360Prophecy

We've moved to a new URL

2007-03-12T15:24:00.002-04:00

If you're still here, you've missed the train! 360 Prophecy has moved... for the last time we promise! Check out our new website right over here...

www.360Prophecy.com

EDIT:

You'll also probably want the URL for our new RSS feed if you're into that sort of thing. Now powered by FeedBurner! http://feeds.feedburner.com/360Prophecy

so tired

2007-03-05T22:11:00.000-05:00

Where have I been? WHERE HAVE I BEEN? As if you have to even ask! Oh... sorry... I misunderstood. You want to know where episode 14 has been! Well apparently comic certification is modeled after XBLA certification and it's taking some time. (Just kidding MS, I heart you!)

Since we've last talked I'm happy to report that Episode 15 is now on it's way to the orbital headquarters awaiting Bill's personal signature. I heard he signs Billy G. Not only that but our new ultra-website is also nearing it's monumental release date. That's something that doesn't need to be certified, so when it's ready it will be up (we're very close now)! New features will include awesome.

On a more personal note, I'm rushing like a mad-man to get all this done. Maranda's due date has now come and gone with no baby to show for it. I've been told that my free time will dwindle after a baby is requiring my attention. Also, I bought a freakin' minivan. Shoot me. Golly gee I'm so not cool anymore. To feel my quickly fading youth I need to drive around in my Dad's sports car... when he lets me. *sigh* Don't laugh buddy... it will happen to you one day!

I did find the time to grab the elusive "complete all levels in co-op" achievement in R6 Vegas last week, as well as I finally managed to get some time with Call of Duty 3. It's a fun, although simplistic game. It kind of reminds me of Halo 2... in 1940s Europe. The multiplayer is nice when you just want to let loose and blow stuff up. Although, I have to admit I'm not very good at it. This week I'll be picking up GRAW2. Ghost Recon is, and has been since it's initial release on PC 200 years ago, my favourite gaming franchise. Look for my impressions, and hopefully a new website this weekend.

Unless I've got a baby, in that case I'll be too busy trying to get him/her to learn the basics of the FPS. Cheers!

Minute changes for now, big ones coming

2007-02-25T23:29:00.000-05:00

So we all know that you access this blog by going to 360prophecy.com and not http://360p.blogspot.com, right? RIGHT? There is a reason for this of course, it's because it was always my full intention to create an all new site. Well that new site is coming very soon and for a little while the URL will direct you to a "coming soon" page. Hopefully that will be in the next 48 to 72 hours. But just in case you get a "this page can't be displayed", now you know why.

Co-Op with an Arcadian

2007-02-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to grab some co-op time in Crackdown last night with Bamelin from 360 Arcadians. We focused more chatting then really playing. I admit, I completely forgot that I could have scored an achievement if we finished a meeting. The co-op play pretty much works as advertised, with the exception of some pretty bad lag but I hear that a patch is supposedly coming out today to fix that.

One thing that Bamelin and I are pretty much in agreement of is that, while two players is nice, four would have been better. Still, the game is great. I expect to see everyone on my friends list online tonight!

Comic Update: Episode 14 is off to Microsoft for posting. Soon our friend the Master Chief will make his return!

360P Ep 13: Crackdown - I think I can

2007-02-19T18:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, three posts in one day. This must be some kind of record. The latest 360P comic is now available on XBOX.com.

This comic is obviously inspired by Crackdown. I would also like to mention that it was even more inspired by my apparent complete lack of depth perception. Ever been so sure you could make that jump, only to miss and fall to your death? Yes? No? Well I've been there... many times.

I would also like to mention that the release of a new Live Messenger avatar pack is immanent. Prepare yourselves.

Powered by Google

2007-02-19T11:16:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that I am a huge advocate of cool technology. Increased love is especially given to web based technology. I was, after all, a web developer for a very long time before moving into my role as chief media designer. This blog is powered by Google's blogger service, my RSS reader of choice is Google's RSS Reader, and I make constant use of Google's Docs and Spreadsheets application.

I was listening to Major Nelson's most recent webcast this morning and he mentioned that he too uses Google's RSS reader. He asked his army of dedicated listeners if they would be interested in seeing some of the stuff he reads via the sharing feature built into the software. I replied to his thread saying, "Hey, you should just put a little gadget into your website that lists the shared items feed. I'm going to be putting one into 360P's new design!"

And then I thought, "Wait... I can do that now". And so I did.

Now if you look in my right column you'll find the last five items that I've shared from the zillion or so feeds that I subscribe to.

It's almost time for Co-Op!

2007-02-19T10:26:00.000-05:00

I spent the entire weekend with Crackdown and managed to level all my skills to four stars, clear out Los Meurtos and Volk, and pick up a few of the juggling achievements. All in all, the game is still great. What I’m looking forward to most is tomorrow’s North American release. Why, you ask? Because you can fully expect me to jump into your games unexpectedly and throw trucks at you. ;)

While I’ve been having a blast with the single player experience, what I’ve missed out on is having community people to play with. If you’re looking for a co-op partner and you’re not already on my friends list, send Sinnix (that's me!) a friend request and append the message “Crackdown!”.

Here’s another thing I didn’t realize at first that new Crackdown owners should be aware of. Get your strength skill up early. Not only does it allow you to throw cars around, but for every level of strength that you have, you gain an extra health bar. This is a little tidbit of information I wish I had earlier on.

Episode 14 of 360P is now complete and will be heading off to MS later this evening. I’m guessing Ep. 13 is going up tomorrow. It’s an educated guess though, based off the subject matter. *cough* Crackdown *cough*

Crackdown - Retail vs Demo

2007-02-16T09:48:00.000-05:00

I spent a good four or five hours with Crackdown last night and thought, since MS was nice enough to send me a copy, that I should go ahead and let everyone know how it plays and how it compares to the version we all downloaded from XBOX Live Marketplace. The biggest difference from the demo is, of course, that it saves your progress. After playing through the demo several times I promised myself that I wouldn’t play it again because it almost feels like you’re wasting your time. No longer a problem!

Another big difference from the demo is that the entire city is open to you from the start. Just drive out to Los Muertos, hit the bridge and drive to any one of the other three islands you like. Just understand that while you can go there, I don’t recommend doing so right off the start seeing as how the baddies are a lot more powerful. If you’re looking for an easy ride you might want to pop into Volk, snag a rocket launcher (the best way to get your explosion rating up), and then continue on with your campaign in the starter islands.

While the demo both accelerates and caps your skill progression, the full retail version finally allows you get to the third and fourth star rating for your skills. After playing for a few hours and vigorously hunting down green and blue orbs, the only skill I’ve managed to get to three stars are agility and explosive power. Individual results will probably vary, I did take some time out to just explore the new environments and didn’t focus constantly and feeding my need for orbs.

While I was taking it slow, apparently the game had other ideas. The first island was cleared out very quickly, indeed too quickly even. To make matters worse after you kill off the general of the island, all the baddies disappear. While this does let you hunt for orbs and complete races unimpeded, it doesn’t do anything for your combat oriented skills which can now no longer be upgraded until you head off to Volk to continue the story. For me this indicated that I should really stop playing the story in Volk and strictly focus on upgrading my abilities before continuing. It’s not really a problem mind you, it was just a little unexpected.

I think my favourite aspect of the game is how you can really affect the world around you. For example, if you take out the car thief, the enemies will be driving beat-up vans instead of sweet sport cars. If you take out their recruiter, suddenly there are less guys on the street. The difference is noticeable to a point. Taking out the sub-bosses doesn’t necessarily make the game too much easier, but a little easier for sure… especially when it comes time to take out the main island general.

