My Birthday!

20 years ago today, I was born. Throughout my life, I have learned to ride a bike, I’m learning to drive a car, I went through kindergarten, 3rd grade, 4th, 5th, 6th all the way up to my first year of college, and now I’m in my second year in St. John’s University. I’m now sitting hear, writing this post, waiting until 8:40 when me and a couple of friends go to Manhattan to Planet Hollywood, which is one of my favorite restaurants, and then we’ll go see Jackass Number Two. I know none of them want to see it, but hey, it’s MY birthday, and I want to see it.

We could have stayed in our borough, but we’ve been to the restaurants here many times and it’s time to go to a new place to eat. One of my friends is giving me difficulties though, because he doesn’t want to see the movie, but I know he’s going to end up going.

Tomorrow we’re having guests over my house and then Sunday, we’re going to an Italian restaurants with other friends and relatives who can’t make it on Saturday.

So, I’m getting ready to leave now. I’ll make a follow-up post tomorrow for an update on how it went. =)

Web max-whatsonmymind.blogspot.com

Next-Gen console wars.

There has been a lot of news about next-gen consoles, and mainly Sony’s PS3, the mistakes Sony has been making, the high anticipation of the Nintendo Wii, and some news about the Xbox 360. I thought I would give my take on the issue, and say what systems I will probably purchase and why. I will admit I am a fan of Sony, but I will try to be as unbiased as I can.

The Xbox 360 was released November 22, 2005 in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and later in other countries.It had a lot of problems. One of the major issues were with the console overheating because of the large power brick. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Technical_Pr...] Another problem was with disks being scratched up when the system was standing vertically and it was moved to a horizontal position, or vice-versa [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Technical_Pr...]. I think Microsoft released the Xbox 360 too early. They could have released it a month after that and it might have had more success. They rushed it out, and it had too many problems. Some people may think 2 problems is nothing, but if I buy a product from a huge company like Microsoft, I expect it to be perfect. If it’s any less that perfect, then why are they selling it?

The Xbox 360 wasn’t all bad though. The graphics are great, Xbox Live is really popular and huge. The selection of games is also really good, and the system even has a sleek design- much better than the original Xbox. But the reason I didn’t get an Xbox 360 was because I thought when I get a PS3, I won’t be playing the 360 anymore, and it would be a waste of $400.

The thing I didn’t like about what Microsoft did, was the artificial shortage. There is of course no evidence but that’s the way it really seems. Xbox 360s sold for $1000+ on eBay [http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/02/guaranteed-xbox...]. It could have been Microsoft employees selling the Xbox 360’s on eBay, but who knows?

About the Nintendo Wii, I think it will be a very successful system. ”A major feature of the Wii is the console’s wireless controller, the Wii Remote, that may be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. The controller also contains a speaker and a rumbling device to provide sensory feedback, and can be used to turn the Wii on and off” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii]. The system will have 21 launch games with many more planned for the future. It’s also a great idea for Nintendo to have an online marketplace. Games will sell for points, and points will sell for $.01 apiece. NES games will sell for $5.00, SNES games will sell for $8.00, and N64 games will cost $10.00 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#Wii_Channels]. With the Wii’s 512mb of built-in memory, users will be able to purchase many games for reasonable prices. Not much else could be said about the Wii. Nintendo is getting a lot of positive publicity and the general consensus is that everyone likes the system and is eagerly awaiting it.

A couple of bad things about the Wii are it’s graphics, and it’s lack of DVD playback. The graphics have been described as being a bit better than Gamecube graphics, but still old-gen. It’s lack of DVD playback is attributed to Nintendo saying that most people have a DVD player in their homes, and putting DVD playback in the back would just inflate costs and cause Nintendo to lose money. It’s a smart idea, but for me for example, the DVD player that’s in my room is my PS2, and if I get a Wii and a PS3, the PS3 will be in my living room hooked up to my HDTV and the Wii will be in my room. Then I won’t have a DVD player in my room, and I’m upset about that. Still not a major reason for me not to acquire the Wii.

And now the grand-daddy of the next-gen systems, the Playstation 3. The Playstation 3 will be released on November 17, 2006 in the US, for $499 on the low end, and $599 for the high-end system. The $599 system will come with a 60gb hdd and the $499 will come with a 20gb hdd. In my opinion, the PS3 will be the best of these systems in terms of graphics and overall gameplay. The PS3 controller will have built in motion sensing technology. Another great feature of the PS3 will be Blu-ray playback. Blu-ray movie (and game) disks are capable of storing up to 50gb of information, and movies that are stored on blu-ray disks will be in high-definition. Standalone Blu-ray players will retail from about $1000. This is a reason that the PS3 is so expensive. Sony contends that people are actually getting a really good price on the console, because of all the technology that’s packed into it.

I am upset with the PS3’s price, even though the Blu-ray player is included in it. Sony could have made the low-end version of the console blu-ray-less, and sold it for $300. I’m disappointed with all the delays that Sony is putting us through, and also the fact that the system will launch with only 400,000 units for the US. Sony will thinks it will have 4 million units by December ‘06, and 2 million more by March ‘07. Sony first said it would release the system by Spring ‘06 [http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/entertainment/ps3-i...]. But that obviously didn’t happen.

I’m still greatly looking forward to the PS3, and also to the Wii. I think they’ll be the two best consoles, better than the Xbox 360. If Microsoft released their system maybe half a year later, worked out all the issues, then it would have been a contender in the next-gen console wars. But now the hype for the 360 died down, and people are only talking about the PS3 and the Wii. I’m probably going to buy both of these systems, albeit not at the same time (maybe 8-9 months apart). Whatever happens, I’m still looking forward too seeing which console will come out on top in the end.

Web max-whatsonmymind.blogspot.com

Is Bin Laden Dead?

Time.com reports that a Saudi source told the magazine that Bin Laden has become seriously ill from contracting a ‘water-borne illness’, namely typhoid fever, and it’s very possible that he has died last month. There is, however, no concrete evidence to support this claim but there is a ‘high probability’ that this is true.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1538…

Web max-whatsonmymind.blogspot.com