thoughthead

I was recently contacted by an employee from the company that makes SteelBook cases for Special Edition DVDs and Games. He was kind enough to send me a number of sample cases and I was kind enough to take lots of pictures and do a write up over on CollectorsEdition.org.

You should go read it, or at very least look at all the great cases I took pictures of.

          

Rez HD Released Yesterday for the Xbox Live Arcade.

For those of you who don’t know Rez is one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. I have a copy for Dreamcast and before now I would play through it about once a month. Now it’s on XBLA in HD with 5.1 surround sound, achievements and a few new game modes. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been really excited about an XBLA title. Now if only they could re-release the other 4 games on my list in the same fashion.

• Killer Instinct 2 (Arcade Version)
• Flashback
• Sonic Spinball
• Space Channel 5 Part 2 (in the original Japanese)

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A while ago I wrote an article called True Resolutions where I looked at Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and Call of Duty 3 since there was a considerably amount of arms up over the fact that they did not deliver genuine 720p at 4xMSAA as promised by Microsoft so many years ago. More recently Bungie was blunt over the fact that Halo 3 doesn’t actually renter to 720p but 640p due to technical reasons behind other graphical effects that they deemed more important.

Someone recently asked me about resolutions on 360 games and I started thinking about it and then I started digging since I recalled a few other less notable games running at lower resolutions. I eventually found an interesting French fellow who is dedicated to finding all of the next gen games that aren’t as HD as they claim to be. (more…)

          

I’m an avid gamer, and more specifically an avid Xbox 360 gamer. I’ve spent thousands over the last couple of years on the console, games and accessories. I’ve heard countless horror stories of Xbox 360 consoles going belly up. Thankfully my own launch day console has never failed me (a rare specimen indeed) however most of the people I’ve heard that were having problems with their console got friendly and fast turn around times when contacting Microsoft for repairs. (more…)

          

Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department raided multiple homes of individuals who had installed modchips in consoles. As you may recall I wrote my feelings on the subject in an editorial titled: The Legality Of Modding. In that piece I did not dispute the fact that what these people did is technically illegal under the DMCA, I simply called to attention that how the law was written was too far reaching and that ICE, in a time where the USA needs it’s greatest strengths put to use on issues such as Customs and Immigration, was instead being abused to harass and dishevel the lives of American Citizens.

I was deeply disturbed by this situation and took it upon myself to write my state’s representative, and senators. I originally wanted to send my correspondences by physical letter signed by hand to help get my point across, however I was unable to find the appropriate address to use such a method and instead passed on my concerns by email. I didn’t have very high hopes for the outcome of my message as when it comes to the US Government I am somewhat of a pessimist. However I also believe that unless I do my part to make my voice heard I have only myself to blame if nothing comes of it. By speaking my peace I can with good conscience lay the blame on those who have listened and remained idle in their actions to right these wrongs. (more…)