All said and done, I’m really going to enjoy clearing out the last two islands and working on some of those more interesting achievements. You’ll be able to pick up Crackdown for yourselves mid next week.

Link Buttons

2007-02-16T09:18:00.000-05:00

A few people have requested some link buttons and who am I to refuse? Please have these link to http://www.360prophecy.com

I've got personality

2007-02-14T18:13:00.000-05:00

Hey look at that... if you go to XBOX.ca > Community and look in the right column I'm listed right there under Jade (and above Major Nelson. HA!!! Take that Larry!).

Now all they have to do is get the URL for my blog right. ;)

360prophecy.com

Change of direction

2007-02-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

Well, Episode 13 is off to Microsoft Canada's mountain top headquarters to be scrutinized by whomever approves that kind of stuff for posting. Expect it to be live soon. I'm also happy to report that #14 is also nearly complete (just the background left) and will also hopefully be appearing in a browser near you relatively soon.

While I'm here, I'd like to point out that the fine folks at MS have updated the URLs for the comic. You will always find the newest comic here and the archive here. This is a big step forward for us, and I'm really psyched that we managed to get this done!

In respects to the focus of the comic, which I've been giving a lot of thought lately, I think I'm going to make a few changes. It is no secret that before working with the XBOX Canada guys I had never really drawn a comic before. I've made my fair share of mistakes and I've been experimenting a lot with both my writing and my drawing style. Believe it or not, the hardest part for me is writing the script, keeping it relevant, and appeasing the Microsoft censor. Not that my comics are really censored mind you, but let's put it this way... you aren't going to see a comic featuring Mario and Luigi appearing on XBOX.com anytime soon. Anyway, my point is that pretty much from this point forward all 360P comics are going to strictly deal with funny things about 360 games or humorous Canadian community moments. Last months Lost Planet comic is a good example of where we're going to be moving.

This change of direction will help the comic stay focused and give me new material to work with every month. I like the idea, but what do you think? Sound off in the comments.

My Vista Box is Done

2007-02-01T08:55:00.000-05:00

Contrary to what other people are saying, I really like Vista. I am happy to report that last night I managed to build a computer from scratch and get Windows Vista running on it without any problems. In fact, I would go as far as saying that it was smoother than any XP install I have ever done (and I've done a lot of those). Here's the specs for the tech heads out there:

Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.16Ghz
ASUS P5B Mainboard
2GB OCZ PC6400 RAM
320GB Seagate Barracude SATA2 HDD
nVidia 7950GT 256MB Video Card

Building the computer took the longest, a lot has changed in the five years since I've completely assembled a computer from the ground up. Everything had different connectors than I'm used to but overall it wasn't that bad. I think the thing that surprised me the most was the size of the CPU heatsink and fan. That sucker is huge. The first PC I ever built myself (286) didn't even have a CPU fan! Pertaining to Windows Vista, the install was easy and painless. If it took more than 20 minutes I'd be surprised. All of my hardware worked at first boot and the only additional driver I needed to update was for my video card. I installed a few games that I had lying around and they all ran flawlessly. Overall, I'd say that 'impressed' is an understatement.

It's like my birthday, only better

2007-01-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

I am super excited. Not only are all the components of my new computer arriving today (I'll post pictures later) but I've just learned that a single-player demo for GRAW 2 is now available on XBOX Live Marketplace.

Maranda and I never got around to finishing it, but we did have a 360P games of the year post going a while back in draft form (maybe I should finish that up?). The original GRAW was my runner-up for Game of the Year. I really loved the online co-op play in that game and all my friends are super excited for the March release of GRAW 2.

The great thing about GRAW was that they really nailed all the important features to online play. Good achievements, split-screen over live, character customization, and fun gameplay. I am literally giddy thinking about the mysterious improvements they're adding in the next installment of the Ghost Recon franchise.

Also, 360 Prophecy episode #13 production is well underway. You can expect to see it on XBOX.ca (hopefully) mid-February.

Week of Vista

2007-01-28T21:05:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, we're console gamers and we don't care about our PC brethren. But you know what? You should. The launch of the (very) long awaited Windows Vista operating system, along with games like Shadowrun, will help us prove once and for all that shooters can be played on a console and we can do it just as well. Live Anywhere? Can't wait.

We've previously established that I am in the market for a new PC. Well I've also just finished my pre-order for Vista Home Premium ($139CAD Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit OEM @ NCIX.com). My new PC parts should be arriving at several points during the week, I'll take some pics of my new monster box during the building process. Until then, see you on live!

Just a quick FYI

2007-01-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

You guys rock, you really do. I mean, I want to help you but there just isn't anything I can do! There seems to be a slight misconception about who I work for. And when I say "slight", I mean a couple dozen people asking me to get them Halo 3 beta invites.

I do not work for Microsoft, I am not a contractor working for Microsoft. I am, in fact, a gamer just like you! I have no way of getting you an invite for the Halo 3 beta. If you really want in, I highly suggest checking out Crackdown (a demo was made available yesterday). It's a really fun game and specially marked boxes are going to include entry into the coveted Halo 3 multiplayer beta. See you on live!

360P Ep 12: Lost Planet

2007-01-19T11:44:00.000-05:00

Episode 12 of 360 Prophecy has gone live on XBOX.ca today. The topic of choice is Capcom's Lost Planet with, of course, a Canadian twist.

There has always been something about snow games that has always bothered me. Maybe it's because I hate snow. Do people in the tropics hate snow? Do they know they should hate snow? The only positive thing about snow is that after you spend nearly three decades living with snow, you kind of become immune to it.

Check the comic here.

XCT Concept Images

2007-01-18T14:04:00.000-05:00

I put together some concept header images for the new XBOX Canada Tournaments website run by my good friend Greenskull and posted them to my Flickr page. He's got a thread going on at the XBOX Canada forums if you're interested in giving it a go. Check all the images here.

I knew I gave this up for a reason

2007-01-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

Now, I haven’t always been an XBOX gamer. In fact, I only recently switched joining the XBOX gamer ranks late in the original XBOX’s late lifecycle. Before that fateful day I was a hardcore PC gamer. Like most switchers, I left my custom gaming rig behind because I was tired of having to constantly pay to upgrade my box so I could run the latest and greatest games.

I say it was a custom box because, indeed, I did build it myself. You see, I’m what’s known as an A+ Certified Computer Technician. Of course, every true tech out there will tell you that the only thing A+ means is that you can open up a case without poking your eye out with a screwdriver.

So, my computer (which I create all of my comics on) has slowly become obsolete over the years since I haven’t put any money into it. Today I was fortunate enough to receive payment for a contact I was working on. After some discussion with my better half I have decided to drop a portion of it on a new computer.

Confident in my old knowledge of computers (now over five years old) I went to an online retailer with visions of selecting all my parts and building my new PC. Here’s how that went:

“There are how many socket types now?!”
“WTF is SATA?!”
“PCI-E???! What happened to AGP!!!?”
“Core Duo E6400? Why don’t these things have GHz specs??!”
“Who is Conroe?”
“320GB… THAT’S HUGE!!!!”

… and on and on and on…The land has changed since I was last building computers. After that horrifying experience I called up a friend who (while laughing at me) walked me through the paces of selecting all my components… which will be assembled by the nice people at the retailer. I’m just too afraid of breaking something to do it myself.

I guess it really is true, “You can never go home again”.

Episode 12 on it's way

2007-01-14T00:49:00.000-05:00

Just wrapped up episode 12 and sent if off to XBOX Canada's mobile space command center. It should be arriving on a website near you sometime this week.

