FiOS Arrives

As you might have remembered, my FiOS installation was scheduled for today. When I first setup the install I picked the noon - 4:00 pm block, the tech arrived at 11:55 am, just as I was coming in from work. It took the installer about 3 hours to configure everything as there was lots to do, from terminating the fiber connection to installing new CAT5 cable to my office. He was extremely courteous and very professional. He came all the way from Redondo Beach to perform the installation.

The free installation came with configuration of one PC (or Mac) to the new service but I told the tech that I could configure it myself, however he said he wasn't allowed to leave until my account was created. I choose my work notebook since if anything got hosed I could just reformat with little effort. The default software that Verizon recommends puts a lot of junk on your PC but the tech was good about working with me on a custom installation that didn't include any of it. To be honest I don't think any of this software really is needed to setup the account but is a way for Verizon to provide advertisements and third party promotions. If you ever had a Verizon DSL installation, it's basically the same stuff.

After the installation was completed I tested the speed using the Speakeasy Speedtest website.

Adelphia Cable
Download Speed: 4726 kbps (590.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 420 kbps (52.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

Verizon FiOS
Download Speed: 14992 kbps (1874 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1744 kbps (218 KB/sec transfer rate)

As you can see from the figures, it's quite an improvement over my old cable modem. To be honest it's hard to tell how fast it is from just browsing the web since my old connection was quiet fast by dial up standards. The real difference is felt with large downloads from fast servers (ISO images) and HD movie previews. Uploads (via FTP or via Blogger) seem 10x faster than before which is a welcome improvement.

The only negative is that the installation came bundled with a enormous Actiontec Wireless Broadband Router. I suppose it's so huge since it handles VoIP, multiple HD stream's and ultra fast Internet speeds. It's also needed if your order the FiOS TV service. I guess I'll keep it next to my enormous Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4 computer (now that I think about it, the PowerMac G5 case is rather large as well). One benefit is that I now have a wireless G router (my old Linksys was B only) so Dave can't complain about the slow speeds the next time he comes over.

The one hiccup that I had was that I couldn't logon to the router's web configuration page. The default password didn't work so I had to reset the box in order to logon. I guess the installer setup a new password and forgot to mention what it was. There's lots more configuration options that I had before on my Linksys router so I ended up using the wonderful Port Forwarding site to quickly getup to speed on how to forward my Warcraft III ports.

Sony's Play B3yond

Not trying to fuel the Sony marketing machine any more than it already has been, but I thought the PS3 promo videos on Sony's Play B3yond site were pretty interesting. Narrated by none other than Lance Henriksen (I assume) of Aliens fame.

Compare these videos to the actual launch titles shown here and it becomes obvious that Sony has overhyped the machine to no end. With Microsoft smartly timing the release of Gears of War before the launch of the PS3, they have clearly won the best game/best graphics award this year.

I'm sure the situation will be different next year when titles like Final Fantasy XIII, (which will be more optimized for the PS3's hardware) are released, but for now it looks like GoW is king.

Wii is here!

It looks like it's going to be a Wii Christmas after all. I've been combing the net looking for the next shipment date and found out that BestBuy was going to perform a second (and final) launch this morning.

Their ad (which was leaked on the internet beforehand) stated they would have no fewer than 12 units at each store so I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and made the trek to the Thousand Oaks store. Not to my surprise I saw a line already formed with about 20 people in it. I spoke with the guy in front of me and he said it was confirmed that this particular store had 60 in stock. Determined not to pull another Target (and leave the line early) I sat down and waited it out for 5 hours. The store didn't open until 10:00 a.m. but they started passing out tickets at 9:00 in the morning. I ended up being number 24, so I was guaranteed a unit. The line behind me snaked around the building and onto the parking lot, but actually most of them got a ticket as well. I only saw about 10 people leave disappointed. One determined mom was offering $100 for our ticket and eventually she found 2 buyers.

The actual purchase was rather uneventful, we were directed to a special booth that had a few Wii accessories (memory cards, cases) but nothing was offered that I wanted to buy. It turns out that the extra Wii controllers are in extreme short supply and Nintendo has them all backordered. I did overhear someone in line comment that the controllers are harder to get then the actual console. They also offered some game titles that I declined since I want to read up on the reviews before I buy any, plus I can get them on Amazon with no sales tax and free shipping. I just ended up buying the standalone unit and a 2 year warranty for $39.99.

