My friend Shawn and I celebrated Howardpalooza 2009 yesterday with our annual kayak trip down the James River.

It’s good to change your perspective—to explore the shadows.

Will companies like OnLive force gaming rig and console builder to rethink their business? Or just beat OnLive to the punch with digital downloads.

I have 4 new friends on Twitter and if you’re a fan of L4D, you should follow them too.

At lunch today, I was browsing a few financial forums looking for some info related to some stock I own (Activision, ATVID) and ran across this quote:

“My portfolio pwn’s yours u noob”

You gotta’ love it when gaming lingo crosses over into the financial sector. Next thing you know, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be busting out quotes like “I’m in UR $entral bank adjusting UR ratez”.

Will someone please tell video game publishers that WWII ended 63 years ago? It’s time to move on.

I dropped EA’s Medal of Honor: Airborne into the Xbox 360 over the weekend and couldn’t be bothered to play beyond a couple of levels. The entire game seems tired.

Looks like I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. Doing some recon, a little demolition, maybe some looting. Oh yeah.

While playing LEGO Indiana Jones, I stumbled across a photo of a Malamute tacked to a post. As it turns out, during the 1970s, George Lucas had a Malamute called Indiana, hence the name.

Movie fans will recall that Indiana Jones’ real name is Henry Walton Jones Jr. (based on George Lucas’ real name, George Walton Lucas Jr.). In the third movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we learn the origin of the name from Henry’s father, Professor Jones, played by Sean Connery, In a conversation with Sallah, Professor Jones explains, “We called the dog Indiana”.

Indiana Jones: I like “Indiana.”
Professor Henry Jones: We named the *dog* Indiana.
Marcus Brody: May we go home now, please?
Sallah: The dog? [starts laughing]
Sallah: You are named after the dog? HA HA HA…!
Indiana Jones: I’ve got a lot of fond memories of that dog.

[quote source: ]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes]

Just finished playing LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures on the Xbox 360. What a fun game!!

The gameplay is very similar but more polished than the 2 previous LEGO Star Wars titles. Hats off to Travellers Tales, the developers, for bringing yet another great, family-friendly title to the Xbox platform.

With the exception of 2 grinding achievements (“How we say goodbye in Germany” and “Trouble with her is the noise”), the achievements were easy, most of which could be picked up during normal gameplay or in Free Play mode.

Co-op is similar to the Star Wars titles, letting players drop in or out at will. The control mapping is simple and intuitive—my 7 year old daughter picked it up in an instant and we enjoyed playing though several levels together.

If you’re looking for a fun summer title, definitely consider picking this one up—especially if you play with your kids.

Used Xbox 360 games. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

I’m selling a bunch of Xbox 360 games that I don’t play any more. I’ve posted them with no reserve on ebay with all auctions ending on April 4th.

All games are in excellent condition. Now’s your chance to pick up something on the cheap that you’ve been wanting to play (I’m talking to you Ross).

1. The Orange Box
2. Forza Motorsport 2
3. Call of Duty 4 (Collector’s Edition)
4. Burnout Paradise
5. F.E.A.R.
6. Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3)
7. Lost Planet
8. Meet the Robinsons
9. Crackdown
10. Assassin’s Creed

[photo credit: aditza121]

Best. Name. Ever.

I decided to pop Eternal Sonata into the Xbox over the weekend. Also known as Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream, it’s a Japanese RPG (JRPG) from Namco Bandai and Tri-Crescendo that was named “the best video game about [Frédéric] Chopin ever created” by Mike Fahey at Kotaku.

From the game description:

On his deathbed, the famous composer Chopin drifts between this life and the next. In his final hours, he experiences a fantastical dream where he encounters a young girl facing a terrible destiny and the boy who will fight to save her. On the border between dreams and reality, Chopin discovers the light that shines in all of us in this enduring tale of good and evil, love and betrayal.

Despite the game’s critics, I decided to add it to my rental account because:

1. The demo on Xbox Live was a bit odd—but decent.
2. I needed to take a short break from shooting, driving, and commanding my minion horde.
3. I haven’t played an RPG since I finished Ultima IV back in 1985 on my Apple II Plus (holy crap that was 23 years ago).