Geekreel

Redbull BC 1 08 Paris!!! ZOMG!11!!!!

2008-11-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Short and Sweet

2008-07-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, good fans... all four of you... Geekreel the blog is coming to an end. It was short-lived, sure, but was the time not well spent? I think it was. I suppose it's just because it's hard to single-handedly come up with original material often enough to keep it fresh. Fear not, re-run lovers, the blog will remain on the web for you to read over and over again! Perhaps an update or two will be released for worthy events, but until then, it was a pleasure wasting your time!

Sincerely,
~Evan~

Quantum of Solace, New Red Faction vid., etc...

2008-07-01T09:31:00.001-07:00

It was seriously hard to find enough stuff to post today. It's a frickin' tuesday, shouldn't there be plenty of things to post? It's not like everybody has today off or anything. Unless... Oh god. Perhaps all of my hacky sacking somehow opened up some sort of parallel unverse where Tuesdays are the day of choice to take off.

Quantum of Solace trailer:

Tech Review: Motorola, Jawbone and Nokia Bluetooth Headsets:

Around The Net 07.01.08:

New 'Red Faction: Guerrilla' Developer Video:

Guess Who's Back? I am!

2008-06-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't updated in like a week because my net broke down and I haven't had the motivation to go to my local wi-fi spot. It's still broken too, so I probably wont (is willn't a word? It should be if it's not) be very consistant for the next week or so. Well here's the real post:

New Saint's Row trailer:

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway Developers' Diary:

New 'Legendary: The Box' Trailer:

Soulcalibur IV: Ivy vs. Voldo footage:

I'm gonna end this post here, with this: I wish gamers weren't such pigs! Game creators play on that and in my opinion, it just distracts people from the real gameplay. But, um... don't stop. :)

Blah...

2008-06-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Nothing new really. Ok... actually there's plenty of things to post, but I've gotten so addicted to Hacky Sacking that I'm trying to take as many shortcuts with everything today so I have more time to Hack. Gawd, is there a Hacker's Anonymous?

Hackey Sacking... More Extreme than Once Thought?

2008-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Who knew that Hacky Sack was a professional sport with a world championship? RocketBoom has the video. Me and my friends bought a few hacky sacks yesterday and had one of those "Holy Crap!?" moments... Hacky Sacking is super-addictive. Not kidding, go buy one and find some kids on the street and start a game. We've been playing for a total of 19 hours and we have already showed up like 2 groups of kids. Booyah.

And a lol... Ninja?

Check summore out at: Lolninja

New York Sux. Seriously.

2008-06-20T12:43:00.001-07:00

New York sucks. It is the sole reason to my neglegence toward Geekreel for the past few days. Completely, utterly New York's fault. May this redeem it...

Check this. I beleive it.

Check out the above video by band called Creaky Boards. The clip plays one of their tunes that sounds frighteningly like the new Coldplay single, “Viva La Vida," that you’ve seen in that iTunes commercial from their hit album of the same name.

The singer, Andrew Hoepfner, introduces himself and plays both songs back to back, noting the similarities and pointing out that Coldplay singer/songwriter Chis Martin attended one of the band’s show last year.

Hhhhmmmm…..

"We totally refute their claims, and there are two facts that make it easy to disprove them," said Coldplay spokesman Murray Chalmers. "First, on the night in October when the band say Chris Martin was watching them, he was actually working at the Air Studio in London, and we can prove that. Second, even if he had been at the gig, Viva la Vida was written and demoed seven months before the night in question, so it couldn't possibly have been copied."

Coldplay's Viva La Vida album went straight to No 1 upon it’s release last week and sold over 300,000 copies. That’s a lot of scratch…a lot of scratch that Creaky Boards might be getting a piece of if they get a good lawyer….

Judge for yourself…

Oh…ironically, the Creaky Boards song in question is titled "The Songs I Didn't Write."

I'd honestly include more on today's post if I could find anything else that was worthy. But I can't, so I didn't. But check out my Twitter, Geekreel, for more.

Back in New York. Unfortunately.

2008-06-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back in New York - Roc City to be exact. And it sucks. No surprise to most people who live here, but take it from me... NY is NOT as fun as you think it will be. Your just gonna have to take my word for it. The Big Apple? Slightly more fun than the rest of the state, but equally disappointing. Honestly. Maybe it's just my Boston side, that IS where I grew up. Who knows. All I know is that NY sucks.

Well, let's throw some Geek on this bitch...

Microsoft Signs On To E For All

Here's another reason to buy your ticket to E for All: Microsoft will be at the fan-centric convention.

“We are thrilled that Microsoft Corporation has decided to exhibit at this year’s E for All. The addition of Microsoft’s leading line of products at the event will be a huge benefit for attendees, from hardcore gamers to families, and everyone in between,” said Mary Dolaher, Chief Executive Officer at IDG World Expo, owner of E for All. “Microsoft’s presence at the 2008 event will help us build on the great success of last year’s inaugural E for All event, and will further our goal of building an exciting and cutting-edge event that brings the best and newest games to gamers of all types. We look forward to a terrific 2008 event, and to having the opportunity to bring even more great game products to the great gamers who attend E for All.”

It all goes down October 3-5, 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We'll be there. Will you?
(Source: G4TV.Com)

Tech Review: Asus M70 Laptop

One for the raod...

2008-06-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

We're headin' back the New York. Unfortunately. I can honestly say that I hate living in New York more than any other state that I have lived in. I really do. Mostly because it's filled with Pirates and Nazis. Whoa... bad combo.

Wow pirates suck.

The Girl Who Will Change The Internet?

2008-06-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

Posted by Jonathan Hunt(G4: TheFeed) - Saturday, June 14, 2008 9:00 AM
Recently, we at TheFeed were asked to cease using aliases and write our posts under our given names. After a few minutes of raucous ballyhoo and appeals to the powers-that-be, the writers of TheFeed resigned ourselves to saying goodbye to our much-beloved internet anonymity.

Soon, you may know our pain. While some would argue that this crazy virtual world of teh Internetz depends on anonymity, we all may soon find out what the 'nets will be like if everyone was suddenly held accountable for their words and virtual actions.

On May 15th, a Missouri woman was indicted on three charges of lying about who she was... to MySpace. The story leading to the accusations is long and twisted, and it begins with the death of a 13 year-old girl named Megan Meier—the girl who may change the internet forever.

THE GIRL WHO MAY CHANGE EVERYTHING

Megan Meier grew up in Dardenne Prarie Missouri, a small suburb of St. Louis. Her parents describe Megan as a "bubbly, goofy" girl, who liked swimming, boating, and fishing. She was a member of her 7th Grade Volleyball Team at Fort Zumwalt West Middle School in nearby O'Fallon, Missouri.

From early in her childhood, Megan suffered from psychological issues. She was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and Depression. In the 3rd Grade, she contemplated suicide and had been seeing a therapist ever since. She considered herself overweight and had a contentious on-again-off-again friendship with a girl down the street.

Megan's parents, just in time for her 8th Grade Year, decided to transfer Megan from Fort Zumwalt to Immaculate Conception, a private school in Dardenne Prairie, in an effort to provide a more understanding and comfortable atmosphere for Megan.

As summer turned to fall in 2006, life seemed to be improving for Megan. Her depression appeared to be lifting, she had shed 20 pounds and school seemed to be going well. Since she appeared to be doing so much better, Megan's mother allowed her to open a MySpace account, an account Megan's parents would closely and rigorously monitor. Megan was actually not given the password to the account; only her parents had the ability to log in for her.

When Megan met Josh Evans in September of 2006, she didn't think things could get much better.

A TIMELINE

September 2006:

"Josh Evans", a 16 year-old boy, claims to have recently moved to nearby O'Fallon, Missouri and befriends Megan over MySpace. Megan is thrilled and comments to her mother repeatedly on how "hot" she thinks he is. Megan's mother allows the online friendship to continue under her supervision.

Megan's mother, Tina, would later say, "Megan had a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem [...] And now she finally had a boy who she thought really thought she was pretty."

Megan remarks that she thinks it's odd that "Josh" never asks for her phone number and when she asks for his, he says that he doesn't have a cell phone and they have not installed a land line yet.

October 15th, 2006:

"Josh Evans" breaks off the friendship via MySpace message by stating, "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends."

Megan's immediate response to "Josh" is, "What are you talking about?"

"Josh Evans" did not respond that night.

October 16th, 2006:

At school, Megan hands out invitations for her upcoming 14th birthday party. She returns home asks her mother if she can log into MySpace and check to see if "Josh" has responded. Tina, in a hurry to get Megan's younger sister to the orthodontist, logs in for Megan and prepares to leave.

"Evans" has responded with more upsetting messages. Tina, on her way out the door, tells Megan to log off. Megan promises that she will, saying, "Let me finish up."

Tina calls Megan from the orthodontist office to make sure that Megan has signed off. At this point, Megan is in tears, telling her mother, "They are all being so mean to me."

At this point, "Josh Evans" had been sharing private messages with some of Megan's other friends. Some friends joined in the cruel messages, making bulletins that would go out to everyone on their friends list with subject lines like, "Megan Meier is a slut" or "Megan Meier is fat."

