Twitter

Well, I decided to finally try out Twitter, so I created an account (twitter.com/Nukem945). So far, I can't really think of any cool uses for the web service, other than using it as a more versatile "away message" with RSS support. I could see if being very useful as a public live blogging tool for relaying bits of news very quickly (it refreshes about every 2 minutes), like at a keynote or trade show.

As for using it on a daily basis, it's really only useful to the people who might be checking in on you. It's really more like a undirected, public instant message that your friends can see. I suppose if you subscribed to a bunch of people's twitter RSS feeds and fed them into an RSS reader like Google Reader, then you could receive updates from your contacts without using email at all. The problem with this is that it's almost too much work to set up and email is already standard-practice for most people.

I guess I'll have to play around with it some more and see if it is indeed useful, or if it's just another flashy web app that becomes lost in the infinite sea of web apps.

I actually did a bit more looking around, and apparently, there's a lot more text message and AIM integration invovled. I'm not really into either of these, but there's potential there, I guess. Like many things on the internet, it's only as good as the community of users who use it.

Weekly Radar - Week of March 26th, 2007

This Week in Gaming
3/26 Command and Conquer 3 (PC/Xbox360)
3/27 Oblvion: Shivering Isles expansion (PC/XBox360)
3/29 Calling All Cars (PS3 Network)
3/29 Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer @3pm PST (check it out)

This Week in Movies
3/30 Blades of Glory (Will Ferrell.. figure skating.. need I say more?)


This Week in TV
3/26 24 - 8PM-9PM
3/28 LOST - 314 - Exposé (Paulo & Nikki flashback)
3/28 Naruto Shippuuden - 006/007 (no more false alarms)
3/29 Grey's Anatomy - 319 - My Favorite Mistake
* no new episodes of Heroes, The Office, Desperate Housewives

FYI.. The Office returns next week!!!

Fanboys Whine Over Nothing

This past week, a very vocal group of Sony fanboys created another one of those meaningless Internet petitions games to boycott Capcom games, due to the fact that Capcom has decided to make Devil May Cry 4 into a multi-platform game for the Xbox360 as well. Now, I could understand gamers' frustrations if their favorite series moved to a different platform and remained exclusive for that new system, but this is obviously not the case. If you bought a PS3, you can still enjoy this game. But this console war seems to go beyond the normal rivalry of the "my team's better than your team" mentality. Fanboys are taking stances more akin to crazy, religion fanatics who no longer use reason and refuse compromise.

The fact remains that Devil May Cry 4 will still come to the PS3. In addition, there has been no indication that this will be a timed exclusive (like Virtua Fighter 5), where one version is released earlier, or will offer less features (a la GTA IV). In the end, it comes down to simple economics. At this early point in the PS3's lifecylce, a game like Grand Theft Auto IV cannot hope to sell enough copies to remain exclusive to one platform. With skyrocketing next-gen development costs reaching $20 million, the risk becomes great. By releasing their games on multiple platforms, third party-developers can lessen the burden.

As for me, I'm just excited that all these great, previously PlayStation-only IPs are coming to the Xbox360. All I need now are for Kojima (Metal Gear Solid 4) and Square-Enix (Final Fantasy XIII) to make the jump to multi-platform developer status, then I might not even need to get a PS3.

Capcom Responds to Fanboy Petition.. (see Christian Svensson's post)

Btw, here's a list of recently announced games that were originally PlayStation properties that are heading to both platforms (PS3 and Xbox360) in the near future:

- Grand Theft Auto IV (next-gen GTA)
- Assassin's Creed (next-gen Price of Persia?)
- Resident Evil 5 (where's the Wii-love?)
- Devil May Cry 4
- Beautiful Katamari (coming to all major platforms)
- Ace Combat 6 (right now, only Xbox360)
- Unreal Tournament 3
- Guitar Hero II (also coming to Wii)
- Virtua Fighter 5 (timed exclusive)
- Mercenaries 2

Weekly Radar - Week of March 19th, 2007

This Week in Gaming
3/20 Cooking Mama: Cook Off (Wii)
3/21 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBox Live Arcade)

This Week in Movies
3/23 TMNT (for the kids)
3/23 The Last Mimzy (Raine Wilson's in it..)


