Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!! Right now everyone is asleep and I'm writing this on my wonderful iPhone! Who needs to turn on the computer!

We have a great day planned ahead of us filled with Rock Band World Tour and eating and celebrating, not all in that order but plenty of rinse and repeating that formula!

Tell all Merry Christmas and the true meaning, the message, of why we celebrate today! May the peace and grace of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ be with you and your families!

Edit: I didn't mention that I slept in the main house with Matthew by the tree! The girls opted to sleep in beds as they had all gone to midnight mass while I had gone to the 4 o'clock service.

Everyone is still asleep while in this time I washed dishes, made bad coffee but made a decent omelette. I'm going to make omelettes for whoever wants one this morning. I'll let someone else do the coffee!

Another year passes

Well, another year has come and is just about gone. As I have such an extremely bad memory, I'm trying hard to think of any big techie/gadget breakthroughs that made me go wow. Somebody help me out here. I can't think of anything.

I can come up with something that isn't a wow factor for me, but more if a why did Apple wait so long and get beat to the punch. The new pc's with touch screen capabilities. However, like I said it wasn't a wow factor as it was just expected since the iPhone came out last year. It's a cool thing, but again, just expected on this road of technology. In any case, MacBook Touch is my prediction for the upcoming MacWorld.

And while I'm on the subject, next gen iPhone with more memory, new desktop Mac also with compatible touch monitors and maybe a surprise item Jobs had been keeping under his hat!

I may have to edit this post later I'm the month!

Games seem to be slowing down just a tad as I don't know what else I'd on the horizon other than Killzone 2 for the PS3 and Resident Evil 5 which is multiplatform I think. Oh! Lest I forget on the of gaming side: Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3! All these titles are must buys!

I'm at work on my iPhone blogging this, so no pics and fluff! And I'll have to edit for changes most likely, either to add or subtract or both.

Oops! Forgot that Jobs most likely isn't going to do keynote or even be there at MacWorld! And that this is also most likely Apple's last Expo. Sad way to end an era of exciting new technologies.

Our Christmas Tree!

Well, I got the tree today and just now put up the last of the lights! And though you can barely tell what's on top with this photo, we have the first decoration as well. It's an angel!

I'm guessing my folks and sis with her kids will put up the decorations, though my mom is satisfied with the lights! When it's daylight, she'll change her mind, lol!

This year I replaced all the old lights with brand new LED's and they look great imo. They seem brighter than the old ones and the best part being they are not as hot and use much less energy, so perfect for the electric bill!

Though it's hard to tell in the pic, there are 3 sizes of LED's. We have the small lights like the tiny garden type lights, a slightly larger one called C4 and lastly the equivalent sized C7, which are the only white lights in the tree. I normally use the C7 size to fill the inside glow of the tree to add a little more depth and glow which helps fill out the tree from the inside.

Daycation indoors this Saturday night with the kids! We'll be sleeping by the tree with the fireplace on, having Abuelita's hot chocolate, pan dulce and some Christmas movie we have yet to decide on! Woohoo! The Christmas season is officially here for us!

Celebrate!

This is truly a great idea and the implementation simply ingenious!



Yes, I'm the one! :)

Left 4 Dead

Wow wow wow!

Ever feel like you wanted to be in a zombie movie? But I'm not talking traditional slow undead creatures. I mean fast running on your heals breaking through wall climbing fences all over your face incredibly fast paced heart racing paranoia inducing I'm not gonna make it outta here zombies! This is Left 4 Dead!

I personally never watched 28 Weeks Later (the sequel to 28 Days Later), where in the trailer they show "zombies" running as fast as you so you can't stop for a break or else you die zombies. I know the story actually is not a zombie movie but a virus infected population that resembles what a zombie might be, but they are not the undead. Thus they run fast and have the ability to catch you easily. That's how these "zombies" move. I won't ruin the story and spill the beans on what happened. I also haven't finished it. :)

The downside, it's obviously rated R, or if you wish, M in the gaming industry. It's like an R movie. Language, violence, gore, you know, the typical horror/gore movie game.