The attached picture is my actual console, still in the box and waiting to be gift wrapped for Christmas morning. Hopefully I would have found an extra controller by then so we can play Wii Sports together.

Black Thursday Followup

As you may already know, Amazon's incredible Customers Vote sale for $100 XBox Core systems, sold out in 29 seconds. While apparently my brother Mark was never able to view the "Get this deal" screen, it looked liked I was lucky enough to. Using Firefox, I hit the refresh button at 10:58. It took a couple of minutes to refresh, but at exactly 11:00 I saw the screen which allowed me to purchase one so after a quick pause, I clicked on the link. Worried that I would lose my place "in line", I patiently waited while the next page loaded. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. After about 30 minutes of checking up on the site while I was cooking some food for Thanksgiving, I gave up but still left the page open.

After returning later that night I clicked another link on the page, hit the back button and decided to click on the get this deal button to see what would happen. Sure enough it worked and progressed to the verification page! Did it save me a reservation after all this time? I typed in the correct answer to find out. Bam! "We're very sorry!" was the answer.

The next day I contacted Amazon and explained to them what happened in the hopes they would still extend the offer to me or at least give me some type of gesture of goodwill discount. They were very apologetic but stood firm on the basis that several customers received the verification page but did not answer in time before the entire allocation sold out. I guess in hind site I should have realized that after a few seconds of loading, to hit the stop button and click on the button again. But who knew? 29 seconds isn't a lot of time to figure out Amazon's server issues. Oh well, it was a good opportunity anyways.

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Thanks to Kruddler for signing us in to Disneyland last Tuesday- it was fun! One of the highlights was visiting the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction and having my brother Mark show us the 4th dimension wall markings in the basement area. Clearly inspired from the Twilight Zone episode titled Little Girl Lost, where a little girl falls out of bed and disappears into the "Fourth Dimension" and only her cries for help can be heard emanating from the room. Apparently the same audio recordings can be heard from behind the wall at the attraction, but it didn't seem to be playing at the time I was there. Would be pretty creepy to hear that the next time I visit though.

Like several items decorated throughout the attraction, the tiny toy robot photographed on top of the cabinet in the TV room is a replica from a prop used in a popular season 2 episode called The Invaders.

I discovered that a toy company had recently produced a limited edition toy based on the prop and thought Disney used this for the two TV rooms, but on closer inspection, it differs slightly from the replica found in the Tower of Terror attraction.

You can view the rest of our Disneyland photos on my Flickr account found here.

More Gears, More Hype

Ok, so, as you know, I have finished GoW, and my resons for not posting a blog about it was because I didn't want to over hype and speak only of GoW when the Wii and PS3 just came out. Needless to say, that apparently doesn't matter to you guys, you want the final verdict and last word on GoW, so here it is...

Best
Game

Evar!!!

Ok, so sure, it is a bloody mess and a bit over done with profanity, but to it's credit, it does say 17+, not a children's game. I shoulda been more aware of what an
M rating really means.

That aside, the story is very well done, the acting is good, and the music really adds to the action and suspense of the best looking playable graphics game so far! Though it is fast and furious, it is only in the actual action sequences, giving you time to breathe and walk around, feeling some tension as you move through buildings and adding to the suspense. It doesn't tire you out, unless you want to play it straight through because you can't put it away, turn it off and go to bed! Contrary to certain speculations, I did go to bed and continue the game the next day!

On a side note, my Samsung was displaying at the highest resolution that the 360 and GoW broadcast in as my HDTV is automatic without me having to adjust anything. I didn't know as of Tuesday when I was with you at DL because I never read how to adjust the HD settings untill you got on me about not knowing if I played in it's fullest glory or not. Now I know that I have been. 1080i FTW! Though now that 1080p is out on the newer models...!