This Week in TV
3/19 24 - 7PM-8PM
3/21 LOST - 313 - The Man From Tallahassee (Locke flashback)
3/21 Naruto Shippuuden - 006/007 - The art is a bang/Naruto Shippuuden Special
* no new episodes of Heroes, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives

RPGs Infiltrate the Puzzle Genre

This is a bit out of left field, but I've been noticing recently that some puzzle games have been assimilating various Role Playing Game (RPG) elements in them. Two upcoming DS games, Zendoku and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, both incorporate battling and experience-gathering into traditional puzzle games (Sudoku and Bejeweled, respectively). The popular PopCap word-game Bookworm has also received a similar treatment with last year's Bookworm Adventures, which adds many game mechanics that RPG-veterans will immediately recognize. This latest PopCap installment goes so far as to feature turn-based combat (using words as your weapons), potions to heal you, and damage-modifying gems.

Personally, I welcome any game that decides to blend elements of different genres together, as long as it's done well. Games that incorporate RPG elements are especially great, because adding that sense of growth in power and accomplishment can be extremely addicting. If you've ever played the Diablo series you will know how addicting this concept can be. The game play wasn't incredibly deep, nor was the story very involving, yet the game drew you in and always kept you saying, just one more dungeon, or one more experience level.

In a way, the different genres are bending more and more towards one another. I think what we will begin to see is blurring of the lines between what is hybrid and what is traditionally a separate genre. It's happening in many subtle ways, but eventually, I don't think you will be able to easily classify games as Shooter, or RPG, or Racing, or RTS, etc. Mass Effect has Shooter elements within it, Gran Turismo is part RPG and part driving sim, and then you've got games like GTA that encompass a little bit of everything. This is the direction gamnig is headed, and I'm exciting. In the end, when it really comes down to it, does it really matter what genre a game is if you enjoy playing it?

Weekly Radar - Week of March 12th, 2007

This Week in Gaming
3/13 God of War 2 (PS2) ~ 95% metacritic
3/14 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade game (Xbox Live Arcade)

This Week in Movies
3/13 Casino Royale (on DVD)
3/14 Shooter (free screening)


This Week in TV
3/14 LOST - 311 - Par Avion (Claire flashback)
3/14 Naruto Shippuuden - 005 - As the Kazakage...!
3/12 24 - 6PM-7PM
3/15 Grey's Anatomy - 318 - Scars and Souvenirs
* no new episodes of Heroes, The Office, Desperate Housewives

You Don't Know Jack is Back in Flash

Man, You Don't Know Jack was awesome back in the days. It still throws me off how the first part of the question and the second part usually have nothing in common, but they're always joined together in a wacky way. Hey, kinda like a Simpsons episode. The website even has a daily "Dis or Dat" (rss feed), which is cool, cuz the Jack games are fun in bite-sized pieces. So check it out. Play the first few episodes for free.

Stop the Presses! Cue the Positive PS3 News

The Sony spin machine got a little break last week during the Game Developer's Conference (GDC), mostly because their products actually spoke for themselves. Among them were the newly announced Playstation Home community and indie game Little Big Planet. For the first time, since last year's E3, the hailstorm of negative comments and criticisms have subsided.

So.. Step 1, Make good games. Step 2 ??? Step 3, Profit. Easy as pie!

Oh and another thing.. Maybe the PR department at Sony should keep their executives quiet. Otherwise, they may say something they might regret later.

Screen Time

It's amazing how much time we spend in front of screens every day. On top of the 8 hours of the day at your work computer, there's the home web browsing, not to mention TV watching, world of warcraft pwning, netflixing, myspace surfing, digging, movie going, and microwaving. Then, when you throw in time with your PDA, cellphone, or other device, possibly a portable gaming handheld or some sort of ipod (i think today, it's actually simplier to classify all devices as either "ipod" or "non-ipod"), that all adds up to a whole lot of screen time.