The interesting thing about this comic is that it marks my first attempt at digital painting. Being a designer, I never have to really use painting for anything. Mostly clients want lots of flat colour, or subtle gradients. Painting is out of the question. It's nothing major in this comic, mind you... just the background and I know it isn't very good but it is progress. I'm going to continue to paint the backgrounds (and do some studies too) and we'll see how I come along. Cheers!

Apple iPhone

2007-01-09T15:43:00.000-05:00

In case you haven’t heard, and I admit this is the last blog you should check for information on gadgetry, Apple has finally introduced the iPhone.

The crowd goes wild.

I can’t say that I’m a huge supporter of Apple. To be honest, while I find their products to be phenomenal, their restrictive DRM gets in the way of my everyday life and I do my best to avoid the iTunes store as often as I can. It is products like the iPhone that just may change all that.

A funny thing happened here at the office after it was announced; a conglomerate of geeks appeared in our break room to discuss this new marvel. Unanimously agreed to be the hit of CES. Many things were said in that impromptu gathering and I’d like to bring a few of them up here.

We pretty much all agreed that if this doesn’t change cell phones forever, nothing well. But dammit, it better change because the truth is here. Cell phones are a stagnate industry where they obviously employ too many engineers and not enough designers and no one ever thinks of the end user. You can darn well be sure they’re starting to think about it now. Apple has done what they do best; they’ve created a killer (and expensive) product that will no doubt be imitated to death… and that’s what excites me. As a professional designer, following Apple is a must. They are one of the definitive trend setters when it comes to many aspects of design: industrial design and human interfacing stand out. Where they blaze a path, others will follow and stumble along hoping that maybe, one day, they’ll creating something half as good.

So wake up cell phone industry, Apple has spoken and they’ve shown you the future. It is, quite literally, time to think different.

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T19:25:00.000-05:00

Well, 2006 has only a few short hours left. Since I'm with a pregnant wife, we're not really going out drinking. In fact, I'd be surprised if she manages to stay up past 8pm (a rare occurrence, apparently baby likes to sleep).

Since she couldn't do anything super fun, I drew her as she would have appeared if she was born an anime elven rogue. Thought I'd share it with you guys. Have a great time tonight everyone.

Edit: Yes, she really does have purple hair in real life, so it's okay. ;)

Merry Christmas to all!

2006-12-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

Well, it's almost that time of the year again. Last minute shopping, parties galore, and of course... new video games to play. But today we're not going to talk about video games, we're going to wish you well this Holiday Season.

From everyone at 360 Prophecy (and I'm sure XBOX Canada too!) Merry whatevertheheckyoucelebrate to all! Here's a special Holiday comic that will be popping up on XBOX.ca in the next few days. Cheers!

XNA Game Studio... beta no more!

2006-12-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

Cue boring press release:

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 11, 2006 — Your World. Your Game. With today’s release of Microsoft® XNA™ Game Studio Express and the launch of the XNA Creators Club, this phrase has never been more true. Based on the easy-to-use Visual C#® 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a Windows® XP-based PC at http://www.msdn.com/XNA. With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360™ systems for the first time ever.

Cue excited fanboy rant:
WOOHOO! Also, you're going to want the skinny on the Creator's Club. The only thing that saddens me is that I truly don't have enough time to work on my game. I don't even have any spare time over Christmas because I'm saving all my vacation for when the baby is born. My mission? I must learn to live without sleep.

The Rant #1 - Gaming is not a sport

2006-12-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

Welcome to a brand new feature, I call it "The Rant". Will it continue? Probably. As a gamer with over 20 years experience I've seen a lot of messed up stuff in this industry. Every once in a while I see, hear, or read something that really pisses me off. I'd like to talk about that.

Parental Advisory Warning: I am 'unkind'.

I read a lot of gaming blogs. No joke. A lot. One of my favourites is Joystiq. They have a light-hearted edge that, being a hardly serious person, I can appreciate. This evening I came across a post talking about how they're going to do drug checks in this Cyberathelete Professional League some genius decided to start.

Did I miss a fucking meeting? When the hell did gamers turn into 'atheletes' and when did gaming become a sport? To make it all worse, it's a fracking eSport.

Let me tell you something. I remember being in middle school having a fascinating debate with my best friend on which we liked better (Nintendo or Sega), and those asshole Jock atheletes decided to tease me for it. Don't insult me now by thinking that I in any way, shape, or form
want to be called one of them. Even now, at 28 years of age, I still get eyes rolling when my hockey-playing co-workers overhear me talking about a passion I happen to take pretty damn seriously. Gaming is about as much of a sport as figure skating is.

God I hate figure skating.

And don't think I'm in the dark over hear Mr. Marketing guru. I know why you're calling it a sport. You and your friends at Spike think gaming needs to be made more mainstream before it can fit nicely into your pretty TV shows... and maybe you're right. But insulting the generations of geeks that brought gaming to what it is today is not, I repeat: is not, the way to do it.

Gamer for life... or until carpal tunnel sets in.

Rainbow Six Vegas Faces

2006-11-27T18:10:00.000-05:00

So my friend Jade is running this little contest for us Canadians. In fact, by the time you read this it will probably be over. Regardless, I've decided to share my Rainbow Six Vegas game face. I'm not shy to admit that this game is the reason I purchased the Vision Camera so many moons ago. Indeed, in my review of said product I specifically pointed out that there was no good reason to buy one (yet).

My friends, that reason is now upon us and it is face mapping in Rainbow Six.

What’s going on

2006-11-27T12:13:00.000-05:00

What a great month. Seriously. Okay, right up I know I haven’t been around much. Rest assured a new comic is being worked on (although I admit… slowly). But I can explain! Too many good games to play!

Gears of War = awesome game. I don’t think I need to try and win anyone over on this. As I predicted, it did live up to the insane amount of hype it generated. The co-op is implemented flawlessly and HotelQueen and I are working our way through the campaign. On Hardcore, naturally. (I despise the term *natch*)

Rainbow Six Vegas has hardly left my drive since I purchased it last week. This game, unfortunately, does NOT have flawless co-op. In fact, I can point out quite a few flaws with this game (and I have done so on the official Ubisoft forums). Pretty much all of my concerns revolve around split-screen in one way or another. I mean seriously, why can’t we both use our custom PEC characters during co-op? One of us can but the other can’t? Not cool. Fortunately, the lackluster split screen support is somewhat offset by the engrossing single player and Xbox Live play. I’ve only made it to Private 1st Class, but I’m looking forward to eventually grabbing some killer night-vision goggles.

Small Arms is so much fun I literally giggle when I think about it. I even managed to grab that elusive “Six Degrees” achievement on my very first Live match. I do find the single player campaign a little too difficult on the later levels mind you.

I also want to take a moment to point out this article (thanks Major Nelson). It’s a feature on J Allard, the legend behind the Xbox 360’s creation. I honestly felt very inspired after reading it. Mostly because of that little snip about how he sent out this big email telling everyone to pay attention or get smoked by the competition. Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to do that?

Three years into his Microsoft tenure, Allard was working on Windows NT server software, with no direct reports. Frustrated, he wrote his now-famous memo. Allard wanted Microsoft to figure out what Internet users wanted to do, build tools to help them do it, and become a technical leader before rivals did. "Embrace, extend, then innovate," he wrote. "Change the rules: Windows becomes the next-generation Internet tool of the future!"

Thanks for that J.

Marcus Fenix's Secret Identity

2006-11-17T21:55:00.000-05:00

I'll give credit to the mighty and powerful Hotel Queen for pointing this one out to me. Fun fact, did you know that Marcus Fenix (Gears of War) was voiced by John Di Maggio? Name sound familiar? He voices Futurama's Bender too! Cool!