Going back to the game, I would have to say that it was rather short, but that may be only because I loved playing it. Dying frequently didn't seem to matter in this game because it just looks so darn good that it wasn't really annoying to die and do it over again! Especially when one of the monsters was at least 4 stories high and it just looks unbeatable! I have since found the "easy" way to kill it. Don't die when attacking! :)

One part that I love in this game is that you can play co-op in the campaign, but the downside to it is that it is co-op for 2 players only. Can you imagine 4 person co-op?! In any case, the co-op is one of the best ways to play this game! It's awesome having someone by your side to defeat the enemies! Best of all, you can do co-op online! To me, that is one of the best features in any game. I have yet to try pvp in this game, so I won't be saying anything about it except that I'm not very good at pvp. Yes, I have a bad aim!

All in all, it is a great game and worth the money and wait time I spent! If you ever end up getting a 360, this has to be the first game you get!

Black Thursday

I'm sure you all heard of Black Friday already, which is the day after Thanksgiving and is when traditionally stores come out with their best deals of the year in order to jump start the Christmas shopping season. Many years ago Rob scored a Nvidia GeForce 3 Ti for only $99 at BestBuy. Well this year Amazon is having some awesome "Black Thursday" specials starting at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow morning. One of the items I'm going to try to buy is the Xbox 360 Core System for only $99. I only say "try" because this news is already spreading across the web like wildfire and Amazon is only offering 1000 of these at this price. If you want one like me then its best to keep your finger on the F5 (refresh) button starting at 10:55 a.m. As a reminder, they sold out of the Nintendo Wii in less than 1 minute.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 website describes the differences between the lower cost Core system and the more expensive regular version. You can always purchase the "missing" items later (like the hard drive) if needed. It would be cool if we can all get one so we can have a Gears of War party.

No Wii for me

I was telling Kruddler and my brother last night that I was seriously considering getting the new Nintendo Wii console. Yeah I know it's not much more powerful than the original Xbox, nor does it feature high definition graphics or have a DVD/HD/BlueRay player but at $249 it costs a whole lot less then the other systems from Microsoft and Sony and more importantly it has games that Arianna can play. They other day she wanted me to hook up the Xbox so she could play Halo (she likes the feel of the force feedback controller when she fires) but ended up frustrated since she couldn't use the controller very well. I saw some videos on normal people (not hard core gamers) just pick up a Wii Remote and immediately use it in games like Wii Sports.

After a good game of Warcraft III last night I signed off of iChat and drove to my local Target which I already knew had 60 units. There was a line of about 20 people ahead of me around 10:00pm so I setup my folding chair and waited with the rest of the group. It was actually an interesting mix of people, half were women who were holding seats for their husbands/boyfriends, some actually wanted the console for themselves (I never really met a girl gamer until last night, she was talking about the infamous SouthPark episode of WoW). The guy I was sitting next to was a big PlayStation fan but was going to buy the console for a friend.

After waiting in the cold until midnight the line wasn't getting any longer (I counted about 35 people total then) and I was thinking, do I really want to wait another 8 hours for this so I said my good byes and left. I figured that I'll just get some sleep and wake up at 5:00am to wait in line again. I slept in and woke up at 6:30am. I quickly took a shower and rushed back to Target only to find 40 more people in line. Doh! I ended up waiting 30 minutes when a Target employee started passing tickets with numbers. No ticket, no Wii. She gave the last ticket to someone about 14 people ahead of me. Oh well I'm not really in a rush to get it (most of the guys waiting in line were going to race home to play it) and hopefully I can snag one before Christmas. Worse case scenario is that I get it for Arianna (and myself :)) for her birthday in February.

What was really funny was that after everybody in the front got their tickets the rest of started to walk away when some guy that scored a ticket shouted "Does anybody want to buy my ticket? Who wants a Wii!!!". I laughed at the profiteer and walked away while other people were asking him "So how much do you want for it?", he replied, "How much do you want to pay?".

A good article describing the pros and cons of the Wii can be found here.

PS3 Thoughts

I recently was thinking about all the real-world and media hype surrounding this week's launch of the PS3 and wondered that all important question-what about the games? That is, after all, the primary reason why one would want one- watching HD movies being secondary.

Admittingly I haven't been following the console game industry for quite some time, but at first glance it seems the best games that showcase what the PS3 can do right now are Resistance: Fall of Man and Ridge Racer 7, both exclusive to the PlayStation 3.