Granted, most of these devices I use are flat screen-based LCDs monitors, which are supposed to be easier on the eyes. Still, I would venture to say that I spend about 70 to 80 percent of my waking hours with my eyes glued to some sort of screen, and that's a little bit frightening.

You know, I really should read more. And not just blogs and websites and email (they don't really count), but real paper with real printed text. You can't replace paper-based books. Well.. actually, maybe you can. Nevermind. Paper's heavy and overrated anyway. Poor trees. Okay, I think I've made my point: Don't hurt trees.

So.. how much time do you spend looking at screens? Is it greater than zero? I bet it is..

Get Ready... GDC Is Coming!

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is set to begin next week in San Francisco, CA. With E3 seemingly on the way out, or at least scaled down considerably, other gaming trade shows will have to pick up the slack. While E3 was much more oriented towards the press and game enthusiasts, GDC gives the developers the spotlight and allows them to share their ideas in a more creative environment.

This year, some notable guest speakers are scheduled to give keynote presentations. Namely, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Sony's Phil Harrison. But it's not all campfire songs and motivational speeches either. Expect to hear some big announcements next week, as the Big 3 try to position themselves for the coming year's releases. Personally, I'm hoping for an official Halo 3 release date (we've got one for GTA) and maybe some more info on titles like Mass Effect, Bioshock and Assassin's Creed.

There are a number of predictions going around, some plausible, some long shots. I think the announcement of the HDMI-enabled XBox360, with larger HDD, and 65nm CPU is very possible. I hope we'll see what Killzone 2 really looks like. I'm also interested in seeing more of Super Paper Mario (releases next month) and Super Mario Galaxy. Maybe some GTA IV details before the game actually ships. I just want to see the rainbow on the other side of this Winter drought, because I know there's a lot coming this year. It's just a matter of having enough time enjoy all the gaming goodness, with each megaton game conveniently spaced apart.


Also, I hope this is the last year we're gonna hear more about the upcoming phenomenon known as Spore. I know it's gonna be amazing and groundbreaking, but how many E3's do we have to hear about that game? I swear, I think I knew about that game before it came out longer than I knew about Diablo 2 and Half-Life 2 combined.

Apple iPhone Looks Down on Inferier Products

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook launched a rather arrogant comment at a recent trade conference in Vegas, citing that:

"A lot of people pay zero for the cell phone. Guess why? That's what it's worth.." "If we offer something that has tremendous value, that is sort of this thing people didn't have in their consciousness -- it was not imaginable -- then I think there's a whole bunch of people that will pay $499, $599.''

So we should want to spend our hard earned cash on expensive devices?? Funny Apple. See, I had this crazy idea that cell phone service providers like AT&T were subsidizing the cost of new phones in exchange for your contract to pay them for at least 2 years of service. But I guess those phones are actually worth NOTHING because they're free. Boy was I wrong!

Now, I don't want to be speculative here, but doesn't this strike a similar cord to Ken Kutaragi's (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc) famous quote concerning the then unreleased PS3:

"[Our goal is] for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

It is a fact, Apple charges a premium for their products. Look how the ipod single-handedly inflated the mp3 player market. Trust me, hard-drives don't cost that much. Now I'm not willing to argue whether their products deserve that margin. It's slick, I'll give them that. But, I do feel there's a difference between 'confidence' and 'arrogance' and right now Apple is walking that thin line.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=AAPL:US&sid=ayU3qJTMZ62w

Arcades Find a New Home

Although physical arcades have pretty much gone the way of the dodo (Boomers, GameWorks, and mini-golf places are just about the only arcade hot-spots in North America that I can think of), those quick, "pick up and play" experiences have pretty much shifted to handheld systems and Downloadable Content (DLC). I'm here to elaborate on the latter method of gaming.

Historically, downloadable games have been around for a long time on PCs. Back in the 90's, "shareware" was a new concept for letting people try out a game with the intention of purchasing the remaining two-thirds if they really enjoyed it. Today, companies like Popcap Games make flash versions of their games available for free, and offer downloadable deluxe versions for sale. Now, this business model is making it's way to the consoles in a big way, with each company taking their own unique direction towards dominance of this new market.