Community Spot: 360 Arcadians Attack My Inbox

2006-11-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it... I'm slow at checking my messages. It's a bad habit, and it's been going on a long, long time. So, maybe you've heard of the 360 Arcadians before? They're a Penny Arcade / XBOX 360 fansite. They have podcasts for you, two of them in fact. Truly, today is your lucky day.

Happy Emergence Day!

2006-11-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

Wow, does this game kick ass or what? I'll tell you, I haven't had this much fun playing co-op in forever and a day. I'm thrilled to see a developer finally managed to nail co-op gameplay perfectly. Sure, I've got a few minor gripes here and there, but nothing so bad as to take away from the masterpiece that is Gears of War.

I shouldn't leave out the versus mode, because it truly is fantastic. Why? Mostly because it allowed me to chainsaw fellow Canadian Greenskull in half about a dozen times. That's for not eating your olives buddy!

Since this is Emergence Day, you can download a fancy gamer pic and theme. The kicker is that these are available today and today only. The theme is especially awesome.

On another note, I owe some thanks to two very prominent Microsoft peeps. My immense gratitude goes out to Major Nelson and Jade. Both helped me with two different things, and it's because of them that I'm able to enjoy Emergence Day with all of you today. Cheers.

Review: Xbox 360 Wireless Headset

2006-11-09T11:44:00.000-05:00

The other day Maranda and I were in our local Toys R' Us laser tagging things for our baby registry. When we were finished we headed over to the "R Zone" (the video games department). After checking out any newly released DS games I strolled over to the XBOX accessories. There, much to my surprise, I saw one final wireless headset sitting there in all its glory.

Now, Maranda loves gaming gadgets as much as I, but even so I had a considerably difficult time explaining to her the value of a wireless headset. After all, the wired headset works well, and even though it has that evil wire... the controller doesn't. It's not like you NEED to have a wireless headset. In the end, I didn't win her over to believing it was a purchase of value... but I bought it anyway.

Probably the most critical aspect you need to worry about when purchasing any headset, aside from sound quality, is comfort. It you can't wear it during a long, drawn out gaming session then the value of the product is significantly lessened. After latching it on to my ear, I was surprised to discover that it held quite firmly. Even while messing with the volume buttons, it hardly ever moved. For Maranda, unfortunately, it was a different story. She is, well, rather diminutive (read: small) and has smaller ears to match. She couldn't get it to stabilize on her ear regardless of the positions we tried. In addition, she also pointed out that people whom wear glasses (as she does) may have problems wearing both at the same time. I concede that this could be a problem, so if you wear glasses... be wary of you purchase.

Included in the package is the charger. There are two important things to note. First, know that unlike the 360 controller, you cannot use the headset and charge it at the same time. Second, it charges via a wall outlet instead of using USB. Now, I've read other reviews that have called this an 'issue'. I'm going to blatantly disagree; I think it was a wise move. Since you can't use it while it's charging, there is no point in having it leach off of one of the three precious USB ports. Four hours of charging gives you about 20 to 30 hours of gameplay.

The sound quality is on par, and sometimes better, than the wired headset we've all become accustomed to. There really isn't too much to say here, since the old headset's quality wasn't all that bad to begin with in most cases.

The largest benefit this headset gives you is reliability. In the wired headset, the component most likely to break first is, in fact, the connections on either end of the wire. As any person with experience will tell you that a soldiered connection is always the weakest point in the wire. Personally, I've already had one of my wired headsets fall to this fate of the wire coming loose. Two of my friends have also reported the same problem.

To conclude, at such a high price point it is a difficult sell to anyone. The advantages it gives you are small but, in comparison, the negatives are just as small. I'm going to go ahead and recommend it, but only for its 'coolness factor' and only if you've got cash to spare.

Gears of War Canadian Launch Party Pics

2006-11-08T10:21:00.000-05:00

After some serious depression about missing the Gears of War launch party in Toronto, I decided to further torment myself by asking Jade for some pictures of the event.

So what do you get when you have Gears of War + Church + Smoke Machine + Homeless Guys? A freakin' good time.

Head on over to the Gallery.

Ep11: It's A Religious Thing

2006-11-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

A long, long time ago in a forum far, far away Jade threw a contest. The premise of this contest was simple in nature: write about your plan to get off work/school on Emergence Day so that you can play Gears. Here we find the inspiration for my Gears of War comic spectacular!

I missed out on the Gears of War Canadian launch party. Believe me, I'm kicking myself for it. Just thinking about Gears gives me goose bumps. Yes, it is that good.

Back when I had the opportunity to meet Mark Rein from Epic (raised in Toronto, btw) I was telling him that I was in the process of writing a comic about his game. As I was standing there having my Gears poster signed I realized how incredibly stupid I felt offering my comic to a gaming legend. Oh, and to make matters WORSE the artistic director (Jerry) was there too. He makes beautifully stunning games and here I am with my tiny Photoshop job. Awkward.

Anyway. Gears, baby. It's almost here.

Happy 200th Podcast Major

2006-11-05T16:47:00.000-05:00

I mentioned earlier that way back at X'06, I had the esteemed honour of spending a rather significant time with Larry Hryb - Director of XBOX Live Programming, better known as the infamous Major Nelson. One of the conversation topics was his upcoming 200th podcast. I can tell you that back then, he didn't really have much idea what he was going to do. Maranda and I can take credit, however, for urging him to do something special.

I don't know if that last part is true, but it sounds good so let's run with it.

Anyway, to help him add a little whiz-bang to this occasion I sent him a comic. Now, obviously, this is the greatest thing ever... it makes me wonder what he's going to follow it up with later tonight!

On another note... to my fellow Canucks: Did you know that you can go to XBOX.ca instead of XBOX.com? There is a difference! There is a Canadian community team working just for you so be sure to come by and check often.

Now it's back to work on Emergence Day. Ciao for now!

Ep10: X'06 Toronto - Part 3/3

2006-11-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

Our trilogy is at a close. As I mentioned previously, I had a lot of difficulty wrapping this one up. Script after script was rejected before I decided to fall back on the original joke of the comic.

On another note, I've been chatting it up with the fine folks on the MyGamerCard.net forum. They have a solid, international and very friendly community. I know a lot of you use their services so why not stop by and say hi.

Stay tuned for our Gears of War extravaganza!

EDIT: Oh, the new Zune site is online. I've had the opportunity to play with one of these... very sexy. Sinnix likes and Maranda has been bugging me for something to listen to her music when she starts taking the baby for walks. I think we have a winner.

Crossing Tyria

2006-11-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

You know, long before I started drawing comics for XBOX Canada I started up a resource site for the popular PC game Guild Wars. Since the link to that site is buried way down at the bottom of the page I thought I'd take a moment to talk about it here.

The site is called Crossing Tyria (Tyria being the name of the continent in the first chapter). It focuses on easy to read content and information, as well as the finest Guild Wars forum on the internet. If you're a fan of the game why not stop by and introduce yourself?

New Location for Photo Gallery

2006-11-02T11:21:00.000-05:00

Apparently the Picasaweb albums were giving quite a few people difficulty so we've gone ahead and moved to Flickr. There aren't any new galleries, just the old one from X'06.

