Level Orange

OK, so this might not be the most accurate depiction of me, but then again, I did try to make it as accurate as possible. I’ve played around with the new Avatars with the new Xbox 360 dashboard (wisely being marketed as the New Xbox Experience, or NXE, for anyone not into gaming), and I have to say, it’s kinda neat.

I’m not particularly a fan of the plans to capitalize on things like clothes and accessories and whatnot for the Avatars by game publishers and licensors, but I can understand the business sense of it. And after personally tinkering around with the system, I can see where it’s starting to come up short, assumedly so that third parties can come in and add even greater value to it.

I’ll be interested to see just how much a Halo or Rock Band t-shirt costs for an Avatar. One can only hope that a whole new outfit wouldn’t be much more than say, a set of gamerpics (roughly a buck or two), but with some publishers eager to nickel-and-dime gamers for every little item, I wouldn’t be surprised to see purchases like this broken down even further. “Want a new bracelet? How about a new baseball cap? That’ll be $1 each, please.”

Yeah, let’s hope not.

It took a lot of work, and a couple of missteps, but the new Podtacular.com is now live!

Hosted by Foo Mo Jive, Podtacular started in July 2005 as an unofficial podcast discussing all things Halo 2, including game tips and strategies, interviews, custom gametypes and the Xbox Live community.

Having originally built the site on the e107 publishing platform, there were problems from the start, with everything from the templates and structure to the constantly-changing core (which is still in development). This caused a couple of nasty problems to show up in the course of developing the site, so I had to back out and look for an alternative. I just couldn’t risk building what I hope to be a great community site on a faulty foundation. I didn’t want it to fall apart at any given moment.

So I moved everything over to the CivicSpace platform, which runs on the Drupal “engine.” As it turns out, CivicSpace is built almost entirely around the idea of a community site. So it’s well equipped and well-developed for web standards and an organized site structure. And then there are all of the plugins, also called “modules,” that extend the CMS even further. The level of configuration within it all is staggering and at first, a little intimidating, but for standard users, I think it’ll be a comfortable fit.

So if you’re into Halo 2, Xbox games or just online gaming in general, check it out. I’m even scheduled to appear on the next podcast sometime soon!

I owe a bit of thanks to the guys at Podtacular, the new Halo 2 podcast, for mentioning this site on their last show. I listed them as one of my favorite podcasts, along with several others, and since then, they’ve blown up big time. It’s cool to see something start brand new and catch everyone’s attention, only to take off like wildfire. I’m sure those guys are on a hell of a ride right now.

When they announced a new Podtacular clan, I joined up immediately and did what I could in the first few matches. That was a week ago. Since then, they’ve had to create two more clans just to accomodate all the requests they’re getting. In that time, the show also flew up the charts at Podcast Alley and iTunes Music Store and they’ve even been noticed by Major Nelson, GamerTag Radio and Bungie themselves. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

And being a nice guy, I offered any help I could provide as a designer and come to find out that the host Foo Mo Jive is a designer himself. Not to encroach, I gladly stepped back and let them handle their business, but it’s kind of cool when you have something in common with other Halo gamers (besides Halo itself).

What’s even better is their ability to buck the status quo, with their follow up to all the attention being their longest show yet, well over an hour long. Of course, that drew criticism from listeners who were trying to download via dial-up (c’mon guys, DSL is on the cheap these days!), so they followed that up with a straight rip on the low-bandwidth users, Episode 4.5. Renegades, they are…

If you’re looking for a fun, informal podcast dedicated to Halo 2 that discusses everything from tips and strategy to news and community, check them out.

Since the release of iTunes 4.9, I’ve really gotten into podcasting, probably more than I ever expected to. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve hardly used my iPod for music in the last few weeks. After the iTunes update, I subsequently checked out Podcast Alley, Podcast Pickle and Odeo. Of these, Odeo has probably had the most buzz surrounding it, and while it’s a combination of a website and application, I still don’t think it quite lives up to the full experience of iTunes.

That’s not to say iTunes hasn’t had it’s own share of trouble, with feeds being delayed and missing and just generally feeling a little half-assed. But as I think Adam Curry mentioned recently, Apple is a major player trying to get in near the ground floor, which most giant companies don’t risk doing. Remember when Microsoft underestimated the web browser market and they had to play catch-up for three versions of Internet Explorer? With Apple being the catalyst themselves for “pod”casting, how could they sit back and not jump on the wagon? I can forgive them for the setbacks.

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Scariest. Headline. Ever.

Of all the products and announcements to come from last week’s CES, the most embarrassing and unintentionally hilarious was Bill Gate’s keynote address. With so much to be worked out concerning “media center” products and the DRM that will accompany them, it was truly fascinating to see every demo fall flat on its face.

The thing that gets me is how suddenly Bill Gates is once again being hailed as a “visionary” by the media. Even Conan O’Brien managed to whore himself out to take part in what I’m sure was a tediously staged and rehearsed keynote, all to celebrate his wonderfulness. In this interview with CNET, Gates manages to take swipes at just about everything under the sun, including the obligatory remarks about Apple, Sony (with which I surprising agree), Google, Mozilla and anyone who might have issues with copyrights and/or P2P. That’s a lot of talk for someone who only presented the public with ONE product.

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After spending the last two weeks with Halo 2, I have mixed–but still positive–feelings about it all. I’ve found out just how good Bungie and Microsoft are at producing a top-notch game and pushing the boundaries of online gaming and stat tracking. Unfortunately, I’ve also found out just how good they are at marketing the hell out a game that doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Here are a couple of my gripes.

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Yesterday I finally did it. I took the plunge and bought an Xbox. I initially had to think twice about it, but I eventually came to the conclusion that I couldn’t go without the awesomeness that will be Halo 2.

Actually I had made up my mind a couple of months ago, but when Microsoft announced that they’d be selling the Xbox, two games and two months of Live for the same price of a box alone, I decided to wait it out. As long as I got my console before Halo 2, I’d be all set. Here’s my philosophy with Microsoft: I don’t want to give them my money, but if I have to, I’m going to get as much out of it as I can.

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As I contemplate the idea of getting an Xbox, I can’t help but thinking about just how big the long-awaited sequel to Halo is gonna be. Around this time two years ago, I made my way through the game several times over and I’m still blown away by it all.

Not only has the game won me over with it’s gameplay and graphics, but I’ve also been caught up in the story. I think I speak for a lot of gamers when I say that I’ve never seen this level of complexity and sheer scope in a storyline for a video game series. As I read through all three novels, I felt the history, the urgency of it all and couldn’t help but anticipate what might come next. At this point, I think the next game’s got a lot to live up to, but leave it to Bungie to get it done.

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