Can you even tell what's going on in this Geometry Wars screenshot?

Microsoft's XBox Live Arcade, a carry over from the original XBox, offers a creative canvas for smaller, independent developers to create $5 - $15 gaming experiences, while also providing revisions to nostalgic classics like Frogger and Street Fighter II. This double dose of content offers a nice balance of alternate gaming experiences like the addicting Geometry Wars, while fleshing out the library with high-def remakes like Caslevania Symphony of the Night, Ikaruga, and Alien Hominid. Also look for some new upcoming titles such as Boom Boom Rocket (from the makers of Geometry Wars), Castle Crashers, and Mutant Storm Empire.

PS3 owners were treated to Gran Turismo HD for free.

Sony's Playstation Network (PSN) takes the downloadable games concept in a whole new direction with their "Download Initiative." In addition to offering smaller independently made games like the revamped flash game flOw, Sony has assigned many of its key first-party development studios to make slightly meatier download-only games. David Jaffe of SCE (God of War fame) is working on fun new title called Calling All Cars. Recently, Sony also released Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and the concept game Gran Turismo HD as download initiative titles. With talk of the new Warhawk game possibly being download-only, the Playstation Network could provide a new avenue for game companies to push scaled-down versions of troubled products for less than half the price of store bought games. If anything, it gives the PS3 a way to distinguish itself from its competitors.

Cult classic Alien Hominid is coming to Xbox Live Arcade in high def.

Finally, Nintendo, although not fully embracing online yet in the traditional sense, has their own system of offering downloadable games. By offering titles, via the Virtual Console, from their own immense back catalog of software, along with games from Sega Genesis, Turbo Graffix 16, and Neo Geo, it seems Nintendo has potentially the strongest collection of classic games. The fact that they only debut between 1 - 4 games a week (every Monday) only works to keep up demand and anticipation for these titles you probably already own. Though they don't yet support original downloadable content, I feel this is a space they will soon occupy. Who wouldn't want to create a small, yet clever new way to use the Wii-mote?

This is yet another example of why the 3 way competition (or console war, if you prefer) works. If you were to take one of these away, you'd really be missing something. The third wheel in this race is just as essential as the other two, plain and simple.

Naruto Drinking Game

After watching the first 3 episodes of the new Naruto Shippuuden series, I thought I'd create a Naruto drinking game, to celebrate the end of crappy filler storylines. So raise your preferred beverage of choice... And here's to a new season!

Take a drink if...

- Naruto proclaims that he will "definitely become Hokage."

- During the middle of an episode, we see a flashback of a scene that has already been shown before.

- The flashback depicts the scene where Naruto and Sasuke attack each other with their signature finishing moves while Sakura tries to stop them. (take 2 drinks)


- Anyone makes a perverted remark towards women.

- Naruto shouts to world that he "definitely won't lose."

- Any ninja attacks another ninja, only to find out they used the Replacement Technique to escape, leaving behind a log in their place.

- Naruto eats his favorite food, ramen.

- Another never before seen method of using Chakra is demonstrated.

- A new Intro or Outro song and segment are introduced. (take 3 drinks!)

PS3 Song: "How You Killed Your Brand"

Crackdown is Here...

And the flavor of the month is... Crackdown!

Created by Realtime Worlds (founded by David Jones, creator of Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings), Crackdown is basically a sandbox GTA-type game with super hero-like abilities which make it a blast to play. Jumping from building to building is incredibly satisfying. The whole "skills-for-kills" aspect of leveling up your character by fighting the enemy gangs in specific ways is great RPG convention that I think you'll see most games will adopt or continue to use going forward. The cell-shaded graphics are refreshing and much better looking in the actual gameplay. I also can't wait to try out some more creative things in the Live Co-op mode.

However, the missions are a little repetitive, with most dissolving into the generic "kill this guy and all his minions" goal. Since I'm only at the second island (out of three), hopefully I'll see a little more variety in mission objectives later on. The targeting systems seems a little unpolished, sometimes locking onto a dead corpse instead of an attacking enemy. Still, I think this game has so much potential. I am really looking forward to seeing what free additional content they will add in the near future (the game only ships with 900 achievement points).