Mmmm... XNA Game Studio Express Beta 2

2006-11-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

It is here. Yes my friends, the newly released XNA Game Studio Express Beta 2 (which we were told is essentially a release candidate) is now available for your consumption. So what's new? Check it out:

The addition of XNA Framework Content Pipeline, a feature set that makes it simpler and more straightforward for game developers to use 2D and 3D content in their game projects from third party digital content creation packages like Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk® Maya® and SOFTIMAGE®|XSI®.
New content importers for .X and Autodesk® FBX® 3D asset format in partnership with Autodesk.
Xbox 360 project system gives game developers the ability to preview game design specifically for the Xbox 360 and pre-compile games starting today, giving developers a head start in preparing their games for the XNA Creators Club availability in December.
Improved game component architecture updated with a simpler design, adding increased usability based on community feedback.
Overall performance improvements and optimizations – XNA Game Studio Express Beta 2 is a near final version of the tool.
More details via TeamXBOX

Apparently the closed beta for GarageGames’ Torque X has also started today. How did I miss signing up for that? I guess I've been out of the loop ever since I started spending so much time working on 360P. Oh well, I'll be okay. With the imminent release of Gears of War and Rainbow Six I have doubts that I'll be spending my free time in front of a computer.

You know, just a hunch.

EDIT: It's not too late to sign up. Sweet.

Episode 11 Delivered... end of an era

2006-10-29T23:22:00.000-05:00

You know, I haven't always drawn online comics. On the contrary I'm actually a very well established designer. This entire process is very new to me. While drawing comics does share a few similarities to designing other things on computer, one of the fundamental differences is the 'script'. This 'script' is becoming one of the more challenging aspects of creating the comic.

In actuality, I rewrote the script about a dozen times before finally getting something that I could work with. It was almost as if I couldn't narrow down which source material from X'06 would fit in the best. At a few points Major Nelson made an appearance, then Mark and Jerry from Epic Games, and even my girlfriend (who will be showing up very soon). So who made it in, in the end? Well I'm obviously not going to tell you, but you'll see soon enough.

What is this ending era we allude to? THE END OF FREAKIN' TRILOGIES IN 360P!!!

Update your bookmarks

2006-10-27T10:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got around to registering 360prophecy.com, you're going to want to update your bookmarks (again).

For now it just points to this blog, but in the future we are going to be moving (again). Why, you ask? Well because I am an XCDP member and I have the ability to do a lot of cool things. And I will do cool things with the new home for 360 Prophecy's blog. Stay tuned for details, but know that we're staying put until probably around Q1 2007.

Where is Episode 11?

2006-10-26T23:08:00.000-04:00

"Sinnix... where is the conclusion man?"

"Hi Sinnix, when is #11 going to be online?"

"WHEN 11 GO UP?"

Ahem, yes hello demanding ones. I happy to see that so much enthusiasm is being generated lately and that my XBOX Live inbox is, in fact, getting more use. I know that some people are anticipating the conclusion and I do apologize for the delay however I was working on some other 360p episodes for some other XBOX people. I can't tell you more, but you'll see them soon.

Episode 11 will be delivered to Microsoft this weekend. I don't know when it will go online... there isn't a schedule for these things.

Gears of War Trailer from X'06

2006-10-25T16:33:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in a previous post about the exclusive first look we got at the new Gears trailer during X'06. Well, it's been released on Marketplace today and I highly suggest checking it out. This one could go down in the books as the best game commercial ever. Fun fact: the entire commercial is rendered inside the game engine. Cool.

EDIT: Fixed post for Internet Explorer users. Sorry about that. :P

More X'06 Stuff

2006-10-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

My bestest fried evar at Microsoft Canada, the infamous Jade, has started up a link list for all X'06 community reports. If you have any report you've done, why not email it to her?

XNA Game Studio Beta 2 (or RC1) Announced

2006-10-24T13:12:00.000-04:00

From the XNA Team Blog:

"One of the most popular requests has been for a second beta and on behalf of the XNA Game Studio team, I’m pleased to announce that we will indeed be releasing another beta of XNA Game Studio Express and that it will be available in a couple weeks."

Mmmm... XNA, my favourite. Looks like it could be time to work a little more on Star Pong.

Hello Nelsonites

2006-10-22T23:36:00.000-04:00

Oh, look at that! Major Nelson linked me (again) and talked about me (for three seconds) in his pod/web/netcast. If you're looking for the comic archive on XBOX.ca? Well, there isn't one yet so here's a helpful link list.

Episodes 1 through 4 were secret episodes between me and the XBOX Canada community team but if you look around hard enough you'll find them.

Greenskull's Gallery

2006-10-20T15:13:00.000-04:00

You know what really sucks? Getting a limited edition Gears of War faceplate and not being able to attach it to your console. Seriously, the very first thing I did when Maranda and I got back home was put that sucker right on.

My olive-hating friend Greenskull is currently stuck in some random hotel in Toronto waiting for his flight back from X'06... two days later. He did message me however to let everyone know that he's got his own gallery online ready for your viewing pleasure.

Check it out!

MSDN Canada Webcasts

2006-10-20T11:13:00.000-04:00

I mention previously that I was interviewed by a gent from MSDN Canada. Well, he was kind enough to stop by and leave the details. Now, of course, my interview won't be nearly as interesting as the one that's already posted: an interview with my new friend Larry Hyrb.

For my fellow XNA developers, there's also a great video online with Mark Relph where he goes into some cool XNA details. Including Game Camp. Man, what I wouldn't give to go to that!

X'06 Show Report

2006-10-19T09:18:00.000-04:00

Maranda (HotelQueen) and I strolled into the Brant House around 3pm. As you walk in the door, the new Tony Hawk game is staring you in the face. A quick glance left and you're confronted with the Gears of War multiplayer area. Delicious. We had some solid time to bum around and play games before we heard that there was a lineup of 150 people waiting to get in. My fellow fanboys had arrived!

The games were, of course, awesome. Well, most of them were anyway. Probably the biggest, pleasant surprise of the show was Shadowrun. It doesn't look like much, but wow is it ever fun. Teleporting around adds a lot of interesting dynamics to the FPS genre. I'm going to have to keep my eye on it from now on.

Rainbow Six Vegas was high on my priority list and I'm happy to report that it feels like the R6 games of old. A lot more realistic. They were showing the Dante's Casino single player level. I also had a chance to talk with one of the Ubisoft developers about PEC 2.0. If you recall, PEC was introduced into Lockdown and only for adversarial mode. Exclusive info: PEC 2.0 works for all (all!) multiplayer modes in Vegas. Adversarial, co-op, whatever. Fantastic!

Near the end of the show I had the opportunity to get some serious play time with Gears of War. I was excited for this game, but now I'm craving it like an addiction. It really does look fantastic. I can't really say much about this game... it's just unbelievable fun. If you're not hyped about this game; you should be.

Other games we played:

Viva Pinata (could be fun, need more time)
Import Tuner Challenge (too slow)
Splinter Cell Double Agent Single Player (fun!)
Forza 2 (w00t! racing wheel!)
Crackdown (jumping is fun!)
Sonic (blech!)
DOA Extreme 2 (pr0n)

Also present at the show was Mark Reine, Jerry O. (both from Epic Games) and Major Nelson. I had opportunities to talk to all three and they were all fantastic guys. They showed us the all new 60 second spot for Gears (world premiere). Maranda actually recorded most of it (not understanding that she wasn't supposed to) but I've deleted it. SO YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! Believe me, it was awesome.

The show ended with Maranda, Major Nelson and I walking back to the hotel laughing at fanboy antics. Great show, thanks Microsoft!

Edit: Oh, I also had dinner with Greenskull and his Dad. Good times!

Edit #2: Forgot to mention that a guy from MSDN Canada interviewed me for an upcoming podcast. I'll have details on that soon.

X'06 Photo Gallery

2006-10-18T22:25:00.000-04:00

I've uploaded some pictures from X'06 Toronto. Check them out here.

We got to play a bunch of great games, I got some mini-interviews with a few developers, and I managed some serious play time with the Gears of War single player mode. Read all about it tomorrow!

