Xbox 360 Elite: It Eats Money!

Since I'm already in a "political" mood, I thought I'd share some qualms I have about the Xbox 360 Elite. Well, sans the fact that the only real advantage I can see to getting an Elite is an HDMI cable and a bigger hard drive, though the former should be included with every 360 and the latter isn't really necessary at all.

So last week my friend bought an Elite that was bundled with two games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Forza Motorsport 2, neither of which are more than mediocre at best. The price for this? $449.99 plus tax. (As a side note both games together would only net you about $9 at your local GameThief, I mean GameStop, as my friend tried to sell them almost immediately. But that's a different post all together.) He also bought three other games but I won't include them in the price as they were individually selected. Anyhow, when my friend got back to his house, set everything up, and turned on the system he realized that he didn't have an Ethernet port near his Elite, as it doesn't have wi-fi capabilities, and would have to go out and get an adapter. The adapter's cost? $99.99 plus tax. He had to drop one hundred dollars just so that he would have the ability to get online and pay a $49.99 subscription cost (per year) to be able to use Xbox Live, which lets you play your online 360 games well... err... online! He had to pay money just to be allowed the privilege of paying more money! Outrageous! Not to mention that there wasn't one time while he was on Live that I didn't hear some little kid talking crap or see some guy named "ILovePenis" (or some variation of "ILovePenis").

I honestly have no clue as to why someone would get a 360 over a PS3 unless they were getting an amazing deal on said 360. (i.e. it was free) I mean, the PS3 has wi-fi capabilities, a blu-ray player, and free Internet services. Not to mention most of the same games as the 360, since the 360 only has a hand full of decent to good exclusives anyway. Sure the games may be a bit more expensive on the PS3, but you can play online with any of them without being some kind of "premium" member and the quality is generally higher. So in summary, for shame 360 buyers, for shame. If you are having such a hard time holding on to your money I suggest investing in something, donating the money to a charity, burning it, or my personal favorite: building a miniature money castle... and then burning it.

VG Cats Gets "Political"

Well not exactly "political," but if you're knee deep in gaming then you'll have to agree with me. The latest page of that funny little webcomic we know and love addresses an important point that has arisen since Nintendo's recent excursion into the world of demographics: has Nintendo abandoned their "hardcore" fans in the pursuit of capturing a wider group of buyers?

While I wouldn't necessarily use the word "abandoned," I would kind of have to say that they have moved away from their "hardcore" audience to a degree. Now Nintendo has always been a first party system, that's just a fact. Games such as Super Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda (among others) have always been big sellers for the company and fans around the world have enjoyed them for many years now. In recent times, however, big first party releases have become noticeably few and far between. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing good third party games on the Wii and DS, but being constantly bombarded with gimmicks and whatnot is really starting to get to me. Now I know that Nintendo can't be expected to just shell out game after game, but I would at least like to know a bit more about what is ahead. I mean at E3 recently the biggest thing Nintendo had to say was that new Mario and Zelda games were "in the works." That's all they had to say about that but they could show me extensive footage of their new Wii Sports Resort game. I am still an avid Nintendo fan boy (and will probably be for life) but I am going to need to see a few changes very soon or I am going to be pretty... uhh... disappointed! You know how much Miyamoto hates disappointment don't you? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Alright, below is the comic in question from above. So I put it at the bottom so you'd have to read for a change? Do something about it.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

As a prelude to this posting, I will inform the five of you out there who aren't Potter fans of what happened last year. Well, J.K. Rowling in her infinite charity decided to write a storybook that was mentioned in The Deathly Hallows called, as the title of this entry suggests, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Only seven super special copies (each was bound in high quality leather and fine silver, and each bore a particular precious gem) of this book were originally produced, six of which went to "key people who have been very closely connected to the 'Harry Potter' series," and the seventh (the "moonstone edition") was auctioned off in support of the charity group Rowling co-founded called The Children's Voice, which was ultimately purchased by Amazon.com for almost 4 million dollars.

As for the point of this post, it was announced just two days ago (July 31st) that the collection of stories would be released worldwide on December 4th in two editions, a standard edition and a collector's edition. While I saw this coming a year ago as I knew Rowling wouldn't miss an opportunity to add more billions to her bank account, I am also kind of excited to read this new publishing as I am an avid Potter fan, I won't get into how "avid" I actually am.