Tina arrives home and finds Megan still at the computer. Tina gets Megan to stand up away from the computer and Tina reads the vulgar language her daughter had been using to respond the cruel attacks. She tells Megan, "I am so aggravated at you for doing this!"

As Megan leaves the room and heads upstairs for her bedroom, she yells at her mother, "You’re supposed to be my mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!"

Megan bumps into her father on the stairs, where she tells him what people had been saying about her over MySpace. He comforts her and tells her that it would be okay and that these people obviously don’t know her.

Twenty minutes later, Megan's parents enter her bedroom to find that Megan has hanged herself with a belt from her closet.

They immediately pull her down and her father attempts CPR while Tina calls for an ambulance.

October 17th, 2006:

Megan dies at the hospital. She is three weeks from turning 14.

Megan's father logs into his daughter's MySpace to read some the mean spirited messages for himself. The final message sent from Josh reads, "Everybody in O'Fallon knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."

AFTERMATH

Naturally, Ron and Tina Meier attempt to contact "Josh Evans". By the next day, his MySpace account has been deleted. Later on that day, the Meiers travel down the street to visit the girl who had once been Megan's friend to comfort her and let her know that, despite the arguments the two girls sometimes had, Megan valued her friendship.

The girls' parents, Lori and Curt Drew, ask the Meiers to store a foosball table (a Christmas gift for one of the Drew children) in their garage. The Meiers agree.

Six weeks after the death of their daughter, they were called into their counselor's office in O'Fallon by a neighbor that they did not know very well. The story they were told when they arrived would be nearly unfathomable.

"Josh Evans" did not exist. The boy the Meiers felt was largely responsible for what happened to Megan was an invention. He was created by a woman in their neighborhood. A woman on their street. A woman named Lori Drew.

That’s right. The woman who was mother to Megan's on-again-off-again friend, the woman who had asked Ron and Tina to store a foosball table for them, was the creator and mastermind behind the non-existent "Josh Evans". Apparently, the character of "Josh Evans" had been created as a way for Lori to determine what bad things Megan might have been saying about her daughter.

The neighbor claimed to have discovered all this from her own daughter, who had "joined in on the joke." She even claims that on the night Megan died, while the ambulance was still at the Meier's, her daughter received a phone call from Lori Drew saying that something had happened to Megan and that it would be best not to mention the fake MySpace account.

Upon returning home from the meeting, the Meier’s took to the foosball table in their garage with an axe and a sledgehammer. They dumped the obliterated remains into a box and dropped it off on the driveway of the Drew’s with the message, "Merry Christmas" written on the side.

The story remained out of the media for over a year, as the FBI and County officials tried determine if there were grounds for a criminal case.

Steve Pokin of the St. Charles County Examiner published a story on Sunday, November 11, 2007 about the events surrounding the suicide of Megan Meier. The article stopped short of naming Lori Drew as the creator of the account, but the story caught like wildfire over the Internet. Bloggers the country over expressed outrage that nothing had been done for over a year to help Megan find "justice".

Based on the details of the story, it did not take long for the blogging community to find the name of Lori Drew. Within hours she was the focal point of the internet's hatred, blaming her for the death of the 13 year-old girl from Dardenne Prairie.

On December 3, 2007, St. Charles County, Missouri prosecutor Jack Banas revealed that he had reviewed the laws related to stalking, harassment, and child endangerment and couldn't find statutes allowing him to file charges against Lori Drew or anyone involved.

At this point, the outrage grew, hitting mainstream media outlets, such as CNN and ABC News.

Then, on May 15th, 2008, Lori Drew was indicted on Federal charges for her role in the MySpace hoax. She is charged with one count of Conspiracy and 3 counts of Accessing Protected Computers Without Authorization.

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

This is where the story starts to affect us, the good people of The Internets, who thrive on offering up our unsolicited and often unwanted opinions on the general populace through a smoke screen of technology and anonymity. What does it mean for us if this woman, Lori Drew, is found guilty on all charges? She's been charged with "Accessing Protected Computers Without Authorization". The computers in question are the MySpace servers. She's being charged with lying to MySpace about her identity.

How many of you have lied about who you are online? How many have fudged the numbers on how old you are? Be honest, your MySpace profile says your 103 years-old, doesn't it? How about creating fake email addresses so you have a place to direct annoying SPAM emails you’d be otherwise inundated with should you be forced to cough up your genuine email domain? Imagine that each time you lied to a computer, you committed a felony.

Before we move much further on this issue, let's be clear about something. If Lori Drew is guilty of what she is accused of doing with the "Josh Evans" account, there is no defense for her actions. There is flat out no excuse for a grown woman to behave in such a manner toward a 13 year-old child. Should there be some sort of protection set up for people like Megan? Sure, but currently we really don't have anything in our legal system. What happened to Megan is a genuine tragedy that has touched a vast number of people out there, this contributor being one of them. Are we clear on this issue? Good. Now, let’s continue…

PRECEDENT COULD BE TEH SUXX0RZ

The precedent that could be created upon a conviction of Lori Drew is a scary one. Suddenly, people could find themselves accountable for anything they said on the Internet. Larger than that, what would happen to the practice of "screen names"? If lying about who you are on the Internet became a crime, would websites do away with screen names entirely?

We think not. Instead, websites would probably require verification of your identity and then they would tie that info to the screen name of your choosing. Of course, this information would be, theoretically, confidential. Still, many people don't want anyone to know who they really are online. The paranoia of identity in the online world comes from many sources.

Some people are terrified of "Identity Theft", convinced that if any online website has any sort of genuine information on them, they are at risk of financial ruin. Other people fear the dreaded "Online Predator", brought into the spotlight with segments like "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC. Others simply want to keep their online and real identities completely separate.

Whether these fears are justified or magnified by media interested, what happens to people when they can no longer lie about who they are online?

Now, remember when I asked you earlier to think about every time you've ever lied about yourself on the Internet? And think about each of those times being a felony? Well, now what do you think about the charges against Lori Drew? Are you prepared to stop lying online? Are you prepared to give up the precious anonymity the World Wide Web provides each of its children? Are you willing to risk jail and losing the right to vote just to avoid some SPAM or not letting strangers know who you really are?

These aren't only rhetorical questions, either; they'll have hard and fast answers in a matter of months, depending on the outcome of the Megan Meier case.

Our judicial system is based primarily on precedent. Determining what is the proper legal course of action usually comes down to how it has been before. The Internet in its current form has only been around for approximately 15 years. Precedent and jurisdiction for online "crimes" is still being formed. On top of that, we're still trying to determine what all constitutes a cyber-crime.

The fact the Lori Drew was brought up on charges stemming from her lying to MySpace shows that authorities couldn't find any charges that would apply that directly reflect her behavior toward Megan Meier. What would they charge her with? Being mean? As despicable as it may be, it's not illegal to be jerk. Even to a kid.

So the Federal authorities, under immense pressure to find something to charge Lori Drew with, decided on three counts of Accessing Protected Computers Without Authorization and one count of Conspiracy. The indictments were handed down in Los Angeles, California where MySpace (the "victim" computers) is based.

Ironically, much of the public outrage that created the pressure on Federal authorities to call in the Grand Jury came from online sources. It was the online community that exposed Lori Drew as the woman behind the MySpace hoax. It was the online community that raised their voices in protest, calling the lack of criminal charges against Mrs. Drew a "miscarriage of justice." However, it is this same community who may lose one of the things they love most about the virtual world.

Well, where do we go from here? Sadly, there does not appear to be much chance of any criminal charges being filed in relation to the actions taken against Megan Meier which, pretty undeniably, led to her suicide. Sure, the indictments handed down might be the only charges that can, in a bizarre and what some might call backwards way of reading the law, be filed against Lori Drew, might it be best to instead focus on keeping this sort of thing from happening again rather than try and achieve some sort of retribution?

Believe me, my heart and soul goes out to Ron and Tina Meier. The death of one's child is greatest loss one could experience. It seems to contradict the very essence of life and nature. As despicable as Lori Drew's actions are, the effort being made to send her to prison (even if just for few weeks) is creating a fog, keeping us from truly learning from this experience and growing stronger from it.

I do not think anything can be done to bring "justice" for Megan Meier. I fear that she is destined to join a list of countless others who sadly fell victim before the system was in place to help them.

We, as a community have two ways we can handle this. We can stay where we are: Angry, outraged, and obsessed with finding "justice" in the forms of questionable charges and means of retribution. Or we can look forward, and try to find meaning in the tragedy.

Of course, as soon as the word regulation comes into an argument, it becomes a very sticky situation. Sure, we do not want to limit our freedom of speech in any way, but we still must find methods for people to be responsible for their actions. The First Amendment protects your right to say what you will, but it does not free you of responsibility for what you say. It is this fundamental reason why it's illegal to yell "Fire" in a theater. That's why it is illegal to say "Kill the President!"

While we can never outlaw being an a**hole, we can regulate the behavior between adults and minors. We have precedent for that. It's against the law to even engage in sexually explicit dialogue with a minor in certain circumstances. A 13 year old child is not legally responsible for their actions in regards to violence and sexuality according to our legal system. Thus, shouldn't that extend to violence against themselves. If an adult told a child to go out and kill someone and they did, that adult would be charged in a heart beat. What if that adult told the child to kill themselves?