Back from X'06

2006-10-18T20:02:00.000-04:00

Well, Maranda and I are back in the hotel room after X'06 Toronto. It was a great time and I met a lot of cool people (see picture). We're going out to eat, but I'll come back later with more details. Cheers!

X'06 Toronto Part 2/3

2006-10-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

New comic, yay! Well, it isn't up at XBOX.ca yet but I figured that since I'm here in Toronto and it is probably going to happen soon I'd be a little preemptive. X'06 is going on right now just down the street, I'm going to head over there as soon as Maranda gets back from shopping at Mac (the makeup, not the over-priced computers).

As you can see we've got interweb access in the hotel, so I'm really going to try and get those pictures and blog entries up tonight. See you in a bit!

Leaving on a jet... wait... I mean Hyundai

2006-10-17T16:49:00.000-04:00

Maranda and I are just packing up and getting ready to head out to Toronto for X'06. While I know more than most of the community guys, I'm still not 100% sure on what to expect. Except for, you know, they'll probably let us play some games.

Keep an eye out later tomorrow evening or Thursday morning (depending on when we have time) for lots of updates and pictures.

I heard today that Major Nelson would be attending, I wonder if I can convince him to pimp the comic in one of his blog posts or podcasts? Think he'll do it? I'm going to track him down and ask. Wish me luck!

New Ultrasound Pics

2006-10-17T08:33:00.000-04:00

Maranda and I went to the ultrasound clinic yesterday for the mid-term ultrasound. I love this stuff.

How old before baby can play co-op with me I wonder? Hmmm...

X'06 Toronto Part 1/3

2006-10-16T09:33:00.000-04:00

X'06 Toronto is taking place this Wednesday, October 18th and the 360P team will be there. This is, of course, no surprise to all of my (four) dedicated readers but it is still very exciting... for me anyway. Stay tuned later this week for part two of the X'06 comic series!

Probably the oddest thing to happen to me recently is recognition. I mean, I'm starting to get a lot of 'nice work' messages in my XBOX Live inbox and I run into people at EB Games that have actually heard of the comic.

Yes, it is only a matter of time before I make my millions. I'd like to say I did this all on my own but we all know without the help of Jade at Microsoft none of this would have ever happened. Thanks Jade, I owe you one.

If you're looking for any specific info from X'06 drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do! Note that we will be making a blog post (or two or three or four) after X'06 ends and reporting on all the juicy details. Unless otherwise instructed, a vast majority of my time will be spent with Gears and R6 Vegas.

EDIT: Wow, I guess it would help if I linked the comic, eh?

Fatherhood vs. Gaming Addiction

2006-10-13T13:38:00.000-04:00

Like most gamers, I anticipate the upcoming holiday season with vast amounts of glee. My custom gaming calendar is literally packed with release dates of fantastic games that I'm more than willing to shell out for. I'm a successful designer, and I can usually easily afford to increase my library of 360 and DS games with six or seven AAA titles.

This year, however, that is just not the case.

For this March my life will be blessed with the birth of my first child. A gamer 'under construction' if you will. This has forced my hand, for the first time since I joined the work-force, to carefully select what it is that will keep me occupied in my spare time. Kids are expensive, so I've been told. Instead of shopping in the games zone at Toys R Us, I've been spending a lot more time in the Babies R Us section attempting to decipher the difference between a $200 and a $500 stroller. Or even trying to figure out what colour of bedding will best match the sleek, dark wood crib we've already picked out. It's a different world, and it's expensive.

So what games have made it to the must-buy list? Not many. For the sake of my own sanity I've created three arbitrary categories.

Buy Now

Gears of War
Rainbow Six Vegas
Final Fantasy III (DS)

Buy Used (After Christmas)

Viva Pinata
Phantasy Star Universe
Fusion Frenzy 2

Not going to buy new, might buy used.

Splinter Cell Double Agent
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
DOA Extreme 2
Call of Duty 3

There are several things that can, and will, impact this list. Demos, reviews and (of course) my playtime at X06 next week. I'm pretty settled on the 'must buy' list however. My guess is the only game that is going to move up is Call of Duty 3. I've sworn off WW2 games, but that game looks so good I may just change my mind.

XBOX 360 Keyboard... Where are you?

2006-09-30T19:53:00.000-04:00

On July 25th, 2005 (months before the console was even released) contained within a TeamXBOX.com feature we had our first glance of several upcoming XBOX 360 accessories. Included in this report were favourites such as the wired headset, universal media remote, the recently released Vision camera and one particular that seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth: The keyboard that plugs into the XBOX 360 controller.
The translation reads (via TeamXBOX):

QWERTY keyboard
Connects to controller
For sending messages or in-game chat

So what is the deal? Where is it? Is it bogus like some people guess? Perhaps that was a rational conclusion based off of the evidence at the time. However, the camera is also shown in that presentation and it turned out to be pretty darn real.

Then there is something else to consider. Every other accessory image shown in that presentation looked to be either a photograph or a render. Our mystery keyboard is obviously a drawn concept diagram. What does that tell us? Well, we can speculate that it just that, a concept. Let's face it, we're almost a year into our XBOX 360 life and there isn't much need for a keyboard embedded into your controller. Well, unless you play Final Fantasy XI. And I know you're too smart to do that.

And with that said, there is my theory. It hasn't been released because we honestly don't need it yet. Will we see it soon? Likely, with MMO games like Huxley, Phantasy Star Universe and the newly announced Marvel MMO coming out there will actually be a requirement for such a device. Sure we could use one of those regular keyboards. But if I wanted to do that I might as well play on my PC and use the more precise mouse while I'm at it.

I was going to get a hold of a Microsoft rep for comment, but I just didn't feel like hearing, "Microsoft doesn't comment on rumors or speculation". Rest assured I'll be asking about it while I'm at X'06 Toronto later next month.

X'06 ... The bigger, Spanish one.

2006-09-27T14:55:00.000-04:00

We know that our little, tiny three hour X'06 has a much bigger brother across the pond. Well, that big brother just finished his opener and it looks like nothing but good times for us XBOXers.

Let's just run down the list of the larger announcements shall we?

DOOM, updated for the HD world, is coming to XBOX Live Arcade. And it's available right now.
Project Gotham 4, Bioshock, Lost Odyssey, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Assassin's Creed and Forza 2 all look fantastic.
Exclusive 360 content is coming for GTA4 and Splinter Cell.
Bioshock is missing the PS3 launch date. (sucks to be them, it looked super hot).
Aside from Halo 3, there are two (TWO!) new Halo games in production.

Halo Wars by fan favourite Ensemble Studios
Unnamed Game by multi-award winning movie director Peter Jackson.

HD-DVD drive coming in this November at $199USD.
Even more games: New Banjo Kazooie game and Marvel Universe. The latter is exclusive to XBOX 360 and Games for Windows.
Sensible Soccer coming to XBLA (apparently the best soccer game ever made).

Surprisingly absent is more details on the upcoming hardware accessories. It also would have been nice to see something more on Halo 3, although I can understand why they decided to pass on the opportunity (the show already contained two Halo announcements). Is this a five star showing? I don't know, it hasn't all sank in yet. I'll give it some thought and get back to you.

360P Ep 7: Give it up for XNA (part two)

2006-09-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

This week we conclude the XNA storyline over at XBOX Canada. Interested in going to X06 Canada? My friend Jade (XBOX Canada community manager) is letting you in! Register quick though, spaces are limited!

Oh, and you'll get to meet me which is, of course, always a life altering experience.

