360 Rant Rave Forums

billibob884 from DeviantArt.com has come up with a truly amazing papercraft model of Master Chief from the Halo game series. 

While not an idea papercraft project for beginners, the final results are truly impressive.  Here’s a look at billibob’s finished Master Chief model:

To get what you need to make your very own papercraft Master Chief, visit billybob’s blog HERE. 

Believe it or not, I’ve never played a Guitar Hero game before.  To be honest, I was one of those people who didn’t see the point of ‘playing music’ on a cheesy plastic guitar, when I have a couple of perfectly good real guitars around.  I enjoy playing music almost as much as I do gaming, but my mind just wasn’t grasping the concept that mixing these two of my favorite things could actually be a lot of fun. 

Well, a couple of months ago I finally got over myself and decided to give these guitar games a try.  Actually, the first one I tried wasn’t a Guitar Hero game, but an early build of the soon to be released: Rock Band on display at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, WA.  I got the chance to play both guitar (on the RB guitars, which are modeled after the Fender Stratocaster), and drums. 

At first, of course, I was horrible at it.  I couldn’t seem to get the timing quite right on the drums and the guitar was frustrating too.  After having played real instruments, the feel just didn’t seem right to me.  The first few minutes made me feel like my earlier criticisms were justified. 

Nearly convinced of my feelings towards these seemingly odd games, I decided to give it one more try.  First, I spent some time watching other people get up on the Rock Band stage in groups of four (Guitar, Bass, Drums and a Singer), and watching them have a go at it.  Relieved to see I wasn’t the only one who just wasn’t very good (especially in front of a huge audience), I mustered up my courage and headed back up to give it another go. 

I tried drums again as my band mates and I did our best to get through Are You Gonna Be My Girl, by Jet.  After a shaky first few bars, to my surprise I actually started to get it.  By the time the song was over, I was even getting comfortable doing my own drum fills in the sections where the game allows you to play ‘freeform’ for a few bars.  My attitude was beginning to change.  This was fun! 

Shortly after trying Jet on the drums, I got myself back up there again and gave the guitar a go.  This time it was Tom Sawyer, by one of my favorite bands: Rush.  Since I knew the song quite well, I figured I’d have a better chance of doing at least halfway decent.  I was right. 

This time, right off the bat I was playing right along and hitting most of the notes.  I got annoyed when I missed one, since it leaves an awkward silence where you’re expecting to hear a great guitar riff, but I finally understood; that was the whole point.  You want to hear every bit of the song, but to do so you have to make sure you hit all the notes. 

I had a few more chances later on in the day to try the game again, and each time I did I was enjoying it a bit more.  I finally understood why everyone had been saying how much fun these games were, and I finally left my narrow-minded views behind and began to embrace the idea.  I was a convert. 

Since I have no guitar controller at home (yet), I was a bit sad when PAX ended.  I wasn’t ready to go out and buy Guitar Hero II, knowing that GHIII and Rock Band were right around the corner, but I wanted to play some more.  Since then, I’ve been satisfying my itch with periodic trips to the game shop to play the Guitar Hero demo they have setup. 

A couple of days ago, as many of you know, the Guitar Hero III demo was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace.  Even though I still have no guitar controller (I’ll be getting one with Rock Band when it arrives on November 23rd), I downloaded the demo anyway.  While it’s not quite as fun to play the game using a regular controller, it can be done and I spent a lot of time last night playing through the few tracks included with the demo. 

I’m hooked.  I have cast off my earlier ignorance and I’m ready to fully embrace this new genre of games (new to me, that is).  Once I have Rock Band and my guitar controller (along with the drum kit and microphone that come with the Rock Band bundle), I’ll be picking up Guitar Hero III too, mainly so I have a wider range of songs to play.  So look for me on Live with both of these games and send me an invite.

Wanna jam!?

Next week, on October 24th, Sierra Online, Universal, Sci-Fi and Auran will bring the Battlestar Galactica game to the Xbox 360 Live Arcade. 

The game is based on the new version of the Battlestar Galactica television show (airing on Sci-Fi (and Sky One in the UK)), which is getting ready to launch it’s fourth and final season in the US next month. 

The game will feature 10 missions based on actual episodes from the TV series, so those farmiliar with the series should feel right at home.  There is also a multiplayer space battle mode, where you’ll get to engage in some combat as either a Human or a Cylon. 

The Xbox Liver version of the game will run you 800 Marketplace Points.  A PC version will also be available from October 23rd for a price of $9.99. 

To find out more, visit the game’s official website HERE. 

Today on the Xbox.com forums, a bunch of us who are fed up with the fact that every single Xbox 360 user who winds up getting the RROD (Red Ring Of Death), feels he just has to make a thread about it, all got together and decided (with VIP approval) to absolutely flood the forum with positive threads about our 360’s still running strong. 

Early on, during all of this positive posting, I’m pleased to say I coined a new term that has already been picked up by many users on the forum and has found it’s way into many forum signatures at Xbox.com.   In fact, one user even created an new entry on Wikipedia about it. 