We're at a point where we need to have a system of order for the online world. The Internet is a different animal than the real world. We cannot expect laws to be as fitting there and they are outside of the virtual. But we have to be careful. The easy way through this is to outlaw all the things we don't like about the Internet, which some people have obviously tried to do. But hard and fast regulation isn't the answer either. We have to be delicate, as delicate as our founding fathers were when drafting the laws that we now find sadly inadequate for the new, online world of information.

Geocaching today...

2008-06-14T07:24:00.001-07:00

Well, I've rounded up all the old friends from MA and were going out for a day of geocaching. We should start any minute... except I'm the only one awake... It's like 10:30!?! Anyway, I've brought a Geocoin from NY to hide here, it's directions were "Wants to visit every New England state." So I figured it was a good one to bring along. Pictures posted tomorrow, and here, have some videos!

Tech News Countdown, June 14

Dark Night Alternate Trailer

No Subject... : P

2008-06-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys... it's been really hectic the past few days preparing for my trip to MA and all. There's plenty to report and I'll get around to it eventually. Gah, damn my unreliability! If I were a ninja, I'd kill my unreliability and burry it with all the dead pirates I've also killed.

For your veiwing pleasure:

"Square Enix's Concerto Gate Trailer Doesn't Bore You With Gameplay"

'Overlord: Raising Hell' PS3 Trailer

'Metal Gear Solid 4' Title Screen Scene

'Lego: Batman The Videogame' Trailer

Oh, and 'Unreal Tourney 3' Dated For The 360:
The Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 is dated. The lightning fast first-person-shooter is scheduled to be available on July 7, 2008. Along with a terrific game, it will come with a video preview of Gears of War 2.

The exclusive video content will include new footage of the game's multiplayer modes featuring new maps, new modes, new weapons and new gameplay elements. The video is narrated by design director, Cliff Bleszinski, and producer, Rod Fergusson.

As for Unreal Tournament 3, here's some new features you can expect:

- split screen
- five exclusive maps
- two all-new characters
- all previously released downloadable content

No... More... XP???

2008-06-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

I think this article from PC World definately worth blogging. I still use XP and most of the people I know still use XP so this can obviously be a very serious concern to many people, especially people like us who know why XP is preferrable over Vista.

Windows XP is dead ... long live Windows XP. You may have heard that as of June 30, you're no longer able to buy the operating system or obtain support for it. But that isn't quite the case. In fact, you'll be able to buy XP on certain mainstream PCs at least until January 31, 2009, and possibly beyond. The cutoff date is even later for some ultra-low-cost notebooks such as those made by Asus: They'll sell with XP until June 2010. As for technical support, that has a lot of life left as well--officially, Microsoft will provide at least some forms of support until 2014.
Given the confusion about XP's future, we decided to lay out your options for buying XP and getting support for it beyond the official sunset date for the OS.
Not Dead Yet

Microsoft's public statement seems to leave no wiggle room. It reads, "Windows XP will no longer be available for purchase from Microsoft for general retail and OEM partners as of June 30, 2008."

But that simple statement hides plenty of loopholes. First, retailers and PC makers can still sell the Windows XP software, and Windows XP PCs, after that date, as long as they purchased the products before June 30. If a retailer stocked up on copies of XP before June 30, it can sell XP for as long as those supplies hold out. The same holds true for PC manufacturers.

An even bigger loophole--something called downgrade rights--will allow people to get Windows XP on new PCs, even after computer makers' stock of Windows XP licenses runs out. An OEM such as Dell can sell you a PC that starts out with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate on it, and then downgrade the operating system to Windows XP Professional before shipping the machine out to you. In the box, you will receive discs for Vista, XP, Vista drivers, and XP drivers. That way, if you decide you'd prefer Vista, you can use the installation disc and drivers to upgrade to that OS.
You can do this only with Vista PCs for which the OEM has decided to offer downgrade rights, however. A Dell spokesperson says that Dell will provide the option for its XPS line of gaming PCs (the XPS M1730 laptop, XPS 630 gaming desktop, and XPS 730 gaming desktop), for its line of Vostro small-business PCs, and for enterprise customers. Dell won't offer the choice indefinitely, though--only through January 31, 2009.

HP also offers a downgrade option on its business desktops, notebooks, and workstations, and will continue to do so until at least July 30, 2009, says a company spokesperson. As with Dell PCs, when someone buys a system, it will have XP Pro installed, and will come with discs for both XP and Vista.

January 31 of next year is also the last date you'll be able to buy XP on a machine from a "system builder"--a company that builds no-brand custom PCs from components and purchases Microsoft software from a distributor rather than directly from Microsoft itself.

If you buy an ultra-low-cost PC--which Microsoft describes as a notebook with "limited hardware capabilities" intended for entry-level buyers or people seeking an inexpensive second system--you're in luck. Such laptops, including the popular Asus Eee PC, can be sold with Windows XP until June 2010. The notebooks must have small screens and low-powered CPUs to qualify.

And, just 'cuz it is way too cute to NOT show, a new 'Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise' Trailer...

Blah...

2008-06-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

It was too hot to update much yesterday... But check out what's goin on in Charlotte, NY every sunday...

Can you say NSX?
Juss a couple of sweet bikes...
Some of the City Knights.
A sweet Del Sol and mah bro's RX-7

There's a meet every sunday at Charlotte beach, all are welcome and if your car is hot enough, join us on the line. Set up your next race or just make some new friends... or bug the guy with the NSX until he finally lets you sit in his car. These pics don't do justice, there is a huge amount of people and cars later on in the day, so if it looks a li'l dead, just show up about 8pm.

This post not geeky enough for you? How 'bout a lolcat...
This one made my giggle like a Furby for like 4 minutes straight...

Charlotte Race Night

2008-06-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

I'm out with the City Nights of Rochester, I'll update with pics and stuff later tonight. Good times.

Soul Calibur, CoD4 2xXP, Etc...

2008-06-07T07:54:00.001-07:00

Wow. Last night was super fun. Me and mah bro (Crown Performance) went to the Rochester East end fest thing, lots of good looking people and starving artists and suff were everywhere, but for some ungodly reason, it was really fun. We honestly didn't do anything abnormal, but I dunno, it was just a weird feeling. I think it was the mix of Bawls and bongos. Anyway, check out some new stuff:

'SoulCalibur' Apprentice Video

MTV 2 DLC Coming To 'Rock Band' (Source: G4TV.com)

This week's Rock Band DLC occasions a rare glimpse into the inner workings at the G4Tv.com compound. Here's how it went down:

I recieved the press release announcing next week's DLC and told my cubicle mates, "Next week's Rock Band tracks are:

The Material "Moving to Seattle"

The Myriad "A Clean Shot"
Them Terribles "Bullets & Guns"

Then Michael D'Alonzo said, "What's that, the MTV 2 pack?"

Everyone laughed, but I had to answer: "Yes, actually, it is." True story.

Anyway, all these fantastic MTV 2 tracks will be available on Tuesday for the 360 and Thursday for the PS3. They will cost $.99 per track or $2.99 for the pack.

Maxïmo Park's "Girls Who Play Guitars" will be available, sans-pack, for $.99.

As CoD4 retook the #1 spot on Xbox Live, Infinity Ward is celebrating by having a double XP weekend. Gain ranx at twice the normal speed to unlock more perks and guns to rack up the frag list. If you haven't got a copy of CoD4, this is the perfect opportunity, and since the celebration weekend has already started, you better pick up the pace or be left in the dust by a couple of 8 year olds who took turns fragging eachother just to gain a bunch of perks.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is out today! I'm planning on getting the books eventually, but since I have 3 campaigns running in v3.5, I'll wait 'till I'm finished with 'em before I pick up the $120 core bundle. One of the most anticipated features of 4E is D&D Insider. Make an account at Gleemax, it's free, and you'll be able to use the tools later this year when they're available. The tool set includes a Character Visualizer - A program in which you can render youre character in 3D and dress and equip her as you see it. And yes, Mr.Kimura, there IS a bust slider.

Another tool, the Character Builder, will be like an online character sheet. The game table is cool for someone with no one to play with locally. It works in conjunction with the Dungeon Builder. The DM creates the dugeon on the Dungen Builder and the Game Table lets playes play on it through the internet. Have a nice game of D&D with your new friends from all over the globe. There are a few other tools and an online store at Wizards.com/DnD

Geocaching + Rant on Blogger

2008-06-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ok. Can I rant first? BLOGGER F*CKING SUCKS!!! I had to change my whole fricking template (as you have probably noticed) just to get rid of that stupid f*cking Geekreel in the top left corner of my page. Seriously, why the hell would Blogger do something stupid like change the way you are allowed to set up your page? User frindly? I think not. Blogger... you suck. Seriously, suck my balls. This fricking template sucks. Sucks like Blogger. Only not as bad.