XBOX 360 Vision Camera Review

2006-09-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

The long awaited Vision Camera fell into my hands yesterday (thanks to the help of a very friendly EB Games manager... I forgot your gamer tag, if you read this add me to your friends list!) and I am both happy and disappointed at the same time.

For starters, I picked up the more expensive package with the 12 months of Live service. I, of course, already have a Gold account but I thought my girlfriend would enjoy it. My very first reaction was to be amazed at how small this thing is. None of the pictures I've seen have done this justice, or mentioned just how tiny the Vision camera is in real life. It stands an approximate 6cm tall. Yes, that small.

The first test was on my trusty office computer. I recalled reading that I would be able to plug it in and it would, "just work". Well, no... it doesn't. I had to install a driver for it and Windows did manage to find that driver on it's own so that's good. The camera worked in 640x480 and gave a very clear image. Take note that my office is flooded with daylight thanks to my great office window.

Later in the evening I tested in on my XBOX. At home, my 360 resides in my spacious basement and is lit by two incandescent light fixtures. This was a problem. No longer was the image crisp and beautiful, but now everything was bathed in red and very dark. This is very unfortunate but to be expected. This morning when I tried it, and the sun was out, the picture was a lot better.

Also included in the box was UNO, Robotron (both available on XBLA), 200 MS points (always welcome but not enough to buy anything useful) and the 12 month Live subscription card. UNO I had already purchased, Robotron is a boring game on it's best day so those were pretty useless.

All the features it adds to the XBOX (which I'm sure you've already heard about) are cool, but not life changing. I even found it difficult to get a decent gamer pic because of the lighting. Overall I'd say that the Vision camera isn't quite the compelling purchase that it could be unless you're into poker. Games like Totem Ball and Rainbow Six Vegas will, however, change this. The former uses the camera to control the actual game, and the latter will be a compelling use of the digimask technology (not unlike World Series Poker, but I'm not a fan of the genre). Is it cool? Oh yeah! Do you need it right the fuck now? No. You can easily hold out for a little while.

XBLA vs Nintendo VC vs Sony PS3 Retro Games

2006-09-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

It has recently come to my attention (via TGS) that, much like Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony will offer downloadable games via their Playstation 3 online service. Considering their commitment to copy XBOX Live "feature for feature" this is about as surprising as the sun rising in the morning. Let's take a moment to quickly analyize who is getting what.

Nintendo:
Massive back library of Nintendo and Genesis games.

Sony:
Library of PC Engine, Genesis games, and some original titles.

Microsoft:
Games like Scramble and Robotron

Hmmm. Now usually I don't count chickens until they're hatched. I refuse to believe a single thing Sony or Nintendo say until their console is available for implant into my living room. It's safer this way. That way I don't go around expecting things like dual HDMI, and seven controllers. *jab* But seriously, is it time for Microsoft to start pulling out the big arcade guns and showing us the future? I think so. Did they actually expect us to like Scramble? I hope not. I understand, of course, that they can't release games that aren't ready and maybe truly there isn't anything ready. That's okay. But if Sony and Nintendo start beating Microsoft at their own game, that is cause for concern.

Of course, and I wouldn't put it past them, they're probably just saving all the nuclear ammo for the PS3 and Wii (I despise that name) launch this fall.

DS Lite - Onyx

2006-09-18T09:19:00.000-04:00

I've been a fan of Nintendo handhelds since the original 1989, black and white Game Boy. In fact, I've still got it. Since then I've upgraded, skipping about every other generation until recently. When the White DS Lite was released I told myself to, "Hold out for the black one". This past weekend I finally bit the bullet and replaced my ugly, blue DS Fat with the recently released onyx DS Lite (pictured).

The first thing I said when I turned it on was, "Wow." I've heard the rumors regarding the new brighter screen, but still didn't expect the difference to be as drastic as it truly is. I said "Wow" again when I turned the brightness up to the maximum available (there are four settings). The thing to understand is that not only is the screen brighter, but the colours are significantly more vibrant. When putting the old and the new side by side, the older DS Fat's graphics look muddied and dreary compared to the bold colours of the DS Lite's improved screen.

Another change is the mechanics behind the buttons. They have a lot more 'spring' in them, giving you more tactile feedback. The stylus has also been given an overhaul, now thicker and perhaps a little longer. I despised the old stylus, it was far to narrow for my large hands. This new one, while not as comfortable as a PDA stylus, or a larger 3rd party stylus like the ones you can buy at Staples, is a vast improvement which I can appreciate.

The black, reflective finish is both a blessing and a curse. It looks awesome, but the finish is a finger-print magnet. Within seconds of it being out of the box it was covered in little smudges. A small price to pay for a cool, shiny black gadget.

Overall, I'm very happy. I find it more comfortable to use (except for Metroid Prime Hunters, which still gives me hand cramps every time I play it), a lot more attractive, and well worth the investment for the brighter, better looking screen.

XNA Resource Roundup

2006-09-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

One of the benefits of (a) Having something almost every amateur XNA developer wants (see my button pack), and (b) pretty good web analytics software is that you get to see where all the good XNA resources are because they link you! Thus, I have compiled a list of all worthwhile sites that I managed to find (in no particular order):

Also of worthy note is the blog of "Rijit", who maintains one of the most comprehensive XNA resource link lists I've seen.

New Look

2006-09-14T15:56:00.000-04:00

I rebranded the blog today to match my upcoming XCDP (XBOX Community Developer Program) release. The ability to do things like this is the reason why I switched from using Microsoft's Live Spaces solution.

I've only tested it in Firefox 1.5 and IE 7 beta, so if you notice any strange rendering problems please drop a comment and let me know.

XBOX 360 Controller Button Graphics

2006-09-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

Looking for the graphics? This site has been shut down but you can still find them from our new website 360prophecy.com on our downloads page. If you found this site through another site please have them update their link!

These buttons are freely available for your project, no strings attached. If you make a million dollars from your game/website that uses these buttons, well, you can keep it all.

Lego Star Wars 2 - Live Messenger Avatars

2006-09-12T14:47:00.000-04:00

I thought you might like some Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy (released today for all major platforms) Windows Live Messenger avatars. These could probably be used in forums too. Right click -> Save as... to get them onto your machine.

My Comic Creation Method

2006-09-12T11:13:00.000-04:00

I've had a few people ask me how I make comics, so I thought I'd share in on the process. To start, I'll go over the tools I use.

Adobe Photoshop CS
Adobe Flash 8
Wacom 9x12 tablet
Animator Blue pencil or regular mechanical pencil with 0.5mm leads
Sketchpad
Canon Flatbed Scanner

Step 1: Getting the idea
If you can't come up with something good to write a comic about, there is almost no point in writing a comic. To start, I always read through about twenty or so websites to get ideas on what is going on in the industry. When I find something that looks like it would make good source material I mentally try to break it into a three panel joke. If it works, great. If not I move onto the next story. While I'm doing this I also think about which characters would best fit.

Step 2: Writing the script
Now that I've found something interesting to write about I open up my notebook and write a few scripts to try and find the best joke. The script is always pretty basic and makes sense only to me. The hardest part here is making it fit into three panels, that really isn't a lot of room so it is essential that the timing and delivery be bang on. Don't rush by the script! You can have the best art in the world but if you comic doesn't make any sense than no one will like it.

Step 3: The sketch
After I'm happy with the script I take out my sketchpad and begin drawing out the characters and backgrounds that will appear. Often the sketches will go over multiple pages and I'll do them in a completely random order. Once again, you wouldn't be able to read the comic just from the sketches because each character and background for a single panel might be in different places. These sketches also are not very detailed. I'll put all that in later when I get around to inking.