I've still got a ways to go in the single player and my guy is only about 40% leveled up, so I still haven't seen everything yet. But this game could definitely use some additional side quest activities. Other than scaling buildings, buffing your character and taking on car/rooftop races, there's not much else to do. I'd like to maybe see some "kill frenzy" challenges (a la Grand Theft Auto 2) or maybe some other interesting and useful collectibles added via downloadable content.

As a Side Note: Building scaling (and searching for agility orbs) has become one of the most enjoyable parts of this game for me. I actually just got the achievement for climbing the tallest building in the game and then another for jumping into a tiny pool of water beneath it. Seriously, I think this is the first time I've ever experienced a real sense of vertigo in a videogame before... and it was awesome!

Oh yeah, and it does come with the Halo 3 beta.. but that's just icing on the cake!

Double Your Viewing Pleasure

No, that's not really a picture of my desktop setup. But that would be awesome. You see, I recently bought a 19" LCD display, despite the fact that my current Viewsonic 17" CRT hardware is working perfectly fine. Now granted, I'm not usually much of an impulse buyer, but the President's Day deal at Microcenter was just too good to pass up. So what's the solution, you might ask? A dual-display setup. You know it!

But since the monitors are different sizes, it might seem odd to stick them side-by-side. The beauty in this setup is that the 19" LCD is widescreen (1440 x 900), so they're actually both about the same height. Still.. why two monitors??

Though I'm still figuring out creative ways to utilize this, here are a few things you can do w/ a dual display setup.

1. Dedicate one monitor for the web (ie: the secondary monitor on the right). This way you can watch movies/tv shows on the other screen, while simultaneously looking up stuff or checking email. Keep in mind, in each of these scenarios you can set either display as the primary monitor, whichever is more convenient for you.

2. Keep one monitor for gaming. In truth, I have yet to find a fullscreen game that allows effortless display switching once the game is running. I have found that you usually have to alt-tab out of the game to access your web browser on the other screen. This doesn't mean you can't open a read-only gamefaq webpage or word document on the other screen.

3. Multi-task. Multi-task. Multi-task. This one is pretty obvious, but worth pointing out. The main reason for doubling your desktop area is to increase your amount of simultaneous applications running. Turning your head a few degrees is often much faster than tediously alt-tabbing to get to the other programs you're using, and especially more efficient than shuffling taskbar items around.

4. Two is better than one! What's better than one beautiful display?? Well.. having two displays, obviously. Now I know you're gonna eventually get diminishing marginal returns. Much like the damn "Mach 3" razor blades and ridiculous quad-core CPUs coming out. I know, it's quality over quantity, but c'mon, I'm sure you could use it for something. If nothing else, you can enjoy watching the Windows defrag screen on that second screen.


On a side note, I was disappointed to immediately find a "stuck pixel" on my brand new LCD screen. In the past, I've been lucky enough to never encounter this problem, but now I was faced with how to fix said pixel. First though, I'd like to clarify that there's a difference between a "dead pixel," a "hot pixel," and a "stuck pixel". A dead pixel is defective and always appears black, a hot pixel is always lit and appears white, while a stuck pixel means that one or more of the sub-pixels (red, blue, green) are permanently turned on. In my case, I had one tiny pixel that was always blue, which was only noticeable in an all black screen.

I was able to fix this quite easily through some of the links on the Stuck Pixel Wikipedia entry. Using a special video file of flashing red, green and blue, the stuck pixel was gone rather effortlessly. I ran the video, found on this website (linked here), directly over the pixel for about half and hour and that was it.

In addition, I also found a great third-party application called UltraMon (Windows only) for extending the taskbar over to the second screen, not to mention several other great features. So check it out if you've got a dual setup for Windows.

2007 = Gaming Bliss

It's 2007 and it is great to be a gamer! With so many major release slated to come out this year, 2007 is looking like a golden Renaissance for gaming.