OK! Geocaching... Yesterday I told you a li'l bit about what it was and what you do. Here's Pt. 2...
So you keep telling yourself that you'll eventually get off your 'pooter for some exercise... Eventually. You would but you need to maintain your Uber-Geek status in a number of online communities... leaving your computer would hardly be beneficial. Well, there is something you can do now. It's not too hard on those muscles if you don't want it to be, there is a rating system to determine the amount of physical exertion you'll have to endure to get to the hide spot. Anything under 3 stars in the Terrain section willl be relatively easy. Babby steps! The harder the terrain rating, the more rewarding the prize, though. Sometimes you'll end up at a really nice spot in the woods overlooking a low valley, other times you'll end up... well... a few feet from a port-a-potty that really stinks and that huge truck will go by and unleash an army of nasty chemicals into the wind that is heading straight toward you and you'll wonder if the cache is even still there. It won't be, and you just wasted your afternoon walking around a dirty park trying to find something that's not even there. Wow, ok. That doesn't usually happen. No, seriously.

You probably pass about a dozen or so every day when you go to work. Seriously, they aren't only out in the middle of the woods. There are more caches hidden in cities, actually, then anywhere else. Stuck to the bottom of a park bench, hanging down from a sewer grate, in the end of the pipe you use to chain up your bike.

How to play: Grab your GPS and create an account at http://geoacaching.com/ and search your area code. Pick a cache or two nearest to you and stick the coordinates into your device, and Ta-Da! You or your way to a geocache. When you find it, don't take it! The point of the game is more abstract friendship than anything, so sign the logbook, take a trinket or two and leave one behind. If you take something (a shiny new pen, a Carmen Electra mini-poster, a collectible coin, etc...) you MUST leave something behind for the next person. Alot of people have a signiture item they leave at every cache. I have a friend that leaves plastic green army men, I myself like to leave dice.

You can hide one yourself if you like. I've hidden three. It's as easy - easier - than finding one. Just hide it in a good spot (proof of permission might be necessary if you put it on land that is owned privately) and post it on the site. Easy.

"Travel Bugs" are a pretty cool part of Geocaching as well. TBs are items put into a cache by the owner that travel on a suggested path to reach a specific point, each time a person finds it, he/she posts it on the website and hides it for the next person. For example, a person in Maine hides a TB with the instructions "I'd like to travel to California." She hides it in a cache near her home in Maine and someone close by finds it. That person sees the instructions on Geocaching.com and moves the bug a few miles west. He logs it and someone else finds it and moves it a few more miles west into a new cache. The bug is on it's way! The site has a cool feature too that lets you see exactly how many miles the TB has traveled and where it's coming from. I had one here in NY that came from Idaho, but traveled more than 17,000 miles around the country before I picked it up in a local cache. You must buy a TB to start one, but they are very inexpensive and most people have multible bugs going to several different places.

The sport is not limited to the states. One of the most rewarding things in Geocaching is traveling out of the states and finding a foreign cache.
There are multipl caches, for example, within veiwing distance from the Eiffel Tower.

So, Geocaching in a nutshell! This is by no means a comprehensive intro, and Geocaching.com has an extensive and very helpful "Getting Started" section. Check it out! -Evan

Breakdown! - The Bad Kind...

2008-06-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well... my bro got himself into a li'l bit o' trouble today and we've just officially decided that we're going to run away! Woot! Back to Boston for us... We're leaving tomorrow night and it'll be exactly .834 pistance from Portland, Maine to Seattle, Washington. Ok, I made that up. But yeah... So! I know you expected me to say that today's post is delayed. BUH-BAAM! Wrong! Ok, well you're sortof right. My original post will be delayed, but I will have something equally geeky today. Kindof.

So... You have a GPS and your really starting to wonder why the hell you just dropped $350 to have some brittish chick tell you what to do, "Turn left in 500 meters," "Turn left in 499 meters," "Turn left in 498 meters..." Sure, her voice was kinda sexy at first, but now it's just SUPER annoying. So much so, in fact, that you named her Bitchin'Betty. Well, Bitchin' Betty now has a new occupation - Geocacher! "Geocacher? Whussat?" You may ask. Well, Geocaching is an Uber geeky um... Sport? in which people with a GPS and tons of time on their hand wander through the woods and parks of their city and creep kids out when they ask "Have you seen a 35mm film canister anywhere in or near this cave entrance? No? Would you like to help me find it? Here in this cave?" We search for little canisters (Rubbermaid containers, film canisters, ammo boxes) filled with some goodies and a logbook. You sign the logbook to let evryone know you were there and move on to the next. In case your wondering now, yes I have found money in a few.

Wow. You know what? Blogger is being a F*CKING JACK-O-LANTERN! Seriously, WTF? All of the sudden, that stupid italicized Geekreel showed up under the main picture and I cannot take it off. Seriously, it won't let me. At all. Blogger, you honestly suck huge balls. Hughmonsterous balls. Now I'm kind out of it. I'll finish this post up tomorrow. Check out Geocaching.com for more info.

RE5, Around the Net, etc...

2008-06-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Ugh... Sorry 'bout the update yesterday -er... lack of update. I was just lazy. You can't really say anything, you've done it a thousand times. Call into work because you've been diagnosed with diabetes... yeah right. Anyway, today's post is just some vids, but tomarrow - I promise! - will be good. Seriously, I've got an idea. So watch some vids and get to waiting for tomorrow's post. Enjoy.

Around The Net: 6/4/08

Resident Evil 5 Trailer(!)

This actually looks funner than I thought it was gonna. Yes, funner. Bionic Commando Multiplayer...

OMG... Is saying that she got Pwned wrong?

PWNED! ...Himself?

Today is Monday... right?

2008-06-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Gah! I know I haven't updated like... all weekend, it's just been really weird. I had a nap on Friday and it screwed me ALL up. You know, you take a nap and wake up thinking it's the next day when it's really still that same day, and you're all like "Dammit! I had stuff to do yesterday..." And it's toward evening so you're like "Dammit! I had stuff to do today..." and then you go to sleep expecting to wake up on Sunday, so in the morning when you forget to show up for that breakfast meet with your friends cuz you think it was yesterday, they call you and are all like "Dude... WTF? Where are you?" and you're all like, "What do you mean, that was for yesterday, I left you a message." then they say, "I was wandering what the hell you were talking about... you know today is Saturday?" and then it all hits you. Son of a "Be there in a minute... It's seriously Saturday?

So anyway, here's some stuff to quench your Geeky thirst...

Korean shooter MMO Huxley is officially getting a North American release. Billed as the "first twitch-action massively multiplayer online first-person shooting game," Huxley is slated to arrive on the PC in late 2008.

“Huxley is one of the most anticipated online games currently in development, and we are very excited to bring the triple-A title to Western audiences,” said Whon Namkoong, CEO, NHN USA, Inc. “Huxley provides gamers with a unique and compelling experience that gamers everywhere are sure to enjoy. The revolutionary online shooter is a welcome addition to ijji.com, the site where millions of fans can play it later this year.”
Source: http://g4tv.com/

PC 'CoD4' Gets Variety Maps on June 5 for Free
PC Call of Duty 4 gamers should feel satisfied for their patience in waiting for new maps because they are getting the Variety Map Pack on June 5 for free!

The $10 pack will be sponsored by NVIDIA and won't cost PC gamers a dime.

The maps will also be released with a new patch that will fix several bugs. Here is footage of one of the maps, Creek, from the Xbox 360 version of the military FPS.

As if Age of Conan subscribers didn't have enough to complain about already, now Funcom goes and forces involuntary plastic surgery on them. In a perfect, happy world, no one would have been paying enough attention to their character's animated breasts to notice, but when certain players logged in after the latest patch and broke out the tape measure, they realized their enormous busts had been busted. AOC forum user Gust even went as far as to provide photo evidence, seen above. No need to worry though folks, as Funcom promises things will soon be back to abnormal.

Funcom can confirm that some of the female models in the game have had the size of their breasts changed. This is due to an unintended change in data that was introduced in an earlier patch, data which controls the so-called morph values associated with character models and the size of their respective body parts. We are working on a fix for this and your breasts should be back to normal soon.

Sometimes the world makes me very, very sad.
Source: http://kotaku.com/

Airsoft Innovations...

2008-05-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Check it. The best airsoft grenade I have ever seen. A li'l pricy at $100 per grenade, but it was tested vigorously (1000+ throws!) and still worked perfectly. Plus, no more shells to replace! Will definately pay for itself down the road. So for the backyard warrior or the extremely bold office skirmisher, throw down a hundred bux and scare the hell out of your friends and cubemates. Some vids and some links:

Airsoft? Whussat? Find out here: http://redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/Beginners

Source: http://redwolfairsoft.com/

Your Gonna Need a Towel...

2008-05-29T10:07:00.001-07:00

Today I'm bringing you all the videos that you've been salivating over for the past 36 hours or so alread plus a few I like. so... yeah. Enjoy.

Far Cry 2

Beyond Good & Evil 2

Prince of Persia

MGS4

DBZ: Burst Limit

Alone in the Dark

Halo 3 Homicide Detective

And My Favorite, Around the Net

Read tomorrow's post to see the trailers for the Airsoft Innovations Frag Grenade. Percool.

Nothing New...

2008-05-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

No specials today. Not that there isn't any news in the geek world, just lazy I guess. But how about some videos?

Enjoy! Oh, and D&D 4th edition in 10 days! The new Warhammer 40k comes out very soon also.

