Microsoft admits error and gives us something free?"

If you've been playing Xbox live lately (or just trying to log in last month) you'll have notice either a huge lag or that you couldn't log on at all. Well, after lots of complaints (yes I too complained, like I was gonna miss the chance to send an "I'm unhappy" e-mail to Microsoft) and bad press the folks at Microsoft decided to give its subscribers a free game for their trouble.

At Xbox.com the General Manager of Xbox Live-Marc Whitten posted a letter "thanking subscribers for their patience with the service" and went on to say "we’ve implemented several improvements to the service, to help ensure ongoing reliability and performance. As the popularity of Xbox LIVE expands, we’ll continue to closely monitor the service and make adjustments". Um, yeah! I would hope so. You guys tout Xbox (as a Microsoft product) as the best but essentially lock out your customers for over a month.

So for our troubles it was announced that Wednesday the 23rd of January at 2:00 a.m. PST through Sunday the 27th at 11:59 p.m. PST, we Xbox Live members will be able to download the full version of the Xbox Live Arcade game, "Undertow". The game is would normally cost us 800 points (read $10) so not too shabby. The game gorgeous. Its built on the the Unreal Engine 3 and offers a pretty good single player campaign while also providing an online mode that supports up to 16-players. The objective is to kill as many enemies as possible while staying alive the longest all while doing it underwater. If you already own "Undertow" you can contact Xbox Live in order to get a different game.

So mark your calendar and make sure you download your free game. And remember, if you ever have Xbox 360 or Xbox Live problems call 1-800-4-MYXBOX to register your complaint.

Tune in Tokyo, tune in Tokyo.

No, seriousely you can really tune in Tokyo! If you're on of us cool Sony PSP owners you must go and download the latest update (version 3.80) for your handheld. Now normally I'm down on PSP updates. Mostly because the "new" features are either crap or just another chance for Sony to patch holes in the PSP's operating system that allow us to tweak capabilities or play pirated contect. But...this update however gives us what I think is the first useful function.

By downloading and installing PSP Update 3.80 you will now get an Internet radio application powered by Shoutcast.
This internet radio allows you to have access to a myriad on internet radio content that ranges fromm Bassa Nova (who new that was anything other than a preprogrammed button on old keyboards?) to contemporary U.S. and European pop to Christian (they play PSPs too) to talk radio to (my favorite) JPOP or Japanese pop music streaming right out of downtown Tokyo.

Yes, you do have to have an internet connection in order to enjoy this feature. But most of us either have wireless LANs set up in our homes/apartments/dorms already or know where to pirate a connections from a neighbor or local wi-fi spot so it should't be a problem.

Rarely do I think that Sony, in its Borg-like idea of the world, does a good thing for its users but the PSP is fianlly shaping up to be a true hand held gaming/multimedia/internet device. Try it for yourself and happy listening.

Itte kimasu, Dutch

The War is over!

No, not the war in the Middle East silly goose. That will continue to go on for years as we fight for Democratic Supremacy and try to wipe out terrorism but that's a discussion for a politically themed blog. I mean the war for the next generation Hi-Definition content.

And the winner is...(drum roll please)...Blu-Ray.
What's brought me to this conclusion? Well this week at the Geekgasm Convention of the year (CES, Computer Electronics Show...duh!) Warner Brothers it will pull its support of HD DVD in favor of going to Blu-Ray exclusively. That was followed by both New Line Cinemas and HBO making similar announcements. Throw in that Disney has already announced that their titles will only be Blu-Ray and that the Adult industry is adopting Blu-Ray (probably the first time Disney and porn have been in the same sentence) and you have nails in the coffin of the HD DVD format.

Honestly I can see no major difference in the picture quality or sound in either of the new formats on my home theater set up. I'm also not stoked about the price of Blu-Ray DVDs either. Especially when you consider that I can now buy regular DVDs new for under $6 and let me video game consoles upconvert the image to my HD TV. But hey, I'm glad that I at least have a reason to use my PS3 now!