On the XBox360 front, we're going to see AAA titles like Mass Effect, Halo 3, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto IV, Forza Motorsport 2, Assassin's Creed, Too Human, Alan Wake, Unreal Tournament 3, and Virtua Fighter 5. We'll also definitely get some incredible new and original Xbox Live Arcade games from smaller developers, while the first party studios will continue to release heavy hitting AAA titles. Also look for Microsoft to launch their "Live Anywhere" service which will add Xbox Live features to Windows Vista and mobile communicators.



On the Wii side of things, you can look forward to Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Super Paper Mario. Hopefully, Nintendo will finally announce plans for original game content on the Virtual Console and keep us busy with plenty of classic VC releases and some interesting new Wii Channels. And let's not forget about the "money-printing" DS , which is sure to continue breaking records with titles like Pokemon Diamond, Dragon Quest IX, and hopefully, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.



Looking over the to PS3, we've got Virtua Fighter 5, MotorStorm, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Lair, Heavenly Sword, Killzone 2, GTA IV, Assassin's Creed, UT 3, and, should the video game gods smile us, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The Playstation Network is also aggressively pushing their "Download Initiative", to release major titles for download only, such as the recent Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. However, the PS3 is not alone, because unlike Sony's competitors, they have not ditched their previous gen system and don't plan to any time soon. The PS2 may still have a bit of life it in, with the monster that is God of War II coming out this March.



Finally, the PC will make a strong showing this year, with the simultaneous launch of Windows Vista and DirectX 10 video cards. And although the next-gen systems are still brand new, these new graphics cards will rival anything seen on the PS3 and XBox360. Look for games like Crysis to take full advantage of this new technology. Command and Conquer III will bring the series back to its roots, while others like Supreme Commander, Quake Wars, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and expansion Oblivion: Shivering Isles will keep your gaming rigs useful. And the gaming event 5 years in the making.. Spore, will likely see its way into your Sims-obsessed lives. There are also a slew of newMMORPGs out there, but don't count on anyone overtaking the King that is WoW any time soon.

If you have any of these systems this year, you are gonna be one happy camper. But know that delays will occur. It's inevitable. Don't be surprised if Metal Gear Solid 4 slips to next year. Also, considering that we have heard zero information fromRockstar since E3 2006, I wouldn't be shocked to hear of GTA IV being delayed. And fans of the Final Fantasy series will probably have to wait until 2008 to see the XIII franchise emerge, but a demo may be in store for this year.


Keeping all that in mind, there are titles that I think their platforms will greatly depend on this year. These are titles that could potentially cripple the system if they don't make it in 2007. For starters, Halo 3 needs to ship, as promised, in Fall 2007. Microsoft is depending on Bungie, just as the XBox 1 ("Halo Box") did. Sony also desperately needs a monster title to hit the PS3 this year, and that title should be Metal Gear Solid 4, but who knows, maybe something else will come along. Whether Kojima will make this happen remains to be seen. Lastly, the Wii needs its mascot to make a triumphant return in Super Mario Galaxy. Where are the awesome first-party titles we've been promised that will set this system apart from the Gamecube??



However, games are only going to be half the battle. If this year is to be successful, the Big 3 will need to get their supply lines in order and ship units. Sony and Microsoft will also need to give new gamers an incentive to buy with a price drop this year. Regardless, 2007 is guaranteed to be a landmark year for the industry. No matter who wins this console war, the true winners will ultimately be the gamers.

Lost S03E07 Not in Portland

Well, the 3-month 'Lost' hiatus ended last night and it brought the season back with a bang! Lots of jaw dropping moments, some great insight into our first 'Other' back story, and yes, lots of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. I won't discuss the entire episode, since Lost is better watched than read. However, I do want to delve into some of the reveals from this episode.

I think the most intriguing reveals actually centered around Juliet. Judging from the brief appearances of Ethan Rom (aka "Other Man") it seems like he could be some sort of recruiter for Dharma. We'll definitely see more of him in future flashbacks. One of the bigger reveals came via Jack's continued insistence in knowing what Ben had said to her in the operating room. I think most of us had assumed that Juliet was one of the more notable members of the Others. She's always seemed bent on overthrowing Ben, and now we understand why (assuming she's not outright lying to Jack). Simply put, she just wants to get off the island. If this is true, then she's not much different than the our Lostaways.