Know Thy Heritage Pt. 3

2008-05-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. "Finally..." is what I'm thinking too. But c'mon, I'm sure your weekend was pretty twisty too, what with the weird holiday and such. And you didn't get diagnosed with Diabetes! Ok, so I didn't either... but still. Anyhow, here it is! Know Thy Heritage Pt. 3, Play Example Pt. 2...

So last time, the party(Lidda, Jozan, Tordek, and Mialee) had just burst into a dark chamber with a fast-moving stream in the midle and cought two orcs by surprise, this would be played out like such:

-DM: Roll for initiative everybody!
-Everyone does and the order is as follows: Lidda goes first with a 20, Orc#1 second with a 19, Mialee with 16, Jozan with 12, Orc#2 with 8, and Tordek with 7.
-Here is where the DM describes the scene to the players, telling them what the orcs are doing, what they are wearing, what type of weapon they are weilding, and the room itself. The Orcs both are wearing leather armor and have falchions at their hips. The strange moaning sound was a light wind coming in through the hole in the floor where the stream enters the room.]
-Lidda: Cool, since I act before Orc#1, I sneak attack him! [Sneak attack is an ability only available to the Rogue class, which Lidda is. It allows extra damage to be dealt to surprised enemies]
-DM: Ok, roll your attack.
-She gets a 15, enough to hit the orc. She then rolls damage, plus the extra damage allowed by her sneak attack ability. Since the sword she is using deals 1d4 damage, the total damage would be 1d4 + 1d6 + 1, the 1 being her strength modifier. The final result is 6, just enough to kill the orc.
-DM: There is still one more, but since Orc#1 is out, Mialee is next. Mialee, what would you like to do?
-Mialee: I cast Dancing Lights so the other guys can see the orc well enough to fight him properly.
-DM: Ok...[The DM describes the character as raising her hands in front of her and moving them with very slight, deliberate movements and chanting something quietly, when the lights appear about 20 ft. away, about 5 ft. in front of the orc]... the orc can now be seen by everyone. Jozan, you're up.
-Jozan: Ok, I run toward him with my mace high and smash it down on his head... I got an 11 on my roll, good enough?
-DM: Unfortunately not, the orc easily moves out of the way and instantly strikes back...[This is known as an Attack of Opportunity. The DM makes the attack roll in secret to build suspense as the characters won't know if Jozan was hit or not until the DM tells them]... heh, sorry Jozan, you take 4 points of damage...[Since the Orc's weapon damage was 2d4+4]... you are now at 7 hp, but he's not done, the Orc raises his weapon and swings again. Tordek, it's up to you...
-Tordek: Finally! I'll save you, Jozan! My character lets out a feirce battlecry and charges the orc, swinging both of his axes wildly. I attack and rolled a 14 and an 11, do I hit him?
-DM: Since you and Jozan are both next to him now, you get a +2 bonus on both of your attacks, resulting in a 16 and a 13, both hitting him! Roll your damage.
-Tordek rolls for each of his axes and easily takes down the orc. After this, the party regroups and Jozan, being the healer, heals himself and Mialee.
-DM: Ok, so now you guys can actually take a look around. You notice the obvious, like the stream and the wind, but you also notice some buckets and barrels in the left corener of the room on your side of the stream. What would you all like to do?
-Tordek: I check the ceiling for anything out of place, such as anything that may fall and kill us, anything that may fall and bite us, or anything that someone could use to create anymore nasty little surprises.
-Mialee: I walk over to the pool.
-Jozan: I check the barrels and buckets.
-Lidda: And I'll keep an eye on the hall we just came from.
-DM: Great, so... Mialee, the wind is strong by the pool and the torch you have suddenly goes out, which means no one else can see anything, so Lidda, Jozan, and Tordek, you can't finish your actions until someone finds another light source.
-Mialee: I can cast light on a copper peice. I take a copper peice from my pouch and cast the spell.
-Jozan: I do the same.
-DM: Ok, so you resume your actions. Lidda, Tordek, make spot checks. Jozan, make a search check, and Mialee, since you can't "search" the stream without getting into it, also make a spot check.
-The DM knows that there is nothing for Lidda or Tordek to see, but the checks help build the suspence. Jozan has nothing notable to find either, but the DM tells him that the barrel and buckets are filled with sand. Mialee on the other hand, makes a good search check and notices something...
-DM: Mailee, you look into the water and see that it's about 4 feet deep and about 10 feet across. You also see some white fish that seem harmless and what looks to be an unnatural rock formation at the bottom of the stream, it's oddly in the shape of an old skeleton.
-Jozan: I walk toward Mialee, since there was nothing interesting in the buckets. How about you guys?
-Tordek: I'm coming.
-Lidda: Me too.
-Jozan: Ok, I throw the copper peice that I cast light on into the pool to get a better look at the skeleton.
DM: Your copper peice falls to the bottom of the stream, illuminating the formation. It's clearly a limed-over human skeleton - it must have been there for many years. Your copper peice impacts with it, stirring up dirt that gets taken away with the current... along with something else your copper peice dislodged. it appears to be an old leather scroll case, and it's being taken away by the current...
-Lidda: Shouldn't someone... get it? I leap into the water sensing that no one else would and attempt to grab the case.
-DM: Make a swim check.
-Lidda: Uh-oh, I don't have that skill. Untrained, I use my stregth modifier, right? [Rolls] Hey! I got a 17!
-DM: Well, even with a penelty for the weight of your gear, you succeed. Nice. You manage to get to it just as the current would've swept it into the darkness.
-Lidda: Ok, then I try to grab it.
-DM: Make an attack roll. [The DM makes Lidda make an attack roll because jaust like if she was attacking, grabbing the tube depends on how coordinated she is with her hands.]
-Lidda rolls high enough to grab the tube. The DM relays this information, and Lidda swims up to the surface and is helped out of the pool by Tordek and Jozan. Lidda reveals the tube and the others crowd around her to see what was inside. The DM describes the sealed tube.
-Lidda: I dry off the tube a little and open it.
-DM: Inside is a roll of velum.
-Tordek: Let's get out of this windy room and back into the entry chamber. It's probly not going to be easy reading a scroll or whatever with this wind. [The other PCs agree and and return to the room where Mialee was attacked by the serpent]
-DM: The tube must have allowed a little bit of water to seep in slowly because parts of the scroll are smudged or obliterated, but you can see what looks to be a map of the passages under the monastery. You recognize the stairway in which you took to get down here and the room with the stream too. The eastern portion of the map is smeared beyond legibility, but you see that the south passage runs out of the room your in now to a blurred area, and beyond that you see a large area with coffin-like shapes drawn around the perimeter.
-Tordek: Let's head south and see what the map is leading towards.
-Everyone agrees. Tordek lights a torch and takes the lead.

Well, sound like fun? Honestly, I can't get enough of D&D. I've been playing for about 2 years and it has never, ever gotten old. With a creative DM and some witty players, no D&D session will ever be alike, unless you want it that way, of course. Try it out at a local hobby store if you don't want to throw down the cash to buy the books. Be careful at those hobby stores though, there are usually some pretty repulsive creatures there that go waaaaaay beyond nerd or geek.

If one charcter sounds to... small... to you, try Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40,000. Both are tabletop wargames where you control hundreds of miniatures in epic battles of sword and sorcery in Fantasy, or tanks and gunners in 40,000. I enjoy both thoroughly.

Websites: D&D at http://Wizards.com/DnD
Warhammer at http://games-workshop.com/

Diabetes 2

2008-05-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yea... so I've got Diabetes. Ok, I made that up because I was too busy(lazy) to blog this past weekend. But I swear I'll get back on track this week. Probably. But seriously, I'll be giving you Know Thy Heritage Pt. 3 tomorrow, no questions. Hey, some videos? Here ya go!

A Good Reason, I swear!

2008-05-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

I was diagnosed with diabetes today, so instead of blogging, I'm going to explore my options for coping with the disease. Sorry.

Know Thy Heritage Pt. 2

2008-05-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

-This is the second part of my article Know Thy Heritage, an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons. Today, I will show you an example of play between 1 DM and 4 new players. Hopefully this will pique your interest and show you how easy it is to get into. And seriously, every gamer should at least try once, 'cuz remember, all you RPG fans owe your LIFE to this game. Enjoy!

-D&D is played with at least one DM and at least one player. Some starter kits allow you to play through a sample adventure yourself, but a DM is required for any other play. Each player and DM has a set of sice, consisting of 1 20-sided die, 1 12-sided die, 2 10-sided dice, 1 8-sided die, 4 6-sided dice, and 1 4-sided die. The dice are the foundation of the game and are required for almost everything the players wish to do. The player's actions are limited only by their imagination. They maay do anything they wish if the DM permits it possible. I will run you through a sample game session below.

-A DM guides 4 players through their first adventure. The players are playing Tordek, the fighter, Mialee, the Wizard, Jozan, the Healer, and Lidda, the Sneak.These four adventurers seek the ruins of of an abandoned monastery, drawn by the rumors of a fabulous fire opal, supposedly hidden there by the abbot when the place was attacked.

