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So Xbox.com is now allowing people to create their Gamer Profiles along with their Gamer Cards in preparation for the Xbox 360 launch. One thing to note is the Gamer Zones you are able to choose from. They are as follows:
Recreation
It’s not whether you win or lose, but that everyone enjoys the game.
Motto: “Kick back, relax, be considerate, and have fun.”Pro
You aren’t going to settle for anything less than first place, but you respect the game and your competitors.
Motto: “Play clean, play hard, play to win.”Family
You want a zone you and your kids can enjoy. No mature language, no trash talk, no super-competitive egos.
Motto: “Fun for the whole family!”Underground
If you aren’t afraid of trash talk, the Underground is for you. Not for the faint of heart.
Motto: “Take no prisoners!”
Being the babies that we are, we chose Pro, fearing that the Underground community would devour us alive leaving us crying for Mommy. Nonetheless, the zone you choose when you set up your account will be part of the system used to match you up with other gamers on Xbox Live, so choose wisely. To grab a peek at our Gamer card, check out our profile. Oh, and if you see us online, be gentle.
Read More 
| Xbox Profiles
You know, silly USB thumbdrives come and go, but this one is just off the hook. What you see before you is a 256 MB USB thumbdrive disguised as a bottle of sake. This thing will set you back about 5,250 Yen - $45 is US dollars. Certainly not too high a price to pay to garner the stares of strange passer-byes looking at the tiny green bottle protruding from the side of your laptop.
Read More | Akihabara
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Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: First Impressions
Posted by Benjamin VanWinkle Categories: Features, PC, Reviews, Strategy,
Civilization IV is the latest version of a classic turn-based strategy game (originally released in 1991) by game icon Sid Meier. As a player you command a primordial Civilization through thousands of years of history to become the supreme Civilization of the world. You have to carefully balance exploration, expansion, development and conquest in order to accomplish this. Place too little emphasis on any of these and you will fail.
Click to continue reading Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: First Impressions
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TiVo, trying to maintain their self-professed hip image, has jumped on the blog bandwagon with the launch of “TiVo Blog.” The blogger’s name is Nova, and she went from TiVo user to official TiVo blogger at their corporate headquarters. They did put in RSS, RSS 2.0, and Atom feeds despite the fact that nowadays having all three is not necessary, and they also stick in a huge disclaimer which will be on seemingly every post regarding commenting:
Guidelines for Posting on TiVo Blog:
By submitting my comments and by participating in the TiVo Blog, I agree to allow TiVo Inc. to use my name and comments in whole or in part for publicity purposes on the TiVo Website or other promotional materials without further permission or compensation. I understand that my submitted comments becomes property of TiVo Inc. and will not be returned, and that I release all rights and claims to the content submitted for the TiVo Blog. I also state that the content submitted is of my own original creation and style and acknowledge that my comments will be subject to review by TiVo and edited in whole or in part by TiVo prior to publication.
Sheez - that doesn’t look too welcoming.
Read More | TiVo Blog
Looks like Apple has just released a small upgrade for their new OS 10.4 version Backup 3.0 software:
Backup 3.0.1 addresses file restoration and other issues and is highly recommended for all users of Backup 3.0. Significant areas addressed are:
Restoring files to alternate location
Accuracy of iDisk progress bar when uploading files
For more information about Backup 3, visit the .Mac website at: http://www.mac.comFor Backup 3 support information, visit http://www.apple.com/support/dotmac/backup/
Ultimate Spider-Man has been out for a few weeks now and I finally got a chance to sit down and play through it. This latest adaptation to the wonderful world of Spidey is cell shaded, which is an automatic plus because it just makes things look better. What’s more, it’s done by the same people who actually make the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book. The gameplay for Ultimate Spider-Man will seem very familiar if you’ve played Spider-Man 2 (The Movie). The game adapts the Grand Theft Auto free roam feature, and the city is quite large. To move on through the story you have to swing around the city completing “City Goals” which consist of helping out the good folks of New York all the way to racing Johnny Storm (Human Torch) of the Fantastic Four. A really fun thing about this game is that you switch characters to get all sides of the story. After completing certain goals the story moves on and you then take over Venom and play through his side of things. The controls in this game are fairly simple: Jump, Kick, Punch, Grab, Swing, Web Shot, etc. so you shouldn’t have a hard time adapting. The game consists of several different Spider-Man baddies like Rhino, Carnage, and Green Goblin. One thing we didn’t like is that the story is shorter than a kids pop-up book. I was able to play through the whole story in less than 10 hours. One glimmer of hope is that once you complete the story mode the game turns into complete free roam and you can pick which character you want to be. I mostly played as Venom at this point in time and it started to remind me of Grand Theft Auto. The more damage/harm you do as Venom the more points you get, and the higher your points go the more calvary gets sent out on you. All in all the game is fun, but semi repetitive if you’ve played through Spider-Man 2.
The Gear Live iPod video Quick Review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews,
So just about everyone who could afford it picked up the new 5th generation iPod with video support, and it seems that it is a hit. Adding to the myriad of reviews out there, we figured we would do a no-nonsense “quick review” of the device. Not sure what that means? Well, after writing the full review twice and having it turn up as garbled text both times, we have shortened it to hit the keys point to save from further frustration that would result in throwing an iMac through the window.
Click to continue reading The Gear Live iPod video Quick Review
This is very old news, but I figured I would talk about it anyway. I have to admit to a bit of sadness since IBM sold off its PC division to Lenovo. I’ve owned many computers throughout the years. Although I’ve been primarily an Apple user, one of the best non-Apple computers I’ve ever used was an IBM ThinkPad. Though IBM didn’t have the same design philosophy Apple has in regards to form and function, IBM made rock solid machines. The same cannot be said for many of it’s competitors. Not only that, but IBM made innovative and feature rich laptops.
Click to continue reading A Requiem for the IBM ThinkPad
Google Base = Goodbye eBay and Craigslist?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Click image for larger view
Okay, it looks like Google is set to unleash yet another viral service on us. Google Base seems to be a database where anyone can add any type of content, but I bet people are going to be all over this thing as if it was the new, national Craigslist. Think about this for a moment, with Google Base being a free service, and with Google set to launch the Google Wallet online payment service, we might have a free version of eBay/Paypal with Craigslist functionality on our hands - completely ad-supported. In fact, Google even states:
...based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.
So I can put up an item for sale, and have it potentially show up when someone searches for that item under Google Local? Sign us up.
Apple’s Front Row Hacked for General Consumption
Posted by Mark Harrison Categories: Home Entertainment, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop, Software,
It appears that some enterprising folks have managed to hack Apple’s Front Row onto Macs other than the new iMac G5. I do not advocate piracy, but I can say that it was fun to play with on my Power Mac and 20” display! Hopefully, Apple will get the message and update Mac OS X to include Front Row on all Tiger capable machines. Can we say Universal Dock + Apple Remote + Front Row = Hours and hours of good old fashioned family fun? For those who doubt, TUAW is hosting a great video of Front Row running on a Mac mini.
Read More | TUAW