Here are some screens courtesy of IGN showing them in action:

I think the graphics are pretty impressive but at the same time to be expected after a long six years since Sony's PS2 release. Games like Half-Life 2 on my PC with a GeForce 7800 card look no less impressive though and I'm sure games using Nvidia's next gen GeForce 8 cards with DirectX 10 will look even better.

I'm a little disappointed with the anti-aliasing quality of Ridge Racer however. Even though the PS3 is using Nvidia graphics technology, I expected to see no jaggies considering that the Sony PS2 had zero anti-aliasing features while Microsoft's XBox, which was released a year later, did. Hopefully that's an issue that game developers can finesse on their end rather than being based in hardware.

On a separate note, I felt Sony should have stuck to their guns with the "Boomerang" controller introduced in the prototypes. I thought the look of it was slick and futuristic but apparently hardcore gamers felt otherwise, prompting Sony to replace it with the more traditional (and boring) looking controller.

So while I have no strong feelings one way or another for the PS3 itself, I do like the commercials. Sure some of them (like the creepy baby) don't make sense but still cool none-the-less.

Watch them here at YouTube of course. They remind me of the Cornell Box which is a famous test in the 3D graphics community.

PlayStation 3 Madness

I considered waiting in line to buy a PS3 and then turn around and sell it for a hefty profit but after watching this video and learning about the strict eBay rules for selling a console, I decided against it. I have to admit though, the high prices people are bidding makes it rather tempting. The madness begins tonight at midnight for some stores, while other shops are opening at their normal times to greet the rabid fans and fellow speculators.

Some of the eBay postings are rather comical. Check out this one from a guy who's offering "A copy of "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" Blu-Ray disc. This movie isn't in stores until December, but with PS3 pre-order, you will have before everybody else can buy it!" A free copy of Ricky Bobby?!! Where do I sign up!!!?

FiOS Update

Well I finally broke down and ordered my FiOS installation today. I ended up getting the 15 Mbps/2 Mbps package since Verizon was offering a $15 per month discount for the first 3 months. Can anybody say Half Life 2 server??? I have the installation scheduled for 11/27. It could have been early as next week but I'm out in Irvine for some training for a few days plus it's Thanksgiving right after that. I'll let you guys know how it went after everything's installed.

NWN2

Well, I went out and got Neverwinter Nights 2, had high expectations as this was
supposed to be a great looking game and better gameplay than the first. No lines like
I had with GoW thank goodness ;)

So, after playing the first few levels, I must say I'm kinda sorry I bought it at full price. First, I wasn't blown away by the graphics. With games like F.E.A.R., HL2, and Doom 3 on the pc, then GoW, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and other next gen 360 games, this was like last years graphics. Disappointing. I was then hoping for the gameplay to keep me interested in the game, which brings me to secondly, what's with the klunky gameplay camera angles? It was hard to get into the game when I was too busy trying to move the camera angle to where it looked right, felt good, etc., all the while the action taking place was getting me killed! So now I had to forget camera looking right to just stay alive even if I can't see the action taking place all the time.

Finally, gameplay. If you get past the first two obstacles, which for me is a hard thing because I have to get the right feel of a game to get into it, it was too slow paced for me. It's not entirely true turn based, but wasn't fast enough to be action packed. I got bored very quickly. I suppose the puzzle solving is a big part of it, but it didn't hold my interest as far as being mysterious. Trying to figuire out the hot keys, inventory, how to cast, how to fight, what to put on action bars, etc., well, was just as klunky as manipulating the camera. I suppose they tried to make a cross between action and mmorpg as far as controls, but it didn't work. It had some elements of action and mmo games as far as controlling and playing it, but it just didn't work smoothly for me. I got bored with the game even though I tried to get into the storyline.

All in all, I could have done without buying this game, but I had such high expectations and hopes for it because I did like the first game. Oh well, not all sequels are great, I guess. :(

Kruddler

Knott What I Remembered

Earlier this week we decided to visit Knott's Berry Farm and have the famous Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner. I remembered the place well from when my parents used to take us and always thought the food was the best. The biscuits were light and fluffy, the chicken would be so tender it would fall off the bone. However this time it was not very good at all. The chicken tasted like store bought (think Albertsons), the salad was definately store bought, and the biscuits were very stiff and needed lots of butter and preserves to become edible. To their credit the corn and mashed potatoes with gravy were very good. My biggest disappointment was with the boysenberry pie. It used to taste homemade but now seemed like off the rack fare. Perhaps things changed too much when Knott's sold out to Cedar Fair back in 1997.