-After passing through the lifeless aboveground ruins of the monastery, the adventurers find a rubble-strewn staircase leading down:
-Tordek: Let's give these upper ruins one more quick look.
-The DM roles a few Search rolls, one for each character to see if they find anything usefull. They don't because the rolls weren't very high.
-DM: You don't find anything. What are you going to do now?
-Jozan: Let's go down. The Group
-Lidda: I'll light a torch.
-At this point, the characters arrange their miniatures on the board in the order they want to enter. Tordek, being the fighter, will go in first to take the brunt if they happen to get attacked by anything. Lidda will bring up the rear, glancing back occasionally to make sure nothing is trying to creep up behind them. Mialee carries the torch. They all go down the stairs and the DM tells them this:
-DM: You descend southward, possibly 30 ft. laterally, and at the end of the stairway you see an oppen space.
-The charcters all move their miniatures onto the next part of the board, entering a room. The DM gives them the following information:
-DM: You are in a chamber that extends about 30 ft. from where you are at the door, and to about 15 ft. to either side of you. Their are three dark passageways, each at the center of it's respective wall straifgt ahead and to each side.
-Lidda: What else do we see?
-DM: The floor is rough and damp. The ceiling is supported by arches that probably rise to meet in the center, about 20 ft. above you - it's hard to tell because of all of the webs. Some mouldering old sacks are lying in the southwest corner, some rubbish is jumbled in the center of the floor - dirt, old leather, scraps of cloth, and some sticks or bones.
-After a short discussion and the formation of a plan, each player announces an action for his or her character. Tordek looks down the south passage, Mialee investigates the rubbish in the middle, Jozan looks at the old sacks, and Lidda looks down the west passage. Since noone looks down the east passage, the DM doesn't worry about any Spot checks to see the huge snake slithering toward them.
-DM: Okay. As two of you are looking down the passages and Jozan starts looking at the sacks... [The DM rolls an attack for the the snake that silently reached Mialee. He knows a 14 indicates success because he wrote down everybody's Armor Class ahead of time and knows Mialee's AC is 13]... Mialee, you hear a hiss, but it's too late! You feel a very sharp pain on your leg.
-Mialee: Ahh! I spin to see what it is... [The DM places a miniature on the map next to Mialee representing the serpent]
-DM: An abnormally large viper just sunk it's fangs into your thigh.
-The DM makes Listen checks for everyone to see if the others heard her cry out from thier positions down the passageways. Jozan, being only 15 ft. away hears her easily, but the other two get low die results, meaning they hear nothing. The DM also rolls for Initiative for the snake, Mialee, and Jozan. Jozan rolls highest, the snakke takes second, and Mialee rolls a pitiful 2.
-Jozan: I run over and lift my mace high over my head and crash it down on the snake's body as hard as I can. I roll a 15 for my attack.
-DM: The snake lets go of the staggering Mialee and curls up in pain... but he's not dead!
-Lidda: I roll a 16 to hear Jozan attacking, is that enough to hear him?
-DM: It's plenty good You turn and see the three in the center of the room, Jozan with his mace at the ready, the snake in striking position, and Mialee with her hand on her leg, probably feeling the effects of the veom already.
-Tordek: I roll a 13, good enough?
-DM: Yep, you see the same. [The DM makes a Fortitude save to see is Mialee can handle the venom. The Difficulty Class for thr snakes bite is 12, not very high, but since Mialee is not very harty, it may be hard for her to overcome it. He tells Mialee to roll]
-Mialee: A 13. What happens?
-DM: Nothing, you barely pass. You still take 2 points of damage from the bite, though.
-Jozan: The snake? What does he do now?
-DM: You have a higher initiative, so roll another attack if you like.
-Jozan: A 17! Hey, where's Tordek anyway?
-Tordek: By now I have to have heard something, so I come into the room to see what's going on.
-DM: Jozan, you swing your mace again and nearly decapitate the poor thing, Tordek, you come in just in time to watch. Okay, Mialee, you feel fine though your leg is sore, and no one else was hurt, call your actions.
-The players all announce their actions again - they all stay in the room this time with Tordek and Lidda watching while Mialee searches the refuse in the middle and Jozan going back to the sacks.
-DM: Looking at the pile of debris, Mialee, you'd guess it was what was leftover from some bugbear's lunch. Bits of bone, tattered clothing, and...[Rolling a search check; getting a 19]...23 silver peices, plus you see something sparkling in the pile... A green gem!
-Mialee: Great! I pull it out and put the coins along with the gem in my pouch, we can get it appraised later.
-Lidda: You know, I'm getting a little nervous in here, let's move on.
-Tordek: Sounds good to me, c'mon, there's a door down here.
-Jozan: What about the sacks?
-DM: Oh, you slice one open to find all sorts of rotting matter - meat mostly, maggots swarming over it and onto the floor. Want to take a whiff? You know, to see if you can smell some gold in there?
-Jozan: Ugh... no thanks. Let's move along.
-Tordek: Ok, down this hall is a doorway, I heard something like running water on the other side while I was down there. I say we check it out.
-DM: He's not lying, I rolled his listen check and told him while you guys were fighting the snake. You guys wanna check it out?
-The party agrees and they all move down the hall, about 50 ft., and come to a door with the obvious sound of rushing water somewhere beyond. The DM tells the group this and they prepare to enter, Tordek at the front as usual.
-Tordek: I swing open the door as fast as I can to try to catch whatever is beyond it, if anything, off-guard. I rush in... what do I see?
-DM: You rush into a darc chamber, much like the last one, except of where the stone floor drops off into a fast-flowing stream, about 10 ft. wide and about 15 ft. ahead of you. You do in fact catch the two orcs off-guard. The look at you shocked and... Roll for initiative!

Read Monday's blog for the rest of the story!

Delayed...

2008-05-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, a couple'a friends came by today so my scheduled post will be here tomorrow. Calm down, it'll be here, but to hold you over, some videos!

...Or not. For some ungodly reason, every single video I try to embed... doesn't embed. I'm pretty sure now that my blog is broken. Damn Frag Dolls.

Know Thy Heritage...

2008-05-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

RPG fans, you owe your LIVES to two people and one game; E. Gray Gygax, Dave Arneson, and the game that started it all, Dungeons and Dragons. Today, I will introduce you into the world of Wizards in a friendly, understandable kind of way. Maybe, even though you claim to be a Geek, you always thought D&D was below you, a game for the immature, fledgling Geek. Perhaps you had tried the game, found it impossible, and subsequently left that group of friends, cowering from their genius. Well, today's blog is the first of a multi-part article on introducing you to the game that made you, bore you; the game that was the womb you always thought was your mother's. With the introduction of 4th Edition D&D, the rules will be simplified for easier use by new players. The 3 core books will be on sale in 17 days, maybe I can convince you to grab them, pre-order them even.

The first of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game.

The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master.

The Player’s Handbook presents the official Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game rules as well as everything a player needs to create D&D characters worthy of song and legend: new character races, base classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, powers, magic items, weapons, armor, and much more.

The second of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide gives the Dungeon Master helpful tools to build exciting encounters, adventures, and campaigns for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game, as well as advice for running great game sessions, ready-to-use traps and non-player characters, and more. In addition, it presents a fully detailed town that can serve as a starting point for any D&D game.

The third of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game.

The Monster Manual presents more than 300 official Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game monsters for all levels of play, from aboleth to zombie. Each monster is illustrated and comes with complete game statistics and tips for the Dungeon Master on how best to use the monster in D&D encounters.

If you can find a DM, players only need the Players Handbook, but if your group is as Geeky as I am, your probly gonna need to make your own DM, which includes buying all three books for $40 each. Drawing names from a hat is probably not the best idea for appointing a DM... a DM needs to be intelligent, quick-witted and imaginative enough to describe what the players see -vividly- everytime they walk into a new room.

It may sound like a daunting task, but with Wizard's new D&D Insider application found on their website, you can use a Visualizer, depicting fully customizable character peices in a DM-created, virtual dungeon, also fully customizable. D&D Insider greatly reduces the responsibilities of the DM and players alike, making the game even easier to get into.

Because of the DM, rules aren't completely important; the DM decides witch rules are important and is the ultimate arbiter on anythint in the game. If the DM decides he doesn't like the fact that a character normally wouldn't see that Rogue standing in the shadows, then the players see him. Easy as that. Think that Beholder is to tough? Slash his Hit Points in half so the players can actually kill him. No questions asked. Hell, you can even decide your players arent strong enough and instantly make them immune to all status effects and spells. Rules really aren't strict... in the least, thought they are very comprehensive guidelines and cover just about anything you could ever think of.

Tomorrow I'll give an example of how the rules would be played out in your first game, and remember, you're already a geek, and if you decide later that it's just too geeky, youre friends can't say anything because they tried it with you!

P.S. Read Shelly Mazzaoble's Super-Hilarious articles on how working at R&D (D&D HQ) impacts her everyday life in Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard!

Nothin' Special Today...

2008-05-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Red Alert 3 clip! Awesome. PAWESOME!

ZOMGFunny!

Top Gamer-Friendly Food!