It does a great job at making you feel exhausted! Talk about the chase! There are many cases where you think, "ok, I'm safe walking slowly through this alley, just gotta make it to that buildi- wait, what's that to my left down the other alley? Maybe if I shine this flashlight down there I can see it better, I'm far enough away to run... oh no!!! It looked up, run oh man there's a ton of them now, run faster aaaaaahhhh they're coming from the other streets and from the buildings now!!!"

When you get to a safe zone, you start thinking you don't really want to leave and go back out there. Where there is one, there are many. That's the only tip I'll give you!

I got it on the 360, so Marcos, unfortunately, this is a must buy as it has 4 person co-op!

I have to leave, so I don't have time to tell you about the graphics and sound and the ai when you don't have a buddy with you. But without that info, it is a must buy!

Terminator Salvation - Trailer 2

The second trailer for Terminator Salvation was just released, and as an Apple exclusive. We've been burned by trailers before but I'm still in the "this is going to be good" camp.

On a side note, the new Star Trek trailer looks darn good as well. I'm interested in seeing what director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Cloverfield) brings to the table.

I can't wait until May 2009 when both movies are released.

XBox Live

Well, 2 in one night! Who'da thunk!?

I can't say much at the moment about the new version of the Live interface as in all truthfulness, I am still undecided as to whether I like it or not.

I can see where they wanted to make it more, hmmm, should I say... sophisticated? With a slick new design, very clean and ordered (to me at least), it seems like it's supposed to appeal, in my opinion, to a more adult audience.

Yet the new avatar feature completely, again in my opinion, goes the other way toward a younger audience with it's Wii-like cuteness. It does have a very clean feel and look to it to still fit in with the rest of the ui though, I guess.

Maybe I'm still used to the old interface. I honestly can't decide right now whether or not I like it. It's just different. I'm sure when they tweak certain things I'll get more used to it as time progresses. I won't say I dislike it.

It's funny, but now that I think of it, it's sort of a cross between the sleekness of the PS3 interface and the kidness look of the Wii. I guess you could say Microsoft is really working hard to appeal to both ends of the spectrum and capture both audiences from Sony and Nintendo.

GoW2

Well, it's been awhile since my last blog, and as Marcos stated in the previous post, we missed all of last month!

I wanted to finish the game before posting anything about GoW2, but I suppose something would have been better than nothing. In any case, here it is, the short version.

Wow.

We're already used to seeing the awesome visuals, stunning sound and compelling story from the first game, but this sequel is not just taking it a notch up, it is leaping way ahead and leaving GoW in the dust!

The graphics have been slightly improved and you can definitely see some truly amazing things not just with texture, but dust and fog and such are incredible! And they truly did an awesome job with the lighting! Simply amazing!

As before, great job on the sound effects and music, helping tremendously with the mood of the story and scenes. My one complaint as with the first though is not really about the sound itself, but the language. Yeah, rated R for sure! Other than that, great sound and music!

Last and definitely not least, far from it actually, was the storyline! I thought the original was a great story, but this one...! You really get a sense of being more involved in the plot line as well as getting personal with the characters! The storyline is superb! Probably the best reason to get this game! It is like being the main characters in a movie!

I don't want to spoil anything specifically, so That's all I'm gonna write about this game. And no, I did not spend all night till I finished the game! I wanted to savor every moment as the story unfolded! Now if Marcos would get it and get back on Live for a co-op...

I realize it's not much of a review without specifics, but you really need to play this game!

Black Mesa

Wow we went the whole month of November without posting a new blog. Everybody too busy with the holidays? :-) Here's a short one for you...

Apparently some fans have been working hard on a total conversion mod called Black Mesa that updates the original groundbreaking game Half Life with updated models and graphics using the Source engine. This was in response to the rather lack luster port from Valve called Half-Life: Source which primarily added updated water and lighting effects, but kept the original models and textures.

Although the Black Mesa mod has been in development for over 4 years with a "when it's done" release date, they've just released a video showcasing their efforts with a 2009 date at the end. It looks good to me and I can't wait to play it, especially since it will be free to anybody with a game that uses the Source engine.