360 Rant Rave Forums

That’s right.  I said MERRY CHRISTMAS.  I’ve become sick to death of all this non-denominational holiday BS.    

I hope you all have a great holiday and a fun and safe new years. 

I know I’ve been slacking on the site & I apologize to those of you who do come and read it regularly (which I do appreciate!)  I promise the new year will be much better. 

I stared 360RantRave.com this past year, mainly for the PAX ’07 Expo.  I wasn’t quite ready to fully launch yet, but I wanted to be able to cover PAX.  However, I knew I wasn’t going to have the time to keep up with the site full-time until about February of ’08. 

So watch for big changes next year!  The site will get a redesign (minor at first), and I will be ramping up to launch a podcast as well as a video podcast.  Stay tuned!  The coming year will be great! 
Game on!

Do you enjoy racing games?  Do you really, really enjoy racing games?  Is that racing seat and mount for your pedals and steering wheel you bought to make your video racing experience as sim-like as possible really ’doing’ it for you? 

No?  Well here is one possible solution – depending on the size of your wallet. 

Created for ultra high-end home users and corporate entertainment purposes, the Mach 4 Racing Simulator, created by VRX Industries Ltd., is the world’s first four-screen racing sim.  The sytem is powered by four, count ‘em, four Xbox 360′s – one for each screen. 

There are three Sharp Aquos LCD’s providing the front view, while a fourth 7″ Power Acoustik LCD, powered by it’s own Xbox 360, serves as your rear-view mirror.  The system also includes full surround sound and even, get this, a ‘virtual wind system’, to provide that realistic feeling of the wind in your hair as you race. 

The ability to output to four screens like this is actually a built-in feature of the Xbox 360 game Forza Motorsport 2, but VRX is the first company to put everything you need to make it all work together in a single package. 

Ready to step up and get the ultimate racing sim?  You can get pricing and ordering information by contating VRX Industries at sales@vrx.ca. 

Here are the full system spces:

• 4  Microsoft Xbox 360’s
• 4 Copy’s Forza Motorsport 2
• Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter
• Microsoft Force Feedback Steering wheel
• 3 Sharp Aquos 37″ LC-D62U 1080p HD LCD displays
• Adjustable rear view Power Acoustik (PTM 750) 7″ LCD display
• Bose Acoustimass 10 series surround sound system with subwoofer
• Harmon Kardon AVR-144 Surround Sound receiver
• 1500 Watt Tactile Vibration Feedback System
• 1900 Watt Tactile Power Amplifier
• Virtual Wind System powered by 2 dual Honeywell fans with chrome shroud
• 1″ CNC machined polished aluminum foot assembly that connects to the front of the VRX
• Universal triple screen aluminum mounting bracket that excepts LCD displays from 20″ to 40″
• Adjustable aluminum and tinted acrylic component shelves
• On board power bar and unique wire way system conceals cables
• Polished chrome chassis with powder coated wheel mount and pedal mount
• CNC billet aluminum  Speaker Mounts and Seat Wing  
• Front and rear non-slip aluminum vibration dampeners
• 3M automotive chrome trim concealed edges
• Italian Sparco Monza racing seat (choice of Red/Black or Black/Silver)
• Sparco automotive seat slider
• Suspension seat base
• 3/D epoxy coated graphics
• Velcro and machined rubber grip blocks “prevents wheel and pedal movement”
• 10″ diagonal and 8″ horizontal wheel adjustments
• Polished Aluminum Speaker Mounts
• LED Lighting effects
• Beverage Containment System

Profanity, racism and gay bashing; oh my!  These are just a few of the types of things you’re likely to hear when you log onto Xbox Live for a little multiplayer action. 

Younger players often take the rap for a lot of these issues, but I’ve heard my fair share of racism and profanity-laced tirades from gamers of all ages.  It seems that Xbox Live anonymity has the unfortunate side-effect of turning most gamers into trucker-mouthed idiots.  Also, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t mean to single out Xbox Live (since this is an issue with virtually anywhere you can game online), but since this is an Xbox 360 site, that’s where our focus is. 

What causes this extremely prevalent phenomenon?  Why do ordinarily mild-mannered people start spouting off like a coked-out tourettes patients when they log onto Live?  Let’s take a look at what I believe are the two most likely causes of all this disrespect.

1. Fear:

When you’re out in the ‘real world’, how readily are you gonna tell some 6-foot 10, mean-looking, muscle-bound guy to ‘fuck off’ because he just bumped into you on the bus?  Anyone?  (Yeah, yeah.  OK.  The 7-foot 6 body-builder in the back – you can put your hand down.)  Alternatively, if that same 6-foot 10 guy tees off on you for bumping into him, how likely would you be to start swearing right back at him?  Uh…yeah; I’d apologize for bumping into him too, and keep my face intact for at least one more day. 

This example follows the basic idea of behavior vs. survival.  Most people generally tend to gauge their public behavior carefully in tense situations, so as to avoid conflict whenever possible. 

All in a split second, the mind races.  Is swearing at this guy worth the verbal backlash I’ll get?  Is it worth the physical backlash I may get?  Is it worth the possibility of standing before a cop, trying to explain how the fight broke out? 

None of these things come into play when you’re on Xbox Live.  Any fear you might normally have in a real life altercation disappears – for obvious reasons. 

Verbal retaliation?  So what?  If you get tired of hearing the replies of those you taunt, simply mute them or just log off.  Physical retaliation?  Impossible.  All you know about each other is a gamertag.  Using this you may be able to narrow down where the person is from using sites like mygamercard.net, but that’s about it.  Is that guy you just called a name so foul it made Andrew Dice Clay cringe a 6-foot 10 wrecking machine?  What do you care?  He doesn’t know who you are and will never find you. 

Unfortunately, since there is no truly reliable way to report this type of behavior to Microsoft, the fear of having something happen to your Live account also seemingly evaporates for most gamers. 

So, it isn’t actually fear that is a cause, but rather the lack of it. 

2. True Nature:

It’s been said that, in terms of true beliefs and feelings, the drunk you is the ‘real’ you.  In other words, when intoxicated, we lose the usual self-control we have to distinguish between what we really think and want to say vs. what our usual social filters allow us to say.  Our ‘true nature’ is revealed. 

With regards to Xbox Live, anonymity acts as a type of intoxication.  A certain euphoria can wash over you, if you believe that none of the inappropriate things you say will ever be traced back to you.  It’s a feeling of freedom; a feeling of liberation from the usual constraints of what’s generally accepted in our society today. 

This liberation can release someone’s true feelings, since the usual barriers that would keep them from saying what they truly think are no longer in place. 

While either fear or true nature can be responsible for increased profanity on Live, I believe it’s only true nature that leads to racism, gay bashing and other, similar types of behavior on Xbox Live. 

Think about it.  How likely is someone going to be, who is truly not a racist, to call someone a ‘nigger’ over Xbox Live?  The same goes for homophobes.  Is someone who truly has no problem with homosexuality suddenly going to call someone on Live a ‘fucking faggot’?  I really don’t think so.

If you find yourself acting racist of homophobic on Xbox Live when you believe you normally would not act this way in the real world, then I think it’s time you took a good look at yourself and figured out what you truly believe. 

Don’t let that euphoria or lack of fear guide your actions.  Be mindful of how you act and what you say when you’re on Xbox Live.  Respect your fellow gamers.  Let’s make online gaming better for everyone. 

Game on!