We actually planned on visiting the theme park but since we only had 2 hours to enjoy it (they closed at 6:00 pm that day), we decided not to go. Also it only looked like our girls could enjoy 2 attractions, the rest seemed designed for older kids.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800

With all my Gears of War excitement I must have missed the announcement that NVIDIA announced their next generation GPU and nForce products, called the GeForce 8800 and nForce 600 series.

I haven't done much research on these cards yet but various web reviews have benchmarked a single top of the line GeForce 8800 GTX just as fast as 2 ATI Radeon X1950's in CrossFire mode. These new cards are the first DirectX 10 compatible cards that will be part of Microsoft's Vista operating system. Unfortunately only the high end GTX and GTS models are available now with suggested retail prices of $599 and $449. Personally I still think the sweet spot for new video cards are at the $300 range so I plan to wait the less expensive options to come out before considering upgrading my "aging" GeForce 6800 GTO.

Also quietly announced were new ForceWare drivers that work with the entire GeForce family in addition to these new cards.

By the way, did anybody notice that NVIDIA is using a new font for their logo?

Not a kids game: GoW

Well, it's here, and I did get it last night. I went in the daytime after voting,
which is another story that I'm too depressed to talk about!

The guy at GameStop told me to come back as they would start selling at 7pm, which I did. As I waited in line for an hour, which I suppose isn't that long depending on what you're waiting for, I thought why do I need it on the first day?! No reward is worth this! I was wrong...

I got home, turned on my 360, slid in the disc and thought, eh, I should go to bed, I'm feeling a little sick and it can wait till tomorrow. Then the game came on and I thought, eh, I'll just do the first mission which is the training part.

So start it I did, and thought, wow, nice cinematic and was blown away that it seamlessly went into the 3rd person perspective. I wasn't watching just any old cinematic, I was watching the cinematic in actual ingame graphics! The screens you see online are from the game engine! It's way more impressive when you have yer lil mits on the game and are playing it!

Anyway, the tutorial turned into the next mission, which took me to the next and the next...!

No, I didn't play all night. I wanted to, but my stomach got the best of me as I really was sick. Sleep had to come at some point ya know!

Guys, an HDTV and GoW are the greatest combo ever! The gameplay is hard for me, I'm a slow learner, but man, it's so beautiful it doesn't matter! You want gritty? You want intense? You want a real rush? This is an awesome game!

The only thing I don't like about it is... do they really need to use bad words? LOL!
Yeah yeah, I know it's supposed to add to the realism, but I can't get passed four letter words! Definitely not a kids game! If it weren't for the foul language, I'd rush to show Matthew the game, but I may have to restrain myself.

Check out the gameplay cinematic trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAT8DPnG1vk

Hopefully I'll have more to report at the end of the game, but for now, I must go play!

Kruddler

Krudd

Gears of War

Every great console usually has a killer app which makes it a must have for its fans. With the SNES it was Super Mario World, PlayStation had the Final Fantasy series, the original Xbox had Halo and now the Xbox 360 has Gears of War. Apparently it just got released today to rave reviews. GOW is a third person shooter from Epic Games that uses their new awesome looking Unreal Engine 3 technology.

I hope the Kruddler gets this soon so I can play it at his house without me having to invest in another console...

Han Shot First

As I was going over my Christmas wish list of DVD's that I want to own, I remembered that I was missing the original Star Wars trilogy that Lucas just released last month. Keep in mind that this isn't just the Special Edition stuff that showed Greedo shooting first but also includes the original theatrical releases from 1977, 1980 and 1983.

Looking at the official Star Wars website it looks like they will stop making these DVD's on December 31st so if you haven't picked up a copy then make sure this gets on Santa's list. The only thing I can't find is a boxed set of all three films, I can only find the individual films on Amazon. If anybody has a link to the set then please send it.