Coming Soon...

Santa was good to me this year - he brought me a 250 gig Xbox 360 Kinect bundle, Dance Central, and Fable 3. I've had a chance to spend some time with all of the games and should have some "first impressions" up soon. Stay tuned.

-BC-

Boost Your Brainpower

In a study conducted by Daphne Bavelier, a Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science at the University of Rochester, it was found that children that play "action" games show an increase in vision, attention, speed, accuracy, vision, and multitasking.

"And this is a skill that comes in very handy if you're driving in a fog...Seeing the car ahead of you is determined by your contract sensitivity" said Bavelier.

The findings of this study are certainly not suprising - games are no longer for the intraverted geek that lives in his (yes, not "her") parents basement. 

For more information, you can read the entire article on NPR.

As a "hardcore gamer", I appreciate these articles because it lends even more credit to fact that gaming, although a great hobby, does develop the mind in ways useful in the real world. I've got a big work presentation tomorrow, I'm going to sharpen my mind by playing some Blops. Later.
-BC-

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I hope you will enjoy spending time with your family, friends, and remember the meaning of what this day brings. Hope to see everyone online with their new toys!

-BC-

First Black Ops DLC Slated for February

On Sunday, Major Nelson broke news on the first BLOPS map pack, "First Strike", which is scheduled to drop on February 1st as a timed exclusive.  The maps are said to include "Discovery", which takes place in Antarctica; "Kowloon", set in the rooftops of Kowloon; "Berlin Wall"; and "Stadium", set in an American hockey rink.  The map pack will also include a new Zombie map, "Ascension".

The pack will sell for $15 (1200 Microsoft Points).

I don't know about you, but these maps can't come soon enough. 

-BC-

Gears of War 3 Early BETA Access

According to Joystiq.com, the "Epic Edition" of Bulletstorm on the 360 will include an early access code for the Gears of War 3 BETA.  In addition, it will also include  25,000 bonus experience points, visual upgrades for your leash, new boots and armor, and the Peace Maker Carbine all for the low, low price of $60!  That's right, a special addition for the same price as the standard retail game.  Gotta love Epic!

Now, bring on those Locust bastards...

-BC-

Land of 10.000 Lakes...and Kinect

As some of you may know, I was recently in Minnesota celbrating an early Christmas with my wife's family. Considering both my wife and I spend nearly 20 years of our life there, we were anxious to see some of the familiar locations. One of the first places we visited was the Mall of America (MoA) and to my delight (or horror, if you saw the look on my wife's face), there was not only a new Microsoft Store, but an Xbox 360 Kinect kiosk.

I didn't spend enough time with the Kinect to form an overly positive or negative opinion, but I did snap a few pics and videos of what I saw (sorry for the resolution - the Droid X doesn't have the best camera). ENJOY!

Yep, that's me playing table tennis on Kinect Sports. There was a slight delay (milliseconds) between my actions and the actions on screen, however, the experience was pretty awesome.

Some of the Xbox Kinect girls having fun - the booth wasn't very busy.

Microsoft spent a pretty penny to put up all of these signs - at least you can't question their dedication to the device.


One of the Xbox Kinect girls gettin' down - a small crowd was starting together to watch the performance.


This was pretty cool to watch - two employees and two shoppers playing Dance Central. It was amazing how quickly the two shoppers, who were obviously not gamers, were able to pick up and start playing the Kinect. Target marketing at it's finest.

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The Microsoft store was pretty damn impressive. It was bright, had tons of hardware and software, and the staff were very friendly. Notice in the pictures that the Microsoft store is located directly, I mean DIRECTLY, across from the Apple store. Even the employees managed to point out that this was done on purpose. I know that Microsoft is the multi-billion dollar corporation, but it does take some brass balls to compete with Apple's storefront.

-BC-

Amazon Trade-In vs. Best Buy Trade-In

If you're like me, you refuse to trade your games into Gamestop.  I always feel cheap - like a hooker - walking out of the store with an extra $15 of trade-in credit when I feel the game was worth at least twice that much.  Then, I'm forced to go back to Gamestop in order to use the credit only to find my trade-in being sold for $54.99.  A business has to make money, I understand that, but as a consumer I have the right to bring my business elsewhere.

A few months ago I found myself with a pile of games that I didn't play and wasn't sure what to do with them.  Should I have a garage sale?  No, garage sales are never worth the effort.  Should I ship them off to my friends?  Nah, I don't really like those guys any way.  So, I went searching for alternatives and found two high profile options - Amazon and Best Buy.

Ease of Use:

It was difficult to find the trade-in section on both the Best Buy and Amazon websites.  On Amazon, you first have to choose "Video Games" from the drop down, select "Go", and then on the far right you'll see a small icon for used games.  Best Buy was equally as challenging.  I couldn't even find the trade-in section, so I instead had to go to www.bestbuy.com/tradein.

          ADVANTAGE: Tie

Shipping:

Once I logged into both websites and submitted my trade, I was given an option to print a prepaid shipping label.  I'm required to use my own box and packaging material, but it was nice that I didn't also have to pay for shipping.

          ADVANTAGE:  Tie

Value For Games:

I searched both sites for new and old games, which included the following:

1. Madden 11
2. Madden 10
3. NBA 2k9
4. Fable 2
5. Mass Effect 1
6. Mass Effect 2
7. Left for Dead
8. Left 4 Dead 2
9. Splinter Cell: Conviction
10. Halo Reach
11. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
12. Call of Duty: World at War
13. Nintendo DS Titanium
14. New Super Mario Brothers
15. Brain Age

In all but one case, Amazon was the better deal.

          ADVANTAGE:  Amazon

Trade-In Payment Method:

This is more personal preference than anything, but I would prefer to have a tangible Best Buy gift card than an Amazon credit.

          ADVANTAGE:  Best Buy

Speediness of Payment:

Here's where the gap begins to widen.  Within one week of shipment to Amazon, I received an email notifying me that the games had been received and my account was credited.  It was as easy as that, but I wish I could say the same for Best Buy.  Without going into too much detail, it ended up taking 29 days between the time I shipped the games to the time a gift card was received.

          ADVANTAGE:  Amazon

Customer Service:  

On my second order to Amazon, I was told that they never received the Nintendo DS Titanium.  After a quick phone call to Amazon, the customer service representative immediately credited my account $20, which was $3 more than the value quoted.  

Once again, Best Buy failed when it mattered most.  After two weeks of hearing nothing from Best Buy, I decided to call their customer service center.  After waiting on hold for about 5 minutes, the rep told me that I would receive the gift card by the end of the week.  Needless to say, I didn't receive the card and had to call again.  This time, I was told by a different rep that the card now wouldn't arrive for another week.  Two weeks later, I finally received the card.

          ADVANTAGE:  Amazon

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And the winner is...Amazon!  All in all, Amazon provided a much better experience as well as more value per game.   

-BC-