That term is: GROL (Green Ring Of Life).  Do you suffer from GROL?  I most certainly hope so!  If you, like many others, are tired of hearing the whining of those who wind up getting the RROD or are just happy that  you’ve never seen it, then make sure you update your forum signature at Xbox.com to include this fun new acronym. 

GROL!  You know you want it!

When I hear the term ‘affordable surround sound’, I usually think of those horrible $200 to $500 systems from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, or the myriad of no-name brands out there.  While Sony and Panasonic are well known brand names, they certainly have their low end lines and, in my opinion, their ‘cheap’ surround systems sound just as cheap as they cost.  When in doubt, fall back on the old but usually true addage of, “You get what you pay for.” 

However, I just came across a very decently priced surround sound system from a company that has a pretty good reputation for fairly affordable and decent sounding surround sound: Onkyo.  They have just released their ‘HDMI v. 1.3a Home Theather In A Box’.  The system includes:

•  A High Quality A/V Receiver (5x 100 Watts) With HDMI v. 1.3a Switching & Internal Decoding
• A Full 1080p Upconverting DVD Player
• Seven Full-Range Loudspeakers
• A Powered Subwoofer (230 Watt Built-In Amp.)
• Onkyo’s Exclusive RI (Remote Interactive) iPod Control Dock

For a decent 7.1 system that includes all this, I’d usually expect to pay at least $3000, minimum.  Well, Onkyo is offering this system for a suggested retail price of only $ 1,099 (or a 5.1 System for $899).  If you’ve been waiting to get a surround sound system, your wait may be over. 

 To see Onkyo’s full press release, including all system specs, go here:

Onkyo HDMI v. 1.3a Home Theather In A Box

Game on!

This weeks Rant (though I suppose you could call it a Rave too), is about a wonderful dilema that faces many gamers.  The Xbox 360 has so many games coming out right now, that it’s very difficult for anyone to find nearly enough time or money for them all. 

Depending on your gaming tastes, of course, there are literally dozens of games either recently released or just about to be released for the 360 that may interest you.  Here’s just a partial list (in no particular order):

Halo 3
Half Life 2: The Orange Box
Beautiful Katamari
FIFA 08
College Hoops 2K8
NBA Live 08
NHL 08
Sega Rally Revo
SKATE
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
Project Gotham Racing 4
Need for Speed: ProStreet
The Simpsons Game
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Rock Band
TimeShift
Assassin’s Creed
Army of Two
Mass Effect
Beowulf
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

As I said, this is not a comprehensive list.  Even so, the number of games just listed here that are new releases or due to be out before Thanksgiving is staggering.  How can any gamer expect to keep up? 

First, of course, there’s the money issue.  There aren’t many (if any) gamers I know who can afford to buy every 360 game they want this season.  This is great for the 360 and should even help drive console sales (Halo 3 has done that in a big way).  It may not be as good, however, for some publishers.  With so many titles being released in such a short period of time, publishers are in fierce competition for gamers’ attention. 

This flood of new titles has also prompted an inordinate number of ‘this game or that game‘ threads on the official Xbox.com forums - proof that, for many gamers, money becomes an issue when this many titles all hit at once.  Since most can’t afford to purchase every new title they want, they’re having to make hard decisons about which game(s) to pass on. While this is quite a dilema, it’s a more pleasant one than most. 

Then, of course, there’s the time issue.  Though some gamers are able to spend several hours each day paying their 360, thousands more are time-restricted by jobs, relationships, kids, etc., thereby restricting their available gaming time.  Heck, even those who do have several hours each day to play might find it rather challenging to keep up right now. 

How do you plan to handle the glut of games flooding the shelves right now?  Have you set aside a budget?  Will you stick to it?  Have you set aside extra time for gaming?  Leave your comments and tell us which games you’re most interested in and which you feel you can pass on in order to have more time for others. 

Game on!

Sorry for the extended absence everyone.  I got one of the worst colds I ever had on the plane home from Europe last week.  I’m finally just about over it (just the lingering cough), so I’ll be getting back up to speed here pretty quickly. 

I’ve been spending my convalescence finally getting into Halo 3 (I’m just about done with level VI right now), and having a blast with The Orange Box (Especially Portal). 

Also, beginning this week, I will begin posting at least one new rant or one new rave article each week.  Be sure to chime in after each article to share your views. 

Game on!

Hi everyone!  I’m back from my vacation to Europe.  I had a great time on the trip, but I’m also glad to be back home. 

I visited family in Stuttgart, Germany, and also got to Frankfurt and to Munich for this year’s Oktoberfest celebration - which was an absolute blast!  Paris and London were great too.  You can check out pics from my trip HERE on Flickr. 

Unfortunately, I caught a pretty nasty cold on the plane ride home from London, so I’ve been a bit under the weather since returning.  At least I’ve finally gotten my hands on Halo 3.  :)  I’m still trying to avoid reading too much about it until I finish the campaign.  I should be back to regular posting as soon as I’m over this cold.