The tales will include:

“The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”
“The Fountain of Fair Fortune”
“The Warlock’s Hairy Heart”
“Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump”
And the one we should all remember from Deathly Hallows:
“The Tale of the Three Brothers”

Below I have detailed what will be included with each edition, though I am not quite sure as to whether or not both will include the same commentary by Dumbledore, and links to each edition if you'd like to pre-order them through Amazon.

"The Collector’s Edition ($100) will include the following: • All five fairy tales from the original The Tales of Beedle the Bard • Outer case disguised as a wizarding textbook from the Hogwarts library • Exclusive reproduction of J.K. Rowling’s handwritten introduction • 10 new illustrations by J.K. Rowling not included in the Standard Edition or the original handcrafted edition • Velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling’s signature • Metal skull, corners, and clasp • Replica gemstones • Emerald ribbon

The Standard Edition ($7.59) will have: • All five fairy tales from the original The Tales of Beedle the Bard • A new introduction by J.K. Rowling • Illustrations reproduced from the original handcrafted book • Commentary on each of the tales by Professor Albus Dumbledore"

Collector's Edition Pre-Order

Standard Edition Pre-Order

Starting The Month Out Amazingly

No, that isn't my cell phone, but I am sure it isn't too far off the mark. Today I went to Carrowinds, a theme park in North/South Carolina, with my family and while I was riding one of the coasters my phone fell out of my pocket and into the bubbling, boiling, water below. Well, it wasn't really bubbling or boiling... but it sounds a lot cooler that way so that's how I'm going to tell it. Anyway, I actually didn't even realize it had fallen out until the kid sitting next to me pointed it out as we were going back to the docking. The ride was called the NightHawk and it is a fairly standard coaster except for the fact that you go through the ride on your back. What hurts the most about the whole thing, however, was that I waited in line a little over an hour and a half just to ride this lackluster ride... oh, and lose my phone.

Ah well I suppose, it's just really annoying being without a phone after having one close to you for the previous seven or so years. It's amazing how much we rely on cell phones nowadays. I couldn't even check the time for the rest of the outing. Hopefully I will be able to get most of the numbers I had back, and my ring tones are saved on my computer, but all of my texts and pictures are gone for good. Sigh... I hope this isn't a precurser to worse events.

Growing Pains

Why are people in such a hurry to move their lives to the next step? If they keep at this pace then before they know it there won't be any more steps to take.

Growing Pains

You stared up at the sun
As you drifted away,
But you didn't know how far out
You had gone
Or where you were going.

Who is going to pick you up
If you push me down?
Where would you be
Without me?

You would surely be pulled under
By the force of the current
Moving beneath us.
How could you resist
Such an unusual thing?

A complicated undertow
Full of wondrous vice
And calculated misery.

We have only been independent
For a short while now,
Why are you in such a hurry to go?
Couldn't we enjoy this silly little place
For just a while longer?

Aren't we still kids
At heart?

We are only free to avoid responsibility
For so long,
What would we gain by running towards it?
I am just not ready to bear the weight of it all,
But please don't leave me behind.

What is so great about growing up anyway?


Copyright © 2008 Jarred Lee

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

The trailer for the next Harry Potter film, The Half-Blood Prince, dropped a few days ago and it looks promising. I really enjoyed The Order Of The Phoenix's dark spin on the previous films and this new movie really looks like it is holding to that precedent. I hope later trailers look as good. The movie itself is due to release on November 21st of this year.

Be sure to check out The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor this Friday if you'd like to see this trailer on the big screen, I'd honestly like to pass but I'll probably end up seeing it. I wish they would have kept Rachel Weisz as the wife though.

Artist Spotlight: Wen-M

So I finally decided to go ahead and spotlight other artists whom I enjoy, and who you should enjoy too. With that mind, I of course have to cover Wen-M as my first spotlight. I had no other choice. With a cool 7,478,736 pageviews, and growing quickly, in just four years, some consider him to be the unproclaimed king of deviantArt. If you're lucky enough to receive a favorite from him then you are really on your way. So without any further ado, I present some of the art of Wen-M. You can see his full gallery here.