2008-05-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well judging from the forums and such, alot of people enjoy Wendy's, Taco Bell, and lots of greasy 'tato chips. I for one don't like getting my mouse and board all GREASY! Potato chips are NOT a Gamer-friendly food! I do agree with the Taco Bell, though. There's a tortilla between the grease and your hands :). I've compiled a list of my favorite game-foods and beverages below. Research HAS been done to find agreement on my choices. No agreements found, no spot on my list. Here goes:

- Tacos! Tacos are an undeniable, uncompromised, Gamer-friendly food. Unbeatable. Throw in a side of Cheesy Fiesta potatoes and you have a meal fit for the hardcorest of hardcore gamers.

- Hot Pockets, for when you don't have the money to get the car fixed to go to Taco Bell, probably because you spent your last paycheck on a new graphics card. Sure, you could walk to Taco Bell, but Hot Pockets are about 8 miles closer, so... yeah.

- Beef Jerky. For those of you who think it's wrong to eat dried meat while wracking up the frags, vegan jerky is available. Seriously. Jerky is second only to tacos... and anything cheaper. Since jerky is like $9.00 a bag, stock up while it's on sale, or spend a little bit more to import some japajerky made from Kobe beef. Heck yes.

- The classic PB sammich is a nice choice. It can't spill, it won't gunk up your mouse or controller if it has been prepared correctly, and it has more protein and nutrients than many other junk-foods. Don't think a giant peanut-butter grinder can replace a healthy lunch or dinner, but when stopping the game is not an option, peanut-butter can be a good alternative. Note: Girlfriends, Wives, and/or Moms usually make them the best. Even crust-less if you've spent more than 30 seconds with them that morning.

- I know some of you may cringe at the mixture of the next food and gaming, but it's actually a good choice. Raw vegetables are a good choice because 1) NO GREASE! 2)Can be a snatch-and-eat food for when you get that pang in your tummy but are in the middle of a firefight 3)They are good for you. We gamers are (stereotypically, but it's soo true!) usually not the most fit people. Sure, Wii fit is trying, but we don't play Wii fit all day, we play Halo, Resistance, CoD4 and so on, so vegetables are a good first step for losing all that gamer-fat. For more information on fighting gamer pudge, read Dr. Rhoulette's Guide to Eating Healthy as a Gamer: http://tinyurl.com/55fq7e

Beverages: Some of my favorites are Bawls and Rockstar. Of course, these contribute greatly in out unhealthy lifestyle, so a good alternative would be, say, Vitamin Water, another of my favorites. And a new one, called Function, from the makers of Jones is also pretty good. I HIGHLY recommend a beer hat. Keep your hands dry and on your controller while getting tipsy all at the same time! If a beer hat is not available, a straw is still a must.

Things to stay away from: I cannot stress it enough, but I guess alot of people really have a hard time understanding that GREASE is not a gamer's friend!!! NOT NOT NOT! Potato chips, fried chicken, cheesefries, and any other food made up wholly or partially of grease and/or any other oily substance is not an ally to the gamer. Anything in a bowl is generally frowned upon also, mostly because of imminent spillage and the fact that you must take at least one hand off your your gaming device. Anyone with more than two appendages suitable for gaming may find bowl-ed foods fine, but for gamers of the standerd, run-of-the-mill variety, and even the elite gamer, bowls are usually no bueno.

For more information on Gamer-friendly and not-so Gamer-friendly food, visit http://tinyurl.com/5kk8vk , GamerChow.com (Sorry, for some reason, I cound't get a link, so cut&paste the Tinyurl to get to the website)

P.S. If you can actually find Kobe beef jerky, email me. Or better yet, just send me a bunch. And honestly, I still have no idea wht I'm going to blog about tomorrow, so come back and find out at about 2:00p. Get your Geek on!

Sorry!

2008-05-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

No posts yesterday.... but I have a legitimate reason! I had a slight family crisis... ok a pretty bad family crisis, my dad got fired form his 20-or-so year job and my bro lost his fiancee. On top of that, I could not find Wi-Fi ANYWHERE! But the sow is back on track, so here goes: Yesterday's GameFood article will be moved to tomorrow, Monday, on Tuesday... gawd I have no idea, read tomorrow's to find out : )

P.S. No "Force Unleashed" Multiplayer on Xbox/PS3?

While the Wii version will have an awesome multiplayer duel mode, the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions won't be getting any multiplayer component.

LucasArts' official statement on the matter:

"To be specific, there's no multiplayer in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, because there is on the Wii, PSP, and DS. As far as specific reasons are concerned, we don't really like to get into the reasons why we don't do things because I don't think there's really a satisfactory answer that people would really be happy with. So, there isn't multiplayer and that's kind of how it is..."

Wait... what?

You aren't putting multiplayer on the two consoles with the best online multiplayer services because you're putting multiplayer on 3 platforms that are at the bottom of the multiplayer barrel?

You just got downgraded to rental, Force Unleashed.

Sony's numbers

2008-05-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Sony took a look at the numbers for April, and they want you to know the following:
Over 1 million copies of Grand Theft Auto IV for PS3 were sold in April in North America, with 23.6% of U.S. PS3 owners purchasing a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, a 29.0% higher attach rate for the title than Xbox 360.
Enthusiasm for Grand Theft Auto IV combined with the launches of Haze and SingStar for PS3, is expected to continue to lift PS3 hardware sales through May.
Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue mark the beginning of a monster 2008 software line-up for PS3, including the highly-anticipated exclusive titles Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation, Resistance 2, and LittleBigPlanet to name a few. These blockbusters promise to further drive PS3 sales through to the holiday season.
Fueled by the launch of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the PLAYSTATION®Network, approximately 6 million pieces of content have been downloaded from the PlayStation®Store in North America since this time last month, with more than 73 million pieces of content downloaded from PLAYSTATION Store in North America to date.
There are currently over 3.9 million registered PLAYSTATION Network accounts in North America.
The recently introduced DUALSHOCK®3 wireless controller for PS3 also proved to be a hot-seller, with sales exceeding $10.9 million in April.

I currently hold 3.6 million of those accounts. So, for the 3 or so people regualarly reading my blog, tomorrow I'll have a list of the Top Gamer-friendly Junk Food!

Toys and Gadgets for the Geek soul

2008-05-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Gadgets at your desk and toys at home. Lots of 'em! They fill the loading screen times with joy and keep our keg-bellies cool. Every geek needs them for different reasons, and I'm bringing you the most practical and fun toys and gadgets fit only for a true geek!

First up: The USB-powered Air conditioning shirt. Seriously. No one wants sweat rings while getting their frag on at the LAN party or when working at the office. This shirt has two fans, one on each side of the shirt to blow cool air over your sweaty pits before you gross out the hottie at the next desk over. Just in case you venture outdoors, the shirt also sports a battery powered option utilizing four AA batteries. For the poor geeks that don't have AC in their rides, you can even hook it up to your cars cigarette lighter. This is one cool USB gadget(pun intended). http://tinyurl.com/quyw8

Next up: The PONG Wall Clock. Not so much fun to watch after about an hour or so, but ammuse all your geeky friends and be the envy of the office with the Pong clock. A game takes place (sorry, you can't actually play it) and score of the game is the time. For example, at 12:34, the game score will be 12 to 34. The pong paddles miss at the appropriate time. http://tinyurl.com/lhk2l

Next on the list: Metallic OLED Video watch. This is the perfect Geek watch specially made for the tech savvy people. It has the ability to play audio and video and also has the communication functionality. It has a 128×128 resolution OLED screen which is capable of playing full-color videos or can even show you a slideshow of your photos. It also has a built-in microphone and can be recharged through a USB cable.This gadget comes with a big fat storage capacity of 2 GB. http://tinyurl.com/384r9j

What geek would be complete without a Wi-Fi detecting shirt? This is the ultimate Geek extravaganza. This Wi-Fi Detector Shirt will detect Wi-Fi hot spots around you and will show you a signal each time it detects a working Wi-Fi spot.The Wi-Fi shirt will even show you the signal strength of the Wi-Fi hot spot around you and will animate the signal dynamically. http://tinyurl.com/2m6aa9

USB heated gloves, for the Eskimo geek. Plug them into your USB ports and your hands will become toasty-warm. Open-end design allows for easy finger mobility. Defrost your hands while gaming, typing and using the mouse. For $23 you too can have happy typing fingers! I've got these in 3 colors. Seriously. http://tinyurl.com/jlgqy

Before the 14th century, samurai were generally illiterate, rusticated brutes who would have no need for a letter opener. Times have changed. Whether you're an office warrior, a Samurai Delicatessen, or true warrior nobility, this 6 1/2" stainless steel Samurai Letter Opener is a fun and fast way to slice open your mail. The whole set - sword, sheath and stand - are all included in a printed gift box. Even Hiro Nakamura would be proud to wield this blade. http://tinyurl.com/6znfdt

Clocky, runaway alarm clock! For most people and especially for geeks it's a challenge to get up in the morning. But it's guaranteed that you get up if you use Clocky. At first sight Clocky is a normal alarm clock. But after the alarm sounds, you've got exactly one chance to get up. If you hit the snooze button in order to get some more minutes, Clocky will start to run away as soon as its alarm sounds again. He will run around in your room and of course he doesn't stop beeping. If you want him to stop, you'll have to get up :) Here you can watch a video of it. http://tinyurl.com/5ec4qb

And last, but not the least geeky toy, is Ninja Attack! Launch a silent Ninja assualt on your office mates. From the makers of Baby Shower(ZOMG Funny!) and Nun-Chuck, this is the ultimate answer to the Ninja vs. Pirate debate. Do you see any Pirates flying through the air? NO! Sorry, Rhoulette. http://tinyurl.com/5oj9zt

There you have it. Perfect for the cheating MLG player and for the office prankster, all of these would improve your "This PROVES I'm a Geek" argument. Someone questioning your Geekhood? Launch a Missile or Ninja at them from the next cubicle and see what he says after that! Read tomorrow's blog for a schedule of themed blogs coming up. Thanks for reading!

