rez, which makes me wonder why I never liked Rez. As for Kinect Vs. Move with Eden I offer this excerpt:

'What makes the controller-less Child of Eden experience such a dream, however, isn't something I can easily pin down like faster targeting or more accurate control. By simply freeing the player's hands, the experience with Child of Eden's worlds changes quite drastically. Standing in front of the screen and merely using my body to target enemies, it was only a few minutes into the first Archive that the real world around me (i.e., my living room) simply drifted away. I'm completely accustomed to pointing and shooting with a controller in my hand, be it a dual analog controller or a pointer like the Wii Remote, a mouse, or PlayStation Move. But Child of Eden's Kinect controls are the first time I completely understood how a controller-less gaming could break down the wall between the game and the player.'

http://www.destructoid.com/review-child-of-eden-204711.phtml

And I also got...another entry into this giveaway.

Peanut M&M's, cashews, and a big plate of take home food from my Sister.

The Little Sister from Bioshock for two reasons. First, she is just so cute. Second, at that age Little Sisters, like nieces, will still play with thier Big Daddys / Uncles. Enjoy it while you can, because big sisters lose interest in video games, Uncles, Big Daddys, and even the dog after a certain age.

If Microsoft wants to sell indie games that only play in the store (marketplace) but not once you get the game home (your profile on your console) then they should warn you prior to the sale. However my complaints against the disease known as XBox Live go beyond the Indie game fraud. Microsoft's desire to force Xbox Live down your throat has led to decisions that are so wrong I don't see why people let them get away with them. Am I the only one that thinks an arcade game that keeps a score should save a local high score table. If I play Geometry Wars offline no high score table is viewable, retrieved or saved, and even if I am online Geometry Wars always shows the high score when I start as 10,000 points. Even when online, leaderboards are a miserable excuse for a high score table. All of the XBLA games I have played follow these Microsoft rules, which violate standards that have existed since the 80's. I was so pleased when I saw that 'I made a game with zombies!!!' saved a high score table, it's a shame I can't play it. A more minor intentional design flaw in the 360 is the fact that no time stamp is saved for achievements or last played date unless you are logged into XBox Live, which is really lame. Now I am going to spend my remaining points very carefully, and afterwards never buy any more. Owning a 360 is a love/hate relationship, but hating Microsoft is now quite understandable.

Be warned that Xbox Live Indie Games will not play if you are not connected to XBox Live when you try to start the game. This is by design and is just another example of how Microsoft is actively trying to cripple the arcade experience on the 360 and sell as many PS3's as possible. Microsoft says no refunds, but this is fraud and I better get my points refunded.