Step 4: Scan the artwork
Since I can have upwards of nine or more sketches per panel, I'll usually finish them up to inking one at a time. The sketch is scanned at 300dpi into Photoshop, then I let PS auto-adjust the brightness levels (Ctrl+Shift+L) to make the lines easier to see. I copy the sketch to the clipboard and import it into Flash.

Step 5: Inking
After doing a lot of research, I've found that many very successful online comic artists (such as Hawk from Applegeeks and Scott from VGCats) use Flash for inking. I thought they were crazy at first but then I tried it and wow, it really does make some nice sharp lines. This is where my tablet comes into play. Ink the comic with the brush (and pressure sensitivity turned on), then use Flash's smooth tool to fix up any minor mistakes. Now simply export the sketch as a 300dpi jpg and bring it back into Photoshop.

Now that we're in Photoshop and we have a huge ass sketch, it would be a good time to fix any line thickness issues before we scale it down to fit in the comic. Use the eraser or a white brush to fix the lines. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all the sketches are digitized and cleaned up.

Step 6: Assembly
Here is where my process differs from the pro comic artists, and this is important so listen up! At this point I reduce all of my sketches from 300dpi to 72dpi (screen resolution) BUT if you ever have the intention to send your comics to print DO NOT DO THAT. If you're intention is to ever make a book, you must always work at 300dpi otherwise your images will print very, very blurry on a professional press. You have been warned!

Anyway, first thing I do is open up my comic template which contains all the copyright info and titles. Then I start to copy over the inked sketches, shrinking them down and placing them into position. Each time I copy in a sketch, I always set the layer to "multiply". This makes the white background transparent and only leaves the black outlines. After all the sketches are in there I delete the excess (that which is appearing outside of the border) and I get ready to colour.

Step 7: Colouring
This is, by far, my favourite part. Create a new Photoshop layer under the sketches, this is where our colour is going to go. At this point I use my tablet to paint in all of the colour, highlights and shadows. It's really pretty easy if you have a good understanding of how Photoshop works. If you don't, well practice makes perfect as they say.

Step 8: Word bubbles
Here is where I type in all of the text and put bubbles around it. I try not to cover up too much of the artwork if I can manage but for some reason my characters always seem to have too much to say. After I've got all the word bubbles drawn in I use a Photoshop layer style on them to add a 2 pixel, black outline.

Step 9: Package and deliver
Now I save the whole thing (for web: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S) and email it off to Jade at Microsoft Canada. The final format is a JPG at 80% quality, although by the time it ends up on XBOX.ca it's been reduced further to, *shudder*, 40% quality.

And that, in a nutshell, is how I create the comics.

My first XNA game

2006-09-11T18:23:00.000-04:00

Here's a screenshot of my first XNA game. As I mentioned earlier, it really is quite easy to make your first game. Super Pong here features:

Full XBOX 360 gamepad support (with rumble)
Multi-layered scrolling background
Alpha effects
Sound

Ha! Okay that list sounds incredibly ridiculous now that I've written it out. But you have to understand, when you don't know what you're doing and then you manage to get that controller to rumble for the first time, well, it's orgasmic.

Ep6: G1ve it up for XNA

2006-09-11T15:13:00.000-04:00

Jade has published Episode 6 of the 360 Prophecy over at XBOX.ca, feel free to make the jump and check it out. This week we're talking about XNA Game Studio, which was recently released by Microsoft to all those avid game-dev wanna-bees out there (like me).

After playing around with it for a few days I can honestly say that it does, in fact, make development significantly easier. I'm no master C# programmer but even I was able to get a pretty killer version of Pong together in only a few days.

Oh, and I realize the comic says 'upcomic release of XNA'. I actually drew this up a couple of weeks ago thinking that it would be posted back then. Oops!

Where are the earlier 360P episodes?

2006-09-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

So maybe you've noticed that the comic episodes on XBOX.ca start at number 5 and you'd like to read the earlier ones. Well, I can't guarantee you'll get the jokes (because most of them were private between Jade (XBOX Canadian community manager) and myself, but here they are.

Ep1: The E3 Entry
This is the comic that started everything.

Ep2: Booth Babes
This quickie was basically made to show Jade I didn't have any hard feelings after she told me that I didn't win the contest (although, in retrospect I would have made a much better E3 informer). She did tell me, however, that she'd call me after E3 to talk about a new, special project!

Ep3: Lost or Forgotten
E3 came and went and still no call from Jade. Well, what is a guy to do but assume that she wanted some more comics! I drew this up as a friendly reminder that I was still patiently waiting her call. This is the first comic where I decide on a more formal format.

Ep4: Achievement Unlocked
Now it's weeks later and still no call. Now I'm starting to think that she just too, uh, busy for me. Aside from a horrid render of Jade, this comic also features the final appearance of Devil Bat. After working on multiple new character designs, DB ends up being replaced in the roster with (the more Canadian) Mackenzie the Beaver. Jade asked me to make sure DB comes back some day, but we'll just have to wait and see about that!

And a few days after that we finally managed to have a little chat. The fruits of that conversation are the comics you'll be finding on XBOX.ca in the coming months. And that, my friends, is how 360P started. I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

Some other great comics

2006-09-01T21:32:00.000-04:00

Episode 7 of 360 Prophecy should be going up today. I know Jade has been trying but, well, you can't expect speed when you're dealing with a multi-billion dollar corporation. Besides, I'm sure there are more important things going on than our little comic! Speaking of Jade, she sent me a little 'thank you package' which I received yesterday. Inside a very cool XBOX Canada branded backpack were several delectable goodies, all of which I intend to enjoy immensely.

What goes around, comes around, as they say. Crossing Media (my multi-media company) is preparing a return gift that I think she'll enjoy very much.

So in the interum, since you can't read 360P, here is a list of some of my favourite webcomics (in no particular order):

Ctrl+Alt+Del
Order of the Stick
Nuklear Power
Applegeeks (down until Sept. 4th)
VG Cats (made in Toronto! Go Canada!)
Fantasy Realms
PvP
Dilbert
Frazz

XNA Game Studio Beta Released

2006-08-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

Today Microsoft released beta 1 of XNA Game Studio Express. It's no secret that I've been anticipating it's release since it was announced all those weeks ago. I happy to report that after installing it, and playing around I've successfully managed to get Mackenzie's head to bounce around a window.

...

Okay, okay I admit that isn't all that fantastic. But cut me some slack! After all, I'm a web programmer. That's about as far as you can get from being a real programmer, much less a game programmer! My world revolves around HTML, CSS, PHP and Javascript. C# is an entirely new beast. My next goal will be to manipulate the sprite's direction using the XBOX 360 gamepad. I tried to figure it out last night, but, well... it's harder than you think. ;)

Ep5: E3 all over again

2006-08-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, there has been a slight change of plan. We're only going to relase one comic this week, episode six will join the party next week. For episode 5 we're paying homage to the comic that started it all. Did you get the joke? If not you'll have to go back to Jade's E3 contest favourite entries. The first thing you'll notice is that it's featuring a bat. The writer of the information page incorrectly called him both "Bat Boy" and "Hell Bat" (his name is 'Devil Bat'), but that's okay. I didn't win the contest, but it did give me the opportunity to draw comics for XBOX.ca and you don't pass an opportunity like that up!

Also available from there is the avatar pack I made available earlier this week. So what are you waiting for, go check it out!

360P Avatar Pack #1

2006-08-12T16:01:00.000-04:00

Here is an Windows Live Messenger avatar pack of all the characters who have appeared so far.

A lot of work for a picture

2006-08-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

Interesting, I have to make a post if I want to upload a photo of myself. I hope they fix that in the next version.