Sorry, no new posts today

2008-05-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

But read tomorrow's for a geeky toy review!

Google Moblie... awesome.

2008-05-13T08:18:00.001-07:00

Ever out in a new city and have no idea where the bar is that you were supposed to meet your new friend at? Do you ever wonder why your neighbor is so good at trivial pursuit? Need a celebrity's phone number and address for new stalking opportunities? Google mobile has you covered. The following SMS tools are completely free, except normal billing by your service provider, and can be used by simple texting anywhere!

Text "D word" to get the entered word's definition.
Text "W city, state" or "W zipcode" to get the weather and a three-day forecast.
Get phonebook listings by texting "Person/business city, state"
Text "Price product" to get competitive prices for everything from skin-care products to skateboards and sneakers. Ex: Price Rainbow Six Vegas 2 to get prices for the PC, PS3, and Xbox versions and where to buy them.
Get driving directions by texting "starting address" followed by "to destination address"
Get flight information by texting the flight number to get gate times or text "airline" to get a phone number.
Text "web" followed by pretty much anything else to get snippets from a google search.
Get business listings by texting what you want followed by a city and atate or zipcode to get a few places in the area. Ex: "Sushi Rochester, NY"
For NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL/NCAA scores/schedules, enter a team name (ex: Lakers, Sharks, Mets, Jets, Duke). Available only for sports in season.
To get movie showtimes, enter the name of a CURRENT movie and include a city and state, or zip
To get stock quotes, enter a SINGLE stock ticker symbol or the word 'stock' followed by a less obvious ticker name (ex: GOOG, stock DUCK).
To get a link to the map of an address, enter 'map' followed by the full address (ex: map boston, map 10 market street san francisco).
Get trivia info by texting a fact-based question or query (ex: india population, who wrote hamlet).
To get translations, enter 'translate' (or 't') followed by the expression, 'to' and a destination language (ex: translate dog to french, t new to german). Note: Many languages not yet supported by google mobile.
Currency converter/Calculator/Measurement converter: text the unit you'd like to convert followed by "in" followed by the unit you'd like the answer to be in(ex: half cup in teaspoon, 70F in C, 1 dollar in pound, 3 USD in GBP).
To get METAR reports, enter METAR followed by the ICAO airport code (ex: METAR khio, METAR eham).

Pretty useful. Thanks again Google for coming up with something new to keep the world lazy. Try to develope some sort of quantum... food delivering... robo-messenger... yeah... to send us food through our computers. The deed is left to you, Google! We have faith!

EXLUSIVE Peaks into EA's Red Alert 3!

2008-05-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

You've waited all weekend(Yes mom, I know you're the only one reading my blog). Well, here it is! EXCLUSIVE peaks into the new gameplay elements found in EA's Red Alert 3.
Now, I am a big fan of the entire C&C lineup and have thouroughly enjoyed each. So, I was a little dazzled when I found out about Red Alert 3. "Why," you might ask? Well, did you know...
- All ground and air warfare will have severe limitations and will be almost non-existant in campaign mode. This is so because THQ really wanted naval combat back - with a firey vengance!
- Frag Doll Seppuku will be a playable "hero" in the allied factions.
- Easter eggs found in several multiplayer maps, when stepped upon by an infantry unit, will bring you and your opponents (and existing armies) to a very accurate re-creation of Richard Taylor's kitchen... supersized enough for your subs to fire tomahawk missiles from the gravy-boat. Contents of the table will be updated daily to depict what Richard had for breakfast that morning.
- Unlockable faction available after beating all base-faction campaigns on Brutal: the I.W.G. (See StrangeCo.com), the Insurgent Wilderness Gruppo, a merry band of gun-toting, unbearably cute zoo animals.
- All combat will be turn-based. This was done to ensure no player could effectively swarm another by limiting battles to 3 units per player. With larger numbers, when the first battle has ended, another will start with 3 new units, until one side is completely decimated through 3-unit-apeice battles. More players can join in effectively increasing battle size by 3 units per player.
- All cut-scenes will be depicted in Anime-style graphics.
- The base factions: GDI, GPA (Global Police Agency), WDA (World Democracy Army), and the RTDF (Richard Taylor Delta Force). The GDI and GPA both make up the Alied factions, the WDA and RTDF are both independant and take no prisoners!
- Internet multiplayer is still a big element, but only four players will be allowed in any single battle, one for each faction(Sorry, no IWG in online games!). No faction may be chosen by more than one player. Teams will be decided by factions, GDI and GPA are always team 1, WDA is team 2, and the RTDF is always team 3.
- In-game advertising! To play the game, you MUST purchase one Pepsi product per month and the game will have super-heavy in-game advertising. Your game will be conveniently interupted just as a battle breaks out to allow time to strategize! In this 30 second break, you will be subjected to harmless subliminal advertising. Completely harmless, they swear!
- Cheats now allowed in internet multiplayer!
- Default languages: GDI - Islamic, GPA - Russian, WDA - Spanish, RTFD - chosen from start between Sylvan, Dwarven, Celestial, Abyssal, Halfling, and Gith. IWG will use a language developed by EA LA called LIAW (pronounced Lee-Aw) that, if decoded, will win the decoder a year's supply of any Pepsi beverage. Purchase necessary. Languages cannot be changed until the appropriate campaign is beaten on Brutal.
- When the game is installed, your wallpaper, screen-saver, any skins on any application you may have on your computer, and any skins on any webpage you may have(including MySpace, FaceBook, any blogs, Twitter, and many, many more!) will be immediately and irriversably changed to an RA3/Pepsi theme!
- Low cost! Only $8.99 for the regular package, $89.99 for the deluxe package that includes: CD Case, a real cardboard box (the regular will be sold in a paper envelope just like old-school games were), and the info/guide book! EA highly recommends the deluxe edition.
That's all for now, I will update often as I gain new tidbits. Read tomorrow's blog for fun Mobile Google ap's (Seriously). No cute zoo animals were harmed in the making of RA3.

P.S. This is by no means a real review and should not be taken seriously. The real RA3 will continue with the rest of the line-up's game play elements and, infact, improves pretty much every lousy aspect of past games(as rare as they are). For serious information, go to: http://www.ea.com/redalert/main.jsp

Today: New torture device for parents, redesigning DS? Plus a Lolcat!

2008-05-11T11:01:00.001-07:00

I am halfway through a 70 mile bike ride, and there is a high chance of rain... gee, thanks in advance Mother Nature. It's okay, I've got a Super-Mucho-Grande Mocha shake with 4 shots of espresso. I'll be fine. Anyhow, Nintendo redesigning the DS? I'll include a link at the bottom.

Kid's beware! BOB is NOT your friend! Kids with parent's with zero authority, lack of opposable thumbs, or no suitable appendage for turning off the TV need not worry, but kids with parents who have lived with you and are ready to tke back the respect they deserve, are... well, screwed. For information on BOB, click here: http://tinyurl.com/695dfo. Kids, good luck in your battle for game time.

7 resons why there will be a redesigned DS: http://tinyurl.com/53ku95

HD-DVD Owners Depressed Across Nation...

2008-05-10T11:31:00.001-07:00

The HD format war is officially over! This may or may not be news to you, but nevertheless is worth blogging about. Toshiba has finally thrown in the towel! The company stopped selling HD-DVD players at the end of march and they aren't shipping any more. No big news for PS3 owners, since the console supports Blu-ray. Speaking of which, the PS3 was tagged as one of the cheapest, smartest ways to start watching all of those Blu-ray movies you won in that contest you entered 'cuz your brother told you to. It still isn't cheap, but take a look and compare it to the other Blu-ray players on the market and you may be surprised. Or not. Speaking of which, all PS3s shipping after april will have upgraded Blu-ray technology. It's called the BD profile 2.0 and allows users to download exclusive content from their living rooms including ringtones that can be uploaded stright to your phone, subtitles, bonus scenes, trailers, and specialized content, all made available from current and upcoming Blu-ray products, mostly movies. Anyhow, I know you've already seen it, but in case you wanted to see it again, here's the new GoW2 footage: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p4ULg4b9YCM

P.S. Tuesday's blog will give you a TON of mobile google goodies and more funny facts.

Geekreel's First Blog

2008-05-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

My first blog! You can tell, can't you? :' ( I will try to update once a day (or once/2 days) with the newest geek info, gamer news, and fun subjects (such as the headphones with a hat debate). Sorry, no lolcats here... but I am in ur _, _ing ur _'s : ) Have a nice weekend and be sure to read Monday's Geek News blog for an EXCLUSIVE sneak peak at EA's C&C Red Alert 3!!!

C'mon, you couldn't resist either...