This also changes our perspective on many of the events of the past 6 episodes. In the opening scene of Season 3, her breakdown during the song "Downtown" might have been attributed to her longing to get off the island. The same could be said about her continued resistance to the Others and to Ben. Maybe her plot to have Ben killed at the hands of surgeon Jack was really what she wanted after all. When all is said and done, she's just doing what is necessary to break free of her imprisonment and get back the life she once had. Here's to hoping for a Michael-like betrayal in the near future.

What's got me puzzled is why Dharma/Hanso Foundation would need a fertility doctor with her research knowledge. Could it be that the Others are sterile? Or are they messing with scientific experiments that cross the ethical boundaries no man was meant to cross? Something can certainly be said about their questionable recruitment practices, however. I mean, you can already see the extent they are willing to go to get people on this island (or pair of islands). This really reinforces my previous theory that all the survivors on the island were influenced in finding their way on the island somehow.

And how about the fact that Ben is Alex's father (most likely surrogate). Does she even know about her French Mom, Rousseau? Well, at least she'll be a more regular character moving forward. On the other hand, her boyfriend Karl has definitely had his fair share of brainwashing ('Clockwork Orange' anyone?). It's kinda disturbing to think, but could the kidnapped children from the tail section have received this same treatment as well? Or are they off marching the island like the Lost boys of Peter Pan, hiding in holes in the ground like Alexandra? I think the "Two groups of Others" theory works well in this case. Perhaps the children are with Cindy (the flight attendant) and her group of Others. Maybe the "Tale of Two Cites" references these two Others groups and their constant conflicts.

At any rate, there's so much more to uncover this season. We haven't even seen our beach-dwelling Lostaways since the Fall pod of episodes. Will Locke and company "look North" and find answers?? Where are Sayid, Sun, and Jin?? And what's the deal with Desmond's newly uncovered mystic ability??

Angry Nintendo Nerd

This is hilarious!! Just to give you a warning though, it contains some strong language and extra nerdiness. Watch at your own risk!


Watch more awesome videos of awesomeness at www.screwattack.com/

What's Taking Up All That Space?

Have you ever sat down and checked to see what was taking up all your hard drive space? And then you find out it's some random files that you don't even use anymore.

Okay, so I was looking through the contents on my iPod in iTunes and I was curious how much space each type of digtal media was taking up to fill my 60GB HDD. I was shocked to discover how much space has become dedicated to various podcasts over the past year or so.

First off, my 60GB ipod really only has about 55GB of usable space... you know, because of taxes. Haha, okay bad joke. It's funny though, I actually remember a news story about someone who sued a HDD manufacturer because they said it was false advertising, since their hard drive didn't actually come w/ all 200GBytes or whatever.






Here's the breakdown:

° 3.87 GB is free space
° 15.14 GB is actual music
° 18.91 GB is Audio Podcasts
° 2.34 GB is Video Podcasts
° 5.31 GB is Audiobooks
° 8.42 GB is Video
° 1.69 GB is photos

Now, 19 GB seems like a lot of podcasts, until you actually break down how much I listen to each week. Here's a breakdown of the average number of hours of new audio content I get each week:

° 4 hr Best of the Left
° 45min Diggnation
° 1hr DL.tv
° 90min Filmspotting *
° 90min Lostcasts *
° 45min NPR Wait Wait Don't Tell Me *
° 45min Sidescrollers *
° 1hr Security Now! *
° 1hr That's What She Said *
° 1hr Dharmalars
° 2hr Jay and Jack *
° 30min Official Lost *
° 30min Word Nerds *
° 1hr TWIT *
Grand Total: 17 hrs 15 mins each week. Maybe this is why I never get to all of them each week. Or usually, I have regulars that I always listen to (signified by an asterisk*), and then I will play catch up on 1 or 2 extra podcasts for several episodes at a time.